Polar Bear Beach is complete (for now : ) )... I apologize for the long delay. Since my previous post, I've done quite a bit to this. While I was going for a "softer" approach, I wasn't really happy with the colors, so I made them slightly bolder by adjusting the brightness of the colors in Photoshop.

Here is a snapshot of the previous steps in this for your convenience...

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In my last post, I started to show the process I was using to create a new design. At that time, the design was left off looking like this...
When I originally sketched this, I had intended to show more water at the bottom of the design. While not my preferred method of fixing the problem,  I decided I would fix this is in Photoshop. Ideally I would have planned the sketch out better, but poop happens. Another issue I had was the paper I used to sketch on. I decided to sketch on water color paper because of the texture and the effect that I thought that would give the colors. Having learned a few PS tricks since then, I've decided to created that effect in PS as well, and go back to sketching on regular smooth sketch stock.

 Here  is the current state of my design... 

I reduced the size of the image, and then resized the canvas back to the original size. I then had to extend the various design elements, such as the water and horizon lines back out to the edges, and paint back out the edges as well. There was and is still some clean up left from my original pencil lines. Due to the texure of the paper, alot of the pencil lines were left in the texture of the paper and never got erased ( I try to erase softly).

My next post should show some significant additon to the coloring. As always, please feel free to comment. I'd love to hear what you think.

Marty

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I alway enjoy looking at favorite artist's work process. It's been a while since I posted one. Since I'm in the middle of experimenting with my Photoshop skills, I thought this would be a good time to do so again.
Below is a recent sketch of mine, that I'm currently in the middle of coloring...

I've long admired picture book illustrators whose style has a soft almost painterly look. Being primarily a vector artist, which I also love, I haven't really developed that soft look that I really admire. This is the year that I decided to really develop that look more. I doubt that I'll switch over to that look permanently, especially since it will take a while for me to develop it to the point that I'm happy with it.

Here's step two... I'm not even sure if I'm staying with these colors. I'm just trying to fill in blocks of color and try to see what I like and what I don't. Two big key changes to the way I'm working with this are, 1) use textures when I paint, and 2) painting on a "multiply" layer. The concepts aren't new to me, I've just never used them before. I like the effect and technique, I just don't know if I'm happy with the result yet.

You know what just occured to me ? This is supposed to be a polar bear.. white dummy... arghh..

My next post will sure the next, maybe next few, evolutions of this pc.

Thanks.. as always, thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Marty

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Welcome back to the MartyToons cartoon sketches blog. Sorry for the interruption, I'll try to avoid that in the future, and post original cartoon sketches and character designs on a regular basis.  To kick off the New Year right, I'm posting a sketch I did last month around the Holidays. One of the must see animated Holiday classics, (IMHO), is The Year Without A Santa Clause. The special's popularity is due to two somewhat minor characters,  Heat Miser, and his brother Snow Miser. It occurred to me that Heat Miser was pretty much a short dumpy Human Torch. That in turn got me thinking about how Superhero teams tend to have ongoing membership changes... and you get idea. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to leave comments. - Marty

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I was at a total loss of what to sketch for the latest blog post, so I just figured I'd sketch the first thing that came to mind. Looking for some good tunes to inspire my creativity, I decided to listen to a radio show that I really love but don't listen to as often as I'd like, Miami Steve's Underground Garage. If you ever need a good musical education and want to be turned on to some classic garage rock and even check out some great indie bands, this is the show to listen to, (non endorsed plug) http://undergroundgarage.com/splash.htm Anyway.. it didn't take long for inspiration to kick my brain in gear... just do a toon of the man himself.... long time Springsteen partner and sidekick, the very underrated but much appreciated Miami Steve Van Zandt. If you love Bruce's music, do yourself a favor, listen to the show, and try and dig up some of Miami Steve's solo stuff... good good stuff... Cheers..

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"Somewhere out in space live The Herculoids...Zok the laser-ray dragon! Igoo the giant rock ape! Tundro the tremendous! Gloop and Gleep, the formless fearless wonders! With Zandor their leader, and his wife, Tarra, and son, Dorno, they team up to protect their planet from sinister invaders! All-strong! All-brave! All-heroes!! They're The Herculoids!!!"

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There are times when the creative juices just aren't flowing. Usually that's because "we" are distracted by outside influences, such as money, lack of time, stress or just having to do too many things in too little amount of time. "We" can cave into this and become totally useless in out attempts at productivity, or we can get ourselves on track somehow.

When I was a little kid, I loved monster movies... the classics, like Frankenstein, Dracula.. all the old black and whites... like I said, The Classics. The problem with this, was that when I went to sleep, my imagination was in overdrive to the point of getting nightmares featuring said monsters. To save my parents from running into my room in the middle of the night, I developed this little trick of forcing myself to think of the monsters on purpose, and then mentally creating a huge bulldozer that would push them out of my head. Sounds a little wacky, but it worked for me.

It worked so well, that I used now as a cartoonist to force myself to focus... no lie. If I'm distracted by the Money Monster, the Too Many Projects Monster, or the I really need to kill this particular person Monster, I use the bulldozer trick. I envision a "force" in my head to just shove aside all the non creative things cluttering it up... put on some rock n roll (again, the classics), grab some green tea and get down to business.

So the next time you can't focus... get on your mental bulldozer, crank up the tunes, get your caffienated beverage of choice, and do what ya gotta do. Just sayin !

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We've all had to deal with them, the nay sayers, dream killers, and hope smashers. Our relatives, friends, and co-workers who like to give us a good dose of "their" reality. They either try to tell us that our dreams are just that, dreams, or they snicker and smirk while telling us we're being unrealistic when they ask us what we're trying to accomplish.

Don't let them get to you my friends... shut the door on their negativity. Revel in your vision's uniqueness. Stay true to your "dream" and shut out the people who think they're doing you a favor by telling you your ambitions and dreams are nothing more than day dreaming. Surround yourself with the things and people who help your spirit grow. There are plenty of them out there and the internet brings them much closer. Reach out and dream, google images that are cool and influence you, join groups and networks that foster your interests, but do this as well... ask yourself each day, "What have I done to bring my dream closer to reality today ?" And start by shutting the door on the people who tell you to stop dreaming.

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For a split second I thought of doing something related to the band Journey, but since it wouldn't be very positive, I resisted the urge. I guess you could call this the ultimate journey, depending on your behavior... Enjoy. Process was hand drawn sketch, scanned into Illustrator, redrawn with brush tool. Copied and pasted into Photoshop and then colored in assorted layers.

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My latest entry for Illustration Friday... Subject: Bottled. "Bottled" brings up very specific images, there's not alot of interpretation... there's some, just not alot. I just decided to keep it simple. This was actually a quick sketch...I used this more as an excuse to experiment with Photoshop some more than anything else. I also wanted to play around with a set of filters I've had laying around for years and haven't touched. They're called Machine Wash, and for creating textures. Pretty handy. If you're interested in seeing more of them, check out http://www.misterretro.com/ he has some very cool items for designers. (Note: I am not a paid spokesman for Mister Retro, nor do I receive a comission for mentioning the site. Just some cool stuff I thought I'd share).

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My contribution to Illustration Friday this week... Duet. Couldn't figure what to do with this for a few days... then it hit me (like a lot of good ideas do - seemingly out of nowhere). I struggled with the background before I came up with this. It's a little simple in my opinion, and I actually had a more geographically correct one in mind after this, but time constraints prevented me going with.. perhaps in the future. Please enjoy, and feel free to comment.

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My entry for Illustration Friday this week... subject: Toy. I considered thinking outside of the box again, maybe doing something with a bit of social message behind it, but decided to just play it straight this week. I also wanted to continue using the Illustration Friday post as an excuse to experiement in Photoshop. The black lines were sketched and inked on paper, redrawn in Illustrator using it's Brush Tool, and then cut and placed inside Photoshop for coloring. I like the better line quality this gives me, as opposed to just scanning it into Photoshop directly.

I just wanted to paint it quick and not worry too much about staying inside the line. I also set Photoshop's brush tool to dissolve. I like the "spatter" effect it gives me around the edges of the strokes. Enjoy and please feel free to comment.

Thanks - Marty

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This is a new set of characters I'm playing around with. Like alot of my projects, they just popped into my head enough times until I got them out on paper. This was also an excuse to use the new markers I purchased. My previous post (two posts ago) was also "colored" with these. Right now, I'm enjoying working with different tools. Aside from digitally coloring my designs, I'm playing around with colored pencils, these Black and Gray marker and other colored markers, but I have to be honest, I'm losing the desire for the other colored markers. Maybe that means I should go back and work with them so more ? Hmmm... regardless, enjoy this sketch and comment freely. There'll be more of these guys and their friends to come. Count on it.

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IF - CULTIVATE
Okay.. made it to Illustration Friday two weeks in a row, that's a good thing, now I just have to work on getting the post up a little earlier in the week. Don't ask me why, but within minutes of seeing that Cultivate was the theme / word, this image popped into my head. Love the practice I'm getting in Photoshop with this. Please feel free to comment... technique, style, message...

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Getting tired of his woodland home being destroyed for the third time in a month, Raccoon decided it was time to STIR things up amongst his friends.

This is my first contribution to Illustration Friday. I plan on making this a weekly exercise. One thing I learned, work small... it's just supposed to be a fun sketch. I ended up spending more time on this than I planned on. One reason was, I had wanted to experiment with Photoshop a little bit, more I didn't like the way it was coming out, and the time it was taking, so I switched to color pencils. I like the way it came out, for a sketching exercise. Comments welcome and appreciated.

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I decided to sketch out a new design for my Jr. Dino Club property in my ongoing effort to increase the size of the image library and also continue to show designs that allow the characters' personalities to show through. Unfortunately, I was rushed, and unfocused while working on the sketch, which resulted in alot of mistakes. Resisting the urge to rip this up, I decided to use it as practice for my shading skills. As I was doing that, I kept finding more mistakes. So I decided to use this a reminder / lesson to myself... as far as MY art goes, ( and I think pretty much everyone else's), planning is needed for everything, even the simple sketch. This design will be re-drawn, cleaned up and added to the Jr. Dino Club image library when it's done, but for the meanwhile, this will serve as lesson to myself to NOT RUSH THE ART !!! So, with that said, I give you the mistake filled Jr. Dino Club sketch. Don't let this happen to you. :)

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One of the curses / treasures of being an artist, is that many times, visual ideas will just pop into your head due to some type of visual or auditory stimulation (careful readers... this is a family blog). That's the case with this sketch... I was working on a non creative part of my job when a favorite song of mine came on the radio... and BOOM.. in an instant, this image popped into my head. I saw it clear as a day, and I had to get it down on paper. It took me a couple of days to finish, but the image never left my head. Sometimes, when I get an idea... it grows, mutates, alters or I change it intentionally, but this one never did... from the instant it popped into my head, until the last stroke of my pen... it was and remained this...


So here's to cool ideas that pop into your head, never let them disappear... act on them, write them down, commit to them... those are usually the good ones.

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It's another New Year, which begs me to ask... which camp do I want to fall in ? The "Make A Resolution that I Know I Won't Keep & Don't Really Care" Camp, or the " Take a Hard Look & What I Want To Do, and Take the Necessary Steps to Do It" Camp ? If you're guessing, let me give you a hint. I'm wearing my steppin' shoes.

I'm creating a plan that will allow me to work on multiple projects I've given myself in a way that won't overwhelm me and/or drop the ball on any of them. The key ingredients are organization, scheduling and focusing. Sounds simple enough, but I think the lack of any of those three is what causes most plans to fall apart. At first, it seemed a little intimidating, but the more clearer the plan becomes in my mind, the more jazzed (I love that word) I become about it. So... here's to my plan, your plan and all of us succeeding with our goals this year.

With that, I give you the first MartyToons Sketch of 2011. It's an experiment in Photoshop. I've been wanting add some variety to my designs, particulary a more painterly look. Photoshop can be a daunting program, but it can also be a lot of fun. One of my goals is to increase my photoshop skills which will in turn allow me to expand the variety of some of my character design work. See you soon.

Happy New Year, Marty

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This is the companion piece to my previous blog. I'm still focusing on revealing my character's personalities through the sketches I'm creating. This may look familiar to some of you, since I posted it last week on my FB page and Twitter as part of my Sketch of the Moment series, but it was created with this purpose in mind.

Once again, this is Dex of The Jr. Dino Club. The last blog post hopefully showed Dex as a young fun loving, cute little T-Rex kid, which he is. but there's alot more to Dex than being a cute little tyke.

When I first came up with the concept for the Jr. Dino Club, I wanted each of the four main characters to have unique and different personalities, ( a no brainer in my opinon). I feel this is the best way to address various topics that can be entertaining and educational to young children.

So, what is Dex's personality ? Being the youngest, he's more self centered than the other characters. His needs come first. He wants what he wants, when he wants it. He's not malicious, more impuslive, spoiled and perhaps a tad bit whiney, but not intentionally mean. He acts without thinking, and can be oblivious to other's feelings. Does he mean harm ? No.. he's just a little T-Rex that needs to be shown the right road to go down... alot. ( And it's a long road).

So, with that background info in mind, I give you Dex of The Jr. Dino Club (as he sees himself).

As always, comments welcome.

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One of my goals as a cartoonist/character designer, is to successfully develop and market a character driven property, in this case, The Jr. Dino Club. My first step in this, obviously is to create the characters, and the world they live in. Alot of focus was spent on the main character, Benny. Simple basic poses were created for the other characters, but now the time has come to branch these other characters out some more.

Without creating actual stories, simple illustrations of the characters standing, aren't good enough for the personalities to show through. So now, I'm focusing on creating illustrations using the other characters from The Jr. Dino Club that will allow their personalities to show through.

This particular illustration has been posted as one of my Sketch of the Moments in the not too distant past, but it now has a permanent home here on my blog. I give you Dex, the little T Rex, and the youngest member of The Jr. Dino Club. Enjoy and feel free to comment.

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I've been playing with colored pencils and markers alot lately and have really enjoyed it as a way to loosen up my drawing skills and habits. I've found myself wanting to expand my toolbox after drawing on a sketch pad of " premium recycled paper" I wanted to sketch on some paper that had some texture to it. I always like the way colored pencils looked on textured paper. So... this past Friday I picked up some Watercolor paper sketchbooks (the only ones I could find with the texture I liked), and finally got around to sketching something.

I think I'd like to explore Photoshop a little bit and see if I can add this "look" to some of my professional work. I'm pretty sure that between layers and textures I can come up with it, but that's a project for another day.

For now, I give you another sketch of the moment. Explore your creative what if's, expand your toolbox, and enjoy your art.

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A cartoonist's mind can run in alot of weird directions, alot of the time.... like this for instance.. What do Super Heroes do on a night off ? Seriously, they can't fight crime 24/7... there's gotta be some down time, especially for someone like Bruce Wayne. He has no super powers... that's gotta take a toll after while. There has to be a night once in while when he says, "Frig the Joker, Robin can handle it. That whiny little brat has to grow up some time. I need some ME time."

So crack open an ice cold Bat Light Mr. No Super Powers Super Hero, then sit back and watch old reruns of Smallville.

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