L&MNathanielOrr

Shaun Tan’s artwork has this super unique mix of realism and surrealism that really pulls you in, like his worlds feel familiar but also completely strange at the same time. His process seems super detailed and thoughtful, he builds these whole universes that are both weird and beautiful, using texture, lighting, and symbolism to make you think about deeper stuff like loneliness, belonging, or growing up. He doesn’t just draw pretty pictures, everything he makes has a story or a feeling behind it, and that’s what makes his work hit so hard. Compared to that, my artwork feels more stylized and character-focused, I like using bold colors and clear shapes to show personality and emotion instead of going for super detailed, textured worlds like Tan does. My characters are kind of like snapshots of a story, while his art feels like you’re stepping into one. But I think we both try to capture imagination and emotion, just in really different way, his through surreal, atmospheric storytelling, and mine through expressive, modern character design.

My art style is a bit different from Invincible’s because mine is more cartoony and clean, with softer lines and smoother colouring. Where Invincible goes for really detailed muscles and dramatic shading, I like keeping things simple and expressive, focusing more on personality and flow. My colours are a bit softer and more balanced, instead of high-contrast and bold. I also draw poses that show emotion or character rather than big fight scenes, but I still try to bring some of that energy and movement into my work. I really like how Invincible uses colour and posing to tell a story visually, and it’s something I look at for inspiration when I want my own art to feel more alive and cinematic.

Compared to Gravity Falls, my art style is a little cleaner and more modern, leaning more towards a digital comic or animation look. My characters have smoother lines, more detailed clothing, and slightly more realistic proportions while still keeping that cartoony expressiveness. Like Gravity Falls, I focus on making characters instantly readable through their silhouettes and colours, but I add a bit more polish and shading to give them a sense of depth. The way I draw faces and poses also has a slightly softer, more character-driven feel, closer to something like The Owl House or Gabriel Picolo’s work. Both my art and Gravity Falls share a playful tone and emphasis on personality, but mine feels a bit more refined and stylised, like it could work well in a comic or animated show aimed at teens and young adults.

Compared to Carey Pietsch’s style, my art leans a bit more into clean line work and smooth, digital colouring, like what you might see in animation or modern comic art. My characters, have a slightly sharper and more graphic feel, with a focus on clear silhouettes and expressive poses. While Pietsch’s art feels soft and painterly, mine is more defined and cartoony, closer to artists like phfreitas_art and blorbiter. I also tend to use brighter contrasts and smoother shading. Both our styles focus a lot on expression and personality, but where Pietsch’s feels more textured and storybook-like, I feel like mine has a more animation-ready aesthetic, which I think could work really well for dynamic or character-driven projects like hers.

We’re still talking about Journey to the Centre of the Earth over 150 years after Jules Verne wrote it. Why? Because the core ideas, human curiosity, exploration, and fear of the unknown, are timeless. But I think today, it hits differently. My page goes into this, even if only barely.

I’ve also thought about what it would be like to work in a team or on a project brief. I think I’d find that part a bit challenging at first since I’m not the most confident at talking to people or sharing my ideas in big groups, but I know that being organised would really help me manage that. I’m good at keeping my files neat, labelling layers properly, and sticking to deadlines, which I think are important skills when working on a team. I’d make sure my work is clear and easy for others to use, like for colourists, editors, or animators. Even though I’m not that social, I do like getting feedback because it helps me improve, and I’ve been trying to show my progress more clearly so people can understand what I’m going for without me needing to explain too much. I’ve also been looking at how artists share and promote their work online — places like Instagram, ArtStation, and even Patreon, because I think that’s a great way to grow and get noticed without having to constantly put yourself out there in person. I think staying organised, reliable, and focused on quality would help me fit into the industry and work well on creative projects, even if I’m more of a quiet person.

Here is my finished Comic book cover for my Journey To The Centre Of The Earth project, I've now moved the title further up and put the comics code authority stamp in the bottom right. I also moved the 'Damion Allister' signature along to the right and made it slightly bigger and thinner. then I also added the author at the bottom, Jules Verne, who wrote Journey.

This is the work of Cory Walker, the main artist for the Invincible comic series. Since I've done a comic book page and cover for my project, I wanted to add some more comic artists into my research. I really like how he does shading, it's not just coloured blocks, it's blended together but still shows a cartoonish look, not looking overly detailed, which I think works really well. I've also included some of his other work, like the series Void Rivals, which has a different art style than Invincible but decently similar, this time, his shading has been separated and it does actually work quite well, it looks a lot more scrappy and rough but that's definitely to it's advantage, it looks like they really are mid battle where as Invincible looks very tame and controlled.

Today I also finished my scrapbook project cover. All I had to do was colour in the rest of the peach/orange section above the blue pterodactyl. I really like how this looks and I think it provides a nice bit of colour since my other pages are primarily pencil and pen sketches.

I had some extra space in my scrapbook so I decided to draw some extra signature designs for Damion Allister and one for the author name I'm going to put at the bottom of the cover.

Today I got the entirety of my book cover finished. I started by using the sketch I did in my scrapbook as a tracing tool, and got the outline done. I then added the black in the left side of the page to make the leaves and vines clearer, and to show the depth of the jungle he's in. Then I added the title 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth' in a font that I thought matched the adventure genre I'm trying to take inspiration from. But I thought that the font looked too neat compared to the outline so I turned the opacity down and traced it in the same gold colour, It's a very subtle change but I think that the few curves and imperfections make it feel a bit more personal. Then i started colouring the leaves and plants. for the big leaves I wanted to add a nice highlight to it, almost like a glow since real ones do. The fauna was all relatively easy to colour, so once I finished that I moved onto colouring Damion, this was also really easy, since at this point I've already coloured him on my comic book page. Once I finished with that it was really just adding the final touches, like the 'Damion Allister' signature, the yellow backdrop and the comics code authority stamp.

I’ve now added another layer behind the crystals to make the walls in the back darker and I think it’s a really noticeable improvement, it looks way less flat now and adds some real depth to it.

Today I started working on completing the second panel for my comic page, by colouring in the back of the tunnel, I wanted to use a mixture of nice blues and greens since the only thing i didn't like about the page so far was that the close up panel for Damion was a little lacking of colour and detail, so after I finish the second panel I'll aim to change the background for the third panel. Next I started to colour in the tunnel which I had traced from my previous page outline but after completing the tracing I thought it looked a little uneven so I got rid of it and put in a circle tool then added the extra bricks on the right. After that I coloured the tunnel in along with the water which I did by adding a separate layer and lowering the opacity then adding the splashing at the bottom. I think everything is really coming together nicely.

Today I also finished the first panel of the page, I used the last two attempts to trace the outline, this time I didn’t use black as the outline, for the backgrounds throughout the page I used colours that match whatever the outline is for, so for the cliff wall I used a dark grey that goes nicely with the highlights and shading of the wall, I’m taking inspiration from Studio Ghibli films which only have a black outline on the characters to bring your attention to them. I also added some water next to the rocks by Damion’s feet since the second panel has water flowing from the tunnel, so I thought it would be a nice detail if there was a small stream it, for some more continuity. For the shadows and highlights on the cliff wall I simply just went around making jagged shapes, also I’ve added some detail to the plants and moss around the panel by simply just doing the same thing, adding some small highlights to the area closest to the lantern and adding shadows to the parts behind those.

Today I started on the outlines of the first two panels on my comic book page. I traced the images from the last two attempts and my ink sketches, but this time I didn’t use black for the outline, instead going for a studio Ghibli style where only the characters have black outlines and the backgrounds are all coloured. I used a dark grey for the mountain cliff side where my character Damion is facing and a variation of greens for the leaves and moss. I was then going to get the rest of the outlines done but I thought it would be a good idea to get the colours figured out before I got too far in and changed my mind about them, so I went for rather paled versions of the greens and I think it turned out quite nice.

Today I did some more colouring for my journey to the centre of the earth project cover by adding the background cave walls, I used some nice orange and light brown on the different sections and started to use a peach colour on the cave entrance but my pen started to run out so I’ll try and get it finished over the next few days. I’m really happy with the cover so far and hopefully will get it finished soon.

Next I started to colour in the mushrooms with a yellow and orange combination. Then I moved onto the rock formations around the river, using dark browns that would separate themselves from the orange and light brown cave walls behind the title, then I added some blue onto the cover with the pterodactyl, waterfall and the river. I think this cover is really coming together nicely, it has the same vibe I’m going for with my work and provides some colour which I haven’t really been able to to do in my scrapbook with everything being pencil and pen sketches, photocopies and inking work.