Jason Shasteen Design

I was inspired tonight to start trying to come up with a character for my first attempt at a webcomic.  I am stilling thinking that the idea of “JaidenTown” is a great place to start.  So as I sketched away to try and capture the essence of my son Jaiden, it was a rough start.  I did however come up with one attempt that led me to another and before I knew it I came up with this latenight scenario.  I am also considering the idea the puppy he sleeps with almost every night could be one of his friends that comes to life on occasion.  Which seems really fun, since he also has an alligator too.  Now it has occurred to me that the concept of a boy, a puppy, or even stuffed animals that come to life has been done before ( Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, Calvin and Hobbes).  But when it is inspired by one of my boys, whom I love so deeply….it can never be cliche.  So I am hoping that will come across to others who read the comic, and not just me:).  I think an awesome dream sequence every once and awhile would be fun too! ….All that being said, just typing as I get inspired….. maybe I will completely change my mind tomorrow…who knows…..sure seems like a great idea right now though.

Side/Profile

SQUAWK!  sorry…I couldn’t resist.  This was a fun panel to work on and I had some fun with the lettering too.  I even used a ultra fine point pen to add some texture and style.

Below

I really like how this shot turned out.  Good News Too…I finished the strip that these entries helped develop, so I hope to post the new strip tomorrow night!  I think it’s the best I’ve done yet, and I am finally doing the quality of work that I feel at the level I wanted to get to…..for now atleast.

Background

I envision this shot having a very beautiful view in the background, but I just did a treeline for now.  The finished color version should have an awesome sunset in the background.  Even though the figure in the foreground should grab your attention, I would hope the view in the background would pull you further into the shot.

Above

I did remember to take my pens home today.  However, I actually inked this blue line sketch while I was at lunch with my friends from work.  This is the 3rd panel of an 8 panel comic strip that I am doing at work.  I am using a digital approach for the actual comic that will be published online, but I decided to still use the blue line sketches as reference.  I also decided to use my zebra pen to practice some more inking over the sketches.  I think in the future I will probably go straight to creating my blue line sketches digitally, but I’m glad I tried this approach too.  The shot for this panel is suppose to be a bird in a nest in a tree above the two characters who are looking up at the bird.  I Especially enjoyed putting the line pattern on the branch of the tree.

Front and Center

I managed to leave my set of pencils at the office today.  So this piece was done using a random mechanical pencil and my finger to add some smudging.  After taking a picture of the sketch, still working on my scanner, I decided it needed something more.  I played around with it in photoshop, but decided to keep it in somewhat of a grayscale for now.  I was intending for this piece to be a “background” excercise, but I believe it became a “front and center” example.  It actually reminded me of a much darker piece I did back in college.  Glad to see that now I am drawn to drawing things of hope and wonderment, not that I won’t experiment with darker themes as well at some point.  Anyways, I had a blast with this and I hope you guys enjoy!