new tricks

Currently teaching at Northern Illinois University, and figured as long as I'm back at the school I should use my time there to learn how to use a 3D art program.  A few more tutorials in Mudbox, then I'm going to give building a Lil Charlie a try.

back on the horse

Back to working on Lil Charlie, after a good amount of time focusing on some other projects and getting into the swing of things teaching.

Charlie and the Undead

started penciling out the next Lil Charlie storyline:

idle hands (and heads)

colored page that introduces us to the creator of the universe.

print that I ended up offering at WWC/CCC.  A lot of interest in the new comic I'm working on, and one nice lady wanting a tattoo of Lil Death.

I will have all the pages up to this one (plus another hopefully), at WWC to show around.  I will be in Artist Alley somewhere in the 3700 block area with the RWP group.

Charlie&Stuff

a variety of little charlie sketches, with some other stuff mixed in.

Charlie RP

Right now, just kinda feeling out a new Charlie print. Not sure were it's gonna go, but once I finish the rough, I'll print it out and get to inking.

a quick shot of a little progress on the Lil Charlie print I'm making.

Also, I've had this putty forever, so I think I'll experiment a lil bit with some stop motion in the near future.

Charlie print under-painting

This is a stage where I'm avoiding any final decisions. Next I will start really laying in any dark areas.

underdrawing 11-11-10

Okay, here is a pretty rough underdrawing for a Lil Charlie print. Since I'm still on my chalk pastel kick, that's how I intend to finish this piece off. That means there will be a bit of simplification as I work into this. At the moment I still have to work into this with a darker line to keep track of my under-drawing a bit when the initial colors are put down.

being creative for me

I love drawing stories. Even if it's only one image I want people to be able to read a story from that illustration. I'm working with a bunch of writers right now, enough to keep me in projects for a few years. That's fun, and I love the collaboration.

Random Person: "I think I hear a 'but' coming on."

But... sometimes it feels best to have projects that are only mine. I want to be selfish and choose which of my "darlings" I'm gonna snuff and which I'm going to coddle.

To Keep myself sane, I'm working on some personal stuff, while working on the collaborative stuff. For a guy who pulls a regular "joe job" while trying to work his way into the comic world, this isn't easy... but necessary. You may have seen the post of the new Mr. Simian comic I'm working on down the blog page. Along with that adorable monkey-man I'm reviving my favorite inner devil, Lil' Charlie.

One of the benefits of doing this is that it will allow me to update my blog more frequently (writers tend not to like it when you give their entire stories away on your website).


Lil Charlie is coming back...

I am first developing some prints that I have been thumbnailing out, and will show more progress on in the near future.

Collected Lil Charlie...

if you wanna see all the Lil'Charlie pages I did for my graduation portfolio go to my Comics Space page: http://www.comicspace.com/john_bivens/

they are all put together in my comics gallery there.

Quick update

just wanted to post a few things I've done recently

vector final finished

Here is the finished product of what I posted a few days ago...

lil charlie final for vector illustration

This is my last piece for vector illustration this semester... it's going to be a cover piece, though I still have to work out some details.

page from Lil Charlie short...

a page from a 3page lil charlie short I'm doing... Tuesday I'll also be posting my progress on a insert lil charlie splash I'm doing...

do as I say... mmmm... earwax

This would be an image of my creation lil charlie spreading his influence...