I was asked to design a tattoo for a client at Carter Ink in exchange for an additional discount on my tattoo, here's what I came up with over the course of about an hour. I was asked to draw it and i cant post that image but you can see the original, everyone said they liked it, it was just too far from the concept and pose that the guy had - and I totally understand that.
Angel Warrioir by ~xaqBazit on deviantART I was influenced by and referenced the following art to design it. I heavily based this design off this painting by Jeffery Jones, an artist I'm growing to love more and more. Other influences include Priest - the manga, and Alphonse Mucha and Kelley jones for the drapery. and its also fairly similar to a sketch I did a while back.
Tattoo Shop Wall Illustrations by ~xaqBazit on deviantART Here's some pictures of what turned out to be "wall illustrations" after I had planned to do a single mural for them. It worked out better this way though, I hope I can get some better pictures soon. I used pencil to draw them out and about 6 black sharpies to finish all 3 (they are just not made for an unsmooth wall) and two white paint sharpies, both water and old based though neither work for whiting out comics AT ALL! They work great for doing highlights on wall illustrations. I didn't get paid but rather exchanged the work for 1/2 off on the tattoos that I'll be getting soon. They all took me about an hour each to finish.
I based the top figure off a sketch I had in an old sketchbook, ghost rider and an old character design from middle school. I drew him on a separate day and decided against going back in with white sharpie even though he was designed to be lit from his mouth.
The middle figure is based a few different characters and illustrations from princess mononoke and some artwork by Marko Djurdjevic, a comic artist, specifically a drawing he did for an RPG and his design for the demons in Thor.
The last figure is based on a couple different mcfarlane action figures (series 22 skullsplitter, series 21 Raven and series 25 hellspawn) Alex Ross' Green Lantern design for Kingdom Come and a poster I have for Olivier Coipel's run on Thor.
I briefly talked tattoos with the guys at the shop and they asked if I had considered interning to become a tattoo artist. It wasn't an invitation (I don't think) but it was an interesting talk. I wouldn't feel at all like my education at SCAD went towards something other than comics, it already has. But as a profession I have considered, very seriously, becoming a tattoo artist. I feel like I will have so much to offer the comic industry in the next few years and yet I feel the same about the tattoo industry. They seemed to have plenty of free time, but they just opened, so I would have time to work on a graphic novel but I wouldn't be able to do a monthly book anymore. For me to get into it though I would have to wait till my fiance got done doing her pastry externship and we would have to save up some cash considering I wouldn't get paid for it for at least 6 months to apprentice - if i could find a place that was looking to apprentice someone. And I know with tattooing that my drawing skills are only half the work, but I feel like they are a sold half, as humbly as I can feel that. It would be a more solid paycheck once I got going but I've been told my skills lay in storytelling and while that would come in handy in tattooing it's more focusing on a single image, like illustration and I feel like my speed advantage would be lost. I may get lazier and rely on reference more as many tattoo artists do and would probably draw less. So much of school has been getting me to draw a bunch and draw accurately, and that I would lose some of those skills the less I drew and that scares me. But it may be a easier more secure lifestyle and in no way less rewarding, and I would still have the option of graphic novel. I don't know, we'll see but its interesting and intriguing to think about.
The whole time i did these i was looking for an iconic image for my band and eventually used this one for a our bumper stickers. Oddly patriotic colors for such dark subject matter. I also wanted to mention I've recently discovered TWLOHA (To Write Love on Her Arms) a non profit group that helps raise money for people who cant afford to pay for rehab etc. I'll be wearing one of their shirts at the show on Tuesday. If you don't know what TWLOHA is you can visit their website here. this turned out to be more of a study of the egon schiele painting "the embrace"
Elephant ink by ~xaqBazit on deviantART i put this one on DA because it was probably the best, but I was afraid of people stealing it too for shirts etc so I put the watermwark on it so hopefully that helps. Also ill be going into to finish my "wall illustrations" for Carter Ink tomorrow and I'll make sure to get some pics up.
ive been looking for some odd jobs etc to help out with money and found a few, some without even looking, and I thought I might tell you all the exciting news.
One guy is opening a straight-edge tattoo shop and wants me to do a mural on one of the walls- he will pay for supplies, food let me hang my art for sale and give me 50% tattoos (which i will take him up on for sure).
Also Tom Lyle, my super-hero mentor, at scad got asked to suggest an artist for Faber Castell (the main supplier of inking supplies like the "pit-pens" that I normally use and the tech-pens most sequential artists use) who was looking at someone to do an original comic page for them for a new "super-hero drawing kit" they are releasing later this year. Lyle suggested me, saying I was one of "the most dynamic main-stream super-hero artist that he's got" as far as camera angles etc. So I have the break (2 1/2 weeks to do a single page comic with an original super-hero that I have to pencil, ink and color it with their stuff and document it at every stage as an instructional guide. They may use the image in other things as well and I will be additionally compensated each time. Did I mention it paid and I also get a $100 faber castell gift certificate. Wow, I'm honored and blown away! My art is going to be seen by up and coming youngsters getting into comics and people in hobby/art stores around the country <--- awesome!
Also, I did some pages for Tom's class that are my best yet and I believe professional quality, AT LAST! So I will be sending out submission packets to Marvel and DC over break so they have my name in mind, for when they come in may for Editor's Day. Here are my breakdowns etc. for those pages. another thing, I actually did the same pages tom did for his submission packet about a year ago (sensational spider-man 34), so with his permission I'll post/link his pages with mine so you all can compare. But overall I think I've finally done some pages that really show my best that I have to offer in every way and I was super ambitious with some of the camera choices and spent about (20-30hrs) = 3 times as much time on them as I have for the last 2 projects. But this quarter, in general, I've spent more time on my pages progressively so I think this has been a long time coming/in the making.
so this is the sketch i gave myself, full page, to layout the splash and then did the following page, the actual tight rough, on the back.
this is pages 3+4 pgs 1+2 this was a in-class assignment, we used lyle's cars to draw the hulk holding one, as dynamic as we could. I did a thumb and liked it so much i took it down to the projector and blew it up and got the one on the left. I liked it. this was some other sketches i did for panels 1+2 on pg.1 and panel 5 on page 3 when i thought about shooting it over the railing of the second story. and a sketch of myself while working on the pages and taking a break, i know i look tired but i was just cold.
