A reason to blog

Hey folks,

So I haven't blogged in a while. And with good reason. Actually, I have the stupidest reasons ever.

Reason one is, I'm working on a project that I'm not allowed to talk about for Marvel. And so I just can't put anything up.

Reason two is, I had all but stopped sketching. Lame, right?

Well, Skottie Young got on my case about it and gave me a very valuable piece of advice: When sketching, don't think about work. Just do whatever comes to your mind, whatever you want to do. So I tried it. And it was a blast.

I think I always had an aversion to just sketching because it felt like work. Because I made it about work. But now I'm just having FUN.

So what I've decided to do is start posting sketches that I'm doing once a week. I'll try and sneak in a panel or two from my secret project also...But I really can't show anything unless it doesn't have characters in it. But I'm inking myself and trying some new things, so I'm gonna show some stuff.

Anyway, here above are some sketches. I like sketching in red ball-point pen for some reason. I try sketching with blue pencil or regular pencil or whatever, but nothing is nearly as fun as red pen sketching. Whodathunk?

So keep checking back and I'll make this damn blog worthwhile YET!

Oh, and here's a sneak peek at something that out of context will make no sense, but it's from my new project:






RYAN!!!!!!!

Toronto Fan Expo

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Things done been crazy! I finished up Riftwar and I've picked up a new project that I can't talk about. I'll tell you guys soon though.

This weekend I'll be at the Toronto Fan Expo. Table P18. It'll be my first time there, so I'm excited.

My information for what I'll be selling etc. is below in the Chicago Comic-Con blog post I did.

Hope to see you there!

Ryan

Chicago Comic-Con!

Hey folks,

I'll be attending the Chicago Comic-Con August 6-9th. Click the link for more info. I'll be set up at booth #4528 with Erik Jones. And right next to us will be the sexy ass Mike Norton.

Attached here is my "sketch menu". Buy lots of sketches. LOTS of sketches. So read up on the pricing and look for this sign at the show to find me.



This year I'll be trying something a little different and having "sketch cards". I made 'em myself. Get 'em now and sell 'em on eBay. Those things go for a lot 'o money. Here's what they look like:





Also, I will be selling prints of these images for the low low price of $10:















AND LASTLY, you can buy my original art from either me or Cadence Comic Art, who will also be at the show. Can't beat that!

Hope to see you all there!

Ryan

Live draw and sketch

Hola folks,

So today I did a little experiment. I drew my warm up sketch LIVE on Ustream. I'd like to do this more often and I think I will. I'm going to have to figure out how to make the video not off to the side like that though. And I also wanna keep the sketches to 30 minutes or less. Ooops.

Anyway, I'm gonna try and schedule them on here so that you know they're happening and make this a really awesome thing that will melt your entire upper body.

Attached are the video and the sketch. ENJOY!

Ryan

Sketchin'!

Hey folks,

I've decided to turn over a new leaf and start doing a thirty minute sketch every morning. The reason for this is two-fold. One is I want to get better at drawing, and sketching is a great way. The other reason is I want to be able to produce a sketchbook at some point and steal people's money.

The sketches will mostly be drawn with red ball point pen and then inked with the Kuretake or Pentel Pocket Brush. Either way, they'll be brushy as hell.

I'm not going to post them always because I want to save some for the sketchbook, but here are my first two. Hooray!

Love,

Ryan

Incredible Hercules 131 Preview

Hey folks,

The good people at Marvel have posted an 8 page preview of my third and final issue of Incredible Hercules. I'm pretty damn proud of this 'un. Big doings happen at the end of this issue that'll change the landscape of Incredible Hercules for a few months to come!

I had a great time drawing this book and I absolutely love Fred and Greg's writing together. It is just such a fun, smart book. I'm trying to figure out a way to force them to work with me again. But I'd prefer to not have to use deadly force.

The issue hits stands on July 22nd.

Now, back to finishing up Riftwar #5!!!!

Thanks for looking!

Ryan

****P.S. I am publishing this from my wife's mother's computer, so I can't fix the way the images are being cut off right now, but I will when I get home!****

Vampirella!

Hey folks,

So Vampirella is starring in a new mini-series and I HAPPEN to have done a couple covers for the book. The first one is on issue 1, the second is on issue three. You can read more about it HERE.

On this cover that I have posted here, I just went for a pinup pose and the spider-web worked out well. I just wanted to do a general horror motif and make it sexy, and I think it works to an extent.

This was also my first image that I've fully inked with a brush (I use the Kuretake brush pen). I'm pleased with how the inks came out and I hope to do more of this in the future.

The colors were done by the magnificent Nei Ruffino. Check her stuff out on DeviantArt HERE.

Thanks for looking!

Ryan

Spot black

About halfway through issue 131 of Incredible Hercules, I decided to make a change to my art. I guess it wasn't so much of a change as it was an adjustment to my approach of drawing. See, I had always thought that what I wanted to do was a sort of "open-line" approach where the colorist could basically paint the finished lineart.

But I started to realize that black can really add a lot to the story and really give it a more visceral feel. So I started spotting black on the page. The problem was, I never committed to it. So it was sort of a half-assed attempt and it wasn't necessarily working.

Then, I came across Paolo Rivera's blog post about how he does an "ink study" before spotting his black areas. So I tried it. And since then I feel like it's really opened up my mind up to the world of spotting black and it's also forced me to fully commit.

Attached is a process image. The first image is my structure drawing. Basically, I just approach that step as an animator would. Just find mass, form, and movement. Then, I go in Photoshop and use a big fat brush and black shit out like it's my job (it sorta is I guess). Then I go back to the board and render the thing and that's it.

Sometimes I'll throw a piece of tracing paper over my board and go at the test with a Sharpie. I'm not sure if I like the Photoshop method or the Sharpie method better, but I do know that the less control I have the better. Because when I have control over the tool that I'm using to spot the blacks, I tend to noodle. And all I want to do when I'm spotting blacks is find mass and make an appealing design for all the black shapes.

So that's that. A real blog post from me. On a Saturday when the weather is beautiful. I hope you're happy.

Ryan

P.S. This page is from Riftwar #5, published by Marvel Comics. Issue 2 comes out soon!

Original Art

Hey people,

Just a heads up: Cadence Comic Art's new website is LIVE. This is where you can drop tens of thousands of dollars on my original art. Original art such as the image in this message.

You can also buy art from dudes like Skottie Young, Sean Murphy, Rafa Sandoval, Mike Norton, Jamal Igle, and a bunch of other super hot dudes.

So yes. If you buy something, I'll be your best friend.

Ryan!

Testing...Testing...

So here we are. My first blog post. And it's boring as hell because I need to make sure that everything's working right. Below should be a "Pastie" from my DeviantArt site showing my most popular deviations. Here's hoping!

Ryan!