Retro Movie Poster Inspired Design
The text is still a bit placeholder, but I have the inks just about completed. Some exposition and gushy personal stuff after the jump.
The brief called for a design that could be colored or printed as lineart. I’m happy with the level of detail on this one and can think of a few ways to color it. I’m waiting for client feedback and will post the finished image after that.
Sorry for the infrequency of updates. It’s been a trying couple of months. My dog, Moose, was diagnosed with lung cancer and I am taking him for radiation and chemo. My house was hit by two storms, frying my work iMac (new MacPro, though!) and flooding with 14″ of water. Berlin, one of my other dogs, had an auto-immune disorder crop up (her body is attacking her toenails as if they were a virus and she is sloughing them off, ouch). We lost a cat (well, the vet lost the cat - literally, they let the cat out of their front door while transporting it from place to place) and my wife and I spent the better part of six weeks lying in wait at night with traps and food hoping to get him back to no avail.
So, yeah, the blog has suffered. Between the lack of free time, NDA-laden work, and personal setbacks, I haven’t much felt like blogging. I’m getting back into the swing of things now, though. I have a heap of work on my Flickr account that hasn’t made the voyage to the main blog. Additionally, I added a Twitter update to my sidebar and am trying to frequently update there as well.
Oct 7th, 2008 #
Very cool piece.
Just curious, is that what your pencils usually look like before you start inking?
Oct 7th, 2008 #
Most of the time, yes. Lately, I have been drifting towards greater detail during the penciling stage.
I used to tell myself, “Self, if you pencil too tightly, your inks won’t have spontaneity or fluidity.” And that’s just a lie. Doing tighter pencils means getting more comfortable with the subject. Getting to know the nooks and crannies helps avoid drawing yourself into a corner later. With the added knowledge about the subject at hand, I’ve come to realize that improvisation is easier. Because I know the forms that much better, I can feel more confident during my inks and not feel confined to what came before.
In addition, I’ve been doing studies of the inks before putting down the actual inks. It takes a few extra minutes and makes me feel much more comfortable in the final product. My process has been going something like: Rough pencils, an ink study, second stage pencils, then final inks.
Oct 8th, 2008 #
Sorry to hear about your pets. Keep up the good work!
Oct 10th, 2008 #
Ray,
Sorry about your home situation. My wife and I are pet lovers and can only imaging how you and your wife are feeling. I’ll be praying for you, your wife, and your pets. I once had a dog that was suffering badly from lupus. I know it may sound stupid, or fairytale like, but after a while of prayer, the vet was not able to find any trace of the lupus and she lived for about 10 more years. Keep up the good work, you are inspiring.
Oct 11th, 2008 #
We have animal children as well. I’m sorry you are going through some tough times. We’ve had them too. Hang in there.
So far, I’ve only been a lurker. I recently started following you about a month or two ago. Anyway, I really enjoy your blog. Thanks for sharing. It’s always nice to see another artist and how they work.
(:
Oct 11th, 2008 #
Thanks, Tony.
David, I have a small hope that something unexpected will happen, but that’s probably not healthy. The likely events, based on what all the doctors tell me, is 6-12 months. I’m just glad I get the opportunity to do some fun things with him before he gets too weak and sick.
Lena, I checked out your work. I really dig your paintings! All my kids have four legs too, heh.
Oct 11th, 2008 #
Oh. Fabulous! Great job there Ray!
Oct 11th, 2008 #
Thanks, Jim. The early pencils on the woman’s face were pretty bad. With some tweaking and redrawing it turned out a lot better. I just posted all the finished art in a new post.
Oct 13th, 2008 #
Thanks for the kudos! I appreciate it much. Your line art is just great! I want to improve on mine.
Have you ever checked out Steve Mannion’s “The Bomb”? I just picked it up in the comic store a few days ago and really enjoy his artwork. Seems like you’d like his style.