Sisters and Brothers

Evidence that while my kids tend to get along pretty well with each other, they do have their moments! My favorite part about this list was how it grew by a couple of items every day throughout the week. With each new day, I laughed uncontrollably at the new entries. Maybe I'm just easily entertained.

Keep in mind Brendan (the author) is 13 and Kaitlin ( the culprit) is 7.

Camping in the Mountains

Recently went camping with my son's class trip, and was determined to do a little bit of painting while in the beautiful mountains of Virginia. In addition to the more typical activities that the class did while camping such as canoeing, caving, cooking and playing frisbee, I lead the class in a sketching from nature session. I pointed out to the group of 7th graders the idea that they'll remember some of the visuals of the trip if they take the time to really study the details in drawing it that one doesn't necessarily get by taking photos. It was interesting in reviewing the drawings afterward that each artist chose different areas of the same landscape to draw as well as the far range of styles that emerged in using the same materials.

Also, adding one of my favorite visuals from the trip, the cooking of the shoes ritual that took place after the creek walk where we did our part to clean up the park, picking up trash and recyclables that had found there way into the creek and adjoining banks. Was thrilled to see the enthusiasm that these kids showed in cleaning up the area, and the teamwork they employed in getting trashbags that were overfilled back to base.

Make Mine Marvel-pt. 2

More Maniacal Merry Marvel Masterpiece cards for your 'Musement! You knew I had to draw a Modok didn't you, especially after Jeff Parker's hilarious take on him in last year's Marvel Adventures...

Make Mine Marvel!

Lookee here, at some of the 50 (count 'em) Marvel Masterworks cards I recently finished. These are some of the original art cards that will be slipped into the occasional pack o' cards. Good luck finding them! These were fun to do, drawing some of my favorite Marvel characters for the first time since I was a kid, and others just to revisit since I last drew them professionally. I'll probably post some more of them in the near future... and eventually post them all once they've been published.

BTW, I decided to leave all the pencil lines, unerased, to preserve the "sketchiness" of the sketch card concept. What do others think? Did I do the right thing?

Spring sketch

A bit late for this sketch, as it was meant more for the beginning of spring, but better late than never, and after all, the blossoms are still falling from the trees as they begin to leaf out...

Also, been a while since I just posted a sketch, rather than more finished pieces. I need to remember that part of the point of starting this blog was to post sketches, in all their raw unfinished form. Personally, I enjoy looking at other artists sketch process, so this is just my way of paying it forward, for those that are innerested in that sort of thang.

So, here you go!

Perhaps a bigger peek is in order...

Aah, I can't keep a secret... I did the art for the back-up story for Perhapanauts #2 and here's a more complete peek of the splash page. And... Issue #1 is out on the stands, TODAY! So step away from your computer and run out and buy a copy, NOW! You'll be happy you did!

Sneak Peek

Just finished a short story for one of my fave comics! Here's a hint! Tune in again soon for the big reveal!

Cliff and Jane

Recent commission of Cliff and Jane. Always fun to look back on the Doom Patrol days! For those that like to look at the process, here's the three steps it went through...

Fairy Meadow

Recent watercolor of the "Fairy Meadow" at the Emerson Waldorf School that I painted over the last few sunny mornings after dropping the kids off. This scan was slightly before finish, when I went back in and put another pass on brightening up the color in the trees, and adding "deer droppings" to the foreground at my daughter's request.

Green Dryad

Been far too long since my last post, but finally finished tweaking the recolored version of this Dryad in all her GREEN glory. Which in a way, makes sense to wait until March, the month of green, what with St. Patty's day coming up as well as the spring season. Already the grass is looking a lot greener than it did just a week ago. And while it's been a fairly mild winter here in the Carolinas, I'm still anxiously looking forward to spring. So there you go!

Dryad

Dryad character study I created over a year ago... though in revisiting it, I'm considering a more earthy color palette for her. The blue is perhaps more "other-worldly" than what I'm now thinking for her.

Green Path

Another prematurely warm winter day today... time to get some more painting done during lunch. Particularly wanted to get a sense of the warm greens and cool shadows, which is part of what drew me to this spot. Not much green to be found yet, but many more days like today and it will be.

Gold-tree

In keeping with posting Grimm Tales, here's a drawing I did in prep for an adaptation for Gold-tree and Silver-tree that never came into fruition. (Still hopeful that someday it will though :) For those not familiar with the story, it has a lot of similarities to Snow White and Briar Rose as I recall, complete with the evil mother and some other story details. Here's a link to one version of the story...

Grimm

Sketch and final for an illustration of a Brothers Grimm tale, "The White Bride and the Black One", that I did a couple of years ago. I just did a bit of retouch on the final version though, as it seemed far too light after looking at it again. The contrast works much better now. Another plus for Photoshop, using it with natural media, in this case watercolor, to improve the piece very simply. If I were to try and darken the shadows in watercolor, I would have a tougher time keeping the blending consistent. My hope though, is that it still reads as watercolor glazes. Be curious to hear others thoughts...

Mermaid Study

Study for a story I'm working on. Colored pencil and photoshop, playing with another new brush that gives me a nice watercolor texture.

Another Laid Back Legion Moment

Who says superheroes can't have relaxing moments... even superheroes of the future? This time Light Lass and Timber Wolf enjoy a little down time between missions of saving the universe. Enjoy it while it lasts, kids, Darkseid's got another plot in the works...

Winter Interlude

Took advantage of some unseasonably warm weather to do some plein air painting today with fellow concept artist Andrew Bosley. We've both been inspired by the posts of James Gurney and his ongoing discussions about painting theory. Today we both independently challenged ourselves in using limited palettes of color, in the attempt to better harmonize the overall tone of the painting. I've also been trying to get a bit bolder with the opaque quality of the gouache that I've been using, often falling back to much on the transparencies of watercolor. I was reasonably happy with the results, and certainly enjoyed the break of staring into a computer monitor for an hour.

Phantom of the Future, Phantom of the Past

Happy New Year to all!

In continuing with sketching up members of the Legion of Superheroes from before the new year, here's my latest, Phantom Girl, decked out in her 70's costume, including those great bell bottoms! I'm sure they'll be all the rage again in the 30th century, as you just can't keep a fashion statement like that down for long.

Hope to post more soon... along with some sketches in progress.

Season of Angels

Still see a lot of angels this time of year, which reminded me of this drawing I did a couple years back, and later modified to use as a sign in a piece of concept art. Seemed somehow an appropriate image to ring out the old year for a new... Wishing a wonderful 2008 to all.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all a happy holiday season! 'Nuff said!

Duo Damsel

Nostalgia for old characters that I loved in my youth has brought me to some of the Legion of Superheroes from the 70s, along with the way out fashions they were famous for, mostly the work of Dave Cockrum.

I loved these stories as a kid, and the costumes seemed so modern, so NOW! at the time... Now of course, they serve as a great time capsule. But then, so does anything from a certain time period that hopes to envision the future. Who know? Maybe the kids really will dress like this in the 30th century.

Here, of course, is the Delightful Duo Damsel, gossiping with herself, probably about Bouncing Boy's weight or some such... you can fill in the gaps, yes, you.

The first of many I've got planned... we'll see how many come into fruition.