Design Work August 2012

A banner logo for an upcoming blog.

Final Blog Header

Full Image with test title Font

The figures in the lineup were drawn and inked by hand. Coloring and all other effects were done in Photoshop.

Design Work September 2012

I did some logo designs for a new reptile business.

The store Full Type Banner

The store Logo

The Banner snake was drawn and inked by hand and scanned into Photoshop for coloring. The font used is a modified version of Bleeding Cowboy. The snake head in the logo was added digitally in Photoshop.

The Creature

The Creature

"The Creature" 
9" x 12" Pen and Ink on Bristol

For sale $20 plus $3 shipping (Free Local Delivery) in anyone is interested in giving the piece a new home.

Troll

This is a troll I drew. I like him so he will be appearing in Strange Encounters one of these days.

My Annoying Cat

A little poem I wrote a few weeks ago about my cat at 2AM...

You look at me
With your big green eyes
And quickly 
Turn your head
When I glance your way.

Stupid cat,
Stop staring at me.

Your food is 
In a bowl
On the floor.

Eat it.

~My Annoying Cat
By J. Splendor 06/13/12 2:20am

A good guide to lettering

I made several "rookie" mistakes when I started letting my webcomic. I found this useful guide on what and what not to do.

Blambot: Comic Book Grammar and Tradition

A Blog Banner Image

Think Fierce, Not Fat Banner Woman

This is a character I created for the new blog, Think Fierce, Not Fat.

Creator Owned Day

March 1st was Creator Owned Day and this was my creation to celebrate the day...

Hekate, Flip the frog and Broom ©Hands Up! Studio 2012

This is Hekate, a teenage witch, who will be making an appearance in Strange Encounters later this year. She is accompanied by her familiar Flip, a tree frog, and Broom, a magic broom.

Hekate is based on a character I created back in 1995 in my last months of high school.

MVCC Gallery Show

On February 27th I gave a lecture and had a gallery show at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, NY. The lecture for students was about my experiences as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist in a difficult industry. I feel it went well, though I did have a few rough spots, and some of the students seemed very interested in my presentation. The meet and greet after was fun, where I talked one on one with several of the students. I think I gave them some realistic hope for pursuing a career in comics and illustration.

The gallery show ran from the 27th of February to April 5th. The pieces I displayed were all black and white illustration pieces, in various styles, of projects I am working on this year. I got very positive feedback from everyone who attended the show over the month.

All in all it was a very fun experience and I look forward to doing more lectures in the future if given the chance.

Color test

I've been busy working on a few new projects and I keep forgetting to update this site. Here is a color test I did up for my Dwarf.

Grinding away on art.

I've been away for a few weeks working on pieces for my gallery show and working on some ideas for new sequential stories. Here are a couple of pieces I've done that will be used in the show.

Dwarf Warrior 5x7 ink pen

Elf Prince 5x7 ink pen

Zombies 5x7 ink pen

If things go well, the Dwarf and Elf may appear in a black and white comic book later this year.

A useful guide: 22 Panels that always work

The original  copy of was found here, http://joeljohnson.com/archives/2006/08/wally_woods_22.html , posted by the owner of this piece. He has several scans of the image available for download.

Being Human (UK)

The British Being Human is a great series I just started watching on Netflix. It is a story about a Vampire, a Werewolf, and a Ghost who are flatmates. I highly recommend it.

Being Human BBC

King Dog Art

Today I felt like doing something a bit darker than my normal work so I did up a fast King Dog piece. It went with a very loose and fast ink style that works I think.

Danny Kelly's King Dog

King Dog Fan Page

Banana Tail

Back in late October I did a little fan piece for Mark McKenna for his self published children's books, Banana Tail.

My original pencils

 Mark decided to do inks and touch ups over it and here is the awesome piece that came out.

Inks and touch ups by Mark McKenna

You can find and download the the piece here to color, http://www.bananatail.com/coloring.html