I'll never be late again

I read a lot.  I always have.  And if you draw, what you read eventually ends up on paper.  Whether it be a recounting of written events, or a protest illustrating what should have happened.  

This is the latter.

Lewis Carroll has influenced my work as much or more than anyone.  Not just my drawing, but my life.  He danced on the line between art and science...something I've always tried to do with the bits and pieces I was born with.

That said, here is the white rabbit, casting off the shackle of his oppressors and beginning a new life.  It's a character redemption and rebellion that I always wanted to see.  How often do we cling to something or someone because it's familiar, even though it's destroying us? 

Sometimes to fix your world, you have to break something.

The boy who lives...

Well, today I saw the last Harry Potter movie.  Now, let me preface this by saying two things:
First, I am a Harry Potter nerd.
Guilty.
Second, I don't really like the movies that much.  I mean, I can accept them as a visual aid for the books, but definitely not as a replacement.  I haven't really been excited for a movie release since the third one (which they totally dropped the ball on) so between you and me...it was a struggle to get to the theater.  But, they did a good job on this'un.  It worked.  Everything that was cut or embellished or reconstructed worked to tell the story in a visual format.

So in honor of the end of the era, I came home and forced myself into a corner.  The tech pens I usually use also came with some brush pens, that I avoid like the plague.  They feel loose and sloppy to me, and I like complete control.  And its 'bout time that I grew out of that.  So my challenge to myself was a 5 minute Potter.  Fast and loose, with the brush-pens and then finish it off with markers and chalk.  Of course I chose Harry as a child...partially because I'll always have a place for the boy who lived, and partially because I had The Sorcerer's Stone playing in the background while I did it.  But it was fast, loose, and I was happy with the results, which means it ends up here, to be loved or hated by the masses.

News from the "Goon Docks"

Things slowed down for a couple days because half my face got eaten by a hockey puck.  Nevertheless, this is the first stab at the aforementioned piece I'm working on for a friend.   Part dragon, part sunfish...all Nessie.  Needs to be refined a little further, but I'm happy with the vision-impaired attempt. 

Luckily the swelling has started to go down, and I'm looking less like Sloth and more like One-Eyed-Willie.   Stay tuned for more adventure on the high seas.

Fished in!

Every year, I go to my friend's-parent's-cottage (follow that?) somewhere around the 4th of july.  The last couple of years, his mom (who has been a second mother to me through parts of my life) has asked me to draw something to adorn the walls of the lake house.  I have no problem with this.  Makes me feel like I'm earning my keep.  Today I brought my book and markers because I was going to work on an upcoming project, but ended up getting sidetracked for her.  So I did a sunfish, which is what the kiddies were catching all morning.  This is significant for a couple reasons:
1.  It is the first piece I've done with any amount of reference in quite some time.  Usually it's just me thinking about what things should look like in my head.  Don't tell any of my old drawing instructors...I'm pretty sure they'd shoot me for even thinking about going reference-less.
2.  I was able to do something that will directly apply to the project I'm working on for another friend.  The treatment of the scales, fins, even the eye...all usable for an upcoming piece.
Two for one sale, pal.

MOAR CHICKIN!

I've always been a fan of storytellers who can do a lot with a little.   And good zombie movies.  Put those two things together and you have the original Night of the Living Dead.  It was released in '68 and still holds up today.   And if this flick has taught me anything, its that little girl zombies are creepy.  Especially ones that are just gnawing on a bone. 

This was also inspired, in part, by this picture i took of my son massacring a plate of spaghetti.

So you get a freaky little zombie girl, going to town on a piece of chicken.
The colonel would be proud.

Gargamel's End...GNAP!

Well, it was a long weekend.  Figured I needed to throw something together for a Monday post.  

I apologize.

I saw the new Smurfs trailer.  Let's just say, it doesn't look like the movie I wanted to see.  Add that to severe sleep deprivation, and you get today's post.  

Once again, I apologize.

It's actually just a working sketch for a  much larger piece I want to do with the theme.  It's not quite right yet, though.  He looks too sinister, and I want him to be a little cuter and have a little less intelligence.  Like a dumb little puppy that just mauled a bunny.  He didn't do it to be mean, he just did it, because that's what he does.

*Side note..please don't try to evaluate my psyche based on the images you may see here.  Sometimes they take on a life of their own and give me the willies.  This is a prime example.  I even debated whether or not I should post it. Is it worth risking the weak stomached or easily offended just to get a quick post done?  Would people still love me if they knew this was the kind of thing I was capable of?  

Was it too much poison and not enough donut?

Then I figured, "Ah, smurf it."

Yarrr...it drives me nuts

Needed a more lighthearted approach today.  Figured I'd knock out a request*

It's been an 80's onslaught of late.  Actually, this one made me think of my old Garbage Pail Kids.  I wish I had a DeLorean, so I could go back and do some of the artwork for them.  Maybe I'll try my hand at one anyway.   

*This one was requested by my donkey-riding canadian friend. Scurvy pirates never say die. Wait...that's Goonies.  Scurvy pirates say die all the time.

Apologies to Jim

I scratched this out today and immediately regretted it.  Why?  It made me sad.  And think too much.

I'll explain. 

A long time ago I observed something about the Muppet-verse.  Of all of the original muppets, Rowlf was the only one who appeared to be a success.  Think about it...Miss Piggy just wanted to be beautiful, Gonzo just wanted Miss Piggy, Fozzy just wanted to be funny, Kermit just wanted to make a show that didn't fall apart at the seams...the list goes on.  They're all inherent failures.  

Except for Rowlf.  He's a fantastic pianist, and appears to be living the dream.  A while back, I found out I was not a unique and special snowflake, and that someone else had this same revelation.  Scott Kurtz did a comic about it, and in doing so coined the term Muppet Jesus.  Which, as a side note, I still want to do a piece on.  But that got me thinking.  What if Rowlf wasn't the exception to the rule?  What if he was, in fact, the most tragic example. What if he had a dream that had nothing to do with playing a piano, but never pursued it?  What if he took the job as a part-time gig, and now wonders where his life went?  At least the others attempted and continue to strive for their goals.  All the dog can do is bang on the ivories and howl at the moon when it all gets too real.

These are the things I think about.

Will work for gold bars and diamond rings...

Well, here's a quick piece that I can dedicate to my old friend, RCA. Thanks for the support, and keep the requests flowin'.  Ain't nobody makin' Pitfall Harry jump...

It'sa me...

 

This is a drawing I've always wanted to do, and I'm just now getting around to it.  It turned into a 2 AM calamity, so there is quite a bit I would do differently.  No undo button with markers though.  I could Photoshop it, but that would kind of go against the reason I'm doing these in the first place.  

We'll call it version 1-1.

Splinter was never human.

 

I've been a Turtles fan since the original Eastman and Laird days.  To this day I remember Being at the Quo Vadis Theater watching the movie, and feeling my first pangs of nerd-rage  as the incognizant masses raised on the  cartoon or the Archie's comic said things like, "That's wrong, Splinter was Hamato Yoshi, not his pet rat..." Still makes me a little twitchy.  

 That said, I've been drawing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since the mid 80's.  This is my first one in probably 15 years though.  It was mostly an excuse to use some new marker colors I picked up at the art store that day, but the 11-year-old in me was also really anxious to see how cool it would end up.

I realized two things in this venture: 

1.  I need to get back to figure drawing, my anatomy has gotten weak.

2.  I have no idea what the actual anatomy of a mutant turtle is...teenage or otherwise.  I was just making stuff up.

Nope. You're all kinds of wrong.

 

This is one of my favorites.  

You can see them thinking, " What the heck are you?   You don't make sense in my world.  I have no context for you..."

I was done in a time of great argument, frustration, and distress.  I needed someone to identify with, so I made them.  

Is that creepy or awesome?  

Zuni Hunting Bear

 

This was partially inspired by the short story Prey by the great Richard Matheson.  Though now looking at it, I'm not sure if it's scratching it's little head adorably , or saying something about butsing a cap.  

Teddy Ruxpin best watch his back.

Sometimes a beanie is just a beanie...

This guy was done at a friend's* house in Grand Rapids.  We were visiting for the weekend and I was jonesin' to draw a dinosaur after playing with his son's toys.  We were listening to the ballgame and somehow he ended up with a Detroit Tigers beanie on his head.  That's it.  

I wish there was more to the story.  

*I didn't forget that you wanted this, J-dubs.  Just wanted to get it scanned in first.

Sometimes they just ain't buyin' what you're sellin'

 

Sometimes the only way I get through a day is to vent on paper. This was such a day.

And I hate birds.

Not afraid of 'em...just hate 'em.

Isaac the Monster

My son and I were watching Monsters Inc. and I thought it would be fun to make our own.  Gave me a chance to bust out my new markers.  He named it Isaac.

Go figure. 

Old Inks

These have been floating around the interwebs for a while, but Daddy needs some content, so here ya go. I have stories for each of them, and I'll probably end up sharing them all.  But not at 4:55 in the morning. Ya'll can wait.