Lily Inks

I got the inking on the Lily piece done late last night, scanned it in, and prepped her for color this morning.

So far, so good. Now I just need to fill in some colors, add some shading, and call this piece complete. I'm hoping I can get her done before tomorrow so I can feature her in Ferbuary's blog header.

Where did the month of January go?

Lily Pencils

The blue pencil sketching was fun but Lily doesn't really come together until I get out the regular 2H lead pencil and start giving her the little details that make her who she is.

I took both a close up photo of her piece as well as a shot a bit further back so you can see how big she is on my art table.

Now, it's time to shake up the ink, break out the brush, and start inking away to give Lily even a little more life. Hopefully I'll get enough done tonight that I can show off the inks tomorrow.

Have a great day and I'll see you all tomorrow with more Lily!

Lily Sketch

As the end of the month nears I knew, sick or not, I needed to get a new piece of art done to put on February's blog header. Being sick, I tried to kill two birds with one stone and also produce a piece that I can use in the next OilCan Drive book.

After thinking about it between bouts of passing out on the couch I decided to do a new Lily piece that I could use both as the new header for the blog and as the back cover for the next issue of OilCan Drive.

So far I've sketched her out in blue pencil to get her basic pose and a few details figured out. In order to have her show up better in the photo I changed the image from color to gray-scale and adjusted the image a bit so it was easier to see. But, what you are seeing here is all blue pencil.

I'll work on her a bit more tonight and show you the results tomorrow.

I like this killing two birds with one stone thing. I'll have to figure out how to do this more often in the future.

But, for now, have a great one and I'll see you all soon!

Sports Illustrated Kids August

 I'm feeling a bit better today but I know I'm still sick. I'm starting to work again but things are slow and I'm trying to take it easy as I try and catch up on some of the work I missed last week. But, even though they aren't going as quick as I like, things are slowly getting done.

Here are the illustrations from August's Sports Illustrated Kids "What's the Call?" article.

I remember the pole vaulter being a bit of a challenge as the art director and I tried to figure out the best pose to convey the action. It also needed to fit into a specific space so showing him from the side was out. But, I think between the two of us banging our heads together, this worked out well.

And, this was the first time I got to draw a race car for the magazine. Luckily I still had a lot of the reference I collected for cars from doing a four book stint on race cars for Stone Arch Books' Jake Maddox series.

I even used some of the old decals I created for those books on this car and you can see a lot of hidden companies in the logos. So, this one was really fun to do and especially fun to create all that smoke to convey that the car was being driven backwards across the finish line.

Tomorrow I'll probably take a break from the Sports Illustrated Kids stuff for a bit and show off a little bit more of what is actually on my desk right now.

So, until tomorrow, have a good one!

Sports Illustrated Kids July

 Whew, what a week! I woke up on Monday morning with a sore throat and it just went downhill from there. As the week progressed I found myself laying on the couch most days and catching up on TV shows as I got sicker and sicker. I'm feeling a bit better today but I am still full of snot and coughing up stuff on a regular basis. But, I think I am past the worst of it and almost ready to get back to the drawing board.

I did miss a whole week of working on the OilCan Drive webcomic which put me behind schedule a bit but at least I found enough strength to finish up and post the latest page late Thursday night. I honestly don't know if anyone would have cared if I did miss a week but it felt like a personal accomplishment to get it up while I was feeling so bad. So, at least there is that.

And, as I clear out the Sports Illustrated Kids archive from last year, here are the three illustrations I did for the July issue of SIK. I really like the way the football piece came out and the greatest thing about doing these illustrations over the years is that it has really pushed me to always be drawing full figures interacting with each other in different situations. With comic book work or kid's books or even some magazine work it is easy to cheat and cut figures off at the waist or hide the parts of them you don't really want to draw.

But, with SIK it's always full figures and there is no where to hide.

So, while I've really enjoyed the work and the people I've been working with up at SIK, I love that doing these illustrations has pushed me to become a better artist. I always enjoy a challenge and work like this keeps me on my toes.

And, now that I'm feeling a little better I have a few new illustrations in mind. Hopefully I can make my way to the desk soon to see if I can get some of these image out of my head and onto paper.

Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you all soon.

Sports Illustrated Kids June

Here are a few more pieces from the Sports Illustrated Kids magazine's "What's The Call" article. These particular pieces come from the June 2013 issue.

What I remember best around these is that, at the time, I was really busy trying to put all of the OilCan Drive stuff together for June's Denver Comic Con. Having only to draw single characters for each piece was really a blessing and enabled me to get these pieces done quicker than usual.

It does all even itself out eventually. There have been more than a few months where I had to draw two complete football teams facing off against each other. But, at least for this month, I was glad it was kept relatively simple.

It really helped me out and helped make all the art I was doing at the time turn out great.

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

Sports Illustrated May

 Here are a few more illustrations from the Sports Illustrated Kids "What's The Call" article. These are from the May 2013 issue.

As I sit here putting the finishing white out touches on the March 2014 issue's illustrations I can't believe it's been so long since I shared these. But, better late than never.

Oh, and if you're so inclined, a new page went up on the OilCan Drive webcomic this morning. There is always something going on here in the studio!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Sports Illustrated Kids

 Phew, it's been a while since I posted any of these pieces. Yes, I still do the monthly art for the What's The Call article in Sports Illustrated Kids magazine. No, I haven't posted any of these and now I have a folder filled up with them to show.

These are from the April 2013 issue of the magazine and, since I have so many to show from the months beyond, I'll be putting up three a day or so until I am all caught up.

Sorry about the delay. As you may have guessed, the last few months of 2013 (or is that ALL of 2013?) got a bit busy.

But, enjoy the new art from "What's The Call" and I'll see you all tomorrow! Have a great one!

OilCan Drive, Track Two

And so it begins again!

After about a month off from publication, OilCan Drive's webcomic launches again today with the beginning of the second chapter, Track Two!

I'm still in the middle of drawing this newest adventure and, let me tell you, it is getting a little crazy as every character in the comic finally comes face to face with each other. If the cover is any indication, not everyone is going to get along as well as I'd hoped.

So, head on over to the OilCan Drive site, strap in, and enjoy the newest cover as we get this adventure started again!

Ryan's Hockey Jersey

 It's no secret that I took the design of the hockey jersey that Ryan Burke from OilCan Drive wears from the old Colorado Avalanche hockey jerseys that the team wore in 2001, the year I first came up with OilCan Drive.

Over the years Ryan has worn that jersey proudly, even when the actual Avalanche team wasn't doing so well. In 2007 Reebok took over the manufacturing of all NHL jerseys and some teams, the Avalanche included, changed the design of their uniforms.

I asked a friend if I should change Ryan's jersey as well to keep with the times and his response was, "keep him in the same jersey when the Avs won the Stanley Cup. It ain't gonna get better than that." So, I kept Ryan in the same jersey I had designed for him back in 2001. But, recently, I've come to like a lot of aspects of the newer jerseys and when I see the older jerseys at a game or on TV they just look dated.

So, it may be time to give Ryan an upgrade.

This last week I downloaded a blank hockey jersey template and played around a bit. While there are a lot of elements I like in the new jerseys there are also a few I don't like. So, instead of copying the new jersey I thought I'd take the elements I liked and leave off the ones I didn't.

One of the parts of the jersey that every fan seems to hate are the two double striped lines coming off of the neck down to the arm pits. This design alone has led a lot of fans to deem these jerseys "the uni-pron" since the lines makes it look like every player is wearing an apron with apron strings. So, I left those off.

But, I like the idea of a thick black line between the white and burgundy of the jersey and I really like the coloring on the sides underneath the arm pits. I kept the logo I designed for Ryan, an "A" I created so I wouldn't run into any legal issues by using the Avalanche's actual logo and I kept the big foot shoulder patches I designed as well.

And, because I was having so much fun with it, I designed a "home" jersey in the burgundy and blue colors. I'm not sure I'd ever put Ryan in this but you never know.

The question is, should I keep the old jersey Ryan currently sports in the OilCan Drive comic or move him into the present with the newer design? I am currently drawing a sequence where I could rip up and ruin his old jersey, forcing him to don the new one, or I could save the old one and keep it intact.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet but it was definitely fun to take a break from the regular illustration work and design a new jersey.

We'll see what Ryan's fashion future is soon enough!

Have a great one and I'll see you all soon.

The Happy Couple

I'm feeling a bit better after sleeping most of the day away today. I think a lot of rest is just what I needed. I can't remember having an extended period of time off since October of 2012 before all the client work, OilCan Drive, and Kickstarter fun seemed to take up all my time. I just figured I could keep working seven days a week and never take any time off forever.

But, I think it all finally caught up with me.

So, today I'm glad I got some much needed rest.

I felt a lot better tonight and got some work done with a clearer head than I've had in weeks. It really felt nice and I think I may have to put a few more of these rest days into my schedule more often than every eighteen months. We'll see how that goes.

And I finally got Mari and Robert's piece all shaded and colored and done. From what I hear this piece will be used for their "save the date" notices as well as being put on some magnets. I can't wait to see how both of those turn out but, for now, here is the finished piece from my end. I just hope they both like.

Okay, I am off. Have a great one and I'll see you next time!

Scanned and Prepped

The inks are done, the piece is scanned into the computer, and the color is prepped! Now to add some shadows and tones and make the piece pretty.

I haven't been feeling too good this weekend and I'm hoping it's not the flu but I'll get this piece done by tomorrow. Have a great week everyone. I'll see you all soon!

A Couple of Inks

I got almost all of the inks done on Robert and Mari's piece today. All I need to do now is erase the pencil lines and fill in the black areas indicated by an 'X.' Then it will just need a bit of touch up with the white-out and we'll be good to go.

I think I'll put this piece down for the night and let it dry a bit more before tackling it again. I'll get the finishes done on it tomorrow and then it will be time to scan it into the computer and add a bit of color.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you all soon!

An Engagement!

2014 has already started off with a bang and the announcement that a couple of friends of mine have finally gotten engaged! As a way to help them announce their "save the date" day I got out the art supplies and did my best to draw the happy couple.

I had a bit of trouble capturing the pencil sketch with the camera so I had to mess with it a bit in Photoshop to make sure you could see the image. But, so far so good, and I'll probably get a chance to jump on the inking this weekend.

For now, congrats to Robert and Mari! It couldn't have happened to a more wonderful couple!

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

Happy January and Happy New Year!

 Happy January and Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone made it through New Year's Eve and we're all still safe and sound.

I finished up the Henry illustration early this morning and got it all laid out in the newest blog header. I really like the way this piece came out and now the whole band is done! I'll probably make little stand-ups out of all the figures now and put them up on my shelf. It's the next best thing to having fully sculpted statues or action figures of OilCan Drive looking over my shoulder.

Now, the question is, who am I going to draw for February? I have a whole month to figure that out but if you have any ideas or anything you'd like to see let me know.

And here is the fully finished figure of Henry. As much as I wonder what I am doing sometimes when I see finished pieces like this it all makes it seem worthwhile. I just hope you like the way he came out as much as I do.

Here's to a great new year. As long as there are no floods, gas tank leaks, or cancer in the family this coming year it definitely has to beat 2013. Have a great 2014 and I'll talk to you all soon!