sorry i've been absent! Though I doubt anyone here really missed me, lol. Been working on a super secret project! Need to put that unemployment money to work, though it's tough between working at the book store and then coming home and spending all my time on this. But I should be back in august! Keep your fingers crossed on this one!

Who doesn't love dinosaurs?!  sketched out these guys (top-Packyrhinosaurus, bottom-Coelophysis)  while watching some youtube videos of dinosaurs specials i watched when i was, like 8 and totally obsessed with dinosaurs. I mean "go to the library and take out college level textbooks on prehistoric life" obsessed.
I also read the whole Spiderwick Chronicles series last week (don't act too impressed, each book takes 35 minutes to read, and there are five of them) but OMY, TONY DITERLIZZI!!! Amazing work. Every illustration was an amazing feat in pen and ink. He dedicated the book to Arthur Rackman (another amazing pen and ink man) It's been so long since I've touched a pen nib. The books inspired me to pick them up again. Though I always feel like i ruin good sketches with my inking. :P
I'm my biggest problem.

Trisha, from Stephen King's "The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon". I know there isn't anything that signifies a Red Sox jersey (I was on the couch and I was too lazy to look it up). I've read my fair share of Stephen King, but for some reason I'm terrified this girl is going to die. NO SPOILERS!
Gosh, more than a month between posts. I wish I had something better than "a used book store got in the way", but that seems to be how low points in life go, you always wish they were something they weren't   ;)
Also, Andrew thought i was drawing Ash Ketchem. Annnnnnd, I'm done.

Last week, as you may have heard, Maurice Sendak passed away. Ten paces and draw did a tribute post for the man, a bunch of very lovely pieces where done in memoriam for him. Here's my part in it.

Sketches!!! I don't do nearly enough fan art, which is weird because it's so much fun! So here is a quick take on ygritte from ASOIAF, though in all honesty she looks like the saturday morning cartoon version of her (I would get up early every saturday if that came on). I was trying to get the essence of that cute catch phrase of her's: "You know nothing, Jon Snow"
GOD, SHE IS SO SASSY!!! lol, but really, she's a great character and I can't wait to see how they make her in the show.

2nd, we have a sketch that was totally inspired/stolen from the amazingly talented Andrew Shek. I don't think I know an artist who draws animals better than this guy (Bobby Chiu, perhaps). But he had this little tid bit on his blog that the TRex roar in Jurassic Park was a combination of An elephants roar, a whale song, an alligator rumble and a tiger's roar. I had to draw this.

Annnnd a poe sketch i did a couple of years ago. Sometimes I look at my old work and wish I could still draw like that. Somehow my drawing style went bent. I don't know. The grass is always greener or some such nonsense.  :)

Ok, sort of zoned away from the blog. Been taking sometime trying to figure out my lot in the world. Haven't made much head way, but who ever does? Anyway, last week I was asked to help with the blog "Ten Paces and Draw" which is a themed art thing, where two artists are given a theme, they come up with a sketch, then trade the sketch with the other and bring that to completion. My theme was eccentric millionaires and I traded with Rachel Dougherty. The stuff isn't on their blog yet, so you can't see my sketch, her sketch or her finish, but once they're up, I'll link them.
I just feel really bad that I haven't posted anything in a while...

So a finished hobbit piece! Maybe not perfect, but It was nice to take what I had learned from the last one and apply it to this.

  also, since most folks probably got the invites all ready. Andrew and I did my sister's wedding invitations. Andrew did the layout and design and I did portraits of Meg and her future hubby to be, Shane. They came out all right. I'm happy with them! Though really, Andrew's type design is AH-maze-ing. I'mma lucky guy  ;)

I don't know why but this one was so hard to finish and...ugh, probably just been a bad day.

Oh man, this one was a pain, and it really showed me how lazy I can be with composition, but still...not too bad for three hours worth of work.
Gosh, by the time this is done, I'll have a children's book work of work, with someone else's words. But no time to pay to that, I'm just doing this to get better.
Hopefully, you all enjoy what you see!  :)

Happy monday all.

part three! I have to say, I loved doing the stars the most.

So, here's the second one! I've gotten that far at least!
Another big thing with this project is everything is being done from scratch in photoshop. No drawings before hand. I'm shaky with a tablet on good days, but I can almost feel the change after two pieces. This is nothing but a good thing.
Anyway, that's my excuse for the poor drawing, lol. It should hold less clout as the days go by.

Sooooo last week I found myself unemployed. The studio I had been with for almost four years was downsizing and my skills were not really a priority to the greater good of the company. It was a real bummer, as I really liked the work environment (can't really say the same about the work) and the fact that money (however little it was) found it's way into my bank account every other week. On the plus side, I have a lot more free time until I find the next job and have decided that now is the perfect time to sharpen the skills I use to have. Save the few sketches that adorn this blog, I really haven't had the time to work on what I want to work on. I had grown complacent and stagnant in these past four years and it's no one's fault but my own.

Enter this: The first of a series based on a song from on of my favorite bands, Shearwater. The song is called Home Life (you can find it at the bottom) and I'm taking my own interpritation of the story played out in the song. I really really want to do a web comic, and I figured that I should do a test series before I go with the real deal, so check back every night, monday through friday and we'll see where this goes. I want to finish this. I need to finish this. If only to prove to myself I can.

 

“She hit me?” was all he could whisper to the ocean waves and laughing gulls. Emily had trudged off into the woods a time ago, but Tim couldn’t take his eyes away from those emerald pines. To do so would have betrayed the juggling act between bewilderment and a broken pride. He did all he could to fight the tears. He bit his cheek, swallowed hard and looked to the ground where the paint chipped pony laid, broken in two.

Fight SOPA

so this is all over the interwebs today. I know no one really comes to this blog, BUT there's still a few more days until the 24th. Censorship is shit, and this bill sounds so stupid. It's like a bunch of feeble old men trying to put up a leaky dam in a delta. The water will still flow. This will only hurt. Please watch the video and sign a petition. Any petition. Like this one!
Thank you.

 A ghost of silk and clay perches on the highest branch of the boab. Dusky purples fill the sky, illuminating the reds and coppers of the landscape for Tyto as she scans. A hot wind ruffles her feathers in a westward way. Her eyes dart from scrub grass, to rock, to rotted log, to...She has it! She pours out of the tree like milk and in a half beat, the mouse has found her talons. A good start to a long night.

so, I really hated the drawing (as seen below) and had some free time so I did a 100 frame animation in about an hour in a half. It's kinda crappy, but I'm kind of proud of myself for doing a 2d in an hour and a half (the last dozen or so frames aren't cleaned up). I need to do more of these as I need the practice for ideas down the road ;)

 

  She stared at the yellowed photo, hanging on the wall, of the much younger woman. This woman's hair was done up in the gibson fashion, her stripped one piece betraying the timing of the picture. She closed her eyes. The sweet scent of salt taffy filled her nose. A man's voice beckoned in the background. She could even feel the hot sand tickle her feet. Bristol.
"Mam-Meem?" the child's voice broke her concentration. She opened her eyes, and she was 80 again.

 a direct copy of a Charles Gibson Girl, to test a new tablet at work (it works fine). I haven't done a master copy in a while (nor would i truly recognize this as a master copy). It works, but it doesn't have his life. Next time, I suppose.

“They sent me to kill the…” She swallowed hard, starring into the cave, “…troll. They sent me, and that’s what I intend to do.”

Though her feet remained as solid as ever. A low snort echoed against the caves walls; a warning. She motioned for her spear.

“Now how did the words go? Fos Ring Dul? Fub Roh Dang?” she thought, biting her bottom lip. “No matter, I’m sure it’ll come to me.”

A roar shook her to the marrow. There would be only one way to find out if she be truly Dragonborn.

I've been playing too much skyrim...

 

The orchid moon glowed in the muggy canopy. The heat, even this late, should have been insufferable. She made her own breeze. It had been too long since she had seen her people. She treaded quietly, for fear of being found. From the road an animal snorted. She watched from behind a large palm as a farmer set his ox cart by the fence. He gently lifted a sleeping babe, kissed its brow and headed into the village. This is what she came to see.

one of the rare occasions where the image came first. it's actually a test piece, done on the ipad with autodesk's sketchbook pro. i had no idea where i was going with the piece, i just wanted to try out the UI. decided to try and fit a story to it. meh.
i didn't post at all over the break, and i feel kind of crappy for it. i know no one really looks at this blog, but if i want to get better at writing, it aint gonna wish it's self to me...resolution!
Happy 2012!!!