The Superman villain theme continues! This handsome fella is Darkseid, the evil ruler of the planet Apokolips. You can't see it but he's smiling because he's watching his favorite TV program, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". See? He's pure evil.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
"We are very close to the end..."
Here are a couple of "Lost" sketches I did today as my wife and I gear up for the big finale of the series.
Here are a couple of "Lost" sketches I did today as my wife and I gear up for the big finale of the series.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
LOOK OUT!
Brush & ink and digital color
... here comes the Spider-Man! Hey everyone; I know it's been a little while since my last post so here's a new Spidey illustration to help me get back into the swing of things, no pun intended. Actually, that's a lie; pun completely intended. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Lately, aside from freelance gigs, I haven't had a lot of time or motivation to really work on much after my dad passed away. Slowly but surely, though, I'm getting back on track and regaining focus. And part of that focus will involve staying on top of the blog a lot more. In fact, I'll be posting some "Lost" related drawings later in the day to gear up for the finale. Stay tuned!
Brush & ink and digital color... here comes the Spider-Man! Hey everyone; I know it's been a little while since my last post so here's a new Spidey illustration to help me get back into the swing of things, no pun intended. Actually, that's a lie; pun completely intended. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Lately, aside from freelance gigs, I haven't had a lot of time or motivation to really work on much after my dad passed away. Slowly but surely, though, I'm getting back on track and regaining focus. And part of that focus will involve staying on top of the blog a lot more. In fact, I'll be posting some "Lost" related drawings later in the day to gear up for the finale. Stay tuned!
Monday, March 29, 2010
FOR MY DAD
"Dumbo" by Richard Valente
pen, ink & acrylic on felt
I have a general rule for myself to keep this blog about my professional work and not get into the dramas of personal life or opinions and such. Cause, frankly, who cares? I just want a place to showcase some of the work I do and talk a little about it. However, some things are too monumental to ignore and to just continue posting freelance work and random sketches as if nothing has happened would seem wrong. So here goes:
Today would have been my father's 66th birthday. He passed away a little over a month ago and I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss him. In addition to being a really great guy who instilled in me his love of New York Yankees baseball and Superman cartoons, my dad was definitely a "Jack-of-All-Trades". He was a New York City Firefighter for 24 years and a NYC Transit Cop before that. He was an electrician, a carpenter, and a nutritionist. And he was also an artist.
The above image is a painting he made for me, 30 years ago, when I was born. My mom had kept it in her home all these years but when he passed away she gave it to me to keep (I'm hoping to come across more of his work over the next few months. If/when I do, I will definitely be posting more of it on here).
I still have very vivid memories of when I saw his sketchbook for the first time and how much it made me want to draw too. I also remember when my sister and I would spend weekend afternoons drawing with him and hoping, someday, I would be as good as he was. He never really gave himself enough credit when it came to his artistic abilities but I always thought he was amazing. In fact, I would even say he is my biggest influence because seeing his work made me want to pick up a pencil in the first place. I hope he knew that.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
Richard Valente
March 29, 1944-February 24th, 2010
"Dumbo" by Richard Valentepen, ink & acrylic on felt
I have a general rule for myself to keep this blog about my professional work and not get into the dramas of personal life or opinions and such. Cause, frankly, who cares? I just want a place to showcase some of the work I do and talk a little about it. However, some things are too monumental to ignore and to just continue posting freelance work and random sketches as if nothing has happened would seem wrong. So here goes:
Today would have been my father's 66th birthday. He passed away a little over a month ago and I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss him. In addition to being a really great guy who instilled in me his love of New York Yankees baseball and Superman cartoons, my dad was definitely a "Jack-of-All-Trades". He was a New York City Firefighter for 24 years and a NYC Transit Cop before that. He was an electrician, a carpenter, and a nutritionist. And he was also an artist.
The above image is a painting he made for me, 30 years ago, when I was born. My mom had kept it in her home all these years but when he passed away she gave it to me to keep (I'm hoping to come across more of his work over the next few months. If/when I do, I will definitely be posting more of it on here).
I still have very vivid memories of when I saw his sketchbook for the first time and how much it made me want to draw too. I also remember when my sister and I would spend weekend afternoons drawing with him and hoping, someday, I would be as good as he was. He never really gave himself enough credit when it came to his artistic abilities but I always thought he was amazing. In fact, I would even say he is my biggest influence because seeing his work made me want to pick up a pencil in the first place. I hope he knew that.
Happy Birthday, Dad.
Richard Valente
March 29, 1944-February 24th, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
SKETCH CARDS !
They're here! These are the JLA sketch cards I did for DC/Rittenhouse I mentioned a little while back. Well, actually, it's only a handful of them since I figured it would be a bit much to post all 250 so I just picked the ones I liked the most.
They came out a couple of months ago and I have seen them circulating the web on various message boards as well as on eBay, which is pretty cool. The ones on eBay are not being sold by me but I did receive 5 blank cards of the set for me to draw new ones. So keep an eye out for when they're available; I'll be posting them on here pretty soon.
And as an added bonus, it introduced me to the awesomeness that are Copic Sketch Markers. I never really cared for markers as a medium before but figured they would be the most convenient option for this project. My wife told me about Copics since she's used them before, so I got a set and, man, they are nice. The colors are very vibrant and blend incredibly well, unlike other markers I've used in the past. They actually almost have a watercolor type quality to them. If you haven't used them before I highly recommend trying them out.
And as another added bonus, this marks the first time I got to draw Superman professionally, (and some other characters you may have heard of) which is pretty sweet. It was a great project to work on and I would love to do more of these in the future.
Later!
They're here! These are the JLA sketch cards I did for DC/Rittenhouse I mentioned a little while back. Well, actually, it's only a handful of them since I figured it would be a bit much to post all 250 so I just picked the ones I liked the most.They came out a couple of months ago and I have seen them circulating the web on various message boards as well as on eBay, which is pretty cool. The ones on eBay are not being sold by me but I did receive 5 blank cards of the set for me to draw new ones. So keep an eye out for when they're available; I'll be posting them on here pretty soon.
And as an added bonus, it introduced me to the awesomeness that are Copic Sketch Markers. I never really cared for markers as a medium before but figured they would be the most convenient option for this project. My wife told me about Copics since she's used them before, so I got a set and, man, they are nice. The colors are very vibrant and blend incredibly well, unlike other markers I've used in the past. They actually almost have a watercolor type quality to them. If you haven't used them before I highly recommend trying them out.
And as another added bonus, this marks the first time I got to draw Superman professionally, (and some other characters you may have heard of) which is pretty sweet. It was a great project to work on and I would love to do more of these in the future.
Later!
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