The above image was an ink doodle that was drawn freehand on notebook paper several years ago.

These doodles are something to pass the time while on the phone or listening to music. Usually they don't even look like a figure, mostly arrows swirling all over the place or random patterns and forms. This one started to take more shape, so I worked on it even more using a digital painting application called PAINTER.



I just 'painted' on top of the inks and roughed out some forms, added some light and then tossed in some textures on the weaponry. I wanted to play with the various FX and brushes within the program to see how much faster virtual painting was to reality. The only difference I believe is in the cleanup. The other advantage is that it can easily be altered, while retaining every stage along the way as separate files.

Both images have the same basic structure, but have their own story and flavor to them.

Sketch inspired by Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan.

Tarzan, as well as John Carter of Mars (and the inhabitants of Barsoom) have inspired so many depictions in various mediums. My favorites have been the works by Frank Frazetta, Neal Adams, Roy Krenkel and Frank Schoonover.

The definitive Tarzan has yet to be depicted on film, and as per Carter's Barsoom well, let's see what the future entails...

the world of Blogs!!!

Hello, Raf Kayanan here.

I decided to join the blogging nation to shed light on some current art projects, items of interest and sketches. I even have some "How To" posts in the works for those who are interested in such matters. To start off, here's an image of one of 250 Sketch Cards that I drew for the LORD OF THE RINGS Evolution Hobby Card set for New Line and Topps. Sketch cards are one of a kind originals inserted into packs of pre-printed cards. In this project, all the cards were to depict characters from Peter Jackson's wonderful films based on Tolkien's trilogy. This card is of Aragorn in perhaps one of the most iconic moments of the films.



In a future post, I'll tell ya more about a magazine article I am writing which will detail a 'how to' of the process in creating these cards.

As a concept designer for films, it was very interesting to closely observe the level of detail that went into every aspect of Jackson's film. It is something that not many films or licensed characters have the luxury of. We can all name favorite characters which have been watered down, or have completely missed the mark in their film incarnations. Many artists would love to work on something with such care and attention to detail.

You can find more samples of my LOTR sketch cards along with other excellent artists here:

Lord of the Rings Sketch Cards

Enjoy!