Flight 8 - The Clockmaker's Daughter pt.1

The final edition of Flight will be released this week. I can’t thank Kazu enough for extending to me the invitation to contribute a comic for Flight 6. It’s been an incredibly important part of my life for the past several years. I’m not just being dramatic when I say there will be Flight sized hole in my heart. See, I’ve met some of my favorite people through Flight and had so many opportunities presented to me because of it that I would not have gotten otherwise. I’m grateful for the chance I got to make some stories for it and I’ve loved working on the books. Once again, my thanks to Kazu Kibuishi.

Enough of that. Ok, well first of all, I can not wait to get a printed copy! The stories in this final edition are so good and the art is stunning as ever. I really think everyone stepped it up to give the Flight series the best send off possible. Some of my favorite Flight stories to date are in the book and in my professional estimation, my personal best short story to date. (Though you may be the judge as to whether or not it is successful.)

While the last two years I have consciously focused my personal artistic development on my drawing, working as hard as I can to improve my visual vocabulary and visual storytelling, I still love to write. I can’t express enough how I enjoy the thrill that comes from making up a satisfying story and seeing it through to completion. Especially when you make it through a particularly challenging project.


My story for Flight 8, The Clockmaker’s Daughter was one of those particularly challenging stories for me. It’s one that I wrote a few kernels of ideas several years ago and it’s hard to believe the transformation the story underwent, developing from a simple story of a man who makes nice clocks (with no actual middle or end) to a full on attempt at a real fairy tale with adventure, transformations, and (my personally favorite element of any story) a eucatastrophic ending.

Over the next few days I want to take you through my experience writing the story as well as show you how I went about making it.

From The Clockmaker's Daughter. Finished panel.

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If you’d like to see my previous stories for Flight you can preview them here.

Flight 6, Walters.

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Flight 7, Onere and Piccola.

Hagrid - in stages

The Harry Potter show at Gallery Nucleus (@gallerynucleus) is almost here!

I've gotten such a great response to my piece for the show through my blog here, Facebook, and my Twitter that I wanted to take you guys through the stages of it.

The thumbnail.

Light under-drawing.

Beginning the final line work.

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And there you have it.

Posts continue next week, M/W/F with more from The Hidden People.

Hagrid

The upcoming Harry Potter show at Gallery Nucleus (@gallerynucleus) is going to be an amazing collection to see. Here is my piece for it.


I first started to read them in high school and quickly burned through the first three or four books. The wait between books was agonizing but incredibly worth it. I fell hard for them after the first chapter, that was all it took. I distinctly remember my first time reading it, I was amazed by what I was reading in a way that I really hadn't before with any other book. I just loved it. And the books only got get better.

One of the first of many, many moments I fell in love with was early on was Hagrid on a flying motorcycle bringing the freshly orphaned Harry to Dumbledore. The introduction of the giant, wild man on a flying motorcycle, and the phrase, "The Boy Who Lived." That was it for me, I loved it.

For this piece I was under a pretty significant time crunch but Nucleus has always been so great to me that I can't turn them down (you might remember the Terrible Yellow Eyes show!) so I decided to make a finished drawing in tribute not only to Harry Potter the books but also to the incomparable Mary GrandPré illustrations.

Tomte - The Hidden People

Another piece for The Hidden People in progress, rough.



I'm fascinated with the idea of a tomte.

"A tomte is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore. Tomte were believed to take care of a farmer's home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the housefolk were asleep."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomte


I also love the idea a tomte looking just as scary as the things it is scaring. I've never been a big fan of allegory, to quote J. R. R. Tolkien,

"I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of the reader. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."

But I do love the notion of C. S. Lewis' Aslan being "not safe but good."

I like to think of a tomte in this way.

And lastly, there's a little Harry Potter influence in my thoughts regarding a tomte as well. I like to think they could summon something like a Patronus. Hence the owl.

fairy mother - final

Here is the final drawing for this new piece from "The Hidden People."

17.5" x 21"

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fairy mother - in progress

Here are a couple preliminary stages for this new drawing for "The Hidden People."




photos of the final drawing on Friday.

more Hidden People, trolls.

I am several drawings into this project now. The end result, either watercolor, digital, or whatever usually isn't far from my mind when I'm drawing and in some ways it actually affects the way, how I draw. But this time I am completely focusing on pure drawing, letting these pieces stand alone. I'm very much enjoying pushing my drawing as hard as I possibly can.

It's been tremendously rewarding so far and I can't wait to show you more rather than these little glimpses.

Éowyn - finale

You might remember a a couple weeks back when I was working on a piece inspired by Éowyn and the Nazgûl (that's a link to a collection of those development posts.) You also might remember it was for a kind of contest judged by some of the best of the best working in Sci-fi and Fantasy art today. Well, whatever became of it?

Here's the complete judging results.

I was floored to see I had incredibly nice things said about my piece by people who's work I've followed since college.

And here are specific mentions of my piece by the judges.

"Cory’s stylized version captures a storybook-like illustration. The line work coupled with the watercolor effect takes it to a level where one can dream and envision the scene, and thereby feel it. It doesn’t have to be realistic to capture a real mood." - Greg Manchess.

"A fine piece of work Cory. Love the linear aspect of the style and the wispy nature to your background and smoke. The only weak part for me is in Eowyns anatomy, upper body is perfect, but the lower seems too elongated (upper leg too long) and I’m not sure how that back leg is turning." - Donato Giancola.

"I really love the wet on wet bleeding going on in this piece. There is an ethereal glow here that is gorgeous. The organic quality of the line work and the distinctive stylization really make this piece stand out." - Eric Fortune.

"I had a really hard time narrowing the entries down to my favorite eight. But no matter how I broke it down, this image just kept coming out on top for me. It’s satisfyingly expressive, energetic, and narrative." - Dan Dos Santos.

In the final deal I scored a hot honorable mention. Sounds good to me.

In the end I had three specific goals for this little project. 1. Kick start my drawing for The Hidden People. 2. Potentially make a small splash on a great blog. 3. How could I not draw Éowyn when presented with the opportunity.

stages

Here are the stages of this first piece for The Hidden People.

Thumbnail, rough, drawing.

finished drawing

I finished this first drawing for The Hidden People a few days ago. In fact I'm well underway on all of the rest of the main finished drawings. I'm very excited about the direction this project is taking and I'll be posting more sketches, drawings, and finished drawings in the days to come.

The Hidden People

My new, full personal project is well underway. My goal over the last few years has been to pursue one large, main personal project each year with several smaller projects peppered throughout the year. I juggle these in and amongst my regular client work.

I've talked about it a little on my Twitter and mentioned it once on my blog here but here's a little more about "The Hidden People."



This project stems from my love of fairy tales, what I would call mythologies of the natural world, and massive lurking trolls.

The immediate goal is a drawing book along the lines of my annual sketchbooks over the last three years (2008, 2009, 2010) with most of the work comprised of finished, fully rendered drawings. The long term plans include a gallery show of original work and potentially a graphic novel set in the world.

There you have it. "The Hidden People" has begun.

Zaarly

I got to work on a really incredible project called Zaarly. (@zaarly on Twitter.) I created all of the art, illustration for it. It was a lot of fun working with the team and a super awesome experience. I look forward more opportunities to work with everyone again.

I'll let you click over if your interested to read about it but to quote LeVar Burton in USA TODAY,

"'This is an idea that is just crazy enough to work,' says actor LeVar Burton, a Zaarly board member who is starting his own tech firm."

Also, in a world colliding event, I signed up for Zaarly. Behold,


It's weird and cool to see my name there and see my art above it.

If this were a commercial from the 80s I would now turn to the camera, smile, and say, "Thanks, Zaarly!"

Éowyn pt. 5 - final piece

Here is the final work for my Éowyn inspired piece. This little project was a tremendous kick to get myself in gear after a month of personal project rest. I rarely take time off from personal work, I usually have those fires burning even during regular client work but I needed a short rest. For the most part I have had a personal project going or in the planning stages since 2007. It was a nice mental break to take some time and let my eyes un-focus for a bit.

I'm pleased to report that my next personal project, "The Hidden People" is well underway, planning and thumbnailing are complete and what remains at this stage is the final drawing.

Here's a small glimpse of what's developing :

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Prevoiusly,

Éowyn pt. 1 - thumbnail
Éowyn pt. 2 - drawing stages
Éowyn pt. 3 - final drawing
Éowyn pt. 4 - watercolor_u-p

Art for Japan - charity art auction is live!

My drawing in Meg Hunt's Art for Japan is live! Only three days left to bid! If you like drawings and Pokémon you'll love my piece.

Go here to bid on my contribution!

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Éowyn pt. 4

The process of working through this Éowyn piece has been a great creative kick start for me. If nothing else I got the jump I needed to get it together for my 2011 sketchbook. More on that later.

This stage is the watercolor underpainting. When I know the piece will ultimately be finished in digital I use the watercolor for value and textures. It's fast and loose and I don't worry about color.

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Prevoiusly,

Éowyn pt. 1 - thumbnail
Éowyn pt. 2 - drawing stages
Éowyn pt. 3 - final drawing

Next post. Final!

Art for Japan

A little while back I posted about my friend Meg Hunt's Art for Japan.

Putting the internet to good use, she's collected an incredible amount of donated art works for charity auction.

You can see my small contribution previewed on the site above.

I'll be certain and post a link to the actual auction for my piece when it's up.