Braden's Artblog

Listening to Martok

2011-12-21T13:12:00.001-05:00

Just a quick sketch. This is hopefully the beginning of a collection of finished pieces done over the course of watching the entire run of DS. I'll be trying for one a week.

MICE

2011-09-18T10:07:00.002-04:00

You like indie comics, right? Why not stop by here next Saturday? Admission is free!

MICE, The Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo

September 24, 2011 10am - 6pm

1815 Mass Ave., Cambridge MA (Porter Square)
Illustration by Jerel Dye

DuckTales sketch covers, SDCC 2011

2011-07-27T21:59:00.002-04:00

I did some sketch covers for KABOOM!'s DuckTales at San Diego Comic Con. This one I cooked up on my own, but there are some fun requests on my tumblr.

Harald and Half-Tall print

2011-05-20T17:34:00.002-04:00

MeCAF (Maine Comic Arts Festival) is happening this weekend in Portland, ME, and I’ll have a new print for sale there. It’s from Harald and Half-Tall, a comic I have in the works.

Star Wars Galaxy 6

2011-03-06T23:53:00.002-05:00

Topps' Star Wars Galaxy 6 is out now, featuring sketch cards from yours truly.
This time around, in addition to the usual character and creature portraits, I did a series of 6 full-color lightsaber cards. 4 of these are in hobby packs, and the remaining 2 (Luke and Vader) are among my return cards. You can see this set and my return cards below, and there are more on my tumblr.

Aquaman - King of the Seas

2011-02-01T10:12:00.005-05:00

Project Rooftop (as well as a few other similar communities) are making a call for redesigns on Aquaman, and it just so happens that I'm one of those people who thinks the SUPERPOWERED KING OF FREAKIN' ATLANTIS is a cool idea rather than a lame one. So here we go: Arthur Curry, King of Atlantis, and Mera, his queen from a mysterious dimension of water.

This redesign imagines an in-continuity Arthur returning to Atlantis as its king and protector. The bright green and armored portions of the costume are slightly irridescent, like many fish species, which improves his visibility in all kinds of light conditions. Rather than orange scales, I went with silver, which is more dignified and serious. I also made it clear the scales cover most of his body, rather than just his torso and arms. I imagine that the symbols of Atlantis - the stylized "A" character, the scallop shell, and the trident - are all wrought in some kind of Atlantean gold alloy that's durable and resists corrosion. He also has bracers and greaves with fins made of this metal. The lines of the costume, however, are the biggest change. They suggest the bows and peaks of ocean waves, as well as the otherworldly architecture of Atlantis, and even reinforces the "A" of Atlantis, Aquaman, and Arthur.

For Mera, I tried to retain as much of her usual costume as possible, because it looks great on her. She usually wears some variation on a simple, green bodysuit with fins on the feet, so I redid that in the sleek, dark green wetsuit material. To this, I added a fishtail-like, irridescent mantle, and an open back. She wears a variation on her usual three-pointed tiara, which is distinctive and appealing on its own, a simpler version of Arthur's belt, and smaller, solid gold versions of his fin bracers. The scalloped ears aren't strictly canonical, but it helps remind us that she's from another dimension.

There you go.

Homework Dump Semester 3

2011-01-29T13:38:00.005-05:00

Here's a couple pieces I did for Book Cover Illustration last semester.

Trade paperback cover for "The Gone Away World" by Nick Harkaway. It's a fun book. You should check it out.

A cover for "Souvenirs", a collection of Django Reinhardt music.

Mister X

2010-12-22T10:13:00.002-05:00

Here's the beginning of my semester 3 art dump. It's an animation, it's called "Mister X", and it goes a little something like this...

Dig This

2010-12-22T00:01:00.011-05:00

Awesome! My illustration was selected for the Dig's "Dig This" year-in-review, 2-page spread. Take a look...

(In case you missed the meme train, Keanu is Sad.)

Also, you should definitely check out Luigi's and Lena's submissions on the Dig's Flickr.

Hi Ho!

2010-12-21T21:11:00.009-05:00

Did I mention I colored two comic series for BOOM! Kids?

First there's Muppet Snow White, written by Jesse Blaze Snider, illustrated by Shelli Paroline.

Also, Muppet Sherlock Holmes (issues 2, 3, and 4), written by Patrick Storck, illustrated by Amy Mebberson. Colors by Amy and me.

Look! It's Muppet Reichenbach Falls!

Semester 2 Homework (part 1)

2010-05-04T15:43:00.006-04:00

Just a quick update of some of the things I've been doing for school recently...

First up, an assignment for Obsessions and Phobias: Hydrophobia.

Another for Obsessions and Phobias: Apiophobia

The first page of a comic for Sequential Projects: "Harald and Half-Tall", an original fairy tale in the tradition of Scandinavian "changeling" stories.

For Sequential Projects again, part of a puzzle game illustrating "How to Exceed the Speed of Light on a Budget of $5.00". Seen here, a Recluse Chole ($0.42). Its defensive phasing ability is used to offset the increasing mass associated with near-light velocities.

That's all for now. More next week.

Star Wars Galaxy 5 sketch cards

2010-02-14T13:01:00.005-05:00

Topps' Star Wars Galaxy 5 series is out now, featuring some original sketch cards by yours truly, as well as some of my friends. Here are some highlights from my cards...

Yes, the second from the last is Ackmena, Bea Arthur's character from the Star Wars Holiday Special. You're welcome.

Lived On Rocks and Sand

2010-01-14T17:38:00.001-05:00

I did a comic a little while ago that just missed the deadline for Life Meter 3, but the folks there were kind enough to feature it on their blog recently.
Check it out.

Homework Dump 2

2009-12-23T17:01:00.003-05:00

Finished with my first semester at AIB. As promised, here's some more assignments.

For one assignment in Principles of Illustration, we were asked to pick a magazine or news article that had illustrations, and create our own replacement illustrations. My choice: Patton Oswalt's review of KFC's Famous Bowls for the Onion A.V. Club.

"...this was a level of crap I hadn't earned a belt in yet."

In the Digital Trio class we learned how to paint in Illustrator. Now I need to learn how to hold back a little.
(This guy is a Fygar.)

We also did a little Photoshop painting, of course.
This guy was inked in Illustrator and painted in Photoshop, a process I'm not likely to repeat due to the amount of effort required.

I got a lot out of the Color section of Techniques I. I hadn't played around much with color media, apart from Photoshop. I'd worked with oils before, but couldn't get the hang of it. Watercolor was a little easier.
These are some fish.
(assignment: using a cool palate, paint fish from provided reference)

A zombie horse.
(assignment: using earth tones, paint a horse from provided reference)

The Composition section of Techniques 1 was interesting, and I wish we could have spent more time exploring it.
(assignment: create a composition with at least 5 characters in costume from provided reference, using at least 4 basic types of composition)

The final assignment for this class was to pick a masterpiece painting and reconstruct the composition using different elements. My choice: Mary Cassatt's The Bath.

A posed skeleton for Anatomy and Figure Drawing.

And finally, a cafe scene in charcoal, drawn from life.

Inbound 4

2009-11-21T11:41:00.002-05:00

Inbound 4 is out now, and I have a comic in it!

Inbound is the twice-yearly anthology of comics produced by the Boston Comics Roundtable. The latest issue focuses on Boston area history. You can read more about it and order your copy on the BCR website.

Here's a little preview of my addition to the collection - "Old Ironsides"

Homework Dump 1

2009-11-06T21:56:00.011-05:00

The semester's about half over. Time to show off a few highlights.

A guy getting really into some table tennis. (Assignment: illustrate an anatomically accurate figure from imagination, featuring head, hands, and props.)

A Chrysler PT Cruiser. Options shown. (Assignment: draw the car from provided top and side views.)

A Color Wheel. Everyone loves doing these.

A red color study.

Pointy head guy. A combination of two class assignments. That's legal! Crazy, right? (Assignment 1: b/w comp illustrating the word "sharp". Assignment 2: Photoshop paint)

The Statue of Flipperty. (Assignment: Photoshop mashup)

And finally, a skull/muscle/self portrait overlay.

Clone Wars sketch cards, pt. 1

2009-10-11T18:17:00.004-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to do sketch cards for Topps' Clone Wars trading card series. These are the sample sketches I sent them that got me the gig.
The actual cards are "widescreen" format, which you'll see soon enough - either when people start selling them on ebay, or when I get mine back to sell on ebay. I did a total of 300 cards, and I'm quite proud of them.

Old Business 2

2009-09-29T20:19:00.008-04:00

Time to put up some more art. This time, it's finished works.
I featured these on my portfolio site...

Game concept art

Buccaneer gator frying some veggies (vector art)

Plague Doctor

And here are a couple I didn't get around to putting up...

Kitty Hawk promotional print

Cover for Inbound #2

That's all for now. Next time, some new art!

Old Business

2009-09-25T15:14:00.017-04:00

I'm going to start posting some art that has appeared on my portfolio site. In the event that I scrap that site, I'll still have some of the work here.
First up: sketches.

An early design for Captain Blackbird.

A bearhound who lived at Mami Camila's, a hotel/cooking school in Sorento, Italy.

Gar, a wizened barbarian hero.

A pirate girl.

A grass creature.

Mothman (in native dress).

I also have some sketches I meant to put on the portfolio site...

A more realistic rendering of Billy Fujita.

Cosmopolis.

A fairy.

An extraterrestrial superhero.

Exposition

2009-09-25T14:53:00.003-04:00

Hi, I'm Braden.
Until August of 2009 I had a perfectly nice job doing desktop support for a perfectly nice biomedical research institute (which does things like research cures for cancer and AIDS). But it was just a job, and I needed a career. After much soul-searching and mystic-bone-consulting, I decided to leave the job and pursue art.
I've been doing illustration, comics, and animation on the side for years now, but only recently did I realize that this was what I wanted to do all along. But in order to make a career out of it, I needed to hone my skills to professional level, put together a good portfolio, and make some contacts. This meant going back to school.
So now I'm attending classes full-time at the Art Institute of Boston, doing a 2-year illustration certificate course. I'm just a few weeks into it, so it's a little early to judge anything, but I'll let you know how it goes. More importantly, I'll be using this blog to show you some of the art I'm working on in class and out of class.
Please enjoy.