Daily Doodle Christmas cards 2013

This years batch of Daily Doodle Christmas cards. Like last year, I picked my favorite Christmas themed Daily Doodles from the previous year's comics, added some color to them and made them into Holiday cards for my Zazzle store. If you're just now reading this it might be a little late to get them in time for the Holidays but there's always next year. They're not going anywhere.

Art on Tumblr

So, I've had a Tumblr now for a while. I've been trying to keep it updated as often as possible. I'm basically using it to post just about every piece of art that I've done, unless I deem it to be no good. It's mostly full of sketches though. I don't think I'll be using it in place of this blog but Tumblr seems to work better for those quick daily posts, which means that I probably won't be posting that stuff here anymore. I will, however reserve this blog for the longer more detailed posts. It seems more suited for that. Who knows, though? I might change my mind on that later on down the road. It's hard to decide which platforms and social networks to use for what thing, considering that there are so many. I do know that I'm really loving Tumblr and will continue to add artwork daily. So please come check it out and follow me! http://jeffmorin.tumblr.com/ If you are an artist, yourself I might just follow you back. I love all the great art that people are posting.

Firefly Ang

Over a month ago, I asked my Facebook followers to make some requests. I asked them to suggest any fictional character put their own spin on it if they wanted, and I would draw it.  I was able to complete one before getting very busy.  I'm still fairly busy right now but I will do them when ever I have some extra time.

This suggestion comes from Elaine, who suggested that I illustrate Ang from Avatar: The Last Airbender as a member of the Firefly crew. This was a fun one.

I figured if Ang lived in the Firefly world then his clothing would consist of a mix of the old west and modern day styles, like the rest of the characters. I thought it would be cool for him to wear a duster because it would flow in the wind when he's bending air. Plus, the top of the duster kind of resembles his robe from The Last Airbender cartoon.  I also gave him a bandanna that he could wear around his face, like a bandit. My thoughts were that the planets in Firefly were usually pretty baron and dusty so he'd need to protect his mouth and nose while using his powers, as it would kick up a lot of dust.  The rest of his costume is more modern. It's basically just  jeans and a t-shirt with boots, much like the other members of the Serenity crew.

I decided to take some time and color this one in Photoshop. I've been feeling like I need to improve my Photoshop coloring skills a bit. Of course, I've done coloring in Photoshop plenty of times but it feels like I do it differently every time  Sometimes I have to figure out a good formula or the right tools to use again. So, I'm hoping if I spend some time and use the suggestions as practice I can develop a good formula for my coloring process and stick to it every time.

Mauron the Magnificent

This Sunday I'll be participating in my first ever Dungeons and Dragons game.  I decided to take some time and illustrate my character, who I've named Mauron the Magnificent.  Mauron is a bit of a snake oil salesman. He travels the country side selling various potions and trinkets that may or may not be the answer to all of life's problems.  He's also a wizard of sorts. During his travels he acquired a magical amulet that allows him to create frighting illusions to scare off any would-be attackers.

Magneto Wedding Officiator

I'm taking Suggestions again, over on my Facebook page.  This Time I'm asking for suggestions based on fictional characters. Last time I just did quick pen and ink drawings of each suggestion but this time I'm going to spend a little more time on each drawing to exercise my art muscles a little. I feel like I've been getting a little rusty in certain areas and I figured this would be a fun and challenging way to get some practice in.

This first suggestion comes from Michael Kwan.  His suggestion seems to be based on the recent news that actor Ian Mckellen would be officiating Patrick Stewarts wedding. Of coarse, Ian Mckellen played Magneto in the X-men along with Patrick Stewart but Patrick Stewart is probably more famous for his role in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Michael chose to go with the less obvious suggestion that Magneto be officiating Captain Picard's wedding rather than the Magneto officiating Proffesor X's wedding.

I decided to challenge myself a little by drawing the characters in a more comicbook fashion which has made me realize that I need to brush up on my anatomy a little. I've gotten so used to illustrating more cartoony characters that I've sort of lost touch with how all the muscles connect and work together.  Rest assured, I'm already doing some figure drawing sketches to fix that problem. I've got to be the best!

On to the next one. I think I might add some color this time too.