A few days ago, my friend let me borrow her Wacom tablet. Nothing particularly special about it. It was in fact, by today's standards, painfully obsolete. But for someone who's been itching to do some digital work, that old tablet was the sexiest thing in my sight. Now I have something else that will keep me busy and happily reclusive.

According to the last post...

...I was supposed to have finished a painting inspired by a drunken whim. Lessons learned:(1) Alcohol should never enter the equation when doing anything that's supposed to have a resolution. (2) The ability to draw, paint, drive, stand or do basically anything else is dulled by booze. So, (3) when intoxicated in any way, shape, or form, just hole yourself away until you become socially acceptable and STAY AWAY FROM YOUR BLOG. All that said, that night wasn't completely unproductive. I did manage to do a decent underpainting which will be finished and posted soon. Since I feel bad about not having a completed painting to show, here's a drawing that I finished yesterday. "Finished" is a tenative term,  but I'll use it since the piece saw a day's worth of nearly uninterrupted labor.

Kaki King, colored in Photoshop

It took me longer than expected to color this, partly because I'm lacking a Wacom right now (If someone can help with getting one, drop me a line!). More stuff to come in the near future.

More!

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem

I'm a bit iffy about this one. I'm pretty sure James Murphy is a bit "fluffier" than this, but at any rate, it's not a bad drawing. I haven't colored it yet, so maybe I'll change my tune by the time the piece is finished. Hrummph...

...yeah...

...but anyway...

...SKETCHBOOK PAGES!!!! WITH QUESTIONABLE SCAN QUALITY!!!

Shuffled iPod playlist = New Series?

Still recovering from the feel-good epidemic that raged across our country earlier this week, I have found another very specific (and somewhat selfish) reason to celebrate the New Year: I HAVE INTERNET POWERS AGAIN! AND ACCESS TO A SCANNER! A little geekish sure, but it was killing me to not be able to post any new work or do any digital jazzamatazz. That obstacle overcome for now, I can start posting some work from my shuffle playlist-inspired series of illustrations. It'll be a fun excuse to draw the people that make me tap my toes and nod my head on those long daily commutes, and since my iTunes library is kind of all over, I don't expect to get bored anytime soon.

Update 4/23/09: Derrick got bored with this series and moved on to something else.

Kaki King

This quickly turned into one of those painstaking "I really like drawing hair!" drawings. I'm gonna add some coats of Photoshop paint to the piece and post the finished work in a follow-up. I say that a lot, but I mean it this time, baby. Promise.

21 Speed!

So as the last two posts implied, I was incredibly busy this past semester. I was putting together a comic that would be my senior project for college. It took about three months to plan, thumbnail, draw, color, print and put together. After all of that work, it turned out pretty well, and I was able to finish the rest of my classes after the book was finished. As an act of celebration, I'm doing a "making of" post, documenting some of the earlier parts of the process and the tail end of things.

Drawing the actual pages...

...scanning those pages, putting them together as spreads, and coloring them in Photoshop... 

...making a mock-up and printing the spreads accordingly...

...getting the screenprinted covers ready along with the print spreads to construct the book...

...printing out the black and white copies...

...and skipping through a few tedious steps, we finally get to the finished products.

I'm pretty stoked about how well the comic turned, as well as the awesome reception it's been getting. I'm already getting ready for my next comic, but before I get too far into what's on the horizon, I'll leave you with a few pages from "21 Speed".

Still busy.

I did some things...





I'm still busting ass. Cool things are in the making, I promise.

I'm really busy...

That's all you need to know right now. But I felt the need to show a little bit of my work so I don't feel like a hermit.











Okay, bye.

Almost Done!

So, it's a bit more than a week until the "Septimus" show on the 12th, and I'm finished with all of my smaller drawings for my "Yokai!" series. All that's left is a larger drawing that I am refusing to post until well after opening night. If you wanna see before then (and you're in Memphis), then I suggest coming to see it in person, along with some really awesome work from my MCA and Bluff City colleagues.

The group show will have its opening reception September 12th @ Midtown Galleries at 2232 Central Ave., from 6-9pm. Come down! Bring friends!

Kasa-Obake

The Kasa-Obake belongs to a group of yokai (supernatural beings) known as "tsukumogami". These creatures are derived from objects that become animate after their one-hundredth anniversary. They are well known in contemporary culture and have appeared in numerous pop-culture media, including television, manga, and video games.

Wani

The Wani is interesting as it is subject to different iterations throughout Japanese mythology. In fact, some argue that the Wani is in fact a creature that originated in Chinese mythology. This seems to be a matter of speculation as there are a substantial number of stories from Japan revolving around this sea monster, depicted as a shark and more often (and here) as a large crocodile.

Samebito

The Samebito (translated as "shark man") is a mild-mannered creature that was banished from his home at sea. He happened upon a man that allowed the Samebito to reside in his garden. The man was relatively poor and was seeking a woman's hand in marriage, but could not afford to pay the dowry for the ceremony. He grew relatively sick, and the Samebito, concerned for his master's health, began to weep for him. His tears became precious stones with which the man was able to use to win the woman of his affection.

Gashadokuro

Gashadokuro are giant, vengeful skeletons that are comprised of the bones of people that have died of starvation. They prey primarily on humans, often biting off their heads, and a warning of their approach is a ringing sound that it emanates.

Rokurokubi

Rokurokubi are demons that take on the form of normal humans during the day, but after nightfall they reveal their true forms, extending their necks to great lengths. They typically disguise themselves as women, though there have been a few depictions of male rokurokubi. These creatures fall into two types: The more docile group that attempts to coexist with normal people, and the hostile individuals that prey on humans (usually unsuspecting lovers) while they are asleep. Malicious rokurokubi have the ability to completely detach their heads from their person. Because of this, a method to dispatch of these demons is to destroy their bodies while the separated head is feasting elsewhere.

P.E.D. Revisited!

During a brief period of free time from the comics class, I was goofing around with the previously-posted spoiled food creature. I wanted P.E.D. (Past Expiration Date) to appear more menacing, despite its refrigerator-compatible scale, and I added a couple of shadows to make the rotten food seem a bit further past their last known point of edibility. The implication of a ground plane was included in the upgrade package, and I just added lightning bolts because they're...cool.

Comic Class Characters Covered!

For the past week, I have been assisting my friend Cody in teaching the young minds of the future about the awesome-ness that is comics. The class is also working on characters for an localized version of the Fistacuffs tournament, in which Cody and I will be providing "boss characters" My pedagogical (props to JP for the vocab!) cohort's character leans more towards the bloody, baby-powered side of things, while I decided to go for a combatant that hits a little closer to home. Imagine some of your basic nutritional needs not being met because your fundamental breakfast foods turned on you, and I'm not just talking about shelf life.



While we're now properly segued to the subject of characters floating in space, I feel I should share this comic that illustrates the brain-storming process of some of the young cartoonists:

It's Not A Part Of My Series...

...but I thought I'd post something while I'm working on the other demon drawings.

Enenra

Enenra is a monster comprised of smoke and wind. It lives in bonfires and only appears to those who are pure in character.

Namazu

According to Japanese mythology, or at least Wikipedia's interpretation of Japanese mythology, the giant catfish Namazu was responsible for causing house-rocking earthquakes when his guardian got a little lazy on his watch. During the Edo period the Namazu was regarded as a Robin Hood-type, extracting money from the rich and distributing it amongst the less fortunate.

My Summer Thus Far!

So, after what seemed like a grueling year at MCA, I figured that my three-or-so month recess would go by sluggishly and I would be at a lack of things to do. BUT NO!!! I have managed to maintain a heavy workload that includes illustration for a children's book, random caricature gigs, a position helping teach kids how to make comics, work that I have to put together for a group show, and Rozelle Artists Guild business. Not to mention that I hold down a part-time job at the local art supply store on the weekends. Whew...somewhere down the line I have to work on my own personal comic projects before I run out of gusto.

Huffing and puffing (and whining!) aside, I have some images from the aforementioned children's book project: character designs that didn't quite make the final cut. I thought they were kinda nice, so why not share them?











Here's one the pieces that I'm planning on placing in a group show later this fall.



The theme is "fictitious" creatures, so that gives me the excuse needed to draw a series of Japanese demons, which is something that been I've wanting to do for a very long time. Seriously, the excitement level is pretty disturbing... but anyway, I'll be posting more drawings as they come along.