INKTOBER SKETCHES

MISHMASH & HODGEPODGE

I've recently just published the first issues of MISHMASH & HODGEPODGE, two companion books that i will be releasing annually.

MISHMASH, is a collection of comics i've illustrated (and some i've written too). HODGEPODGE, a collection of drawings, sketches and illustrations.

The first issues are available at my online store here: http://louiejoyce.storenvy.com/

Collected in this issue: 

The Many Harold Holts of Space & Time (Written by Ryan K Lindsay, lettered by Nic J Shaw)

The Corner Store (Written by Louie Joyce)

Buckets (Written by Alex Chung, lettered by Troy Peteri)

Got some fun things planned for future issues too, so keep your eyes peeled :)

AMERICAN VAMPIRE

Felt like working on something fast and fun this morning to loosen up. Chose American Vampire (Pearl in particular) as a subject because it's an amazing comic book series & Rafael Albuquerque's work on the series is incredible and inspiring. If you haven't read it, do it.

Started out with a quick sketch to get my overall image, trying to get everything in as fast as possible at this stage with as much energy & expression as possible.

Initial rough

With inks i'm refining the details/lighting/proportion etc. but always trying to maintain as much of that energy that was in the initial sketch as possible. It's always easy to get caught up in rendering & detail so much so that the image starts to look static & lifeless.

Inks

Then i'll experiment with colours and textures/brushes (that i've created with traditional mediums) to drive home the overall mood & feel i'm going for with the illustration.

Final illustration

SAGA PROCESS

Every so often as an exercise i sit down and thumbnail as many image concepts and compositions as i possibly can. Anything and everything that comes into my head. It's a nice way to loosen up my hand before a big days work, and a good resource to look back on when i'm looking for inspiration or ideas (that is, if i can decipher the scribbles). So when i was thinking of something to draw for the OzComics Saga draw-off a few weeks back i remembered this little rough i'd done and thought it'd be the perfect fit. And it was! Having that third element (Hazel, the baby), added something that was missing from the original composition, that really sets off the image nicely.

I'm a big fan of this series and these characters, so this was a pleasure to draw. Everyone should be reading Saga!

Initial composition sketch

Saga Inks

Saga Colours

THE CORNER STORE

A short comic i just finished :)

100 BULLETS PROCESS

OzComics has reached it's 100th challenge! 100 Bullets, one of my favourite comic series, which artistically has an incredible standard. Eduardo Risso and Dave Johnson? Hard to find artists better at their job than these guys.

I chose Dizzy to work with because, y'know, she's Dizzy, and a simpler composition because i didn't have a huge amount of time to spend on this one.

Pencils

Inks

As you can see i originally had a reflection of Graves in the attache but decided to scrap this as it was too busy and taking attention away from the top of the image too much. Replaced instead with a more subtle typographic element.

Final version

I think i started contributing to OzComics somewhere around the 20th, in the Spider-Man Challenge and I've been pretty consistent in entering since then. Basically because i always have a great time doing it. It's a great excuse to do something more on the fun side, experiment if you want, maybe test out some new techniques or flex some older creative muscles. Anything from a quick sketch to fully finished illustration. So if you're looking for an excuse to do something like that, check it out. Also there's heaps of other great artists contributing each week so plenty of pretty pictures to look at :)

GOTHAM

Did this whilst playing around with some new textures and brushes i've made.

GREEN ARROW

This Green Arrow sketch was one of those nice times when it comes together quickly and easily. I wasn't even intending for it to be the sketch i'd use more just quick practice. But it's got a nice sense of energy and movement (which most of the time you only get from working quickly) so i developed it further into my final illustration.

Original Sketch

Final Illustration

Noticed a little too late that i forgot his domino mask. But i've got the stache and goatee, and that's whats important. I hate that they've gotten rid of it!

VENOM

An OzComics entry from awhile back.

CHAMBER

My favourite X-Man!

LIGHTS OUT CACTUS EYE

Another illustration i did for the Fresh meat Exhibition. This is the first illustration i started for the show... and the last one i finished. It was tricky and i spent a fair bit of time going back and forth about whether i even liked it anymore, but in the end it turned out to be one of my fave pieces in the show.

The Fresh Meat exhibition is open todays 10-6pm and next weekend. Check it out!

SUPERGIRL

My Supergirl illustration for this weeks OzComics Challenge. I've not read a lot of Supergirl comics, but from what i've seen in animated stuff (JLU, Superman Batman: Apocalypse), i've always liked how much of a regular teenage girl she is. I can imagine her chilling out in the sky catching up on all the books teens are reading these days... at super-speed of course. Couldn't bring myself to put Twilight in there though.

I've got two versions of this one. I was originally working with a textured background with more sky details, but i felt the solid block of colour gave her more of a weight and a sense of "sky" space...

Though now i've kinda gone back to liking the textured version more. Not sure. What do you reckon?

Also thinking of putting some prints of this together for Comic Gong and to sell online, anyone interested?

ONE TRICK PONY

This is another illustration i have up in the Fresh Meat exhibition, One Trick Pony. One of those crowd scenes where i just draw whatever comes to mind, always the most enjoyable illustration to draw!

Head on down to Fresh Meat this weekend to check out more great works. Details below...

WOMEN OF DC

Two of my favourite gals from DC comics, both done for the OzComics challenge.

Wonder Woman in her costume from the current Azzarello/Chiang/Akins run, which is fantastically good and you should be reading it.

Wonder Woman

And Harley, in her original Timm costume. Can't stand all her newer costumes. They're all tramped up the yazoo and it's such a pity they seem to be sticking because this original design is perfect.

BILLBOARD

Most of these guys started out as warm up or OzComics drawings, but i've since added some typography and design elements to turn them into posters!

If you're interested in purchasing a print of any of these guys drop me an e-mail.

AMPERSAND

Been a while since i've posted on here, so Happy New Years and all that jazz! I've had a pretty relaxing start to 2013 so far, a well needed break! But i'm starting to get back in the swings of things now and i've got a bunch of exciting projects to work on. So stay tuned!

This is something i started late last year, and finished off the other day. Because i love Y The Last Man! And one day i'm going to name my pet Ampersand.

Ink, PS

KILLEROO

So i'm very pleased to be working on a 12 page story for the Killeroo Gangwars Anthology (which you can find out more about here). It's a great story, written by Ryan Lindsay, and he's provided me many awesome things to draw!

Below is one of my early drawings for our hero Rufus. He's a tricky one to get the hang of, still need to draw him a lot more i think, but i liked how this one came out and thought i might give it a colour.

Ink

Ink, Mixed Media, PS

Now i'm off to work on page layouts!

STARES

This is another of the works i had in the Eleven Exhibition, and one of the ones in which i was exploring panels and one page comic book stories. Check the others out here and here.

Took me a fair while to draw all those people, but in the end it was worth it as this is probably the strongest piece i had in the show.

Oh, and i've updated my store with a bunch of new prints for sale, this being one of them. Check it out here! They'd make a great present. ;)

Ink, Digital.

Original drawing.