Posts Tagged ‘Layout’

22 items.

Deep Fried and Fishy at the Frog Shaq

by JayZuck on April 14th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
Deep Fried and Fishy at the Frog Shaq

“So we sailed on to the sun,
Till we found the sea of green,
And we lived beneath the waves,
In our yellow submarine”

~ The Beatles

Sometimes 960 pixels is just not enough to tell the story of my sketch.  To tell my tale today, I am trying something brand new.  I am going to narrate portions of zoomed and cropped pieces of my layout which may necessitate you clicking on the images for an enlarged version to get the full effect.  Anyway, off we go.

Under the sea lies a fast food “dive” thru for submarines.  It is called the Frog Shaq and is operated by a trio of frogs who are sure to give your food the extra special attention it deserves.  There secret is a distinctive lick of the tongue to add that aquatic flavor, but shhhh don’t tell anybody.

Their customers today are manning a two man submersible complete with robotic arms.  The eager captain can not wait to get his fast food fix and his stoner lackey and second mate looks on intently to get his munchie groove on.  While designing these two characters, I was contemplating a Skipper and Gilligan like duo.

When drawing the submarine itself, I was also thinking a little bit of the vehicle James Cameron used in his various underwater documentaries with a little bit of a cartoony spin.

A school of fish, a hammerhead shark, and an opportunistic eel help create the underwater scene, but my favorite addition is the little crab brandishing it claws in the direction of the larger sub as if to mock its mechanical analog.  The fancy shmancy servo motor powered manipulating arms have nothing on him or at least that’s what he thinks.

The layout sketch is still a bit rough and I am going to give it another pass before I consider it complete.  So, now in addition to a final pirates layout you now have an undersea drive thru layout sketch hopefully to look forward to.  Keep your eyes peeled as they will be coming soon.

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Shadow of the Carnival

by JayZuck on April 8th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
Shadow of the Carnival

“When it comes, the Landscape listens -
Shadows – hold their breath -
When it goes, ’tis like the Distance
On the look of Death”

~ Emily Dickinson

A boy wanders off from his family in a carnival.  He has no concerns in the world except for his next bite of cotton candy.  Having ventured a little too far he drifts into the menacing shadow of the ring master. Dun, dun, duuuuuuun…

The last few daily sketches which have focused on a carnival theme have served to set up today’s layout sketch.  Given the build up I wanted this to be the finale and like any good finale provide a sense of finality.  While I feel I have taken this pass as far as I can go, something still feels off to me and I refuse to pass the sketch off as something I am completely satisfied with.  A sucker may be born every minute, but despite such a useful and timely carnie reference springing to mind I simply refuse to play you like that.

I want to give it another go, but until then I hope you enjoy the composition which was built around my original character design called “Caught in a Shadow.” I find myself open to suggestions so if the spirit moves you drop a comment to let me know what you think.

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First Contact with some Mean Bitches

by JayZuck on March 26th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
First Contact with some Mean Bitches

On monday I was collecting data and today I have the final layout sketch to show off.  I don’t have much to add to the prior post except I think I may have figured out what those girls are all about (see title).

Related Sketches on Aliens and Everything Outer Space:

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Airbound at the Junkyard

by JayZuck on March 25th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
Airbound at the Junkyard

“Minds are like parachutes. They only function when open.” ~ Thomas Dewar

I have three projects in the works at the moment with a fourth coming down the pipe so I am kind of working on a bunch of stuff simultaneously.  Like yesterday’s sketch this layout is still a little rough and I need one more pass to consider it clean and complete.

Still, I really like the sketch as is and why should I have all the fun of seeing my art develop?  Hopefully, by this point some of you feel invested in the process of art.  A final product doesn’t spring out of thin air it has a history and I think that history informs an experience of the finished composition.

“Airbound at the Junkyard” shows a pre-teen girl who lives adjacent to a junkyard.  Where others see piles of uselessness her imagination runs wild.  Others around her may insist that junk is just junk, but she is out to prove them wrong: to prove what a liberated mind can do.

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First Contact: Collecting Data

by JayZuck on March 24th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
First Contact: Collecting Data

You might say that an artist is a natural observer collecting data on the subject he chooses to study.  It is not too dissimilar from the extraterrestrial passively hovering above us.  Perhaps, this is part of where my fascination with aliens comes from and maybe this entire first paragraph is a total load of crap.

This layout is a rough draft for something new I am working on.  It is at least another pass away from being anywhere near complete, but I thought it was cool enough to be displayed while in process.  A few tweaks messing with the levels, color, hue, and saturation, created a kind of purple haze which I thought was kind of cool for the moment.

The sketch depicts a couple of aliens studying and taking notes on a group of girls.  The group is anchored by a cluster of “mean girls”: popular, remote, and sexy as hell.   The “mean girls” have been picking on the little geeky girl closest to the alien on the left.   They have scattered her papers and she is attempting to collect them.  Of course, the aliens have been there the whole time to observe the human social hierarchy at its worst.

The most prominent girl (second from the right) is the alpha.  Her second in command (the girl to the alpha’s immediate right) stands contemptuously at the indignity of being so closely and obviously scrutinized by the alien visitors.  It is kind of look at me don’t look at me kind of thing.  Finally, the girls to the right of the alpha girl are more pretenders and hangers on.

I designed the alien character and posted him as a sketch of the day not too long ago.  I am really excited about giving this another go and showing off a cleaned up version soon.  I may still have a bit more data to collect myself, but I am well on my way.

Related Sketches on Aliens and Everything Outer Space:

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Scurvy Dogs

by JayZuck on March 10th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
Scurvy Dogs

“Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest—
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

This layout sketch is still in somewhat of a rough form.  I wanted to show you guys a more cleaned up and fully rendered version a while back, but the daily grind got the better of me.  I am still intending to complete the final version and really think this picture will start to pop given one more pass.

Who doesn’t like a good gang of pirates right?  I can tell you one thing… yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me:

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Aloha, Welcome to Big Kahuna’s Kite Shop

by JayZuck on February 6th, 2009
Posted In: Sketches
Aloha, Welcome to Big Kahuna’s Kite Shop

“You may go, I’ll let you go, may god bless you

You’ll be mine, wherever you may be

It’s a warning, to say Aloha
’cause you’ll never find another Hawaiian like me
Oh no you’ll never find another Kane’ka like me
Oh no you’ll never find another people like us”

Iz from “Hawaiian Like Me”

I went to Big Island of Hawaii to bring my Nana’s ashes to their final resting place.  At sunset, we scattered her ashes in the warm waters of the land she loved.


It seemed like Hawaii, the land, its traditions, and its people were always on my Nana’s mind.  She would travel there whenever she could and considered herself a true Hawaiian.

My Nana was one of the people who inspired me to become an artist.  She tirelessly sought to bring the beauty of the world to light and gloried in the places she found it and often in the ways she could create it through her art.  Beauty was not just a word to her, it was a worldview.

My Nana went to Hawaii for the first time on her honeymoon when the only way to get there was by boat.  She set foot on every continent including Antarctica.  She even went to the North Pole on a Russian ice breaker, but no matter how far she traveled or what new exotic land she uncovered she always returned to Hawaii.

This sketch of the day was in part inspired by my recent trip to Hawaii.  I only say in part because I was also given a prompt by my art teacher Will Westin which served as the underlying basis for the drawing too.  The prompt read, “Kat’s father is a kite-maker, the best in her town.  She went into his workshop today and saw the most beautiful kite she had ever seen.”

Having just got back from Hawaii when I read the prompt, I was able to summon the island spirit and bang out a thumbnail sketch with ease.


I had the tune of Hawaii 78 strumming through my mind as the final sketch took shape.  It surprised me how fast it came together.  In the end, I hope I have done my Nana proud.

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Chinese Junk Ship

by JayZuck on December 12th, 2008
Posted In: Sketches
Chinese Junk Ship

“When one rows, it is not the rowing which moves the ship: rowing is only a magical ceremony by means of which one compels a demon to move the ship.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

A junk is a Chinese sailing vessel which was traversing the vast oceans as early as the 2nd century AD. These ancient vessels have a cool looking sail structure which are fun to draw. Some of the sails look almost bat-like and I tried to exaggerate that quality.

In general, I am more a fan of drawing organic-looking things and that is probably why I had the most fun drawing the waves.  Originally, I had lots of detailed and tiny waves in the drawing which I spent an enormous amount of time on, but I concluded they were too distracting to the composition and I erased them.  I was proud of myself for asserting the mighty eraser because even while I liked every crest and wave, they didn’t serve the composition well as a whole.   I erased one wave at a time saving my favorite wave for last, but in the end even it had to go.

It is essential for an artist to be willing to adapt change and never hold anything too sacred.  Sometimes a piece of art demands an artistic compromise to which an artist must be willing to yield.  It was a good lesson to remind myself of.

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Rabbit War

by JayZuck on December 5th, 2008
Posted In: Sketches
Rabbit War

“Rabbit War” is a peice I created with the Goat-taur character designs I posted on November 4th and November 5th.  You probably notice the striking resemblance of characters in the Goat-taur army to the characters I designed for the latter post.

As in most of my layout sketches, I seek to tell a story.  In “Rabbit War,” a member of the rabbit Thumper’s family is being held captive by the evil Goat-taurs.  The character Thumper is of course inspired by the Disney classic Bambi.  It is up to Thumper’s family to save the imperiled member of their brood even while the Goat-taurs remains staunchly proud and defiant.  These aren’t your Grandpappy’s Thumpers and they no doubt have a trick or two up their sleeves to overwhelm their mighty foe.

You have already seen the character designs, but I have gotten great feedback on sharing the visual development of these layouts.  As always, it starts with a rough thumbnail:

I then go through the process of making sense of my scribble and begin to develop a rough layout which are merely bigger scribbles.

The thumnail is usually no more than 2 inches wide, but I blow it up more than 500% to begin the real sketching.  Feel free to click on my rough layout to see a larger version.

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It Came From Outer Space

by JayZuck on November 13th, 2008
Posted In: Sketches
It Came From Outer Space

“It Came From Outer Space”  is a layout sketch I am illustrating.  I plan to digitally paint the sketch.

This layout depicts a farmer with his tractor who’s surprised to see a gigantic “cat”-terpillar alien crash landing into his humble farm.

I ask who among you cannot recall the words of H.G. Wells when contemplating alien invasions.  I leave you with a couple of his quotes from War of the Worlds:

“We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding place for Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly out of space.”

“No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us. “

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