Sarah's Sketches

Two People I Love

2012-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Little Mermaid

2012-01-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a painting in a while, but I actually have been painting a lot since last summer doing freelance concept design. It was fun to sit down to paint this and realize that all that freelance work has upped my confidence when it comes to digital painting. I've done digital paintings that I've liked in the past, but I always felt that they were 20% deliberate design and 80% unpredictable blind luck. I felt entirely in control painting this. It's so nice to be at that point.

Two revelations that have helped me paint better...

The first: Chop the painting into a few (but not too many) logical layers. In this case, I worked with half of Ariel's hair on the top layer, her face and body on the middle layer and the rest of her hair on the bottom layer.

The second: This one might be a little more complicated to explain. But here goes... and I stole this theory in part from someone at DNA Studios, but I can't remember who now. I'm sorry!

Think about the world in terms of shape, flat color (which can also mean various shades of black and white in something monochromatic) and volume (shading within a shape to make it seem more three-dimensional). Then make two of those elements more pronounced than the third. In this case, I'm focusing on shape and color. I've kept my shading to a minimum.

It would be so fun to see a remake of some of Disney's classically animated films. I know, gasp, hand to heart. But hear me out... I adore classical animation and the original films are of course beautiful and breathtaking, however, we all love seeing a beloved story retold in a new way. Who doesn't like going to see another Batman movie? :)

Page One Redo

2011-12-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Sarah, quit reposting things.

But wait, it IS different than the original version and since it took me so darn long, it gets it's own special post.

I plan to redo page two as well, so everything matches, but I'll finish page five -- a new page -- first, which will wrap up this opening scene.

Page Four

2011-12-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

Page four! This sequence will wrap up with the next page and then I'll announce a title, set up a webpage and all that.

If the girl's dialogue seems random up there at the top of the page, remember this page follows page three. And if you are stopping by for the first time, here also are pages one and two.

Buttercup and Westley

2011-12-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

For Toonclub's Favorite Stories topic.

I'd love to add some kind of background to this, I'd also love to draw the rest of the cast. If you haven't read the book, you should. And if you've tried to read the book and gotten bogged down in the introduction part, I say skip it. It is kind of boring. But the book is just as much fun as the film, if not more.

Page Three Again

2011-12-09T12:59:00.001-08:00

Page Three, take two.

As eager as I am to get rolling with this story, I want to make sure I commit to a look that I'll be happy with when I'm knee deep in pages. I also want to find a way to do this comic that doesn't take too long, because I work on it in my spare time.

This page is digitally inked and I've redone my colors, which I think look less muddy than my previous version. I've also made some changes to the drawing, such as I made the girl's hair more disheveled and I removed the man's mask.

If you want to compare the two page threes, the first version of page three is here.

Once I finish posting all five pages in the opening sequence, I'll announce the story title, set up an online archive of the pages and all that. Thank you for following along and being so supportive. :)

Small Design Change

2011-12-07T13:54:00.001-08:00

A quick redesign for my blind character. I think he'll be more expressive with visible eyes and eyebrows. I also like his hair silhouette better this way.

Page Three

2011-12-05T14:00:00.001-08:00

Page three! Did anyone notice the bat in the last page? Maybe not. He was pretty little.

I mentioned in my last post that this page would be digitally inked, but at the last minute I stuck with what I'd already done by hand. I'm still a little undecided on exactly how I'm going to do this comic. For new readers, here is page one and page two.

Baby Night Fury

2011-11-30T22:17:00.001-08:00

So my daughter is sick and she has been watching the new "How to Train your Dragon" Christmas special. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen it, because it's pretty charming, but by three-year-old logic there is a reasonable expectation that at the end of the film you might see a baby night fury dragon. And you don't. So to cheer my little lady up, I told her I'd draw her one. :)

Also, this is a bit of a test for me inking-wise. Thanks to Josh Ulrich of Jackie Rose awesomeness for the heads up, I got a very cheap copy of Manga Studio during the Black Friday deals on Amazon and am now trying to figure it out. I'm a pretty nervous inker with real ink, but I love the look of it and really want to ink the new comic. So far, I have to admit, I'm pretty in love with this program. You will get to see more of my MS dabbling when I post page three of the new comic...

Page Two

2011-11-26T19:26:00.001-08:00

All systems go! Well, almost. I'm still waiting on a cable to connect my Cintiq to my new computer, but other than that, get ready for some comic pages! If you are just stopping by for the first time, I don't have a webpage set up for this story yet, but you can find page one here.

Panel One of Page Two

2011-11-18T12:08:00.001-08:00

Page two is complete, but since my computer died this week I'm unable to post the whole thing. In the meantime, here is the first panel of page two. :)

My husband and I were talking about story this morning and it got me thinking about why I believe story structure is so important.

To me, story structure is like a puzzle. There are no set in stone rules, but like a puzzle, every piece should fit into the overall image. And when you have your puzzle assembled correctly, you should be able to look at all the little pieces and have that "Ah! So that's why that needed to go there," feeling.

Thank you for your patience. I hope to have new pages up soon.

Page One

2011-11-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

Here is page one of my new graphic novel. I'll share the title after I post this opening scene. It's not called 'Blue'.

I'll post the first few pages here on the blog, and when I post the title page, I'll set up an archive on my website.

I will try to post new pages as often as I can, but since I'm juggling several projects, not to mention being a stay-at-home mom, I'm not going to commit to a weekly post. However, I do hope to post new pages regularly and will do my best to update twitter, facebook and google plus when I post to make it easier to read along. If there is interest in a mailing list, I'll set that up too.

Happy reading! Or... well... maybe unhappy reading... you don't know what sort of story this is yet. :)

More Character Designs

2011-10-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here are more character designs for my new graphic novel. My outline/script is written as of last Thursday, and once I nail down two more important character designs and sketch a couple of pivotal locations, I'm going to start drawing pages and posting them here. Exciting!

I want to keep what the story is about and even the title a secret until I begin posting, but I will let on that the female designs I posted last week, as well as the first two girls in this post, are sisters.

New Story

2011-10-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Sharing the Wellington Division was more fun than I expected and now that it's done, I wish I had another graphic novel to post. ...So I'm writing one. :) I've been thinking about this particular story idea for about a year, and unlike the Wellington Division, which was already complete when I began to share it, this comic will be posted page by page.

I'm still polishing my outline/script, but in the meantime, here are a few character designs. There are several female characters in the story, and they need to look very different from one another.

Thank you to everyone who has commented about the Wellington Division. I really appreciate all the feedback. I hoped to respond to every comment personally, and still plan to. Thank you for your patience. And thanks for making your way through all seven-hundred and sixty pages!

After I posted the last sequence of the Wellington Division, my family and I took a trip to see extended family in Canada. While we were there, I dug through old boxes of artwork and unearthed early Wellington Division character designs, as well as a map of Daklore. I'll share them soon, but be prepared, it's ten year old artwork and probably deserves to be hidden in a box. :)

The Wellington Division - The End

2011-10-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

The final scene of the Wellington Division is now up.

It's bittersweet to post this last sequence. I've come to really enjoy posting the Wellington Division week by week. It's been such an interactive, interesting way to tell a story. Thank you to everyone who has been reading along. And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment or let me know their thoughts about the characters in an e-mail.

So long Tearse, Jase, Elsie and Tyler.

Painted Jackalope

2011-09-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mild mannered rabbit by day, avenging Jackalope by night!

This is a birthday present for one of my nephews. You can find the original drawing in this old post.

The Wellington Division - The One

2011-09-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

The second to last sequence of my graphic novel is now up.

The Wellington Division - Villain

2011-09-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

New comic pages are up... Just a short scene this week.

The Wellington Division - Turae

2011-09-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

New pages are up. Thank you to everyone who has been leaving such interesting comments. It's really fascinating to hear other people's thoughts about the story and the characters.

The Wellington Division - Jase and Yelrah

2011-09-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

New pages are up. Thank you for your patience. I was out of town yesterday and had no way to post this.

Yelrah is one of my favorite characters, but I suppose you wouldn't think so considering her story, particularly this week. Only a handful of sequences to go. Next week's sequence has a huge plot revelation.

Chop!

2011-09-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

This is a sketch of a character from a story I wrote a few years ago and am about to start editing. She not supposed to be Nordic, though, so I think I'll have to loose the helm.

Also, the next Wellington Division sequence will post Tuesday, rather than Monday. I have a busy weekend coming up. :)

The Wellington Division - Fire

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

New pages are up. Five sequences to go!

The Wellington Division - Things Get Worse

2011-08-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

New pages are up! Another battle, maybe the last. Meanwhile, Tearse makes a few discoveries.

Goth Girl Animation by Jennifer Vu!

2011-08-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

So the very talented Jennifer Vu did this awesome walk cycle of my goth girl! So cool!

To see more of Jennifer's super charming design and illustration work, be sure to check out her blog and deviant art page. :)

The Wellington Division - Unfortunate

2011-08-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

New pages. Battle's won, but things never go as planned for Yelrah.

The Wellington Division - Nessa

2011-08-08T21:33:00.000-07:00

And done! Thank you to everyone who voted for who I should draw. For those of you who may not know who Nessa is, or perhaps have forgotten her (she's only in the comic for a short while) she first appears in the Wellington Division in this sequence. She's a sweet, sometimes petulant, stubbornly nude mermaid, and is one of several characters who befriend Tyler in Emperor Viperal's private museum.

Since I've drawn my share of mermaids, I wanted to do something different with Nessa. I thought with all her flowing hair, it would be interesting to attempt something Mucha-esque.

I would like to draw one of the male WD characters next (because I've been drawing so many girls lately), but again, I'd love your input and will draw whichever character has the most votes. So please let me know which boy, or guy, or man, or evil villain (or talking dog?) you would most like to see. :)

The Wellington Division - Those Southern Sprites

2011-08-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

New pages are up!

This is one of those sequences I would have loved to have properly finished. There is so much going on in these roughs, finished art would have clarified the action better. If you find page 648 confusing, it is meant to be looking over the character's shoulders, down into the valley below - the reverse of the last panel on page 647.

The Wellington Division - Haylin

2011-07-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

New pages up! Tearse should probably stop leaving Elsie alone on the island.

The Wellington Division - Final Book

2011-07-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

New pages are up, beginning Book Six, the last book of the Wellington Division. It's exciting to think I'll soon be posting the end of the story. :)

Hula

2011-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week and my Nessa pin-up art isn't done yet. I've been carrying it around with me as I play with the kiddos, penciling as I go. It has narrowly avoided splatters of milk, and the embellishments of an eager one-year-old artist.

But since I like to post something in-between graphic novel posts, here's a little painting. :)

The Wellington Division - Challa

2011-07-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

The final sequence of Book Five: Mistakes is now up. Only one more book to go!

Thank you everyone who offered suggestions as to which Wellington Division character should have a pin-up drawing. There is some Nessa art in the works... :)

Interview!

2011-07-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

My very talented writer friend, Kara Ashley Dey was kind enough to interview me about my art and storytelling as a part of her ongoing "Spells of Artistry" series. You can read the interview here!

Be sure to also check out Kara's other fascinating interviews, featuring two artists I admire, Deanna Molinaro and Audrey Knight, and as well as the accomplished musician, Hollan Holmes.

The Wellington Division - Rescue Attempt

2011-07-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

New pages are up! And next week's post will complete Book Five!

Since the majority of these pages are roughs, I was thinking it would be fun to do more polished illustrations of the Wellington Division characters. I'd love some input as to who to draw first. Whatever character (and I don't care how random) that has the most nominations by, let's say, Wednesday, will be the subject of a fancy pin-up. :)

Bird Swing

2011-07-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a color page for Extraordinary.

Also, I just realized how nice the blog templates are now, so I fancied up my blog a bit. :)

The Wellington Division - Unwelcome

2011-07-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

New pages are up! Checking in with Jase and his ladies.

Yesterday

2011-06-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

Me

2011-06-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd do a new profile picture, but I didn't like how it looked tiny (profile size), so I'm going to keep the old one.

The Wellington Division - Tearse and Viperal

2011-06-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

New Wellington Division pages! If anyone is curious, the painting Tearse is looking at on page 551 is of his island.

Cleo in SPAAAACE!

2011-06-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here's my pin-up for Mike Maihack's new Cleo in Space book. If you are new to Cleo, you can read Mike's awesome comic here.

The Wellington Division - Forest

2011-06-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

New Wellington Division pages are up. :)

Girls

2011-06-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of random drawing lately, just trying to spend more time with my sketchbook in hand. Today these ladies appeared.

The Wellington Division - Unmotivated

2011-06-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

New Wellington Division pages! Just a handful this time.

Some hackers saved over my homepages a few days ago. If you had browser warnings, never fear, my entire FTP site has been wiped and re-uploaded.

The Jackelope

2011-06-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Because the rabbits in my neighborhood need better protection. I'd also like to give a certain little Canadian some just-for-him artwork. If anyone who knows that little Canadian sees this, shh. This will be colored in some way or another soon.

The Wellington Division - The Best Laid Schemes

2011-06-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

New Wellington Division sequence. Twenty-four pages this week. :)

The Wellington Division - Intruder

2011-05-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

New Wellington Division sequence. The story gets progressively darker from here on out, but this scene is particularly grim.

And not to throw out spoilers, but not every character lives to see the end of the Wellington Division. Yet somehow this creep does!

Also, Brian Gardes at Stumptown Trade Review gave the Wellington Division a really cool review. Hurrah! :)

Girl in Sari

2011-05-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

Testing some painting techniques. If I were to spend more time on this, I'd give her a few more necklaces.

The Wellington Division - Mistakes

2011-05-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

A new sequence of the Wellington Division is now up, beginning book five.

Yule Ball Hermione

2011-05-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

I'm rereading the fourth Harry Potter book. I love the Yule Ball scene. In it, Hermione wears floaty, girly dress robes, rather than a dress. I thought it might be fun to draw them. :)

Kyte!!!

2011-05-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

So here's an awesome illustration of Kyte by the super talented Sarah Schanze! Thank you so much, Sarah! Sarah has a really cool vikingtastic web-comic that you should all check out too... Thistil Mistil Kistil.

And as I mentioned in my last post, my family is visiting, so the Wellington Division will continue May 23rd. Happy Mothers Day to all you other moms out there! :)

The Wellington Division - End of Book Four

2011-04-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the conclusion to book four.

The next Wellington Division update will be Monday, May 23rd. My family is coming to visit for a few weeks. :)

Goldilocks!

2011-04-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

So, who is this little girl who wanders through the woods breaking into houses?

I tried something new with the colors here, using more flat shapes and layers. :)

The Wellington Division - The One... Maybe

2011-04-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

New comic roughs up. Only six pages, a little scene. But its probably a good thing, because its been a crazy week.

So I guess some of my work has recently appeared on stumbleupon, and I've received a whole bunch of thoughtful emails. If you sent me one of those emails and I haven't replied to it yet, please know it's just been unusually busy here, and I really really appreciate the kind words. It makes my day to know people are reading my stories and enjoying them. Also, thank you to whoever stumbled on me in the first place. :)

The Wellington Division - Sequence 34

2011-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

More roughs! Back to Tearse with a hodge-podge of little scenes. If you are stopping by for the first time, the beginning of the story can be found here.

Dinosaur! Rarrrgh!

2011-04-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

One of the drawing suggestions!

Mother Gothel

2011-04-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

*Edit
I originally posted some thoughts here about balancing kids and career.

I meant what I wrote, but I wasn't sure I was comfortable with something so close to my heart lingering in my blog archives, or worse, popping up on random Mother Gothel image searches forever and ever. :)

But if you read it earlier and left me one of the kind comments, thank you.

The Wellington Division - Food, Fighting and Fancy Clothes

2011-04-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

Here is sequence 33. I guess it's not okay to say you like your own writing -- but I like this part. :)

While working on the Wellington Division I gave myself two rules: no traditional comic boxes and no narration, unless one character is telling a story to another.

I hoped with careful composition, deliberate use of values and mindful placement of dialog, I'd be able to clearly guide the eye around each page. We don't see the world in little boxes, so I thought it would be interesting to approach a comic that way too.

The second rule, the no narration rule, is the one that tripped me up length-wise (although I still am glad I did it!) I wanted the story to, as much as possible, unfold scene by scene.

Thank you, also, to everyone who commented on my last post and gave such great suggestions.

Mittens the Gnome

2011-03-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

I love drawing cute and girly things. But the truth is, when I get that rare fifteen minutes of drawing time between changing diapers and building block towers, I draw cute and girly things because I am sleepy and they are my go-to, no-reference-needed subject matter.

Does anyone out there have an interesting character design suggestion? Something that I might not usually draw?

The Wellington Division - Mine

2011-03-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Twenty-four pages! (And next week there will be thirty!)

When I look at my rough artwork, I often want to re-draw, re-pose and re-frame everything. However I still like page 387 -- which just goes to show, it's probably not a good idea to upset a bunch of people holding pickaxes. :)

If this is your first time stopping by, the beginning of the story can be found here.

Cowgirl

2011-03-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe I've been living in Texas too long.

This texture is also from Lost and Taken.

The Wellington Division - Part Four - Rebellion

2011-03-22T00:12:00.000-07:00

Part four begins!

Also, I forgot to mention in my last post that I now have a twitter account for all things art and story related.

Happy Birthday Little Love

2011-03-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was unexpectedly crazy with illness in our house, and I wasn't able to put the finishing touches on this week's sequence of the Wellington Division.

All is better now and I hope to post the sequence later today or tomorrow, but in the meantime here's a drawing of a certain baby who is about to turn one. Yes, his cheeks are really that big.

I spent one summer in college drawing caricatures at a theme park and they often looked a little like this.

Fox

2011-03-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

The Wellington Division - Halfway!

2011-03-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sequence 30 is up. Book Three: Slaves, is now complete, which means I'm halfway through posting my graphic novel roughs. Yay! If you are stopping by the blog for the first time and would like to follow along, the beginning of the story can be found here.

I thought this scene when Tyler finds Dennilth would be easy to paint, but I didn't consider what a pain bars are. Thank goodness for layers.

Green

2011-03-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

More digital inking! I found the textures here. Click on her for a much bigger image.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 29

2011-03-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

New roughs! Also, here's my first stab at digital inking, inspired by Tony Cliff's great post on the subject. I'm pretty pleased with it. I have long loved the idea of digital inking... no more scanning and laboriously piecing together images, no more fighting to get rid of all that grey paper texture while retaining fine image detail, and best of all, being able to ink in a forgivable, erasable way.

As I continue to post roughs, I hope I can find the time to paint more individual panels. Working on this one was fun. I'd never thought about how sunburned/tanned Jase would be at this point in the story before.

Here's the original panel.

Ooo Vampire! Also, the Wellington Division - Sequence 28

2011-02-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

I know, the blog needs more color. I'm working on it! I drew this listening to Janelle Monae's awesome song Come Alive. If I didn't have small kiddos and could blare songs in the car more often, that song is what I'd blare.

So I'm super excited because I just realized that one of my art heroes, Alessandro Barbucci, linked me on his blog! Yay!!!!!! That's right, SIX exclamation marks and I mean every single one. If you don't know Alessandro Barbucci's fantastic art, start here.

And of course, here are the roughs for sequence 28 of the Wellington Division! It's another biggie, catching up with Tearse and Elsie...

The Wellington Division - The Museum

2011-02-21T00:04:00.000-08:00

Here are the roughs for sequence 27 and it's a biggie - twenty-four pages. Tyler reappears after being taken from the asylum by the Emperor at the end of part two.

Dragons and Kitty-Dragons

2011-02-14T22:32:00.001-08:00

My daughter is obsessed with all things dragon at the moment; she's a sister dragon, we're parent dragons, our cats are kitty-dragons, she wants to go dragon riding, etc.

It was really fun imagining our cats as kitty-dragons, I was also inspired by Craig Phillip's charming Catwings illustrations.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 26

2011-02-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

Here's sequence 26. Just a few pages this week. Anyone need a slave who can use a hand flail and shear sheep?

The Wellington Division - Tiger!

2011-02-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

Sequence 25 roughs! This is the first of a few long sequences in book three. Kyte reappears here too, the character who got this whole story rolling way back in sequence 1.

I'm pretty fond of Kyte. I think every writer has a story that has been in various stages of development for years and years. The Wellington Division is mine. In a very early draft, when it was a children's book and not a comic, he was a tiny fairy-type creature.

After my first year of college, I had a summer job drawing caricatures at a theme park. Occasionally I'd help carve letters into rings at another booth. I still have a silver Kyte ring I made. It fits my wedding ring finger best, so I don't often wear it, but it's right up there as one of my favorite pieces of jewelery.

Thor

2011-02-03T14:05:00.001-08:00

Here's that Thor art I mentioned a few posts back. I've been meaning to paint it (or at the very least scan it) for months. I'm glad I haven't accidentally spilled a cup of tea on it in the meantime.

My first idea, I liked, but I wanted to see more of his face, so I went with this.

The Wellington Division - Book Three - Slaves

2011-01-30T13:39:00.001-08:00

And on to Book Three! Here are the roughs for sequence 24, in which we find out what happened to Jase after losing this rumble.

The Wellington Division - End of Book Two and Thor!

2011-01-23T10:59:00.000-08:00

Here is the conclusion of book two. This sequence also has the second appearance of the Wellington Division's big bad, Viperal, ooo...

Book three has fewer, longer sequences; seven compared to this book's thirteen. That means more formatting work for me, but I look forward to posting larger chunks of story each week. Hurrah!

Also, here's a sketchy painting of Thor! Thortastic! This is a discarded concept for Thor art I have in the works. Stay tuned for more Nordic goodness.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 22

2011-01-16T23:56:00.000-08:00

New roughs! Elsie shouldn't fall asleep around strangers... especially morally ambiguous ones.

Next week I'll be posting the end of book two! Hurrah!

I also polished this painting of E and L and updated my post. If you are curious, here is the original version.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 21

2011-01-09T20:29:00.001-08:00

New comic roughs up: Tyler makes some buddies in the asylum.

E and L Painted

2011-01-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here are these two with some color. Click on the image for a bigger version.

The Wellington Division - Fight!

2011-01-02T18:23:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! Here are more graphic novel roughs. This confrontation between Jase and Tearse would be so much fun to pencil and paint.

E and L

2010-12-30T12:18:00.000-08:00

One last post for the year. These two are from a story I've been writing.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 19!

2010-12-27T19:31:00.001-08:00

Hey it's still Monday, right? I'm losing track of what day of the week it is. I love that about the holidays.

Anyway, here are more comic roughs! For those of you who have been reading along, I'm pretty fond of this scene. Next week's is really fun too.

Happy last remnants of 2010!

Christmas Book 2010

2010-12-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Last year, I wrote a story for my daughter as a Christmas present. I thought it would be fun to do the same thing this year. I even managed to paint a handful of pages (above) before the Christmas rush got the better of me. You can read a full size version here.

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Swing and Sequence 18

2010-12-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a preview of something I've been working on for the past week or so (and am still working on.) More will be coming soon. And also, here is sequence 18 of The Wellington Division!

The Wellington Division - Sequence 17

2010-12-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

New sequence is up! Back to the asylum...

The Wellington Division - Sequence 16

2010-12-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

More story. Elsie is so patient.

Trip

2010-12-03T09:40:00.001-08:00

Laura puts it best.

Pointy Ears and Fancy Beards.

2010-11-21T21:41:00.001-08:00

No comic post this week as I just finished packing for a trip and now I am too sleepy/delirious to organize htmls. Instead, here are designs for the sprite crew from last week's sequence 15.

You can click on either image for a slightly bigger version of the whole line-up.

I'll be back in December. :)

Brownie and Dragon

2010-11-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

It was nice today to have a drawing already scanned and ready for a bit of paint.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 15

2010-11-14T20:05:00.001-08:00

More comic roughs! Eraser bits and all. :)

Pippi Longstocking Sequel

2010-11-09T21:05:00.001-08:00

So thanks to the new stats on blogger, I discovered that for a long while this old Pippi Longstocking drawing was my top post. I suspected it was a result of Halloween costume google image searching, and since now in November, Pippi is abandoned, I guess that was true. But it all made me think of how much I love Pippi and drawing Pippi twice has to be better than drawing Pippi once.

Anyway, so here is Pippi again. I suppose this is for all of you Pippi's-to-be in 2011.

Wellington Division - Sequence 14

2010-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

This one's just another little Tearse/Tyler sequence. It's so teeny, I nearly tacked it onto last week's.

At the end of this sequence there is a reveal of a building and let me just say, the design of it is wrong wrong wrong. I did put some thought into location designs in these roughs, but in general, I pretty much went with the first thing that popped into my head and was more interested in staging/story- thinking I'd fix designs that needed fixing when I did final art. So when you see that building, ignore the lame fairy-tale castle look of it. Instead, think intimidating, cold, fortress-type place. Tyler should be scared!

Ink Wash

2010-11-03T19:24:00.001-07:00

It was fun using real ink and paints again, testing out a look. Cold press watercolor paper makes for some woogly lines though... I'll try hot press next time.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 13

2010-10-31T20:52:00.001-07:00

Sequence Thirteen! Tearse has a heartwarming chat with his lovable old Dad.

So Google Reader is awesome. Shame on me for never bothering to figure it out before now. I spent the kid's nap time last Thursday adding all the wonderful blogs I am inspired by but hardly ever have the chance to check, and now all I have to do is open Google Reader! Hooray!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. My little frog and cat-princess did. :)

Big Pirate and Little Pirate

2010-10-26T12:41:00.001-07:00

My daughter wanted to be in the drawing too. :)

Sequence 12!

2010-10-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

More graphic novel roughs!

Almost didn't post this tonight. We were busy moving furniture around the house all day and had both computers unplugged.

The Wellington Division - Sequence 11 is up!

2010-10-17T20:24:00.001-07:00

Sequence 11; In which Tearse decides what to do with (translation; how to get rid of) the smallest island intruder.

Fish!

2010-10-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

I tweaked the anthology links on my stories page. I have now posted my Fish story from Fablewood in it's entirety! The Flight stories also now link to the preview pages of those stories on Flight's website and I've put up two preview pages for Above, a story found in the yet-to-be (but soon will be!) released Parable anthology.

I don't intend to do Fablewood a disservice by posting my whole story. So please go check out this really great anthology of short stories. You can find it here on Amazon.

Also! After some thought about the logistics of posting my Wellington Division roughs, I've decided I'll post a new sequence (usually about seven-ten pages) every Monday. If you've read the story so far and you find it somewhat charming, and you are often bored on Mondays, and you have friends that might also find it somewhat charming and be bored on Mondays, spread the word! :)

THE WELLINGTON DIVISION!!!

2010-10-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

I know, all caps and so many exclamation marks. It's like I'm yelling at you. But I am! Because hurrah! A shiny new blog design! And a shiny new website design!

And best of all, I've decided to share the entire complete sketched version of my six part graphic novel, with the bonus of thirty painted pages! As of now, book one of the Wellington Division is up! The other five volumes are ready to roll, it's just a matter of building the web pages and replacing my illegible handwritten text with fonts.

I've never hosted something so massive, so hopefully this will not crash my site. If it does, bear with me and I'll figure something out.

I would love to finish the final art for the Wellington Division, (there are so many sequences I was looking forward to painting...) But right now is not the time and it makes me happy to share the story, rather than shelve it. :)

Please note that along with the new website, I also have a new e-mail address.

Apricot Pop!

2010-10-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, one of my daughter's favorite things to say was "apricot pop" and so here is a drawing of apricot pop, whatever that might be.

Also, the exciting something I mentioned a few posts back is nearly ready.

Robin Hood and Maid Marian

2010-10-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

More forgotten art! These two were drawn this year. I never posted them because I planned to paint them and then was distracted by other projects.

Forgotten

2010-10-04T20:07:00.001-07:00

So I was going through some old files from last year and found this painting. I hardly remember painting her and I don't remember why I didn't post her. Maybe I didn't post her because she's unfinished and I thought I'd go back and finish her sometime. Or maybe I didn't post her because she kind of has a crazy eye. Anyway, nuts to finishing things and nuts to crazy eyes, I'm posting her now!

And the exciting something for the blog/website is still in the works...

Me!

2010-09-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Something EXCITING is coming to my website and blog... So exciting it kept me up all Friday night thinking about how I was going to pull it off. Might be a few more weeks out, but stay tuned.

Yay!