Drawing Dump 2014 Part II

Hello all! Continuing from the last sketch dump, here's some more sketches I've been filling my sketchbook with~

Practice page of Lor's story drawn in my sketchbook. I just needed to get this little reunion out of my head and on paper.

I started to give myself a new little persona for whenever I draw myself. I found a troll with stubby horns to be fitting and enjoy drawing her/me. So here she is being sassy in a maid costume because of reasons.

I started drawing this female knight and when I got to her arm I realized it was a boring pose so to spice it up I gave her a bone arm. I think she's cursed but over time changed her armor and started using her curse as what makes her special. I want to redo this as a full color illustration for my artbook I'm trying to cook up.

A Hime Lolita styled mouse girl. Drawn while playing around with more Alice concept art. Might turn into a character or illustration idea later.
Stay tuned for more artwork, and thanks for sticking around!

Vanishing Man

I remember a few months ago seeing some illustrations, I think they were art deco in style, where there was a solid black background and some figures in the foreground of who you could only see their heads and hands, their bodies were suggested in the black background. I thought it was really interesting and fed right into my love of using spot blacks in my comic work so I drew up this little drawing of Lor and her Necromancer friend looking determined.

Done on postcard sized Deleter paper with ink, colored in Photoshop.
Been doing some writing of Lor's stories, hoping to get started on some sample comics soon to start getting a feel for how I want to do them (actually did one in my sketchbook, going to scan it soon!). And yes I will finish that Alencia book soon >_>

Sick Day. Gotta Work on Comics.

Had a sick day today. Managed to get some work on Alencia: Tomb of the Unspoken pages done when I wasn't sleeping or moaning in misery. I missed working on her adventures so much!

This girl.

Is getting into lots of trouble.


Stay tuned for more!

A humble comic offering...

Hey everyone!

Work has been going well but my efforts to move to the new house have been slowing me down. Also being tired from work is not helping in the art department of me 'getting things done'. So while I'm out I thought I'd leave you guys with a textless colored page from a Skyrim comic I was working on a while ago. I'm still hoping to finish it. It takes place during the "With Friends Like These..." questline and follows my main Skyrim character, Merion the Lioness.

I'm hoping to scan more sketchbook pages this weekend after work as well as more packing >_>
I can't wait to get back to painting and working on books!

WIP Shots

Hey everyone!

Today I bring you some WIP photos of the current Alencia: Tomb of the Unspoken comic pages I'm working on. I made my goal of inking two pages before work today so here are some teasers of the raw inks:





I'm very happy with the pages so far. I think switching to using a brush for inking was one of the best decisions I've ever made :P

Alencia Webcomic Plans

Aside from all the Skyrim inspired fun I'm currently working on (and thank you to everyone for putting up with all my Skyrim shenanigans lately) I'm also working on getting a buffer of Alencia comic pages inked and ready for lettering/toning. I've got about 7 more pages to go until this next story is all inked. (You may remember some of the comic pages I started back in October, well this is that story continued!)Then when I'm done with the pages I will officially launch Alencia as a webcomic!

The Alencia mini-comic I printed at the end of last year will not be posted online but will remain a printed exclusive. I'm thinking of doing a giveaway soon to celebrate the launch. I don't have a date for it yet as I'm currently getting ready for a vacation and nailing down a second job soon after, but when I have the details ironed out I will share them! Aside from the pages I've also still got to come up with a banner and logo for the project. Progress on those will be posted too!

In the mean time, here's a sneak peek!

Birthday Comic

Hello everyone! Today is my birthday and since I got up this morning I have been feeling the love. So to thank everyone for their kind gifts and birthday wishes I made this little gif comic.

Thanks again for all the love everyone! <3

Day 22/ Page 4 TotU

Hey all! Day 22 and comic page number 4 of "Tomb of the Unspoken".

Just to let everyone know the next update will probably be Sunday. I'll be posting what ever I can get done over the next three days and then that will be it for "31 Day of Horror Art." I'm starting a new second job on Monday and that whole week will be 12-13 hour shifts all day and night (8am through 10pm) and I will not have time to draw any updates. It pains me but it'll just be for that week. My hours after training will be much more manageable. I'll keep updating the comic afterwards so that will still keep going. I'm excited to be doing it. I hope you enjoy the comic so far, and I'll see you in a few days!

Updates!

I can't believe it's August already. Where has the summer gone? Granted I'm pretty ready for fall :P

I just wanted to let everyone know what's going down as things are changing a lot in the world of Fran.

1. Comics
Right now I have a three page update for OMN waiting to be looked over and hopefully put up tonight. I didn't tone or color it like I had planned to because I was invited to take part in a Steampunk Anthology comic by a friend of mine so I'll be trying my hardest to finish up a few pages of comic for that. I'm really excited about it and did a little coloring test to see what kind of style I'll be doing it in.

I've decided to do the comic on watercolor paper with ink and inkwash, and then color flat colors under it in photoshop. This will allow me to have the black and white versions of the comic that I like doing, while providing the book with colored pages that they require. Long time followers might remember this gentleman as he's a hint to what story I'm adapting for this book :)

2. VA Comicon
The Alencia fan art contest ends on the 4th, and any entries I get will be formatted into the book, and it will be sent off to get printed. I am SUPER excited! Also a bit nervous as the con gets closer and things around me get more hectic. But I'm too excited to let the nervousness last too long :P

3. Side Projects
My media studies for the most part are on hold but in their place I've been doing a "30 day monster girl challenge" on tumblr. I've been using it as a character design/media excercise and it's been going well so far. Click the link there to follow the tag on my art tumblr. It will resume after the comic anthology is done (as that deadline is pretty close).

4. Kale
After sitting down and thinking it over I've decided I'm going to restart my Kale story. The first issue, while being an important early mile stone in my comics career, doesn't allow me to take the story in the directions I'd like to. So I'm working on completely rewriting it, and already I'm seeing a massive improvement. I'll bring more news and behind the scenes look at the story as I work on it.

Okay that's all I have for now. Keep an eye open for an OMN update either late tonight or tomorrow!

ART PLANS.

Hey guys! It's been a while but loads have been going on. Mostly busy at work. But now I'm starting to settle down a bit and I've got plans. ART PLANS.

+VA Comicon Small Press Table
You've been hearing me talk about this for a while but that's because I'm super stoked for it! My first table at a non-anime convention! I've been making plans for merch that I want to make and bring including the new Alencia comic, buttons, prints, and some other small items like key chains and book marks.

+Media Studies
There are things like animals and landscapes that I feel like I need to draw more of so I'll be doing a lot more studies to get in the swing of drawing them. For now I'm using certain sketchbooks for this as well as making ATC style cards that I'll be doing studies as miniature illustrations on. I'll be posting them to my tumblr and then grouping them here too. Here are a few so far:










+Or Maybe Not Webcomic
I've got scripts from Ryan lined up and am currently working on the next update. Looking to have it up by Friday since I have a few days off work. I'm going to try to update it as much as I can between now and VA Comicon since I plan on making post cards to pimp it out for the con. I also need to just sit down and draw more comics.

+Kale issue #2
Is still in progress! I've been rewriting an reworking things and I'm starting to think that I should do it as a one shot book like I originally planned but maybe start it over after all. I learned a lot from the first issue but the more I look back at it the more I see things I wish I had done differently. I'm going to keep working on it and when I come to a final decision I'll talk about it here. But either way Kale's story will continue.

+Alencia Comics (and Contest!)
Writing for Alencia's stories has been much easier. She comes more naturally to me than Kale so her stories will be more in number and varied. I really like working in short story/episodic format and I will continue that. I'm also really enjoying mixing horror with fantasy so that is a plus!
Alencia's first short comic will be featured at my table at VA Comicon and will feature FAN ART! I have a fan art contest running from now till August 4th, where anyone who sends me fan art for Alencia will be included in the book (with their name and information to their website) and will receive a free copy of the comic for themselves! Just send me a copy of your fan art (large file size, TIFF, 300dpi, I need it large so when I format the book it will print nicely and not be pixelated) to fran_rowan(at)yahoo(dot)com. Here are some references for your use:
-Alencia close up
-Alencia and Human!Theloyn height chart in color. Theolyn hasn't been introduced in his human version yet (he appears as a cat in the comic for now) but if you wish to draw him then by all means go for it :)
-Preview of the comic. Also for your inspiration here is the preview of the comic featuring the first 6 pages.
Also please keep fan art to PG-13. The comic isn't really rated but it's not really hardcore or anything. If you have any questions please let me know. I'll be sure to share the entries and their artists here too!

I'm also making jewelry that I'll be selling on my Etsy page soon so keep your eyes peeled for that! This post is epically long as it is so goodbye for now and stay tuned!

Alencia: A Noble Deed Preview

Hey everyone!

Good news! I landed a second job! But because of that I'll be very busy. So to tide you over I finished my Alencia comic preview. I ended up replacing the font on the whole comic so that took me a bit of time but I'm much happier with it. For those interested the font is 'Anime Ace 2.0' and can be found here.

So for this comic Alencia has been hired to clear out a noble family's ancestral tomb of some undead that are believed to be running around down there. The whole comic is 17 pages and when I print the book I will include some sketches and production notes. I'll be selling the books at VA Comicon this September, so be sure to come check it out!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PREVIEW ON DEVIANT ART!

I hope you enjoyed that sneak peak, and feel free to let me know what you think of it so far!

One of my favorite things about Indy and European comics was the fan art they'd post in the back of the books from other artists at the publishing house, or that their artist friends would contribute. So if anyone would like to contribute some fan art for the book I will print it in the back of the book along with your name, website, and a little blurb if you'd like to write one about the piece. I will also award a free copy of the comic to those who choose to contribute fan art. However it cannot be in color as the comic will be printed in grey-scale. I will go ahead and set the due date for fan art to be August 4th . That will give me a few weeks to have the printers print the comics (giving them plenty of time keeps it affordable for me). I look forward to seeing what you guys cook up :)

Also: for anyone who wants more information on miss Alencia, you can find some info here and a general front reference here.

Updates Galore~

A little news, my comic "Kale: Lost & Found" issue #1 is now available at Atlas Comics in Charlottesville, VA!

Work for issue #2 is still going on with plenty of rewriting and reworking. I've even got some new character designs cooking up! Between work, Or Maybe Not updates, and other obligations I'm still working on this story and making it the best that I can, and I'm really excited for what's coming up!

-----------

Also, as some of you may have seen at the OMN webpage, I have a family emergency going on right now so I'm burring myself in work until it is resolved. It's a situation where a family member is very ill and there a lot going on, so this Friday's update will be moved to next week. However it will be a multiple page update so I hope that helps. I just need a few days to sort things out and I will be back with more work to show.

See you all next week!

OMN Episode 3

Update at "Or Maybe Not."

Goat Steed

So during my senior year in college me and friends started all going to the gym together as motivation to get healthy. One day we went the weather ended up being so nice we couldn't bare to stay inside so we hoped in my friend's car and drove to Maymont. Maymont is a beautiful estate with parks, a petting zoo, animal inclosures, ponds, and lovely Victorian buildings (and horse drawn carriages!). We had a great time walking around (those hills make a good workout) and took loads of reference photos. While walking around I took lots of photos of goats and a great appreciation of them was born. As was the in-joke that if I could have a mighty steed to ride around on I would want a giant goat. References to Thor's goats were also made.

This comic page is pretty much word for word a story I made up as we walked around that day. My friends featured in the last panel are Reach and Seir.

This is pretty much the result of having too much fun with comics, and friends. No regrets. And I really do suggest everyone go visit Maymont if they ever find themselves in Richmond, VA.

Webcomic goes LIVE!

IT LIVES!!!

My webcomic with Ryan Moody, "Or Maybe Not" goes live tomorrow morning! Be sure to read it and let me know what you think about it! I'm still figuring out my inking methods for it (each comic project I do seems to want to be inked differently).

And here is some artwork I did of me drawing comics for my "Make Your Own Comics" class fliers. Blue Non-Photo Pencil and Pocket Pentel Brush Pen.

Alencia: A Noble Deed Preview

Hello all! I'm nearing completion of my current Alenica solo story and I'm very excited. Alencia is a character who has been with me a long time and has grown into one of my favorite and most developed characters (in case you didn't realize by how much I draw her). My plan for her is to make episodic stories for her, with an over arching story arch. I've been doing lots of writing and planning and I'm on my way. The first story is nearing completion so I thought I'd share with you a preview of some of the pages so far, sans text.

Down the road I'd also like to formally introduce you to Alencia and show you my method and process in drawing comics, both in their own posts. I'm also thinking about releasing each 'episode' as a PDF file for a few dollars. Then when I get more stories done I can release a full book. I enjoy reading web comics but there is something so satisfying about holding a book in my hands and reading it. I also have grown a distaste for online e-readers for comics. I've been reading Dark Horse's 'The Thing' comic online and the e-reader for it drives me crazy. The panels don't always fit the screen size and it stretches some panels to pixilate them and I just really don't like it. If they release a trade for it I will buy it in a heartbeat. The Thing + Vikings = A-OK in my book.

Well enjoy the pages and let me know what you think! I'll get back to you on the PDF files once I figure out a good way to sell them. Maybe an Etsy page? We'll see.

Alencia Preview/Let's Talk about Kale

Here's a little preview from the 17 page Alencia comic I'm working on. After I finish this baby up its' back to work on continuing Kale's story. (I've been feeling really conflicted about it lately but I'll explain a bit more later.) Here's a panel from page 11.

Here's Alencia casting a spell on her sword while fighting the evil undead.
Very fun to draw. Done with non-photo blue pencil and a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.


The reason I've been feeling conflicted about Kale's story is mainly because of the circumstances surrounding me doing it. When I originally sat down to do her story I gave myself less than a year to do it and publish it in time for a convention. I originally wanted it to be a stand alone book, a self contained story. It ended up being cut up and will be maybe three issues, possibly more, by now. This was also my first time doing a self published book (aside from a mini comic done for my 'Intro. to Sequential' final project a few years prior).

I'm glad I did the first issue of Kale, and I'm really proud of the work I did, but now the art is almost two years old, and my mistakes are becoming even more glaringly obvious to me, to the point where I'm becoming more and more embarrassed about it. If you compare the comic pages to the panel I posted above the improvement is obvious. But I'm glad I did it. I learned SO MUCH from actually getting off of my ass and self publishing the first issue. I wouldn't have gotten that knowledge and experience in a classroom alone.

I'm just faced with some possible choices right now for Kale issue #2. I want to finish the story, its' just the start of it is very rough. It needs polishing but if I restart it then I feel I'd be letting down those people who bought the first issue, and myself. I don't want to get stuck in the endless trap of redoing pages to the point that I don't get to move forward with other projects or finish this one. It's a commitment and I want to see it through to the end.

I've also considered completely dropping it in favor of doing other projects but again, I feel I'd be letting myself and others down, and I can't have that. I want to be a woman of my convictions and finish what I start.

So after I finish this 17 page intro story of Alencia, I'm going back to thumb-nailing and planning out the next issue of Kale. I've also been universe building and have been doing LOTS of writing. This next issue of Kale: Lost & Found is going to blow the first issue out of the water in terms of quality and art direction. To the point where I might offer the first issue with the second as a bonus :P And/or offer a discount on the second issue to those who bought the first one; which I still have a stack of books for.

Either way, this story will be told, and I will make it better with every brush and pen stroke. You have my word.

Coming soon!- 10 page preview of Kale: Lost & Found issue #1, for those who need proof it exists! It may also come with commentary :P Haven't decided if I should further embarrass myself yet... I'm also going to post little insights into the world of Kale and Alencia while I build their universe, so look out for those!

If you read my wall of text, thank you. I'll have more art up soon, and I'll try not to make these text heavy posts a habit :P
Thanks for sticking with me!

Grey Snow

I just posted some old digital comic pages over at my art tumblr so I thought I'd share them here too:






These are pages of a comic I started working on last year; the first page is still in the rough stage and is incomplete. They are based on an introduction for a character that my good friend Ian Davison (El Goro of the podcast ‘Talk Without Rhythm’) wrote for a story idea we were working on together. I’m still hoping to see this project out the end, even if it will most likely take quite a few years to do.

This was my first time working on a comic completely digitally. I learned a lot doing it and I think I will continue to do it this way for this project. I’m hoping to finish the introduction comic for this character, do an introductory comic for another character in the story, then start the whole story from the point that they first meet.

Needless to say this will be on the back burner for a while...

Final Countdown

My FINAL finals are drawing to a close. I'm nearly finished with my '3D Image and Movement' class. I just have to finish the packaging for my CD and then drop it off.
Then.
I'm.
DONE.

It still hasn't 100% kicked in yet.
But while that kicks in, enjoy some of the work I've been working on:

Here's some screen shots of my 3D Image and Movement animation. It's really simple but I worked really hard on the squid model, creating it, rigging and animating it (it's little fins on its head move) and figuring everything out. My teacher Matt Wallin was a huge help.


I'll post the actual animation once I get the blogger bugs figured out.


Here are some of my Projects in Illustration projects.

I'm still not 100% satisfied with this poster but it's a lot better than it originally was.

This one I was very proud of. There were some things compositionaly I could have done differently but it was my first time doing a completely watercolored illustration and I loved it. I'll be doing more watercolor illustrations in the future thanks to this piece.

This illustration was done to go with an article about women in comics as creators and as an audience. For this illustration I focused on women as an audience and how mainstream comic companies typically don't cater to them, and even treat them in a condescending manner. I think this issue has gotten better than it used to be but it could stand to be better. I still cant' walk into a comic store without seeing covers like the ones in the background here. All those covers are based on covers from Marvel and DC from the last few years (this decade).



Project number 4 was a group project. I had a really great time working with my group members and I got my best grade so far for this project. We had to turn in production work for a comic that we created together and we decided to go head and do two pages of finished comic.
The story is about two people with Synesthesia who become friends. The girl, Antoinette, has visual/auditory Synesthesia (like me) and Tyler has auditory/taste Synesthesia. The backgrounds were done by Tim Robinson (he also did a huge painting of the bar/club environment for this) and the character design and pencils for the pages were done by Aimee Hwang. I inked the pages on a separate page of Bristol board with a series 7 #2 brush. Which I am now going to marry. I am in series 7 heaven with this brush and will definately be using it more, and practicing more.

This post is getting pretty long so I'll post my finals work for figure painting and digital drawing later. I hope everyone at VCU is having a good end of the semester! After graduation (the 20th of May) I'll be working on moving out so I'll be busy for a while. I'll try to post some sketches here at my tumblr before then.

Until next time!

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.