“He was born to be dead, but now he will live” ~ An Inuit Shaman
In my series of layout sketches and concept art for Jack Down the River, I ultimately settled on a different shaman character design (See Related Posts Below). This was my rough pass and it never went any farther.
The Other Shaman is more Mark Twain with a pipe and a straw hat. I can hear him telling Jack at some point, “to put that in his pipe and smoke it.”
It’s a lot of fun to keep things organic, loose, and lively. It makes the whole Shaman character more satisfying in some respects than if I had polished him up proper. Maybe you can see some connective tissue with ole Rafiki.
As always, If you have a thought, drop a comment. I want to hear what you have to say.
“Space flights are merely an escape, a fleeing away from oneself, because it is easier to go to Mars or to the moon than it is to penetrate one’s own being” ~ Carl Jung
What reminds you the most of home? Maybe it’s smell? Anybody by chance, know what Mars smells like?
The fact is that once you leave home, often there is no going back. It is funny how far the heart drifts in the great expanse. You gotta be that rollin’ stone and put on that smilin’ face. Like the Joker said, “Why so serious?” Speaking of which where did I put my happy face pin? I think I lost mine in the theaters watching the Watchmen.
Ralph’s happy face emblazoned on his suit, I envisioned as a kind of an overly optimistic and happy A.I. that always puts a positive spin on any dire event in a hostile universe. I was thinking along the lines of a high-tech version of Wilson from the movie Cast Away. Pardon me on my third popular movie reference, but I still got one more for y’ah.
They say Forest Gump invented the smiley face or so Robert Zemeckis would have you believe, but it is totally intergalactic and yes, I just threw that out there. Come to think of it, Carl Jung must have totally taken over a small corner of my brain since he also said something about explaining the “symbol” (i.e. retro smiley face) as if you were a man from Mars.
Hope you like the new sketch. I drew it back at my old home. It kept me company on a real late night contemplating how things are never the same and yet there’s no place like home. Ohmmmmmmm…… why don’t you meditate on a little Bob Dylan now……
You still here? Bless your heart! I’ve been thinking about tweeting or putting out facebook status updates with little iPhone snap shots of process work. I was even meaning to put this up to tease this post. Here’s the test and don’t forget to connect with me on twitter @SimianZ for future peaks of Martians and otherwise.
It’s Friday the 13th and we’ve got a brand spankin’ new post: my version of a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Movie Poster.
I’ve been working on this for a while now. I’ve been super busy getting ready to graduate school and I found the time to finish up and polish this piece which I am pretty proud of. It’s kinda the culmination of all of my Fear and Loathing posts.
For those who are wondering, yes that is not the original Ralph Steadman lettering from the book or movie poster. I made it myself with ink, brush, and watercolor paper. It was fun as hell trying to recreate such iconic lettering. I used the original as reference, but I wanted to bring something new to the table.
Below are some of the steps I took to creating the poster and character, Enjoy
above is a rough layout sketch, below is one of the final thumbnail drawings for the poster
below are some thumbnail sketches and silhouettes when I was designing the character Raoul Duke
I’ve been working on this character for my story that I have been showing you for the last week. I’m not sure if I know how I want her to look like yet in her true form but here is a bit of my process. Today’s sketch is just an idea. There is nothing set in stone as of yet. Below are some thumbnails and another sketch. I hope adding all these extras into each post makes up for the lack of daily sketches.
Again, we have a little developmental work from the Jack and the Shaman layout. As you can see, I played around with numerous configurations and silhouettes before settling on the character design.
And of course the real JZSOTD aficionados will recall a similar character, I played around with almost a year ago. Who among us can remember back that far?
It’s pretty crazy, but today, October 21st, will mark the one year anniversary of the site. We set a pretty wicked pace from the get go and while we slowed things up in the last couple of months, the new year begins as strong as ever.
This was my first real sketch of the character from yesterday’s post although I do have lots of thumbnail silhouettes that I made before this.
There are a few other different versions of this character which I may compile into its own post at some point or maybe I’ll try to update and format this post to show more of the making of Jack and the Shaman.
“Stand still. The trees ahead and bush beside you are not lost.” ~ Albert Einstein
Jack while running away from home gets lost going down a river. He is stuck in a swamp and follows a mysterious trail of candlelight to a shaman. The shaman reveals that Jack is being stalked and hunted by a witch who collects power by stealing souls. The shaman offers his help and guidance, but Jack is wary of the offer.
Below are some of the process thumbnail sketches that I made while composing this layout sketch (a larger view awaits those who click):
Also here is a xerox copy that I used for a marker tonal study for my final painting which is on the way.
Well, there is something new to show you……Updates to come : )
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man” ~ Dr. Samuel Johnson
Here it is. A little different. Same basic idea. Hopefully it was worth the effort. To see the original design click on the following link: One of God’s Own Prototypes. Also yesterday there was a post where I had a pretty loose sketch that was heading in the direction of this Dr. Gonzo character design. There were also plenty of concept thumbnail drawings in that post. You can see Dr. Gonzo has come a long way from my first Fear and Loathing posts: Hitchhiking a Ride to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Fear and Loathing of a back seat Hitchhiker. Feel free to explore any of those links if you want to take in the the making of this character, Dr. Gonzo.
Below are my rough designs for the character and composition for today’s sketch. Check it out….
I’m in the middle of reworking my previous interpretation of the Dr. Gonzo character. This is the direction that I am heading with this “High Powered Mutant”. He’s a little more squashed and stretched and hopefully a little more fun.
I also find myself at the end of term and scrambling to get my final projects completed including a long ago promised digital painting of “Aloha, Welcom to Big Kahuna’s Kite Shop,” a bound book of my creative perspective drawings which I still have to wrap up, and a Fear and Loathing poster.
I know the updates lately have been a little more sporadic, but I am buckled down on these final projects. However, I assure you what I lack in quantity at the moment I will soon make up for in quality.
UPDATE: I decided to throw in all my various Dr. Gonzo character designs in this post. Click on the image below to enlarge, zoom in even more by clicking on the image again, and then scroll around. Let me know what you think.
I am illustrator in the entertainment arts focused on visual development, character design, layouts, concept art, and anything in the realm of visual storytelling. Around these parts though, I'm letting it loose Simian Style and devolving into a higher state of consciousness on the boundary of an infinite-dimensional manifold in quasi-time. There's plenty of room down this rabbit hole! Learn more About Me and check out the Portfolio.
