Ingenious Insanity

Back on The Wagon

2010-08-06T22:55:00.004-05:00

Apologies for the long absence but my time away was for good cause. After months of work and revision, my new webcomic, Captain Whizbang, is now online and updating regularly at houseofoddfellow.com. Hopefully, updates here will resume at a steadier pace soon.

Monster Mash

2009-10-27T01:10:00.002-05:00

After a tedious weekend away from my digital drafting table, I needed to do something to clear the cobwebs. And wouldn't you know it, the fast approaching holiday gave me ample subjects for an enjoyable evening of sketching.

As always, hope you enjoy and, whether you like it, hate it, or just got to this page by way of a freak typing blunder, please let me know what you think via ye ole comments.

- Saint Oddfellow

Hope Rides Alone

2009-09-08T00:35:00.002-05:00

Had I been told two years ago that a retro-rock opera based on, of all things, the MEGA MAN VIDEO GAMES would be making the rounds on my studio playlist, I would have decried such claims without hesitation.
That, however, was then. For those of who have no idea of what I speak, might I suggest the following. If you find yourself intrigued, both Act 1 and 2 of the Protomen's audio epic is currently available at finer retailers. Keep the signal alive, my friends...

- Saint Oddfellow

New Addition to the Family

2009-08-23T22:03:00.003-05:00

Deciding to take a sketch break, I took a crack at recent developments. So what if Azeroth is about to be blown to hell...there are far more pressing concerns; such as our good dwarf points out. Somebody better start ScotchGuarding Stormwind now...

-Saint Oddfellow

Scene from a Gnomish Workshop

2009-07-28T23:14:00.002-05:00

Aw, gnomes. To think if Tolkien had been just a little more ahead of the curve the lines would have went "You have my sword...and you have my bow...and my SUBATOMIC DEATHRAY!!" Whether from Dragonlance or the World of Warcraft, gnomes are the source of all the high-tech tomfoolery that just has no damn business being in a fantasy setting but is so cool that we just don't care.

Getting Back Up On That Horse

2009-07-17T21:40:00.003-05:00

My apologies for the long gap between posts but rest assured while the blog laid dormant I most certainly have not.

The first offering is a entry for a recent contest at DeviantArt. While I did not leave the field of battle victorious, I did win a good deal of experience by playing with texture and lighting more than I previously had to some good effect.

The second piece was actually created for the sole purpose of letting me use a new tool. I'm happy to announce this was my first piece of art done completely digitally via my newly acquired Wacom Cintiq. Hopefully this new method will serve me well.

I've done Hellboy before and usually would not have retread the ground so soon but it seemed in testing my new tool it was better to attempt to improve on something I knew before forging straight into new grounds. That and the big red lug is fun to draw. I hope you enjoy and any comments or critiques are greatly appreciated.

--Saint Oddfellow

Usagi Yojimbo - Fathers and Sons

2009-05-07T21:43:00.005-05:00

Once more into the blogging breach, once more. On the spot this art around is Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, an excellent series with solid storytelling and a warrior bunny rabbit to boot.

I had the opportunity to play a little more in depth with a Wacom tablet on this one and I must say the possibilities are indeed worth further research. Hope you enjoy

Saint Oddfellow

An ode to a great comic and an oh crap I forgot to post this

2009-03-28T18:46:00.005-05:00

Though a little hard to get a hold of outside the old back issue boxes (which obviously ups the price of admission), Matt Wagner's Mage is definitely worth a read. Between the two volumes of the series so far, your treated to not only interesting takes on classic hero archetypes but also a very smartly written story that shows even heroes are ultimately fallible.
Our second piece provides the reason this blog hasn't been updated for awhile. That reason being that I forgot to upload the F$%*ING THING! Just having a little fun with my Team Fortress 2 addiction seeing what the characters would look like in my style. I'm tempted to attempt all the classes at some point; maybe with a slightly looser style. But that dear reader is an ambition for another day.
Hope you enjoyed,
Saint Oddfellow

It came from an atomic flying elbow

2009-02-28T20:34:00.002-06:00

This is why I read comics. French landmarks going on rampages, symphonies that can end the world, heroes with bionic gorilla bodies; all those imaginative non sequiturs and odd bits of genius that you just couldn't get away with in any other medium. Add to that some truly well crafted writing and art and its easy to see why Umbrella Academy has been one of the most satisfying reads I've had in awhile.

Now, fanboy gushing aside, this was a fun piece. If nothing else I had an excuse to draw a guy with a flippin' gorilla for a body and frankly you just don't get that with every subject.

Along Came A Spider

2009-02-15T21:12:00.004-06:00

Been neglecting the blog for a bit too long but in my defense I have a few projects that are taking up the majority of my time that I'll be able to share hopefully later this year.

As a time saving method, I ditched my usually trace method in Illustrator and worked off a clean version of the pencils. Not quite as crisp as I'd like it but we'll see how a little more experimenting improves the technique.

Where The Vacuum Dares Not...

2009-01-25T18:45:00.003-06:00

...there the demons dwell. Idea that popped into my head while sketching over a lunch hour; a bit on the random side but was nice for testing some PS tricks.

Getting The Year Started Off Right

2009-01-03T18:51:00.003-06:00

Welcome to the New Year, O appreciated reader of mine! Some big plots and schemes in the works for this year, including a long-delayed venture into the world of webcomics. Here's to 2009 folks; lets hit this thing guns blazing!

A long time ago...Screw it you know the rest

2008-12-26T16:06:00.005-06:00

Naysayers be damned, my jedi masters are old, muppety and able to lift X-Wings by sheer power in the Force and may the prequels crawl back to the pits that spawned them. Messing with a few new techniques in this one especially a version of something I've seen Sean Galloway doing by recoloring the line art for the background. Definitely digging the focus it gives when I just want to focus on the character work.

Out From Boneville

2008-12-14T20:50:00.008-06:00

Being a pretty big fan of Jeff Smith's Bone, I figured I might as well get the obligatory piece of fan art out of the way. I walked away pretty happy with this one so I though I'd throw in a little behind the scenes look at my process for those so inclined to take a look.

All the original sketches are done separately on just plain copier paper then scanned in at 300 dpi into Photoshop. I then take what I need from each of those scanned files (three pages for this one so three scans) and lay them out in one master file on separate layers.

I take the laid out file and drop it into Illustrator for digital inks. Unfortunately, for now I'm stuck working with just a optic mouse (no tablet - come on tax refund check!) so Illustrator's superior Pen Tool and ease of editing individuals line widths is what works best for me for the time being.

With inks done, I head back to Photoshop and prep all my flat colors (no gradient/effects). The trick I've found that works well with my art is this slick little setting for the Magic Wand tool called "Use All Layers" which allows me to select the space on the line art layer I want to color without leaving the separate layer I set up for the flats. Add this with Select / Modify / Expand and you can save a ton of time on this otherwise tedious task.

Once the flats are set, I rig a new layer set to do my shading and highlights work. The majority of these layers are set to Overlay which when dropped on top of another layer will lighten or darken by paint/filling an area with white or black. It took about six separate layers set to different Opacity levels to get the look I was going for. Add a few more layers for the simple gradient in back and the smoke of Smiley's cigar and we're good to go. Hope this helps and if you have questions or suggestions make use of that Comments field.

Greetings and Salutations

2008-12-13T20:31:00.002-06:00

I thought there could be no better way to introduce myself than by forever scaring your psyche with my visage.