First Digital Painting

Alright, it has been waaaay to long since i had a post. I've been working on several projects and the normal chaos of life so I have neglected my little blog here.

I'm taking a digital painting class at www.schoolism.com with the very talented Bobby Chui. This guy is amazing. His paintings look like they are going to jump right off the screen. I'm loving the class. I haven't done too well on my homework assignments (just like high school all over again) but I'm learning a ton. If you have ever wanted to learn digital painting, check it out. I've only had two classes and I'm blown away by how good they are. I highly recomend it.

This is my first crack at my own digital painting. I am working with my buddy Rob Gervais to develop an album cover for a band called INDUSTRY (Check out www.myspace.com/industry1 ) very cool band.

So long story short, I figured I would test out my new skills while I worked on the album cover. This is my first crack at it. Here is the original sketch and first layer of colors that led to the final image.

I'm pretty happy with it since it is my first crack at this digital thing. Let me know what you think. You can see more of Bobby Chui's stuff at http://www.imaginismstudios.blogspot.com/

Later,

Joe

"Seeds" Update

I did some work on "Seeds of Change" while I was in LA. I was playing around with some new pencils and pens while I was working on some images for my page layouts. Let me know what you think. I'm getting closer to doing the final layouts and laying down the ink.

Hope ya like em!

Later,
Joe

Air plane Sketches

Just got back from training in LA for my new job. It has been pretty face paced over the last few weeks. So I welcomed some down time on the plane back to do some sketches.

Here are a few sketches from one of my projects I'm hoping to start ramping up in January. I need to finish Rocco and Joey and the "Seeds of Change" project I am working on. I love these characters I can't wait to tell the story. I came up with the story two years ago and have been writing and laying out the story line when I get a chance. I have a ton of the characters sketched out, but here are three of the main characters, Togg, Tugg and Turk. Hope you like them.

Later,

Joe

Summer Fun

Here is a video my wife put together from a family trip we took to Idlewild. Idlewild is a kids park in Legionare PA. We had a blast, the kids were hilarious. We just wished we didn't pick the hottest day of the summer.
Later,
Joe

Sneak Peek

Here is a little sneak peek from some of the pages I have been working on for my children's book. They are just little snap shots from a few of the pages. Not the full image. Let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

I really need to go to start going to bed earlier.

Conan

Well I've been out of commission for awhile. At least as far as posting goes. Life got a little crazy. I just started a new job and it's been a bit of a whirl wind. I'm so excited about the opportunity and have been busting my but to get up and running. It was really hard to leave my former employer. I had been there for 9 years, met my wife there and made a lot of great friends. (To all of you good luck, I wish you all the best, and I'll truly miss you.)

Well back to the artwork. I've been plugging away on page layouts for "Seeds" and finishing some pages for my Children's book.

I did this one on the plane on the way out to LA for work.This is a sketch I did for a buddy of mine Jerry. His dog Conan passed recently and he wants to get a tattoo of him as a Gargoyle. This is my first run at the project. I have a few other images I'm working on for it. My scanner is too small to fit the wings in post. I need to get an outline of Jer's ribs to really get the wings the way I want them. I'll post some more of the images when I finish them up. Hopefully I can get pic of Jer's final tattoo to post as well. Hope you like it.

Later,

Joe

I Love Vacation!!!!!!

(my wife took these amazing pics of our kids. She's an incredibly talented photographer)

Every year we take a family vacation to the Outerbanks. We go with my wife's family. My in-laws are awesome and we have a blast. My father in-law makes the whole thing happen. My wife's two sisters and brother come down with their kids. Ten adults and eight kids in one house, it's crazy, but it's the perfect vacation.

We had so much fun! The kids where amazing and my wife and I can't believe how fast it went. I actually proposed to with on my first trip down to OBX about six years ago, so the place is really special to me. Hope you like the pics.

Later,

Joe

Terrible Yellow Eyes

I'm not sure how many people are familiar with Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. It was one of my favorite books as a kid. I was fascinated and terrified all at once. I recently came across a website to it call http://www.terribleyelloweyes.com/ The site was set up by an amazing artist Cory Godbey. Every week different artists contribute their work based around Maurice Sendaks masterpiece. I have no affiliation to the site, it just think it is an amazing collection of some truly talented artists. Definitely worth checking out. Especially if you love the book as much as I do.

These sketches I did where inspired by Cory's site and Mr. Sendaks amazing book. I love doing this kind of stuff and the monster I picked is my favorite one from the story. The first image is colored pencil and the second I is a rough ball point pen sketch I did while I was on the phone.

Check out the site you will be happy you did. Hope you like it.

Later

Joe

Here are some more rough sketches for the "Seeds of Change" project I am working on with Rob Gervais. I'm still working on page layouts and character concepts. Rob is starting to write more of the story. I can't wait to get some final pages and to read the rest of the story.

These images are rough sketches. I haven't put in too much detail and probably won't until I do the final images. I'm working with a short clock, I need to find a way to create more hours in the day. I'm still trying to figure out how to draw women. I'm still playing around with how I want her to look. I have a ways to go, but I'm getting there.

I'll keep ya posted. Hope you like the sketches, and let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

More Seeds

Here are some character concept sketches I did for "Seeds of Change" my summer project with writer Rob Gervais.

They are not specific to the script, I just started to doodle and this is what popped out of my head. I have a hard time drawing women so I thought I'd practice a little. Hope you like them, let me know what you think. Later.
Joe

Change is Coming

If you checked out any of the post on Industry I eluded to working with a talented writer in San Diego. Well Rob Gervais has so kindly asked me to work on another project with him. Rob wrote an incredible story called "THE SEEDS OF CHANGE". He decided to do the project in a comic format and submit it online.

Not only am I flattered that he asked me to do the art work, but I am so fired up to get started on it. The story is such a cool concept. Rob truly has some serious talent and I can't wait to see where it takes him. I'm just happy to be along for the ride on this project. This is my summer project, so I hope to have everything completed by the end of the summer. I'll keep you posted with monthly updates.

In the mean time here are some of the early concepts. Let me know what you think. Later.

Joe

More Industry

Ok are you guys sick of me posting these yet? This will be the last of the Industry posts for awhile. Rob, the writer I'm working with had a few last minute ideas, so I quickly threw these sketches together over the weekend. These are reeeeaaaallly rough sketches. I didn't have much time. My weekends are happily consumed with my wife and kids. So I was pretty beat and couldn't hack the late nights this weekend. I must be getting old. Hope you like them, let me know what you think. Take care.

Joe

Industry Update

Here are some more images for the little Industry project that I'm working on with a buddy in San Diego. I've sketched these rough images from the proposal he wrote.

The image below is just a rough line sketch. This is how I layout am image before I add any detail. W I'm out, I'm actually falling asleep as I'm typing this. Wish me luck. Hope you like them.

Samson

Here is a sketch I did awhile ago and forgot to post it. This is one of the characters, Samson, from my graphic novel that I'd like to finish before I'm 50!! I wrote the rough draft three years ago. I originally wrote it as a screen play then decided it would work better as a graphic novel and I would have more control over the project. Oh yeah, that and I couldn't get any one but my wife to read it. (and she's not a real fan of the comic stuff, more proof that she must really love me. or she just wanted me to shut up about it and get to bed before 3am)

I've always wanted to do my own comic, so hopefully I'll be able to finish it some day. Hope you like the pic.

Sneak Peek

Ok, I know I said I have a bunch of different projects going on. Unfortunately some of them I can't talk about just yet. Buuuuut, I can give a sneak peek. So here is a cover project I'm working on with a very talent writer here in Cleveland. Nothing is set in stone yet, I'm still doing some concepts and waiting to hear back. So wish me luck and I hope you like these rough drafts, or at least the small portion of them that I'm showing.

Take care,

Joe

Industry Project

Here are some images I did this weekend for a little project I'm working on with a friend in San Diego. These are my first rough sketches. They're very basic, just some pencil and ink. I've got a couple things going right now. I'm having a lot of fun working on them. It's pretty cool to do some images for other people when you are just working with the description they provided you with. It's kind of nerve racking while I'm waiting to hear what they think about the images . Speaking of which, let me know what you think.

Take care

Craaaazzzy Busy!!!!

Well, I haven't had much time to do any art work lately. Work has been chaotic to say the least, and I've been having a blast with my family. I usually do some art work late at night and on the weekend. To add to the craziness I recently came to the sudden realization that, well, I am reeeaaallly out of shape. So I've been trying to go to the gym after the kids go to bed. Needless to say this has cut into my art time.

I've been trying to doodle when ever I get a free second. This past week I had a ton of administrative stuff to do at work on top of the normal load. The only positive to admin work is that it usually gives me a few minutes to doodle while my computer is running. So here are a few I did this week. They are quickies, but I had a blast doing them.

The trees are inspired by a story I am reading over for a very talented friend. They are not realated to the story, but popped in my head while I was reading it. I hope to have more about this one in the future. Besides, I've got this weird thing for trees. I grew up running around in the woods, and love the outdoors. I feel at peace when I'm there. Yeah, I'm cheesy, can't help it. Ok enough about the trees.

These random faces are just that, some random doodles. Hope you like them. Let me know what you think.