Light & Values Study #1

Whoever this dude is, I apologize for making you look like a serial killer...
and different in every panel.

This is a three-hour study with my new brush. Carry on.

Illithid (aka Mind Flayer) Sketch

Learned how to make a new Photoshop brush tonight, and I like it much better than the one I was using in the past.

"I love my popped collar, brah..."

In Dungeons & Dragons lore, Illithids are deeply evil underground dwellers that use psionic attacks and mind control to enslave creatures and devour their brains. I find them pretty interesting and creepy.

However, I always wonder why they wear such elaborate and colorful robes when they live underground in the dark.  And their efforts to enslave and eradicate all other life on the planet hasn't stopped them from studying their fashion design and tailoring skills...good for 'dem!

BEHOLD...

...er...

I think it spotted you...

Here's a drawring from my sketchbook that I scanned and painted over.  Between this and a few other D&D monsters I've had rattling around in my head, they've been nagging at me pretty intensely to do some portraits.

I honestly don't know how anyone ever managed to defeat one of these hideous things back in the day.

Happy Birthday Jewel!

This Vampire Bat would have made a good Luchador also.

Except for the whole
sucking blood thing...

Jewel and I have always shared a love of all things bats and all things Batman, so I thought this piece was appropriate.

When I was little, I saw a National Geographic documentary about bats. In it, there was a nighttime shot of a tiny vampire bat licking blood off the back leg of a cow that always creeped me out.  Despite the nightmare fuel, I've always dug the little guys.

Happy Birthday Bob!

This year I'm trying to do digital illustrations for people's birthdays, and Bob's came first.

Might as well include the
corporatist assclowns too.

I've known Bob for nearly a decade and most of our political discussions end with hopeless resignation...but still, we carry on.

Gilly is here to remind kids not to grow up to be soulless, greedy, moneygrubbing plutocrats! Take heed kids!

Alien Astronaut Portrait

"Alien Astronaut" is also my non-existent
garage band's name.

Max - A Friend To The End.

Flickr Photos Of This Wonderful Cat

Max and I found each other in Wichita, Kansas while I was working for Cessna. I was fresh to the city and didn't know very many people, and my two-bedroom apartment felt empty with just myself and all my crap in it.

Sketchbook Page 2

One of my DC Comics / World of Warcraft mash-ups.

This gnome rogue Joker has been nagging at me for many months. I have sketched him several times in my book trying to get him right, so I scanned in the best version and applied some color last night. A week or so ago I started an Illustrator project with him but I can't get behind the laborious process of that program these days.

The pencil sketch seems more menacing to me. Ah well.

Sketchbook Page 1

I haven't had much time or energy for personal projects lately, but I've been pretty good about drawing in my sketchbook. Recently I thought it would be a good exercise to scan some of my sketchbook pages and spend some time after work painting over some of the images.

I've been watching some demos that have been pretty helpful and I tried to incorporate a few techniques I learned in the small amount of time I had to play around tonight.

Yuk.

The pencil sketch was done in my book in May around the time I was trying out the newly released Diablo III game from Blizzard. I got into a monster kick and drew this horrible reanimated corpse-thing that always runs at you and explodes in a cloud of gooey mist.

I'm still slow as molasses when it comes to Photoshop painting, but it sure feels good to work again, even if it is just a quick sketch.

Dropping In

Although I haven't been posting anything here in months, I have been keeping pretty busy (what an understatement) with my work at APM.

I've posted many new design pieces created for APM and their clients at my gallery.

My other artistic endeavors have been mostly confined to the pages of my sketchbook. Despite acquiring a beautiful new Wacom tablet (purchased in part by birthday gift cards from my many wonderful friends,) I have not had many chances to use it.

Rachmaninoff's Hands

My first and only finished piece created with the new tablet was this gift for my friend's 80th birthday.  He's been a classical music aficionado for most of his life, and he wound up liking this gift very much.

I was happy he liked it, but I was personally more pleased with the birthday card that accompanied it:

Machiavelli was a great instructor on the art of being a villain, but Al Swearengen will always be the Master.