Good news!

I have a job interview tomorrow.

Soon I may have a means to support my Art Habit again. Also, to pay for college, which is kind of important.

My Newest Cousin

I haven't posted much lately. I do have some very nice excuses though. For example, I've been brushing up on computer programming, and begun swimming laps regularly (I made 2 kilometers last week).

Oh yeah- and my cousin was born.

He's a kid of threes: my aunt's third child, born at 31 weeks, at 3 pounds 3 ounces. He's a preemie, so he's had to be kept in the NICU, with tubes to keep him fed and to help him breathe. He's also had surgery to place a temporary shunt in his brain.

Happily, he's a tough little guy, and has made a lot of progress. Soon he should be able to go home for the first time and meet his big sisters.

I haven't met him in person yet (his family lives in the next state over). But until I'm able to, I can always doodle from the photos that come pouring in!

Wonder

Recently I have been working on a logo design for the fantastic musician, Wonder.

You can check out her stuff here:

https://www.facebook.com/hannahballistic

The design is not official yet, but I can share some of the images created during ongoing development.

 

First I collected images that reminded me of the music style and cover art I've seen so far.

The photos are my own, the icons and text supplied by Photoshop Elements.

(Later I realized I had gone a bit overboard with flowers and the color lavender.)

 

I tried out my first design idea, using several color combinations.

Note the appealing moderation of lavender use.

 

Wonder offered some detailed suggestions of what she would like to see. This took the artwork in a bit of a different direction-- still the letter "W", but much more geometric.

 The top right design has proven the most popular.

Again, there is still room for corrections, so this may not be the final logo. Stay tuned for updates.

Recycled Motorcycling

My latest work is a commission for a blog, Recycled Motorcycling:
http://recycledmotorcycling.blogspot.com/

I'll just confess right away that this blog belongs to my dad. Even so, we both worked on the project in a professional manner: he as a motorcyclist and writer, myself as a digital artist.

About the Project
For this project I used an SLR camera and photoshop to create a total of eight images.

My dad decided on the name "Recycled Motorcycling" because of his recent return to riding two-wheeled vehicles after many years. To illustrate the title, I mixed images of motorcycle parts (including helmets, displays and headlights) with the symbol for recycling. While the photo of the display occured to me late in the process, the helmet and headlight pieces appealed to me right away because of their similar triangular shape to the recycling logo.

Since the blog at the time had a striking orange color theme, I decided to incorporate it into the new images as well.

Want to use my art on your blog?

 For information about commissions, leave a comment below or send an email to ebaldwin742@gmail.com .

In addition to photography and graphic art, I can also do many other kinds of digital art, including comics and illustrations. An example of an illustration commission can be found here:

http://boxysnail.blogspot.com/2013/09/commission-wilson.html

Introducing: Photography!

I don't just draw doodles and comics. I also do photography!

Though at first I intended for Boxy Snail to stick to said doodles and comics, I've decided to include all artistic media I work in. There will be a new label (included on the new "labels" gadget just below the blog title) so photo enthusiasts can look at just that medium. However, if you have something against camera obscura, or simply want to stick to my illustration and/or comics, there are labels for those too.

For now, here's some of the lovely stuff I haven't yet had the chance to post:

Commission: Wilson

Normally I try not to post fan art (so I can build up a portfolio of original art), but I decided this was a good opportunity to demonstrate my process for commissions.

A friend recently asked for a drawing of Wilson, a character from the game Don't Starve. As I am already unhealthily addicted to this brilliant game,  I was more than happy to oblige.

After a few pages of scribbly thumbnails, I came up with five ideas:

My friend picked #2:

I drew a better version, scanned and tried some colors:

I decided the pencil alone was too blurry and I didn't like the color scheme. So, I inked, scanned again, and tried new colors. And there you have it:

If you like what you see here, feel free to leave a message in the comments to request your own art, Don't Starve-related or otherwise.





Shurrock & Awtson and the Pink Flamingo Caper

I'm working on a children's picture book! It's a parody of Holmes and his dear friend Watson.

Here is me working out the story (it's not a spoiler if it's a bunch of scribbly doodles, right?):

Some visual character development (in no particular order):

My that is one brilliant flamingo.

Chisel Pen

I got a chisel Faber Castell calligraphy pen the other day. Combining that with digital coloring, I feel like a god.

Prints and Products now available on Society6!

Cube Comics is now selling things! You can view and order these things right on this page:

http://society6.com/cubecomics

To celebrate (as well as to test out) this newfound power, I've created a new print. Meet...the Nervous Birds.

Don't worry, it's not you-- they're just shy. And paranoid. So very, very paranoid. Also, they're available on pillows.

Update: Prints, Cards and Canada Day

Once some final details are sorted out, Cube Comics will start selling prints and other products through Society6!

http://society6.com/cubecomics

I'm so happy, I've started making some prints just for the occasion. They're not finished yet, but I'll give you a peek:

Also: business cards.

The one with the elegant potted tree is for when I feel particularly eccentric, while the one with a boy getting eaten by a shark is for when I'm trying to look at least vaguely like a traditional artist. Or was it the other way around? Ah well.

And finally, happy Canada day to all you Canada-like people.

What would you like to see from Cube Comics?

As an artist, there are three things I live for: seeing other artists' work, making my own work, and receiving feedback from my audience. Here are some ways you can help:

1.      Comment right on this page! While I might strengthen moderation if/when the site becomes more popular, for now it should be straightforward to comment on any post.

2.      Send an email! For now you can use ebaldwin742@gmail.com, but again, depending on future development, this may be transferred to a seperate account.

3.      Like Cube Comics on Facebook! The page is at: https://www.facebook.com/CubeComics

To help start a conversation, here are some ideas I have for moving CC to the next level.

 

Begin Akrivis: Recovery.

"In an instant, Benitt lost everything: his home, his identity, and very nearly his life. Though his body is beyond repair, experiemental technology has given him the chance to start over from scratch. His recovery is both hastened and complicated when he meets a fellow patient, a beautiful but disturbed little girl haunted by the silent screams of phantoms..."

Akrivis, in its many forms, has been a pet project of mine for years. While I'm hesitant to start until my artistic and literary skills reach an impossible level of perfection, I'm dying to get this story started. Depending on its outcome, this will be either be an extended stand-alone sci-fi/horror/drama comic, or it will become a prologue to a project much greater in scale.



 

Complete Shurrock and Awtson and the Great Flamingo Caper.

This will be a children's picture book based on two fun things: an obscure news report I read once about some kids flinching flamingoes, and a personal adoration of Sherlock Holmes stories. Hopefully I'll get around to this project before my cousins have moved on to chapter books.
 

Make Catholic School Dropout and/or Good Luck Girl and Bad Luck Boy an ongoing comic series.
 

 

 

Make a series of detailed ink drawings of various places throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Possibly to sell in local shops or galleries, or to offer as prints online.
 

Make more original character art.

Again, possibly to sell in local shops or galleries, or to offer as prints online.
 

Offer commissions.

Request custom-made art made just for you.

The downside is I've never done commissions before, so it could take me some practice to learn the ropes. The upside is I'm willing to create anything you want, for free, so I can gain valuable experience and example work. You get the original art, signed or with an added message if you like, and a watermarked copy will be used to promote future commissions. Everyone wins.

If you're at all interested, send me a message (see list above) and I'll respond as soon as possible.
 

Also: Experiment with new media and techniques; dabble in edgier content (or tone it down a bit); make more realistic/observation-based art;  make more random stuff; you name it.

 

Thank you for your time, and enjoy!

 -EB