Wednesday, March 25, 2015

emerald city table

[listening to "right here - human nature remix" by swv]


wanted to give u guys a nice easy map to see where we'll be this weekend at Emerald City Comicon! come and see me & the hubby Jerry "theFranchize" Gaylord in Artist Alley TABLE I-06 from Mar. 27-29th. we'll have comics, prints, and artbooks. and of course we'll be doing sketches all weekend long. we're so dang excited to be back in Seattle. it's such a pretty city!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

new stuff

[listening to "party all the time" by eddie murphy]

 i've been super busy tryin to get ready for Emerald City Comicon and at the same time meeting these Bill and Ted deadlines (plus other personal life crap). i am so glad it's this weekend already so i can stop all these preparations and just    BE    THERE. we're gonna have some brand new stuff (even though all of it will be pretty new to people in Seattle). here are 2 of my new mini prints that i'll have with me. if you follow me on instagram (@p_e_n_g), u would've seen cropped versions of them.

also, i'll have my brand-spankin new art book for this year. it's 36 pages full of my sketches and pinup stuff, even some character design stuff. i'll be selling them for $20 and i'll only have a handful with me. i'm lookin forward to seeing new people!

Friday, March 20, 2015

been drawing

[listening to "gigolo" by nick cannon feat. r. kelly]


i'm finally getting around to posting the full image of my Big Hero 6 piece. i noticed, thanx to instagram, that i've been drawing a lot of BH6 lately. like, a lot. what can i say, i really really enjoy it. i'm not even done yet! cuz i gotta draw a Baymax. duh! don't worry, i'll draw other stuff soon. i just need all the BH6 i can get.

this one was really ambitious for me. really, anything with a background is ambitious for me cuz i have to teach myself how. thank goodness for dope artists sharing their knowledge online. it helps us folks that can't afford school. but believe me, if i come up on some large sum of money, i'll be spendin it on online classes fo sho! at any rate, i figured after my Dragons piece, i gotta learn to put backgrounds on some of my stuff. the balloons in the back were actually kinda fun cuz i got to turn em into versions of japanese kites i saw online. i really want one of those koi fish ones!

anyways, i decided to pencil out the whole thing because i've never attempted to do a piece this large before without lines. the lines were just in case i failed in my mission. which sounds like a chump's way out, but i never said i was one to jump without a net. never ever said that in my life. matter of fact, i'm one to not jump - period. still, i managed to do it without the lines anyway. with more practice, i'll get this right. i cropped it this tightly on purpose cuz i wanted to give it that movie widescreen feel. i hope folks don't mind all the white space above & below. i would post process files, but there are soooo many layers on this i can't even begin to attempt to show em.

i should have this with me at Emerald City Comicon next week. i hope people like it as much as i do.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

spidey gwen

[listening to "what about love" by heart]


pretty busy over here prepping for Emerald City Comic Con, which in my head was like months away. but it just hit me that it's 2 weekends from now. i'm legit having a mini panic attack over here. no worries though, i do that.
good news is that between inking pages for Bill and Ted, i've been able to cook up a couple of new pieces to bring with me to the show! so i'm super duper excited! gotta bring my A-Game if i'm gonna live up to my guest status. one of the new pieces i should have with me is this Spider-Gwen! i just love her striking and simple design with some magenta accents. love it love it. so i had to do something.

i didn't do any tight lines or pencils for this one. i went straight off a sketch that i did and went right into coloring. i'm still trying to get good at this style of colors and this is my first big piece that i did this way. i wanna do more! if i could afford a great class about doing backgrounds, i totally would. for now, however, i have to teach myself. which is hardest & slowest way to do it. how do u teach urself something u have no idea about??

hope everyone enjoys it at the show! if she does well, i'll have her with me at other cons this year.

Friday, March 13, 2015

bill and ted party tomorrow

[listening to "every little thing i do" by soul for real]

SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY!
BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER!

have you guys picked up the first issue of Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return yet?!? well, lucky u, u got to see it before me. =) but it's all good because TOMORROW, MARCH 14TH i will be at Third Eye Comics with my hubs Jerry "theFranchize" Gaylord for their BILL & TED LAUNCH PARTY! if ur wondering why in the heck would i be there? well, that's cuz Jerry's the artist on the series and I'm inking over him! i guess i don't really get to mention it very often on my social media outlets. problem with working on most of these projects is that you don't get to show anything u've been doing until much much later.

so anyways, if ur near Annapolis, MD come out to Third Eye Comics tomorrow between 11a-1pm! get a copy and we'll be happy to sign it for ya! and if ur really into it, dress up as ur favorite Bill & Ted character. i think they're gonna have some goodies for some "best dressed" attendees. we're looking forward to seeing everyone out there!

Follow this link for more info on the event on Third Eye's website - http://www.thirdeyecomics.com/sat-31415-bill-teds-most-triumphant-return-1-launch-party-w-artist-jerry-gaylord/

Follow this to join the event on Facebook -  https://www.facebook.com/events/1562975790612663/

also, keep an eye on the right side of this blog at my con schedule for the year. i'll keep adding more cons as we get them confirmed.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

no pants, wondy!

read the article on CBR about Superman and Wonder Woman's "costume" redesign - http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dc-comics-debuts-new-costumes-for-superman-wonder-woman

Warning: Ranting Ahead! i totally respect if u don't care to hear me rant so feel free to skip this post. =) i'll go back to drawing pretty things, i promise.
 
allow me a moment to rant here, if i may. sometimes i just need an outlet. DC looooves to redesign their superheroes' outfits, and i'm all about a good wardrobe change. but what's NOT cool is that they keep redesigning, not for the good of the character or story, but cuz they just CAN.

u may or may not know, but i loves me some Wonder Woman. she's my favorite lady ever! but i have never ever been a fan of her in pants. like never. u'd think i'd be all about it cuz a lot of ladies are anti- her classic look (the swimsuit, as some refer to it). but nope! i feel like Wondy is more of a F*CK PANTS kinda lady. i see her & her Amazonian sisters like those nekkid Spartans. pants are for the weak and afraid. and she is neither of those things. i'd like to think she really only puts on clothes for our sakes cuz it would be very uneasy to have a diplomat flying around buckit-neckit! i've seen some really good redesigns on her outfit over the years. but i cant get down with the whole pants thing.

my favorite look, aside from classic, has to be Alex Ross's "Kingdom Come" golden battle suit Wonder Woman. it serves a purpose, it makes sense for her character, AND she clearly looks like the leader of a badass army. oh, also, NO PANTS!
plus, to top it all off, this new outfit is like a 12-piece suit! ain't nobody got time for that! it looks like the design of a dude that wants to mash everything he thinks looks cool, but throws the actual idea of "good design" to the winds. u want good design, look at Spider-Gwen. she's got a one-piece suit w/ a hood and a mask. that's it! clean lines, great sillouhette, simple. no extra frills or armor chunks. and she's not even kinda Amazonian. she's just a chick. i'd even caution her to wear some knee pads, but that's her knee caps, not mine so whatevs.

now, to this so-called SUPERMAN. first of all, i can NOT call a Superman tee & jeans a "supersuit" or "costume." it's not a costume when i wear it to IHOP! i'm not cosplaying when i wear it to Target! how am i supposed to feel inspired by a hard-faced dude with a buzz cut in tshirt & jeans? even military officers or bosses of corporations don't dress this way. he looks like just some dude who spends far too much time in the gym. his shirt is SOOOOO tight! (see first image with the bright red background.) i really shouldn't be able to see ur bellybutton thru ur shirt. u know who wears shirts that tight & flexes all his muscles like that thru his shirt? THIS GUY!

is that Superman?? really?? ur tellin me Martian Manhunter's just gonna let this dude into the Watchtower dressed like that?? EXCUSE ME, Superman, there's a dress code for us extraordinary beings of high ranking. Bill Gates don't wear that when he goes to work. Generals in the military don't wear that to work. i bet even Dan Didio or Jim Lee don't dress like that when they go to important meetings. first it was fingerless gloves, and now we're back to tshirt & jeans?? have some self-respect! now he's just a douchebag who wears his own merch! i don't think even Tony Stark would wear an Iron Man tee, and he's quite douchey.

i haven't really picked up much DC comics titles lately cuz they're just toooo serious for me. the art is too serious, the stories are too serious, they're just not fun anymore. and when they DO make it fun, it's always extremely geared towards little kids. can't my supers smile anymore? but DC does what DC does. i guess i should be somewhat happy that they even care enough to bring great new titles that aren't heavily man-centric like Batgirl and Gotham Academy. but for the love of all that is great, please oh please stop putting Wonder Woman in pants!! F*CK PANTS!!!

thanks for reading my rage. i'll go back to drawing cute stuff now. =)