Backpacker | Arachnid Awareness

Here's a recent illustration I did for the September issue of Backpacker Magazine, which just came out a few days ago. In every issue there's a section call Survival, and in that, a Basecamp Survival Quiz. Each month has its own theme and topic.

Sketch

Jackie McCaffrey, the Associate Art Director over at Backpacker, asked me to run with the idea of Spiders. I had a bunch of fun working on this, of course. A big scary spider? What more could I ask for? The sketch was approved so I went to the final. Same process as usual- I do the linework in ink and then color digitally. Big thanks to Jackie and everyone at Backpacker!

Layout

Maxim | Modern Monsters

Another group of illustrations I did- this time for the August Issue of Maxim. With the Modern Monsters Theme, I had to illustrate celebrities/ reality tv show stars as mythological creatures.

Art Direction by Eric Ku.

Click image for larger illustrations or go to:
http://www.johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/maxim--mondern-monsters/

(layout)

I'm not a Terminator, I'm a princess!

http://johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/wired--true-salvation/

Two new illustrations I did for the August issue of Wired that just came out recently. I had to illustrate two directors' viewpoints on where the Terminator franchise will go. One would be an all out epic while the other would combine with the greatest movie of all time, Kindergarten Cop.

Art Direction by Alice Cho!

Sketches

We opted for the second and fifth versions for the two, with adding some palm trees in the background for the epic and bring over some of the background from the other versions for Kindergarten Cop.

Layout

You should be cleaning the diapers. You should be reading stories about bears that go shopping!

The Roaring

http://johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/the-roaring/

A personal piece that started as my Sketches for "The Great." A image of warning between the Great War and Great Depression. After finishing, it didn't seem as menacing as I originally thought it would, so I renamed it for the Roaring Twenties.

Made with Ink and Digital Color/Collage

I chose the Flatiron Building because- beyond being my favorite building in the city- to me, it's the best representation of Old New York City. The Empire State Building wasn't completed until the early 30's so I felt that The Fuller building on Broadway and 5th had a better feeling with just as much or even more character.

I've been busy with a few jobs so I'll be able to post those as soon as they publish. More coming soon.

Homo Ferus | Strength in Numbers

Better quality version: http://www.johnnydombrowski.com/illustration/homo-ferus--strength-in-numbers/

Just finished this tonight. With the amount of feedback I've received for the first Homo Ferus, the urge and pressure was on to continue the series. I've been going through a long dry spell so it feels good to break out of it. Sketch: About 6 1/2 x 9 inches.
One part of my work that I don't tend to show you is all of the tracing paper I go through. While I'm working on a piece, if I have the slightest bit of doubt of how I should draw something, I'll always sketch it out over the drawing. Before having him jump on the back of the elk, I originally drew him running behind- which you can see in the initial sketch. Along with a few drawings to get his hand right, you can see what the original pose looked like.Above: Original pose for the boy around a few wolves. Below: A few variations of his hand with the final version on the bottom.
Coloring it was also a challenge. Unlike the first, I had no idea what time of day I wanted to set it in. With a few ideas in mind, a dense fog quickly became the winner. I'm already working on sketches for another idea. I'm going to step away from Homo Ferus for a bit but he'll be back. Also, I may be working on a short comic soon but I'll keep you posted on that later. All the best.Inked line work: Around 18 x 24 inches.

Moleskin pages

Coloring a second Homo Ferus illustration. It's starting out slowly but getting there. Much harder to figure out the lighting in this one compared to the first. In the mean time, here are some more pages from a new(er) sketchbook...

Left are some thumbs for an idea I'm working on at the moment. (You can see the page in my sketchbook in a photo from an earlier post!) It was for an illustration about the return to normalcy and the eventual great depression between the two wars. Graphite with inked tracing paper.
On the right is a quick sketch I did during the Society of Illustrators' sketch night this last Tuesday. Most of the time, I'll just hang out by the bar and do the crossword but every once and a while, I'll spot a pose I love and draw it in. This being one of them. That model is great too- love her hair.

One thing I tend to play around with in my sketchbook is design. Though I never find a way to incorporate it into my work, I love typography and play around with it as much as I can.

And this is what happens when I don't draw in pencil. Not a pretty sight. I hated it so much I had to either rip the page out or draw it again. An interesting before and after though.

Working on a few things lately. Along with doing a bit of coloring, I'm also working on another addition to my Homo Ferus series. It's been fighting back, but it'll get there soon. Looks promising, too. I was drawing for most of the morning when I found myself in a serious block. Nothing seemed to work so I decided to take a break with final work and loosen up in my sketch book for a bit. These four were my favorites out of the bunch. All of them were done with Pentel brush pens.