ah! Okay cool

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Excellent work! While I appreciate the effect of the Cobra with white eyes, I think it might be more interesting if he had pupils. If you were going for character in giving him a slightly worn out look, showing eyes might enhance that.

My only other comment would be that I'd have rather seen him with an AK... seems like more of an 'everyman' weapon than an American M-16... although that in itself is an interesting juxtaposition.

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A lot of folks are saying that about the AK-47. It just slipped my mind at the time By that point (it was the very last thing put in) I was on auto-pilot and just kinda penciled in whatever was in my mind. LOL

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Here is one I started to give me some great practice on coloring techniques. It is on pause so that I can get a few custom jobs done for a nice gentleman. Some folks find it interesting to see concept to finish, so Ill post more as I get the time to fill it in more....

The preliminary pencils with some small amount of finalized color added....


I am trying to give it a real sense of reality. so I have decided to have the HISS armed with twin pintle-mounted 50.cal's. The Trouble bubble's main armament already looks like the MG-2 (minus barrel cover) so I don't see a need to change that.

The troopers will all have soviet block weapons. I started finalizing the new AK-47 tactical version for the dude on the far right. My pride of this piece is my long hours trying to get a COBRA trooper helmet that both emulated the Cartoon and original toy look, while being made to a realistic point. Ive modeled it on paper at as many various angles as I could conceive and the beauty is that each angle should line up to each other (unlike the cartoon helmets that never would have worked if created in 3D)

The preliminary pencils are not done, I make stuff up as I go. So I get bare-bones in there to place figures; but as I add the detail, I just start finishing it too.

-Jason

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I really like that hiss tank and troops. Just don't forget the Cobra insignia's on them and it'll look GREAT!

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I would LOVE a print of that when it's done!!!

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I would lover to make prints, but Im not going to go through the legal rigamaroo of trying to get licensing from Hasbro Its not against copyright laws to make something and sell the original. But its illegal to make COPIES of something copyrighted. Cause I don't have the right to copy. heh.

Anyway, that HISS one is on hold for a long while. Ive got some commissions that need cleared and Im waiting on supplies. In the meantime, I am working on a "practice" piece to get me limbered up for on the the commissions. I'll post it later.

-Jason

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I'm not sure how I missed seeing this thread when it was first posted, but I am impressed. The Troopers and the HISS tank are just awesome. It would make a great poster. The closeness of the scene makes me think one of the Tele-Vipers was filming the action.

Snake-Eyes looks awesome, definitely know it's him. The handle of the sword does appear like it's not sturdy enough to survive a blade battle.

The Cobra Trooper was very nice. The only issue I had was with the helmet. The dividing line separating the light source matches up exactly with the right side of the helmet (the inner part by his right ear). There is this section that sticks out that looks slightly off. While I know it is part of the helmet, my eye picks up the line bisecting and makes that outer stick out. I get the impression it is like a camera shot and the subject turned at the last second. It's one of those optional illusions.

Don't get me wrong, I think you are talent and we need this type of (is 'precision' the right word) detailed work.

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Very nice work. It is always awesome to see this type of work and talent. The Cobra Officer's eye are very freakyy indeed!

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While always striving for perfection, perfection is always quite difficult to achieve. Should I attain such a level, it will be well in my future.

In the mean-time I do what I can to always push myself to new heights. Below is a practice piece I am making so that I get used to a new coloring technique. I begin with a simple pencil sketch.....



then add an ink wash....



the final will have colored pigment applied overtop of the ink wash. In the previous HISS scene, I put the color in at the same time as the shading (instead of doing the ink wash first) and I am afraid I lost a lot of the purity of the dark element. That scene may be scraped in favor of this one or a future rendition of the one to be scrapped done to the above technique. eh, who knows?

Anyway, a kind patron has commissioned one of Flint in color, so I wanted to get the technique down before proceeding too far on his and botching his piece. So the above HISS scene is merely a practice piece and I don't care if it gets botched along the way. I really need to get the transition from ink wash to the color overlay down here before attempting it on the Flint piece. Skin-tones are rather difficult and easily messed up. And Flint is one of my favorites, so I want to do justice to it for this gentleman patron

-Jason

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Why do I have such a hard time buying art? Maybe you could give something to me and you could receive a completely unrelated sum of money from me as your birthday present?

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Yep that's me (the long-suffering active-duty guy.)

Can't believe I didn't see this thread earlier. Really great stuff here. I don't know the first thing about art or how to critique it (not having any artistic ability myself), but I'm really blown away by your work. The Snake Eyes in your first post was probably the best "fan art" piece I'd ever seen. Love to see how that Flint commission piece turns out for you (I'm a big Flint fan and might be interested in one for myself.)

Truly amazing work.

Welcome to the boards!

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Jason, i was checking out your samples on your site, and i found 'Battlesister Redemption'

that is an astounding piece with a great story, all wrapped up in the image...

it's going to be a pleasure to know you!

welcome aboard!

edit: one more thing -- your pricing for custom artwork is absolutely perfect this group of stingy customizers -- myself included! now, i just need to think of what i would like to see first...

sweet....

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Happy day! Some of my long overdue supplies arrived today, so I sharpened myself up by working on a section of one of many pieces waiting to be completed.



The full piece is 7" X 14" or some such. I’ve begun colorization using ink. All of it: ink. If anyone has worked with ink, you know it to be the bane of your existence, yet you just can’t stop until you’ve mastered it! LOL

All the old comic books were done in ink and you never saw shading. Because you have to be Faster than the dry-time of ink to get your blending in, you have to put it on in multiple layers and once it's on, it AINT COMING OFF. LOL If you're one of those anal-retentive artists like myself, and one little imperfection will ruin hundreds of hours on a large piece, ink is the bane of your existence!

I’ve been at it with these inks since one of my college teachers got me hooked on trying to unravel the mysteries of working with it. I graduated in 2001. So you can imagine the countless hours and hundreds of ruined projects started with ink and the absolute nightmare I’ve been putting myself through. However, I think it time well spent in the end!

Still, I’ve tried all the mediums and for absolutely pure, blazing color with an even coating (assuming you can perfect the craft and GET an even coating) nothing beats ink.

Blah, Ill stop my seminar-like rant Anyway, I’m happy with it so far and I hope my luck with it lasts the whole illustration! It'll be a good one when it’s done!!

-Jason

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Holy snikes!

Do you take requests?