On your mark...

Finally got around to posting this one. I found sometime to get in another sketch and soon lost time as I am getting ready for the con. I will have more on that soon, I hope. We are trying to nail down some things for the book release. So as soon as I hear about them I will let you all know. Now lets see if I can manage to get another post some time in the next month.

32 hands of Lohan

Finally we have finished the graphic novel! I am really excited to see it when it is all published. I think it will be a relief to hold a copy of the finished product in my hands. I can hardly wait! But now that it's done, I got to get back into drawing shape. I have been inking for so long it has almost escaped me how to actually put pencil to paper. So this is what all these hands are about. I have been practicing doing quick studies of my hand with a pen. One or two minute studies. This will hopefully build confidence in my line and quick decision making. I decided to do them in pen so that I can't stop and erase my lines. This way as soon as that pen tip hits the paper, I am fully commited to it. Good or bad. Sometimes very bad! I also decided to start with hands because they have really been a pain to draw lately. I will keep on doing some more studies and hopefully have a sketch to put up in the not too distant future.
But first I got to put some pencil/pen mileage in!

Sticker fun!

As I said before I sketch a lot of things that you don't normally see here. Few people know I have a thing for nice vinyl stickers. The nicer the design and ink, the more I love them. To keep myself artistically busy at work I randomly come up with assignments for myself. This is just one of those. A girl I used to work with was part of the roller derby here in AZ. And I guess in my conversations with her the idea came up that doing a sticker line for the different teams would be a nice challenge. So here are just a couple of the designs I came up with when sketching. True to form my sketches tend to be more fully developed. But I always like to see exactly how it would be layed out before taking them into Illustrator.
Well, hope you enjoy.

Haven't turned my back on you.

I would first like to thank all of you for coming back time and time again to this blog and checking it out. I know I don't update as often as I should. I should be able to load up ten times the work that I do here. Perhaps I should. But a lot of what I do is either not permitted (via contracts and such) or is kind of not good enough in my eyes to force on you all. But yet you still check up on me. For that I thank you so much. You all are truely great to me.
I do sketch a lot more than I post. I mean a lot more. I wonder if you want to see the random stuff I sketch. Some of it is graphic design oriented and some of it is illustrative. But I always think that because it isn't clean or good necessarily, that you don't want to see it. Would you only want to see the stuff I think is good? Or would you rather have more stuff and see a nugget of art wash up as it does sometimes? I post my doodles of characters from time to time, but I wonder if anyone wants to see those? If any of you have any feeling on this matter, please, let me know. Then I will take everything into consideration and see what I can do about all this.Thank you again for checking in.

Wonderful reveal!

Well for those of you that have ben checking up on me, I have been talking about this book I have been inking with Viper Comics. Well true believers, Here it is. This is Wonderdog, inc. For those of you interested there is a preview of the book at :
http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=3893
You can download the first couple pages at Wowio.com. It's free and easy. All you have to do is sign up for Wowio (which is also free) and you get to see it. The actual graphic novel version will be released at SDCC (or Comic Con International for you newbies.) I am realy excited to finally get some ink work in print. Matt, Scott and Tracy have done an amazing job on this and I think they are great to work with. I think we will also be signing copies at the Con too. So if you were thinking of going this year, you realy should. But check out the preview first and let me know what you think.

"Smile, you son of a......"

Still working on the graphic novel. I have actually done a couple of sketches that I might be able to post if I have time. But as it stands, I just have a quick minute to post a doodle from work with some colors slapped on it. This one is a little homage to my favorite movie, JAWS. It's kinda morbid to sketch out dead things and all, but it's just kind of fun to let yourself go and see where it takes you. I still have a pretty good group of these, so I might try and post one a week til I am done with the comic. Then be able to post more ink work and sketches. Hope you all don't mind too much.

El Toro Muerto!

Sorry it's been while. I had a freak occurance with my Mac. It actually went down with a faulty ram. It turns out I was severely under powered in that department. So I took it in and upgraded the ram. And I have to say thank goodness for Apple care!
I also wanted to thank everyone for your feedback, You all had some really great advice. I guess I will keep on keepin' on and just see how it all goes.
I am in the last couple of months of the graphic novel I am working on. We have to be done relatively soon, so I may be very lax with posts. Possibly once a month. But I will see what I can do. And as I get closer to the end of the project I might try and get a little something out to you all as a preview. But for sure we are aiming for the SDCC as our launch date. And there may be a little something extra then too.
Well for now you can all enjoy some more doodles. This one may become my signature image......

A voice of my own

The other night I was having dinner with my girlfriend and we were talking about my art. I was expressing my worries about not haveing a real "voice " in my work. It seems to me in order to get noticed in the art world you have to have a voice or style. I think I am a generally decent draftsman, but as for a unique voice I fall short. It worries me that I may not ever get past that, to become a functioning illustrator making a living at what he does. I know the feeling of inadequacies run deep with all artists. But I was wondering what you all think. I put a smal collection up here that is a sampling of all the type of stuff I play around with all the time. Does any of it work better than others? I guess what I am asking for is a complete and open dialogue. Let me have it! Good ,Bad, Constructive, or even Deconstructive. I want to know what you think are my strengths and what I can do to make it work for me. I put the ball in your court and ask you to help me out. Don't worry about hurting my feelings...I'm a big boy and I can take it.
Thanks folks.

Still slinging ink.

Just wanted to post up another SDCC ink sample for you all. This one is penciled by Leinil Yu and inked by yours truely.
The new year has me working on even more stuff. Hopefully I will have some newer stuff up for you all in the next week or so. But as it is I am going crazy keeping up with the pile on my plate. I know I haven't been in contact with all of you on a regular basis, and for that I am sorry. I get caught up in all the work. But know that I appreciate the comments and the support. You all are great friends. Thanks guys and gals. I hope to do you proud in the coming year.
Oh, and of course: This image is copyrighted by the respective owners and included solely for the purpose of scholarly review.

Haring what you have to say.

Well I hope you all are having a great Holiday! I thought I would post my most recent Munny I did for my brother as a Christmas/birthday gift. I did it in marker, just to keep it in the true Haring fashion. And the heart on his chest is in red acrylic. I really like doing these. It's just that it ends up taking me a long time to do one. I simply don't have enough time to do as many as I would like to. But I do have the next one planned out already.
It might be a bit before I post again. Probably after the new year. Just so I can catch up on some work and get some more sketches done. That way it doesn't take me so long to post. Well, be safe out there kids.

Final Sequence.

And the last two pages of the Campbell work I inked. I liked how clean this page was to work over. It allowed me to focus on the stroke of the line more than "correcting" anything. Not that I would, mind you. I would have been hauled off by a mob of angry fanboys had I even dared to do so. I might have a few more inked things to post in the upcoming weeks. But then all I have left are the pages I am working on for Viper. And those won't see light of day until they are printed first. Cause you know, contracts and stuff.
Images solely for the purpose of scholarly review.....and all that jargon.

Ink'n samples

As I sorta promised. Here are the sequential ink samples I said I would post. These are of J.scott Campbell's Danger Girl. I had a lot of fun doing this. It is a real challenge to do as well as a great inker like Alex Garner. Hopefully I didn't mess it up too badly. I always wondered why inkers don't get the praise that the pencilers get, but then get all of the blame when it doesn't look good? Hopefully I don't get too much blame for this.
Again...blahh, blah, blah....all images here solely for the purpose of scholarly review....yadda, yadda....

Ink'n Fool

So I decided to add a couple of ink samples from my last SDCC inking portfolio. I have been knee deep in stuff to ink for the last week, so it is only fitting that I share what got me there. These are two images from Terry Dodson and J. Scott Campbell. I tried to choose a range of different pencilers to ink over to show what I could do. Like I said some people liked them and some didn't. Now you get the say so. I have some sequential pages as well to put up too. But that will be later this week. Maybe next week? Hey, I do the best I can people.
Again, these images are here solely for the purpose of scholarly review. I am not the original inker at all

Classics!

Thought I would add another doodle from work. This one combines what I sketch and doodle at work. One being a car, and the other being a funky little creature. I designed the little dino around a cross between Jughead and Cecil. If you all get that reference I will be surprised. Well more soon...ish

Lil' Damien

Thought I would add one of my doodles from work. I tend to draw a lot of characters now a days. It's just a time for me to let go and let my sense of humor wander around in the sketchbook. There might be more of these in the future....so you have been warned.

Creepy Inky

Here is the original image I wanted to post for halloween. But do to time constraints I went with the other one and colored it. I know it sounds weird that inking and coloring one image was faster then just inking another one. But it all comes down to the details. Plus the cartoony stuff I can do at work, while the illustrated stuff tends to be larger in size and more time oriented. This image goes along with my love for EC Comics which I have mentioned I the past. I miss the old horror comics. That's one thing I would like to see the return of in the comics medium. We have Hellboy, and for that I am thankful. But I think we could use some good ol' fashioned scare stories. Oh well, hope you enjoy.

Happy Hallo-were have I been?

OK so I have been gone a long time. Plain and simple. But what have I been doing that has taken me away from the blog? Well that is a tough answer, but a good one. In the last episode I told you that I had gone to the SDCC and showed my ink work around to some people. Well long story short, I got a job out of it. Well to be clear, I already had the job. I just got a contract out of it. My friend Matt Hebb and I have been working on a couple of projects together and we started one with Viper comics. I can't and won't get too specific on the details, but this seems like a good thing. So I have been busting my chops to work on this book and hold down a full time job. It's crazy tough. But really cool. Not only that but I did some stuff for another company also. It was a short assignment, but it was a fun one. So with any luck, by SDCC next year I should have some stuff in print. But no promises. I don't wanna jinx it.
And that is what you ol' pal here has been doing. I would love to post more stuff as I can. But it seems the only time I have to sketch is at work when I should be eating lunch. I will see what I can do.

More ink samples?

I decided to add another ink sample from this years con. This one was penciled by Joe Madureira and inked by yours truly. I had some aspirations to do a couple of original ink works for the blog, but it got pushed aside due to my current work load. The good news is that they are half finished.The bad news? I dunno when I will get back to them.
Anyway, I have to legally say that this image is included soley for the purpose of scholarly review.
Hopefully I will post again soon.....hopefully.

Post Con.

Well the Comic Con has come and gone, and I have to admit I am glad the stress is over. Had a tuff time working 40hrs, doing inks for a comic and trying to get some ink samples done as well. It's like working three jobs! But I think it went well.
My sample consisted of inks over a couple of pro's like J. Scott Campbell, Terry Dodson, Leinil Yu, Joe Mad!, and Cory Walker. Plus my inks over Matt Hebb, of course. The ink sample panel here is from Cory's work in a Spiderman story.
I talked to some people at the Con and got some reviews on my work. Some good and some bad. But it all balanced out in the end. Went to the top 2 (Marvel and DC) and did the drop off there. But got no word back, no worries. Went and met up with the team from Viper. Good things a coming that way. Met with Penny-Farthing. Seemed to go pretty well. Saw Top Cow. They didn't seem interested. But again, no worries. My friend Matt sent me to Darkhorse after he had a good review. Just to show my face and show my stuff. Seemed good enough. But you never know. And finally saw a group called Blind Wolf. They do kids style comics and needed an inker for a story. So I am looking forward to good things with them too. But all in all a pretty decent Con. Bought lots of books and stuff. So I am stocked up for almost a year and looking to get back into inking and sketching. After a little rest of corse.
Oh, and a few things added to the web site.

Saddle up!

Trying to keep up with the posts more often. But I know I have been a little behind. Been working two jobs, trying to get ink samples for SDCC, and sketching more is kinda a tough gig. But I think this subject matter slowed me down as well. Trying to get something going with this image was a struggle. But in the end, I think it can out alright.

Along for the ride

So as I have stated before, I have been drawing a lot of cars lately. Mostly because they are kind of a weakness in my abilities as an artist. Them and environments. I will start working on the environment issue in the up coming months. But as for the cars, I just feel that older cars have a little more character to them than newer ones. I guess because they are a part of history, they have a history of their own. And history does build character.
Well whatever the case... I hope you all enjoy!

Picture page...

I thought I would get back to the feel of this blog from when I started it. That being more illustrative and less cartoon oriented. Now that being said, I love the cartoon aspect of the drawings I have been doing. But I feel the need to stay devoted to the illustration/figure drawing that I spent years trying to learn. So hopefully you will see more of both sides of me from here on out. Well, one can only hope so...

Team work!

There is no real reason for this one other than I felt like drawing a hotdog cart one day at work. I know it's a wierd thing to have an impulse to draw, but that's exactly why I chose it. And then I added the ants to make some kinda story out of it. Besides... who really gets a chance to draw a hotdog cart?

Mista Direction

Lately I've been really into this whole urban toy craze. I find myself searching for hours on sites such as KidRobot.com, TheBananaLab.com, and MyPlasticHeart.com. I especially love the Munny and Dunny lines. A lot of my favorite artists have designed their own versions. So when the chance came along to do one of my own for a friend's birthday present I couldn't resist. I worked up a couple of designs and showed them to her, not telling her what they were for, and we agreed that doing this design on a glow in the dark one would turn out really well. For about the next month I secretly worked on it, and presented it to her on her birthday. She was thrilled. I really like how it came out, and guess what kids, it's a new medium! Acrylic on vinyl. I guess I'm not limited to pen and ink after all!

Working out the bugs.

Why a Giant African Beetle you ask? Well a few years ago I actually did this same image but in watercolor. It didn't have the punch I wanted it to and I was a little unhappy with it. So I decided to give it a go again. Much happier with the effect the markers and col-erase gave me. Don't get me wrong, I love watercolor, But the markers actually played well to the whole exoskeleton thing. Well, more to come...

sketchin a go-go

So I have been trying to get back to sketching a lot more. Been busy working on some small projects and working full time at the school. I have been dropping in on a life drawing class for about a month or so. But it's unlikely you'll see that stuff here as it is bad! I forgot how on-the-ball you have to be with life drawing! Good artistic workout though. So this one is just me sketching for fun. Now worries and just trying to get the old imagination going again. I have been working on a more cartoony style, as well as working on the illustrative side of things as well. Hopefully you'll see more of both in the up coming days...

poison pen (and ink!)

Here is a little something I did on lunch at work. I have been wanting to work in different mediums, but still end up using mostly ink and markers. And that's what this one is. Ink, prisma marker, colerase vermillion pencil, and a white-out pen. Perhaps I will get around to trying something else sooner or later. Hope you all enjoy.

Latest compulsion

For my latest set of sketches I have been kinda carried away with the idea of sketching cars. I can't say how it started, but when I started sketching cars I realized it's a little harder than I thought. I have spent so much time learning to draw people that I may have neglected my practice on sketching other things. So this is the first attempt at challenging myself to draw more than just people.

Missing the boat?

So I thought I would get your help. So I did this Borat piece after I heard about all the legal issues he was in after the movie came out. But as usual with things, I got consumed by life and soon forgot about it until the video was about to come out. And then I forgot about it (again). So my question to you all is...should I even finish it? Or count it among the dead and move on.
You make the call.

Zoo-rific

Here are a couple of drawings I did the other day from my zoo pictures. I tried on some of them to play with the proportion just a tad. I think I should try pushing them more towards the animated side and then bring it back in and see what happens. At least this way I can free myself of the tight laced drawing style I have been in lately.

Celebrations and Salutations

Hi everyone, sorry for the huge gap in posting. I have been all over the place creatively and apparently none of them landed on the blog. So I guess I will have to try and make good on this for everyone's sake. Soooo....to start off the new year I have decided to post a color ill. These take me a little while to do so you can see why its been a bit. My model for this one is my nephew. And I found that even taking pics of a toddler is not so easy. So I had to use that old art school talent and piece it together. I think it turned out alright. But I am sure you all will let me know. I hope you all are doing well out there and I will do my best to get back on track. I even started to drop in on some more figure drawing classes to get back up to speed. If any of those turn out, you know I will post them here. Well I wish you all the best in the new year!

Well Wishes!

Here is to wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays. I hope all of you have a great time over the holidays and a safe New Years.

History

Here are a couple more older sketches from when I was in school and stuff.
.....No more words today.....

Easy as 1,2,.....3?

Sorry I am so late with this ....Again. Blogger gave me a little trouble there for a little bit. But no excuses. So I have for your viewing pleasure, an example of a started piece in a studio and the finished next to it. The first is a 15 min. on 18x24 and the second was the redrawn image and finished on the same size paper to show my process. The color and lighting are horrible in these shots because I didn't realize that I am using an off white over head bulb. Next time I will know to use true sun light bulbs when taking shots in doors. Or better yet...I could go outside and shoot them....ehhh enjoy.

Open arms

So here is an little bit older drawing, but I figured not many of you have seen it. So it will be new to a lot of you. This is from a series of characters illustrations I have been working off and on for a while. I know some of you would like me to be more regular in posting. I will do my best to be a regular as life allows. I will try and post something at least once a week ( or with in seven days from each other). This being said, I do have to work a 40 hour a week job and all the rest of that stuff too. So please be understanding, this is for fun and not my job. (God, if it was I would be so much more on the ball! )
Well enjoy everyone!

Faux musketeer

I love the way the hair came out in this one. I seem to love the texture of hair lately. That and I think it adds to the air of his snobbish naturel. Short and sweet this week have some things to get done. Enjoy!

Nekked time!

Ok, so I am going to go with the one about me being an artist and this is just a study of the female form.....yeah..... But seriously, I feel I need to get back to anatomy studies a little more than I am used to. I love drawing from life but it seems I don't get as many chances now that I have graduated and all that. Well maybe I will make an attempt to get more connections with the Instuctors at the college I work at. You know... cause that would be just too convenient.

The black Bob Ross ???

So here is a portrait I did from a magazine while at work. It's a combo of a few different media. Namely: Ink, ink-wash, and black Prisma color pencil. I guess I was jonesing to do portrait stuff again. I know I need the practice more often these days (like everyday). So I hope you all enjoy it and I will try and have some new ink work and pencil sketches up soon.

Just the treats, please!

Ok all you goblins and ghouls, I want to extend my wishes for a Happy Halloween to you all. I hope you all do something fun for the holiday. And if your in SF, I expect you all to be at the Castro or over in one of the other many party spots in the city. And I want pictures! It was always a lot of fun to be in the city around Halloween. Lots of crazies and lots of laughs.
Well, I am still working on this comic book inking job..so I guess I will head back to it. Happy Halloween all!!

Deep-trouble

OK so here is a piece I have been working on for the art school I work at. This is another inked image display to promote the sales of ...well...ink. Most of this is made with tech pens and a Copic brush pen. With a little added ink wash for the spots. I have been thinking of adding more of the ink wash/ water color to my sketches to add a little something. But I have been reluctant to try it. I guess this is a step in the right direction. Baby steps if you will. I know I have done the deep sea diver thing before. But I thought I would put him in a story like situation. Something classic that you would have seen from Franklin Booth or Joseph Clement Cole, with a touch of Frank Cho thrown in there. Well hope you all like it.

"And now for something completely different..."

I know, I know. This is something out of the ordinary for me to do. You see, I am not really an animation guy. But I did start off that way in college. Turned out I just like doing the illustrative side of it. So when I got this urge to do an animation character sheet I just rolled with it. The funny thing is, it was really fun. I had a good time drawing up these kids. I dunno if this will turn in to a more fully developed idea. But it is fun to play with for now. Hell, this might be a new direction for me.
......but don't hold your breath.

Motor-head

Well its been a while since I added another sketch to the mix, so here is a long awaited one. I have been working on a couple of these so there will be more to come. Just don't hold your breath as to when. I chose to do a scooter sketch as it's close to what I ride. I ride a motorcycle and since I have been doing some maintenance to it, I guess it spurred this one. I have been trying to do a couple drop-ins of some life drawing classes as well. It's funny how rusty you actually get after it's been a while. If I get any sketches I think are good enough, I will post it here for you all. Well until then...Ciao!

Back in black (and white)

Hey all. So I haven't updated in a while for a couple of reason. First, blogger was shutting down on me and not allowing my images to be published. I couldn't figure it out and so I waited it out. Seems to be fixed (for now). The second reason is because I have been helping a friend work on a comic that may be published by Image Comics later this year. I have been doing some inks on his work and I think I really like this. I may have problems with sequential storytelling, but I love doing the inks! So this is a sample panel from the comic. I will be sure to keep you posted as to the events of the book. Well, we will see if I will be able to post more later. If the Blogger gods are happy with me. Fingers crossed people.

Smoke break

So here are a couple of sketches I did at the art school I work at. The students went on a short "smoke" break and I took advantage of that time to get some quick sketching in. All of these are like 2 minute sketches using a ballpoint pen. I like the way a ballpoint works over the paper in a quick sketch. If you work at it you can get subtle value shifts and really bring out the character. That and it's a cheap medium. And man, do I love cheap.

Made to order?

Here is an example of how I think all of us feel some times. I tried to give her that worn out look to make the viewer sympathize with her. I wanted you to feel like you could take a couple of bags for her and change the way her whole day was going with a smile. So I am back from comic con. It was as always awesome. Highly recommend you all go some time.

Dead man's party

So here are some quick sketches I did while at work. I picked up a great book called The Skillful Huntsman while at the SDCC. I was experimenting with some zombie quickies and keeping it simple and only about 2 inches in heighth. Small, quick and dirty best describes these......and maybe smelly.

Been a long time...

So I know many of you (if there are any of you left) are wondering why I haven't updated in a while. Well I have a new job and that takes up all of my time and energy. I do my best to get some sketches and stuff done, but I think I have been a bit laxed in my efforts to keep up the blog. I am working on getting back into the groove. And I promise things will get better. The International Comic Convention in San Diego is coming up on July 20th-23rd. I will be there checking out the industry and hanging out with friends. I hope to see all of you there, if you can make it. Along that line I did an ad for the art school supply store that I work at with an old EC Comics feel. I was hoping to promote inking supplies to the students. But mostly it was just fun for me to create.