Friday, August 28, 2015

exploratory sketches

[listening to "addiction" by ryan leslie ft. cassie & fabolous]



just wanted to share stuff that's currently on my art table. since these sketches are all for personal projects, i can actually post them without any worries that i'm breaking some rule or something. i'm trying to work on character designs for my portfolio so i can have something to put together for CTN in November. i can't believe that last year was my 1st time ever going to that show and this year we might have a table already! it's cray!!!

so these are some exploratory sketches for some personal characters. i really wanna draw more stuff with the Sea Nymph creature & her octopus. i drew the 1st one back in 2013 but i never revisted her again. now seems like the perfect time.
the wolf dude is a little something for my own take on Little Red Riding Hood. it always looks better in my head. i'm working through it tho.

my daily: study - sketch - study - sketch - study

Monday, August 24, 2015

batman day

[listening to "thank god i found you" by mariah carey ft. joe and 98degrees]

prelim sketches

 
shirt mock up
i was asked to draw another tshirt design for my favorite comic shop in the world - Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, MD! i'm starting to think they really kinda love me or something. ;) which is totally cool cuz the feeling is mutual!


they're hosting a Batman Day at their shop on Sept. 26th and they wanted their new fall shirt design to echo the day without breaking any licensing rules. so they asked me to draw their shop mascot chick (who i drew last time i did a shirt design for em) in some type of bat cowl like in Ghost World. so i did a bunch of sketches that had her wearing it with plain clothes. but then i saw this super dope bat-helmet that Babs Tarr (Batgirl of Burnside) posted on instagram & i decided to sketch that one. turns out that's the one the shop liked! who knew! i was heavily inspired by Mingjue Chen when i painted the final piece.

like i mentioned, she's their mascot. she's NOT Barbara Gordon. it just happens that their mascot is a redhead. but she wears glasses!

i'm so honored that Third Eye trusts me to represent their brand. they say folks really liked my last design so they had to ask me again. my lack of self confidence won't allow me to believe that BUT i guess i don't suck so that's a good sign. =) can't wait till i get mine!!!

Thursday, August 20, 2015

baymax vinylmation

[listening to "i like the way" by hi-five]

mark this down as a first for me! it only took me almost a year to complete but i finally finished him! this is my first time making a custom Vinylmation figure and the client was just the most patient person ever. actually making the figure itself took about a month, but i had a lot of trial and error using my own Munny to practice on. i watched lots of youtube vids about it, then tried different paints. used stuff that ran off the figure as soon as i sprayed lacquer on it. it was just a huge learning process. BUT i enjoyed the challenge.

the client gave me free reign on what to turn it into, be it comics or disney. so i knew i wanted to make it Baymax somehow, cuz i love love love Baymax. originally i was gonna make it Baymax in his green outfit (zero-suit, as i call it). but after trying it on the practice Munny, i just wasn't happy with it. he just looked like a weird Master Chief from Halo and that's not what i wanted. after going back to the drawing board, i decided to make him Baymax on a Disney Vacation! he has his mickey hat, his fast pass bracelet, and some mickey balloons (made out of antenna toppers and wire). then i drew the little illustration as a companion piece to the figure.
the figure was painted all over with white spray, then the details were put on with acrylic paints. the finer details, like the mickey circle on his head and his tummy screen, were put on with these cool paint pens that i found. i think they're also acrylic paints in the pens. his tummy screen says "2015 HAMADAS DISNEY VACATION" (it's a bit hard to see in the pictures). then everything was sprayed with a spray lacquer to keep it all together and make it shiny.

i really liked the way it came out but at the same time i think i'm done making these for a while. i have a mini-Munny on my docket of commissioned pieces, but that won't be quite as huge of an undertaking as this one. or maybe it'll be harder cuz it's smaller?!?! i kinda miss having Disney Vacation Baymax on my table. but i DO have Master Chief Baymax so...we all win?

Thursday, August 13, 2015

twin tiers weekend

my hubs and i are going to be guests again at Twin Tiers Comic Con in Elmira, NY this weekend! i'll be at TABLE A41 Saturday the 15th till Sunday the 16th. i'll have comics i've worked on, more prints, and doing sketches all weekend long. we always have such a great time at this con. the organizers are just the nicest folks and the attendees are even nicer! it's one of the smaller shows that we do but one of the warmest welcomes we receive. so i'm really looking forward to this show.
this year they're doing an after party on Saturday with a Drink & Draw event. the hubby and i are planning to attend. i think all the proceeds from the art sold will be going to Hero Initiative so everybody wins! just go to the event's facebook page for more info - https://www.facebook.com/t2comiccon

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

color block

[listening to "foe tha love of $" by bone thugs-n-harmony]

"Kiss the Girl" lines
"Kiss the Girl" color blocks
"Kiss the Girl" commission
i got a chance to draw some Little Mermaid for someone and that just makes me oh so happy! i was commissioned to draw the Kiss the Girl scene to give as a wedding gift. needless to say, i gladly said heck yeah! it turned out pretty good to me so, with permission, i think i might turn it into a print to bring with me to cons and stuff!

i drew it all the way out in graphite, which i won't really do these days with the way i color now. but i wanted to have some original lineart for the piece, so that's what i did. i would've left it at the red pencil stage and let the colors just do the work. oddly enough, i really like how Sebastian turned out. i've been trying to put something "close to camera" but i think he's the first that came out the way i wanted him to.

i also did something new for this one that i haven't really done before. that is, i did a rough color block over the whole thing. i really just wanted to make sure all the colors are what i wanted them to cuz with something like this, sometimes i forget that i want a piece of the BG to be a certain color and then i totally forget. but most importantly, because there's LOTS of blue in this (ariel's clothes, the water, the sky, the seaweed, the fish) i needed to make sure they don't become one big blue blob with a bright yellow Flounder on the left. hopefully, folks will like it at cons. fingers crossed! (of course, the "Congratulations" part won't be on the prints, silly!)