The art of Will Terrell

I'm MOVING!!! Visit me at www.willterrell.com

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:21:00 +0000

I am leaving blogger. Its been swell... but the swellings gone now. My blog is now on my website at www.willterrell.com with lots of juicy posty goodness! -Will

Figure Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:11:00 +0000

We had several artists drive in from Big Spring for the figure drawing group tonight. That's wild! I continued this week with sketching with prisma colors on butcher paper. I'm really having fun with the colors. Although I tend to focus less on the figure when I'm doing that. I'm also letting my caricature instincts come out more this time around with the group. I was always trying to restrain myself to realistic figure drawing but that's just not natural for me. And I don't have the proper instruction around these parts to get to where I want to go with that. So this is the next best thing and its definitely been a lot of fun. Here is a link to one of the nights drawings.

Figure Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Back into figure drawing. Its' been about 3 months since the Sketch Club figure drawing group has met. So its nice to be back. I missed last week but I hear it was good. This week we had Steve as our model, he was dressed in a kilt with bagpipes. He was fun to draw. I wanted to try something different so I drew on brown paper with prismacolor pencils. I was not expecting to use as many colors as I did but I really like the results. Definitely something to try again. If you're interested in coming out to the figure drawing group or modeling for us, we meet Wednesdays from 6:30 - 9:00 at the Garden and Arts center. You can contact Robert Garza at super1701b@gmail.com for more information. -Will

HULK Can't DRAW STICK FIGURES!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:15:00 +0000

You ever have one of those days. Where you can't even draw stick figures. Hulk is having one of those days. Poor Hulk.

SketchClub January Events!

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:01:00 +0000

It's another great year with the Lubbock SketchClub. As we enter our third year we have a lot of our regular goodness, plus some all new awesomeness in store. Here are a few highlites for January!

FIRST FRIDAY ART TRAIL

"Freedom of Expression" Art Show - Local artists showing off their unique styles in one show from 6 - 9 pm, THIS FRIDAY!!! Where: Stray Dog Gallery 1917 Buddy Holly Ave. For more information, please contact Jenn Adkins at bakkacreative AT gmail DOT com

FIGURE DRAWING GROUP

The Sketch Club figure drawing group is back and we will be meeting NEXT Wednesday (Jan 7) at the garden and arts center 6:30 til 9:00. Cost is $7.00 per artist. These sessions consist of several quick warm-up poses, some 5 minute poses, ending in a few longer poses. Also we will be alternating between nude and clothed/costumed models from week to week. If you have any questions please contact Robert Garza super1701b AT gmail DOT com
SKETCH NIGHTS

There's nothing quite like drawing with friends. If its been a while since you've felt inspired or just had fun drawing? Come out to the sketch night and get in on the creativity! It's free! Just bring your sketchbooks, pencils and an attitude of fun! Join us every Saturday from 7-10pm at Freebirds World Burrito at 4930 S. Loop 289!
STAPLE

If you are planning to attend STAPLE in Austin as an exhibitor in March, it is important that you put in your application as soon as possible. Prices go up on the tables January 31st, and it was about this time last year that the tables sold out. So get in now! I've bought a table for myself and Amber, as well as to promote Lubbock's own comic book Expo - coming Saturday May 2nd, 2009!!! If you would like to find out more about STAPLE, visit their website here... http://www.staple-austin.org

STORE SIGNING and ABILENE SKETCHCLUB

I will be doing a guest artist signing at Premiere Comics in Abilene TX (3458 Catclaw Dr.) Thursday January 22nd. I'll also be hanging out with the Abilene Sketch Club that evening if you're in that area and want to drop by. I hear they have a great group going in Abilene, and I'm looking forward to checking it out. If you've been wanting to give it a try, this will be a great chance for you to get into the mix. www.myspace.com/abilenesketchclub
AS ALWAYS...

Visit our website for more information!
www.elsketchoclubo.com

Keep smiling!

-Will Terrell

Dancers

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:16:00 +0000

This was my lunchtime sketch today. I was in a flamenco dancer kind of mood. Although the girl in the bottom corner ended up being a belly dancer. These were fun. I love dancers.

-Will

Monster sketches

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:12:00 +0000

Here's some quick little monsters for you. I got the idea to do these from one of Bobby Chiu's inspirational videos. The first couple ones are his little monsters and then I went on and tried a few of my own. These were a lot of fun and I'll prolly keep doing more of them. Each one took about 10 minutes in photoshop.

Here's the video...
-Will

ps. it's really bugging me how blogger doesn't reduce these images down to thumbnails anymore. I think I'm supposed to upgrade or something. I'm working on a new website anyways. You'll see this change in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out!

Stormtrooper

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:14:00 +0000

This was a quick stormtrooper sketch done with marker, pen and white out.
-Will

Mike Leach - Mad Scientist Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:17:00 +0000

I have a new shirt out this week from Red Raider Outf itter . Here's hoping he sticks around. I REALLY love how this shirt turned out. This is the first time we've been able to get that airbrush type of screen print to work. Not quite sure how we did it, just that we did. I'm much stronger at Photoshop, so its been frustrating not being able to use that skill. Here's hoping we can do a lot more now. Here's praying also that Leach sticks around.

-Will

Demon Cloud digital sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:40:00 +0000

One of my absolute favorite artists in this world is a French artist that goes by the name Bengal. I love his colors and I am completely in love with the way he draws women. So much personality!

Anyways, I always told myself when I started getting better at color and digital painting that I would try and reproduce some of his drawings. I just love how eccentric his colors are - So spontaneous and free.

I took a stab at this one, though I don't think it was successful. I like what was going on in her right thigh there, and some of whats going on in her face. But overall I wasn't happy with this. Especially with her hammy feet. I really need to get back to a figure drawing group. I did have fun with this though. I may try a few more Bengal sketches this weekend.

-Will

Cat Girl Digital painting

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:03:00 +0000

I think I found this photo on Deviant art a few years ago. I really don't have much to say other than that. Its been a challenging couple of weeks and I'm working on getting back into a creative spirit. This painting turned out well I think. It's prolly my best digital painting to date. I'm getting a lot better about softening up on my colors and I'm getting comfortable with using subtleties. Then again I'm talking about a naked girl with bits of fur. How subtle can you get?

Developmentally Challenged Shark

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:16:00 +0000

I found this sketch on my hard drive today when i was reorganizing things. Back in my Seaworld days when things were slow, me and the other cartoonists would have contests to pass the time. If I remember right this was part of the "Who can draw the meanest Dolphin/Cutest Shark" contest between me and a couple of other guys.

Anyways, I thought I'd color this one up and try doing an underwater scene.

-Will

Pigasus

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:19:00 +0000

Sometimes when I'm in a funk artistically I'll reproduce sketches from other artists to try something different. I don't remember who this artist was but I've had this image on my hard drive for several years. I thought it was really well done and I wish I could give them credit (this is why I always try to sign my art). Anyways, I think my rendering is getting better. Mine is the one at the bottom with the yellow glow.

-Will

Grumpty Dumpty

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:57:00 +0000

I know he doesn't really look grumpty, but it was the name that popped into my head when I scanned this in. Amber was drawing a... round man tonight when we were sketching, so of course I wanted to see what I could do. This is all sketched with ballpoint pen and then I went back with some ink washes. That's why it looks a little weird and a little creepy if you were wondering. I tried to use all my mistakes and turn them into part of the image. Meh. What do you guys think? -Will

Spiderman

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:25:00 +0000

I finally did a Spiderman sketch that I actually like! I always seem to get hung up on the anatomy instead of the personality. This time I worked out all the bugs with light pencil sketches and then inked it up. I'm happy with how this one turned out. If I was Spiderman this is how I would eat fast food. Of course, if I were Spiderman I would be pretty much screwed living in West Texas. Not much to swing from except water towers, wind mills and streetlamps. Although there are a superb amount of churches from which I could perch and brood.

-Will

Xmas Monsters

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:35:00 +0000

My lovely girlfriend Amber and I go sketch pretty often together. I feel really lucky to have someone as awesome as her to hang around with, let alone draw silly cartoons with. Tonight we did some holiday themed monster sketches for the Strathmore "artist trading card" project. You mail off some sketches done on their trading cards and someone somewhere will send you one of theres. These are our monstrous attempts.

-Will

Rock - A - BYE - Baylor

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:54:00 +0000

BAYLOR vs. TTU gameday shirt

The line at the bottom of this shirt originally read "Another chapter in the Texas Tech 2008 STORYBOOK season." We... decided to change that after the OH SO painful OU game this past weekend. Yeah, that one really hurt.

That aside, I think this is one of my favorite shirt designs so far. Its also the first shirt I came up with entirely myself. I hope I get the chance to do some more this season. (GO OSU!!! Beat the $@*! out of OU this weekend!) I've said it before, but I'm really enjoying drawing these characters I remember reading when I was a kid visiting my grandparents here in West Texas.

-Will

Speechering

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:55:00 +0000

I remember a time when I would go weeks without accomplishing anything of any importance. Often, those times were filled with mindless TV, internet, eating and over-sleeping. Those days seem like a distant memory now. Its so strange to think about. I was just wondering about how busy things have gotten for me this year and how it seems to be non-stop. When it seems to get to be too much I remind myself of how empty those lazy days were, and how hollow my life seemed. I would take this life over that one any day.

Anyways, this has been a very busy month so far. Today was no different. I was asked a while back if I could speak to a class at the university. In the past year I've spoken to High schools, Jr, Highs, elementary schools, community groups and even churches. But speaking at the University today was the most people I've ever spoken to at once. I had a lot of fun. Since it was in a big auditorium I got to do the whole slide show thing, which was cool. It made me feel like I might actually have something important to say. Because I need more fuel for my already inflated ego. I'd have to say one of the more unusual experiences was showing the blackout TV commercial I animated a few weeks back and hearing an entire audience of people laugh at the same time. It caught me off guard and I suddenly wanted to do it again. I'm apparently now a laugh addict.

You never know how a speech will go over with people. In this case there were ZERO artists in the room, which was unexpected, and I quickly had to shift gears to adjust. But for whatever reason they seemed to enjoy it. My friend in the class said he thinks it was the best presentation they've had all year. And the teacher said its the first time everyone stayed till the end of class, lol. That might have more to do with me sketching a quick cartoon of their teacher at the end of the class though than me yammering on about myself. I did have fun though. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it now. At least I can get a room full of people to laugh on purpose now instead of just when I'm an idiot.

Here's to doing things on purpose!

-Will

Wizard World Texas - 2008 - Convention Report

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:33:00 +0000

I had a great time at Wizard World Texas as always. I got to share a table with my girlfriend and she was absolutely amazing. She sold out almost all of her Sock critter creations. The best part was at the very end after we packed up, she only had a handful left and someone stopped her in the hall saying he really wanted to buy them before she left. So he bought nearly all of them! I'm very proud of her.

I personally had a lot of good stuff this show too. I got to meet a ton of artists. I met Will Hughes who does a great Pirate comic called SheBuccaneer. I've had an affinity for comics about hot pirate chicks ever since my early attempts at such a comics a few years back. This one is done far better than I could have ever hoped to do. Great dialogue and solid stories with good characters and gorgeous art. I can't recommend it highly enough. Also this show, for some reason, I was on an original art kick - purchasing original art from nearly a dozen different artists. It's a great way of getting to know people too. I also sold a lot of stuff - selling out of my goblin chronicles books the first day and having to buy up another 25 copies or so from my publisher at the convention just to keep up with demand. My preview book did alright too, especially considering it was mostly a sketchbook. I'm excited by the response so far though. Overall it was a good show, and it basically paid for itself.

The convention was well represented by Lubbock people. I was stoked to see everyone. It feels like the Lubbock comic community is inching closer and closer to a wide spread outbreak of talent on the industry. It feels inevitable now.

My absolute favorite part of the show though was getting to sit next to Matt Wagner the whole weekend. Matt, if you dont' know, is the creator of several amazing comic book series, Mage, Grendal and currently working on Batman and Zorro. I feel like a really lucky person - last year I sat next to Humberto Ramos, and then Michael Golden. This year was just as awesome. I'm not gonna say we're pals or anything. But being able to watch someone work, and ask them questions over a period of time is an invaluable experience and I am very grateful for it.

As an artist I am always interested in hearing the stories of successful artists that have come before me. For Matt, he said his start came in college. The most valuable break through experience was going to an art school in Philadelphia. Not necessarily for the school, but because he got the opportunity to work for the school publication as a graphic designer. He would come in twice a week on print deadline days, and he would fill in spot illustrations everywhere they were needed in the paper, and he'd have to stay until they were all complete, no matter how long it took, no matter how much he didn't want to draw what he was asked to draw. That taught him to meet deadlines, and to push through challenging material.

The next big break came when he met a group of artists in that same school who dropped out the year before him to form the comic book company Comico. He soon dropped out himself and joined them in his first forays into creator owned comic books. I'd read previously that he spent that first year as a submissions editor for them, and that helped him to see what editors did and didn't want to see from artists. Not to mention, the invaluable experience of getting to work with other artists on a regular basis.

But the number one thing he said that has helped him grow as an artist, is seeing his work in print. You can draw a jacked-up hand and be ok with it. But when you have to see it in print in 10,000 copies, you never ever want to draw a jacked-up hand again. After producing hundreds, if not thousands of comic books over his career, seeing every little mistake and deciding never to repeat it, has led him to the highly refined, stylized drawings that he does today. There's no magic to it. No single epiphany. Its making mistakes over and over until you find yourself with something you enjoy every time.

To top it off though, at the end of the last day I spent about 30 minutes watching him do this gorgeous little batman sketch as he talked to people at his table. I was marveling at how simple he kept it. So meticulous, thought-out, and uncomplicated. It made me think that maybe its time I start to focus more on that quality, than speed and quantity. Then he packed up his stuff, stood up and HANDED ME THE SKETCH!! ...said he had a good time, then left. I was a little dumbstruck

So, it was a great show. Thanks to everyone that came by my table at this show! There are a few more photos in my myspace photo album. Next up is STAPLE in March.

-Will Terrell

Texas Tech vs OU gameday shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:07:00 +0000

I designed a new shirt for Red Raider Outfitter. I am pretty happy with this one. I hope it does well. And I hope we kick ass in the game. All the way to the National Championships! You can order the shirts HERE if you're interested.

On a side note... my girlfriend was telling me tonight that the t-shirt shop she works for keeps bringing her shirts I helped design, asking her to recreate them. Lol. Wait till they see whats next!

-Will

Wizard World Texas - 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:46:00 +0000

I will be at wizard world Texas in Arlington Texas this weekend, Nov 7-9. I will be at table 2940 in artist alley with my girlfriend Amber, who is selling her awesome socksters. I'm putting together a preview book for my new comic book series. This is a convention exclusive. See you there! -Will Terrell

Names and Numbers ad

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:06:00 +0000

I did this illustration the other night for a Heating/Ac company ad for the phone book. I like to imagine them all riding around in the back of that truck day in and day out, urgently waiting for the call. It's like the A-team, without all the drama.

If you need an illustration you can contact me at william_terrell AT hotmail dot com. To find me, apparently this client had to talk to more than a dozen people, whom all recommended me but didn't remember my email. Maybe I should make a phone book ad of me running out of the back of a truck to urgently do caricatures? I would of course be B.A Baracas, only white, and more round. I've been wondering what I'd look like covered in gold chains.

-Will

Novacon

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:15:00 +0000

I will have a table at Novacon tomorrow. Stop by and say Hi! Here's some more info about the event...

"Are you an artist, like art, or just like to have fun? Then come out to Novacon, Lubbock’s Artstravaganza, this Saturday, November 1st at the Garden and Arts Center from 9-5. There will be painting, sculpture, storytelling, poetry, comic books, anime, and lots more. You can even make your Halloween costume happy by wearing it for one more day before it gets put in the back of the closet.

Tickets are an amazingly cheap $5 per person and children under 12 get in free. For more info check out www.novacon2008.blogspot.com. See you there!"

--Will

Glorianna: The Raid - Comic Now online!

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:54:00 +0000

I drew this comic Glorianna: The Raid several years ago for my friend J. Kevin Carrier, a really great guy and one of the best small pressers around. He's been coloring the pages and uploading them to his WEBCOMIC SITE the last month or so and the story just wrapped up. Make sure to swing by and check them out! Scroll to the bottom and click NEXT to go through the story and many more by other contributors.

-Will Terrell

I animated a TV COMMERCIAL

noreply@blogger.com (Will Terrell) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:09:00 +0000

I only had a few days to work on it... and I've never used Flash before in my life... but I'm pretty happy with it. Its supposed to start airing locally next week on NBC and ABC leading up to the Texas Tech University VS. Texas football game November 1st.

Oh yeah... I also designed the T-shirt, with the help of the girl I work with. I am REALLy happy with how that turned out!

-Will