My sister introduced me to this touching novel when I was in college. The book covers the lives of high schoolers who grapple with various life situations. The author presents each character’s story in the form of a poem. The illustration above portrays the novel’s titular poem, that centers around a gay couple, Daniel and Jed, who are celebrating their 1st year anniversary and reflect how they beat the odds by staying together.

It’s a very poignant and inspiring book. (Easy read too!) I highly recommend it.

Last night, my family rented the movie “Let the Right One In”, a Swedish film about a 12 year old boy who befriends a vampire. It was a bittersweet, yet beautiful story, reminded me of “Pan’s Labyrinth”. The Illustration Friday word this week really held true for Oskar and Eli, whether it’s Oskar’s short life compared to Eli’s immortality or the prominent snowy backdrop in the movie.

I have a lot of anatomical issues with this one. Also, I can’t stop being heavy handed when I ink. I guess that’s what practice is for. 😉

Working on the computer all day makes me miss sketching immensely, which is why I am going to try to participate again in Illustration Friday.

For the topic, “Legendary”, I decided to go a more literal route with a David/Goliath theme. I love stories where the heroes, regardless of how impossible their obstacle, still choose to face it. As Sam told Frodo in The Two Towers, “Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t.”

I used a brush pen along with some markers. As you can tell, I’m pretty rusty. Hopefully with more practice, I can back into it. Oh, and can you tell I love Shadow of the Colossus? 😉

As you can tell, I’ve missed the past couple Illo Fridays. My energies are currently being spent on my 3d character, Asher (which once skinned, I’ll post another WIP of him). Left on the to-do list for the li’l guy is to texture, skin, and do his facial set-up. I can’t wait to animate him!

Anyway, this comic above was inspired by a dream I had awhile back in college. The funniest part was that in my dream I consciously came to the conclusion that my dog was asexually reproducing. Apparently this is how chihuahuas spawn their offspring in my subconscious.

A quick sketch done in my li’l sketchbook using markers, brush pens, and microns.

These sketches come from a project I did awhile back for World Mythology class, where we had to create a visual representation of any item from mythology. For my project, I referenced heavily from A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. It’s a very excellent reference for all things creature in the mythological world, and is definitely a wonderful source of inspiration.

I chose to create a sketch journal of a traveler who encounters the Surem, small, peaceful folk who live in the Sonoran Desert. They originated from an ancient tribe that split in half after receiving a message from a Tree, warning them of major changes that will come to pass. The prophecy told the tribe that their life will change forever and things such as “good” and “evil”, “life” and “death” will happen to those who stay. (Essentially, I imagined the Surem to live in an environment and mindset similar to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.)

Those who stayed grew taller and became humans, specifically the ancestors of the Yaquis tribe. Those who continued to live as Surem, retained their 3ft. stature (and some grew even smaller!) and sought other natural places to hide in the world. Surem are nomads, living in deserts and caves. They’re a natural people, and are usually known to carry around a portable lake, rolled up like a carpet. Once unrolled, they can fish and drink water.

Recently received my new Cintiq 12wx and have been playing around with it. Unfortunately, the image didn’t turn out the way I wanted just because I spent so much time getting color profiles/calibration and monitor set-ups to work for me. While I love using the Cintiq, it has definitely been awhile since I have drawn directly onto the PC using Painter. My usual workflow is drawing a sketch on paper and scanning it in to do the values with Photoshop. I’m sure after some practice, though, I’ll get back into the swing of things.

Concerning the illustration, I wanted to portray someone who feels ‘plain’ and yearns to be someone else. I’m sure in a few years, she’ll realize it wasn’t worth the time or effort. 😉

As you can tell, this sketch is incredibly rough. This past week has been a tad busy, but I hope to make up for it by painting this sketch when I receive this. I can’t wait ’til it comes in next week! I’ll definitely post a personal review of the Cintiq 12wx after I spend some time playing with it for those who are curious about the product.

Alrighty! Back to rigging Asher!

I imagine this guy delivers his packages speedily, giving his 100%, vaulting over buildings a la Tekkon Kinkreet, making sure they arrive on time.

I’m reusing a couple of sketches I did awhile back for a comic idea I had when I was still a part of a self-publishing comic club in college for this week’s Illustration Friday. Unfortunately, the final story never came to fruition, but I *definitely* will start working on this after I finish up Asher and a couple of things from his world. The overall story was about a boy, a bike, and his yearning to fly. Pretty simplistic, but I thought appropriate for this week’s topic.

Welcome to the New Year, everyone!