Comic character design

hello all, it's been a week now and i still feel haven't rested enuff...hahah.well during my previous week where i decide to get some rest i have been sketching alot, and alot of them are rubbish though, well to me i think it might turn into something great just for style exploring and sorts.

 Today i am posting a comic character design. This character carries essence of a human figure which hasnt evolved entirely, white eye ball, hmmmm witch hunter? Apeman hunter? Well i dunno however this is some new attempt which i have seen some breakthrough. Do comment if u guys have a different tots about it.

an apeman which is not fully evolved biologically, skull feature of an ape.

7 finger painting in 7 days. A week of life lesson with sketching.

It's been 5 months since i posted now. It has been quite tiring for me actually. Not because writing all these post, more like a mind thing, i have been trying hard to master adobe illustrator to become a better contributor in stock, and researching about valuable stocks and so forth, and it had led me to forget how much this initially should be, it will defeat the purpose if i am not enjoying doing it, because i have always been stuck on it. it is cliche, but hey, that's the whole point right, once in a while while we are trying to hard to achieve something we tend to forget the key objective to it. So it's good to stop and look back, did we left out something, or missed out something while we were sprinting towards a victory. Well this is not a moral talk or whatsoever, but this is something i always believe in, and hopefully log it down, so i will get to read back my believes and therefore after this post i think i will stop posting for a week or so. unless i found something interesting or read something that i wished to share with fellow friends and readers.

As continually working hard on something, especially on stock contribution, being anxious and worries about unbalance, uneven pen point, wrong usage of gradient tool and many many more as a rookie contributor which is still trying to pass the test, sometime i forgotten how much fun is it, just to express what we feel is enjoying the arty part of our inner self, without taking much consideration about details, Just like when i am 4 to when i am 24. i just draw and sketch whatever i likes, and feel the soul had been fed in a positive manner, i do want to achieve this anyway with a more steady achievement which pays in return with recognition and acknowledgement, but hey, being overfed and constantly putting myself under pressure will do no good in long run. 

one fine day, i took out my ipad sitting inside my bag without using it, and attempt on finger sketching and painting again. i felt so much fun, without realizing much, i have evolve in terms of styling, correcting my previously flaw in a fun way. the ease of use, like pencil and paper gave me the feeling to draw and draw without being scared of badly coordinated pen points.correct layer planning and so forth. and i have been finger painting and drawn for the past seven days. and here i would love to share with all the readers.

A caricature of me and my lovely wife. She is 36 weeks with junior inside still waiting to come and greet the world, when i drew this, i was accompanying her while watching drama and she was paying attention to my sketch and then when i am about to complete, she had requested to change her shoes to slipper because she wants to remember the kind of water retention she's going through on her leg, haha. and then she wants me to draw her holding an iPhone. because that's wat she is with all the time, when she is fatigue or about to sleep while she is pregnant, constantly with her iphone reading facebook status, watching youtube, and play her few favourite games including smurf village. 

A devil figure inspired by hellboy.

A fictional political figure or a successful person, to speak the truth, i initially wanted to cartoonize Mr. Robert Kuok. there are many many news that tells us how great this man is.

A portrait which initially i wanted to try my illustration skills on a very dark contrast between shadows and highlights. I failed :). my wife named in " the man of darkness" she thought its one of the character inside my novel writing attempt.

A robotic figure with wheel and motor base on the lower part. inspired by a post apocalyptic era which i recently wrote on zoology, exploring character in novel.

Kung Fu master, inspired by the great bruce lee. but this is not bruce lee.

a special love and interest in skull art, i wasn't that into skulls stuff before, maybe man do change, i love exploring skulls shape and arts in recent years, there fore as i kept on drawing, i was like, her why not a painting with different art.

every single piece, i have been trying to make it as nice and as finished as possible. but hey the thing is i am enjoying every single part of it, and able to develop a better design sense, without feeling much pressure, i just take out my ipad and paint with my finger. Maybe after this week, after resting from a rest from constant finger painting, my software illustrator skill had growth and found a new path. 

" sometime it's good rest to complete a longer journey" - it's not my quote, it's some chinese saying i don't know who.

Free vector for download.

Hi to all fellow friends. in order to celebrate my first one thousand view and support, i hope to have further support from fellow friends and interested readers. A token of appreciation i have submitted a free vector to be downloaded from vector stock. It's free of charge, and i hope everyone can take opportunity to subscribe to my blog and every 1 thousand view i hope to release a free vector for everyone to download.

This is a vector created by me, with a concept of protector in the form of samurai, fused with element of ninja seal, arranged in blue and red on each side, containing elements of chinese in their god of protection symbol, to hold evil spirit to enter their house.

it's a simple stock, i hope you will like it. 

Eddie - the longest living zombie on earth.

Guess who am i referring to? haha yeap it's Eddie, the zombie looking figure that always appear on iron maiden's album. Yes the name is Eddie. and this is a little story i found to share with all the music fan's about Eddie.

Eddie, Iron Maiden's mascot, first appeared with the band after their stage manager at the time (Dave Beasly) designed a head that was placed above the drummer at concerts and periodically spat blood through it's mouth. The joke which went with the head was:

'A woman had given birth to just a head, the doctor told her she needn't worry since he would come up with a suitable body for good 'ole Eddie within a year or five. So five years later Eddie's father entered the room on Eddie's birthday and said: "well today's your birthday, and boy do we have a surprise for you!" after which Eddie replied: "Oh no!, not another bloody hat!"'

Eddie did not have a body until Iron Maiden met Derek Riggs, who designed a body to accompany the head. The band subsequently decided to keep this body secret until their first album 'Iron Maiden' was released. In 1980 the body was revealed, with the first incarnation of Eddie looking remarkably different from other Eddies since. It also only showed the top half of his torso.

Eddie caused much controversy for the band on the Sanctuary and Women In Uniform single covers. The Sanctuary cover depicted the Iron Maiden mascot having stabbed Margaret Thatcher to death. (Margaret Thatcher was the British Prime Minister at the time). This was censored out and widely believed to have been banned by Magaret Thatcher herself which is false. Rod Smallwood (the bands manager) had decided the black bar that was put on the cover to censor it was good publicity. The black bar is only present in the UK edition, the European releases do not have it.

On the Women In Uniform sleeve Margaret Thatcher is shown hiding behind a wall waiting to ambush Eddie with a sub-machine gun, Eddie is shown walking along hand in hand with a nurse and a schoolgirl which caused more controversy and ended with feminists branding Iron Maiden sexist.

The Number of the Beast sleeve showed Eddie controlling the devil whilst the devil is controlling a smaller puppet of Eddie. Many people believe this is where the misconception that Iron Maiden are a "satanist band" (something that the band have always fiercely denied)

For Iron Maiden's album Piece Of Mind Eddie was in a mental asylum and had been lobotomised (the reason for the bolt on his head). The bolt from this has remained with eddie throughout the years.

The Powerslave cover depicted Eddie as a huge shrine on a pyramid in ancient egypt. This cover had many hidden messages included on it such as "Bollokz" on the left hand side of the pyramid and "What a load of crap" on the right hand side. Above the entrance to the shrine is Derek Riggs logo

The Somewhere In Time logo is full of hidden messages (All of which were featured in our article, Somewhere In Time Cover Art Secrets) and shows Eddie as a futuristic being with a laser gun, looking much like a 'Terminator' (Terminator I was released in 1984, with Somewhere in Time released in 1986 so this was very much the imagery of the time). This graphic imagery can be directly contrasted against the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son artwork, which shows just the top half of Eddie over a lake with his own entrails clutched in his hand.

The No Prayer for the Dying (1990) artwork showed Eddie in a rather old state cracking out of a grave and Fear of the Dark (1992) was produced by a different artist (Melvyn Grant). The X Factor differed from the normal style of Iron Maiden covers showing Eddie with his legs missing and on an Electric Chair. Many people thought this was a computer model when they first saw it but in reality it was a photograph of a minature model made by Hugh Syme

The Virtual XI cover was based on the Ed Hunter video game in which you play as Eddie blasting your way through many familiar parts of Iron Maiden's history. The reunion album Brave New World (2000) featured an Eddie face smiling down from the sky on a futuristic London. Some regard this as the best Iron Maiden cover artwork ever.Shortly afterward, after he produced artwork for the Wicker Man single release that was rejected, Derek Riggs announced that the Wicker Man single release art would be last piece that he would create for Iron Maiden, attributing this to the fact that "they are too difficult to work with"

On "Visions Of The Beast" (2003) Eddie gets his brain back in the final sequence as it flies around him. Even though he recieved his brain back, the artwork on the Give Me Ed Tour Eddie still retained the bolt on his forehead. (The Dance of Death artwork did not feature the bolt on Eddies forehead)

2003 saw Iron Maiden's new album "Dance Of Death" achieve great success although many questioned its peculiar choice of artwork. It featured Eddie looking much like the grim reaper on a geometrically patterned dance floor with hooded characters in the background. In the foreground 11 CGI people and 2 CGI animals appeared. There appear to be many mistakes in this artwork as has been pointed out many times (These can be read in the article Dance Of Death Cover Mistakes)

Eddie has evolved greatly over the 25+ years of Iron Maiden's career and he will undoubtedly evolve and change with the band, before their reign at the top of Metal music is over."

And if you still don't know who eddie is, please see the picture below :)

This is a post of a successful mascot design that lives through 25 years, Eddie had lives through 25 years of history, and its one of the most unique character that accompanies a band throughout  their lifespan. and the fan love it, even though he is not playing or singing, he does contribute something on the overall band image. now let's end with one of my favourite tracks of iron maiden "Phantom of the Opera".

character design made possible with ipad via sketch pro

i remember i have got an ipad on my last birthday from my wife, well i did have an iphone already...most of the task and aps are shared....there's one good thing i like about, i did try out some finger painting on iphone, however the screen is too small, it's very very difficult to execute detail drawing, even though is possible. well now that i got ipad, i can sketch and sketch and sketch and explore on character styling without worrying on killing more trees, now i dun really need papers anymore.. : )

hmmmmm by right i shud be sharing only some of the works but today, i wish to share some of the technique which i always apply when i do detail sketching and steps to create a piece of drawing with an ipad or an iphone (the concept is quite the same anyway). perhaps the pictogram of a black and white air brush, pencil and paint bucket in a piece of fictional political icon in black and white.

1. get the anatomy right. every sketch you shud determine what sort of character u desire, whether or colour or black and white it doesnt matter. getting the character anatomy ratio right is the best thing anybody shud do.

2. after getting the anatomy right add a rough idea of what your character shud look like. sketch it out on the rough detail on the hairstyling,  facial expression, apparel and what ever u could think of. don't worry too much, every thing is editable made possible by ipad and sketch pro.

3. once u have done, on the top right corner, touch on screen and open a new layer. upon opening the new layer, u can always set the level of transparancy of the first layer. this will enable you to totally follow a semi transparent background and sketch on top of it. Do bear in mind, since it's a digital sketching, straight line is hard to achieve especially when you are using your finger to sketch, often u would find many many fine sketch line. of course the thickness of the drawing tool point can be set according to preference, bear in mind every medium produce different effect. even u select on the same colour. 

4. spread your finger wide on screen constantly to zoom as maximum as you are comfortable with, for my case i would normally zoom my sketches until it gets pixelated. from here i can perform a series of multiple strokes....and form a very very detail drawing depending on your patience. dont worry about the line, you can set to invisible mode later. please find the picture below. and compare with 5th picture when it's zoom to 100%. 

5. now as u can see below a basic detail sketching is out, basically very acceptable already. so what now. with such sketches obviously nobody would say anything about it, cause it's just a piece of  drawing, what more value can u add to the drawing, why not add a background? now at this time, open up the layer window to draw on the b/g, u can later overlap or goes under it, depending on how u plan the whole drawing. so now open up another layer.

6. background in progress, if you guys are as impatience as me, and did not master the tool well, u would probably goes through around of using or maybe trying to find the easiest way to navigate. simply place 3 finger on screen and a simplify tool will pop up for you to adjust the level of opacity of your ink, and the thickness of your drawing tip.

7. you can then revisit your character and use the bucket fill tool, to fill which ever area u desire in your desire colour, but you have to make sure all boundary all enclosed. now after you do that, you would normally find that there are lines or gaps that is not filled, it is because the ink would stop until the enclose boundaries if the the ink flow logically. now u can choose to filled the gap or line, with existing body colour by using other tools like brush, air brush or pencil tool, or the line colour.

8. zoom in here and there to asses all the area that should be filled with strokes or shades. depending on the styling. basically adding details to the working pieces.

9. overall the piece is close to finished, however instead of hair stroke, i still find a grey shaed with subtle lining would be better for my piece, so i use 50% transparent of grey ink and air brush it. so the line is still visible when u zoom in detail. another tips that i always like, erase and fill. check out the hairline great white strokes, which i deleted and refer to bottom.

 10. you could repeat as many part as you based on the above technique, usually it brings a more  realistic feel and make the sketched looks livelier.

now that you got it a black and white, fiction asian political cartoon character.

A design with a message to keep the earth Green.

it has marked 36 weeks of my baby in my wife's tummy. while patiently waiting and treating my wife like a queen, taking care of everything. I am constantly lying on a couch accompanying my wife to watch some movies or shows, while doing that, most of the time i will have my laptop in front of me surfing and developing some design for my planned mission for coming months or year. for the last 2 days, none of the design i tried to design work out the way i wanted, and my wife had always been observing what i was doing, so seeing me looked down on the outcome of my own artwork. She came out with a suggestion, why dont you come out with that is green and eco. 

Well then, i was like thinking, since the design i am developing is not working, i should be doing something more relaxing in another matter. Maybe i should do some vector, because the design i am developing for my personal project even though has a hugeeeeeeeeee relation on green and eco, but it really doesn't work that way. Well since my son is coming out, and the green, going eco, carbon footprint, sustainability is the in-thing now for everyone.

So i decide to develop a public awareness stock, that themes on keeping the earth green. A cheerful boy on red sweater with a recylce logo stitching and butterfly on stopping on his finger with round motives of earrth with tree or leaves (whichever u perceive it).

angelic mermaid tribal tattoo : Qswitching the ink and skin art.

when i was designing tattoo one of my colleague actually saw it, and was like wow, u know how to draw and use illustrator, and you can draw tattoos? (hmmmm...yeah since i am writing a design and creative blog, most people must of taught i am a designer myself, but yes and no. in my normal hour in my working world, i am part of the creative industries, but i am in the servicing arm. For those who follow my post from the very beginning would have known this, but for most of the people who knows me, but not deeply would be surprise seeing me draw, especially when it comes to operating illustrator with vector design.)

Well i said yes, and she was like....ummmm can you draw me one, i am looking for something special for this part (below the neck) and i found this on the web, i like this already, but come to think about it, i wanted something more personal, as in not downloadable, or customized specially to fit my taste. and there she shown me a single sided open wing mermaid figure.

I was really amazed with the art already, and i do tell her, its alredy very good, but if u would want me to do, of course i could analyze and reconstruct another one, of course with qswitch'es tribal styling, basically, lots of hook, blade, razor and sickle with vented holes. but this is a challenge to me, as i never consider myself doing something with specially with a feminine stuff, but i could give a shot of soften some of the details.

This is the existing work from the works she got on net. ( to dear owner, no profit are made from this work, and it's all for personal use with admiration works, hope you don't see it as a plagiarism, your work is good, wished i could credit you)


Well, to create a tattoo design, there's a few area to consider:
1. the part you want it on
2. the choice of design
3. the size of the design

( i must give credit to eddy from borneo ink, he gave me an insight of this: everybody part has a special kind of design that fit it at it's best)

so after knowing all the detail: since the part where leann wanted to do, is below the neck, centralizing along the back bone area, i feel instead of a single opened wing, it would be better if the figure has both wing spread open wide, to maintain the balance.

the curving of the figure's of the body, has to be balance out as well. so when the tattoo owner heading out for special event or her special nights, she won't be caught in a weird situation where people ask her : emm, why you tattoo looks uneven, or unbalance on your back? emmm why dont both wing open wide? some of these might popped up, and bear in mind ( tattoo is a permanent proof of temporary insanity) u can't change it when u do it, unless u wanna go through paint or going through forcefully touched up, even some tattoo artist can do it very very good.

Comes the detail of the tatoo, it's is too detail, the current reference she gave me was a little bit too detail if u look at it the tail and lower body, with scales detail and lace pattern which is too fine for a 5-6 inch work ( or a size of an iphone). therefore i minus off those complex detail of course adding on my vented sickle and razor design.

Then i also imposed, whether she likes it more 3D, as far as i am concern, shading works hurts even more, so i did asked her on this, and personally i think polynesian and tribal tattoos always looks best when it's solid. (personal view)

and then i too change the hairstyle  to a permed curly hair styling, to bring out further on the feminism detail of the art. ( my POV). here's my work of personalizing the work.

image above is the artist impression on the sizing and how the tatoo would look like on skin.

qswitch design in progress

hmmmm after exploring into multiple possibilities where qswitch would go, maybe it's good to have a logo design. i have been finding ways to identified what should be the best for the brand, and something would call my own. back to a very very basic route where alot of designers would do, the brand is usually build from the owners name, however, since now the brand name is qswitch i would think the other way round of designing a logo based on my name. my name in chinese is (丰).

Well this is not the first time, i am using my own name to do something, of course the very first one which i have used is to convert my own name into a tribal design for my tattoo. A look in the mirror with a stylized tribal on my arm helps me get through alot of pain and challenges. well save it for now, maybe i would post something about tribal tattoo design.

lets get back to logo design. have a view, i have used the chinese character to form a clean modern looking design. watch out for it, if u find any item with this, it might be created by me:

Do comment on this, i might not changed further but i will value your advice...

Design Icon: Jean Baptisme Vendamme

hi everyone, this is another great discover from a blogger that had interview this person i would called, a creative figure, illustrator, artist, designer, animator, cartoonist, sculptor and maybe more His name is Jean Baptisme Vendamme.

Today i will be writing short, but just to display his works here, and this is when i say picture speaks louder than words.if u guys are interested to know further you guys could visit the blog and read Jean Baptisme Vendamme's interview.

amazing styling in illustrations.....now lets view some of his sculpting works which  he started to post since july this year. it's relatively new in blogspot. i believe he has been sculpting for years. just another feast of scultpure styling.

Source of sculpture: http://jbvendamme.blogspot.com/

Enjoy the post