And Some Color

I should have been doing a bit more client work last night but I ended up playing a bit more than I should have and colored in the Nicole/Tron piece instead.

It was fun and I really like the way it turned out.

But, today, it's back to work on the stuff I can't show off yet. Have a great weekend and I'll see you all soon!

Goofing Off

I had a little extra time last night before I went to bed so I started sketching out a picture of Nicole Baylor from OilCan Drive in a Tron suit.

I've been watching the new "Tron: Uprising" cartoon from Disney XD on Netflix this past week and I really love the design of the suits the characters in the show wear. I knew I wanted to draw one the moment I saw them and I figured, why not, let's put Nicole in one and see how it turns out.

What started as a sketch quickly turned into a fully inked piece. Once I started I just couldn't stop.

So, now that she's inked I'm going to scan her into the computer and add some color to the piece. It should be a lot of fun adding the glows and effects to the suit.

Wish me luck and have a great day!

Sports Illustrated Kids January/February and March

 It's been a busy week getting the newest illustrations done for the Sports Illustrated Kids' What's The Call article. Once OilCan Drive wound down it didn't mean any of the regular work stopped.

So, I thought it was about time I showed off a few more of the past illustrations I've done for the magazine. I always love doing these sports pieces. The action I can convey and the uniforms I get to design really feel like I'm doing my own sort of super hero comics that I always wished I could do as a kid. Plus, I get paid and they are seen by thousands of kids a month. I've had friends of mine who are Moms tell me they'll be driving along and here a yelp from the back seat, "It's Sean! It's Sean! I's Sean's art!" when they see the What's The Call article.

That a kid can see my stuff and recognize my style really warms my heart. It means I must be doing something right.

So, enjoy these illustrations from the January/February and March issues of SIK. I need to get back to work.

Have a great day!

Pin-Up Complete!

Nothing like starting out a Friday with a completed piece of art in hand.

I scanned in the inks yesterday and painted this pin-up piece last night. I tried to keep the color and textures like the original black and white illustration and continue a bit of that "messy art" into the color.

I think it worked out well and this was a really fun piece to do as a way to get back to the drawing board after completing all of the Oilcan Drive work. The question now is, what am I going to do next? There is a long list of things I'd like to get to and a little bit of client work to tackle but it feels nice to be able to explore a few different projects in between the crazy schedules I give myself.

I hope you enjoy the finished piece and have a great weekend!

Pin-Up Inks

 I found some time last night and started laying the ink on the newest pin-up I've been working on the last few days.

The basic line work was pretty straight forward but I really wanted to make this piece more "artsy" since I've been doing a lot of clean work these last few months.

So, when it came time to fill in the black areas and clean the piece up with some white-out I went a little crazy and started spattering white out all over both the art and my drawing table. It took a while to clean up and I still found speckles of white-out on the couch on the other side of my desk this morning. Oops. Ah well, it's all in the name of art and I think this piece was worth getting the couch and my desk a little messy.

 Now, it's time to scan the piece into the computer and lay on a little color. I don't think it will take too long but I have a few new ideas I'd like to try so I may take longer on this piece than I normally would.

It definitely feels good to do something different and artsy after spending the last few weeks dealing with printers, conventions, and rebuilding the OilCan Drive website. Nothing makes me happier than sitting at the drawing board and enjoying the simple act of creation.

I hope you enjoy the results so far. Tomorrow I should have it all finished up.

Have a good one!

Pin-Up Sketch

Since OilCan Drive and the 2013 Denver Comic Con are now in my rear view mirror I've decided to get back into the swing of things by doing a new pin-up piece.

After drawing so many things out of my head these past few months it's nice to sit down and base something off of a real person for a change. This new illustration is of a friend of mine named Mandey. I've been meaning to draw her forever so I figured it was about time to put pencil to paper and see how she came out.

The pencil sketch so far has come out great. Now I just need to get the brush and ink out and see what happens next. Hopefully I can get enough done on it tonight to have something to show you for tomorrow.

And, after this, who knows what's next? Robots, more pin-ups, more OilCan Drive....we shall have to see.

Have a great day!

OilCan Drive and The 2013 Denver Comic Con

 So, it's a week later and I am finally feeling almost like myself again after the sixteen week crazy schedule I put myself on to get all of the OilCan Drive project done and exhibit it at the 2013 Denver Comic Con.

The final tally of how many people showed up for the second convention put on in Denver is being reported as 61,000. That's far from from last year's 28,000 and a hell of a lot more than they were hoping for during that first con which was around 10,000. There were more than a few growing pains making that many people happy when twice as many people show up to a party than you planned for. Lines went around the whole convention center at least once to get inside. And, even though I had to lug a suitcase full of gear and merchandise past the long line, I was happy I had a table and was able to bypass the line to get inside and set-up.

Once everyone got inside it really went off without a hitch. It was a great weekend and the show went really well for us. I've found the biggest thing I'm up against with the OilCan Drive project is that I'm a relatively unknown comic book artist with a completely unknown comic book project. I could be a well known artist with a new project and do okay. Or I could be a completely unknown artist and be selling prints of Batman, Spider-Man, and known characters and be fine. But, I chose a nice uphill battle for myself and, I have to say, while it's going slow and steady, this year's convention went much better than last year's.

We had a lot of people coming up to the table, sold a bunch of books and music CDs, handed out a ton of postcards, and met a lot of really great people. The only thing that didn't show up on time which I would have loved to give out were the OCD vinyl stickers. They finally came last week on Friday, a week later than I needed them, and they looked great. I would have loved to give one of those out to everyone who passed by the table. Ah, well.

It was a long weekend...hell, it was a long sixteen weeks to get to that weekend...but it was all completely worth it. I already put my money down on a table for next year so I now have fifty one weeks or so to get my act together and get some new stuff out there. I think it will be fine. This last week of resting and reworking the OCD website has been great but now I'm itching to get back to the drawing board again and create some new stuff.

Here are a few photos I snapped at the convention of both our table and some of the people who came by. The guy in the Breaking Bad Walter White mask completely freaked me out the first night I saw him. It was so lifelike that it looked like someone had used CG to put Bryan Cranston's face on this guy's body. Except it was all real and right in your face. It was actually a bit disturbing.

Joel Adams was a great guy to meet and sat across from me all weekend. He had some great art to look at and was a super nice guy. I think the weekend was getting to him a bit as he can be seen here "resting his eyes."

The bad part of having a table is you don't get to walk around the convention nearly as much as you want to and see all the things other people are seeing. The good part is you have a home base and, if you sit there long enough, most of the convention actually comes strolling right by you. So most of the pics of people in costume I got came by the table and were kind enough to stop for a picture.

It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again. Of course, now I need to do something even bigger for next time. Anyone have any good ideas?

Enjoy the photos and have a great day!

Happy June!

Oh, and I almost forgot....Happy June!

OilCan Drive Pre-Convention

The OilCan Drive Pile

 The sixteen week crazy schedule I gave myself to get all of the things I ever wished I had done for OilCan Drive is finally over! And, I have to say, I did pretty well. Some things had to be cut or pared down simply because I didn't have the time but, for the most part, I think I did really well.

Sixteen weeks ago, around the end of January, I knew I'd have a table at the second Denver Comic Con. At the time I was doing around a page a week of OilCan Drive and I had about twenty pages left to go to get the book done. With sixteen weeks left I knew I'd have to step it up and, for at least a few weeks, I'd have to complete multiple pages. That kind of made me nervous. But, once I accepted it, I went even further. I made a list of all the OilCan Drive things I wish I could bring to a comic book convention. It included not only the comic book but a CD of music, postcards, trading cards, banners, t-shirts, and stickers.

And then I wrote out a schedule to make all of those things possible.

The Pile, From Another Angle

I knew it would be a crazy schedule and might drive me nuts but, in the end, I thought giving up sixteen weeks of my life to complete a lot of the things I've always wished I'd done wasn't too bad at all. And, yes, it did make me crazy, but I got most of it done.

In the last blog post (almost two weeks ago now...sorry) I had finished mixing the OCD music album and had sent it off. I was exhausted but there was so much more to do. Not only did I have to completely finish the comic book in less than a week but I also had to finish some client work as well. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and went and saw the new Star Trek movie. On Thursday I spent the day inking and scanning the client work and prepped it for color. All that was left now was the OCD book.

The Plastic Spoon Press Stamp

All the art on the book had been done and all the pages were scanned into the computer. More than half the book had been toned and ready for zip-a-tone patterns. I had about eleven pages left to tone which wasn't too bad. The problem was that I had only scripted and lettered the first three pages of the book. I still had twenty five pages with no dialogue and no lettering. And it was Friday night with the book needing to be done and ready for print by Monday morning.

I stayed up late Friday scripting and toning. I woke up Saturday and did more of the same, at least getting the script all written by dinner time and prepped before I went to bed. Both Friday and Saturday night I went to bed when I heard the birds outside waking up.

I Stamped a Ton of Bags.

 

Sunday was my last chance to get it all done and I wasn't going to fail. Not that close to the finish line. I woke up at 11am, ate come breakfast, and sat down to work at around noon. I had more lettering to complete and more than a few pages left to tone. I know I stopped for dinner around 8pm. The clock seemed to be moving so fast and I had no way of slowing it down. When all was said and done I put in an 18 hour work day on Sunday, stopping only to eat once, and finally called the book done and ready for print at 6am Monday morning. The birds and the sun put me to bed.

Five hours later I woke up, went and worked an eight hour shift, and then spent four more hours printing the book and getting it done. I got home around 2am.

But, it was done. The last and most important part of the OilCan Drive project, the actual comic book, was done. And it looked good.

OilCan Drive Comic Book #1

By Tuesday, everything I had hoped to achieve four months ago was finally done. All the postcards, trading cards, business cards, t-shirts, and banners I had ordered over the last month had shown up and looked great. By Thursday the CDs arrived. And the books were already in hand and ready to go. The only thing that didn't show up were the stickers I had ordered over six weeks ago. They were the first things I ordered and the last things to arrive. Even now I am waiting for the stickers to show up but I am hoping they come tomorrow. While they didn't get here in time for the convention I'm still hoping they look great.

"Breaking the Border" CD of Music

On Thursday night my good friend from college, Thom Zahler, showed up at my door and we took a drive down to Denver for a pre-show signing at one of Mile High Comics' large warehouse stores.

The work of getting all the OilCan Drive stuff done was over. But, the real work was only just beginning.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about how the actual convention went, complete with photos. For now, enjoy these photos of all the stuff I created. Sixteen weeks to realize a dream even though it almost drove me crazy? Yeah, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Have a great day!

Trading Cards and Postcards

Chocolate, anyone?

OCD and PSP T-Shits