The Marvel Icons

It's been eons since I'v posted any artwork on here, but with new afforded free time it only makes sense I upload a few fun projects from my time at WHC, CSC, BIB,WPS...they sound like federal agencies, lol.

Before my exodus I got wrangled into a project that was fun, but had to be processed quickly (30 - 45min or less for each design). It was for some Marvel Character quotes to be used for Instagram posts. I like working on the fly like this to see what I come up with under a tight deadline.  It lets you go for your most quick carnal instinct when it comes to a design. I'll admit, I subsequently gave a few of the designs a lil bit more love than the others, because I liked the direction I was going with it.

It was a bit of a "balance off". Make some simple ones to save to the time to make another one a lil bit more detailed. I think I'm going to take a few of the less laid out ones and tweak them for some potential t shirt action. WeLoveFine's got me gassed.

1. Black Panther

2. Cyclops

4. Gambit

5. Iceman

6. Iron Fist

7. Ms. Marvel

8. Nightcrawler

9. Rocket Raccoon 

10. Spider Woman

11. Storm

12. The Wasp

 13. X-23

Touching and tweaking.

Fatherhood has been the dominating factor and sole time consumer these days.

I like to get in and work on personal projects when I have time, but that has been far few in between. 

I get the baby to sleep and work on art when I can. It usually leaves me up well into the early hours of the am. I average about 4 hours of sleep on these design nights. Continuing the Risk VS Reward design project, here is the "jockey" design for the piece. 

Being expressive err...Part 3.5???

I followed up my first design of Jugoya with a full body design layout with a play on the Japanese characters for Tengu. I'm still not sure if I'm gonna run with the laser scopes, but I figured I would give it a go just because. I'm still not 100% sold on my font layout just yet but I'm getting closer methinks. As usual, stay tuned...

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Being expressive Part 3

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This is the version 2 character mock up I made for Jugoya I went to make him more "cartoonish".
Stay tuned...

Being expressive Pt2.

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Continuing with the character design theme, I'm showcasing my second set of expression sheets for one of my more mature themed characters. The character Jugoya is one I have had in the books for a long time. One of the few characters I have an avid backstory for, but never sought to develop him fully. I would need a good writer to help me on this one and someone aptly knowledgeable in Japanese culture. More previews to come soon.

Being expressive...

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Here's some work in progress. In addition to the "Ruckus" vectors I posted in the previous entry I'm working on some character rotations and expressions for some kid character designs I want to add to my portfolio. Hair can be a pain the the butt and it's common for most cartoons to have characters to face at a quarter angle for relative space arrangement, but since my character is a Whirling Dervish, I'm going to have to have him drawn at more extensive angles.  More images to follow.

天狗!!! Oh those Heavenly Dogs!

I've always been an anime/ manga /chambara (samurai films) nut.
I grew up thinking ninjas ruled & obsessed over Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden. I read up on what I could in high school on Japanese culture, but didn't get full exposure until my college days. I was able to meet many diverse friends and get insight into their cultures. Relationships I still have til' this day. Yoichiro Tagiri was the first person to give me clear insight into Japanese legends and folklore. He told me stories about the various creatures in Japanese folklore. The Yamauba, Oni and Tengu. I found the Tengu to be the most interesting of all the creatures. I saw them depicted as bad ass bird- like warrior monks. A saw the other various incarnations in design where some had the long noses and others that looked full on like birds. I even created a character with Yoichiro based on his whole folklore, but gave him a modernized story( I have the sketches somewhere I'll have to dig them up). Which brings me to what you see here. Above is the concept sketch. And below...

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This is the B&W inking of a tattoo design that plans to be a tattoo. Not for me of course (I have another idea in mind for myself). My cousin Mike is looking to get some fresh ink done and I'm on design.  My good buddy and fellow art class mate from high school Seth Mushrush is doing the handy work this weekend at the Philly Tattoo Convention. I made it a point to keep as simple a inking as possible for him so that he could have a simple base to work from.  but I plan to go in and do a colorized version of this image myself for a bit of compare and contrast.

Doing it my way...

I dedicate this piece to one of the difference makers. I dedicate this piece to Dave Hoover. Artist. Teacher. Friend. I thank you for your unselfish acts. You opened the eyes of many of us to different techniques. You took the time & patience to push all of us to be better at our craft, when many of your colleagues were content to tell us to read tutorials instead of teaching us hands on. They just wanted a paycheck, but you actually cared and enjoyed it. It showed. I thank you. May you rest in peace teacher.

Photoshop! It's been a while since I've gone in and dabbled in doing straight up raw coloring in Photoshop. I try to maintain a even balance with my tools. When it comes to the digital I made it a point to force myself to teach myself Adobe Illustrator for over a year. Photoshop was my first intro into the digital fray. It opened new doors for me. I come from the league of Tria Letraset markers and Prismacolor pencils. Acrylics and gauche.

Photoshop cut the process time in half. Magic wand and fill in your colors on layers. Shout out to my buddy Lemwell for teaching me layers. That was the catch 22. Back at my days at AIPH the teachers "taught" photoshop, but my classmates gave me the inside track. There was a time went heavy in with the Photoshop, but I kept the coloring technique very simple.

Over time I tried to mix what I was taught via painting in high school and mix that into photoshop. It was a matter of keeping up with the times.

I recently tried to land a design job with a buddy of mine working on a video game, but the key to landing it was that I had to color my work like him. I gave it a legit shot, but I realized that I can't carbon copy. I can only work in my style of coloring. That simple. The B side of it all, it made me want to get back in and start coloring in Photoshop again.

The Wolverine is basically an exercise in how fast I can work my detail in & if a solid black line will make for a better contrast. It may not make sense to some, but it will come out clear when I'm done I suppose. The image above is about 45 min in. Updates soon...

The Sadhu science.

Sadhu Relaxation * Click on image to enlarge.

I've been going back and fourth on this piece for a while. A year has passed since I first thought of the idea and now, slowly it's taking shape. I started small, but then thought bigger. Bigger. BIGGER ! It went from one Sadhu to 3...fuck it I may as well throw a wall behind it. Make a street scene. A graf piece?? Yeah... Shiva/Parvati... The Big B??? Scottie Pippen jersey!! I hope to finish it totally, but I have a feeling I may end up adding more. For now, here's something to see. *Note Click on image to get a bigger view!

A bit of the old mixed in with a bit of the new.

A few weeks back my good friend, college buddy and former roommate requested some scanned artwork from former projects we started up. It made me realize that I really don't have any of my sketchbook work or any of the old work scanned. So I'm dedicating at least 3 posts out of the month to showcase the sketchbook work and the "throwback works" as I like to call it. I think it's only fit I start off with the collabo piece worked on with another good friend a little while back.
This piece was concept drawn by another good friend Ihsan Amin Thompson aka Truth0ne.
It's a classic tale of the perfect storm that I'm gonna get into at a later date, but during our high school years in the suburbs of Philadelphia Ihsan, Joe (another high school friend) & I were the awesome 3. A vivid hybrid of Graffiti, Manga/Anime, & Art Nouveau (even before we knew what that shit really was , hahahaha!)


Justice Sabre - Pencils - Ihsan Amin Thompson. Vector Inks & Colors - Che Tucker(Barron)
More of these to follow... Ahhh memories.

2009 Rewind : The DG vectors & why my people frustrate me.

A lil' back story...

Okay, so the sneaker painting thing all started with me wanting a pair of Adidas superstars.
Captain Tsubasa to be exact. The story goes from me being frustrated with the dopes at the Adidas store on South street in Philly, to me actually getting requested to do custom work for Adidas upon my arrival to the NY area some 3 years ago. Here's a few snapshots of my work and some clients. Since that time I went from the team name of Dassler Rebellion to Rebellion Customs. In 2009 I chose to leave Rebellion Customs (I was co founder & head of design) & to set out on my own. In the meantime inbetween time, I did work with NY based Blackerinkwells. 2010 will bring about new changes as well.
More snapshots of customs to follow soon.