More Ninija Turtles

GEEKALERT!GEEKALERT!GEEKALERT!GEEKALERT!GEEKALERT!

I have been bored lately after moving back home to Jacksonville, FL and for some unknown reason the Ninja turtles got stuck in my head. Perhaps I am reminiscing my childhood or I just wanted to give myself some sort of manifestation to channel my depression...Oh well! Either way I think the image looks cool.

Let me explain the picture to you all: (From Left to Right)

Leo: I imagined the Turtles after their teenage years and Splinter is passed to that sensi heaven so now Leo has become their new sensi and leader. I think at this point in his life Leo has become a pacifist and more like a buhdist monk. That doesn't mean he won't fight or use a sword but instead he will try to resolve the conflict with words instead of action. Don't be fooled though he still carries a sword...Its in his walking stick.

Don: I imagine Don is still an inventor and scientist. I almost see him as like the Beast in the X-Men. Out of all the Turtles he is the one who wears clothes as he is trying to assimilate more to humans. He is holding his new bow staff in his hand which will pop open to a larger size.

Mikey: The skater/surfer guy and the all-a-round funny guy. I imagine out of all of the turtles he would be the one to get tattoos...I'm thinking tribal. He also wears a head band and has stickers of skater/surfer designs on his shell.

Raph: The only Turtle who still wears his mask and still trains for fights. I imagine he is all scarred up due to fighting and still slightly bitter at not being leader. The more serious one of them all.

OK...I know...I'm a geek! I admit it.

Turtle Fun!

Just having some fun and trying to get better at Photoshop still.

Broken Anthology

Here is my contribution to the Break Anthology comic being put together my some former SCAD grads. My good friend Brett told about it and I jumped at the chance to push myself to do something. It was a lot of fun and it's always good to challenge yourself to do something like this as it can only help to push you to new and better things.

All Sketched Up

This was done while listening to an Open Mic night at church.

Sketchin Around

Done in my recently completed Moleskin sketchbook. OH! And that is my 4th Moleskin completed if any one is keeping count.

More to follow....

Sketching around

I was just drawing to pass the time the other night and I came up with these two drawings by accident. I love how sometimes I will have no idea what to draw and I'll start with a shape... and then... BAM! I get a figure. In both cases I started with the figures in the foreground, Jason and Ronald respectively, and then I decided to add other characters around them. Usually I'm going for some editorial feel to everything so these images will be more than just fun drawings they evetually will end up in something more profound than this.

More drawings from Church.

These drawings are the second and third respective notes in the series from the Youth Conference I attended a couple weekends ago. I will tell you some of what I was thinking when I did these.

The top one dealt with us (Followers of Christ) worshiping together and what makes us who we are. Our D.N.A. makes up who we are as individuals and as Followers of Christ which leads us to break down walls. We conglomerate into one body of believers straight into Jesus' open waiting hands.

The bottom one is od Paul who helped to set the stage for believers. The two figures are surrounded by the presence of God which we all are even if we don't know it.

I'm amazed by how I can honestly do all of this in a short amount of time and really no clear overall idea. I basically set my pen to the paper and just listen and watch to see what happens and then...PRESTO! I end up with an image.

Thanks all for you support and until next time.....

Church Notes (Drawings)

Last week I had the great pleasure to hear of taking part in a Youth conference at my church in Savannah, GA. Throughout the weekend we had a special speaker Matt Setliffe preach on The Movement which simply calls we believers to always be moving both in the direction of God and God's work. Throughout this thought provoking series I drew out what he talked about. So this image is basically how I take notes in church.

I am putting up the first image and I will post the rest soon. Enjoy!

How I Do A Digital Painting...

My idea for this particular drawing was inspired from a friend of mine, Adam Glendye, who suggested this:

Mark. I want to see you draw a doodle of a rabid emu approaching a massive thunderstorm! (remember that those who have rabies are afraid of water)


So with that brilliant but odd suggestion I began sketching out ideas. Eventually I settled upon the drawing you see below you done with my handy-dandy non-photo blue pencil.

Having scanned and cleaned the drawing in Photoshop I set about blocking the base colors for the final image. Blocking color in basically means just applying a middle grade of a color with no color variations to the image. Nothing too fancy has been done to the image yet.
Finally the fun can begin!! Having blocked in the colors with a basic color makes it easier for me to choose what color I want to start out with. I use the Magic Wand to select the base color and then I go to work on it. Usually (As was the case here) I try to start with the main figure as this is the most important element to the composition.

Everything just kinda progresses from that point until you get your final image. As you can tell some colors changed throughout the piece as I wasn't liking how the color interacted with one another.

Finally..SLAM! BAM! Thanky mam! You get the final image:

Well I hope this view into how I work was informative to you and more importantly COOL as it was for me to do. Adam thanks for the suggestion and I hope you like it.

Nothing Like A Fat Lady In A Tree

This is what happens when you listen to friends for ideas for inspiration. Let me start from the beginning...While driving around Savannah with a good friend of mine Bryan McManus, He saw these great barren trees (It is winter y'know.) buffering the street. He immediately blurted out how these trees would be perfect for a fat lady to sit between their limbs and me being a visual thinker I thought of something to the image you see before you.

As always I tried to stretch my artistic abilities by trying something I might not have tried before. On this particular image i decided to use colored ink on the substantial figure you see perched in the tree. I also tried to layer my watercolor layers up slowly. I think it was overall an effective experimental piece.

Birthday Cards

I have never been one of those guys who goes out and buys a card when I know I can make my own. This is one fine example of what I mean by doing it by hand. Doing this with your own hands makes it more personal and sometimes suffices for both a card and a gift. It's not that I'm cheap or nothing, I just believe it means more i you cater a card for someone special.

Now as to technique, I did this a little different from my normal way by using a crow quill pen for the inking and then the watercolor. I did the lettering with a pen after I had watercolored and inked everything else. This process was slow but well worth it in the end. Hopefully she liked it!!??

This whole process has gotten me thinking...Perhaps I should do "Card" commissions as I have a real knack for this. So..If you know anyone out there who might need a special card that the regular card industry can't provide, send them my way.

Just a taste...

Here is just a taste of my digital painting technique done with the aide of the ol'Mighty Photoshop. This particular image was for my Facebook profile and is part of my series of depicting myself in a witty manner. Examples like: Indiana Mark, Mark Cola....


If you visit this site PLEASE leave a comment even if it just to say "Hi" as I just want to know who comes by to visit this blogsite. Thanks!

Self Facing

This is a New Year with many possibilities at least that is what I keep trying to remind myself when I feel lo about things. Right now I'm working in a retail store for low money which is ok that I have a job but a little bit humbling as I hoped to have a job using my artistic talent. I am lucky though to have a job in these hard economic times, so I'm not complaining.

This image is a play on proportions to my own tried and true face. I hope no one thinks this is how I really look as it just not a true representation of me...or maybe it is!?!

Being Sick

I did ths awhile back on vacation when I inevitably came down with a cold. Doesn't always happen when you least want one!! I tried to use the color in a simpler method by only doing a light, middle and sparse dark ares of color. I like trying different ways to use the watercolors in order to get a better understanding of the effects of color.

Noah"s Ark Mishap

Happy New Year everyone!!

Maybe this year will be the year I finally live my dream as being a paid artist! Well until then (and even when I'm a Big time Artist!) I will keep on drawing.

The above image is self explanatory (I hope?!?) and I did this once again in my handy dandy moleskin sketchbook for fun. I actually started by drawing one giraffe and the image just evolved from there. It amazes me how it just came together...I think the bears are my favorite. Let me know what you think.