Happy Holidays!

Hey there guys and gals. I know I had promised to start some new things here at my website, but recently I have picked up a few really great gigs that have consumed a ton of time. I'm creating a new work schedule that will allow me to saty on top of things so whatch out for new stuff from me in the new year.

Happy holidays!

How to Draw Like the Franchize!

Today I'm starting a brand new part of my site. The "How to" section. Every second Tuesday of the month I'll be posting a new "How to" piece to share a little of what I know about drawing dramatic figures.

quick gesture sketch

I figured that my first drawing should be of Superman cuz he is really fun for me to draw and I am most familiar with his look. Plus the tights make it easy to get the anatomy. Today's tools are photoshop CS5 and my wacom tablet. To begin I start with a blank layer and quickly rough in the gesture. This is really the most important stage. If you want to have a dynamic figure it all starts here. The best way to learn to make dynamic poses is to go out and study your favorite artists work and try to figure out how to create a quick gesture based on their art. it will take you a long way in trying to understand the figure in motion.

Squiggley Lines!

Next is the part that I like most... SQUIGGLEY LINES! This is where I find the right pieces of the puzzle and start to fill out my sketch. I really like to push proportion so here you can see that Superman's head is pretty small compared to his chest. I have similarly exaggerated his legs and arms. I have also decided to really play with foreshortening his arms to give the figure a sense of depth. A lot of artist have trouble with this at first, but it gets easier with practice. The trick is if something is close to you its big and if it's far away it's small. I take that a step further and say that if something is close it should be REALLY BIG and if it's far away then it's REALLY SMALL.

refining the art

Here I really get into his anatomy and defining his costume. I wouldn't necessarily encourage anyone to study the way I draw anatomy because my style is very exaggerated. I have done quite a bit of study and really put a lot of thought into how I push and pull muscle groups to get what I want.

Finished!

Last I go over everything and clean up the line work. I only keep the lines I like and get rid of the rest. Because I'm working in photoshop each step is on a different layer so I don't have to worry about erasing anything.  Next month COLORS!

Well, that's the end of my first lesson. Hope it was helpful. Thanks for stopping by!

Marvel Universe Sketch Cards

Cards from Marvel Universe sketch card set

So the Marvel Universe Sketch Card set just came out and I figured I would share a couple of my cards with yall. I've already seen a couple of these on e-bay. My favorites of this bunch are the Captain America, the chibi Wolverine, and the half symbiote Spidey.
The Spidey card was actually a colab between myself and I did the pencil layout and he did the inks and colors. I think it came out really nice.

The rest of them r all me though.

I have a ton of these guys to post plus I have quite a few cards from previous sets that I never posted that I'll be sharing with you guys soon. So keep an eye out for more.

Also, You may have noticed that I have been making a few changes around the site. So hopefully you are digging the new look. I still have a few more changes to make (with the help of the lovely Peng), but I am well on my way. There will be plenty of new and exciting things happening here before the end of the holiday season so watch out!

Enjoy!

We Made it There so We Can Make it Anywhere

The Identity Comics Studio. from left to right: Bryan "Flash" Turner, Penelope "Peng-Peng" Gaylord, Jerry "theFranchize" Gaylord, Dominike "Domo" Stanton

So New York Comic Con has come and gone and it was a great experience. New York is easily the largest con that the Identity Crew has ever set up at and we did a great job networking and selling. Icouldn't have asked for a better show. New York con goers showed us so much love that it was unreal. I guess what they say is true. "If you can make it there you can make it anywhere".

Everyone in the studio sold a bunch of their new art books as well as The Brotherhood: Behind the Cage (Con Exclusive). The response from Everyone was fantastic.

I do still have some of my artbook theFranchize: Start Up Capital available for purchase. If you are interested just shoot me a note. Each book comes with a free sketch of the character of your choice. The book is $30 plus $10 shipping. It's 72 full color pages of my personal and professional work.

I have to say thank you to everyone who came out to say hi and show support. Yall have no idea how much it means when you guys take time out of your con experience just come and chat with me for a sec.Below are a few of the commissions I worked on at the con. Lots of fun stuff. Hope yall dig it.

The entire studio worked on this one. I did the Wolverine

Batman and Joker commission

Superboy and Red Robin sketch in Start-Up Capital

Juggernaut

Namor

New York Comic Con

 

 

 

ID Studio Banners for Comic Cons

Come Check us out this weekend at the New York Comic Con. We will be under these brand spankin new banners so hopefully we will be easy to find. Or just look for table numbers T14-15

See ya there!

theFRANCHIZE: START UP CAPITAL VOL I

Start up Capital front cover

start up Capital back cover

Hey there boys and girls! It's been way too long since, my last post, but there has been good reason. I've been really busy doing live caricature gigs with my company Big Heads Little Bodies and putting together my first solo art book! The book is called theFranchize: Start up Capital. It is 72 pages in full color and will be debuting at New York Comic Con next week. I'm super excited about it and I can't wait for people to see it.

As I mentioned before I'll be at the New York Comic Con with with my Identity Comics studio mates and we'll be rockin the con from 10/13-16th. It will be our fist time setting up at the show so if you are gonna be in the house come on by to tables T14 and 15 and say hi.

Baltimore Comicon 2011

Blam! Baltimore Comicon is finally here. The IDentity Comics Studio team will be at the Baltimore Convention Center this weekend from August 20-21st. Peng and I will have our brand new mini art books for sale at the show. We only have a few left so come by early and scoop one up. We will also be doing commissions and selling prints (we will have quite a few brand new ones to sell). If you have never been to the show before I can tell you it's a great con with tons of artists and lots of vendors to keep you busy all weekend long. So come on by and check us out. It's gonna be good times!

Look for us :
Artist Alley Tables A113/A114

Baltimore Con and New York Con in Full Effect

So to start I wanted to give yall a first look at Identity Comics Studio's "The Brotherhood of Fighters". All of Id has been hard at work retooling our ideas for the Brotherhood and we have some really big things on the horizon. We will be producing a brand new graphic novel featuring these characters. The book will be released in time for San Diego Comic Con in 2012. But we will begin promoting the book right now and we will release a preview book at this year's New York Comic Con.

Aww man! The world tour is going strong. and I had a blast in SDCC. We really made the best of our time ( I may have even gotten some work out of it)and had an opportunity to hang out with some of the coolest cats in comics. We got to chill with fellow Deviants like just to name a few.

From there joined and I at the Steel City Con where we got to hang out with our homeboy and we met . We really had a chance to meet some great people and do a bunch of sketching.

Next up is the Baltimore Comic Con which is our hometown show so we are really gonna go all out. You can look for the crew to be in full effect. and myself to be doing commissions signing prints and talking up our book, "The Brotherhood of Fighters". Also the first 4 Deviants to mention this journal will get a free commission! what could be better than that?

Finally and myself will also be setting up in artist alley at the New York Comic Con for the very first time. Again we will all be signing prints and doing commissions plus we will have the preview book for "The Brotherhood of Fighters" in hand and available to buy. Be the first kid on your block to be in on the hottest project we have produced to date!

Its Hard to Come up with a Good Title

So the days of the Summer are flying by. San Diego Comic Con is just a couple weeks away and the ID crew and I have secured table space at the New York Comic Con and the Baltimore Comic Con. My new mini portfolio The Artobiography of the Franchize is safely with the printer and I am working hard on the new book from ID. Oh! and I almost forgot the new sketch card project I'm working on for Rittenhouse and Marvel

Commission work is still coming in though so here is a sample of some of my latest work.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday USA

This image has nothing to do with independence day. My homeboy Flash's B day was a a couple weeks ago so Peng-Peng and I put this piece together to be his birthday card. We shoot a lot of zombies in call of duty so it seemed like a good idea and we ran with it. He loved the card so it was a huge success (we may even turn the idea into a comic...who knows!)

Later!

Going Strong

Work is still nonstop. I'm banging out new stuff pretty much everyday. It's like the race to the finish. I'm pulling out all the stops trying to get a new mini portfolio produced before my Wife and I head out to SDCC next month.

The image is above is a lil Hulk vs Wolverine commission piece I've been working on. I had way too much fun working on it.

Later!

The New Man of Steel

So, recently DC Comics released images of an new look for Superman. Being a huge Superman fan I think I am at liberty to say that I think it's LAME. There just isn't any need to change something that works and works well. Still I figured if ya gotta change his costume it might as well look cool. This is my take on earth's greatest hero.

Now back to work!

Still on My Desk

I just finished yesterday's sketch card commission this morning. I can't show the entire piece yet because I haven't sent it to the owner yet, plus I still have to get approval from Marvel. Still, I'm really happy with it. and I feel like sharing!

On my desk right now

Just a lil sneak peak of a sketch card commission I'm finishing up right now.

more to come!

Artist BLOCK!!

I have been all over the place doing caricature gigs. The party season is in full swing. Unfortunately for me though, when I am doing a bunch of caricatures my comic art style seems to suffer. I am now solidly experiencing artist's block. I still have a ton of projects on my desk so I don't have much choice except to fight through it. So I just did up this quick sketch of Oki from Sean Galloway's Bation's seven.

Just a lil sumpthin to keep the skillz flowing.

Later!

The End?

Why is it that things have to bee so tough? Sometimes it's like the world just can't throw enough crap my way. Money is tighter than it has been in quite a while which makes everything tough, plus gas has finally reached over $4.00 where I live. Even Superman has given up on "truth, justice and the American way". I think the worst part is the mood I've been in lately. It's hard to stay motivated when so many things seem to be stacked against me. (Sorry for all the venting folks)

Now that I've gotten the belly aching out of my system I know what I really need to do is buckle down and make something happen. No matter how tough things are I'm not built to quit. There is a great quote from Superman III...little Ricky finds Superman who has been affected with some new kryptonite in a bar getting drunk and terrorizing people with his heat vision. Ricky tells Superman that "He's just in a slump. He can be great again!". Right now I know I'm in a slump, but I can be great again too.

So I'm not giving up. It's time to get down to business and prove that I really am the "World's Greatest" (those that know me best will know about that).

Next week I'm sure I'll have better news to report. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Sumpthin Different

I felt like drawing something that isn't a super hero. I guess it's good to flex my skills on the female figure from time to time.

By the way, I saw Thor today and I thought it was ok. Yup, just OK. I was hoping for more, but what can u do right?

Fastest Man Alive

Anyone else hate tax time? ARGH! Uncle same came around last month and really drained my pockets dry. It put me in quite the financial bind this month. I've had to really battle to get ends to meet. Anyhow. That is good news for the blog cuz that means I'll have more art to post!

This piece is the line work for a commission piece for a friend that is loooooong over due. Hopefully He will like it and that will make up for how long it took me to get it to him. I did a color version as well, but I think I'll wait to post that until next time.

Later!