Whoa...apparently I never posted this. Balrog from LOTR.

How did I forget to post this guy up here? I suck at organization. LOL!

Do not argue with this guy. He might bleach out all of your clothes!

Apocalypse NOM!

Glad I was finally able to finish this guy before the show. He's just so damn cute, and wound up being a huge draw to my table. The original is now officially SOLD!

He just wants to get to the creamy chocolate center. ;)

ECCC 2014

Gods, ECCC was such a blast! This was my first time doing the show as an artist instead of a retailer, and damn if it wasn't amazing! Sold quite a few prints at the show and learned a ton. #1 rule of doing con as an artist: Don't show up on day 2 at 8AM. Everyone will laugh at you. LOL

Here are the pieces I wound up doing at the booth during the show.

Joker, based off the Coney Island Steeplechase face.

The Spirit

Dick Grayson Batman

Holy SHIT! Something new!!!

Yeah, I'm fucking awful. I know it. I don't post anything for AGES, and just when you think I've fallen off the face of the planet...

Both will be available at my table at ECCC 2014, along with a whole lot of other stuff. =)

My first new anything in a looong while. Took me a few days on and off, as I was feeling up to it. Wearing the wrist brace all the time seems to have helped a bit with the carpal tunnel and the new med is doing nicely to filter out a lot of the white noise in my nervous system. Still not fixed yet though, but working on it. =)

Didn't want to bugger up a paid piece in my long suffering to-do list, so this is up for grabs. Drop me a message if you're interested in this piece adorning a wall near you! Papa's been out of commission for a while and needs to start a Cintiq fund. ;)

"Recovery time makes Batman angry! Then again, so does pretty much everything else..."

There's some rough pencils and ballpoint under there, finished with Copic multiliner & sketch markers. Highlights with gel pen. 9"x12"

Sketch o' the Day - Sinestro Corps Iron Man!

I really like mashups. I'm not even really sure what it was that brought me in this direction, but I thought it was pretty cool. Sometimes with these sketches, I just sit down and let the drawing take me where it wants to go.

For my friend, Brian

A buddy of my is leaving for Istanbul in under a month, for an extended period of time, and he asked me if I'd do a Quicksilver sketch for him. The first thing that pops into my mind when it come to Quicksilver is "haughty, contemptuous asshole", and I think I was able to get that across, which is ALWAYS a bonus. Here's to hoping that he digs it! =)

What is it with Magneto's children and a pathological lack of a sense of humor?

Bad movie night inspires the best stuff. LOL

Bad movie night at the Friendhole. Zardoz. What more needs to be said?? (except that for some perverse reason, I really like drawing Sean Connery in a man-thong LOL!) It's a WIP at the moment and yes, the gun is buggered. I'll fix it once I get a chance to sit down with some reference, and I'll post the finish here, as usual. =)

Sketch o' the Day - End of week wrapup 4/17/12

Knocked out a few more this week, usually on impromptu requests, or based on something that inspired me at the time. Enjoy! =)

Barry Allen Flash

Doc Manhattan in mid-teleport

Red Lantern Hal Jordan

Sketches o' the Day, ECCC 2012 Wrap-up edition

Inspired & recharged by ECCC! I was introduced to Bill Sienkiewicz by a mutual friend, and was definitely a bit starstruck! Such an incredibly nice dude.

I wound up getting an impromptu sketchbook review, critique and encouragement from Philip Tan, which was an experience nothing short of awesome. How often do you get a chance to have your work reviewed by someone of that caliber? I have a lot of work to do, but I most definitely plan on taking his advice to heart.

I finally had an opportunity to talk with Darick Robertson again this year. Several years ago,  I happened upon Darick at ECCC '06 at a moment when there wasn't any line at his table. This was when I was still unable to do my artwork, and I was slowly dying inside, working at a call center job doing collections. I was in an incredibly low spot in my life, even if I didn't necessarily let it on, but I'm sure everyone around me could feel it - especially my loved ones. The tension around me was almost palpable. I was in pain almost all the time, and every day only served to remind me of how I wasn't ever going to be right again. I loved Comicon, but it was also a painful reminder of unfulfilled dreams. Darick took the time to listen to my story, and we wound up talking for a little over a half hour. He gave me encouragement and told me not to give up, and that was my first step back on the path to being an artist again. He did a sketch for me while we were talking, of Spider Jerusalem flipping the bird to the world, and that almost personified my inspiration. I had the sketch tattooed on my chest, and it has become my best foot forward ever since, a secret "fuck you" to the world that told me that I needed to conform, that I could never draw again, or walk right, or be free of daily pain.

It was three years from then before I could actively draw again, and that first drawing took me nearly 6 months to finish. Since then I've been published in 2 books and a magazine, and things are definitely looking up. I finally was able to let him know how much his time and his words meant to me, and thank him for being such an inspiration. He passed along some more sage advice, which is now burned into my mind - Don't worry about what other people are doing. Don't compare yourself to them. There are always going to be people out there that are better that you, and worse than you. That's irrelevant. The important thing is that you find your own voice and do what YOU want to do.

Nervously, I presented him a Nightwing piece which I had done a couple nights prior at the ECCC kickoff dinner & finished up at home afterwards, as a token of my gratitude. He told me that he thought the piece was really good, and asked if I would make it out to him, which completely blew my mind. It would be like Jimi Hendrix telling you that he liked your music and asking if you would personalize a CD for him. It was a moment where it felt like the universe was telling me that I was doing the right thing, and moving in the direction I was meant to go. I doubt that you'll ever read this, but on the tiny chance that you do, thank you from the bottom of my heart, Darick.

OK, now I'm done being all maudlin and shit. Here's a sketch of a pissed off New 52 Darkseid ;)

Darkseid doesn't like it when someone pisses in his cosmic Cheerios.

About 90 minutes or so into this. Feel free to contact me if anyone might be interested in a purchase. I'll be doing my damnedest to do something along these lines on a daily basis from here on out.

Sketch O' the Day...Clayface!

Starting to get back in the saddle, slowly but surely. Dicked around in the old sketchbook tonight, and this is the result.

I'd be angry about a skin condition like that too!

A Matched Set...

Reworked my male brawler - added more contrast and color work in the skin particularly, and finished up little Miss FemBrawler a few minutes ago. I realized that I burn through Copics relatively fast with the way that I do marker work. I just went to Dick Blick yesterday to get refills for my C1 & C3, and after a morning of working, it turns out I'm going to need at least a new C5 as well! Ah well. Anyway, without further ado, here they are! =)

Head Lice process

Here's a quick bit of process for my latest monster design. I didn't take as many scans during this as I was originally planning, but I got in the zone while I was working and totally forgot. LOL

*update 1/22/12 - added background, details & popped contrast. This should be the final.

pencils

inks & markers

background & finishing touches

Finally, geez!

Finally sat down and finished inking and toning my Brawler drawing with Copics this evening. =)

Better late than never, damnit! ;)

Alchemist painting

Finished this Friday night. I got to experiment with a new digital painting technique over pencils that seems to work better but still not crazy about it. I'm still trying to get my digital stuff to look more traditional, but feel like I'm fighting it every step of the way.

This was originally supposed to be used for a GM screen for Carmine, but was decided against. It's cool though...I learned a few things and honestly, I hated the original drawing anyway - it was a concept sketch that got drafted into service for the first book with a little clean up that I was then asked to paint on a fairly quick turnaround. If I'm asked to revisit this guy again, I'm starting from scratch. LOL.

And before anyone asks: yes, I totally based the color scheme for him off Mal Reynolds in Firefly, and those are indeed Louboutin inspired boots. LOL!

The kind of stuff I do during gaming sessions much to my GM's regret...

In my defense, however, when you have a new character, you're OBLIGATED to let everyone know what he/she looks like, dammit! LOL

Something goes horribly, horribly wrong with DC's redesign of "The New 52"...

LOL found this quickie sketch while going through saved artwork, looking for pieces to make into prints. =) 

More happy WIP.

OK, I have to admit that I kind of like scanning and posting stuff in progress, if only to have a record for myself of what I've done. Here's another, the female brawler.

More WIP stuff...

More stuff I'm working on for Carmine. This is for the Terror Hunter caste.

and here are the finished pencils. =)...

A little WIP action...

ARR! Deadline be creepin' up mightily, so I be hoisting me mains'l, and catchin' the wind! In other words, "Crap, crap, CRAAAP! Time's running out, so I better get my ass moving!" LOL

Since I started conceptualizing the brawler class, I haven't been able to get this picture of an old-timey boxer out of my head, so I decided to run with it. Thought it would be fun to take a lot more scans along the way, and just update this post with progress pics, so here goes!

Gentleman Jim, at your service! =)

A little more complete...

Almost there...

And that should do it for the pencils...on to inks!