Sketch Meat 022

Apparently, women in the age group of 25-27 who are earning pharmaceutical degrees and who also spend an offensive amount of time looking at cute things on the internet do not find my monsters to be "cute enough". So in an attempt to appease this fan base, I have created a few creatures that will hopefully be more in line of what would be considered "cuddly and fuzzy" (with a liberal sprinkling of horns and claws, just deal with it).

Happy Whistle Pig Day!

Looks like General Beau Lee didn't see his shadow.

Happy Holidays

I had a lot of fun with this piece, which was commissioned by a friend of mine.

ink, watercolor, and graphite on illustration board

Baltimore Comic Con

I just got back from the Baltimore Comic Con and had a great time. This was really a fun experience and if anyone hasn't been to Baltimore, I highly suggest visiting. It was great to see some familiar faces from other conventions (like my friend Charlie Harper) and also to meet some new friends. We sat next to Mike Maihack, the creator of Cow and Buffalo, as well as R. M. Rhodes from Oletheros Publishing, both of whom were very nice guys and had some interesting products. Be sure to check them out.

It was also nice to have some sketching time, and I indulged in drawing one of my favorite creatures - giant monster spiders with freakishly large fangs:

DragonCon Day 4

DragonCon this year was the best yet. Even though I had some work up in the art show and print shop, I chose to put business aside and just have fun.

It was a real treat to see some of the props and costumes that some friends made for the convention. Check out the Volpin props Flickr photostream for pictures and the Volpin Props blog for more info. He and his fiance make some awesome stuff. Here they are in costume at the con:

Big Daddy, Little Sister, and a Splicer from the game Bioshock

After the Convention...

I've finally caught up on sleep after attending Heroes Con last weekend. I had a great time and made some money, too. It was a pleasure meeting up with some old friends. My friend from ConceptArt.org, Charlie Harper, was there and he introduced me to Bobby Chiu from Imaginism Studios. Although we only got the chance to hang out one night, I had a lot of fun and Bobby is really good at storytelling. He also offered some very sage-like advice regarding our portfolios and the presentaiton of our art.

Several people asked for commissions over the weekend and I only have a picture of one of them (one of these days I will be able to afford a digital camera).

Namor Convention Sketch

I also had the pleasure of meeting Scott Adsit who plays Pete Hornberger on "30 Rock" which is one of my favorite shows. I have to admit, I geeked out a little and my friends at the table will probably never stop making fun of me for it. He was a really cool guy though, and he seemed to enjoy speaking with the various artists at the con.

Next up is Dragon Con!

16 Minute Monster

I did this sketch a while ago to practice for a quick sketch contest. As the title states, it took 16 minutes for this guy.

And, just for MuYoung, the yellow-faced wizard pirate:

Below is the progress so far. I still need to punch up the highlights a bit and define some areas. His hair and eyebrow are not completed, yet. I've been contemplating taking this into Photoshop and combining some digital elements. Using digital and traditional media together is very interesting and I haven't quite been able to mesh the two in a satisfactory manner. Perhaps it will work well for him.

It's Whistle Pig Day!

Happy Whistle Pig Day to everyone emerging from their winter hibernation. Here's some new art to celebrate:

"Two Roads"
Photoshop

Horse

Here's a horse in the woods.

Serpentine

This is one of the images that was removed from the website during the recent renovation.

ink on bristol board

New Website Design

I just completed re-designing my website. The new design is a bit more stylish and makes use of pattern and texture (which was lacking in the previous version). The color scheme is similar but more dramatic.

I separated my work into "illustration" and "concept art" and removed the sketchbook section. The sketches will be posted here from now on and the website will only feature my professional work. This should keep things organized a little better. It will also give me lots of material to publish here on the blog in the next few weeks.

Attached is the photoshop template I made while deciding color, pattern, and layout.

Happy New Year (with doodles and varnishing technique)

Here are a few doodles that were made with the intention of testing out some new varnishing methods. I have been working with mixed media for a while now and I was investigating some alternatives to framing under glass. While the presentation of a matted and framed piece is very traditional and protects the image very well, it is very expensive and in some instances can be down right boring.

So in order to explore other possibilities, I made these little mixed media bird doodles and varnished them with varying techniques. The watercolor paper is mounted to a piece of professional quality hardbord (I like Ampersand's products). I like to use a cradled hardbord for mounting the paper. This way, a wire is easily attached to the back for framing purposes.

I found that the best method proceeds as follows: Since I work on watercolor paper with water-based media and drawing materials, I needed to seal the drawing in order to prevent the varnish and isolation coat from smearing the watercolor. The best method for this was using a resin-based artist grade fixative. Several light layers were applied. After the fixative dried, an isolation coat of acrylic gloss soft gel mixed 2 to 1 with water was applied. This permanently seals the image against moisture and creates a barrier between the final layer of varnish and the artwork itself. A UV blocking archival spray varnish is then applied for the final protective coat. The varnish is removable for conservation purposes.

In essence, the piece becomes a mixed media acrylic painting due to the application of the soft gel. The watercolor paper is sealed to prevent buckling or molding due to moisture and the watercolor/drawing materials are fixed in place. The piece can then be displayed without glass, just like a traditional oil or acrylic painting.

I'll be making several small paintings using this method. Check back for more info!

Happy New Year

Pirate!

Just in time for Halloween! I've been wanting to play around with marker and ink for a while, so this was a great chance to experiment. Basically, I had fun with the clothing and tried to make a more dynamic pose. The one thing about using markers is that you have a limited palette. While I could blend and layer to some extent, there really was not as much of a range as you would get with paint. This was fun it itself though, and presented a stimulating challenge. Another problem was that I made it too large for my scanner and I don't have a digital camera. So, his foot will be left to the imagination until I can piece the whole image together. I'm also going to put in a simple background to finish it off.

Copic Markers, Pitt Pens, and Chart Pak Markers on bristol board

Choco Sketch

Now that I have had some time to recover from Heroes Con, it's time for an update! The convention was an absolute blast. There were a ton of excellent artists in attendance. The best part was having the chance to meet with them and talk about art and other random stuff. Some fellow CA participants were also there (Hi, Wheezy!).

For some reason I was completely enamored with Chocobo-like giant birds for that weekend and sketched many different forms. They even started morphing into dinosaurs the longer I drew them. This is one of the sketches I fiddled around with at the latest CA sketch meet:

Also, it's been a while since I've sketched on the Wacom. I did this very quick (about 15 min) dragon sketch to get warmed up.

Cleaning Up

I'm changing around the website a bit - taking down old stuff and putting up new. These are some of the ones that got the ax:

"Drippy" photoshop

"Siege of the Mountain Pass" Graphite

Happy New Year!

Had some down time for the holidays and created a new digital piece. This is still in progress and I probably won't get around to finishing it until later this month. I have several ideas ready to illustrate so 2008 is shaping up to be a productive year. Convention season is also right around the corner which is always exciting. There are also several other illustration and gallery activities in the works so I will post with more info soon!