Did two more of these, one last night and one tonight. Gives me something to smile about after working a day in retail holiday-ness.

This is about the most commercial thing I've ever done. While I don't mind looking at others' fan art, I've never really wanted to do any of my own. Is it 'beneath me?' I was probably being a bit snooty in that regard. I also wonder how it is that so many people can sell commissions and posters while depicting other peoples' characters. When done just for fun, that's one thing. Licensed material? That's another. And yet so many do it. Well, this is just for fun so I can dodge that moral bullet. Oh. It's Link from the Legend of Zelda series though depicted in the present day.

I haven't painted in a long while. Too long. So I took some time away from things I have to get done and painted this today. It's a lousy picture but I have some editing left to do on it anyway.

A couple more of these just for fun. Trying to work a little more on the anatomy. Make the eyes smaller, like the otter to add something more to the faces.

And here's the other two members of the party in a morning warmup drawing, Armand and Flick.

I'm still drawing these guys. I think 2013 is going to have two goals; do a final edit on Tamino and try and at least publish that as an epub and to work on Delve Deep. Keep it simple, pour effort into those two things. I'm also seriously thinking of making Delve Deep a black and white comic, or perhaps a grayscale one to make publishing with an actual publisher easier. Did these two tonight as simple warmups and was happy with them. Really, I have to finish the Crawford and Cromwell story and that's a whole other mindset.

I realize I've been neglecting my blog when it comes to this little short story I've been working on. These are pages out of sequence but are two of my favorites for the project. They won't make sense on their own but I can't post too much so as not to ruin the potential sales. I'll post a link when the anthology goes on sale.

Another warmup. Obviously I was far more into the figure than the bench which is just wickedly mucked up. Oh, well. That'll learn me. This was just a warmup anyway as I was in the mood to -ink-.

Morning warmup. Got a new scanner last night so happened to capture the pencil drawings before I inked it this morning. Usually the pencil marks just die their usual death, crumbed to the carpet. There will always be a life in the sketch that's lost in the inked version but there's also a solidity that's in the inks that's missing in the pencil. Ink is about decision. It's digital in its way; yes or no. Or is that binary. I guess what I like about ink is that there isn't any hiding, any going back. There it is, that line. I made that choice. Move on. It's also a mark of pride when I can make an inked drawing without smudges on it. This is one of those rare ones.

And then I went ahead and colored it in Illustrator.

Another one of these. A boring pose but a different shape of head. Just an evening warmup.

Another one of these, perhaps more grotesque than the last. I've decided to mix the animal parts with the human parts a little differently in a less aesthetically pleasing way perhaps. And so what? Humans aren't all beautiful. I'm not. And I think there's something more interesting in this than if the face were just flawless. Pretty can be dull. Often makes for a boring portrait. In case it's not obvious (and it's not) this is an otterboy.