30 Day Challenge

What's up peeps.
So yesterday I spoke about pushing myself to finish and post one commission a day for 30 days. I've suffered from chronic lateness last year and my goal is to fully catch up on my commissions sooner rather than later. As an added bonus as I post these daily commissions I will be doing breakdowns of some of my thoughts behind the pieces. I'm already at Day 8 over on facebook, so I will post 3 of the pieces here back to back to get you caught up. Let's go!

Day 4: The Blackbird..a reinterpretation of one of my student's characters. The student's name is Safiya and let me tell you, this girl is going to be a superstar one day. She came to my workshop SUPER prepared. Just 11 years old with the full story thought out, a mini-comic done, full background, the works. AND she just got accepted into an apprenticeship program of the Moore College. Great things to come. For this character since she's only about 21, I wanted to make sure I showed her on the slim side and a little underdeveloped. She's also now starting out in the crimefighting game and I like her stance being a little shaky. 

 Bonus colors by Renee Clarke

Day 5: Crimson Hood..a reinterpretation of my student's character. This character was created by a kid called Jason, another young artist who will be a force to be reckoned with. He originally chose the name "Red Hood", but I convinced him to change it to avoid Disney suing his young ass homeless. It was also a little funny drawing this character due to some similarities to Street Team's Aaron, but such is the creative process.

Bonus color piece done by Kamau Mshale

Day 6: Frank Stein...reinterpretation of one of my student's characters. The character is a big kid trapped in this super powerful body. He's also not the knife in the cutlery, but has the classic kind heart, and I wanted to make sure I gave him a shy smile. I also made a point to make his feet huge and give him that awkward stance, once again to highlight his uncomfortableness. Note the bath-towel cape. At one point I was thinking of pushing the "Frankenstein" pun and giving him a neck tattoo of a nuts and bolts.

Day 7: Yes, I will be working personal Aizan pieces into the rotation..got a problem with that?! Here is the revised version of the postcard that will be offered. I wanted to show Aizan in a different light..one where you can tell she's been in a HELLAVA fight. As I said before, I'm a fan of the underdog, and I love characters like Batman, Wolverine and Spider-man, who can take a licking and keep on ticking. Aizan's real strength is the fact that she's incredible stubborn and a risktaker..she doesn't have it in her to back down. This leads to all kinds of ice-baths in her new occupation.


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And that's it for today folks. Thanks for taking the time to check out my scribbles. Hopefully I'll catch y'all tomorrow.

Peace

"React with the speed of a panther/Impact of a hollow-head only faster with no evidence after.."- Geist

HPNY and The 30Day Challenge

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! Since we're still in January I think it's ok to say that. 2012, you were one HELL of a year...and 2013, I'm excited to see what you bring. Thanks to everyone who made the past year what it was, good or bad. I pray that I learn and live to the fullest of my potential, and I wish the same for all of you guys. 

To cement that mentality in the early, I'm pushing myself to finish and post one commission a day for 30 days. I've suffered from chronic lateness last year and my goal is to fully catch up on my commissions sooner rather than later. As an added bonus as I post these daily commissions I will be doing breakdowns of some of my thoughts behind the pieces. I'm already at Day 7 over on facebook, so I will post 3 of the pieces here back to back to get you caught up. Let's go!

Day 1: Glyphx! This was done for a client by the name Ced Pharaoh as a promo piece for his illustrated novel Urban Mage, which is a project on Kickstarter. URBAN MAGE is aimed at science fiction & fantasy lovers and is labeled as an Ancient Urban Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure that mixes action inspired by African Mythology & other cultures.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/348619251/urban-mage-the-legacy-chronicles-book-1-0.

For this piece, Ced (who I'm also proud to call a friend) wanted something showing Glypx in that classic bad-ass, coming out the shadows, no fear pose. The important thing for me when I do a piece is to show some sort of motion, and there's nothing I love more than swirling energy or smoke. Glyphx channels 2 form of energy, one more of a flame emanation, and the other an electrical like charge, so I tried to show contrasting line forms. The only thing I would like to alter is how old I made him look-- he's supposed to be around 19 or so, and I feel I made him look a few years beyond that. The original challenge of this piece started way back when I first designed the character. Ced asked for a futuristic dashiki, so I had to do a lot research of African designs, but the crunch was how to make it look modern AND have a wider audience appeal yet still keep certain Afrocentric elements. The good thing about Ced is he has pretty clear visions on how he wants his characters so it was a great collab.

Day 2: Omega! This is a reinterpretation of one of my students characters.

I have been teaching my Character Design Workshop Course now for a few years now around Philly, and my latest class just ended at the Lenfest Center in Hunting Park. The curriculum of my course focuses on having the students come up with their own original character, then I take them through the basic steps of writing and drawing using their character as a foundation on which to build on. I really like the look of this character. As anyone who knows me can tell you I love ninjas and scarves (sound familiar), and the mohawk is the icing. So this was fun...and easy. My students already did all the hard work.


Day 3: Shadow Catcher...Reinterpretation of one of my students characters..

I don't know why, but I was having a hard time coming up with a comfortable pose for this character. To be honest, I'm still not all the way happy, but sometimes you gotta move on. One of the other things I don't like is how skintight I made his shirt..looks like he's naked. lol Someone mention my student having a Naruto influence, and yes the mask has that swirl effect, but I like the face he gave it his own spin.

More to come tomorrow.

Peace

"Brainstorming insane thoughts to form a bloody reign/rain"- Geist