More iPhone Wallpapers

Just a quick note to share some more iPhone wallpapers with you!

First up, one of the perennial fave Transformers!

I really am enjoying working in this "construction paper" style. I just create a very rough sketch like the one below, then layer on the colors in Photoshop using the lasso tool.

Then we have two from a comic I created a while back with Mark Rudolph, namely, our sci-fi action adventure Switch Runners!

Enjoy!

Two Comics Classes Beginning April 14!

If you or someone you know is a young person interested in comics and living in the SE Michigan area, I hope you'll consider checking out my Graphic Novel Academy at the Ann Arbor Art Center! Starting April 14, I'll be leading two 8-week sessions of the class; one for ages 9-12, and one for teens. Through the course we explore tons of strategies to building your own comic, from character design to paneling to world building and beyond.

Registration is now open on the Ann Arbor Art Center website. We had a full class last term, so sign up soon if you want to secure a place!

In other news, I've got another iPhone wallpaper to share with you. I've been looking for some Transformers wallpapers for my phone, but couldn't find any that I liked, so I decided to make my own. I've been having some fun creating these "construction paper" style illustrations in Photoshop (you can see a few on the UP! Fair website), and now it's Bumblebee's turn to be rendered in that style.

Enjoy!

Pencils for me, pencils for you!

Over the past weeks I've been using my daily sketches to explore dynamic poses and teach myself how to use the Pentel Color Brush Pen. And while I've been getting a lot out of these sketches, today I found myself needing a break from both.

Today's sketch is just people standing, which isn't always the easiest thing to draw. It was a nice change of pace to put my focus on structure and anatomy first, without having to think about creating an exciting and energetic pose (as much as I love to do that). I took my subject focus away from 1980s cartoon properties and just sketched a couple of average college girls. It was also nice to break out the graphite pencil again for this sketch.

Given that these aren't copyrighted characters, I thought it might be fun to turn over the pencils to my fellow cartoonists so they could try their hand at inking the piece. You can get a zip file of the PSD blue lines here. It's always fun for me to see what other cartoonists bring to my pencils, and it might even be a fun exercise to explore your ink lines in the context of another creator's work.

And feel free to post your results in the comments thread here!