Tiki-Mania.... A little Dirk Yates goodness by me.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! I can do a Little Tiki Dance because the Inks on this piece are finally Done. It's taken me 2 years to get to this point and I'm Happy as all get out. Now if I can just manage to get someone to color it, it'll be my greatest achievment yet.

And since it's done, I'm moving onto the Pencils of a 3 page Spread I've been keeping at the front of my mind for almost 4 years now, but with everything I've had to do this whole time, it's been pushed aside to get the other stuff done. tentatively titled "Ivy at the LiKi Tiki Lounge", I'll get the sketch of her up here later.

But now.....here's the main event.

Here's the sketch for the first page of my 3 Page spread I'm looking to do. Have a few issues to work out with her proportions, and I think I've figured out what to actually do with her.

What I really need to do is find some raelly good ref's for Tiki Bar's that I can use as far as Placement of pieces. The other 2 pages I haven't exactly fleshed out yet. I tend to throw caution to the Wind and see where it all lands.

Man has it been a while since I put that last sketch up. I started in on the full sized version of the sketch (which measures 33"x17"....that's 3 pages of Bluelined comic book paper taped together to get the whole thing in) right after I posted the above sketch. Had about 2-3 weeks off from inking as my boss and I awaited the latest pages for the next project. The week I was called back in, I'd already agreed to ink 6 pages for a contest with an artist from the Philipines I know from Deviant Art. I worked on this a little here, a little there, mostly on the few days off that I had.

When I started, I worked left to right with a non-repro blue pencil which has a really soft lead. I traced the figure onto the paper, but wasn't thrilled with the way she was, so I planned to put her on a bar stool. After all was said and done, I had to start fleshing the pages out in 4H lead from a .05 mechanical pencil. I really like using the .03 becuase of how thin it is, and the lead sticks better to the paper, but in the case of pencils over blue...wax if you will...not much was gonna stay down. I started from page 3, working right to left...even though I know full well that I should have worked left to right, but it all worked out fine.

In page 1, the stool she's on, and the Tiki face on the bar, are supposed to be mechanical. It's an idea I had for my own tiki bar...which will never see the light of day, but at least here you can see how cool it'd be. They each say something, and the eyes are supposed to glow. For Halloween you can even hook up a fog machine.

On page 2 and 3, the center seat there was a last minute thing. I needed something other than a unch of Tiki's against the wall to fill up the space, so after several attempts...I finally got it right. And then the Plants...oh man the plants were a great idea....also last minute.

the hardest thing of all to do, was the weave pattern along the walls. I thought I was gonna go nuts putting them in. but they work.....and it really makes certain details Pop out more. I also really wanted a Puffer fish lamp hanging from the ceiling, but it just wasn't gonna work....for now. And I won't be Inking the original piece like i normally would. too many issues with the paper....a lot of it got pulled off by tape, or redrawn so much the smoothness of the surface peeled away. So I've turned the pencil lines to blue in Photoshop, and will be printing them out on better paper so I can ink 'em that way. And I'll get on that soon.
Here's the Full view so you can really get the scope of this sucker.

the next piece will take place on the Couch all the way to the right, but will only be 2 pages and have 2 other characters that are a part of this story.

Finally got the Colors back on this one. Been looking forward to it completed for a looooooooooong time. My good friend Flora Ronzone really did a kick ass job on this...took it way beyond anything I ever dreamed. What she did with the Clouds and the Moon alone is jaw dropping, adn then the Lighting...Hell the whole thing jsut gets me giddy with excitement when I see it.

Prints available in my gallery at http://splotchy77.deviantart.com, but I'll be making my own glossy prints soon that I'll make available, and cheaper.

Enjoy all. Aloha!

a little something different for this thread. A piece done by a friend of mine that I've been sitting on for the last 5 years. Finally got a good print out of it to Ink on some Bristol Board, and here's the results.

I've got 2 other Pieces, one of them I tried inking several years ago, but it didn't work. Think I'll give it another try soon, but I've got other pieces to do before hand. I've also got a colorized version of my "Pirates Booty" piece up top that I'll be posting here in the next day or 2, depending on when I can scan it in.

sweet!

Thanks Jay.

Pirates Booty...in Color.

I am NOT a colorist, a painter, or anything like that. I just had a bug to try coloring another piece of mine, namely the Pirates Booty piece, and see if I could do some tweeking in Photoshop. Have no CLUE as to what I'm really doing with that program, so if something doesn't work here...well, I'll let the real colorists have a go at it.

This is just me screwing around....the one thing I am Good at.

Piece done in 2006 that I could never quite get a good enough scan of. the 2 halfs never lined up properly which always pissed me off, so I put it aside until the day came when I could scan it in properly. And that day was Friday. Finally figured it out from something my boss said when scanning in a 2 page spread himself.

Now to see about getting her colored.

Rescanned the Sorcerors apprentice peice as well, but the upper left corner didn't scan right, so I need to fix that soon, so the halfs will all line up properly this time, unlike the current example shown here.

[ Edited by: TiKiMaN77 2010-10-10 17:50 ]

Just posting a few updates here.

The first is a repost with what I had planned on putting the finished piece when the time came. My "Splotchy" logo is also gona be my first tattoo when I get around to it, but for the sake of this Pin-Up which was done around the idea to have the Logo on the board to begin with, as well as one of the earlier 2 page Spreads in the begining of this thread, which probably won't ever see the light of day as an inked piece.

The other is also a repost, but this time it's the fullsize piece which I had scanned down at Staples on their Large Format Scanner, so there was no having to piece the images together and try to line them all up which is just a serious pain in ass. Some of the details here might be a little hard to see since it was done in Blackwhite, but the final inked piece will look a hell of a lot better, when I get around to it.

The third, also being a repost, is the "Sorcerors Apprentice" which I also had scanned in at Staples, since the previous version kinda sucked with having the line down the middle, and every time I rescanned it on my scanner, everything but the upper left hand side would line up properly when I was trying to finish it up. So here's what it should look like, minus the colors obviously.

FINALLY get to post this.

The Colors to "FULL MOON SACRIFICE" I just recieved from the colorist today. I was excited when he sent me the work half done 2 weeks ago, and then I checked my messages on facebook this morning to see the whole thing finished, and my excitement level can not be any higher. If anyone's interested, this and the other colored pieces (The ones I didn't do in colored pencils) will have prints available at the Tiki Bob show at the Tonga Hut in March (at least I hope I can sell them there).

Enjoy guys.

Pencils and Inks, as well as character creation: Me, Billy Crooks
Colors by the Amazing: Ben "Eddy Swan" Lucas

Next colored piece I'll have here will be the first "Pirates Booty" piece from a while back. Also hoping to have it done and printed to sell at the Bob show.

Wow! Very nice! Looks awesome!

Thanks man. Colorist is sending me the Hi rez file later tonight. Can't wait to see how she looks on glossy paper.

sooo many tikis!
a lot of time,love,and effort put into this,Billy!
Right On!

Thanks Kinn. Yeah, it was a lotta time and love. Toobad the original idea didn't work out the way I wanted. It was going to have an alter with a Snake head hovering over it, and the torches replaced what was to be large statues leading to the alter. But thank the Gods it didn't work out, cuz I'm totally lovin this thing.

Current sketch I'm working on, for another crazy 3 page Spread, with a lot more to it than the "Liki Tiki Lounge" I still have yet to ink up.

This one however, will be featuring our vary own Medusirena Marina, and the lady's of the M~Pod, with my Capt. Ivy Lee, part of the Pirates Booty collection. I've still got 2 more girls to do, and have yet to scan in a recently finished member to this shot, but hopefully soon I'll have them all done and up here.

Kami-Lani

Marina and the Capt.

The full piece, if all works out the way I have planned, will be like nothing I've ever done before.

So it's been way too long since I've managed to get anything NEW as far as my Tiki Artwork goes done, but I've finally managed to get a few things going that I've been waiting on freetime to do.

First of all, I've finished the inks to my "Curse of the Golden Moai" piece that I did for the "MOAI MADNESS" show at the Tonga Hut a while back. NOW, it will be added to the Personal collection of Mrs. Jennifer Hayes of the Hana Shirt Co. Every Tikiphile on her friends list got an invite for a gift exchange with her....Send her an original piece of Tiki art, and she'll send you whatever shirt she has in her inventory that you want. Found the PERFECT shirt, and let her know what I had to offer. So it's going to her, and I get a real bitchin' Shirt.

Second. Here are the remaining lady's from the M~Pod that will be part of the 3 page spread I've yet to even start on, to continue with my "Pirates Booty" themed Pin-Ups.
Amasan

Hinalea

Kikakapu

And the layout of all, as far as I had planned out in my head. Some resizing needs to be redone when I do it, but the idea's there.

So, until I get some more stuff done, might be a while before I get back on here and have new stuff to share. Enjoy guys.

Been a while since I've actually posted anything to this thread. Not that I haven't been doing anything, just haven't bothered to post pieces up here. I usually just post to Facebook and Deviantart.com. So, for those of you who happen upon this thread that have never seen my work before it, and whom don't know of me, or know me personally on or off Facebook.....Welcome.

And while I'm at it, all pieces I've posted in this thread before hand, ARE FOR SALE!!!! A couple of pieces have already been sold, but if something strikes your fancy, let me know and I'll get you the details.

"The Mad Monster Beach Party."
Started this for the Halloween show at the Tonga Hut 2 years ago, but didn't get it finished until Last year. In which case, I didn't make it to that show either.
It is for sale though, in case anyone's interested.

Logo design I did for my boy Patrick Sousa of "OB TIKI"
He got the Logo and Tiki design, I got a Tiki carved by him, with the NJ Devils Logo carved into it. We Jersey boys gotta stick together.

Not sure if I posted this one here yet. Will take it down if I did.

5 Volored versions of my "Apprentice" piece, finally colored up all Purrtty like.

Another art piece for a past Tonga Hut show, this one was actually at the last "Tiki Wonderland" show, and came in second place....1 vote behind Eric October's piece.

Finally inked this piece, and it's already been bought and paid for folks...sorry.

A commissioned piece I got to do, for the gentleman who bought the piece above. It's of him and his Girlfriend. I really went hog-wild with this one, as I'd hoped to have it and another one from him done before Christmas...didn't happen. But, we was cool to wait for it.
The Pencils

The Inks

the Second Piece of his 2 Commissions, which was actually the first one I started, and the last one I finished a few weeks ago.
the Pencils.

the Inks.

I think these should do it for now. More stuff coming soon, like some pieces for Dirk Yates.

I wish I could do all of those pieces. Impressive. Wendy

Now I know who Billy Crooks is on FB :lol:
Nice art :)

Your work is amazing. Love the detailed artwork and the energy in your work.

thanks guys. If I wasn't trying to wake up right now, I'd have a lot more to say....but coming from you guys, I'm honored you even took the time to look here.

And here's a piece I missed last night. A little something to get the ball rolling for some pieces I'm doing for and of Our good Buddy Tiki Dirk Yates. this is just the sketch I did of him last year while attending a show at the Tonga Hut we were both at, I think it was the 55th B-day Bash/Show. Now to get crackin on the other actual pieces and finish 'em all up as fast as I can.

Hey all. I've put together a new album up on Facebook where I'm taking pre-orders for my colored Prints and Posters, all of which you can see here on this thread.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202528650917866&type=1&l=9cb9c1dc79

Updated the above folder earlier this morning.

9x12 Prints: $5 each.
12x18 Prints: $10 each.
24x36 Posters: $15 each.
Limited to 1,000 each.

9x12 Prints: $5 each.
12x18 Prints: $10 each.
24x36 Posters: $15 each.
Limited to 1,000 each.

24x36 Posters: $15 each.
Limited to 1,000 each.

Green version

Orange Version

Purple version

Purple/Green Version

Red Version
24x36 Posters: $15 each.
Please be sure to message with what Color you're requesting.
Limited to 1,000 each.

24x36 Posters: $15 Each.
Limited to 1,000 each.

PayPal: [email protected]
Free Shipping in the US.
And if you're a Chase Bank customer, even better, cuz I take Quick Pay.

Cutting the prices on the 12x18 Prints, and the Posters, at least for the summer.

12"x18" Prints: $5.00 each.
24"x36" Posters: $10.00 each.

I'm also offering a cool little surprise to anyone, and Everyone who buys 2 or More copies.
Paypal: [email protected]

[ Edited by: TiKiMaN77 2014-06-16 17:38 ]

So, I'm doing a bunch of these Characters for our good buddy Dirk Yates. He asked me last summer, I said "Absolutely" I'll do them....and it's taken nearly a year to do the first one (been busy, and really unable to do as much drawing as I'd like these days). I've got a few things to correct on this one before I ink it, but just minor stuff. Next up is a Steam Punk Dirk that I'm trying to finish right now.

Enjoy.