So Fun!!!

Hello everyone! Well tomorrow is my birthday and as many of you probably  know when you reach the tender age 32  its no longer about big birthday parties balloons, voltron tablecloths plates and lots of gifts. Its about maybe having what you want for dinner, possibly some cake and if you really want to make sure you get the perfect gift you go out and buy it yourself lol. Naw my wife and family are very good to me but reality is what it is. Well ive been wanting to finally take this step for a long time and theres no time like the present as they say : )  So what did i do? I went out and finally purchased my first digital drawing tablet the Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet!

Luckily I had a little time tonight to take it out for a test drive and i must say I like the ride!!! At first i was having a bit of difficulty but i went through the intro tutorial like a good little boy and quickly figured out how to use it. Well at least i got a good start on it. Definately will take a bit for me to truelly master it. Point is im having fun with it!!!

I'm really looking forward to see what i can do with this and im hoping it will bring greater efficiency in my artwork. Especially with coloring, and maybe animation stuff. We shall see ;) This pic i did was literally just a doodle that formed into something somewhat interesting. I hope you dig it. Much more to come!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube or email me at [email protected]

Locust O.C.D.

Hey everyone just wanted to do a little update! I did this little drawing of a locust hangin from a stop sign the other day just on a whim trying to stay productive. No big concept just a locust hangin :) If you are wondering what my constant obsession with locusts is it's because my Hip Hop crew is called Shadow of the Locust which was originally envisioned by Dirt the founder when reading Joel Chapter 2  from the bible one day. He actually just recently finished a music video of an old track from his album The Plague that gets into the vision a bit if you'd like to check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79opcqAcSr4&feature=player_embedded !!! But yea this drawing was fun to do and I plan on adding some color to it hopefully soon!

Custom Graffiti

Also for all my Hip Hop heads out there I just put up a new listing on Etsy where you can get a custom Graffiti piece by yours trully for the low low price of $20. So if that sounds like something of interest to you feel free to head on over to my Etsy Shop and get yours!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook,and YouTube or email me at [email protected]

It Is Finished

Finally figured out how to do what i wanted to do with the Spirit decending element. I got some help from my friends at Art & Story Supreme and learned some new things along the way. I'll add a link to the album when it's available on the web if you'd like to hear it. Let me know what you think!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or email me at [email protected]

God Choosez the Foolish

Finally got to working more on this album cover for my boy Reveal. If you would like here more about this project you can find my first post here.

Well im glad to say these album cover illustrations are getting better and better as i go. Definately feeling more confident and liking the outcome more as i work on these projects. The one thing i really need to work on though is time and my process. Right now im still coloring these pieces with the mouse and it's taking me forever!. This piece for example took about 5 and a half hours to color! Part of it is because i first tried a few different methods that didnt work to well and had to kind of figure out my own way of doing it.

Also i need to get a better work ethic going. Ive been sitting on this project for months and i need to be more diligent at getting these things done if i want to make any money doing it. Part of it may just be because it's not a high priority project time wise but i really did take way too much time and my boy Reveal is getting antsy. I definately plan on doing better with this because like i said id like to make some money with this and possibly one day make a living doing things that I love and am good at. That's the dream anyways. So yea that's whats up with this piece.

I also need to mention that this is not a finished piece. There is still the title i need to add and another element that i need to add upon Reveal's request. Not to mention im creating the whole cd package but the other part should be much less labor intensive.

Anyways thanks for checking this out! And if your wondering where is last nights '30 Characters' submission. No need to fear I will be posting yesterdays and todays later tonight. Just wasnt able to squeeze it out last night due to hanging out with Fam which in my book is always more important. ;) So yea thanks again for checking my stuff out and look for 2 more posts tonight.

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or email me at [email protected]

Street Rat

This is an illustration ive been working on for my buddy Reveal also from the crew Shadow of the Locust. Awhile back Reveal put out an album titled "God Choozes the Foolish" but never really printed it up with a cover and stuff. So he asked his homie Calmplex to hook him up.  Well ive actually taken way too long to get this done but here it is! The inks are done and dried and all i need to do now is go in and color it with Gimp.

Reveal's Story

The Idea behind this image that Reveal wanted me to portray is in the title of the album. There's a scripture in the bible that says "but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;" 1 Corinthians 1:27 In this Image you see a somewhat auto biographical portrate of a man sleeping on the side walk as a consequence of foolish choices in his life. It's the nightmare i think we all hope to avoid but sometimes our choices combined with a harsh reality brings things like this about. And so it did at one point in Reveals life on the corner of Hope and 3rd St. This was obviously a turning point in his life where God extended His hand of Grace down to a downtrodden man and choosing him for a greater destiny.

The Art

What you don't see in this image is something that i will add later. Beyond coloring it I plan on adding a depiction of The Spirit of God basicly ascending upon the man as he sleeps. Not sure exactly how i will do this yet but i have some idea's i will play around with. If anyone has any suggestions let me know im allways open to suggestions.

Also another note about the drawing i might add is you may notice the perspective is kinda funky. This is intentional. Not to say i'm really good at perspective anyway but when i was doing the thumbnails i noticed the one for this was off perspective wise and i decided to keep it that way. I think it adds to the dreamy disoriented nature of the situation. I'm hoping with the more extreme forshortening or sort of ants eye view of the building and street sign that it kind of lends to the drama of the situation.

SOTL fans may also notice the 'Locust Tri-une' shape sort of hidden in the moon craters.

Hope you guys enjoy! Stay tuned for updates and please feel free to comment, suggest, etc.

Look for Reveal on his Facebook Page!

God Bless,
-Calmplex

Also Find Calmplex on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or email me at [email protected]