Snowed in this Christmas?

Snowed in this Christmas like many of us in mid west apparently are going to be? I have just the thing to keep you occupied. It’s a new HiFi Coloring Challenge!!! HoHoHo!

This time around you have an especially challenging piece to work on.  We’ve had a ton of pin ups, panels and poster type challenges over the last couple years…but challenge #19 bring us a full page of sequential art.  We’ve got buildings, monsters, a super heroine and a man bursting out of the aforementioned monster’s skull.  It’s a Christmas miracle!!

I sat down (in a virtual, internet sort of way) with the artist for this challenge, 3!ll (aka: William Dean Blankenship Jr) to talk a litle bit about color, his work and comics.  Join us, won’t you!!

3!ll: Oh Gawd, that’s a toughie. I’d have to say probably either Red or Yellow, because they’re the colors that incite passion and excitement in our brains. Y’know what, let’s split the difference and say Orange.

3: I was born amongst the rocks and hard places in the Appalachians of northern West Virginia. I’m self-taught in penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering. In 2009 myself and a few writers I’m friends with started a site called Bohemian Zen to put out comics and promote ourselves. In my spare time I like to play L4D2 and sing in a local band.

3: Probably before I can remember. I think it was either the Superfriends cartoon they played reruns of when I was a kid or the Superman movies. I just remember being obsessed with Superman when I was like 4 or 5. Somehow I guess I eventually found some comics with these heroes in and just went from there.

3: Put stuff out there. That’s really it. Maybe try to do stuff that people are searching for at the time. Movie or games hype is good for views. Collaborate with people you dig. Try different things. Mostly get your stuff out in as many places as possible.

3: I like defining a mood of a pic with color. I also add alot of effects or textures in the color stage. I like playing  with coloring the line art and adding color holds for effect, but it’s something where a little goes a long way. Alot of times I’ll just do lineart and render all the shading in colors. I like the cel-shaded look best.

3: Either coming up with an idea that makes you WANT to work hundreds of hours, or lettering, because you get to see hours or work finished up in a short time. Also, when something just comes off the pencil right.

3: Composition, then form and structure. The first thing I notice is if it’s a boring shot or an amazing one. Then I start looking a the way the artist built the scene, characters, and how much they exaggerated things for emphasis.

3: Well you can read the entire first issue of Special Edition and all the Slit: The Living Voodoo doll strips @ www.bohemian-zen.com . I also have a deviantart page withmore stuff on it at thecancerman.deviantart.com .

3: I can’t talk about til then, but Bohemian Zen will be showing off our creative skills in a very public fashion next month. Interesting things afoot. Infinite weirdness.

Thanks to 3!ll for now only donating that piece of art for the challenge but also for taking a few minutes out to talk to us and share a bit of his insight into art.  I love that I have the chance to learn and share with you all this great information.

So head on over right now to the Pixel Shrine on www.huedoo.com, download the art and start coloring!! I can’t wait to see what amazing pieces we get back and posted into the thread!!

From me, my family and all of us here at HueDoo I wish you happy holidays and a wonderfully colorful new year!!

Thanks for reading!!

Eric White