Self Portraits

Alright.  So I'm not a huge fan of making a subject of myself...  However, for whatever reason, self portraits are part of the artistic process.  As such, here are a few I've had to do over the years... 

I did this one in grade 11 art (2003)...  I wasn't completely comfortable
with shading at the time, so I could have done much better on my face...

But you get the idea.  This piece is the basics: pencil on watercolour paper.

This one is a little more recent. I got new charcoals and felt

compelled to experiment.  I think it's from December of 2006.

Although this one isn't a portrait of me, per say, it is my name.

So I say it counts! ;)  This is the inside cover for one of my
sketchbooks.  Pencil crayons, Ink, and metallic marker
on paper.

You'll recognize this one from the title, but I figured it

deserved an explanation.  I did this one for Grade 9

art (2001).  It's a 'distortion' self portrait piece. 
Acrylic paint on watercolour paper.



Some random pieces I've done of late...

I was watching 'Ruby Gloom' a little while back,

and decided to experiment with my ability to do something a little darker

than my normal stuff.  These two peices are very much influenced

by the style in which 'Ruby Gloom' is drawn.

It's been too long!

So I fell off the face of my blog for a little while, but I always come back. ;)  I've been taking Ty Templeton's Comic Book Bootcamp lvl's 1 & 2. Which is a good portion of the reason I haven't posted in a while.  It was an amazing course, and I'm somewhat saddened it's over.  It's definately helped cement my desire to work in the comic book industry, though, and I have plans to continue in that vein with the next courses I'll be taking through The Toronto Cartoonist Workshops. 

I've also had a few people fall through on me with their plans for colaborative works...  No worries though.  I have my own graphic novel very much in the works,  and with the tools provided by Ty, I'm much more prepared to move forward on it myself.  Remember my previous post about Merpeople being guardians of the Oceans?  Well it's along those lines, but has evolved into something much more complex, and fantastical.  I'll be pulling in a lot of mythos from various cultures; playing with the idea that every lie has it's base in truth.  It's going to be my take on the tale of Atlantis, with a modern twist...  Now, I can't give too much more away, lest my idea's be stolen. 0_o ...

That being said, here are a few of the characters I've designed thus far:

She is an example of one of the races I'll have represented. 

They are serpantine in nature, and reside off the coast of Asia. 

Possibly the Indian Ocean?  We'll see.

The lovely lady above is a sampling of the race of merpeople

that make the Meridean Trench their home.  Hence the larger eyes,

and red colouring, (Many deep sea species have red colouring,

as it acts as camoflage, much like infared lights are invisible to the naked eye) . 

This race will also be the race that currently holds the throne in my story.

The male and female specimens above are my Hyperboreans.

(google it. Hyperboreans were race of people the ancient Greeks believed in.) 

They will reside under the Arctic continent, and are part sea lion.  They are also

supposed to have a Norse influence to their appearance, determined by the frigid

environment they call home.  The coulouring clearly needs to be done still, but you get the idea.