Merry Christmas 2010

Here is the card that I created for my family this year. Hope people get them since the illustrious FedEx and the USPS have handled the express shipping with the speed of syrup rolling uphill! I hope everyone who reads this has a safe and wonderful holiday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Sick with Photoshop brushes

I was a bit under the weather recently and found myself bored and not able to really concentrate on drawing. In my haze of congestion and medication tho I did manage to work on another old painting and "jazzing" it up with just about all the all the special Photoshop brushes I have collected. Ok, maybe not ALL of them, but I did use an obscene amount for for the sake of doing it. I painted this for real back in 1999/2000 on illustration board and it is actually hung in my studio. I think it's still hanging because it's too high to take down. I posted a version of this on DeviantArt a while back and after a few months I was asked to sign a release since it "contained elements of another person's work". I refused to sign anything since I did not use anyone else's work and they could not tell me who or what they were. So they removed my entire picture. Some said that I should just have signed the release, but I felt that it would be a sign of admission then, and I did nothing wrong. Well, anyway. Here is my overworked old painting.




and just for laughs, here is what it looked like before I delved in digitally. The original doesn't look this bad, but it was too big to scan in and I had to photograph it and that was almost a decade ago as well.

I used to draw with a pencil

Back in the day I did all my pencil drawings and took them to the fullest. Or at least the fullest I could with my meager abilities. I really labored over this drawing. It was done on cold press illustration board at something like 16 x 20! I spent FOREVER working on this. Pulling reference from magazines because I had no Internet and I had no Photoshop! Might as well have been a cave painting! I remember being close to finishing this while working at the campus bookstore when a teacher came in and asked to borrow it to show his class. I felt honored!

I came across this jpeg while searching for something else in my archievs and thought to share. I wish I had saved this original drawing and not painted over it. If only I had Photoshop a year earlier!

Hot Coffee

Just another guy with coffee.

Human Resources

Odd title, I know. There is a group on Deviant Art that held a contest recently about doing an illustration based on one of the audio adventures of Doctor Who. I thought that sounded like fun and I came up with a sketch pretty quick as I was listening to one in the car during my commute in the afternoons. It was also an opportunity to draw a "modernized, retro Cyberman". Still with me or has my total geekiness turned you away already?? Anyway, it was also an excuse to draw the 8th Doctor and the lovely Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller. I hope I did them both justice.

The sketch was pretty straigtforward and at this point I was not thinking about anywhere else it would be shown except on the website for the contest.




I was happy with the sketch and proceded to do a quick color study in Photoshop. Really raw, but I liked where it was going so I quickly started to work on the finish. Life got in the way at that point and I had to let it go in order to meet a previously held deadline. I was ok with it. The winner was to get about 30 bucks. No great loss. I did decide to finish it tho.



So now being committed to the cause, I went ahead and worked on the final, but now my thoughts were on possible reproductions and the size did not work any longer. I had to change it to an 11 x 17 format for that to happen. Hope it still works. I kinda like it. Enjoy!!

Visit my Red Bubble store to purchase items with this art.

Snape!

I know it's a day late for Halloween, but I thought Snape would be a cool pic to show on the holiday. Didn't see many Harry Potters out trick or treating last night but I bet that will change next year. Again, this was painted on my iPhone. Enjoy!

Tattoo Who!

So my work will be on permanent display in the UK. Unless they move. I got an email several months back about having my Doctor Who art made into a tattoo. Lee asked me if I was cool using my art and I was thankful for that. Lee has also been kind enough to send me a picture of the arm in the beginning stage of the tattoo process. The Tardis in the center is not mine, but you can clearly see the line art for the Doctors all around is clearly my own. I can't wait to see the finished product!! I am honored!!




Update: See the finished product here.

Al's Who

Not really any new art to show this time. Been kinda busy of late but I hope to have something new in the near future. I will share a classic illustration done by one of the all time greats. Al Hirshfeld. I was stunned when I first came across a Doctor Who illustration he did in his magnificent style. And to feature all the current Doctors to that point as well!! I recently re-discovered it while searching for something else. Isn't that how it always works! I had the great honor in actually talking to Mr. Hirshfeld while I was a senior in art school. We had to interview a working artist as part of our requirement to graduate, and I picked Scott Gustafson. Well, Mr. Gustafson must have been really busy and such and I never got to have my phone calls returned or such. Plus this was before email and all this hi-tech way of communicating! So one day, my roommate and I were looking over the new Illustrators Annual and I came across Al Hirshfeld's phone number in the back. I jokingly said I was going to just call him instead. Everyone seemed amused but I dialed anyway and he answered on the third ring and was very gracious with his time and knowledge. I great experience I will always remember.

Sherlock Final

Found the time to bring this one to a finish. Kinda happy with it. If you saw the show, you may appreciate the fact of Watson engaging the viewer but Sherlock is not. He is too pre-occupied with his snazzy iPhone with an odd image on the case. Hope you like it. Can't wait for this to be out on DVD.



Here's the progression too. I kinda got carried away with the drawing stage again.

The Boy Who Lived

I admit that I am not the biggest Harry Potter fan out there. I do like the movies for the most part and I even read the first book before movies were ever made. My wife Mindy on the other hand is a HUGE fan. This iPhone doodle was done for her.

Sherlock

Been pretty busy of late and I really don't have much to post. I did, however, just finish watching the three episodes of the brilliant new British show "Sherlock". Awesome!! Can't wait to pick up the DVD of this one. Here is a quick color sketch of Sherlock and Watson from the show. Hope to do finished version in the near future. Enjoy.

Union Jack part one

I always thought that the character of Union Jack was pretty cool. A hero from World War One who fought the war as well as vampires!! A second Union Jack continued this during the Second World War and now a current version is still at work! The costumes are so slick and simple and having him British just makes it even cooler in my book. I remember reading one of his earliest adventures in the Invaders comic book and it blew me away. I still have it!!!

Star Wars and Thievery

My wife was able to score two passes for the big Star Wars Celebration Five that took place here in Orlando this year. This was a nice surprise as I had written off my chances of going since we had just gotten back from California and I got to go to Comi-Con. Anyway, my wife gets these passes and they are exhibitor passes to boot! No waiting in line!! So my son and I go early on the Saturday morning and have a really good time for over three hours! Saw so much stuff and walked around until my six year old jedi could not walk anymore. Then I saw it. I could not believe my eyes and my blood pressure must have gone haywire. A Doctor Who print for twenty bucks! MY DOCTOR WHO ART WAS FOR SALE!! Someone had taken the file from the internet and printed them out and was selling them. And from the story I got from the dealer, he was not the only one! You never think it's gonna happen to you. I figure, who am I?? Why would someone want to sell my pictures?? I'm not famous by any stretch of the imagination. I am partially to blame for not protecting myself, so now I am forced to watermark everything that gets posted. I think this sucks! I hate watermarks on my work but the other option is to no longer post artwork and what is the point of that??

So here as a first post with a watermark on it, and of a Star Wars character since I was totally jazzed to do it, and ironically,.....someone else's painting. Well, sort
of. I didn't realize that the reference used for this was a painting until long after I had finished it. My apologies to the original artist. So ironic!

Comi-Con 2010

My first trip to the great San Diego Comi-Con. Have been wanting to go since I was a little kid. Finally got my chance and went with my good friend Mike. You can see him in the photo just behind the Batman mask. Yeah. He always looks like that too.

The Tron Cycle.




The 1989 Batmobile.




Ecto-1.




Batman mask (and Mike!).




The one and only Bruce Timm!

Believe it or Not...

So there was a marathon of The Greatest American Hero on Syfy this past Fourth of July and I totally missed it. I was really bummed not to catch even just an episode or two since I loved that show so much as a kid growing up in New Jersey. With a little luck, I was able to watch a few shows on-line. A bit dated but still a fun watch. And how can you not love a reluctant super hero who lost his instruction book for his suit?? Genius!! I actually started doodling him on my airplane ride to Californina just a few short weeks back. Hard to draw in a bumby airplane and even harder when the old lady next to you is constantly hitting you with her elbow! Once I had my pose the painting went rather quick. In fact, I got carried away with the sketch in Photoshop, that I almost didn't do the "finished" one. I bet some people out there may also think that the colored drawing is better. I don't know. I'm sharing both. Enjoy.



Here are the drawing leading up to it:



Not that you can see it in the final, but here is down and dirty, over-Photoshoped revision of his logo:



...and finally, the colored sketch. You choose which is better. I'm done!

The Weeping Angel

I was so inspired by walking around meeting artists, seeing art, etc. at Comi-Con, that I just had to finish this piece. It started out simply enough with some chicken scratch in my sketchbook. I didn't even bother to scan those in. Once I had a clear vision, I did a rough color version on my phone. I really liked it and a cleaner version was made from it in Photoshop. Then I made my final pencil drawing, digitally inked it and painted it. Voila!! Simple as that!! I hope you all like it too.




Here, for probably more my amusement than yours, is a view of the progression.

Walt

No, not my father in law. I already drew him a few years back for something that was actually published. Being pretty inspired by Comi-Con and spending lots of time at Disneyland, I used some sporadic free time to paint Mr. Disney himself. I decided to use just about every paint and photo app I have on my iPhone do get to the finish on this one and I kind of like where it went. I wonder if I remember the process now.

Mr. Baldelli

Just got back from my trip out west and my first venture to Comi-Con!! Hopefully I will have more on that soon. I am trying to get re-adjusted to Eastern Time and my 9-5 but I do have some new stuff to post really soon. Until then, enjoy another iPhone painting done of Rocco Baldelli!!

Captain Jack Sparrow

I honestly think all these paintings on my iPhone are cheats. I am really painting over a photograph. This one took me a bit more time though, and then I exported it out and painted more in ArtRage. Enjoy!

Mr. Baker

He's not even my favorite Doctor Who, but he has a great face to draw and paint. Another shot from my iPhone.

Jeter

Simple face shot of the Yankee captain. Done once again on my iPhone.

The Other Doctor Who

"What about Peter Cushing?" That's what my friend Alberto asked. So here it is. Peter Cushing (most famous for making horror films and of course playing Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars)also played Dr. Who in two movies back in the mid-sixties. I was not intending to do this one at all, but I recently watched the first of the two films on Hulu for the very first time and found myself doodling at the same time. He has a fun face to draw with that nose and sunken cheeks!! I have the second movie on VHS that I bought used a long time ago. I was surprised to find out that it is actually better than the first one. For those of you that do not know, Dr. Who is actually his name in the films (rather than "The Doctor") and is human! Well no matter. This was kinda fun to do and it went really fast. Hope you all like.

Update:

Just thought I would add that this marks the first time I used Illustrator CS5 to do the inking. To all you digital inkers out there, IT TOTALLY ROCKS!! Able to change the points and widths in live strokes!! GENIUS!!

More Lost

...or "Lost Again". Well, not really. That would imply I am posting the same things twice. Which I am not. Don't even know why I just wrote all that. Maybe I am lost after all. Well, two more characters from the show. My favorites, Sawyer and Hugo.

Lost

I was an avid watcher of Lost but I gave up quite some time ago trying to guess what was happening. Made my life easier to just watch and "enjoy the ride". I am satisfied with how it ended and feel that for an American show to have a definite ending that is not classified as a mini-series, is awesome. I think more television should be like this.

Anyway, here are two characters from Lost painted on my iPhone.

Can you spot it??

Ok, I know that I don't own any artwork done for companies such as Disney, and I also know that popular art sometimes gets "refreshed". That being said, let me point out a mug I recently came across that looks strikingly like a picture I painted a few years back. Mine is on the left. Look familiar to anyone else besides me???



I guess I should actually be flattered in a way.

Sleeping Joe

I usually draw Joseph as a cartoon. I painted this one on the phone. I didn't hover over him as he slept, that's just when I took the picture.

New Really Old Who

Just to show my friend Jan, and several others, that my Doctor Who obsession is not new and truly a long standing form of dementia. I recently found these in a really old sketchbook and they brought back so many memories. I did these in high school right after I was turned on to the show by John Larkin. They all feature the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker as he was set to take over. In fact, one drawing has my own interpretation of his costume since his was not yet revealed here in the U.S. The others have his actual costume but without the patterns since I was WAY too lazy to hand draw those patterns!! The one with all the doctors faces shows the first time I had drawn any of the older Doctors. I found it fun to compare these with my latest turn at them. Enjoy!