The Monkey King

The Art Order is holding a challenge to create a piece of personal art. Some of the prompts were mythology and folklore which got me thinking about mythology that isn't as popular. That led me back to mythology and stories I was researching early in my first 2 years of college. I was interested in learning more about Asian mythology since I have a martial arts background. Soon into my research Monkey King came up. After reading numerous academic articles and stories, I knew I had to create an illustration of the character.

Now a few years later, I was stumped on what to create for my next illustration. I draw European fantasy often and wanted to do something different. While looking through an old folder of drawings I found my first drawing of Monkey King and was immediately inspired to create a new piece based on the character. I got to work and created the new personal piece that I am happy with.

Monster Monday- June 30, 2014

This week's monster is a Catoblepas from Ethiopia, one of the monster requests I received on Tumblr. It's said to look like a boar or buffalo with spikes along the spin. It's breath turns people to stone or kills them. For the creature's design I looked at oxen reference since they have an interesting silhouette and a strong build. For a future I plan on using the Catoblepas for an illustration. 

Ice Giant with axe and sword

Ice Giants are scattered all over my sketch book recently. I have done drawings on toned paper in the past few months and only one digital piece. I felt like I was neglecting photoshop lately and needed to get back into digital coloring. Last week I drew a toned paper version of the Ice Giant that did not turn out as well as I hoped. Redrawing the piece on bristol turned out favorable results. Then the photoshop magic begins. Though I do not consider myself a photoshop wizard like my friends. 

The original drawing will be traveling with me in September to Illuxcon, where I will be displaying my work in the showcase on Friday and Saturday night. 

Bonus line drawing

Monster Monday- June 2, 2014

A little creature inspired by insects of many kind. A little drawing I inked for practice and turned out well. This design will be done on toned paper and inked maybe even colored. This creature is very small and lives inside trees with a larger colony of its kind. They work together collecting pollen to create a honey that can heal even the worse wounds. Many people wander the woods looking for the honey to help the injured or sell to a doctor.

Monster Monday- November 11, 2013

Another Ice Giant this week. The drawing originate from a 2 hour break between my Thursday classes, where I usually hang out and draw. I've been drawing Ice Giants lately for an illustration I'm planning to do. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll get a chance to create it.

Monster Monday- November 4, 2013

This week's monster is an Ice Giant. This drawing is a character study for an illustration I am conceptualizing at the moment. I'm taking the idea I used for the watercolor Ice Giant I did a while back and taking it to the next level.

Soon I hope to open an online store where I will sell drawings as well as books and prints. It will most likely happen after the new year.

Monster Monday- October 7, 2013

The great Cthulhu of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. Describe as one of the great old ones, the creature is imprisoned under a sunken city to once again rise and cause chaos on earth. Cthulhu is described as having an octopus like head, huge wings, and standing taller then any building. For my version, I gave it more of a squid shaped head for a more distinctive shape. Instead of many tentacles near the mouth, I chose 3 to keep the design clean. Normally many people give Cthulhu clawed arms, but I've always imagined it to have tentacle arms.

Death or the Grim Reaper and sometimes the Angel of Death, is a popular character of Halloween. Death as an actual living entity has been around since the Middle Ages as a skeletal figure carrying a sickle. Sometimes he can be tricked or bribed in order to stay alive, but it is also thought that he severs the soul and body creating death. For my design, I was inspired by Charon of Greek Mythology, who users the dead to the plane of Hades. Death has a black toga instead of a completely black robe, I also wanted his head to float high above his actual body so he could hid his form while meeting the newly dead. The scythe made of vines from the under world that holds his blade. Over all, I tried to reinvent the character to be more associated with Hades. 

Sketch Book

I am a illustrator who has always drawn. I've been keeping a sketchbook since I was about 10 years old and can't imagine the thousands of pages I have filled. Lately I have been working in a new sketch book book, a brown toned hardcover book produced by Strathmore. I've been searching for months for a hard cover sketch book that is not white paper, I need something with a binding so I am not tempted to rip out a drawing and forget a failure. It's important to keep all the drawings to show the progression to a liked drawing. The nice thing about sketchbooks is its an exploration and doesn't have to be 'finished' like an illustration. It's about problem solving and not creating perfect images. So I've decided to share some pages of my sketchbook in hope to get others to fill some sketchbooks of there own.

Incase anyone was wondering I draw with a simple pen and use a white gel pen for the white ink.