Fantasy Invite (2/4)

Here you have the second stage of the baby shower invitation I have been working on. Once I sketched out the composition, I started all over on a new sheet of paper, and this is what I drew. The invite is going to be much smaller than the original picture, so I knew I did not need to go into too much detail, and yet I ended up with a lot of visual information that I hope will translate well into the smaller format. In any case, you can see the characters are a lot more finished than the castle, because I decided to work on the building mostly with colors and inks to expedite matters. To see what the whole thing looks like once colored, come back in a couple of days and see what you see!

Fantasy Invite (1/4)

As you are probably bored to hear, my wife and I are planning a storybook-themed baby shower for her sister, and besides drawing the sign and favor I have already shown you, I was also in charge of drawing the invitation. After some brainstorming, this is what I came up with: a bunch of fairy tale creatures going to the castle for the big party. As usual, the sketch looks really rough and kind of lame, but stay tuned to see how the illustration progresses!

Town Crier

My wife and I needed a town crier to announce her sister's baby shower, and apparently Ian McKellen was available to take this role, because the picture I drew reminds me a lot of him. Whether this likeness is true or simply in my head, I hope you guys like the picture!

The Sign

In preparation for the baby shower my wife and I are throwing for her sister, I drew a sign to hang up outside of the house so that the guests know where to go. Since the shower's theme is story books, and since I had already drawn an Alice- themed bookmark, I thought I could use my old friend the White Rabbit to decorate the sign. (See him bigger here.) Next to him you can see a church, which is only a couple of houses down from us and where we want the guests to park. My cartoony depiction of the church resembles the actual building quite a lot, but since there's no way for you to know that, you'll have to take my word for it. At any rate, I hope you like the sign!

Enanos aventureros

Bueno: aquí están mis dos últimas creaciones antes de ponerlas en la peana: dos enanos aventureros. El de detrás, que no se ve muy bien, tiene dinamita en la mano, ya que no hay que andarse con remilgos a la hora de matar orcos.

Whimsical Bookmark (4/4)

Today, at long last, you get to see the finished Alice bookmark. What an exciting prospect! Anyway, as you can see, all I did after coloring the penciled picture was ink the whole thing. You will hopefully notice the lines are more elegant and elaborate than their pencil counterparts, and I think the black ink really makes the picture pop and ties all the elements together. At any rate, my wife and I are very happy with the end result, and we hope our guests will enjoy our little present about as much as you guys enjoyed watching it happen!

Whimsical Bookmark (3/4)

Here you have the second-to-last step in the process. Once I had finished with the pencils, I moved in with my Copic markers and colored the whole thing. I find this stage of the process very strange, because the picture looks a lot like what the finished version will look like, and, at the same time, it looks nothing like it. Sound weird? Well, then come back in a couple of days, and you will see what I'm talking about.

Whimsical Bookmark (2/4)

To continue with our Alice bookmark series of posts, here you have the finished pencil drawing. I didn't go into too much detail, so several parts of the picture look unfinished and rough, but I'm trying to work as quickly as I can, which means I can't really finish every little detail in this stage of the process. This is all I need to start coloring, so the next installment in the series will be very colorful indeed. Come back soon and you'll get to see it!

Whimsical Bookmark (1/4)

My wife and I are planning a baby shower for her sister, and it is going to be fairy tale- themed. I am in charge of drawing several posters and signs as well as the invitation and the favors for the guests. Said favor, we decided, is going to be a bookmark, and what better theme for a bookmark that Alice in Wonderland?

Since Nash loves it when I post the creative process for anything I make, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to keep the blog going and my dear co-blogger happy. (Am I full of great ideas, or what?) Therefore, here you have the ultra lame sketch for the bookmark. I will let you guess who the characters are, but fear not-- you will find out soon enough!

He Rises Again

The teaser poster for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, is out, and it is awesome. If you doubt my word, just look at it. I love it when I'm right.

Naturaleza muerta

Otra entrega del agente especial del FBI Pendergast (lo de especial viene no sólo por el trabajo, sino porque el tipo es de lo más raro), escrita por nuestros amigos Preston y Child.
Una vez terminada la lucha contra las bestias en Nueva York y tras solucionar los famosos asesinatos de Manhattan, Pendergast decide irse de vacaciones para investigar un extraño asesinato en un maizal de un pueblo en decadencia en mitad de los Estados Unidos profundos. El pueblo y sus habitantes son de los más peculiares, aunque se cumplen todos los tópicos: sheriffs mandones, gente marginada que vive en caravanas, el cacique del pueblo, la chica rara, el ayudante inútil, etcétera.
Como siempre, la novela presenta una narrativa que va de menos a más y es muy ágil, tanto que en los tramos finales es imposible dejar de leer, pues la accion es trepidante. Sin embargo, y desafortunadamente, el final resulta un poco previsible.
Tengo ganas de seguir con la siguiente historia, pero primero hay que hacerle caso a Dresden.

Con retraso

El otro día, en Barcelona, Nash me riñó por no haber leído todavía el segundo volumen de las aventuras de Geralt de Rivia que me regaló para mi cumpleaños de 2009, si mal no recuerdo. Cuando le dije que sí me lo había leído, pasó a reñirme por no haberlo comentado en el blog, así que me veo en la obligación de divagar al respecto, pues más vale tarde que nunca.

La espada del destino me gustó algo menos que la primera entrega de las correrías del brujo creado por Andrzej Sapkowski, pero eso no quiere decir que no me pareciera un libro de lo más entretenido. Al igual que el primero, las aventuras del brujo protagonista son de lo más interesante a la vez que extrañas, sorprendentes, y bastante originales. Me gusta también cómo está traducida la novela al español. Obviamente, no sé cuán fiel al original polaco es, pero, excepto por alguna palabra aquí y allá, el libro parece haber sido escrito originalmente en español, lo cual dice mucho (y bueno) de las labores de traducción de José María Faraldo.

Al final, y probablemente por circunstancias externas y ajenas a la novela en sí, el libro se me hizo un poco pesado, pero, en general, y como ya he dicho, LEDD me pareció de lo más estupendo y recomendable, así que no me queda sino agradecerle a nuestro querido coblogueador Nash que me lo regalara. En paz quedamos!

Panta Rei II

To continue with this week's theme, it's true that everything changes, and the latest installment in the formidable Dresden Files series is proof of that. The book is titled Changes for a reason, and Jim Butcher makes sure pretty much nothing is the way it was before by the time the novel comes to an end. And what an end it is: a cliffhanger like you read about. (Lame pun intended.)

Needless to say, I'm not going to spoil anything, but I loved this 12th entry in the series about as much as I did the previous volumes. I really enjoyed Harry's evolution as a character, and the different changes in his status quo. I also enjoyed Murphy's changes in her status quo (with the promise of more to come), and it was also a blast to see both old and new characters develop, change, adapt, or die if they did not.

There are so many unexpected changes and developments in this book that I am eagerly anticipating the thirteenth novel in the series, which comes out next month. What is going to happen next? How are things and events going to turn out now that so many things have changed so much? When is Nash going to catch up with me so that I can discuss this book with him? The answers to all of these questions are waiting for us in the future, so I guess I'll have to be patient and wait for a little while. After all, it's not as if I don't have over twenty other books to read!

Panta Rei

It's true that everything changes, especially when it comes to bands: band members come and go, band names change time and again... And thus the band formerly known as Gateway 2 Nowhere, for whom I had already drawn a couple of logos in the past, decided to change their moniker to Sacrifice to Survive. Just like they said the last time, they wanted me to draw something "very metal" for their logo, and just like before, my grasp of things "metal" seems to be tenuous at best. I thought about skulls and candles. I considered scythes and bats. I toyed with battle axes and gallons of blood. And, in the end, when I set pencil to paper, this strange thing happened on the blank page without even thinking about it. Even though I'm uncertain of its merits as a "very metal" logo, I am positive this is kind of a weird thing to have drawn, so who knows? Maybe my customers will like it, after all. Let me know if you do!