I'm not a big fan of Microsoft and the word "garbage" usually comes to mind when I hear the company name mentioned but this site made for the Zune is pretty darn cool! Check out this sick animated clip and check out the site: Zune Arts
Blue on Criminal Minds!
A few years back I created a comic book character named Blue which was released through Image Comics. Lo and behold it showed up in last night's episode of Criminal Minds! I didn't get to see it but I got a text message from my brother to let me know they had caught it on TV. I've been trying to track down a copy of the episode but all I've got right now is this still shot of Frankie Muniz. The Blue logo is visible in the background and a concept drawing of Blue drawn by Jason Johnson is off to the right. I hear they even showed the four covers that the great Drew Struzan did for the mini-series.
Here is the description for the episode:
The BAU and local authorities in Los Angeles investigate gang-related serial killings that might possibly involve a famous comic book artist.
Drawings are coming. I've been swamped this past month and a half. Ugh.
The Beast Raban!
I've been itching to do a follow up sketch to the Feyd drawing I had done a few days ago. I'm really happy I got this sketch in tonight although I'm so sleepy my eyes are gonna bug right out of my skull. I also did another pass on Feyd for kicks but I don't think I can clean it up tonight. I'll probably end up posting it tomorrow. Argh! I want to throw some color on these. I can't wait to do the Baron.
*UPDATE*
Ok, so I didn't want to wait until tomorrow. Here is another sketch pass of Feyd.
Legends of Norrath
I got permission to post these now that the game is out. Woohoo! These were for the online card game Legends of Norrath. I had a great time doing these although it was difficult getting them done, having to juggle work, personal stuff yada, yada. Wait...what's that?...I think I just heard the world's smallest violin playing.
Fear is the mind-killer.
I bought the extended edition of the film Dune a couple of weeks ago. The production design on that film still blows me away. This is a sketch of the character Feyd Rautha as played by none other than the tantric guru Sting! Sketches for the Baron and The Beast Raban should be coming. All three characters rule!
Brush Pen
So sleepy...:(
I wanted to clean out an old brush pen that I have. Rather than waste ink on random markings I went ahead and inked over this sketch I did earlier tonight. I kind of regret it actually, I felt the original pencil sketch looked better :/
More, more, more...
Just a few more sketches before I knock out. I'm planning on dropping some color on these...soon I hope.
Note to self: must draw more animals!
Power Man and Iron Fist
I wish I could say I came up with these two straight out of my noggin but the truth is I found the inspiration for them on this site: Malingering on Flickr.
She's got great sets of photos to draw inspiration from. I could never have come up with these guys on my own...:D
Power Man
Iron Fist
Farm Killer
Apologies, apologies, apologies. Hoooweeee, I almost went a whole month without updating this thing.
Anyhow, I was showing my buddy Jason a couple of things in Photoshop and he convinced me to post this and it seemed like a great idea seeing as I haven't posted anything in quite a while. I know its got a bunch of problems but this was a 15 minute quick-sketch so that's my excuse hehehehe.
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Now playing: The Beastie Boys - Flute Loop
via FoxyTunes
Thank You Mike Wieringo
I just learned a little while ago that Mike Wieringo passed away this Sunday. You can read more about it here: newsarama.com
I can't even express how shocked and saddened I am by this news. When I was mostly making my living as an inker in the comics industry, I had always wanted to ink over his pencils. I was and continue to be a huge fan of his work. I always dug his style and the fact that he had his own take on things when everyone in the industry around the time I discovered his work was scrambling to put as many ticks and cross-hatching on everything they drew. His drawing approach had an ease and a subtle playfulness to it that I found well, cool as sh*t.
On top of that he had a killer signature!
God bless you Mike and thank you for inspiring me with your work. My condolences go out to his family.
Go check out his site if you're not familiar with his work: mikewieringo.com
Color Comps
These are a couple of color sketches I did as exploration for some exisitng layouts that I have that I want to paint....one of these days. Wow! San Diego Comic-Con starts this week!
Problem Solving
I was trying to work out some stuff this morning for an assignment I've got. This sketch was the result of that.
Grumpy
So it turns out I didn't have enough motivation to kick out another ArtRage doodle last night...
With this piece I'm trying a different approach to coloring/painting in PS. I'm kinda fumbling around for a process that's quick and efficient...on account of I'm lazy :D
Art Rage Doodle
I really had nothing specific in mind when I did this. I just wanted to open up ArtRage since I haven't in a while...might have enough motivation to do one more.
Blast From The Past
I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this picture. This is a group shot of most everybody at Wildstorm Studio back when I used to work there. I got a chance to meet, work with and make friends with some of the most incredible people and thankfully, I am still friends with quite a few of them. I think it was around '94 - '95? Yours truly is not in it...I like to think maybe I took it? If anyone knows who took it, please email me or leave a message. That time was so fun its hard to describe it to those who weren't there.
Roach Coach
This is a memory sketch of a guy that was standing next to me yesterday while I was waiting for my food from the roach coach. I don't know what he had but I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich.
Gesture Excercises
Managed to get a few gesture drawings in before I started work. These are really fun to do and really relaxing. After inking funny books all those years I have a tendency to get too attached to the idea of "clean lines". I figure these gesture excercises are a good way to teach my hand muscles some new tricks. Maybe I can get some more in later tonight.
Creative Kick
I've been bouncing back and forth between the Animation Archive site and John Kricfalusi's blog today and my head is spinning!! Just chock full of good shtuff! Go check it out NOW! These days and too often it seems a lot of people get too tech-happy and forget or overlook solid foundation principles...myself included. These sites and sites like these offer a great kick in the head and if you need one I suggest heading over there.
I should have a couple of new drawings up tomorrow.
The 5 Minute Headtrip
I could have titled this post, "A Mini-Vacation For Your Mind While Sitting Behind Your Desk" , but it didn't have quite the same ring to it. I'm assuming you already have iTunes installed on your computer or else this will only be half as effective.
Directions:
Step 1. Follow this link and install the software: Magnetosphere
Step 2. Get your hands on this album:
Step 3. Put on favorite headphones.
Step 4. Play first track of album entitled " Wish Upon a Dogstar"
Step 5. Activate Magnetosphere iTunes visualizer.
Lean back and enjoy! :)
Maximus Color
I finally got a chance to go back and throw some color on the Maximus sketch I did a few days back. I meant for it to be a quick color job but one of the things the sketches for this blog affords me is the chance to experiment. So what I intended to be a quick color job turned into a more involved excercise but I had fun the whole way and learned a couple of things.
Stylin'!
This was a memory sketch of a guy that walked into the sushi restaurant that we were eating at yesterday. He was such a character that it got me motivated to sketch him out once we got back to the studio. He looked just like Sonny Bono with a grown-out, flattened mullet and he had on this Captain America, soccer jersey shirt which he wore over camo cargo shorts! Just waaay too hip for the room! *sarcasm* The piez de resistance(sp?) was his bluetooth earpiece to top off the look :D That bit I forgot about because I was distracted by how much he resembled Sonny Bono.
Blaarrrgghhh!
The advent of blogs might have been the best thing to happen to artists.....evur, imho. I was doing a bit of blog surfing earlier and its amazing how much jaw-dropping work is being produced by artists out there today. So much inspiring work with styles of all types.....well, better get to work.
The sketch above was a creature design I did back when I worked for NDI. The design was probably inspired by how I was feeling that day....blahhhhhrggghh. I think everyone has days like that.
Maximus Sketch
Gladiator was on TV the other night and inspired me to do this sketch. I'll try to slap some color on it later today hopefully. Here Maximus is mad for breaking his sword off of someone's a$$.
I really enjoyed doing this sketch...inking is so much easier when you have "Ctrl-Z"! :D
Knight Sketch
Here is a sketch of a character that I intended to be a knight. I find I have little or no patience to render a figure and so I'm trying to work on my stamina. Time or the lack of, is also a huge factor in being unable to carry some of these non-work related, "frivolous" pieces all the way through. Bah! :P
Season Ends
And so the Lakers' season comes to a close...To anyone who knows Kevin Garnett, please tell him to get down to the Lakers office already and stop messing around up there in 'Sota.
Here's a funny video clip my friend Allen sent me today. Conan rules!
Apologies
Apologies go out to people who are using older versions of Internet Explorer. I'm not sure why but for some reason this blog won't open in it. I'm trying to figure out how to fix it...I'm not one to tell you what to do but you ought to be using Firefox anyway...I'm just playin' :D
Wolverine
A quick sketch before I get started this morning. I was toying around with the idea of Wolverine as the last man on earth. He'd probably be more rough looking and more animal-like.
"Transformers" Movie...
Dear Michael Bay,
Dude! Do these look like Transformers to you?! What channel were you watching?
Something old, nothing new...
Sorry for the lack of updates around here...I've had my hands full. Geez, I sound like a broken record (or would that be mp3?). Here are some older sketches I dug up which will be part of a bigger thing if and when I ever get to overhaul my homepage. The top sketch was a design for a futuristic city of the industrialized, grimy kind. I based the building shapes on Spanish conquistador helmets. The bottom sketch was a value study for a cityscape I'd love to try and paint.
'SHEEEEEEEEED!
How sick was this shot from last night?! I've always liked Rasheed but its a shame that his IQ doesn't quite measure up to his talents. If it did , his name would always be brought up in " All-Time Greats" conversations. Although, I think with this shot he immortalized himself. Sheed knocks this shot down to put the game into overtime which they would eventually win: Nuggets 109 - Pistons 113
Cold War Kids
You know, its really great to be able to download digital music and having the convenience of not having to go someplace to buy it. Of course the trade off is that the music quality is not quite what you would get with buying a cd. I'm not as much of a cd fiend as I used to be but listening to the Cold War Kids got me motivated enough to drag my butt into Best Buy to purchase their cd just so I could listen to their music at the best possible quality. I highly recommend them!
The sketch above was inspired by the band name. I'll refer to him as a Chernobyl Cherub©. His odd look is the result of his family living too close and too long next to a nuclear test site...or something like that. Anyway, go give 'em a listen.
City Sketch
A quick sketch study done in Art Rage...nothing too specific. Been really busy but I thought I would force myself to do an update. Hopefully I can drop something else tonight...maybe tomorrow morning...can they grow more arms by stem cells? I wonder...
Timberwolves 102 - Lakers 109 *whew*
Random Sketch
Another random sketch...this one turned into a barren type of landscape. Hopefully I can have time to come back to this today. I'd really like to add something cool to the foreground and fix some stuff...that rock formation to the left looks like a stack of cow turds. Gotta hurry though before I get completely bored with it :D
Late to the party
This was a random sketch I did today while I was playing around with ArtRage. It slowly evolved to this War of the Worlds image.
Rage against.....Photoshop?
I thought I would play around with ArtRage and whipped up a landscape sketch...looking at it, I probably should have used some kind of reference...ah well. I have the program installed on a pretty slow PC running a 500mhZ Pentium 3 and it amazes me how light this program is. A refreshing departure from PS or Painter. I can't decide if i want a new laptop or a new monitor, I would really like to take this program outdoors. I wonder if one of these could run it...
Slow and Low
I'm working on another character for another short story I have. My friend Clint from work might do a 3d model of him...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I was also trying out a few things in Photoshop...its painful when you can't get it to do what you want.
Red Gear
A friend from work shared this with me today: Ghostbusters Game
Freeeakin' sweeeet! Its about time! I'm seriously hoping that it turns out to be a great game. The video clips of the game looks great...well, minus that creepy looking Peter Venkman who almost looks as creepy as this CG Orville Redenbacher! I'd like to see them get into the octagon with CG Tom Hanks from Polar Express.
Making some progress on her costume...I'd like to give her a grittier look, i feel that these look a little too clean and the bottom two on the right are looking too Jon Carter of Mars 70's style, what the?!
Quicknote: Lakers 100 - Spurs 96
LAKERS!!!
YouTube Rules!
I absolutely love youtube. Some of you out there might recognize where this clip came from, for those who don't, well...I can't even begin to explain it. You had to be there. It had one of the catchiest show intros ever. The cartoon was called Voltes 5 and he was THE robot (well it was between him and Mazinger Z)! I can still make the lead ship in origami. :D
more red sketches
I'm back to drawing and designing for that short story. I'm still in the middle of exploring design ideas for her costume. These rough sketches were done to serve as mannequins that i can draw over. It allows me to quickly go through different design concepts without worrying about proportions, poses, etc.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everybody!! I can't believe 2006 is over already! Its amazing how fast it came and went.
I'm very excited about 2007! I can't really put my finger on it but I've got a good feeling.
Good health and good fortune to all! :)
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