Firefly Fanartica and some Random Bits

After neglecting the awesome Fanartica Tumblr fo far too long I decided i'd jump into their Joss Whedon theme for June and do some drawings for an Imaginary Firefly Animated movie. I'd watch the hell out of that btw just in case if anybody out there can make that happen...

Random Skeletor Challenge with my colleagues Carlos V. Dustin D. And Clayton S.

Nother random Challenge with the dudes.

JL

Rafa: Watercolor Study

As soon as I read Scott Fischer's Tutorial on mimicing watercolor through Photoshop I could feel my fingers itching to give it a try. 

   Co worker Mauricio pointed out that the Hipstamatic shot makes it look like a red pen. 

I started off much the same as Scott, scanning a piece of Watercolor paper and doing a sketch in blue ballpoint pen. I scanned and multiplied my drawing onto the watercolor texture and soon after that things got rapidly out of control. 

I probably should have kept track of the changes but its tough when your trying to create both a sense of spontaneity and control. I used a combination of all of Scott's techniques then filtered it through my own penchant for unsharp mask and layer blend modes (overlay) This was fun, but it wasn't any more efficient or immediate than actual watercolor. Now it's time to go find a nice, thick piece of illustration board and dust off the old Brandes water color method...

So This Is A New Year

Baraka done for a quickie challenge with the ever talented posse of Carlos V. & Gavin G. 

Whoa it's already the 2nd month of 2012, an appropriate time for a mini art dump. Most of these were done in between assignments, or when i just felt like doodling on the ol' Cintiq or ipad.

Lots has been going on in Casa Lacera, I can't wait to talk about it here on the blog in the near future. But first there are going to be be some changes to the blog format, in an effort to keep me blogging more regularly about the many art related things I love. I'm going to shift the focus a bit to highlighting artwork and artists that have influenced me and my sense of aesthetic over the years. I want to also focus more on technique and art tips. Feel free to email me with wither questions or suggestions for articles! jorge@jlacera.com


 In the mean time I hope these various noodlings will tide those over who need tidings.

Cheers!

JL

THE AVENGERS MAX - The Iron Man

After the war, left-over Stark Tech was strewn across the battle fields of Western U.S.  Few knew how to make it work,  fewer still were brave enough to try. 

One man did.

 The Iron Man wanders the wasteland between Reno and Las Vegas amassing a rag tag group of engineers and tinkerers, together they scavenge for Stark Technology and are said to be building an army. The Eastern tribes whisper rumors that he is Tony Stark yet others wonder if the suit works at all...

Another mashup via Carlos Villagra...The Avengers MAX! 

Rogue: 90's Xmen Challenge

UPDATE: Phoenix for Diego

Thanks to Netflix I can now watch any episode of X-men the animated series. This combined with Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 should give you a good sense of what I wasted my time watching/playing in my misspent youth. I tried channeling a little of that into this piece, an imaginary X-men game where they simply updated those eyepoping 90's costume designs. Carlos V. did a fantastic, sleazy, Gambit that you should totally check out.


Cheers,

JL

John Carter of Mars

Back in 2007 I was working at American Greetings alongside some extraordinary illustrators and creative thinkers. Back then the Sketch-o-rama blog was a way to vent the creative steam that builds up when your working on say...Care Bears or some such.

We had just heard of the Disney/Pixar John Carter of Mars deal and were psyched at the prospect, so much so that we all did our take on the fearsome Tars Tarkas ( James Groman and Carlos Villagra )

I opted for a longer leaner look for the Thark, less muscle bound than the iconic Frazetta
imagery.

It seemed to make sense that a 15 foot tall alien will be intimidating regardless of how ripped they were and it helped reinforce a sort of tribal theme I felt tied in well nicely with Burroughs description of the Tharks in "A Princess of Mars".

It was so much fun that I did a few MORE drawings to get the designs out of my system.

Variations on a theme. I moved the tusks from inside the mouth to the outside of the mandible and gave him a ridgy spinal protrusion to balance out the larger, engraved tusks.

I remember trying to find an approach that was true to my vision of the character at the time.

And this is the important part: While that vision might change, it's important to infuse as much of your art with your personal spirit and vision. In the end it's all that matters and will make your art stronger and vastly more appealing than anything conjured up to please someone else.

I spotted this image in a sneak peak article on io9:

                                                                 Tall skinny Tharks!!!



And then this screengrab of the very excellent trailer released yesterday:

I was lucky enough to meet Iain McCaig, Concept Artist, Master Storyteller and all around Force of Nature at this years' Illustration Master Class. During his presentation he talked about working the John Carter of Mars movies. THREE times with THREE different directors.

Ultimately he and his uber talented daughter, Mishi, also worked on this Disney Pixar version.

Can't wait to see it and congrats to all those involved in finally bringing this story to life.

Teaser Trailer

Robopocalypse/Venom sketches

A few bits and bobs. Both of these are sketch jams with Carlos V. Anyone else reading Robopocalypse? I'm loving everything about it so far.

Alien Guy: UPDATE

UPDATE: For those of you interested in these sorts of things here is my speedily constructed base mesh....

Quick lunch type sketch. Started off as a doodle and expanded into a quick Sculptris sculpt, then finally colored in Photoshop.

Mecaf, Monster, Lobster!

Spring/ Summer is slowly starting to claw and bite its way back here in New England, and it looks like this is going to be a busy couple of months for me. 

In May I'll be attending the Maine Comic Arts Festival, where I'll be sharing a table with fellow Illustration Ninjas, Ellen Crenshaw and Chad King. 

I wanted to paint an original illustration for the con and so it became excuse to draw a lobster monster and pirates!  Keep checking in for progress pics.

Then in June I'll be attending the Illustration Master Class. I can't properly describe how psyched I am to attend this star studded workshop so I'll simply whisper Boris freaking Vallejo....

Finally, August = The International SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. Megan and I have been busy working on a picture book that is very dear to us, and we can't wait to talk to and be inspired by fellow Illustrators and writers. 

Astonishing Assholes: Yuriko

Yuriko aka Lady Death Strike.


Check out some MORE killer Assholes by Karg, Ford, and Chris [a.k.a. KFC] Here.




JL

Nausicaä Earthquake Charity Drawing

Hey everyone,

So I'm sure if your like me, you've been overwhelmed by all the gut wrenching news coming out of Japan.

I finally got tired of feeling helpless/hopeless. I'm auctioning off an original drawing with 100% of proceeds going towards the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. 


Click here to bid

Please take some time and check it out and bid.


If you're more inclined to donate directly here are a few verified charities:

Artists Help Japan via Dice Tsutsumi:
http://give2asia.org/artistshelp 

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund via 
GlobalGiving:
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/

 American Red Cross:
http://newsroom.redcross.org/2011/03/11/disaster-alert-earthquake-in-japan-tsunami-warnings/


Anime and Manga Bloggers for Japan:
http://www.bloggers4japan.com/

Thank you,

JL

http://newsroom.redcross.org/2011/03/11/disaster-alert-earthquake-in-japan-tsunami-warnings/http://newsroom.redcross.org/2011/03/11/disaster-alert-earthquake-in-japan-tsunami-warnings/

Harmony Drawing Pt.2

Harmony doodles done mostly to warm up. There is something intangible about the looseness of this little program that I love. Next step is to take one of these to a finish. Any suggestions on which?

Also if you have not already, do yourself a favor and check out the Muddy Colors blog. It's chock full of illustration, inspirationy, goodness. 

JL

The Astonishing Assholes- Wolverine

Savage High School Dropout: Wolverine is the story of a young man whose principal interests are sex, ultra-violence, and beer. 

The Astonishing Assholes are the X-men by way of  Kick-Ass. As Carlos puts it: "The Astonishing Assholes is a reinvention of the X-men. Young, jaded assholes that have no purpose but to listen to loud music and smash a few heads. They smoke, drink and fuck. Everything your normal teenager does."

Make sure to check out Carlos's Beast and Gavin's Cyclops.

Cheers,

JL

Couple of F.O.B's

What a ref!

These are a few drawing warm ups that got out of hand...

Lunch sketch

Fired up the ol' Alchemy during lunch today and this dude emerged all angry and stuff.

JL

La Femme Bobba Fett

Yet another one of these challenge deals between Gavin Goulden, Carlos V. and myself. This was a lot harder than I expected. The idea was to take a Star Wars character and gender bend them. This is one of those instances where an idea popped into my head and I couldn't quite nail it down to my satisfaction.

But thats half the fun of exploring and trying something new, you're never quite sure how it'll turn out.

JL

Trash Planet & WW-N: Samus Prints Now Available!

*Please note: all prints are only available for a limited print run, so get while they're hot!*

Prints are now available through Society6! Make sure to check out the banner on the right for Gallery quality Giclee prints on matte, smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid free archival paper (whew! thats a mouthful!) 

What if Samus Aran fought in WW2?

UPDATE: 

As seen on: Kotaku, G4tv, and Irrational Games!

 Once again we opted to do a redesign of some of our favorite characters, I somehow ended up in a world where Samus Aran, from Metroid, fought in WW2 for the allies. 

This was a lot of fun, after I got started it was hard to stop which is a great sign. 

I'll post a quick progression later this week. Make sure to check out Carlos V's. entry and check back for more updates as other friends and colleagues  upload their Nintendo/ WW2 mash ups.

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JL

Trash Planet: Pixar speed paint

In an effort to get a quick blog update in before the holidays, Carlos V. Chad K. and I agreed to do a Pixar related post. The twist: choose a Pixar character and make em into a warrior. I remember reading somewhere that the working title for Wall-E was "Trash Planet" and thought it would be cool to make an 80's B-movie poster of that.

It's Wall- E meets Mad Max!

Happy Turkey Day!


-----jl

Scupltris Experiments in 3Dimensions

So I'm obsessed with Sculptris. Its the first 3d program that truly feels intuitive and easy to use for non 3d artists. Seconds from opening the program I was making things that looked like things. All too often I find myself fumbling with commands and learning how to simply rotate the object in 3d, with Sculptris it feels natural and easy to "get" It doesn't seem like a full blown 3d solution but its fun as hell.

This guy took about an afternoon from Sculptris to Photoshop.


-----jl