A monster design for the new Green Monk story. Also trying out my new 000 brush I picked up from the art store for all the little details.

I started doing some character design and thumbnails last week, and tonight I just finished the first rough page of Green Monk Chapter 1.

This time around I’m going to try and rough it out on big, cheap paper, scan it in, print it out on bristol, clean it up and then ink it. Hopefully it’ll make for tighter artwork.

I’m not going to make a habit out of scanning each individual page. I just thought this would be a nice way to kick things off.

Just finished up the exclusive print that I’ll be making available at the Phoenix Comic-con this weekend.

I’m going to be sharing booth 422 with master of cute,  Greg Ham. I’m also finally going to make prints of my two favorite Aang paintings:

So if you’re going to be in the Phoenix area, make sure to drop by and say hi.

That’s number four. Now to do the cleanup, layout and add the word bubbles.

Here’s the raw ink work on Rainmagic pages 2 and 3. I’m working a bit more on page 4 tonight.

I’m trying a couple of new things on these pages:

I’m trying to use more blacks. If you’ve seen Green Monk, you’ll know that it’s mostly linear. I want to create more shapes out of lights and darks. I’m finding I need to plan things out much more carefully in the penciling stage to get the lights and darks to balance out correctly.

I’m trying to figure out how to draw a dang forest. The most difficult stuff is the stuff in the mid-ground. It’s not close enough that I want to draw every little detail, but it’s not far away enough that I can just create a big mass and call it leaves.

I’m using a brush pen for all of this. The brush creates beautiful lines, but it requires more page turning to get the right angle. You also have to wait for it to dry, and oddly enough it puts more strain on my hand than using a micron. I think that because it does not have a rigid tip, I have to use my hand more for stability, and thus: hand-strain.

"I know Kung-Fu!"

That joke* is funny if you know the story.

*joke courtesy of Annie Dayton

For last night’s artcast I did a little bit or digital painting again. This time a bit of concept art for a friend. I spent a bit too much time setting up a perspective grid that I never used, and I’d like to spend a couple more hours on this to refine the shapes and add detail, but all in all, it turned out okay.

Full video:

And here’s the finished piece:

I’m happy to announce there are 3 new prints in the store, starting at 4.99 per print (plus shipping and handling). You even see video of me designing and painting one of the prints.

Check out the new stuff and let me know what you think.

• Aang

  Digital Print on awesome watercolor paper. 9 1/4″ x 10 1/2″ $10.00 plus shipping and handling.

• Aztec Princess

  Original artwork by Brandon Dayton. Digitally printed on felt finish watercolor paper. 150 year archival quality. 10″ x 11″ $9.99 plus shipping and handling

• Commissions

  9″ x 12″ inked drawing of whatever you want (minus nudity or gore). $30.00  plus shipping and handling. I may ask for a bit higher of a price if the request is sufficiently complex, but most everything should be okay.

• Green Monk

  The debut mini-comic of Green Monk! Green Monk follows the adventures of a Monk cast out of his order, wandering a mythical Russian countryside. His only companion is a magical blade of grass that draws him into a brutal struggle against a terrifying foe. Story and Art by Brandon Dayton 4 1/4″  x  6 1/4″ [...]

• Hammerella

  Original Artwork by Brandon Dayton featuring Hammerella , the barbarian gladiator. Digital print on felt finish watercolor paper. 150 years archival quality. 11″x12″ On Sale! $8.99

• Oswald

  10″ x 4 1/4″ print on watercolor paper $4.99 Plus shipping and handling

• Phoenix Comic Con Exclusive Print

  Still got a couple of exclusive prints left over from Phoenix Comicon. 9″x13″ on glossy paper $20.00 plus shipping and handling

• Queen of Cats

  Two-color Screen Print on matte board. 11″ x 14″ $9.99 plus shipping and handling

• Sketches

  Collection of sketches by Brandon Dayton. 32 Pages, color and black and white. $7.99 plus Shipping and Handling

• The Eel

  8″x 5″ print on watercolor paper. $4.99 Plus shipping and handling.

• The Sacred Leaf

  9″x 7″ Print on Watercolor Paper. Only 9 in stock. $9.99 plus shipping and handling

• Wonder Woman

  Limited Edition print. 150 years archival quality, printed on high-quality felt-finish paper. 7″x10″ $9.99 plus shipping and handling

This week I experimented with sketching with color. No pencil sketch to start with, I just jumped into Photoshop and started exploring shapes. You can see the full video here:

And here is the finished art. I could certainly spend some more time adding details, but the most important stuff is here.

So I’ve been a pretty faithful listener to Art and Story. The discussion is thought provoking, the personalities are interesting and the hosts are dedicated to forwarding the art of comics.

This is evident the Kids Read Comics convention that they help to organize and carry-out every year at no financial benefit to themselves. They do it because they care deeply about the potential for comics as a storytelling medium.

This year, I’m planning on attending for the first time, and taking full advantage of the huge support they give to artists attending the show (i.e. no table fees). In short, these guys are losing money so I can get a great deal on a convention. So, I figure the least I can do is contribute to the yearly art auction that helps to fund the costs of running Kids Read Comics.

This is the piece I’ve been working on today:

Click to Enlarge

I went back to microns on this one. I’m finding that brush takes more time, is more strain on my hand, and doesn’t give me as much flexibility. This was also an interesting practice, since the intent is to sell the finished piece, so I had to do everything on paper. The actual original piece still had the original pencil lines underneath the drawing.

Hope it help raise a couple of bucks. If you’re interested in owning the piece, stay tuned and I’ll post information on how to participate in the auction.

If you watched this artcast the other day, you probably saw me working on this a bit. Anyway, here’s some of the ink work I’ve done for page 1 of Rainmagic. I’ve got the majority of pages 2 and 3 inked as well, but I want o finish them up a bit more before I post them. Still have to add in word bubbles and the title. I’ll probably also do some touch up. The figure in the mid-ground isn’t showing up enough (see if you can spot her!).