Holidays and Upcoming Projects

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great holiday, and will be enjoying new year's that is just around the corner. Personally I usually don't do anything for it, but if you are, have fun and stay safe!

As for the holiday season I have been busy since finals ended. Now that things have calmed down a little bit I'm making sure to keep busy with a new project amongst my long list of projects I'm currently working on. I will share more when I have more to share, which should be a in a few weeks when I'm reunited with my huge scanner. But its' got me thinking about Kale, and where I hope to end up with that story.
I still want to tell the story but I feel like I can't do it full justice right now. I have printed the first 'issue' and have a sold a handful of copies, and to everyone who bought one I am very grateful and I whole heartily hope you enjoy it; but I feel for the second issue there are things I must attend to before I continue the story. There are things, besides my skills, that need to be further fleshed out and improved upon before I can finish the story. Since I have one more semester of school left (gods willing) and I'll be looking for a full time job soon, I need to turn my attention to those things. Kale is a story I want to finish, it just needs more work which this first issue has taught me. So, fear not! I have not abandoned our blue haired elf warrior, I merely need to polish her story before I continue it.

As for this new project, I hope to gain a portfolio piece out of it. I'm putting more work behind the making of it, and when its done should be a stand alone comic that can then be continued into a fuller, longer story. It's a collaboration with a close friend of mine and he has kindly agreed to continue the story with me so hopefully we can complete it :)

Aside from that I've been watching Dexter with my parents. Also saw Tron today. I want ALL THE FURNITURE IN THAT MOVIE. It also could have used moar TRON :I It is named after him...

Back to work for me!
see you soon~

Website is up!

Thanks to my awesome friend Jess, I've been able to launch my website for my portfolio class!

www.franrowanart.com

You can visit her site here.

Let's hope I keep up with dreamweaver and the site can continue to evolve. I'm still a bit of a n00b :P

Three Days to go...

Hey everyone!
Taking a little break from finals to bring some teasers for illustrations I've recently finished for senior portfolio (mainly, the ones for my Whitewolf Publishing portfolio that I will be sending off after the holidays).





I really like these snippets on their own too :P But I'm really feeling like I have some good work under my belt this semester. Hopefully I can top it next Spring semester!

And here is a motivational drawing I did for my room-mate and myself, via brush pen.



Here's hoping Finals don't kill us! And good luck to everyone else still fighting through these late nights! WE CAN DO IT!

Sketch Break

Took a short study break to draw Ramla, my Scion:Hero character, doing some parkor.


I want to do more comics of her over the winter break. We'll see how it goes.

References via:

Top Pose- http://www.jewarts.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=33:parkour&layout=blog&Itemid=142

Bottom Right Pose- http://ultimate-freedom.tripod.com/parkourhistory.html

Bottom Left Pose-http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08.29.07/parkour-0735.html

Talk Without T-shirt

For those of you that may have been watching for a while, you'll know that I really enjoy listening to the podcast, "Talk Without Rhythm," hosted by my good friend El Goro and his partner in crime, The Cancer Man. In one of their recent episodes they mentioned wanting to do T-shirts some time soon. At the time I was looking for a fourth project for my Senior Portfolio class so I volunteered my services to make a T-shirt design for the podcast. They've provided me with hours of entertainment, so I was glad to be able to do this.



I did a few designs for the guys to choose from but our overall favorite was the Dune worm. I especially like it because it goes with their slogan for the show. Shirts should be printed some time next year. As soon as they are I'll let you all know! :D NOW GO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST!

And don't forget to join the facebook group!

This Doctor Makes House Calls...

A quick sanity drawing on some scrap card-stock I found in class yesterday.
Ink and copic marker.


Dr. P by ~Spork-Bunny on deviantART

Back to work on finals...

Zombie Fran

This is me for the next three weeks.

Kale issue #1 FOR SALE!

Hey everyone! The dust has settled a bit so I now have time to post sale information for Kale issue #1 :D

Kale: Lost & Found is about a young woman named Kale who is training to be a knight. Her mentor, Lady Karenthia, is kidnapped. Kale meets up with old friends and new ones as she tries to rescue her mentor, and find out why she was taken, and by who.

I have 28 copies available. Each book is 'manga sized' at 7.5" x 5 3/16". The cover is colored while the inside pages are black and white. There are 48 pages total. They include the comic, an extra comic, never before seen artwork, and fanart. I will sign and doodle in each one, and each will come with a random bookmark of a character from the book. They will be $7 including shipping in the US. If there are any inquiries for the book out of the US I will calculate shipping cost along the way.










If you'd like to buy a comic then please send an email to fran_rowan(at)yahoo(dot)com. Please title the email 'Kale Comic' so that I know it's not spam. Please list your name, how many books you'd like, what character you'd like me to doodle in it if you have a preference, and your shipping address. I will reply with an invoice and my paypal address. Please pay within a week of receiving the invoice so I can get it shipped off to you as soon as I can. I don't have a car so I have to make means ahead of time to get shipping supplies and get to the post office. Please keep this in mind, however I will do my best to get books shipped as soon as possible!
Thank you everyone for sticking with me while I worked on this book over the last year! Now it's on to issue #2!


The books were printed by Ka-blam! who did an AWESOME job,were very helpful, and have great customer service. I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to self publish their comics.

Work Work Work this Weekend

Hey everyone!
Aside from my portfolio project that I posted previously, I have been busy with more school work! Game Design in perticular. Here's what I've been working on:


Redesign of the tunnel level. Darker version vs. lighter to show details. Also a scale of how tall the entry ways really are.



I hate ships right now :< I'll map out the bottom half of the ship but not for right now. I'm going to get some more landscape/areas done next and get started on the game booklet. Also hoping Unity will download on my iMac properly so I can render some of the island for it too :D


Here's the box art after I received critique and changed it. I like it a lot better now.

So after all that work I managed to find time to draw myself something. Particularly Ramla (my Scion:Hero RP character). She's been bugging me to draw her all week :P

Looking forward to coloring her. Also as much as I love that hand gesture, it is a bitch to draw without looking weird :/ Hands are weird...

Also finished a drawing of Alencia before I went out for the weekend.

I missed doing black and white contrast with ink so I went for it. Thumbnailed it in my sketchbook and threw it down on bristol board. My fingers were, and still are stained with ink. I've missed that :)

Back to classes tomorrow, stay tuned for more work! I should have some ATCs coming up soon :D

For my senior portfolio class I've been working on a fake cover for Cereal:Geek magazine. Its' a magazine that specializes in animation from the 1980s. The theme for my fake issue is Girl's Cartoons of the 1980's. I was a child of the 90's, while I was exposed to 80's cartoons I still missed out on a lot of them that my friends who have lived in the US their whole lives grew up with.
For this project I did some research to find the most popular and well loved girl's toons of that era. I found Rainbow Bright, She-Ra, Lady Lovely Locks, and JEM. I LOVE JEM. I had heard of her but never seen the show before. After some searching on YouTube my room mate and I watched a playlist of Jem 'music videos' from the show. I love the animation, and the styling, and the music is actually really fun. I wish I could have dressed up as Jem for Halloween. Maybe next year... I also added toons from my own childhood in My Little Pony, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, and Bianca from Beverly Hills Teens. (I enjoyed that last show more than I should have :P)
I ran through some scenarios for the cover including a slumber party, arm wrestling, and a reunion. I decided to go with the reunion scenario and try to portray the characters as if they and aged since the 80's.

Here is my value study, line work, and the finished cover.




I had fun doing this, but I'm also glad its' done :P My mom caught a mistake on it and I thought I'd have to start over part of it but I was able to fix it.

Now I'm off to have dinner. Have a good weekend everyone!
I'll have a new illustration to share when I get back!

Neko Madness!

Hey everyone! I thought I'd take a break from the hectic and downright rage-inducing day I've been having at school to drop some updates for you!

Nekocon was pretty awesome. It was a great experience, and while I didn't sell very much I learned a lot and it's not going to deter me from getting a table in the Artist Alley next year. I didn't get to go any panels but a lot of my friends visited me at my table which was great. That and my brother from another mother, El Goro of 'Talk Without Rhythm Podcast', drove down all the way from Ohio to see us :D He had promised me a long time ago that when I get my first AA table he will be there. And he was <3 I was also visited by friends from school and my friend Michelle who cosplayed as Kale from my comic book that I was selling there. I have awesome friends C:

Here is a photo of the table. We have decided that we will have bigger displays next year, and more art in general. We're also hoping to have the 'Or Maybe Not' comics printed up along with some buttons! A friend of mine offered her press for us to use so I think next year we will.


Some pictures of the merch, ganked from facebook since my original photos are on the laptop.




Kale cosplay!

She looks so good ;_; We took a cosplay photo together at the photo booth there (I was dressed as Alencia from my comic as she appears in the first issue, so sans tunic). I might scan the other photo later.

While at the table I decided to keep busy and draw. I would slip each new piece into my portfolio as I finished them. Some of them I may make little prints or buttons out of for next year.


Lil' Conqour for Ryan. Conqour is an out of work B-Movie monster and the star of some of Ryan's original short films. He has such a big personality!


There were lots of steampunks around the con so I drew this lovely lady up. I used some metalic gold gel pen to add shiny bits to her.


A chibi maid.


Chibi Cthulhu. At least he's not happy about it.
I think I'm going to do a nicer Cthulhu print next year...



Disgruntled Lolita. The quote is from 'Return of the Living Dead.' The guy saying it was talking about Punk, but I think it applies so easily to Lolita. Love it!


A gift for Michelle. After her Kale cosplay she went to a Sailor Moon meet up (casual clothing cosplay) as Chibi-moon so I drew Chibi-moon in the outfit she wore to the meet up. I'm quite proud of it, but I would like to do a different background when I get some time.


BEST COMMISSION EVAR. HANDS DOWN.
Done for Ian. He asked for Teddy Roosevelt punching sasquatch in the head. And he got it.

Some of these are going up on DA soon, but for now, I have work to do ;_;
See you later if school doesn't eat me up first!

HEY GUYS. I HAVE A COMIC BOOK! 8D

Epic Sketch Dump is Epic

Here is a bunch of sketches that I did before my internet started crapping out. We're still on shaky ground with it so here's an update while hoping it will stay working.


A sketch for my room mate. She threw a cupcake party at our house. It was a huge success. We made 165 cupcakes for it.


This is NOT all the cupcakes we made.


Class doodle of a 'cat'erpillar. I want to do a more finished drawing of him later. Or maybe put him in a comic or something. It was fun giving him human body parts. I like his nose a lot too.


Doodle done before my business class. I don't doodle in class as much anymore but it does help me relax. Loli-Fran of OMN.


Cupcake Lolita doodled in anticipation of the epic cupcake party.


Across from my History class is a chemistry class. I was sitting in the hallway watching the chem students doing a lab when I doodled this.


Me being a bit overwhelmed.


Lulzy doodle of my Kinfolk character, Lou.


Speaking of Lou, I decided that I wanted to draw her actual body type down because in my head her sizes kept fluctuating and I wanted a solid reference. (As can be seen from the previous sketch, she's much busty-er than that). I decided that she is a size 14 with a DD bust. She's the busty-est of my characters so she offers me some diversity from my other female characters. I used various 'plus size' models (I still cant' believe 14 is 'plus sized' its the US average size for women. And its' not big :/ ) for reference. I also wanted to her a have a little muffin top, which I think is cute. Overall I'm really happy with how she looks. She feels more rooted in reality now, and now she can stay more cohesive when I draw her.


Doodling part of a story idea for Alencia. She has to retrieve a talking skull (a relic) from a ruin for a nearby temple. I've already started writing the roughs of the story out.


Doodle of my western RP character, Lilly the undertaker's daughter.


So many tiny, white coffins...



A celebratory sketch of the Kale and the gang, celebrating the first issue being complete. When I get some time I will ink this and possibly color it. Evander looks soooo much younger with his hair down. He may look too young. He's meant to be in his 30's, like Khalid. I'm in the process of gathering references to make another character turn around for him. I need to him to keep looking consistent. I also want him to look more Middle-Eastern/Mediterranean. This is where refs help. I plan to flesh this all out in time for issue #2 to begin. Research like this is actually ridiculously fun. I also plan to do more research for the world itself. So far I'm gathering references for a Celtic/Art Nouveau feel to Kale's world. There is so much to do, it can only keep getting better! :D

Oh and guess what. I still have MORE to post here. Next will be some doodles, sketch comics, and some more school work. Oh yeah, and that Nekocon thing is next weekend. HOLY. CRAP. Has it been a year already?

News time!

+Internet is back!
We got our signal back last night, and all is well in the world of the internet :D

+Updates
I have personal work that I scanned and have ready to upload but it maybe a bit slow to make it here to the blog. This week is SUPER BUSY for me at school. I also have some extracurricular activities taking place this week so school work will be filling my spare time this week. I'll try to upload new work by Sunday at least.

Ten days till Nekocon! I'm excited and nervous at the same time, as I'm sure you know. I'll be able to print things soon (prints and more bookmarks, and hoping to squeeze a mini comic in there...), but I have a few illustrations to tweak before that. Next week will be packed with con preparations to insure it goes smoothly. And I really hope it does.

Kale is being printed and should ship to me on the 30th. That gives it a few days to reach me so let's hope that goes without a hitch too! I'm so excited to see the final book. I learned so much doing it, I know issue #2 is going to rock so hard because of that.

School is also kicking my butt. Welcome to senior year! :D

Full Steam Ahead!

Despite my internet being nearly non-existent (save for late at night when no one is using it) and thanks to the super helpful team at Ka-blam, my book is being printed! Everything has been approved and paid for. Next will be for the books to arrive and then off to Nekocon. They should be shipped out on the 30th. I'm buzzing with excitement 8D

Over the next two weeks I'll be working on prints and bookmarks, and con badges for me and Ryan to wear at the con. I have a laundry list of things to do but it shouldn't be too bad. I just hope I can get it all done and that everything goes smoothly. I'm still terribly excited C: But also tired. I think I'm getting sick again... trying to nip it in the butt before it gets worse :/

Kale Issue #1 Cover

Kale: Lost and Found Cover by ~Spork-Bunny on deviantART

A quick update before I go to bed <3

Fall 2010 Update

Hey everyone! Now that my work for issue #1 of 'Kale: Lost & Found' is over I can finally get back to school work and preparing for Nekocon. And did I mention midterms this week? Heh, yeah. So before I dive headfirst into studying for midterms I want to share what I've been doing all semester. I'm gonna split this into two blog posts to avoid spamming; one for school work and one for personal art.

+Game Design
For my game design class we're all working on our own video game that we're doing concept art for. Mine is a free roaming mystery where you play a military scout exploring a newly discovered island that your kingdom hopes to conquer. But your team mates go missing and you explore the island to go find them. I'm trying to make the island a character of it's own and eventually create an unsettling environment from the sunny landscapes to the dark underground. I'm also trying out watercolor for the concept art with some colored pencils mixed in. It's good practice but I need to look up tutorials too.





(not complete, I still need to go over it with some colored pencils)






+Senior Portfolio

For this class we have four projects to work on that we get to choose. (We're still on the first one and its' technically midterms so you can tell I'm feeling antsy). Aside from those we've also been working on logos, letterheads, invoices, and now we're starting business cards.



Here is my logo.

As for the 1st project I am redesigning the album art for Blind Guardian's 'At the Edge of Time.' I really don't like the over CGed, and frankly bland feel of the album art so I'm hoping to do something worthy of them. To show just how hard I'm working, here is a collection of thumbnails I've been doing for the project over the last few weeks.




I am SO SICK of thumbnails. But its just as well since I'm now starting the actual project. Here's what I have so far of the pencil drawing. The concept is that I have a Norse goddess of virtue (Snotra) having triumphed over a tyrant ruler. I listened to the album and read the lyrics and one of the reoccurring themes was of a united people overthrowing a ruler or government. I also wanted to keep the subject matter somewhat rooted in fantasy because of Blind Guardian's influences and past album covers.

For the goddess herself there wasn't much I could find in the ways of art for her (as posed to Athena who I didn't' want her to look like). So I researched viking women's clothing and based her clothing on that. My reference before that was a toga-ish robe that I constructed from a bed-sheet and wrapped my room mate up in but that still helped immensely with the draping. I'm finding that the more research you do for something the more rooted in reality it is, and the more real it feels. Its' something I've been told by teachers recently that I need to do more of. I completely agree and now that I'm putting it into practice I'm finding it works ever so nicely!




Stay tuned for my post of personal work! For now I have some homework to do :P