Markustration

More Exploration in the Digital Realm

2010-04-26T13:10:00.003-04:00

Trying yet another attempt at digital coloring with the trusty ol'Photoshop. My idea was to do a grey-scale under-drawing with flat colors thrown in on top. I tweaked that some but overall I stuck to that plan and here is the result.

New work

2010-04-19T11:21:00.003-04:00

This is a new technique of coloring in Photoshop that I was trying and I think there is a lot of stuff I still need to learn but I had fun trying this out. I can personally already tell somethings I need to work on but I think it is an ok attempt. Please feel free to leave any comments you might have.

IF: Focus

2010-02-04T22:07:00.002-05:00

When I think of "Focus" I think of being distracted by many different thing pulling you in different directions. You need to keep focused in order to do what you need to.

As to my approach on doing the illustration...I wanted to break this rut of doing everything in pen and ink so I decided to throw a little color into the mix. To be honest...I am not too happy with it but I look at this a chance to grow. (I am my worst critic!) Oh well..Enjoy and thanks to ALL of you who have made a comment as it brightens my day every time I read them!

IF: "Wilderness: OH My!"

2010-01-20T21:43:00.002-05:00

I had a hard time coming up with this image as I couldn't come up with an image for "Wilderness" but then I had a bit of inspiration. The image depicts the last Dodo bird coming into contact with a Lion, Tiger and Bear (Hopefully you catch the reference from the Wizard of OZ!?) right before it is eaten.

I hope you enjoy it...By the way I couldn't think of what to do to the background so I left like it is...If you have a suggestion please let me know what you think as I would appreciate the feedback.

Confined

2010-01-12T20:07:00.005-05:00

This is my first contribution to Illustration Friday which I hope won't be my last. The word given was "Confined" and I immediately thought of business men in a box. After thinking about it for a while and doing some thumbnails I came up with this. A bunch of business men being jumbled together in a cube form.

More Ninija Turtles

2009-12-15T11:35:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-09-13T08:37:00.002-04:00

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

Broken Anthology

2009-09-05T18:14:00.004-04:00

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

2009-06-23T23:04:00.003-04:00

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

Sketchin Around

2009-06-22T23:13:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-03T09:38:00.003-04:00

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.

2009-03-10T16:44:00.002-04:00

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)

2009-03-09T00:51:00.002-04:00

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...

2009-02-06T15:44:00.006-05:00

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

2009-02-03T06:37:00.005-05:00

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

2009-01-30T10:07:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-01-16T13:33:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-06T20:17:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-05T18:48:00.002-05:00

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

2009-01-03T17:44:00.003-05:00

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.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-17T16:15:00.002-05:00

Yep you guessed it! It's me dressed as a turkey. This little ditty of a drawing was done for fun and made for my Facebook profile. If you notice the drawing has some texture which was achieved by drawing this piece on newsprint.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

2 For the Price of 1

2008-11-04T19:56:00.003-05:00

Here for you viewing pleasure are two more of my many sketchbook drawings. Speaking of which I just finished this sketchbook in record time! I hope I will have another sketchbook done by the end of the year which would be a personal best for me.

The tree was done right outside of the 180 building in Savannah Georgia and has been a personal favorite foliage of sometime now. I sketched it in ink and then watercolored it. This was my attempt at being a little loose with the watercolor. I don't know...You tell me if I succeeded.

This fine little comic strip was done with my trusty ol'brush pen. I like being a little unconventional with my layout and I think this piece was a success.

More to come my blog viewing friends!

The Raven Nevermore...

2008-10-22T14:49:00.002-04:00

This particular image is just something I did for fun. I was messing around with a brush pen and I wanted to draw a bird so...Bing-bada-boom! I get this image.

Oh the Animals will play!

2008-10-21T14:39:00.003-04:00

This fine image I will hopefully be using as my mailer for getting commissions and illustration jobs in the near future. The theme for this particular drawing is animals in children books. Each animal from left to right: The Snake from the Jungle, The Ugly Duckling, Big Bad Wolf, The Walrus and the Oysters from Alice in Wonderland and Filnally the Three Pigs.

Its amazing what can happen when you put your pen to paper and after some time look to find a beautiful image has come about. I had no real idea on what I was going to do and it just came together in the end. I started with the Ugly Duckling and the other animals just fell into place.

Scary and Stuff

2008-10-16T14:59:00.002-04:00

I was thinking about the things that scare me or just plain creep me out for one reason or another and I decided to make an image of it. This drawing encompasses some of the things that are scary to me. (From right to left) Clowns...Come on! They're freaky! Whats the deal with all the make-up!?! No should be that happy ever. Someone with snot a gunk coming from their nose...Its just GROSS. The scary doctor with a needle and a scalpel...Nuff said. the fat women with fat hanging off of her arms...That is just Gross! The person whose breath always stinks of onions or other smelly things.

Mom's Turn!

2008-10-15T15:10:00.003-04:00

This fine lady is my mother who I feel bad about not mentioning or drawing in my earlier post about my dad. This a complete watercolor sketch without any pencil or pen under-sketch which is the first time I have done something like this before. I'm pleased with the art piece as I feel it has a lot of movement to it.

Many People

2008-10-13T17:49:00.004-04:00

This is something I did when my frame of mind was a little on the dark =side...perhaps I was feeling depressed about something!?! To be honest I don't remember. I know I wanted to draw someone with their hand in front of their face so why not draw more than one person with their hand's in front of their face.

It turned out to be a nice experience and I always love trying new and fun ways to draw stuff. Oh also...did some Photshop experimentation on the drawing.

Drawing in Church

2008-10-11T23:35:00.002-04:00

Yep it true! You caught me! I draw in church just about every week. That is how I take notes instead of sleeping in church which I must confess will happen if I don't take notes. This is the first in a series of drawing for Philippians series and it concerns the role of a Deacon to the church. I like this minimal approach to these drawings. This is a different format for me but it seems to be working well.

Thank you all for your response for me to write about each piece and I'm glad I wasn't doing it for nothing. I still can't believe I have people who stop by this blog to check it out so often. Thank you all for your support!

Political Musings

2008-10-09T13:30:00.004-04:00

Here is a little diddy I did about the Presidential candidates. I wanted to show both candidates falling out of the sky with no land in sight. To be honest with you all I am not sure who I am going to vote for as I am not sold on either one of them.

Oh! By the way...they are both wearing parachutes and only Mccain's is out. I guess he jumped first.

On the Rocks

2008-10-07T18:21:00.003-04:00

I did this in my new mole skin sketchbook which I am loving a lot. I wanted to use just one color to emphasize parts of the story. I like dark subject matter which hopefully I comes across.

*I'm curious...Does it matter what I write for this piece or any other piece!?! I do most of these drawings to speak for themselves and I find it hard to write something about each piece. If you have the time let me know what you think in the comments.

ANother Hero of mine....

2008-09-18T13:45:00.002-04:00

This is my dear ol'Dad and he is truly one of my hero's. I know...I know...It sounds sappy but its all true! i love this man and I don't thank him enough for all that he has done for me in my life. When something great hapens in my life he is one of the first people I think about in the back of my head.

This drawing is dedicated to him and I hope you all like it. I did this in my sketchbook with a Pentel Ink brush pen.

Fun with websites!

2008-09-17T13:14:00.002-04:00

These are two drawings I did for side projects for fun and because I was asked to contribute something. I had a lot of fun doing both and I believe I'm getting better at my Photoshop digital coloring skills as time goes by. I hope it shows!

The "Alien at a lemonade stand" was done for a friend of mine who asked me to contribute to doodlecollage website. Thanks Dave for the honor! You should check out the website and see the talented people who contribute to it as I was blown away by the talent and the offer to do a drawing was an awesome opportunity I wasn't about to pass up.

The "Giraffe ridding a tricycle" is a new blogventure I have started with my good friend Brett Brooks. Our idea is to show both how our particular styles are different but also simular in some ways. You be the judge!?! Here is our site: Schisms Art

Welp!!! Back to the Drawing board!

Hands

2008-08-26T17:31:00.004-04:00

I realize it has been awhile since my last post but...to be honest I haven't been doing much artwork lately. I feel like I've been in a slump with my art lately. I still draw everyday but I haven't been too happy what I have done.

I think this image owes a lot to my frustration about my lack of good drawings as of late. These are my hands and they are to blame to some degree about my lack of good drawings. I really like how this image turned out and ironically I did this in my current self-made slump.

It's Been Awhile

2008-08-09T18:13:00.003-04:00

I know it has been awhile for me to post but things for me have been really busy. If these sketches give any context on the way things have been for me....I believe you would believe me that things have been troublesome as of late.

Things are looking up though and rest assured I will continue to try and post more regularly...Trust me!?! I am excited to know what the future holds for me. Perhaps I will one day achieve my goal of getting paid to do what I love to which is DRAWING.

Heros

2008-07-28T22:19:00.002-04:00

Here is a new image I have been working on lately of Superman and Batman as children. I was playing with opposited here by making Superman a skinny kid and making Batman a kid with acne who doesn't quite fit in his costume. I have been trying some different techniques in coloring this image and I hope it shows some improvement.

The Early Wake Up

2008-07-22T11:39:00.005-04:00

This Post is dedicated to both Danielle and anyone who has ever felt the way she did at that moment. I too have felt (I KNOW can you believe it!...ME!?!) the cold sting of rejection many times over in my short existence in this world but I always manage to pull myself up and get back in the saddle.

This is a pretty much a personal glimpse into Danielle's and my life and I made sure to ask her permission to post this before I did. For the most part it was verbatim what we said to one another...I of course embellished slightly in the dialogue to add effect but I tried to keep the moment as was.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions! Have a good one.

2008-07-18T18:05:00.003-04:00

This is my sketch of an Aboriginal man which I drew while watching the film Proposition.

Well I'm off to go see the new Batman movie tomorrow out of town so I won't be posting tomorrow.

A Good Friend

2008-07-17T16:29:00.003-04:00

This is my good
friend Graham Hurst...

Who I know from the church that I go to. He is one of my dearest friend's and is like a mentor to me in my life. I can't tell you how encouraging it is for me to have someone who looks out for me and enjoys talking with me even though we are separated by many years in age.

Here are some Stats on my good friend:
He is 84
Played tennis at least 3 times a week until recently (WOW!)
Was an FBI agent (What great stories he has about those days!!!)
He helps the elderly (although most are his age and slightly older) with business stuff
All around Good Guy

If you have the chance to meet him...You SHOULD! I believe every young person should have friends that are older than we are so that we can learn from them and they can learn from us. We both do this for one another and I hope you all get the chance to have this too!

OK....Enough with the gushy Stuff!

No Time.....

2008-07-16T18:04:00.003-04:00

Alright I must confess I didn't have enough time yesterday to post something....But today I thought I'd show you a quick comic I did. I might turn it into something soon.

Look! I can DRAW!?!

2008-07-14T22:58:00.004-04:00

These are two drawings from my sketchbook. Man! I love that moleskin sketchbook! Thats my plug for the day if you didn't catch that by the way.

WOW! I have some good news coming down the pike but for now I will keep it to myself. Keep on the look out here because as soon as I know its a final deal I will let you all know about it.

Color Time!

2008-07-12T21:40:00.004-04:00

This is a color sketch (Before you say duh! Keep reading...) I did my last day in NYC. I hope to start to do more work with watercolors in the coming months. Some people have asked me to post some of my color work.

Thank you my fellow Blog viewers for all that you have said and encouraging me throughout this process.

2008-07-11T11:03:00.003-04:00

This is a comic I did about my trip in NYC. I drew it all out with a ball point pen and each page probably took an hour to do. I like the hand-drawn feel to it so I didn't clean up all of my mistakes on purpose. I added a color on Photoshop to help convey the story...Its an old Indie Comic trick I learned a while ago. I hope you enjoy it.

Alright! I think I've gotten used to this whole blogging thing and now I wanna cut loose and have some fun and not be so stiff with my writing here. Its probably hard to tell if I even have a sense of humor with my stale to-the-point writing.

Let me tell you about this guy name Skip Skipperson....He's your typical know it all News type of guy. When he looks at you he already knows he is better than you and he pities you for that reason. Oh! Did I mention...I made him up of different News casters I have seen on T.V. I thought he would be perfect in contrast of lil' ol'Me.

More Sketch Crawl from NYC

2008-07-10T15:23:00.004-04:00

Here are two more sketches done while in the NYC last week.

-The first image is from the Sketch Crawl I attended. Its actually two images...On the left is a tree in the park...On the right is a car and tree in the background.

-The second image is from the ICON5 moning speaker. For the life of me I can't remember his name though! He was funny and apparently helped in the creation of Pee Wee's Play House.

More Sketches!!!!

2008-07-09T14:53:00.008-04:00

This is a comic I did in my sketchbook about the Sketch Crawl and abut me personally. All of the events contained in these four pages are true and no names have been changed.

On a side note...I'm thinking of coloring these in one color. If you have any suggestions on a color let me know!?!

ICON5 Sketches

2008-07-08T19:43:00.000-04:00

I just got back from The ICON5 this week and BOY did it come in handy at learning so much new stuff. I had a really great time even though I was sick as a dog throughout the week. I hope I can capitalize on all that learned and keep in touch with all my new Illustration buddies I met.

This was done in my sketchbook while on the Sketch Crawl which was a lot of fun and I truly recommend you all go on one of these Sketch Crawls.

This is just people I saw around the conference...No one special.

This is an a couple of drawings I did while at the conference.

I will be posting more drawings tomorrow....Probably my comics I did.

Recent sketches

2008-06-24T14:58:00.000-04:00

This a sketch of Bob Dylan.

This sketch was done while watching a movie on TV and it's Denzel Washington from the movie "Training Day"

This is the Hulk.

I love listening to "This American Life" on Podcast so while listening I drew this.

It's been awhile since my last post and for that I'm sorry. Here are some sketches from my Moleskin sketchbook. These are just for fun and I hope you will enjoy them.

My First time

2008-04-08T19:53:00.000-04:00

Well this is IT! I have decided to throw myself out there with the intention to show my artwork.

From this moment on I will strive to add new work daily and hopefully all will enjoy my work as much as I do. Thank you in advance for your time at looking at my work and I hope you enjoy it.