The Premiere of "Monkeyboy!"

The newest of the Golden Goat Studios Webcomics is Brent Engstrom's "Monkeyboy!" Brent is a good friend of mine, living in my hometown. He's been working on developing and producing strips and comics of Monkeyboy since High School. Since then there have been a few books published, hundreds of strips for the K-State newspaper, and even a short in Image Comics' and Erik Larsen's "Savage Dragon" comic series.

The latest incarnation, I'm proud to say, is this weekly updated webcomic. I just finished working up the site and getting everything working over there. We'll be updated every Tuesday:

http://www.Monkeyboy.GoldenGoatStudios.com

Also, check out Mark Winters' "Glimmer," updated Sundays, and Aaron Weisbrod's "Nightmare World," updated Thursdays.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

~Ray

Fairchild from Gen 13

Inspired by the draw-off between Renae De Liz and "the machine" over on the Digital Webbing Forums. Did it in a bit different style than usual. Inks were a bit rushed.

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Photoshop 7 and a Wacom tablet.

Let me know what you think. Tired posting ... not ... very ... entertaining. Must ... rely ... on ... art ...

Thanks for stopping by. ;o)

~Ray

10Eastern Journal Project...

10Eastern.com*, an online drawing site, started a journal project where the sketchbook is passed around the globe to artists from the site. I happened to be one of those artists and recently got the sketchbook. Brent Engstrom, Golden Goat member and Beard enthusiast got me into it. He did a couple of pages and here are my couple:

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Pencil and marker.

Really cool to see what people around the world do.

I tried to do something that would encompass my work, sorta leave my thumbprint. Got some LOTR stuff in there, some superhero, monsters, and a dramatic, stylized piece sorta like a comic cover. Playing around with style and color.

Anywho, let me know what you think.

Thanks for lookin'.

~Ray

* 10Eastern.com has some REALLY graphic stuff on there, so be careful. *

The Style of Horror

Just playing around with style for a new horror project:

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Photoshop 7 and a Wacom Tablet.

I kinda like it, even though I slopped it out. I can move fast in this style, and it has the mood and intensity. It's basically just the combination of really thin lines, thick and rough shadows, texture, and harsh light and color.

Oh, and, yeah, the foreshortening on its right arm is a bit wonky. ;)

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for lookin'.

~Ray

Inking and Coloring notes...

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Did some quick notes for a friend on anatomy, inking, and coloring, and I thought they might be helpful to others as well.

Here I'm pointing out the trapezius and deltoid muscles. When people say they want a shoulder rub, they're generally speaking about their trapezius muscles, which aren't part of the shoulder (deltoid) at all. So, that's just to clear that up.

Next, I show one of the things that can be done to show depth in inking. Making the lines thinner near the light source and thicker on the other side of the object is a great way to bring the pencils to life.

Finally, for depth in coloring, I'm attempting to show that cool tones (blue, purple, green) recede while warm tones (orange, yellow, red) stand out. So, putting a little bit of purple in the shadows of the girl in this pic allows her face to pop forward a bit, or her hair, etc.

Hope that makes sense and helps someone out there. When I saw these things for the first time it was a pretty big breakthrough for my art.

As for what I'm working on, well, I'm back to coloring on my projects and just finished lettering Noble Causes #17 (great issue, pick it up!!).

Thanks for stoppin' by! ;o)

~Ray

Lord of the Rings cards are DONE!!

YAY!

Today I sent off the Lord of the Rings: Evolution sketch cards I've been working on. I did 306 in all (6 of which will be returned to me--hopefully the ones I requested). It's bittersweet. I'm really glad to be done, but I've really had a blast doing these. Each one is an experiment for me. I tried different styles, got carried away, and just enjoyed the LOTR universe. I'm so happy to be a part of this. I'll be beaming about this for many years to come. Can't wait for the next project (well, maybe a few weeks).

As soon as I have them okayed for public viewing, I'll post them up here (and anywhere else the WWW will let me). And, you can always check out progress at a great gallery site showing the work of all the LOTR sketchcartists work!

http://www.LOTRsketchcards.com
http://LOTR.GoldenGoatStudios.com
The TOPPS website

Now, if this sounds a little scatterbrained, that is because I have not slept yet. Last night I spent all night scanning and spraying my cards to get them ready to send out today (they're due at Topps tomorrow morning). I had to rush out to Fed-Ex and ship them overnight. When I got back, I didn't want to go to sleep at 10am and mess my days and nights around even worse than they've been lately, so I've been fighting sleep all day.

Tomorrow, I'll be getting back to my other projects, such as Noble Causes (lettering), Nothingface (coloring), and the other coloring project I have going. I've also got some Nightmare World stuff coming up. And I want to encourage you to check out the new GGS web comics! They're going great so far.

I hope you all had a great new year! I did, and I'm very much looking forward to 2006. We're living in the future, man!! ;o)

Have a great one! Thanks for stopping by.

~Ray