Digging Up Old Art-Entry 7

Astro Boy

2004...Sega had announced they were releasing an Astro Boy game for the PS2...I own said game...and I LOVE said game. Actually, I'll watch/play/collect anything Astro Boy related...provided I can get my hands on it. I've been an Astro Boy fan for as far back as I can remember...sadly I don't own much more than the game these days. I had planned on buying the animated movie on BluRay, but I never got around to it. I missed out on getting the entire updated anime series on DVD because when I finally got paid, it was out of stock so I ended up just downloading it.

There's nothing special about this picture though. I basically just redrew the pose from the magazine I was reading. The only thing original are the coloring and the effects. Still, it works...I guess. It's Astro Boy, and you can totally tell that's who it is. I've got several other pictures of him as well, more original poses and whatnot, so maybe I'll get around to uploading those later too.

Digging Up Old Art-Entry 6

Rocket Knight Adventures

Be it known that Rocket Knight Adventures by Konami on the Sega Genesis is one of the GREATEST games ever created...sadly my artwork dedicated to that game...not so much. This is from back in 2006 as well, and just like all my other drawing of Sparkster, it falls short of being good.

I could never draw Sparkster, even as a kid. What I was trying to do here was draw him in a way I was used to drawing my own cartoon animals, but it just didn't work. Sure, it's still cartoony, and has at least SOME elements from the game, but the truth is it could be a lot better. Hell, if I ever get the time (now that I have a kid) I might go back and redo this picture to look like...well, a picture. For now, it remains one of the few pieces of fanart I've ever done of the character. If I do a new version, I'll base his look of his most recent appearance from the Rocket Knight game that was released on PS3/360/PC last year...that one looks a lot simpler.

Digging Up Old Art-Entry 5

Cliffjumper

2006 again. More of my trying out a new painting style in Photoshop (version 6 at the time). This picture went through several changes over the past few years. It's also one of the few Trans-formers drawings I've ever posted online. I'm TERRIBLE at drawing machines, and anything with straight lines and perfect curves, i.e., vehicles, mechs, architecture...so I usually avoid it. The only reason I did this was because at the time I was helping some friends out on a game with these characters (doing storyboards and 3D models..though they sucked royally) and I was working on Cliffjumper. You'd think this old G1 style would be easy for me to do, but you're wrong. I think I've drawn maybe 4 or 5 characters from the original series of Trans-formers and NONE of them turned out the way I wanted...well, maybe Optimus turned out ok, but that's about it.

The way I'd go about doing these images was taking my pencils into Photoshop, use the smudge tool like a graphite blender, then paint over them on several layers until I got the effects I wanted. Not rocket science, but if you've never used Photoshop, you'd be lost. I've really only used this style a few times last year and it was for some t-shirt designs...not work for my personal portfolio.

Digging Up Old Art-Entry 4

SLIDERS

This isn't that old actually, but I love it, despite its imperfections. I drew this after rewatching the ENTIRE run of SLIDERS. That show made so much sense to me, that I really believe that everything that happened, and was explained in that show, is truly possible. I would love for someone to make an animate series of SLIDERS, which is where this picture came from. I wanted to see if I could capture the look of Jerry O'Connell (Quinn) and one of the Kromags in cartoon form. I think it turned out ok. It really just makes me wish there was a SLIDERS cartoon on TV...boy would I LOVE to have a chance to work on that...like you wouldn't believe!

Digging Up Old Art-Entry 3

Unknown Soldier

Back in 2006, I started digitally painting directly over my pencil sketches/drawings, for that concept art look all the art snobs were using. I think I was trying to prove to myself that I could draw more than happy, cheery cartoon characters, but still, no matter what I did, things always ended up not dark and serious. This guy looks like he could be a character on the 90's version of G.I. Joe.

I also sucked at drawing guns. Hell, I STILL suck at drawing guns. In fact, I try NOT to draw guns at any cost. I'm not a big fan of them (especially since I've actually had a loaded one pointed at my face by a robber) and they fall into the mechanical drawing category...another one of my weaknesses. I never gave this guy a name, other than Soldier, and no backstory was ever given to him. I also have no idea what happened to the original pencil sketch. Knowing me, I threw it out in a fit of rage after convincing myself that I sucked at art all around. Oh well, such is life.

Digging Up Old Art-Entry 2

Track Lion

Another drawing from my days working at (insert t-shirt company name here) back in 2005. I think this was for some field day t-shirts, and the class mascot was a lion...you know...in Kindergarten when all the classes were represented by some silly animal. I can't remember what I was at that age, but I know my sister was a Giraffe.

Anyway, this uses my usual cel-shading technique that I had been using for years and like all the other shirt designs, the final artwork was a single color print (to save on cost...people were EXTREMELY cheap lol). I'd been drawing cartoon animals for years and years so whenever we'd get a job like this, I usually took the reigns. This may also be one of my most dynamic poses I've ever drawn (a lot of my work is just static poses or some odd perspective). I NEED to draw more people, as that's probably one area I could use more work on.

Digging Up Old Art-Entry 1

Space Turtles

Back in 2005 I worked as an art director/graphic artist for a t-shirt printing company that will remain nameless as I'd like to go on believing they no longer exist after what they did to me, but I digress.

Most of the time I was employed there I designed characters for several Jewish organizations (I'm not sure what all the letters stood for) to use on all the different shirts they'd order. They were never this detailed, as far as colors go, to keep cost down, and at the time, the shop didn't own a direct-to-garment printer. I usually just colored them all this way when we had downtime, for my portfolio. This space turtle is one of my favorites, mainly because I was partially inspired by Mega Man and Sonic when I was drawing him. Another reason I like him is because of the glowing LEDs on his knee caps...something I was constantly doing in my older designs. Anywhere I could fit LEDs, I would. This was also during the time I was experimenting with new painting techniques in Photoshop after my cousin and I had been training ourselves to be better artists.

Sometimes I miss 2005. I was growing as an artist both in my career and skills. I think I've hit the end of the road now, topping off at level 99 or so and I can't get any better. We'll have to see...