Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Color tests for the cover and book himself, Roger Rabbit! This gave me an opportunity to play around with the hue tones that went with the '80s aesthetic of Who Censored Roger Rabbit while giving it a timeless feel, much like the film.
#rogerrabbit #digitalart #colortones #garykwolf #novelaccurate

Did a full-on ink job of a novel accurate Roger Rabbit from Gary K. Wolf's Who Censored Roger Rabbit. I sort of put it in mind to treat Roger Rabbit as a muppet in a human world as implied from the early book covers. Plus, this also has served as a bit of a headcanon as to how the mind generated doppelgangers would look more like comic strip characters while the "real world" counterparts would probably look much more cartoonishly uncanny. Howard The Duck's comics worked by that logic with the character looking more like a cartoon duck but still can receive injuries, bleed, and die like any other Marvel character. You can definitely tell I took a few cues from Gene Colan, Phil Winslade, and a few EC Comics artists while inking this

I'm not as much of a professional when it comes to using color techniques but I did my best to get by. I wanted the flats to look as good as the retro print edits that came down the line.

The editing process for this was one of the funnest parts of drawing a good novel accurate Roger. I'm extremely proud of how this came out, even with the white background page contrast giving it an authentic book texture. I guess I'm not as much of a novice at coloring as I thought. Still, I definitely do need to polish my skills with a bit of practice and utilization lol

I really do wish that I kept the shadow version of the original flats and making an alternate version that utilized this factor fully

November 10, 2025 at 8:15 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Looking at the relevance of the most recent news of Roger Rabbit's right falling back into the hands of author Gary K. Wolf. Here's a series of mock book covers I did based around the original novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit.
#rogerrabbit #garykwolf #digitalart #fanart #novel #abstractart

I did the original project itself as a revision of my take on a novel accurate Roger Rabbit. I wanted to try to capture the feel of the book given that the general focus of toons were aimed more towards printed/ comic counterparts rather than animated.

I wanted to try to give the toons a different edge than compared when it comes to the Disney take on the novel, which became a huge milestone for both animation and film. The covers have always had Roger to be depicted as a Muppet-like creature that coexisted with humans with Eddie Valiant being that contrast. So I wanted to do my best to draw Roger within that regard much similarly to how Marvel had always shown Howard the Duck to be in comparison to the other characters, entities, and creatures that he has encountered. Much like Howard, toons on the original novel are depicted as subcombing any sort of harm those of us with flesh and blood could in reality, with the only exception being if they could generate clones of themselves using all of their mental faculty to do so.

I wanted to play around with the colors as I went along by studying flats and watercolor as much as I could. So it would be able to translate once I did my trademark retro print edits. I did my best to especially play around with the lighting in different variations as to include a bright and colorful version that still gave off the grim emotion of the novel. The other, with a much more violet shadowy hue, would also lean more towards the darker nature of the book and give Roger a reluctantly sinister edge to his character.

November 10, 2025 at 5:58 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

This is also following the hand art I also did

October 25, 2025 at 4:36 AM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

The Art✏️ Vs. The Artist's Hand🖐🏾

October 25, 2025 at 3:51 AM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

My three variants! The more I look at them, the more I would love to make these as shirts!

#originalart #inks #retroaesthetic #lgbtq🌈 #bears #dungeonnoir #photoshop #color #graphicart #graphicsdesign #leatherpageant #manorbear #meme #graphicdesign

October 23, 2025 at 5:04 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Safety Danc... Bear (Aka Man or Bear, I'd Rather Pick The Bear). I love how these came out fitting with the overall '50s watercoloring aesthetic.

#originalart #retroaesthetic #lgbtq🌈 #dungeonnoir #photoshop #color #graphicart #manorbear #meme #graphicdesign

Some 1950s inspired designs done for @bama_bayou_photography for his cause. I honestly love how these came out, especially fitting the overall '50s watercoloring aesthetic.

The intention was to satire the old 50s Smokey the Bear posters and graphics along with The Country Bear Jamboree ads from Disney World!

I wanted to give a sense of Americana to the piece itself while also flipping it on its head with possibly one of my favorite social memes that have come out in a while.

October 23, 2025 at 5:01 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

The detailed sketches I had to do on three separate sheets of paper that made up the full base! This project took so much to do the planning for.
#originalart #wip #workinprogress #sketch #pencils #blackandwhite #traditionalart #transveteran #politics #lgbtq🌈 #military #fallenwarrior #helmet

I took some influence from Jack Davis' school of scaled shoe designs going along with so much of this

The helmet represented the powerful centerpiece that brought the whole thing together. It displays the tireless effort and deadly determination many of the soldiers went through to preserve our rights and home defense. So I had to find the best way to present that with only two alternatives.

Here's the second alternative that I designed using tracing paper on top of the original helmet sketch. I wanted to leave the cause of the damage as ambiguous as possible shown as the survival of the soldier or possible fatal injury from stray bullets or strettonal.

For some reason, I'm quite proud of the dimensional detail I added on to the boot but felt that there was more to add on. Thank God for Photoshop and the opportunity to ink over without messing up the original penciled piece.

October 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

A fully-inked wip for a much bigger piece I had in mind paying homage to many members of the LGBTQ+ that have served overseas. Possibly my most detailed piece to date!

#originalart #wip #workinprogress #sketch #pencils #blackandwhite #traditionalart #transvisibility #lgbtq🌈 #military

This was originally presented to be a pride month tribute to so many fallen and active soldiers a part of the LGBTQ+ community after being inspired by the story of a friend of mine who recently traditioned after their time in service. I found it quite admirable that they continued on with the fight on home soil for queer rights and equality.

So in tribute, I decided to work on this project taking a lot of visual cues from military comics from the pre-cold comics of EC (Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis, in mind) and the Bronze Age combat publications of DC Comics (namely the works of Joe Kubert). Wanted to give off the feeling of battle damage from combat along with the results of that taking that stand no matter what turf it's on. I'm still going to finish the piece regardless complete with a retro print edit of the centerpiece itself.

One of the things I especially was counting on if this tribute was good enough to represent the cause. Plus, this was also pushing myself to do much more detailed artwork as I go along with my creative journey. As a bonus, it took an estimated time of a week or two to do each individual pencil sketch notes three respective sheets of paper in full. The completed base sketch is amalgamation of all three Sketch subjects positioned the best way I could for the integral digital inking.

October 22, 2025 at 5:06 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Some doodles I've worked on for a collab with me and @draintoons.bsky.social based on a sketch he done in homage to Dr. Dre and two variations of the Goof.
I also included a sketch I did of a good fine of mine.
#sketch #disney #goofy #homage #collaboration #pencil #blackandwhite #portrait

Some other doodles I've worked on as a start to a collab with me and @driantoons.bsky.social based on a sketch he did a year ago in homage to Dr. Dre and two variations of Goof in animation. I figured this would be a good opportunity to practice for some color studies and line work techniques as I go.

I also included a sketch I did of @tigressfromthemoon on Instagram. I wanna to get the chance to draw a full-on Frazetta-esque pulp exploitation sketch of her someday!

October 22, 2025 at 4:55 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

A gift for a retired coworker of mine 2000 from earlier this year! This is sort of a spiritual sequel to my Peanuts Anniversary piece with Snoopy and Woodstock.
@schulzmuseum.bsky.social
#gift #ink #color #fanart #comicstrip #newspaperstrip #graphicart #digitalart #photoshop #vintage #newsprint

This originated as an idea that I've had in the back of my hair for a while after I finished my Snoopy and Woodstock anniversary piece inspired by their first appearance in comics together. I've always wondered how Charlie Brown would have looked in various comic book styles of the Golden Age with Walt Kelly's time on Our Gang Comics coming to mind.

The retirement of a coworker/good friend of mine was the perfect excuse to finally make this concept a reality. It gave me an opportunity to go outside of my depth a little bit with the stylizations and try to get it aesthetically as close as I could.

The background portion of the piece was a bit of a challenge for me since I'm not really as proficient at background perspectives as you can see.

Still, the challenge made it great for me to do thumbnail sketches exploring various avenues to explore. The trouble with doing background art is that I'm always overthinking how I would format it rather than using a simplified method to plan out. So I bit the bullet and gave it my best shot based on my co-worker's choice from the different ones drawn out.

October 22, 2025 at 4:40 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything on here art wise so here's a sketch logo for my bud Vino's tow truck business from 2024. ^^

#originalart #bulldog #towtruck #traditionalart #blackandwhite #sketch #graphicdesign #logo #emblem #mechanic #pencils #graphicart

October 19, 2025 at 10:30 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Yooooo, I'm Jay and I'm an immature storyteller, illustrator, and freelance creative overall! My works are of vintage, modern, and cultural influences.
Tagging @leolaifa.bsky.social, @toonheadsfanatic.bsky.social, @theotherhappyplace.bsky.social, @tomhoskisson.bsky.social, @wretneck.bsky.social

May 27, 2025 at 8:33 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Artstyle range?

My art style tends to be decided by the medium I use more than anything. ^^

Tagging:
@leolaifa.bsky.social
@toonheadsfanatic.bsky.social
@littlebakerdara.bsky.social
@jrcartoon.bsky.social
@chrissamnee.bsky.social
@wretneck.bsky.social
@tomhoskisson.bsky.social

May 16, 2025 at 4:01 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Random dumb ideas I had for DC and Marvel Comics.

#dccomics #marvelcomics #whatif #elseworlds #dexterdouglas #freakazoid #warnerbros #pencils #sketch #notes #traditionalart #fanart #homage #sketchdump #conceptsketches #disney #fox #superhip #wadewilson #deadpool

Born from my time browsing around fandoms of the big two, I was inspired to draw out my own concepts for Comics I would love to create for them down the line. I've always loved the various AUs and OCs I've seen around Twitter/X and Tumblr that I wanted to also try my hand at designing superhero based properties.

The first sketch came from binge reading through my Howard the Duck collection, along with adding on to my Marvel physical prints with Deadpool Comics. I've always wondered how he would have looked like doing the Bronze Age of Marvel's magazine publications. During this time, I've also thought about a comic idea centered on Beverly Switzler's saga after we break up between her and a certain cigar smoking, cynical waterfowl. During her journey of self-discovery, she would take on the job of being a new age therapist for some of Marvel's more surreal and obscure characters throughout its run. One of the characters she would encounter is another magnet for the weird, Wade Wilson, in the aftermath of partaking in an illegal experiment within Canadian borders.

I would imagine the series taking on themes of codependence, false nostalgia, and searching for identity as both characters go on their perspective soul searches. This is the answer to my question of what if Steve Gerber has written a Deadpool comic.

Next up is my imagining of Bruce Timm's Saturday morning super teen extraordinaire, Freakazoid, inducted into the DC main Canon. The idea of more of his and Paul Dini's animated properties integrating into Comics was a very tempting one for me to get into. There were numerous characters from the DCAU that were introduced into the mainline and had taken on uniquely different qualities while maintaining the same bases for their stories. I often wondered as to why Freakazoid was never introduced in the DCU. I figured one of the reasons might have been from the allegations that he was a complete knockoff of another madcap character from indie comic creator, Mike Allred.

If that were the case, I reimagined the character as a living embodiment of late '90s internet punk sensibilities combined with a techno aesthetic suited for a character during the Vertigo era. The bases for his realistically drawn design came from the likeness of his voice actor, David Kaufman, during a younger age. I wanted to maintain a resemblance of a 2000s Comic book/ techno savvy outcast from a Kevin Smith film in his Dexter Douglas form.

Last but not least is my own reimagining of a very obscure character from DC's flower power era of celebrity focused comics, SuperHip. This concept would have been much more of an Elseworlds series that would have grounded the character in the same world as the new age Doom Patrol comics by Grant Morrison and would have dove into his ears with his uncle Bob(Hope). This would have been an excuse for me to satirize comedian focused comics and the beatnik craze using themes of counterculture and exploring the underbelly of the music industry. Basically, imagine what if Jack Kirby's Thor was in a comic book adaptation of Valley Of The Dolls drawn by Wally Wood

May 6, 2025 at 2:41 AM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

The Itsy Bitsy Parker~🎶🕸️
My own little homage to various artists under Archie's Americana adventure and the web slinging melodrama of Spider-Man. The concept was inspired from Tim Sale's Spider-Man: Blue and Fred Hembeck's Petey stories.
#archiecomics #marvelcomics #fanart #digitalart #inks

A remake of one of my sketch dump traditional doodles from 2017. As per usual with my style, I wanted to aim for a much cleaner look to my artwork in comparison to my original inking from back in the day

I loved the feel that this Photoshop brush had given some of my other artwork that I wanted to do something a bit more comic booky with it. The texture itself honestly looked like real black ink seeping onto the paper with each darker stroke.

Sometime, I do plan on probably doing some coloring and retro texture edits of this when my schedule is freed up.

April 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

My first "professional" graphic design commission gig for a small embroidery business my friend's aunt was establishing last year. #original #traditional #commission #logo #ink #watercolor #color #digital #photoshop #knitting #smallbusiness #sewing #graphicdesign #graphicart

I took a few cues from Walt Kelly's funny animal work and really pushed for a storybook inspired aesthetic. My last piece ("Stay Fly") gave me confidence to work with more detailed touches in my work.

Because of my skyrocketing confidence around the time, I had so much more courage to play with my watercolor brushes on Photoshop. The process allowed me the opportunity to study other emblems, logos, and similar pieces of graphic design from, yesteryear. I especially took reference from the reprints from Walt Kelly's portfolio from Disney Comics And Stories, the Pogo strips, Dell Comics, and various other whimsical publications ranging from 1941-the 1960's.

This definitely became a fun project for me to take on. I really felt that I learned a lot from this go around on establishing my style of coloring and tone

April 27, 2025 at 4:12 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

The original base traditional inks and my first go around with retro print editing on Photoshop from 2021.

Originally was done as the first in my Redbubble apparel print shop as a way for me to practice my penhandling.

Photoshop opened up a door for me to explore my style much deeper than my traditional methods of creating at the time.

I started playing around with a Photoshop mask from Spoon Graphics (https://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/access-all-areas) as I tried to replicate a matchbook texture to my flat color art.

After experimenting with my spoon graphics download, I also worked on making the print variant fit with the overall theme of misregistered page coloring for a much more authentic paper texture.

April 27, 2025 at 3:49 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

A remake of my first digital piece/graphic design to add something I felt that was missing for quite a while.
#homage #fanart #photoshop #snoopy #woodstock #charlesshultz #peanuts #graphicdesign #retroprint #edit #graphicart #newspapercomic #charliebrown #ink #color

I aimed to recreate my original traditionally inked piece in Photoshop with capturing the vintage Norman Rockwell-esque "at-home" aesthetic with elements of a Golden Age Sunday funnies newsprint section.

Since I've been revisiting old artwork as of late, I decided to add something I felt like was missing from my first graphic design for quite a while now. Plus, added in a retro print edit to go for the authentic feel I was originally going for during my first attempt. I'm definitely going to use this while practicing some prints for future art shows.

The poster print variation I'm hoping to one day display and make available to the public. Be sure to keep an eye out for more announcements for my stores.

April 27, 2025 at 3:49 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

A collaboration effort between me and 4everaloneprince (www.instagram.com/4everalonepr...) from 2024. This has been one I've been itching to do for a while especially hopping a bit on the Garfield shitposting train (and running late).
#garfield #collab #fanart #color #jimdavis #graphicart

A bit of a collaboration effort between me and my bud, Darius, that I have been holding off for a few months before I finally finished it. This has been one I've been itching to do for a while especially hopping a bit on the Gardield shitposting train (and running late).

Darius was responsible for Papa Garf and the comic effects (bubble, lighting and sound) while I was responsible for the Jim Davis-like atmosphere (sketch shadow, panel layout, aged print edits and background).

I'm catching up to a lot of pieces I've been meaning to work on for a while now.

April 27, 2025 at 2:57 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

Nah. Just Popeye. Well just this specific version of Popeye from his first appearance in Thimble Theatre before he got his official name.

March 23, 2025 at 8:17 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

This is a bit different from my usual stuff that I wanna deeper explore. My own homage to Itsscartoondavid's work (x.com/itscartoonda...) from 2023. Plus, his thanks for said homage. I would love to work with him officially someday

#digitalart #fanart #blackandwhite #photoshop #inks #blackandwhite

This was a bit different from my usual stuff for obvious reasons that I wanna explore more onto (more NSFW). As a homage to itscartoondavid's characters, here's my take on my fav Twitter webcomic strip characters.

I might revisit this one sometime to add on some newspaper print texture to give it a much more authentic feel.

Feel Free To Browse Around My Twitter/X And Give A Follow! (https://x.com/JaySneed10)

He was even cool enough to give me this thanks on this gift! He's such a chill dude!

March 15, 2025 at 6:41 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

My first attempt at doing a digital portrait with Clint Eastwood as James "Logan" Howlett that I originally gifted to a retired coworker/bud of mine from June of last year.

#clinteastwood #wolverine #marvelcomics #digitalart #inks #photoshop #portrait #mashup #traditional #blackandwhite #sketch

This project originally started out as a gift for a retired coworker who became a good friend of mine down the line. I wanted to try to do a mashup of two characters as an excuse to practice on the human anatomy a lot more and eventually moved up to full-blown portraits. We both had an interest in a lot of aspects of a bygone era in pop culture with both of us sharing a love for Clint Eastwood and classic comics! One of the dream castings that we had in mind if Marvel actually made a Wolverine film would have been Dirty Harry himself!

One of these days, I will get around to visually coloring this piece myself or having a collaborator assist at some point.

So I took a lot of references from a mix between the works of Barry Windsor Smith (Weapon X), Frank Miller, and Joe Kubert as a way on how to form Wolverine based around the '80s era. Plus, I also mishmashed different references of Clint Eastwood's Western roles, Jack Nicholson from Wolf (the fur covered carcass), and a photo of a fellow peer in the arts (Dan Tipton - https://www.instagram.com/dan_tipton_art). The alternate variant of both the clawed and clipped versions was just my own cherry on top.

Honestly, I just figured that this would be cool to look at as a work in progress as I went on to do a bit of a comparison between the finals and the pencils.

And this is finally where it all started from! I sort of liked the idea of Logan's bulky knuckles along with the almost exaggerated adamantium popping out. I kept imagining what it would look like if they were to use makeup effects around the '80s with it being somewhat obvious on screen. Lol

March 14, 2025 at 5:02 PM

Jay Sneed

@jaysneed.bsky.social

I'm kicking myself since I forgot to show the final leather etching my bud commissioned me the sketch for. Feel free to drop down his Insta to check out his work and feel free to commission him for any of your leather crafting needs:
www.instagram.com/anchor.ridge...

#designcommission #custommade