Pick yer poison

Matt crappy color bad!!!

Young Hero

This is the new and final look for Daniella "Dove" Mason. I love this look. I love this character. I suddenly have more faith in this comic than I thought I could. Hope you like.

Next to last...

This set is the next to last commission on the list I worked on from September thru January. I have one more to do for a co-worker then I'll be working on some creator owned stuff as well as Will Corpenings, Priests Epic Adventures RPG. Commissions are still open, but my rates have changed, which I'll put up on the blog somewhere when I figure out how to add it permanently.

These characters were fun to work on as they were already fleshed out and not mainstream. Most requests I get are usually established like Marvel, DC, or video game characters. Either that or people ask me to make them into a superhero of some kind.

Iron mask, Miss Power, Red Phantom and Willpower are all owned by Dark Light Comics, © Vince White 2011. 

By Moonlight...

Few weeks old. Forgot to add this to the blog. Not very dynamic, I know. I'll be pushing/playing with perspective and movement more. Try and loosen up this stiffness. Also, I'll be adding more cheap backgrounds like this one until I get more comfortable with putting objects in space around characters. 

Prioritizing...

I think I need to take a few minutes to list some of my art related goals this year. Last week, I had a conversation with my good friend Mike Moss who spent some time trying to put things into perspective for me. As always, after thinking about it for a bit, I realize that he's right. So, what I want to do is list the things I'm going to be working on/towards in the coming year to have as a reminder when I lose focus. So here we go:

1. I will learn to be patient with my art. I get frustrated too easily.
2. I will learn to be more deliberate with my art. I tend to spend 50% of my art time doing whimsical things rather than staying focused on the project at hand.
3. I won't put aside my personal goals and projects for for quick and easy commission work. I completely neglected my own goals for about 5 months while I peddled my skills for cheap. Work is good, but it can't come at the price of progress. I lost sight of my own goals and progress for a little recognition and a few bucks. From now on, I'll limit the commission work to a manageable amount so that I can do both... Unless there's a shit-load of  money involved...
4. I will give as much attention to backgrounds and composition as I do my character art. It's obvious I don't spend enough time on that stuff. I can do it well, I just have to actually do it.
5. I will attend and perhaps participate in more conventions. The only art communities I'm a part of are online communities. I'm hella busy and it's difficult (VERY) for me to socialize and meet people, but it's something I need to do, not only to learn about the industry but also to be in an environment I can feed on.
6. Lastly... I will launch my web comic this summer. 

I guess it's not-so-exciting a list to the observer, but these are all tremendously huge steps that I really need to take. I'd really like to thank Mike and also Will Corpening for being so supportive of my endeavors. So, thanks guys =)

Matt

Balancing Act

Let's try this again...

Break on through...

So, I'm hoping people are seeing the progress I'm making with the inking and coloring. It's been long and frustrating, but I've kept at it and I think we're seeing another step of progress. The last couple of days I've made an effort to slow down, which has really helped a lot. Hope you folks like it =)

Matt

Dain Bramage

You tell me which one looks better...

huckleberry

Somebody to lean on...

Protagonists from the upcoming web strip.

Oops, forgot one... Gemini Gold

5 and out... Gemini Black

2011

Happy New Year to everyone. Not that I've fooled myself into thinking people actually visit this blog but I'd still like to put the good vibe out there. I hope everyone's holidays were good. Mine were as good as they could possibly be. I worked almost every day for the month of December (That's not true, but it kinda is... hard to explain so I'll just move on...). I did upgrade my phone for Christmas, which had been bugging me for 6 months and I did get the most wonderful gift in the form of Photoshop CS5. I couldn't ask for more. Well, I could, but I didn't. Anyway...


Update time. First, I cleaned out a lot of the old posts in this blog. I essentially wiped everything out from before I got my tablet last year. All of the old art is still in the gallery links, if people want to go back and look at that stuff. The direction of my art changed once I went digital. Also, I discovered that artists have trends that I figured out will continue to repeat themselves until the day the artist dies. So I found that a lot of what I talked about on the blog, I had almost certain talked about before on the blog. Recurring themes of, "I have an artist block", or, "I think I'm making progress", followed by identical details every time made want to get rid of all that blabbering. 


2010 introduced me to the world of freelance commission art. WEEEEEE!!!!! As awesome as it is for me to actually get a little money for what I do, commission work has exposed a number of my weaknesses as an artist. Mainly, my inability to draw backgrounds. Not that I can't, but I don't do it well.  So, I'll be dedicating a lot of time to getting better at that this year...


...Also, I'll be drawing a lot more sexy women...


People love it. Don't be fooled. Sexy does not mean stereotype. If I have any skill as an artist or any salt as a human being, I'll deliver "SEXY" in all it's forms. I'm doing this for a couple reasons. First is that it draws attention to me and my work. Shameless, I know, but it's what I'm in this business for... The attention that is. Second is that I need to get better at drawing the female form in action. I've been a pin up guy most of my life, so this is an exercise I need to do. Lastly, the women will help balance out the background crap I'll be drawing while I learn to do that... at the very least the girls will distract from that.


In terms of actual projects I have lined up for 2011, I'll post on that later. I still plan to release the Four Horsemen web strip this summer and I'm working on a couple of collaborations with some good friends. I can't put deadlines on any of that because the commission work will continue and probably take precedence (yay for making money!) for a while. In the mean time, please enjoy the work I put up here. Speaking of "put up", thanks for putting up with me =)


matt

Gemini Blue

So, it doesn't end with the art for me. I'm writing this web strip as well. I find that it's true when they say there are no original stories. One of the best ways to add depth and interest is by creating great character dynamics in the storytelling. Now, I don't know if what I've created is considered great, but I'm trying. The Gemini Sisters in this Four Horsemen story will have a dynamic that I've never worked with before and that has me excited, which is why it may seem like I've given them a little extra attention... because I have. Hope you like.

Matt

Gemini Red

Deal with it...

The color and the shape...

Seventh Son...

There's always a bigger fish...

Only if you mean it...

The Business of Business...

The real slim shady...

WIP it good!

And the winner is...

The HULK!!! Yep, by far the most requested character for commissions that I've received. I have an admission to make. I love drawing the Hulk too! Truth be told, I was never one for drawing characters that were properties of others. Really, I just spent a lot of time working on my own stuff. Now that I've been doing all this work for other people, I gotta admit that I do enjoy it.

Motoko Kasunagi

Ghost in the Shell. I was thinking of a good friend of mine when I did this. He told me once that he was a big fan. I loved the first movie. Couldn't really follow the show because of time constraints. I never understood though, why they had to put Motoko in the skimpiest clothing. Well, I finally figured it out... BECAUSE IT'S COOL AS SHIT TO DRAW!

Hey Tim, I'll do a proper piece and mail it to you =)

Sketch Dump

Over on deviantArt, a lot of artists composite their better sketches into a single page to display. I always loved sketches and rough work because it's most reflective of the creative process, but also, there seems to be so much more energy in sketches than in fully realized images sometimes. I find the whole thing very inspirational. So here's my attempt at one of these sketch dumps.

One thing I did realize in this sketch dump is that a reduction in the size of the art from the original is really a good thing. In this digital age, where so many people are creating art from scratch on their computers, a lot of times the final art isn't reduced in size. The images in the sketch dump look so tight and so much better than the originals, I think I need to keep that in mind in all of my work. Work big, display reduced.

10$ Commission Samples

I've been doing a lot of commissions lately, varying from $10 sketches all the way up to $100 full color compositions. Here's some samples of the $10 dollar sketches.

"Sure as my pretty floral bonnet, I will shoot you dead."

This actually started as a Tia study (the only female), but I liked the flow of it so well, it became a character mosh. I ended up liking the composition so much that I immediately thought it could be something for Priest's Story written by my good friend William Corpening since they were in fact, characters from that story. Will saw it and his first thought was, "That should be the cover"... So, it's the cover.

OA pencil samples

Concept images and panel samples from a couple of the Four Horsemen projects I'm working on.

blec...

"He likes to stand in door and say BOO!"

Alien antagonist race called the Mazsarian.

"I was aiming for his head..."

Work on the banner continues. Here's the Sidewinder part. There's tons more going on the banner. Even though I've shown 5 or 6 pieces of it, there will still be plenty to reveal. Hope you like the pieces though.

"I just like to leave my options open, is all."

I'm working on this grand and somewhat elaborate (for me) new banner for this site. It's taking a little longer than I like because I'm being a little more critical of my work for this piece. Anyway, here are some more pieces of that banner to-be.

Banner Teaser

So I'm working on a new banner for this blog. Here's a small sample of the banner.

"I aim to misbehave..."

It's been so long since I've drawn the hero of my little world. I present, Robert Mason of the Four Horsemen.

"... and Lord I never drew first but I drew first blood..."

"You're like an untrained ape!"

This is the kind of image I have trouble posting. There are a few other images on this blog where I felt the same way. I started this image with the intention of practicing focus, light and movement. I think I hit the focus part well, the light part OK but the movement part I missed. I feel like missing one part ruins the whole thing. Still, I post this stuff so I can mark what I've been working on, but also to put it out there to be judged. I know that judgement is quite harsh sometimes, but I also know the next attempt will be better and having the two documented for me and others to see helps me grow somehow. So enjoy it if you can and if you can't then remember this image in the future so we can see how far I've come.

More practice

The pencils for this were a few years old. I just wanted to practice the inks and colors. Shadows are my enemy.