Barnhillblog

Daredevil

2010-07-25T00:26:00.001-07:00

SO initially I was thinking of adding an asian influence to Daredevils design. Instead of Daredevil this would be more like, um, wreck-less-Oni. Doesn't roll off the tongue as well. I replace DD's normal weapons with two tetsubos tied with a length of rope. Aside from just making a really elaborate mask there was no where to go on this design for me.

Okay! So, admittedly I started off a little politically incorrect on this one. I originally planned on coloring his clothing in clashing, miss-matching colors and patterns, and replacing his normal batons with non sequitur items like, a cheese grater tied to a stool with a jump rope. Thinking about it, these ideas seemed a little insensitive to run with, but I did like the idea of Matt Murdock having a scrappy seeing eye dog. This would lend him such devastating moves as, " SEEING EYE DOG PUNCH!" or, "SEEING EYE DOG LIVING SHIELD". crap, insensitive again. I decided to go with plain clothes design because everyone knows Matt Murdock is Daredevil now anyway, regardless of Danny Rand's attempts to fool the public. So, if Matt is a lawyer and the crime fighter daredevil, why not stream line things and have a battle-business suite, appropriately colored, with reasonable everyday items used as weapons.

Cap'n 'Merica

2010-07-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

I was working on a Captain America redesign and thought I would go with a less ideal Captain America. Rock Flag and Eagle! I wanted something between super mullet and "wrastlin" face paint. Also, I wanted to alter the ever present shield. I decided To design one that could be used in two halves or put together to make the whole, not to mention their compatibility with batons!

Commission

2010-01-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a commission I just did for my Friends Matt and Marcela. It's based off of a Columbian folk song that Marcela's mother sang to her as a small child.

roughly, the song says,

Once upon a time there was an iguana wearing a wool poncho, brushing her hair next to the Rio Magdalena.
And the iguana drank coffee at tea time.
A disheveled man who had just woke up arrived in pajamas walking and yawning and pushed the iguana into the river.

Michelanelo's Jay

2009-12-11T22:32:00.001-08:00

More in the series of Christmas drawings i'm doing for friends.

Marcia Magdalene

2009-12-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

More in the series of christmas drawings i'm doing for my friends.

Codex Alera

2009-11-18T22:02:00.000-08:00

This little darling is my interpretation of what the killer birds from the Jim Butcher series "Codex Alera" looks like. They're called Herd Banes.

2009-11-02T20:25:00.000-08:00

murdersarous-rex

2009-07-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

Augmented t-rex cyborgs!

Darth Defouw!

2009-07-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a series of drawings for my co-workers/ friends where I draw them as a certain theme per their specifications.
Introducing the Baddest Sith Lord you'll ever run into, Darth Defouw.

crow

2008-08-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

im going with the top version. what do you think?

gator-tude

2008-08-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

im trying to decide which version i like better once again.
one has no shadow underneath, one is the same but has a shadow underneath the gator.
one version has red in the background. one version the line art is green, and one version is just flipped.
the top one is the version im leaning toward.

gator in progress

2008-08-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Half way done..

color version?

2008-07-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out what I want to do with this.

Splattery?

2008-07-30T14:23:00.001-07:00

horn Island crab in progress

2008-07-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Class fistacuffs

2008-07-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a computer cartooning class at MCA and at the end of the class our class holds a miniature fist-a-cuffs tournament like Sam Hiti's website. Last session I created the powerhouse King Quad.

This time around I’ve created something a bit nastier. Its name is Alice. I thought of this baby-powered demon after reading Green Lantern: Tales of the Sinestro Corp. The Sinestro minion Kryb keeps babies in his back. But as far as I know doesn't convert them into energy, or poisons.

I'm trying to decide which version I like better.

Snail comic in class

2008-07-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

example comic I did to show my students in class.

Superman re-design.

2008-06-30T07:56:00.001-07:00

SO project rooftop is doing a Superman costume re-design in honor of his 80th birthday. He was created in June of 1938 in Kansas I believe. So my idea was to have a depression era Superman. Ma Kent just sewed a haggard S onto his overalls, he pulls his cap down low, and saves the day. My other idea was making his costume just a speedo, because in theory the more skin he has exposed to the sun the stronger he'll be.

Sweet!

2008-04-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Videos!

BFA book teaser

2008-04-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a few teasers from my book. it was a hoot.

Beasts

2008-03-31T10:12:00.001-07:00

beast 5, which version is better?

2008-03-13T21:47:00.001-07:00

Beast 4

2008-03-01T20:56:00.001-08:00

Beast 3

2008-02-25T16:53:00.001-08:00

Beast 2 of 26

2008-02-22T18:25:00.001-08:00

Beast 1 of 26

2008-02-17T17:20:00.001-08:00

Here is one of my little pretties.

beast sketches continued..

2008-02-07T12:21:00.001-08:00

So the thing about beasts..

2008-01-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

warming up to draw some beasts

I published a book!

2007-12-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the magical wonders of Print on Demand
, I have published a very affordable little
book just in time for the christmas holidays. Mozy on over and take a
look !!!!

to appease the illustration gods.

2007-12-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not ready to put anything new up but to appease the illustration gods I offer this meager half finished test.

Trying new stuff

2007-11-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

So I was drawing heads for a piece about multiple personality disorder, where all these head were swirling out of one body. I've just done the heads so far, and messed with them in photoshop. This kind of color work i've been doing lately is not what i'm used to but I like it, it's mildly inspired by the monstrously talented Nathan Fox

I can't decide if I like the blured version better or not.

Two creations for Holiday Bazaar

2007-11-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

So, the annual Holiday Bazaar is coming up. I need some scratch so I started ripping pages out of my sketch book and messing with them. Here is one I did awhile ago (baby) and one that I did recently. It's a bi-product of my recent fascination with geese.

P&H Trivia

2007-11-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

Check it out.

Visual Essay

2007-10-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a visual Essay on the P&H. Here is a half done drawing i'm doing of the bar.

A star is born?

2007-10-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

I recently helped some friends out in a video project they did. I thinkt the limitations they had were to shoot it in 3 hours, and to have no more than 15 cuts no less than 10. The all helped shoot it and then edited their own version. two of them are Alexander graham bell ..... <----blogger just put that there on it's own.. weird. anyway. Here are two of the links I know. One is
Owen's
and the other is Jonothan's

enjoy.

Emakimono scroll

2007-10-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

So, there are plenty of debates in the world, my illustration class did visual essays one of their choosing. Now just because other students chose to do more hard hitting topics, such as, Homosexual couples right to adopt, and the Mung cultures Dowerey changing, or the effect of the internet media on youth culture and internet sub cultures, doesn't mean my decision to do a visual essay on pirates versus Ninjas is any less valid, heres what I have so far.

Happy Birthday James!

2007-08-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine had his birthday today, and In an hour and a half (which was hard for me) I made him this!
James is a very talented photography major. link goes to a fun photo website of his.

Other Horn Island stuff

2007-08-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some more goodies from horn island work I'm doing. I love drawing critters.

Horn Island work in progress

2007-08-10T11:42:00.001-07:00

Mutant Shrimp?

2007-07-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of doing a Horn Island Piece involving mutant shrimp.

Freelance.

2007-06-26T14:33:00.001-07:00

From a freelance Job I did recently.

Appropriation?

2007-06-26T14:12:00.001-07:00

When I was a little guy I made up a character I called Acno-Ano, or just Acno for short. there are some similarities to pre-existing characters in him. He has the Hulks green skin, kind of spikey Dragon Ball hair, huge Tekken eyebrows. So when I was drawing the hulk at Boscos last night I decided to draw Acno to compare. here they are, oh and something Jessie and I drew awhile ago that was funny.

Hello Hello.

2007-06-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

I recently got back from Memphis College of Art's anual Horn Island trip, were we spend 8 days on the deserted barrier island. We're required to keep a sketchbook while there ( though with all the exploring/swimming/fishing) there is to do it hard to find time for it. Here a few pages from mine!

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Some sketch book stuff

2007-06-21T21:18:00.001-07:00

Pages from ye olde sketch book

2007-05-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

Rejected fistacuffs ideas

Sketch for the national portfolio day competition.

Sketchs for a freelance project

Just a wolf sketch..

Gee golly

2007-04-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

I think my favorite thing about participating in fistacuffs is meeting some new great people. Everyone seem to be the model of sportsmanship and gerneroisty . Matt Bernier did that awesome comic for Derrick and I. Thanks man!

Post fight interveiw.

2007-04-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

I did this after the votes were ended last night. I was inspired by Also benevolent Proffesor Joel Priddy and Also benevolent Proffesor Dean Trippe's good natured fun.

VOTE TIME !

2007-04-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

It's down to the final hours of Round 3 and, and it is neck and neck! We need votes!

Book cover redesign

2007-04-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

We were asked to re-design book covers for Einsteins Dreams by Alan Lightma....lightma.... ligh...zZZZzZzz

Sorry about that subconcious critque of the book, I tried to liven it up with my cover!

Round: 2 and three!

2007-04-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

The fearsome facesmashers fought valiantly but in the end they were in De-Nile.... Team De-Nile!
We're now on to round 3, much higher than I ever expected to make it. We're up against Saber-tooth, ooooo, another hyphened name! We need your support . Also benevolent Proffesor Joel Priddy could use some help against the Die-ities, who are made up of Sam Hiti, creater of fistacuffs, and Paul Pope... PAUL POPE!

Vote wise! Vote, De-Nile wise!

By Crom, we won round: 1 !! It was no easy task to vanquish the Bah-team, but in the end, Hydrolic gnashing teeth, and a lusty drive for pyramids won out.

Round:2 promises to be just as grueling, we're up against the Face Shmashers, and word around town is no one likes to get their face smashed, so help us out and Vote Team De-Nile !! While your at it, you should scroll on up and vote for either Shane McDermott or Joel Priddy's Team : Hackenslash V.S. Team awesome as hell.

I can't say which your judgement is best!

www.fistacuffs.blogspot.com

Victory!

2007-04-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

Team De-nile triumphed over the noble, yet disinterested Bah-Team! I hope I can count on your support for round two!

The battle has begun!

2007-04-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

The first rounds of the Fist-a-cuffs tag team match has begun. Derrick and I were late entering but we got in on a technicality! Ooooh Yeah! Unfortunatly we've started off against a powerhouse duo and we're really fighting to keep our heads above the surface in votes. So slide on over to www.fistacuffs.blogspot.com and vote now! (preferably for team De-Nile)

Oh! and Don't forget to Vote for Joel Priddy's " the God of Scissors" in team Hackenslash either!

Thanks!

Team De-Nile Gear up for some battle!!!

2007-04-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Be sure and Swing on over to Sam Hiti's Fist-a-Cuffs blog to see if Team De-Nile Made the cut!
http://fistacuffs.blogspot.com/

Fist-a-cuffs!

2007-03-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

So Derek Dent and I decided we'd try and enter the fist-a-cuffs fight'n tournament. My character is the Pyramid Junkie! He'd do anything to get his much deserved eternal rest in the deep tombs of a pyramid, and we told him he'd get his own if he won!
Beware the piercing ray of the all seeing eye! He will be piloting my partners character, which has yet to be named. You'll notice the hands are ready to be grasping levers and the missing foot is ready to be standing on a platform!

Updates!

2007-03-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

go ahead and click on 'em for bigger versions.

in class doodle

2007-03-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Uh-oh, watercolor

2007-03-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

I'm doing watercolor for the first time this semester, and I'm not soooo good at it.
I have gotten better though, here are some master studies and some of my own!

Bored In class doodles

2007-03-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

We all do it, in classes, meetings, on the phone, while the left brain is busy processing words, the right brain is bored stiff, so.... DOODLE!

Brooks Museum Mascotte.

2007-02-18T20:53:00.001-08:00

I'm working on a mascotte for our nextdoor neighbor here at the school, the Brooks Museum.
In their african history section I saw this guy and made him more ape like. kinda cool.

I'm working on a mascotte for our nextdoor neighbor here at the school, the Brooks Museum.
In their african history section I saw this guy and made him more ape like. kinda cool.

One word poster sketch

2007-02-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a poster that focuses on one word to tell my veiw point on a topic. I chose a topic thats important to me, guns. I drew out these guys and when I color them in I will use a slightly different color to bring out letters on their person. I have those areas slightly shaded right now. This is just the rough draft, I'm changing the thug to a recreational shooter, and making the kid look less stupid. The word spells Liable.

sketches for Brooks Museum mascotte.

2007-02-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

I'm triyng to make a little mascotte for the brooks museum and I really liked the African masks, so, here a some of the first ideas I had, I'm going to do sketches of 4 of these guys in five different poses tonight!

Myth Map

2007-02-01T22:42:00.000-08:00

So, our illustrious illustration teacher Shane McDermot of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, had a good idea to make a fairy tale map. He assigned his six students to pick a fairy tale or myth, and to make a sort of toursity looking 3-D-ish map of the place in illustrator. Then we put all of them together, it was pretty interesting.

I did the Baba Yaga. If you've never heard of this mythical figure before shes worth lookig up. She is a Russian folk tale witch. She flies around in her wooden mortar and has a house on a great pair of chicken legs.

"Walk through the gate of bleached white bones, set with grinning skulls whose eyes glow with fire. Here is the home of Baba Yaga; on the border between the world of mortals and the world of spirits. Ever watchful, restless, creaking, groaning, it spins on its chickenlegs, dancing on the edge of reason."

my version is a little more light hearted then that, it's supposed to be fun!

Bonus: you get a prize if you tell me who the horsemen are and what they do!

Self-portrait

2007-02-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

I'm very interested in the idea of alternate realities, string theroy, quantum theroy, all that good stuff.

I belive that when you're dreaming, it's not your subconscious or your imagination while you sleep, it's your astral mind traveling through time and space to alternate realites.

I also think there are infinite realities, so I wanted to explore the idea of a self portrait that is sampling a very small amount of the possible codys.

You get a special prize if you can accurately label all the codys!

I did everything on this in photoshop I'll post the line drawing soon.

About the technique: Since I really believe this, I wanted to bring something tangibly real to the characters. So I scanned in half my wardrobe and used the fabric to fill in the line work. Also the yellow underlighting. I aheived that by creating a new layer and putting it on top, then I used the eraser tool set on various opacities to erase away the yellow where I didn't want the light.

I was messing around and did this Mignola inspired self portrait as well.

Global warming

2006-11-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

This was done for an editorial about global warming, we were required to use primarily illustrator.

I made the logs, spit, and background plane in illustrator, while the fire and earth were photographic images.

I used photoshop to create the night sky.

Illustrator project

2006-11-10T12:01:00.000-08:00

This project was actually for a computer graphics class i'm taking. The assignment was to emulate an artists style in an original piece. I chose Mike Mignola because I thought his style would translate well to illustrator, and well, I just really like him. Trying to stay true to his subject matter of myths, legends, tall tales religous entities, and thinks that go bump in the night, I made this guy, depicting war of the 4 horsemen while the other three look on waiting for their turn.

Bad breatrhe print!

2006-10-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm finished with this project, it's printing as we speak, what do ya think?

Line drawing:

Color version:

Cliche project

2006-10-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

here is the original ink drawing and the finished photo shop product for our illustrated cliche project.

thumbnails for stink breathe

2006-10-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here they are, my favorite five!

Evil boss

2006-09-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Our In class assignment for Illustration was to do an illustration digitally of either Evil boss, or pet friendly home subject matter, I went with evil boss. My idea was as usual influenced by pop culture. I have a blue collar employee putting in some late hours when suddenly.. ACK! His evil boss bursts from his chest cavity Alien style, waving around his pink slip. Here is the original line work and the finished (or close to finished) product. I'm still going to tweek it a bit.

all illustration research

2006-09-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Gustav Dore was a world famous 19th century illustrator......and who was'nt? Well most people thats who, so it's a big deal. He illustrated over 200 books with over 400 plates. he is most well known for his work on the Divine Comedey.

Here are a few examples:

illustrations, and plates and you know, amazing things, he was French, incidentily...Amazing.

This man and Rasputin himself commanded such beards! Oh, and he was a fairly original artist, Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000), made over one hundred works, including The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest and The Wuggly Ump; prize-winning set and costume designs for innumerable theater productions from Cape Cod to Broadway; a remarkable number of illustrations in publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times, and in books by a wide array of authors from Charles Dickens to Edward Lear, Samuel Beckett, John Updike, Virginia Woolf, H.G. Wells, Florence Heide and many others. His well known animated credits for the PBS Mystery series have introduced him to millions of television viewers, me included. Gorey's pen and ink illustrations and his ironic, offbeat humor have brought him critical acclaim and an avid following throughout the world. Go, go, Gorey rangers! Mighty morphin Gorey Raaaaangers!

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was a cool guy. he was born in germany and came to the U.S as a wee one. He has a distinct personal style and enjoyed a long career. His first book illustrations were in 1895 for The Dolly Dialogues and One Fair Daughter. Next came The Pit: The Epic of the Wheat in 1903, Ridolfo in 1906, Iole and Mortmain in 1907, and The Crimson Conquest in 1908. blah blah blah, In his heyday, Leyendecker was the most famous Post cover artist they have ever had. One of the design elements in his illustrations was a circular color feild in the back ground, I think that is a really interesting aspect, and use it myself from time to time.

Also, here is a random image that should, in no way reflect my skills at anything, I was just goofing around.