J.Ho Originals

Moldy Oldies: Pissed Off Elf

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

I believe this is the first 100% digital piece I ever did, circa 2003-2004. The colors were pretty awful and over-saturated, so I adjusted them.

That elf sure looks pissed off about something. He’s probably angry beause his favorite sketchblog decided to run old artwork for the next few weeks.

Moldy Oldies: The Pits

~ J.Ho

It was not so long ago that I expressed regret over the amount of old artwork that I have been posting. Well, sadly, I’ve been treading water since then, barely able to complete my posts in a timely manner. So instead, I’ve decided to strip-mine my art archives, and post an extended series of old artwork in order to give myself time to catch up and stockpile new posts.

Many of the pieces in the coming weeks were drawn for friends, some were drawn for pitches and projects, and none of these pieces has ever really been seen by more than a handful of people. In other words, this art should be new to you, dear reader.

First up… a get well card drawn for a friend, circa 2005.

It seems like everyone I know has been sick multiple times this year, and I myself have been transformed into a plague-infested bag of putrid virulence on at least three (3) separate occasions this year (feeling well currently, knock on wood). So if you’ve got a sick friend, send ’em this pic! The terrible pun and intentionally over-saccharine image will either make them feel better… or finish the job. Okay, maybe you shouldn’t send this to anyone.

Flashback Friday Returns… Yay?

~ J.Ho

I posted a picture of a lumberjack some time ago, which was originally commisioned by my friend James, as part of an animation pitch. Here’s a forest ranger from the same pitch:

click above for larger view

I’m still pretty happy with this piece, I think it holds up alright–but let’s be honest folks, my blog posts this year (so far) have been all over the place…. tons of last minute posts and Flashback Fridays. I’ll endeavor to (metaphorically) provide fresher produce in the future.

"MMO Tuesdays" will resume next week!

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

My apologies for the interruption of my “MMO Tuesdays” series of sketches–

friends in town + Long Beach Comic-Con + crushing sinus pain + me being a big baby = me not having the time or energy to color.

However, the Con was great (I definitely recommend that everyone check it out next year). I got to meet a lot of cool people, and it’s always a good time hanging out with the usual suspects (Josh, Dustin, Derek, Marcus, Peter, Tu, etc).

The aforementioned guys all had tables in artist’s alley, and while they were trying to do business, I was hanging around bothering them all, and sketching stuff like this (which I inked after the con):

Another shark coming up on Friday, and the conclusion of the MMO series next Tuesday. Stay tuned!

Meow and Later

~ J.Ho

What has four legs, spits up hairballs, and causes me to put up last minute blog posts?

Sketched with various markers, generously touched up in Photoshop.

Sketchy Looking Individual

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

Here’s a self portrait, in which I look agitated and pale (as I often do):

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Sketched in ballpoint pen and colored in Photoshop.

For those keeping track at home, I do have a sleeveless black hoodie in RL, but I do not have a t-shirt featuring my favorite saying (unfortunately). My apologies for this interjection by my raging ego. Regular sketch-blog service will resume next time.

Cardboard and Co-Workers

~ J.Ho ~ 6 Comments

A little something different for today…

If you work in an office anything like mine, there are two realities that you will understand. Co-workers and impromptu crafts.

Any office will experience occasional lulls, and it’s during these times that you look at whatever materials are lying around the office and find a way to craft them into artifacts of boredom reduction. In the case of my office, we often receive and send things, which means boxes, which means cardboard. Sometimes I simply put a cardboard tube on my arm and pretend I’m a cyborg, but other times I draw Skeletor’s torso on a cardboard poncho, and pretend I am the Lord of Destruction. There have been paper moustaches, dioramas of Peeps murdering each other, styrofoam capes and boas, dog snouts made of paper cups, and more. For years, two cardboard box lids with happy faces hung on the wall in front of my desk. I only recently took them down because I want to preserve them somehow (perhaps by having them mounted on wood blocks).

Accompanying you on these lulls and cardboard larks, are your co-workers–the people who are in the trenches with you everyday, the people who you see more than almost anyone else, and the people who understand your countless in-jokes. In my case, these are the people who understand that when I walk up to their desk, and they ask me how I am doing, I will punch myself in the stomach, make a fake barf noise, and they will reply, “I hear ya.”

Yesterday was the last day of a co-worker and good friend of mine, who’s moving on to bigger and better. Erroneously, she had decided that she was sad about leaving–so I realized quickly that I am by far the awesomest thing in the office, and manufactured this cardboard android as a substitute co-worker to accompany her in her new endeavors:

click above for larger view

I had always intended to make an occasional foray into three-dimensional art on this blog, but here I am finally doing it. This crude standee stands about a foot tall, was sketched on a dismantled Fed-Ex box, detailed with magic markers, cut with ordinary old scissors, and assembled with packing tape and a single conspicuous brass brad.

Let Us Pray…

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments

This week, Comic-Con will descend upon us once more. Let us pray that last year’s… incident… will not be repeated.

If you’re heading down to Comic-Con, please be sure to visit:

  • Josh and Vinny signing daily @ Image Comics. Booth 2729.
  • Dustin and Derek, who both have tables in Artist’s Alley. Table FF-04 and Table KK-08, respectively.
  • Karen, Sherri, and Jodi @ the Tired Girl Collective in small press. As mentioned in my previous post, they are also hosting Nathan and his new toy Boris the Raccoon. Even though neither Nathan nor Boris are tired girls. Or are they? Table M07.

Guess what kind of suit that is. Go on.

~ J.Ho ~ 1 Comment

If you guessed sharkskin suit, you are correct. Give yourself a cookie–you deserve it. Another practice piece in watercolor crayon:

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Now that’s more like it. Not great by any means, but I feel like this piece has got a little more substance to it. Sketched lightly in pencil, colored with watercolor crayon, and inked over with a Sakura Micron (the signature was written with a Sakura brush pen). I wasn’t crazy about how the thick line turned out on the previous piece, so I decided to use a thin line over the colors–a technique often utilized by someone who actually knows what he’s doing. If I could change one thing on this one, I would have blended some blue into the suit to unify the whole color scheme.

These past two have been an interesting exercise… relaxing too, in their own way. Hopefully I’ll be able to fit a few more of these in.

Fish Out Of Watercolor

~ J.Ho ~ 3 Comments

Hello there goldfish-rendered-by-me, what do you think of the quality at which you were rendered?

click above for larger view

Junk! Junk, you say? Yeah pretty much.

I felt the urge to experiment with watercolors this past weekend, but all I had were watercolor crayons, and this is what I came up with. First of all, watercolor crayons are, in my opinion, big time cheating. The reason watercolor is tough, is because you have to be able to control/predict the flow of it–but at the same time, you have to go with the flow (literally). At least, this is my understanding of the matter. With watercolor crayons, you just put the color where you want it, and blend it with a wet brush–it takes some control, but not like real watercolor.

This piece was very lightly sketched in pencil (basically I just indicated its silhouette), colored with watercolor crayon, and the black lines were laid down afterwards, with a Sakura brush pen. Clearly, it was rendered without looking at reference of any kind. I’m just practicing, so I did this piece on a scrap of Strathmore watercolor paper–and you can see a vertical crease that goes through the tail.

I enjoy these experimentations, even though the results are sometimes less than spectacular. I’ll post watercolor crayon experiment #2 on Friday, which turned out a bit better, in my opinion.