Takin' a Wee Break

Hey guys!

I wanted to apologize for the disappearing for the last month or so. I wasn't avoiding you intentionally. ;o) I had a few job related decisions come up and that sucked away most of my attention/energy. The sketching slowed down and my relations online just sort of came to a stand still while I deliberated and negotiated my options. BUT... a decision has been made. And by the end of March I should find my little family living in Chicago, IL as my job has transferred me to a new team at our corporate headquarters.

I'm super excited to be closer to my MidWestern homeland as my wife and I are expecting our first this summer. But there are going to be some things I'll really miss about my life on the west coast and Vegas. For starters the weather is freakin' amazing here. Not looking forward to snow returning to my life. California is pretty awesome and I'll miss going to Comic Con and all the awesome times we had over there. And of course I'm gonna miss all my new friends that I've made out here over the last few years. But I'll have to drown out my sorrows with deep dish pizza, baseball games and a city that actually has some culture! Looking forward to new faces and new experiences of living in a big city!

As for art updates, I'm going to try and find some to scribble in between packing and moving across the country. But my art blog updates probably won't be as frequent until I get settled. I imagine I'll probably keep the Twitter and my "Art of Ryan Bowlin" Facebook page updated more often as it's easy to snapshot stuff and post it via those sites. So if you're starving for updates you can check out those pages!

Until then... I'll see ya on the open road! At least, I hope it's open. I hear Chicago traffic is maddening. ;o) Take care and thanks for sticking with me through the month of no updates!

- Ryan

PS: That sketch up there is a sampling of a random scribble from my sketchbook. Probably should have mentioned that somewhere.

"The Penguin" Original Sketch Giveaway

Hey dudes and dudettes! Yea, sorry I said that already. :o/

I should be dropping hot art updates on here but I'm trying to build up more sketchbook pages before I hit you with that stuff. Until then I thought I'd do another original sketch giveaway to try and get more traffic directed to my Facebook page!

This time I'll be giving away the sketch I did of The Penguin that I did not so long ago. You can see a picture of the sketch below or click HERE to view the original post on the blog. How does one acquire said sketch? Well, I'm glad you asked!

EDIT: BREAKING NEWS! On top of the original sketch I'm also going to be giving away to the winner a copy of both of my latest prints! That's right, the winner will also be taking home a Hellboy and Legend of Zelda print!

Basically all you need to do is head on over to my Facebook page titled, "The Art of Ryan Bowlin" and LIKE the page and share the post about "The Penguin" sketch giveaway with your friends on Facebook. That way I can see who shared the post and do a random drawing to see who will win the sketch next weekend!

Sounds easy, right?! It is! Thanks for supporting and sharing my artwork! And good luck!

- Ryan

*Action Figures Not Included. ;o)

UPDATE: Congrats to Brandon Alderman of Las Vegas, NV! Our lucky winner! Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be doing more as time goes on so maybe you'll win next time! Thanks again for all the support! Results courtesy of random.org!

Weekend Scribblefest

I promised you guys more sketches and even though I didn't get much in during the work week I tried to destroy some pages this weekend. Most of the stuff is scribbles/studies from photos I randomly found on the internet. Trying to practice quick drawing figures and get a little more anatomy work in there. I really just want to focus on getting ideas down quickly and trying to waste less time noodling on stuff. I suffer from "reder-itis" a bit. Tried to be more hasty when laying this stuff in though. I hope you guys like 'em!

The unfinished dwarf and the troll with the Corgi puppy were obviously random imagination stuff. The troll sketch is who I like to imagine my dog hangs out with when we're away. ;o) Y'kno how animals sometimes seem to see things that we can't? I used to imagine they could see ghosts or something. Now I think there's an invisible troll that lives in my house and just loves my puppy to pieces. lol

I'm going to do my best to be more proactive in the days to come but I'll probably only update the blog a couple times a week. Not sure which days just yet. Perhaps Sundays and Wednesdays? Regardless, I'm getting back into sketchbook mode and am having a blast! Can't wait to generate more images! Keep checking back for more scribble mayhem! Take care!

- Ryan

PS: Lots of Zelda and Hellboy prints still available! Check out my store by clicking HERE!

Things I Love Right Now:

Money Ball - Just saw the movie tonight and really adored it. Man, do I love baseball. Can't wait for spring! Go Cards!

Moleskine Sketchbooks - They really do make the best notebooks, don't they? Something about 'em just makes me feel inspired when I pull one out to sketch.

Late 80's/Early 90's Cartoons - This week was a blast from the past. I've been feeding my eyeballs episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series", "The Real Ghostbusters" and "TMNT." I'm gonna hit the big 30 this year and it has me feeling nostalgic. Looking forward to more toons this week as well!

M83's "Hurry Up We're Dreaming" - This album has been on repeat all week. Incredible old school vibe. Love it. Check it out!

It's time to LEVEL UP!

My drawing skills have fallen off quite a bit since I started working in games. My paintings have improved but I don't draw nearly as much as I used to during my school days. It's always such a headache for me to work out poses and get my sketches looking lively. But I'm sick of the frustration and it's time to level up!

I'm going to try my best to sketch every day in my sketchbook and watch for improvement. I'm giving myself freedom to do whatever I want. As long as I'm drawing and throwing study sessions in there from time to time. I read recently that if you want to improve you need to complete a sketchbook a month. That's a tall order for me but we'll see how far I can get!

Why am I telling all of you this? Hold me accountable! And be on the look out for a lot more scribble sessions then finished paintings. 2012 is the year of the drawing for me! Ha! And it's seriously time to improve! Here's the first page of my Moleskine to get things started. Something about telling myself how bad I suck makes me want to draw more. lol Hope you like these random scribbles! Look for more soon!

- Ryan

PS: GigaCon was awesome! Thanks to all of those who came out! I hope you guys enjoyed it and took something away from my ramblings. ;o)

Legend of Zelda Limited Edition Prints Now Available

Hey guys! Just wanted to pop in to let you all know that I've just ran off a limited print run of my new "Legend of Zelda" piece! The print is on high quality, matte paper stock and measures 11.8 X 17.7.

And these things look really sharp! The colors in my lame iPhone photos don't do them justice. And I included an image of what the "Hellboy Portrait" print looks like in comparison in terms of size. These guys are quite a bit larger! Still need to find a way to ship them out! Ha!

If you're looking to snap one up you can just head over to my new online shop and fork over $20 dollars plus $5 shipping. They should be arriving on your door steps in a week or two! I think you'll really like 'em! Especially if you're as big of a fan as I am!

What other super, cool stuff is going on? Welp, this weekend (January 13-15) I'll be attending GigaCon in Washington DC as a guest artist! If any of you are going to be in the area you should totally come to the Con! Really looking forward to meeting people and getting my art on with all of the awesome people on the east coast! Ha! I'm sure I've been spoiled by this Vegas winter tho. I'm sure I'm gonna freakin' freeze out there! But if you're in DC come shiver with me while we sketch!

Hope you're enjoying the New Year! I can't wait to see what 2012 has to offer! I think it's gonna be a big one! Take care and thanks for supporting my scribbles. ;o)

- Ryan

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute

Well, after several days of scraping together time to paint, I finally managed to finish off my Legend of Zelda illustration. I took some chances and varied my approach when it came to this piece. It didn't quite come out how I'd hoped but I still think it's pretty fun and I learned a lot for the next time when I dive into a work like this. And I was painting freakin' Link! So how awesome is that?! Ha!

I hope you guys liked how it turned out and enjoyed watching my progress as I moved along. There's something that I really loved about the original sketch and over the course of the illustration I just lost some of it. But I'm still satisfied and ready to move on to something new. I think I'll be working on more sketchy stuff for a while. Between this piece and work I'm getting a bit tired of working so tightly.

At any rate, I just wanted to get it posted! I was pretty sure I'd do a small print run of this but I want to see how the reception is first before I plop down any cash. I know the feel of it is a little different from some of my other work I've previously posted. Let me know what you think and I'll keep you updated on whether or not I print them off! Thanks for looking and happy Monday! Have a great week, guys!

New Year's Business Cards

Hey guys (and gals),

Work is still under way on the Zelda piece but I took some time to make up some new business cards for the new year! I'll be at a Con this month and just wanted to have something to hand out to all the new, awesome artists I'm hoping to meet!

I couldn't decide on which piece to use so I figured I'd do a print run of both! Maybe in the future I'll do more with other art pieces to make a little set. You could collect them all! Ha! ;o) May there be much more awesome art made in 2012! Happy New Years!

- Ryan

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute WIP: Part Three

The progress on my Legend of Zelda illustration has been slow going since enduring the holidays and the acquisition of a fiesty, little puppy. Ha! But I'm going to try and find the time to finish it over the next week or two. I haven't said much about it since I've been so busy. But I figured it would probably be good to address it for the sake of continuing to document the process! I still have quite a bit of work to do but it's shaping up a bit since the last time I showed my initial color pass. Hope you guys like where it's going! I'm going to throw my efforts behind this image and hoping to get it done soon so I can get some prints made in time for my trip to GigaCon in mid January. More on that later though!

Thanks for looking through my art messes! Enjoy the rest of your year! Just a couple days left in 2011! Lets rock 2012 with even more awesome artwork! Get scribbling! ;o)

- Ryan

Hoo Hoo Hoo! Merry Christmas!

I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays!

This year my wife and I made our own Christmas cards by hand to send out to a few of our family and friends. In each card I hand drew a unique owl. This is a sampling of some of those owl scribbles! They were a hoot to do (See what I did there? Ha!) and it was neat to see how each one could be a bit different then the next.

I hope you like them and I wish you the best as you continue celebrating into the new year!

- Ryan

Christmas Caroler Scribble

Here's a little pen scribble that I did while in a meeting at work today. Christmas is just a few days away! What's Santa bringing you?!

- Ryan

Ogre Head Sculpt

I swear I'm going to get back to drawing and painting soon! Haven't had as much free time lately so doing these quick little sketch sculpts have been a nice change of pace. This Ogre was another one done in Sculptris and I think he's the best of the three I've done thus far. I gave up on trying to make his hairy chops look believable though. Been having a blast playing with shapes in these! Hope you like him!

- Ryan

Sculptris Head Sketch/Sculpt

So I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not to share these little 3D sketches with you guys. I don't ever envision myself moving completely that direction but it is a fun way to push my art brain around in a different way. I basically have just been exploring these things the same way I do random sketches in a sketchbook. I just start laying in shapes and push and pull it into something. Their a blast! I start all of these with a basic sphere and just go to town on it.

I was a bit let down by the price for ZBrush but my friend (Casey Dockendorf)commented on my last post and alerted me to Pixologic's free gateway drug into ZBrush, Sculptris! It's awesome and just powerful enough to do what I want to with it! Check it out and toss some virtual clay around!

With the new puppy in the house it's been slow for art production. Hopefully the holiday break coming up will help me out. We shall see! Really want to finish that Zelda piece and I might push back the Snow Moose into January. This dog has turned our life upside down. lol Puppies are a LOT of work. Anyway, thanks for lookin' over my scribbles! And take care!

- Ryan

Baby's First ZBrush Sculpt

We're starting Z Brush training at work so I figured I'd show off my first ever sculpt! It's kinda crude and amateurish but I'm quite impressed with how easy it was to grasp some of the basic tools. Might work on this dude a bit more as we keep learning! Just wanted to share! By no means am I a 3D artist but it is fun to mess around with from time to time.

Perhaps I'll have more ZBrush sketches as time goes on. It is a very interesting tool to mess around with. I don't think I'll become a ZBrusher but it's fun to mix it up every once in a while! Just wanted to share!

- Ryan

The Penguin Sketch

Hey blog peoples! Hope you're enjoying your December! I know I am! It's been super busy but I'm trying not to completely abandon my art efforts.

Yesterday I scribbled out this goofy sketch of The Penguin after discussing with some friends how disappointed I was that Bane was going to be the main villain in the newest Batman. I'm just not that fond of him when compared to all the other great villains that Bats has been thrown up against!

So I did a quick scribble and spent about another 15 minutes throwing some layers at him to add a dash of color/texture. Pretty far off from a finished painting but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! Maybe I'll paint him up proper some other day when I have the time.

I'm still making headway on my Zelda illustration but it might overtake my holiday illustration of the Snow Moose or push him back into January. The big reason is the wife and I have decided to get our first puppy! We've been in preparation mode for the little one and it's been nuts around here. I'll post a pic of her below so you can "ooo" and "awww" with us! Ha! Corgi's FTW!


I know it isn't much but hopefully I'll have more updates as the days spin on. Looking forward to getting some work done over the course of the holiday break too! So keep checking back and thanks for looking! Take care!

Ryan

Things that I love right now:

Christmas! - The music, the movies, the holiday card making, the feeling of being a kid... just all of it! Ha! I'm sure I'm not alone. ;o)

Corgis - We've been falling in love with this breed of pup and can't wait to raise our own. They're quite smart too! YouTube has been a safe haven for all of my Corgi puppy video needs! lol

Zelda 25th Anniversary from OC Remix - It's amazing and on repeat on my Macbook Pro. Check it out! Did I mention it's free?! http://zelda25.ocremix.org/

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute WIP: Part Two

Started digging into the painting today so I figured I'd upload a small update on the final drawing. I also thought it might be nice for you to see how this image started so I've posted an image of the initial thumbnail where it all began. I try to work really loosely in that portion of the process and really just nail down basic shapes, compositions and poses. I think I have more fun exploring options there then at any other place in the process! So much promise in these little scribbles!

The second image is a rough value pass on the lines for my Zelda illustration. I almost always do this before jumping into a painting. It tends to help ground some of my ideas for me. At times I'll really push this part further and spend a lot more time rendering. Value and lighting is important and if I forget that I usually will loose all of my contrast in a piece. I need to make sure I remind myself of that as I continue since I didn't push it much in this one.

And lastly, I figured I'd toss up my first, initial wash of colors as well. These two phases kind of go hand in hand. After I do a value pass I create wash of the overall colors I want in the image. It's just a color layer with a few overlays and BAM! You've got some color to start working with! It's neat to see how a little color really starts to make the image come alive.

I'm much further along then this now though. So next update should be with a nice coat of paint on everything. I might wait a few days before I do that though. Or I perhaps might wait until it's completely finished. We will see! Hope you guys like it! I'm excited to see where it ends up!

- Ryan

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Tribute WIP: Part One

Just wanted to share this really quick. Here's a sneak peek at the pencils for my Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary tribute illustration. I'm a huge fan of the series but I've never created any fan art. Really excited about this one!

Also don't forget to like and share my Facebook page for a chance to win some original Mega Man art and a Hellboy print!

http://www.facebook.com/ryanbowlinart

Thanks again for checking out my stuff and welcome to December! ;o)

- Ryan

"MegaCute" Original Sketch Giveaway!

Hey guys! Do you like original art? How about original Mega Man art?! Well, I wanted to announce a little raffle of sorts that I'll be conducting to launch my new Facebook page! That's right, you can now follow my work on Facebook if you're so inclined.

The Art of Ryan Bowlin Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/ryanbowlinart

Head on over and check it out! I'll be posting more frequently there then I do here. Little sketches, works in progress, contests, things that have grabbed my interest, etc. If you'd like more updates about my art then that's your best bet. I'm looking forward for more ways to connect with artists and those who just love art! So head on over and like the page to follow all of my updates in your feed! And thanks in advance for checking it out!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to do a drawing for the original pencil sketch that I created for my "MegaCute" illustration. On top of that I'm also going to include a limited edition "Hellboy" print for the lucky winner!

How do you enter to win this drawing? Simple. Like the fan page to become apart of the community and then share the page with your friends on Facebook via your news feed/wall. I'll make note of who has shared the page (even those who already have shared will be entered to win) and will randomly select a winner next Wednesday evening (12/7/11)!

Thanks a ton in advance for supporting my work and for getting the word out! And good luck!

- Ryan

Hans and the Abominable Snow Moose : Ideation Sketches

It's that time of the year again! The weather is starting to cool down, my video game consoles are overflowing with awesome titles to play and that sense of child like wonder is starting to fill up within me! There's something about the late fall/winter that really brings out the kid in me. I'm sure the holidays have a lot to do with that but I really love the seasons as well.

I've been living in Vegas for almost three years now and I have to admit that I've become a bit spoiled with our mild, "eternal fall." But there's nothing like breathing in that still, cool scent of winter. And I often sit in my apartment pining for the times we'd watch the snow fall out the window near the fire at my parent's home. However there are plenty of things I don't miss about my midwestern home during the winter time. It is quite nice not to have to carve my car out of ice every morning. Ha!

At any rate, like many, this is my favorite time of the year. And this year I thought I might do a "holiday" themed illustration for the heck of it. This idea was generated from my desire to draw a little kid with a big cuddly monster. Simple enough! Nothing says Christmas like some monsters, right?! Throw in some snow, Christmas lights and some snow men and you've got a holiday themed image! And that's where the initial thumbnail that you see above came from. I shared it on Facebook and received some positive feedback so I've decided to move forward with it.

But you know me, I had to flesh out my Snow Moose monster just a bit more. Hence my color sketch. I'm not sure about all of the elements but I think he still has retained at least some of his initial charm. My wife wants me to ditch his thick eyebrows and instead go with something more fluffy. I might but I enjoy how expressive they are right now. It's just a sketch so I tried to keep it quick and simple. Light on the rendering but I still couldn't help myself in areas. ;o)

Hope you guys like where Hans and his pal are heading! I'll be plugging away at it over the next couple weeks and will share more when I get the chance! Thanks again for checking it out and I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season! Take care!

- Ryan

A list of things I love right now (an idea I'm stealing from the super awesome band, Sleeping at Last!):

- SKYRIM!!! I'm already like 23 hours into it and am seriously adoring the sense of exploration. I could live in that world!

- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword soundtrack. I've been listening a ton while working and cannot wait for Santa to drop this on me at Christmas! The "staff credits rolling" track is amazery.

- I recently stumbled upon this European band, Amiina, and I'm in love with their music. So simple and haunting. I can't believe I've lived this long without them!

Another ogre head for the pile...

Here's another one of those blasted ogre heads! This was a quick scribble for my friend Aron who recently purchased one of my Hellboy prints. I've been doing these quick little sketches as an extra thank you to those who have been supporting my work.

I completely lost my posting habits this month but I've been busy with plenty of art related things. And I'd be lying if I didn't note that I've been indulging in a lot of the new video game releases as well. Ha! I get to pretend to be Batman! C'mon, who can fault me for that?! ;o) I'll make sure to have a more proper update in the weeks to come. Hope you're all enjoying the start of the fall season! I know I am! Take care and thanks again for stopping in.

Ryan

Bier Haus

Last summer the video game studio I was working for here in Las Vegas, NV abruptly shut it's doors and left me looking for work. The economy being what it was I had my series of ups and downs before I decided to give the local gambling industry a shot. I've been working in it now since last October and it's been an interesting experience to say this least! Not a bad one by any stretch of the imagination but just a different one. I've worked on quite a few gaming projects and none have been released into the wild yet. Until now!

This past week at the annual slot gaming expo our company deemed one of the games I worked on this year worthy to show. I figured I'd toss up some pictures of the game on the machine with yours truly posing next to it. You'll also see a couple pictures of the actual game mockups as well.There's a lot of painting going on in this game but you'll also find a good deal of photo manipulated bits in there as well. It's interesting to see that our highly rendered paintings aren't always enough anymore to sell that style now that 3D exists. It's not the way I really like to work. I enjoy a more painterly style and seeing all the brush strokes a lot more. But as the company releases more of my other games you'll see my more natural styles peeking through a bit more.

The game isn't on casino floors yet but it should be soon! I feel like I've been such a slacker this month but I promise I've been busy. Just haven't been sketching and doing much personal work recently. Hopefully October will be filled with lots of fun stuff though! Thanks for checking in and take care!

- Ryan