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!