ROJAY'S ART GALLERY: Welcome to my private gallery. This is a select sampling of my work as it has progressed over the years, and
the art showcased here dates back to when I was seven years old. I accept commission work similar to what is
featured here. E-mail me for price and details. --Ranjit (Rojay) Samra Please note, all text highlighted in green is an advertisement.
"So Long" Caricature 2008
Go Giants 2008
Butterfly Tattoo 2007
"A World of Smiles" Thank You Card 2007
AWOS Telethon Portrait 2007
Silent Auction 2007
Oh yeah, the art (2 high gloss prints on cardstock) was listed at $95 and sold for $150. Looks like I didn't need
my family members to bid on it after all. If you scroll down to "Bridal Fair 2003" you can see where I
ripped off one of my previous drawings to get this project in on time. Sorry, no refunds!
Wedding Portrait 2007
Kumal 2007
Jesus Christ Tattoo 2006
Soul Daughter Sample 2006 UPDATE: The book was published Feb. 2007. Here's a peek at the
cover by artist Roy Geronimo.
Ravi 2005
National Lampoon's Comedy Night School (CoNS) A 2005
Trevor and Chezlene 2004
Mr. Vollrath Retirement 2004
Mr. Harper Retirement 2004
Memoriam 2003
Wedding Day 2003
Nurse Caricature 2003
Scorpion Tattoo 2003
Soccer Crest 2003
Baseball Caricature 2003
Claudia 2003
Happy Anniversary 2003
Mehndi 2003
Bridal Portrait 2003
Business Card 2003
Bridal Fair 2003
Poison Ivy 2003
Fish Symbol 2003
Memoriam 2002
Hearty Bowls 2002
Shondra 2002
Calvin & Hobbes 2002
Newlyweds 2002
Grad 2002
Siblings 2002
State of Undress 2001
Barbies 2001
The Rock 2001
WonderGirl 2001
Batgirl 2001
Greenhouse Sale Sign 2000
Wedding Invite 1999
The Lemon 1999
The FlyBox 1999
Access Denied 1999
Jeap Thrills 1998
Retirement Dreams 1997
Get Well Soon Card 1997
Tattoo 1995
Coroner's Inquest 1995
Stephanie 1995
Hungry Hungry 1995
Christmas Card 1994
Elric 1993
Lorraine 1993
Wedding Announcement 1992
Wedding Invitation 1991
Dinosaurs2 1990
Sexy Alien 1990
Silent Knight A 1989
Criminology Handbook 1989
The Other Press 1989
Brewers Softball Logo 1989
The West Coast Experience 1989
Crime & Justice 1988
Queen Elizabeth Yearbook 1988
The Elite 1988
Hawkman 1988
School Daze 1987
High School Mural 1987
Portrait of Tommy 1985
Dragon 1985
HearYe HearYe 1984
Conan 1983
Phoenix 1983
Switchback 1981
Dinosaurs 1980
Superman Vs Wonder Woman 1978 Recently (2004) I provided some original artwork for a Garcia Lopez fanzine
interview. The interviewer showed this drawing to Mr. Lopez and he had a good chuckle.
Flash 1977
Thor 1977
Aquaman 1977
AN ARTIST'S CAREER IN RETROSPECT
Caricature drawn on a t-shirt for some bald guy.
Caricature commission by Andrew Salisbury for a retiring employee.
Andrew
is vice president and general manager of Pinnacle General Food Canada Corporation, the Canadian manufacturer of Swanson's products and a
hell of a nice guy. He was grateful enough for having the art completed and Fed-Exed on such short noticed, that he paid me more than my asking price.
Scroll down to see Andrew's caricature below-- Hearty Bowl 2002.
Nice and simple-- commissioned pencil design.
This card is a mosaic of children representing British Columbia society. It was sent to
thank all those who
helped make the "A World of Smiles" telethon the success that it was, raising $346,051.00. The funds benefit the
BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children. My friends and relatives sent in pictures of
their family members (many of whom were treated at BC Children's Hospital) to have their individual portraits done.
This was one of the most intense projects I ever worked on and it was a pain in the ass every step of the way, but
I'm quite proud of the end results. Thanks again to everyone who participated.
Jeevan Basra is the 2007 Children's Miracle Network Champion Child for BC Children's Hospital. This is a picture
of "A World of Smiles" telethon host Atish Ram presenting my portrait of Jeevan to her, her sister Nimrit, and
parents Sarb and Sandip. I'm sorry that I was out of the country at the time and missed the presentation. You can
read more about Jeevan's brave story
here.
As Champion Child, Jeevan has been making the rounds in the media quite a bit, and even got to meet the Right
Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada.
Item #20 for a silent auction in Support of BC Children's Hospital.
"A Night of Miracles", hosted by Sukhi Ghuman (Public Relations Coordinator for the
Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration and a local media
personality) and Nira Arora (morning show hostess at The Beat 94.5 FM). The evening of dinner and dance was a
prelude to the upcoming A World Of Smiles Telethon
put on by Zindagi TV, RED FM and the South Asian community, benefiting the BC Children's Hospital.
For personal reasons, BC Children's Hospital is very close to my heart and I've donated my time as a
committee member and artist to this year's event-- April 29 on Shaw Multicultural Channel from 5:00-11:00pm.
I just want to thank this attractive looking couple for not getting a divorce while I worked on their wedding gift
-- it only took three years to complete. My reputation for being slow (let's call it "meticulous") remains intact.
Experimenting with a Patrick Nagel/Mukai approach, and I'm very happy with the outcome. Graphite, acrylic,
india ink, and a touch of airbrush (something I've yet to master). I'm inherently leaning toward
a "less-is-more" style, where the placement of a few lines is far more effective than excessive details, which has
usually been my focus. I've also been paying closer attention to the work of
Steve Rude lately, and am finding
a significant influence in his style. Steve in turn was influenced by Paul Gulacy (one of the nicest guys around)
and "King" Kirby. I met Steve years ago and was never really a big fan of his work, but I sure am now.
Commissioned tattoo design. The tattoo itself was done at Dragon Tattoo, in Surrey. The artist there made a few
modifications from the original, but the end results work. This is a unique situation, where my drawing
has been handed to another artist working in an entirely different medium and modified to fit his style.
I was recently in the running to work on a children's book by a local publisher. From forty artists,
it came down to me and an accomplished artist from Edmonton, Alberta-- I lost. Anyway here's the sample drawing
that ALMOST got me the job. Not all is lost however as the publisher said that my style would mesh with the feel of
the next book, so who knows. This
is the publisher's rough that we all used for our sample page.
Commissioned birthday present of the daughter of the nurse who helped deliver
my child. This was completed in a marathon session to meet a very short deadline.
National Lampoon's Comedy Night School (CoNS) B 2005
National Lampoon's Comedy Night School (CoNS) C 2005
Doug and Tom Gordon (Tommy G of WKXW 101.5 FM, New Jersey)
produce a TV show, "Comedy Night School," on CBS affiliate station WKMG in
Orlando, Florida that has been picked up by the National Lampoon Network. One
of its features is giving unknowns a shot. Just make a tape and send it in--
www.comedynightschool.com. These 03 drawings were featured on the 2nd season's premier show for a
comedy skit featuring alien abductions. Executive producer,
Doug was surfing the net looking for a "sexy alien" artist and discovered
my work. Unfortunately I lost the DVD of the show that Doug mailed me
so I can't put up an mpeg here. If you're reading this Doug, send me a new one!
Portrait of a fine looking pair given as a gift.
This is my high school English teacher retiring after years of service.
He learned me to right good.
This is my mentor, calling it quits from the Surrey, BC school program.
(the largest public school district in British Columbia, Canada)
John Harper and Victor Vollrath founded the acclaimed
Inter-A school program in 1984. I am very proud and fortunate to be one of eight students selected to help
initiate this program where we helped to tutor others in various subjects. 20 years later the program is going
strong with lengthy waiting lists to get in. My brother Bob, a school teacher in the Surrey district,
now plays an active role in continuing this program. Happy sailing Mr. H.
In memory of Joga who was taken too soon.
Last of a series of illustrations for Indian Bridal Fair, 2003 in Richmond, BC.
Special thanks to Atish Ram for the television interview and for showcasing my work on "Zindagi".
Atish is heavily involved with the
BC Children's Hospital and I hope to donate my services for next year's telethon.
Sexy Nurse: commissioned for a nursing student graduate.
Commissioned tattoo design with an East Indian flavour to it. The scorpion stinger is fashioned into a "khunda",
the symbolic sword of Sikhism .
Unused and unfinished (rejected) crest design for my soccer team ... I liked it ...
Commissioned as a birthday gift for this ageless athlete. My caricatures are starting to
look a little better since the Hearty Bowl commission I did last year. After reading
Gary Martin's book on professional inking techniques I picked up a $20 Sable #01
Series brush, a flexible Crowquill pen and Magic brand ink, and applied it
here for the first time. The brush worked great but the pen was a disaster.
Ink and graphite illustration-- this sat in my studio for a year before I stumbled across it last week and
finished it up.
Anniversary gift for this fine looking couple on their 37th year together. Happy Anniversary mom and dad!
I was recently commissioned to showcase my artwork at
The Bay department store in their ongoing effort to tap into the lucrative
Indo-Canadian wedding market. This is what I drew that day while Bay shoppers looked on. This was a
unique expeience for me as I'm unaccustomed to being watched as I do my art-- I didn't much care for
it to be perfectly honest. Special thanks to
Neena Arora, host of the television show Zindagi for setting this up. The drawing is mostly
done in 6H pencil and the henna design is in acrylic paints. Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Naomi Campbell, and Mira
Sorvino have all sported mehndi, thereby fuelling a wearable-art trend.
Commissioned portrait of a new bride-- the latest in a series of illustrations with a bridal theme. This is one
of four drawings recently featured on Channel-M television.
My new business card, depicting an Indo-Canadian bride-to-be, printed by Ruby at Fleetwood Copy. The only thing
I hate about it is that "tattoo" is spelled "tatoo" (my fault) on the back and it really, really bugs me.
Advertising poster for the upcoming Indial Bridal Fair in Richmond, British Columbia. The intricate design on the
hand ("posed" by a co-worker) is mehndi. This drawing is one of my personal favourites.
First drawing of the new year depicting my version of Batman's luscious nemesis.
Again, my experimentation with the brush continues with the results now more to
my liking. Graphite and ink on 10x13 paper.
Commissioned silhouette design. Hard to believe, but this was alot harder than
I'd originally anticipated. This art is featured on a fleet of small fishing
boats, baseball caps, t-shirts, etc.
Portrait to commemorate Gerry who passed away recently.
The creator of Swanson's Hearty Bowl tv-dinner won a prestigious award for best
new product. This drawing, commissioned to commemorate the award, has the
frozen food creator sampling his wares. I was contacted when the
original artist in Toronto fell through. Id never done caricatures before
and really wasn't sure how it would turn out. I studied Jack Davis'
style in my approach to coloring this piece to get the desired effect. Designer
felts, pencil crayons, ink and whiteout. I'm quite happy with the results.
Acclaimed artist Ken Steacy gave me a good talking-to and suggested I use the
brush to ink my work more often, something I've been too afraid to do opting
for the pen instead. I felt like I was in grade school all over again and
worked very slowly to complete this with a fine brush. 9x12, graphite and ink.
This is a tag-team work of art by "Uncle Ranj" and his talented 13 year old
niece Melissa. I did the layouts in pencil, and she outlined and colored it
in crayon. This hangs prominently on her bedroom wall as our first artistic
collaboration. Melissa is currently designing her website which will
feature her unique drawing and creative writing talents.
The drawing doesn't do the bride justice-- she's much prettier than depicted
here. Wedding gift for the California newlyweds. I rushed this piece because
of an impending deadline and wasn't comfortable with the final product.
It looks unfinished as I cut corners to get it done. Graphite on 60 lb paper.
Commissioned portrait for a daughter's graduation gift. Graphite, Indian
ink and markers.
Portrait of my lovely nieces and nephew back in England. Only took me a year
to keep my promise of finishing it.
This is from a photo-shoot of my beautiful model Maureen. Graphite and Indian ink.
I always enjoy drawing beautiful women. Commissioned for a birthday present.
Graphite on 60 lb board.
This is a swipe of the cover to Pro Wrestling Illustrated Magazine.
It's for my niece Monhie in England, a huge Duayne (The Rock) Johnson fan.
Prismacolor pencils, markers and ink.
Wonder Woman's kid sister all grown up. In hindsight, I think this drawing is
crap.
My two favourite subjects, babes and skimpy outfits. This was sold to a buyer
in New York, and then I saw it on e-bay a few weeks later.
Advertising sign for a greenhouse produce sales centre.
The 6th wedding card I've worked on, this one for my own wedding. It's a hybrid
between a Sikh and Christian wedding invitation. With close to 1000 people at
the reception, there are about 500 of these floating around.
Birthday card for Sven Habermann, a used car salesman and former goaltender for the
Vancouver Eighty-Sixers soccer team. He framed it and put it up in his office.
Business card of Clem Poquiz who operates a fly-tying business in British
Columbia, Canada.
This image was in my head for over ten years before I sat down and drew it.
It's the proposed design for my volleyball team's t-shirts.
I was watching the 6 o clock news a few weeks after I drew this business card.
Craig of Maple Ridge's Jeap Thrills was featured as the top story. Not
everyone was able to recoup their money on the stolen jeeps sold to them.
A husband's birthday gift to an undercover cop. This satire has codename "9"
on duty with her binoculars, radio and knitting while she dreams of retirement.
This was printed on a t-shirt.
Photocopy of a card I drew for a sick friend. She thought the hungry vulture
was a parakeet...
In 1991 I began a series of drawings depicting Mermaids. My favourite, titled
Ode to the Seas, was ultimately used as a tattoo. The third time one
of my designs was used as body art.
A patient at an institution committed suicide by jumping off the roof.
I provided a basic layout of the building where the incident occured so that
witnesses could have a reference when providing testimony at the Coroner's
Inquest.
One of my regular models, posed for a series of photographs for me
and photographer Steve. After dozens of pictures this shot, taken during a break,
was my favourite. I drew a series of nudes during this period, all of which were sold.
First page of a five page children's story/song entitled Hungry Hungry. My
wife, a pre-school teacher, had the pages laminated and holds them up for the
kids as they sing along.
Before the home color copier you had to go to the printing shops. I
laser-copied 15 of these and sent them to friends and family for Christmas.
I had to crop much of this art to fit my scanner. After taking an airbrush
course I bought all the necessary supplies, quickly sketched a Craig Russell
Elric figure and began to apply what I'd learned. The painting was meant to be
thrown away but as the page took shape I began adding to it until completion.
Since it was originally a practice session I didn't lay the page out properly
but I'm happy with the overall product particularly the sky. Acrylic, colored
markers, pencil crayons, ink, whiteout and zipatone on bristol board.
Early pencil sketch of a friend from a photo shoot with Steve from Eclipse
Photography. This was an early foray into portraits
and marks my first time using a range of graphite pencils, rather than the
standard 2B.
My second commissioned wedding card, this was given as a wedding gift for the
couple.
My first wedding invitation and I had no idea what I was doing. The drawing
was rendered on typewriter paper. Overall a good learning experience.
Ten years after my first dinosaurs I came up with this painting. The shading
on the rocks was painstakingly done using the period key on my typewriter.
A partial swipe of a Byrne drawing, this was to be used for my business cards but it never happened.
Posting this drawing here did however lead to my work being featured on a National Lampoon television show
(scroll up further for more details).
Silent Knight B 1989
As I began frequenting comic conventions I began meeting the artists whose
work had inspired me over the years. I would listen to the critique other
artists received on their portfolios, but too afraid to present my own.
Klaus Janson, Paul
Gulacy, Ken Steacy and Brian Stelfreeze all provided wonderful advice on
improving my art, trying new techniques, encouraged me to be more confident,
and convinced me to get my ass in gear and put together a sampling of my work.
The result was a 10 page story titled Silent Knight. Drawing this story
taught me two things: 1) comic artists have to be able to draw everything in
the world and 2) I'm pathetically slow as an artist.
I was commissioned to provide the art for
the Douglas College criminology handbook. Along with this cover of Lady Justice, I
drew a nice back cover collage, cartoons and spot illustrations. Notice the
shining metal of the scales-- I got that from George Perez.
My college newspaper, The Other Press planned to do an issue devoted entirely to the subject of
comic collecting so I was asked to submit an appropriate drawing for the cover.
Representing the comic genre are Superman, The Joker, Conan the Barbarian,
Starfire and Wolverine. They even interviewed me for the issue. However the
comic book idea was scrapped and the drawing, still used, became nonsensical.
My first professional drawing. This was the emblem/logo for a local
ladies softball team-- I'm still waiting to get paid.
My college was involved in a student exchange with Ottawa's
Algonquin College .
They presented us with some nice t-shirts on our arrival, so the B.C. organizers
commissioned me to recipricate in kind. Here you have The Prime Minister
of Canada, Brian Mulroney (Ottawa), leaning on some totem poles (representing the rich native
heritage of British Columbia). The back of the shirt has signs pointing to
various B.C. nightspots and landmarks. There were about 60 of these distributed.
This art landed me my first professional work when a clothing manufacturer spotted
someone wearing one and hired me to do designs for his company.
This was used for a presentation on the criminal justice system. I guess back in
'88 it looked cool.
In 1987 I worked on some interior drawings for the high-school yearbook. The
honor of doing the cover was given to another more talented artist. The
following year I was asked to provide the yearbook cover so I jumped at the
opportunity. It's a re-creation of the '87 mural where the mascot's
decked in a royal robe and crown. Strangers approached
me for my signature in hopes their yearbook may be a collector's item (they said this to me).
The original was lost and all I have is this photocopy on blue paper.
Experimental period using India Ink and brush. This one's inspired by Frazetta.
All I remember about this is that I drew it with the intention of having
it published in an Amazing Heroes publication, and I inked it while drunk.
This was a short lived comic of a bratty school kid and his teacher commissioned
by a newspaper editor. The jokes, with all their sexual innuendos, were presented
to me and I added the art. I did about five of these strips, for a student
publication. I can't remember the name of the publication and I never saw the printed
version.
A life-size mural, done with the assistance of Lorraine in my graduating year of
high school. This is my version of the school's tiger mascot (who was much
too cuddly looking for my taste). This mural was used as a backdrop for a
couple of newspaper articles: one on an up-and-coming
athlete, and the other featured Canadian politician Ed Broadbent (I know, Ed who?)
head of the federal NDP, posing in front of it. It was also the first time one
of my drawings was swiped and used in other publications --you know you've made
it when others start copying your work. It took 3 weeks to complete and stood 4
years before someone told me the school had painted over it.
This is a portrait of Tommy.
Spot illustration printed in my grade 10 junior highschool newsletter.
The final newsletter of my grade 9 year. I copied this out of a library book and
was starting to get a kick seeing my work in print.
Uninked Conan drawing swiped from a
Joe Jusko cover.
After Dave Cockrum-- I was 13 when I drew this. First time I ever used a brush
to ink my work.
In the early 80s there was a popular local tv show called Switchback
hosted by Rick Stephenson. If you phoned in you could talk live on the air,
which my brother and I often did every Sunday morning. One day Rick asked
viewers to send in samples of their art so I sent in three drawings depicting
The Hulk (pictured here), Mysterio and Shang Chi The Master of Kung Fu. When I
received a postcard saying my artwork was chosen to be aired I was ecstatic
(Rick called them "spiffy"). This marked the first time my art received media
attention.
I was 11 when I drew this for a grade 6 Social Studies project on the T-Rex.
I still laugh when I look at this masterpiece (9 years old). Wonder Woman turned out okay,
but look what I did to Superman. I seem to have a problem getting
arms proportionate as The Man of Steel's right arm looks like it's on steroids
'while his left one's made of spaghetti. I remember trying to
fix that left arm weeks later using a ball point pen. You can see where I tried
to make it bulkier. We won't even get into the face. Here's the
Garcia Lopez cover I swiped this from-- you decide which is better.
This is a swipe of an early Flash cover by Al Milgrom. You can see the
incredible improvement in my style already.
Second in a series of superhero drawings, drawn on the back of the
Aquaman page. Check out Thor's arms (the crooked left one) in
conjunction to his tree-trunk legs. He's really improved his physique since
the mid 70s. Felts, pencil crayons and crayolas on cardboard.
Just before I turned eight I began a series of drawings depicting popular
superheroes. This one's from a Jim Aparo cover using felts and crayons on
Fruit-of-the-Loom cardboard. Notice where I re-drew the "A" on the belt.
This is the oldest drawing I managed to retain over the years.