From My Desk

The Batman and Ryan piece is almost done and ready to be posted tomorrow. So, while I get that piece all wrapped up I thought I'd show off something else that is sitting on my desk today.

I rarely show off any of the story pages for the OilCan Drive project as I work on them because I don't want to spoil any of the upcoming story. But, for this one, I thought I'd make an exception. This crazy scene takes place about a third of the way into the second book and almost every character I've introduced in the story so far is in it. But, if this doesn't seem like enough to draw, don't worry, a few pages down the road the few people I have introduced that I left out of this drawing finally show up to join the party.

I don't know why I drive myself so crazy doing this project sometimes. All I know is, right now, I'd rather be working on it than not working on it. And that keeps me going.

Now I have to go ink this sucker.

Eeesh!

Batman and Ryan Inks

I got most of the inks on the Batman and Ryan piece done today. Now I just need to erase the pencil sketch, fill in the blacks, and touch it all up with a bit of white-out.

I'm hoping this piece turns out well. I'm still not sure how it will go over once I post it. But, we shall see!

Batman and Ryan

When I was running the Kickstarter campaign for OilCan Drive last fall a few friends of mine suggested I do a more commercial pin-up and post it on DeviantArt to attract a few new viewers. I figured I had nothing to lose so I did a piece of Batman villain Harley Quinn riding a bomb a la Miley Cyrus riding her wrecking ball.

I posted the piece, linked it to a few Batman-centric pages on DeviantArt, and the hits just went through the roof. The problem was that I could get people to check out the Harley Quinn piece but that didn't mean they were coming over to the OilCan Drive web-comic site or the Kickstarter campaign.

So, I thought I'd try another test this month. I'd draw a well known character and team them up with my own original character. That way, hopefully, I could get the same amount of hits because of the well known character but I could also try and drive them to my own site by showing off my own character.

And what better character to grab people's attention than the big man himself, Batman!

So, I sketched up this piece of Ryan Burke from OilCan Drive standing alongside Batman. If nothing else it is really fun to draw my interpretation of a well known character that I love. I'll ink it up, add some color, and see what happens when I put the piece on DeviantArt.

And, worst case scenario, I have a cool piece for March's blog header.

Keep your fingers crossed. We'll see how this goes in a few days!

Sports Illustrated Kids January/February

And, finally, here we are, caught up to the latest issue of Sports Illustrated Kids that should still be on store shelves. SIK only publishes eleven issues a year and groups the months of January and February together into one issue. 

Usually I don't get to put too many elaborate backgrounds into these pieces because we are always focused on the action. So, it was a nice change of pace to add a rain soaked field for the soccer piece and I really got to go to town on the hockey piece, adding not only the ice surface but the boards, the glass, and a crowd as well.

I feel like the basketball piece, by default, got a bit short changed this month. But, I promise to make it up to basketball next time around.

With us all caught up on the Sports Illustrated pieces and with me not knowing exactly when the next issue hits stands I'll be posting a few more work-in-progress pieces this week. And, I have started the illustration for the next blog header. Yes, it's an OilCan Drive piece. But there is a special guest star making an appearance that should be really fun to draw.

Enjoy your day everyone. I'll see you next time!

Sports Illustrated Kids December

Here are a few illustrations I did for the December issue of Sports Illustrated Kids. We are definitely getting closer to being caught up to the recent issues so thanks for putting up with all the sports art these last few weeks. I hope you're enjoying seeing some of this work on the blog as much as I'm enjoying showing it off.

I think my favorite of these three pieces is the football one simply because it's a bit different from what I'm usually asked to draw. Actually, I think this may be the first piece I've ever done where the referee is the only figure in the piece. Plus it was a cool kind of downshot which I don't normally get to do so that was fun to figure out.

I've just finished up the art for the April edition of SIK so I think we'll be caught up to the publication schedule here pretty quickly.

This week I've been catching up on some more OilCan Drive stuff, simultaneously penciling three pages while starting to sketch out the next piece I'll be using for March's blog header. It's all OilCan Drive related but there may be a few special surprise guests joining the band over the next few months.

Once the sketch is done we'll have to see how it goes.

But, for now, back to work for me. Have a great one and I'll see you all soon!

Sports Illustrated Kids November

 Alright, we are almost all caught up on these illustrations! Here are the three pieces I did for the November issue of Sports Illustrated Kids for their "What's The Call" article.

I'm actually right in the middle of doing the April illustrations right now. They just keep on coming so it feels good to finally get these pieces up on the blog to show them off.

And, if you were hoping for some kind of lovey dovey Valentine's Day post you can head on over to the OilCan Drive webcomic where, coincidentally, the long awaited reunion of former lovers Ryan and Lily is finally happening. You can check it out HERE.

Okay, back to work for me. But, things are really happening around the studio now and it's getting to be as busy as it's ever been. I'll have more news in the coming weeks but, for now, have a great one!

Sports Illustrated Kids October

 Here are a few more illustrations I did for Sports Illustrated Kids for last year's October issue. I'm in the middle of drawing the illustrations for April as we speak so I am almost caught up showing off all of the illustrations I've done for previous issues.

It's been a busy week but a good one. I've been juggling working on the new SIK stuff as well as getting a little bit ahead on the OilCan Drive art as well as finally starting to demo new songs for the next OilCan Drive album. I'm really excited and it feels really nice to have some new songs flowing out of me.

But, for now, it's back to the drawing board to work on some new stuff.

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

Sports Illustrated Kids September

After the awful game that the Broncos played yesterday in the Super Bowl I'm not sure if I even like sports anymore. But, the work keeps on coming and, honestly, no matter how bad a team I love does, I still really enjoy drawing sports stuff.

Plus, there is always hockey and the baseball teams report for spring training soon enough. And there is always next year. Ugh.

Here are the three illustrations from last September's Sports Illustrated Kids "What's the Call" article. It featured golf, football, and basketball.

Oh, if only the Broncos defense had tackled like the guy in my little drawing maybe we would have had a chance. But, watching that game, I don't think anything would have helped them.

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

Happy February

Happy February!

I finished up the color on Lily late last night and popped her into February's blog header in order to start the month out right. It is my birthday month after all and I can't think of a better way to start the celebration than having Lily welcome me to my month.

I talked a bit before about maybe using this piece not only as the blog header this month but also as the back cover for the newest issue of OilCan Drive. I'm still trying to kick this cold and multi-purposing this piece only made sense so I could catch up a little on the work load I've given myself.

So, not only did I do the full color piece of Lily but I also did the "variant" version that I will be using on the back cover of the next OilCan Drive book.

I think they both really turned out great and I'm really enjoying doing variant versions of my art these days. It's fun to do the regular version and then play around a bit to come up with a different color pallete and give the piece a completely different feel.

I hope you enjoy the new Lily piece as much as I enjoyed working on her.

It's going to be a great month, I can feel it! Have a great one and I'll talk to you all soon!