Post 254

Here is an updated version with some side design elements. Did this since Jake said he wanted a print of this so that the dimensions will fit better in print format and we can avoid any sort of image stretching.

Post 253

CHRISTMAS VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 weeks of fun! The top picture was drawn, etc. in CS4. The sketches are randomness, and last night I felt like drawing some random DC characters. I don't draw them too much. Too much research for my taste, lots of background info, and if you screw up on costuming then there isn't much freedom with diehard fans. So, a rare chance to see me draw these characters...

Post 252

Things have been all sorts of busy recently, but I guess that's what you can expect around the time of the holidays! Almost to a 2 week vacation, so then I can get really working on a project, so my sketch time will be cut down. I've got a few things that I should be starting soon...then again, I've said that before...but this time I've got some actually reliable writers on the job...ones that live in this state that I can yell at by standing outside their places! Plus, they respect me as an ARTIST, not as an ODDITY! So yeah, 2009 should hopefully be a year with more sequentials produced and or published than any previous year...or it could be a year of me creating a huge stack of unpublished pages that get sent to my art dealer Paolo...but I really hope for the published part, it's kind of the only reason for me to do comics right now.

So, you were probably wondering when I'd get to talking about the picture. My friend Ryan asked me at WW:TX to do a drawing of Toki smashing Lavona Succuboso over the head with a bottle in the Season 2 finale of Metalocalypse. So, I'm bad with directions, sometimes when somebody says draw...I paint, sometimes when I paint, I draw, so it all works out. I'd been searching for my set of Holbein (yes, I just name dropped, but if you've used these, you'd understand) gouaches. I also busted out the dagger brush that I got at a craft store and wow does it work like a dream for gouache! I also used some prismacolor for some finishing touches, and some photoshop to mock up what I wanted to do tomorrow after work.

Anyway, time to get some sleep!

Post 251

I sent this off to Kirkman in hopes that I can get a pin-up published in Invincible. I think this might be my 4th or 5th try over the years. All my other attempts were back when Invincible was first becoming popular and I'm sure that thousands of e-mails were streaming in, so my pin-ups more than likely got lost in the pile. I really love Invincible, have since it first came out when i was in college. It really changed what I thought about comics and my approach to drawing. After my first meeting and portfolio review (looking at my sketchbook) with Stelfreeze I got into the mode of finding a style of my own, and of course, you look around and see what things play to your strong suits. At the time, when drawing without reference, I had those horrible jagged lines, but I decided I wanted to get some smooth flowing lines like Cory Walker's and at the time I was looking at stuff on Penciljack so guys like Nate of course, John Devilman, and Travel Foreman. Their work really got me thinking about how much fun they seemed to have drawing, and it inspired me to experiment. Something that I haven't stopped doing, but in the past year or so I've gotten out of testing the limits to a more controlled approach.

So, here's hoping this gets published!

Post 250

More randomness out of the Marvel Handbook...

Plus, some rare pencil sketches! This is what my sketches look like nowadays, I rough it in, and tighten up with single line strokes of pencil. I've been getting out of my slump and back to form with some more confident lines. FYI, most of my original pages now have lots of sketches on the back, so you get a little more for your money. I don't do it on purpose, it's just convenient.

Post 249

Playing around with traditional techniques and media with ink and some white paint. Then I keep working on use of colors, overlays, etc.

Post 248

I'll tell you, I normally get hit hard by the winter doldrums in terms of artist's block around the time of Thanksgiving. A little block gets in my head that makes it hard to produce art. This year I just kept fighting, and rather than let it linger throughout the next few months, I can't let it win!!!! There is so much opportunity to make piles of art. So here are some things I made once I broke free after a few full pages of sketches.

The thing that makes this season hard is that I question what I'm doing. So I worked through it and realized I can't let myself question what I'm doing, it ruins the flow...you just can't interrupt the flow!

Post 247

Random fun during sketch time...

Post 246

Sorry it's been a while, as I'm guessing most people can understand, last week was busy! I spent most of the week cleaning, getting things ready for Thanksgiving, then Black Friday shopping on Amazon.

I've now got CS4, it's fantastic, already a ton of the things that irked me on CS2 are appearing to have been resolved. Drawing with the Cintiq finally works (the third pic was my first attempt). The top image is a pin-up that'll be in the last issue of Brit (#12).

Getting the Christmas cards printed through overnightprints.com. Can't wait to see how they come out. There is more to the design (interior, back), but I don't want to spoil everything.

Post 245

Pink mat board fun!!! Got some Molotow Burner markers, and I have to say I REALLY like the fine point ones! The white is actually opaque, if not a bit tempermental when getting started up...but hey, I'll deal with it for true opaque! But yeah, just had a little fun free drawing with them today.

Post 244

Haven't drawn Cable in a long time. I thought this would be fun, he's got a lot of 'stuff' to draw, and you can really go a lot of different directions with the character. For the background, I used a flat brush and did a dry brush technique. To get the full effect of it, you really need to see the original in person!

Post 243

Another test. I stress, no Ref used, just having fun here. Prismacolor and Kuretake no.7 pen. Tons of fun doing this stuff, I'd just never do it for sequentials due to the shading.

Post 242

I had posted the colored version of Thundra a few days ago. But I had taken a picture during the penciling stages with my new camera just to document it and be artsy fartsy with some focus. Plus, you get to see some of my pencils for once.

Here's a block print that I painted today. I did the black lines with speedball ink on a linoleum block, then went in with some acrylics. I used BFK as the paper, so it's silky smooth!

Post 241

Combining a few various techniques for a test.

Post 240

Post 239

Playing around with a different line approach and coloring techniques. I think I've got a handle on most of it now, so further experiments will look more refined!

Post 238-WATCH THE XTACLES TOMORROW!!!

So, my friends Sam and Neal (not Sam Neil from Jurassic Park) were designers/animators for the show Frisky Dingo, but after season 2 they decided to go with a spinoff with the Xtacles, Awesome X's robot suit wearing kill force! I'll tell you, I loved seeing this, outside of Venture Brothers it's been a while since I've seen something new on Adult Swim that I love...I mean Squidbillies...really?! But this show is hillarious, and more importantly, it's on tomorrow evening, and much like the Zuda competition, it needs viewership in order to survive. So turn your tvs on to Adult Swim at 12 am Eastern, 11 Central and you'll have a ton of fun!

Seriously, tell all your friends to watch, I really want them to keep making more episodes!

Here's some clips!

Post 237

The show last night was pretty great...ELECTRIC SIX WAS AMAZING!!! So, Jake and I got there pretty early, saw the first band, I think they were called Lions. They were entertaining in that they all were quirky. I would have called them "Billy Goat and the Palsy Mummies." The lead singer literally looked like a goat, and spit to a hillarious degree! He spat on his bass guitarist at least twice, once in the face, and once on the shoulder. He wasn't aiming, it just went all over the place. Too loud to hear what they were even saying.

Then came Local H, I was excited about seeing Local H at first, because I loved Bound for the Floor...but we listened, thought maybe we were thinking of another band...nope, right band, they just DIDN'T PLAY THE SONG THEY"RE MOST FAMOUS FOR!!!! Plus, waaaaaaaaaay too loud in a screechy way.

So finally we get to the main event, they hit the stage, and Dick Valentine's wearing capes...capeS...and it's showtime...SHOWTIME!!! They had some talking between songs, awesome dancing, and SOLO!!!!! There was a fake marriage proposal, push-ups, and they went out after 13 songs. Then we waited around, and kept cheering for encore...and they OBLIGED WITH 4 MORE SONGS!!! They mixed in the great hits with ones from the new cd, which I picked up there and it's outstanding!

Either way, had tons of fun, and I need to get some sleep!

Post 236=SHOWTIME...SHOWTIME!!!

So, gonna' go to see Electric Six at the Granada Theater tomorrow with my fellow Electric Six fan Jake! We're going to go and just geek out, I'll tell you, this is the first show I've been to in years, so here's hoping things go well!

Post 235=CRap (Con-Recap)

So, just adding on a few more images here, some more of my commissions, and the Mystique, which I did for the Heroes4Heroes auction. The money went to a great cause, so that makes me feel good. But I was sad to see it go, I was really happy with the color application on this, and it was the last to get taken off of the bidding block wasn't the last to finish, but that's the way things go sometimes...

Got pics of Boulet rockin' the board. I ended up providing boards to 3 people and supplies throughout the convention to a ton of folks. So either I was ultra prepared, or they were super un-prepared...a question that will linger, but I guess it's probably that I just brought way too much crap. I'll have to adjust that by the time of Staple! or DCC (if the Gaijin guys go).

Also, a picture of Nick going crazy with his Superman, I watched him putting the finishing touches on while the bidding was going on. I learn a lot from watching him work, he's just got so much confidence in his lines!

Either way, fantastic convention, and I can't thank everyone who came by the table enough!