Scott Hallett's Sketchbook

The Spirit Well

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:33:00 +0000

Well 2012 has already gotten away from me a bit, hasn't it? No resolutions this year for the simple fact that it leaves me with no feeling of having missed something by the end of the year. Last year turned out to be one of the worst I've experienced personally, and 2012 is already shaping up to be one of the best. Such a contrast in such a short time leaves me re-evaluating quite a few things for the better. Life really is a wild ride; my only goal is to do what I can and learn to let go of the things that fall short.

On a lighter note, I have new artwork to show! This illustration stemmed from my wanting to try something completely different, and feeling that a 9x36 inch illustration would fit that bill perfectly (strange I know). I call this one "The Spirit Well". I had written a short poem sort of explaining the story a bit, but felt it wasn't working. If I can get it together, perhaps I'll post it as an extra post down the line. For now I'll just post the finished art piece. This was done with brush pens (on 3 9x12 inch pieces of bristol), a few smaller pens and Photoshop for colour.

Followed by some details:

Scary

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:48:00 +0000

I once read a really great critique of the artistic process that spoke of an artist's tastes versus their sense of their own abilities. The idea is that your taste peaks far before your talent does. So when you look at your own artwork, you do so with great taste, and therefore critique it harshly. The biggest struggle an artist has then is the ability to work through this phase to the point where their own ability reaches this level of taste (or as close as they can come). A lot of artists give up at this point.

For me, I think I'm reaching that point where my tastes have peaked. I know exactly what I enjoy in art, what I don't, and recognize the ins and outs of why I enjoy something. This isn't to say I'm not constantly surprised by art; I'm able to find new artists and artwork more readily by knowing what I'm looking for.

I am of course, not at the point where I believe my ability has peaked. I have a lot to learn, but it can sometimes seem insurmountable. This may be partially due to unrealistic expectations. I of course want my art to be as good as the art I love. I will say though, that I can more readily identify when I feel a piece of my own art has failed.

I will present the following as an example of that. This was originally done for the topic "Scary". For me, it fails. There's aspects I'm pleased with, but the piece as a whole falls short of what I wanted it to be. The biggest thing that stands out to me? It's too much like I'm trying to realistically render it. All the art I love, that gets me really excited, contains an element of whimsy. You can picture the artist with their tongues out to one side, smirking to themselves the whole time they drew it. Just pure joy. That's the type of art I want to make. I think this effort to render it realistically also made me not focus on the composition as much, so it's a bit weak as well. That being said, I think it's not terrible, and that's progress.

Next up is some ink work that's been sitting in my sketchbook for a bit, waiting to be scanned in. I won't say too much, as I think I may still colour some if not all of these pieces, and can speak to them then. Still mostly working with the Pentel Brush Pen, and still mostly enjoying it.

Deciding which plug to pull:

Victorian Zombie Portrait:

Chamber, from the X-Men:

What Could Have Been

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:40:00 +0000

My apologies for not posting sooner, but October has gotten away from me. I started out the month with the intention of participating in Jake Parker's great Inktober this year. Unfortunately, I think what I was doing was hacking together a stream of consciousness story that was ultimately doomed to fail as a whole. I was also cannibalizing one of my other ideas that would probably come out much better given a bit more attention. If you're interested you can take a peek at my first three pages here, here and here.

Sometimes it amazes me to think of some of the projects that could have been, but for whatever reason fell apart. Now I've consciously walked away from a few myself for various reasons, but so many others, be they graphic novels, anthologies, short stories, have fallen by the wayside of their own accord. Getting more than one creative type to agree on something can be a chore in itself, so getting anthologies off the ground must be a daunting task.

Digging through my own graveyard of half starts and ideas, I've come across quite a few short story ideas that almost were. There's some here I'm almost positive I'll get to one day. Then there's this little guy below. This originally came about for a kid's anthology by a few of the guys involved in Popgun. I can't recall the exact reason it never got off the ground, but there you have it. His name is Johnny Arcade. He's always in the back of my mind, and I'm sure one day I'll get his story down. My apologies if I've posted this in the past, it just sort of stood out to me.

Another project that I was asked to pitch, but didn't get off the ground. I won't say too much more (I think you can figure it out)...

Kind Words

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:35:00 +0000

Anybody that's tried their hand at art knows it doesn't take much to get an artist down. Even the great master da Vinci said "Art is never finished, only abandoned.” We walk away because if we continued on, we'd never stop. That's how I feel about my art sometimes. I call it quits more than I call it complete. Don't get me wrong, I love art, but sometimes it's an uphill battle; fought alone at the drawing table with no way of knowing if you're truly making a dent.

I have however been fortunate to receive some very kind words as of late. First off, I received a surprise (but certainly welcome) write up over at Comics Alliance. It's always very interesting to see what pieces resonate with people, and what pieces they're paying attention to. Thanks Brian!

The other day, I also received a nice compliment on this piece by Steve Ogden. Steve and I have been communicating on and off for a few years now, starting with some back and forth on a few forums, some involvement in anthologies that will probably never see the light of day, and some e-mail correspondence. Steve is a renaissance man, dipping in and out of all facets of the arts, from writing, drawing, animating (and even music), all the while making it look easy. Steve makes the kind of art that you picture him drawing furiously away at, tongue sticking out one side of his mouth, smiling all the way. Do yourself a favour and check out his webcomic Moon Town. You will not be disappointed.

Disguise

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:04:00 +0000

I'm not always sure where I get my influences from. It's a questions a lot of artists are asked, and it baffles me a bit. Mainly because I can't honestly see how it matters. I do believe a lot of my ideas about anatomy, setting up a scene or scenery come more from animation than they ever would from comics. Mainstream, superhero type comics have nothing to offer me. I'm certainly not suggesting that they're bad or poorly done; the artists are in a class of their own. It's just that none of it appeals to me. I'm always drawn to more animated artwork, things like the Flight anthologies, or more European style art. I'm digressing though.

In creating this piece, I consciously tried to suss out where I get certain ideas about how things are done, and try to do them a little different. In the construction of the characters, in the colours chosen, the shapes used, whatever it may be. I'm just trying to stay on my toes, put a conscious foot forward in bettering my art, and continue to move forward. Hope you enjoy!

Disguise (Sketches)

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 02:17:00 +0000

I tried to get some colour on these sketches honest, but it was fighting me all the way. I'll try again once I'm seeing it a bit clearer. Sometimes I think I get caught up in trying new things and pushing myself forward, and I will forget the things I'm already pretty good at. It is a continuing cycle I suppose.

This first one is an idea I had an absolute blast with. I think it works as a whole, but may have some parts that could have been a big stronger.

This second one was actually my first idea, but I think it was unsuccessful. There's just too much I see wrong with it, and I found myself falling on some old habits I'm trying to break. Warts and all, as they say.

Influence (Alternative)

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:44:00 +0000

I'm not normally one to do this; I find that I usually have to abandon an idea once I get it to a point, otherwise I'll obsess about it completely. That being said, I was very proud of the ink work done on this piece, and while I liked the colour, something just didn't jive. So I decided to give it another go with the colours and see if I couldn't do it a bit more justice, at least in terms of what I imagined. I like to think I got it a bit closer this time.

Influence

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:10:00 +0000

I think for me this has to be one of those rare artistic moments when I was sketching something down and could not wait to complete it. There was no trepidation, or concern over screwing something up. I knew what I wanted to draw, the style I wanted it to be in, and just went for it. It's refreshing to have those moments, no matter how few and far between they are.

This was once again an Illustration Friday topic, "Influence". I tend to interpret these very loosely, but I think that may be the point, at least for me. I may wind these down soon. I'm sort of all over the map, and need to get some focus back. We'll see.

Swell

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:36:00 +0000

One thing I try to do with each illustration I make is challenge myself to try something I've either never drawn before, or push myself in an area I feel weak in. For this illustration, I really wanted to challenge myself to use perspective to enhance a mood. I also really wanted to choose a colour scheme I've never work with before, and really try to embrace it.

As for the topic, this one is once again an Illustration Friday topic, this time it's "Swell". I have so many bakers in my life, whether it's my wife or friends, I'm surprised this subject matter hasn't creeped into my subconscious before. I love the idea of a giant pastry baking machine. It's probably only natural that something would go wrong.

Furnace Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:51:00 +0000

This was just a quick idea that sort of came together. Lately I've really been trying to push the things I know I have problems with, in this case perspective. Again, I think there are some issues with this piece (although I'll probably almost always say that), but I need to keep pushing myself to get better. Any critiques or criticisms are always welcome.

New Sketchbook Pages

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:57:00 +0000

After returning from an amazing trip to Europe through Paris and London, I'm pretty pumped about creating some new art! I thought I'd start by posting some miscellaneous stuff I've had in my sketchbook from the last couple weeks.

First up is one using a design I've had for a while now. I wanted to try pushing some new shapes, not worrying too much about keeping things rooted in reality, and just having fun. I tend to want to draw things as I see them, but still want to have fantastic elements in them. So I end up with really boring trees etc., while I have these monsters and creatures standing there. This time, I tried to push that fantastic into the buildings, trees, leaves, everything. I'll be exploring this more in the future. I'll almost certainly add colour to this later.

The second one is a few odds and ends, all loosely base on the idea of "Vampires & Motorcycle Gangs". No real thought put into this before hand, just sort of stream of consciousness drawing. I do this a lot more than I show here on the site, but I've always just had this mentality that I needed to finish something to the end, colours and all in order to make it worth posting. I'm going to try and loosen up on this and post more "warts and all" pictures.

Finally, this last piece was an ink drawing I sort of free-handed from the view of our hotel in Paris. It's meant to be very loose; I was more concerned with getting the idea down and being comfortable with the medium (in this case brush pen), rather than creating a pitch perfect drawing. It is certainly not without its flaws, but all in all I like it. I may add some colour to this later.

The Ghost Girl & The Old Man

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:56:00 +0000

I've always had a fascination with the Victorian era. I think it's fuelled by things like steam punk and Jules Verne stories, but I like the idea of it. It seems like the perfect setting for a proper ghost story. This piece is sort of borne out of that; I wanted to depict a seance or some other communion with the dead. Simple as that.

This originally started out as a doodle that sat for quite a bit in my sketchbook. I have problems with some parts of it, but as a whole I think it gets a pass, so I decided to finish it. I'm continually trying to capture the moods I want while not overworking things in Photoshop. My previous tendencies leaned toward throwing as many layers at a piece to see what worked. I'm trying to stay more conscious of that as I (hopefully) progress.

Soaked

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:29:00 +0000

I drew this for the topic "Soaked" over at Illustration Friday. While I'm not necessarily working on the topics as they come up, I am using them as motivation when I'm stumped artistically; picking and choosing the ones I like as I see fit. With this piece, I wanted to try and be a bit loose with my inks. I have a tendency to over think the final inks, so they become a bit more rigid than I'd like. I did this using only a brush pen.

I also really tried to simplify the coloring process, as it is the biggest bottleneck for me. This was done with mostly flat colors and the pencil tool. No fancy textures or photoshop tricks. I think it worked out quite nicely.

Miscellaneous, Et Cetera & So Forth...

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:54:00 +0000

Life has been a bit of a blur recently, so I'm not drawing as much as I should be. That being said I have a tendency to only want to post something here if it's a completed, colored to the nines piece. This only makes me look even less prolific than I already do. I think it's because if I didn't feel the need to finish it, I probably didn't like something about it once I completed the sketch/inks etc. I need to get over that a bit, and showcase the process more, warts and all.

All that being said, here are some brush pen drawings I've done in recent weeks, trying to get the hang of the medium a bit better. Just some characters sketches and whatnot. I'm also not quite ready to give up on the grey scale markers for shading.

Robots, Ghosts, Cowboys and Monsters!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:34:00 +0000

I find myself constantly trying to find a process to a finished product that isn't a culmination of tedious sub steps. Some of my comic work in the past has seen 2-3 near complete drawings (pencils, second pass at pencils, inks). I'd like to ideally get to a stage where I'm roughing in non-photo blue pencil, and simply applying ink. No erasing, no clean up. The problem of course is getting a line quality I enjoy without needing all the sub steps.

After some experimentation, I think I'm finally getting a hang of this Pentel brush pen. These were all done with the brush pen, either as new pieces (the first two), or over older pencils I'd never really done anything with (the last). As always, feedback is appreciated!

Bottled (Colors)

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:49:00 +0000

I'm stepping quite a ways out of my comfort zone on this particular piece. I wanted to shed a bit of that moody, deep blacks, glooming light sources work I've been creating lately and try something a little different. This piece needed a bright, daylight vibe. I also really tried to push my poses, my character design and my stylized shapes. I also applied a color hold to every line in this piece, rather than let the black ink stand alone.

I get caught up in this rut of trying to emulate some of the top artists in the big three of comics, when I never stop to realize that while those artists are amazing, I'm never drawn to them when I see their art on the shelves. I'm always drawn to more stylized art, art with more character and whimsy. I'm certainly not suggesting that I've accomplished this precisely how I wanted here, but that's the direction I want to take it.

I think when I think of comics, I think of the big three, and just assume I can't tell an epic or emotional story with whimsical character designs or a more "cartoony" art style. There are enough examples of artists doing exactly that that I should know better.

Space Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:53:00 +0000

I drew this piece quite a while ago for the Drawer Geeks topic "Space Girl", but I never got around to adding color. I'm really struggling lately with finding a color palette I enjoy, while still trying to keep my time invested into a piece at a minimum. That's not to say I don't want to give everything a good, solid effort but I do want to find that balance between creating a striking piece and having a steady output.

With limited time to put towards art (due balancing a full-time career and having somewhat of a life), I really need to be quicker. I will often burn time on colors just playing with levels and choosing a scheme, only to backtrack afterward. All part of the process I suppose. Hope you enjoy.

Fablewood Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:54:00 +0000

I've been thinking a lot lately about my character from "The Spirits & The Woods". When I originally wrote the comic, there was no back story to her (who I've been unofficially calling "Koru" for a while now). As I thought about why she would know so much about the spirit world at such a young age (I guess 19), why she would be travelling alone etc., a whole large world started to grow.

As with most things like this for me, once it got to a certain point, I became a bit overwhelmed and shelved the idea for now. I tend to think my capabilities as an artist will hinder a story, and keep holding out until my skill "catches up" to my idea. Obviously this is hindering me creatively, as I think big on ideas but short on my abilities and it all plays out with a stalemate of me not doing anything. Vicious cycle I know, but something I'm working on.

At any rate, I wanted to try my hand at re-designing "Koru", as I pictured her older than I initially drew her in Fablewood, and given that she walks the ghost haunted countryside with a samurai sword, she should probably look the part a bit more. In this picture, I also tried my hand at using grey brush-tipped markers as shading and to add a bit of texture. I will explore this more, but for now I'd say it's not for me. Other great artists out there are much better at pulling this off convincingly, but I may need to just keep practicing.

Kicking the Tires

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:59:00 +0000

I've migrated my website to a new host, so if anything looks out of place, please let me know. Given that my day job is as a web developer, I should really up my game a bit on my own site. I've moved to a host that will give me more freedom for programming on the server side. This should allow me to add some interesting stuff to the site itself, and make things like the gallery and the comics section a little more robust.

Bottled

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:44:00 +0000

Quick one for Illustration Friday. Will discuss the motivation and what I was trying to accomplish once I get the colors done.

Dusty

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:44:00 +0000

In an effort to continue forward, I decided to try my hand at a silent, one page comic. I wanted to see if I could tell a story with minimal narration, and still create an impact. As always with my own work, I have a hard time seeing the forest through the trees, but hopefully I was somewhat successful.

I went with horror as a theme as a challenge. I think this will be the last horror piece from me for a while. It lends itself to a very restricted, gloomy palette, and I think I need to keep pushing my boundaries. I've spent too much time in the dark recently.

I borrowed an Illustration Friday topic from a while back. Here is "Dusty":

On another note, I've revamped my comics section to make room for what I hope will be more wecomics.

Tiny Victories & Busywork

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:22:00 +0000

One very taxing project at work and a few busy weekends and I've let my intentions of finishing one piece a week go completely off the rails. However, in this case it's given me some time to think. A friend commented once that they enjoyed the fact that I can self-evaluate and try to learn from it, at least in regards to my art. So that's what I've been doing recently.

I started this blog roughly five years ago after a long lapse from art, mostly through University (full time classes and work will do that). Comics were just a glimmer in the distance. Until expanding my horizons, and discovering things like the Flight anthologies, I thought I had to draw like Jim Lee to even break into comics. For the longest time now, I've been busying myself with what I call "tiny victories"; small, digestible chunks of "success" to trick me into thinking I'm accomplishing something. This has taken the form of an admittedly poorly drawn web comic, submitting finished art to forums, Drawer Geeks, deviantArt; anything at all. I also have a bad habit of taking on busywork, namely agreeing to work with any writer who asked. Not that any of these things are bad per se, but they are distractions from bigger picture items.

From writing lyrics in my high school band, to drawing comics, to all the media I consume in my spare time (movies, tv shows, video games, music), the theme has always been the same: storytelling. I've got characters and ideas running around in my head at all times. They've kept me up at night, distracted me countless times, and never seem to want to calm down. So what have I done about it? Taken every opportunity I could to put off putting pen to paper. Why would I do that?

The same reason I've put off or walked away from all other things I've really cared about doing: being scared to the core of failing.

Even when getting stories published in Fablewood or Popgun, and getting generally positive feedback, it was easy to shrug off as just being a small part of a whole. I've never had to stand on my own with only my work to bolster a project. The irony there of course is I can't think of anything more satisfying: putting yourself out there and having some measure of success doing something you love.

So here's what I'm going to do... I will still try to produce something each week. I may try my hand at single page comics, using Illustration Friday topics as a jumping off point. If not doing that, I will be working away at my own stories, finally getting these characters out of my head and running around for everyone else to see. No current idea how or when these ideas will see the light of day, but I have a few ideas. No more busywork; all my tiny victories will be my own, failure be damned.

Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:40:00 +0000

Here is the final colored "Chicken" piece. This one fought me quite a bit, and I think it had more to do with my tendency to want to overwork a piece rather than the piece itself. I enjoy the final result, but it was a fight all the way through. I really need to learn to abandon a piece earlier in the process; finding simpler methods to get the mood across. All part of the balacing act that is art I suppose.

Chicken - Grayscale

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 02:41:00 +0000

It's been a bit of a busy week, but I wanted to try to stick with the momentum I've built up thus far this year. The compromise was to concede to not getting this piece colored for this week. I will color it eventually, and perhaps over the weekend, but I did want to get it up before Friday. This was again for Illustration Friday; the topic this week was "Chicken".

Déjà Vu

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Hallett) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:55:00 +0000

Not too much to say about this week's illustration. This is for the Illustration Friday topic "Déjà Vu". I went with a literal interpretation, once again featuring the featureless creature from my previous post. I can see this little guy having a few different adventures in this ghost inhabited labyrinth of pointless steam pipes and wires, but we'll see how that plays out.

My day job has been a bit tiring this past week, so no news to report on my graphic novel progress. It can be tough not moving forward when all the characters are vividly running around in your imagination, fighting to get out. I'll see if I can't get some better momentum over the next week.

Illustration Friday