To make sure that 2017 starts on a creative and positive note I wanted to end 2016 with an artistic thank you to everyone who was there for me as I became an honest man.
step 2. Flat Colors
This post includes the stages of creativity for my Flower Power illustration.
Working off of my iPad I used Adobe Draw to create the basic black and white line art. The next stage of this was filling in the flat colors. A note about the creative process, the green of the shirt was a happy accident, in making sure I filled all the open spots I used a green background and realized how good she looked in green. Even a digital drawing has an organic aspect.
The last stage was adding shading and details to the figure and her clothing. To give her that pop and personality I used Adobe Capture to create the flowers in her hair and on her shirt. From here I used Adobe Creative Cloud to transfer the illustration to Adobe Illustrator to clean up the image and create a more portable png.
With the final image done, I uploaded the illustration to Canva.com to add my Happy Holidays message and some random “snowfall” to give the seasonal feel. Enjoy and here’s to staying creative in 2017.
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.
Another quick translation of a sketch that i wanted to work up in Illustrator but would have taken too long. Thank you Draw. Still working out the limitations of the app so if anyone at Adobe reads this, being able to label the layers would make organizing the vectors easier to track.
Original marker drawing.Reworked with Adobe Sketch.
Ok I didn’t get an iPad, I was scheming on how I could justify getting one when my Mom was upgrading her phone, got an iPad and gave it to me just cuz. Yeah, she’s cool like that. After the initial setup, wifi passwords, playing, etc., I needed to see what I could really do with my new baby, who I’ve named Mother Box 3 (comic heads will know) and that meant really looking into my Creative Cloud Suite.
Another Adobe Sketch project.
About a year ago, I viewed the online presentation from Adobe introducing the new apps and features they came up with to fill the demand for iPad apps that function like Photoshop and Illustrator. I re-watched the presentation, synced up my account and went full on download. As much as I was having fun messing around, I needed to focus on a drawing, so I pulled up an old sketch I did with pencils and markers as a template and had at it using the Sketch app from Adobe. This is their lite version of Photoshop and is easy enough but some of the functions are not as intuitive as I would have liked. It’s a true learning curve for me. I still don’t like the final drawing but as I was obsessing about it ( I re-did her eyes 4x’s ) I realized the whole point is to just get familiar with the pad and stylus, which I must say is not very intuitive to some one who is more comfortable with having a sharp point. Another thing that bothers me is that there isn’t a lot of good info out there to help you when you want to understand the full breath of the app. The apps have very basic intro videos and not much help. As for the hardware, it is nice to be able to work on several different things on the fly, but working out in the sun is a pain. My next post will probably be about my search for the ultimate stylus (any suggestions) and how much I’ve progressed in my use of the apps.
Sketch of model Taneisha Shaw, five minute poses, first round.
Every month at Mary O’s in the Lower East Side of NYC, a bunch of artist get together at this cool local pub for shit talking, drinks and drawing.
Generally the night starts off with some quick 2 or 5 minute warm up sketches, followed by a couple of 10 minute poses and a 20 minute pose before a model break and costume change to do another round of poses.
Sketch of model Taneisha Shaw, first round ten minute pose.
I am sure I have stated this before, but it is important enough to repeat. As an artist live model drawing is essential to an artists growth and creativity.
Organized by comic book artist Khary Randolph and featuring a rotating assortment of models, this months model was the fabulous Taneisha Shaw. For more information visit the Facebook page, Drink and Draw NYC.
Go forth and draw, after you check out my stuff.
Sketches of model Taneisha Shaw, second round 2 ten minute poses.
Sketches of model Taneisha Shaw, second round 2 five minute poses.
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.
