Finished Abigail wallpaper.

I've decided that I need a name for the Sunday section of the blog, since I have one for the other three days. I like the way, on the other days of the week I can write "Daily Life: ..." and then the subtitle for the post. Sundays it always seems out of context. If any of you all have an idea for the name of this segment, let me know.So I finished the Abigail promo piece. It sort of evolved as it went, and I learned a ton about Photoshop working on it. I LOVE layer masks. There was a time when I didn't see the point of them, but one of the great things about layer masks is that you can effectively delete a portion of your drawing without actually losing it, so you can always go back, and re-edit it. Another awesome thing about layer masks is that using a gradient on them, you can fade part of one layer into another. It just opens so many design possibilities.
I was almost finished working on this, (had converted it to a jpg, and set it as my desktop so that I could consider it for awhile... viewing the image out of the context of the actual editing software often helps to define problem areas. I guess because you can't focus your attention on just one area, you only get the big picture.) and decided to repaint the face. I looked up some reference pictures, and got to work. I redefined the planes of her face and fixed a lot of the yellow tone in her skin (adding more purple and red to it) And totally redid her mouth (Reshaped the lips, defined the upper teeth, and added lower ones.) I also cut out one of her eyes and resized and repositioned it, because it was pretty big. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it all. I realize I should probably go back in and work on her sweater and shoes a little more, but I'm not really sure how big of a deal that is.
Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow's a new daily life, so until then take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

Some More Progress: Almost finished

So I got some more work done on this Abby promo image this week. I finished all the coloring in illustrator.And then I moved over to photoshop to add in the highlights, and deepen some of the shadows as well as smoothing out some of the color breaks. I'm not 100% thrilled with with it. I think I need to do a little more work on the pants and face especially, but I'm not really sure where to go with with them right this second.
I started adding in some background elements too. Designing in photoshop is something that I rarely do, so this is a little bit of an adventure for me. If you all have any comments or suggestions about where I am, or where you think I ought to be heading, please drop me a comment. The plan for this page, is to be part of the website background, and I think also I will make it available as a downloadable desktop background too.
It's not nearly done yet, I have a vision for what it will look like, and I think I might do this weeks "What you Talkin' about?" segment relating to where I'm going with it. So'oooo please make sure to drop by for that little slice of heaven.

Okay, until tomorrow then, take care and be good.

Your friend
Jeffrey

Abigail: A New Work in Progress

I promised myself I would try not to do this... Ha-ha-ha!

Okay, like I said. I really am trying not to post too many WIPs, but I got busy doing some freelance work and other stuff (by "other stuff" I mean that I have a new Xbox in my house... do with that what you want) and didn't get what I wanted to show you today done.
This is another drawing of Abby that I started on in the spring, and am working on getting the colors done. This one is a promo illustration that I plan on using in a couple of different places including my myspace page, the website, and brochure. I'm doing the initial colors in illustrator, and then I plan to export it to photoshop to add highlights and some background effects.
Gotta run now, but I'll be back again tomorrow for the next "Daily Life". Until then, 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

Abigail and the Doom Crew: A Prologue

So. Last June(ish) my buddy Mario, creator of Pagan Zoetrope called and said he was working on a comic, and had found a place to publish it. Awesome! For the entire time I've known Mario, he's been working on a few different IP's on the side, and Pagan Zoetrope is one of the ones that we'd been talking about for a few years now. It's basically a (loosly) autobiographical acount of a group of highschool and college bound people in the fictional town of Warrensville, Kansas. Obviously not where we're really from, but close enough. There comes a time when a grain silo is a grain silo, and a cow pasture is... a cow pasture. Lol!

At any rate, Mario called and told me that he had this story, and he was finally ready to go forward with it. He'd begun posting it on Drunk Duck in strip form, and had found an indy publisher and a distributer. I know, you're telling yourself "This is Sunday. Jeffreys posts are supposed to be about what's going on with him this week!" Okay, okay! Don't get all worked up about it. Jeesh!

Let me get to the point. Mario said he knew I had some stories bouncing around in my head that I'd been working on since he's known me, and maybe we could pool our resources, get some exposure together, and get both of our stories out there. How would I like to do a double feature book with him, like some of the old Marvel "back-to-back" comics with his story on one side, and mine on the other. Never being one to turn down more work, I of course agreed. So in my spare time (which seems to be ever-shrinking) I put together a four page prologue to the larger story of Abigail and the Doom Crew, along with a cover, and a page of some of the Abigail concept art.

This week, I finally got my hands on the printed version of the book, and it looks incredible. So, I thought I'd share it with you all today, and If you like what you see go to comics monkey and order a copy.


I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed working on it. Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend
Jeffrey

Links:www.paganzoetrope.com
Pagan Zoetrope on Drunk Duck
Pagan Zoetrope on myspace
Ka-Blam
Comics Monkey