Kuchisake-onna

Well, the black and white is done on this... I will take to color in the next few days and see where that leads. A good piece of work so far, but when you have such a really creepy story such as this... it is hard to do less.

Santa and the Cardinals_ WIP

The start of a new illustration... this is one that has been sitting for a while. I really need to get back to it, that way it gets finished before Christmas time comes around again.

Some work in progress... The Slit mouthed Woman

first snapshot of a new illustration... Kuchisake-onna, The Slit Mouthed Woman. Sort of a Boogey Man for the Japanese culture... (and they have loads of them). Hopefully this will be done in the next couple of sessions.

Goat man of st georges county demo on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hvFfwYahpM

My first YouTube demo. It is of the goat man illustration from the previous post.

goat man of st georges county for demo

some digital sketching that I did to record a demo of how I work. I distilled it all down this weekend and am complete. Now I just have to perform this same recording process on a traditional technique. Lights... Camera...

Skull 'n' Bonz

My Brother in law and my Sister are quite the cooks. My sister has always been a really REALLY good cook and when she met her beau, it became almost a one up's man ship. Well, They are competing in the Delaware Bar-B-Que Competition coming up soon. They one 1st place in chicken, and wanted a more serious look. They asked if I would work up a Pirate themed image for them. Me? Bar-B-Que? Family? And a bit of illustration to help boost them up to the next level? Well, how could I pass that up. After getting some notes on what they were looking for, this is the result. All ready for the Embroidery Firm. Hopefully it will turn out. The image is around 5 x 7" live are. So we shall see what comes of it.

Steampunks 8: gears

Got on a hot streak after finishing last piece, Ol' number 7. This one ran through the pen and on the board in a week. Some days it just hits.

Steampunks 7: The Door

Steampunks 7: The Door. Finally finished this piece. Started it back right before Christmas of 09, then got busy and put it up for months. Since it was the first day of spring here, Mother Nature decided to bless us all with 7 inches of snow. Huh? Yep. So, with the Basketball tournament on in the background, I worked away and finished it up. All surrounded in a blanket of white.

continued sequential testing

worked up another spash page type of drwg. had fun with it. A sort of triptych. The fireman being surrounded by a past life warrior dark ages berserker. The fire bear could be a predator in both lives. As a true bear from Dark ages, but as fire being the predator in modern times. Each being seen as an all consuming beast in the eyes of the combatant.

an additional piece

an addition to the sequential page... a splash portrait of a fireman.

a sequential test

I did a couple of drawings to see how my style would work sequentially. A dream sequence of a man from present day being followed in his dreams by a warrior from the distant past.

red door drawing for Feb 5 2010

This is the first session that I have been able to attend in... Three Weeks??? Hokey Smokes! Ok, some work stuff and then the creeping crud set me back a spell. The model was grand and we had a couple of new faces which is always good. Lacey Lewis always has a good place to pull up your drawing board for a spell. The Title of this post will take you to the Red Door Sketch group page for info if you want to stop by and attend. Thanks Lacey for all your work for running this opportunity.

sketches from the road

went up north to Maine for some business. Brought the sketchbook since I didn't know how long I could be stuck in the airports, or what nighttime tv would be like. Glad I brought it. some of the better results are here.

Red door drawing December

it was just one of those nights... a really different model, really different lighting, a full moon, and this is the result. A good night.

Evil Genius: The Red Skull

This is the second attempt at the Red Skull. He was my first attempt at this topic, and it ended in a massive failure. So, I worked up Grodd to be safe. After that, I had a dose of confidence and so I took another swing. This is the result. I am much happier.

Evil Genius: Gorilla Grodd

Evil Genius is the topic for Drawergeeks... what fun. I had to do Grodd. Make mine a banana dakari... and all hail the big guy, just don't be throwin' no poop.

Scrooge and the Three Spirits

lost Girl redo

After meeting with a couple of Art Directors during the Illuxcon 2009 show, I got a bee in my bonnet to rework the Lost Girl illustration to incorporate their suggestions. Now it looks finished. Thanks Jon and Ben for your advise. I appreciate it very much.

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Red Door drawing Group. I dug out some old paper... fought with it a bit due to it's low brightness and intense saturated color, but had fun with the group. A good turn out. Join the fun on Saturday nights.

Mojo and the X-Babies prelim.

After absorbing the conversations that I had at ILLUXCON2 during the Thursday and Friday sessions, on Saturday I decided to apply what I took away from a couple of the artists that reviewed my work and offered what opinions that they had. One artist, Justin Gerard, a fantastic artist and delightful speaker offered up a comment that I take my work to the next level. REALLY finish it out. A full cast of characters, every bit of setting that needs to be there, don't skimp. This way, I get a taste at what level I consistently need to produce, and when I produce at this level on a regular basis... how do I feel about it? IS it something that I love and can't get enough of? Is it something that I like, or is it something that was a "grass is greener" scenario? We will soon find the answer.

werewolf dwg on the airplane

Note to artists out there: if you have an opportunity to go to a Comic book convention, an Illustration convention, a Gaming Convention, and you come home really inspired and ready to work... don't be surprised if as you are working on the plane or in the airport on creepy drawings if you don't get a couple of whispers and pointings directed your way... and not all in a good way. In the land of "Heightened Airport Security" leaving your illustrator unattended and unsupervised can get themselves, shall we say, um.... noticed? No body cavity search, but just about everything else.

I didn't know that I even had a maiden name.

hurakan

ILLUXCON sketch: 4am Friday morning. Lee Ann is still asleep, So I pad off to the bathroom and close the door. I sit on the floor on some towels and bring in my drawing book and some pencils that I grabbed in the dark. CRAP! blue pencils... I knew I should have never packed the blue ones. Oh well, I start working a doodle up that turns into a bit of a sketch for me to begin to think about a scratchboard illustration for Jon's Challenge for Hurakan. I filed through all of my father's Machu Pichu/Equador/Peru/Galopagos Islands photo shoots to look at wildlife, surroundings, things like that. Jon once asked of someone, "what does a bad weather animal look like? And what did one look like to the Mayan's?" So I thought, Ocean, and looked at all the galapagos animals... most of which are way too cute for words. Iguana's arent too bad but they look like dinosaurs... Sea turtles just look like that tootsie roll turtle; "Ask Mr. Owl, I never made it without biting." So I went with a dinosaur looking (protosceratops) and a turtle (snapping, hey Don't give me any lip out there...), but had it arive down from the eye of the storms like out of dimensional rift. I am considering working it up in the scratchboard technique that got such strong comments... but with a wrap around format, of course.

doug doodles from Illuxcon

A lot of Eyes, Ears, and Heart wide open on this trip to Altoona Pennsylvania to Illuxcon2. A convention for Illustrators of the Fantasy/Science Fiction genre. There were lectures and demos. There were portfolio reviews for students and people that want to follow a dream or follow a fool's dream depending on how you look at it. I am looking to see where I fit in the world. I asked some questions, met wonderful people, and got to have my work seen by a professional audience outside a gallery setting for the first time in a long time. These are of a girl at the airport and a quick selfportrait early Thursday morning around 5:30am. Too excited to get this thing started.

Wednesday sketch group... a better day than recent ones. I think the Red Door Studio drawing sessions are starting to really help.

Red Door Studio Drawing Group night moved to Saturday nights. For the first time since it started, I wasn't late. It is good to get out there and reconnect with others, to reconnect with drawing, and to get away from the TV. I have actually seen an improvement since I have started going... and seen an improvement in the Wednesday Noon sketch group drawings as well. Little tiny steps forward, but when I look over time at the drawings and doodles, it shows. It always does.

Frankenfamily

Frankenstein for Drawergeeks, for some training, for some learning, you name it.This is the file that launched a thousand projects. From demos in CS4, to working in Poser again, to really getting off my but and doing some more involved work.

Wednesday sketches

Wednesday was a good drawing day. Had the Red Door Studio tonight. Got do draw the girl with the hat. A good result. And had the Wednesday Noon Sketch group. The first result that I wasn't ashamed of. I think it was due to finding my magic gray paper again. Ahhh, thank you oh mighty gray paper.

Mr. Sendak, you make my heart sing

Drawergeeks: Topic, Where the Wild Things Are. I Couldn't pass up the opportunity, what with the baseball playoffs and a Drawergeek topic to honor the great Mr. Sendak. He is one of the reasons that I draw today. His pen and ink work is most inspiring. (Although, personally, I still love In the Night Kitchen best.)

wildthings sketch

I haven't participated in Drawergeeks for a while... in 2 weeks Where the Wild Things Are is the topic due. This will align with the Movie release. Can't wait to see that. So, here is the sketch that I will hopefully be able to render out for a finish in time. I would think that this would bring out a lot of submissions, being such an iconic book.

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Wednesday night sketch group. A long pose, but I chose a series of shorter drawings. I don't have the command or the eye to yet attempt a long pose successfully. Too much to learn. To much to know what not to draw in. Filtering out what I think I see verses what I actually see is a challenge.

envelopes

sometimes a doodling becomes a bad habit. While Lee Ann was napping, I found myself doodling on whatever I could find. (I didn't take my sketchbook stuff with me). So, Thank you Chase Plaza and their envelopes. Normally I wouldn't post something like this... but it just goes to prove a point. Draw! Whenever, wherever. It doesn't have to be on a fancy book, as long as it's yours, and nobody will be upset if you draw on it. That last part is a biggie. But, how many episodes of dancing like a fifth grader can we all take?

squirrel sketch

been working on the squirrel story again. Had some time and did a quick character study of the main character for focus. Now I need to really focus on the Mother figure.

Red Door Studio Group 9/16/09

Red Door Wednesday night drawing session 2. Way rusty, but it is all about getting together as a group, but exploring as an individual. Quite a unique approach to a solving a challenge now that I think about it. Next week, starts a two week series with a male model.

Red Door Studios: first figure drawing night.

These are some of the quicker drawings from the first session of the RED DOOR STUDIO Drawing Group. They meet on Wednesday Evenings from 6pm- 9pm and for $10.00 a session for a great live model, how could I resist. It's a good group that will
hopefully grow as the word gets out.