Abigail

So, I have a confession to make this post. I was going to get more work done this weekend to show you all, but all I have is this linework drawing of Abigail... That I did tonight. Okay, I started it last night, but that's not really the point. I got "Rampage: Total Destruction" for my PS2, and while it IS Laser Awesome, I also wasted about 4 hours and was up until two in the morning playing it. On the more productive side of things though, I did get the first four pages of the script for the next issue of the Doom Crew comic written this week. I'm trying to avoid a punch in the stomach from my friend Justin, LOL.

I feel like I've been showing a lot of works in progress, without having much finished work, or even getting to the finished stuff, lately. I just wanted to let you all know that I noticed the backlog of unfinished work too.
Some more promo document work here. This is the main character abigail. I thought about showing the reference photo I took for this drawing... but decided to spare us all that embarrassment. I have a pretty good Idea where I want to go with this illustration, and I'm pretty excited about experimenting with some of these new ideas! Hopefully, I'll have something more to show and talk to you about that soon.


I did this illustration to put in the artshow at the Archon science-fiction, and gaming convention last year in Collinsville, IL. It's a little earlier incarnation of the Abigail character. It's always interesting to me to look back a little ways, and see whether I've grown. I don't think I'd do this illustration the same way now that I did then, so I have to say that I'm in a different place today. That is part of what this search is all about.

I have one last thing before I go. I'm thinking about changing the name of this blog... I know in the grand scheme of things that the name dosen't really matter, but there we are. The original intent has changed, and I think I have too, so I don't really think that the current name really reflects the nature of what this is about. Just wanted to give you all a heads up. It may be a week away, or a month, or just three days. I'm not sure yet. I'm still mulling it over. Do I take this thing too seriously?

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

Self Portrait and a WIP

Today's Abby's first birthday, so I'm feeling kind of reflective... thought maybe I'd go ahead and do a self portrait to share. The beard is getting kind of out of hand, I think I may go ahead and trim it this week. Ha-ha!
I also got the base colors done on the mountain king illustration... Overall, I'm pretty happy with the color palette. I'm thinking basically green and gold for the mountain kingdom, with a little purple. It's been a crazy busy week, so I didn't have much time to get anything else done. Next week, I hope to have a little more progress on this guy, plus a couple of icons. If I'm feeling especially energetic I may start work on another character as well. We'll see, LOL.


I hope everything's cool in your part of the world! Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend
Jeffrey

Abigail and the Doom Crew: The Mountain King

...And he was a fierce, seemingly unstoppable warrior. However, there was a regretful sadness in his eyes.

So I started working on the Promo/Style document for the Abigail and the Doom Crew story. This is partly a way (I guess) to put off some of the work on the actual comic, but also I need to get my thoughts together about the story as a whole (Major characters, Plot summary, Future plans, and Back story). This also is going to work double duty as a design portfolio project, and elements for my web presence/marketing for the finished book. Mario is putting in so much work, and we really need to be able to be unified in our promo efforts.

First character is the Mountain King. The first member of the Doom Crew that young Abigail confronts. He is the keeper of the Scepter of Power, as well as some closely guarded secrets that will help shape our young protagonist. I'm really excited about this first story arc, and am in the first stages of writing it, but there are a couple of kinks that I still have to work out.

This is my first pencil drawing of the character, with some graphics to go along with him.
Today, I did a clean ink line drawing of him that I am going to use to make a colored graphic of him. I also did the Rhino silhouette to use as a graphic element alongside the others in the promo materials. (I did not do the bird in that graphic, I got it out of a free vector sample pack from GoMediaZine. Which is a really cool design company and blog that I am planning on featuring soon.) I still need to do some final icons for the mountain element, as well as some sample patterns and color guides for the Mountain style. So that is my goal for this week, and then I am moving on to Water.

Okay, that's it for right now. Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About?: Portland Studios

We want to be consumed with something beyond ourselves.

Portland Studios isn't concerned with the next big leap, the next wave, the magic bullet. We strive for a collective body of work that displays a habit of excellence.
Hopefully behind our art, people might perceive the shape of truth, the romance of order, the virtue of beauty, and the goodness of goodness.

It's a big job, but that's the plan.

Sometimes, I run across something on the interweb that just inspires me. I found the Portland Studios website through the blog of Justin Gerard, Quick Hide Here. Interested in Justin's work, I wanted to see more of it, so I followed up to the where he works, which was conveniently linked in the sidebar.

From the opening screen, I was hooked. Elegant design, with a warm brown pallette and textured background brings to mind old books, a warm kitchen, and a hot pipe. Add to that the charming "soundtrack", and it just draws you into the experience. I'm not usually a fan of music on websites, but the music for the Portland Studios site is tasteful, not overpowering, and like I said, adds to the experience. Also on the home page right now is a short animation, illustrated by Justin Gerard that was just wonderful.

The Portland Studios site is easy to navigate, with tabs for Home, People, Work and Contact. Also there are links to their blog, as well as a company store where you can purchase apparel, textures, books, and brushes.
The Work (portfolio) section is split up into the companies three main areas of expertise. Illustration, Animation, and Interactive. It displays as a pile of snapshots in a Flash interface. When you click on a picture, it enlarges into a full view. All of the work is impressive, and really puts paid to their claim of striving for a collective body of work that displays a habit of excellence. We could all take a page from that book.

Like I said, this site really invites you to explore, and explore, explore. There's just enough information to leave you wanting MORE. So, in that vein, I did... and for all you lazy people out there I have provided some links to blogs by members of the Portland Studios team. I hope you enjoy checking them out as much as I have. All in all, I was/Am very impressed with Portland Studios as a company, and as a site. I feel inspired to push with renewed resolve in my own work, and also that this is maybe another sign-post towards where I want to go in the next couple of years.

I'll be in again soon. Until then, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

Links:
Portland Studios: www.portlandsrudios.com
Blog: blog.portlandstudios.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/portlandstudios
Justin Gerard: Quick Hide Here
Cory Godbey: light night rains
Ben Kammer: Tide Is Level
Mark Johnson: WMD Boom