It all started with a sketch....

In a quest to re-invent myself and push my skill and pencil to the proverbial limit, I decided to do something that I never did before...Anime. I love the stuff but nevere really wanted to do thatr style. I'd infuse a bit here and there but never really do I go all the way...I left that to the "Judas" known as Tanto ( Torrance). So I started drawing the usual for me. And angry man witha ball cap. Its kinda my shtick if you will. Well I looked around for a refernce of style and eventually found it in some manga video still. The style of coloring was dramatic and I didn't really want to bring that much into it. I mean, yes I wanted to do an anime style piece but it was hard for me to fully commit to it. I started drawing and kept drawing till I came up with a rough sketch that I liked. I took that sketch and placed it on a light table and re-drew it to clean it up a bit. It didn't need to be to clean because I really wasn't going to use the pencil drawing but for a guide. Here's is what that came out to be...Check side bar. So that was done and know I had to figure out HOW exactly I was going to color this piece. I was pretty decent in Illustrator so I felt confident I could pull something of in there. I can't tell you how long it took because I pretty much busted my butt on it and kept at it till my base was set. I don't even know what time it was when I started...All I know is that I was finished. Well....sort of. So there was that and

I have to admit, I was pretty proud of that. I showed around and flashed it about, receiving mulitple compliments on it. I even had a guy wanting to put it on a shirt. I don't think he did though although that would be awesome. So for the final test, I showed the art to my good and best friend in the world, Adam Meyer a.k.a Shard. I send it in an e-mail he looks at it and within 5mins, I revised version somewhere along the lines of this... He took it and defined it in a matter of minutes. And here I thought I was done with the whole piece. Just when you think you got it all said and done, someone comes and and pulls the rug from underneath you. Since then, I've tried this layer method and with decent results. Some of which are not as good the first but the people who I do them of seem to like 'em so I call it "Done." Now I'm on to the next sheet paper...c-ya, folks!

Ye Ole' Hitman...

I get story ideas all the time...my mind is filled with crazy and eccentric story that to me seem awesome. I always say, Man...I've gonna do a comic of that. If you know me at all, then you know it'll never happen. I think I'd be content doing cover art and that would be that. So I got a call from a friend of mine in Cali and he's obsessed with the hitman theme. Loves it...he asked me to do a shirt for him of a hit man. I told him I would and once again, I finished something else. For at least a day, something was in the water cause I couldn't believe that I finished another piece...

But then I got to thinking and remembered that I did a story or a mock-up of a hit man a while ago that was forced to do things because if he didn't "fill in the blank" would happen. Looked around in old boxes and folders and I found the sketch that was done a good few years ago on a plane ride too or from London, England...

I looked at that and thought...maybe NOW I'll give photoshop and chance and see what I can do. I kinda figured a little bit how Torrance colored the first one so I just sat down, took a crack at it and this is what I came up with...

A finished drawing from me? Amazing...

Now this was something that, oddly enough, took years to do. I think I started this like two years ago and decided to stop on it due to my uncanny ability to never finish anything. I came back to it a year ago and added some depth and shadows to it. I wish I would've straigten out that arrrow...lol.

A few months ago I wanted to start my hand at coloring through photoshop and before I could do anything, a friend of mine got his hands on it and did his version of it...Not bad, Torrance...