#comicbooks

Gallery Update: 80 Shades of (Toby) Gray…
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Gallery Update: 80 Shades of (Toby) Gray…

Gallery Update: 80 Shades of (Toby) Gray…

If you’ve been following me on the Book of Faces, then you know I’m still chugging away on the whole manga self-portrait thing. My style has been developing, and I’m quite pleased with several of the drawings, but I don’t think I’m producing consistent enough images yet. I’m getting a little too caught up in the abstraction of the linemaking (something I’ve always loved) and often forgetting to pay attention to the underlying anatomy. I’ll get there, though. Here are the next 32 portraits, collage-style.

#56 is NOT supposed to

Process: How to Mangafy Yourself in 6 Easy Steps
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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
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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,
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Sketchbook: I Hate the Way I Draw Heads…
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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
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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

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
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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

Studio Stuff: Comics Comics Comics Comics…
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Studio Stuff: Comics Comics Comics Comics…

Studio Stuff: Comics Comics Comics Comics…

Happy Star Wars Day!

One of many scores I made during a Free Comic Book Day sale. This hard cover contains issues 1-44, plus an annual from Marvel’s original Star Wars run. I actually own a copy of issue #1, but have never read anything beyond it, so I’m looking forward to this classic. I was a fan of the Dark Horse runs of various Star Wars Expanded Universe titles, but it’s kind of interesting that SW is now back at Marvel via the

Gallery Update: Shades of Black and White

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working on, like, 32 things right now (one of which is that 10 Things children’s book, which is thankfully not 32 Things). I have lots of stuff floating around in my brain that I need to get out. But, when a dear friend contacts me and wants to do a small collaboration, I can’t say no.

Trying to emulate Sin City…

One of my best friends, Bill Gauthier, is an uber talented author (when he’s not engaged in his day job of teaching or tied up being a

Tags: #art, #billgauthier, #comicbooks, #comics, #darkfiction, #drawings, #horror, #illustration, #sincitystyle, #supernaturalfiction|

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