Creating a Graphic Novel : Art – Food – Photography

Last week there was a sneak peek at this year’s birthday surprise by Dean Juliette. I’m happy to show the whole sketch in its glory, Zatanna bursting out of a birthday cake. Thanks again for contributing an amazing piece for the site Dean!

Sketch to get posture :

Pencilling in the sketch :

Base without background :

Completed showcase :

Last week I offered a sneak peek at this year’s Zatanna birthday sketch. The full image will be showcased tomorrow, so keep watching this site. As a special I thought I would put last year’s birthday sketch as the lock screen for the iPhone. Enjoy!

For those who love their instant noodles, I posted about Indomie Mi Goreng with Peri Peri a few days ago. I thought I’d showcase the packets of my two favourite (and best) instant noodles, Indomie Mi Goreng (as you know) and Mama Tomyum noodles. The Tomyum noodles are not for the faint of heart as it has a pretty strong hotness quotient. What are your favourite instant snacks?

Indomie Mi Goreng (now in Jumbo!) :

Mama Tomyum (awesome hot kick!) :

LA born Don Welch Jnr (or DJ) is showcasing an amazing Avatar – The Last Airbender piece based on the cartoon from Nickelodeon. (I’ll remember that cartoon fondly and am refusing to watch the butchered live action movie which was destroyed by M. Night Shyamalan. The reviews of the film have been rather brutal!) The composition and colouring of this piece is superb!

Avatar – Airbender Showcase :

Thanks for the allowing me to showcase an amazing piece. Was art always what you wanted to get into?

Most of my life, I was thinking I was going to be an engineer, so I had focused on math until my mom talked me into going to art school. For the last four years I have been living in San Francisco and attending Academy of Art University and I love it here. I have only been drawing for a short time compared to most professional artists, and a lot of people say I would have been great if I would have started younger. I think, though, that starting to learn to draw in art school was more beneficial for me, because I didn’t have a style or any ‘”bad habits” to break. I just soaked up everything like a sponge from all the awesome professionals I met.

What type of art do you like?

I like art that shows a good understanding of mood, composition and anatomy. I dislike modernism, and the popularity of anime for giving a lot of people bad habits with eyes and anatomy. For fun, I like to work out, do martial arts. A lot of people like the start of drawing the best, but I really like the last 20 percent of the drawing.

This usually stumps most people but how would you describe your artwork?

My artwork? Well, a lot of people describe my work as ‘epic’ — I don’t know about that, but I think it shows power, force and emotion combined with dynamic poses/angles.

Who would you rate as your biggest influence?

I have a lot of influences, but I guess my biggest influence is Hayao Miyazaki.

Where can we see more of your work? Any final words for aspiring artist?

I have several published works in art books and calendars, and I was an intern at Cartoon Network for a while. Also, you might see me working with some bigger companies soon. I do think anyone can be a great artist it really is just drawing everyday. Just keep at it!

Would you take me through the process to create the showcase Avatar piece?

When I draw, I start off by drawing a thumbnail. In the thumbnail, I place all the figures and objects, working out the composition until I like it. Compositions don’t usually turn out as well if you go straight into a full-sized drawing.

Finally, I color it. I use Photoshop to color my drawings. When I’m choosing my colors, I think about complementary colors and analogous colors to make things pop out, like hiding a little blue in the shadows when red light is hitting them. I prefer to choose highly saturated colors in my artwork. I always work in at least 300 dpi, which is important for print quality, and I work with anywhere from 70 to 150 layers – that is a lot of layers, but I use a lot of layer effects in my coloring style.

Thanks for your time!
Wish you all the best in your future projects.

For more of his work check out his website :
http://darkkenjie.deviantart.com/

Or email him at Dark_kenjie [at] yahoo.com

DJ will be appearing in the following conventions :

• Comic Con July 21 – 25 in SAN DIEGO at San Diego Convention Center
• Sac Anime Sept 3-5 in Sacramento at Radisson Hotel
• Long beach Comic Con Oct 29-31 in LA at Long Beach Convention Center

This site’s second birthday is the 29-July-10!
Last year featured artist Dean Juliette did an amazing sketch of Zatanna holding a birthday cake for this site. He has very nicely agreed (being the awesome guy that he is) to put another birthday Zatanna sketch for this site. I’ve decided to hold off showing the final image until the 29th but I thought I’d tempt you with a sneak preview of the pose!

Make sure you check out :
Dean’s eBay Auctions

Dean’s puts up original artwork every once in a while.
You could pick up an amazing piece!

I love T-Shirts designs (anyone who knows my Threadless collection will attest to that.) and I thought this one was simple but very cute. What I love is the big smile, elbow pads on the T-Rex’s short arms and extra padding for his tail. I got it for my nephew who will be sure to love it. I keep imagining this as a Saturday morning cartoon for some reason.

Skateasaurus Rex :

Talking about noodles, one geek food recipe I’ve always wanted to try was Indomie Mi Goreng with Nando’s Peri Peri sauce. The recipe was simple, make the Indomie as per the packet instructions, place an egg on top and add the Peri Peri sauce. It’s a fantastic variant for a late night fast hunger buster when there’s no much in the pantry.

Starting -

Raw ingredients -

Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet. Make sure the water is well drained, if it’s soggy it doesn’t taste as good!

Adding the sauces -


Pouring the Peri Peri -

Finished product -

I had fun with these photos using my Canon 40D paired with the 17-55 f2.8 telephoto lens. I find I don’t use my SLR as much as I would like to but everytime I do it’s a lot of fun. Looking back on these photos makes me want to make this right now!

Previous featured artist Micah Gunnell provided an amazing step by step as his previous showcase. For this post, I thought it would be great to show his amazing sequential skills. Dellec #3 was released 14-Apr-10 and is part of a 6 issue series. If you like the artwork be sure to check out your comic store for the older issues.

Dellec – Cover

Interior Sample 1 :

Interior Sample 2 :

During the interview with featured artist Gwyn Perkins also drew a little Batdog sketch for me (modeled after Murphy the Beagle). A few days later, he emailed me a coloured version of it. Thought it’d be great to share this amazing piece!

Original Sketch :

Coloured Sketch :

Gwyn is an amazing illustrator who lives in Northern Sydney on Scotland Island with his wife Marie and daughter Georgia. I had the utmost pleasure to meet him and even take a sneak peek into his studio! His works have a fantastic level of detail in them. The below showcase was from one of his published work with Chris Hornsey, “I Could be a Superhero”.

Murphy the Beagle (from “I Could be a Superhero”) :

Thanks for your time to talk to me.
Could you describe the process in creating your work?

My current work is half way between animation and drawing. I think it’s important to always create a sense of movement in the work, usually starting with a scribbly drawing and then building on it. In term of illustrating children’s books I like to create a flow from page to page. I picked this up from my background in animation.

I see what you mean from your below showcase. There’s a definite sense of movement in the girl piloting the rocket ship. The amount of detail you have in the picture is fantastic! I noticed the dog driving one of the cars!

Preliminary Work :

Final work : (Click for larger image)

So how did you get into the industry?

My first job was working in Melbourne for Myer. In 1960’s I got into animation by winning a cartoon contest which leading to animation in Sydney at Hanna Barbara. Branching out 1970’s, I started my own studio even winning an award for best TV animation commercial.

That’s amazing! How did you move from animation to illustration?

Well . . I moved to Scotland island in Northern Beaches (north of Sydney CBD) and work became spasmodic. My dog got lost in a local national park. I drew an illustration of the dog and put up in the nearby Youth Hostel. The Youth Hostel liked the work and I did some illustrations for them which lead to providing images for a website. A publisher contacted me about the work and I now have 5 books published.

I came across your books in a book store and thought they were great. I bought one for my nephew and one for myself “I Could be a Superhero”. Was the beagle in that book based on your dog?

He was based on Ozzie who was fat and ate garbage. Somehow he always found way to get into trash, once coming home with leg of lamb!

Thanks so much for your time and wish you all the best in your future endeavors. I appreciate your time and allowing me to showcase some of your work.

or visit his site :
http://gwyn.com.au/

One of Gwyn’s work in his studio :

Gwyn working in his studio :

Gwyn with his lovely daughter, Georgia :