Creating a Graphic Novel : Art – Food – Photography

In 2008 SIGMATESTUDIO has been posting some amazing works. I have several works in the pipeline but would love to talk to and showcase more people. So . . . want to show off your art or writing skills to the world in 2009?

Reach me at sigmatestudio [at] sigmatestudio.com and we’ll discuss what needs to be done. If I have posted your work in the past and you want to do a follow up, feel free to let me know as well.

Check this site on Christmas & New Year’s Eve for a special surprise!

Stuck for a good present idea?
There are lots of collectible coins and notes stores around. Try picking up a coin from the year they were born or a significant year (e.g. graduation year). It’s something different and it’s a different spin from just giving them money. Well . . you are giving them money but at least this way there’s some thought behind it.

Check this site on Christmas & New Year’s Eve for a special surprise!

Jean Sinclair is an awesome upcoming Brazilian artist. Although currently focusing on pin ups, some of his sequentials are fantastic. I was so impressed with his artwork that I commissioned a Spiderwoman piece from him and also managed to ask him a couple of questions about himself.

Firstly . . how did you get started drawing?

In 2005 together with my friends Luis XIII and Jonathan Lima, I started auctioning original art on sites like eBay and Comic Art Community. I’m currently working on original drawings and illustrations for collectors while searching for work in comics industry.

Besides drawings, tell me about yourself.

I was born 24th November 1978. I love God, my family (wife and son), my parents and my friends. I love to pass my free time reading comics (YES!!! I´m still a fan), playing video games (STREET FIGHTER ROCKS FOREVER!) and watching some good movies.

Haha . . I love Street Fighter too. Don’t even want to think about how much money I have spent playing that game. How did you get into drawing and what style do you consider your work?

I prefer a classic art style. I love mangá too and I get some influences from there but my main style is still classical. I’m a self taught artist since my childhood. I’ve got a lot of comics and began to copying. When I was a teenager, I began studying from anatomy books and from great artists like Burne Hogarth and Andrew Loomis. My storytelling studies are from Will Eisner. Currently I´m studying in College: Plastic Arts in CEFET-CE

Who else would you consider your influences?

There’s a few including Al Rio, Ivan Reis, Carlos Pacheco, Enrico Marini and Steve Skroce.

What other works have you done?

I’ve done various covers, comics, books & merchandise. Recently finished an 8 pages for Argo Comics Anthology.

Spiderwoman 1 :

Spiderwoman 2 :

Both pieces are amazing, especially like the detailing in the hair. In the end I purchased the second sketch as the pose seemed more dynamic! It’s another spectacular piece to add to my ever growing collection. Make sure you check out his eBay account jeansinclair1978 for the chance to pick up some original artwork!

My first attempt at making ice-cream tiramisu. One layer of sponge fingers soaked in Kahlua, marsala (italian wine) and coffee followed by a layer of high quality vanilla ice-cream with a dusting of grated chocolate. This was then repeated twice. It may not look particularly “pretty” in the photo but it was definitely delicious!

I found Amiya’s work one day and was very impressed by it, so much so that I requested a commission from him. Through the process I got to find out a little more about him.

Is Amiya your real name or a pen name?

My full name is Andrew Amiya Yerrakadu. Amiya is my middle name. I started using Amiya on my artwork just for kicks, really. I am from Queens, NY, and grew up there and in a few different countries as my dad was with the UN.

How would your describe your style?

I really don’t think I have a style yet – I guess it’s a combination of all the artists I copied from growing up, (and still copy from). That’s really how I learned to draw, by copying my favorite artists over and over. Growing up it was John Byrne, Michael Golden, Paul Smith, Walt Simonson, and more recently I really like Adam Hughes, Art Adams, Yanick Paquette, Travis Charest, Olivier Coipel, Frank Cho, Ed McGuinness and Stuart Immonen. There are so many great artists in comics today.  I still collect comics when I can, and generally buy whatever titles my favorite artists are on.

The commission I requested was Batgirl in the foreground with Batman in the background. I wanted a sense of action as the both of them swing across the night skyline.

Preliminary Sketch

Preliminary Sketch – Inks

Preliminary Sketch – Final

I’m particularly fond of the final result.
The inks really give a nice sense of the depth to the piece. Especially like the Batgirl pose as it’s very dynamic and conveys freedom.

Check out more of Amiya’s art on :
http://barracuda9999.deviantart.com/

or his eBay sales under barracuda9999

A recap of the 8 week journey for my first life drawing course. The course taught a lot of different techniques and it was a lot of fun. I hope I have the opportunity put into practice some of things I have learnt.

Prequel – Enrolment
Prequel – Equipment
Week 1 – Contour
Week 2 – Gesture – Foreshortening
Week 3 – Light – Shadow
Week 4 – [Missed]
Week 5 – Movement
Week 6 – Foreshortening – Part 2
Week 7 – Portrait
Week 8 – Cross Contour
Interview – Karl Mattas

Hard to believe there’s exactly 2 weeks till Christmas! Time has gone past too quickly. With the Life Drawing course concluded, I asked the instructor Karl Mattas if he would be interested to answer a few questions for http://www.sigmatestudio.com about how he started out and his approaches to teaching.

When did you start art professionally?

I became seriously interested in art in about 1980 and became a full-time artist in 1990

How do you describe your style?

Difficult to find a simple description, with my nudes I aim for a ‘live’ quality, trying to catch something of the model’s body language rather than a photographic likeness.

I think this is something I picked up during the course. I started out more trying to develop the photographic feel to the sketches but the gesture drawings help to deconstruct that. How long have you been teaching?

I started teaching in 1992 and have gradually developed my own approach to teaching and drawing.

Any message of those who want to try your course?

It’s fun, very challenging and you’ll learn something about looking as well as drawing. Absolute beginners are particularly welcome to join in.

Anyone interested in finding more about Karl should check out his website http://www.kjmattas.com. There’s some samples of his work as well as a link to an upcoming class in January 2009.

With Week 7 completed, this was the last week of the Life Drawing course. A next technique shown was cross contour which builds up the depth in the sketch, giving a three dimensional feel to it. This was my attempt with the focus on the face. I tried to illustrate the model’s high cheek bones.

Karl (the instructor) also noted that drawing portraits from non standard poses is sometimes better and it really forces the artist to see the details of the model rather than rely on preconceived images. This was an unusual angle view of the model as she was lying down.

It’s been a interesting eight weeks . . . it’s good to be introduced to next techniques and studying various approaches to life drawings from contours to gestures. I’ll be doing a recap of the entire drawing course in a future post!

During a visit to one of my favorite sushi shops in the north shore of Sydney, I took a couple of photos to share. With an amazing range of very fresh dishes, especially tasty is the seaweed salad sushi ship.

Their specialty are some amazing hand rolls. Pictured below is the vegetable tempura hand roll with spicy chilli powder. They also make make an equally delicious scallop and omelet hand roll.

In most sushi places it can be difficult to find a nice hot cup of green tea to accompany the dishes. I’m not sure of the tea used or how they brew it but it does have a nice green colour and a great taste. Freshly brewed tea is always better than using a teabag.

Eduardo Vieira is a Brazilian illustrator who has a fantastic style. I’ve been in contact with him for a while and commissioned him to do a piece of artwork for me. I didn’t give much of a brief for this work and simply stated that I wanted Psylocke in a dynamic pose. Three sketches were sent through for my thoughts.

Preliminary Sketch 1 :

Preliminary Sketch 2 :

Preliminary Sketch 3 :

I liked Preliminary Sketch 3 however it looked like she was just standing there. I requested Eduardo to make it as if the character was running towards you, otherwise it was perfect. Whilst he was working on the final piece, he also took the time to answer a couple of my questions. (The completed picture is at the end of this post.)

I’ll probably start by asking what you consider most important in life.

I’m 28 and I consider myself a very lucky guy, since I have almost everything I want and need. Great parents, friends I can trust, a lovely girlfriend and a huge collection of mechanical pencils! With the mechanical pencils being the most important . . no, just kidding on that.

Haha . . very funny. The correct answer should always be your girlfriend, especially if she’s reading this. So what are you up to now?

Now I’m trying to get fulfilled in a professional way, “going the distance” with my art. I’m actually selling my work on ebay as well as working with for advertising companies here in Brazil, finishing a comic book series and doing some product design for an Electronic Company.

Wow . . you certainly have a lot on your plate at the moment. What do you do to relax?

I love movies, soccer, poker, going out with my friends and girlfriend and cooking! Yes, I love cooking! Especially pasta (along with bread and pizza) and desserts (anything chocolate!). It’s almost like a secret second life. I also want to open a pasta restaurant one day . . . pretty weird, isn’t it?

Not at all! Cooking is a very creative pursuit. When did you start drawing?

I started drawing as a kid like almost everybody but only four years ago I decided to take drawing professionally. After school I entered a publicity and advertising university wishing to learn a bit of Photoshop or sketching inside it but I quickly saw that I really didn’t want to be there. As soon as I found a Visual Arts graduation in another University, I left the previous one to enter in the arts course. I graduated in the beginning of this year.

What got you from a Visual Arts course to comics?

Just as I said before I decided to work with drawing in a very serious way for about four years. When I was in university, a friend that was working to one of the major US comic book publishers. So I thought, “Why this guy can do it and I don’t?!? What the hell, I’ll do it too!”.

I fell and stood up again countless times in the beginning, and I think that’s one of the things that keep people away from a good professional level, you have to be prepared to get over it if you want to improve. Man, I really don’t know how many times I thought “this is not for me. I’ll never be a professional”.

My drawing way is simple and direct. Have a picture of that great artist you want to be like?  Copy it till your hands bleed. After this, just get another picture and copy it too. do it everyday till you know how to do it without looking and you have a start. Seriously, I had dozens of little sketchbooks where I copied lots of artists, till I got to know how to do it alone. My university provided a foundation but my greatest improvement was outside of it.

I wish you all the best. I’m sure if you keep at it, you’ll be able to succeed! And finally . . who’s art style do you like?

There’s a lot of artists but I’ll leave you with just a few names . . . Humberto Ramos, Chris Bachalo, Lois Van Baarle, CRMK from Capcom, Ryan Ottley and Robin Mitchell.

I received the final coloured work very recently. It’s got a more dynamic feeling than the original sketch and the colours are vibrant. The scan really does not do justice to the final piece as it looks better in real life.

Find out more about Eduardo from his :

• Deviantart
• Blog

Final Coloured