More Late night sketching

Halloween 09

Halloween was good fun! Lots of wine, laughs, and well… fangs of course.

Late night sketching in Artrage2

Ahh…. more creepy hot chicks.

Sasquatch Survivor 2

To celebrate Halloween I am posting the delightfully retched masterpiece called Sasquatch Survivor 2. I directed the short film many moons ago when I lived in the Sierra Foothills of northern California. I wasn’t a film student or anything, I just started making movies with my 400 dollar video camera and minimal understanding of the filming process. The digital FX were done using Hash Animation Master.

There’s mystery, action, special FX, and a giant Sasquatch! So pop some corn, crack a beer and enjoy the arguably epic saga? Seriously though… I look back at this and I actually find it mighty impressive. Some of it works so well, you’d think I knew what I was doing.

done

The Show

It was exhausting & exciting! We had a great turnout and there were some great costumes!

Photos & video up over at the show site.

Show Flyers

Well, the first batch of flyers for the art show came in! I must say, I’m mighty happy with them. I know I’m not a super graphic designer  but I do try my best. I started out in a much darker direction, and then ended up going sleek & streamlined.

The cover photo was taken by Michelle Darensbourg. Aside from cropping, there’s no photoshop involved, it’s her original image. Michelle will have plenty more photos in the show. The ones I’ve seen practically knocked me out. Super, ultra, mega sexy stuff- I must say.

First published art

An image of mine somehow made its way into the August issue of ImagineFX (page 31). I’ve been joining in on the weekly challenges over on the IFX forums and won one of the rounds. I’ve just been using the challenges to push myself, so it’s a surprise to actually land in the magazine. It’s probably just me lucky charm.

The featured image is the only space, or spaceship art I’ve ever really done. It’s kinda funny really. Seriously though, I am proud of what I accomplished developing the image. I also had some amazing help from some talented folks over on the challenge forum. I highly recommend participating, it forces you to work fast and push yourself.

Save The Date!

I am putting together a group gallery show called NETHERWORLD. Mark October 16th & 17th down on your calender. More info is coming soon. I’m currently working on the show’s site/blog over at www.netherworldshow.wordpress.com

Been working on plenty of fun, new stuff- but in Lou of posting any of it, I’m posting some really old comics. Here’s one from over ten years ago. It’s ridiculous and has no conclusion. I like it.

In other news, I’m pushing to have a swell book ready for the show. By ready, I mean that I’m hoping to have multiple copies available for sale. By book, I mean an art book/sketchbook. It will have both finished paintings as well as delightfully ridiculous sketches. I Just gotta keep bustin’ it out. Things are looking mighty promising so far… not a whole lot of time.

Adventure Goat

I painted this mock comic cover for this weeks ImagineFX challenge themed “scarlet“. I almost sat this one out but I’m glad I followed through. Now I have an inspirational piece to motivate me. The Text & fonts are just temporary. I’ll certainly put more time into the title design further down the road.

I’ve also been doing lots of prep work for the actual comic. Character sketches and such. Stay tuned, Adventuregoat is on his way!

Tools of The Trade

Ok, I’ve been meaning to put this post together for quite some time. I love seeing what other artists use, so here’s a little somethin’ somethin’ regarding some of my favorite traditional tools.

It’s good to be versatile but I don’t like to be bogged down by a tackle-box load of junk. I have a simple set of tools that I enjoy. I’m not going to talk about erasers or sharpeners here, just some of the junk that makes me all happy & stuff.

Col-Erase Sketches

As you can see, there are no graphite pencils shown here. For pencils I use Prismacolor Col-erase. These work great for me since I’m not big on blending and such. I switch between Blue, Violet, Terra Cotta & Brown. The Blue & violet scan pretty well. And yes, the blue does scan. The Terra Cotta & Brown work well together if you start with the Terra Cotta, which is pretty light… then come back in with the Brown to punch up some lines and such. I don’t necessarily use these because they erase, I really like the line variation I can get- as well as the anti smudging qualities. Note: I don’t color my art with these. I sketch & draw.

Prismacolor Col-Erase

Pitt Pen Sketches

I’ve been doing a lot of straight pen sketching lately. It’s really great practice since you have to commit to your lines. As for pens, I’ve tried a lot of pens. Currently I’m in love with Faber-Castell Pitt Pens. They are waterproof, lightfast & all that good stuff. But most of all, I enjoy sketching with them. There are several different tips, including a brush, but I only really use the S & F sizes.

PittPens

The tips are shaped in such a way that you can tilt the pen a bit to vary your lines for some “Thick & Thin” action. To change things up a bit I also like to use an Itoya Doubleheader Calligraphy pen. This of course produces some nice, dark, chiseled shapes & varied lines. I really like the Itoya DH, but it’s not waterproof. Additionally I recommend trying the long, thin Stabilo pen shown. It just feels nice in your hand and produces thin, crisp lines. Oh, and let’s not forget the wonderful and versatile Sharpie. The sharpie is the only pen I am able to produce true thick & thin lines with. I don’t have the patience to use the Crow Quill pens that many comic artists use, but a good sharpie can do a pretty swell job.

Itoya Doubleheader Sketches

The clipboard shown way up top is pretty handy. I have sketchbooks I use, but slapping some copy paper on a clipboard is freeing in some strange way. Some of my favorite sketches were done on cheap copy paper. It’s great to have your work contained, but sometimes sketchbooks can feel a little too precious. The whole idea of sketching is to study, loosen up, and explore. If you find yourself being overly cautious, I recommend buying a block of copy paper and a clipboard. Preferably the legal sized board (not letter). The extra length comes in handy- as you can prop the board with your lap or hip and the paper is still high enough to draw on without having to hunch over. You’ll see.

So, that’s it for right now. I hope some folks find this info helpful or interesting. The next Tools&Tips post will be about some of the books I find useful & inspiring.

MyFX Forum Challenge

I joined in on this weeks challenge themed: Illegal Alien. I didn’t think I would come up with anything, but alas I did. 

On the left is one I started but ran out of time. Meet Eddie Mugsworth, aka Gippy da’ Creep. Relatively well known in the theft rings for slipping out the back door with everybody’s goods. Best known for his troublesome infatuation with Female Earthlings. In fact, right now he’s supposed to be on look-out duty for Fiona!… Oh Gippy… Distracted yet again.

The bottom image I finished enough to enter. Meet Fiona… Intergalactic Diamond thief. Daughter of the legendary Albert Novik, aka Stealth McGrabby. Fiona may have just been caught with her hands in the cookie jar but she’s gotten out of far stickier situations. If there are police around, then there’s a shiny, high speed shuttle waiting to be hijacked.

Adventuregoat Comic

It is time… It’s time for me to hunker down and do what I keep saying I want to do. It’s time for Adventuregoat! I have the beginning of the story pretty well mapped out. So what am I waiting for? Well, I haven’t exactly been sitting on the pot here. I’ve been searching for a simple character, a character that’s cute and easy to draw. This evening I sketched at my desk for a few hours and got the ball rolling. Also, earlier in the day I explained the basics of the story to Michelle and it flowed right out. It made sense… and explaining it even got me excited. It’s time!

Here are a few rough sketches. Nothing I’m too excited about, but progress none the less.

Painting With Rage

No, I’m not painting while furiously clenching my teeth and fists. I’m using ArtRage. RhhaaA!. ArtRage is a cheap, downloadable painting program for Mac & PC. I love it because it’s so basic, or should I say streamlined. There’s not a million ways to do one thing. You just paint & draw. If you already use Painter, ArtRage will probably drive you nuts, but it’s a great tool for folks like me that have always used Photoshop & never really cared to get into Painter.

Anyway, I’m not writing a review here. I’m just excited about the work I’m doing using ArtRage. In fact I’m developing a book & planning a show based on the stuff I just started making. More info on that later.

Quicksketch

A little somethin’ somethin’ using ArtRage & my new tablet. Did I mention that I’m in love with my new tablet (a small Intuos4). To start with, the surface feels much more natural. My old Graphire is so dang slippery. I have to press everything way too hard to get any results. Just writing my name or signature is near impossible.

If you have an old Graphire with a clear, hard plastic cover…. upgrade! Don’t be stubborn. Trust me, I scratched away on that crap for a good three years.

Oh, I also posted some new beach sketches here.

Adventuregoat

I’m not sure if I’ll have the time, but I joined this weeks MyFX challenge themed “The Summoning“.  I started out drawing girls again, but ended up really excited about drawing something involving Adventuregoat. Here’s my first sketch. 

Blog Stats

The last search engine words that pointed somebody to my site: “boobs and swords” LOL! I’m not so sure about the sword part though.

Challenge WIP

Here’s my current work in progress for the Dark Queen challenge.  I liked the queen by herself, but I had to add the king for the storytelling element. I’m still monkeying about with the over-all design, but it’s a fun switch-up from what I’ve been doing as of late.

MyFX challenge 121 (Dark Queen)

As the winner of the last challenge, it is my duty to set up the next one.  I chose Dark Queen as the theme because I thought it would be swell. Maybe a little too swell. Now I can’t resist joining in. Like I said before, I should be focusing solely on polishing the work I already have. He! Ho! Ha! Well, the truth is, that I’m doing both.

Shhhhh…. All is well…… All is on schedule.  Anyhoo, I’m taking a break from my epic syndrome and taking a shot at something using an approach I haven’t used in a while. Virtually no blendy blend.

ImagineFX Weekly Challenge

For last weeks forum challenge (Gods of War and Destruction) I explored unfamiliar territory. You know, space ships n’ stuff.  Zow! Zow! Vummm! Swoosh! Bazeeooow! Fizzzkk! Swoosh!

The image below is what I came up with and it’s the first time I tackled something of the sorts. To me it looks like a cover to a Sci-Fi novel or video game box. Yeah, the kind of game that looks pretty cool because of the box, but when you get it home and play it- it’s all crummy, and looks nothing like the art. And to top it off, It doesn’t even have the same freakin’ ships in it! Swoooosh! Zumm! Zumm! BezeeeeoooW!

Anyway, my image took first place by a hair.  Or should I say beard?  The runner up was an amazing painting inspired by Norse mythology.

One More Challenge…..

Sooo…. I  really should be polishing the work I already started, but I had to have one more go at the weekly ImagineFX challenge.  The theme is Gods of War & destruction. I started off with an idea about a god overlooking a castle siege, but after vomiting (twice) from concept boredom- I started to develop a Sci-fi piece!?  I’ve been focusing on figures for so long I figured (ha!) I’d dive into unfamiliar territory.  I pretty much never draw ships and stuff, so this should be fun.

The three, large ominous shapes are the Nogchampa Wachoochoo gods ( Leaches of Death & Destruction) from Maetidup Tribal Folklore.  Where there is war, they gather to feed.  Legend has it, that they are looked down upon by all other gods, but year by year they grow larger and their power increases.  Eventually they will no longer scuffle about at the heels of the greater gods.  Blah… Blah….  That’s the way the legend goes anyhoo.  Here’s what I did this Sunday afternoon.