Going back to KALI

I did a detailed sketch of Kali a long time ago and it was lost. Whenever I remember any of the stuff I never completed but meant to; stuff I don't have anymore (I lost a bunch of sketchbooks and old art in a flood last year), stuff I thought was cool and still do, I try to re-draw them. Not really from memory, but I try...

My memory is good enough to realize this looks nothing like the detailed sketch I once did. I may still mess with it some, but overall it's complete.

Approved and up for voting at Metal Ink. Vote here!

El Vampiro del Infierno

Got this one done - FINALLY! I originally planned to have it finished by Halloween...Just kept lingering...Might still mess around with color ways and overall tones, but I think it's pretty much done.

EDIT: Three color screen printed poster prints are in! What are you waiting for...

Sorcerer

Went in with the idea of just re-coloring it cleaner and ended up changing a couple of things; Like making the hands a little smaller as well as adding the candles burning in the the mouth of the skull.

Approved and up for voting at DBH. Vote Here!

WIP (Sorcerer)

Still going to clean up the coloring a little bit and try a few different color ways.

Space Lion

King of the Cosmos...

Something that started from a sketch of a lion, which turned into playing around with brush settings in PS. Something a little different for me. It was fun though.

FOR SALE at The T-Shirt Vault

By the Light of the Moon (Final)

I played around with the surrounding elements of the design and tried different color combos and decided on a couple. This one was my favorite. Approved over at DBH and up for voting!

VOTE HERE!

By the Light of the Moon

In keeping with this space kick I've been on lately...thought it would be fun to work in some Native American imagery. I like how the patterns work with the drawing and the different color options possible. May submit this to DBH.

Heroes for Typhoon Relief at TEEFURY.COM

Just got word the Heroes collab is up for sale at teefury.com. All proceeds will go to help out victims of the typhoon in the Phillipines. This is a great cause and I am proud to be part of it. I hope they sell a bunch. Shirts are on sale for only 24 hours.

Astro Knight (Rogue Satellites)

As it turns out I finished this one before EVDI (It's coming along though, it just takes forever on my old machine. New one is on the horizon though).

I like the way Astro Knight came out. I have been trying to limit my colors lately. I think it has to do with my time in screen printing and sometimes it's easier for me to think in terms of a limited color palette. I think if I was using traditional media, my choices would be different. While I liked the flame frame I had going on in the sketch, I think I like it on black without it better.

WIP Update (EVDI)

Farther along with this one, but still not yet done with bw; Going to fill more space with the creature, and add colors. Playing around with a couple of different backgrounds and so far I like this one the best.

WIP (EVDI)

This is one I started right after the "Astro Knight" sketch. It has more of a horror theme and I was challenging myself to get it done by Halloween. It didn't happen, but I'll probably finish this before I get started on the final of "Astro Knight".

Mind the Most at TL for Voting

Thought I would give this oldie a try at Threadless. Sometimes I come back to something I did even months back and will find umpteen things I could have done to make it better. While this one has some things I would tweek, overall I'm still pleased with how it came out.

If you like it, it has 5 more days of voting at Threadless!

WIP (Rogue Satellites)

Here is one I am working on. Trying to keep doing detailed drawings and working it into different ideas. As far as names go, so far I got "AstroKnight" or "Rogue Satellies" But that could all change.

Serpentine Astro Skull

Another one with a skull as the centerpiece. Tried going with a slight cosmic theme. Drawing the snake makes me want to do something with either more snakes or lizards... we'll see.

Bambu Contest Sub Slideshow

Glad my sub got accepted 'cause I spent some time after finishing to make this slideshow of the design process. It started with a sketch of a Bambu ref pic. A little bit after starting I thought it would be fun to track my progress and began taking screenshots as I went along. Put it all together in Windows Movie Maker. I didn't know where this was going and the design did go thru some changes...I like the end result though. It isn't how I usually work thru a design because normally I have a better idea what the final will look like much sooner than the end.

LARGER VERSION OF SLIDE SHOW HERE.

Bambu

I guess they all start out as sketches, but this one is a little different in that it started on the tablet with a sketch from a ref pic and I kept building from there. It is for the Bambu contest over at Metal Ink (featuring artwork inspired by Metal Ink June Maiden of the Month Bambu).

Design has been approved and is up for voting. Click here to Vote!

Brahma on Holiday

A long time ago I was planning to do a series of illos on gods of various pantheons. Not for any other reason than I find the subject matter very interesting and visually appealing. I did one of Quetzacoatl and of Tlaloc (Aztec rain god). For some reason or another I didn't complete any others. I did however do some pretty complete sketches of Ganesh, Devi and Brahma. They stayed in a large sketch book with a plan to someday do something with them. About a year ago the area I live in was hit with a flood. At the time I wasn't drawing at all and had lots of soakable and easily destroyable art things poorly stored in cardboard boxes. It pains me to say I lost quite a bit of old sketches and art; I'm talking at least 8-10 years worth. It pains me even more the rest of "the gods" sketches were included in the loss. That coupled with finding these tee sites really got me motivated to draw and create stuff again. More than anything though, the loss made me realize how much I missed drawing. I was seriously down for a few months after that.

This started out with me trying to recreate the Brahma sketch. I remembered it being a more traditional representation with the faces being made of stone (like an old statue). I had the stone cracking in sections and pieces were missing. The heads were floating in space. His hands were also floating around the head making various hand gestures (peace, thumbs up, etc). I did the line drawing of the faces and it was OK, but I felt it needed more edge. One of my favorite clay craft pieces from Mexico is an Aztec/Mayan relief sculpture depicting birth, life and death; one face opens up to another, which opens up to another. Since I had the three heads there I thought I would mix it up a little and depict Brahma with those features. It's not meant to be anything other than hopefully an interesting visual. I certainly don't mean any disrespect to Hinduism so hopefully it is not taken that way.

On a positive note! It has been approved and is ready for voting at DBH! VOTE HERE!

Marauder

The skull originally was a pencil sketch I scanned and redrew in PS. Everything around the skull (helmet, daggers) was also drawn in PS. Splatters used in face and helmet are from a free brush set by Dead Hope. Splatters in the background were homemade using photos taken of a table top used for applying emulsion to screens.

Submitted, approved and up for voting at Metal Ink. Vote Here!

Eyesosceles

Other name ideas were TrEyeAngles and Triangular Vision. Eyesosceles will do for now. This one went thru quite a few changes and maybe I'll finish a couple of the other variations sometime. I worked on this in-between another detailed illustration which I hope to have done soon. It is now currently ready for voting at Teextile. Vote here

Fathoms Unknown

I felt like changing things up a bit and drawing something with alot of detail. The splatter effects in the background I got using watercolor textures from Vad_ns and a custom watercolor brush set from Jimiyo. It is up for voting at Metal Ink - HERE

Savannah Sun

This design is a redo of Kings (previous shirtfight sub). I took away a bunch of the colors, so the origianl vector graphic showed more. Also added the elongated dripping stripes. Will be subbing this to DBH. I haven't subbed anything over there in a while, aside from a few speical contest subs, and it's still my favorite place to sub a design. It's approved and ready for voting!

Click here to vote.

Quetzalcoatl

Interpretation of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. It's actually got some elements of a design I did of Mixcoatl. I still may go in and add something in the background or even some textures to the face. It is up currently up for voting at Metal Ink! Vote here.

The Guy with the Eye Bow Tie

The Guy with the Eye Bow Tie is up for voting at Shirt Fight and is for their Faces Battle. If all goes well I should have at least two subs this week. On another note, I still need to finish at least one of my 10k sub ideas.

Tribal Skull

Another one for the Shirt Fight Tattoo Theme. I figured I should at least do one with the tribal vectors I'm always yapping about. If you like, please vote for Tribal Skull today!

Agent Skullet Shirt.Woot Honorable mention

Awesome news! Now don't get me wrong, I would be a heck of alot more ecstatic with a win of some kind, but at this point I'll take it! It's nice to get a nod like this, makes you feel like your doing something towards right, but still have a way to go. Thank you Shirt.Woot!

Whatever tomorrow brings

New design for the Incubus contest over at DBH called "Whatever Tomorrow Brings".

One side as living in fear and the other side being the endless possibilities that exist without it.
Like your eyes are closed when living in fear guided by whatever is bringing it and imagining life without fear (the dream) is where it's at because then anything is possible.

Agent Skullet

This one is up for voting at Shirt Woot for their " Fake Band T-Shirt" contest. If you like Agent Skullet, are qualified to vote at shirt woot, click to vote

UPDATE: Voting is over for "Fake Band T-Shirt Contest". Agent Skullet received 32 Votes total (132nd Place)

King

This one is called "King" and is over at Shirt Fight. The theme this week is "Black and Blue", and can feature any artwork as long as the shirt choice is black or blue. Although I originally intended this one for a dark chocolate shirt, I modified the colors a little and think it looks good on black.

The artwork is along the lines of the tribal vectors I like to do. I used to draw this way alot and got away from it as I tried to learn to draw in a more classical sense (learning anatomy, perspective, etc). As I got more comfortable using the computer I started experimenting with this type of look again. No matter what direction my scribbles seems to take, I always go back to doing these.

Poseidon

This one is called "Poseidon". I do some designs with tribal vectors off and on. I've got some ideas for some and this is one if them. Trying to incorporate different elements and color layouts within and outside of the vector shapes to hopefully enhance the design and do something different with them, then tone on tone. I haven't submitted this anywhere... I still may tweak it a little before I do.

Mind the most - Woot Honorary Mention!

Cool update with no pic! Just noticed over at shirt.woot my entry for "quotations", while not winning anything was selected as an honorary mention. I guess there is a special runoff derby with a bunch of honorable mentions up against each other. Thanks to woot for the nod!

Mind the most

This week's derby over at Shirt.Woot.com is Famous Quotations. I decided to go with one by Mark Twain, "Of all the the things I've lost I miss my mind the most." It's a lighter take and based on different things easily lost. I like the concept I had and was going for a simpler "line art" look, we'll see how it goes. If you like the image and think it would be a cool shirt to wear, vote for Mind the most today.

UPDATE: Derby for voting for this is over and with it a very good improvement vote-wise this time around. Mind the most was good enough for 152 votes (29th place)

KISS mime (KISS Sub)

Here is a new one for the KISS contest over at DBH called KISS Mime. The idea hit about the same time as geisha, and I had to do it. It's the whole white makeup thing and associating it with various cultural and/or historical references. I like the way it turned out.

Shamisen AXE (KISS Sub)

There is a KISS contest going on over at DBH and I've been mulling over a couple of ideas, this being one of them. There was some supplied artwork available for use from a KISS style guide in the contest details page. It featured some symbolic logos of each of the members. I decided to use them if I could get them to work with something. Everyone knows KISS is famous for the white makeup they wear. I was thinking of historical and cultural references of white makeup (geisha, clown, mime, old horror movies) and settled on geisha for this one. Shamisen AXE is up for voting over at DBH

Tornado Head

This one is called Tornado Head. I submitted it to DBH and it is ready for voting. It got kicked back a bit with all the KISS submissions coming in like waves. I think it immediately was on the second page when it first showed. If it is meant to be it is meant to be. About the art... A little bit different and experimental (at least for me). I actually went thru a bunch of color changes and design changes with this one. At first it had a bunch of colors, but the more I took away the more it resembled something I liked. It's on an Olive background.

Enchanted Abyss

With "Enchanted Abyss" I had a good idea of the composition I wanted, it was the direction/style I wasn't sure about. The second image here (light blue background) is the first design completed. The print was to be done on a cool blue shirt with the banner being in gold foil (if it won). I really like it, but I am not so sure it would go over so well for voting. Who knows, maybe I'll submit it at a later date, or place. The first image (taupe background) is the final design I went with. I really like it too; the colors and the drawing. I hope it does well.

Punk Rock Skull

With this t-shirt design I strayed just a little from what I had been doing. Truth be told I needed a vector break. It was cool though, it gave me a chance to do someting creative with the description. I wrote a lyrical homage to what I envisioned as an old school punk song and called it, "Punk Rock Skull". It got a couple good responses (the lyrics). The shirt design is pretty straightforward and I like the way it covers the entire front.

I Sea Horses

I liked where I was going with this vectorized tribal look, although it takes a bit of time and feels very carpal tunnel inducing. Still I wanted to try something a little different with it. Maybe do something by adding color. Although this started with a generic sketch, the design changed quite a bit from the start and when certain shapes began to resemble the seahorses or the octopus more than I wanted, I added and took away until this; "I Sea Horses". Submitted to DBH.

The Ancient Traveler

It had been about a week I think after "27 Skulls" that I submitted "The Ancient Traveler" (1st image with brown background). This was an older design I reworked a bit called "Monkey God" (2nd image with light green background).

The Celebration Dance of the 27 Skulls

I don't recall exactly how I found DBH, but think it was thru the artist Jimiyo's site. Actually I was looking for info on index seperations for screen printing and found a tutorial Jimiyo had done. Some link clicks later I landed on his blog and checked out various t-shirt sites he has links to.

I was pretty overwhelmed when I started seeing the various t-shirt art sites like DBH, emptees, teefury, and others I don't remember off hand. I had already heard of Threadless but was glad to see more sites with more variety.

After that I was pretty much hooked into the idea of submitting something.

This one is called "The Celebration Dance of the 27 Skulls"