John K.

Blop - Alien Girl Painting

I have this character who is an alien girl from another dimension. Her name is Blop.

I've painted her before, but wanted to try something a little different this time.

I started the same way I start all my paintings by first inking and filling the shapes with flat colors.

2023-06-25 13:43:53 +0000 UTC View Post

Tiny Critters 2

Well they aren't as tiny as I used to do. It's hard for me to draw small, but here are some from the last couple weeks.

These are drawings I do with a thin marker during breakfast, then later in the afternoon I color them with Prismacolor pencils.

These will all be available in my store in a coup...

Mickey and the Gang Magazine Illustrations

Here are a few pages from that book I was telling you about. It has beautifully illustrated cartoon stories based on Disney shorts from the 1930s and 40s. 

My favorite Disney cartoons are the shorts from the mid to late 30s. This below is from 'Mickey's Rival.' The cartoon has incredible cartoony animation in it.

2023-06-21 16:17:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Stimpy's Pregnant Layouts - Seq3 - Sc 38, Pt 2

Here is the rest of the scene from yesterday:

2023-06-18 23:16:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Stimpy's Pregnant Layouts - Seq3 - Sc 38

Here is an acting scene where Stimpy is about to eat his ice cream, pickles and tobacco concoction and Ren steps in to find out about it.

This pose (4) of Ren is inspired by many Bob McKimson scs where Elmer F...

Recent Inks from Sketches

I inked a couple of the monkeys from the last post and filled them with flat colors.

This is what they look like before I render them.

2023-06-12 16:29:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Recent Doodles

These are from the last couple weeks. I doodle mindlessly during breakfast in the hopes I might get some new character designs to ink and color.

I've been drawing a lot of monkeys and apes lately trying to show the difference between old world and new world monkeys. I haven't quite nailed it yet.

Fake Black and White 5 - Minnie's Body

The classic Minnie used to go around topless but me being such a prude, I gave her a bra.

I brushed a few different areas on her bosom to try to give a fake 3d roundness to them. It's not entirely successful.

Her panties are a greyed down warm pink and I rimmed the bottom of the shape with a sli...

Drawings For You to Color

I drew 3 sketches this morning that I plan to color for my store, but thought I could also post them for those of you that might be inspired by the coloring book art I've been posting. You can print them out and color them by hand or paint them digitally. Or you can just look at them and roll your eyes at how immature it all is.

2023-06-01 16:21:30 +0000 UTC View Post

Pretty Girls

I hope no one is offended by pretty girl drawings in minimal attire.

This pear-shape headed girl is inspired by my favorite Playboy artist - Sokol.

Here's a somewhat nerdy girl.

2023-05-29 17:47:37 +0000 UTC View Post

Layouts Stimpy's Pregnant -Ren checks list

Here's a scene where Ren gets in the car and checks the list of what to bring to the hospital for Stimpy to deliver his baby. Of course, cigarettes are on the list.

2023-05-23 18:37:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Coloring Book Covers 3

Magilla Gorilla is credited to Ellis Ellenberger (who I'm not familar with but probably did the drawing) and Bill Lorencz who painted the cover. Lorencz' unique painting style is very smooth and shiny. He did a really appealing Beany and Cecil Golden book that I may show you if I can find it under my huge piles of boxes.

I like this Bugs painting but it isn't credited inside the book so I'm not...

Fake Black and White - Minnie's body

I've filled her body with greyed colors with different degrees of color saturation. Her skirt is mostly grey while her shoes, bra and panties are a bit more saturated for contrast.

Here's her Bra color - a tiny bit more saturated than the colors of her head.

and her Panties also slightly more s...

Inks I'm working on

Hi folks, sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been under the weather for the last couple weeks.

Here is some stuff I have been prepping to paint soon:

I'm still trying to get fake black and white to work:

2023-05-11 17:27:29 +0000 UTC View Post

Storybard to Layout - Sody Kisses George

Spumco storyboards can be pretty rough, especially when I draw them.

I did these layouts based on the storyboards but drew tighter drawings and added a few more poses and expressions. This is typical of of most Spumco layouts.

Sody is looking down at George who disapproves of her. 

Sh...

Spumco Layouts - Stimpy's Pregnant Seq 7 Sc9

There is a creative step between the storyboards and the animation. It's called 'layout'. Layout artists draw the storyboard scenes full size on animation paper to give the animators instructions. At Spumco this step is where all the unique expressions and poses are designed.

Here is a scene from Stimpy's Pregnant. Ren and Stimpy and Nurse Sheep are waiting for Dr. Mr. Horse to show up to deliver the baby.

2023-05-01 18:00:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Rendering in Fake Black and White

The most obvious and simplest way to pick a color to shade with is to eyedrop the color from the fill layer-in this case her face, which is light greyed yellow.

I open the color picker with the eyedropped face color.

Then I click lower in the picker to a darker shade of the same color.

2023-04-29 17:32:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Digital Painting - The rest of the Cowboy Bear

You're probably sick of these posts by now so I'll try to wind it up here.

The collar and tie: I have turned off the line layer for the collar so I can paint textures to replace the lines.

I selected the collar and used a scratchy brush to paint a fat texture in the middle of each side.

I...

Color Theory: Fake Black and White

I've always wanted to make a film noir or rubber hose black and white cartoon - only not totally black and white. Mostly greyed colors with splashes of small bright colors. Here's a poster I designed for a cartoon Ralph Bakshi and I were developing in 1986. It's not as black and white as I ultimately wanted to do; it's more blue and white, but I sometimes get timid with color choices.

Lately I'...

Turtle Pants

Digital Painting - hat, leather texture cheat

We're back to this guy again.

I figured out a way to fake render felt or leather texture without having to draw every speck individually.

I start by zooming in on the inked hat that is filled with flat color.

I select the top of the hat from the 'fill' layer.

2023-04-24 17:28:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Wrong Colors Theory

I've always been a proponent of off-model versions of cartoon characters and also 'wrong colors'.

I get bored drawing the exact same model design over and over again and always painting the same colors.

I learned to love wrong colors when I was a kid and I had Hanna Barbera merchandise - toys and books. Many of them painted the characters different colors than what they were in the carto...

Digital Painting - Basic Stages

Here's a less detailed overview of how I approach my paintings.

1) Drawing on paper

2) Inking in Photoshop and 2023-04-21 17:22:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Painting the Tongue

We cartoonists love to draw tongues. Here's one that has been inked, color filled and has a gradient. Ready to paint.

First, I'll select the 'fill' layer. This enables me to paint without going past the border. 

I make a group and call it 'shading' or just 'sh' for short. In this group I w...

Inking - Some Ren and Stimpy Samples

This is what my digital art looks like after it's inked and before I paint it. No shadows, gradients or textures yet.

That's from my marker on paper sketch.

Here are a couple more inked drawings.

Store Discount for Patreon Fans

To those that have signed up for the Patreon page, thank you. I've enjoyed writing these blog posts lately as explaining cartooning is fun. All Patreon subscribers get 10% off their next store order with the code thetier with no restrictions and no expiration. Use the same e-mail address as Patreon in order to get your discount. 

Digital Painting - Eyes

OK I'm ready to render the eyes. I won't do much to them. First I select the left eye.

Then on a new layer I'll airbrush the top of the eye.

Next I'll airbrush a shadow on the bottom of the eye.

Mel Crawford Coloring Book Covers

Here's some more Mel Crawford art. I love this guy.

I like him because his stuff looks so funky. He doesn't shade things like the other cartoon painters. His paintings are designed for pure visual stimulation and readability; they aren't trying to make any realistic lighting sense.

These Rootie K...

Inking in Photoshop - a tip to get better shapes

I draw the images I want to color on paper with a pencil or marker.

I then scan them into photoshop and create layers on which I will then trace the drawings.

I find it hard to trace a complete shape on 1 layer in Photoshop. The lines come out wobbly or with too many overlapping strokes which are hard to clean up. See this crappy tracing below.

2023-04-15 18:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post

My Painting Inspiration

I've written posts on my blog about Golden Books but I also have coloring books from the 50s and 60s whose covers are painted in a similar style. The characters aren't filled with flat colors like an animation cel. Instead they are painted with shadows and textures that make the characters look extra lush. When I was a kid I wouldn't buy any coloring books that didn't have painted covers becaus...