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Tripp 3tych Gustin

@trippgustin.bsky.social

210 followers 560 following 570 posts

Comic creator, illustrator, animator, graphic designer. Freelancing & making @TrueniverseComics! I like stuff that is weird, queer, colorful & from the heart 🌈 (he/they, 35, Atlanta) Portfolio: www.trippgustin.com Comics: www.trueniverse.com

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 1d

Hey #PortfolioDay! I'm Tripp, a trip(p)le threat in #graphicdesign, #illustration & #comics. I'm currently looking for contract work in commercial illustration, comics, book covers, motion design, & logos! Also new art friends :)

🌐 trippgustin.com
💬 trueniverse.com
✉️ [email protected]

A photo of my graphic novel, True Colors: Book One. It features the four main characters (Iro, Kit, Ben, and Sonia) walking away from their college dorm on a sunny day, talking animatedly. Iro is a friendly and optimistic GNC biracial individual with long blonde hair who is wearing a tanktop with a blue feather on it. Kit is a snarky and hot-tempered white woman with brown hair in a high ponytail, and she is wearing a shirt with a magenta sun on it. Ben is a nerdy and down to earth black man with locs holding a robot, and he is wearing a green hoodie with a skull gear on it. Sonia is a sweet but shy white woman with shoulder-length black hair, and she is wearing a purple top with flowing sleeves that has waves on it.

Behind them is their dorm, where their RAs are watching the residents leave; Kit waves cheerfully but Carlos looks suspicious. In the background is a mysterious Man in Black standing in the shadow of a tree. The front cover text reads “True Colors: Book One” at the top with my name, “Tripp Gustin”, at the bottom. The back reads "The first day of college is a big step. Don't let the past trip you up! It's the first day of freshman orientation at Trueman University, and Iro, Kit, Ben, and Sonia are all looking forward to fresh starts. But when a room assignment mix-up throws their plans into disarray, they're forced to reexamine their relationships, confront their pasts, and dig more deeply into who they want to be for the next stage of their lives. Their dorm's R.A. is eager to help whether they like it or not. At least there's free pizza! Included in Book One: Chapter 1, Interlude Iro, Chapter 2, Interlude Kit, Bonus Story (FreshFiction)"

A sample of my illustration work. A horned silver dragonborn druid named Caelux examines a strange stone in a wintry tundra. Above him his draconic starry form looms, its outlines glowing and peppered with constellations.

A stylized digital illustration. In it are two black towers on a red background, each with its own pale yellow circle behind a red eye. The leftmost tower is the tower of Sauron from Lord of the Rings, with the flaming eye of Sauron overhead. It is surrounded by curling mist and has the One Ring at the base of the tower. The rightmost tower is the Dark Tower from Steven King's novels of the same name, with the dripping red eye of the Crimson King overhead. It is surrounded by thorny vines and has a bunch of red roses at the base of the tower. Between the two towers, suspended in the air, are Frodo's sword Sting in white and the Gunslinger's revolver in black, each pointed at the eye of their respective foes.

You Are What You Eat: an image of a book cover illustration and print layout designed by me. The title reads “You Are What You Eat” and the author’s name is “Lynn Faiola”, with both written in a delicate serifed font. The cover illustration features a green dragon claw reaching out for a strawberry cake. The dragon claw is green and scaly with sharp white claws and a ridged crest on the arm. The strawberry cake has fluffy yellow cake, light pink frosting, and strawberries decorating the top and the middle. The cake sits on a floating wooden platform with a delicate doily in the center, and is surrounded by pink and white sparkles. The background has pink magical clouds on a yellow background.
The back details the plot and has the following text:
“William Wright has a dream. A big, scaly dream: he wants to be a dragon. As a cook in a small café, he spends his days cooking delicious food and his nights making experimental desserts with illegal ingredients from magical creatures. Mama always told him you are what you eat.
After a success that tastes like pixie dust, tiramisu and a hangover, a mysterious stranger offers a shady proposition with the promise of a dragon scale. William now faces a tantalizing choice: embrace the stability of his life as a cook or indulge in the exhilarating life of a dragon. Will he savor the sweet taste of freedom or stick to the recipe of normalcy?
See that smoke rising in the distance? LYNN FAIOLA has, once again, burned dinner & accidentally set something on fire. They reside somewhere in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains with their two dogs, partner, & progeny, away from well-populated areas.”

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 11h

afaik the main thing is to moisturize and use sunscreen, beyond that I’m not convinced it makes a huge amount of difference lol

Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

alex moore @notanotheralex.bsky.social · 1d

hey #portfolioday! i’m an illustrator storyboard/comic book artist probably best known for my work w/ Dungeons & Daddies. would be more than happy to hear about any pin-up and cover projects you might need a hand on 👀

[email protected]
cargocollective.com/alexmooreill...
#art #comics #dnd

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Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

BoOOOOOoOOoooOOOOoog @das-boog.bsky.social · 17h

OPE #portfolioday again! I'm BOOG, a cartoonist! Main clients these days are comic writers, ttrpg designers and vtubers, but I'm also open to concept art and graphic design/packaging work! Folio is at www.inkandrubbish.com, and at vgen.co/Boog you can find my current halloween commission sale!

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Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

HIVVER @g0dplay.bsky.social · 16h

Heyhey I actually have something for #portfolioday !! This time!!
What's up?? I'm Hivver you can hire me to ink your comic pages, your illustrations, whatever you don't have time for~

jkiakas.com/site/portfol...

Example illustrations for Farewell Tour.

Example of traditionally inked illustrations for Violins

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 16h

Yeah, struggling CAN lead to good things (like a long-term project, learning a skill, exercise, etc) but sometimes it’s truly just pointless and performative masochism (like cutting out all simple pleasures in life in the name of “health”). Those Puritanical cultural roots really do run DEEP.

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 16h

I’m a skeptic who likes to believe that there might be something more to the universe, and I try to keep an open mind. But yeah, the VAST majority of ghost/alien stories I’ve heard are so clearly just sleep paralysis or half-asleep hallucinations, and I wish more people would just throw those out 🙃

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 18h

Ooh, I would! I love doing character portraits of all kinds/species and have been trying to find more places to get commission work :)

An illustration of a half-orc druid named Twig. He wears a flower crown, shoulder-length dark green locs with beads on them, a leather tunic, and fingerless gloves. He smiles excitedly at a robin perched on his finger.

An illustration of a horned silver dragonborn druid named Caelux. He stands in the middle of a wintry tundra under the northern lights, examining a strange stone. Above him his draconic starry form looms, its outlines glowing and peppered with constellations.

An illustration of a high elf rogue named Jacqueline Anastasia LeMonde. She has shoulder-length curly black hair, pale skin, vibrant red lipstick, a beauty mark, eyeshadow, and a mischievous smile. She wears a white fur coat, a tight leather bodysuit, knee-high red stiletto boots, black gloves, and a lot of jewelry. At her side in a hilt is a rapier, and in her other hand she holds a cigarette in a long holder (like Cruella deVille)

An illustration of the human paladin Ezekiel. He is white with a tan complexion, blonde spiky hair, a goatee, and a lot of muscles. He wears chainmail, wields a sword and shield with cross motifs, carries an acoustic guitar on his back, and wears a lot of cross jewelry.

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 1d

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 4d

Yeahhhhh 🥲 I did finally get through the backlog of comics I bought at SPX!

Mac Goatman! 🐐 @macxi.bsky.social · 4d

You should actually read webcomics instead of saying “I’ll read it at some point” JUST DOOOOOO IIIIIIT!!!

(This is also a loving message to myself)

Liam McGuire @liammcguire.bsky.social · 12d

Anyone have a particularly hot comic take?

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

Yeahhhh, I don’t think it’s a BAD thing to be able to work cleanly, but flexibility is good too! Especially for comics, where one can easily spend several hours on a panel that people will be looking at for all of 2 seconds 🫠 I’m trying to get back into the “good enough!” mindset…

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

Right??? I want to learn the secrets

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

I genuinely love seeing looser messier styles (Haus of Decline, Alex Krokus, just about any punk comic zine) but it's always been really hard to make MYSELF do it outside of a sketchbook. But maaan, I could make comics so much faster if I wasn't spending so much time being a perfectionist...

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

I've been reading a bunch of cool indie comics and realizing that I have GOTTA learn how to draw looser and shittier (complimentary)

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee rep?!? You love to see it

Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

🐊 @kyssimmee.com · 5d

logainne schwartzandgrubenierre

cartoon drawing of a child wearing a way-too-big suit and tie. Her hair is tied back tight and her jacket is covered in activist buttons. Her face is sweaty, flushed, nervous, and manically smiling.

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

I really don’t think it is; there are tons of actual artists and animators who worked on it with established histories. It does look like rigged/puppet animation, which might be where the uncanny valley effect you’re talking about comes from, but that’s a totally different thing than generative AI.

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 5d

“Reelancing”

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 6d

I honestly love this idea, there’s so much you could do with adding tactile interactive hidden elements to zines 👀

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Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

✪ Jonathan H. Gray: “Professor of Halloweenery” ✪ @jongraywb.bsky.social · 6d

If you are willing to throw away entire groups of people to protect your insular strategy that will only protect you instead of protecting everyone then I don’t want your leaders and I sure as hell don’t want to be associated with you.

the tallest stone @talleststone.bsky.social · 6d

I hate to say it but the majority of the country is not going to die on the hill of trans rights. We can’t protect ANY groups if we can’t win a national election, so purity tests only serve to make specific groups feel triumphant. That’s not “erasing” them; it’s long-horizon strategy.

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 6d

You’re such a good storyteller lol

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Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 6d

If I start doing more motion design/animation work I might need to get a computer that’s just devoted to rendering and encoding videos… I don’t wanna overload my GPU by running other art programs, but it sucks having my computer occupied for 30-90 minutes at a time when I’ve got other stuff to do 🥲

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 6d

And a looooooot of Instagram scammer “commissions”!

Tripp 3tych Gustin @trippgustin.bsky.social · 6d

I honestly think the only social media I’ve ever gotten any real work from is Facebook and Discord 😅

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Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

Isabel Zaw-Tun @izzyzaw.bsky.social · 7d

everybody’s jealous of me since I decided to get plastic surgery to have Cuttlefish skin. they‘re resentful because I camouflage myself as a brick wall or a gorseberry bush in order to steal their croissants off their plates at cafes. I’ve never felt so beautiful

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Reposted by Tripp 3tych Gustin

Boper9 @boper9.bsky.social · 8d

Today's challenge piece is Exeggutor hanging out with an ekans, a reference to two of my beloved pokemon from my 'train anything you catch , overlevel, and catch nothing extra' run of pkmn red from back in the early 2000s.

an ink illustration of the pokemon exeggutor sitting among some rocks with a curled up ekans on its knee.

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