Head Sketches

I'm still working out the characters for this comic project. It's going a bit slower then I want, but I picked up some freelance on the side so time is limited. Any who, I'm hoping to have the characters finalize by next week. 

-Tim

Head Sketches

Looks like I wont be able to do everyday of Inktober, but I still want to aim for having this comic done by the end of the month. Its only two pages, so hopefully once I get the character designs down it should go smoothly. But then again, I have never done a comic before so will see what happens! 

-Tim

InkTober #1 #2

I missed the first day of InkTober, but I'm going to catch up by posting two for today! Last night instead of inking I went and saw The Martian. It was a great movie, I highly recommended it! It has a great emotional story that takes the viewer along for the ride. I may even go head and buy the book it was adapted from! The story follows stranded NASA astronaut Mark Watney on Mars, and his journey of surviving the red planet.

The first ink I did for the month was a potato plant. In the movie Mark tries to grow potatoes on Mars to keep his food source going. I ink this one traditionally, and looking at it, I probably should have spent a tad bit longer on it. 

The second ink I did for this month, I did completely digital in Sketch Book Pro. It was fun doing it digital but I found myself spending more time on it then originally plan since the erase tool can erase any mistakes I make. When I ink traditionally, there is no easy way to get rid of a unwanted line so I just keep moving forward.

I think for this Inktober I may try to focus completely on my comic project I started, instead of a new subject every day. Will see how it goes.

Until tomorrow,

-Tim

Character Designs

I've been doing some character designs the last two weeks for a very short comic I want to try to do. I have never done a comic before so this should be interesting. I'll post more about the comic at a later day. Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

The Escape

The final installment in the pirate set is called the "Escape." The two pirates landed on the island, found what they thought they wanted, and now are trying to escape it all. Unfortunately their ship is being destroyed by a Kraken and they had to choose their life or the gold. They decided to empty the treasure chest out and make a break for it, using the chest as a boat.

Like I mention last post, I wanted to make sure to have the horizon line stay the same through out all 3 illustrations, which made it a bit tricky for the composition. The second thing I wanted to make sure is that their character traits carried along through out all 3 pieces. The biggest issue I had on this Illustration was the Captain. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted him sitting in the chest or standing in it.

Once I figured that out, his silhouette was the next challenge. It seemed no matter what pose I put him in, his silhouette just wasn't clear enough. After doing some life action ref, I landed on a pose I was happy with.

Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Pirate Arrival Illustration

After attending Motor City Comic Con this year I was commissioned to do two new illustrations that added to my original Pirate Illustration story. The two added parts of the story would be the Pirates reaching the island, and then the Pirates trying to escape the island. This is the first part where they arrived.

I wanted to make sure the theme stayed the same through out all 3 illustrations by keeping the characters and their traits through out. With the Captain consumed with money, he is twirling a golden coin on his fingers while his Second in command is busy checking out the mermaids. Both are to distracted by everything they want that they don't see the octopus pulling away their boat off into the ocean. Another small thing I wanted to keep the same through out all 3 illustration is the horizon line in the background. I wanted to make sure that it was in the same place through out all 3 illustration. 

After the first initial sketch, I worked mostly in Sketch Book Pro. When I was happy with the characters and environments, I printed the characters separate from the environment and did a quick tiedown with a red pencil. After that I scanned the images back into Photoshop and did the inking and coloring there. 

Getting the poses down wasn't to bad this time around, though this time I did use some of my own live action reference. Keeping the characters on model did turn out to be a little tricky for this illustration, I had to go back a couple of times to tweak features here and there.  

Next week I'll be posting the second illustration. Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Small Changes

For the most part I finished the second illustration this past week, just making a few small changes. Should be posting next week.

-Tim

One Down, One To Go

I was able to wrap up the first illustration over this past week, maybe I'll be able to knock out the second one this coming week! Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Flat Colors

I started adding the flat colors in the two illustrations this weekend, almost done with that part. One thing I notice adding the flat colors in though is the Captain face didnt seem right. So I did a quick edit change.

Mostly changed the placement of his eyes and brows. This helped put him on model with the original illustrations as well. The image above is the original and the one below (as well as the color image) is the fixed one.

Hopefully this week I'll be able to start adding the highlights and shadows to the color. Maybe some texturing as well. Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

On To Coloring!

I was able to finish inking this past week and now its time to start coloring both pieces! Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

The Arrival

I started the next illustration this past week and made some great progress on it. This one is coming along a lot quicker then the last one! Hopefully I should be able to start coloring both of them by next week! Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

On to the next one

I finished the inking on the 3 installment of the Pirate Illustrations. Once I get the line work done on the 1st installment, I'll color both at the same time.

Here are some small random sketches too!

-Tim

The Kraken!!!

I'm still chipping away on this illustration, pretty close to being down with the line art. Here is a rough sketch of the Pirate Ship being destroyed by the Kraken!

-Tim

Captain Progress

Figuring out the Captain pose has taken the most time for this illustration so far. It was hard finding a silhouette that is clean and isn't blocked by his jacket. I finally got something I'm happy with (4). I started drawing with pencil and paper, but ended up doing a lot of the sketching digital in Sketchbook Pro. Now onto the background.

-Tim

Pirate Illustration Part 3

In the next month or so I'll be creating two commission pieces that will expand on the Pirate Illustration is did last year. The two scenes will take place before and after the Pirates find the treasure.

Right now I'm working on the 3rd, or "after" piece, the Pirates trying to escape the island. I'm still working out the Captain pose, but the second pirate is set. I'm hoping to get the line work done on this illustrations with in the next week or so.

Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Still Sketching

I'm still working out the posing for the latest illustration. Slowly but surely it will get there.

-Tim

Sketching

I've been staying busy since being back in GA. I had a few minutes to sketch today and it felt pretty good! This time around, I'm exploring the story a little further of a illustration I previously did. I'm excited to see how it turns out!

Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Post Motor City Comic Con 2015

I'm finally back from Motor City Comic Con and a small vacation! The show was a lot of fun as usual. I got to catch up with some fellow artist in the area, as well as getting to meet some new ones.

This is my fourth year doing Comic Con, and every year is a learning experience. Mostly how to make my table area help promote myself and my art work to the viewer walking by.  This year I got a Vertical Banner to help tell people who the person is behind the table, and some Small Easels to prop up some art work to catch the viewer's eye from the distance. On the table and easels I had my art work, as well as some free swag to help promote where my artwork can be located online.

My Pirate and Warrior Wolf illustrations seem to be a popular sell at the show this year, which was nice to see. Its always great to see people interested in the characters, worlds, and stories you create in your work.

This year I shared a table with my bud Jonathan Bowling. He was at the show promoting his Graphic Novel called Project Yeshuo. Jon had a really great response from this year Comic Con. Everyone seemed to really be drawn to his story and characters, which was great to see! He will be updating his Tumblr along his journey, make sure to check it out.

Here are some photos from this years Motor City Comic Con!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Tim

The Critics' Choice TV Awards

For the fourth year in a row, Archer was honor as Best Animated Series! Thanks for watching and the continue support! Watch out for Season 7!

-Tim

Prints Prints Prints

Here are a few prints that will be available at Motor City Comic Con this weekend. I've been staying busy getting these and a few others prints ready, along with a vertical banner as well. Can't wait for this years Comic Con, see you there!

-Tim

And the nominees are...

The Critics' Choice TV Awards will be on May 31st, and Archer is in the running for Best Animated Series again! Thanks for the support, and stay tuned!


On a side note, sorry for the lack of updates. Not much new art at the moment, just preparing for Motor City Comic Con.

-Tim

Spider Gwen

I love the look of Spider Gwen! Her design and color scheme is great, very clean and simple but powerful. I ran across a article a few weeks ago about her new series and went to the local comic store after work to pick up issue #1. Since I have been on this fan art kick of late I thought I would take a stab at doing a illustration with her in it.

I did a few rough sketches to try to get a a pose down, one that was dynamic but not provocative. I even took a couple to flat colors, but something was missing. So I went back and did a few more sketches and came across one I really enjoyed. It felt dynamic and had a few things that the other were missing, like perspective elements such as overlapping and size difference (4).

After I had her pose and design down, I started working on the city. There were a few elements I wanted to add to show that it was New York, such as the Chrysler Building. Something about that building I really enjoyed and been wanting to bring it into my art for a long time now.

I did a rough sketch of the city as well, and then cleaned it up using Sketch Book Pro. Sketchbook Pro was a nice change. It does feel more like your sketching on paper, and the perspective tools really helped knock out the clean up quick.

I did the coloring in Photoshop like usual (1) but I wanted a certain look with the colors that I'm not even sure how to describe.  Here is a example by Nate Simpson. Something about the softness and how the colors work together. But anyways, I was able to get a similar look to a degree by using a gradient and setting it to Pin Light (2). In the end, I had to tone it down a bit to get some shadows and highlights back, but it was nice to find a way to get the look I wanted.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Tim

Archer Season 6 Final This Week!

Wow this season flew by! Archer Season 6 finale Pt. 2 will air this Thursday at 10 PM on FX. Make sure to catch Pt. 1 of it if you missed it last week! See you next Monday with a new art update!

-Tim

Skyscrapers

I wasn't able to get this illustration done this week, but I was able to get the line work for the background done at least. Thanks for stopping by!

-Tim

Sneak Peak

Working on one more fan art piece, after that I will be getting back to some other art projects I have in mind. Have to work on the Background still, but I think I can have this piece done by next week, if not, at least the line work. Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Archer Season 5 Is On Netflix!

Now on Netflix you can watch Archer Season 5! Every season should be up now if you want to catch up, rewatch, or start from the beginning!

I should be posting some new art work on the blog next Monday. Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

Web Site Update

I finally got around to updating my main website, TimKafantaris.com . I posted some of the finish illustrations pieces there. Pretty soon I will be updating my Demo Reel to show some of the work I have been doing the last two season on Archer.

Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim

The Riddler

A little more fan art for this week post. This time, The Riddler. I'm not quite sure why, but I think he maybe my favorite DC villain. Maybe its the riddles or maybe its the cane. I do remember being young and watching The Making of Batman Forever on TV. They talked about the movie, what they were doing different with the Bat Suit and the Bat Mobile, but what stood out to me was hearing the cast and crew talk about The Riddler!

Now, being older, its fun seeing what the show Gotham is doing with the character and how they are introducing him to the audience.

Until next time,

-Tim

Joker 52

When DC Comics launched the new 52, Batman was a series I got hooked on. Everything from the story to the art was amazing. One of the things that stood out, was how they brought back the joker and reminded everyone just how crazy he is. Crazy enough to want his face cut off, leave it behind on purpose, go back and pick it up, and wear it around like a mask! So here is my little tribute to that weirdo. If you haven't yet, check out The Court of Owls and Death of the Family. They will not disappoint! 

On another note, the inks of Jonathan Glapion were amazing during the series. They really stood out to me, and even made me want to dabble in traditional inking. He also has a youtube channel with some techniques and time lapse videos, Give it a watch,

Thanks for stopping by,

-Tim