Betobeto » Sketchbook: Cartoon and comic drawings, sketches and art

Pencil for Hire

Alberto Gonzalez — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:52:58 +0000

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There’s this guy in San Francisco, Mike Gray, who calls himself a “Pencil For Hire” in both his site and his personal card. Clever, concise and to the point – since anyone looking to make a living on doodles is a “pencil for hire” anyway…

I’d love to be a pencil for hire too, I guess. If for no other reason that crumpling and tossing sheets of lousy drawings beats typing like crazy at a computer as far as jobs go.

This started as just another quick pencil sketch on my current Moleskine (yes I love those). Then I wanted to add it some color in Photoshop over the line as-is, and voilá. I want to find a palette of limited, vintage, muted colors to use on a series of drawings soon. This is not 100% perfect in that respect but is a good step forward for me.

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Post tagged as: kids, pencil, photoshop, sketches and art

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Balloon Boy

Alberto Gonzalez — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:24:30 +0000

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It just had to be done. After all, news of a boy supposedly hanging to a balloon running wild and fast across the skies don’t come along every day, right?

Of course, now we know it was all a hoax and a publicity stunt from a family that seemingly loves to be the center of attention (and how so!). But what if it didn’t? You can always speculate, imagine… and draw something about it.

I originally thought on making the boy more cartoony but in the end I went with Falcon’s actual likeness instead. I’m not into making political or opinionated cartoons of incidents like these – if that is your thing, however, there are some great examples of other cartoonists here. Done completely on the new Sketchbook Pro.

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Fan Art: Amelia Rules (SPX 2009)

Alberto Gonzalez — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:00:25 +0000

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This one is the only piece that came back with me from SPX ‘09. Jimmy Gownley is the author of the Amelia Rules graphic novel series, which documents the family and school life of nine-year-old Amelia Louise McBride, her unique roster of “tweenage” friends, and her hotshot-aunt-turned-former-rock-star Tanner Clark. You may even say it’s sort of like Peanuts, but with “tweenies”. I thought Mr. Gownley was going to show up at the event as so was here indicated, but alas there was no Jimmy to be seen at the event.

On this piece I am playing again with cultural differences. You can always get something going from those.

Hey Jim, if you ever get to read this, send me a mail address where I can send this to. Seriously.

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Fan Art: Knights of the Lunch Table (SPX 2009)

Alberto Gonzalez — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:00:46 +0000

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This is yet another piece of fan art I did, in watercolor and ink, to give away at SPX 2009. This one was gifted to New York cartoonist Frank Cammuso, who besides being an accomplished political cartoonist is also currently producing the Knights of the Lunch Table graphic novel series – which, in Frank’s own words, is “King Arthur’s Court meets Camelot Middle School”. I loved the first volume so I resolved to do this mash-up of Daniel (extreme left), and Diego (extreme right), playing soccer in an american football court amid a puzzled Artie, Wayne (with helmet) and Percy. Go here for a general review of SPX’09 and a picture of Frank and me with this piece.

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Testing Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 2010

Alberto Gonzalez — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:00:39 +0000

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I have loved the idea of creating work from start to finish using the graphic tablet, and Autodesk’s Sketchbook Pro software has long been my preferred software of choice for that, since it has the most natural flow of traces mimicking sketching on paper to an almost identical degree, customizable brushes, and a highly intuitive interface using the tablet logic to the fullest degree. However, trying to do inking on the program was sort of a pain, since canvas rotation was very limited and that, in “real life” I’m used to turn the paper in all directions to ink. So I rather preferred to scan in an inked drawing.

The 2010 version of the program comes with a set of great upgrades, but the one that’s really, absolutely awesome for me is that the canvas can be rotated in any direction using the stylus – just like the real thing! Plus, there are also great ruler, ellipse and mirroring tools that can simplify greatly the process of drawing. But the canvas rotation feature alone is worth the upgrade.

So, to test the new Sketchbook Pro I went to draw this slightly more “realistic”, or older portrait of Diego from start to finish, and giving myself a maximum of two hours to complete it, color included. I am astonished at the results. Lines definitely come more naturally to me and I guess it shows. Allowing some more time, the possibilities may be almost endless.

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Fan Art: Owly (SPX 2009)

Alberto Gonzalez — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:00:43 +0000

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So here I am, trying to catch up on all the post-SPX euphoria – the new books, the pictures, and more. Knowing that some of my favorite comics authors would be present at SPX, I created these watercolor pieces of fan art for each of them prior to the event. The reactions were both of surprise and gratefulness from the creators, and for this I am grateful in return. :)

The piece here was made for Andy Runton, creator of the clever and throughly adorable Owly graphic novel series. If you haven’t seen Owly you have to see it for yourself. It is one of the cutest and good-hearted comics ever published, and Andy is an equally sensitive and great guy to talk to. Here’s him evidently amused by my gift… Seeing as Owly is so used to the forests, I decided to take them to the beach, for a change.

Just in case it is not evident enough, you can enlarge and see every drawing I post in full color. Just click on the big drawing above.

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Having fun with Odopod

Alberto Gonzalez — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:00:06 +0000

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Sometime ago I discovered Odosketch, a fun and amazing sketchbook web application made by Odopod, a cool web agency based in San Francisco. What sets Odosketch apart from other online sketch applications out there is its great performance and restrained color palette. Plus, once you finish and save your sketch, you can see it being re-done in automagic animation, which gives it loads of coolness to boot.

So, if you go here, you can see my Odopod sketch (above) being re-created for you. Mine was labeled as a “featured” sketch, which it’s always good for ego massaging. :)

New, awesome sketches keep being added to Odosketch all the time by many artists out there. I hope I can contribute some more in the future. Have you done something with Odosketch? Share it with me.

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Martin Holmes

Alberto Gonzalez — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:00:49 +0000

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A creation from Argentinian comic masters Carlos Trillo and Juan Bobillo, Martin Holmes is a short graphic novel about Sherlock Holmes’s presumed nephew, Martin, which has unsurprisingly followed on his uncle’s footsteps to solve the greatest mysteries around London. This novel is known as Zachary Holmes in France.

I got notice of this work on my last visit to Argentina and I simply loved it, enough to make a tribute cartoon. I want to think I am becoming less sucky with each work I’m posting here. Here’s hoping I’ll eventually have enough good stuff to show to seasoned experts and not be ashamed of it. At least, not too much.

I still have yet to find a way on how to make one of these without devoting a complete weekend to it. Maybe some things are meant to be that way. This work was about 90% Sketchbook Pro and 10% Photoshop for finishing touches.

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Up, up and away

Alberto Gonzalez — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:38:23 +0000

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Okay, this was a commissioned piece that my Argentinian friend Carlos Carella asked for a while ago. Guess it is for a gallery of sorts or something he’s cooking up — we will figure it out on the next few days.

For more background into these Argentinian characters, view the following past posts:

When pressured to think on an idea for this, the famous toy wagon of Calvin and Hobbes fame came to mind, and how Bill Watterson — the strip creator — often sent them two on a ridiculously dangerous ride on it while waxing almost philosophical musings along the way. A great juxtaposition of situations. Unlike Watterson, I just couldn’t think of any philosophic discourse for this.

After this, I think it’s safe to stop with the Garcia Ferré tributes for a good while. Hope to include more original material soon.

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Homage to Mauricio de Sousa’s 50 years

Alberto Gonzalez — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:54:17 +0000

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Probably the most successful cartoonist in Latin America, Brazilian-born Mauricio de Sousa — creator of the wildly popular strip Turma da Mônica (translated in English as Monica’s Gang) reaches this month fifty years of nonstop work. Inside Brazil, Mauricio’s cast of characters is as big a phenomenon as Charles Schulz’s Peanuts.

Starting in 1959 while holding double duty as a police reporter, Mauricio had to face a lot of resistance and discouragement on his home country while he strived to make a living off his drawings. However, his persistence paid off after almost a decade. Monica and her friends’ popularity skyrocketed on the late Sixties, and hasn’t stopped ever since, creating a publishing media emporium, several feature-length animated films, and even a theme park.

Mauricio’s success history is of special meaning in a Latin American context, since this has always been a hard market for art in general and, while there are many people doing comics, few ever become financially successful as he did.

This was made as part of a series of comic homages to the master mostly from Brazilian/Portuguese cartoonists. Since I’ve known Portuguese for years, I also felt entitled to create a little something as well. Whipped up in Illustrator (can’t believe how much it takes to finish one of these).

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Update (06/21/2009): Brazilian cartoonist Wesley Samp, who did this homage site (both in Portuguese) to Mr. de Sousa, was kind enough to include this cartoon along many others done by other Brazilian artists. Obrigado, Wes!

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