Sketches from Calgary Expo 2014

Here are some sketches I did during the expo.  I also went to a few panels with comic creators and picked up a few tips.  I got the impression from these panels that it is important to sell myself effectively, so I'll put the better stuff first and then the worse stuff after...according to my opinion, anyway.
This blog was never meant to showcase my best stuff.  This is partly because I'm my own worst critic and if I selected only the best there would be nothing on here.  It's also to illustrate my own consistency and growth, which is kind of a fun thing to look back on years later.

With that said, here is another awful musical selection to endure while you take a look at my work, so I hope The Best Is Good Enough:

I thought this one was pretty good.  It's got some good cuteness.

I liked the expression on this one.  Really expressive and fun.

I started out drawing a frog, then a cyclops, then I did some guy overtop of both of them.  I like how the guy turned out.

Here's some determined-looking girl.  I like the way it looks with the hair and all of that.

I thought this nefarious bunny was amusing.  I saw someone else drawing a commando rabbit ,so I thought I'd do one with a bad attitude, or something.

Now for the stuff I thought was kind of bad:

 I liked the guy on the bottom left and the girl on the top right, but the rest is kind of blah.

 I liked the robot...

 This was kind-of-okay for most of the picture.

 A comic-con nerd!

 I actually kind of like the expression on this one, I just didn't finish it.

 Another comic-con nerd.

 Myles asked me if I could draw one of my characters from a 3/4 behind.  I probably can, but it would take me a very long time.  I demonstrated to him that it is theoretically possible, but I'd like to actually draw something else that night.

 Myles asked me if I could draw a "happy guy".  He told me that this character looks like the kind of person who would break your mom's fence and then blame it on you.  Of course your mom is going to believe this guy...how could a guy with a smile like that break a fence?

A really quick Decker and Jang.  I didn't spend more than 30 seconds on this, so...doesn't look great.

As a bonus, and also so we don't leave on a bad note, here is a reprise of some Fantasy Adventure Princesses!

Here is Ivy in her werewolf form.

Another one of Ivy.

Here's one of Clover looking moody.  I didn't do the lower body very well and I might go back and fix it.

Here's one of Pluto, I tried to make it look like you're looking up at him sitting in his evil throne.  I didn't get the lower body very well.

Joining the digital era

Here's a quick sketch I did that was done 100% digital from pencil to inks.  Jang and Decker commemorate my entry onto the information superhighway:

More poorly drawn things that don't make any sense

I'm giving the people what they want: weird stuff.

Cue the weird music:



Now the weird drawings:

1) Some quick warm-up sketches.  Everyone remarks on the Batman, even though he has an ear.  I like the ear.

2) Clean pen drawing with some loose pencil outline:

3) Deliberately rough drawing:

4) An attempt at composition with a zombie-slayer:

5) Another composition with some Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

6) This one is a band, tried some interesting poses and some foreshortening:

7) Typical loose pencils sketches I do to warm up and get ideas (this is "showing the process"!):

8) This one is insane and also a favourite.  See, this cyclops just wants to suntan in peace, but people always come around and kick sand on him.  He hates that; and being a cyclops, is a believer in pre-emptive strikes.  Therefore, he's a-comin' to kick your sand castle DOWN!

9) Here's a character from that comic I've been working on forever and will probably never finish.  I tried some more complicated backgrounds with the building and I think it turned out pretty well.  Everyone always notices the cat first though:

10) Another two characters from that comic I've been working on forever and will probably never finish.  They're at the beach posing in front of the sunset.  It's cute:

11) Another three characters from that comic I've been working on forever and will probably never finish.  They're reading a scary story with a monster in the background.  I wanted to try a dense picture with complicated poses.  I don't think it was super successful, but it looks alright:

12) Here's a marathon, I wanted to try showing some motion and action.  Some parts of the composition are better than others, but I learned a bit doing this one so I'll call it a success:

13) Just putting this picture up to show a failure.  I don't like the way this turned out, the characters aren't fun and the perspective is crap.  The composition also sucks and it doesn't feel very clever at all:

14) I am the only person who has laughed at this out of everyone I've shown.  I'm still not sure why, I think it's great:

15) I was trying to figure out a difficult pose here, with someone resting their chin in their palm.  I did not succeed, but at least I tried:

16) I drew this in literally 2 minutes and I love it, total success:

17) Some more warm-ups, I tried doing some things differently and I think it gave me some interesting ideas about the level of detail and the way I apply my style:

18) I intended to do this one from an upward-looking angle and I think it was kind of successful?  It's not great but at least I learned some things:

19) I'm not sure what's going on here but it made me laugh when I was doing it, so...I'll probably do more with this one.  I'm definitely going to colour the basketball a bright orange.

20) I played the new Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and I drew Link.  He looked so intense I had to mention his "Intensity":

21) After I drew the big Link head I wanted to do another large-size sketch, so I drew this kid with a big head:

22) I haven't finished this one yet, but I thought I might as well put it up anyway:

23)  I haven't finished this one either, still needs inks and colour and stuff.  Consider it a "sneak preview" of what I'm going to put in my next post.  Which will probably go up in June.  Sad face.

More practice

Here's some more practice pages.  I'm working on improving my inking and colouring.  It seems to be going alright so far.  Have a look and see what you think:

This is just some characters.  I used my thicker black brush pen for this, so the lines aren't as precise as some of the later ones.  Tried some colouring as well, it seemed to turn out okay.

Similar to the last one, just some characters with a thick pen and some colour.

Tried doing a full colour of Decker and Jang.  This is the first one I've done of them both in full colour!

Here's some kind of Wizard-school kind of thing.  I tried to put in a background.  I'm very bad at backgrounds, so I thought I should start practicing a little.

Now a black and white using a thinner ink pen and a background.  I kind of like how this one turned out, I think I'll try colouring it digitally later.

Deke, Jang and Nils (new version) posing for a portrait.  Might colour this one later too, I don't know.  It's alright but I think I could have done better.

Can you call this a fan art?  I don't know how I feel about that.  I drew my take on Risky Boots and a Tinkerbat from the game series "Shantae".  It's not precisely correct because if I stuck to the actual costume it would look really weird.  I've been playing the old Gameboy Color game on my 3DS lately.  It's fun and I like thinking about it.  I tried colouring this differently because I don't have the right tone of markers for this picture.  I have mixed feelings about how it turned out.

This is a black and white of Shantae (from "Shantae") in front of her lighthouse.  I drew her all determined to fight evil and stuff.  The lighthouse kind of looks like crap and her pose is kind of bland.  I think it looks alright other than that though.  I might colour this one digitally later as well.