A quickie...

Morning warm up pic...

I just had to draw this dude...

Out of curiousity, I looked up worst superheroes.  Ever.  And this guy made the list:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQdcjCyztYTcIpbh2_uuWkIYvdCNZkhvUcuSz6n56IIk_hyphenhyphenU9mmIBdPMWNVStMHu0Irj8Csppq2e5kubuh-qJzRF06R4CKXXxJhC3R1IfvoDlQDGB4KgwcEwHd6r2Et1Qc9ru8UE6CP1Y/s1600/Superdupont.jpg

It's so bad, I think it's cool.  So, I started doodlin'.

Progress post...

Eyes are feeling like lead.  Throwing in the towel... calling it a night.

Thought I'd post the current state and you can see how f'd up everything at the moment.
Starting to clean up shapes and paint in the details.  Just... need... sleep...

Symbolism...

The Phoenix.  One of my fave mythological creatures.  I remember when I first read about it and it's ability to resurrect itself from fire and ash.

I was in awe.

As another evening of painting begins, I started out sketching a bird to warm up.  Next thing I knew, it became a Phoenix.  I've had this feeling that a lot of changes are to happen this year.  So, maybe this is just a sign of things to come...

Weird...

I thought I already posted this...
Something old.  Something quick....
Think it was a speed painting of sorts.

For James...

...because he had a great idea.

Quick draw...

The next what...

A while back I had injured my knee playing ice hockey.  I'm almost at the stage to a full recovery:  Physio.

 One suggestion I got from my mom, who happens to be a nurse, is to go to a swimming pool and strengthen the muscles of my knee and do some kicking exercising underwater.  I guess that idea locked itself onto my subconscious.  Because, while taking a nap later in the day, I dreamt up something crazy.  And, this early drawing of the next painting depicts an image from that particular dream.

just a couple of fun drawings for myself and my sis...

Subtle?

Here's a "director's cut".

Time to move on...

and start a new painting.  Lots of changes on this one.  I'd do some more... but, I want to pick up speed and get some more paintings done.  Maybe come back and make some tweaks.  I dunno...

Anyways, I got rid of the branch on the foreground tree... actually broke the branch instead.  Figured that'd add some character to that one tree.  Seems of late, I've been having a lot of branches in the foreground and thought I should do at least one thing different.  

I also added a couple of more trees to overlap the white wolf.  It was pointed out to me how odd the wolf just stood there.  At least with some objects in the way, it would add depth and make it look like she's sneaking behind something.  Hmmm... there's an idea I think I'll throw on really quick and post that following this one.  I'd be curious to hear about the slight change and your reaction to it.  

I think it'll add to the story and some humor into the scene.

Other things I added were more detail along the path and a little squirrel.  Now there's two little brown creatures in fear.  So... um. Yeah, here it is...

more progress

filling in the deets, making some changes, and adding more color.  Hoping to finish tonight and move onto the next project...

Yawn...

Earlier I had posted pics from my walkabout the zoo and wrote a bit on the encounter with a white wolf.

I'm taking a break from sketching out comic book stuff and started painting up an "artist's depiction" of what happened... kind of.

I drew myself as a kid in this one.  Since that's how I felt when that white wolf appeared on the hill 

before me.

Here's the progress thus far:

to be continued...

Whooo, what, where, 'n why the hell not?

I drew up this evening.
I stumbled onto the website for a contest listed here:

http://www.sketchoholic.com/Talent/member/my_contest_items.php?ContestID=992

I like the artist that inspired the contest.  I think that was one appeal.  The simplicity.  The style.
So I came up with a character and setting... and some sort of story.  But, with hours to spare,
I did what I could to put something together.  A good challenge, I guess...

I don't know why I chose an owl.  Pretty amazing looking birds and their depiction of being wise.  So bold.  I can't imagine what thoughts would go through their heads when they fly home to see it's been clearcut.   Perhaps a lot of big bird words that'd you'd need a bird dictionary to flip through to understand any owl speak.

Anyways, this is my post for the evemorning.

Feel free to vote for me on the link!
Thanks...

Takin' back old skool...

Tonight was another night at Dr Sketchy's.  Decided to leave the laptop at home and picked up some graphite sticks, black markers, a big ass white Sharpie marker, and of course, my fave pens.
I was wanting to go a little abstract this time around.  But, I kept going back to my usual ways and felt pretty rusty.  It's a little tough when you don't have "control z" to undo the errors.
A couple of cocktails later, I started loosening up.  Maybe slightly too much.

The last drawing was a little contest they held at the end.  You had to put a boat somewhere in the picture.

Instead, I chose to go with those 'ol rubber inner tubes that look like animals.  Or, in this case, a Loch Ness Monster.  I guess I'm happy with some of them.  I'll get 'em next time.

I heart westerns.

There's a part of me that believes I was a cowboy in my past life.  A badass cowboy.  Maybe even the one that inspired the character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in all of Sergio Leone's spaghetti western movies.
Probably not true.  But, I'd like to believe it is... so, there.

I went and saw True Grit a couple of weeks ago.  Amazing remake.  Hats off the Coen brothers for another great production.  Ya done good.

There was a shot that stood out to me.  No particular reason, other than pose, costume.  Just the way Jeff Bridges portrayed Rooster... Pretty damn cool.
I had to sketch it out.

What'd the five fingers say to the face?

I missed out on a post last night because I passed out on the sofa.   Woke up from a weird dream and this is what I remember of it.  It's not often I can recall what I dreamt about.  And, of all things, why couldn't it have been something a little more on the pleasant side?

Oof...

Last one for the early bird...
Went a little sci fi this time around.  I would like to build a big robot to commute to work.
My work would be delivering pizza.
Pizza bot.

G'nite...

When there's a bat, a cat's cuts it close...

pose for Catwoman print... 

the afterthought...

Or further thought?  I looked back at the pic I did last ni... this morning and wanted to make a couple of changes.  For the better?  I dunno...

But, I think I like the results.
I added a couple of more foreground branches to lead into the pic.
And, a little more detail here and there.
And, now I just realized that the little me on the tire swing is almost in the center of the pic.
ALMOST.  But, it's not.
Anyways, I added a little bird for symbolism.

One little brown dude that wants to fly...
Another that can.

no reason in particular...

...sometimes you just find yourself going someplace seeking serenity.

g'nite, blog world.

stick ninja.

Because Heather said to draw stick figures.

Supah chics

Aside from the larger format prints, I'm also doing a series of character prints.  Something I don't do often.  Which is odd, being a longtime comic book fan.
Here's a couple of sketches of Powergirl and X23.

What is... focus.

The funny thing about ideas... there's just too many.  All you can do is throw 'em down on paper and hope that each one comes to life into some shape or form, ya know?
Paintings, video games, animated show or movie, action figures, statues... the list can go on and on.
Good or bad... just gotta pencil it out.  Believing that even the worst ideas can grow into something amazing.  The beauty of art, isn't it?  There is no eraser.
Grilling lead onto paper, one drawing after the other.  I forget how meditative it can be.  True escapism.
With the new year, I thought I'd be a better blogger and share my progression with the whole bloggin' universe.  What's one more task to take on, eh?
No, I'm not going to call this a resolution.  That would just make all my efforts categorized under "annual cliche's" to fade into the forgotten.


     One of the prints I'm aiming to finish for the con features a couple of my fave characters.
Batman.  Captain America.  In a way, it's kind of like Batman vs Superman.  But, unlike Supes, Capt. America isn't immortal.  Anyways, I had an image in my head of the two heroes duking it out.  Both, with sidekicks to assist.  Here are a few rough sketches I've done so far to get my head into the look of the characters.

One more thing for the eveni... er, early morning.

The year so far...

It's only a couple of days into 2011, and I feel like it's started off on a good note.  There's a lot to be done within the next couple of months.  And, as challenging as it may be, I'm really looking forward to the resulting accomplishments.

The big news is that I'll be showing work at this year's Emerald City Comic Convention in March.  One of my buddies, Jordan Kotzebue was super gracious and invited me to share a table with him.  This will be the second time I've displayed and sold work at the convention.  As much as I had a lot of fun and met lots of great people, I definitely learned a lot about being an exhibitor.  With the big event happening in just a couple of months, it's time to buckle up, put the foot on the gas and get truckin' on the trusty drawin' table.

I'm not going to reveal exaaaactly what I'll have at the Con just yet.  

But, I'll for sure be displaying concepts I've done for work, as well as my own character designs.

This year might be the first for me draw some of the more well known comic characters out there, too.  ;O)

That, and sexy chic drawings... mehbe.  Possibly.  haha

What the hell is this?

Ever since participating in Art Jam 5 a few weeks ago, it's taken me back to painting traditionally.  I've too many canvas sitting in my apartment with unfinished paintings that have been staring back at me for some time.  I couldn't think of a better way to get them to stop looking at me then to paint over them.  Something new.  So I found some tubes of water based oil paints and just started throwing down colors.  No particular theme.  No initial sketches.  Something spur of the moment and just go with the flow of whatever direction the brushes would take me.
I'm not used to doing something like that and it felt nice to not depend on concepts;  like, drawing thumbnails, sketching poses.
It's all about random shapes, experimenting with layers of colors and textures... dealing with the unexpected.  That one brush stroke that adds a particular characteristic to the painting.  Dealing with that slight fear of even changing it for the better or possibility of the worse.  It's not Photoshop, and there's no control Z or layers to save the painting.  Just a paper towel or palette knife to scrape away the last thought.
I'm not sure how long it'll take to finish it.  Eventually, I'll dab the last spot of color and call it done.  At this point, I'm just having some fun.
Anyways, here a some pics of what I've done so far...