So as you know I have been working on my new “web based graphic novel” (erm, webcomic) Lilith Dark for a few months now. I have what I think is a good buffer of weeklies, and I have a pretty firm grasp on the first major story arc. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be working on scripting and drawing to have an even bigger buffer of pages. My biggest worry is that I’ll launch the comic, and then have no time to keep up. I don’t want Lilith Dark to be known for being late.

My original goal was to be ready for the Baltimore Comic-Con on Aug 28th, but that will be too early for me to launch. It’s looking more like mid-late September. Until then, keep your eyes on the official Lilith Dark Twitter & Facebook pages for art sneak peeks and insider news. Lilith Dark friends & followers are always the first to hear about the latest LD info.

Lastly, I just want to say a huge “Thank you” for all of the awesome feedback I’ve been getting about Lilith Dark. I have not received this much support for any other project I’ve been involved with and the buzz is continuing to grow. I feel like I’m really going out on a limb with this project, and all of the positive feedback really makes me think that I’m making the right decision. Thanks!

~Charlie

Over the next few weeks, you can keep an eye on LilithDark.com for more details, and you can also find Lilith Dark on Facebook and follow Lilith Dark on Twitter, where I’ll be posting sneak previews of art, character concepts, and more.

Thanks to all of you who continue to show support for me and my work. I hope that you’ll enjoy the next chapter with me!

~Charlie

Here’s my contribution to the Ripple campaign started by Illustrator Kelly Light. Buy it for only $10.00 US and help clean up the animals in the gulf…

UPDATE: Looks like the card is sold. But there are still a ton of cards by exceptional artists available. Go to the Ripple blog and buy some for a great cause. Thank you all for the support.

The Ripple campaign was set up to:

“help the animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill. Every penny is donated. The two Non-Profits that are benefiting are The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and The International Bird Rescue Research Center.”

As I stated in my email to Ms. Light,

“I grew up in Texas and spent pretty much my entire youth swimming in the Gulf. This spill is a total catastrophe and will likely affect the area for generations. If selling a sketch card can help, then it is the absolute least I can do.”

This is not a political statement of any kind. There was a horrible accident, and it doesn’t matter who’s fault it was. The goal of Ripple is to help the animals that have been hurt, plain and simple. To buy my card, or any of the other amazing pieces of art donated by dozens of other artists, just go to the Ripple website and follow the instructions in the top right hand side of the page. Ms. Light will handle the donation portion, and once your donation has been confirmed, I (or whichever artist) will mail the art out to you directly. All cards are available for a measly $10.00 US and 100% of the proceeds go to one of the aforementioned charities (your choice).

The card itself is drawn in ink  and measures the standard 2.5″x3.5″. The card is titled “Ripple” and has been signed on the back. Thanks for helping. The Gulf of Mexico is my home away from home and the oil spill is a complete disaster.

~Charlie

I want to publicly, humbly, and sincerely thank the folks that voted for my work in this year’s CCBC Digital Art Showcase. I admittedly question whether one can truly “win” at art, but I also admit that it is truly meaningful to receive recognition and adulation from my peers and mentors. Thank you all for your continued support and encouragement.

Last week I debuted my series of Fairy Tale sketch cards, and this week I humbly present to you the second half of the project, my Alice in Wonderland sketch card set!

I created this 9 card series to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. The Treasure Chest Foundation provides “Toys and smiles to kids with cancer”. It’s a great organization and I encourage you to check them out and send them a tax deductible donation.

The cards themselves will be sold as part of the 2010 Chicagoland Entertainment Collectors Expo. Click here for info on the event, and how you can purchase a Treasure Chest full of art.

Click a thumbnail below to start the gallery.

The cards were all drawn in pen & ink. Keep an eye out for the Puzzle Chase Cards! Only available in the Treasure Chest go so get one!

At long last, I am proud to present my series of Fairy Tale sketch cards!

I created this 11 card series to benefit the Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation. The Treasure Chest Foundation provides "Toys and smiles to kids with cancer". It’s a great organization and I encourage you to check them out and send them a tax deductible donation.

The cards themselves will be sold as part of the 2010 Chicagoland Entertainment Collectors Expo. Click here for info on the event, and how you can purchase a Treasure Chest full of art.

Click a thumbnail below to start the gallery.

The cards were all drawn in pen & ink. Some of them are puzzle cards, so you can collect and trade with your friends to get the whole picture.

So I’ve lived with the “magical” iPad for about a week or so now, and I have to say I like it a lot…for what it is. As I stated in my previous post on the topic, the iPad is predominantly for consuming media, not creating it. However, after looking into it a little more closely, I’ve discovered that maybe the iPad is a bit more useful than I thought.

As an artist and designer, I always have a sketchbook close at hand, but what if all I had was my trusty iPad? Well with the help of a few apps I can actually use the iPad as a fairly reliable sketchbook. Now I want to state up front that the iPad is NOT a tool I would use for any final drawings, BUT, for those initial concept roughs, this overblown iPod Touch is a great little tool to have around!

I started with the free drawing apps, specifically Doodle Buddy. Doodle Buddy was easy to set up and get to drawing. You poke the piece of chalk, adjust the size of the line, and go crazy. You can also draw on photos and create device backgrounds, but my primary goal is not to review apps, but to review iPad as a sketchbook. Certainly Doodle Buddy makes the iPad a great "in a pinch" drawing tablet. There a quite a few other free drawing apps to choose from, including Adobe Ideas, which lets you draw with vectors! As much as I enjoyed the free apps, I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing something. Enter Sketchbook Pro.

Sketchbook Pro is an awesome drawing program. For $7.99 you can use the same app as Jim friggin Lee does, with some great results! There are a number of options including drawing and painting tools, a full color pallette, and everything you’d expect in a quality electronic sketchbook. The best part is that you can save the file with layers in .psd format! Then just export the image and open up in Photoshop on your work computer and you have a fleshed out sketch to fine tune all night long, baby! In this Bigfoot drawing, I actually imported the psd to Illustrator, and drew the vector lines right on top for a pretty good final drawing in a very short amount of time. Maybe not gallery worthy, but quick and fun.

Bottom Line: iPad is NOT for final art. At least not at a truely professional level. But, with a little research and trial and error, you can very easily use it as a great little sketchbook. The only real downside is that you have to draw with your finger, which kind of sucks. Hopefully iPad 2 will have a stylus. Are you listening HP and Google? I said "STYLUS!!"

Thanks for checking out the very first episode of my new web show-
The CDowd Art-A-Palooza!

I’ll be drawing live on my new Ustream channel a couple of times a week (as time allows), and posting the occassional video highlights right here on the ol’ blog. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for immediate updates on when I’ll be broadcasting.

In this episode, I introduce myself, go over how I draw lines, and do a little sketching in Illustrator. Notice how the words don’t match my mouth like in old kung fu movies. I’ll figure this all out soon, but for now please enjoy the low rent nonsense!

This piece was done in regular graphite pencil on watercolor paper. I also used mechanical pencils for some of the finer details. Click the image to enlarge.