_________Kev Ferrara___________

[Konstruktion]

Wouch man! Your inks reminds me of Frank Frazetta and Berni Wrightson, two of my favourite artists ever so that's obiously a goog thing. The second last face on this one is just pure awesomeness. Keep updating!

[ShiroNami]

these are all... amazingly good! I love them.. wow O_O it was a treat going through your sketchbook!

[kev ferrara]

Thanks everybody!

Here's another drawing from the Deadlander...

I use 2Bs from the Faber Castell 9000 series. They have a nice rich darkness, can be sharpened to very fine strong points for fantastic sensitivity, the lines can be blended easily into a tone with a finger, and the tone comes up great with a pink pearl eraser.

This pencil and the Bic round stic ballpoint pen are two of the most consistently good drawing implements I have ever used.

[pa5cal]

boy, I am always jaleous of artist who have a good understanding of the anatomy. I did the mistake decades ago of learning the human body by studying body poses through comic books.
Cool stuff you got here. Seems really influenced by Bernie Wrightson and a bit of Frank Frazetta...

[kev ferrara]

Thanks pa5cal!

In terms of anatomy, I look mostly at life and illustrators and painters and people who draw very well and photo reference. And of course, I studied Bridgman's anatomy books pretty intensely.

[kev ferrara]

Another experimental panel from the Deadlander...

I did a lot of nutty stuff like this with the lettering balloons' tails in The Deadlander. Just for fun, I guess. And also by curving the balloon tails around objects I thought I enhanced somewhat the feeling of depth by emphasizing that the objects being drawn were actually taking up space that couldn't be penetrated, even abstractly. And this playfulness in the tail "linework" also allowed me to do some nouveau type decorative articulation with it that sorta matches with the Late Victorian era the story is set in.

I also like how the bartender character in the background is actually "Mona Lisa'd", by the Cobra in the foreground. The Cobra's dark form actually splits the panel into 2 moments/ panels, and I've put two different vignettes of the bartender in slightly different poses in the left and right "panels" formed by the cobra's outline.As you read across the panel from left to right, there is a little more feeling of action because in a way you are fooled into thinking you are looking at one panel, when actually two moments are taking place while the bartender talks. This is like what Rodin said about how he achieved a feeling of action in his sculptures... that he often synthesized several different moments of a sequential movement in a single figure's gesture.

Maybe you can see it better in the black and white version...

My editor complained about this panel.

[Camara]

Fantastic work!!!Old School Flavour!

[Bruce Pluto]

Very nice Kev
Your work has the right amount of detail that brings interest to each panel. Very attractive to a lot of people like myself. And ACTION. I really enjoy the action in your art and the angles of view you give. You’ve got a film directors eye and the combination of all this helps move the story forward. BADLANDER looks to be an interesting read, I’ll be sure to pick it up. BTW I do like the painting you’ve posted above too. Is there a story behind it? I think every piece of work an artist does has a story to it. Also a really seasoned artist understands that there needs to be some mystery left to the artwork. Especially if it’s a single stand alone piece.
You’ve posted something to me about hands. I see a lot of work in your art in this area of the body. Next to the face and body english , hands are a major part of telling a story about what’s going on in someone’s art. A lot of detail in that part of your art. Really cool, I think it’s great.

Anyhoo, enough of my jabbering for now, see ya Bruce

[kev ferrara]

Another step by step panel from The Deadlander...

[kev ferrara]

And here's the finish...

Maybe you trash ain't heard right...

[kev ferrara]

Here's something I created for a scene in a telegraph office for the Badlander...

[kev ferrara]

Here's the newspaper in the scene...

[wanimal]

U R The Best

[kev ferrara]

My first and only watercolor.

This took me 2 hours to do because I didn't know what I was doing with the medium. I kept having to go back over the same areas to get them to look right.

I need to get a book on watercoloring...

[VeSeljak]

i love your blacks man.....

[dzontra]

..mmm,,soft line,i like it.

[kev ferrara]

Thanks guys!

Here's another oil painting. Again, as with the painting of the crumbling clay figural sculpture, this one was mostly about graphic design.

The very simple compositional idea behind this was that the raised arm of the doll would be balanced by it's rightward looking eyes and that indistinct diagonal shadow in the background.

[Dan.v.D.]

in terms of drawing your work is about the best that's hit this site in years.
your coloring doesn't impress me as much tho. you work a lot with hue variations which is a good thing buuuuut those variations look a little random and all over the place. i wouldn't complain if you had only posted comic work because that then you could easily play the "that's the style i'm going for" joker. but it's pretty much the same in your oil studies. you do consider what causes changes in local color like blood circulation on cheeks and stuff, but you might want to include that temperature of light and how it reverses in shadow areas phenomen as well in the whole equation. you sperate figures by temperature shifts in some panels but you have a slight tendency to not seperate light and shadow planes the same way. and it's not just an artistic or stylistic concept but a basic real world observation.

check this link for example --> http://conceptart.org/forums/showpos...79&postcount=4

anyway i'm a big fan of your work

[kev ferrara]

Dan.v.D.... Finally a crit! And your compliment on my drawing is much appreciated!

I wouldn't say I randomly change the hue... I happen to really like having wide hue variations in the skin tones, I think its interesting. And I experiment to get different effects. But its not random. I'm doing it on purpose. Just like when I have totally flat single-color skin tones.. so an otherwise realistic drawing also reads as a graphic. That's me just going for something I feel, rather than think or know. Sometimes I paint panels on computer. Some I've painted in oils. I do some in pastel. Sometimes I do exactly what that demo you linked tells you is "naturalistic" using the warm versus cool formula. Sometimes I paint over the brush and ink strokes, sometimes all you can see are the strokes. Sometimes I leave the black areas jet black, sometimes a make them sepia or work back into them.

Whatever works for the expression.

kev

[kev ferrara]

Expressionistic color...

With original ball point sketch...

[kev ferrara]

Eagghghghh!!!

[Alex Baer]

i really enjoy your work, and there's an old school feel about your ink work that i appreciate, it reminds me of the way frazetta worked in his ink pieces. keep at it man!

[kev ferrara]

Another gal...

[Boky]

Hello Kev

I love the stuff I've seen here! Really great line on your pen & ink, and I love the look of your life studies...the watercolor you posted recently looks very good too, if you ask me, and sometimes, actually, getting it right in watercolor requires going over the same area several times...so you're definitely on the right track
Keep posting!

[Micaiah Nelson]

Hey Kev, your art is amazing and I guess you go around calling yourself a pro, huh?! One of these days I'll do the same. Your art inspires me to put the bar up higher for me to. Also thanks for that comment. I'll work hard. I wish I had the balls picking up to pick up a pen. And your watercolor works are beautiful. The expressionistic color is one of my favs.

[mconnors]

Excellent work kevin- I fortunately have had the pleasure of knowing kevin for a long time. Its nice to see zombie comic coming along from the initial sketches kevin showed me, I knew this was gonna rock. Its certainly kevins baby and a labor of love from sketch to inks to lettering. Can't wait to get the first copy when it comes out- keep up the good work kevin. PS- little known fact kevin is addicted to fonts and we keep trying to ween him off, but he's hopeless.

[Jason Rainville]

Ahaha! that's awesome. Don't know the guy but he's got to love that. 'Paper engineering' is hard as hell. You'd expect artists to be able to think in 3d right away? Pah, production class with simple lightbulb boxes busted us down and made us feel like 2nd graders

Anyways, fun idea.

EDIT: oh I guess that's him up there

[kev ferrara]

Another pastel....

[kingshaj]

love the style ...i miss it in the industry and am glad you are around!

reminds me of the old old old conans in black and white. probably some of the same artists as the vintage westerns

[kev ferrara]

Another unused panel for the Deadlander...