Post 366

Getting back into the swing of getting to do some actually good drawings! BTW, the batgirl pose is an appropriation, aka, I borrowed the pose from Cory Walker, I just wanted to remember it because of it's awesomeness. It's not a swipe if you admit it!

Post 365

Post 364

Since the submissions are closing...and my mind just finally gave out...I tried to do some sketches tonight to no avail...I hit the wall....I decided to post my submission that I had done before the colored pencil version. Hopefully some sleep will renew my mind.

BTW, a few times this week I've had people ask me "You're smart?!?!" in such a surprised fashion following conversations about things I had done when I was a student in school. Like I won a science fair in middle school that went to state dealing with modules that transmitted sound using light...so ambient light would interfere with transmissions. Or, the fact that I was number 15 in my class for a long time and still graduated within the top 6% even with sherking my last semester to work on a college art portfolio (which didn't even get me college credit with a perfect score!). I don't know if it's the fact that I'm an art teacher, but apparently people think that I'm lacking in the intelligence department. But it's both disheartening and highly insulting to see THAT level of surprise. I graduated with honors from college, I didn't take blow off classes. If I wanted to, I could have become a doctor, but I chose what I loved. Is it really that surprising?

I guess the moral of the story is not to make assumptions based on career title.

Post 363

What he said...

Nearly didn't make it for today's art update...but I did a quick digital sketch.

Post 362

Okay, got more stuff taken care of today, inching towards Friday, and ultimately SEMI-FREEEEEEEEEEEEDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM (in Braveheart voice)!

Did this pretty quick, I used to love the design of Havok back in the day when I was but a wee lad. Just plain fun design. I guess they probably changed it to avoid the similarity to Bullseye...but Havok does better with the look! Bullseye is a character with potential, but always seems to turn out lame and poorly utilized.

Post 361

Sorry, nothing special today. Not the most inspired piece, I know, but it's all I had in me this evening. If I thought that two weeks ago was hectic, that was nothing compared to this week. Putting together a field trip and an art show on short notice, been non stop matting and cataloging work, and putting out fires. Right now it's kind of hard to get any personal art done when I get home at the end of the day because I'm just drained. It's getting kind of hard to do these updates right now...but I promised myself I'd keep doing the daily update until either I hit 100 days worth, or something else went up online (a surprise for me that happened a few months ago), which was why I started this insanity...whichever happened first...right now it's looking like 100...and I'm really having a lot of trouble. If I can just make it to Saturday...I should be alright...

Post 360

This is looking to be another crazy week, so not too much talking. This is another one done of a friend in my moleskine.

Post 359

Y'know, normally I don't put up my designs for project rooftop before things go up, but this is my alternate view using prismacolor. Did this quickly this morning and sent it in to add to my primary design (which is using ink and photoshop colors). But I'm claiming dibs on this design. This is MINE PEOPLE!!!

I was having tons of trouble with this one. The past few competitions have been insanely iconic characters who have had nearly every costume design under the sun, so you constantly run into just copying an already existing design, or doing a full re-imagining, which is frustrating to no end! But I guess that's the challenge! I nearly gave up yesterday, but thanks to my friends, both named Joe (Joe Keatinge, and Joe Eisma), they forced me to get my head on straight, and stop caring about all that other stuff, especially public opinion, and just go with what I WANTED. Such a simple thing, and I'm able to do it with everything else, but it's so hard to get into that mindset for Project Rooftop for me for some reason. I wanted to impress, and stand up with all the big name folks as a little guy...try and pull off an upset. But this time I stopped trying to compete, and just redesigned it for myself, and for the first time I'm really happy with it. Whether I get torn apart in crit on this, I really like it...I'll give you a hint...it's that I did it as if I were doing an Adidas design for him! Which just happens to be my favorite design aesthetic...the trefoil!!! If you even remotely know me, you know I'm insane for that design element. The head plate is for bashing in skulls. Wolverine seems like the kinda guy that uses his head as a weapon, and yeah...I know his head IS a weapon, it's adamantium as well, but I wanted to move away from the traditional mask, and into something more easily concealable within the general public.

Anyways, check back in a couple months (hahaha, I kid, I kid Dean) when the competition results go up to see if any of the judges actually liked my design...but I'm happy, and that's what counts!

Post 358

For some reason using the moleskine has been really cathartic during the past stressful few days. It's given me a chance to just do some stream of consciousness writing/drawing. It always helps me to do that, then I can leave the thoughts on the paper and out of my head.

I'm about to go finish day 6 of a six day grueling work-out week I'm putting myself through to see what kind of results it produces. So far it's been fantastic (except the day I nearly pulled a Martin Lawrence wearing neoprene and a hoodie into the 90 degree humid weather since I didn't get to work out at 5 a.m. like normal). I'm actually getting closer to my first target weight that I wanted to be for Heroes. With the cooler weather a few weeks back I wasn't thinking this would be possible, but the recent heat surge has my body actually wanting to lose weight, and not keep it on to fight the cold.

Haven't seen Star Trek yet, I'm taking my family for Mother's Day to see that. But if Twitter is right, nearly everyone else has seen it already!

Post 357

Yesterday I realized I was starting to enter summer mode...but I still have 4 weeks! Gotta get myself back into day-job mode!

Post 356

So, I'm posting tomorrow's early. I've gotta' go back to work, the swine flu apparently did not warrant any further days of closure, and I'm going to need the extra time tomorrow morning since it's trash day, and I gotta' go exercising.

Someone I haven't talked to in a long time had seen my more recent art and me going back to some more realism, really showing some more versatility. They asked me what the push was that motivated a bunch of change this year compared to others. The main one is weight loss. I've been dedicated and going strong for over half a year now, and it's become apparent to a lot of folks that I haven't been slouching. Another was the Zuda process. I was looking at some people's entries this month, and I haven't really talked about it. It was a pretty agonizing process, not because of the loss, but because of what I learned through reflection was not the way I wanted to break into the industry. I'm actually pretty glad I didn't win now, because I know that's not what I was meant to do.

In running around like a chicken with my head cut off promoting the story, worrying that I was losing, and too many other things going on at once, I got to a point where I had enough. I hit emotional bottom, and just didn't care anymore. I didn't want to have anything to do with the project anymore, it stopped being fun. I learned that when something stops being fun with comics, it's just work, and I already work, but even that is still fun. Because I make it that way. It's a little harder though in comics if you're stuck promoting in ways you normally wouldn't, which seems less than genuine.

But through the process of doing the Zuda competition, I asked myself what all I wanted from comics, and also found that I missed my fine art roots. In college, the two worlds of school and comics had to stay apart. People would get drummed out of programs based on the knowledge of doing "comic style" drawings. But I've really started to marry the two worlds together, and constantly evolve. I'm just having fun pushing myself and hopefully pushing the medium of sequential storytelling so I can contribute something that's fun and most importantly genuine. I don't get behind projects I don't believe in, and I don't sacrifice quality on time constraints if at all possible, which is why I haven't been doubling up on projects like I used to.

This is a medium that is about doing something you enjoy, and hopefully other people will find it enjoyable. But first and foremost, as an artist, you should genuinely find the source material engaging, or it shows in some way to the reader that you just aren't that into it. You also need to do it for yourself. If people like it, they like it, if they don't, they don't, but you can't win everyone over, and the only thing worse than nobody reading something, is nobody reading something and knowing that you didn't give it your personal best in YOUR OWN style!

But what I'm trying to get at is that there is no one path in this industry. Sure, you can follow the blueprint of successful artists and copy their style, but you can pidgeon-hole yourself. You want to stick to your guns and show what you want to do, and make it happen. Sure I may just sound like a crazy zealot who is disillusioned or angry...but I'm none of those things. I'm happy, and I'm having fun making things on my own terms. I don't have any major obligation, so if something isn't what I want to do, I don't have to take the assignment. You have to be true to yourself to unlock your true potential, and once you get that style or technique that gets peoples attention finally, don't just stay comfortable there, refine it, innovate!

Rant over!

Post 355

Here's another one I did for Evan. I'm glad that recently I've decided to really work on my pencil abilities. I had been working most of this year with brush technique and paint, which gave me confidence and forced me to focus on hand positioning on mark making tools. But now, working with colored pencils has forced me to capture movement quickly, and then focus on better rendering techniques. It's easier to see 5 steps ahead, knowing what information needs to be left until later, and what needs to be done to make something look a specific way.

Post 354

I just finished this yesterday (started it yesterday too), an art trade with a friend I made on the drawingboard (donate to keep it alive!) who is...oddly enough, named Evan as well! It's funny, Evan always says we're versions of each other from an alternate universe. I have to tell you, it's funny how eerie it can be sometimes, too many similarities for the mind to comprehend based on only the sharing of a first name! Here is what I get out of the trade, which is totally awesome! My brother and I love some Doc Savage, so this is getting framed!

The piece is around 13X20 inches in prismacolor on Canson Mi-Tientes paper. You too can have something of this sort in commission form...if the price is right!...and my schedule permits!

Post 353

Quick sketch of Dylan Dog! So, I got an iPhone yesterday, and spend a good part of the day setting things up on it. Then I get to my RSS reader...nobody is updating!!! What's the deal?! This hasn't been a once in a while thing, I might as well stop checking in a lot of instances. I think outside of me, Craig and Benito updates their blogs/journals the most of things I read. I mean, I know people are busy using twitter (I hate the term tweet, ESPECIALLY as newscasters continue to use it). But I use twitter, facebook, I go to two messageboards and update regularly. I update here EVERY-SINGLE-DAY! PLUS, I get pages done (just can't show them to you guys until they near release), and I'm doing a webcomic, plus a bunch of other things besides the dayjob.

I know it's pretty crazy to call people out, but I'm calling people out!!! Lets see some more updates on what you're doing. It's called networking, and it's what's taken me from an ABSOLUTE nobody to a SEMI nobody. That's an infinite increase of progress!

Post 352

Here's one I did the other day. I was trying out some different lines than I usually use for shading. Geez, it's fun to work in this style. I'd never use it for an actual book...even though I'm pretty quick with it, but for covers I could definitely see the possibilities.

Post 351

I love's me some Invincible! So slowly I'll work though doing art of all the characters at some point. Robot is such an amazing design, TONS of fun to draw! I did this pretty quickly while watching Lost the other night. I really like how the lighting came out on it. I've been looking at certain aspects in real life, so that when I do something from memory like this, I can give it a sense of realism.

Also FCBD is still on today, so stop by and hang out with us!!! The swine flu may have closed down my school district (putting all of us on leave for a week), shut down most events, but comic fans cry a hearty 'meh' and laugh in the face of danger...as long as danger doesn't have something communicable!

Post 350

I've had this Fabriano Artists Journal for a while now, I couldn't get behind it for a long time because it took horribly to ink, led to scratchy edges. This thing was not designed for it...but that was before I was back into prismacolors! This thing is IN-SANE with them! This took me no time at all, MAYBE 20 minutes total, which is crazy. The colors go on vibrantly but you can still have control to build subtle color shifts. There's at least 5 or 6 different tones of paper in it, so expect to see some more of them soon!

Post 349

I wanted to give this a very simple/graphic treatment. The only issue I had to work through was the placement of the first 'l' on Hellboy created a tangent with Hellboy's 'bun' on the back of his head. So I had to move it around to get the correct placement. After that, I was very happy with the result. Though red is a tough color to work with in terms of internet display as it begins the process of file degradation pretty quickly. I think this would be a fun print to have.

Last day of stress for the week, so I just gotta' make it to the end of the day and I think I'll be okay.

Post 348-FCBD!!!!

Yup yup, Luan, Jake and I are going back to our old alma mater for Free Comic Book Day! We were asked to go and do sketches on FCBD at the Heroes4Heroes event, and we were more than glad to oblige! It's always great to go to our old stomping ground, get some good grub, hang out with cool people, and afterward chill in the square. Plans of hitting up the Recycled Books, and the flea market are a MUST! I might even splurge and get some ice cream, because it's apparently a Denton must that I have never had (quite the eggregious error on my part apparently)!

Either way, if you're near the area, come by and check us out. Honestly, once they said CAPE wasn't happening this year, I was depressed, but when we were offered this, it was a FCBD miracle!!!

So stop by and I'll do a free head sketch for you!

Post 347

Did this yesterday at work while I was waiting around and such. On the batman I channeled some Brendan McCarthy, I just love that style of hatching to use as shading.

Post 346

I keep telling myself that after this week...after THURSDAY even, things will be much better. Here's hoping I'm not just deluding myself, but actually going to have my head above water for the first time in a few months. That'd be fantastic!

Post 345

Some sketches I did today. I did a bunch more for a friend, but they wouldn't make any sense without context. Other than that, I feel a bunch lighter because I was able to finish a TON of work this weekend.

Post 344

Post 343

So, I know in a way it's a cop-out, but I just couldn't get any new content together today. I have a picture started, but by the time I got back from working on things for the day-job, and getting some final details done for another story, I felt like I could have ruined some stuff if I would have touched it. So here are some more sequentials, this time from Legendary, about the Monkey King. These are the B&W versions...the colors are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY
different!

BTW, if you've noticed, I'm not shying away from perspective anymore, but instead embracing it and mixing it with my own idea of skewed perspective. Also, someone asked if I built the shrine digitally, the answer, nope, right out of my noggin and drawn with a ruler. I'd like to try sketchup, but haven't had the chance. I'd like to show how I can do backgrounds on my own first.

Post 342

A taste of things to come!

Post 341

Well, I've never done any oil painting before...I mean NEVER! In college, we had to take a lot of theory classes, art history, but in terms of studio, we got jipped! I loved watercolor, glad I chose it since I could only choose one painting discipline, but never got the opportunity to work with oils.

So I bought some Holbein water soluble oil paints...because I don't like dealing with turpentine, and I had a mat sitting around that a student had messed up on, so I started painting on it...I DON'T KNOW WHY I HELD BACK SO LONG!!! It's so amazingly fun...now I need to do the epic Velvet Elvis painting I've been waiting so long to do!

Post 340

My goodness, will this week EVER END?!?!?!

I'll tell you, the toughest thing about breaking into comics is the wait. You wait and wait...and wait some more for things to come out. You line up other projects, and finish them, and then you wait. You're only as good as your last project, and when you're still waiting for your last project to come out, you don't have that to even utilize as momentum. For that reason, the internet is fantastic...keeping momentum going. Granted, it won't give you that fantastic push that a book dropping will, but at least it's dependable on the date...because YOU control it.

I love holding copies of my work, but by the time I do, it's out of date! I've refined my style. It's like sending Photoshop 7 for publishing, and by the time it comes out you're ready to release CS7. I'll tell you, at least my recent projects are things I can still be proud of! In a lot of my previously printed work, it took an insane number of months for them to get printed, so by that time I'd changed my style a billion times.

At least I've found constants in my style, so that you're not seeing me go all over the map from project to project. But the improvement is definitely noticeable.

Post 339

Geez, this is a long week, and it's only Tuesday!!!

Post 338

Very little time nowadays, so it's nice to have Manga Studio to expedite the sketch process...

Post 337

This sketch brought to you via sketching in Manga Studio (10 min. colors in photoshop)! Just got it Friday night, so I've maybe played with it for an hour at most...but I'll tell you, I like sketching in it WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY better than any other program!

Had a fun weekend at the con, you can check out the pics here. Got to talk a bunch with Kristian, and the more I get to know him, the more I'm amazed at how much we have in common...besides our shared obsession with art pens!

I also got to sit with Brent Peeples and Paul Milligan, poor Paul, I gave him a tough time the whole time he was here...that's what he gets for crossing Oklahoma state lines! Seriously though, I respect the heck outta' the guy!

Also, here is a video of me caught like a deer in the headlights in an interview...totally caught off guard!

Post 336

Kind of a departure from what you're used to seeing from me, right?! Yeah, kind of different to me as well. I always had a bad relationship with portraits. I couldn't get past my own style to just draw what's there! Recently I've been doing a lot of direct observation drawings and I've really worked on visual memory retention to the point where it really helps in capturing specific ideas. a big area that helps is not using a pencil. Sketching VERY lightly with white, or whatever predominant color that is being used, because later it'll get covered over, it comes out so much better. But this is an example piece. I still have more to do, but I'm saving it for when I demo for my classes for when they start portrait work. I haven't gotten people to model for a photo to reference in many years! I used to get my best friend Ryan to do that back in high school, and it was always a lot of fun, and with good results. I'm going to try it with a Batgirl piece next!

This weekend Luan, Matt, and I will be at the Dallas Sci Fi Expo at the Richardson Civic Center. We'll be chilling with our homey Kristian, so definitely stop by and say hi!

Post 335

A rare look at what I do at the office! We're working on skeletons in different media: fingerprints, inking with nib pens (I went on a tangent with that example), charcoal, watercolors, then moving to something different today. The key is learning not to need a pencil and gaining more confidence in your ability to observe and place the lines where they need to go.

Post 334

This month has been like a blur. I barely feel like I'm at home every day!

Post 333

There are times where I feel like I'm doing so many different things that it's hard to stop and appreciate any one thing. I see pictures of folks having fun, and I'd like to be doing that, and that'll be the case this summer when I'm off, but right now it's hard to see people partying it up on the weekends when I have mountains of work to get through. The difference from previous years is I'm keeping positive about it all, and I have a lot more energy. I even jogged for the first time since my first year of college. I physically haven't been able to do that in years. My second year of college I injured my back really bad, and things kind of went away after that. You don't appreciate the small things like that when they're gone. I also ran for a few minutes. I haven't done THAT since high school! I can actually move pretty fast! So, I'll tell you tomorrow how good of an idea this was or wasn't depending on how sore I am.

Once I get through this month it'll be better. At least I have new shoes to carry me through this month (get it, a PUN...sorry...had to point it out...ah, whatever if you can't appreciate it)!

Post 332

Trying something a little different color wise!

Post 331

A lot of people get today off, not so for I...

Post 330

First, Happy Easter!!!

Secondly, here are some more sequential pages. I did these pages a little over a year ago, can't really say details, but I really wish things would have worked out, I still feel like they're really strong pages, and I was really inspired working on them. There are some storytelling devices I used on this that I still use now, they're kind of my "bread and butter" storytelling-wise.

But that's kind of it, you do these jobs and they don't always happen. Not because you didn't do a good job, just sometimes only one person may not feel you're bringing the proper vibe. You can't be mad about it, it's just business in the end. I just was really excited about it at the time. This has happened quite a few times over the years now, but I try and make it positive, so whatever I learn from any given project goes into my secret dream project.

Post 329

Post 328

I was talking with Kristian the other day, and he made a good point, I don't put up previews of sequential art I've done for things very often. I guess it's because I used to think that everything had a gag order on it, which to editors should be a good thing that I'm not waving around art. But since I wasn't told not to show any of the non-lettered art, I think it's a good thing to show that I'm not just doing pin-ups and sketches and webcomics. I CAN DRAW SEQUENTIALS!!!! Over the years I feel my storytelling has gotten really strong, ESPECIALLY with the story pictured above, which you can check out in Popgun Volume 4. Not sure when it comes out. Popgun Volume 3 however, came out this week, and I seriously suggest you pick it up, the first part of this story is in it (different artist, same writer, my boy David Hopkins). The first part takes place AFTER the second part (my story)...sounds confusing, right?! Well, it isn't, David crafted a really well structured, cinematic pacing to the way the story is laid out!

So, I did all the pencils, inks and colors on this puppy in the span of about a week, maybe a smidge less. I was very excited about it, by all means this is the biggest sequential book I've worked on...in status and ESPECIALLY SIZE...pushing the 400 page mark on each volume. It's the most bang for your buck and easiest way to catch up on the new talent coming into the industry. Joe Keatinge and Mark Smith, both guys I've known for a while, started something really cool! New editors on the most recent ones, and I feel that each volume is getting better and better. Having helped Jake and luan with an anthology, I really don't know how it's possible to get one together at this scale in a short period of time!

So, between David, Luan (who lettered it) and I, we were the first ones done with our completed story, even with a bunch of re-sizing and changing lettering requests. I've kind of made a habit of that with projects like these. Show that I can be the first one done with a high level of finish, and then set the bar high early.

So, anyways, here's two pages of it to get a taste. I'll be putting up some more sequentials and in the process page shots from time to time now. Just to show you the fact that I am keeping up with a daily sketch blog, working a 40+ hour a week day job, AND I'm doing sequential pages weekly and keeping my deadlines! So, if you're an editor that happens to read this page, take all that into consideration!

Post 327

So, went to the doctors today, but I think I've narrowed it down to one of two things: either it is a new body wash I started using 2 weeks ago, or clay dust. Due to the fact it is primarily on my arms, I think clay dust. The clay had this brown mold on it. My room doesn't have a sink, and I can't leave the students in the class alone, so I've been walking around with clay dust up and down my arm for 90 minutes at a time without the chance to wash them as I wedge clay and dip my hands into slip on a regular basis.

Either way, the treatment is the same...steroid injection, and antihistamine pills.

So I should be back to fighting strength soon and getting rid of all of the skin irritation. Getting a full nights sleep without avoiding scratching will be worth a TON! Now I can actually focus on my drawing for the first time in a few weeks!!!!

Post 326

I have to say thank you to all the people who called or e-mailed me, I'm still working through things. Lost a few dollars in change from the car...thankfully that appears to be it. More to come on that as I find out. They caught one guy, and the other got away. I've become a lot more vigilant because of the experience...to say the least!

This has been the week of unending stress, but I've been dealing with it pretty outstandingly. I credit better health. Last year at this time I was a wreck from the stress. Still itching, I'm going to the doctor on Friday morning (first appointment I could get) and get it checked out, probably end up getting a steroid shot. As a precaution if whether it's fleas or what I think it is (dust mites), pest control sprayed the area by the fireplace. I'm about to go and use a steam vac I got to clean the floor and chairs, then I have to do a bunch of laundry. That's what I've read was the best course of action...I just can't take any more of this itching, on top of the cold I've been dealing with.

Anyways, hopefully it'll be a much better weekend than the week has been!!!

Post 325

This is a placeholder post for later in the day. Been up since 3, but I wasn't sleeping well anyway. Itching on my arms got worse than ever and more welts on my arms. It's been driving me insane, a great addition to my cold. I couldn't figure what it was. It didn't have any raised section where the bites occurred, and it wasn't happening anywhere else. So I thought contact allergy of some sort, then thought maybe it's from all the orange juice I've been drinking (I put a splash in water instead of drinking any sugar drinks, diet secret), but that's not it, then I thought maybe hives. Then I researched mites, and I'm dead sure that's what it is, or fleas, treatment is similar since it's contained to the area near the fireplace. So I've gotta' get a steam cleaner and get the area, if that don't work, bug bomb, but I want to avoid that, as it leaves poison everywhere. My latin teacher in 9th grade forgot to wash her sheets after a do it yourself bug bomb and got cyanide poisoning and nearly died. She swelled up, and had necrotic tissue from areas of skin that were killed by contact with the poison.

ANYWAY, back to the ongoing fun part (sarcasm)! I thought I was hallucinating from cough medicine and the constant state of not knowing whether I was awake, asleep, or in the midst of the many nightmares I was having, but I started to hear voices on and off, and I thought...oh great, now I've finally gone and done it. People think my art is crazy, now I'VE become crazy!!! Thankfully for me, that day wasn't today...I look out the window and see some po-po driving around and yelling at a guy "come over here...get down." So at first I thought it was maybe a scripted impromptu performance of Arnold Schwarzenegger's greatest hits...but about 15 minutes later they come knocking and tell me that people are breaking into cars in the neighborhood to steal stuff. I don't leave important things in the car. You leave anything tempthing, they'll go for it. But still, gotta' see if anything was taken. Haven't gotten the okay yet, police are taking pictures, canvasing the neighborhood for one that tried to run. They caught one of them.

So yeah, great way to start the morning, so you'll understand if I'm a bit late with my daily sketch...thanks for understanding!