LadyJudgement

Very nice, my only quip is the bg takes away from him too much, maybe a lighter color and not red, since he's primarily red. All in all nice clean cell shading... I like the highlight on the hip too.

OMG, love the mastermind, and Foxlily is also great... the quotes bring them to life... good stuff!

Will work for food, or as my portly friend would say -

" I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a Hamburger today... " - Wimpy

Send me a screenshot.

Here's what I like when I did do work traditionally:

Borden and Riley Paris Bleedproof Paper For Pens - A great paper, and while not as thick as traditional bristol or vellum, it has a great "white" quality to the page, and not that slightly cream tint some pads have. It also absorbs color beautifully, and is amazing for ink if you use a brush that is...

Marker Sketchbook - I use to use a soft bound sketchbook by Canson, but those are hard to find, and I snatch up 3 or 4 whenever I see them. This example is by Copic who seems to make the leading industry standard right now, while I haven't use it, it does make me salivate...

Sakura .005 Micron Pen - I specified the size, because I really like fine lines for detail and this will do it. The point however on this pen is so delicate you could sneeze and snap the bloody thing off, so if you get one treat it like you have the Ring from Gollum, "the Precioussssss".

Mid-Size Price Range Watercolor Set - the reason I'm not suggesting real watercolors, is because I believe they'd be a lot to handle for a novice. And in fact are a whole other artform and way of thinking than what you would use them for here. You need only look at Graver's Art and know that he has a painter's background and training, and is not your typical doodler.

With a mid-size price range set, you have the benefits of good color that won't run and mud up on you as a cheap set would, and these sets are travel friendly! If you get tubes, then you have to have palettes and various brushes... ugh, it's a process and believe me I know, watercolor is my middle name.

I had a great set no longer made by Pelikan that someone left in a store I use to work in, I gave it to my best friend when he finally wanted to learn to paint, it's lasted both of us nearly 15 years.

Black Magic Ink - The name says it all, use it and you will encompass all the powers of the dark arts, okay maybe not all of them, but you'll get that jet black sheen on your lines, that those other girly man diluted with too much water inks wont' give you!

Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Pointed Round Series 7 - This is the ONLY brush you will ever need. Not only does it make an amazing thin to thick to thin line, it was MADE for watercolor. I'd get both a 0 and #1 and keep them close to your Microns in a chest with a lock.

Without going further, if you don't get yourself a Kneaded Eraser it will be the difference of making art from the stone age vs the current timeline. It's that important, it will improve you that much. Think about it, how much time do you waste erasing, possibly ripping through your paper, or ruining the whole thing because you've smudged it with a broken down pink eraser.

A kneaded will terminate that mistake like the Governator, you won't even believe it was there, they're THAT good!

For pencils, I do like mechanicals (.5mm or .7mm), however watch your leads, the refills come in various degrees of softness.

Here is a great link on Pencil Lead Ranges, read it and then try some at your art store. I've never been partially to harder leads, but they make perfect straight lines, while the softer B leads make darker and more flowing lines. You be the judge, mechanical pencils also have better lead refills, so look for those.

As for sketching, you should always keep a sketchbook, and fill it from corner to corner, back and front, heck I use to doodle on the cover in ball point pen. Sketchbooks are for sketching, NOT finished work, if you can afford to buy sketchbooks just for finished work, then heck I need a grant from you asap, no in fact we all need them!

Get a sketchbook with perforated pages, so you can easily tear them out and either put them on your scanner, or color them better without worrying about the blanks pages under it.

Well I hope that helps... but again these are my personal choices, oh and here's an example of
my older work when I did use all this stuff...

LJ

[ QUOTE ]
Who unchained you all from your desks?!?

More Art, Less Talk!

*cracks whip*



[/ QUOTE ]

yes mistress, right away mistress...

Oh geez, next up is TA's dog, TA's goldfish... can we stop before you draw TA's baby pics... j/k...

Jarwa got me thinking, yes I know a bad habit... but I wanted to clear something up about my posting here.

Originally I just wanted to see some cool comic art, my all time favorite kind. And while I've found that, something about playing this game, and yes the community's verve for it got me to thinking wait why not take up that pencil again and draw what you really love.

For a living I draw very commercial and mundane things, the farthest you can get from this kind of work. So drawing each and every toon that I have, has been a great pleasure for me. An almost guilty pleasure and I am finding this to be one of those journeys where you discover things not only about yourself, but about the work you want to come from within you.

This is very much like reliving my childhood, and teaching myself the kind of art I have always loved, even this late in the game, I think is a worthy goal.

I'm loving this forum, this community, you guys, and each and every new blank page I can fill with muscles, and hot girls in colorful spandex... yup definitely a boyhood dream.

Actually on that note, On Deviant today I've discovered an inordinant amount of young superbly talented girls 15 and above who make me wish I was 15 again. The girls back in the 70s were pretty scary... but their art is amazing, inspiring, and I am stealing every tidbit I can from them and drawing you guys... so wish me luck!

LJ

Crap! Do we have to be humble?!
I was just gonna say you're welcome... well to those I have offended with my work

LJ

okay fixed the head... now for some breakyfastsessss...

Waaay cool, hey I'm "in " Canada, just not from Canada... can I join?

gees I'm old, a day planner was a mini notebook when I was a kid... duh LJ welcome to the nano age. Awesome pages Star, very very funny.

Nice shading TProtector... it's gonna be even better when you finish. Question, do you use a kneaded eraser to pull the highlights out of the dark pencil... I'm only asking cause I found one lying around my house, and it's like the thing knew I was looking for it.

anyhoo excuse the babbling, carry on!

Rob those are great... it's obvious you really like robots, and I meant to say earliar I like the action of the gun blasts in the earliar piece. After I finish "Rox", your toon is next.

gotcha... I'm at that point where I'm too tired to see it... but this is next on my list, will make a note in the moring. question, do you think his head is too small?

Study for Rox skin...

another quick TA ink, very quick... about 5 minutes just for mood.

New Rox ink decide to make him standing and expanded his upper torso and arms for that certain BAM feeling!

LJ

Hey Star, "Windfallen" is on my list, and all this time I didn't know he was yours... can you send me some screens.

... see TA, each one's getting better than the last (hopefully), so by the time I get to you... it will seredipitiously pay off!

LJ

I'm trying out this style myself, if you like the efforts, send me a pm.

Anime Lady Jade
Anime Gravastar

This will be the next piece to be done: Pirate Rose

LJ

Well here you go, no more teasing... send me your email, and I'll send you a humongous mondo file. Hope you like it, I took some liberties with the emblem and the tricep parts of the armor, but over all I like his "mood".

LJ

It's not that I don't want to finish yours, it's just it requires a lot of flatting, to get right... the doodles are all done on 1 layer, so it's kind of like brain farting. Coloring well on the other hand requires concentration... and less board posting

Oh and who you calling a Lady... when I first started posting I put my name up, and everyone ignored it, now I'm stuck in gender confusional posts! I take umbrage sir...

LJ

Thanks, Graver's work has inspired me to choose some other means of coloring... I figure it's worth a doodle as it hits me, anyway, now back to WP before he starts wondering...

LJ

A little something for the Feral Kitty... just some quick blocking in using Painter.

LJ

Another tease... quick color study sans lollipop.

LJ