January 2015 Sketches

Here are some doodles from my sketchbook I made during this month:

Happy New Year!

Random pen doodle.

Roy.

Photo Reference.

Khakmonee.

Photo Reference.

Bobby.

Photo Reference.

Danny.

Photo Reference.

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Stephen Silver's Two-Day Character Design Workshop

I had a lot of fun this weekend at Silver Drawing Academy during Stephen Silver's Two-Day Character Design Workshop. Met a bunch of talented artists and had a great time. A very inspiring and awesome learning experience.

Day one was a full day of learning and designing characters and day two was all about character gesture drawing. From the start, I was already rethinking my own character designs and how to improve them.  This was character design boot camp and a hell of a good time!

Stephen Silver is a freelance Character Designer and teacher/owner of Silver Drawing Academy. He designed cool cartoon characters such as Kim Possible, Danny Phantom and Kevin Smith's, Clerks the animated series. 

Here are some of my doodles from the workshop:

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Je suis Charlie

On January 7, five cartoonists (Charb, Cabu, Honoré, Tignous and Wolinski) and seven others were killed by gunmen at the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

This is horrible and it doesn't make any sense to me.  I immediately wanted to say or draw something, but I couldn’t make sense of the incident.  I tried looking at it from several angles.  They were obviously great cartoonists.  As for the satire, the cultural or religious critique, I don’t know if it was good or bad, if it was funny or not.  At first glance, some of their cartoons do seem kind of racist and stereotypical, and I get the impression they were made to provoke and bully a specific community.  But none of that matters now, because the main point is this:

No drawing is worth killing someone over, even when it's offensive.

Expressing this message is what matters now.

So, I made this cartoon.

Take care,

-IAMO

El 7 de enero , cinco caricaturistas ( Charb , Cabu , Honoré , Tignous y Woliński ) y otras siete personas murieron a manos de hombres armados en las oficinas del periódico satírico Charlie Hebdo .

Esto es horrible y no tiene ningún sentido para mí. Inmediatamente quise decir o dibujar algo, pero no podía dar sentido al incidente. Intenté mirarlo desde varios ángulos. Ellos fueron, obviamente, excelentes dibujantes. En cuanto a la sátira, la crítica cultural o religiosa, no sé si era buena o mala, si era chistosa o no. A primera vista, algunas de sus caricaturas parecen algo racistas y estereotipadas , y tengo la impresión de que se hicieron para burlarse y provocar a una comunidad específica. Pero nada de eso importa ahora, porque el punto principal es éste:

Ningún dibujo es razón para matar a alguien, incluso cuando es ofensivo.

Expresar este mensaje es lo que importa ahora.

Así que hice este dibujo.

Saludos,

-IAMO

December 2014 Sketches

Here are some doodles from my sketchbook I made during this month:

Girl sketch.

Happy Birthday, Otis Frampton!

BB-8 on the move!

Droid from the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ teaser trailer.

People Sketching in San Francisco.

Hands.

Finn from the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ teaser trailer.

My beautiful wife, Patricia.

Naughty & Nice Holiday Pin-Up Sketch.

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Naughty and Nice

Here's my 2014 Holiday pin-up!

Have a Merry Christmas and a very happy, successful New Year! 

I wish you good times!

Sincerely,

-IAMO

¡Aquí está mi pin-up navideño de 2014!

¡Que pasen una Feliz Navidad y un exitoso Año Nuevo!

Mis mejore deseos,

-IAMO

El Chapulín Colorado - R.I.P. Chespirito

Here's a tribute to the greatest Mexican superhero of all time, El Chapulín Colorado (before you say El Santo, he didn't have any super powers and El Chapulín did... well... sorta.  He self medicated on "chiquitolina" pills, which made him shrink to the size of a grasshopper and... I think that's about it). This character was part of a Mexican television comedy series that ran from 1972 to 1981. El Chapulín Colorado was the inspiration for Bumblebee Man on "The Simpsons" and I have to say, it was also a huge influence for creating the Chorizo Bandit character on my cómic "Nerdmigos." He was created by comedian Chespirito (Roberto Gómez Bolaños) who recently passed away, leaving an unforgetable body of work, funny characters and good times.  He will definitely be missed.

Free hi-res download at deviantART!

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Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

¡Feliz Día del Pavo!

Here's a pilgrim girl eating a turkey leg!

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Random Shape Doodle Exercise

Here's a fun drawing exercise.

Create a character or any drawing using these random shapes (or make your own).   I compare it to watching cloud formation shapes that look like people and things.

This is also very helpful for when you are stuck designing characters that all look the same.  It will help you get out of that framework and try out new shapes.

Here are a few doodles I made with these shapes:

Este es un ejercicio de dibujo muy divertido.

Crea un personaje o cualquier dibujo utilizando estas formas aleatorias (o haz tus propias formas). Yo lo comparo a ver nubes con formas que se parecen a personas y cosas.

Esto también es muy útil para cuando estas diseñando personajes que todos tienen el mismo aspecto. Te va ayudar a salir de ese marco y probar nuevas formas.

Give it a try and show me your doodles!

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October 2014 Sketches

Here are some doodles from my sketchbook I made during this month:

"We're the fricking Guardians of the Galaxy!" -Rocket Raccoon

"Are you a gambling man, Santa?" - Oogie Boogie (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Pancho Pantera

Sugar Skull (Día de Muertos)

¡Feliz cumpleaños, René Córdova!

Baymax from 'Big Hero 6' 

I GOTTA ROCK! Happy Halloween! 

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Zorras Del Mal 5

Lucybella is in trouble and hiding from some creepy zombie chicks in this new "Zorras Del Mal" Halloween pin-up!  

This is an homage to this classic  "Twisted Tales" No. 1 comic cover by illustrator Richard Corben:

  

Check out last year's "Zorras Del Mal" pinup HERE!

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Doodles From René Córdova's Character Design Workshop

Last weekend I attended +Rene Cordova's character design workshop in Tijuana hosted by Think Comic.  René is a professional illustrator from Guadalajara with experience in comics and animation.  He is currently working as art director in the Metacube produced animated feature Día de Muertos.   

In addition to sharing his experience and knowledge, René's workshop itself was a great learning experience to all attendees, providing great character design tips and advice.  Special guest and Tijuana local Victor Olazaba (inker on Marvel's "Amazing Spider-Man") even stopped by to say hi and offer his insights.  Both of them are very cool cats and I thank them for their generosity.  It was great to meet them and learn from them.

Check out some of my character design exercises from the workshop below.

El pasado fin de semana asistí al taller de diseño de personajes de René Córdova en Tijuana, organizado por Think Comic. René es un ilustrador profesional de Guadalajara con experiencia en cómics y animación. Actualmente trabaja como director de arte en ‘Día de Muertos’ producida por Metacube. 

Además de compartir su experiencia y conocimientos, el taller de René en si fue una gran experiencia de aprendizaje para todos los asistentes que recibieron excelentes consejos de diseño de personaje. Incluso, el invitado especial y tijuanense Victor Olazaba (entintador en "Amazing Spider-Man" de Marvel) pasó a saludar y ofrecer sus puntos de vista. Ambos son muy buena onda y les agradezco su generosidad. Fue genial conocerlos aprender de ellos. 

Aquí les comparto algunos de mis ejercicios de diseño de personajes del taller.

Sketch of some clerical dude.

Sketch of a kid from the future.

Character design rotation exercise.

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September 2014 Sketches

Here are some doodles from my sketchbook I made during this month:

"Recuerdo el mar soñe estar aquí y no recuerdo despertar" 

R.I.P. Gustavo Cerati 

"Nerdmigos: Welcome To Nerdonia" portrait sketch

"Nerdmigos: Star Wars v Star Trek" panel sketch

"Nerdmigos: Star Wars v Star Trek" panel sketch

"I am Groot" -Groot

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The X-Files: Mulder and Scully

Here's a tribute to one of my favorite TV shows from the 90's: "The X-Files", featuring FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Get a free download of this fan art at deviantART!

Whenever I think about "The X-Files", I can't help but remember the 1997 "The Simpsons" episode, "The Springfield Files" because agents Mulder & Scully showed up as guest stars, but also because 'Star Wars' (my favorite movie of all time) and Pearl Jam (my favorite band of all time) are referenced.  

That was three of my favorite things referenced in one single "The Simpsons" episode!!! Isn't that awesome?

Well, I thought is was awesome.

(You're no fun).

Oh, here's another "X-Files" reference I remember from an episode of "Eek! The Cat" where Mulder & Scully:

Does anyone remember that? :)

Anyway...

What's your favorite "The X-Files" episode?