Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Hi! After being told by Mayhem that it would be alright to post my artwork here, I got the confidence to do so. Please feel free to put any critiques or ideas on what I am doing wrong in the comments. Please do not hold back, I want to do this as a profession, and you can't do that unless you are good!

This first one is a fun one for me, because when I did it last summer Phil Hester (whom I met at the same convention I met Mr. Sakai at) was gracious enough to hook me up with the Transformers editor at IDW. He was more than kind, going as far as to say I made the robots feel like people, which few people can do. However, I sent another page in later, and he never replied. Later on I found out it was because he retired and that was his work email! The drawings are alright in this one, but some of the storytelling is off, and I had no concept of lighting until just a few days ago, so there is a lot of guessed details.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

And the last page he never saw, which was drawn from a sample script and has nothing to do with the preceding pages. Drawing one page from a sample script also showed me why I want to write my own comics, so this page is also important for that reason:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

Here is a Judge Dredd pin-up I got to show to Todd McFarlane!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

Next up is one that I have actually talked to Stan Sakai about and shown him. This one has many errors in the perspective, but a lot of people still seem to like it, so I will post it anyway. Plus I think that the web border was creative.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

The following drawing was done for a purple heart veteran during Free Comicbook Day this year. He was extremely nice, and we shared drawing tips. He taught martial arts, hence the character choice:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

These next few ones are just some doodles I have done in class, one of them was done this year, but the monster one one is from last year, which was my freshman year of high school.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

This is a sculpture I did at the end of the school year last year of one of my favorite characters, Swamp Thing. I actually know very little about the character, but I am a huge fan of Bernie Wrightson and I love drawing good ol' Swampy. This remains the only sculpture that I have really done, save for play-doh and foam clay, and just messing around with clay
.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

Finally, while not the most impressive, the following drawing is technically the best drawing I have ever done. I doodle it this week in study hall, and it was the first drawing that I actually understood why I was drawing what I was drawing. The marks were no longer meaningless, they now had purpose. So you can expect a major jump in all future posts thanks to this drawing and all the help I get and continue to get from the many people I have met.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing

Thank you so much for allowing me to post on this website and taking the time to look at my art. If it were not for Stan Sakai, I do not think I would have ever taken art seriously!

Dear Randy,
Your work is excellent.
Thank you for sharing.
Best wishes to all.
go

go wrote:Dear Randy,
Your work is excellent.
Thank you for sharing.
Best wishes to all.
go

Wow! Thank you, and I will continue to post as I improve!

I can see what you mean about the Spiderman piece, yes there are contradictions everywhere in the perspective for the background. But the important aspect (hah hah) is that you recognise what the flaws are, and are conscious to try to resolve them for future work. The actual quality of the artwork itself is terrific imo.

The only other comment I would make, and really just applicable to the Transformers pages you pencilled, is that they are perhaps a little too busy. And that's not a bad thing per se. But if you are going to have the characters talk, there's very little room in many panels to put any speech bubbles without it overlaying any of the artwork itself, which rather defeats the point in drawing it in the first place if no one will see it because speech bubbles go on top. But I can't tell if there's any speech going on without seeing a script heh. So if it's mostly "unspoken", then go ahead and mostly ignore this observation heh.

Mayhem wrote:I can see what you mean about the Spiderman piece, yes there are contradictions everywhere in the perspective for the background. But the important aspect (hah hah) is that you recognise what the flaws are, and are conscious to try to resolve them for future work. The actual quality of the artwork itself is terrific imo.

The only other comment I would make, and really just applicable to the Transformers pages you pencilled, is that they are perhaps a little too busy. And that's not a bad thing per se. But if you are going to have the characters talk, there's very little room in many panels to put any speech bubbles without it overlaying any of the artwork itself, which rather defeats the point in drawing it in the first place if no one will see it because speech bubbles go on top. But I can't tell if there's any speech going on without seeing a script heh. So if it's mostly "unspoken", then go ahead and mostly ignore this observation heh.

Thank you so much for the input. I definitely agree on the Transformers pages, and as a matter of fact I had several comic book artists tell me similarly at a local convention this summer! I also wish I would have made the backgrounds more interesting. I think the biggest problem with the busyness was that I wanted to put details in, but had no idea what they were there for. I actually just figured out why I was using different strokes to indicate different things this week, so when I finish more sequentials you should see improvement. Thank you again, as I absolutely love critique, because like I said, I really do want to get better and sometimes I do not notice things that other people will.

I can't wait to see what you are capable of doing once you finish high school, you have some serious talent already.

Also, have you ever checked out the Penciljack forum?

http://www.penciljack.com/forum/forum.php

It is a forum for artists and a good place for getting material critiqued by other artists. Since I am not artistically endowed, I just go there and check out the art (occassionly they have Usagi drawings).

Oh, by the way, do you take commissions?

It might be a good idea to get one from you before you become rich and famous and beyond my budget....

Steve Hubbell wrote:I can't wait to see what you are capable of doing once you finish high school, you have some serious talent already.

Also, have you ever checked out the Penciljack forum?

http://www.penciljack.com/forum/forum.php

It is a forum for artists and a good place for getting material critiqued by other artists. Since I am not artistically endowed, I just go there and check out the art (occassionly they have Usagi drawings).

Oh, by the way, do you take commissions?

It might be a good idea to get one from you before you become rich and famous and beyond my budget....

Thank you for the compliment! That is a neat website that I have not seen before. I generally do take commissions. I can occasionally be slow in getting around to it, but it should not take too long. Send me a PM if you are interested.

Well, I'd say get something Usagi drawn and up in the "Rabbit Bodyguards" section, so we can see what your take on the ronin is like heh. There is the possibility I might be interested as well, depending on price.

Mayhem wrote:Well, I'd say get something Usagi drawn and up in the "Rabbit Bodyguards" section, so we can see what your take on the ronin is like heh. There is the possibility I might be interested as well, depending on price.

I will get to work on that! I also would not charge too much more than the postage, as I am not a professional therefore I should not charge what professionals charge.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-umMm ... sp=sharing


Here is a Groo drawing I did during study hall while in school.

That's... actually pretty Sergio like. Although I did spot one flaw. You took WAY too long drawing it compared to what Sergio would have taken

Mayhem wrote:That's... actually pretty Sergio like. Although I did spot one flaw. You took WAY too long drawing it compared to what Sergio would have taken

Hahaha

I love the groo drawing. So much joy and sillyness in the wake of destruction. Nice balanced composition. Peace, Maka

Maka wrote:So much joy and sillyness in the wake of destruction.

This sentence perfectly describes every issue of Groo. Thank you for the kind words!

Manic. Nicely done, Randy.