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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

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