For Old Time's Sake

I have a love/hate relationship with seeing my old art. Hate, because I see all the little imperfections and areas for improvements as well as being flat out embarrassed with what I did before. And Love, because there is something very emotionally satisfying with seeing what you might have been thinking of, or feeling at the time old work was created as well as seeing improvements.

Orchard Heroes hasn't updated in over 2 years and I'm not sure if I will ever return to it again, but that doesn't mean a lot of the ideas and plans that I had for it didn't exist. I did this piece for fun just so I could get some of the ideas to come out. No, I wasn't interested in really writing Volume II, but I was curious to see how I would've drawn the characters if I were to restart the series.

The whole Volume II crew is below. The Orchard Heroes, Moldman and his Mold Army, as well as for their first public appearance, The Fungus Five, The Grape Tribe, Mildew Man, Cherry Girl, and Green Apple.

"Coming Soon" is relative...

-G

Back At It

Inspiration comes in so many forms and methods. I never know when something is going to inspire me or when my creativity is going to be sparked. I kind of like it that way. Whenever I do get inspired, I've learned over the years to run with it right there and then. It can up and leave just as randomly as it comes, and all you're left with is what you managed to create during that time. Even if its not great or something I'm extremely proud of, just creating something always pays off even if its just a small sketch. I've come to the point where some of my old sketches and doodles inspire me now, you just never know.

Here's a quick design I did after chatting with my friends about creating game apps for smart phones. After reading about crazy success stories about the guys behind Angry Birds, we started brainstorming just for fun. Even if this may never bloom into something real, I still had fun with it. That's probably the best part about it all.

-G

Adventure Time!

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake!

Cartoon Network is releasing their newest cartoon in about a month or so and the commercials and marketing technique has caught my attention. The commercials feature a real life kid running around dressed up like Finn in the cartoon yelling, "What time is it?" The commercials got me looking into the cartoon a bit more and theres something about it that clicks with me.

I've always wanted to see more stuff in the cartoon world with a more epic feel to it. Adventure Time appears to have that epic feel yet stay true to the cartoon nature of things. It doesn't really look serious, but maintains that balance of humor and adventure. I'm pretty eager to see how the cartoon is and look forward to enjoying the quirky storylines. If anything the art is very unique and fun. We'll see!

-G

Catch Up

Life sometimes throws you on a traumatizing roller coaster ride where you find yourself in gut wrenching descensions and temporary highs. I find that these often draw out emotions that definitely affect my art and creative energy. Especially with my preferred style and themes, I feel like I have to be in a content or joyful state in order to "create." But I've been pushing myself to express my creative energy even in times where there may be no joy, and the results have been interesting.

With The Nosco Project, I have had a slight motivation to draw due to the publishing dates and below are a few months worth of catch up. May we always find the strength and courage to stand up and do what we are blessed to do regardless of the snakes and tangles that strive to make us fall.

For more visit www.TheNoscoProject.com

The Nutcracker

Sushi

Rain

Chinese New Year: Year of the Tiger

Humpty Dumpty

-G

It Only Takes 12

Following the previous post, here is an even better example of what it means to capture the bare essence of things. Of course this makes the assumption that these superheroes are well known.

Looks like all it takes are 12 colored pixels for many of us to recognize superheroes.

Try it out.

12 Pixel Heroes

-GH

Simply Simple

One of the more challenging, but satisfying things that I like doing is capturing the simple. In everything, whether it be a design, a face, an object or location, there is always an "essence" that makes up the core qualities. This "essence" is absolutely necessary in making this design, face, or object what it is. Sometimes in art, I find those that are able to capture this in their art are able to cut away all the useless details and waste in their work. Its amazing how much can be conveyed with just a few strokes, or choice colors. Once this "essence" is determined or captured, everything else becomes unnecessary.

If all this makes no sense, I completely understand. I barely understand myself most of the time. Below is an example of how using the same block shape for icons, the artist was able to capture the key qualities and colors that make up the character despite the limitations of shape. They probably could've simplified it even more, but this is cool regardless.

-GH

Goliath

The first theme for The Nosco Project was Goliath. Not too sure how I came up with that, but it turned out to be a fun theme to start with. When doing these theme pieces, I usually go with my first impression of the theme. The first image, or first idea that pops in my head, I like to stick with and kind of play around with it.

When I started to work on Goliath, I just kept imagining an image from Hercules, the Disney version. So I went with that. Also I always like incorporating a new style so that it just forces me to improve on my use of the programs I draw with and also to challenge my creativity a bit. For this piece I tried out the style of using non-black borders for the shaping.

And here is the finished product...

For more awesome interpretations of Goliath...come and get to know TheNoscoProject!

-GH

To Get To Know

After years of admiring the Drawergeeks website, I've decided to start up my own project. Working with some close friends and going by an invite only system, hopefully this will be fun for those involved as it will be for me.

The goal is simple. To inspire, improve, encourage, and enjoy.

Looking forward to seeing how this project develops and grows!

Welcome to TheNoscoProject..

.

-GH

Religious Vegetables

Helped out a friend with his website by drawing a quick icon for his logo. Its an awesome and creative idea for a website. A great place to share prayer requests and to pray for each other as well. For more information or to join in on this great idea, check it out here.

Went through a few drafts and attempts before settling on this piece. Its a pretty interesting challenge when you're trying to make a head of lettuce look fun and hip.

-GH

Lemonhead and Co

I was on the freeway when I saw a truck drive by with some interesting characters on the side of its carrier. I actually pulled closer and mentally jotted down what I saw. I got home and looked these guys up. As a kid I only remember the Lemonhead character, but I guess now they have a whole team of them. Thought these guys were pretty cool. Once again, I'm intrigued by anthropomorphic characters, and this time, they're even fruit.

Pretty cool. At least I think so!

-GH