August 14, 2006

76: Aw, They're Just Playin'

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I up and tackled a concept I attempted about a month ago – an idea I had for Illustration Friday's theme of 'sacrifice' (as in sacrificing the body, a hockey terminology). Back in July I had much more on the brain and the concept defeated me pretty soundly. So I scrapped the sketch and decided to give things a rest.

But, glutton for punishment that I am, I didn't let the idea go entirely and decided to reattempt the illustration for I-F's current them of play. In Canada – and select northern outposts of the United States – play comes often in the guise of bloody carnage otherwise known as hockey. Myself, I'm also a fan, but I mostly keep to a more sedate version carried out in gyms and parking lots – avoiding the fate of the fellow pictured here (let's call him Lew, for the sake of giving him a name).

This illustration was done up as a pencil sketch on Saturday in a new hardcover sketchbook I bought last week, then inked the following day – with special attention given to working on thicks and thins. These portions of the process combined took about three hours. Once a colour and background scheme was thought of, the time spent in Photoshop realizing it took roughly another hour or so, all told.

A closer look at some of the detail can be seen here. Let me know what you think.

22 comments:

Diane Duda said...

The linework is great and I can't wait for hockey season!!! (even though I'm a Penquins fan)

Anonymous said...

Love it! it was well worth the extra work you did on the lines. and i love how the smaller guy fits in.

10/10

JO said...

Wonderful line work, and your cool hockey characters work perfect for this week theme.

faeorain said...

Ouch! Feel bad for the little guy:) This really stands out! Intense lines and great sense of expression. Awewome illo!

lew! said...

AH HA HA!
that'll be me for the first couple of games i bet. Luckily i am in a non-check league. There is contact but no body checking. I think the liability would be too high for a bunch of beer leaguers.

The line work is great Jeope. You can really tell you put some effort into it. I also really like the motion and color shift of the background. As always very nice.

Maybe i need a little smiley face for the center of my helmet. :P

Natura said...

Great work! Like your style.

Fernanda Guedes said...

Beautiful illo!

Unknown said...

AWESOME layout!! Love the style!! COOLIO!

camilo_grafico@yahoo.com said...

sketch, color, exellent!

Nicolette Davenport said...

So funny, very nice piece; i love the character design.

Willie Baronet said...

Really well done, love the composition. :-)

Luisa said...

je,je make me laugh

Gerald de Dios said...

Great blog you got here.
So many great illo's and
high quality photos.

Mark said...

Nice blog man :)

Ian T. said...

A really dynamic pic! In particular I dig that carefully defined line that separates the two players, but the whole composition rocks! Are you sure it's hockey, not hurling?

Todd DeWolf said...

Ahh-the good old hockey game. Lew looks truly frightened. This is quite well done. Glad you decided to keep working on it. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Good work!

Pickledog said...

Ouch! Great line work, though your illustration brings back some painful hockey memories for me
: )

carla said...

Jeope - I love your hockey illustrations (I remember one or two from a while back), because they are so wonderfully brutish and because they bring back such great memories of my son's playing days and all the time we spent watching the big guys play. I love the speed, the finesse, the fights...everything about it! There's never a dull moment. This is a super piece. I love the squareness of the big player, and the great work on the thick and thin lines. It really comes out well in the larger version where I also see some fleur-de-lis patterns hidden in that texture. Nice touch! Oh, and...poor Lew:>

Vern Mercado said...

cool stuff. i like the minimal colors and background of this drawing. it really captures the mood of a fast paced hockey game.

milo said...

i can't tell you enough how crazy i am about this drawing! it rocks! you nailed it :)

Jeope said...

I thought you might, rottentuna; it was (quite visibly) inspired by your own style - and I'm readily admitting it!