Recently, I started getting into doing daily speed paintings.

I had been thinking about how important it is for artists to practice painting techniques by doing paintings from photos or life. And I thought to myself, instead of just thinking about how it's a good idea, why don't I take my own advice and put some time into doing it? So... I did. I've been selecting photos based on various challenges (fur, foliage, water, reflections, interiors, lighting, etc), and doing one a day, with a limit of 1 hour to complete it. It's a really fun, quick way to get a daily dose of coloring, learn new techniques, discover faster ways of laying down colors, etc. When I'm coloring an illustration, I'll sometimes have photos to help with the general feel, but I rarely have direct reference, so shadows and highlights come from my preexisting knowledge. The speed paintings have allowed me to observe how shadows and highlights really effect an environment.

Here's the one's I've done so far:

Speedpaint 15 - Tiki


( Many more behind cut )

One of the chapters of Domo we worked on:



The Domo book is coming out in September! Can't wait!

By "popular" demand, (OK, just six of you actually, haha, but that's alright), I'm going to try and make an effort to post on LJ a little more often. Here's a picture I just finished up for my children's illustration portfolio.



This image was originally done in color, but upon completion, I found that the color detracted from the focus of the piece, her red shoes. So, I put a mask around the shoes and turned the rest grayscale. I think the result is more effective. Though it's a little bit sad to spend all that time coloring just to throw out colors at the end. Eh, c'est la vie!

The illustration is based on the story "The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Andersen, which you can read in its entirety here: http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html Upon reading the story as part of my research for the illustration, I was very surprised by the heaviness of its religious message; the version of the red shoes I read as a kid was about a ballerina who puts on a pair of red ballet slippers that force her to dance until she dies from exhaustion. Although in either case, it's a pretty dark story.

(You can view the original color version on my art blog: http://lcibos.blogspot.com/2009/06/red-shoes-complete.html)

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I last posted here. The funny thing is, I still check the friends list every day (part of my morning routine ^_^). I guess I just haven't felt motivated. But I'm wondering, does anyone still read this journal? Would you like me to post more? What would you most like to see posted here?

General update on me:

-I'm still working on building up my children's illustration portfolio. I need about 5-7 more pieces to call it done, and then it's off to publishers and agents. I'm hoping to be done with it before the end of June. You can see some of what I've put together so far in the top row of my gallery, here: http://www.jaredandlindsay.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=3

-I spent the last two months working on two chapters for Tokyopop's Domo: The Manga book. It's a full-color book, so Jared and I had the opportunity to experiment with doing color comic pages. I had a lot of fun with it. TPOP recently posted some of our sample pages up on their website here: http://www.tokyopop.com/Domomanga/tp_article/2759413.html (note that the cover was done by a different artist).

Oh, and here's some WIP stuff for the current piece I'm working on:
http://lcibos.blogspot.com/2009/06/red-shoes-wip-1.html
http://lcibos.blogspot.com/2009/06/red-shoes-wip-2.html
http://lcibos.blogspot.com/2009/06/red-shoes-wip-3.html

Here's the finished piece for Dragon Rider.


I'm currently interested in exploring unusual picture sizes. I usually think in terms of prints for the final output, which means many of my pictures are formatted with a standard letter 8.5"x11" or tabloid 11"x17" size in mind. In contrast, this one is tall, about 8"x14".

Hope you guys dig! I have more storybook type pictures like this planned and in various stages of development, so stay tuned for more. :)

Here's my current progress on the dragon rider illustration. Colors are still fairly rough. First I blocked in all my basic colors, then I started polishing and adding texture to individual sections. The wall, lamp, coffee table, and chair are done. I plan on tackling the wood floor next.

Also, I should mention, for the benefit of people living near Daytona Beach, FL - me and the lovely and mysterious (hehe) Spookychan are guests at Anime Express this weekend (March 13-15). ^_^ We'll be rockin' an artist table together, so come and see us! If you missed either of us at Megacon, here's another chance!

xposted from Blogger: http://lcibos.blogspot.com/ (no worries, I'm not leaving you guys. I still <3 LJ!)

New picture for the children's illustration portfolio I'm working on. My idea was to depict a little girl curled up in a chair, so engrossed in reading her book that she imagines herself as the heroine of the tale.

Every picture I do starts with a thumbnail sketch, no larger than a couple inches tall. This allows me to jot down all the important details of an idea quickly, and "feel out" a composition without spending too much time on it. This way, I can easily try multiple takes if something's not working.

In this case, I was satisfied with the original thumbnail, and move straight onto the rough sketch, a full-sized drawing based off the thumbnail. Sometimes I will work the rough sketch to completion, but in this case it was too messy, so I transferred the drawing onto another sheet of paper to do my final pass (and made a couple tweaks to the composition while I was at it).

This is where I currently am: the lines are clean and ready for colors!

It's been awhile since I last posted an update here!

Couple of quick tidbits:

*Jared and I just finished a 7-month book project. It's a how-to book, and it's coming out in December. The publisher has asked me not to disclose the title or subject matter yet, but as soon as I'm able to say more, I will. :)

*I have an artist table at Megacon in Orlando, Florida on February 27 - March 1st. Jared and I will be located at White 1 all three days. I've marked it on the map here. We'll have copies of Peach Fuzz volumes one through three and Digital Manga Workshop available for sale that we will be happy to sign, as well as other goodies like stickers and our typical array of prints. Hope to see lots of you there!

*Cloverleaf Cafe is on hiatus, but I haven't given up on it. I'm thinking about rewriting the story from the perspective of Trixie. I like Sofia, but she tends to be wishy washy about her feelings. Maybe not main character material. On the other hand, Sofia is like that so she can go through a character transformation over the course of the story. Whatever the case, it's not working for publishers in its current form, so something's gotta change. Whether that's the art, story, or both, it's hard to say. For now though, I think I'm going to stick it in the proverbial desk drawer and move on to something different. I have another graphic novel idea that I want to pursue: a one-shot, all-ages book.

*Currently, as in, starting today, I'm working on a new illustration portfolio to send around to publishers. An art agent is cheering me on and giving me guidance (no, she's not my agent yet...but she's interested in seeing what I can come up with, so that's really encouraging).

That's pretty much it right now. It kinda feels like I'm starting from scratch every time I finish a book. Gotta search for jobs all over again. That's just the nature of being a freelancer though. :)

Oh, and here's just a little something I made yesterday:


Chibi President Obama by ~lcibos on deviantART

In the pond inside my apartment complex there's a duck with an injured leg--possibly broken. He's been there for a couple days by himself (all the other ducks have gone elsewhere). I've seen him swimming a little bit, but movement on land is difficult for him. He limps and drags his body to move. :( I tried to contact U.S. Fish and Wildlife over the weekend, but they apparently don't help injured birds.

This morning, I contacted local animal control, who told me they could help. When they got here to look at the duck, I asked how they rehab ducks, and he told me they don't--apparently there isn't any place around here that takes care of injured waterfowl, so they euthanize them. Not what I had in mind when they said they could help. This is an otherwise healthy duck with an injured leg, not a terminally-ill animal. Euthanizing under such a circumstance doesn't feel right to me. Well, (thankfully) they weren't even able to do that; after brief attempt to lure the duck to the shore with crumbs of food, animal control gave up on capturing the duck and left.

I feel really bad about the poor duck and wish there was more I could do to help. He seems so sad, swimming around in circles in the pond all by himself. Any ideas? Is there anything that can be done to help him? :(

Paws on Ice by ~lcibos on deviantART

Happy Holidays~! I love this time of year.

Too bad snow, ice skating, and frozen ponds are the things of fantasy in Florida. ^^;