The Lu Lu Twins

Just playing around with ellipses.

DRAGON SONG

Lately I've been trying to get back to drawing like I used to when I was a child. That is to say, keeping the childlike attitude but with a better eye for design and better technique. I've also been really digging the use of texture in my pieces. I sketch "manually" on a piece of paper then scan it in and embellish the piece using Photoshop. The addition of a texture can really take the sketch to another level. I like this one a lot!

CHURCH KIDS

My friend and fellow character designer, David Krentz, has been tutoring me in character design. First assignment was to draw three kids going to church, showing their individual personalities. This is the first sketch. Quite a realistic approach. A good start but now I needed to have fun with it and push the proportions.

CHURCH KIDS II - Caricature

Here's the next rendition. I caricatured the kids a bit more but still needed to push the realistic proportions further...

CHURCH KIDS III - Proportions

Here's the third rendition. Here I've pushed the proportions quite a bit making them a lot more cartoony. I've also pushed the caricaturization showing their individual personalities; the prissy know-it-all annoying big sister, the disgruntled want-to-be rebellious brother and the ding bat little brother who's just happy to be there. This is a good direction and now I need to play with the shapes and stylize them even more.

CHURCH KIDS IV - Shape and stylization

This is my last rendition and where I left it. I refined the shapes and added stylization. David wanted me to play around with the proportions some more and explore them. I did that with the girl which you can see here and it was a great exercise. But I still felt the girl really was best suited to be tall and skinny underlining her prissy attitude. After all, she IS Miss Perfect. I like this direction a lot and I had fun with it!

Here they are in color.

Crotchety old guy

Just having fun with characters. With old folks there's so much you can do, especially the crotchety old kind!

Roland, the Gunslinger

This is the main character from the Stephen King series The Dark Tower. Gunslinger, peacekeeper, Roland Deschain. Roland is a 30th-generation descendant of his world's version of King Arthur, referred to in the series as Arthur Eld. Although he is compared to and described by Stephen King himself as Clint Eastwood in "The Man With No Name", I drew my inspiration from a group of rugged individuals. Yes, Clint Eastwood for facial lines and grit, but you can't beat Paul Newman's eyes for those reach down in your soul and rip out your backbone stares. Plus I really think Viggo Mortensen's portrayal of Aragorn, with his stubbly beard and hair exposed to the elements, gives our hero a more authentic look. This guy wont be concerned with a shorn face.

Rhea of the coos

Reah of the Coos. A character from the Stephen King series The Dark Tower. An evil, wretched witch to be sure. Perhaps a vampire? She has fed on human blood after all. The spiteful thing wears her beloved companion, Ermot, a venomous snake, around her neck. She had stitched it back together after Roland shot it out of a tree. Out for revenge, she was responsible for the death of Roland's one true love, Susan Delgado and his mother, Gabrielle Deschain.