So I’ve been turning to do more warm ups for my work day. It’s a time to loosen the muscles and to try new things. Things such as practice the human figure or color theory.  So what’s the easiest way to practice and learn from, I mean where does one look? One place to look is magazines and adds for figures. Fashion, Clothing and Nation Geographic are great ones. However another place I like to is, Movies.

Movie studios spend billions of dollars to create many, many pictures. They have a large teams of people to create movies. From the story and the look. A lot of time and experts go into each one. So why not study their hard work? As comic artist, you try to convey moods, setting, object and people. It’s something I have notice a lot of the greats do, the more you study the more you know and the better your art is. Now of course you should study from life and nature. However, I find movies stills are good way to start the day. I picked this up from Tony Shasteen. He does amazing mini prints from a lot of great movies.

The big question all artist start with is composition  How to do a good solid and simple composition  There is a film called “The Big Combo.” It’s a black and white film that is shot beautifully and planned to the tee. It has every shoot an artist might ever need. Black and white compositions for any artist is a key factor, so this film is a blessing. The whole thing is on youtube and here are some I have done.

Another thing I’ve been doing is movie stills. I found this site, which just have thousands of thousands of images form movies and television. With these I try to practice color, composition and the figure. I’ve been trying to do less line work in the backgrounds. Here are all ones I’ve done.

Well that’s all the movie magic and tips I got today. Thanks again and have a great day.

Hey Guys,

How are you all doing? Ugh, what a week. Been one of those did a lot but not a lot of art. One major high light though was a big one. James Gurney did a lecture and demo this week all along Georgia. James Gurney isa morden day master of paints. He is know for his Dinotopia books, along with National Geographic. So to listen to him is awesome, He was doing lecture at Scad Savannah, Scad Atlanta and Kennasaw State. Great, what could go wrong?! Well Savannah is four hour drive, no good. I didn’t go to Kennasaw State… So that leaves Atlanta. The day he came to Atlanta, I had Jury Duty.

The day before he was doing a lecture at Kennasaw State. So I decided to hope into the car and listen. Luckily, the university is a little more open to visitors then Scad (Scad being a private college.) I found a good seat and listen. He did a lecture about his process on before painting. He does a lot work to get to the painting process. A lot of great information, more can be found at his blog and his books. Then he did a book signing and a short demo on his process out in the field.

Here is a video showing the same process. I can go into it but better to see for yourself.

This wasn’t part of the Demo, however some great information as well.

Here’s what I took from it. I need to do more practice on location. I am planning on doing more Plien Air. Plien Air is the studio of nature and buildings. So it’s looking at life, the lighting and trying to capture that setting. It helps with comics, since it will help backgrounds. Pulling from reality, which I need To do more. Hence why I’ve been practicing with photos of people.

So here is what I try to bring with me to do more sketches on the field. Not only to do life drawings, plein air but other sketches.

Small watercolor case These are some of the same colors in my larger studio. This is just for sketch/not as expensive.

• Lemon Yellow Schmincke
• Yellow Ochre Schmincke
• Shell Pink Holbein
• Chrome Yellow Deep Schmincke
• Lukas Red
• Alizarin Crimson Schmincke
• Permanent Violet Holbein
• Paris Blue Luckas
• Cobalt Blue Turquiose (Light) Kremeer
• Permanent Green Schmincke
• Burnt Sienna Schmincke
• Sepia Brown Schmincke
• Permanent White Gouache Winstor Newton
• Davy’s Grey Winstor Newton

Six Inch Ruler

Small Eraser, Stick Eraser and Tuff Stuff Eraser

Pencil Holder, Mechincal Pencils (.05 red lead and .07 blue.) Col Erase Light Blue and Scarlet Red. White Caran D’Ache Watercolor pencil

Two large black brushes of ink (One of Holbein ink and another of Sumi ink) Clear water brush. A tombow brush, and a rotring graphic .2

One number 10 flat brush and a round Escoda number 8 brush.

The two sharpeners (Standard pencil and lead holder.)

Sketchbook and small nalgene bottle for water.

Well that’s the list, lets see what it makes. Here are some examples of what I’ve done with this. The last image is a photo for a possible character.

Hey Kids,

Hows it going? Not bad just been working hard. Well been practicing and got some more sketches. Hope ya enjoy.  -Greathouse

Keep an eye out for The Black Crown Society

So just like every year as a kid, Christmas seem to be a blur. Heroes con has become that way in my adult years. After months of prepping and getting ready. It’s all over. As with each year, the show for me seems to get better by leaps of faith. I always leave excited, little sad and having new inspiration for my work. I am happy to say I had a much more positivie reaction to people watching me paint right there. It is something I will do for now one. I did this year auction piece at the table and went up to the Sunday art auction. I love painting it there and was fun to answer people question. I hope I encourage people to try out some watercolors. I am shocked too that people didn’t know Brandy or Liberty Meadows. I know it’s not super heroes but isn’t it mainstream?! I don’t know these days haha.

I also had some fun doing some great commissions. Like starting the show on Stallone, to a female wizard summoning a smoking monkey. I also got to do one tradition I look forward to each year. There are two sweet ladies that have everyone they can sign their box. Each year they have asked me, even when no one would give me the time of day. I saw that my teacher, Stelfreeze rocks out a great piece for them. My new goal is to beat him on that box… I won’t tell him just yet though. Sadly I forgot to take photos of each of these. I did get shoots of two commission I didn’t finish and had to take home. One is for a manager at my favorite burger place in town. Grindhouse Killer Burgers and then a blank cover one. Here is the finished to Grind house and pencils to the cover.

Over all this is amazing show. I have always been treated well and they are most helpful. I would say like family but well family doesn’t treat me as well as they do at Heroes. It was also a blast to go to the after party and see the behind the scene of the store. Heroes aren’t hard to find is one of my favorite comic book stores, if you have the chance to go. Please do. Well it was great catching up with people, seeing some great new art and well buying some great books. I was lucky to get some treasure I get each year and things I didn’t even know would be there. Over all another great con and time to get ready for it next year. Thanks again Shelton and all the staff and volunteers of the show.

Hey guys,

How are you all doing? It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. If you don’t know, this weekend is Heroes Con 30th anniversary. I am happy to say I’ll be apart of it. I’ll be at table AA-748 Not only going but I’m bring a big bash of new things. First, a new sketchbook and by new I mean my first. A 32 page full color sketchbook from watercolors to sketches. None of my finished pages, just more of my roughs and art you might haven’t seen.

Another thing I am proud of a brand new print of a full watercolor. My movie poster of the first year of Scotty Odyssey. I hope ya dig it, there are only 50 of them. So come and grab them.

Also for the lower price group. Some stickers, just a little fun for the group.

Now last for the money bit. Got commissions. Here are the prices and let me know if you have any questions.

The last exciting part. I love this show, it’s a show I wanna do every year. So to show my support, I am doing an auction piece. Based off the Liberty Meadows by Frank Cho. Here are the pencils and inked.

Thanks for the support and hope to see you guys there this week.

-Greathouse

Hey kids,

So this year I’ve been doing my webcomics all digital. From start to finish, pencils, inks and colors. Getting great results from it and getting more done. However, a few years prior to this though, I was all traditional. I didn’t like the idea of doing anything on the computer. I would actually look down on it.

One thing that has been bugging me. I’ve notice when I tell someone that I’m doing digital art, some people give me the stink eye. The idea of all digital puts a bad taste in their month. Something about no original, nothing you can hold. The question is just about digital vs traditional, web vs print. What it boils down new vs old. How we use to do things to how people are doing it now. So why do all digital? The reason for me is simple, it’s time. Digital is quicker and can create better results. It’s simpler to fix and get something done.

The thing I do find a little interesting though. It’s not digital vs traditional. It’s inks vs digital. The idea of not inking by hand makes people upset. The idea of doing digital will kill inkers. Now we can talk about how traditional is better then digital with inks. No question there. The skill of an artist with a brush and ink is more impressive and a better result then digital. The face you can hold their finish and be amaze of the skill by hand is impressive. I love seeing this and do still practice inking by hand. Here is my question to anyone that says digital is wrong.

Why is it the norm to digital color a comic but nothing else?

The idea of doing inks digital is almost a sin. However the idea of coloring outside of the computer is just crazy. Every artist I know in comics that talk about doing art only the traditional was is that way tell the colors. You can’t do the pencils, the inks but yeah the letters and colors of course. What other way would you do it? An old saying comes to mind for me at this moment.  ”It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”  So couldn’t one say the goal of the piece is more important then the piece it’self?

The other thing I have love with doing the comic digital and other art. I have more time to watercolor. I can finish a lot more projects which means I can do more with watercolors. It’s a medium I love and wish I could do more with. I would love to do a full comic with it, however the medium of comics isn’t about art. It’s all about production. So not the best ay to work doing a fully painted comic unless getting paid to. It’s nice to sit down and do things the old fashion way. Espcially since most comic artist I know now a days don’t wanna learn how to paint. The other add bonus to all this digital?! I do my pencils digitally and print out to watercolor. Clean smooth paper making it easier to do the painting in.

Now I’m not saying break your pens and brush, the digital age is in. Blah, that is backwards thinking and childish.  What I’m saying over all is, learn all you can. New artist, learn to do things the old fashion way. Getting a ruler and pencil out. That’s how I learn, not only that but I learn how to hand letter. I don’t use that skill that often but I know how. Learning how to do things the traditonal way will help you and your pit falls in the digital way. Also, a guys I tabled with a couple years ago, only knew how do most of his art digitally. Coming to a con he forgot a lot of his supplies and took him a second to remember how to do it off a screen.

To the guys set in never doing anything digitally. Try it, try draw and inking and painting in it. Who knows you might like it? Or more importantly, you might learn a better way to fix some mistakes incase you miss the first time. You might find setting up your pages digital is a lot easier. There are a world of things you might be missing not giving it a shot. I notice comics, we’ll try new style or characters or creators or even food. However asking to try new tools can be hard it seems.

I dont’ know, to me there is a whole world of art and I wanna explore all of it. So for now I’m doing Scotty all digital. I wanna tell the story more then the art. I rather have the first edition book be worth more then a page. I don’t want inkers or pencilers to go away. Some of the best art I’ve ever seen done is watching Dexter Vines or Karl Story ink. Another one is Mark Schultz, that man has some tricks that only the old school guys know.  They are all masters of the brush. If you get the chance to talk to them do.  That’s just my thoughts, Here are some images from my desk top. Have a good one.

-Greathouse

I think one of the coolest things these days are being able to stumble on so many unique works. It’s easy to get lost and enjoy the inspiration laid out in front of us. Some times you find stuff half way around the world. Sometimes, like this time, you find stuff in your own backyard. A couple I am friends with have been doing some stuff on their free time that is more then just  inspiring. The Burns, Miracole and Chris Burns, are both comic fans. They are fans, they don’t write or draw comics. However, they are a big part of the comic scene.

Miracole does cosplay on her free time. Basically makes costumes based on characters she likes and dress up for events. To a level of detail it is hard to imagine at times. She has done it for a long time and is world wide star. Lately she took one of her first costumes and for the sake of art… Lit it on fire. She did a photo shoot with BGZ Studio of Dark Phoenix. Here is a picture and a preview. The work BGZ studio does inspiring. I’m hoping to see Miracole and BGZ Studio produce more soon.

Her husband has taken his love of comics to a new level. He help produce, direct act, and come up with a web series known as Avengers Assemble the Series. It has two season and stars a wide cast of characters. Each episode is about 5 to 7 minutes long. They touch on pop culture and the comic itself. The level of detail and time put into the show is mind blowing. It takes a lot of people to produce the show. It’s a great and fun show however it’s not safe for work, so here is the link to the show. Avengers Assemble. 

The other cool thing about these two also is they do references shots for comics. Artist will contact them to model for comic cover. They work with artist and often doing this after a long day on set. Just to help friends and the love of the art of comic. Check out both of their sites and hope this shows a side of comics you might not of known. Miracole Burns and Chris Burns. Thanks guys and enjoy.

So I keep hearing how 2012 is the year of the Creators. I don’t know 100% why but it’s bugging me. I think a lot of people been romanticized the whole creator own projects. Making it seem like the perfect situation. You creating what you love, making more money then anyone else and your own boss.  Looking at the most popular ones and acting like anyone that does it is going to get success with no work. I’m not trying to call anyone out but let’s get some prospective on this.

This is the second year of Scotty, been loving being to tell my story and making it better. However, I do have a day job, so I spend 8 hours on my feet, running around, showing people supplies for art and talking. At the end of it, I am tired. I just wanna chill for a bit, however I wanna get this comic done. So where is the balance at? It is easy to blow off work and just play games or read. However when I do that I feel guilty. I usually end up going to be at 4 or so. Just to get up and repeat. This is my typical life, I am working on Scotty and other projects to get a better life. It is hard and like Reel Big Fish said, “You might think that’s its cool to get up on stage. And play rock and roll from your heart and soul. But no one shows up and your songs all suck. And there’s no applause.” I keep going on cause it’s want I wanna do. It’s something creators can’t describe but we all do. Keep wanna make the best there is.

The other thing that has been biting at me… “What is Creator own?” I feel in comics it’s black and white subject. However, if we look at it, it’s a lot more shades of gray. First off, all of DC and Marvel characters are creator own. The creators might have moved on or dead but they are still creator own works. So if that isn’t creator own would Sean Murphy’s new project creator own? He came up with the story and art himself. Is creator own 100% doing it yourself? If that’s the cause, would Hellboy, the Goon and Usuagi Yojimbo also not be creator own?

Also is creator own just comics or story? A creator I know is going to put out a how to book. Talking about his process and sharing his techniques. He’s putting it out himself but not a story. A lot artist put out art books/sketch books and other things to sell each year. Would one count those creator own? It’s easy to make it black and white. No it’s simpler to. In truth there are more grays to this.

My opinion? Creator own is taking a risk in something you wanna share. How much risk do you wanna talk and how important is it to you are the keys. I just wanna see more works people care about and proud about. Truth be told I wanna see more mainstream that are well done, not just creator own. These days it’s easier to get your work out to the masses, the key is making your voice something worth sharing. I will probably come back on this subject but lets stop fill the term creator own with air and just get to work. I am going to make 2012 the year of projects to be completed! Thanks again and have a good one.

-Greathouse

Hey kids,

How are ya’ll doing this fine monday? I’m doing good. Lately I have been working hard at changing how I do this whole art thing. An artist name Brian Stelfreeze showed me how he does thumbnails. Which I won’t lie, has changed how I do things now. Starting with a good plan and foundation makes life sooo Much easier! What he does is a thing called “Black,White Gray”. Basically using simple shapes of black, white or gray to figure out your composition. By doing this you are figuring out the basic and by doing this your image with have a greater impact. So here is some of the thumbnails I have done so far. I got some practice to work on but just wanna share this with you guys.

Here is some examples how it has effected my comic. The first is how I use to do my thumbnails. By figuring out the blacks, I can not only produce this faster but easier as well!

The last thing is an exercise I’m still doing that has helped me out a lot. There is a movie called the “Big Combo.” It’s a black & white movie, however the whole thing is shoot beautiful in contrast. These are 16 from just the first five minutes. It is a work out and great practice. Hope this has been helpful and look forward to better and faster strips from me soon. -Greathouse