Sports Illustrated Kids April

I am finishing up the latest round of illustrations for the Sports Illustrated Kids "What's The Call" article this weekend so I thought this would be the perfect time to show off the illustrations I did for the April issue. The magazine should still be out on the racks so run out, grab a copy, and see if you can decide What's The Call!!!

Tight End Toss
 

Huntington Hikers tight end Quincy Bradley jumps up to catch a seven yard pass. While he is in the air, Bradley quickly tosses the ball backwards to Hikers offensive lineman Maurice Patton, who is an ineligible receiver. Patton runs for 10 yards after the catch. You're the official. Is this a legal catch?

Lucky Number Seven
 

During an overtime timeout in a college basketball game against the Roanoke Runners, Dayton Dunkers point guard Caleb Ingram quickly changes his torn jersey on the sideline. He switches to a jersey with a different number, from 11 to seven.  The team doesn't report the change before play begins. With less than a minute left, Ingram hits a three-pointer to tie the game. The Runners point out the jersey change to the referees after the shot. You're the official. Should the Dunkers be penalized for the jersey switch?

Missing The Point

The Caldwell Clovers have been awarded a crucial penalty kick against the Culver City Captains in a soccer game. Clovers striker Marsha Mahoney is taking the kick—but she's so nervous that she misses the ball. Captains goalie LaToya Barton, guessing which way the shot would go, has already leapt to her left. Mahoney recovers and boots the ball into the empty net. Barton jumps to her feet and shouts that the kick shouldn't count. You're the ref. Is she right? 

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

To The Stars

When Tom Delonge quit/was fired from Blink 182 earlier this year his almost immediate response was to announce an album full of all the demos, odds, and ends that he had planned for the upcoming new Blink album.

He's dropped three songs since then and today the album will finally be released.

So, because I had a little free time and because I wanted to celebrate and album that I am looking forward to I came up with this piece in my style based off of one of the videos that Tom released with one of the singles.

In the video he is walking around a city's downtown area carrying a broken guitar and looking over his shoulder quite a bit. I wanted to play with those images and wondered what he might be looking back at all the time. Because the album is called "To The Stars" I came up with the idea of Tom looking back at his own shadow which is exploding into the vast sky of the universe.

It was a really fun piece to do and I'm really happy with the way it came out. And, because I always try and take photos as I work these days, here are a few shots I got of the pencils before I started pushing ink around on the piece.

I hope you like it and, if you'd like to check out the music, you can find it at http://tomdelonge.me/

Personally, I'm really looking forward to the album coming out tomorrow and hearing some demos from an artist who has been nothing but inspiring to me.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the OilCan Drive Track Two Giveaway I ran this weekend. It went over great and the books should be shipping this coming week. I'm really proud of this book and I hope everyone enjoys the print version.

Have a great Monday everyone! It's time for me to go find some music!

TK, Mechanic Extraordinaire!

 I know, I know. It's been a while. But, it's not like I haven't been doing anything or lazing around binge watching Netflix shows (a week later and I am still four shows out from finishing the first season of Daredevil. Sheesh!)

Things have been busy here. I have almost written and arranged the six songs that will be recorded for the next OilCan Drive EP CD. I've been doing client work and learning new video production techniques. And, I've worked on, submitted, approved the proof, and ordered the next print issue of OilCan Drive, Track Two, the second chapter in the ongoing OCD series.

And, yes, I've also been drawing things here and there just for the fun of it.

I started this new piece of future OilCan Drive character, TK, while I was at lunch a few weeks ago. I didn't have anything pressing at the time and I felt like sketching something new, so I went through my sketchbook to see if I'd had any ideas I hadn't had time to work on yet. And this piece popped right out at me.

She will definitely be a fun and sexy new character to add to the cast in future OCD stories. I can't wait to get to her and see how she gets along with the rest of the people in my head.

Oh, and speaking of the new OilCan Drive book I just finished, if you're around tomorrow, Friday, April 17th, you can head on over to www.oilcandrive.com at 10am MST for a chance to win a free copy of the newest book. Supplies are limited and it's first come, first serve, so show up as early as you can. It's my little way of saying thanks to everyone for their support over the last few years with my personal project. I really appreciate it.

And here are a few process shots as I was working on the TK piece. Looking at them now, compared to the finished piece, I wonder if the phone on my camera stretches things out a bit because she looks a lot taller and skinnier in the photos than she does in the finished piece. Or maybe I just caught her at a weird angle. I don't know but my artist's eye can see the finished piece is a little bit off from the photos. 

Ah well, she is still super sexy and looks great no matter what angle you catch her at. See you all soon. It's back to work for me!

Happy April!