work in progress Archives - Page 12 of 13

September 3, 2014September 1, 2014

My Recent Works-In-Progress

Man, between all the blog posts, Validation comics, Johnson & Sir comics, freelance work, and the day job (yep, I got a day job) keeping me busy, do I have time for personal projects?

Yes. Yes I do!

Project 1 is very different from what I usually do. Project 1 is a large acrylic painting.

acrylic painting work in progress by kelci d — Step 1.

By “large,” I mean it’s larger than my usual scale. I’m used to working on, at most, 9 inch by 12 inch pieces of paper. This is 16 inches by 20 inches on canvas.

This is a painting that my mind demanded I make, because there are lighting techniques I want to try with this.

Project 2 is connected to Validation. It’s a portrait of one of my favorite characters ever…

Roxie.

This is a piece I’m doing in colored pencil, which I haven’t used in years. It’s a good refresher to brush up on my old skills. I’m also doing my best to use colors in ways I haven’t before. I’ll post more pictures as I work on it.

Project 3 is a comic I’m hoping to get out by October. I’ve mentioned it a few times previously here on the blog.

It’s Charlie & Clow.

The cover is done and I’m so happy with how it turned out! I need to make the next few pages and take care of a few other things. With any luck it should be online by Halloween.

The story is about a young punk lady named Charlie. When she’s walking home from classes one day, she discovers a monstrous golem, and it decides Charlie will be its next meal! Charlie runs for help only to find a tall goth man who calls himself Clow. Who is Clow? And will he help her fight off the golem menace?

Of course, there are other projects I have in the works, but they’re all either very personal or top secret surprises. So I won’t say any more.

Which project are you most excited to see? Do you have any personal projects in the works? Let me know in the comments!

Also, I’m skipping the Favorite Artist Friday feature this week because I’m still scouring the internet for new artists to add as my favorites. If you have any suggestions for artists I should look at, let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

May 16, 2014

Secret Projects

I haven’t updated this blog for a while. Things have been hectic between getting ready for Phoenix Comicon, making books, and working on secret comics projects. Sorry for that. So…

BAM!

That sketch also made an appearance on my Facebook page.

Back to secret comic projects, I wanted to share a little something from one of them. I can’t show you too much, but I can show you the rejected sketches.

Also, in preparing for Phoenix Comicon (oh my gosh it’s only three weeks away PANIC PANIC PANIC), I got new business cards from Moo.com.

I love how they turned out! They’re also nice and sturdy, which is great because come convention weekend they’re going to be moving around a lot.

I have a few more book reviews up my sleeve to post here on the blog, and then I have a new story to share.

Thanks for reading!

May 6, 2014

Sneak Peak at New Women Warriors

I’m working on the new Women Warriors illustration for this week, and I wanted to do something different.

Instead of ink drawings, I wanted to work in pencil. And I like it! Let me know what you think in comments.

I won’t lie, though, I’m mostly doing pencil because my pens are dying out. You can’t deny that the pencil sketch looks pretty cool despite that!

Maybe I should do a whole comic in this art style…

April 24, 2014

Jamie Roberts is…Postponed (Again)

I should really stop announcing when The Legend of Jamie Roberts will be up on the web, because every time I do, the fates overhear my plans and jump on me.

This story is going to be shelved for a bit as I work on other projects. Once those are done, I can edit the work and give it the proper treatment that it needs.

When will that be?

I’m not saying just in case the fates overhear my plans again. I’m going to keep them on their toes, just to spite them.

Does this mean I’ll stop drawing the characters/world/creatures of the story? NOPE.

Anytime I draw anything related to The Legend of Jamie Roberts, I’ll post it here on the blog.

Here’s what I have so far…

Developing worlds, including this underground city of Kinyaht…

Daniel, one of Jamie’s best friends and an excellent archer…

Qatool (or Queen) Norsa, Dragon Queen of the city of Dogona…

Thomas, another best friend of Jamie’s…

Creatures of darkness, called Mocktaw, who emerge from a spiritual realm called Dream…

And the deadliest character of them all…

Raguna Ranki, the banished Dragon King of the Sun.

Why are these Kings and Queens called Dragon Kings/Queens?

BECAUSE THEY CAN SHAPE SHIFT INTO DRAGONS. BOOYAH.

I should probably note right now that I’m very heavily inspired by African arts and history for this project (mostly history. It even shows in The Women Warriors Project because a LOT of African Queens are appearing on that list.). The myths and legends of many African groups stuck with me, as did their patterns and art…and it also helps that I took two semesters of African Art History in my undergrad years.

~~“But none of your characters are black”~~ I’m working on it. Why do you think it’s not ready to be published yet?

Jamie, Thomas, and Daniel are suppose to be culturally different from the rest of the cast because they’re Touloy pirates from the North. (I still need to change their skin tone a bit, though, if only to make it more red for all the years of sun-and-wind burn.) Most of the story takes place in the southern continent of Corith. I’m going to be doing character design tweaks to the other cast members I have so it’s not so white-washed. I’ll share as time comes.

And I want my African inspiration to be a bit more evident. Right now, it shows in the locations and the cities they visit (which I haven’t drawn yet). I want to add more patterns and art to the mix, though I have to be careful with that – different patterns from different groups are considered sacred and shouldn’t be replicated. I have to know which ones to avoid.

That’s all for now. Let me know in comments what you think!

April 22, 2014