Monday, December 29, 2014

Sports Illustrated Kids December

Hello all and happy holidays!

I hope you had a great holiday week. I came down with a pretty awful case of the flu most of the week and pretty much coughed, moaned, and slept my way right through Christmas. But, I am finally feeling better and getting ready to get back to work to see what the new year will have in store for me.

But, before we start out the new year I thought it would be a perfect time to show off the three illustrations I did for the "What's The Call" article featured in the December issue of Sports Illustrated Kids. This month featured scenarios involving football, basketball, and baseball. As usual, these were a lot of fun to do. Every month the scenarios SIK gives me seem to challenge me and make me stretch my abilities as an artist. I feel I've only gotten better since I started this job a few years ago. And, for that, I am thankful for such a great client.

One thing that will be changing in the coming year with the "What's The Call" article will be the format of the page. I've found I'll no longer have that nice long narrow bottom panel space that I use to showcase scenarios that seem to need a little more breathing room (like the baseball piece to the left). At first I was a bit nervous but I'm sure it will all work out in the end. It's just one more challenge to tackle and make me think outside of my little box.

I hope you enjoy these new pieces and you all have a great last few days of the year. Onward and upward to better things in 2015!

I'll see you all there!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Happy Holidays!

Whew, I can't believe the end of the year is almost upon us. I had planned to do a new Mr. Mucho holiday piece but this month has been really messed up schedule wise and I've been down with the flu for the last few days. So, here is a blast from the past and a piece of Mr. Mucho that some of you may not have seen yet.

But, fear not, while there isn't art there is some new music. OilCan Drive's Ryan Burke was kind enough to do a quick acoustic version of one of his favorite Christmas songs. You can listen and download it HERE.

Enjoy your holidays everyone! May it be filled with joy and love and all sorts of fun stuff!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

More New Art

A few more pieces of art are finally done and finished. I'll be using both of these pieces in the newest print version of OilCan Drive's second book which will be coming out soon.

The Lily piece will be used for the front page on a "this book belongs to (fill in the blank)" kind of page while Mr. Mucho will be used in the back of the book on my bio page.

Today I begin sitting down to actually write out the script for the third OilCan Drive story. I've had ideas bouncing around in my head and they have finally started to gel so I think it's time I get something on paper and see how it all works out.

I feel like December is evolving into a time of planning for me, both in getting the next OilCan Drive story written and thumbnailed as well as writing and demoing songs for the next OilCan Drive album. As much as I wish I could just dive headlong into new work I know it is probably best to have something planned out before I get too far ahead of myself.

I just need to give myself permission to sit back and dream for a bit before I begin my next round of production.

But, for someone who thrives on working as fast as he possibly can, laying back a bit and planning things out isn't always the easiest thing. But, I think I am getting there. We'll see how it goes.

Have a great one and I'll talk to you soon!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Happy December!

Alright, finally, and only a few days late, Happy December everyone!

I got the inks done on the last few pieces, scanned them into the computer, and I've been coloring a bit each night to get them all done. Each of them will be used in the print edition of the second OilCan Drive book and, with these last few pieces done, I am now one step closer to putting this chapter to bed and sending it out to the printer.

While she will be cropped in the print version of the book, here is the full image of Lily that will accompany the title page of the new book. Since I knew she would be cropped I didn't draw much past her legs but I wanted to do some kind of artsy thing down there so I hope this works.

Okay, back to it. Have a great month and I'll see you all

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Inking Away

 I was hoping to get at least one of these pieces completely inked, scanned, and colored today so I could use it for the December header of the blog. But, instead of focusing on only one piece, I just couldn't help myself and ended up inking them all.

Don't worry though, I'll get these cleaned up and scanned tomorrow and, before you know it, one of them will be at the top of the blog.

It's always fun taking photos of the art process and I hope you enjoy the results as much as I do.

Have a great one and I'll see you all tomorrow!

  

Sunday, November 30, 2014

A Little OCD

Hello all! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend filled with friends, family, and plenty of shopping and savings on Black Friday.

I celebrated my Black Friday by posting the last page (the back cover) of the second book of OilCan Drive. It took me a lot longer to finish that second book than I had originally intended but, seeing as this is the first time I've ever actually finished a second OilCan Drive book, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Over the years I've done a number of OilCan Drive books. Some of them were one shot, short story, types of endeavors while others were meant to be continuous stories. The problem was that something always came up, a new job, a bad review, something, and I would always stop the second chapter somewhere in the middle and leave it unfinished.

So, even though it felt like a struggle to get it done, I am glad that I've finally broken the habit of not finishing a second issue of my story.

And, now that the second book is done and ready to be printed, I realized I needed to create a few other pieces of artwork to add to the book. I needed art for the chapter pages, introduction pages, and my biography page. So I sketched out a few illustrations of Lily and Mr. Mucho that I plan to use in other parts of the print book.

I'll start inking them soon enough and, more likely than not, I'll be using one of these pieces for the new blog header in December.

And, after I wrap up the majority of the art and layout for the second book, I'll start working on the third chapter in my little sci-fi rock and roll epic. I am hoping to have it all done and printed by the next Denver Comic Con in late May so keep your fingers crossed. I figure if I can finally finish a second book, doing the third should be a piece of cake.

Have a great one, everybody! I'll see you in December!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Sports Illustrated Kids - November

As I sit here tonight penciling away on the newest round of Sports Illustrated Kids sketches I thought it would be a great time to show off the illustrations I did for the November issue.

November's "What's The Call" article featured stories about baseball, football, and golf. I was obviously in a purple and yellow/orange phase on the top two illustrations and I am almost disappointed that I didn't carry the color scheme over into the golf piece. I especially like the way the silhouetted group of players came out in the football piece. The purple of those players really helps to pop out the kicker and ball holder in the foreground. I might need to try out that trick more often.

This issue is out in stores now so hurry to your nearest magazine rack and pick a copy up!

Okay, I am heading back to the drawing board. Have a good one and I'll talk to you all soon!


Monday, November 10, 2014

Reel to Reel

 On Friday I finally had my ceiling fixed, patched, and repainted. A little over a year ago, the 2013 flood that brought Boulder to a standstill also showed me that the roof above my head wasn't as watertight as I was led to believe. For three days straight I was draining water from buckets I placed under the holes I had poked in my ceiling with a pocket knife. The good news is that, because I poked the holes in the ceiling to drain the water, my ceiling was pretty much left unharmed and intact. The bad news is that, because my ceiling was sound, I was put on a low priority list by my HOA to have the holes patched and the water stains taken care of.

But, finally, on Friday, I had a guy come by and take care of the problem.

Because I had to be awake so early to let him in and because I had to hang out all day with someone in my house I knew I'd have to do something to occupy my time. The problem is that it's hard to be creative and ink and get into your art groove when a stranger is in your house hanging up sheets of plastic and spraying your ceiling with odorless kilz.

So, I created an OilCan Drive reel to reel tape machine in Photoshop.

It's been something I've had on my mind for a while. I wanted to create a header that I could use when I put OilCan Drive music on YouTube and I didn't want it to be a static image. I wanted it to move. So, I thought, what better thing to make move than a cartoon tape machine that spins as the music plays.

I created the tape reels first and made sure I built them in a way that they could spin. Then I built the tape recorder to put the reels on. I didn't need to go all out on it because I knew that it would be cropped in such a way that the play, rewind, and stop buttons wouldn't be seen. And, I made sure the reels spun correctly on the tape machine. Finally, I created the header itself, complete with logos and a bit of design work to make everything look fun.

Finally, I put it all together with the OilCan Drive version of "Season of the Witch" I did last week and put it all on YouTube.



I think this will work well. It will give me a nice visual as the music is playing on future singles. Now, of course, I just need to record some new music.

Oh OilCan Drive, there is always something to do with you. You definitely never leave me time to be bored.

And, the ceiling is looking good. Just one more round of the guy coming out on Tuesday and we should be all set. Of course, now I have to figure out something to occupy my time on Tuesday. We'll have to see what I can come up with.

For now, enjoy the art, the spinning reels, and the music. Have a great day. I'll talk to you soon!



Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Sports Illustrated Kids October

Once again I forgot to post the images I did for October's Sports Illustrated Kids "What's The Call" article. It seems like going on vacation for a few weeks in September really messed up my internal clock and it's only now that I feel like I'm getting things back on track.

But, better late than never.

I was really happy with the way both the track piece and the hockey piece came out this month. One of the things that doing these Sports Illustrated pieces has let me do is really get comfortable drawing full figures interacting with each other. Usually, in both comics and advertising storyboards, it's almost too easy to always draw people in mid-shots from the waist up where you never have to worry what's going on below the belt.

But, with Sports Illustrated it's a very rare occasion that I don't draw a full figure doing something athletic or interacting with another person. And, I can see after doing this for years and years that I am getting better at it.

So, hooray for feeling like I am getting better at this art thing. It's always a good feeling and doing art for the "What's The Call" article month in and month out has definitely made me a better artist.

And, even if they never read this, thank you to all the great people I work for up at Sports Illustrated. They're the best people and I am really privelaged to work with them every month on this wonderful project.

Have a great day, everyone. I'll talk to you soon!


Monday, November 3, 2014

Happy November!

Happy November everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the autumn weather and getting ready for the winter to come.

This month I am using the art I created for the OilCan Drive cover song "Season of the Witch" as the blog's header. I hope you enjoyed the cover song as much as I enjoyed creating it. It definitely taught me a lot and it's already given me some new ideas for new songs and projects. We'll see what kind of trouble I can get into in the next few months.

What I realized is that I never posted any of the progress shots of this piece leading up to the finished colored art so I figured I'd make up for that today. Here are a few photos I took with my phone as I was working and just never seemed to find the time to put here on the blog. Sorry about that.

Okay, back to it for me. I am planning out how to wrap up the last few pages of the second issue of OilCan Drive this week. I've been away from it for much too long and I think it's finally time I did something about it.

Have a great month everyone and I'll talk to you soon!

Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays so this year I took some time out of my schedule and did a few special OilCan Drive projects to celebrate the season.

If you've been reading the blog you know that my old computer fell apart and not only did I have to buy a new machine but I also had to upgrade all of the music gear I had used to record with over the last ten years. I've been slowly learning the new system and I figured the best way to play around with it and see what it could do was to record a new song. So OilCan Drive and I did a special Halloween cover of Donovan's classic song, "Season of the Witch."

It was a fun song to do but a bit more challenging than I originally thought. Just singing the song made me rethink things. But, my vocal chords finally opened up last night and everything felt right. I'm sure my neighbors wondered what was going on as I was screaming like a maniac at nine o'clock at night. I do wish I had given myself a little more time to mix the song but it did teach me a lot about the new system. So, it's getting there and if this is the first step it's not a bad first step at all.

And, what is a cover song without some new artwork to actually go on its cover?

I created the artwork to go along with a video I put up on YouTube to show off the song. I probably shouldn't have spent so much time working on the whole project but it was a lot of fun and I hope you like the results.

You can check out the video below and, if you like the song, it's being offered up as a free download on the OilCan Drive site. You can head on over to the OCD site and pick up the song for a few simple clicks by visiting HERE.

Enjoy the Halloween fun! I hope you're all doing great and loving life. Have fun and stay safe out there! See you soon!



Monday, October 13, 2014

Nova, The Human Rocket!

Last week while I was stuck in a comic book store for 24 hours doing the 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge I couldn't help but look through a few books to see if anything caught my eye. And, what do you know? I found a few!

The new Nova books from Marvel Comics caught my eye on the regular issue racks. It was cartoony, had some great art, great character design, and my brother had collected the original comic back when we were kids. I put the book down and went over to the collected trade editions to see if the individual issues had been collected yet. Lucky me, I found three of them. I took advantage of one of the store's many sales that day and picked them up.

The books were a lot of fun. The first issue had my imagination running and I found it was like a mix of the movies The Last Starfighter and Back To The Future along with a healthy dose of Marvel Comics super heroes. I've said I'd never work in comics again but, honestly, if I did want to work for a mainstream comic company again, this is the kind of book I'd want to work on.

So, of course, I had to draw something Nova related. During lunch last Friday, as a warm up, I sketched out this piece in blue pencil.

I love that this version of Nova is a fifteen year old teenage boy and he is actually drawn like a boy, not a small version of a muscle bound man. The image of him mixes my love of drawing children's books along with my love of comic book super heroics.

I detailed the pencils over the weekend and, if I can find the time this week, I want to lay some ink on this piece and go to color.

And, if all goes well, who knows, I may even do a few Nova sample pages, send them to a few people I know up at Marvel, and see what happens. But, first, let's see how this piece turns out.

Inks soon, color later. Have a great week and I'll see you all soon!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Sports Illustrated Kids September


Oops, September got so busy around here what with road trips, plane trips, trips to Maine, a failing computer, and getting ready for the 24 Hour Comic Day Challenge, that I totally forgot to show off the "What's The Call" illustrations for the September issue of Sports Illustrated Kids.

Sorry about that but, here I am, in the early days of October, ready to make it up to you.

September was a fun month for the WTC illustrations. I got to draw a little bit of football without having to draw two complete teams squaring off, a little bit of lacrosse, and a baseball piece that had a fun challenging background I needed to create to fill the space.

On the baseball piece I also laid in the text to show my art director how I thought the piece might lay out in the final print on the magazine page. It gives you a good idea of the things I have to think about when creating these pieces. Not only do I have to do a decent piece, showing off the action of each scenario, but I have to make sure they all fit right into the magazine page. Sometimes, given the situations, it can be a challenge.

But, I am guessing, because they keep coming to me each month, that I am doing a pretty good job so far.

I am starting the illustrations for the year end December issue today and, after having thumbnailed the pieces out and getting approval, I am really looking forward to starting them.

So, it's back to the drawing board for me to tackle the new Sports Illustrated pieces, script and letter my 24 Hour Comic Day story, ink the next page of OilCan Drive, and maybe start a new piece that I've been inspired to do just for the fun of it.

I hope you're all doing great and I'll talk to you soon!


Monday, October 6, 2014

24 Hour Comic Day Wrap Up

So, I finally did it. I finally sat down and took the 24 Hour Comic Day Challenge and I finally feel like I succeeded!

The challenge was created years ago by comic artist Scott McCloud and the idea is to write, draw, ink, and finish a complete 24 page comic book story in one 24 hour period.

I tried the challenge once a few years ago in my home with a bunch of friends. I think I got through five pages and four hours before everyone started giving up. It's always been something that bugged me, not actually getting my comic done for the challenge. So, this year, I tried it again.

I joined a bunch of local artists at my local comic book shop, Time Warp Comics, for their annual 24 Hour Comic Day Challenge. The owner of Time Warp, Wayne, is generous enough every year to turn his store over to a bunch of artists and keep the store open for 24 hours while everyone works on their stories. So, on Saturday morning, at 10am, I entered the store with my paper and supplies, found a seat next to my friend, Liam, and got to work.

The good thing about attempting the challenge before is that it gave me some insight and ideas into how I would go about tackling it this time. This time I wanted to have a really good idea for the story already figured out and thumbnailed before starting. It might be against the rules to even think about your story before you start but I figure this whole thing is a personal quest and there aren't any cash prizes or gold medals on the line so who is anyone else to tell me how I should tackle the challenge? Plus, I really enjoy figuring a story out and I wanted to enjoy the process instead of freaking out and feeling pressured once I was on the clock.

I also decided to draw the pages smaller than I had the last time. The first time around I drew the pages the same size I draw pages professionally, about 150% larger. With speed being the key having less space to fill up really helped and I didn't have lay down nearly as much Sharpie marker to get the job done.

And, finally, I decided I would draw and ink the pages during the 24 hour period and leave the lettering until I could scan the pages into the computer and letter digitally. I'm a competent letterer, meaning you can read what I write, but I really don't enjoy it and I can do a lot better job on the computer.

With those guidelines in mind, I got to work.

I'd love to say it was easy for me, that I just breezed through it, but it was a real ordeal. I honestly don't know if I've ever actually stayed awake that many hours in a row much less spent the majority of those hours working. During the process time felt like it was flying by while, at the same time, it felt like the ordeal would never end. I remember at one point, in the wee hours of the morning, wondering what lesson I was learning by doing this process. At the time all I could think of was, "I never ever ever want to do another comic book again EVER!"

Ha ha! Oh the things we think of when we are sleep deprived.

In the end, of the ten artists we started out with, only five stayed the entire time. Of the five of us, I think only three of us got even close to completing 24 pages. I am happy to say that I was one of the people who got all of his pages done the way he wanted to get them done.

I did it.

I scratched that itch. I no longer need to wonder if I can do it because I just did it. One of the things that kept me going when I wanted to quit is that I knew it was better to grind it out this time than to quit and still wonder if I could do it right the next time.

After some breakfast and a nice long nap I feel extremely proud of myself for what I accomplished. I did a decent job in the time I had and I am really proud of the results. In the middle of the challenge I thought that there is no way I am ever doing this again.

But, now, with a little rest, I know I will do it again. Except next time I might throttle back a bit and only do an eight page story and see how detailed I can get in a 24 hour period. Because, you know, I already proved to myself I could do the 24 page thing in the time I was given. And that feels great.

In the coming weeks I'll scan the pages in to the computer and clean them up. I'll letter them, get them set up, and submit them to the store's printed anthology book which should be released before Christmas. And I'll make sure to post the pages on the OilCan Drive website. The story might not be as good or as well drawn as the regular pages I do but I think they definitely deserve to be seen. And the story does fit into and sheds light on a bit more of the OilCan Drive world.

For now, I am off to bed for real. It's been a VERY long weekend but I am glad I participated in the event and that I succeeded.

One more thing to cross off the list of "Things To Do!" Yeah me!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

24 Hour Comic Day Challenge!

At 10am on Saturday, October 4th, I'll be taking part in the annual 24 Hour Comic Day Challenge where I'll be doing a 24 page OilCan Drive story in 24 Hours.

You can watch the fun as I do the work on Instagram and Twitter! Leave some comments and give your boy a little support! I'm sure I'll need it!

INSTAGRAM
TWITTER

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Happy October!

Happy October, everyone. September was definitely a whirlwind for me with false road trips to the east coast, plane trips to Maine, and coming home to Colorado only to have to deal with a computer dying on me and trying to get something new up and working as soon as possible.

Through it all, while it seemed busy, I didn't really get much creatively done. I did really enjoy the way the cover I did for the24 Hour Comic Day came out so at least I got something done last month. And while right now it feels like I am lazy and a slacker I know in the next few days things are going to really ramp up and I'll wonder why I ever felt guilty about sitting on the couch and watching a TV show.

In the next few days I'll be participating in the 24 Hour Comic Day Challenge at Time Warp Comics here in Boulder from 10am, Saturday, October 4th, until 10am, Sunday, October 5th. In that time I'll be doing my best to complete a full 24 page comic book. Oh, and I got some client work I've committed to completing this weekend as well so it will be interesting to throw that into the mix. And next week I'll be starting the next round of the Sports Illustrated Kids "What's The Call" articles.

So, I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about taking it easy for the rest of the day. It's about to get a lot busier around here really soon.

So maybe one more TV show today won't hurt me.

Happy October, everyone! I hope yours is going great so far!

Monday, September 29, 2014

24 Hour Comic Day Challenge!

 I am finally back from my trip to Maine and the East Coast to see my family, catch up with some friends, and recharge my batteries.

The trip went great but it started with a bit of a hiccup. Originally I planned on driving thirty one hours from Colorado to Maine. I started well enough, got out of Colorado, and headed into Nebraska. Around four hours in I started getting a bad feeling. I gave it another two hours before saying, screw it, and I turned around and headed back to Colorado. I don't know if I had some premonition of impending doom that I saved myself from or if I simply wasn't enjoying myself six hours into the journey and couldn't imagine sitting in a car for another fifty eight hours. But, I got back to Boulder, got some sleep, and booked myself a flight for the next day. From there, the trip went great and I had a lot of fun.

I'll definitely be putting some photos from my trip up but, first, I wanted to show you what I've been working on since I got back.

This coming weekend, October 4th and 5th, I'll be participating in my first official 24 Hour Comic Challenge. It's an annual event that has been going on for years and is the brain child of comic book great Scott McCloud. The idea is that you sit down for 24 hours and, in that time, you complete a fully finished 24 page comic book. I've tried it once by myself with disasterous results but I am hoping that first attempt will give me some insight on how to succeed this time around. I told a friend my ideas on how I was going to go about it this time and he commented, "it's great that you have it all planned out." My response was, "I always have a plan...whether it works or not remains to be seen."

So, we'll see how it goes.

The story I plan on working on is OilCan Drive related and, if all goes well, it will fit into the regular OCD continuity and I will post the pages on the OilCan Drive web comic site soon enough. But, because I am participating in an event with multiple artists, the event coordinator asked for submissions for the anthology book cover he is planning to put together of everyone's work. This being my first time attending I wanted to give him a cover and do the best I could to make an impression.

The event will be taking place at my local comic shop, Time Warp Comics. They are celebrating their 30th anniversary and requested that the cover feature their store mascot and a few of the characters that have appeared in their newsletters comic strip over the years. So, here is my rendition of Tommy Timewarp and his friends!

I created the piece in the same way I plan on doing the 24 hour comic to test out the process. I sketched the whole piece out with a non-repo blue pencil and went right to ink using only Sharpie and Micron markers. It's pretty much the same way I do a lot of my advertising work that usually has super tight deadlines. From there I scanned the piece into the computer and added color and text.

While I won't be doing any color on the actual 24 hour comic my plan is to get all of the art for the story done in 24 hours and ready for scanning and lettering. My hand lettering leaves a lot to be desired and the pages for the anthology aren't due for two weeks after the event so I figured I'd give myself some time to letter the story in a way that looks pleasing and I am happy with. Is it cheating? Maybe. But, I guess that will put me out of the running for the gold medal and the million dollar cash prize (ha ha ha.)

So, if anyone is in Boulder, Colorado next weekend and wants to come check it out I'll be at Time Warp Comics starting at 10am on Saturday, October 4th.

And I will definitely be posting progress photos and updates on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. So, even if you're not in the area you can follow along and see how I'm doing. I'll make sure to put links up on Friday so everyone knows where to follow along.

Have a great week everyone. It's good to be back and I'll talk to you all soon!


Sunday, September 7, 2014

Road Trip

I am packing up and heading off on a cross country road trip tomorrow. I am hoping I can get from here in Colorado to the coast of Maine in about four days or so with a planned day of hanging out with my friend Thom in Cleveland (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, here I come!)

It's been a while since I attempted something like this so I'm both excited and a little nervous. But, one thing I know for sure is that my new little Fiat will probably do a lot better on a cross country trip than my old Jeep Wrangler did when I first moved to Colorado from the east coast all those years ago.

I'll make sure to take a bunch of pictures from the road and keep the updates coming.

Have a great week everyone and I'll be talking to you from the middle of America the next time we talk!

See ya soon!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Happy September!

 Happy September, everyone!

I was actually supposed to be on the road today heading towards Maine but yesterday ended up being a mix of a bit too much work and a bit too much trying to get everything ready to go. Last night around 11pm I finally decided that no one was forcing me to leave on Wednesday so I decided to postpone the trip for a few days until everything settles down. Once I made that decision it felt like an incredible weight was off of my shoulders and everything felt so much better.

So, I took my time and got the TK piece all colored up pretty and dropped it into the new blog header.

The coolest thing about this piece is that I based it off of a friend of mine, Tonya Kay. I've had the character in mind for years and it is based on how she looked when I first met her. Back then she had these awesome blonde dreadlocks and an amazing look that I was immediately drawn to.

I've actually had the pleasure of drawing her a few times, once as a pin-up piece and once for a logo for her personal project, "Tonya Kay's Pin-Up Pole Show." But, in the back of my mind, I always wanted to turn her into a character in the OilCan Drive world.

I did this piece with a strong image in my mind but no actual reference of her in front of me. I figured that way I was using her as inspiration and not simply copying a photo of her. I think I capture a bit more of her character and soul this way than simply copying the drawing from someone others' photo.

Before I started I drew out a few little sketches in my notebook of the character and got a good general idea of what I wanted her to be. I knew she was a mechanic who wasn't afraid to get dirty and fix things but I also wanted her to be sexy as well. I originally envisioned her in a duster jacket but I figured that would be too impractical to wear when you're on the floor getting dirty and fixing things. So, I came up with the idea of her wearing a coverall jumper that covers her figure while working and then unzips to turn into a duster able to show off her figure underneath. I had a friend with a duster and, checking it out, I think the design would actually work if it was built and worn. Maybe someday someone will make one. I personally would love to see it!

After all was said and done I went back and looked at a few old photos of Tonya and ran across these from when she was shooting a film called "Bold Native.". You can definitely see where the inspiration came from even if I didn't look at the photos while I was working.

I've sent all the process pieces and the finished piece to Tonya and she's posted them and written a great piece about me and the art on her own personal website. You can check it out HERE. I am a huge fan of hers so it's always a joy when we talk and share each others' artistic endeavors.

As for me, I will hopefully be out the door and on the road soon. While it was great to give myself a day to relax it looks like I'll still have a few more things to do before I go. But, leave I shall and I'm sure it will be a great adventure.

Have a great one everyone! Happy September!

Sunday, August 31, 2014

T.K.

 Ugh, it's been a busy week. I am still doubled up on client work but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I've been so busy that I actually missed the newest page post on the OilCan Drive site last Friday. I have the page done. It's inked, scanned, and just needs some gray and lettering before it's complete. I was trying to get it done on Thursday night but at around 4am I decided the page was too important and needed to be done right and 4am Sean was just not up to the job. So, I called it quits for the night but I will have the page done and up before I leave town.

I also found some time to do a quick sketch on Friday during lunch that I plan to use as September's blog post header.

It was a quick sketch while I sat with friends waiting for my car to be done at the garage and I found some time on Saturday morning while warming up to get the inks done before I started the real work for the day. She is scanned and partially colored so I hope I can get her done before I head out of town as well. It's not enough to have client work to get done so I put a few personal jobs on my shoulder as well. Whee!

The character of T.K. is someone who should show up in the world of OilCan Drive sometime around the fourth chapter. She's a mechanic who will help the gang out with their airship problems as they enter the wastelands of the Zone. And you thought Ryan's hair was big! Ha ha!

She's based on a friend of mine and I'll dig up the photo of her I was thinking of when I drew this piece tomorrow when I post the new blog header.

For now, it's back to the client work. I am burning time and things need to get done. Talk to you all soon!

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Draw Faster!

I woke up earlier this morning and, for the life of me, I just couldn't get back to sleep. My mind was just racing with too many ideas. So, I finally gave in, got up, and dragged myself into the studio to start the day.

Between my career doing freelance art for clients, doing my own web comic, writing and recording music, and being married, you'd guess I wouldn't even have enough time to think of doing anything new. But, there are always a few things that I want to add to my already busy schedule and this morning, as I tossed and turned in bed, I simply couldn't get one of them out of my mind. So, maybe this idea needs to be explored a bit more and I'll have to see if I can carve some time out of my already busy week to make it happen. I don't want to talk too much about that idea yet until I see if it's feasible or not but we'll see how it goes.

Another idea I have that I'd like to explore is the reason I am showing off these three pieces I did for an advertising agency a few months ago. The thing I love about doing art for ad agencies is that they usually need something produced very quickly. It's a normal thing for me to get a job on a late Monday afternoon where the finished pieces are needed the next morning at the start of the day. I've seen more than my fair share of old episodes of "I Love Lucy" and "The Golden Girls" as I pulled off all-nighters to get the work done.

You'd think it would be a hassle and a pain to work so quickly but I actually thrive on it. Oh, I wouldn't want to do it all the time but, every once in a while, it's really fun to get out of my own way and just draw and create as fast as I can without having the time to second guess myself. And, after all these years of doing art like this, I have to say I think I've gotten pretty good at it.

These three pieces were assigned to me on a Sunday afternoon and I finished them sometime right after dinner that same night. And, for the short time they took to create, I really liked the way they came out.

So, it got me thinking about an annual event coming up in October that I'd like to try out. I need to talk to a local store owner to see if I can get into the event but I don't think that will be a problem. Doing the event itself scares me a bit but in that good way. It will be a way to test myself and see what I can do for myself in the same amount of short time I sometimes get from some of my best clients. If nothing else, I know it will be a learning experience. As the time of the event draws closer I'll let you know more.

But, for now, I am off to get myself a bowl of cereal and start the day. There is still a lot of art to do before I pack my bags next week and drive east to Maine.Maybe that is the real reason my mind wouldn't stop spinning this morning and finally kicked me out of bed. Too much to do!

Have a great day everyone! I'll talk to you soon!