Krang! - My Childhood Villain

Krang... one of the absolute greatest villains from my childhood.
A tentacle brain alien is completely genius.
Every now and then I can hear his fantastic voice as it rises and plummets in pitch yelling "Shredder!"

Anyway... hope you enjoy. I did this piece for the More Tentacles Blog

Up Next: I'll be posting part 2 of the illustration process for Startled by the Uniflop

Uniflop Process - Part1

Happy March 1st!
I've been reading Alice in Wonderland to my kids at night. That book is awesome and completely insane. Waaaaaaay crazier than the disney version. So any who, in honor of the March Hare I thought I'd post this piece I've been working on and show a little of the process I went through to create it.

I call it "Startled by the Uniflop"

The Uniflop is a very rare magical creature. With the body of a deranged, white jack rabbit and a unicorn's horn protruding from just above it's creepy visage it is truly a sight to behold.
Often the Uniflop seems to appear out of nowhere. It then spends the next few minutes (or however long it decides to stay around) hopping around just inside your personal bubble while being careful to never actually make physical contact.
Those who have encountered this creature are often overwhelmed with an uneasy feeling, not because of it's dangerous powers, or ferocious disposition, but because of it's striking awkwardness.

Anyway, now that I've educated you on this rare creature... here's how I did this illustration.

Step 1- Thumbnail. It all started with this:

a tiny drawing to establish the general layout and value... though I switched the value where the Uniflop is.

Step 2 - Larger Layout comp. Then I scaled things up a bit and worked out where things would be placed and bit more detail of the posing of characters. At this point I knew it was a troll that would be startled but the startling agent was going to be a kitten. I scratched that idea because it seemed so... well... unimaginative.

Step 3 - Now the flood of sketches. Ranging from really ugly and sloppy chicken scratches to more refined sketches. This is just to explore the character designs and poses. During this process I looked at images of jack rabbits and pictures of me posing like a little startled girl. (here are a few of those... sketches, not the pictures of me. Those were deleted and sent to the void.)

Some of them are really hideous so... yeah. But, it is all in the name of science! or progress.

Step 4 - When I get the design I like (the last one above) I take an awesomely cruddy photo and put it in photoshop. Referring to the original thumbnail and layout comp I create a larger composition including value and more background details.

yeah... I know it's hideous... but so is the scaffolding of a building. Anyway, that's what I have to remind myself at this point.

So........... part 2 next time!

I feel so exposed right now.

And a big Thanks to Adam Munoa for doing a artist spotlight of me on his blog. Hopefully I will be able to share some of his work here soon.

Part 2 is here

Dragged Under... In an antique diving suit

Here's another quick dealio for the More tentacles blog. Antique diving suits are funny. Really funny.
Of all the ways to die... I think being dragged down to a watery depth would be horrifying. Probably less painful than some other options like if there was an alligator involved, but definitely horrible. Water deaths and I don't get along. Anyway... the More Tentacles blog is open to anybody... amateur or professional. All submissions are welcome!

... I thought I had something else to type here... but i didn't. Though, I guess the fact that I just typed all this proves that wrong. Kind of like saying "I have nothing to say here".

Is it true?

Is it false?

Does anybody read this blog?

I Only Have Eye For Ewe

First off, I am so, so, so sorry for the horrible pun of a post title... but I couldn't resist it.

Anyway... I decided to finally do an illustration Friday... the theme was wool.

So yeah... more coming soon.

Not a Dalmation... it's a Squid-Alien in a Robot Suit

for my one-hundred and one-th post I really should have drawn some form of Dalmation... but I didn't. Call me Cruel...a (or not, she was pretty obsessed by them).

Anyway... this is a sad Squid-Alien in a Robot-Suit... I don't know why he's sad... you tell me.

I did this for the More Tentacles art blog... go check it out... it's weird like me.

100th Post! the Alligator process

wooooooot! it's my 100th post! and to celebrate I am going to post the steps of the Gator Memoirs piece.

Step 1 - First I came up with some ridiculous idea, like two rosters playing space chess (ooooo, now I'll have to do that one later.) or in this case an alligator typing his memoirs. then I did a sketch using Faber Castell brush pens and a white pastel pencil on Bogus Recycled Sketch Paper (that is really what it is called) and took a cruddy picture of it. My main concern was value and composition at this point.

Step 2 - I took it into Photshop and refined the drawing (lines). Using my secret technique of tracing...

Step 3 - Using a few layers in photoshop, I put down blocks of color. I mostly used the value of the original sketch and just laid down solid colors under a Vivid Light layer (that process changes a lot depending on the project)

Step 4 - Next I added shadows with a multiply layer. Yep... pretty straight forward.

Step 5 - I like to think of this step as the atmosphere and mood stage. Using multiply layers, levels, saturation, and other digital hocus-pocus, I create the mood I'm going for.

Final Step - To finish it off I went in and added little details (things like cup stains on the table) and extra highlights. This is the "cherry-on-top" step.

Anyways... happy 100th to me! and to you if you are reading this. I enjoyed this little piece and hope you enjoyed seeing the process. I'm thinking i'll put up prints for sale. Anywho... my process tends to vary from project to project but a lot of the same steps and methods are used...

And with this I bid thee farewell.

Troll Close Up

Right now I'm working on a somewhat larger piece, and loving it. So, anyways, here is a close up of a section of the in progress illustration.

I'll keep you updated as it gets closer to being finished.

If you have any questions about freelance work or would like a quote send me an email.

Alien Abduction... of salt shaker

Yeah... this is weird. But my brain felt it was on a roll. That little guy gives me the gibblies.

On a side note... go check out the tentacle blog for regular updates of some sweet, sweet tentacle art.

Alligator Writer

that's right, he's busy writing his memoirs... alligator memoirs.

type type

"... and then I stuffed the guy under a rock to save him for later."

type type


oh man... alligators are evil... yet I'm so fascinated with them!

This one is traditional with a bit of digital wonderment... okay, a lot of digital wonderment. But it's wonderment so that's okay.

anyway... I hope you enjoy. And if you call me and the secretary starts hissing at you, you'll know why.

On a side note, I get a lot of visitors on this site that come here by googling "crocodile man" weird.

Thunder… thunder… thunder... THUNDERCATS HO!

I had a crazy idea that wouldn't leave my mind. So… here it is.

What an awesome show that would have been! Japanese Thundercats?! Samurai Lion-O?!

I will always love the original Thundercats. Lion-O's man-mane was something else. He put Fabio to shame. Honestly I haven't seen the new series yet… but I'm not itching for it or anything.

Hope you enjoy cause it was fun for me.

Oh, and go check out the tentacle blog.

It's Banjo-Pig Time!

I could resist it no longer!
I Banjo-Pigged... and Banjo-Pigged in a classical way.

This was my piece for the delightful Dueling Banjo Pigs blog
It was fun... In an Aristocratic Redneck way.

You can go over thar and see this very piece in all it's exact same glory!
But you can also go see a slop full of other Banjo Pigs by some great illustrators and Artists.
Check it our before you Wreck it out. (I think that works)

Once again, This is Cam Kendell... Freelance Illustrator, Artist, Designer, writing on a blog. If you are interested in getting a quote for illustration work shoot me an email.

cam@camkendell.com

Oh, and stay tuned for more outrageousness.

Caught In the Headlights

Yes my deer... this is another piece. Puns are so punny. I'm continuing to try new things and techniques. I call this Sambar En Repose. He looks so distinguished and fancy I feel underdressed while typing this. Plus he almost looks mad... like maybe we've disturbed him in his study.

sorry, we'll let you get back to whatever you were doing.

This one involved, traditional, digital, and photographic trickery.

Let me know what you think of it.

the art of Dungeon Dice

DUNGEON DICE is live!

Right now on Kickstarter you can pledge to get a copy of what I think will be a really fun game.

The game was created by Sam Coates of Potluck Games and his has a load of dice. Who doesn't love rolling dice!

Anyway, I did the illustration work for the Kickstarter campaign so I thought I'd post the illustrations here. starting with my favorite one....

The Goblin Guard

This one was incredibly fun. Who wouldn't kill at the chance to get paid to draw a goblin sticking a key up his nose?! 'Twas a blast. Next...

The Rogue

Watch out! she's got a whip! Or is that just to distract you from the fact that she has a crazy squiggly, stabby dagger?

The Viking

I dare you to tell me who doesn't like vikings... well, may those they pillaged... but they are by far the exception to the rule.

And lastly, here is the main image for the campaign

The funnest part was probably the spider webs in the cave... don't know why... I hope that elf dodges. Stone guy gonna smash you!

And there you go. Definitely a fun project to work on. Go check it out and pledge! You'll get an awesome game when it is funded and maybe I'll get to do more illustrations for it!

Pledge Here

Critics Wanted for Goblin on Giant Armadillo

As you can see I ended up going in a completely different direction than I had planned in the last post. I like it better.... HOWEVER, I want to improve my game.

So... load the cannons and light the fuses.

I would love some honest, constructive criticism. Tell me what you like, what you don't like and why, how it tickles you, the reasons it makes you ill, the ways in which it offends your very core... anything you feel like telling me... about the image (no personal jabs please, I'm not that thick skinned)

Thanks...

Some work in Progress

well, here is a work in progress I thought I'd share. I'm playing around with the process on this one. Trying out new techniques. I'll post the final when the time comes.

Again, I am open for illustration work. Contact me for more info or a quote.