Loston's Sketch Blog

[Bruce Lee]

An animated style Nightcrawler that I did about 10 years after those X-MEN headshots.

[Bryan E.Warner]

Excellent Work..I remember you mentioning working on the Batman Series...

[spidey976]

I did this piece in an 11x17 sketchbook. One of my favorite Green Lanterns, Katma Tui! It was nice to get to do some markers for a change.

buddy this is insane marker work.... so well done

[Bruce Lee]

buddy this is insane marker work.... so well done

Thanks, man! I don't really do much marker work. I received training with markers about 25 years ago when I attended the Kubert School, but I rarely get a chance to use them. It's nice to know that I can still use them to color when I need to.

[Bruce Lee]

THE GHOST WHO WALKS! This was the black and white part of my packaging art for the PHANTOM action figure from Boss Fight Studio and King Features! The figure and background are done separate from each other because the background is smaller on the front image, while larger on the back, and Boss Fight likes the freedom to move the figure around if they need to.
Traditional, old school inking on these images. The PHANTOM was done with a Raphael Kolinsky Red Sable 8404 #3 brush. The background is mostly art pen with some brush work.

The figure:


The background:



I'm currently working on PHANTOM wave 2 packaging.

[battlewraith]

Very cool man!

[Bruce Lee]

Very cool man!

Thank you, Jason! Most appreciated!

[crazyjedichicken]

As always, love your stuff! out of curiosity, is there any books or tutorials you'd recommend for learning to colour with markers? im studying a lot of bruce timm stuff and his colours are mind blowing!

[Bruce Lee]

As always, love your stuff! out of curiosity, is there any books or tutorials you'd recommend for learning to colour with markers? im studying a lot of bruce timm stuff and his colours are mind blowing!

I honestly don't know of any off-hand, man. I learned to do markers at the JOE KUBERT SCHOOL back in the day, and it's a skill that I haven't gotten to use very much, sadly. I don't even think of myself as being particularly good at it, having not kept in good practice over the years. That's the thing about having good skills in various aspects of art though. You can usually pick up the slack sometimes via other skill sets. For example: I'm not really fantastic at markers, but my markers often look more advanced than they are because I understand things like lighting the human figure. Things like that tend to up your game in areas where you might otherwise be lacking. A good pro will always produce work that looks high end because they can pull things together. My drawing skills are pretty strong, as is my inking, lighting, layout, etc, so a piece like the KATMA commissions is going to turn out nice, but I'm in reality only a fair colorist when it comes to using magic markers. Competent, for sure, but I'm certainly no master, given that I rarely use them. Bruce Timm uses them frequently and does genius work, so he's certainly great with them.
There are a number of artists who do copic tutorials and step-by-steps online. Youtube has several good videos that I've seen over the years. You might check there to learn a few tricks. I often watch such things when I can find the time. Give that a try.

All the best, man!

[Bruce Lee]

Love yer stuff but, I knit my brow at thee in a manner most strenuous. Knit, knit... knit (not to be confused with the Knights that say "nee")

The edge of the sword faces the same direction as the forward knuckle of the index finger



Unless these guys are playing the paddle game, you need to spin the swords 90°. Otherwise they're just spanking each other. (Not judging; what long dead warriors and zombie skeletons do in the privacy of their mausoleum is up to them. Long as it don't scare the cows, it's none of my business)

Get some arms under those shields. What we see is defined by what we can't see. Draw the arms first, locate the straps, split the difference to locate the center, build your box and draw the ellipse. The degree to which you "crown" the far side depends if the shield is a disc, saucer, bowl or hemisphere

Thanks, Smitty! Very helpful. Can't believe I didn't catch the sword's hand guard. That's all on me working late. This illustration went through a bunch of editorial changes, and it lost its way somewhere along the way. Ugh. I did not notice the issues with the sword hand, hilt, etc in the final, and neither did the art director, apparently. Oops! Totally agree about the hand as well, and also with the torso situation. Not my best work there perhaps, as it is a patchwork remainder of several alterations to the figure. I'd have been better off just redrawing the whole thing, but I was trying to get things out quickly. It would have served me better to have just done things right in the first place! Thanks to you, I'll be sure to do things differently in the future. This overlay will serve as a great reminder to me, I'm sure, and I very much appreciate it!
As far as the shields go though, I was told to be sure to show each of the emblems on each of the characters' shields, as both figures represent action figures being sold by the company that I work for. I was also trying to show a bit more of the skeleton's armor for the same reason. In my original drawing, I drew the character on the left so that we were seeing the inside of his shield with his shield arm completely visible, but it was suggested that I show him blocking an attack instead. If I had just redrawn that figure entirely instead of trying to just make an alteration, things would have made much more visual sense. Long story short, I dropped the ball on the entire figure. The warrior's pose just looks awkward, at best. This shoulder guard on the shield arm is turned the wrong way also, adding to the weirdness. If I could do it over today, it would be a different story, but I flubbed it.

The action figure shields are huge, and if I would have placed it in the position of the overlay as you have indicated, it would have covered up the skeleton's entire torso. One of the weirdest things about working for an action figure company is that you turn something in, wait to hear back on ever illustration, and then you try to meet the art director's requirements. Sometimes I don't agree with the suggestions I receive, but that's the process that things go through. On this particular panel of the lunch box, I wasn't very happy with the final result. At the time I didn't understand what was bugging me about the figures, but I think you have shed a lot of light on what was gnawing at me in the back of my mind. I truly appreciate it, Smitty!

[Bruce Lee]

Thing portrait commission. I always love getting the chance to draw Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew!

[Bruce Lee]

Spider-Man marker sketch that I did as a sketchbook commission.

[Bruce Lee]

Years back I got tired of waiting on someone to produce a good Kirby-esque Hulk toy or statue so I decided to sculpt something myself, so I made this head out of Super Sculpey. I've never had sculpting lessons, but this turned out pretty well I think.








Gonna do another one soon.

[crazyjedichicken]

thanks! Hard work and putting in the hours is always the answer but I still always hold out hope there's a magic pen l can buy!
that Hulk is fantastic! love the teeth!

[battlewraith]

That Hulk head is insanely good for someone who never had sculpting lessons.