Return of the RETAILiation

Hard to believe it's been four (4!) months since I last posted on this blog!  Yikes!  It's with good reason, though.  I've actually been incredibly fortunate with some very exciting freelance gigs that I will hopefully be able to announce and post about in the next few months.  Incredibly rewarding stuff!

I've finally got a spare moment to come up for air, and I was seeing where I left off with my RETAILiation comic.  I stumbled across these old sketches that I never posted, so I figured there's no time like the present to share them with the world!  Enjoy!

Composition Studies - North by Northwest

It has been far too long since I sat down and drew up some composition studies from a well-shot movie!  (Not since the summer of 2011, actually)  Previously, I had done some for the Coen Brothers' version of True Grit and for my favorite Harry Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban.  This time around, I watched the classic Hitchcock film North by Northwest.  My new scanner doesn't exactly do subtle too well, but my drawings look something like this...

These were drawn in my huge Moleskine A3 sketchbook.  Sharpie fine point pen to draw everything in, then Prismacolor warm greys (10%, 30%, 60%, occassional 80%).

So much richness in the lighting of these shots that I wasn't able to capture very well with the markers (and the poor scans don't help).  I think I'll try doing these with pencil next time.  Stay tuned...

Even More RETAILiation Sketches

RETAILiation Doodlings..

Just some recent pencil doodles from the ol' sketchbook.

An occasional dash of Prismacolor markers..

And the once-in-a-bluemoon chibis, because NO ONE can resist their charm!

More RETAILiation Testing..

Just continuing to test some rendering styles with my RETAILiation characters...

No reason...

JudgeMint Day

He finds you GUILTY ...of having bad breath!

RETAILiation Test

Trying something new for the New Year..

More details are soon to follow...

Holidaze - Creation & Process

As previously mentioned, from December first through the twenty-fifth, I created a daily Peanuts-styled comic strip called Holidaze.  Each strip was based on taking a different Christmas song or song lyric and trying to turn it on it's head in a way that was entertaining and perhaps even unique.  I actually came up with the idea back in 2011, creating four strip ideas and a couple character sketches at that time..

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, based on how crude the drawings and concepts were), my school-load was too great at that time to warrant creating a daily comic strip.  This year, however, I had an open schedule and was free to truly explore this world and create some hopefully memorable situations.  It all began with some sketches.  Since I knew the world of Holidaze was based on the look and tone of the world of Peanuts, I started there, learning as much as I could about the Charles Schulz Look and adding my own flourishes to create my own original characters..

Once I had my characters, it was time to put them into comedic situations.  My initial concepts and thoughts were scribbled down on paper..

Once I had decided the gag and pacing of a strip was ready to move forward, I jumped over to Photoshop and created a digital rough of what the comic would be.  I also used a font based on Schulz's handwriting for the text of the comics..

At this point, I would play around with the best layout and rewrite the dialogue until I had it just the way I wanted it.  Then, I would add a non-photo blue screen Photoshop layer on top and print it off on an 11x17" sheet of card stock paper..

Then the relaxing, fun part of the process begins.  Out comes the ink and nibs!  It's all about the artwork at this point..

The final step is to scan the artwork back into the computer, clean-up in Photoshop, [add color for the Sunday strips], add the logo and © info, and share with my adoring fans..

I hope everyone enjoyed reading Holidaze as much as I enjoyed putting them all together.

Did I mention that I also put together a book that's for sale on Amazon.com?  Pick up a copy, if you'd like. :^)

Holidaze: 25 Days of Christmas: The Book!

"Man, Casey, you haven't posted anything in months!  What have you been up to, my man...my main man?"

Well, random passer-by, I'm very glad you asked.  As those who follow me on The Facebook (or are one of my "Friends"), you'll know that for the first twenty-five (25) days of December, I uploaded a daily comic strip called Holidaze.  These comics were inspired by the look and comedic tone of Charles M. Schulz's iconic Peanuts strip, but with a Christmas song theme to each day.  Based on popular demand [...from my landlord for something he calls "rent money"], I have decided to compile all 25 (twenty-five) of these comics into a paperback book that can be purchased and then cherished forever and ever (in that exact order) on Amazon.com:

"Whoopdy-do, buckaroo.  I've already seen all those comics for free.  You know your Facebook page is Public, don't you?"

Indeed I do, sir or ma'am.  Indeed, I do.  Therefore, I have decided to sweeten the deal!  In addition to the twenty-five (24+1) digitally-released comics--which would be seen for the first time in all their 300 dpi, printed glory--I have created an additional four (4x1+2-6+4) never-before-seen comic strips!  And if that wasn't enough, I've also created over twenty (20!) new illustrations of your favorite Holidaze characters to help fill out the book, plus gorgeous new cover art (as seen above).  Did I mention that the book is full-color and comes with a nifty little "To:/From:" gifting page in the front?  So what are you waiting for??  Head on over to Amazon.com, buy yourself a copy or two (free Super Saver shipping if you spend $25 or more on the site), and keep a little piece of the Christmas spirit with you all throughout the year!!

Sample interior pages:

Cloud Atlas Sketch

Not the best likeness of the great Tom Hanks or the lovely Halle Berry, but seeing Cloud Atlas this morning inspired me to sketch this:

A thrilling tale, spectacular acting, captivating story lines, and truly amazing make-up artists.  Be sure to check it out the next time you've got an extra three hours.