Mayhem. Music. Mending. Making.

Hello again,

So in between the madness of classes this past week, and sorting out all sorts (redundant, much?) of chaos, I managed to dig up some older artwork from 2008 that I produced during my stint up north. No, not in prison, in New Haven, CT (some might say, "same difference"). Heh. To celebrate, I decided to throw up a stripped-down little mini-gallery to display them online. Another one of my "black pages" that seem to be popping up increasingly of late.

Among those lush creations, was my not-so-long forgotten series of pieces, which I tentatively titled "The Muses." I was going to call it "Les Muses," but that felt so unbearably pretentious, I did away with that idea sooner than I had even conceived it.

Finding this old art also inspired a very recent (read: finished late last night) stylized self-portrait, digitally produced. That's also in the new gallery.

In addition, there were a few "Gun" character studies, which I'm delighted to share... later on. When episode 2 drops... In "xxx" weeks! My apologies, but that stuff will just have to wait... OK, now I feel bad.

Fine. Have your cake now. They're here too. Ya big jerks. Haha.

Click the image below to view the latest pieces on the new Artwork '08 - '09 page at HS!

Now, back to this new music. I've been listening to all sorts of new beats and grooves after a long hiatus from aural pleasure (which happens to be a great song by Blackalicious, by the way). If you haven't heard it yet, I suggest checking out "Octahedron" by The Mars Volta. I've finally given it a listen, and I need to get the word out. It is great. It is the bees knees. (Bonus points for anyone who got that reference just now.) Sets the pace for my pencil and flow, y'know?

New ideas are keeping the fire burning. I'll be sure to share whatever ashes spill forth.

Peaceandlove.

- Fred

More Twitching. Less Scratching.

Hi folks. A small update here. Just a peek at the progress on the new piece. I've encountered some technical difficulties working through this, which have starkly reminded me of my vehement hatred for the Windows OS and all of its ridiculous neuroses. I love alot of things about it too, don't get me wrong. But damn was this evening frustrating or what. Like pulling teeth from a crocodile. Argh.

Anyway, the image below shows some of the playing around I've been doing with coloring. One thing I can definitely say for the Wacom pen, it allows alot of natural laydown from the pen to the screen. I went a tad color crazy on this young lady's hair, but I frankly don't give a shit. It is what it is, and I'm playing around with it in several ways.

When it's done, it will presumably be my last piece of 2008, so hopefully I can release it in time for the New Year celebrations. What little there is to celebrate... sorry, the cynical misanthrope in me was creeping up again.

Anyway, enjoy. Hopefully I can post another progress shot or two before year's end. Click the image to see the full size.

Bon soir. (I really have to stop ending my posts in foreign languages. It's not nearly as cool as it sounds.)

- Fred

Treasures and Lull.

Christmas came and went and I barely noticed. Between work and travel, I was able to procure gifts for precisely 2 people out of over 15 that I usually buy for each year. Not exactly happy about that. At least I'm back home for this week. NYC lounging and having time to breathe and actually spend more than 4 consecutive hours NOT stressing about something... It's uncanny, I know.

Nonetheless, my mom (who is awesome) blessed me with a sweet new Wacom tablet on Dec. 25th. I have been toying around with this thing ever since and it's pretty sweet. The first time I tried it out, I nearly creamed myself. I shit you not.

Despite having a house full of children ages 4 through 9-ish, and having zero time to dedicate to my creativity, plus having a rather shitty day in general, I was able to eke out a good chunk of graveyard shift time to give the Wacom a proper test drive. The result ...? Well so far, a working illustration of one of the characters from Gun, around which my creative life seems to revolve these days (apart from the occassional poem, that is). So far I've just done lines for her face and head. I'm expanding downward and then coloring and then doing background. I'll probably develop this into a full-fledged promo piece or something in a similar vein.


But that will be tomorrow. My black ass is tired. Enjoy a look at the work in progress by clicking the thumbnail.

Addio.

- Fred

Latency Period.

Welcome back to the stage.

So in case you missed the news... I moved out of New York... Heretik Studios is now split between two centers, one in New York, one in Connecticut. Pretty intense.

So what's been happening on the creative front? Not much at all. Although, I have been totally producing new sketches.. and relevant works too. Gun stuff. I don't know what will actually be fully developed, or when it will be available for the public to get their grubby little mitts on, but at least it's SOMETHING.

I can't run flash. I can't run photoshop. Not for a few weeks at least. Sorry folks, but real life got in the way. I got a new job.

I said it before and I'll say it again... Gun, episode 2 is gonna come. No matter what.

Believe it!

Roughing It.

Hey folkses.

I was working at a rough sketch of a character that appears in episode 2. I had some last minute changes to the character's look and I needed to mock it up before I committed it to flash. I basically drew the body pose, then the wardrobe on top of it. Here's a sample of the rough digital sketch (and I do mean ROUGH).

click the image to see it full size.



Yes, I realize that the pose sucks donkey dick and it's generally a terrible drawing. Shut up! I did it in 5 minutes and it was just so I could visualize the changes. Keep talking shit and I'll never share anything with you again...

No... don't touch me, you pissed me off. Now you have to wait at least 24 hours before we have that mandatory make-up sex.

Bye.

P.S. - I am LOLing right now because the tags for this post came out in alphabetical order and it says "rough sex"... LOL.