Old Timin'

I've been looking through old vacation photos today, trying to find a few I would like to paint with watercolor. It's been a while since I've done a watercolor piece, but I've been thinking about doing a few here soon, and I love working in the medium. Even though this piece isn't watercolor (it's oil), I thought I'd put it up for the sake of putting something up in the meantime. I did this a few years back during my time at Kendall.

Sneak Peek

Well, I literally just wrapped up my coloring duties for my part of the 'Red Wet Dirt' graphic novel called 'My Father's Keeper' and I must say I had a blast doing this. The artwork to the book is easily accessible and adding color really brought it to life. I can't wait to see this thing in print and I'll let everyone know when copies are available.

In the meantime, I'm able to post two pages from the book. My portion is only 22 pages, and even though the lettering isn't there yet, I want to avoid major *spoilers*. Heh. Enjoy!

The times they are a changin'.

Well, it's been a minute since I've last posted anything so why not. I'm going to deviate from the norm this time around and put some graphic design stuff up. For the past few months I've had an internship for "Couples Magazine" in Southfield, MI., but unfortunately it couldn't take off. In a world where everything can be read online it is very tough to get anything print off the ground.

During my time there I worked on the look of the publication (including page layouts), a promotional board game that would have been sold through the website and as a free gift with a subscription purchase, and other odds and ends. I'll be going through all my work there and posting it here as a way to show what work I've done in Illustrator, Photoshop, and hopefully Indesign (once I figure out how to turn the files into JPG's).

This is an advertisement for Art Van to be pushed as a sponsor for the publication. Note: This is in NO WAY endorsed by Art Van Furniture. This ad and the following were created to be taken to the companies to show how their business could be incorporated with the publication (The loveseat ad for example is pretty self explanatory, whereas the car ads incorporates the family side of the coin, and the Greek Town Casino ads were to attract the younger demographic of couples.). Whereas the Art Van ad would have been a two-page spread, the following ads would be single and quarter page advertisements.

Having said that, I will post the next ads I have created, and the same disclaimer applies to those as well.

*As an additional update, I have completed preliminary color work for the upcoming comic "My Father's Keeper", one part of a three-part graphic novel published by Shot in the Dark Comics. Refinements are being done and I'm very happy with how it's turning out. I don't know when it will be published, but Amazon.com already has it up, but without a preorder. Once I find out when, I'll let you all know. In the meantime, here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Wet-Dirt-Nicholas-Grabowsky/dp/0982253001/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296125826&sr=8-5

Whew! That's alot of ground I just covered. Til' next time...

Waaaaaay too long

My God, where has the time been? It's been almost 2 months since I've last posted anything on here. I've been extremely busy with all the holiday hustle and bustle and whatnot. A few things that are newsworthy though:

I just completed 10 cards for the "Treasure Chest of Art" charity auction in Chicago, Il. I'm pretty happy with how most of them turned out and hopefully whoever ends up scoring the ol' chest will be pretty happy with everything in it. Plus, it's for a good cause so that's a plus. The scans of said cards will follow the next order of business.

Secondly, I have been tapped to do the coloring for the upcoming graphic novel "Red Wet Dirt" by Shot in the Dark Comics. I'm about halfway done with it and it's gonna be a good read. I won't post any images from the book on here unless I get approval, but then again, anything good is worth the wait, right? I'll keep everyone posted.

Detroit Fanfare Thoughts

Well, the 1st annual Detroit Fanfare was this past weekend and I must say I had a great time. Even though it was smaller than Motor City Comic Con, it seemed much better organized and maintained. Everyone was super nice and the promoters even had volunteers going around asking the artists and vendors if they needed anything and what our thoughts were on the show (all positive), which I thought was very classy. I met some new great people and caught up with some chums, which was very cool. My hat goes off to everyone involved with the event! Can't really say the same for the Youmacon event, but that's a different story altogether.

This was my 3rd convention as a guest and each time is a learning experience. All I have to say is that I will be much better prepared and have more variety for the next convention I will be part of. A good quote I heard in conversation this weekend was "the best way to get into the industry is by diving in head first". Gotta do what ya gotta do and keep doing it.

The two cards above I did during some down time and I think they both turned out well, especially Harley, since I need to practice drawing the female form more often.

Detroit Fanfare

Another set of 3 blood-soaked zombies. My favorite part of doing these is the addition of the "blood"; I make a few droplets of food coloring fall onto the card, then I just shake it to give it a more random look. I'm not sure if I'll do more of these at the convention; I don't think the promoters would appreciate me flinging blood everywhere.

Set of 3 Hellboy-themed. A cartoonish version of red head, the badass Croenan, and Ron Perlman as Hellboy.

A set of 4 of a few Bats villains. Clockwise from top left: Joker, Harley Quinn, The Scarecrow, and my personal favorite baddie, Two-Face. Really fun to do these, and I'll try to get a few more of these done this weekend.

This weekend I'll be in attendance with Andrew Shirey in the Artist's Alley at the 1st Detroit Fanfare in Dearborn, MI. I'm really stoked for this one, as it just seems like a much more rounded convention and the promoters have really brought together alot of great events for charity, comic fans, and fans of art in general. I'll be on hand with these you see right now along with a slew of other goodies. See you there!

Way too long.

It has been way too long since I have posted anything and that's due to my work schedule and my internship. But, it's keeping me busy so what the hell, right? Motor City Comic Con is Halloween weekend and I'm super stoked for it. I've been trying to keep up with my artwork, but obviously because of my work schedule I've only been able to do so much at a time. In the meantime, here's a few sets of cards I have completed. I'll be doing these all through the Con, and into infinity and beyond. More stuff to come.