Today is officially the day right before my brother and I will be at the Boston Comic Con.

Just sent out my design to purebuttons to have my buttons made for comic con. Check em out!

 The first installment of 21 UNDEAD was the 4th MOST DOWNLOADED comic on www.LiterateMachine.com! It had 100 downloads from October until the end of the year. It is a small victory for me and the comic, but hey, at least we beat the sample of Image Comics ZOMBIE COP which is actually hitting shelves tomorrow! (I'll probably pick that one up)
Thanks to everyone who downloaded the comic and to those that continue to do so. I wouldn't be this happy without you guys. I had almost put 21 Undead behind me before reading this news today.
Here is the page so you can see the TOP FIVE LIST:
http://www.literatemachine.com/content/most-downloaded
So happy right now....
On to some NEWS!
Some of you have already noticed that I've put 21 UNDEAD on the backburner until this summer and have moved on to the designing stages of the upcoming comic KON: The Dragon Prince!
It is a different direction for me into fantasy, but one that I feel like I need at this point in my life and career as an artist. I need to try something new these days other than horror/gothic images and styles. I'm moving into a clearer, more classic look that is more detailed and away from high contrast and heavy shadows. I just want a really free and open feel to this book with a vibe that is lighter, but still comes off as serious work.
Here are some sketches below!



 
And here are a few other side projects...

 

 
Thanks again everybody! I gotta go get some drawing done!
-Jake

UPDATE 1/3/09: My professor kept the arm and a few of my head sculptures. I don't know where they will end up. I will keep you posted!

Sooo maybe saying this blog was "coming soon" back in Anatomy of An Illustration 4 from October 21st was a bit of a poor choice of words. Please don't hold it against me. This semester was insane and I just didn't have the time to make many of these blogs. I should probably collect them in one volume for easier reading. They are kind of scattered about through my blog history right now.

This project was an assemblage made from found objects and other miscellaneous bits and pieces that were scavenged for in various places. The finished product DID come from ILLUSTRATIONS though! Let's get to it!

Here are two examples of the illustration studies I did for this robotic arm that lights up. They should give you an idea of how complex I really wanted it to be for the sake of making it look aesthetically pleasing and convincing to viewers. I really had a clear vision right off the bat for this one. Check these out below...

As you can see from the sketches, I wanted the fingertips to light up in some way. I also wanted them to be articulate by some means. I achieved this by coiling wires of different lengths and colors together and running them throughout the structure of the arm itself.

Here you can see the pile of wires before being bound together with zip ties.

At this point all of the wiring for the lights was integrated with the finger structures and made to connect into different areas of positive and negative charge areas in the elbow area.

The structure of the arm was fashioned and welded from pieces of steel with a crossing piece at the wrist area to fit in a switch to turn on the lights. The large "battery pack" is pictured in the top of this picture as well.

The switch with the flip cover are pictured below.

Here is a photo of the arm with all of the wiring bound together and fitted into its frame structure with the batteries connected to the power cords. I think the pink and red wiring give it a fleshy look and make it appear like nerves and muscles.

Here are pics of different angles of it while the fingertips and elbow lights are on!

 

Well, that's all of the photos I had of this project. I know I didn't give every detail about it. You can assume that it was made with all kinds of cutting and nuts n' bolts. I don't have to tell you. If you do have any questions then feel free to ask! I don't know what the next anatomy blog will be...but it will come sooner than this one! I guarantee that! Comments are appreciated!

I feel like I haven't blogged anything in a long time. I'm extremely busy right now with the semester ending soon. I'm working on my last Form and Design project as we speak. I should probably take pics of those projects for posting.

I have plans to post some poems and a new My Guts series as well as some process stuff that should have been posted a long time ago. New sketches for the new comic project will also be popping up soon!

Here is the long awaited third installment of The Arm for viewing pleasure. No need for downloading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Miller

Frank Miller has been an influence of mine at different points in my artistic path. His older work like his run on Daredevil and his Wolverine comics showed me that even superheroes can get down and dirty when they need to. Perhaps the biggest indication of this would be in Millers' Batman: The Dark Knight Returns(1986) which showed me a whole side of Batman I'd missed out on at its release because I wasn't born yet. It was a comic that shook the foundations of how superheroes (and Batman especially) were supposed to be written and drawn and eventually toppled them over into one giant, anti-hero, abstract pile. I could go on and on about that comic on its own, and Miller's career, but I'll just cut to the chase.
            Sin City came next for me in my reading. I was 12 when I first started secretly reading some random back issues of Sin City that my brother had picked up at the tiny shop down the street. These were not your grandpa's type of comics, so I had to keep them hush-hush around the house. I had never read black and white comics. The thought of reading them just reminded me of black and white films, which at the time, I was not truly a fan of (I am today though). My brother promised I would love them, so I gave them a shot. What I saw was gritty artwork, badass "good guys", and hot chicks. They were perfect action revengers that I could really sink my teeth into. From that point on, I loved more realistic, but dark and moody, stories that had characters you could relate to when you felt you'd been cheated, lied to, and just goddamn angry at the world.

The artwork obviously had an impact on me since I truly love ink and brushes, as well as black and white comics in general. Most of all, I took the compelling storylines to heart. The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City both had that element fueling their pages to their insane endings. My lessons have been learned. For showing me that good guy's can be just as bad and awesome as the villains, and that black and white is just as fun as color, I salute Frank Miller as my number two Top Influence.

The polls closed today for the VOTE and DIE contest. The best cover voting ended in a three-way tie with covers 1,2, and 3 getting three votes each. Congrats to my brother Josh for his awesome painting and to Chris "TALLBOY" for his amazing grotesque illustration!

NOW, the winner of a zombie portrait is.....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2008-11-21 18:45:47 UTC

provided by Random.Org

 

JOHN ROEUNG WINS THE CONTEST! Congrats John! John will get drawn as a zombie, in any way he wants (melting, decaying...etc) and I will sign the drawing and give it to him! Thanks to all who participated in the contest for the past few weeks. It was a tight race between most of the covers that ultimately ended in an even match for three of them. I might do a new contest soon so keep your eyes open for that! Now on to the business section!

BUSINESS!

So now that The Arm has been long over and read by many folks over at www.LiterateMachine.com, I've been doing side projects like illustrations for bands that I like. I plan on coloring the drawings on photoshop and sending them to the bands to see if they like them and will do something with them.

The rumors are true, I have started a new comic to draw in my spare time that won't be as much of a burden on me as The Arm was with the deadlines and such. I will report on that in the next blog when I have some concept sketches done. I don't want to release too much info as of right now when things are still barely in development stages....so look out for more updates! XD

BIGGER NEWS FOR JANUARY 2009 YOU SAY!?!??!

The "other" rumors are true that I have been contacted and agreed to be the illustrator of the story "Zombe Nazis Come to Salem" to be published by Red Skies online in January. Red Skies is the E-zine that puts out writing and art done by students on campus at Salem State College. I was contacted by the lead editor to do illustrations for Annie O'Toole Bolthlrunis' story and showed them some of my work. They liked what they saw and agreed on the collaboration. The gears are set in motion as we speak!

I'm pretty enthusiastic after reading part one of the story. It seems fast paced and fun as well as suspenseful and well-crafted. I'll update you all with more info as soon as more talks happen and some actual work gets done. This was just confirmed yesterday so I don't have any production stuff to show. SORRY!

If you want to check out Red Skies CLICK HERE!

THAT IS ALL...

...for now, but I will post again soon with more updates for you, my friends. Thanks for checking in. Congrats to the winners, and stay tuned! Things are heating up around here.

-Jake

REMEMBER TO CHECK OUT INSTALLMENT 5 ON www.LiterateMachine.com by CLICKING HERE! Thanks!

 

In the spirit of election day, I'm holding a contest where you guys vote on your favorite cover of 21 UNDEAD: The Arm! VOTE BY COMMENTING ON THIS BLOG! You can only vote ONE TIME per person!!! By doing so, you'll be entered to win some original artwork drawn by me.

For this particular contest I will be drawing the winner in a "Zombie-like" fashion, like the cover of installment five, and sending it to them! I will use a random number generator to pick the winner, but you must vote on THIS BLOG! Win and be GROSSED OUT!

RULES

1. You may only vote one time.
2. The first vote will be the only one that counts if you don't comply.
3. Only votes on this blog count. Messages and comments on my page do not.
4. The polls close Friday, November 21st 2008 at 2:00pm!!! No earlier and no later.
5. A winner will be selected using a random number generator and will be messaged privately on the ending date so I may have their address.
6. Only voters in the U.S. and Canada are eligible. I will ship the artwork to the winner.
7. There will only be one winner.
8. VOTING BEGINS NOW!

The Covers

Installment 1

Installment 2

Installment 3

Installment 4

Installment 5

I want to thank all of you that have stuck with 21 UNDEAD through all of the installments. This is the final installment of the prologue and I'm feeling mixed emotions. One emotion is relief. I feel relieved from all of the deadlines and designing. I also feel that there is still work to be done though, which there is. More artwork has to be made and the first issue must be created. I merely got the ball rolling with this prologue.

I've learned so much from all of the experience in working sequentially for the past three months. I've also learned a lot from other experienced comic book artists. Thanks to those who showed me some great tips and tools to make this book evolve. I'm grateful to the guest artists, my brother Josh and my friend Chris a.k.a. TALLBOY, for making the alternate covers that were amazing.

Here is the link to the fifth and FINAL installment of The Arm

http://www.literatemachine.com/product/jacob-santa-cruz/21-u-n-d-e-a-d-5

This is my new alternate cover for the last installment.

On to other Undead News....

So 21 UNDEAD is now going to be running until April in the Salem State College newspaper, The Log. The pages will be going out in two page installments. Take a peek at the Halloween issue that came out yesterday!

The prologue still has another life to live in this ongoing release that will go on until next semester at college. I'm thrilled! haha Collect them all if you can.

I want to thank everyone again. I definitely was riding on everyone's enthusiasm until the very last line of ink was drawn. Have a great weekend and be sure to check out the first CONTEST BLOG COMING SOON!!!

Older installments can be found by clicking HERE!

-Jake

Installment TWO can now be found here on this blog and in my 21 UNDEAD: The Arm photo album here on myspace. Check em out if you haven't and download the other installments to catch up if you need to. Thank you!

Have a nice rest of the weekend everyone.

-Jake