Old Art Canvas Collages

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of my day on something I mentioned in my previous post.

I took some canvas I bought, some old sketches from my high school days, and some Mod Podge, and I made collages.

Here are some photos of the final results.

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I even have a few close ups of the first one…

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And some close ups of the second one…

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You may have noticed that there are smatterings of sketches of Kingdom Hearts or Hunter x Hunter characters in the collages. I’ll be talking about that in my next blog post.

So why did I do this?

Well, I didn’t want my old sketches sitting in a box being unused and unseen. I wanted to start making a large catalog of my art, so that the artistic transformation can be seen more readily.

As time goes by, every artist improves in their craft. I am no different. I look at these sketches, the first set dating to 2006, the second set dating to 2007, and I see such a huge difference between them and the art I make now.

I wanted these sketches up on collages to remind myself of how far I’ve come, and see the progress I have made.

I intend on making more collage pieces with my other older sketches. My goal is to make one collage for every year. That way the progress can be more noticeable.

But this is just a personal project.

For now, I still have a lot of freelance work to do, so it’s back to the drawing board with me.

So what do you do with your old sketches? How long has it been since you looked at them? What are your thoughts on your old work? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on Friday.

Studio Synergy Guest Appearance

Yesterday I made a (very fun) guest appearance on Studio Synergy #10!

It was hosted by the very cool Peter Palmiotti and included Tiffany McLeod, Pharoah Bolding, Scott Serkland, and Anthony Hochrein.

If you missed the live stream, it’s ok! It was recorded, and you can watch it here.

I did a few sketches while the stream happened. The best one is this one, which is part of Rosetta and the White Swan.

rosetta costume design

Thank you for reading! I’ll see you on Tuesday.

 

Warm-Up Sketches

I’ve been getting into the practice of doing warm-up sketches before I sit down and do work.

I really like doing this because it lets me practice drawing silhouettes and spirits…

one-eyed spirit in silhouette

 

Or I could practice drawing and cross-hatching in pen and ink, while also practicing referencing a collection of photo references…

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Or refresh my memory on using India ink and brush…

india ink sketches of tigers in water

Or I can practice some costume and character designs…

sketch of woman in goth assassin outfit.

My point is, art is a skill, and to keep that skill fresh, I have to practice.

With warm-up sketches, I do use reference photos sometimes. I’m ok with this.

Using references actually helps me include them in my visual memory.

So next time I draw something and I’m away from the computer, I can rely on my visual memory to help me.

It’s handy!

So I’ve Been Sketching…

Well, looks like I need to surrender control of Johnson & Sir to Johnson…

JohnsonStealsTheShow

That’s ok. I have a new friend. Her name is Nada.

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She’s starring in a new comic I scripted yesterday (I bragged about it on Twitter).

She’s a fan of camping and survival tactics. Thankfully I found a few good resources about the subject, including the Army’s Survival Guide.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love creating characters? Because I do.

I need to expand into other physiques, though, like I did with THIS gentleman:

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That character actually is not mine, but one I drew for K. Ferrin a while ago.

Now I need to get back to reading and making comics. Be right back…

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!

51414_Tribal_Woman

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.

PostChernobyl 002

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.

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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!