steampunk Pilot: I had a bunch of fun with this. Looking back to the works of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Mary Shelly, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs. It appears to be a mix of Victorian, beginnings of the industrial revolution, maybe a pinch of the Western explorers, and maybe a touch of Goth if you wish. I have also seen a pinch of Mad Max / Tank Girl mixed in on an occasion.

Penguin Doodle. been bringing the sketchbook to work for lunch-breaks. Works great for nibbling and scribbling.

Sunday night, easing back and doing some cast work. Had the closing ceremonies on in the background. Lee Ann was reading and watching, the dog was sleeping, I was drawing. A good way to spend the evening.

Microsoft Signs Seinfeld: In the up hill climb out of the pit that is Vista-Lore, Microsoft has hired Jerry Seinfeld as their spokesperson. Can the "what's up with that?" fellow put a positive spin on the old fogey Microsoft? Can Jerry overpower the wave of dread that Vista's name brings with it? or will there be a new character made... the apple nazi? NO IPHONE FOR YOU!!!!

Bigfoot Hoax: When I saw this in the news a week or so ago, it was just too good to be true. And not because I may not or may believe in some thing lurking. I thought the idea of two guys freezing an ape suit in ice and calling some "expert"... expert? in to validate their findings. Where did they get this guy? What were his credentials? I mean other than him pointing to his chest and stating, "this is me". When I read what they had done, I thought... didn't I see this in a cartoon once? Some caveman brought back to life from being frozen in ice? Ah the workings of the criminal mind.

starting to do a bit of editorials to gather and send around. goal is one a week. We shall see how long that lasts.

Drawergeeks: Topic... Yeti. Yep... Ol' Bumbles from Rudolf. The Abominable Snowman. This is an early post. I got inspired.

Dana Point: Session 3. Finally got back to the drawing this morning. Got up really early and some time in on it. It felt so good. I just need to pick up the pace on this piece and work it on a regular basis so it doesn't get forgotten.

Drawergeeks: Topic... Genie, yes as in Aladdin's lamp Genie, or I dream of Jeannie. So, as I am finding... I do better with open ended topics. The Icons I really have trouble with. When I get into an area where there is a bit of breathing room, I am much more at ease. It also helps when there are a multitude of subtopics to bring along for the ride. It keeps one from sinking too quickly. Oh, I can pile on too much and plummet really quickly, but I have a fighting chance to edit my way out of it.

Art at the Center - The Human Form Exhibition- Group show

8/5/2008 - 10/12/2008
Overland Park Convention Center:

Address:

6000 College Blvd
Leawood, KS 66211
I delivered 3 pieces for the Human Form Exibition - group show. It opens This Tuesday, August 5th.

After a bit of an absence, I went back to Wednesday lunch sketch group. Was a bit late, but had a good time... It is a thing that I look forward to. Everybody is so welcoming, and they are just so talented. I am just amazed at their results. I am there to recenter myself. It is good for me.

the last of the bloomington drawings. Still needing to finish this, I may submit for a late drawergeeks for the Joker. This is what I worked on in the evenings the instead of watching bad tv.

The bloomington sketches. 4 of the pages from the brown sketch book taken along on the trip to Bloomington Indiana.

sketchbook dump for july. yep, dining and drawing can mix... but there are some really odd folks in the wee hours of the morning that show up for an early breakfast sometimes... well other than me. Oh, and no there is no prize for spotting co workers from meetings so stop looking.



I mean it.

back from Bloomington, In. Good people, lots of work accomplished. really brain sore. Did sketching in the evenings and early mornings to scare away the missings of Lee Ann. Some turned out... some stink like poop. It's a crap shoot, HA!!!! Oh, even when I'm bleary eyed, I still got it. Oh, ho... I gotta hold my sides on that one. whoo.

Hellboy: This is what was submitted for Drawergeeks. I forgot and didn't bring the previous version for sending. So I worked this up over the weekend and sent it in. I like it. It is safe. Probably too safe.

Hellboy for Drawergeeks.

Hellboy, new attempt: Drawergeeks sketch, I am dropping back to what I know... whatever that is. Maybe I just need to loosen up. we shall see. new possibilities.

hellboy failure 1: I have had a "it should have worked" kind of day. This had such a grand look in my head... and it, well... um... yeah. Let's just call it a boundary setting day. I now know that my boundary does not go into this realm at this time. It hurts when I do this. This goes into the bonfire pile for the fall. I have heard... that years ago when people painted illustrations... yes, with paint. Back in Dayton there was a group of Illustrators that once a year met for a "bad art" burning. They would take one piece... their most hated, frustrating piece of the year and in a moment of ultimate domination... sacrificed it to the art gods in a bonfire oh so satisfying. Sending it back to Creation, where hopefully it will fall into somebody else's head. Then the next recipient can set it on fire and send it back up to restart the circle again. Who ever gave me this stinker... thanks a bunch... and to whomever I will unleash this dump of an idea... it's all yours to pass forward. Don't get any on ya.

Dana Point session 2: still just picking at it at this point, but now some results are starting to show... even at this early stage.

Storks at Dana Point: The start of my biggest piece 19 x 25. This is a scan of a bit less than half of the paper. Forgive me, the scanner we have is but a baby. But she is a good one. Also there is about 3 - 4 inches missing from the top as well. There is another stork facing the other direction that has not even been roughed in yet. This will take a while. But hopefully will be a validation ground for some of the things that I have been testing in the previous works. We shall see.

about recently I picked up a 3x5 inch sketch pad. During lunch I will review notes from meetings or doodle in the lunch room. here are some of the results... the doodles, not the notes. Time spent, about 10 minutes or less per.

last of the zoo inspiration. Decided to play with the last of the medium gray paper by working a white image. Just for play. Wasn't going to post but it is becoming a habit. This is a small piece. Letter size.

The books of my youth. These are books that I checked out of the library so often that on the sign out slip, it appeared that I was the only person who checked these books out. Actually, the Frazettas, George Perez, Fairies and Killing Joke were mine. Being a comic book geek, that is what I wanted to do. But, as with most midwestern youths, it was not deemed a worthy occupation in the household.

The Illustrators that I love. Just some, there are so many. Some of the ones that I have yet to post would be: Paul Calle', NC Wyeth, Alphonse Mucha, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Lisbeth Zwerger, Scott Gustafson, David Catrow, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Alan Lee, John J. Muth, George Pratt, Chris Payne,

A list of some of the drawing books that are out there of good quality. Good items to request from you library or book store. There are many more, but these are some of my favorites. All represent some of the best of contemporary figure drawing.

Blue Girl 2

The Gray Lady: It is as done as it will get. I have learned a lot on these 3 pieces. Hopefully I will be able to apply these learnings and move forward to new things.

Blue Girl 2: The start of a tall skinny. Scrap paper is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it watermarks up the paper. Thank you, I'll be here all week... try the fish.
No promises, I will attempt to loosen up as the drawing lowers. Sort of like Ingres did, only sloppier and less refined.

Gray Profile: started yesterday morning. will continue today. This is a scan after the first morning's work. We shall see what becomes of her. I heard a wise person once say that an artist spends the first session creating a drawing and the rest of the sessions screwing it up and fixing series after series of mistakes due to indecision. Yep, sounds about right for me.

Blue Girl is drawn... well stage 3 is that all the tones are down. Now I go in after a break and see what is there that needs to be pulled forward, what needs to be pushed back, what needs to be flat out eliminated.

blue girl continued. It's World Drawing Day. So, i worked in the blue girl. Started to lay in some values. Nothing big, just a progress report. Now, off to mow the jungle that is our yard.

Blue Girl: Starting a new drawing. This one I am taking from a gifted artist, Lacey Lewis, I am going to scan this in real time so that stages of work can be seen. We'll see how this goes. The final piece is full figure, but the scanning time is short, so here is what is started.

Drawergeeks: Zombies- lost girl. The second submission for this topic. I feel much better about this submission. It is my second entirely digital piece from concept sketch to completion. With a topic like this, I am sure that the entries will be numerous and breathtaking in concept and execution as always. It is so exciting to see how everybody provides such a different solution. That is where the fun is, seeing how everybody views a problem and how their minds solve it creatively. Can't wait to see.
Detail is below.

Drawn by Rich Davis. While out in Arkansas I was blessed to meet and be around so many talented artists. One of which gifted me with a lecture doodle. I am honored. It is already up on display in the studio at home. So cool.

Drawergeeks: topic... zombies. zombies? In this heat? When I was a kid, the Night of the Living Dead image of the school girl with the dark eye really creeped me out big time. This is my homage to that image. I went back and looked it up... it doesn't have quite the same degree of chill as it did back then, because I can see the make-up now. But as a kid... it was as if she was waiting outside my window or just outside in the woods. No mercy, no stopping. This wasn't some gothic romantic, or punk rock vampire who you could try to reason, bargain with, or try to bluff. It's like trying to bluff a disease. It will keep coming until it can't. It doesn't feel, doesn't care, doesn't know. It just feeds.

gypsy girl model from the drawing club out of pasadena. I go there sometimes when I just want to mindlessly render. It's fun. The other nice place to go for people sketching late at night is CSPAN... they sit pretty still... and they are almost lifelike.

couldn't sleep one night... so I did some work, then started doodling. Hellboy fell out of one of the insomnia sessions.

just out and about doodling locals. It got a bit warm during the day, but the evenings were great.

zoo sketches uncovered.

jacob Marley: just got back from a week long trip to Arkansas. Very pretty. Met a lot of nice people, did a lot of training, ate way too much, learned a lot, and did sketching. What is posted here is either stuff that got missed the last time I did a sketchbook dump (like the Marley stuff) or new items done during the week. -db

Drawergeeks: dinosaurs. the final is done. Pacmanadon. I'm off. yeah, I know...

Drawergeeks: topic, Dinosaurs. I may rework this. it is out of the sketchbook and I ran out of room so i cloned the third ammotite. Lee Ann gave me the concept entirely, so thanks Hon. I may add a different third nautilus, depends on how time goes.