the Art of Sedat Oezgen

2012 First post

2012-01-05T20:57:00.005+01:00

click here to view large

wishing everybody a great year :)

heres some Art to get it started with :)

Best wishes,

Sedat :)

Somebody´s knocking on the door its ...

2011-12-13T00:49:00.002+01:00

luke cage

coloring attempt

enjoy!

The Gladiators escape

2011-12-06T15:18:00.005+01:00

Colors

Workflow

...they escaped, but instead of fleeing the Gladiators took revenge for what they had done to them...for what they have been turned into...

The Vigilante

2011-11-23T19:06:00.001+01:00

Its a Bat

Inkwash

Hope you all enjoy:)

Jungle Queen

2011-11-16T23:58:00.005+01:00

so for some reason the worflow picture doesnt show up when you click on it. Here you can see a bigger Version.

Wont tell what this is for. Enjoy the Artwork!

Best,

Sedat :)

Shabby Coloring

2011-11-13T17:06:00.002+01:00

one of my attempts

Hope you enjoy it :)

High Resolution

UsVs.Them Workflow

2011-10-09T03:51:00.014+02:00

Prelim

Final Prelim

Inks

Inkwash

(For Some reason, Blogger seems to be having problems uploading the pictures properly, so pleas check the Link abover each picture).

Ok, so Ive finished all the pages for the "Us Vs. Them" Pitch, that my friend John Mahoney (writer of "The Last Mortal"). Additionally to the Pages Ive illustrated, Ive also created a Cover for the Pitch.

I wanted to share my workflow on this Cover with you guys,

since I really believe its a one of the best pieces Ive illustrated within the last few years.

Before I start illustrating the cover usually I do a thumbnail, which I didnt do this time.

I sat down in front of a blank sheet of paper and started drawing.

Ive used a blueline pencil and 200gsm Doree paper for the Prelim.

I was very satisfied with how the picture turned out. The only thing that bothered me was the big figure in the center of the piece. I just didnt like the way it looked like and felt like I could do way better.

So I scanned the piece and put another figure into the center, and voila it looked way better.

Now the Picture had all the energy and power I was seeking for in the initial sketch. I printed

the picture out and put it on my lightbox and traced the picture and then started inking it. During the tracing process I realized that the two eyes at the bottom of the picture would be too much and might be confusing. So I let them out during the inking process.

After the Inking was done I started the Inkwash, which usually is the biggest fun, but also sometimes can be the part where the picture Is being screwed up. In this Case luckily it worked.

I hope you like the final Piece. let me know what

you guys think about it :)

All the best wishes,

Sedat :)

Us Vs. Them Coloring Test

2011-09-30T00:15:00.002+02:00

A friend of mine took a little attempt on coloring one of my panels from my upcoming book.

Pencils/ Inks/ Inkwas: Sedat Özgen

Colors: Arton Redzbogaj

Still Alive

2011-09-09T10:12:00.001+02:00

While iam Working on mY New Book, clled "Us vs. Them" written by John and Tim mahoney (Co created by filip sablik) i will try to post some Art along the Way.

Hope you guys Enjoy it:)
Sedat

Batman Origins

2011-05-20T16:26:00.003+02:00

A Idea that came to my mind while I was sitting at my desk at night...

Angry Boy

2011-05-15T22:31:00.002+02:00

Hey folks,

after a very long time of not posting anything on my blog I am back with some new Artwork.

I will try to upload some of the stuff I did in the past months here asap.

In case youre interested to follow me more regulary, then you can check out my Facebook Group too The Art of Sedat Oezgen on Facebook . Id be more than happy to see you guys over there too.

And now enjoy the Artwork :) its the big green Guy ;)

Regards,

Sedat

Artdump

2010-08-27T15:21:00.009+02:00

Due to the fact that I dont have a own Internetaccess at the moment Im not able to post regulary.
Heres some new Stuff that I can post here. by the end of the Month I should get the permission to upload my upcoming cover.
One of my Favourite Pictures Ive ever done. Actually this was supposed to be the Prelim for a Phantom Cover. Sadly it was Rejected because the Phantom is no longer at Moonstone Books
Ironpatriot vs. Thor. Tools: Pencils and Inkwash
I hope youall enjoy the stuff.A apocalyptic gangbanger WIP. Tools: Pencils and PS3
Wolverine: Pencils and Inkwash

Finally

2010-07-30T11:34:00.002+02:00

...it happened. My first Marvel Cover will be published in Oct 2010.

Thats as much as I can say right now. I will have all of you updated as soon as I can
post some art.

Right now Iam the happiest person in the World :-)

Regards,

Sedat

R.I.P Frank Frazetta

2010-05-11T13:38:00.004+02:00

I guess all of you heard the sad news, legendary artist Frank Frazetta passed away.
There are no words that could express Franks impact on Popculture and art in general. It has been said that one picture expresses more than a thousend words, and in Franks case you would probably need a billion words just to express how intense and vivid his artwork always was.

You will be missed Mr. Frazetta.

10K

2010-05-10T23:01:00.014+02:00

Wow finally crossed the 10K hits on my blog.

Thanks everyone for visiting my blog.

Heres some new Artwork for all of you.
I hope youll enjoy it :)

Digitally Drawn Page (done with my Wacom Intuos 3)
I named this Page "DMS", which means "Doesnt make Sense" :-)

Digital Prelim
Traditional Pencils
Digital Pencils to digital Colours

Thor Commish from pencils to Ink-wash

Bald Eagle

2010-04-01T13:28:00.010+02:00

Hey Folks,

here are the pages for the series Im working on called Bald Eagle.
The Book was publieshed by the end of Fabruary.

Sadly the inks didnt turn out the way I was hoping, so Im definetly going to ink the next issue myself.

The story is part of a Air fighters anthology published by Moonstone Books.
You can find more out about it here.

Sadly my Submissions for Marvel werent convincing for them, so after finishing my next Bald Eagle Pages Ill send some new Submissions to Marvel again.

I hope you´ll enjoy the artwork.

Regards,
Sedat

Wolverine "Disturbing Consequences" Marvel Samples...wonder what Consequences they will have for me...

2010-01-03T02:22:00.007+01:00

Hey Folks,

First of all, Happy new Year! I hope that the new year will bring all of us more peace, freedom, luck and all the good things in the World:)

So as some of you might remember during my appearance at F.A.C.T.S 2009, I had a brief meeting with Marvel Talentscout C.B. Cebulski. He went through my Portfolio and seemed to like what he was seeing. He told me that he would try to hook me up with some Marvel Ediors that might be interested in me working with Marvel. After some time Ive recieved a bunch of of sample scripts based on my choice of favourite characters. I went through all the scripts, to make sure beeing able to pick the best script. After hours and hours of reading Ive decided that the Wolverine Script youre seeing here was the best one to suit my style and also would be the coolest one to draw.

Im going to send these pages to Marvel and Iam full of excitement, but Iam also trying not to be too excited because I personally think its always the best to hope for the best and expect the worst.

With those things said, I need you guys to wish me the best of luck.
Lets see what Marvel thinks.

Enjoy the Artwork!
Regards,
Sedat

A lot to catch up

2009-11-16T13:57:00.013+01:00

Hey Folks,

long time no see. Sadly lately I wasnt able to post any news, because I had some problems with my Computer I wasnt able to enter any Googlerelated pages such as my blog. I think it must have been a bug or something like that. So my best friend Kadir helped rebooting my old PC and wow all of a sudden everything suddenly works so much faster. Thank you so much Kadir, youre the Man!!! :)

As some of you might recall Ive been preparing for F.A.C.T.S. Convention in Belgium, which took place in Ghent from October 17th - 18th. I have to say the show was really amazing, I met a bunch of new poeple and made some new friends too.
I also hat the pleasure to meet the great C.B. Cebulski and had a very good Portfolio review with him, of which I hope to be able to tell you something within the next weeks. I also met such great artists such as my buddy Giuseppe Cammuncoli, Romano and Eva Hopkins.

Here are some of the Photos that we shot during the show:

Me and C.B. Cebulski

Me and Giuseppe Cammuncoli
Me and Eva Hopkins
Me and Jimmy "The Haitian" Jean Louis from the TV Show Heroes
C.B. taking a power nap
Get on your knees "Rebel Scum!"
A Collage one of myFans did. Thanks so much :)
As you can see I was having a lot of fun during the show :-)

One week later I visited Comic Action Essen in Germany, which in many ways for me was very successfull too. I had the pleasure to meet such great Artists such as Clint Lengley, Linda Luksic Sejic, Stjepan Sejic and Joe Madureira. Sadly Im still having trouble uploading pictures on my Computer, so I promise I will have the pictures from that how up later on too.

Ive also have some really good news concerning my new work. My next Comic Book "Bald Eagle" will be published in Janurary 2010. You can find more infos on the book here .
Here´s a promo Picture of the Character I did back in May 2009
I also did a bunch of Sketchcards for Charity, which I will also upload soon.

But now to the really great News!!! In March 2010 my first official the Phantom Cover will be published!! Sadly I had to do some adjustments to the original Cover and change the Phantoms Face, because my publisher thought that the Phantom looked to Old.
However, heres the cover from thumbnail to the finished piece:

Thumbnail
Prelim
Finished
Colours

I think that was all the news I got for youall :)

Regards,
Sedat

Lets Put a Smile on that Face! :-)

2009-10-01T18:14:00.005+02:00

Hey Folks,
So Im preparing for F.A.C.T.S convention in Belgium and Im totally excited of how things will be there. The Convention Programm has a lot of great artists pros and aspiring artists, so I hope to meet a lot of great people, make some new friends and ofcourse meet some old friends too.

Ive prepared some artwork for the convention that I will sell and also bring some of my older works and try to sell them. mostly I will sell rough sketches but also some of my more elaborte artwork.

My buddy Achim also printed a sketchbook, that I will be selling during the convention. I hope people will be interested in buying the sketchbook and some of my original Artwork too.

Here are some of the pictures Ive prepared for the convention.
I hopeyou all like it, and if someone of who reads this blog will be there too, just come over and say hi:)
Regards,
Sedat

F.A.C.T.S.

2009-09-02T17:38:00.002+02:00

Finally it has been made officially.
I have been announced for a convention in Belgium as a Guestartist.

More Informations here http://facts.be/guestshtml/fa_sedat.html

Special Thanks to Richard, Achim and the whole F.A.C.T.S. Staff.

Sedat:)

Sketchbook Goodies

2009-07-27T21:52:00.003+02:00

Hey Folks,
I thought itll be cool to show you all some Stuff, that Ill have inside my Sketchbook for a convention in Belgium that Ill be attending. Other than that I dont have much to say.

Enjoy;)

Sketchbook Cover step by step

2009-06-18T03:54:00.007+02:00

Hey friends,
A few weeks ago a friend of mine (Achim Reinecke) told me that I should finally do a sketchbook.
I liked the Idea (actually i liked it a lot), and thought there should be something special about.

While doodling around and playing a little bit with different pencil tones I accidently found out, that my shadingskills have gotten a little bit better. So I did a bunch of try out pieces on printing paper, and yes it truely worked. So I thought to myself why shouldnt I try out something big?

Well, this is what came out in the end. I really like this piece, something that doenst happen usually:-)

The first step was to draw the picture on average printing paper and adding lightsources and minimal shading to the prelim. After that I lightboxed the picture (Sadly I didnt do a scan of the lightboxed piece, but you can get the Idea from looking at the unfinished pieces). Then I went down and added the gray tones. Ive used black bencils and every possible soft pencil (3B - 8B) and some graphite pencil.

I hope you guys enjoy the artwork. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. More a like to come soon:-)
Regards,
Sedat

Yes I can!

2009-05-18T18:59:00.004+02:00

No, dont worry, this isnt going to be another stupid way of using a Barack Obama picture to sell comics or something like that.
What I mean, when I say Yes I can, is that it finally happened! On May 12th of 2009 my first back up story got published for a american comic book publisher. Moonstone Books finally published my artwork, and I have to admit its a great feeling to know that it finally happened. When I read the email by my Publisher, Joe Gentile, I almost started crying out of happyness. I ran up the stairs and hugged and kissed my mother!

The Story is pubished in Captain Action#4, and its only 6 Pages. It tells the story of a Character, called Lai Wan, a person who is able to read peoples thoughts just by touching them.

Joe liked my artwork a lot and Ive just started working on my next project, which is going to be a series called "Bald Eagle". I was told that if everything works out well, Ill be soon working on something bigger!
I hope that all this will finally lead to something bigger! Jim Lee, Im coming :-)!

Since the book has been published I think it will be ok to post the pages here.

If youre interested to buy the book, then either ask your Comic shop for Captain Action#4 by Moonstone books, or buy the book at www.Moonstonebooks.com or here .

All the best,
Sedat:)

Not finished yet

2009-03-09T15:44:00.002+01:00

I think Conan is going to kick this Dudes Ass;)

I started this picture just for fun. Im not sure if Iam going to finish it, Ive been working on it in my sparetime. The new project thatIm hopefully going to work on for Moonstonebooks is so great and I cant wait to finally get the first script:-)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did enjoy drawing this...I love details:)

Here we go again

2009-02-09T20:03:00.005+01:00

Hey Folks,
long time no post, due to lack of time I havent been able to update the blog and post some new stuff. Ive been quiet busy lately and had to go through hard times (as usual), but hey they say "what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger!" and I totally have to agree on that. Although Im still thinking about the stuff that has happened lately, It doesnt bother me as much as it did in the beginnng.
However, my first shortstory should be published soon, (I dont know exactly when), but Ill let you all know when and where you can purchase it. As Ive mentioned before I did the pencils and the Inks on this project (inks Digitally), and my editor liked the stuff, he liked it so much, that he wants me to draw a BI-Monthly Book for them, which in my opinion is a great step forward.
Sadly, the colouring didnt turned out as Ive been hopeing, but since I didnt colour the book, its not my fault;)

I really hope that this whole thing will lead me to more projects and maybe to a gig with a bigger Publisher as well.

Heres some of the Artwork.
I hope you all enjoy it,
Regards,
Sedat

Who???

2008-10-19T19:21:00.002+02:00

Howdy Folks,
been sometime since I stopped here and posted some of my stuff. Been busy a lot lately (again)...
However Ive finished my first story for Moonstonebooks, and my editor liked the artwork a lot. He told me that he wants me to draw another book, but this time a entire oneshot (30 Pages or so).

Its not save to say wheter itll happen or not, but im already excited as it gets. Ive also been working on some Characterdesigns for some computercompanies to get a fulltime job. Its been fun having a break from sequential art and to try out enviroment drawings and characterdesigns. Ive learned more about working digitally and its been quite funny.

Here are some examples of what Ive been doing lately. Sadly I cannot upload my pages for the Moonstone gigs, but as soon as Ill get an ok Ill post em here:)

Enjoy the stuff:)

Thor about to beat an Ugly Demons Ass...Ill ink this piece digitally soon...I promise:)

My First Digital Inking

2008-08-13T22:10:00.002+02:00

Pencils
Digital Inks without Background
Digital Inks with Background

So, Once again one of these days that I came home from Work and felt totally tired and exhausted, instead of going to sleep or do anything else that would help to recover a little bit, I started inking a sketch of the phantom that I did a week ago or so. The difference from all the stuff Ive ever posted before, is that I inked it digitally.

My Friend Tom Nachlik (please visit his homepage and tell him what a great artist he is, because thats what he is http://thomasnachlik.com/),gave me a few weeks ago his old wacom graphic tablet, because he bought himself a new one, and probably produces some new hot ass stuff(check his blog and youll know what im talking about).

I had never done any digital inks before. I tried my self on a few pieces before, but never finished them. this time i thought I SHOULD do it, just to see if I CAN do it.
Ive used a bunch of costumized brushes, some layers and voila there you go!

Ive done two versions of the piece, one with an abstract background and another one without any background. I like both. Im not satisfied with the piece, but I think its a good start...sometimes you have to crawl before you can walk.

Tell me what you guys think. Ill be working hard on some new pieces soon, i promise:)
Regards,
Sedat

Sketches part1

2008-08-08T02:10:00.002+02:00

Ok folks,
here are the promised sketches and so on that Ive promised to upload. Its been a lot of stuff to scan so Im going to upload the other sketches somwhen later.
Hope you all enjoy the stuff:)
Regards from Germany:)
Sedat

Good News

2008-08-03T22:26:00.002+02:00

Hey folks,
just wanted to give you guys a heads up:) thanks for all the great feedback i got from you guys, during my "bad times" things were really hard for me, but now everything is getting better again. Ill have lots of new stuff soon (sketches and concepts). The story im working on for Moonstone comics is almost finished too. so keep your eyes open.

heres something ive done digitally and a pin up i did some time ago:)...hope youll enjoy all the new stuff thats about to come:)
regards,
Sedat

let the sun shine, please!

2008-06-13T01:24:00.002+02:00

Howdy Everybody,
first off all let me say thank you guys for checkin on my punisher pages and then let me apologize for not having posted anything on the blog lately. My lifes moving upside down lately a lot and it seems as if its going straight down instead of moving up, sadly. Im working a lot, ive lost a lot of weight and seem to have some health issues again.
However, on the bright side theres some good news too. Im working on a short story for Moonstone comics, after that they want me to work on another book (30 Page oneshot) and after that, who knows;)
Dont forget me guys, speak a prayer that things will turn a little bit better. I promise to post something new soon!
All the best wishes and apprecciations for checking my blog,
Sedat

The Punisher

2008-04-13T21:18:00.002+02:00

So finally some new stuff,
I guess most of you were wondering where I have been to and what I was doing all that time...honestly, Ive been working, working hard, sadly not on my drawing skills but in my new Job in a Factory, I work three shifts, every week a new one and you probably cannot Imagine how terrible it is for my sleepinghabits. especially after the nightshifts...However, somehow I got to managae to draw a few Punisher pages. I tried this time to be a little more lose about the style and step into a more realistic way of drawing. I hope you all enjoy the artwork.
Story: Tristan Vick
Art: Sedat Özgen

Feedback is Welcome:)
Sedat

my desk

2008-02-29T15:21:00.007+01:00

I thought it would be fun to show you guys how my desk looks like when Iam working on something. Although it looks chaotic and crazy I always knew where all my tools were. Right now my desk looks better again:)

A new Chapter

2008-02-12T15:02:00.000+01:00

So, finally its done, Ive finished my studies at the university for applied science of münster (department for design) and recieved my diploma, and finished the first chapter for my graphic novel about the kurdish hero, Sheikh Mirza. Within the last 3 weeks Ive been working day and night, to get the project done. It was the first time I had to pencil and ink this number of pages, and Ive learned that I am able to keep a deadline, and keep up quality with quantity. However, while I was working on this project Ive started using a crow quill, which to me was a experience of a lifetime. I think Ive learned a lot while i was working on this project and even if there shouldnt be any publishers being interested (which I dont hope), at least there will be a higher level of Skills ill be able to offer...
All the best wishes and from now on Ill be posting more regulary again, I promise:)
Sedat:)

Happy New Year...a little bit belated:)

2008-01-07T04:03:00.000+01:00

Hey Guys,
havent been posting anything lately, not because im lazy, not becase im not working on anything, but rather because of the fact that Im working 24/7. The Pencils for my Graphik Novel are almost finished (traced the stuff too...32 Pages) and now the inking process is going to start. I think the book has become really good so far and that it will be fun for people to read it once its finished...you cannot imagine how curious Iam to see how people will react on it. I hope that it either will be picked by an european or maybe by an american publisher.

However, in the one of the few moments that people call sapre time I drew this "300" sketch... actually this was supposed to be King Leonidas, but instead this guy looks like some ugly guy. However, I thought it would be cool to post it and just to let you all know that everythings fine, and Im working hard, everyday...sadly sometimes I have to put the pens down and take care of some reallife stuff but all I can say is that the Artwork (including the inking) will be completetd by the beginning of Feburary. So take deep breathe, say a prayer for me that some publisher will give me the chance to tell this story! See you all soon! Love and hugs from the small guy:)
Best wishes,
Sedat:)

I Love Jim Lee

2007-11-19T03:40:00.000+01:00

Watch the Video!
the Batman picture from "the aspiring comic book artist" is a picture I sent to Jim Lee somewhen back in 2005, as a Thank you gift after having met him in 2004 in Germany. You cant Imagine how I was blown away by the fact that he still had the picture and that hes showed it to the camera.
The Video is a part of an Interview in which Jim leads a camerateam through Wildstorm studios.
I know for most people its not such a big deal, but when I watched the video, after having a really bad day I went to bed with a big smile.
Whenever I met Jim he was really nice and friendly to me and this video just makes me love him more and more!
Thanks so much Jim:)
All the best,
Sedat

My New Project

2007-11-06T14:11:00.000+01:00

Hey Everybody,
as some of you probably know Im working on my Diploma at the moment. The topic of my Diploma is a graphik novel about a kurdish hero from the 1830s, who fought against other kurdish clans and later on against the ottoman empire.
My teacher told me to create some sort of Internet diary about the making of the book, and since Ive already have my own blogspot, I thought it would be much better to post the entries here.

Sadly I had to cancel the gig at Moonstonebooks, because it was impossible to work on both projects at the same time. I think the book im working on right now has a lot of poetnetial and thats why I rejected the Moonstonebooks gig. I may regret it soon or not, but sometimes youll have to believe in yourself and thats what Im doing right now!

I believe that the project Im working on is more important than anything else Ive done so far:)
I hope I wont regret it:)

Heres some of the art Ive prepared so far.
let me know what you think!
all the best,
Sedat:)

one of my favourite scenes

A fight scene
The Hero of the story; Sheikh Mirza

Stormwatch P.H.D

2007-10-15T00:51:00.000+02:00

Hey Folks,
Here are the Wildstorm sample Pages Ive talked about in my earlier post. The script is based on the first four pages of the second issue of "Stormwatch PHD" comic series.
I have never drawn any of these characters before, and have to say that I still dont know too much about them, but I have to say it was quite funny drawing these characters, especially "the walking ghost", the bald headed Guy.

Usually I tend to talk a lot about the stuff I draw, but in this case its not too much I can say. However, during the process I felt like that something improved in my art. I think in some cases the perspectives are more dynamic and less stiff. Ive been trying to create the Illusion of depth in the panels and I think it worked much better than it did in all the samples ive posted before.
I cannot tell wether this will change anything for me and make me become a "pro" now, if Wildstorm will show any interest in me as an artist or anything else. By the end of the day it was a good exercise, Ive enjoyed drawing it and I have some new stuff for my portfolio :)

So here we go, I hope you guys will enjoy these Pages, and if you like em, post a comment! Id appricciate that a lot :)

Now Ill let the art speak for it self

Punisher Pin Up

2007-10-04T17:20:00.000+02:00

Hey Everybody,
long time no see. Lately ive been quite busy starting to work on my Diploma. Im working on a graphik novel about a kurdish hero from the 1830´s, and so far I have to say it is a lot of fun working on that. Theres a lot of research that I have to do for this project, and Im doing the writing on this book too. Ive never wrote any stories before (or atleast none that would tell such a long story), i think the fact that it bases on a true story is a very good way to start and at the same time it helps me to know where the story will lead too. My teacher who read the story really likes it so far, and Im thinking about maybe doing more stuff like this in the future.

On the other Hand I have to say, when it comes to superherobooks or "comic" stories, I still prefer working with other writers instead of writing them by myself. My biggest dream would be to work with Garth Ennis on a Punisher "MAX" storyline some day...yeah I know that is a big dream, and probably never is going to happen, but whenever I read Ennis´ stories I feel this rush of inspiration and the pressure to draw something. Ive read the "Punisher,the first step" and "Punisher, Barracuda" storylines and was so amazed how Ennis was able to capture the "real" Idea of the Punisher, who in my eyes should be completely taken out of the superhero universe and be made a complete realistic character. I hope some day, somehow Ill be able to get my fingers on the character...if I ever should break into the industry (btw. Ive recieved a sample script from a real cool Wildstorm Editor...lets see what happens when im done with it ;) )

However, here is a little Punisher pin up, the way I imagine him, the way I would draw him if Id be able to work on him. I hope you all enjoy :)

All the best wishes,
Sedat

...and another one

2007-09-11T03:28:00.000+02:00

I thought it would be nice to do another video...this time wolverine.
I hope you all enjoy :)
heres the sketch
and heres the video:

all the best,
Sedat :)

JLA 8 Pages

2007-08-21T15:00:00.000+02:00

So these were the pages for the DC Talent search...
Not so much to say, since Ive mentioned everything before in my SDCC report.
Enjoy,
Sedat

SDCC and its aftermath

2007-08-16T14:58:00.000+02:00

hey everybody,
sorry for the delay, Ive been quiet busy lately with moving back into my parents house after SDCC.

SDCC was just an amazing experience and kind of sparked my brain. Ive met soooo many great people, who were so friendly and nice to me. I will never forget that.
I arrived in San Diego on tuesday evening finding out on the same evening, that my roombooking for my stay @ USA Hostel San Diego had been canceled, without getting any infos. I was lucky enough to get a place at Hostel Cat another Hostel in San Diego, which was sooo cool.

the Convention Center on Wedensday

Opening, but first get into the line

On wedensday I went to the Convention Center to pick up my four day badge.

I ran around a little bit and checked a few booths and the artist alley. At the DC Booth I met Vertigo Editor Will Dennis (finally in Person), Jim Lee, who told me to come back later to him so that he could introduce me to some WS/DC editors and I met Lee Bermejo, who after all almost 3 Years still remembered me and my name :)
Later on in the artist alley I finally met Richard Friend, Carlos Danda and Eddy Choi(and I think on thursday Michael Lopez).

Me and Will Dennis

Jim Lee @ work

Lee Bermejo singning at the DC Booth

On thursday morning I participated the DC orientation Session and later on the DC talent search, I dropped off my portfolio at their booth and went afterwards straight to the Marvel booth, were I was looking for Chris Allo (talentscout at Marvel), I met him and gave him my portfolio, he told me to come back on Sunday morning because he wanted to talk to me.

Later on I went to the artist alley, where I finally met Leinil Yu (superfriendly guy and he would remember me after we had maybe chatted once via deviantart.com ), Dustin Ngyuen who would invite me to take place next to him, we talked and he introduced me to Joe Dodd, Scott Lobdell and Derek Fridolfs. Later on I met Joe Largent, Travis Charest, Michael Lopez (absolutely cool guy from Wildstorm Comics) and hung around the gelatometti spot in the artist alley. I really got to talk a lot to them especially to Carlos, Michael and Richard (these guys were just suppppercool).

Dustin@work

On Friday morning I went to the DC booth to see if I was picked as one of the artists for the DC talent search. Sadly I didnt get picked, which was really a sad and disappointing moment for me, because I had hoped so much to get my chance there.
However later on I met up with Tony Verdini (Panini Comics), Tony was really sad too about the fact that I didnt got picked at the the DC talent search, he went through my portfolio and really seemed to like the stuff I had in there, especially my pages about my kurdisch roots, he asked me to send him the pitch for the story. Afterwards he went through my sketchbook and really liked the Punisher sketches I had in there...which lead to a Idea I cant speak about right now.
After that I went to the DC booth to see Jim Lee again, he introduced me there to Alex Sinclair (colourist and Editor at WS Comics) and Ben Abernathy(Editor at WS). Ben looked at my portfolio and liked my artwork, he gave me his business card and told me to stay in touch with him so that he could send me professional scripts to see where Iam artistically.

On Saturday I met my friend Steven Bryan Lim (finally in person) and his wife Janette, we would run around check booths, visit artists in the artist alley and later on have a lunch at a Restaurant near the Convention Center. Steven and Janette were just superfriendly and it was an awesome experience to meet them, they felt like family to me and it was really nice just talking to my new friends. Thank you both so much! :)

On Sunday morning I went straight to the Marvel booth, where I was looking for Chris Allo. I had to wait and accidently ran into Khoi Pham. Khoi was really friendly to me and gave me some advices on my artwork, sadly he was really busy, so we didnt had too much time to talk.
While waiting for Chris, I checked the Iron Man Costume for the movie

It looks cool, but personally Id say its a fake, liked it though :)

After some waiting I talked to Chris Allo and showed him my portfolio, just like Ben Abernathy he told me to stay in touch with him and that he would send me sample scripts that I could work from, th show on what level Iam artistically.

After talking to Chris I ran around a little bit and went to the Moonstonebooks booth, I showed them my portfolio and Editor in Chief Joe Gentile immeadiatly offered me a gig on one of their books. He gave me his business card and told me that he wants to stay in touch with me.

I would like to thank; Jim Lee, Carlos Dánda, Michael Lopez, Richard Friend, Lee Bermejo, Eddy Choi, Ben Abernathy, ALex Sinclair, Dustin Ngyuen, Tony Verdini, Joe Largent, Leinil Yu, Joe Dodd, Chris Allo, Steven Bryan Lim and Janette Lim, Joe Gentile, Khoi Pham, Jonah, Hostel Cat, Thiago from Brazil, Tristan Vick (for the script) and my family for making this trip possible for me...and everyone Ive forgotten to mention, Im sorry! Youre in my heart too :)

man what a long ass post.
Sedat

Just 2 let you all know...

2007-08-02T04:37:00.000+02:00

Im still alive, and San Diego was off da Hizzay! At the moment I dont have a proper computer to upload any new artwork and any pictures from the show, but all I can say it was more than an amazing experience and it was worth all the trouble!
I met a lot of great people (finally some in person) and I was amazed by how great and friendly everybody was to me, the small guy from Germany with the strange name ;)
Thank you all! I will name you guys in my next post here.
Sedat :)

Sneaking and Peeking

2007-06-26T01:02:00.000+02:00

Its been a while since ive been posting anything here. Sadly there some things in life going ways Ive totally havent been expecting them to go, but thats life, you never know whats happening next. I guess the only thing that helps is what 2 Pac used to say; "Keep ya Head up!"
When I was somewhat younger, his music and his words used to spark my brain and helped me to handle situations in life that kind of made it heavy to think about a brighter day.

However, Ive been really busy lately working on a project for school ( University of applied science Münster/ Design department). Its a comic about my kurdish roots and tells one of the stories that actually describes why so many kurds had to flee from their homes and find another home on other continents or in other countries.

These are just a few pictures. I hope to have everything finished by next tuesday...hopefully :)

JLA

2007-06-03T00:39:00.000+02:00

Page 2 Prelim:Page 8 Prelim:Page 8 fin:

This is some of the new stuff im working on, since the wolverine script I worked on was really annoying, I thought it wouldbe better to work on something I enjoy.
I started with drawing the last page, actually because it was the easiest shot (im not sure but I think people would call this a money shot).
I really enjoy drawing these pages, but the only problem at the moment is that I have to work on my school stuff too and now that I have recovered from my nose surgery i can work again and have even less time to draw...seems like Ill be having a HARD time at SDCC.
However Ill give my best to make each page looking good.

I hope to be able to draw another sample script after I finish these.
enjoy :)

Im still Sedat from the blog

2007-05-14T23:26:00.000+02:00

Whoa,
long time no see! Its been over one month since Ive been posting anything onto the blog and I really have to say it felt kinda strange not having anything new up here.
However, after having my nasal septum straightening ( i hope its the correct term) on april the 30th, which finally made me able to breathe, I wasnt able to draw...blood dripping out of my nose and headache , I finally got my ass up again and started preparing some stuff for the DC talent search @ San Diego Comic Con.

I have different samples Ill be drawing, which include different characters. locations and atmospheares, which I think is a good thing, because it shows where one artist is "artistically" and where the artist is heading to. I started with a Wolverine sample. I really love Wolverine and he is always a lot of fun to draw, because he allows me to draw lots of muscles, scares, blood and other stuff, while I can draw other all day stuff too into a script.

Before I draw on the actual piece of paper I usually draw the page onto piece of printing paper to have an idea of how the page is going to look like in the end and then trace it via lightbox. As you can see from beginning to the end the page goes through different changes, for different reasons. Often Im not satisfied with a pose, the p.o.v or the layout and try to make the best out of it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.
My main focus on these samples is too keep up quality, while working fast, which in the past seemed to be a problem. As i was playing around with some pencils i realized it was more a technical problem than a artistical problem. Since I usually work with a 2mm leadholder it often became a little bit hard for me to work out important details on panels with wiedeshots, so this time I used a tech pencil for panels with wideshots, and see it works. I hope that by the end Ill be able to have high quality pages that dont have the lack of consistence my Batman "broken city" pages had.
Hope you all enjoy the artwork :)

Preversion:

Finished Version:

Sketchdumping

2007-04-13T23:13:00.000+02:00

these are some sketches Ive done in the last few months. I will later on post more stuff. the scanning just takes toooo much time. I hope you all enjoy. more to come later on :)

Testpage

2007-04-01T13:59:00.000+02:00

This is a Testpage Ive done as an example of how I imagine my next illustrationclass project to look like. The topic of this semester is migration and immigration. I will try to tell the history of the kurds in my story, because the kurdish history is full of migration. Because of the many surpressions the kurds went through they have been forced to move out their land and move onto other countries trying to find a new home to live free.

This Page is just a collage of different impressions and pictures that I connect with my kurdish identity. In the first panel you can see my late Grandfather ( hie was one of the most important people in my life, I loved him more than any other person in my whole life. He was the person who gave me my name and also took care of me when he came to Germany). In Panel 2 you can see a kurdish heardsman. Most of the Kurds, especially in the turkish part (north- kurdistan), make their living as farmers. Because of the political situation there arent too many possibilities for the kurds who dont move to the west of Turkey or Europe to get a better education or have a better life.
In the third Panel we see Hasankeyf. Hasankef is a area full of historical evidences for the kurdish, turkish and the persian cultures. Now a days the turkish government is planning to flood the area of Hasankeyf, humanrights activists and kurdish organisations blame the government to try to flood these areas to chase away the kurds out of this area to either push them into the west part of or even more into the eastern part of Turkey.
In te last panel we see a old kurdish woman baking bread the traditonally way. We call this bread "Nane sele". When the bread is finished, you can put flesh and vegatables into it and wrap it. I really love that bread :)

Im not very satiesfied with the composition though, because i think the black background in Panle 1 and the layout for panel 2.
However it was just a tryout page, and I think the next pages will be better:)

All the best,
Sedat :)

Youtubin`

2007-03-27T20:55:00.000+02:00

Well this was my first attempt at braodcasting myself.
Sadly the quality of my Cam isnt that super at all and the first part of the inking got deleted...*****
However, I guess the music could be a little bit confusing for most of the people watchng this video, since it is kurdish music, which is very differnt from western music.
When I draw i listen to that music all the time...probably the reason why Im a little bit messed up in the brain :)

I will try to do more of these videos.
Hope you all enjoy
p.s. in the beginning everything is a little bit hard to view but later it gets better

"Where King Arthur Sleeps"

2007-03-20T18:15:00.000+01:00

Page 1
the only reason why the 1st panel is empty is, that there is supposed to be a text. Since ive done such a terrible job on the lettering I will show you the artwork only.

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

This is a unused version of Page 8. Ive been planing on doing all the other pages this way, but sadly my Illustration teacher thought, that it wasnt appropiate.
After almost 8months of waiting Ive met my Illustartion teacher again and talked with him about a project, that I did in june06 for a collaboration between our and a South Korean artschool. The topic of the projects our schools worked on were european and asian Fairy tales.
At the beginning I was very sceptical about this project, and didnt want to work on it, after 2 months or so I finally decided to work on the project too (for some reasons that I rather not mention here)...Im not sure if these pages will be published or not, but it sure was some good training.

Ive searched the web up and down for a good and interesting european fairy tale. after some time Ive found; "Where King Arthur sleeps" a walisian fairy tale, about a boy who leaves his home and meets a man who leads him to a cave in which King arthur and his army sleep in . The story was kind of interesting and I thought it would be a cool possibility to finally ink some of my own stuff.

Since it had taken me so long to finally get on the project, ther was not much time left to work on the story, the layouts and the final pages. Another problem was, that I had to get this very long story into 8 Pages, which was really an artistic challenge for me.

However, after Ive started working on these pages I really enjoyed illustrating them, even though I had to rush the artwork.
No matter what, Im still very proud of these Pages and hope that my next project for my illustration class this semester will be better. I hope you all enjoy.
Sedat :)

Batman "Broken City" finished

2007-03-12T18:35:00.000+01:00

Ok finally the Batman pages are done.
It took me 2 1/2 weeks of work putting all the time together i worked on the pages (during the time i did the pages Ive been working and had some familiystuff to handle too). It was a lot of fun drawing the pages, and even if I shouldnt get any work with these samples, I can say that it was a very good training for me. Ive leraned how to handle quality and quantity.

Ive woked from the Batman 620 script by Brian Azzarello and it was the first time that Ive worked on a pro Script.

As you can see the pages are very clean, that because Ive drawn the pages on printerpaper first and then traced them. Im not sure if im going to ink these pages, I guess it would be a lot of fun, but Im a little bit afraid to screw these pages.

On a side note, my nosesurgery will be on march the 19th (next monday).

Hope you all enjoy these pages. Let me know what you think and addsome comments :D
All the best,
Sedat

First Look - Batman "Broken City"

2007-03-06T11:59:00.000+01:00

As some of you guys remember, Ive mentioned that Im working on a Batman script at the moment. Ive been really busy lately with work, family stuff and getting prepared for my surgery (which will be on march 19th) therefore I had to keep the art on the low.

This is a doublespread from the Batman script. Iam actually very cool with it, since the script gives the artist a lot of freedom for the first three pages, I thought it would be nice, showing Gotham how I imagine it to be. I didnt want to show anybody is getting shot or something, but rather a situation before or after a crime happens but also stuff like prostitution, gangbangers, drugdealers and lines of sexshops.
Ive been trying to use different angles for the scenes to make it look like we were fly through Gotham and watching all his crimes...

For these pages I started to work with a complete new work flow. I make small thumbnails to get an Idea how the finished page is going to look like, after that I draw the complete page on A3 printing paper and then I trace the whole page via lightbox. This is the best way for me to have the page looking clean and it also helps me to make the buildings look more believable, because when I trace the buildings, I dont use a ruler, what helps me to avoid the buildings to look made up and stiff.
Theres one more thing, which Iam actually really proud of, this was the first time ever I managed to draw one Page a day. The only reason why I cannot do more pages is that I have to go wto my dayjob too and have to wake up at 5 o´clock in the morning and Im coming back at 5 in the afternoon. And if you sleep for only one or two hours a day that can cause some serious issues, which will keep you even longer away from the desk...no bad excuse at all :)

I will try to post all the finished Pages by the end of the week. Tell me if you like it ...
Sedat

Some School Stuff

2007-02-22T01:33:00.000+01:00

This is some Stuff Ive done for my Editorial class. In this class our teacher would give us a topic and we were supposed to create fictional covers for these topics.
I actually had a real hard time with this class, because it started about the time I moved out of my appartment, at the same time my new computer wouldnt run smoothly and I had no internet access, which in my humble opinion is neccessary to pass this class.
However with a lot of determenation and hard work I was able to get all that stuff done on time.

The cool thing for me was I was able to experiment with digital colouring programs and with different inking styles. I also liked that I had to draw, normal people without lots of muscles and angry looking faces.

I couldnt upload some of the other pictures...but as soon as I have fixed that problem Ill upload them.

Dont Forget this Face and some Table Dancing

2007-02-13T02:21:00.000+01:00

Ok, this is probably the last time youre gonna see my face like that, although its still not clear when my nose is going to be operated, i thought I should at least give you all the chance to have a "before - after" comparison...yeah I look like I jerk.
Below are some more Pictures I did some long time ago of my Desk, actually its just some sort of evidence to proof folks that even a lazy slacker like me is working...at least my Desk looks like im doing some work :) btw. that was in my old appartment...oh how i miss that office, bedroom, kitchen and living room in one appartment ;)

Batman will hate my Nose! and I do too

2007-02-08T23:58:00.000+01:00

Ususally human beings need their nose to breathe or to smell, Iam one of those poor guys that cant do neither. Both of my noseholes are closed, because both holes are to tight to my nosebone, plus my nosebone is lean. That means I cannot breathe at day nor at night, causing insomnia, the feeling of being totally exhausted wehn I wake up in the morning, a dry mouth, problems with my lounges and much more, I decided to visit my doctor.
After checking my nose and my lounges, I recieved some bad news. He told me that my nose has to be operated so that Ill hopefully will be able to breathe properly. Ill have to stay for 2 or 3 days in Hospital, and after that I wont be able to work for the next 3 weeks. That was really the worst news he had for me, because a few weeks ago I got in touch with DC/Vertigo editor Wil Dennis ( Hellblazer, DMZ...). He sent me a Batman script to work on, and now that Im on schoolbreak, i thought it would be the best time to work on those pages. I feel totally screwed and it really messed up my day, but I wont let that get me down, Ill do the Batman pages, even if that causes nosebleeding, headache or even death!
Nothing can stop me from working on those Pages :D

However here is some art which I had on my computer and thought I should share with you guys. the first two pages are Wolverine Pages from a script from a friend of mine. I didnt finish them because I moved out of my appartment in October 06 and after that I had to do a lot of stuff for school, plus going to work can be really really hard!
This was the first step for the Punisher Pin up Ive posted some days earlier. It was a lot of fun to draw. As you can see I did the BG with a ruler, but when I light boxed the pic I didnt. That was because, when I work with a ruler on my BGs they always look made up and kind of stiff, so right now I use the ruler only as a orientation tool.

this is a darkened version of the inks. I tried to make the brushlines disappear, it looks cleaner now, but in some way sterile too, ot sure if thats a good thing though.
This was one of my first attempts with digital colouring. I had a lot of fund oing it but im not sure if it looks good. Im partially colourblind, so if there any mistakes then please domt be too mad at me. Below you can see the finished version with some type and the logo, I did just for fun.

"Oldiemates"

2007-02-05T21:57:00.000+01:00

These are unused sample pages i did back in october 2005. i had prepared them for the "Frankfurt Book Fair" 2005, where I met Jim Lee again. he reviewed the pages, but sadly he wasnt too overwhelmed by the pages and he was ( i guess) a little bit disappointed by the low numbers of Pages I had prepared for the book fair. He told me that I should do at least 3 pages a week. After the con I became very Ill for almost 4 months. I couldnt concentrate, was coughing all the time, my hands were shaking and more. That was one of the worst periods in my whole life.

However, I never finished these Pages. maybe someday Ill draw the entire story again.
Story: Tristan Vick
Art: Sedat Özgen

The Punisher

2007-01-29T23:38:00.000+01:00

Ive been waiting a long time to finally do something with the punisher. I love the Character, but I thought it would be cool to give him a little bit different look from what we are used to. For some reason I always thought it would be cool to have Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Punisher.
Arnie is the perfect person in my opinion to portray the Punisher, especially in his Terminator outfit. I always wanted to give Frank Castle the look of a big and strong dude, whos able to kill you with one kick but also make him look like hes been trough a lot of trouble by making his face full of scares (hes been to vietnam and fought every sort of criminals that should at least leave some scares, even on a Heros face).
I also Changed the skull on his shirt, I bet all the Punisher fans out there will kill me, but I liked it that way much more ;) giving him a "walther" p99 Ram and a crowbar to always remember you that if youve been naughty, Big Pun will find you and it aint going to be nice.

Before I started the drawing I did a very detailed sketch, which i will scan later on, and then put the sketch on the lightbox and traced the picture, thats the reason why the pencils look very clean and the lines are more controled.
The Inks were a little bit difficult to me because Im still very new to all the inking stuff, but Im trying to teach myself as much as possible. For the big black spots I used a brush and ink, for the line work i used pens, which I feel much more comfortable, then a brush.

So do you like my version of the Punisher?
All the Best,
Sedat

Train - Ing

2007-01-18T16:58:00.000+01:00

These are some sketches I did while I was riding the train. I have to travel 2 or 3 times a week from Bielefeld to Münster which makes 3hrs everytime. Sometimes I sleep during the trip but most of the time Im drawing into my sketchbook. Thats why I gave my sketchbook the name "Train-Ing"...:)
Its the first time I keep up drawing in a sketchbook, before I bought this sketchbook I used to draw on lose sheets of printingpaper.
Hope you all enjoy the art,
Sedat :)

Not Dead yet!!

2007-01-17T18:28:00.000+01:00

Wow,
its been a long time since Ive been posting anything over here, but there have been major changes in my young life within the last few months, so heres my big "forgive me" for the lack of postings of the last months!
Here are some pages ive done for the DDP talentsearch. the story is called "drafted", all the designs were up to the artists. I never got an reply from DDP, guess my stuff sucked!
Hope you enjoy!

From Pencils to finishes, plus some of the sketches Ive used to draw the pages.

More Sketches

2006-08-16T01:07:00.000+02:00

some more sketches.
theres not much that I can say about the pictures that you see, all I can say is that its always much fun drawing stuff like that. I really enjoy drawing my "own" characters and I love to make em look differnt from what one is used to by the industry (masked guys walking around in spandex and latex suits :D ).
But hey drawing a good ol wolverine and batman is always a lot of fun too ;)
Enjoy the art.
Best,
Sedat

I Love my Markers

2006-08-09T16:11:00.000+02:00

Long Time No see...
Heres a marker sketch i did two days ago. Ive been experimenting a lot letely and realized that only Penciling is really boring. Theres nothing that gives you an better feeling than having a illustration completely done by yourself. I really enjoy working with pens and markers its so much more fun than just penciling. Ive scanned the picture in grayscales and in a colourscan. I cant tell yet which i like more or which i like less.
more to come soon :)
Sedat

Fin...

2006-07-06T16:29:00.000+02:00

more sketches

2006-07-06T16:15:00.000+02:00

a never ending story...

sketches ...

2006-07-06T16:02:00.000+02:00

and another one

sketches III

2006-07-06T15:41:00.000+02:00

More sketches

Sketches II

2006-07-05T16:19:00.000+02:00

more sketches

Sketches

2006-07-05T14:06:00.000+02:00

WOAH!!!
Finally i got my semester behind me, it was very stressfull and exhausting. However, I was able to finish 8 pages writing,characterstudies,thumbnails, pencils, inks and changes in less than 4 weeks, which actually shouldnt be a problem at all, but my Illustration teacher wouldnt allow me to fill black spots with black, so i had to x hatch all the big areas, which was really a terrible pain in the arm. Those pages are supposed to be for fairy tale project which is a collaboration of the university fot applied sciencemünster (my school) and a Design School in South Korea. Sadly I cannot upload those pages yet, but as soon as i get permission i will put em online.

Here are some sketches ive done in the last few weeks, I hope you all will enjoy.
Best,
Sedat

Markerpage

2006-06-09T11:40:00.000+02:00

Hey there,
heres is the markerpage ive talked about in my last post. It was the first time I ever did a sequential page with markers and I have to say it was a lot of fun to do this page. I enjoyed it a lot and i have to say whenever I look a this page I always feel tempted to illustrate a new page, sadly right now its very hard to work on anything else than my schoolprojects. I know this page still shows lots of weaknesses, but i have to say i am very happy, not satisfied,but happy with the way it turned out.

Ive added the pencils, inks, marker and finished version, so that all of you can see the progress/ development the page went trhough.

hope you all enjoy.
All the best,
Sedat

Markersketches

2006-06-05T01:27:00.000+02:00

Hey,
Here are some sketches I did with markers and fineliners. I have to say it is always quite cool to use other mediums than just pencils. As far as I can say my favourite mediums are markers, it is sooo much fun and I think the sketches always look very cool. Ive tried the markers on a comicpage out too, which I will post later on. I love sketching around and trying out stuff, playing around with the pen usually helps me the most to learn.
so what do you think??
More to come soon :)
All the best,
Sedat

by the way, thanks to all you guys visiting and posting comments I really appricciate that.

My "Office"

2006-06-02T00:41:00.000+02:00

This is where all the "magic" happens. When Im in a working-mood my table usually looks very chaotic, as soon as I start a new project I usually clean up my table, that has become some sort of ritual.
As you probably can see I have a mirror in front of my table, I use it for facial expressions and it really was helpful to me in the past.
Im also having two lamps on my table, because I gotta have lots of light when Im drawing, it kinda helps me to work out the details in the art and i think its more healthy for my eyes.
One thing I hate about my office is that Im all alone in it (I remember Eddy Choi, manager of the Jime Lee and Travis Charest MSN board, writing in one of his messages how sad it must be to be working all alone in a studio/office and all I can say is; he was soooo damn right). Im living in a studentapartment, which is very small and there is no mark between my livingarea and my workingarea. I hope that as soon as I move together with my fiance, that i will move into a bigger apartment, where i have a better diferentation between working and living area.

All the best,
Sedat

Part 2

2006-05-31T13:54:00.000+02:00

This is the follow up Illustration to the first sequential youve seen. I did these strips in July 2005, and never finished them, allthough it was fun and theyre a great way of improving sequentials skills, I kinda couldnt work on them... If you guys should like this stuff and want to see more of these strips, then let me know, I might be tempted to draw some followup panels ;)

Right now im working on a project for my Illustrationclass, a 8 page fairy tale, which might be published in south Korea. Lets see what the future brings.

All the best,
Sedat

Welcome

2006-05-31T00:13:00.000+02:00

Hey Everybody,
welcome to my very own blog! Now that I finally got some air to breathe I decided to publish my own blog. I hope that it will be interesting for everyone, who follows my art.
All the best,
Sedat

By the way,
this is a older sequential Idea I had some time ago. Hope you all enjoy!