A New Chapter

Time Agent Mack:


Well, I can now say that I'm a full-time comic book artist. I quit the Comcast/Convergys Call Center this last thursday and now I'm buckling down on focusing on my various art jobs that have been getting neglected while I tried to work two jobs.

Not only was I working at the call-center this past month, but I've also taken a part time job as a teacher in an After School Art program(which is run by the same people who run the Tae Kwon Do dojo in town, so I get a nice little discount there) and was pretty much running from one job to the next and then coming home and going straight to bed. I was doing very little drawing, unless it was for a demonstration for my students.

So when you double that up that everyone in the call center was already afraid of losing their job because they've firing people for the stupidest reasons lately, I decided to just cut through the bullshit and quit. I hated it there. I really did. Plus, I still have an agreement with Company x to do a miniseries with them. It's a small published, so its not enough to support myself on alone, but I still have my teaching job

--and you know what? I work twice as hard now to make less pay but I love every damn second of it. I wake up at 5 am, sit down at my art desk at 6am and draw till 3 pm(with a break and a lunch fit in there somewhere) the go to my job at the Art Academy(Monday through Thursday), go to Tae Kwon do, get home by 8:30 and then either finish up whatever work I have for that day, clean the apartment, or hang with my friends till about ten or eleven, then hit the hay. On Fridays or Saturdays, I just draw from 6am till 7pm till its time to go to Tae Kwon Do or sketch club. It's proving to be a real challenge to actually draw a page a day, but I'm getting there. It's just going to take a week or two to get back to that point.

Once I'm done with the current project I'm working on, it will be about time for Heroes or the San Diego Comic Con, so what I'm doing is saving my Tax refund(which is apparently going to be a VERY nice little pay check) to pay for room and air fare so I can get out and look for the next job.

Right now I'm at a bit of a crossroads and I have a lot of decisions that need to be made--what with my lease being up for the apartment and deciding if I want to move back in with mom till another friend of mine can split the cost of an apartment with me, head out to Hawaii and stay with my brother for awhile, Go to College in Savannah Georgia in the fall, stay here and take the preschool teacher job thats been offered to me to start in august, move out to Encinitas and go to Watts Atelier and work as a Caricature Artist, continue to try and make it as a freelance artist, etc.....lots of choices to be made. But right now I'm to focused on finishing pencils on the comic book page thats on my drafting table to dwell on anything else for to long. Eithewr way, this is the start of a new adventure for me.

Alright, well thats more than long enough.
I'll post more later.

Halloween and 24 hour Comics

I love this time of year. Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but it is one that I absolutely love. This year, I'm continuing the tradition that me and my friends have of "whoring up" are regular halloween costumes at midnight and heading off to the Rocky Horror Picture Show with all of the necessary supplies in tow---and watching old horror movies up until that day.  However, I do miss the old Halloween traditions--innocent costumes, trick or treating, fun pranks, etc.

I look forward to creating another October tradition this year with the 24 hour comic event. Tomorrow morning, I meet up with my pals from sketch club and set out to do 24 pages in 24 hours. I might post some of the pages here once I'm done and I'll be updating Twitter via my phone every hour(or at least I'll try to. :P) from 9:00 am Saturday(It starts at ten) until 10:00am on Sunday. I'm totally stoked. I participated in the last 24 hour comic event that Schetch club did back in May and I had a blast(Even though I only managed to finish 10 pages). So this is going to be great. :)

Anywho, the sketch I drew here is the villian for the Young Justice three page comic book sample that I'm working on for Wizard World Texas. I was really going for an 90's Image era with the look of his costume--what with the excess of armor and the pointy fingers, and so on.  

Well, thats it for today, folks.

Rachael.

Internet deprived, but not dead.

Sorry about taking so long to update, once again. This time, it wasn't my fault though. :D 

I moved into my first apartment just a month ago and, since I had been using my moms computer in order to access the internet and to update this blog, once I moved out I was completely cut off. So I eventually got my computer's power cord fixed( After waiting almost six months for our computer manufacturer to send us one on our insurance plan) and it my laptop worked great!...For the first few hours before it complete crashed and became unsalvageable.  So I've been without any internet connection till my roommate got a used computer a week or two ago and then she wasn't able to get her old scanner/printer till just a few days ago.  So yeah...I want to get a computer. Maybe a Mac...I just don't have a credit history to get one at Best Buy, otherwise I would-and thats coming from me, someone who's afraid to get anything on credit.

I really love my new apartment, though. So that's a plus ^_^ I'm going to try and get a few pictures up of it on here...once, y'know, I tidy it up a bit...:-P 

And I got my first paying art gig! More on that later...I'm not going to be making quite enough to go part time, though I still might do so since I'm starting to get tired of my "Comcastic" call center job. I can probably make up for the lost revenue by offering to do commissions up at work to the people I know are interested. I love the project I'll be working on, though. It's a really fun and original story with a lot of imagination.

Nothing is finalized with the project yet,  so I'm still walking in a bit tentatively. In the meantime, while I wait for the business side of things to be decided and to get a contract signed, I'm working on a Young Justice sample that includes the characters above (Robin, Impulse, Superboy) in preparation for Wizard World Texas. I'm trying to get a portfolio put together while simultaneously working overtime at work to make sure I can afford the trip to Dallas/Arlington.  Things are stressful and a little bit overwhelming at times, but I couldn't be happier. I feel like things in my life are falling into place and like I'm finally in alignment with my goals and aspirations. Like I finally got my drivers license! Whoo-hoo!. It only took me until..I was...almost 20...X(

So that's it for now. Sorry about the long-ass blog entry, just felt like I had a lot happen this month that I should put out there. The next one should be shorter. Promise. 

Until next time,

Rachael

Batman: Gotham Knight pages.

So here's the Batman: Gotham Knight pages I did a few weeks ago. S'Not much, but it's a start.

I finished the Twilight pages I've been working on these past two weeks today and I've been busy as ever. I've managed to draw about 35 hours this past week while working a 40 hour a week job. I remember when I thought this would be impossible. But it seems that the more busy I become, the more efficient I am.

However, now that those pages are done, I'm going to take the next two weeks off before I start the Torchwood(or Doctor Who. Haven't decided yet and I love both) sample pages. I'm moving into my first apartment next week and I haven't even started packing. Plus, I still have to drive out to my Dad's to get my furniture and my books out of storage.

This week will most likely be spent getting ready for the move, drawing up a few comic strips for a friends up and coming web comic, and getting some reading done. I've had the "Breaking Dawn" book for almost a month now and I'm only a hundred pages into it. Most of my friends have managed to read it twice now. And I also have a large stack of comics begging to be read.

I'll post the Twilight pages as soon as I can make it down to the nearest Kinkos. Until then, I'm posting a lil' youtube video so that people who don't know what Twilight is(i.e., most of my comic book peoples) can get a gist of it and see what the characters are supposed to look like. Not sure how well I did on capturing a likeness, but lemme know when I post the pages.

Lemme know what you think of the Batman pages! Please feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what I did right and where I failed miserably ;)

Until next time,
Rachael

It's Been A Long Time Coming...

Hello one and all of the two people who might still read this blog(me being one of the two, the other being my friend Ashley who threatened bodily harm to me if I don't start updating my blog on a weekly basis soon.).

Once again, sorry that it's been forever since I've updated. What can I say, other than life has been crazy and hectic as always--but also to much fun to spend to much time in front of a computer. I got a job at the "Comcastic" Convergys call center( Which seems to me to be a text book case of how NOT to run a company. ), I've been getting ready to move into my first apartment(with my Cool Beans roomie/best friend and scarey-as-hell editor, Ashley :) ), I've discovered the awesomeness that is a British TV show called DOCTOR WHO!!!, and I've been increasing my efforts to make a living as a comic book artist by about 300%--I even helped tech a workshop this past week on Comic Book layouts AND I've even had a date(well....It wasn't really a date, but still. :P). I'ts been a crazy summer. Alot in my life has changed and is pushing me in the direction to finally grow into a more independent, responsible, and confident person.

All in all, I feel like I'm moving into the next stage of my life. From the low self-esteem, irresponsible, and lazy teenager and into the low self-esteem, irresponsible, and somewhat-less-lazy young 20-something. :P j/k

I'm honestly am going to try and update this blog more often--either with sketches or submission pages from my portfolio. Lately I've decided that if I want to work in comics, that I need to get used to working two full-time jobs first--Working 40 hours a week at convergys and then working 40 hours a week studying and drawing sample comic book pages from home. So I'm not getting much sleep(except on the weekends.), but I do feel like I'm finally moving in a faster pace towards what I want to accomplish. Soon I'll be making enough from my art so that I can go part-time at Convergys and eventually I'll quit my "day job" all together and work from home or in a studio with my other artist friends. I know that at first I won't be making alot of money in comics but, even if I only make as much as I do at Convergys every month, it will still be worth five times more to me than my usualy paycheck is.

So yeah, busy as a bee. And, actually, I probably need to be getting back to work. So I'll end this little update here. I've included some more rect art in this post that I hope you enjoy. The Ood is a slave race alien that's in an episode or two of Doctor Who and David Tennant is the Guy who plays the Doctor, and then also a caricature of actor Robert Pattinson(EDWARD!!!), and last, but not least, is Time-Agent Mack--My own creation, inspired by the Doctor Who and Torchwood series.

Later peoples! B)

Rachael

Update: Wizard World Texas Portfolio Samples and notes

(If you just want to see my artwork as well as the following critiques and could care less about my explanation for my long absence from blogging land, then just skip the next few paragraphs. And please....ignore the numerous typos. ;))

Hey, sorry for the long looooooooong leave of absence. Due to the fact that I haven't had acess to a working scanner/printer(until today, thanks to my friend Will Terrel :) ) and also due to the fact that life has just been....busy(studying, working on portfolio samples, Wizard Wold, a vacation to Hawaii, and working full time at Sams club), I haven't been keeping up with anything online. But now I'm going to start making the time to at least give a brief update every week. :)

About three weeks ago, I attended the Wizard World Texas convention in Arlington, Texas with my friends Will, and Luis. It seems that the entire Lubbock comicbook community(Radio Free Metropolis radio host guys, some Sketch Club people, and the Star Books and Comics guys) made the journey down to the convention and a fun time was had by all. I'll try to go into more detail about the convention experience in my next post once I uplod the photos from my digital camera. But for right now...

I took my portfolio and a notebook for critiques to the WWTexas convention and did my best to keep a detailed report on who said what about my artwork and what I needed to improve. I did three different samples this time: a four page Huntress sample, a three page Batman Sample, and a three page X-Men sample. I ran around the convention floor the entire November weekend trying to get various artists to review my portfolio and to rip me a new one with whatever they felt really needed to be improved upon. It was a humbling experience. I had worked on my samples, feeling as if I had really made a big improvement in my artwork and I went away from the convention realizing that I still have aLOT to work on.

So, for the enjoyment of the two people who probably read this blog, I thought Id post my portfolio and my critique notes for your entertainment and pretend interests. ;) If you have anything extra to add, feel free to leave me a comment. Praise AND flames are both welcome.

(NOTE:Click picture for larger image)

BOP/Huntress Sample
script by Gail Simone
11/12/2007

Batman Sample
Script from Penciljack.com
10/18/2007

Ultimate X-men Sample
Script by Brian K. Vaughn
10/30/2007





The critiques(in the order that they were received)

Mitch Brietweiser:
*Pages are overly detailed. Put less detail in the background and economize panels.
*Anatomy is a little stiff
*Cleanup artwork and tighten pencils. Tips:use Interior Design perspective grids. Draw on back of bristol board with the lightbox.

Ethan Van Sciver:

*It's still going to be about two or three years before your ready to work in mainstream comics. Theres a lot of improvement from last time, but it'll still be 2-3 years.
*Figures are stiff.
*Artwork is muddied.
*Action should take up entire page. Huntress pg1 panel 1, X-men pg 1 pn.2, and Xmen pg.2 pn.5 for example, theres a LOT of wasted negative space that the action should have taken up. Work on making action sweep entire panel. Work on dynamics. Xmen sample page 3 panel three is a good example of covering the entire panel with action.
*Your good at backgrounds and at establishing, but your overestablishing. Huntress page 1 pn. 2. Focus more on the important parts of the scene. You could have just zoomed in on the gun going through the window.
*Your at a point now where you really should be using photorefrencing faces.
*I've seen your portfolio alot of times at Megacon and that head(Batman pg.3 pn.4)--I don't like that head. Never draw that head again! :P It's to bulbous...correct it.

Joe Benitez:
*Work on your anatomy. Study "Brigmans"
*Move "camera" angles for more drama.
*Use reference on backgrounds.
*Work on Dynamics
*After awhile, go back and look at your work for mistakes. If your old work seems bad and it's easier to spot your mistakes, then you'll know that your getting better.

Kody Chamberlain (with input by Michael Lark):
*Use photo reference for your figures and anatomy.
*Draw all important details within the "live area" of the prelined bristol board.
*You lose the form at times. Erase your rough drawing completely.
*Your brain is not involved in the procress. Learn to excluse it and just draw what you see--not what you think you see.

Editor w/ Viper Comics:
*Work on proportions.
*characters are stiff.
*Vary body types--not everyone has to be muscular.

Tommy Castillo:
*Study anatomy.
*Work on page design. The page should flow in a 'z' patter. Leading the eye through the entire page ans into the next.
*Watch for tangents in artwork.
*Get more training. Draw through "Bridgmans Complete Guide to Anatomy" and Andrew Loomis' "Figure Drawing for all it's worth and draw through them two or three times and get a skull or plaster cast to study.
*You need to start developing your own style. Right now I can see where alot of your influences come from and thats great--but find your own voice. Your style varies to much and your straddling being cartooney and realistic. Now you need to decide which was to go.

Angel Medina:
*Keep working on turning out sample pages. If your artwork has improved this much in a short period of time, then your mistakes will hammer themselves out.
*Take whateveryone tells you at this convention with a grain of salt and don't let what they say take your focus off of trying to turn out as many pages as possible. I could tell you alot of thing to work on here, but in a few months it won't matter and the problems will have corrected themselves.

Adam Kubert:
*Your figures are stiff. Take as many life drawing classes as you can. Drawing from life is an essential part of any artists' training.
-Assignment: Take 5 pieces of paper of any type--notebook paper, napkin, printer paper, contructionpaper, stationary, etc--and fill each sheet of paper up completely with figure drawings from life(from beach, cafe, school, work--anywhere). Back AND front. Leave as little black space on the page as possible.
*Watchout for tangents--Huntress pg.3 panels four and five-the staircase rail goes right into the couch and gun on the next panel. Be more consious of your layouts and avoid this as mush as possible.
*Mix up character sizes. Vary their size from panel to panel.
*On Pg.1 panel five on the Batman sample you could have overlapped the falling Two Face with the building
to add more depth to the panel.
*When showing portfolio smples, it's important to fill in the black areas and make your portfolio look as polished as possible. you can take the little shortcuts and leave spotting blacks up to your inker(if you so choose.) once you've got the job.
*there are alot of panels where you should have zoomed in on your characters to add emphasis and dynamics to the scene.
*great background detail.

Topcow Editor Filip Sablik:
*Work on your rendering
*Maximize your layouts and your panels. Make characters lager in certain panels and vary sizes.
*You have anatomy issues. Work on them.
*Try to focus more on your finished pencils than on your layouts and try to maintain as much energy in your final art as you can.

James O'Barr:
*Work on your storytelling and page design--see michael Golden while your at this convention if you want tips from a real master.

Humberto Ramos:
*Your anatomy needs work.
*Work on your heads. they're a little to rounded out on some panels.
*Keep turning out pages and keep working on your samples.

Mark Silvestri:
*Work on making your art more dynamic.
*Study and pay closer attentio to your anatomy.
*Figures should have been bigger in certain panels.
*Anything black will come forward--remember that rule when working in comics. Throw some blacks on or behind your characters and it will make them pop and bring some depth to your page.
*Work on spatial variety.
*Work on your storytelling.
*On your figures/chracters--focus more on body roation and fluidity. Again, make them as dynamic as you can.
*Pull back on your backgrounds--you show alot more than you need to.
*Loosen up on your layouts, it will suck all the energy out of your final artwork if your not careful.
*keep submitting your samples.

Michael Golden:
*You need to work on making your work more bold and Dynamic.
*Lost dynamics on Huntress sample page 3 panel 4 and pulled back to far. Gun should have been more prominent in the panel. I barely noticed it. Panel 5-throw shadows on the fore figure to add depth.
*Huntress sample page 4 panel 2-panel could have been a close up on Huntress and the smiling thug and on panel 4 you could have zoomed out.
-in Panel 6 you need to work on the rendering. Throw some shadows on the couch.
*Batman sample page 1 panel 5-you could have added up-lighting from the streets below to create shadows on the building and make the panel more dramatic.
*Batman sample page 2 panel 2-you could have added more motion lines to indicate mpore clearly that that Batman and Two face were falling.

-Panel 1 is a good example of a dramatic and dynamic camera angle. Good work! But again, you could have added some dramatic lighting caused by the city lights below to indicate more clearly that it's night.
*Batman Sample pg3 panel 4-instead of creating a'halo' of light around Batman to separate his black costume from the black backgroung, you could have just let them blend together to creat more of a mood for the Dark Knight.
-the characters should have been bigger in this panel.
*X-Men Sample Page 1 panel 1- Could have rendered more grass in the foreground and spot blacks on the tree in the foreground.
*X-men Sample Page 2 - characters could have been bigger in some panels.
*X-men Sampe Page 3 panel 3- Wolverine could have been more dynamic in this panel. The figure could have been twisted more until his claw and the sparks coming off of Colossus' chest were right in the readers face.
*In comicbooks you can't be to subtle or 'shy' with your artwork. Become more dynamic and bold with drawing. When your ready to ink your sample pages, make non-photo blue copies and use a sharpie to ink them. This should help alot.

J. Scott Campbell:
*Tighten up figures.
*Your linework is sketchy.
*Work on spotting more blacks.

Mike Choi:
*Your art needs to be more dynamic.
*Take more lifedrawing classes. Don't draw from memory. Draw from life as much as possible.
*I can't stress enough that you need to work on your anatomy. Draw only what you see! Work on developing your own style later. Draw from magazines, take figure classes, draw peope at the coffee shop or at the pool.
*Improve your foreshortening.
*In some panels you could have made the perspective lines curve into 'fishbowl perspective' because it sometimes looks to forced.
*Don't draw comic books for a while. Put it all aside and just focus on building a foundation of solid anatomy. Your strengths are alot of other new artists' weaknesses. Your weakness is your figure work. Learn that and everything else will snap into place.
*Work on your heads. I won't point out which haces are poorly structered--thats for you to figure out and improve. But just start working on the structure of the head.
*SUCK!(Note: He actual wrote that in my notebook. :P He was kidding....erm, I think. <.< >.>)

Everyone was really nice at the convention and every critique was very infomative and good natured. Though I was told of a lot of mistakes in my work, it was all told with the right intentions and by great artists who definitely have the experience and knowlege to know a flaw when they see one, so it was all very much appreciated and well recieved. These are just my notes and the gist of what I was told--so it's not verbatim. I definitely have a lot to work on, but I'm looking forward to this process. :)

Whew! This is one long post. I'll try to be shorter with my next update,which should come in a few days. See you guys later. ;)

Rachael

Sunday Sketch Dump

Just a short post today. I'm giving ya three sketches today since I haven't updated much this week. The first is a quick ten minute sketch last night I did of Tim Drake/Robin, second it the Ultimate version of Wolverine, and the last is Powergirl. I'm happy with how the first two turned out, but I got a little frustrated on the Powergirl sketch. Ah well, live and learn. :) They can't all be 'good' sketches. Bad mistakes are just as important as the happy accidents--they serve as lessons. :)

I'm really liking how much more cartoony my work is getting(Compared to my older stuff where I couldn't draw a body or even a face without a photo next to me). I have more fun drawing like this --and now it seems unbelievable that just last year I was whining about how I couldnt draw in a more 'cartooney' style because of my obsession with detail--even though all of my favorite artists are minimalists with a more animated style. I would spend hours working on a drawing just to get the facial features "just right" and now....

Heh. Thats life though, I guess. Things change without you even noticing it sometimes.

Alrighty now....I'll try to post something tomarrow. Promise. ;)
Rachael

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