Steampunk Fantasy Concept Paintings

I did these paintings awhile ago. These were concept paintings for a steampunk fantasy story that I still hope to do one day. I can see a lot more flaws in them than I did when I originally painted them but the atmosphere is still cool.

Jackobar, originally uploaded by timlai.

Cardigan Blake, originally uploaded by timlai.

I actually have an altered version of the above painting where I've fixed the character's flat looking jaw which I will post if I can get it (it was on my laptop which has broken again).

Annabel, originally uploaded by timlai.

Goblin, originally uploaded by timlai.

Secret Ingredients

What the Hell I figured I'd post this strip too. It might be a bit hard to read in the blogger layout so you can click on it to see it at full size. I'm pretty happy with the first panel. I think the background looks pretty good. I also think that this joke is pretty funny. Please tell me what you think by leaving a comment or by sending me a tweet on Twitter.

Sample Strips!

I've been debating whether or not to post some sample strips. I still don't have a whole lot of strips that are completely done. I've basically got a bunch written, some drawn, and these ones inked and coloured. I realize that these aren't comedic gold or anything... That's partly why I'm posting them. Why would I give away my best material before I even get my site up? I found these funny when I wrote them but I'm not sure if I still do. I do have comics planned that I know are funny. If anyone does find these funny (or doesn't) then I'd like to know.

I might not even use these strips. I drew them cause right now I'm trying to just get some experience doing finished strips and these were some of my simpler ones. I'm still trying to decide on some artistic details (you may notice that the way I colour the windows changes from strip to strip) so I would appreciate any feedback on the overall look of the strips.

-Tim

The Concept of Lemon Inc. and a Full Colour Lemon Inc. Illustration

I have neglected to explain what this comic strip is actually about besides the brief description on the sidebar. I wanted to wait until we had the website ready to explain the concept in full detail but since I've got this blog going I think I should probably elaborate a little since these posts probably don't make a lot of sense to you. So, here it is: Lemon Inc. is (or will be) a comic about childhood innocence colliding with corporate coruption. Andy, a deadly serious seven-year-old opens up a Lemonade stand with his naive friend and business partner, Jeff, and runs it as if it was an office, thus creating the company, Lemon Inc. He hires other kids as employees including Tommy, a cynical kid who doesn't understand why he is working at the age of seven, Craig, who has severe anger management problems, and Derek, who thinks he's really smart but is a complete idiot and ends up ruining all the lemonade through botched experiments. Andy also employs his stuffed animals: Elephanté the elephant as a salesman, and Minsky the monkey as his secretary. However Andy didn't expect a bunch of girls to open up a competing lemonade stand: Lemcorp. Lemcorp is run by Rachel, a seven-year-old female rights activist. Her employees include Becky, a bubblely girl that is always irritatingly happy and sweet, Alison, a quirky and obsessive girl, Jane, an incredibly calm girl, and Brenda who is smarter than everyone else.

Below is the colour version of the image I inked in the previous post. It's the first full colour image I have drawn for Lemon Inc. that has all the characters (except Elephanté and Minsky, unfortunately who wouldn't fit) and a background in it. I feel that it captures many of the elements of the comic.

Lemon Inc Cast, originally uploaded by timlai.

I think it looks pretty good. The colouring is pretty clean looking. However I realized that the perspective in the background doesn't work very well. We intend to put this image into a sort of Flash application that would show several images relating to each of our comics. We would also put this text over it: Lemon Inc. Updates on (whenever I decide to update), and then we would add a witty slogan over it. Here's one that I came up with:

When life gives us lemons, we make lemonade.

Like always, you can tell me what you think of the image and the concept by leaving comments or sending me a tweet on Twitter.

-Tim