In the show My Little Pony, Spike, a baby dragon, is treated like an assistant. In my world, dragons are tamed as slaves while they are young, and as they age they are slaughtered before they can grow strong enough to fight back.

Diamond Dogs

A Diamond Dog re-imagined by me and a colored version of Silver Heart.

I am currently working on a My Little Pony story that dates back to when the god sisters Celestia and Luna first began their feud. This will be a fictional tale in which after the Discord War the sisters scattered the elements of harmony across equestria to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. Soon after this, Luna began her endless night and thus the civil war began. Some ponies sided with Luna, some with Celestia, and some even sought to bring back the god of chaos himself, Discord.

So far the only character I've got created is Silver Heart, a unicorn with the heart of an earth pony, dedicated so strongly to Celestia he gave his right eye in combat for her.

This will be a full fledged comic book once the plot is finished.

The Traverse

I am beginning a collection of concept art for an upcoming story I am working on called The Traverse. I hope to at least have 100 pages in the book and I will be able to send you physical copies of it and digital copies as well. A friend of mine suggested I make hand-bound leather copies as a super-deluxe edition with eagle feather quills and custom placeholders... I may just do that!

The books will come in several different forms, obviously hardcover and larger books will cost more, but it's completely customizable in the size and shape, including a digital pdf version, which will be free.

If you are interested in The Traverse please go check out http://eternalhourglass.freeforums.org.

Official Line

I've finally begun artwork that I intend to put up in art galleries. My main line of actual physical artwork will mostly be steampunk and will mostly be black ink on white canvas. I plan on starting with a series of raygun silhouettes and a line of actual steampunk rayguns. I can also do commission artwork for a higher price. The steampunk rayguns will start at $100 and rise depending on size of canvas. Remember, this is a line and each one will be a unique original so the price is quite low. I also plan on beginning my steampunk-western comic book, which I intend to sell for $25 each for regular, $50 for autographed alternate cover, and somewhere around $500 for the original. I will be sure to post any updates on paintings, comic books, rayguns, etc. here first before taking it to the art gallery, so if you would like to buy it directly from me it will be alot cheaper than in the gallery (as they take a 50% cut).

Madrina Bloodmoon

This was a really quick sketch I was doing as a warm up practice. When the internet died, I just fiddled with it a little more and decided it was good as a concept piece for my upcoming comic book, The Legacy of Kryos.

Level Up!

I plan on, hopefully in the near future, creating a series of youtube videos on costuming, specifically medieval fantasy costuming. What it will consist of is me playing rpgs or mmos and looking at the gear determined by level. What I will do is have a series of three costume pieces going at once; light armor, medium armor, and heavy armor. The piece will be rated by the level it is in the game and the goal of the project will be to "Level Up" your overall costume to the most elaborate and highly decorated costume you can think of.

Now, keep in mind this will be a very expensive project for me so it will take a great deal of time before the series is completely finished, I will most likely go from light to heavy armor, and I will try to incorporate some friends and family into this project as well. . Games I will use will have to meet certain criteria, such as realistic costumes that are functional in LARP as well as cosplay, the graphics will need to be good enough to make out minor detail, and costumes that somehow cling to the body without falling off (i.e. almost every female costume in fantasy mmos) will not be acceptable.

I will be using Age of Conan most likely, as it has some of the most realistic and awesome pieces I've seen thus far. I may also involve bits and pieces from other games, such as The Witcher and Neverwinter Nights.

Look forward to Episode 1 of Level Up! coming to youtube sometime around Q4!

Lion

So last night was very hectic, I probably shouldn't have even been drawing this. My fiance was drawing and wanted help, so I helped her out, and I was just very distracted by basically everything; the tv, the music, my fiance, the live feed, etc. In the end I felt frazzled.

But, I stuck with it even though NO ONE except my fiance watched the live feed. That's ok though, I'll be sure to give more notice before I do another one.

Youtube video soon to come.

Live Feed

Live video for mobile from Ustream

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!

I will now be doing LIVE FEEDS OF MY ART! They will be linked to my blog and yes, I will warn you ahead of time. I plan on doing one tonight and I will give a heads up before hand. I may do one tomorrow as well. I will be using Ustream, which does have a chat function, so I will be able to chat with you while I draw!

I'm Still Here

I will be drawing today. I will also try to upload Lesson 3, but for some reason every time I go into the folder to even click on the file my computer completely freezes and gives me a blue screen. Same with the costume video. I may have to just completely redo them :(

On another note, I've been really really busy, especially now that I have a new job. We've been trying to move a friend of mine up here, looking at houses, I'm still building an arcade, and of course taking care of other business like bills and the dog. So, I just wanted everyone to know I'm still here. And to bleed over to my "Not So Critical Gamer" blog, I feel like a sim who's doing really well at work, it's just not the career he wanted.

Contest Winner Mark Lemay

Mark Lemay's picture is finally done. It's not as good as I would have liked it, but it's up none the less. I may go back and tweak it a little, but this is the finished and final product for now. He requested his Dungeons & Dragons character, Ruo, from the Legacy of Kryos campaign I ran a while back. Ruo is the son of Drakk Fireborn, Mark's original character. I wanted to give Ruo a sense of peace with a hint of longing, so I decided to draw him looking deep into the mountains at sunset. It is rumored his father, Drakk, has taken up residence in the mountains and became somewhat of a hermit since Ruo's mother was killed. Ruo is also an assassin, raised and trained by his uncle, Bael.

Teaser

Teaser image from my next youtube lesson.

Pretty Colors

I was randomly inspired by day of the dead sugar skulls to do this one. just something random i threw together.

On Nature

With all the beautiful scenery and object's I've found here in Colorado, I've decided I'm going to attempt to create more things out of nature. One of my first goals is to find a really nice tree stump, spray primer it, and then with acrylic paints draw some "street" graffiti on it. I also intend to create traditional things, such as walking sticks, shillelaghs, flutes, pipes, etc.

For those of you who used to watch my youtube for my costume pieces, I'm sorry I took them down, but with my new video camera I intend to go over every piece of equipment I own eventually. Unfortunately, I live very far from any civilization, much less a larp such as Amtguard, so I have no need to drag all that stuff out of boxes. Just be patient and I promise I will post it eventually!

This foe is beyond any of you...

Hey guys, I decided to do something a little different this week. Since I've started the D&D campaign (technically pathfinder) it got me back into a fantasy mood, so I pulled out John Howe's Fantasy Drawing Workshop book and dove straight into the Balrog. I didn't read anything that he said to do, I only looked at the pictures and mimicked what I saw and this was the result. In my opinion the best digital drawing I've done yet. Check out the youtube link here as well.

How To Draw Classes

I will be preparing an online "class" on how to draw. I will be regularly posting youtube videos about once a week. I will be answering questions and I am available for one on one chat if you want direct contact. If you would like contact information just comment me here. It will all be free of charge, no subscription or payments will ever be necessary unless you'd like commissioned artwork. Please note that the artwork displayed it almost all just an attempt to understand Ben Caldwell's Fantasy! Cartooning. I have previous experience and I can draw very realistically as well as cartoony and I've taken several art classes throughout college, so not every tutorial and video will be as cartoony as the artwork I have posted so far.

Check out My first lesson and my first ever tutorial!

First Tutorial

Lesson 1 Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Lesson 2 Part 1 (audio has been corrupted :(...), Part 2, Part 3

Sketchbook Pages 1-6

In the Realm of Dungeons & Dragons...

I'd just like to give you all a link to my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, The Legacy of Kryos. I am currently writing stories set in this world, and the game itself starts tomorrow and I will be recording it. It will be posted, in segments, on my youtube.

Graffiti

Sorry I'm late everyone...I have no excuse, I just forgot...

Anyway, take a gander at my first ever graffiti art. Admittedly it's nowhere near what I'd want it to be, but considering it's my first I think it's pretty good. Also I'll be posting very short (30 seconds to 3 minutes) videos of just doodles, such as this one.

On another note, I also plan on setting up the video camera to watch me draw real-life pictures, not digital, but I know not how to set up a camera properly to do such a thing. I'll be looking into it. When I find my sketchbook I'll be sure to put up some videos of me sketching with pencil. I also plan on doing a few tutorials later on.

On Trivia

First off, let me explain it once more for those that missed it.

Every so often I will be hosting trivia on my Facebook. The first person to answer correctly gets to choose what I draw next and the music that will go with the video of me drawing said picture.

Now for the rules.

1. No profanity. I will not draw pornography or "erotic art" for you, don't ask. And yes, Michelangelo's David counts as profanity in this category.

2. It can be any type of DRAWING style art that I can do with my tablet and photoshop. It may or may not be colored, depending on how detailed you want it. It can be anything from graffiti art to comic book sketches to posing characters to caricatures. Basically anything you can imagine, as long as it can be drawn.

3. You can choose to have it highly detailed if you want, but I get to choose how realistic I will be drawing it.

4. You can request a written or verbal tutorial, which will make the video much longer and may break into multiple videos. I will simply go over the steps I took as commentary of the finished video, not as I am drawing it.

5. Music must NOT have lyrics, and must fit the length of the video by at least 60 seconds.

6. I hold final judgement over the drawing, I will inform you if I want to change something and I will not change it without your approval. As I hold final judgement I may terminate your request at any time, if I feel the need to.

Be sure to check the facebook every week for updates on trivia...It may be there!

In the latest Youtube video I showcase just how important practicing really is. After almost two weeks of not drawing a single thing I attempted to dive face first into drawing a figure, and I failed horribly.

I also seemed to have lost my sketchbook and until I find it I do not believe I will be able to continue drawing :( ...

but none the less, I am still working on projects, such as my tf2 mini sentry and my steampunk shotgun.

Also, I have begun asking general trivia on my facebook, and the first person to correctly answer the question will get their own drawing with their own music added to the video, as long as the music doesn't have lyrics and as long as the picture isn't profane.

So Much Work!

Hey all, sorry for the lack of daily pictures, and I'm also sorry that you will not be receiving any for a while longer. I'm currently working hard on getting everything unpacked and organized, and even harder trying to find a job, so I have had no time for drawing. Just keep watching and I'll keep you updated!

Day 6

Today's technique is, as usual, from Fantasy! Cartooning by Ben Caldwell. I basically treat this book like my bible now. I actually plan on drawing every single thing in this entire book.

Anyway, this picture actually took some things I learned from How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. In that book, and in my Day 2.5 pictures, it taught me that spreading the knees and elbows outward, feet outward, chest up, etc. it makes a much more dramatic pose. In this picture, it is a young, awkward teenage peasant boy, so the knees are much closer together, feet slightly inward and over-sized, elbows in very close, arms down at side, slumped shoulders and chest, with an elongated neck and a worried expression, along with doe-like eyes (which took me a while to master).

Obviously I didn't work too hard or spend too much time on the weapon and shield because this picture is about the boy, not the accessories, but I did put them in at least, just to show that they are over-sized and look too heavy for this boy.

In the upcoming comic book I'm writing, there is a young main character who reminds me very much of this picture. throughout the first few issues it will be obvious that he is in over his head and so this technique will be of great importance.

As ridiculous as this sounds, throughout the course of several issues you will slowly start to see him bend at the knees and elbows, pushing his limbs away from his body and puffing up his chest and shoulders. It may sound silly, but these subtle gestures can greatly change the way you perceive a person. Or so says the Marvel book.

A Good Tree

Here's the link to the "A Good Tree" video; my first take at coloring in a more children's book style. I left the edges white intentionally because I liked it and felt like if the background was just solid blue it may look kinda funny. If I knew how to gradient, I would have done the sky in that way...I mean I could have filled it and erased I guess, but that would have taken way too long for just a little something I was doing for fun at about 2 in the morning.

Anyway, if nothing else, you should enjoy the music!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb1aVkTKubo

Music Used

-- My First Space Digital Painting --

Donkey Kong Country 2 Soundtrack: Mining Melancholy - Mine Theme

-- Lion --
Unknown

-- Balrog Speed Painting --
Dark Age of Camelot Soundtrack: The Champion

-- Lesson 1 Part 3 --
Poker Night at the Inventory Soundtrack: More Gun Theme

-- Lesson 1 Part 2 --
BIT.TRIP FADE Soundtrack: Patience

-- Lesson 1 Part 1 --
Poker Night at the Inventory Soundtrack: Sam & Max's Office Theme

-- Random Doodles I --
Ultima Online Soundtrack: Stones

--My First Ever Graffiti Drawing --
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Soundtrack: Technodildo

-- Practice Makes Perfect --
Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec Soundtrack: Car Dealership

-- Digital Drawing: Fantasy! Cartooning; Peasant Boy --
The Neverhood Soundtrack: Klaymen's Theme

-- A Good Tree --
Darwinia Soundtrack: Pain Fade Down

-- Frustration --
Castle Crashers Soundtrack: Castle Band

-- Drawing a cartoon tree in photoshop --
Team Fortress 2 Soundtrack: More Gun

-- My second ever attempt to draw using Photoshop --
Gorillaz: The Snake In Dallas

Whoo Boy!

Alright folks, right now it is exactly 12:01 on the dot, so technically it's Day 6, but just a few minutes ago I finished my first ever speed painting and second ever painting in my entire life. It's nowhere near as good as i'd like it to be, and even though it's a "speed painting" it took me about 2 and a half hours to finish and it looks horribly blurry. I'm still going to keep working on this whole speed painting thing, but drawing is my top priority right now.

Also, I have a comic book I'm currently working on. I'm not going to give away much information, but when the script is finished for the first issue I will post a teaser for your review.

On a tiny side note, I may not be doing any drawing tomorrow, it seems like it's going to be a busy day with no room for fun :(

Frustration

I just wanted to make a quick post before uploading my "sneak peek". I know for a fact my picture will not be done today, but as it isn't just a simple sketch I think it does count for the one picture a day goal I've set for myself, even if it takes me four or so days to finish it, what with school and all.

I am very frustrated with my tablet. I thought it was simply my fault but I have come to realize that when i use my pressure pen it rolls along the surface, causing waves in what should be straight lines. If you watch my videos closely, especially in the Frustration video when I get to the right shoulder, you will see it bob up and down and almost never make a straight line unless I jab it forward very quickly, which makes the line very dark and most of the time very wobbly.

I remember in the Sorceress it was doing this to her stomach on the left side, it looked very strange. I found myself twisting and turning the tablet trying to fix this, but to no avail. My pen, if you grab the "eraser" or "lead" actually spins if you pinch it and rotate the pen while holding the eraser or lead in place, and after showing my friend and my girlfriend, we all tried drawing a straight line and found it nearly impossible. Unfortunately, I don't have enough money for a new tablet and Christmas, at this point in time, is eight months away. Maybe if I draw a picture of

Santa he'll bring me a present early?

either way, I am going to have to redo the black lines in the sneak peek video because, as you can see, I'm too frustrated and I'm trying to blow through the picture. It's obvious my artistic skills are not yet where I'd want them to be...Back to the books!

Day 4

This one was tougher than I expected. It seems as though you can just loop the pencil around and around, but in many cases I had to actually sketch the trees to connect them. Now, if this were done on paper it may have been easier, but anticipating where the mouse will fly while using a tablet is kinda hard.

I really should have worked harder on the well but to be honest I was destracted and I basically said to myself "Well, the main part of the picture is done anyway, so lets just move on. It's clear I need to work on my structures more than nature. I was going to make a second tree, a more evil and gnarly one, but I have decided against that so that I may make a really good picture, which I will be putting a sneak peek up later for that. Are you excited? You should be.

'Tis Sad Day To Be Giant Baby Man

I would like to apologize for the lack of day 4 picture sketch. As soon as I came home from class I fell asleep hard, it was a hard day after all. Anyway, I really wanted to get some art up, but many things have happened today, including a near car-wreck that made me jittery, so even if I tried to draw, I don't know if I could have.

Tomorrow I will try to do two pictures to make up for the lack thereof. One will be terrain, the other will be a completely original sketch without using a how-to book for help, and I plan on doing a third sketch exclusively for my Deviant Art Page!

There should be a youtube video this time, and as usual there will be the blue line sketches and combination sketches posted here on the blog.

I'm still a bit wired so I figured, "Hey, its 12:08 so technically its Day 4" and I've been thinking about what I want to draw. I have found I really like the Fantasy! Cartooning book, and along with my other books I intend to keep drawing from it, but it can only take me so far. Along with that book I've been reading How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way and How To Draw Noir Comics and the Marvel book has shown me (so far) the importance of dramatic posing and the Noir book has shown me importance of dramatic lighting.

I do not feel, at this level, that I am ready to begin experimenting with lighting just yet. Soon, maybe even later today, I plan on drawing some terrain; an area in which I am seriously lacking. I plan on drawing simple things at first, like trees and bushes and hills and such.

Also, today I went to the book store looking for a photoshop painting book to help me with my photoshop skills, and unfortunately I couldn't find it but I did get my hands on Fantasy Genesis. As a review I have for it, when I skimmed the book and thought that there were tons of variations, but it turns out there are technically only a few, but enough to get your mind working. The rest is a how-to book and I don't care for the art, but I do plan on going the Pokemon route and creating 150 random creatures, although I may not draw all of them in high detail.

I have also been skimming the web for a Penny-Arcade tutorial, but have yet to find many, only a few bare-bones ones. I really like the Penny-Arcade dramatic coloring they do. Normally their comics are just monochromatic with solid colors but here are a few that glow brightly and I really enjoy this style of coloring and I'd like to know how they do it. I can say though, I have only ever painted one thing in my entire life (excluding finger paintings when I was a child) and it came out horrible. If there is one thing I absolutely need to work on, it's my colors.

So tomorrow, after I return home from my college, I will begin work on terrain via photoshop. And a quick word on photoshop, I now really enjoy it, but the lines always come out bright in some spots, dark in others and I'm at a loss as to how to fix it because I can't press down too hard or it becomes jagged.

Well, now that I've talked you to death, I'm going to go to sleep. Look forward to tomorrow! (well, technically later today.)

Video is now up on youtube! Details on my facebook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCnyuVZupjA

Day 3

Today I went back to the Fantasy! Cartooning book to draw a female figure. I have always had trouble with female drawing, I'm not sure why, men just seem easier to draw.

Anyway, as promised exclusively for the blog, here is the blue sketch, which took about 20-30 minutes in the background layer. The middle picture is what it looks like with the finished sketch over the blue line, and the top picture is the finished sketch without the blue line under.

If I were to do this with regular pencil, I would have sketchy eraser marks and points that just wouldn't go away, not to mention it may damage my final. The closest thing to "layers" with physical equipment is tracing paper, which I absolutely hate. I really want to keep working with photoshop, and hopefully become really accustomed to it.

On Photoshop...

I began Day 3 with my tablet and photoshop. I said to myself "This shouldn't be too hard." but I was wrong, it's like a whole new, scary, evil world to me. First of all, you are drawing on the desk but looking up, which is strange. It's like driving a car and looking at a monitor that is showing you where you are going, but it's in the back seat.

After sketching the whole thing in blue on one layer, i made another and began to sketch in black, but by then I had realized that the head was too small and the neck was too long. I thought, "Ok, I can just select it and enlarge it right?" So far I have yet to find out how...Anyway, I'm not ripping on Photoshop, I am saying it is very alien to me and will likely take me a while to get used to.

I've seen those youtube speed-paintings of terrain and such and it looks awesome, and I've actually attempted it, but I obviously am not there yet...maybe if I keep drawing a picture a day on photoshop instead of in my sketchbook It'll turn out for the better hmm?

Later I intend to go to the bookstore to look up photoshop books under the how-to-draw section (and return my NES games I bought on Sunday. Only 1 of 3 work, which is sad, because the two that don't work are Kirby's Adventure and Paperboy.)

I have been recording my Photoshop facade so I will be posting the video on youtube and the blue sketch and finished sketch on here later tonight.

Day 2.5

Done later in the day, taken from the figures in How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Just figure doodles to help me understand dramatic vs. non-dramatic posing.

Day 2

Day 2:
Technically done at 2 in the morning, so I am just going to count it for day 2.

Today's technique was taken from Fantasy! Cartooning. A Tarzan-like figure and the "Heroic" facial structure. I find that I really enjoy drawing like this, in this Disney-esque way. The pencil seems to just slide.

Day 1:
Used scrap crumpled large paper and mechanical pencil (with thumbnail sketch at top)

Today's technique was based on John Howe's "Merlin" from his Fantasy Drawing Workshop. I held the pencil at the middle instead of up close and lightly scratched the image onto the paper.

In preparation of my upcoming comic book I have decided to draw at least one picture a day which challenges my artistic talent. I currently own John Howe's Fantasy Drawing (and Art) Workshop, How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, Deborah Rockman's Drawing Essentials, How to Draw Noir Comics, Fantasy! Cartooning and Comickers Coloring Book and I intend to use them religiously.