Come Again?

The grind continues as I keep plugging away on the new project, ironing out the bugs, and making some progress.

I finally got a chance to piece all the OilCan Drive "Coming Soon" pieces together and, after looking at how it's laying out, I don't think it's going to work as a group shot. It's just too wide. So, I may take the characters apart and, instead of having one "Coming Soon" illustration, break it into three separate pieces. I figure that way I can put a new piece up every so often and kind of have it as a count down to the final launch date. It's an idea.

Another day, another problem, another solution. Bring it on.

Have a great one!

Putting The Pieces Together

Wow, I didn't think it would take this long.

I spent the majority of the day today putting together all the pieces of OilCan Drive art I've been creating and showing you over the last few weeks. And, yeah, it took a lot longer than I thought. And I'm not even close to being done.

But, I am farther along than I was this morning when I started. And I took a huge leap and tackled a few problems I've been putting off and thinking about since I started this whole thing. So, that feels good.

I am going to put the project away for the night and hit it again tomorrow morning.

As always, it's getting there. And it's further along right now than it has ever been.

More news soon!

Have a great day!

Finished Inks!

I got the inks for the two newest OilCan Drive pieces done late last night. I even had enough time before I passed out to scan them into the computer but I had to save all the cleaning up of the pieces until this morning.

But, now they're done and ready for color. Or, maybe not. I'm still trying to decide if I want to go full color with the new pieces or leave them black and white with either zip-a-tone dot tones or possibly some kind of sepia tone. I'm just not sure yet.

But, getting these pieces finished puts me one step closer to getting everything pulled together and ready for the launch. The launch of what I can't say quite yet but if I can get a bit more completed this week I may be able to spill the beans by the end of the week.

As always, it's getting there. It's not there yet, but it's getting there.

Have a great day!

Penciling Away

The penciling for the two newest OilCan Drive pieces is done and now it's time for the inks!

I'll be breaking out the brush, pens, and a nice bottle of ink tonight and, with any luck, I'll have some finished inks to show you tomorrow.

Have a great day and I'll see you all soon!

Blue Line Sketches

If you look closely enough at these two pieces you'll see the start of two new OilCan Drive pieces in light non-reproducible blue pencil.

The first is my new try on the Henry figure for the OilCan Drive piece I've been showing off the last few days. I tried to give him a lot more motion and fluidity to his form. I was thinking of something almost like an animated film and I really like this initial idea. He looks like he has heard something off screen that took him by surprise and he snapped his head up to see what it was. The closest thing I can think of when I see the pose is the dogs in the Pixar movie "UP" every time they think they see a squirrel. I think this will work quite well with the other figures that are almost done.

And I like his form a lot better than my initial try.

The second sketch is a head shot line-up of all the characters in OilCan Drive that I think I'll use for a blog banner. I'm actually not sure where it's going to end up yet but I figure I'll keep at it and see where it goes and where it fits best.

Once I get a little bit more worked out with the blue pencil I'll start adding in more detail with a regular lead pencil and begin inking from there. I wish I could go directly from blue pencils right to inking but I still like that middle ground where I can make some decisions with a pencil before committing to the ink.

OK, back to it. Time to break out the pencil.

Have a great day!

Little More Inking

I got the other half of the new OilCan Drive piece inked this week. Now all it needs is to have the underlying pencils erased, fill in some of the blacks, and add some white out touch ups.

But, while looking at this piece the other night I decided I didn't really like the way Henry, the bass playing gorilla, looked. He just seemed a bit too boxy and his legs looked too long. So, after thinking it over for a few days I've decided to re-pencil and re-ink him and put in a new Henry.

You gotta love it when you're your own worst editor who makes you change things at the last minute. But, there is really no deadline for this stuff and I want to make it look the best I can so a new, blank piece of paper is on the drawing board and a new Henry is on the way.

I'll try and take a few photos of it while I'm working on it to show you the progress.

I'm just hoping as this project goes along that I get more comfortable with how I want the characters to look. It seems to always be a problem and I'm really not sure how to fix it. Sometimes they look like I want them to and sometimes they don't. I figure, as things go along and I draw them on a more regular basis, they will just settle into looking however they look.

I'm looking forward to it not being such a struggle. But, for now, it's getting there.

Have a good one!

Happy March

Happy March!

I was planning on doing a new piece for this month's blog header but my birthday being right at the end of the month as well as all the work I've been doing on the new OilCan Drive project had me running out of time. So, I went back into last year's vault of art and pulled out this pin-up piece I did of my good friend, Christine.

Plus, I figured this piece, with her wearing a winter hat and jacket, would work much better in March than it would in August. So I took advantage of it and put the new header together.

And, who knows, if we get lucky maybe I can talk Christine into posing for a pin-up piece in a bikini for August.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Have a great one!