The complete Dinos vs Tanks series

Art for Mary Balogh's The Secret Pearl

I have been wanting to write about this topic for some time, and having spent the afternoon on this little drawing reminded me of this.


I have been working professionally as an artist for almost three years now, producing comics, storyboards, and occasionally ads and single commissions. I am not at all “born taught”, as we Italian say; I am slowly trying to get better and to draw in a more effective way.
I don’t always like what I draw. I don’t always get what I what at a first try. Most of my job, in fact, is made of corrections, re-drawing, throwing things I don’t like away. There are many drawings that never get scanned and posted online.

In the case above, I had first drawn the third picture. I have re-drawn Fleur’s face so many times that the eraser started to scratch the paper off. When I inked it, I didn’t like how I inked her at all. I had inked without a specific idea in mind.

So I re-drew it from scratch, despite the fact that I quite liked how Adam had come out, and that I still prefer the first Adam to the one I later colored. But the second try seemed to me more balanced, overall, and I inked also Fleur with a purpose. Not that I believe it’s a particularly spectacular drawing, but I enjoyed making it.

By the way, I also looked for references for 1822 fashion, but in the end I simplified her dress.

What’s the point of all of this? Possibly to support those who don’t like their first drawing and think that they are making it all wrong, too. That’s not the case. Art, or more simply a drawing, it’s not a matter of reaching your aim at first try. In fact, drawing over and over can be one of the most meditative aspect of the whole practice. Don’t give up after the first line went awry. Art is made with erasers too.

(tumblr)

Off topic: Snow White

Random pic

The first not-work related drawing I do since February 10!

News: The Endling

Since the news is out, I could at least share it with you!

So, what have I done in the last months? I've been working on a new webcomic which should start at the end of the month on Thrillbent. Story is by Jonathan Larsen. This is what the writer wrote about it:

I've long been interested in evolution, especially the ramifications of natural selection. I learned and thought and think about evolution not from a biological perspective but from a philosophical one. My faculty advisor in college was the well known philosopher (to the extent such a thing exists) Dan Dennett, who went on to write Darwin's Dangerous Idea, among other things.

After getting the opportunity to write a couple Batman stories for DC Comics, I began to think about projects of my own I wanted to do. One of them is a big, cool saga I hope to start soon, but as I shopped that around and spoke about it with various people in comics, I realized I should have another pitch in my back pocket, just in case. I began to think it might be fun to think about what the last human would be like. And how he got that way.

I hadn't known this before I began looking into the concept, but there actually is a term for the last individual specimen of a given species. The endling.

But the Endling isn't the hero of this story. The hero is a high-school senior named Amber Black. The story became less about the last humans and their world, than about current humans and our world; the prices we will and won't pay to save our world.

What the Endling ultimately is, well, I'm curious to find out what people have to say about that once the story is done.

It's scheduled to begin this month, so keep checking back. Once it's up, I'll link to it here. Or better yet, sign up for emails letting you know when each installment goes up!

This is the facebook page for the Endling. Please like!

And a few previews:

 A podcast with the writer talking about the Endling.

Wait for more news! I hope you'll like it!

Burial

Another little sci-fi doodle.

doodle

Clelia Conti

Just finished reading La Chartreuse de Parme... And I had a spare sheet, so I did a quick sketch of Clelia.

Historical Characters: Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 – c. 1014 or 1025), the author of the great masterpiece of Japanese literature, the Genji Monogatari (or Tale of Genji)

Believe it or not, it took me almost a week to come out with this version - I threw away some 4 or 5 already finished pieces before getting this synthesis. The writing says "Murasaki Shikibu - Genji Monogatari" although my shodō is completely wrong.

Drew with a Chinese brush on Chinese paper with Japanese ink.

Celebrity Death Match: King Arthur VS Charlemagne!

The two grandfathers of Medieval Europe
King Arthur and Charlemagne are the founding figures at the origin of the two main cycles of epic/romance poetry, the Arturian cycle (or matter of Britain) and the Carolingian cycle (or matter of France.) The Carolingian cycle continued to be developed until the beginning of XVII century, producing masterpieces from the Song of Roland to the Orlando Furioso. The Arthurian cycle was rekindled during the XIX century and continues to present days; I'd like to see a similar attention for the Carolingian cycle.

King Arthur and Charlemagne playing chess was a very old idea of mine... dating back some three years at least. I finally did it for the Historical Characters series.

For the first time, I show you something I inked with a tablet!

Historical Characters: Romulus Augustus

Woe to that land that's governed by a child.
(Richard III, II, iii, 11)

For the Historical Characters series
The last Western Roman emperor (deposed 476 AD)

This one was inked with a Sennelier Indian ink and my usual Hunt #108 nib. It's a very thick ink, so much that the nib clogs after a few strokes. I would recommend to dilute it when using with thin nibs.

Historical characters: Augustus and Julia the Elder

I shamelessly fangirl Emperor Augustus <3

The Queen of Sheba

For the Historical Characters series

During her stay at Solomon's palace, the wealthy Queen of Sheba discovered that the most precious possession was water.

From wikipedia: The narrative given in the Kebra Negast - which has no parallel in the Hebrew Biblical story - is that King Solomon invited the Queen of Sheba to a banquet, serving spicy food to induce her thirst, and inviting her to stay in his palace overnight. The Queen asked him to swear that he would not take her by force. He accepted upon the condition that she, in turn, would not take anything from his house by force. The Queen assured that she would not, slightly offended by the implication that she, a rich and powerful monarch, would engage in stealing. However, as she woke up in the middle of the night, she was very thirsty. Just as she reached for a jar of water placed close to her bed, King Solomon appeared, warning her that she was breaking her oath, water being the most valuable of all material possessions. Thus, while quenching her thirst, she set the king free from his promise and they spent the night together.

This one was inked with a Pentel Pocket brush.

Cleopatra and Caesarion

For the Historical Characters series. Inked with a Japanese pen brush.

Boadicea

I have in mind doing a series of historical characters as exercise... Boadicea was suggested by a couple of people on deviantArt and facebook.

Inked with a Leonardt 300 nib and coloured with Photoshop.

Flavius Aetius

Flavius Aetius [link] defeated Attila's Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, on June 20, 451 aD, thus saving the Empire against the Hunnic invasion. I didn't know anything about Aetius before watching the movie "Attila" with Gerard Butler, in which he is masterfully played by Powers Boothe.

I'd like to draw a comic about him, one day.

Community Service

Me working in the cold!

I've started working on a new project with writer Dino Caruso. It's for a graphic novel called Community Service. The story is outstanding, and I'm thrilled that Dino chose me to illustrate it. You can read more on Dino's blog.



the very first sketch for the protagonist, Drummond.

Merry Christmas!

Fanart Friday again!

These are not exactly fanart, rather concepts that I was finally inspired to draw by the magnificent story about Adam and Eve, Original Sin, featured in A Flight of Angels, the new graphic novel by the wondrous Rebecca Guay.

Time is in the eye of the beholder part 2 & 3