Greg Jolly

Dragon drop

2012-01-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some more dragon sketches. Click on the images for a closer look!

There be dragons...

2012-01-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some sketches from the book I'm working on. It features a whole cast of characters including 101 dragons. I've been researching dinosaurs and bugs, among other things, trying to come up with 101 unique and distinctly different dragons. This one is based on a parasaurolophus.

Click on the images for a closer look!

Interview with a Hamster

2011-10-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

The comicbook website "Outhouse" is doing a multi-part interview with me and a bunch of other artists as part of their "31 days of Halloween" feature. They are featuring some of my creature concept art that I'm doing for Hamm*Starr.

Here is part two.

One of the other artists featured wrote a nice comment, "...the depth of development you're applying to your characters' visuals is practically Disneyesque. If this were to be adapted to animation, you'd already have their 'looks' down cold. I don't know how many times I've forgotten whether a character is right or left handed and so have to change a figure's position only to discover I have left out the scabbard to the sword he's brandishing in the last four pages too. Character sheets! Gotta' do them."

And for anyone who may have missed it, part one.

Letter column

2011-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

I got a couple of emails asking me about the lettering I did on a recent piece. Specifically how did I get the caption boxes I used to look hand drawn, were they done by hand or in photoshop. So I put together a quick tutorial.

Click on the image for a closer look!

Yipee!

2011-09-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Just got word that "The Hunting Lesson," has been accepted for the One and Done anthology. This will be my first published work as both writer AND artist. Here is the finished pencil art, with and without the text. Click on the image for a closer look!

Ahab

2011-09-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

Another detail from, "The Hunting Lesson." Click on either of the images for a closer look!

Build a bear...

2011-09-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Some more finished details from, "The Hunting Lesson." Click on either of the images for a closer look!

The Hunting Lesson

2011-09-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some rough layouts and sketches I just did for a piece called "the Hunting Lesson." It's a piece I am working on for a comic anthology.

I'm working on inking the final art right now. I like to ink on vellum over my pencils, it's a lot less stressful. I used blue pencil even though I'm not inking directly on them, I usually will start out with light lines in blue, and I switch to regular pencil as I'm doing tighter, cleaner detail. Sometimes even getting very dark, with markers or black prismacolor pencils. But this time I'm drawing the detail while I am inking. Doing a very light pencil drawing on the vellum, before inks. Click on either of the images for a closer look!

How I spent my summer vacation 2010...

2010-07-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't been in the studio in the last month or so. Working on some house projects. Below is the new mantle I built, it's across the room from the wall of bookshelves I made. Here they all are mostly done, I haven't put the doors on yet, and I'm still working on the floor...

Monster fest III

2010-04-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

Even more creature sketches. Click on the images for a closer look!

When Hamsters Attack! Part II

2010-04-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

Finished pencils, or as finished as it's going to get, of the below piece, I'm inking it now. And the plan is to eventually do a color version as well. Click on the image for a closer look!

When Hamsters Attack!

2010-03-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a rough pencils of a piece I'm working on for my upcoming webstrip. Click on the image for a closer look!

Death and axes

2010-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

This week I'm posting sketches of weapons and other props. This is a alien bug battle axe. Click on the image for a closer look!

Elf help.

2010-02-23T00:02:00.000-08:00

Some more character concept sketches, for a project I'm working on. Click on the image for a closer look!

Monster fest continues...

2010-02-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Two more color monster sketches for the upcoming webstrip...

Monsters ink

2010-02-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

Some more creature sketches. Click on the images for a closer look!

Alien dinosaur guy...

2010-02-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

Just another full body sketch. Not finished with this guy yet, I was working out the anatomy, so no weapons, armor or costume yet either. Click on the image for a closer look!

More Alien Bug Girl...

2010-02-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

A full body sketch, still rough, no real weapons, armor or costume yet. Click on the image for a closer look!

Alien bug girl

2010-02-10T01:54:00.000-08:00

More rough character sketches. I was trying for an alien-bug-girl-next-door look. Click on the image for a closer look!

Miscellaneous monsters

2010-02-05T01:15:00.000-08:00

Some character sketches from tonight. Click on the images for a closer look!

Dead rat, naked duck...

2010-02-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some sketches from Hamm*Starr. Space duck without his environmental suit, and one of the less lucky passengers, from the intergalactic veterinary transport. Click on the images for a closer look!

Bright ideas

2010-02-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

This is a marker rough for an unsold magazine illustration. Click on the image for a closer look!

One Night...

2010-02-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

This was a six page editorial piece I did for the author, Alex Ness. It was done back in '08 and has been at at least two different anthology publishers. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Click on the image below for a closer look! Or you can read it now, I just posted all six pages in a folder in my deviantART gallery, click here... ONE NIGHT on deviantART
(text © Alex Ness)

Sad news...

2010-01-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Oscar, our 18 year old cat, died this week. He'd been fighting a series of minor infections over the last few months, until a really bad one he just couldn't shake, but he had been relatively healthy otherwise until the last few days. We noticed Tuesday he was having difficulty walking, he had stopped eating and drinking and by Wednesday night he had begun to rapidly deteriorate. We did what we could to make him comfortable until we could take him to the vet Thursday morning.

He was a tough guy. When he was younger he'd leap over a sofa to chase a tennis ball. He killed a lot of mice and even a few bats. He befriended a squirrel named Scar-face, who got trapped in our basement mysteriously. Trained two kittens, even outlived one, and struck fear in the hearts of two dogs. One was a huge Irish wolf hound. And only special people got head-butts. He leaves behind two people, a lab-beagle mix and two stray cats. He will be missed.

Gun control!

2010-01-25T02:20:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished page! I still have to clean the scan up a bit, you can still see the blue pencil and the white out.

Click on the image for a closer look!

Fresh ink

2010-01-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

Another sample of the inks for page 28 of my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. Click on the images for a closer look!

Gun-shy

2010-01-22T22:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some more art samples for my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. This pages feature a Machine Gun Kelly type gangster character and an aging Jesse James type character meeting in a gun battle. For most pages I draw each panel on a different sketchbook page, sometimes using a reference collage like below. The individual panels are scanned and put together on a page template in Photoshop. I then do the inks on a vellum overlay over a b&w print of the assembled pencil pages. But for pages like this one I draw them full size on bristol board, in non-photo blue after a lot of sketches.

Click on the images for a closer look!

I'm a little "gun-shy," so I scanned in the blue pencil page so I could print out details to "test-ink" some details and experiment with the lines, light and shadows.

Rocket science

2010-01-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished drawing of a space craft. I ended up using a less detailed version for the finished logo. Click on the images for a closer look!

Retro Rocket

2010-01-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

Another sketch for the veterinary transport space craft, used in the comic strip. I wanted to make the windows on opposite sides of the craft in much the same way as the eyes of a rabbit or a fish. Click on the image for a closer look!

Oscarface

2010-01-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

Spent most of last week driving back and forth to the vet's office, taking care of pets. Oscar, our 18 year old cat, (pictured below), had a huge infection on his face. He spent three afternoons at the vet last week getting his face flushed, and we've been doing the home version since Thursday, with some goop the vet gave us. Re-opening the opening and squirting in the goop. He's been wearing a little cone too which he's not too happy about. Our newest rescue cat Vinnie, (named her after Vincent Van Gogh, since she has only one ear), she just got de-clawed last week and had an ear infection, so we've been giving here ear drops, antibiotics and pain meds everyday. Fun week! Monday, Leo our dog, goes in for his second of two flu shots, since when do dogs get flu shots?

Star treatment

2010-01-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

The design sketch for the comic strip I'm working on. Click on the image for a closer look!

2010-01-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pencils for my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics, These pages feature Machine Gun Kelly style gangster and crew arriving in town. I'm drawing each panel in my sketchbook and assembling them on a template after scanning, before I'm doing inks on a vellum overlay over a print of the assembled pencil pages.

Click on the images for a closer look!

Medicare Mickey

2009-12-30T08:18:00.000-08:00

Just a warm-up sketch, maybe a rough character idea.

Car toons

2009-12-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pencils from the pages of my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics, I'm drawing many of the panels individually and scanning them in and assembling them in Photoshop as I start to ink them, for safety sake!

Click on the images for a closer look!

Woohoo!!!

2009-12-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Great news this week! This blog was mentioned in a Tweet! "Fish Secrets" the official twitter page for the Tropical Fish Secrets website, tweeted a link to the "Fish Tank sketch" post below. Thanks Tropical Fish Secrets!
Fish Secrets
Tropical Fish Secrets website

AND my Deviant Art gallery hit 2000 pageviews! Very exciting! Thanks to everybody who took the time to check out my gallery! Gotta get back to work now...
My Deviant Art gallery

Fish tank

2009-11-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

Another character sketch from my upcoming comic strip project. It's Pleco's first major supporting role too, as an intergalactic traveling pet with a prosthetic body/space suit.
Click on the image for a closer look!

Starducks?

2009-11-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

Some character sketches from my upcoming comic strip project.
Click on the image for a closer look!

Preacher man

2009-11-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the original drawing for page three panel three. I was playing around with skewing the angle of background, trying to create an illusion of movement.

Click on the image for a closer look!

Pencil boxes

2009-11-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

Here are the pencils for the first three pages of my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. Page one starts with a Jesse James type character not dying when we think he did, and then cuts to a huge dust storm about to destroy a small town. On page two and three we see hum arriving in the town some time later, where he discovers religion. I'm scanning them as I start to ink them, (for safety sake!).

Click on the images for a closer look!

Here are the thumbnail layouts from the prologue. Click on the image for a closer look!

Duck!

2009-10-15T01:24:00.000-07:00

A rough sketch I did today.

Fish story

2009-10-07T23:51:00.000-07:00

I got an email from someone asking, "...what was the deal with the fish?" It was an illustration for Northern Ohio Live magazine, for the poem Pleco by Michael Salinger. Here is a scan of the magazine page where it was originally published. Click on the image to read the poem.

Gun control

2009-09-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Even more concept sketches for my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. Click on the images for a closer look!

Mob scene

2009-09-29T01:28:00.000-07:00

Some more character sketches from my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. Click on the images for a closer look!

James gang

2009-09-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some rough character sketches I did for my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. Click on the images for a closer look!

Choosing a church

2009-09-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the reference photos I took for my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics, I've been working on illustrating the finished pages this past summer, but some details have been eluding me for a while. One of the major locations is a church and a graveyard, and it took me a while to find the right church. This one matched the one I drew in the rough sketches and had the presence I wanted, but hadn't quite been able to capture on my own. I'll be posting some sample art and pages soon.

Click on the images for a closer look.

A bug's life

2009-09-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

A rough sketch I did for an alien zombie bug monster for an upcoming project. Click on the image for a closer look.

Aint it grand!

2009-09-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

My deviantART gallery just hit 1,000 page-views! Woo hoo!!!!!

Scapegoat

2009-08-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

One of the character model sheets I did last week, for an upcoming project. Click on the images for a closer look.

Another sketch

2009-08-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

This a female monster for an upcoming project.

Pool shots

2009-08-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

These are some illustrations I did for an instructional brochure for a pool paint manufacturer.

I walk the line...

2009-08-26T00:37:00.000-07:00

A piece I did for an industrial facility maintenance material supply company for an asphalt seal coating product line.

New blog, same as the old blog, sorta...

2009-08-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

I decided to split my design and illustration work up into two separate blogs. Too many paying design clients were getting confused by the warm-up sketches. So this blog will be losing a few archived posts, as I transfer all the graphic design work over there, and of course, post new design projects as well.
Click on the art below to check out the new site...

What I did on my summer vacation

2009-08-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Haven't been drawing much in the last few days, my wife and I are on one of those "Stay-cations," but I built some book shelves for the living room. Also working on a new mantle and a plate rail in the dining room. Vacations sure are a lot of work.

Finished DIY robot...

2009-08-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished robot from the sketch I did last week. Click on the images for a closer look.

Do you believe in miracles?

2009-07-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

Just a warm-up sketch. Cartoon version of Miracle Guy a cartoon homage to the controversial comic character Miracle Man.

DIY Robot

2009-07-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Rough sketch for an illustration of a robot. It started out as a daily warm-up sketch but I think I'll go ahead and finish it. Click on the images for a closer look.

Happy 500!

2009-07-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

My deviant art page has over 500 page views and 6 watchers! Very cool.

Office bear

2009-07-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

A cartoon I did for a friend.

My studio

2009-07-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

I got a late start today. met with some clients and did some errands, so no warm-up sketch today. So I took some pics of my office. This was a perfectly good bedroom in the third floor until I ruined it by building a computer work station in the closet, and built a window seat the size of a day bed along the window side.

The Avenger

2009-07-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Another daily warm-up sketch. This is the pulp magazine hero, the Avenger!

SM:TNG

2009-07-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Some more warm up sketches, mostly marker doodles while I was on a long call with a client, and that got me in the mood to do Spiderman for today's warm-up sketch, but I thought I'd try a new costume design... Spiderman: The Next Generation.

Sketching with the fishes

2009-07-22T01:13:00.001-07:00

Some rough sketches for a mural design. Each one is based on actual tropical fish. The whole effect will make a wall look like a giant cartoon fish tank.

Me!

2009-07-21T07:37:00.001-07:00

I don't normally post work by other artists, but this one is extraordinary! My niece Gillian did this portrait of me, in exchange for a drawing of a turtle with mittens and a hat, from me. Special thanks to Aunt Susan for reminding her I hadn't shaved that day.

Green Lama

2009-07-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Daily warm up sketches week two. This week for a theme, I think I might try to do pulp magazine characters from the forties. This is my idea for a new Green Lama, Jethro Dumont's daughter.

Daily sketch...

2009-07-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get in the habit of doing a daily warm-up sketch. Classic superheroes seem to be the theme for the week...

Another quick sketch

2009-07-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

Another quick sketch...

Queen Bee

2009-07-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a rough sketch for a character design. It was for a book by an author who wrote about her many years as a female in business, using a beehive as a metaphor. The publisher went out of business before the project got too far off the ground and I never had direct contact with the author, so if she sees this and would still like me to illustrate her book, please contact me!

Ghosts who walk

2009-05-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some more preliminary sketches from my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics. Click on the image for a closer look!

James at 75

2009-04-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is a preliminary character sketch of a seventy-five year old outlaw character, for my first graphic novel, a collection of hard boiled western horror comics,.

Bat boy.

2008-06-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration I did for Northern Ohio Live magazine. For a commentary by CNN contributor and Newsweek columnist Andy Borowitz, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times. Titled "The Bat Fix," it was a nostalgic look at his childhood fixation on the Adam West Batman TV series, and buying comics at the neighborhood Colony Drug store in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Space Hamster!

2008-06-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

This is an illustration I did for Northern Ohio Live magazine. It was for an article titled "The Hamsters Rule," about a group of science fiction writers here in Ohio.

Creepy!

2008-06-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Here is a sample illustration I did a for an unsold project. This is a mythological monster from Malaysia, called a Pontianak or Pennanggalan (sometimes spelled Penaggalan), it's a sort of vampire that is just a creepy head that can rise up out of it's body and fly about, dragging its entrails.

Click on the image for a closer look!

My first post.

2008-06-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

Instead of having a regular website for my new business, I thought it might be more interesting to have a blog. A sort of company newsletter. So I could post current work and preview upcoming projects. But for my first post, I wanted to share my very first published cartoon. It appeared March 1990, in the Akron Business Reporter.In October 2000, I sold my first color illustration to Northern Ohio Live Magazine. It was for an story titled "Heavy Mettle," about a poet's experiences at a conference promoting fat acceptance.