#comics

50 Shades of (Toby) Gray

Alright, just to clear the air: I have not seen the movie nor read the book, and I have ZERO intention to, but I couldn’t resist the play on words as a title for this entry. Forgive me.

Anywhat, *gasp*, right? A second post this week? I told you, I have a bunch of plans and ideas, I’m just struggling to make the time to get around to them. But, since I did pass a small milestone this week with drawing my 50th manga self portrait, I didn’t want to wait too long without doing something fun to mark the occasion.

Tags: #art, #ballpointpen, #cartoonselfportrait, #comics, #copicmultiliners, #drawings, #galleryupdate, #illustration, #ink, #manga, #mangaselfportrait, #observationaldrawing, #penandink, #portrait, #revery, #selfportrait, #sketchbook, #sketches|

American Ninja Warrior…and stuff.

So, once again, it’s been far too long since I’ve posted here. I’ve been a little better about posting on my FB page (I just added today’s manga self portraits, the first in about 20 days), but not much in the last few weeks. I’ve had other obligations, I’ve been renovating the guest room in our house, prepping for the holidays, etc.

One thing I did get around to though (aside from seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night and the following night), was filming my latest entry video for American Ninja Warrior. I’ve got a long

Tags: #americanninjawarrior, #art, #comics, #digitalart, #drawings, #illustration, #mangaportrait, #mangaselfportrait, #monkeys, #ninjas, #ninjawarrior, #photoshop, #plungermonkey, #plungermonkeydynamo, #PMD, #portrait, #sasuke, #selfportrait|

Process: How to Mangafy Yourself in 6 Easy Steps
Gallery
Process: How to Mangafy Yourself in 6 Easy Steps

Process: How to Mangafy Yourself in 6 Easy Steps

Okay, I’ve been busy for a while. Life and stuff. But, since everyone is clamoring for it (well, no one is actually doing any clamoring…other than imaginary people in my head. No, that’s not sad, it’s, um, practice. For when I actually have fans and followers. Who clamor for things. Yeah. Definitely practice. Not sad…), I thought I’d throw together a quick process post for how I’ve been going about my manga self portrait exercise.

Grrrr…or, Arrrr…you decide!

First, I snap a reference photo of myself and open it in Photoshop.

Tags: #art, #ballpointpen, #comicbooks, #comics, #drawings, #illustration, #manga, #mangaselfportrait, #observationaldrawing, #penandink, #photoshop, #portrait, #selfportrait|

A Recent Read: The Metabarons

Inktober is all wrapped up for this year. I managed 31 self portraits in 31 days. I’ll put together a big post showcasing and comparing all of the images later, but if you want to check some of them out now, go to the TOBY’SBRAIN FB page (if you love me, you’re already following it. If you’re not following it, you don’t know you love me yet.).

Anywho, in the meantime, I thought I’d share an epic graphic novel I recently read: The Metabarons.

Bonjour! I come from France!

This 536 page,

Stuff and Things
Gallery
Stuff and Things

Stuff and Things

Well, this is by far the longest I’ve gone between site updates since before I started this website (think about that a moment…). Where the heck have I been? What have I been up to? Why is the typical Monday update happening on a Thursday? Why are squids?

Please, hold all your questions until the end, but since you asked:

It’s been summer vacation, which means my studio time has been sporadic to non-existent whilst the kids are home, running amok.
I’ve been being the stay-at-home dad, dealing with fights, bickering, complaints, etc. But we’ve also manage to have a lot of fun,
Share this:
- Share
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Like this:
Like Loading...

Sketchbook: I Hate the Way I Draw Heads…
Gallery
Sketchbook: I Hate the Way I Draw Heads…

Sketchbook: I Hate the Way I Draw Heads…

It’s been a jam-packed, busy week, so I don’t have much of an update, unfortunately. I did a little sketching last week, still trying to work on the composition for that piece of concept art in my last entry.

A bit of a combination of the previous two layouts. I’m going to have to gather some visual references to help me define the plateau these characters are standing on so it looks like they are way up in the mountains and not standing in a field with mountains in the distance.

Work In Progress: Revisiting Some Old Wilhelm Concept Art
Gallery
Work In Progress: Revisiting Some Old Wilhelm Concept Art

Work In Progress: Revisiting Some Old Wilhelm Concept Art

As expected, the summer schedule is mucking with my studio schedule, which means art making is more sporadic, leading to inconsistent site updates. My apologies. I am somehow still managing to make progress towards some goals, but it is slower than I’d like.

Anywhat, this happened a few nights ago:

Some good ol’ fireside sketching.

The boys built a fire pit last summer, and we’ve been trying to make good use of it. I hadn’t done much drawing in the previous two weeks, tied up with the normal summer “life” obligations as well as

Gallery Update: Willy McEyeballs
Gallery
Gallery Update: Willy McEyeballs

Gallery Update: Willy McEyeballs

Um, no, that’s not yet another new logo…it’s been there this whole time…why?

Anywhat, I managed to get some solid hours in the studio the last few days and “finished” the Willy McEyeballs piece. I say “finished” because I’m never really done with any of the art I make. I always see problems, things I meant to fix and forgot, things I want to improve and tighten up. But, I think I need to move on from this one. For now.

Let’s take a quick look back at where this piece started. I was going to show some more transitional stages, but

Tags: #art, #comics, #conceptart, #conceptdrawings, #conceptillustration, #digitalart, #drawings, #fantasy, #galleryupdate, #graphicnovels, #illustration, #photoshop, #randomdoodleage, #revery, #reveryconceptart, #willymceyeballs|

Studio Stuff: Best Manliness and Excuses for My Absence…

Well, technically it’s Thursday…not quite 2 weeks since the last time I should have posted…so, here you go:

So, um, yeah. I’ve been busy. This little project started as a fun idea, but I got carried away, figuring I owed something special for missing so many updates. I improved some of my skills and learned quite a few new tricks, many of which will be applicable to some actual digital drawing and painting. This

Tags: #comicbooks, #comics, #darthvader, #geek, #lightsabers, #nerd, #photocomic, #pocketwatch, #starwars, #starwarsgeek, #starwarsnerd|

Gallery Update: Dragon Rider
Gallery
Gallery Update: Dragon Rider

Gallery Update: Dragon Rider

I was thinking about doing that PMD retrospectivey thingy post, but as I was combing through old sketchbooks and accumulating a ton of photos that I need to edit before posting, I realized I don’t have copies of some of the cards (and possibly envelopes) I’ve made over the years. I know I don’t have an image of the card I made for my best friend Jorj when he got married several years ago. I have a sketch of a birthday card but no idea who it was for and I have no copy of the finished card. So, if

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: