Piece Of the Day- Day 1 "Deborah"

What's up peeps, it's been a while.

Even though I feel like I've been gone forever, don't think I've been slacking. A lot of exciting things have been going on, and I'll be updating more frequently. Amidst all of the news that will be coming, what will be precedent for the month of October is my "Artpiece-of-the-Day" goal. Every day for the month of October I'll be posting a new piece of art, plus providing some behind the scenes sketches and commentary. Each pic will be as "complete" as I can make it, depending on what was called for with the project, meaning some pieces may be more elaborate than others, but the ultimate goal here is for me to be more productive.

So, with that intro out of the way, let's get the ball rolling with "Deborah"

Above is my sketch of the character to get her "feel". The client's description read "
Deborah is a beautiful (much more the urban standard of beauty than the typical Hollywood standard), curvaceous African woman with long braids not dreadlocks. She is about 19 years old. She is dark skinned and has very defined muscles, but she does not have overly large muscles. She has on dark pants and a light brown tactical vest. Under her vest she has a low cut green shirt that shows off her ample cleavage. An AK-47 is strapped to her back. In her hand is a machete dripping blood. Her face is almost in a snarl."
The first thing I did was check with the client to see what kind of world the characters inhabited- in other words, how fantastical did he want it and how far I could go. He let me know this was to be "real world" and present day. With any character design I believe in research first, no matter if it's based in reality or fantasy, so after some reference checks on military and police clothing, I had my look. 

With this being the finished piece. As you can see I veered from the AK-47 and gave her a more powerful piece. (I wish I had saved the info on what gun I used for reference). The description said she was pretty strong, so I just thought it would be interesting and visually appealing to see this young woman holding up this heavy, bad-ass instrument of death.
Sometimes I do a sketch and it comes out perfect and really fluid and organic, then when I try to capture that same feel to the final page without a lightbox I lose the appearance or energy of the piece, but in this case I'm pretty happy with what came out.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to follow me on this path of me seeking to be a more productive and better artist. Catch you tomorrow.

Peace.
S

Aizan Second Chance

What's up peeps. 

For a while now I've received messages from people who have wanted to show support for Aizan by pledging funds. Their reasons range from missing out on the kickstarter date, to hearing about my legal battle, to complete strangers just wanting to contribute to a character they think is worth a shot. I asked folks to hold off till I had some things in place, and now, here's your second chance to get in on the ground floor of Aizan. 

ALL of the same prizes from the Kickstarter campaign will available and all the donation amounts remain the same. The time period will be from this Monday March 4th to Thursday, April 4th. Choose your tier and send all donations to the paypal address of pyroglyphics1@comcast.net. Please attach a note with your name, address, award level you chose, and any other details.

"Burner Level" Pledge $5 or more
Backers who select this tier will receive a high quality digital copy of the entire Aizan Demo Book delivered via personal email, PLUS one ticket for the Ultimate Aizan Gift Pack.

"Bomber Level" Pledge $10 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive a high quality digital copy of the entire Aizan Demo Book, as well as an EXCLUSIVE Digital Aizan wallpaper poster delivered via personal email, PLUS 2 tickets for the Ultimate Aizan Gift Pack.

"Get Up Level" Pledge $25 or more
Backers who select this tier will receive a signed PRINTED copy of the Aizan Demo Book and Digital wallpaper poster, in addition to your name in the Kickstarter "Thank You" page. PLUS, 3 tickets for the Ultimate Aizan Gift Pack. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Wild Style Level" Pledge $30 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive a signed PRINTED copy of the Aizan Demo Book, as well as an EXCLUSIVE 11X17 signed Aizan poster, your name in the Kickstarter "Thank You" page, PLUS the Digital Download of the EXCLUSIVE Aizan Soundtrack! PLUS, 4 tickets for the Ultimate Aizan Gift Pack. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Landmark Level" Pledge $50 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive a signed PRINTED copy of the Aizan Demo Book, as well as TWO EXCLUSIVE 11X17 signed Aizan posters, PLUS your name in the Kickstarter “Thank You" page of the book, as well as the Digital download of the EXCLUSIVE Aizan Soundtrack,in addition to 5 tickets for the Ultimate Aizan Gift Pack. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Black Book Level" Pledge $75 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive all of the above(book, posters, thank you, soundtrack, 5 tickets), as well as the EXCLUSIVE Aizan Trading Card, Postcard and Magnet. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Rook Level" Pledge $100 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive all of the above (book, posters, thank you entry, soundtrack, trading card, postcard, magnet, 5 tickets) PLUS your chose of any tee-shirt from the Pyro collection. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Knight Level" Pledge $150 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive a LIMITED EDITION Sketch Cover version of the Aizan Demo Book featuring an EXCLUSIVE Aizan sketch, along with everything else of the above (poster, thank you entry, soundtrack, trading card, post card, magnet, 5 tickets and shirt). *Please Note: The delivery date was chosen due to the existing commission list Shawn Alleyne already has, his schedule, and the time it takes to do a quality piece of artwork. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Bishop Level" Pledge $200 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive all of the above (Sketch cover book, poster, thank you, soundtrack, trading card, post card, magnet, 5 tickets and shirt), PLUS a SIGNED original page of production/concept art. *Please Note: The delivery date was chosen due to the existing commission list Shawn Alleyne already has, his schedule, and the time it takes to do a quality piece of artwork. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Bishop Level" Pledge $200 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive all of the above (Sketch cover book, poster, thank you, soundtrack, trading card, post card, magnet, 5 tickets and shirt), PLUS a SIGNED original page of production/concept art. *Please Note: The delivery date was chosen due to the existing commission list Shawn Alleyne already has, his schedule, and the time it takes to do a quality piece of artwork. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"King Level" Pledge $300 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive the soundtrack, plus DOUBLE of everything else (TWO signed PRINTED copies of the Aizan Demo Book, 2 posters, 2 trading cards, 2 magnets, 10 tickets, 2 shirts, 2 pieces of SIGNED original pages of production/concept art) PLUS your name in the Kickstarter "Producer" page, AS WELL as a character in the book NAMED AFTER YOU! (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Angel Level" Pledge $500 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive all of the above (the books, soundtrack, posters, trading cards, magnets, 10 tickets, shirts, original pages of production/concept art, and Producer credit) PLUS, yourself MADE INTO a super-powered character from the Aizan Universe! The character will appear in the back of Aizan issue #1 in a bio page. *Please Note: The delivery date was chosen due to the existing commission list Shawn Alleyne already has, his schedule, and the time it takes to do a quality piece of artwork. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

"Hierarch Level" Pledge $1,000 or more

Backers who select this tier will receive all of the above (the book, soundtrack, posters, trading cards, magnets, 10 tickets, shirts, original pages of production/concept art, and Producer credit) PLUS, yourself MADE INTO a super-powered VILLAIN from the Aizan Universe, AS WELL as an EXCLUSIVE commission of your character fighting Aizan! You will then receive the ORIGINAL page of the commission. Immortality achieved! *Please Note: The delivery date was chosen due to the existing commission list Shawn Alleyne already has, his schedule, and the time it takes to do a quality piece of artwork. (Includes shipping/handling but please add $10 if outside US).

Hit me up if you guys have any questions and thank you all in advance for your support and interest. 

Peace

Shawn

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.


.

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

Aizan Resurrection

I'm sorry..I can't do it..I can't wait. We survived the Apocalypse people!! That's gotta earn us something, right? Why should I wait till January 1st to give you a taste of Aizan's new look? Well, here it is. Like I told you, just minor tweaks. Let me know what you guys think.

Now, as some of you may or may not know, my Aizan project was recently held up due to a copyright dispute-- an artist claimed that Aizan was too similar to a character of his design. Well, after all this waiting, the case has moved on. And I pray to God this is the end of it. 

What does this mean for Aizan overall? It means Aizan will still be published!! Obviously the original publication date is completely obliterated, but the new release date is set for MAY 1ST, 2013! 
Why so long? Well, I have no choice but to go back to the very beginning and rework all of the artwork and product I spent so many months prepping. I'm also working with the guest artists who would have contributed to the book to have new/revised artwork included. In addition, the story has been re-worked a little as well. This new date will give me and the team all the time needed to recover from this roadblock. This will be a rough road, but I'm committed to seeing this through. That is the essence of Aizan.

I want to thank all of you guys for your incredible patience. I can't say thank you enough to everyone who sent me a word of encouragement..to everyone who offered to donate money to help me out..just an amazing show of love. Thank you all. I'm even grateful for this ordeal...how else will you know what you're made of if you don't fall once and awhile?

Now, one last thing. Like I said, I really am sick of this and I personally don't want to talk more about the matter. I also personally don't want to give this guy anymore attention, but I've had people asking me to see the character in question as well as ask who was the artist and  what more details can I touch on. I won't speak on it more here, but for those of you interested, a good friend of mine by the name of Kamau Mshale, wrote two amazing blogs about the whole thing, with pictures of the character in question. They're really quite insightful and done with a fair, analytical tone. If you want to find out more, I'm sending you his way. While you're there, stick around cause he's a great artist and will be featured in the Aizan book.
Part 1: http://kmshale.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-barrel-of-crabs-pt.html
Part 2: http://kmshale.blogspot.com/2012/12/thats-just-nasssty.html

And that's that. Thank you once again and I'll see you all soon.

Cheers everyone.

"You're fire, I'm butane.."- Nas

"Still I Rise"

"You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise."

Maya Angelou says it best in her poem "Still I Rise", and I shall not seek to best her. All I can say is, prepare yourself.

Peace!

Pyroglyphics Sale

What's up peeps! You all know what time it is-- time for those holiday gifts. And for that special fanboy or fangirl, nothing beats some sweet art and/or fashion. Check out all the posters and shirts I have available this season. Inbox me with questions, comments and orders.
Peace
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.206007222784611.64756.198162636902403&type=1