Book Recommendation: Framed Ink

I’m two days into Doodle-a-Day May. If you haven’t sent me a request yet, feel free to do so here, on Twitter, Facebook, or in person.

What I love most about art is how big it is. How there’s always something more to learn and improve on. To that end, I’m always on the lookout for new art books. I’ve been reading one recently that I’m sure will have an influence on how I approach my daily doodles (actually, it already has).

Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu-Mestre is a phenomenal book about visual storytelling. A few years ago I had my portfolio critiqued by an art director at a SCBWI conference. He told me too many of the images in my portfolio looked like standalone pictures. It would be better, he said, to have pictures that looked as if they were part of a scene. They should make the viewer wonder what would happen next. They should be part of a story, and tell a small story on their own.

Framed Ink is all about the story. Marcos Mateu-Mestre is clearly a talented and thoughtful artist. Just read the text in these examples.

Amazing right? I never would have thought of things like eye level of the characters, or the subtle acknowledgement of power. The book is packed with neat stuff like that. Framed Ink is available on Amazon if you’re interested. I highly recommend it.

It's Time for Adventure

Doodle-A-Day May is almost here! I'm super pumped to start drawing your silly requests. Before we kick things off, I thought I'd finish up a #BreakfastDoodle. Check it out:

If you missed Doodle-A-Day when I did it in 2011, here's how it works:

  • I'll draw a sketch everyday, and spend no longer than 45 minutes on it. Sometimes it will be in Photoshop, other times it will be in my sketchbook. It could be on a post-it note.
  • I'm open to requests. Make them via Twitter, Facebook, here on the site or in person if you see me.
  • If your request gets doodled, I'll let you know. Feel free to share it with the world, set it as your background, or make it into a Christmas card, whatever.
  • If your request doesn't get doodled, don't worry, I might revisit it when the month is over.

Here's the gallery from the last time I did this, August 2011, the last full month I had before becoming a father.

I'm sure I'll end up revisiting some of the doodles. Just like I did with these ones from the last project:

I even made a tutorial for the second one. If you're interested in my method or want to learn a few things about making web comics in Photoshop, check it out.

That's about it. I'm excited to see what comes out of this month. Get your requests in early!

The Right Kind of Dumb: Thoughts on Injustice

I don’t buy fighting games often, but I had such a great time renting the last Mortal Kombat and I like superheroes, so I bought Injustice. I have no regrets. It’s an awesome game with a solid fighting system, layered with over-the-top costumes and storylines. Playing it makes me feel like I’m watching Doctor Who. It’s so dumb at times that it’s kind of the best thing ever. Here are some more thoughts on the game:

-It looks amazing. The characters are huge, pack a punch, and the stages break apart real good.

-When all the heroes are gathered together in their ridiculously over-designed padded “armor” costumes, calling each other by name, (“Hello Aquaman”) you can’t help but chuckle. Forget the “realism” of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, or that fact that most of the costumes in the game look to be made of plausible materials. This is straight up Saturday morning, yo-we-got-a-base-on-the-moon comic book goofery. I love it.

-Kryptonian nano technology pills. They make ya strong!

-Evil Superman is awful. Just awful. From his evil motivations, to his stupid evil shoulder-padded costume. Even his thin dumb-looking face. Awful.

-Predictably, the Joker has some of the best lines in the game. He’s fun to play as--his move set and animations are superb. However, his treatment of Harley is more abusive than I’ve ever seen it, which kinda makes me uncomfortable, but I guess it serves to remind you that despite his popularity, he IS a villain.

-Green Arrow has a few good moments too.

-Wonder Woman has GIGANTIC boobs. All of the women do, but hers are all up in your face, and especially cartoonish because she seems to always be arching her back to present them. The only sensibly dressed female is Catwoman, which must have happened by accident. If you unlock the concept art for the female characters you’ll see that they briefly flirted with making every single one of them fight in as little clothing as possible. Ugh…video games.

-Lex Luthor looks like Bruce Willis.

-Pounding out combos feels good. Most fighters have a few in common, but they all look different. I love the random weapon flourishes—Joker pulling out a crowbar or shoe blade, Deathstroke brandishing a random pistol, etc.

-Ares? As in “the god of war,” from Greek mythology? What’s he doing in this game? Comic books! (The answer is always comic books)

-The quick time events in the story are silly and make it seem like these “meta humans” have sub-human intelligence.

-The fighting system is solid. It’s deep for those who want to dig in, but broad enough for button mashers to have a good time. I’ve always been a mid-tier fighting game player. I like to get to know the intermediate strategies, but don’t care to count frames and compete online. Injustice is a fantastic fighter for players like me.

-Jennifer Hale as Hawk Girl

-Knocking someone to the bottom floor of the bat cave, then knocking them back up to the top through the elevator never gets old.

-From his gee-golly combed hair to his stupid unimaginative use of his ring, everything about Green Lantern makes me want to punch him.

-Aquaman is actually kind of cool. He gets real stabby with his trident, and his special move involves a shark.

-There are a ton of things to do outside of the story mode. I’m predominantly a single player kind of guy, so the added replay value is nice. That said, I will be bringing this into work to play at lunch with coworkers. The accessible gameplay is great for non-gamers.

Bottom line: Did you enjoy the last Mortal Kombat at all? You should play Injustice. It’s a good time. 

The Breakfast Doodles

If you follow me here, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, you've probably seen me tweet a sketch with the #breakfastdoodle hash tag. Some mornings, if things fall into place just right, I have time to doodle while my son eats breakfast. I draw whatever is on my mind that morning, or in some cases, whatever is nearby. I drew on the last page of my little breakfast doodle sketchbook this morning (it stays on the dining room table). To commemorate the filled book, I thought I'd put together a gallery of the pics I posted. These are a great warm up for my Doodle-A-Day May project starting in a week and a half.

Iron Man 3 postered!

I successfully got Bioshock Infinite out of my brain by making the posters. Unfortunately I replaced it with making posters. So I made one for Iron Man 3. This time, instead of the Saul Bass and Olly Moss style minimalism, I went with my own style--cartoony. I like it. I wanted to do something that fit the trailers, which all seem to fixate on a pretty bummed out Tony Stark. Cheer up Tony!