Steven Universe

When I saw so many children and adults alike wearing Steven Universe cosplay and tshirts, I had to find out what this show was about. The compassion and fun that this show exudes is pretty infectious and I can't get enough, so much so that I had to create an illustration celebrating him. Whats great is he's not the only one worth focusing on. The supporting cast is one of the best in the the history of pop culture. Having loved ones around him, as well as people who appreciate and respect him for who he is is very refreshing and heart warming. All of that happens and there's still room for action, adventure and surprisingly enough, romance. 

When I showcased this at New York Comic Con, it received as great a response as my Dr. Luigi piece. Both pieces are quite involved and have a lot of reference going into the piece. With the Dr. Luigi Illo, I made sure to have a mixture of the most current Mario game backgrounds referenced for where the characters would be. One thing I enjoy about drawing backgrounds is making the viewer feel as though they can walk around and be a part of the environment. I did the same here. I wanted you to feel as though you could be with Steven and his friends, enjoying the last barbecue of the Summer. The friends that Steven makes outside of his normal circle remind me of Scooby Doo and the gang, so I wanted to make them be as loose as possible.

Doing the research, reading about each character and their motivations helped to bring a bit more life to the piece as well. Below, you can see my process, from drawing area piece by piece. I literally drew the foreground, middle ground and background on separate pages in my sketchbook as I traveled to different conventions in order to keep working on new illustrations while I finish my book. I wish I did it all on one page together, but the inked version of this image is done one a page with the printed blueline of all of the art collected together, so there is some original art of everything pieced together. 

I hope you enjoy the beach party I created. Email me at thelearningcurv@gmail.com if you'd like to talk more about this piece=] 

TeenTitans

DC Comics has done an amazing job with it's animated incarnations of it's properties. When the Teen Titans animated show began running on Cartoon Network, it was a hit of fans young and old! Sadly they decided to take that model and use it to focus on the younger age market. As much as I do enjoy the silliness of the new one, I miss the original series. The absence of that incarnation brought me to want to do a tribute to them as they would be now, as a adults. Here's to George Perez and Marv Wolfman, who originally created this group we have come to love! 

Superman

Whenever I think of ‪‎Superman, ‬I see him as a calming presence. One of the things I enjoyed about the original movie was seeing how much he smiled, how often he was happy to be able to do the good he did. That movie, more than any ‪‎comic‬, has influenced my view of the ‪Man of Steel‬. I am happy to say I believe I've finally captured that in an ‪illustration‬.

Nintendo

Those who are attracted to my work at comic con's have been enjoying my cartoony work. I've been trying to figure out how to mix my love for comics and cartoons and a Nintendo drawing came to mind. I've wanted to draw several of these characters independently and creating this layout was the best way for me to enjoy this project. I drew each character individually and had some fun laying them out to create this composition.

The death of Satoru Iwata, the president of Nintendo and employee of the company since 2000 was a surprise. I finished this a few days after he had passed and I'd like to give my condolences to his family, friends, and all affected by his passing. I post this image in celebration of him and this amazing company that has brought so much joy to me, my family and to everyone Nintendo touches! 

SHAZAM

I've loved Captain Marvel since I saw a cartoon with him and his family back in the 80's. I always found the idea of a kid becoming something so powerful and being responsible enough to wield that power very amazing and inspiring.

I try to draw correlations between characters and drawing them and did so with Thor and the good Captain and as much as I enjoyed drawing it, I didn't like the outcome. I did it on two sheets within my sketchbook and felt the piece could be more dynamic. The bug was in me to draw Marvel again and so I did throughout my time at Awesome Con while it was slow.

In between projects I got to color this bad boy and get it show ready. I loved playing with the colors and hope to do the Thor/Shazam crossover again soon=]

Avatar State

I was fortunate enough to find out about a Avatar gallery exhibition that the creators of the show were putting on and they invited fans to try to be a part of the exhibit. I ended up being inspired to do the Korra piece you see below. Since I had done a season 1 Korra piece, I felt, I needed to do a Aang piece as well which you see below too. I can't get enough of these shows and am so glad to see them continue. I hope I can get my hands on Season 4 of Korra asap! 

Hustle Flow!

"A Reason to Smile!" Vol.2 has successfully been funded as of May 22nd and I couldn't be more excited. I have now also visited 3 schools and have 2 more in the next 2 weeks where I will be a part of career days and book reading's to elementary children. I am on the path I believe I am suppose to be on and it is such an elating feeling! The first 500 copies that I had printed of the book from the kickstarter campaign are sold out, the second small run of 125 have sold out as well, with at least 50 going to schools. I cant wait to get started on drawing book 2 and you can expect to have it in your hands in October!

If you're not following me on Instagram, you can find me at http://www.instagram.com/thelearningcurv which I update much more frequently. I have a LOT of artwork to share with you... but I'll just leave this here for now=]

A Reason to Smile Vol.2!!!

"A Reason to Smile!" is proof that people want positive stories that uplift us and promotes a bright outlook on life! What you see here is the front and back cover to Volume 2 of the book. Help me continue to self publish this series by pre-ordering your copy of Volume 2 at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/969189472/find-a-new-a-reason-to-smile-vol2

Luiza will always do her best to find a reason to smile, no matter her circumstances. She won't let anything keep her down, not chores, the crowded subway, or her friends telling her she can't play football! Pre-order your copy today to see how this little girl makes things work in her life!

If you'd also like Vol.1 as well, this is the perfect time to place your order. I've sold out of all 500 copies I've produced from the first kickstarter, so I hope to make my $8,000 goal to produce both books and continue to self publish this series! Check out the cover to Volume 1!

A Reason To Smile Illustrations

I've been working on getting to know this little girl who's been inspiring smiles all over the place and have two knew illustrations for you to enjoy! As I read  my book, "A Reason to Smile!" to some 2nd graders, I was asked why she was walking around NYC on her own without parental supervision. This inspired me to do some art and introduce into book 2 [coming soon ;-)] the fact that Luiza works really hard in school and at home and because she makes good decisions in those places, her parents trust her to make good decisions outside on her own when she is able to go out and enjoy her city.

This month will be taking me to Seattle as well, as I bring "A Reason to Smile!" out to the West Coast for the first  time! I wanted to celebrate that by having Luiza do something cool in the city and having her splash around in the Puget Sound as if it were a big puddle sounded like a lot of fun! Could you imagine being a giant and walking around the city of your choice?  Madurodam is a place in Holland that has a city like that where people can walk around and act like giants. It's crazy fun, every family should experience it once in their life.

Stay tuned, I hope to have another kickstarter up and running soon! If you'd like a copy of the book, the 44 page softcover is $10 and the 60 page hardcover is $20. Add $6 for shipping and send your payment via paypal.com to thelearningcurv@gmail.com and I'll ship you your copy within the week!

DarkWingDuck

I enjoyed my childhood cartoons immensely and when I had the chance to draw Darkwing Duck, I had to draw it's inspiration too, which I believe was Ducktales! Scrooge was one man you didn't mess with and there was no better arch nemesis for him than the Beagle Boys.

With this illo I tried a bunch of different things with spacing, scale and action. Hopefully it exudes the energy I put into this=]

2015

I am very happy to share these illustrations with you. I have started off 2015 drawing my very own character as apposed to those from mainstream media and I am so proud to share them with you. The last entry for 2014 showed a preview of "A Reason to Smile!" and 2015 starts off with more adventures for Luiza Brillante! If you'd like to see these images during their development, head to instagram.com/thelearningcurv and follow me there!

I hope you enjoy what you see today. If you'd like copies of these prints ($20 for 1, $30 for the two), or a copy of "A Reason to Smile!"($20) you can use paypal.com to send your payment to thelearningcurv@gmail,com and I'll ship you your copies ASAP! Please be sure to add $6 for your copy of the book to pay for shipping and handling.