Since getting my new Jot Touch stylus, thank you folks at Adobe, I’ve been drawing up a storm.
Wanting to do something different I picked one of my current favorite t.v. shows, The Flash. I pulled some images from the web of the cast and got to work. For this first round of drawings I only did 5 images of the cast, sorry Catlin next time, but I do hope to do other cast members on my next go around. Another part of the exercise was to work on shadows and color.
Enjoy the full individual images in the Computer Art gallery and as always please let me know what you think.
After re-watching this past Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones, I wanted to put together a short list of characters who have sacrificed themselves in order to hold the line or buy more time for their companions. In no particular order or ranking, my picks are from movies, television, books and comics.
Gandalf – ” You shall not pass! “
Come on you can’t stop yourself from saying it when someone tries to get by you just like Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings as he holds the bridge to let the other members of the Fellowship escape from a demon in the Mines of Moria.
Skurge the Executioner – ” Leave me as much ammunition as you can spare and an extra weapon or two. “
Skurge the Executioner holds the bridge during Walter Simonson’s legendary run on Thor in the 90’s. Specifically issue #362 of Thor when this c-list character is given a final chance at redemption. Armed with two M-16 rifles, he holds the Bridge at Gjallerbru so that Thor and the rest of their rescue party can escape Hel’s army of the dead.
Hodor – ” Hold the Door! ” (SPOILER ALERT!)
In an amazing twist of literary and TV time travel trickery, after 6 books / seasons we finally discover that Hodor, the giant companion of Brandon Stark, was a normal person in the past until Brandon needs him in the present to save him by “holding the door.” Hodors sacrifice will hopefully make Brandon realize the stakes at play and the importance of his role. Off all the GoT deaths, this is up there with Ned Stark. For His last scene and stand go to YouTube.
Anakin Solo – The strike mission to kill the Voxyn queen.
Before Disney tossed out 20 plus years of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Han and Leia’s third child Anakin held the line. At the time of his death the Jedi faced an enemy unaffected by the Force. In addition to this their enemy had created creatures who could hunt and kill Jedi. Anakin’s last mission was to destroy their capabilities in creating more voxyn hunters. During the escape, battered and wounded, he saved the clandestine Jedi strike team by fully channeling the Force in order to hold off the Yuuzhan Vong and let them escape.
And I am sure I missed more but for me these four resonate the most. Please leave a comment on a Line Holder for the next time.
This past Saturday, May 7th, was a phenomenal day of events in New York City. With an unlimited metro card in my pocket, seven trains over two lines, I made my way across three boroughs to partake in events that make NYC what it is.
Free Comic Book Day
My day started with an event that isn’t just for NYC but as one of the centers for comic book culture it is fitting that I joined in the Free Comic Book Day giveaways at the Midtown Comics located on Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan. What is an annual event intended to promote the tradition of comics and encourage customers to go support comic book retailers, As they are one of the bigger spots that can afford to give out big sets of comics to the customers I stopped there first to see what I could get.
And while I pick up the occasional odds and ends there, for me I get the bulk of my comics from this scrappy spot near the World Trade Center called Chameleon Comics. “A full service collectibles store specializing in comic books, graphic novels, trading cards (sports and non-sports)” and a knowledgeable staff that will help support your comic habit with a good laugh and out the box comic talk. There’s a reason I’ve been going there for more then 20 years and it’s not just the 20% off, so go find that place in your hood, support them, support independent artist and in turn support yourself.
And this was just the start of my amazing day.
Female Flava – Digital Sisterhood Conference 2016
Say what you will about Facebook, but it came thru for me with my next stop up in the Boogie Down. Held at The Point, a super hidden gem in the Hunt’s Point section of the Bronx, in what looks to be a refurbished garage, this was the 8th annual event to hosted by The Point CDC’s Women’s Empowerment Group to “celebrate the women who are change makers in our community and around the world.” Part conference, part concert, all empowerment, this event had workshops on writing code, perceptions of women in media and the influence of media on our youths health.
I sat in on the Coding 101 workshop presented by Tunisia Mitchell of The Knowledge House, a non-profit organization that is “… dedicated to placing young adults at the center of leading innovation in their neighborhoods to spur community-based economic development.” The modest workshop was made up of young teens from the Bronx and Queens, using refurbished laptops we explored how the Internet changed they way we live and write basic code to make a website devoted to how each of us feels our world can be improved.
One of the most powerful moments was the keynote address given by Victoria Cartagena. This Bronx native spoke about her story of abuse, rebirth and the creation of iambeautyfull.com, a website and movement to create a sisterhood of women who will inspire values of courage, compassion and connection. By doing community outreach and public speaking, their Beauty Brand Ambassadors use events like this to help other women who need that support to achieve their goals and fulfill their dreams.
With great entertainment, free food and an air of community next year’s Female Flava – Digital Sisterhood Conference should be on everyone’s calendar.
Target’s First Saturday
I ended my night taking the subway out of the BX, back thru Manhattan, all the way to the planet of Brooklyn, specifically for Target’s First Saturday event held at the Brooklyn Museum. While not a secret anymore, this monthly event brings folks in from all over the city to experience art and culture in a more laid back and festive atmosphere. This night was African inspired, with a bit of the Caribbean seasoned in. The events ranged from interactive African storytelling of folktales and myths for the kids, to dance and drumming from Ifetayo Youth Ensemble, to the Vogue Ball, Africa’sOut presentation of short films and multi media artist Jacolby Satterwhite accompanied by vogue dancers.
But being who I am, I went for the Book Club. That night featured authors Nnedi Okorafor and N.K. Jemisin reading from their works, moderated by author Ibi Zoboi and music / visuals provided by BKLYN ZULU. This reading and panel talk was full of creative and political insight for fans of sci-fi backed up but haunting visuals and rhythms. After all three ladies read their works, they spoke about the struggle as writers to not be marginalized because of their race, gender and genre. I’ve had the opportunity to interview Ms. Jemisin before (click here for that interview) and this panel was a great follow up to themes she spoke on as well as hearing the other authors speak on their need to write and be heard. Sadly my sci-fi reading has mostly been of the space opera variety but now I’ll be on the hunt for their books that from the brief readings have me intrigued.
I’ll wrap up with the song that has been playing in my head as I committed this to paper / computer, shout out to De La Soul…
For three days at the begining of May, Adobe streamed live classes on Twitch to promote using their digital platforms for creating art. As I have been doing a lot more digital art, the class Vector Art with Rob Generette III, was a great informational session on using the Adobe app Draw.
Viewers were encouraged to post any art they had been working on during the sessions to Behance.net for peer review with the #MakeItOnMobile. Selected artists were awarded a 1-year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud and a Jot Touch stylus from Adonit.
The winning image
On day 2 of the streaming event I was truly surprised and honored as I was drawing along with the stream and heard my name called out as one of the artist being recognized.
Today I received my Jot and I look forward to creating even more art with Draw and my new stylus.
Again thanks to the folks at Adobe for acknowledging my work and Rob Generette for his tips and tricks on working more productively.
You can view Vector art with Rob Generette III – DAY 1 with the link below.
The past few days I’ve had some time to work on my drawings. I’ve included two of the illustrations I’ve done using the Adobe apps Draw and Capture on my iPad. The two illustrations are based on images I’ve collected over the years. I’ve written about the benefits of Draw before, this post is more about the uses of Capture.
For months I’ve had this app on my iPad and just never used it, but today I was looking thru emails and saw an upcoming Adobe Draw live stream event. To prepare for it I did a quick search for tips to help improve my technical skills, when I came across a tutorial on adding patterns to illustrations using Capture. It was a very straightforward technique so I incorporated it into two images that were close to completion but I felt were missing something.
Cosmic Diva
A found picture of a friend of mine became the Cosmic Diva, my first image where I used texture in the background with the Capture app. Using the app, I took a quick pictures of my jeans and the tiles in my room to created some very basic patterns. To complement this image I used the jean pattern, adjusted the density and the colors to make the background more vibrant.
Cosmic Voodoo Lady
With Voodoo Lady I used an image of Erykah Badu as the muse for my cosmic sight-seer. For more of an interesting spin, I used the tile pattern to give her pants some pop and the jean pattern from the first image to make the background more vibrant and tie it into the Diva image.
Below are the original picture of my floor tile and the vector image after being processed thru the Capture app.
Stay tuned for more images but for now you can check out my earlier digital drawings in my portfolio here.
This past Saturday was Black Comic Book Day, an annual event held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. The event is the baby of comic creators Jerry Craft (Mama’s Boyz) and John Jennings (SUNY Buffalo/Black Kirby), to help promote and showcase artists of color. An amazing event I hope that you take the time to come out and support these creative people who are making positive impacts on the sci-fi and comic book culture.
Until next year, peep the pictures and look for more on BlackSci-Fi.com, artist interviews I conducted for their site will drop in the coming weeks.
“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.”
As the year comes to a close, here is a look back at some of my creative, professional and personal high points of 2015.
Big Daddy Kane and the Juice Crew
Summerstage is a New York institution, every year throughout the five boroughs, the NY Parks Department presents free concerts and performances for the people in all five boroughs, with Central Park’s Ramsey Field as the main stage. The headliner for that day was Big daddy Kane and let me tell you the crowd got hyped when the Symphony started and then went on to lose its mind as he brought out the entire Juice crew to perform it. What makes this moment so special is that to the crowds knowledge the Symphony had never been preformed live.
DC Comics Heads West
One of the the biggest publishers in the comic book industry packed up and moved to California. As I haven’t worked there in over 15 years it didn’t affect me outside of the people that I’m still friends with, but I still had to go to the place where it all started for me as an intern at Milestone.
Black Fantastic 2015: AfroFuturism Comes to Harlem
The folks at BlackSci-Fi.com needed help covering events in New York. Some emails and a phone call later I was helping them cover the world of Blerds here in NY. My first full article Black Fantastic 2015 Afrofuturism Comes to Harlem can be found on their website.
Leading up to the opening of The Force Awakens I did another article for the good peoples at BlackSci-Fi.com about the New York Jedi, a stage combat troupe. For a bit of research I was able to watch them perform during NY Winterfest held at Resorts World Casino, as well as get to hear Nichelle Nichols, the original Lt. Uhura from Star Trek, speak about her time on the show and advice for young folk starting out as an entertainer. To learn more about the NY Jedi, read my article The Force is Strong with The New York Jedi.
And speaking of The Force Awakens, I wanted to love it, I truly did. Yeah it was fun, but it was just ok. I am disappointed not because it was bad, but because after 30 plus years, it wasn’t as great as most of us had hoped. Hopefully the nostalgia of the original movies has been expunged and J.J. can move on to making new stories with these new characters.
Celebrities are People too
Suzan Lori Parks at Book Expo
Garrett Oliver at Brooklyn Brewery
Junot Díaz at New York Comic Con
Marcus Samuelsson at Streetbird
I normally don’t step in front of the camera but over this year I had to, as I ran into these talented individuals. From left to right; author Suzan-Lori Parks, Brewmaster Garrett Oliver, author/activist Junot Díaz, and Master Chef Marcus Samuelsson.
Unicorns are Real
On the personal front of this years events, my mother had open heart surgery to fix an artery which helps her heart pump better, many thanks to the Doctors and Staff at Mount Sanai Hospital for their excellent work.
I also got my hands on an IPad, which has helped me be a shitload more productive in my creative life, conducting interviews and having more of a presence online. The new logo was mostly done with Adobe Draw.
Lastly, I found someone crazy enough to say yes to spending the rest of their life with me and getting all my stuff when I die, so I know now that Unicorns are real.
Happy New Year, follow me on twitter @GCarmona3 and look for more in 2016. Live long, and prosper in the New Year.
As part of a series for BlackSci-Fi.com, I was able to interview sci-fi writer and activist Daniel José Older. Enjoy reading the interview by clicking on his name.
Free Comic Book Day
My day started with an event that isn’t just for NYC but as one of the centers for comic book culture it is fitting that I joined in the Free Comic Book Day giveaways at the Midtown Comics located on Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan. What is an annual event intended to promote the tradition of comics and encourage customers to go support comic book retailers, As they are one of the bigger spots that can afford to give out big sets of comics to the customers I stopped there first to see what I could get.
And while I pick up the occasional odds and ends there, for me I get the bulk of my comics from this scrappy spot near the World Trade Center called 
Female Flava – Digital Sisterhood Conference 2016
Say what you will about Facebook, but it came thru for me with my next stop up in the Boogie Down. Held at 
I sat in on the Coding 101 workshop presented by Tunisia Mitchell of 
One of the most powerful moments was the keynote address given by Victoria Cartagena. This Bronx native spoke about her story of abuse, rebirth and the creation of 
Target’s First Saturday
But being who I am, I went for the Book Club. That night featured authors 
This past Saturday was Black Comic Book Day, an annual event held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. The event is the baby of comic creators 
On the personal front of this years events, my mother had open heart surgery to fix an artery which helps her heart pump better, many thanks to the Doctors and Staff at Mount Sanai Hospital for their excellent work.
