Eternal Inc 25 char commish penciled, inks started

June 27, 2013

Click to enlarge view of finished pencils of this piece

And heres how far I got on the inks tonight after penciling all but five characters who were already nmostly penciled before I started tonight. Click to enlarge image.


Whew! Well productive night! And day. But especially tonight! Got this 25 character commission all fin/penciled articulated to point where I could easily ink it and then got some inks under the belt as well. Not bad at all. Should be able to get it all inked up next week. Thats the goal. Then hopefuly colored the following week. Thanks to the main client sir "colosso" for his patience and to the other members of this super group, 'Eternals Inc' for all your patience and support. And for coming out everytime I feature this pieces progress on Livestream. Heres the video below and the finished pencils and WIP shot of inks so far above! Goodnight!
PS~ I will most likely not be livestreaming Friday (tomorrow) night. But will see viewers back next Wed for the regular installment of EWG Live Wednesday!

 
Watch live streaming video from eryckwebbgraphicsart at livestream.com

3 Nights this week 25 character commission

Well lastnight was the first of three nights in a row I will be livestreaming layouts and pencils on a 25 character commission currently in the works. Got it all layed out lastnight and then got some finished pencils going today. Had a couple jobs I was working on back and forth in 30 min intervals. And the finished pencils you see here took about an hour. I'm hoping the rest goes a little quicker. Time to carbo load for dinner and then knock out 4-5 solid hours of work tonight! Weather permitting!
See you at 8pmEST for the next round! And tomorrow (if a certain other responsibility falls through) for more!
View the video from lastnight below, the image is from this afternoon. Will be workin tonight! Dunno what music I'll be in the mood for we'll see!

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/178/2/5/253e4f0b63e7674a64366fe49acb721f-d6axh8y.jpg


Gabby Gizmo and Teddy Livestream Wrapup

June 21, 2013

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This is the finished commission I inked and colored on Livestream tonight. A few minutes into inking the power inexplicably went out in the neighborhood. So I got a fresh mug of coffee at 845pm and sat out on the front porch enjoyed the weather and some quality time with the father in law. Then the power came back on and I fired everything up again. Then in 2 hours and 15 minutes had this finished piece! It originally started out just the heroine character but then looking at  the character's reference noticed a teddy in with it and asked the client who was watching the stream 'whats the teddy about' and he said its a robot companion that looks like a teddy. I was like 'gotta draw that in' so surprised him with it. Drew it off screen for a sec and then slapped it on the pic and inked it with the girl. Fun stuff and anytime i can do a little extra like that to just knock it out of the park for a client i do that. It would technically count as another character but he was simple enough to draw so I threw it in for free. My original intention tonight was to draw 2 or 3 pieces/ finish them but this one took a while but I enjoyed taking my time inking it up and just going all out with it. I needed that today. Was a looong day and been a stressful week leading up to a hospital appointment for the wife today but everything went great and the weight is off my shoulders. I was arting pretty slow tonight though despite 3 cups of coffee in me. Just been up since 545am so guess just had low steam. 
Fun stuff, check out the full live-stream recording below. Thanks again Witty!
Also a side note, as of today thanks for the 30,000 hits on eryckwebbgraphics.com! And also eventually if I ever get the official price-list built will include chibis since more than one person has expressed continued interest in that for their characters. And I admit, they're pretty damn fun. So as they are just an concessional special item now, I will probably bring them in full time in the future.
Enjoy the process video, and stay tuned! More from EWG coming next week!
Have a great weekend!



Watch live streaming video from eryckwebbgraphicsart at livestream.com

Impromptu Friday Night Livestream Possible

Might be firing up livestream to finish up 2 or 3 single character commissions tonight. Stay tuned! will announce on this journal, EWG twitter and EWG facebook. one super hero OC and two cobra converts of popular comic characters. been at the hospital all day so want to get SOME kinda production in. look for that to happen around 8/9pmEST later on!

The Broken Man - Warmup 62013

June 20, 2013


"The Broken Man"

15-20 Minute warmup this morning before getting to the days work. Free sketching having fun with proportion sizes and composition and heavy shades.

Tues Night Livestream - 15 Character Fury

June 19, 2013

Had a great Livestream last night. This article is a look at the process so far and a recap of lastnights session. Due to just picking an optimal time to do the LS session I moved the Wednesday Night Livestream to Tuesday this week. Had a great turnout mostly by the members of the group depicted in this featured commission. Spent the first two hours on the rough pencils/ shown first and then spent another hour to hour/half on cleaning up those pencils into fin pencils which can be seen in the picture below it. Each step was recorded in two different parts on Livestream as I had to restart in the middle during a quick coffee break. 
Enjoy the videos of working on these two steps below and will post more updates on this gigantic piece as they are available! Will be Live-streaming more of the process on this 15 character commission in days to come. But definitely next Wed/ Thurs evenings.

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Getting it all blocked in and enough details important character features to be able to tell what goes where and who is who and enough for clients to 'yay or nay' their depictions as accurate or needing tweaks.

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One by one cleaning and finalizing the pencils so that I can just ink it all up without any guess work. The front five were done first, the top right three characters were towards me getting tired and towards the end of this session and need further articulation! Also I'm sure its hard to tell but many areas are also initial planning for special effects/ lighting. This is where the roadmap for the inks and colors is drawn out. Literaly. Enjoy the rough pencils video below, then there was a 15 min 'coffee, poop the dog and fix the wacom that suddenly decided to flake out on me' break. Then below that is the video of finishing up the finished pencils above.

Enjoy this article of the work in progress commission process and will add more as I go!


Watch live streaming video from eryckwebbgraphicsart at livestream.com



Watch live streaming video from eryckwebbgraphicsart at livestream.com

Customer Retention Insights - Rules To Biz By

June 18, 2013

Posted: 17 Jun 2013 06:45 AM PDT
Hi Go Media faithful!  Bill here! I’m back to deliver another teaser article from my book, Drawn to Business.  Today we’ll cover a topic vital to operating a thriving design firm: Customer Retention.
1
Take good care of your customers. Nothing will replace good service. No amount of holiday cards, phone calls, discounts or anything else will make up for poor service. When a client brings you a project, you need to treat them like royalty. Be nice and supportive. Hit your deadlines. Do amazing design work. Stay on budget. Follow through. Say thank you when they pay. Give them legendary service with a smile on your face. If you do this, you’ve at least ensured that they’ll trust you for future projects.
2
Make a good first impression. Take particularly good care of your customers at the beginning of the relationship. Getting off on the wrong foot can ruin a good relationship.  How you perform on the very first project is absolutely critical. More specifically, your first set of proofs will establish in the mind of your customer whether they can relax and trust you to do great work, or if they’re going to have to look at everything you do with a critical eye. If you’re working with a new client, the first project is the most critical time in that relationship.
3
Resist the urge to over-promise. Establish reasonable expectations with your customer then out-perform those.  Under-promise. Over-deliver. If you think delivering what you promise makes a good impression, just wait till you see how your customers respond when you give them a little bit more.
4
Be an advisor to your customers, not just an order taker. An order taker is dispensable, but an advisor is invaluable.  Of course, it takes more work to be an advisor than an order taker. You certainly can’t just upsell your client on a bunch of services they don’t need. You have to get to know them, understand their business and know which services you can provide that make sense for them.
5
Stay in touch with your customers. Nothing else will give you as big a return on your time than doing something simple like dropping your client an e-mail or giving them a phone call.  This is one of the simplest and yet most powerful ways to generate ongoing business. Just stay in touch. It’s so simple. Don’t pester, don’t annoy, just make sure you stay on your customer’s mind. Make sure they know that you’re ready and eager to help them with their design needs.
6
Offer cheaper rates to your best customers.  For almost the entire existence of Go Media there was only one pricing model. Our prices were broken down hourly, based on service type. We charged all our customers the same amount.
To qualify, the customer has to have completed enough projects with us that we feel comfortable with the way they work. They can’t be a customer that meanders off-scope, pushes our hours over budget and then complain about additional costs. They have to be easy to work with and they have to pay their bills on time. This strategy is one I learned from a peer who works at a much larger corporation. They have great success with it.
__________________________
Want more tips on how to build your own successful graphic and web design agency?  Stay tuned to this spot for more excerpts from my book, Drawn to Business.
  

Wolverine Warmup


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Whew well theres issues and it was definitly some heavy chiseling along the way of this 30 minute warmup but hey thats what they're for. Working out the kinks developed during periods of not drawing. Getting that ol' muscle memory to snap back in proper place. Well I watched the first half of Xmen Origins: Wolverine lastnight and thought I'd take my own stab at portraying wolverine. I always figured he should have big bulky upper body and his costume was always a bit too bright for me so i reversed the colors and he doesn't need gloves, he can regenerate and they just get in the way of his claws anyways... so i left him sleeveless and gloveless with maybe just some armbands. But those seem kinda tacked on at this point. His colors are now a very dark blueblack and then a yellow brown for the light areas. I tried him without ears at all sort of mimicking the shape up around his head as just a design but something about wolverine just doesnt look like wolverine without a little bit of ear sticking up but i liked the very small and subtle look of the ears of his very early costumes just enough to have them but not big wings like in the 80s. Anywho, diggin it... on to work today! Fun warmup sketch but got lots o' other stuff to do today.
Don't forget EWG Live Wednesday will be tonight (tuesday) at 8pmEST  featuring a 15 character action pose scene of a city of heroes or champions online (forget which) group of heroes!

Rockabilly Clops - Warmup Sketch

June 17, 2013

Though today I focused on the business end of EWG stuff that I've neglected the past few weeks I gotta maintain that ol' discipline! Heres a fun doodle I did to 'stay loose man'... I wanted to do a stylized cyclops then it turned into a rockabilly cyclops. Forever now known as the big daddy himself, 'Rocka Billy Clops!' Fun sketch

15 Character Wed Night Livestream Moved Up To Tuesday


Just a quick announcement... I will be working on the 15 Character commission as seen in the approved layout sketch above, Tuesday Night, 6/18 -  8pmEST for a couple hours. Most likely till Midnight with a short intermission at 10pm. This will be the Wednesday Night Livestream moved up a day as Wednesday I will most likely not be able to do it.

This is the first planned period to work on the finished art for this piece via Livestream as the clients have expressed interest in watching some of the process live. I will also be doing extended live-stream videos of its progress next week Wed and Thurs nights. (26th and 27th).

This is a piece of 15 different characters owned by 15 different individuals who participate in an online multi-player super hero game and have come together to purchase this group picture depicting all of them together in one shot.

I'm hoping to pencil the majority of it Tuesday Night, so come out, watch it come together and as always enjoy the chat. I'm sure many of the contributors to this commission will be out to watch it happen!

See you then

Motivational Speaker - Arnold Schwarzeneggar


Whether your an artist, run your own business, going a different direction than the 'ideal image' of what lifes supposed to be like... watch this/ listen to it. Believe it, live it. 
Tremendously motivational video.

Just wanted to share!


EWG Live Wednesday for 6-12 A Success

June 13, 2013

Lastnight's edition of EWG Live Wednesday went off without a hitch and was a lot of fun. Above is the My Little Pony fan art commission in 'human/elf form' of Trixie the unicorn with magic witch powers. In keeping with the style of the previous human-form my little pony pieces commissioned by this client I did finished clean pencil lineart and blackfilled/colored straight over that instead of digital inks with a brush and solid blacks. Makes for a slightly sketchier look, also used 'ink wash' style shading underneith everything for the extra texture you see. All in all this just makes for more loose and expressive drawing. Below is two pencil sketches I did for other clients and for warmup before doing the MLP piece above. And the red was an initial warmup sketch just making sure my tools were setup right. 
Thanks to all who came out, and will see you next Wednesday, 8pmET on the EWG Livestream for another session!

Stop Motion approval sketch

Gabby Gizmo approval sketch

Initial warmup sketch testing out the tools etc

Check out the livestream video of the whole 8-1130pm session with a 10 min pause in the middle while I refilled on coffee, walked the dog etc. Enjoy!


Watch live streaming video from eryckwebbgraphicsart at livestream.com

Groovy Graveyard Poster

June 11, 2013


Just got this poster for 'Groovy Graveyard', finished up this afternoon.  Advertising the mascot and overall vibe of the  awesome niche merchandise music and movies store in New Jersey. Check out their site for lots of awesome stuff. Was a monster! Pun intended! But I had a lot of fun working on it as many of these characters are personal favs (rockabilly zombie, elvira, the car etc!) and I also enjoyed the exercise in restraint in the limited color palette. Its designed so more info can go on the tombstone, and or if the client wants to crop the top and add more black area to the bottom for their flyers or anything else and add more text down there it will work fine for that. Fun stuff!

Pending final corrections with the client but this is basically it in a nut shell!
Might post a case study in the future but for now, heres the finished poster!

Leo Bity Warmup


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Warmup this morning, bout 40 min. Pushing proportions of the face and limbs a bit as well as the size of the belt and swords compared to the rest. Fun stuff, but perhaps spent too much time on it. Ah well, onto client work all day

Great EWG Live Wednesday Wrapped Up With A Cobra Bow and a Hell Boy too!

June 6, 2013

Well! Tonight saw a very good Livestream night! Thanks to all who came out to 'EWG Live Wednesday' tonight. I got in such a groove i forgot about the chat so sorry for the initial lack o' socializing in the first half. But, was having a ball. Happy with all four of these but my fav are the top two. Just came out perfect IMHO! Had half a dozen viewers/ chat hangars at any given time and went from epic movie soundtracks to some rock n roll to finishing off with some pumpin Deadmau5. Thanks to all who came out, and as a reward to those who stuck out the whole time, there was 15 min left after finishing these 3 ladies so I did a quick 'cool down' and as I was sketching I just did whatever came out of the doodling and it happened to be hellboy, and wanted to do an image sort of freeball sketch as a finale and write 'thanks for streaming' to the peeps who came out and stayed the whole time. Four full color characters in four 3.75 hours not too shabby! Started at 8, got them done by 11.45 and then did the hellboy sketch. 
Goodnight! Check out the works below and the livestream video below that!
See you next 'EWG Live Wednesday'!



Temporary EWG Pricelist has been posted up

June 4, 2013

A full business pricelist is being put together and in the process I've had clients not able to find my pricelist and asking for prices/ quotes. Which works fine but I found over time I was looking up where I had told somebody else in old emails and copying and pasting over and over and decided I should just set it up on the ol' pricelist page for everyones ease of reference. So here it is all spelled out for the time being over at: (Click 'Commission Pricelist button on the site Features menu)
http://www.eryckwebbgraphics.com/p/commission-pricelist.html

Will get a concrete one setup, nicely designed for ease of reading/ examples of each item and many different types of items will be featured.

But for now, only accepting character art commissions related to the pricelist link above.

EWG Live Wednesday 6/5/13


Promotional poster featuring a 'cut-away' style look at the pencils, inks and colors common in most of EWG's acclaimed character art commission works.

Wednesday, June 5th 2013 will see Livestream start at 8pm Eastern Time and going till midnight. Featuring several character art illustrations, of full color single character commissions. Come see popular characters from various series interpreted as new recruits in the Cobra ranks. 

See you then, by clicking over to the EWG Livestream page or staying tune to EWG Twitter/ Deviantart or Facebook for the link to be posted around 8pmEST when the show begins.

 
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