Dragon Head

Messing around with Z-brush, mainly using it as a 2D illustration tool. This started out as a profile of a T-rex, but then I felt it needed more of a Dragon look. Z-brush is a lot of fun, I will be experimenting with it more often. I know squat about the program right now, so I modelled it some then carried it over to Photoshop, where i am more comfortable.



eye detail,

Killer Goofy

I had this weird idea for a creepy serial killer wearing a Goofy mask... Don't ask, here it is.



this next one is a Liche king fan art from the Art of World Of Warcraft book, the wrath of the Liche King. I used the dodge and burn in Photoshop, then colorized the black and grey art.

Animal Caricature

This guy reminds me of Frank the Pug from Men In Black 2. I did this to force myself to work in Corel Painter more, and the wrinkles on the pug's face are good practice.

Old sketch revisited

I always liked this drawing, so decided to revisit it and paint it up mainly in Corel painter and some photoshop. It gave me an opportunity to familiarize myself with some of painters brushes. This guy was originally drawn in ball point pen, then scanned in and painted. He was influenced by the Aliens in the Disney cartoon; Lilo and Stitch. I also gave him a Stormtrooper belt buckle. Guess who's side he's on.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. This is another character design for D.O.E Productions. Her name is Madison Belle. I hope you like it.

Jedi Master

I did this one for fun. My main man Yoda, Here's a few process shots. Hope ya dig it. Try not, Do or Do Not, There is no try.

Rocky Balboa

You gotta love Rocky. These movies made me want to learn how to box. I had a good time with this one. The shapes evolved quite a bit as I rendered it from sketch to color. I hope you like it.

Purgatory Comics

This movie was tons of fun to work on. I worked with Director Ralph Suarez on production art for the film, the art on the comic book cover on the poster is mine along with a bunch of other comic book covers and such that show up throughout the film.
Purgatory Comics tells the story of a girl and a comic book store. Starring Angela Benedict, Bree Olson, Jonathan Zungre and Tim Kelly, Written and Directed by Ralph Suarez
Check out www.purgatorycomics.com and order your DVD today! Only $10!!!

Book Cover

This is a book cover I was commissioned to do for my good friend Don Rogers. I have been working with Don for a few years now, designing characters for his Everest Swift stories. He is working on a website for his Tin-Man entertainment brand, I will give you more on that as it develops. For now if you are interested in getting a signed copy of this book you can contact Don Rogers at his email :
sleeves00@hotmail.com
The first is a prelim drawing sent to the client for approval. I usually do a bunch of thumbnails first, then decide on which thumbnail works best for the story, and if I feel the composition is good.



Once the client approves the mock-up, I can clean up the pencils, ink them, and finally Color and add the text.
Hope you like it.

Don Corleone

I'm a huge fan of the Godfather movies and also of Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando. I wanted to do a Godfather caricature for awhile now, and just never got around to it, till now. I don't really consider myself a caricature artist, but I enjoy doing them. It's a great learning process. Caricature allows you to exploit and abstract shapes, practice tonal values, and exaggerate forms. All the while having fun with your subject matter. Here are some step by step progression shots.

Happy Halloween

Man It's been awhile since my last post. I got some exciting projects I am working on, so stay tuned. These are some concepts done for D.O.E productions http://www.doeproductionsinc.com/ I am working as a Lead Artist/ Asst. Art Director on the project, with some very talented indivisuals. This character has the DNA of Gorilla and Bear, so I gave the client a few ideations to choose from. For more on this , hit the link on the title above.

R.I.P. Arturo Gatti

The boxing world lost a warrior who always fought in the true spirit of the Rocky films. There may have been better punchers, bigger guys, and far more skillful fighters, but few with the heart of this champion. He will be greatly missed. Thank you for the inspiration my friend. You were a true champion with the heart of a lion. Do a search for the Arturo Gatti vs. mickey Ward fights to see why this dude was so rockin'.

New Merchandise

Just uploaded some new t-shirts, magnets, stickers, and more to my online store. Go to www.woundedlamb.com and click on the section called DARAF's store, and spend some money.

R.I.P. Mommy

My Mother , Rosa Diaz passed away this morning at 7:00 a.m.
I praise GOD that she is no longer suffering. Thank you for giving me life. I'll see you again Mom, but not yet.
RAF

Grafitti

New Graffiti piece I recently uploaded to my online store. Inspiration for the girl came to me after watching the Grindhouse flick "DeathProof" by Quintin Tarantino. The vertical graffiti reads "DARAF". I sketched the girl in one of my sketchbooks and a good friend of mine had me tattoo it on him. You can see a picture of the tattoo in an earlier post on this blog and on the tattoo section of my website. You can also buy a t-shirt, hoodie sweatshirt, and more by going to my site www.woundedlamb.com and visiting the section labeled DARAF's store.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Warming up the ole wacom tablet.

Memorial tattoo

This is a tattoo I completed recently on my friend, Kyle. He wanted a memorial for his grandfather (Pop Pop). Pop loved Hot rods and motorcycles, so Kyle gave me a list of things to include in the tattoo and this is what I came up with from sketch to finished tat.

Speedpainting

Speedpainting is a good way to get background concepts down quickly. I try to limit my time to about an hour or so. Here is a quick painting in photoshop of a simple study of a cave. The character was thrown in for a size reference. The next is a paint over of an earlier sketch based on a mythological character called Acephali. The Acephali are a race of beings from Libya, whose heads are either removable or lie in their chests. In the beginning, they were normal but had an altercation with their gods that resulted in them being decapitated. The ones with the removable heads usually carry them in their arms. They are described by historians Herodotus and Josephus. Of course, I had to give it a bit of a Sci-Fi makeover.

Today's sketches

Some cartoon faces for today's warm-up before work.

Fashion Magazines

Here are some cartoon sketches, drawn from various fashion mags. I try to use the magazines just for references and continue to explore cartoon styles and exploit the shapes. These were done with a Prismacolor Col-erase pencil (tuscan red). These are my favorite pencils to sketch in this style with. I'll post more of these when I get around to scanning them in.

The Bat

One of my favorite characters of all time, Batman. Ink and watercolor.

FAN ART

So, I decided to dedicate my new Fabriano Artist Journal to stylized versions of my favorite cartoon, comic book, and movie characters. These sketchbooks are awesome, they come with multi-colored pages and the quality of the paper is top notch in my opinion. These are drawn using different colored prismacolor col-erase pencils, and inked with Esterbrook pen nibs, and a japanese brush pen. Drawing this way, really frees up my mind, and allows me to have fun exploiting shapes and mimicking a variety of art styles.