Saturday, April 30, 2011

just a taste too


just a taste too, originally uploaded by jahhdog.

More colour clean up and cops added...

just a taste


just a taste, originally uploaded by jahhdog.

Some colour on my girl....

Just A Taste


Just A Taste, originally uploaded by jahhdog.

Friday warm up idea...

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Live the Life You Love...

And Love the Life You Live...





People need to have food, shelter and social interaction to survive.

I think many are going through the motions day to day without enjoying themselves.

We need to stop and prioritize because if we don't, we cease being who we want to be!

Drop the Heavy Bags
!

I am a middle aged man now and I have realized this in my art as well as my life. What we need do is make up for it.



Baggage slows you down in life and in art. We need to purge and in purging you learn about yourself.

That you can get by with less. You will find this is true in life and in art.


My Art Week:

I upgraded to Artrage Studio from Artrage 2.6. It was my treat this week. I didn't go to pro because I didn't see the added need or expense. I started with the pencil tool and liked it.



Then decided to use the colour tools (especially the watercolour brush). The colour tools in this program and the brush tools are the closest I have found to the fluidity of real brushes in a computer program, especially at their decent price.






It's funny, I have put down Manga Ex to concentrate on colour and I like it! But everyone is different, and you can try before you buy. Find the Artrage Studio Pro 30 day demo here

Mini Me:

I'm 6 foot 2 so I'm not that mini, but I have about two months to get my mini comic in and I am delayed. Yes. My friends have said that about me! No. I am drawing. I am actually working on perspective and proportion exercises as I am in need of improvement in this area so the mini will look better!

Others Peoples Art Weeks:

My Internet friend Rene van Belzen has been working on mini comics too. He doesn't just "talk the talk, he walks the walk!" He is one very interesting Dude! (I don't know how to write dude in Dutch) Follow him here at "So Much to Do D"o Little Time!" or on the Twitters @rvbelzen

"We create, so you don't have to!"

Err I mean get out there and create!!!

ArrrOOooo!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Cross Mediums!











Staying Art Fit:

Well, I guess it is easy for the professionals out there who plonk away at it daily for 10 to 12 hours!

For us "mere mortals" who have another job and have to spend 8 or 10 hours there, then come home with other responsibilities, you might find that picking up the pencil, pen or plonking on the keyboard may be troublesome even it it is enjoyable.

When you miss a couple days of it it is had to stay "art fit!"

When I can't get to the table for extended periods of time I supplement my training regimen by listening to art and creation based podcasts and follow other members of my art group. (I never know what to call the members of the Art and Story Supreme group and YES, yes, I know we are called storriors by Jerzy)
I also fall asleep reading process books and carry sketch book with me everywhere and most important, try and draw daily, even it is only 5 minutes ...

What do you creative types do?

My Perspective on the Tim Burton Retrospective:



I went to the Tim Burton exhibit which is in Toronto until April 17th 2011. Burton is a Cal Arts Graduate in animation who started his work in animation at Disney. Then created/directed many films including "Edward Scissor Hands" and some of my favourite animated films "The Nightmare before Christmas" and "The Corpse Bride"



I found it inspiring and interesting. It is cool that he has kept all this stuff all these years and that we are able to follow his evolution. What can I say? I love retrospectives...

I know many artists who have tossed a lot of their stuff or sold it off. Not me. I have given pieces away, given them as gifts and yes even sold a piece or two, I think the coolest thing about the Burton exhibit was reading his notebook pages he had out and seeing all the different projects in all the different medium. I don't feel so bad (spreading myself thin )liking film, TV, animation, comics, writing, etc.

Oh and he had stuff sketched everywhere, old newspapers , on an old desk calendar. At one point after separating at the gallery for a bit my wife and I met up again and she said, "He reminds me of you, drawing, everywhere, on everything." I thought that if that was the only thing Mr. Burton ad I had in common, that was OK!


Burton has shown that it is all right to cross the mediums...

Show ends Sunday!

My Art Week:

More work on my mini comic. More trial with Artrage Studio Pro. 30 day free trial available.

Sample using pencil tools:



Ok art monkeys, go create something (even when you only have 5 minutes)!!!

ArrrOOooo!

Monday, April 4, 2011

This is the Modern World!





Digital or Analog-ue?

Am I a modern man in a modern world? Or am I lazy and illegitimate? All good, legitimate questions when it comes to using digital art programs in the modern age...

I have been mis-using Manga Studio 4 Ex for a few months now. I have yet to come to terms with all the different aspects of the program. You can pencil ink and colour in this program. You can also letter. I tend to find something that works for me and go from there. Maybe not perfect, but functionable. I know that they are just tools and if you can't draw a straight line they aren't gonna do that for you, erm uh wait, yeah, they are, there are rulers, perspective line helpers, line correction settings and lots more tools etc. Ok. Then they aren't gonna teach you how to draw a human body, a tree or anything for that matter! Are they going to compose a proper picture for you! NO. They aren't. That is where art comes in.




NO! Not that Art! (he is annoying)

Art in a design sense. Art through experience. Art through creativity...

Have I mastered any of these? No. And neither of us have to. But we have to want to learn!

And in learning and knowing, that is half the battle!

Tools will always be that. They will fall or fail in the place of experience or lack of it.

Points to ponder...

My Comic Book Reads:
ArrrOOga! ArrrOOga! Jahhdog Guilty Pleasure Alert!!!


Kick Ass 2 Issue 2



I read the second issue of Millar and Romita Jr's Kick Ass Volume 2 and like Kick Ass it is still appealing to me. Millar is one writer whose characters are violent yes but they also come from a place where we all have been or could be. I enjoy Romita's plots and the finishes and colour style are what I love... Serious story? No! Fun? Hell yeah!
4 outta 5 howls!



Artists on Comic Art



A book by Mark Salisbury who interviews influential comic artists from the 80's and 90's . they talk about their process, their schooling and layout ideas etc. An interesting read for those who have any interest in the history of comic artists and/or their process.
3.5 outta 5 howls


My Art Week:

Artrage Studio Pro has fallen under my spell err the other way round. George Ward also known as DungeonWarden on the Twitters is a big proponent of this program and I admit as a free wheeling drawing program I think it is aces! I may have to splurge on this one...

I have spent more time drawing panels for my comic and have an upcoming announcement regarding Jahhdog.com and me...

Thanks for the comments and follows, it heartens me to know that you are out there and that you are journeying along with me for without art in life, there is no life in art...

ArrrOOooo!