Jim Kline's Art Blog

This blog contains my own art and projects as well as reblogs of art tutorials that I like. My personal blog (Random Thought Station ) was getting a bit too crowded with other posts to be able to find my work.

[thebrainscoop]

Project Hyena Diorama fan art by the very talented Jim Kline – for the Nerdfighter #p4a perk!! (at The Field Museum)

[xalithsart]

It looks like my original post showing the image I made for the 2015 Project for Awesome Nerdfighter Art donation incentive went down for some reason, so I’m reposting them on this reblog.  I was very proud of how this one turned out, that the Field Museum allowed me to feature Emily, The Brain Scoop, and Project Hyena Diorama in the image, and that Emily took the time to sign each one in order to make them more special to those who got them.  Not much later, the line art for this and a few of my other pieces for The Brain Scoop were used as coloring sheets at The Brain Scoop’s table at the Field Museum’s 65th Annual Members’ Night, which I got a huge kick out of.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 31 - The Violator - Spawn This picture has what I feel is the best results for rendering of any of the drawings that I did for Inktober this year.  It also took far less time to ink than I originally thought that it would because the shading on the original pencil drawing was a lot tighter than it was on some of the other drawings. I hadn’t drawn this character in a number of years, but I got the urge to do so seeing his creator, Todd McFarlane’s, recent posts leading up to his series Spawn becoming the longest running American creator-owned comic.  I always thought that this was a really cool design for a demon from hell and was happy that I was still able to do it from memory. I was really thrilled with how quickly I was able to ink this particular piece, and I know that the skills I improved during the 2019 Inktober challenge were a big part of why I was able to do so.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 30 - Ganon - The Legend of Zelda Series This one takes me back to when I when my brother, my dad, and I stayed up all night beating the first Legend of Zelda game when we got the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  I really like how the lighting effect turned out on this one and I am looking forward to coloring it.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 29 – Bomb – Final Fantasy Series I’ve always loved the design of these guys both from a visual and a gameplay standpoint.  In both respects, they are menacing and cute.  In the games, these guys tend to blow up and do a bit of damage to all of your party members after a few turns or taking a certain amount of damage. Initially, they do enough damage to be a threat to your team, so they are a bit scary, but, eventually, you party gets strong enough that they pose little threat and are just kind of charming. I am looking forward to using color to make this one really pop.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 28 - Scarecrow - The New Batman Adventures

When Batman The Animated Series was relauched as The New Batman Adventures, several of the characters got redesigns, but none were anywhere near as bold as the one for The Scarecrow.  It's straight up nightmarish, especially when compared to his prior designs.

 I am really pleased with how the rendering in the mask came out on this one.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 27 - Hellboy - Hellboy: In Hell Issue #1 Page 24 Panel 5

I've been trying to get better at using areas of shadow to separate areas of light in my drawings.  One of the best ways to practice this is to do studies of Mike Mignola's work.  He is one of the best at doing this, and he often does it with little to no rendering.  His choices are bold and informed.

  I liked how this one turned out, especially with regards to the rendering on Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 26 - The Black Cat - Marvel Comics I am really pleased with how crisp the lines came out on this one.  Once again, working at a larger canvas size really helped to make putting down lines feel a lot smoother.   For this one, I chose to go with The Black Cat's classic costume over her newer ones.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 25 - The Penguin - Batman Returns

I really lucked into this one.  I don't use reference anywhere near to the degree that I should, but it happened that Batman Returns was on TV, so I had plenty of chances to look at how Danny DeVito looked in that movie as I drew this while I watched to movie.  I really like how the face and the texture on his gloves came out.  I may have combined a little bit of the Batman The Animated Series design in with this one while I drew it.  Doubling the canvas size really helped me out on this one.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 24 – Squirrel Girl (Chibi) - Marvel Comics

I was trying to do this year’s Inktober 100% digitally; however, there was one day that I did not have access to my computer, so I did this one using a couple of Prismacolor markers in my sketchbook and did a little bit of level adjusting a cleanup in my computer once I was able to use it. While I find that I definitely do ink faster when using traditional media, I really do prefer the line quality and freedom of choice that digital inking affords me. I just need to practice to get my speed up.

If you want an entertaining comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously, any of the Squirrel Girl runs from the past several years have been a blast. I had a lot of fun with this one, particularly when drawing her tail and her sidekick, Tippy-Toe.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 23 – Henry Stauf – The 7th Guest

Henry Stauf is the primary antagonist of the The 7th Guest series of video games.  He's a drifter who makes a Faustian deal and becomes a celebrated toymaker who eventually lures people to his puzzle filled mansion to murder them.  If you like puzzles and spooky atmospheres, check the series out, but, just a heads up, it is a bit dated.  The first game in the series was one of the first games to ship on CD-ROM.  Still, they're great, especially around Halloween. Even better, a new fan-made entry in the series just recently released.

  When I did this drawing, I had an idea that worked out really well for me.  Since I use vector based lines, which can scale up or down without any distortion, for my line art, I doubled the size of my canvas to work on the line work.  It resulted in a far greater feeling of control, and I found that I had to noodle with my lines way less.  On this one, I scaled it back down to its original size before adding any raster layers or exporting it.  This scaling trick worked wonders for me, so I thought that I would share it in case it helps anyone else out.  It really had me noodling with my lines a lot less.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 22 - Redcap – Dungeons and Dragons Redcaps are murderous little creatures that have to kill someone every three days and soak their caps in the fresh blood of their victims.  If they don't, they die.  Throwing a few of these sickle-wielding guys at players can make for a frightening encounter due to their single-mindedness and ferocity in the pursuit of their next kill.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 21- Gibbering Mouther - Dungeons and Dragons

As soon as I saw the official design for the Gibbering Mouther in the D&D Monster Manual, I know that I wanted to try my hand at drawing it.  A creature that is a disgusting mount of flesh, mouths, eyes, and teeth is a perfect fit for a drawing challenge that takes place during a month that celebrates horror themed material.  I really like the way that the rendering came out on this one and am very pleased with the sense of depth that I was able to get with the shading in the largest of its mouths.  I get such a kick out of the one eye that's inside of that mouth for some reason.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 20 - Captain Marvel - The Life of Captain Marvel #2

This one is my redrawing of Adam Kubert's variant cover to *The Life of Captain Marvel #2*.  I've always struggled a bit with rendering the shiny / reflective costumes that often show up in comics, so I decided to do a study of this cover.  I found it to be very helpful in guiding me to the proper amount of rendering lines to use for these materials, which is where I usually struggle and add far too many or not nearly enough.  Additionally, I got to practice the drawing the energy effects for her power.  The fact that I got to practice all this while drawing my favorite superhero was a nice bonus.

  A tip for those who might be interested: those adult coloring books based on comics are a great resource for studying pen and ink techniques in a variety of styles, because they tend to be just the inks for the comic art.  Not having the color there to distract your eye can be really helpful.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 18 & 19 - Evelyn Marthain - Dice, Camera, Action Evelyn Marthain is a character who is expertly  played by Anna Prosser on my favorite Dungeons and Dragons web series, *Dice,  Camera, Action*.  Eveyln is a Paladin  of the God of the Morning, Lathander, and she is easily the heart of the team  on the show.  She has an eternally  sunny disposition, but has no compunctions about going full mama bear and  wrecking shop to protect the innocent or those she cares about.  Her character arc is one of the most  interesting in the show and has been at the center of some of its most emotionally impactful moments.     Evelyn and Anna Prosser's portrayal of her helped inspire me to create what has to be the D&D character that I have enjoyed playing the most at least  half a decade.  If you or someone you know is looking for an example of how to play a good aligned character in a  way that is interesting, check out *Dice, Camera, Action*, because it provides a fantastic example with this character.

Inktober 18 - Evelyn Marthain with Heart of Spinelli Greatsword

I based this one off of the costume that Anna Prosser has worn playing Evelyn at a few live games but added a few touches of my own, including adding trim to the cape and adding iconography to her pauldrons.  I really enjoyed how the hair and the rendering on the armor turned out on this one. Inktober 19 - Evelyn Marthain with Lightfall Axe

For this one, I switched up Evelyn’s armor a bit by switching her gauntlets out for redesigned vambraces with matching greaves with fixed poleyns and adding tassets and clasps for her cape and belt. I am really happy with the amount of movement that I was able to achieve in this one and am really looking forward to coloring it.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 17 - The Incredible Hulk - Marvel Comics For this drawing of The Incredible Hulk, I decided to play around with a cartoony style by heavily exaggerating his proportions, particularly in his upper torso and hands.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 16 - The Undertaker - World Wrestling Federation /  Entertainment I drew this picture of The Undertaker while hanging out with friends watching a wrestling pay per view in order to practice using large areas of light and shadow to create a sense of depth in an image. I enjoyed inking his beard and figured out a couple of tricks for inking beards while I was doing it. The Undertaker has always been a favorite of mine since he first debuted with the gimmick when I was a kid. I really enjoy the larger than life spooky persona, his in-ring storytelling ability, and the athleticism that he has displayed while performing . I’m amazed that he still performs from time to time, given that his wrestling career started in 1984 and the toll it has taken on his body.

[xalithsart]

Inktober 15 - Big Van Vader - Various Professional Wrestling Promotions 

 I got the urge to draw a really burly person, so I drew the professional wrestler Big Van Vader, aka Leon White. While I feel like I was able to capture the burly shape and size I was looking for, I definitely want to take another pass at drawing him. I drew him mostly from memory and underestimated how big and muscular he was and got his proportions a bit wrong. Depending on the reference, his shoulders were a lot closer to four heads wide than they typical three heads wide that is often used in comic art. I’m looking forward to taking another swing at this one.

  If you enjoy professional wrestling and haven’t seen any of Vader’s matches, he was very entertaining to watch. He was a great monster heel, and was far more nimble than other performers his size. It’s not often that you see a person who weighs roughly 400lbs doing backflips off of the top rope. Sadly, Leon White passed in 2018 due to heart failure following pneumonia . Check out his work if you get a chance.