Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Drop Kick by Ben Grimm..


80s attempt at Comic Sample
Pencil start.


More work on the Dragon Painting. May revisit it. May move on.


I'm done with this. Had fun. I think I'll paint one of my Con Frankenstein sketches now.

Friday, October 26, 2012

final product

As per Ellis' request, I'm posting what I turned in.

Gorgon Almost Done

I overdid it.

She's kinda short. That's why her head's so big. Tried to make her a "Gibson Girl" type.
UPDATE: here's the final--made her taller, saturated armor more, messed with face a little more...etc. Thanks for the help--I needed it!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Photoshop Goofing

10-28-update. Bumped this post down under the originals I tampered with Hey. I can't paint. But I love to mess around with photoshop. Then my a.d.d. sets in and I get sick of everything I'm doing. That's why I mess with other peoples art. I get to think in short bursts.
This next one was done how I mess with other peoples art. On the McMini, just using the mouse, making crude masks. But now I feel like I have something I might be interested in re-exploring on the cintiq


Improvement was not the goal. Just me having something to goof with that I hadn't done the hard work of starting from scratch. I dig the Originals. I find nothing adds more class to traditional media than a little lens flare.

Gorgon Teaser

I thought I'd do a line overlay, but I think I'll just leave it more "painterly"...or marker-ly, in this case. Background needs work...and that arm is really wonky. Oops!

Hey, it's safer than driving!



Painting for Alcoholics!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

ECCC entry

Here's mine.  I just finished.  I think I will let it stew overnight.  Tomorrow is the deadline.  Kinda weird cropping, now that I look at it.  Oh well.

A Comp

Dang, I missed Tuesday.

Here's a comp for an "illustration" (y'know, I don't think I can call it that unless I'm getting paid)  for the Emerald City Comic Con Charity Book. My plan was to colorize that Cramps bride & groom drawing from a few weeks ago, but they nixed that due to copyright. So this is my last minute brainstorm, inspired by the Hammer film, "The GORGON." (A really fun movie--and you should gird yourselves, 'cuz I gave it the "Film Frame Friday" treatment.)

What d'you think?

Peter does the better photography


Click back and forth in lightbox. Makes a nice animated Gif

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

More Vado Video from San Diego Comic Fest


  And a picture from the Powershot
Beata took this shot of me in Artist Alley.
I'm worried now about my self administered hair cuts.
 

Breaking: Mass layoffs, possible closures at Zynga

YIKES!
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/180005/Breaking_Mass_layoffs_closures_at_Zynga.php

Gamasutra has received first-hand confirmation that Zynga has laid off 100+ people from its Austin development studio, many of whom had been employed for over two years.

We have also heard, though can not confirm, that Zynga's entire Boston studio (Indiana Jones Adventure World) has been shut down, and that there is similar bad news in Chicago.

The announcements came during Apple's press conference this morning.

Zynga Austin's game The Ville and a new IP are both "done," according to an affected employee.

More on this story as it breaks.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Mystery Sketch

Camera has this first photo of Jeff Remmer, Artist Alley, Friday
Then it has this Batman Sketch
Which I barely remember doing. Obviously someone put their sketchbook in front of me and I sketched. Glad I took a photo of it for no other reason than the exhilarating confusion it caused.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

More to Come


I was sitting next to Benefiel for most of these sketches. So it was hard to inject my usual level of optimism into the work.
Scott, I sent you the shots I took of the Mermaid to the yahoo email I have for you. I'll be uploading some more stuff later. One sketch i did in Artist alley loaded here. I did a Frankensteing theme with my sketches. Sold a couple. Had a great time. Saw a lot of Tagsters. Thanks to Beata and Peter for helping make it happen.

Friday, October 19, 2012

FILM FRAME FRIDAY: The Horse Soldiers (1959)


An unsatisfying movie. John Wayne vs. William Holden... no contest, really, tho' the script gives a healthy heaping of the self-righteousness to ol' Bill.

There's meat to the conflicting sensibilities of the two characters--in eleven years it will blossom into a movie like M*A*S*H--but having raised the big issues, director Ford and co. never really seem up for a resolution. And besides--Bill Holden just comes across as such an a--hole.

I've tried to watch this film three times, and never make it to the end.

They had that rickety old actor who looks like a Quaker Col. Sanders in there as a Confederate constable about to be hung by no account deserter Strother Martin.

Not only does the Duke rescue him, he restores his dignity. And knocks out Martin with one calf-skin sock. More of that!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Great Gargoyles-Great Art-Schmitz

Ebay been good to me lately. Here I attempt to sell my Schmitz Originals.
Also, I accidentally spelled your name wrong. I corrected it. But the misspelling might be something you want to use. RISK SCHMITZ Good name for a German stuntman. I almost broke my mouth with sibilance overload when I said it, but it could grow on me.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Aimed At Future Sketchbook Publishing vs Blogging




The note I gave to Marty on his Blog relates to post edits for book publishing. I think Stephen Silver does a lot of character cramming compositions for his books that cause a diminished impact for some really good character designs. It would improve Silver to have 1 or 2 on a page instead of 20 with yellow highlighter filling the negative spaces. Definitely don't copy Silver when it comes to page design on sketchbooks. What do you think? Drawings that you page through with lightbox. I want Marty to blog what he spontaneously produces. But even there I'm assuming he's scanning then arranging in photoshop. Composition is taking place right there. Not completely on the fly.

Marty vs. Ron vs. Stumptown

This was my drawing at the Stumptown Coffee shop when Ron and I went trawling for subjects....
p.s. Ellis, I agree with you that these drawings are better digested in bite-sized bits, but I like the smorgasbord approach for this post (gives a better overall impression of our outing).

"Better Digested in Bite-Sized Bits"? Give Me the Marty Version of the Full Feast!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Virgil Milliron or Lynard Skinner

Which is the better iconic name for a Gym Teacher / Wrestling Coach. I vote Virgil Milliron.

ADDED BY MARTY: I wasn't too far off!

Very Weird

I was talking on the phone to Marty. Last night. Today I was going through a bin of old art. Getting ready for another go-round with ebay. And found something directly related to the last thing Marty asked me about during our talk. The name of my High School Art Teacher. Morine Long. He hated it. He's going with his own idea of what my art teachers name should be.
Also discovered . Some article I cut out of a magazine 33? years ago. All about talents being found. Me being one of them. The back of the clipping is the only clue I have as to what magazine it might have been.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Ron vs. Stumptown

T.A.G. brethren (and sistren), I had the pleasure of hosting our esteemed colleague Ronald Thompson yesterday. I say hosted, but it's Ron who drove down and treated me to lunch. I reciprocated with an invitation to sip some coffee and do some sketching.

We hit the Stumptown Coffee on 3rd, just down from Voodoo Donuts (not bad when they're fresh, but a kinda skeevy crew that, the Voodoo folk). Ron started with this one....
He recorded my reaction on the page. But it worked. Looked at this gem he scratched in response to my provocation....
(Note coffee stains for added texture...hey, they're authentic!)

Ron did these in run-o-the-mill lead pencil, but when I scanned them I used Beata's (or Candice Colbert's?) line-art Pho-Sho trick to recolor the lines (I chose espresso bean brown--good choice, huh?), and dropped it on a background of a creamy milk-foam tint. What do you think?

Some one may have posted this before. Color App Page

Color Scheme Designer Love ALL the buttons on this app. Try everything. Led to it by this super aggregator of a Tumblr. Tutorials for Artists. On the tutorials page, I recommend the Christopher Hart- Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy. Goofball title but great presentation of material. I undeservedly absolve myself of the pirating stain by noting I've bought a couple of his books before. This is his best I've seen. If I ever switch gears where I'm buying instead of selling, I might get this one.
I like the Colorblind button as well. I'm probably the every common 5 percent (dueteranaomaly). That seems to subjectively jump and shift the least when it is pushed.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The DMV is wearing me down

Time span is Sept 1981 to Sept 2012. The first mustache is off an Oklahoma license. The rest are So Cal licenses.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

First drawing on the new Cintiq/computer set up!  Yay!  Wacom doesn't hate me anymore!


Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Just Did This

Doing about three environment notions that are somewhat like a screen test for some freelance. Felt good to draw a little bit this morning. Quick nap, have some coffee and do the next two.
Coffee and this type of sketching don't mix. Better than Diet Coke though. Really glad I gave up that witches brew.