Air-Heart Preview

Hey folks!

So here's a little surprise for ya! This is the opening scene to the story featuring our bad guy, Watt. This will be the finished style for the book with the gray shading. I'm pretty happy with how these have turned out so far, and I also have the next scene just about done as well. I hope you enjoy them. Be sure to leave me some comments. That's it for this week, catch ya next time.

~D

Let The Shading Begin!

Well Hello there!

Hello once again people. I just got back home late last night and thought I would put up a bonus post since I wasn't able to put anything up while I was away. Of course I'll be putting up another post on Friday as well, so its two posts this week!

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago I've finished inking all of the pages of the first Air-Heart story. What you see to the left is a collection of materials including a few sketches. I'll be starting the shading process now that I'm back at my computer and I'll be putting up at least a few pages for your entertainment when I get them done. I had an awesome time on my trip, it was so wonderful to relax and see my girl. Of course now that I'm home, its back to the grind! I'll be posting on Friday so come back to check it out!

~D

In Atlantis

Hey people!
So like I said I'm in Atlanta. Things are going well and I'm enjoying having some time off for once! I have been sketching all kinds of things getting ready for the second Air-Heart story as well. I won't be able to post much while I'm down here so I'll make a big post with some of the sketches when I get back. Until then have fun!

~D

Robocop

Its that time of the week again!

This time around I decided to do my take on Robocop. I hear he might be getting a new movie treatment soon so I made my version a bit of an update. He's more organic, and much less bulky.

In Air-Heart news I'm almost done inking the first story. I only have a few pages to go. After that I'll be taking a bit of a hiatus as I head to Atlanta for a few days. When I come back, I'll be shading and lettering the pages, then its on to the next story!

To round things out this week I'd like to give a special shout out to my lovely lady, Mackenzee who has a huge job interview at The High Museum of Art tomorrow! All of the best of luck to her from Robocop and I! That's all for now folks. Catch you next time!

Spring Forward!

Well hello my bloggerts!

Spring is finally upon us here upstate. Its nice to finally get some sun! Its amazing how the weather can effect your mood. I know I always look forward to end of winter because I'm definitely a spring/summer kind of guy, hence this weeks image featuring Jynx and Meteor girl. Once again these characters are some older ones that I don't do much with at the moment. He's an alien, she's a super-powered teenager, needless to say they're in love.

I'm keeping pace with Air-Heart and I've still been learning a lot in the process. Other than that, the baseball season has started and that's always a treat in the Diaz household. Not only are we watching the games on TV, but its time for catch as well! I love being able to get outside once again. Make sure you get out there too and enjoy some sun!

Its a me, Mario!

Its Mario Time!

This week I was in a Mario mood. I've actually never drawn him before, so I thought I'd take a shot. I also decided I'd give a little respect to all of the poor goombas who have lost their lives to this jump-addicted plumber.

In Air-Heart news I'm still plugging away at the inks for the first story. Its going very good and I'm really excited about how the pages are turning out. I've been having a ton of fun working on the project and I'm really excited about getting started on the next adventure too. As I had mentioned previously the final book will consist of three or four 25-30 page adventures each, so there will be plenty of bang for your buck.

In working on these pages I've been learning a lot about the working process and, I've been discovering a lot of things that will come in handy as I continue with the next three stories for the book.

I'm also giving a lot of thought to having one of the four stories in each book be a little bit more comical and not necessarily focused on action and adventure. It would still be an Air-Heart story just maybe a bit of a breakaway from the regular "save the day" kind of story. Maybe something along the lines of Joey hanging out in the control tower alone for a couple of days and the kind of trouble he might get into there. I'm not sure yet, we'll see! That's it for this week, until next time.

Well this week has been a busy one, working on a lot of Air-Heart. I've finished up with the tight roughs and I'm now on to inking the finals which is always a fun part of the process. The pin-up to our left is something I put together to showcase the way I'll be finishing the images in the book. If you're asking why I ditched the heavy blacks, its because I really like the animated feel that the grays give the image. Also, sometimes I find the contrast of the blacks can overwhelm the eye a bit. Either way I'm planning to do the book in this gray kind of cartoon style. Another one of the aspects I really like about working this way is that the shading really helps to give my stuff volume. My style can tend to look fairly flat until it gets to the shaded stage, where it really comes to life.

In other news, I have a side-project coming up that I'll probably post here when its finished. I'm going to be designing a drawing for Best Buy, where I work, that I think will be really cool. If all goes well, that should be next weeks post! That's all for now, catch you next week.

Another Friday, another post! Today's post features my favorite monster Lenny having fun bouncing around. I've been hard at work on Air-Heart and making some very good progress. I've had to make a few adjustments on the story but everything is on track and going well. I've also rediscovered a few tricks on both the writing and drawing ends of the process that have really been helping me out.

In other news I've been reading some comics again as well. I recently bought a few things from Amazon and have been enjoying myself thoroughly. I've been exploring just how important it is to be a visual media-junky in order to keep your artistic eye sharp. Its amazing how much you learn by osmosis just enjoying your favorite things.

That's about all for now folks! Next week!

Billy Joel / Elton John...Plus Meteor Woman!

Well hello once again! I have to apologize for getting this post up late today but its still here on Friday!

So last night was a crazy concert adventure for me as I went with my Mom to Billy Joel and Elton John. For anyone who doesn't know, these guys play for a solid four hours. If you have any interest in going it well worth the money because you really do get two full shows in one. It was a great show, and both guys had an incredible amount of energy still! I could take all day to tell you how great the show was but I think you get the point by now so I'll let it go. But definitely check it out if you ever have the chance.

Moving on to Meteor Woman, she's another old-school character of mine who I don't use very much anymore. I did this sketch of her the other night and really enjoyed the loose almost finished look. I've been giving some thought to trying to do a short comic completely in this half-finished sketchy manner but I haven't thought of the right project for it yet. I feel like the story would need to be a little gritty to go along with the harsh edge of this sketchy style.

Well that's more than enough for now people! Until next week.

Gargoyles!

Its Friday time!

This here is Goliath! I'm sure many of you remember him from the Disney cartoon series Gargoyles! Now that was a really cool show. Thanks to my lovely lady, I just got to check out the first season again for the first time... well probably since the first time I saw it live on TV! Looking back at it, its amazing how well the animation holds up. They really did an incredible job on this thing. The characterization and the maturity of the show really shines through. If you've never gotten a chance to check it out I would highly recommend it. Goliath was the leader of the Gargoyles and probably my favorite character on the show. From the minute you hear him speak you're hooked thanks to the amazing voice of Keith David. Looking back I can definitely see why I liked this show as a kid, and I've found dozens of reasons to like it again as an adult... or whatever I am!