It's OUT!

Ok I'm a little excited. My first Marvel cover is out (pencils by: Rob Liefeld). Here's a sneek peak.

Cable Deadpool Pinup

So Cable/Deadpool is over! :-( It ended last Wednesday with issue #50. Bad news for some... but good news for me! I got to color one of the pin ups in the back of the book. Unfortunately it printed full bleed so the grey dot on the right and the unfinished gun was visible. Oh well, I was still pretty happy about it.

Snake Sketch

I hadn't set out to paint Snake at all when this started, but that's where it went. I was literally just playing around with marks and eventually this came out. Hope ya enjoy it.

painter 9.5 + photoshopCS3

Website Update

Just updated/redesigned my site. This thing's always a work in progress so I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.



Check it out!

Cable #1

So I was on Comic Book Resources today and I came across this article. Cable #1. And if you look at the cover that WASN'T done by Ariel Olivetti you'll see my painted cover. I'm SO excited about this as it is my first Marvel cover so I hope you enjoy and hopefully there are more to come!

Comic Book Resources Cable #1

L5R - The Emerald and Jade Champions

I've been meaning to post these for a while. The were fore Legend of Five Rings and they were loads of fun. I'm working on some new ones right now. Hopefully they'll come at as well as I think these did. Here's two of my favs.

Painter IX + Photopshop CS3

Art or Porn?

I decided to check out the profile of one of the most talented and my favorite painters today, Jeremy Lipking, only to be shocked by two black bars soiling this work of art. If you click the link to this page you can read the message that was sent to him due to the nude paintings. It's sad and appalling! They called his images inappropriate, and can (in their eyes) be compared to pornography. I don't think I need to point out all the porn stars and amateur porn stars, strippers and just girls who want to show of the good for some attention. They say that there are people as young as 14 on myspace and that jeremy's content is inappropriate for them? Give me a break, the amount of smut on myspace is immeasurable and if anything it could use a little culture! This is a dispute that's gone on for centuries, but I would have expected people to come to their senses and realize that these paintings aren't done for any sexual reason whatsoever! How many nudes do you find in religious paintings? Go through an art book and you'll find a countless number of paintings that are religious that contain nudity,most of which were commissioned by a church.

I think this is something that needs to be addressed now. Myspace is a community of interesting, talented and (i think for the most part) pretty open minded people, and the idea that you can't share your art uncensored when it's done in a tasteful manner is shocking! I'd love to hear what you have to say about this and hopefully we can find a way to work this thing out.

Mike Capprotti

Jeremy Lipkings Censored Painting

Random Sketch

A sketch for something I'm messing with right now. A little different for me, but it came pretty naturally. And it was a lot of fun to do. Hope you enjoy.

L5R Trailer

So I just saw the Legend of Five Rings trailer and they used all the illustrations I did! Pretty cool.

The first two illustrations I did start with "It is a time of greatness" and then the one right after that. The other two I did show up later, but there's no text to tell you where it is. Enjoy!

Here are the cards I did. Hope you enjoy!

Clouds

I have a total infatuation with the sky, it's many moods, colors, textures, values. Whenever I'm in my car, I pay more attention to the sky than the road... wait, that doesn't sound very safe! Anyway I really need to start doing more sky and cloud studies. This one was loosely referenced. Basically I opened a picture, glanced at it once or twice and got carried away with the sketch. I really nead to do some more in depth studies from actual reference. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Redesign

Got tired of the ole moleskine stlye blog. Especially since I haven't posted anything from my moleskine in forever. But what eva! Something new, something simple.

Photoshop WIP

Here's that WIP I was telling you about. Finally got it to work. I hope to do more like this. Let me know whatcha think.

Joao Paulo Alvares Ruas

When I first started this blog, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post "art related" things like links to artists websites, or articles about whatever. At first I just treated it as a way to showcase my art specifically, but honestly... there is just too much amazing art out on the internets just waiting to be discovered. And I feel it's my duty as a fellow artist to share things that inspire me. Maybe it will give you some insight into the things that make me tick, or why I draw or paint the way I do. Or if you see a random drawing one day that looks like I didn't even draw it, you can look at a previous post and go... "Waaaaait a minute, he was just looking at Jon Fosters site recently!" And it all becomes clear! Anyway like I said I hope these type of posts inspire you (if anyone is actually reading this :-P ).

Joao Paulo Alvares Ruas is such a talented artist from Brazil. The combinations of influences that fuel his art create a style that is like no other. There is no doubt that after looking through his work you will have to pick up your sketchbook (at least I hope). His website is in my links section... twice (by accident, but hey... he deserves it). Here's a pretty sweet article I found on him today. Enjoy!


Joao Paulo Alvares Ruas

KickStand Kids

So the Kickstand Kids (a.k.a. Rico Renzi and Chris Brunner) have started a blog. This dynamic duo is responsible for such Comic Book Masterpieces like Batman: LOTDK "Rough Justice" and The Ride #4: Language Barrier. This is definitely one blog to subscribe to. These two guys really compliment each other well art wise. Check them out.

Kickstand Kids

Head Study

Here's a quick study I did the other day. I'm a huge fan of artists like Travis Schlat, Kate Lehman and Jacob Collins. They were the inspiration for this one. It was a really fun and quick study, bout a half hour. I'll be posting a Video WIP when I finally get the damn video to save right. Hope you enjoy.