New Inks

In getting prepared to create more art for my newest book, I used some animation for inspiration in drawing some fanart! The above is a mashup of One Punch Man and My Hero Academia. If you haven't watched them, make that happen asap! They are the two best anime since Naruto Shippuden.

I've also always enjoyed the original and The Incredibles so I got to knock some art out feature those characters. Now I just need to finish my book so I can color these bad boys!

Sailor Moon

Tackling a ‪Sailor Moon‬ ‪illustration‬... after watching the show, I wanted to make the girliest drawing I could come up with. I don't know if I've ever done an illustration just because it was a ‪fun idea‬. I am usually more gung ho about doing a piece because of the characters themselves. Other than Jem and My Little Pony, I don't know if there's another ‪‎girly‬ character I'd be so comfortable drawing as Sailor Moon. I don't know why but I think of girls screaming, high pitched sounds, bright lights filled with pinks, purples and fuchsias, stars and fireworks. In essence that's what fueled this image. And then there's those ‪big eyes‬ and a character named ‪Tuxedo Mask‬ as‪ ‎the love interest‬. Nuff said?=]

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.

"A Reason to Smile!", previews and orders

"A Reason to Smile!" is now 2 months old and ready for your bookshelf! The story is about a little girl who is a walking silver lining. She loves to people watch while enjoying her city and every once in a while she gets to help people out. Like most problems, they don't go away but they find an easier way to handle them by working together. 

The book is a 60 page hardcover book with 44 pages of story (the first 18 which you can preview here) and 16 pages of behind the scenes information, promotional images, and a short story with art contributed by other industry professionals. 

If you'd like a copy of this story send $26 via paypal.com to thelearningcurv@gmail.com with your mailing address and it will be there ASAP! 

Head to http://www.thecurv.com/2016/10/a-reason-to-smile-volume-2-is-here.html for a preview of Volume 2!!!

2005

2005 was a year in which I was still trying to transition from the education I received at Lynchburg College and S.C.A.D. and applying that to portraiture and illustration. I wanted to be a comic artist since I was a child, but I loved being able to capture a sense of life and realism in the faces of the people I drew. My only comfortable experience with color was with traditional media, so I  wasn't comfortable with using the computer and having Photoshop be a tool I could use properly (due to lack of knowledge and experience), so I tried coloring every chance I got.I wasn't comfortable inking at that point either so I generally tried to create very clean line art in order to have an easier time translating my work into color. I've always loved drawing superheroes so I wanted to try to bring them to life as much as I could.

I have always loved creating art with a pencil due to the control you have with it and the values that can be seen with it's use, so I gravitated towards it heavily. I could take it anywhere and felt as though I could do almost anything with it and it became my best friend on the road. The piece with the man sitting on the radio (hip hop legend Rakim) is a testament to my love of sketchbooks, pencils, and NYC, as that piece was drawn on the train on the way to my grandmother's house as I traveled from Manhattan to Queens. Many people and things I was involved with were my subjects, from my brother and my godkids, to celebrities I admired and respected, on to political statements and social commentary. I look forward to revisiting some of those subjects again in the future.

 

ElCoqui

I will be ordering these shirts tomorrow! I can't wait to get them for all those who paid for them on Kickstarter & have them available at comic con's across the country! This is the design that my character Luiza Brillante wears in my book "A Reason to Smile" and i am extremely excited to be making this into a shirt we can all wear!

I will be at Sketch Con this weekend and hope to debut this shirt at the Special Edition NYC on the 14th and 15th of June. I'll have a week off and then be on to the Toy Con NJ! Boston, Baltimore, NYCC, and NC Comic Con's will be on deck next and I can't wait!!! I will be at Sketch Con this weekend and hope to debut this shirt at the Special Edition NYC on the 14th and 15th of June. I'll have a week off and then be on to the Toy Con NJ! Boston, Baltimore, NYCC, and NC Comic Con's will be on deck next and I can't wait!!!

Sonic the Hedgehog!!!

I have three motivations to create art right now. One is because I get paid to do so. Another is because my heart pays me to do it because I love it so much. The last is because I keep getting asked by so many people throughout the country when I am at shows to do it. This is the later. I was never into Sonic, and thankfully I heard everyone's request.

Side scrolling games have either been hit or miss with me and Sonic was way too fast for me to keep up with. I never got into racing games for the same reason. After being asked if I had Sonic in my portfolio so much, I started looking into who Sonic was and what made him cool. Seeing his supporting cast and the fact that they've developed a really cool Android App game, Sonic Dash, gave me inspiration.

Kids who grew up with Sonic have a cool hero and I love that I was able to get to know him.

The Hunt

With my book about to be on Kickstarter, I have been able to knock out some commissions. I rarely draw night scenes so this was interesting. I did my best to differentiate Black Panther from the night time colors.
Balancing extreme light vs dark is no easy task. Who do you think would win between Black Panther and Moon Knight?

The original point of this drawing was to marker it up and I realized I never did a piece with either character and wanted to have it in my portfolio. This will go out to the commissioner tomorrow with a big thank you for allowing me to take it home and digitize it... This took a total of 6 hours from sketch to markers.

 

Hulk will NOT Smash for you...

As I finished the inking of this piece, I realized it wasn't enough. I came up with the rational for the defeated Avengers from the AvX storyline and figured it'd be a nice quick fix to make it stand out even more. My childhood full of fun what if's helped inspire me. 

After 25 years of drawing, I finally have a copyright on my own character... I present to you 

Luiza Brillante!

She is here to brighten your day and always give you a reason to smile...
I hope you enjoy what comes from her adventures!

I developed her for a children's book that I will be announcing upon completion (within the next few weeks) centering around Luz.  It is a slice of life type story where her interactions with those around her impacts them in an extremely positive way.  Her story will be great for kids and fun for adults as well.
Stay Tuned for more to come!

New York Comic Con!

New York Comic Con is October 10th - 13th and I can't wait! I have my table assignment and I'll be at table P10 in the middle of the show!  Come stop by and say hello, I'll have a lot of new work for you to see in person! 

"Sticks on the Lamb", Shaun Hurley's story with his wife about Sticks the Giraffe forced into hiding after running into problems with the mob... Such a fun project! I hope I get to do more like this!

One thing I love about inking my own work is being able to edit and fix what I may not catch in my pencils.  It's a definite learning journey I go on with each piece.