Friday 03 :: Sketchier than ever

OK....so this is the place for sketches and stuff that you normally don't get to see. At least that's what they tell you once you get here. So today, I'm gonna slap you with a few sketches.

1 - purple head. This was just me playng around with some colour as I do from time to time. Havnt had a chance lately cause Photoshop loves to crash on my new computer with Vista. I think Vista sux dogs balls and I hate it and I wish I had never got it.

2 - The Poindexter Farm. This one is 1 page of about 16 I did for a cd cover job. Had a lot of fun with the pencils.

3 - Sketchbook sketches. These arn't great, but I thought it would be nice to throw up some old sketchbook doodles.

Thats it for now...who says I don't keep it regular around here? eh? eh?

See you next week!!

Red J.

Friday 02 :: OK...so it's really Monday!

For shame! It's only the second week, and I already missed a Friday.

Well, I'm here now, so all is well, and I will make up for it with a double feature.

What I am posting up today is a couple of sketches. One of these was to get a gig with Wildstorm drawing a comic book for them, and the other is a sketch I did after I got the gig to get a feel for the actual character.

I probably won't be posting much more art from this project for a while since I am still really only in the early stages, but it is a sneak peek at what I am working on at the moment.

For you guys waiting on the last issue of Gemini, unfortunately it is going slow right now, but I want you guys to know that it is really important to me to get that done, and I have done a little work on it so far. It will happen eventually.

Thanks for looking!! Hope you enjoy the new art.

Jon.

Friday01::Wolverine vs Venom

OK...so I'm back.

The plan is to post new art here every Friday and not leave my poor blog out there in the cold with no love and affection.

I just realised I havnt been getting notifications from peoples comments on the blog here which would explain the lack of resposes. I will keep an eye out and get back to you guys who take the time to say hello :)

I won't blow my whole load here right now, but there are a couple of things to talk about. First, lets talk about the art.

What you see here is the under sketch for a commission I did for some guys I met at a convention. They asked me to sketch on one of those Marvel Dark Avengers sketch covers. This is what I did on the back as a bonus cause I took so long to finish the cover for them. I think they were happy with the bonus. You can see the same cover inked and grey toned over on my deviantart to which I will provide a link for you all here: http://fav.me/d2c1gnt

The other thing I would like to talk about is the new movie Astro Boy... (this is spoiler free by the way)

I saw this movie last night. I really didnt have high expectations for it. I was kinda disapointed when I first saw the trailer and the direction they had taken with some of the character designs, but eventually I got over that, and I think that Astro himself looked really great.

In fact, I will say that this movie did look really good overall. Really nice 3D work, and the animation was also pretty awesome, moreso on the action than the emotive stuff.

Where this film fell flat for me was with the story. There were some really cheesy bits (Robot revolutionaries?) which I wasnt a fan of. I know they think they need to put stuff in there like that to make the kids happy, but that is exactly what i hate about a movie like this. You dont need to cheese things up for the kids! Look at PIXAR! they never do that.

There was a particularly emotional scene in Astro which should have been emotional, but I felt nothing! There was something missing there, and really this scene which I am trying not to spoil, should have been given a lot more attention since this was the reason why Astro is then created!

I think I might have chuckled once through the whole film, and that is a pretty bad sign for someone who wants to get something more than a visual feast out of a film.

The potential was there for such an amazing film, but unfortunately I was quite disapointed. Thats coming from someone who grew up watching Astro boy as a kid in the 80's, so take my movie rant for what its worth... Anyone else catch this? agree? disagree?

See you all back here soon!

JKS!

Ozmosis Chills II & San Diego

Just a quick little sneak peek here....

This is the cover for my new sketchbook which i am launching at San Diego comicon.

The book is 40 pages of all new unseen art. Lots of colour stuff, and lots of material straight from my sketchbook. I'm only printing 100 copies of it, so get them while you can!

Soon as I get them back from the printers, I'll post up a few photos. So watch this space!

See you soon!

Jon.

Darkstalkers :: Felicia

First up, I just wanted to show the inner workings of one of my Darkstalkers pieces. For those who don't know, UDON is putting out a tribute book for fans of the Darkstalkers property from Capcom. I ended up drawing 6 of these characters, and I did them all in the 'baby' or 'chibi' style.

The others will surface eventually, I'm sure. If you come and visit me at comicon in San Diego, I will have them all there for people to check out. For now though, here is Felicia.

I thought you guys might like to see the before and after, along with some of the thumbnails and other ideas I threw out for this character. Please do let me know if you enjoy seeing the sketches or not as it helps me figure out what more to post up in the future :)

thanks!

Jon.

Three things:: Transformers, Darkstalkers and New Chills

Three little things to talk about:

One: Tonight I will go and watch Transformers. I'll let you all know what I think after I see it.

Two: The sketch you see here has nothing to do with my Darkstalkers pieces which are included in the UDON tribute book...maybe.

Three: Been working on Ozmosis Chills Book II with my buddy on the design. When you see the cover, I think you are going to want it.

That will be all for now. Back to work I go.

Red J.

Watch me draw Gemini on YOUTUBE

Dear blog,
I wanted to post this up about 2 years ago, but never got around to it. I recently posted it on my Deviantart website, and I felt that you missed out. So here I am making it up to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbD9BdvWFY0

This is a little video I made for fun one night using a web cam.
The art is from Gemini #1 page 12. Hope you like it!

So, my little blog... Here is a little side news for you. I went and saw Tommy Emmanuel play live last Wednesday night. I came out of the theatre feeling very inspired indeed. Not to pick up my guitar, but rather to push myself further and try and reach even further with my art. An amazing man.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, go see him on YOUTUBE here: Tommy Emmanuel playing Classical Gas.
cheers!
Jon.

It's a wrap!!

Just taking a celebratory moment here to say that Gemini 4 is ready to go!

I have seen the full issue lettered. I gotta say, I love getting the lettered pages. It's when the art finally becomes a real comic book. Very cool. Props to Rus Wooton.

And, while I'm sending a shoutout, check out the lovely new colours from Fares Maese.

Keep your peepers peeled for some new non-Gem related artwork to appear here shortly.

See you soon!

Jon.

Gemini:: issue 4 finished

Hello readers of this blog!

A quick update here. Just want to say that Issue 4 of Gemini is officially out of my hands now. We wrapped up colours on the last page last week. It has been a tough journey, but most of us made it safely.

With any luck this comic will be out in time for San Diego comicon, which I will be attending. You can buy copies of the issue direct from me, and I may even scribble a little something on it :).

thanks for looking!

Jon.

Gemini 4 :: Almost finished!!

Hello!

Just wanted to let anyone who checks in here that issue 4 of Gemini is almost finished! I have 5 pages left to go, so that makes me very happy!

Here is a sneak peek for your trouble.

More soon!!!

Jon.