Brian Byars' Art

Cartoon

2009-04-06T12:00:00.002-04:00

My sister-in-law was putting together a bulletin board for a school project. Her theme was political cartoons and she wanted to illustrate that they are all a matter of perspective. So asked me to draw something for her.

Valentine Gift

2009-02-14T12:43:00.000-05:00

The poem is from Amici Forever's song "Whisper of Angels"

I was yours before the first morn broke
Before the sun that woke the earth
And I was yours before rain kissed the ground
Before the first dawn's sound was heard

I'm the rush-the fire in your veins
Across the desert plains I ride
I'm the ache the sound that midnight makes
A streak of star across the sky

I'll be the whisper of angels
And I'll be the frost on your glass
And I'll be the shadows at twilight
I'll be your first your last

A family portrait

2008-11-29T16:01:00.002-05:00

Finished image

2008-08-01T13:07:00.003-04:00

So, here's the completed image of these two characters. The lineart has been colored and I've adjusted their heights to the right proportion.

My process

2008-07-31T12:51:00.001-04:00

1. First, I doodle on my Wacom in Illustrator. I used to sketch in pencil, then scan, then ink, but lately I've just been drawing straight in Illustrator. I like the control it gives me. Here I've drawn a lovely young lady in a loose-flowing top.

2. Once I like the inks, I export to bitmap and open it in Photoshop. I'll usually do a little clean-up on the lines. The important thing before coloring is "flatting." I select each part and assign it a shade of gray. This lets me select only those areas when I'm coloring later.

3. Spend some time coloring in Photoshop. And, she's done. I'll probably go back and give color to all the lines, instead of leaving them black.

New drawing

2008-07-30T16:39:00.002-04:00

Inks (original art):

Color:

Michael

2008-07-09T12:25:00.004-04:00

Michael inked and colored

Emma

2008-07-07T13:54:00.001-04:00

I know it's been awhile, but I was able to doodle some today on my lunch break. Here's a character I've created named Emma.

Bora Bora Board

2008-05-23T14:59:00.002-04:00

I took some colors from a photo of Bora Bora and worked them into this board. There's a few layers of watercolor, too. I think it makes nice wallpaper.

Gandalf

2008-02-20T08:17:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I've taken this long to scan this in, but I keep forgetting to do it. Here is Gandalf:

And here is some of the detail:

Bilbo Baggins

2008-02-11T08:03:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my new blog. I wanted to have a place to post my artwork as I complete it. I'm drawing a series of characters for my son from "The Hobbit." We both enjoy the Rankin/Bass adaptation. This first drawing is of Bilbo Baggins, Burglar.