Wolverine

Wolverine is certainly one of my favorite comic characters, and I think his portrayal in film has been nailed down by Hugh Jackman performance and likeness.  I've never drawn him before and felt inspired with the idea of taking all the elements I love about the clawed brute and put them together.  Originally had him in flat colours but my love for rendering took over.   I also intended to do two head one masked and one Jackman but given my laundry list of character art I'd like to get to it'll have to wait.

This illustration was created entirely using Adobe Flash CS6.

Sauron: the Lord of the Rings

Getting rid of cable TV earlier this year have been a big help with eliminating distraction as well as providing my wife and I with more time to be productive in our personal endeavours.  With two children it's certainly a challenge to muster the energy after they fall asleep.  These days I'd rather lose myself in my own imagination or get lost in inspiration than bask in the low-grade entertainment on TV.

After I created the previous post of the Nazgûl, I felt compelled to keep going with the LOTR theme once again.  I'm not sure if I'm done with it yet either!  I have a few other ideas brewing and am flipping the mental coin on which to pursue next.  I'll be revisiting my process next time around and will do grey scale roughs in photoshop like I did with the GH slot tiles which I found helped at the colour stage in flash.

So, back to the subject matter!  I decided to create Sauron, who's technically another wizard of sorts (not unlike Gandalf and company) and I think he looks smashing next to his Nazgûl minion.  I love PJ's film interpretation of this character in the battle of the last alliance and I started with that reference and later added some magical fiery aspects similar to the Balrog.  I wanted to throw in the eye of Sauron in there but later felt it'd be too much.

This piece was created using Adobe Flash CS6.

Nazgûl

I'm a big LOTR fan, I love the movies and the stories, the mythology and I find if I'm looking for inspiration I often think of the various characters and places from Tolkien's books.  I love the grim reaper like appearance of the Nazgûl.  Having done the varous wizards from the films I wanted to take a "stab" at doing one of these bad guys.  I started of ambitiously wanting to illustrate the Ringwraith on the back of a fell beast but quickly realized using Flash that would be a big undertaking.  Perhaps another time!  I'd really like to do a version of Sauron, a Balrog, the blue wizards or a Cavetroll with a Moria Orc on it's back.  I'm still undecided!

I created this using Flash CS6.

Frozen Birthday Card

It seems this year, like the last is speeding along.  We've had many things to celebrate and look towards.  Our second born arrived in April and our first turned 3 last week.  Between sleep deprivation and trying to adapt to the new dynamics at home, my wife and I impulsively decided to make a Frozen themed card for our eldest.  She's very fond of Elsa and tends to identify with that character so that was a given.  With our combined efforts I'm quite happy with what we managed to produce in just two very groggy nights....  I contributed with the illustration/caricature and my wife put it altogether with the awesome paper craft you can see below.

the Joker

I've always liked Batman, and for me his enemies seemed to make the character's world seem even more interesting.  The Joker has been one in particular that through the decades has not only lost his whimsical innocence but become more complex, intriguing and above all frightening.  I personally feel the voice of the Joker is secured in Mark Hamill's rendition, even the persona in the recent Arkham games seems to cement this character in convincing manner.  Bruce Timm's character designs also seem to have evolved into something more menacing before Batman TAS ended.  Although Nicholson and Ledgers renditions where excellent, the advantage to a CGI character seems to be the visual tie to the source material becomes much more accurate.  I also enjoy the writing and dialogue they've used in these recent games that really showcase his intelligence.  Don't get me wrong both Jack and Heath nailed the character in their own right, they were also complimented by the brilliant costuming and writing.

Anyhow here's my take on the notoriously maniacal character, incorporating aspects of all the Joker's I've found appealing.  I wish I could say how long this one took.  I'm hoping to add more characters from the Batman realm in the future when the time permits.  I made this image using Flash CS6.