[Sunday Comics] Got Some Free Copies of BIGS in the Mail

fam, getting free stuff never gets old.  

The new issue of Sunday Comics is here!

[Daily Sketch] Thinking of You

I put this one in my Teepublic store, in case you want to buy something

I'm still pretty happy with this...

#ThrowbackThursday indeed...

Hey fam, It's Throwback Thursday again, so it's time to look at one of my old pieces.  This week I want to reflect on an illustration I made around 2007 called Buffalo Soul. Buffalo Soul is about the Buffalo Soldiers, the black division in the U.S. military before it was integrated. It was originally conceived for a commission for a dude who wanted to make a teeshirt celebrating the Buffalo Soldiers. Since I didn't know much about them, I did some research and did sketches to flesh out what I wanted them to look like. There are two aspects to the sketches.  I was concerned about the details of the characters' uniforms and stuff to be as accurate as I could make them, while also being fun and not stiff and boring. So some of the sketches lean into that pretty heavily.  Again, I wanted to have fun with it, so I thought a lot about how I thought some of my favorite comics artists would approach this if they were me. I have lots of influences, but I can tell you that I was consciously thinking about Frank Miller, Walt Simonson, Eduardo Risso, and Chris Bachalo a lot during this process, because they make people in street clothes or regular uniforms look incredibly fun to draw. So here is the pencil rough.  I was SUPER HAPPY with this!  I think it incorporated the mythological scope and attitude I was looking for with the piece, and it had the basic requirement for accuracy in my mind. This brings in elements of period/historical/western, fantasy/sword & sorcery, as well as superhero comics. SWEET. There was only one problem.  I sent this rough sketch to the client, and never (to date) heard back from him. But I loved the piece so much that I finished it anyway. Buffalo Soul ©2007-2020 Samax Amen So again, this is the final piece. Since the client didn't finish paying for the piece, the rights still belong to me (there were no original characters, and I came up with the concept). Once this piece was done, I put it on the print on demand site Cafe Press, and it has been making me passive money pretty consistently ever since. People bought it a lot on teeshirts at first, but I see more sales on stickers and prints on Cafe Press these days. I also make prints that I sell when I do shows, and sometimes people ask me to do commissions specifically based on this image (so showing it to you is not an accident). So what started out as a failed teeshirt project became a modest passive income stream. I made lemonade from the lemons, or whatever. Buy printed stuff with this image. I could obviously talk about Buffalo Soul all day, but you probably have stuff to do.  But feel free to ask questions if you have 'em. Have a great day, fam! The weekend is almost upon us! -Samax ("some AX") Join my fan club, AMENsiders

[DAILY SKETCH] Daydreaming about girls...

Marker doodle

Check Out My "Most Liked" Drawing of 2013

Good times

New Sticker- BBWW 2018

March is here, fam!

Just wanted to drop a quick message about the BBWW2018 vinyl stickers!  I colored this image last week and decided I would make it available as a 3" x 3" vinyl sticker for $5 (free domestic shipping). 
Just click the button below to pre-order.

UNCHAINED tees are almost gone!

If you've been thinking about buying one of these UNCHAINED teeshirts, this is the time to do it.  I have run out of some sizes and only have a few left sizes small, medium, large, and XL. 
All orders are GREATLY appreciated!

Check out this new Cartoon Portrait, and tell me which version you like best.

 A long-time client got at me to do a Cartoon Portrait of his daughter Ari as a super hero for her birthday, and I jumped at it...

"The Dragon Queen" by Samax Amen

If you've been a fan of my art for very long, you're probably already familiar with Seattle-based jewelry designer Camisha Jackson, a frequent subject of my portraits and sketches.  The first drawing I did of her was as a character called the Dragon Lady (Camisha hearts dragons), back in the Myspace Era.  Since then, the Dragon Lady has ascended to the throne of whatever afrofuturistic fantasy realm she inhabits, as evidenced by the title of this piece...

"Stream of Consciousness" by Samax Amen (03/2017)

Here's a bunch of detail photos and notes about my new piece, Stream of Consciousness.  This one is another example of a piece where I made it up as I went along, not really sure if it would become a "real" piece of art, or just practice...

Samax Amen drops his first Screen Printed Tee Shirt with Awready Merch!

Buy some "Warrior Queen Mother" greeting cards for Mother's Day!

Tattoo Design for/with Lashay @SensiblySutpid Basnight, by @SamaxAmen

Here's an illustration I did for my internet fam Lashay Basnight. We have been internet peeps for years, so I was very pleased when Lashay inquired about illustrating the tattoo she wanted...

[SOLD!] Untitled Watercolor

 

 So I was all wound up last night, and after looking at some paintings on Facebook I was inspired to do some doodling on canvas. I have a bunch of these 9 x 12 joints laying around, so I wasn't under pressure to make a masterpiece or anything...

Sweetheart Portraits by @SamaxAmen

J x J (Jamila and Joe) by Samax Amen

As I expected, I got a flood of Valentine's Day commissions at the last minute, So I had my head down a lot getting them done. I don't think I have the skills to show just how cute a couple Jamila and Joe Mendez make, so you are just gonna hafta take my word for it. They're adorable. I tried to get it across in this piece... So here's some more I did below...

"New 30 Minute drawing" OR "Everybody knows I like drawing girls with afros"

New art- "Love's Gonna Getcha" by @SamaxAmen (cuz you know I love drawing girls with afros)

I believe it was Pat Benatar who taught us that love is a battle field. Well, you better come prepared...

New Teeshirt Design- "I Make This Look Good!" by @SamaxAmen

multiple colors available

"Nocturnal" by Samax Amen

Cartoon Portraits- Rachel and Raam

Here's a couple portraits I drew of my friend Gina's kids Rachel and Raam (below).