MilspecMojo Illustration Progression

This is an oldy but good photoshop illustration I did of @milspec_mojo - one of my favorite gungram guys to watch. He’s incredibly fast and efficient with his movement and shooting and often does so with an untampered gun. Hence the name “Mil-spec.” He’s also quite funny. I tried my best to catch a bit of the funnier side of him in this illustration. Through this series of pictures, you can kind of see how I block out my work and build it up to the finished piece. Enjoy!

Initial Sketch.

After I’m happy with the linework I add a backfill color layer that I lock in Photoshop. I use this layer to add my flat colors. By locking that layer I can color quickly and not worry about falling outside the lines.

I will often start working on the face first because that’s the hardest part to get right.

Adding more colors in.

Now I’m trying to figure out what I want to do for the background.

Fleshing out some minor gun details.

Just about done. Now to touch up some minor things like the drooping barrel and Suppressor.

Some final little detail touches - like the brass with Mojo’s name on it - and bam! This piece really jumps out at ya and brings a smile to your face. Check out Milspec_Mojo’s Youtube channel as well and find his “My Main Squeeze (Rifle Setup)” video. Watch till the very end and you’ll see where the inspiration for this came from.

SketchBook. Ballpoint Pen

Here’s a rough ballpoint pen sketch from one of my sketchbooks. A sketch for me is kind of like going to the gym for a workout. I’m not exactly trying to produce a masterpiece but rather stretch boundaries and put ideas to paper. Ideas you have in your head look one way but sometimes don’t come out as planned on paper or digital canvas so sketching is how I try out something to see if it'll work. In the case of these ballpoint pen sketches, it’s more a basic practice of can my hand recreate what my eyes can see. It’s fun to just sit down and look at some cool gun content and let artistic hands scribble away. For me, it’s cathartic. I enjoy the Line aesthetic as well.

You might recognize some of these guys from the interwebs. They are from left to right: Arron Cowan of @sagedynamics, Army SF secret squirrel guy Zach @man_in_a_tree, Drew Hopkins @drewhopkins from Trexarms, and the talking balaclava @administrativeresults