We've been...jammed!

I have to apologize right here and now for neglecting this blog. It ends now. I like a blog for its ability to update easily (unlike a site) and I should be posting all the things I've been doing. It's the responsible thing to do. So over the next few days I'll be uploading quite a few things. Starting with this....




Here's an image I submitted for a t-shirt for threadless.com, a great website that utilizes artwork from its community for shirts and prints. Users vote on shirts (whether this has any bearing on the decision to print something remains to be seen) and the winner gets store credit and a sizable monetary prize. Overall this was a good experience (even if my shirt wasn't selected) because it forced me to work in a limited color palette (under 8 colors) and the community was very active in giving me feedback. I'll probably make another one or two designs before the year is out.

This is what I came up for a dragon gentleman. I resisted the urge to give him a flowing cape and a button down vest. He has flow and a good silhouette, but I felt he was a bit bland...


Here's where I took that design that I was somewhat satisfied with and tweaked it to give him more style and personality. Number 3 ended up being my favorite of the bunch and I added in the wings of the first (Jen's suggestion <3)

Two different solutions to the same visual concept, a chivalrous dragon challenging a knight or king to a duel. The top one seemed to be more iconic which is why it ended up as the chosen one. All I had to do now was fix the dragon to make him more dynamic and involved in the action. I went to Kinko's, blew up my sketch to finished size (roughly 10 x 13) and added color in Photoshop.

I spend a considerable amount of time in pre-visualization but I think it's worth it if I can explore all the options and really flesh out a character.