Whitevillage's Art Blog

Which medium do you prefer when reading comics?

2012-01-26T09:12:00.004+01:00

Since It seems to be impossible for this blog to add a working poll, then I have to do it by writing a blog.

So my question is; "Which medium do you prefer when reading comics?"

- normal sized book: the format of American comics or the larger French BD,
- pocket sized book: the format of Japanese manga,
- computer monitor: a 4:3 or 16:9 screen size,
- smartphone: Iphone, Android, etc.,
- tablet: iPad, Samsung galaxy, etc.

I'm a traditional comic book reader and I prefer to read in a pocket sized book, altough I prefer a normal sized book as well. The good thing of pockets is that they are small of size and thus you can carry them more easily with you when you are on a trip. It's also good for reading, giving your eye a main focus on reading the page as a whole at once and you don't read too long on one page.

I do read often on a computer monitor, however I can't take it for too long and it's not only for my eyes that are starting to get tired, but also my brain. It's just not as relaxing from reading a book because of the light from monitors. However, If you have a huge library of books and no space, storing them digitally is a good investment in the long run. You only need enough hard disk space and be sure to make a backup.

I have no experience with smartphones or tablets and I'm eager to test reading comics with these handhelds. I'm very interested to hear opinions of readers that prefer a smartphone or tablet to the above.

Zapupo 'guiding' Claire trough trouble

2012-01-15T21:15:00.005+01:00

I got this funny and sadistic illustration from a friend of mine for my birthday. Thank you Coco!!

If you want to see more of her work, visit: http://dynastycoco.deviantart.com/

Meet Holly, the young witch

2012-01-05T12:43:00.001+01:00

The young witch has a name: Holly
Best wishes for 2012!

Done with 2011

2011-12-24T17:54:00.003+01:00

It's almost over...
I experienced 2011 as a strange year. There have been many natural disasters and a lot of political unrest, especially like in the Middle East, the economic recession and many well known people who have meant a lot for others lost their lives this year as well.

But how about myself?
As I look back on last year, the first thing I notice that everything has gone so quickly. Maybe too quickly. I had little happiness and I started to doubt what the hell I still can expect from life. It was nice that I've experimented with comics, but my technical drawing knowledge has barely improved. At least I'm glad that I'm getting better at working under deadlines and coping with stress.

Bottom Line: 2011 was almost hopeless for me and I am also glad it is almost over. On to 2012!

I just need a heroic 'Fuck yeah!' song to start the new year

Brain Farts #6

2011-12-03T16:21:00.008+01:00

A small collection from my sketchbook.

Halloween!

2011-10-24T19:22:00.003+02:00

This is an Halloween illustration featuring Claire. I think it's very appropriate for her.

Halloween is still a week ago, I'd like to wish all the people who are celibrating this horrorish holiday a very frightning evening!

Illustration preview

2011-10-23T19:31:00.003+02:00

Here is a preview from an illustration that I'd like to share with you guys.
I don't think the theme is very hard to guess.

Character portraits

2011-10-07T23:38:00.007+02:00

These are some character portraits that I had in mind for a long time (except for Claire and the Doctor) and needed to be drawn to give my mind some rest.

At the moment I have several ideas for the main story of Witch Cat and I'm thinking and scribbeling characters and scenes that I might use in a future story.

I don't want to tell much about it, since most parts from the story are just 'ideas', but here are some character portraits for those that are interested.

Also found a sketch of Claire and some knight dude from last holiday season.

I got a new sketch book!

2011-09-02T18:28:00.006+02:00

My school started this week and I bought a brand new moleskine to start the new year with! I try to work more in my sketchbooks, since they only get filled up in one school year. Which is not very much If you want to be serious with your art journey.

I picked up my Pentel inking brush again. It's a hard medium to get good results from and it takes a lot of effort and time to master this technique. So yeah, I think it's better by doing at least some ink brush work once in a while then none at all.

These ink drawings are some kind of studies. The main reason is having some fun with a brush ink pen as well, so I tried to be very loose with it. I can't say that non organic brush inking works for me. I have seen other artists making pleasant results without looking to organic. I'm however more the type of guy that likes his non organic stuff done with very tight mediums like fineliners or small pen nibs. Time will tell...

Ah yes, the yet to be named scientist from Witch Cat. I gave this cliched professor not much drawing attention, so it was about time that he gets the attention he deserves. His designs might change in the future or perhaps not. I have a long way to go when it comes to eldery men (and women), they are from time to time more interesting to draw for me then younger people.

Dodonpachi Daioujou: Type A - Player 1

2011-07-24T12:43:00.004+02:00

A ship from Dodonpachi Daioujou, a brutal yet addictive shoot'm up that is probably one of my most favourite games ever. I always wanted to draw mechanical scifi themes, but I always chicken'd out during the progress. I'm happy with this one, even it was a reference study.

The queen of lust

2011-07-22T21:28:00.003+02:00

This illustration of Malissa, the queen of Oparaha took long enough. I wanted to paint without any countours, since I'm relying on that too much. A lot of hard work for me, but I learned a lot from it and there is a lot of room for improvement.
WIP version from this post

Ruan the sailorman

2011-07-17T14:39:00.003+02:00

Finished finally this illustration of Ruan.

WIP version from this post

Sea life

2011-07-14T15:05:00.002+02:00

I just had the urge to draw some sea life. I used pictures from the internet as a reference.

The waitress revisited (updated)

2011-07-12T22:07:00.002+02:00

Waitress: "Here's dessert!"

Claire: "Why thanks!"

I redrew the waitress from Witch Cat #2, because she's so much fun to draw. It was also a good change to try a different CG painting technique. And I'm loving it!

Update 22/07/2011: I reuploaded another version where she's is standing correctly without falling to the left. Thanks to walnut at conceptart.org forums for noticing.

Also check out the backcover from WC#2 from 2007!

Summer vacation

2011-07-10T16:23:00.002+02:00

I have summer vacation at the moment and I'm mostly drawing on my computer. After a long time studying comic design at the art academy, I'm exhausted and it's good to do something of your own and sit back and relax before my 5th semester starts.

The following work in progress pieces will take a while, so here is a screenshot for teasing you!

Claire is putting her clothes on #3

2010-12-26T22:21:00.001+01:00

Finished!

Claire is putting her clothes on #2

2010-12-22T14:59:00.002+01:00

Last post before Christmas.
Happy Christmas ya all!!

Claire is putting her clothes on #1

2010-12-21T19:36:00.001+01:00

This time I inkt directly from the thumbnail which is about 10 x 5 cm to 29,7 × 42 cm at 300 dpi. Pretty satisfied with the outcome, might to check her waisline out before I'm going to do the background and painting.

Witch Cat sketches!

2010-12-19T19:30:00.001+01:00

At last, I have holiday season! Which means I can finally do personal work, want to get back to my Witch Cat project and other things. Here are some work in progresses:

I hope this is the final design for the Evil Queen of Oparaha. Her pose is referenced from a pin up model.

A quick overpaint from the original. I dig the rough shadow casting.
I have a name since the second chapter of Witch Cat for the Evil Queen but I made a mistake in the editing proces. It should be "Malissa" which means honey bee which might have a suggestive link to the saying "The flowers and the bees" which her personality reflects. Also it's a pun on malice which has a connection for being evil and stuff.

I was thinking the other day to make 11 × 16 prints of Witch Cat to sell at conventions. This is one of them, Claire putting on her outfit in the morning. I really liked how the thumbnail came out, but after working more in to it, I'm not satisfied with the results. Will use references from now on, since I'm very rusty. The 'X' parts are obvious anatomical errors, although the whole piece might be completely redone.

The colour pallette should give an early morning impression. Will be redone.

Brain Fart #5

2010-06-12T19:02:00.000+02:00

Quick pencil drawing of the Oparaha queen from Witch Cat

Character colour designs for new comic idea

2010-03-06T22:02:00.000+01:00

Long time no update... I'm too busy with school to work on personal drawings and comics this year.

I have an idea for a comic next to Witch Cat since last summer and here is one of the character designs. Some people might recognize the character from an illustration of mine before.

The designs are undecided at this time.

Comic Diary: Pencil panel preview from page 4 of WC#3

2009-12-28T21:57:00.000+01:00

This is my last post for this year.
Have a safe new years eve and see you in 2010!

Christmas card 2009

2009-12-19T14:50:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas and a happy 2010!

Stripdagen Houten 2009: Report

2009-09-28T11:34:00.000+02:00

So last Saturday I went to this comic event in the Netherlands and joined the Mangafique group to sell and draw there. I got the impression it was awfully quite around our stand. Did'nt sell much like earlier years, but I guess that's also because I haven't anything new to sell.

All with all, I left with a bitter taste. I will attend these kind of events again when I have more things to sell and to promote. I drew only a couple of sketches there, here they are:

Claire taking a bath and scared waitresses!
A little warming up, two emotionless heads of both genders.
Experimental; a dumb and fruity portrait of Ruan.

Stripdagen Houten: Saturday 26 September 2009

2009-09-19T17:39:00.000+02:00

Next week on Saturday I will attending Stripdagen (Comic days) in Houten the Netherlands! However, nothing new to sell. I just want to attend because I was absent last year and I wanted to show I'm NOT dead. As for being a dealer, I like to walk around the area trying to network a bit (I'm really terrible at this!) and perhapes buying some comic books.

Comic Diary: a preview of Witch Cat #3 - Page 1

2009-09-06T12:53:00.000+02:00

Comic Diary: WC#3 temporarily on hold

2009-08-30T16:32:00.000+02:00

As you read in the title of this post, Witch Cat volume 3 is on hold for a short while. The reason is that I don't have the time and courage to finish it in time next September. I feel terrible for this because I really wanted to finish it around this time of the year. I'm a bit anxious about finishing it and I try to get my drive to finish it back. If you can catch my drift...

College has started and that means I have to concentrate especially the first two months to get used to everything again. I'm now going to an art academy and I'm very excited about it. I think that I will have enough time to work on my own stuff as well, though it's also a lot of homework. I'm looking forward to the following classes: Art history, illustration, comic design and model drawing.

Wish me luck!

Experimenting with magic and succeeding

2009-08-12T17:23:00.001+02:00

This illustration gives me the same feeling when I finally finished something after trial and error. I'm just happy even it works a bit.

WIP: Claire Line art

2009-08-11T23:25:00.001+02:00

Just something in between.

Comic diary: Back from vacation and back to work

2009-08-09T17:08:00.000+02:00

I'm back from my vacation and I have a couple of weeks still free before I'm going to study. I haven't done anything artsy all that time. And I kind of regret it, since I'm annoyingly stiff when I'm drawing. Never tought It would be this serious...

Anyhow, I have inked a couple of pages already and that went alright. At least I don't make horrible mistakes like I did with Witch Cat #2 that I had to edit big time in Photoshop. I will show progress soon, but I'm holding back because or else I'll spoil too much before the product is finished. :)

Comic diary: A sneak preview of the pages #2

2009-07-14T19:35:00.000+02:00

So far I have only been drawing pages, pages and pages... I wanted to ink all pages at once when they are all drawn. However, that is just boring. A little bit of something else works better then doing them in stages. I wanted to ink the first five pages and to move on to drawing five pages and repeating that.

Some annoying factors during the progress; my scanner does not really like to listen and scans my pages skewed. I will look in to this matter later, since I got some help from people. Thanks a lot! Second, my new bottles of ink I purchased some while ago give bleeding lines. They are not visible on the page above, but some parts are that are inked with the new ones. I panneled and ballooned with old ink. I just can't understand why it bleeds... (you can only tell the difference when It's scanned, this is a photoshot).

This was the last post before I'm going on holiday! I'm away for about two and a half weeks. When I come back, I'll be working again and update this blog when I can. There are exciting days to come after that as well. I hope I can finish my project before the upcoming madness. Wish me luck and good bye!!

Comic diary: Concepts #1

2009-07-10T14:38:00.001+02:00

Comic diary: A sneak preview of the pages #1

2009-07-06T14:10:00.000+02:00

Environments... If there is something important to a comic, it's environments. Not only gives it the idea where the story takes place, but it also adds a mood and feeling to describe the surroundings of the action.

Anyway, I am working at the opening shot of a village that Claire's going to enter. But as you might noticed, I have a big time dealing with perspective and vanishing points. Most buildings in the panel have there own VP (vanishing point), so It will give a more chaotic and poor atmosphere. I added extra paper around my panel so that it will show the VP's and I want to get it as believable as possible. It's really tedious work, but it's the end result that counts.

Comic diary: A balance between light hearted fun and technical perfection

2009-07-04T11:36:00.000+02:00

I always wondered what it takes to keep on working for a comic. Untill I was working on one. The first Witch Cat comic went quite fast without trouble, because I was thinking very light hearted about the progress and worked the same way. The second volume was more about thinking and doing the right things in order to get a more professional approach.

Now, with the third volume right now; I want to be so perfect as possible. This can be at times very frustrating and unforgiving, but I will in the end learn so much from it as well. So where do we have to draw the line? I think it's a balance between light hearted fun without being too precise and technical perfection. Archievement in learning and finishing the product will then go hand in hand much better.

As you can read, making something takes a lot from you as a skilled and experienced person. It's not like we're pulling these works straight out of our asses, for saying. It does not only take 'talent' but also hard work and dedication. Thus, respect for all comic creators and other hard creative workers! :)

Comic diary: Work in progress of the cover #3

2009-06-30T20:54:00.002+02:00

I have finished the two portraits of the ladies for the cover! Only Ruan is left to do...

Anyway, these portraits were quite annoying to get right in the way I wanted. And most annoying part is... That you won't see most of it in the cover when Ruan is showing in front of them both... Well It's not too bad, since I'll show these in my gallery in the future as portrait artwork and you can see them right here ofcourse!

I've started working on some pages. I still need a lot of reference and reworking some environments... I'm quite excited though, I have a very strict deadline actually that I don't want to screw up and I'm working for the first time with A3 size paper for a small press/doujinshi. So I hope I won't bump into hiccups during the progress...

Wish me luck (and work hard)!

Comic diary: Work in progress of the cover #2

2009-06-24T14:30:00.002+02:00

I'm almost done with the colouring of Claire, but I started on the priestess for a change of doing something else to clear my mind to work on it again later. It's good because you'll focus too much on one aspect and are not aware of simple mistakes. I can't promise though...

As you can see, I give her a mitre and a cloak as opposite from the last thumbnail versions. She's some kind of spiritual fertility worshipping priestess and she will take part of the story beginning in the third chapter. I can't tell about her whereabouts yet, but let's say It'll spice the story more up.

I'm not sure about her looks in this WIP yet, she looks a little too happy and I can't point out why I don't really like her eyes so far either.

Comic diary: Work in progress of the cover #1

2009-06-22T17:05:00.001+02:00

As you can see, I started with Claire for no particular reason. Drawn with various pencils ranging from H to B5, A3 size Bristol paper. Man, working at that size is quite hard for a portrait, I tell you!

PS: I gave her the old all latex suit because she wears it when Ruan remembers her. I really don't like it because of it's simplicity. I prefer the jeans and latex outfit much, much, much more...

Comic diary: Another concept for the front cover

2009-06-02T21:05:00.001+02:00

The second and maybe last concept for the cover page of Witch Cat #3. I gave Ruan (that sailor guy in the middle) some more space, but he's standing there like: "Why am I standing here? Can I go home now?" I'm thinking of using a combination of both, the background figures are having their own colour so it does'nt look all too confusing and blending in with each other. Fertility priestess needs more shoulders...

Comic diary: Thumbnails and concepts for the front cover

2009-06-01T20:56:00.001+02:00

Alright, so I guess this is the first official post for my comic diary I mentioned in the last post. I have done a few thumbnails and colour them to get a good impression how I want my front cover. The first two front covers from Witch Cat, didn't get that treatment only one concept and that's that. Just too little info to work on and from what you get in the end.

I always choose one main colour for a volume so it differentiates from the other volumes. I'm also thinking about mood and what the colour stands for. A new character is introduced which is a fertility priestess and fertility is most of the time used with green or light brown.

The front cover will have this time a group of at least two persons that should draw attention as well tell a bit about them in it's current volume of that book. Enough rambling, here are some pictures: (note that this is the cover of volume 3, Chapter 2 thing is a place holder)

Starting to work on the cover of Witch Cat #3!

2009-05-31T17:36:00.001+02:00

I will start soon with the cover of Witch Cat #3 and I made already some thumbnails to get a better idea of what I really want for a cover. I was thinking to keep a diary here when I'm working on Witch Cat #3, so to get more motivated to do almost every do something and to keep track of the progress for readers who are interested. I might toss as well at times some previews and tips about making a story and translating it into pages of panels.

Brain fart #4

2009-04-22T20:39:00.001+02:00

You bore me...

Brain fart #3

2009-04-20T23:01:00.001+02:00

Brain fart #2

2009-04-19T22:29:00.001+02:00

Brain fart #1

2009-04-18T21:57:00.000+02:00

Sporty Girl

2009-03-26T21:23:00.000+01:00

Darkstalkers Tribute

2009-03-14T15:51:00.000+01:00

I entered the Darkstalkers Tribute contest hold by Udon Entertainment, but since the competition was so high and good, I did not stood a change. But here it is for your viewing pleassure, I hope you guys like the paper cut out style that I was aiming for.

Claire by Blue Monika

2009-02-22T23:38:00.000+01:00

No I haven't drawn this one, but Blue Monika did!
If you are also interested in a commission sketch, be sure to check her journal at DeviantArt here.

Her website: www.dreamchasergallery.com

Designs and unfinished illustration

2009-02-21T22:10:00.000+01:00

Oparaha villagers designs for Witch Cat

Unfinished Witch Cat illustration

Witch Cat - Trailer chapter 1

2008-12-30T20:56:00.002+01:00

A trailer from the first chapter of Witch Cat from 2006. I'm planning to do more of these.
And have a great 2009 you all!

Witch Cat - Character Concepts

2008-12-21T12:47:00.001+01:00

It's almost the end of the year and I wish you visitors of my blog a happy Christmas and a careful new year.

In the mean time, I'm busy with scribbeling and little by little working on Witch Cat concepts. Here's some new rough character concepts I'm working on. I have chosen the colours not just they look fancy, but they have a meaning as well. Green stands for vertility and healing and blue for calm and peace. This goes for the character's peronality and class as well. Go figure why I chose turquoise for the second concept. Her clothes are inspired on traditional Greek and Turkish clothes, that kept warmth from the oustide to remain cool, I believe. The spikes from the left dude's hands are his knives though.

Arm studies - Part 1 - October / November 2008

2008-11-30T21:48:00.000+01:00

Medieval houses

2008-11-11T11:56:00.000+01:00

Little study from imagination about medieval houses.

Flower and the bees

2008-10-12T21:55:00.001+02:00

It's about the flower and the bees.

Work in progress, stay tuned!

Sunset flying with Claire - Wallpaper V2

2008-09-30T16:05:00.000+02:00

Final version, enjoy.

Sunset flying with Claire - Wallpaper

2008-08-04T16:25:00.001+02:00

Finally finished! Took me long enough, my PC crashed too often when I was painting this so it slowed the process down. I'm happy it got finally finished. This is a wallpaper in 1600x1200 format for you're desktop pleasure.

Flying over a floor of clouds: Work in progress 1

2008-08-03T14:16:00.001+02:00

The background has more contrast and value now thanks from the advice of A la Bapsi from Conceptart and I have started to cell shade to get an idea where to paint. Although I have a dilemma keeping it cellshaded or to paint which will take much longer.

Flying over a floor of clouds: Background

2008-08-01T22:22:00.001+02:00

It's not really a floor of clouds which I intended first, but I wanted to experiment with loose clouds as a background then just a floor in the end. The illustration is nicely coming along for sure. Background might get some tweaking though.

Flying over a floor of clouds: Concept

2008-07-08T11:40:00.001+02:00

A concept for a new illustration I'm planning to make.

Digital Painting practice #2

2008-07-07T19:06:00.000+02:00

I'm not very sure If I'm going to finish this piece, I'm tired of doing it and I'm looking forward to start a new painting.

Previous work in progress here.

Scenery painting study #1: Drenthe landscape

2008-07-03T17:09:00.000+02:00

Character doodle #1: Claire says:

2008-06-30T23:09:00.000+02:00

Event report: Stripdagen Haarlem

2008-06-13T13:25:00.000+02:00

So, how did my last event go? Here is a short discription:
It was a sunny Sunday and the crowd was pretty huge; from diehard comic collectors to your avarage person (you know what I mean, Vincit...). I went there around 11:00 till 16:30 though it started at 10:00. At first I did'nt attract that much visitors, but around 13:00 I finally got some attention and sold a few booklets to people.

There was also a guy that asked me for a drawing. The subject was to draw your own comic character relating to your favourite movie. And thus, Claire in a Darth Vader suit was born. At those moments, you should'nt think about subjects too much, the person does not want to wait for ever. I had a hard time of thinking and getting things done, since I'm having a field of anxiety around me with so many people around me. Luckily he was really happy with the drawing afterwards.

I did not go trough the whole event, because I was in a hurry when I left. It was a nice experience that I should do more often. Hopefully I can get a stand at a Anime Convention cominc in September, untill then!

Event anouncement: Stripdagen Haarlem

2008-06-04T11:35:00.000+02:00

Coming Sunday, the 8th June In Haarlem the Netherlands. I will be there as a dealer selling my booklets and this poster. Probably the whole day if things go well, I'm looking at the weather that is. It's an outside location on a market street. Sounds fun but I don't want to think about rain or storm either. That would be a worse case scenario (next to selling nothing, haha). Check out the website for more info: http://www.stripdagenhaarlem.nl/

Digital Painting practice

2008-06-02T17:48:00.001+02:00

I have been in a rut these days and haven't had my mind really much on making artwork lately. However, yesterday I went parachuting
and I think it was pretty awesome, just realizing it now. The view straight below is quite an odd one, everything looks really 2 dimensional, it's different then when looking outside a plane. Falling through a floor of clouds was also a very cool yet quick experience.

I started to do some digital painting finally. I tried a few times before, but got neverless bored easily. This is just a ballpen doodle that have to be detailed in some areas before starting to paint it. Yes, 'another' Claire. 'Why are you obsessed with her?' I probably hear you thinking. Well, it's a important and beloved character of mine that is starring in my graphic novel series Witch Cat. And since I'm hardly creative these days, it's Claire that pops my mind to draw at least something. I should study more paintings and colours, it's far from perfect, but I have sworn to finish this as a experimental piece.

A llittle inking practice: Page 3 of WC3

2008-05-15T18:01:00.001+02:00

I haven't started again on Witch Cat 3 unfortunatly because of other things that have to be done. I did some pages a couple of months ago and I was thinking how to ink them without hurting the originals. You see, I'm not really fond on inking originals because I always have less confidence for making mistakes so that I have to draw a whole panel or page over and because of the dirtyness and damaged paper of penceling and erasing for 5 times.

So, I came with the idea of scanning the original and hook up my old printer and print the page in blue (Blue does'nt get picked up by the scanner in greyscale). However... that's how I wanted it. My inkcartridge is from some lame 3rd party company that does'nt print high quality and the colour blue seems to be dried up. So I picked grey scale and printed, which give a harsh tone result... I was tired of trying it again and started to ink, it was a practice after all.

Inked mostly with a 'Superball' pen (Pental France) which is a very smooth and dark fineliner and brush pen (Pental Japan). The practice was a pleasement to do and I could try a new technique now I had that pen brush, 'the shiny black hair technique' that is quite common in manga. I think I still have a lot to learn, but as long as the experience is pleasing, I'm happy.

True Love - Concept

2008-04-26T23:42:00.001+02:00

These pages are concepts of my 6 page comic named 'True Love'. There was a POW (Panels of the Week) contest with the subject 'True Love' at the Conceptart.org forum. I could'nt start anything at the moment back then, but I promised my self to work later on it as a small comic study and It's because I like the subject.

The first 3 pages are also the only ones I show to the public. You will see how it ends with the two love birds, then... (and just why is that truck heading at full speed in the middle of a city!?)

Event anouncement: Stripdagen Arnhem

2008-04-11T23:08:00.000+02:00

I'll be attending together withMangafique at the Stripbeurs Arnhem. An event that concentrates mostly on franco/dutch comic creators, attending there signing comics for their loyal fans. Ofcourse, you can buy my Witch Cat comics if you'd like to (please do!). But you can also come along at the Mangafique boot (which is sideways after the entrance!!) to have a chat or even a drawing.

At the moment, I'm in an artistic identity crisis (have no idea how to discribe it, it's not an artist block neither). Let's hope it'll settle down till the 19th of April. I'm looking forward to that day, see you then!

Silly doodles

2008-03-30T13:17:00.000+02:00

Just some quick ballpoint concepts for maybe cutouts or something else. I'm at the moment working on Witch Cat #3 by the way. Can't tell when it will be released.

East meets West manga

2008-02-28T21:57:00.001+01:00

Way back in this blog, I mentioned about the 'west meets east' manga competition that I joined in to. Well the fact is, I didn't make it. This short manga was a nice challenge with the buildings and stuff, it's a short comedy manga about some homeless cat girl that wants to spent the night cozy outside of the terrible wheater.

This could be plan B or C (are we curious, hmm?), this is one of them: putting it on the internet, for you're pleassure.

***This post is edited and links are removed until it is clear that my entry is approved or not. Thank you for your concern!***

Some fanart from fighter games.

2008-01-27T17:30:00.000+01:00

Again, I'm busy at the moment to improve my drawing abilities. Mostly drawing heads and stuff since I want to get off from the symbol like faces, which are common mostly in unrealistic and cartoony artwork. I suck a the more realistic faces and I draw them automatically, so practice will hopefully make perfect.

I have some fanart this time, from fighting games. Cammy from Super Street Fighter II and A.B.A. from Guilty Gear XX Slash. I think water ink (Ecoline) does suit me well, it's fun working with it. Funny enough I forgot almost Cammy's most remarkable part: her army strips on her legs. They're now digitally added, sneaky sneaky. And I still love cutouts. Still it's digital but I try to manage the traditional feel of it.

Also, I know the website self ain't updated for a while. It might take a while since I want to redo the whole website over again. I only don't have a clue how I'm going to dit it, but please have patience and stay tuned!

A new year, an exposition and one year older.

2008-01-11T16:13:00.000+01:00

Wew, 2007 was for me a fast year that passed by. With 2008, I hope to spend more time on drawing and studying the fundementals more of art. How ever, i'm for the last 6 months working for college at a company which specializes in making mobile phone games. So, I have no idea how much impact this will have at my drawings. Though, it is a creative stage because I'm going to make sprite graphics and what not for the company. I'm very excited about this!!

As from an earlier post, the Mangafique exposition in Utrecht, the Netherlands has started since the 6th of January. At that date, I was there as well selling the Witch Cat issues. Furthermore, there where also other Dutch doujinshi circles/small press groups, selling there books and merchandise as well. In the end of the first day, there where over 1250 visitors coming to see our work from the exposition. There was also a workshop about manga drawing and even how you draw traditional Japanese clothes and weapons.

Yesterday, was my birthday. It comes always very quick after the christmas holidays, new years evening, so sometimes I wished that my birthday was later this year. But in the end I don't mind it, because it's easier to remember for others.

Mangafique Exposition photo's: (will add discription later)

The gallery ally with my work as well from others upstairs
A close up of my work
Making of... a manga page by Nat-chan
The back side of the same ally
Back to the front side of the ally, from the right
My Claire artwork and Tyara's Mage! artwork
Most Dutch doujinshi titles from individuals
Dutch doujinshi from Cheese cake and Open minded
Directions and the mascotte of Mangafique named Indy
The gallery from the first floor
Gallery work from Open minded
Art by Open minded member Eva (Life machine)
Gallery work from Cheese cake
Upstairs view from the first floor
Gathering of cosplayers
Manga workshop
Doujinshi/smallpress selling point from the left side
The mid section where I sold my issues
Other view and Vincit who's kinda posing

Christmas greeting card

2007-12-15T13:02:00.000+01:00

It's almost time for the last holidays of the year, which means lots of food, presents, reunited families and ofcourse; christmas greeting cards. It's always a tradition among friends to create your own christmas greeting cards. I did'nt do them last year unfortunetly, but this year I'm all in! As you can see, this time I choose for a paper cut out style. I think it's cute.

Happy holidays!

Projects, yeah I love it!

2007-12-06T12:33:00.000+01:00

With all the deadlines from last month, i did'nt had much time for anything else, except for my home work/school projects. It's sometimes nescesary to make choices to finish what's more important. It's only annoying to read that one of your deadlines is postponed due to lack of others contribution, not that i'm blaming anyone else furthermore, but i'm having trouble dealing with such changes, I would'nt have to work my ass off and relax a bit. Well, shit happens.

One of these projects, is a exposition i'm doing with some others in Utrecht the Netherlands. The exposition is opened in January till February. So if you can visit one of these days, be sure to check out Manga inspired works by Dutch illustrators. The illustration on the left will be shown in A3 format.

Then there is the comic project with the name 'West meets East' and as you can guess, this is also a mangasque project I worked on. I was pretty late with starting this comic, as it counts 7 pages which I made in 3 whole days to get it done for the deadline. It was pretty hard because the illustration had the same deadline as this project. I do hope it gets published, if not, I always got a plan B, or C.

I know that this blog is not updated very much, but i'm only posting stuff I find really important to show and inform. Quality above Quantity and such, right? Note also, that this page has a few grammar mistakes, which are not in the completed version.

Witch Cat redesign 1

2007-10-10T15:33:00.001+02:00

This is what I wanted to do with this blog in de first place: posting some of my daily sketches and doodles to keep the interested satisfied with new bits of artwork. I try to draw as much as I can when I have free time and am in the right mood.

One of the many redesigns of Claire's outfit. I wanted to put some jean parts into her usual latex outfit. I kind of like it, but needs more proper placement and details. I should study and reference jeans more these days (next to my drawing studies)... I like how illustrator Ishiwatari Daisuke from Guilty Gear fame handles this in his character designs. Click on the image for a bigger version.

Stripdagen Houten 2007 - Impressions

2007-10-01T15:24:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday, 29th of September I went to the Stripdagen in Houten (The Netherlands), selling my Witch Cat books with a group that has a focus on promoting manga in general, all with their own books from different doujinshi circles/small press groups. This is good, since Japanese comic are not popular at all with the traditional Dutch comic fans, so it's better to bring us together for a oppertunity like this.

It was very cool that I met people who liked my work, I chatted a lot with fellow comic fans and makers and sold more then I expected. There where also enough loyal Witch Cat readers that bought chapter 1 from last year, that also bought chapter 2 and some told me they where curious about the next chapter.

The only downsides were, that the room was very hot when it was most crowded and that I had to ask people again what they just said, it was very loud. And I got bothered by a gigantic headache. All with all, it was a great experience and it gave me more confidence.

More photo's of the Mangafique stand:
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4

Drawings from me that day:
Potrait with a thin neck
Some character doodles
Tasteful catgirl nudity
Some grumpy guy