Narutoooo!!!

This was a pretty cool request. To my recollection, I don't think I've ever drawn a manga character before. I tried drawing a some Street Fighter characters long ago but not like this. I've never really followed Naruto, so I'm not sure what it's all about but when it came up among the list of requests, I just had to do it. Except I wanted to do something a little different with this character. I kinda wondered how he would look a bit older...maybe as a teen/young adult. I mean, we artists all gotta experiment sometime, right? Anyhoo...enjoy!

God bless!

aL

Hot Stuff!

Things are progressing along a lot better than I realized! The feedback is amazing! When I got this particular request, I just couldn't turn it down. Today's sketch is The Blazing Skull! Yeah, I didn't make that name up. No, really. The name doesn't really do it for me but the look of the character's pretty cool. I spoke to my friends about this character, asking if they've heard of him but they all thought I was talking about Ghost Rider. Now that I think about it, I guess my sketch does kinda look like GR. Well, in any case, I really liked how this one turned out...especially the flaming skull. I'm so looking forward to what's around the corner for sketches 'cuz I'm not the one in control here. Hahaha...it's all on all of you who post your requests on the forums that I've got these sketches on. On that note, you can find my sketches on www.comicbloc.com/forums, www.digitalwebbing.com/forums or www.penciljack.com/forum ...my username is Meridian. I'll also start posting my sketches on www.drawingboard.org in about a week or so. So hit me up for an online sketch request or simply comment here on my sketch blog. Also, I've been asked regarding paid commissions and sketches and yes, they will be available soon! Stay tuned for details! In the meantime, enjoy!

God bless,

aL

Mad to the Max!!!

Wow, I'm really loving the comments and critiques that I'm getting regarding my sketches. It really gets me going and I have to thank all of you that have responded. I'm looking forward to hitting the sketchbook practically every night because of you guys. This sketch comes to you from one particular request on a forum that I regularly post to. Yeah, it's Mad Max. I grew up being a fan of all the Mad Max films...well, minus the third one. Mainly because of two words: Tina Turner. Personally I think musicians should stick to music and actors stick with acting. Anyhow, this sketch was particularily tough because usually I'm sooo uncomfortable with drawing from real-life. Call me crazy but I liken it to gambling: sometimes I hit the jackpot and sometimes I don't. I liked how this sketch turned out, though. I really didn't want it to look exactly like Mel Gibson but rather a comic representation of the character. Anyhoo, I hope you all like it! Enjoy!

God Bless!

aL

More goodies!

I was checking out some of the forums that I posted my Captain America sketch on and the majority of the critiques out there focussed on the incorrect visual of Cap's shield. Y'know...I'm always one for detail and Cap's shield did bother me but initially, I wasn't going to edit my quick sketch for the sake of being accurate. It was a quick sketch, drawn in the confines of a seat on a crowded morning-rush Go Train. But reading the critiques made me want to change the shield even more. So here it is! In the meantime here's another sketch that I finished off today:



I remember the first time I tried drawing Wolverine...soooo long ago. Man, I really sucked! I think what really did it for me was the fact that I couldn't draw Wolvie's mask! Especially those absurd ears! At an early age I kept thinking there must have been some formula, some guideline to drawing this guy's weirdo mask. But the more I drew him the more i understood his costume...and it helped that Marvel sent me a 3 view of our favorite canucklehead. As for his claws, I 'm not too fond of the mini-samurai sword style. And neither his curved claws. I like a little combination of both. I found Wolvies claws as shown in the X-Movies were perfect. And the sound?! What the heck is Snikt?! I thought the X-films had Wolvie's claw sound effects just right. When I read that his claws go "Snikt"...it's not doing them justice. Just food for thought.

Also, I've been opening up requests for sketches on forums such as Comicbloc.com, Penciljack.com and Digitalwebbing.com. I'm really going to try to challenge myself this year. I've found that simply drawing things that I want to draw doesn't cut it anymore. It's monotonous and unchallenging. So this is the first request that I got: Destiny. I have absolutely no idea who this character is but suffice to say, he was interesting to draw. Again, this was done as a quick sketch.



I've been trying to get my pencils done faster so that I can adopt a looser form of sketching. Also it really helped to sketch with an HB mechanical pencil, instead of the usual 2H leadholder that I use for drawing my comic panels. Anyhoo, I'll have more stuff up soon...

God Bless!

aL

The Cap is Back!

Well, after a lot of consideration I've finally decided what I'm going to do with this blog...welcome to my new sketch blog! I may add a few blurbs here or there but for the most part this blog will primarily showcase my sketches and possibly some of my actual comic pencils (after the work is produced and published, of course!). I've found that if I don't keep up with sketching between comic/illustration jobs, it becomes so much harder to get back into the swing of pencilling again. I hope you'll enjoy what you see here. And I'm always open to hearing from everyone, whether it's about comics or life, in general.

For today's sketch, I've decided to try drawing Captain America. I never really got into Cap's outfit while I was growning up but decades later I've grown accustomed to it. I think it was the wings on his head that really bothered me. Oh, and the texture on his upper chest area. Maybe it's because of the way it was drawn back then...I can't say for certain but I can say that I'm really diggin' the way he's drawn today...especially by Jim Cheung and Olivier Coipel. Anyhoo, enjoy!

God bless!

Alex