I have been on a serious Interpol kick lately. Don't worry - I'm not going to kill myself or anything. I just seem to want to work a lot harder and get much better when I listen to them while I draw. It's kind of one of those things - their subtlety and sense of foreboding gets me into a mood to really knock it out of the park. So that's what today's stupid blog title is all about. It's the first track off of their third album.
On with it then:
I have a few dope things to show off... mostly in black & white. The first is another zombie commission. I'm planning on closing these off in the future because I'm kind of bored to death of gore & guts (!!) and I just want to move onto different things. Some dudes love drawing this shit - I like a more light hearted feel to my stuff. BUT if I'm getting paid I won't complain too much... haha so anyways they wanted their dogs in this picture as a "family unit" kind of thing. I drew the dogs as I saw them as a kid - utterly terrifying! Man I had the WORST fear of dogs when I was a kid up until, well just a few years back when I got my Basset Hound. She was a great dog... gotta get another one sometime soon. Anyways, so here you go. Dillion, Allison and their three demon dogs from the bowels of hell. For kids!
Allison and Dillon by ~spicypeanut on deviantART
The next item is a b&w version of a pinup I'm doing for a book. Awhile back I did a few pages for my buddy Richard Carbonneau's webcomic Zoroaster. I was the first artist to interpret his character "Atreus" and I grew a bit of a sentimental attachment to the big guy. Being a big guy who gets dicked over kinda sounded way too familiar... Anycrap I jumped the gun a little bit and put together a dope ass pinup for the collected edition that will be coming out... sometime. I dunno when but I wanted to make sure I got to do something for it while my schedule was open. So here he is before I color him:
Atreus Black and White by ~spicypeanut on deviantART
As always you can see bigger versions by clicking the pieces and heading over to my DeviantArt site.
That's probably it for now. I was hired over the weekend to do three Lord of the Rings illustrations for the official website so that will most likely take up the rest of my week and I'll post those as soon as I can.
I hope you're all well!
Zak
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I just wanna walk away.
Most always my blog is titled from some dumb song I'm listening to at the time. This time it's "Fired" by Ben Folds. Oh oh oh oh Fired!! Great song. I used to listen to Ben Folds like a full on mad addict - his songs really described the way I felt throughout my 20s. A lot of that changed when I turned 30 and I just kind of left it behind. They weren't easy years... but it's nice to listen to him now and again. Like reading an old book you love but have out grown. I still respect his storytelling and quirkiness. Like I said, it reminds me a lot of my 20s and all the awful ex girlfriends I've had. Maybe that's why we don't kick it so much anymore.
Anyways, stupid music rant aside, I've been finagling with how I do things in my art universe. I've decided I like black again and well... here's the result.
My Space Picture by ~spicypeanut on deviantART
I had wanted to radically change some things that have been bugging me for a long time. Mostly saturation (by that I mean how pure the color is... IE: solid red) and how it had been dominating the image. I had been using bold lines to counter act that and it had been working well. But dammit if it ain't been bothering me, and I really just wanted a change.
I have learned a lot, and worked a lot this year. So much that it's changed the way I work and do things. I've also been taking more nods from classic illustrators... like H.A. Rey and an old favorite Charles Addams. Plus working with fellow pros helps a lot, especially Zach. He's been the man...
So a quick word about the process - I used a TON of black ink. None of the black is digital - I do that because honestly it makes me feel a bit more accomplished when it's done. Ya gotta want it. The white splatter in the corner was done with ye olde toothbrush flicking technique with white ink. The only thing done digitally is the color. I used an off white - kind of a cream color and a much less saturated blue. Space is always something I've had a love affair with. I stargaze, I watch The Universe on History Channel too much and I'd give up everything to travel into it. But space often feels cold to me, so I chose blue. The white splatter came out looking great as a reflected light source from some unseen star. I ALMOST did a bunch of white dot stars in the background but looking at it now it would have ruined the piece.
I've wanted to also bring back classic magazine illustration and I'm slowly making a little career out of it. I've made some pretty awesome deals out of it for the next year and you'll just have to wait until I can talk more about that in the future.
I've probably blathered on long enough. I just kinda miss using my blog, and I have a huge change coming to it so you won't have to read my rants in long paragraphs... more so in comic format.
God keep ya,
zak
Anyways, stupid music rant aside, I've been finagling with how I do things in my art universe. I've decided I like black again and well... here's the result.
My Space Picture by ~spicypeanut on deviantART
I had wanted to radically change some things that have been bugging me for a long time. Mostly saturation (by that I mean how pure the color is... IE: solid red) and how it had been dominating the image. I had been using bold lines to counter act that and it had been working well. But dammit if it ain't been bothering me, and I really just wanted a change.
I have learned a lot, and worked a lot this year. So much that it's changed the way I work and do things. I've also been taking more nods from classic illustrators... like H.A. Rey and an old favorite Charles Addams. Plus working with fellow pros helps a lot, especially Zach. He's been the man...
So a quick word about the process - I used a TON of black ink. None of the black is digital - I do that because honestly it makes me feel a bit more accomplished when it's done. Ya gotta want it. The white splatter in the corner was done with ye olde toothbrush flicking technique with white ink. The only thing done digitally is the color. I used an off white - kind of a cream color and a much less saturated blue. Space is always something I've had a love affair with. I stargaze, I watch The Universe on History Channel too much and I'd give up everything to travel into it. But space often feels cold to me, so I chose blue. The white splatter came out looking great as a reflected light source from some unseen star. I ALMOST did a bunch of white dot stars in the background but looking at it now it would have ruined the piece.
I've wanted to also bring back classic magazine illustration and I'm slowly making a little career out of it. I've made some pretty awesome deals out of it for the next year and you'll just have to wait until I can talk more about that in the future.
I've probably blathered on long enough. I just kinda miss using my blog, and I have a huge change coming to it so you won't have to read my rants in long paragraphs... more so in comic format.
God keep ya,
zak
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