Fan Expo

If you're in Toronto for the Fan Expo this weekend, you can come and see me in Artist's Alley, where I will have prints, books, and original art for sale, and be signing and sketching all weekend. Look for the giant row of TX Comics banners, you won't be able to miss us.

If you're at the show TODAY, Friday the 28th, please come to the WEBCOMICS 101 panel at 5pm in Room 713A! Hope to see you there!

Stars and Garters

Photo Reference

Something that comes up time and time again in discussions I have with others about comics, and illustration in general, is the use of photographs to produce the artwork. There's a particular popular trend in contemporary comic art to be "realistic," to have the characters and environments look like stills from a film set, and quite often this effect is achieved by using extensive photo reference. Personally I dislike this aesthetic, particularly when applied to superhero comics, as I feel it is reductive and a lot of the time ends up looking stilted and ironically unconvincing, and I much prefer to see an artist's individual style rather than a series of traced photographs.

I'm not saying that an artist should not use photographs in their work, in fact quite the opposite - I use quite a lot of photo reference, and studying photographs provides a wealth of detail and nuance that make the drawn image feel more authentic and natural. What I don't do is copy or trace the photographs exactly, as I feel that can rob the drawing of its character and spontaneity, and also appear quite lazy. For many of my pinup girl illustrations, generally what I do is to do a quick initial sketch based on the photograph, including general impressions of most of the details, and then I put the photograph away before I start work on the final piece. Once the photograph is out of sight I am free to stylize and distort the shapes and interpret it in my own way.

I usually don't trace photos, but occasionally a tricky pose or angle can prove to be quite frustrating and time-consuming and so a quick trace can help reduce the stress. I decided to do an example for this post. I chose this photo of a friend of mine (and yes, I got her permission to use the photo):



I chose it because it's a difficult angle and pose and would be much harder to draw from scratch than a simple eye-level portrait. Then I did a quick, loose digital sketch over it:



Once the basic shapes are there, I remove the photograph and start working on the final drawing without referring back to the original, using my memory/imagination/understanding of figure drawing to do the rendering.



The final drawing hopefully retains the authenticity of the photograph, while still having some spontaneity and character that a direct trace wouldn't.

(I don't intend this post to be any kind of legal advice for using photographs in hired illustration, mainly because I'm not qualified to dispense such advice and copyright laws probably aren't consistent worldwide anyway. This is just an example of how I use photos in my own work. Generally speaking if you are to use photographs it's safest (and most ethical) to use ones that you've taken yourself, or to ensure that you've got permission by the photographer.)

My Favourite SDCC Souvenir

During this year's San Diego Comic Con I went for some lunch near the convention centre with a bunch of friends. Most of the surrounding restaurants get into the spirit of Comic Con and have special dumb "superhero" menus or whatever, and the place we chose was no exception. As I was looking over the menu something caught my eye - it was a drawing I'd done years ago of Mr Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. I held it up to show my friends and noticed two more drawings of mine on the back:



(not shown: Invisible Woman)

I had an idea. I called the waitress over and told her that I had drawn the pictures that they were using on their menu.

"Oh, that's so cool!" she said.
"Yeah, I think we should get some free drinks or something in compensation, right?"
"Uh, well...I'll have to check with my manager."

Shortly after she returned with the word from the manager, who said that in order to get anything on the house, I had to prove they were actually my drawings. Fair enough. Luckily I had my iPhone and was able to use Google Image Search to find a photo of me right next to the drawing of Mr Fantastic.

We got those drinks.

The Song Remains The Same

This blog's been pretty one-note lately, lots of headshots and pinup girls. I wish I could post more exciting stuff but both of the comics projects I'm working on at the moment are kept under lock and key and I can't share any with you. As soon as I get the greenlight though I'll post some images from the comics, which hopefully make me look less one-dimensional.

Gamer Girl Sketch

I started sketching out this drawing, which is intended to be a girl with a video game controller, but then I realized that the pose basically makes no sense for the activity she's doing. I've posted it here to show a bit of the creative process.

V-Line

Here's a drawing I did to unwind from work tonight. I think it's the cool blue but this drawing has a Michael Cho quality to it.

Pinup Girl

I was asked to do a drawing of a pinup girl as a mascot for a company that sells pinup-style wigs, corsets, etc. The character is based on the owner, herself a pinup model.

Photos used for likeness, but not for the pose.

Purr-casso

While working on commissions tonight, my good friend and studiomate Karl Kerschl said that I should try drawing Catwoman with my eyes closed. I gave it a shot:



What's surprising to me is that most of the elements are correctly drawn, they're just in the wrong place. It's like a weird Cubist Catwoman.

The Grim Gondolier

A recent commission. I was asked to draw "any Seaguy character" and instead of doing the obvious ones I chose Death:




I hope he doesn't mind.

Portrait Study

Just a quick something to break up the workday...digital drawing, from a photo.

No Pants No Problem

Just a quick doodle. Don't have my scanner handy so it's a photo of the drawing...