Michael Pagan

Knights Clash - 300 Graphic Novel Inspired. This is a commission project that I recently did for a client’s upcoming physical fitness event. He wanted the number “500” designed like that from the 300 films. That part was the easiest portion to do. The hardest and longest part was creating the character’s armor. I love creating characters; however, I have always had trouble creating suits of armor for characters. I used multiple references using my Pinterest reference collection and I continuously have trouble with these creations. Fortunately, the client loved the outcome. I am happy with the design but I feel like the armor could’ve used more detail.

Mad Bread Logo - Stained Glass version

Mad Bread Logo - Melting Clock Painting Inspired

Fire Department Logo. Here is an U.S. Air Force fire department station logo I completed during my Air Force deployment in 2024. This was not my original design. This design was created and pre-painted (from an unknown artist) on a cement wall from a previous deployment team. Our team really liked the design of the original that we wanted to use it for our team with minor touches: the army and air force insignias on the axes. The idea was to keep passing this design on to the next team as the main Fire Station 5 logo as a legacy idea. It’s really unfortunate I was not able to get the original artist’s name so that I can give credit to him/her.

Cyberpunk Swordsman Character Design

Rock Goddess Character Design – I always enjoyed creating random characters since I was in middle school. Having a career in the military took me away from that for a bit; however, I finally found the time to start creating characters again. I try to envision a theme for the character when creating them. This character was designed as a rock goddess that can summon a rock-like creature that she can control. There is no name or backstory to the character. The hardest part in creating the character was the color palette. Since green and brown are seen as earthly colors, I used a mixture of those colors and included a contrasting purple/pink.

Cyberpunk Queen Character Design. This character design was a character creation challenge that was challenged to me by a friend. The challenge was to create a character by listening to the song Jericho by Iniko without looking at the singer or the music video. The thought of a cyberpunk queen came into mind as I thought it was a very soothing and powerful song that sounded futuristic. My friend was very happy with the design and surprised at how close I was to the theme of the music video and the artist. The music video was set in a dystopian future city and Iniko is dark skinned with short, bleached white hair.

Random Sketch 1 – I like to continuously practice in drawing the human anatomy and drawing different poses to enhance my drawings. I find most of my pose references on Pinterest. There, I have saved over 200 reference images from standard poses to dynamic poses; to include human anatomy references (bone structure, muscles, etc.) and different types of clothing (male and female). Sometimes I would draw right over the original pose image to analyze the structure, angles, and such. Other times I would practice drawing the pose next to the image to see if I can do it freely. I have done this for quite some time and my skills continue to grow.

Random Sketch 2 – I like to continuously practice in drawing the human anatomy and drawing different poses to enhance my drawings. I find most of my pose references on Pinterest. There, I have saved over 200 reference images from standard poses to dynamic poses; to include human anatomy references (bone structure, muscles, etc.) and different types of clothing (male and female). Sometimes I would draw right over the original pose image to analyze the structure, angles, and such. Other times I would practice drawing the pose next to the image to see if I can do it freely. I have done this for quite some time and my skills continue to grow.

Anime Me Character Commision

Chainsaw Man - Anime Me Character Commission. The commission came from the same individual that I created the Dragon Ball Z and Full Metal Alchemist Anime Me commission. I went with a different approach to the background as I referenced the anime’s manga cover art. The cover art has one themed-“stained” color in the background while using 2-4 vibrate colors that contrast well with one another for the characters. I took a different approach in the character color aspect and colored them in my style. The kanji in the behind the larger background character spells out “Chainsaw Man” and it arranged like the original manga covers.

Full Metal Alchemist - Anime Me Commission. The commission came from the same individual that I created the Dragon Ball Z Anime Me commission. This was completed in the same process as the previous commission in using references. However, I needed more reference from the Full Metal Alchemist anime than I did Dragon Ball Z as I never finished this other anime. The background was more work than everything as I never worked a lot on scenery designs. Everything in the background came from a referenced scene from the anime, Full Metal Alchemist.

Dragon Ball Z - Anime Me Commission. This is the start of where I got the “Anime Me” commission idea. The commission came from a coworker who saw my art style and wanted me to draw him as a Dragon Ball character. As a fan of anime and Dragon Ball, I connected with my client very easily and created this piece. He was very satisfied and from there, he commissioned me to create two more for him in two different anime worlds: Fullmetal Alchemist and Chainsaw Man, both displayed in this portfolio. It was a good side gig and I would like to open up again for these types of commissions really soon.

Web-Manga Sample 1. This is the first set of the first panels of my very first colored web-comic titled: “Return of the Ancients” that I did for a client about three years ago. It is part of the first chapter of the comic. I had a lot of fun creating this and it was a learning experience. Hopefully I can revisit this client to finish off the rest of the chapters for their story. The chapter can be viewed for free on Tapas.com by searching “Return of the Ancients” or you can copy this link to take you there directly: https://tapas.io/episode/3016833.

Web-Manga Sample 2. This is the second set of the first panels of my very first colored web-comic titled: “Return of the Ancients” that I did for a client about three years ago. It is part of the first chapter of the comic. I had a lot of fun creating this and it was a learning experience. Hopefully I can revisit this client to finish off the rest of the chapters for their story. The chapter can be viewed for free on Tapas.com by searching “Return of the Ancients” or you can copy this link to take you there directly: https://tapas.io/episode/3016833.

Web-Manga Sample 3. Here is a set of panels from my first original manga that is part of an ongoing anthology series/project. It’s a short story about two friends that are trying to return home from a long hiking trip that take a bridge as, what they thought to be, a shortcut. Upon stepping on, they find themselves walking on a never-ending bridge and struggle to find a way out. The panels are not yet done; however, I am pushing through to complete this one and many more through my busy schedule. When it’s ready, I will make an announcement to either view online and/or to purchase in stores.

Web-Manga Sample 4. This is where I got my start in creating web-comic/manga. This strip of panels, along with Web-Manga Sample 5, are part of an original web-comic I created with my teen daughter. One day, my daughter created a “friendly” horror short story for a school assignment. The story received an “A,” and it got me interested to read it. I was so surprised on what she wrote that, out of nowhere, I wanted to create a manga out of it. We are both big anime fans, but she reads more manga than I do. With some additional “grown” content (i.e., blood), I created this and she loved it.

Web-Manga Sample 5. This is where I got my start in creating web-comic/manga. This strip of panels, along with Web-Manga Sample 4, are part of an original web-comic I created with my teen daughter. One day, my daughter created a “friendly” horror short story for a school assignment. The story received an “A,” and it got me interested to read it. I was so surprised on what she wrote that, out of nowhere, I wanted to create a manga out of it. We are both big anime fans, but she reads more manga than I do. With some additional “grown” content (i.e., blood), I created this and she loved it.

2D DIGITAL ARTIST | CHARACTER DESIGNER | WEB-COMIC/MANGA

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