Springtime Digital Doodle-Dump!!

Okay, I just got my paws on a brand spanking new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. On a fellow artist's advice I picked up the Procreate app, and I'm having a BALL..!!!

Sample Storyboard: The Match

Here's an excerpt from a toon short I wrote and boarded called "The Match."

Model Sheet: Space Ape

Hey, party people.

It's long past time I started using this blog for it's intended purpose: a showcase for what I can do.  Let's begin with a character design I drummed up for a cyborg gorilla.

 

First, the Turnarounds.

Then the Expressions sheet.

And lastly, a few action poses.

My original line of thought was to visualize a futurized version of Grodd, the Evil Genius from DC Comics' Gorilla City.  I was inspired by wondering how Bruce Timm would design that type of character, and it just came to me.

Back in the Saddle!

Okay… Baltimore is out-of-the-way for this year, so now I can finish updating this blog on my shenanigans...

To get the spring convention season into gear I wanted to go into AwesomeCon with a couple of new prints. I chose two of my favorite TV shows.  First up was another "Game of Thrones" piece.  This time the subject was Tyrion Lannister.

Next up was another "Walikng Dead" print, this time of fan-favorite Michonne...

(okay, I've got a small confession to make. I do have to admit that one of the reasons for this was that one of the special guests at the convention was Danai Gurira, The actress who plays her on the show...

It's actually turned out to be a level of coolness I hadn't banked on.  More than a few individuals brought fridge for me put them over to her to have them autographed! One of them actually gave me back a copy:

No I thought this was the height of awesome for her to do, so I resolved to thank her the first chance I got.  After the con was over, I went over to her table and gifted her with my artist's proof.  I also just happened to have the original pencil sketch which I showed to her...

... And she signed it for me!!!

EBay can have the print. But this here goes on my wall!

It's been WAY too long!!!

Hey, true believers!

 Yeah, I know, I know, I need to have my ass kicked (YET AGAIN) for waiting this long to post.

I'm currently lumbering through the 2014 convention season, with 2 VA single-day cons, Awesome Con, C2E2, HeroesCon, and SDCC under my belt, and Baltimore ComicCon, NYCC, and the 2-day VA ComicCon to go.

But enough about me.  You guys wanna see some prints? 

First out of the starting gate is a print I actually did in the middle of this con season, between Awesome and C2E2.  In advance of the film release of "Guardians of the Galaxy (which turned out to achieve levels of awesome that none of us could've predicted, by the way) I noticed everyone had a thing for certain small mammal, voiced by Bradley Cooper in the movie.  Here's Rocket Raccoon for ya...!

Latest Model sheet: KUNG FU PUG!

Theses originated as yet another of my Bar sketches (I may post the originals later.)

The Idead stuck with me enough to make me research kung fu stances, weapons, and uniforms (hell, I even tried to find apparel from the Shun Dynasty, when the breed first originated!)  But with time ruinning out until I flew to SDCC, I just pushed the design on out...

Crazy thing?  I'm not even a fan of the breed.  I blame this squarely on Mike Norton, Eisner-winning creator of "BattlePug"...!!!

Drink and Draw pics from HEROES CON. (Kids, Please...Don't Draw Drunk!)

At the end of the first night of HEROES last month, I moseyed on over to a charity Drink-and-Draw; all of the pieces were auctioned off.  Never one to shy away from the challenge of trying to draw something decent while hammering my brain and liver with alcohol, I accepted the challenge!!

Everyone loves Jon Snow and Daenerys Targeryen.  How come no one loves King Joffrey?

Oh, that's right.  He's a douchebag.

At any rate, I penciled him in on a Con Coaster.

Buoyed by my homage to House Lannister-er, I mean Baratheon, I drank another Jim Beam and Coke, and chased it with a beer.  Armed with a larger piece of board, and less active brain cells, I decided to throw down the KINGPIN!

Believe it or not, there was another sketch, one I barely remember doing (I think it was Karnak the Shatterer from the Inhumans saying something vulgar.)  By that time I was so blistered, I didn't even remember to take a pic of it.  Nonetheless, it went to auction, and vanished.  So that counts as a good deed, right?

Second Round Con Prints for ya!!!

For Heroes Con in June, I was able to knock out two more Prints.

This first one, a Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn pin-up, went through a couple of different incarnations.  I really wanted to try to get the whole chummy, slightly goofy "Thelma and Louise" dynamic down between the two.

I also really wanted to work on the basic color theory stuff that I was too brick-headed to get when my old professor Durwin Talon was teaching it back at SCAD.  It took a Q&A session with Brian Stelfreeze at last year's Baltimore Con for me to finally get what I should've learned a decade ago.


Next up was something I'd sketched in one of my sketchbooks more than a year ago.  I finally revisited the idea and gave it the old once-over...

I love, and I mean LOVE the movie "Office Space"!!  I made sure to add to everyone who saw it at the booth in Charlotte that proceeds from sales of this print would go to the hunt for a red Swingline stapler.  (Believe it or not, they've been impossible to find since the movie came out!!)

Con Season Prints, Part Three!!! (WARNING: Spoiler Alert for those who've been under a rock for the past few months!)

This Print was the last of the pieces I finished for April's Awesome Con DC (along with the Jon Snow and Deadpool prints.)  As viewers of the "Walking Dead" TV series know, it's a shot of perrenial fan favorite Darryl Dixon and his scummy brother, Merle (a perrenial Steve favorite!)

I was laying down the inks on this piece while watching the next-to-last episode of Season Three.  As the episode began, I remember thinking, "This piece will KILL during the Con season.  The Dixon Brothers' subplots can carry all of next season...!!!"

As the episode ended, I literally thought, "All they both have to do is stay alive until--ARRRGGGHHH!!!"

Dammit, Merle...!!!

Con Season Prints, Cont.

This is my favorite Print to date.  (And everyone else's apparently!)

It's basically an homage to the movie poster for Brian Depalma's 1980's Scarface remake, with Marvel's loud-mouthed comic assain Deadpool in the place fo Al Pacino's Tony Montana.

I learned quite a few lessons during the 2012 Con season, tabling with my friends Tom Kelly and Jay Potts.  One of them is this: People of all ages love Deadpool.  Why? Who knows.  Tom offers the most sound theory, that his popularity has transcended comics thanks to his being one of the most played characters on the "Marvel vs. CAPCOM" video game.

Whatever the reason, I swear I'll always try to have a Deadpool piece ready for every con from here on...

Con Season Prints!!

I really liked "Life of Pi."
I love "Game of Thrones."

'Nuff Said.

W.O.W DAY, 2012 Style!!

So I was so busy getting ready for NYCC that I'd forgotten that the Women of Wonder Day Charity Auction was almost upon me once again!  I was able to throw down a couple of pieces, and get them off to Andy Mangels just in the nick of time.

Inspired yet again by my fellow art hooligan DJ Jackson's ridiculously awesome drawing of Cheetara (of Thundercats fame) in my sketchbook, I decided to show a little love to the other two Thunder-chicas, Pumyra and Wilykit.

Started off with a couple of roughs:



                                                    

 

From there, I fleshed the ideas out to semi-tight blueline pencils:

                                                       

 

And from there to tight, clean pencil lines:

                                          

At this point, I started with colors.  (I'm still on training wheels as far as non-digital coloring goes, so every new piece is a sort of experiment for me.  I used Prismacolor Pencil on the skin, and Prismacolor marker on everything else):

                                                            

 

A couple different hues for depth, lightbox-doodle the TC logo in the background, and Voila!!!

                                               

I'm never able to follow the live auctions, so I always wonder how well the pieces do.  Not that it matters, because it's all for a good cause!

SDCC Re-cap! (Braaaaiinssss...)

I had a BLAST at Comic-Con this year!!  Reminisced with my old friends, met with some new ones (shout-out to Jeracl C. and Lee Davis... welcome to the fold!)  Talked shop with some industry folk, picked up a knicknack or two (free markers from the Sakura folks!)  And tried my damndest to wrangle a job (Thanks for the praise, Cartoon Network.  If you guys were hiring, I'd be in Heaven right now!)

I even hung out with the Walking Dead...!

 (See that expression on my face? The chick with the sword just told me she's into necrophilia.  SHAZAM!)

All jokes aside, It was one of the better Cons for me and my mob out of the 13-odd years we've been going.  It gave us a bit more energy to carry on into this Fall, and 2013 beyond.  Next stop: NYCC shenanigans with Tom Kelly!!

GRAMPS Model Sheet

This is part of the latest set of model sheets that I've done.  (It's actually one of my older characters, one I've been using in storyboard samples for years.  I've just never done an actual model sheet of good ol' Gramps until now!)

I think I'll delve a little further into Gramps' universe.  Maybe another set of Model sheets, and a new set of boards.  Hell, even an animatic if I can swing it!

Next Stop: SDCC 2012...!!!!

Okay, sports fans.  In two days I'll be headed yet again to San Diego for the Comic-Con, where I'll no doubt spend countless hours sitting Portfolio Review, and countless braincells drinking at the Marriott Bar later that night!!! 

Think I'll do a new business card this year.

HEADS UP!!

Hey Y'all...!!!

I'll be hanging out at HEROES CON in Charlotte, NC next weekend, Jun 22nd-24th!  If any of you guys make it out, I'll be in the "INDIE ISLAND" section of Artists' Alley, helping my good friend JAY POTTS at the WORLD OF HURT table, section AA-539. 

(Who knows? I may be doing a sketch or seven!!)

Drop by and say Hi! Or even better...BUY SOMETHING!!!!

NOMO.

Ten days ago, we lost a family member. Our akita Nomo (who I always thought of as "My Little Brother") came to us as a pup 11 years ago, and grew into a brawling 150-lb. ball of Man's Best Friend.

The great comedian George Carlin once said that because you know you're going to outlive your pet, buying a dog was like "purchasing a small tragedy."  After a week's reflection, I prefer to think of it differently.  Buying a dog is like purchasing a brief pocket of unconditional love and loyalty.  That was Nomo. We adults spoiled him like he was one of our children, and in return he protected the children in our family as if they were his own cubs.  (Woe to the person who knocked on the front door when any of my nieces or nephews were playing in the house; Nomo's roar-like warning bark could be heard from outside.  But if you were a friend or family member, he'd be happily waiting to knock you off of your feet as soon as you opened the door!)

They say that our pets don't have souls, and thus don't go to heaven.  I can't and won't believe that. If there's indeed a paradise waiting for the good and just when we leave this existence, then Nomo is there waiting for me, the newest addition to the honored pack that has served as the beloved protectors of the Howard Family. Thanks for everything, Little Brother.

AND NOW, MORE FROM THE BAR...

The continuing chronicle of my grand experiment to reveal what happens to the artistic side of the brain when you soak it in Lite Beer and Jameson's Irish Whiskey...

A business discussion between an entrepreneur and his top earner, and a rat.  With a drink.

A bit of "Last Call" while sipping at the ol' Pub.  (I haven't given up on it yet...)

"IMPERIOUS(hic)REX!!!"

Doodle Dump DOS!!!

I LOOOOVE my moleskin sketchbooks!!!



Women of Wonder Day, 2011 (It's back, and better than ever!!)

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that contrary to what my friend DJ and I had heard, the Wonder Woman Museum was NOT cancelling its annual charity event.  Instead, it was hereafter referred to as WOMEN OF WONDER DAY.  The basics were the same: a charity auction of original art by professional artists, the proceeds of which would go to benefit shelters which aid battered women.  The one major change was the subject matter.  In the past, donated pieces were limited to renditions of Wonder Woman, and nothing else. 

 Now that was expanded to heroic women of all stripes, not only from comics, but film, literature, and animation as well.  This gave us artists a chance to spread our wings a bit, and it gave me a chance to try a couple of characters I hadn't tried before.  Moreover, I also decided to go with a different set of materials this time.  Instead of drawing out the piece then going to Photoshop to add the colors in, I'd stay away from the digital this time, and use markers to add every drop of color!  

This Marvel Girl pic is one of the few pieces I've done which ended up exactly the way I'd planned it to!

...But this seems to be everyone's favorite.  (Mine, too, if I must confess.  It's only my second real attempt at a colored Harry Potter piece, and I have a thing about characters from books of which I'm a fan; I always like to think that one day the author might see my work, and he/she would smile if I did them justice.)

Nonetheless, I do think my donations for the 2011 event were my best yet.  Even though I have no idea what they went for at auction, I'm again honored to contribute to a decent cause, and especially happy that the event is still going.  If the Art Gods are willing and the creek don't rise, count me in for next year!!