Super Heroes with Jeff Balke

Here is a fun little print I did with the very talented Jeff Balke. I did the pencils and Inks and Jeff worked his mad coloring skills. Hope you like it!!
Later,

Joe

The Incredible Makeover

Alright, if you are not doing anything and really want to help a couple guys out, feel free to mossy on over to The Incredible Makeover contest and vote for me and Rob Gervais. We submitted one of the pages from our Seeds of Change project for a before and after contest hosted by Photoshop and Wacom. Rob wrote the story and I did all of the art work. Even if we don't win we are hoping people will get a chance to check out some of the art work for our project.
It will give you a little peek into how I start with simple inks  and then digitally color it in photoshop.

So take a look and give us a vote. The name of our submission is "Seeds of Change" by Joe Romano II. Thanks everybody! You ROCK!!

http://www.photoshopuser.com/makeovervoting

Oh, and feel free to give it 5 stars if you like!! Just a humble suggestion.

Healthy Hannah's Fitness Fables

We are off to the printers! I just sent in the final illustrations for "Healthy Hannah's Fitness Fables" a children's book I worked on with my buddies Jay and Hannah England! Jay and Hannah have created a really fun, health and wellness book for kids and I had the honor of bringing their characters to life. We have been working our butts off for quite awhile and are really pumped to finally send this out to the printers today. We should have a sample copy in two weeks. Hopefully everything looks good and we can start getting this book out and helping kids live a healthy life style. Super pumped. Here is a sneak peek at the cover and back wrap around!!!

Balkenator Promo

Here is a little sample of a project I am working on with my buddy the very talented Jeff Balke. I did the pencils and inks and Jeff did all of the color work. It's really cool working with someone and seeing how they color your images. Jeff is amazing at what he does. I'll post some more on our project soon.

Later,

Joe

Seeds of Change Cover

Well, I just finished the cover for Seeds of Change. Rob Gervais has written a really cool story that I am having so much fun working on. We have officially submitted to two publishers and have our fingers crossed. Here is a mock up of the cover we sent to Image. We have not been picked up yet, but hope to hear some good news soon!!! Hope you like it.

Later,
Joe

First Submission for Seeds of Change

Rob Gervais and I have finally sent in our first submission for "Seeds of Change". We sent in an 8 page submission that we are really excited about. Now the hard part.....waiting.

Here is a little clip from one of the pages we submitted.

Been Awhile!!!

I've been crazy busy the last few months. Having three kids will do that to ya! Quick update. The Children's book I've been working on should go to print some time in March!!! I'm really pumped. Can't wait to Share a little more soon.

Rob and I are almost done with our graphic novel submission for "Seeds". I'll post some pics and the full name soon as well.

I'm also really excited to announce I'll be working with the very talented Jeff Balke on an Ashcan that we are putting together. I'll be doing all the pencil and inks and Jeff his going to throw down some awesome color. Can't wait! So many cool things going on right now. Here are a couple of sketches that I threw together for our character concepts. The project is call "Balkenator" Should be a light hearted fun story for all ages. Hope ya like it.

Later,

Joe

Work Assignment.

Been crazy busy. Started and new job back in Oncology. Very happy to be back and love the new company. We have a meeting coming up soon and I was asked to design a BBQ sauce label for our team as well as a shirt. I love doing this stuff. Here is what I came up with, let me know what you think. Go Buckeyes!!!!!

Later,

Joe

Children's Book Update

Well I finally finished the illustrations for the Children's Book I am working on with writer Jay England. I have a few things to tweak and touch up, but everything has been submitted to an editor. Jay is going to self publish and is working his tail off to get this thing to print. In the mean time I attached two sneak peeks.

I'm back to working on "Seeds" and a few other little things. My progress has been a little slow since my wife and I welcomed the third member to our crew on Feb 23rd. Little Sean Patrick is doing great and is a perfect fit in our little family.

Hope you like the pics.

Later,

Joe

Sketch Dump

Haven't posted in awhile. Just finished up illustrating a children's book for Jay England. I'll be posting some of those later in the week. The new banner is one of the two page spreads from the book.

In the mean time, I've been doing some sketching when ever I get a few minutes. These are all rough sketches, some are for my kids, some are characters I plan on using somewhere down the road. Either way, I thought they where fun and I love doing just simple, mindless sketches. Nice way to decompress after a long day. Hope you like them. I'll post some more later in the week too.

Later,

Joe

2011 Logo

My Regional Director at work asked if I would do a logo for our region again this year, well.....you can't tell the big man no. Right? Just kidding. I love this kind of stuff. Our "Mascot" is a White Tiger, and I did a realistic version of it last year. This year I figured I'd do my own version and add a little bit of my own flare (without crossing the corporate line, don't want to ruffle any feathers) So here is my slightly edgier version for 2011.

Let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

Lil Uni Dragon

Been awhile since I posted anything. I've been buried behind my sketch table trying to get my first book done that I am working on with Jay England. Dead line is January, and we plan on going to print in Feb. Keep you posted.

In the mean time here is a quick sketch I did while hanging out with my kiddos. Simple ball point pen. I've been doing these quick 10-15 minute sketches and then making copies of them so my kids can color them. They love it....so do I. I'll try and post some more next week. I'm putting a bunch of them together as a coloring book for my kids and nephew's and nieces for Christmas this year, something simple and fun.

Hope you like it.

Later,

Joe

Up Coming Project with Rob Gervais

Been awhile since I had a post. I've been buried in the basement at night trying to finish the Children's book I'm working on with Jay England. I should have everything done by the end of October and we hope to have it to print by Dec.

In the mean time, I needed a night off the shut my brain down and just mess around. I've been working on character development for a graphic novel I am working on with Rob Gervais. For right now I refer to it as "Seeds". I wanted to just do a full digitally colored image with this style of art for a long time. Here is my first crack at it. Let me know what you think. Starting to get more comfortable with the digital stuff. I changed up my inking style and tools a bit for this project. I'll be diving in full go to "Seeds" in No

vember so Rob and I can get this thing going. He wrote an amazing story and I can't wait to visually put it to print. Hope you like it. The original inked sketch is below.

Later,

Joe

Hanging with the Captain

Here is quick sketch I did of Captain America. I did the original sketch with pen and white colored pencil on the back of a note pad. Liked the way it looked so I did a quick color with some Prisma Color pens while I was doodling with my kids.I messed around with the background digitally just for some practice.

Thing

My buddy Jay got me some cool new colored pencils. Figured I'd test them out. I did a quick sketch of Thing while my kiddos where sitting on my lap doodling with me. Doesn't get any better then that.

They both love to draw, so I'm loving it.

Later,

Joe

Bring on the Bad Guys....and Girl!

Here are some character concepts for another project. Just got the green light to post some of the images. These are for a book and possible movie treatment. Really excited about this one. There is something fun about drawing the bad guys. I love the challenge to make them evil....yet...somewhat cuddly.....sort of. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

Seeds Sample

Here is glimpse of Page two Panel for Seeds of Change. I have been slammed at work and trying to juggle about 5 art projects at once. So, it is as crazy as usual, but I love it. Here's a little peek of Randy looking out his office window. This is just a small glimpse at Page two.

I've been trying to pick up the pace lately, but unfortunately I need to sleep. Hope you like it.

Later,

Joe

Photography Contest

My wife is an amazing photographer, (and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife and I'm afraid she'll make me sleep on the coach if I don't) I'm really blown away by what she can do. It's been a blast to watch her grow in her craft and see where she started to where she is now.

She just entered a photography contest for a magazine. Please log in and vote for her, you can win a camera to boot! Her name is Bonnie Romano with Design 489 photography. She submitted a pic of a newborn laying on an American flag, next to her dad's Fireman's helmet. (come on, tell me that doesn't pull on the heart strings) The link is listed below. Check it out.

http://www.ppmag.com/cover-contest-2010/vote/37455/

If you want to see more of her work check out her site at

www.design489.com

Thanks for the support.

Later,

Joe

rough sketches

Here are some random rough sketches. I do these for my kids and hang them on their door in the morning before I go to work. I've been posting them on facebook, figured I'd throw a few up here.

These are just some quickies I did with a ball point pen.

Later,

Joe

My Logo

I've been messing around with the idea of a logo for my artwork. I love tattoos and symbols and that kind of stuff, so I wanted to come up with something simple that had a personal meaning to me.

This is the image I came up with a few months ago and I have been sitting on it for awhile and thinking about it. It's simple (kind of like me I guess), but has some meaning behind it.

I combined a few basic elements. The universal symbol for courage is a circle, with an arrow pointing up inside of it. (you will see this show up in some of my artwork down the road) I didn't connect the circle, but added an arrow to show a continuous circle to represent constant motion in one direction. Lastly I added the number 4.

OK, what the hell does all this mean. Well the symbol for courage is important to me because I want to teach my kids not to be afraid to live life and stand up for what they believe in. Believe it or not I was a shy kid and had a hard time forcing myself outside of my comfort zone.

The outer circle is the fact that I want to teach them to never give up. To keep on moving and keep on chasing their dreams. That is why it is continuous and just keeps going. The number 4 has a few personal meanings too me (some things I have to keep to myself), for now I'll just say that I like the number 4.

Put it all together and it kind of sums up what I believe in. Never give up, have the courage to chase your dreams and live life to the fullest. Always look up, and focus on the positive things. It's the simple little things in life that are really important and keep you moving no matter what life throws at you. I hope I can pass that on to my kids. This logo kind of pulls that all together for me in one simple little image. Let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

Unanswered Dreams of a Dead Man Final Cover Preview

Here is the final cover Preview for Unanswered Dreams of a Dead Man. Ted and Kenyon made some suggestions that I am really happy I listened too. Some subtle changes, but I think it works.

Ted and Kenyon's book should be available soon. I"ll keep you posted. Good luck fellas, and thanks again for giving me the opportunity.

Later,

Joe

Concept Art

Here is some character concepts and page layouts I did a few months back for a potential project. Just got word today that this one probably isn't going to happen so I figured I might as well post some of the work I did.

Bummer, when these things don't take off. But the good thing is I sti

ll have a lot of irons in the fire. Plugging away on my first children's book with writer Jay Saiz and the Seeds of Change Project with writer Robert Gervais. I should have both of those completed this summer. Keep you posted. In the mean time, hope you like these pages. Let me know what you think.

later,

Joe

Seeds of Change Preview

Well this is my first official crack at digitally coloring a comic book page. This is a panel from Page One of "Seeds of Change". I know I have been talking about this thing forever, but I am finally getting the ball rolling on the coloring.

I'm currently juggling a few projects. I hope to have Seeds done by the end of June and the Children's book I am illustrating for Jay Saiz done by August. I have a few other things up my sleeve as well, but I can' t talk about them yet. I'm having a blast, just need a few more hours in the day. Or I have to give up sleeping.

Either way, this stuff is like a dream come true. I love doing it. Let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

Unanswered Dreams of a Dead Man Version 7

Alright here is the latest update with Ted and Kenyon's book. The guys had a really cool idea on switching up the color direction. I did a few different versions and this is what I came up with. The book should be out in June. I'll keep you posted. Good luck fellas, thanks for the opportunity.

Let me know what you think, Hope you like.

Later

Joe

Unanswered Dreams of a Dead Man

My wife's cousin Ted and his buddy Kenyon just got their first novel published. I was fortunate enough to get a crack at doing the cover art. So here is the concept that I came up with along with the original rough pencil sketch. I colored the image digitally on photoshop. The book should be available by the end of June. I'll keep you posted when it comes out. Congrats to Ted and Kenyon, they have been working on this project for awhile. It is a prelude to a Screen Play that Ted has been working on for a long time. Hopefully this book will open some doors for Ted and Kenyon (me too). Pulling for you fellas. Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of your project!!!

Later,

Joe

Seeds Update

Alright, I've been swamped at work, but I've still been plugging away on my projects. Here is a sneak peak from a page of "Seeds of Change" that I am working on with Rob Gervais. I'm almost done inking the line work and want to start the color next week. This will be my first shot digitally coloring a full page comic. I'm loving it. Can't wait for everyone to read the story Rob has written. It rocks. Hope you like the preview. Let me know what you think.

Later,

Joe

White Tiger 2

Played around with the backgrounds a little tonight. What do you think?

Later,

Joe