It's been a while since my last entry-- well, I've been quite busy. I've been working on designing characters for a new SW series at Dark Horse. I just found out that they will make an announcement at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con so can't talk about until then (July 17th, I think). But they did ask me to come up with a promotion piece for the show so I've been working on that for the last couple of days. On top of all of that, I've been working on my overall computer skills-- learning to use photoshop and scanning and cleaning up all of my images before uploading them to Dark Horse. I've learned how incredibly inefficient I am with a computer. I thought that this would save me time, I wouldn't have to drive to Kinko's and copy all of my drawings, pack them up, and drop 'em off with FEDEX. Now I'm just stuck in my office, trying to make sure that what I see on my monitor will translate to what others will see on theirs ( and then stressing about how all of it will look completely different once it's printed). All in all, it's the most fun I've ever had working so I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I recently picked up a "how to paint with photoshop" type book at Amazon. An illustrator friend recommended it to me (okay he's a BIG DOG at an advertising agency and I pretty much do whatever he tells me). Hopefully it'll help me get to the next phase and I can fully render all of my drawings digitally. Here's the book : Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition


This cake was something I ran across today and thought it was the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. Someone went to great lengths to make this. I had a hard enough time drawing these things in Obsession and here it is, someone had to design, bake, and frost it. Kudos to them. Check out the article at Rebelscum.

Here's a change of pace for me. (Click here for a larger version) After drawing Star Wars characters exclusively for the last couple of years, I decided to change things up and I doodled this Wolverine piece in my sketchbook. It was pretty fun for me to draw someone with more comic book proportions-- the massive arms and torso area. With the Star Wars drawings, I try to present the characters more realisticly (although some people have complained I draw Obi-Wan too big). I tend to draw with pen in my sketchbook-- no reason, I just like the feel of it. Recently, I picked up those Uniball Gel RT pens and I just love how easily they flow so I've been using that a lot in my sketchbook. That also explains the sketchiness here, it also helps that I'm drawing Wolverine and can turn any mistakes I make into cuts and tears.

My very good friend, Vaughn Tada, is the storyboard artist for FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS. We grew up together, in fact we have known eachother for over 20 years. Ever since we were really small, Vaughn has been drawing and it always seemed to come so easily for him (you'd think I hate him for that but he's so damned humble and modest!). He's one of those guys who looks like he doesn't practice it, just whips out a sheet of paper and can create anything on spot. He used to draw all the Macross(Robotech) stuff for everyone-- this was huge back in the 80's! Anyhow, he had a big influence on my drawings and it's just kind of cool that some 20 years later we are both working in the creative arts field. His show is on Friday nights at 7 pm and replayed at 10 pm so be sure to check it out.

Here's Jar Jar colored by Kenlin. He did a very nice job overall but especially nice work on the face! The different colors on the front and back side of his face make him look very Jar Jar. The lighter shade at the end of each ear segment gives his ears a nice texture. Kenlin even created a rocky base for him to stand on. I really get a kick out of seeing this piece colored, it's completely opposite of what I pictured in my head (which is actually kind of a nice surprise), but it's so great to see all the effort here. Good job, Kenlin!