Portrait Adventures!

Portrait for Private Client for Birthday Gift
Twin Babies as Superheroes
By Corey Breen
Pencil

Reference Used for Portrait

So I got this wonderful email a couple of months ago from a very old, dear friend and classmate from Syracuse University, named Stephanie. We still say hello here and there on Facebook, but it was a surprise when she emailed me directly, and asked if I would like to do some freelance Illustration for her. She wanted to know if she could hire me to give her brother the BEST Birthday gift she could think of. She wanted to commission me to draw her twin nephews! Her brother's Birthday was coming up in January (actually, the same birthday as my wife), and she had a couple of very specific ideas that were right up my alley.

You see, her brother was a HUGE comic book fan throughout they're lives, and she thought it would be a wonderful idea if I did a portrait of the twins as Superheroes! I thought this was a GREAT idea as well, as I had previously done a baby portrait last year that came out really nicely. Steph wanted to get back to me as to what exact superheroes she wanted the twins to be, and quickly remembered that her brother's favorite characters have always been Superman, and Wolverine! I loved the idea, and told Steph what I would be able to do, and make the image/ portrait just like a real Comic Book Cover!

All Steph had to do was get me as much reference of the babies as she could, what she wanted the "title & credits" to be, and I'll do the rest. Well, she got back to me with a TON of pics to use, and everything she wanted to say on the cover, calling the "comic" 'THE ADVENTURES OF JACK & BEN'! Since it was around the Holidays, and I was also very busy with looking for a new apartment to move to with my wife, I wasn't able to start the drawing til after Christmas. But once I started, I knew EXACTLY what I had in mind for the piece, and started drawing. Everything came into place, and I showed Steph, and she LOVED it! She KNEW her brother would be so shocked, and love it also.

Well, I've held out showing it until now, and since the gift was given to her brother on January 20th, Steph got back to me with pics of her brother opening it. The look on his face was priceless, and made me very VERY happy that all involved were very proud of it!

This piece, as all pieces I do for clients, was a pleasure to do, and I loved to here the reaction I've gotten from people who have given them as gifts to close friends & family! I hope to many, MANY more pieces like this one, and I thank Steph from the bottom of my heart in choosing me to do such a special drawing for her, her brother, and her nephews, that they can treasure for a long, LONG time!

I hope everyone else likes the piece as well!

Until Next Time,

CjB

2 for 1 for 1

Neytiri from Avatar © 20th Century Fox

By Corey Breen
Pencils

Neytiri from Avatar © 20th Century Fox
By Corey Breen
Pencils

This blog should have happened about a week or so ago. I'm really sorry it took this long to get around to posting these, for they have been done for a while now, and I know I mentioned them being ready to post. But because I moved addresses (I moved from Forest Hills to Glen Cove), I've had an insanely busy week, and wasn't able to do so until now. I didn't get internet access until Tuesday afternoon, and even then my wife and I have had about a MILLION and two things to do with the apartment. We got really far, and I was able to set up my workstation, desk, and computer, so I'm finally ready to get back to normacy!

So the two above images. Yeah, I'm STILL obsessed with Avatar! And I just saw it AGAIN in 3D last night! It was just as amazing as the first time, maybe even more so. Nothing beats IMAX 3D Avatar, but seeing it in just plain 3D was simply stunning, because IMAX is just so massive and overwhelming, that you see more intricacies and nuances in regular 3D. The 3D really stood out, and the depth of field was so powerful and effective, even more so then the IMAX where the entire movie is just insanity, it's so colorful and sensory overload (which was great too, don't get me wrong)!

So, yeah, I'm in love with the movie, and 3D, and actually, the video game that I got for my new PS3 I got for XMAS! The game is sooooo awesome! A little repetative in it's levels and missions, but who cares, I get to be a Nav'i and roam the world of Pandora, which this game captured in ALL it's beauty, TRUST ME! The game and world look just as breathtaking as the movie, and it is just an AWESOME, awesome looking game. It's really fun too, but I just get to kill a TON of human RDA soldiers and although most hate movie games, I love them! It is really inspiring me to draw too, and not just Avatar pin-ups and fan art.

Which brings us to the above images. I drew these since reading the Art of Avatar bok, and playing the video game, and just absolutly loving the character of Neytiri! I think the actress and the character STOLE the movie, and did such a fnatstic job! So I was trying to come up with a really cool postition to make her in, but it was very difficult. It is hard to draw archers. They're arms really need to be a certain way for you to have them hold a bow and arrow, and then you have to make the rest of their body really movable and believable for the position to work. But then, two drawings started to emrge forom those sketches, so I began work on both of them. One where she is running, the other where she is crouching on some tree tops.

I also decided that I would do one as my regular style of finished pencils, and some shading, and then I would do one just in line drawing form. I love line drawings, and don't do enough of them. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to do two pieces that showed the difference between a line drawing and my shaded pieces. I really dig how both of these came out, and really like each one for different reasons! Let me know which one you like best, I'm curious to know.

Line drawings are actually a LOT harder to do. You can hide a lot more, and trick the viewer's eye more when you use shading. Don't really know how something will translate in a drawing, use shading to help. In a line drawing, you can't do that. It's much harder, because literally, EVERY line must mean something, every line must have a purpose. So therefore, every line you put down, must be thought of carefully. With a shaded drawing, you can define a lot more, but with just lines, that is all the viewer has to go by, so you need to mkae sure the entire drawing translates well. Did I like drawing one more then the other? No. Since I did both at the same time, I enjoyed the process of both, and also loved that I did them simultaneously, because I got to switch form one to the other if I needed a break from one.

I think the only other thing I learned from drawing these two Avatar pics, is that I really need to work on consistency. Not consistency in style though. I feel I have my style down pat. I've been trying for the last 10 years (since college) to nail a style that was part Joe Mad, part Quesada, part McFarlane, and part Campbell, and finally feel I really have one that you can tell right off the bat that that is one of MY, Corey Breen's pictures. I've tried really hard to do that, and now it really is just HOW I draw. When I draw, it's just what comes out, it's my natural style, that's it! But one thing I haven't nailed yet is consistency in recognition of faces between one drawing of a character and another drawing of the same character. I knew one of my flaws was that my faces don't stay consistent enough. I change from drawing to drawing too much. I knew I needed to work on that. But it came very apparent I need to do more because with these two Neytiri pics, they look like different Nav'i people. Both are pretty good likeness of the actress, but from one drawing to the other one, they look too different from each other. I must keep working at trying to make one character look the same in each drawing I do of them.

I will continue to try and improve on that with a couple of projects I hope to start in the coming months, so that will be good practice if nothing else. In the meantime, do yourself a favor... DOWNLOAD my Neytiri pin-ups above, then GO SEE AVATAR in 3D ONE MORE TIME, before it goes out of theaters. I know that may not be for a while, the way it's making money and going to beat Titanic, but it's a real treasure we have to see this movie in 3D, so don't miss out seeing it again on that technology, trust me. It's so worth it!

That's it for me today, but so MUCH more to post this week! I got that Flash drawing I'm finishing up, and before that TWO, count em, TWO Freelance projects to post that I did in the past that I want to talk about and share with you all...

SO... Until Next Time,

Corey Breen
CjB Productions

SaricH Sculpture by Famos Sculpture

SaricH © Corey Breen

Now, if you've been to my website, or my blog, or my facebook page, deviant art page, comic space page, or my Twitter page, you know this image by now! This is a character I created long, long ago, named SaricH. He is an anamorphic character based on a midget humanoid spotted leopard cub. He is one of my favorite characters that I've created (and I have hundreds). He is pretty much the charcter I use for all my work, portfolio's, logos, or press. He is kinda like my company mascot for all intents and purposes. I have major plans for him, and I hope to do stuff along the lines of Dave Sim's Cerebus character, for he is also based upon him.

In a previous blog post, I explained how I was trying to make a sculpture out of the character. I like to sculpt, but usually my mind is bigger then my skill sets, and it doesn't come out the way I see it in my head. I think with practice, I could get very good at it, but my focus is always on drawing and creating, and to learn a whole new craft is very time consuming, when I should keep my focus on the drawing.

Working at DC Comics, I got to become friends with a lot of coworkers, and some of them have been the Design Department. They get to work on all the toys, statues, and packaging that comes out of DC Direct! One of the coolest jobs ever, next to mine, of course, hah ha! Just kidding.

One of the people I got to become friends with is Amos Hemsley! He is an AWESOME sculptor and a really nice guy. I asked Amos if he would be interested in doing a sculpture of my character, SaricH. Amos had recently moved on from DC to go freelance and expand his own company. Based on some of Amos' previous sculptures I've come to know, I knew he would make the COOLEST sculpture of SaricH imaginable! Luckily, Amos agreed to take on the commission! Sufice to say, I was so excited.

In about a month, maybe less, Amos was done, and sent me a jpg of the finished piece! Check it out for the first time, right HERE:

SaricH Sculpture by Amos Hemsley
Based on a Drawing and Character © Corey Breen

Amos didn't disappoint! In fact, he blew the ROOF off this piece. It stands at approximately 7 inches tall on the stand, and about 4 1/2 inches wide. After Amos was done with the sculpt, he made a mold of the it, and produced the cast that I took pictures of below, and now own!

View I


View II


View III

I can't thank Amos enough for the AMAZING job he did on the piece! It looks exactly like my drawing, and in fact, it makes SaricH look that much COOLER! Based on the sculpt, I will probably base his look in future drawings on the sculpture! I can't even explain how awesome it is to see my work produced in 3D! It makes it REAL somehow, that I never thought possible. Amos did a FANTASTIC job on it, and we both can't wait til we get it fully painted. Right now, the person who usually paints Amos' work is very busy right, and I'll have to wait a few months before I can possibly use the painter to help finish the sculpture. But I can wait just a tad longer, as I just stare in awe of my character, portared by one of the UP AND COMING SCULPTORS IN THE BUSINESS, AMOS HEMSLEY!

Please, please PLEASE< check out Amos' site here, and tell him how awesome you think SaricH came out, and how good a sculptor he is (because he IS), and give him a shout out for me!

http://www.famossculpture.com/home
http://www.facebook.com/amos.hemsley?v=photos

SO, I will keep you posted on when the piece is fully colored, and I can't wait to get to be at the convention circles, in Artist's Alley where SaricH will sit on my table, front and center for all to see. Another HUGE thank you to Amos for his stellar work...

Until next time,

CjB