The Guardener Returns

What do you get when you combine a retired executioner, maniacal robots, and good wholesome farming? A grab bag of bolt clobbering madness I say! Guardener first poked his cowl into the site back in 2009 and since then we’ve been developing a story for him. It’s definitely been a slow burn project but I’m looking forward to jumping in when life calms down a little.

This was also a test in traditional inks, and the page is available now for a limited time in the shop! Huzzah!

Ratchet & Clank Concepts

During our march forward on All 4 One, the kool kats at Kotaku were kind enough to feature a few concept pieces from the game. We’ve been working on the project for awhile and hope to show more images in the future. For now here’s a peak at a few locations and a couple maniacal menaces you battle along the way.

Commuting

Digital or traditional?? Greg and I have been struggling with this question for awhile now in regards to some new comic work we have on the burner. Digital definitely provides all the usual advantages but it can be a drag getting chained to the computer all the time. We’ve been having a good time with our Twitter sketchwork but our crazy schedules may make it pretty tough to pull pages together. Decisions, decisions…what do you guys think?

In the meantime, here’s a couple digital tests playing with some new techniques.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One!

We’re still here, we promise! I could go on for awhile about how crazy life has been, but we’ve ranted about that already. I can say it’s still crazy and we can just run with that.

Fall is coming quick where we’ll see the release of Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One! This has been a big labor of love for us — crafting some wild and dynamic 4 player mayhem. The team has been cranking away on some amazing stuff and you’ll be able to get your hands on it in the fall. If you’re looking for an early scoop on some of the details, you can check out Playstation: The Official Magazine for a great in-depth look at some of the madness. The image above was the cover I painted for the article.

In “The ‘Box” news, Greg and I have been talking lots about comics. I know, I know, “You guys never finish anything!!” It’s definitely a fair critique, and we’re looking to remedy that. (You can catch a few peeks through our Twitter feed). With the craziness around here we’re forced to shift priorities on a regular basis. But we’re going to keep swinging. We’re bound to land a punch one of these days!

Onward!

Its all in the Cards! (Clubs)

Dave and I have been doing a lot of traditional work lately to get the kinks out of the system…if you know what I mean. One of our recent tests is being able to work in both mediums and get the results we want, so I set up a little challenge for myself. I roughed these digitally, inked them traditionally with a Pentel Brush Pen on Strathmore 300 and then digitally colored them. It was a bit more hassle between the steps, but nothing beats the traditional brush. Pretty fun…besides I’ve always wanted to do a set of playing cards.

I roughed out the other 3 suits as well. Diamonds is Robots, Hearts is Zombies (Ha!) and Spades is Space Rangers! I’ll post them up as I finish them. Should be a cool project.

Have a great week!

Turtle Power!

Original for Sale! Sold!
When I was in middle school, my dad would drive me 45 minutes to the nearest comic shop. Needless to say, the sleepy central Florida town where I spent my adolescent years wasn’t a hotbed for culture or entertainment. The shop was a bit of an oasis and I couldn’t wait to get inside.

Of all the books on the shelves, none grabbed my attention like the original run of TMNT. There were “better looking” books adorning the shelves, but something about the black and white and bizarre premise made all the difference. As the years passed I continued to collect each issue of the sporadic run and they still serve as some of the highlights in my old battered comic boxes. And now those crazy turtles are worth mega millions – who would have thought? Here’s to you Raph!

In other news, we’ve been in full swing on some traditional pieces that we’ve been showing through our Twitter account. It’s been a blast getting away from the computer from time to time. We’ve had some requests to grab the originals so we’ve decided to add some to the shop. To that end, we’ve got Raph hanging out – an original brush inked piece. We’ll also be throwing in a digital print of the final color illustration! Madness!

Finally, the turtles will be making a come back at Nickelodeon and the uber talented Alex Deligiannis will be involved! Check out his work, you won’t be disappointed!