Inking and Painting

I got the inking for the newest Lily piece done a little earlier this week so I figured it was about time I showed it off. Unfortunately the piece of Krazz still sits there, uninked and looking none too happy about it. Ah well, Krazz, maybe next time!

Like the Brick piece I did last month I really wanted to try and paint the Lily piece all by hand. The Brick piece was easy since he is a crazy looking guy, especially in that piece. It made all the brush strokes in the paint look that much better. But, will painting a pretty girl who needs a smooth look work as well? We'll see.

Like last time I printed out the black inked line in a non reproducible blue line on a piece of bristol board. Unlike last time, I glued it to the heavier board first. Last time I taped the Brick piece down to a board and then glued it down to a heavier piece of board after it was already painted. We'll see if doing it this way keeps the piece from curling under all the water I am throwing on the paper.

I started by laying down some ink wash in the background. I wanted to try some different techniques and build an interesting background this time. On the Brick piece I just laid down an ink wash behind him and hoped for the best. This time I wanted to play a bit with the lighting and see how it goes. I even tried to do some "Kirby dots" by dipping the plunger tip of an old ink bottle top in my wash mix and making little dots all over the piece. I love the design aspect of it and I think it will look cool when I lay the color wash over it.

I don't know if I'll get this piece completed by tomorrow (I still have a few things I need to get to today before I tackle the painting) but it will definitely be done soon.

Okay, back to it. Have a great one and I'll talk to you all soon!

New Blog Header?

 I really thought I'd be inking the new Krazz penciled piece for my blog header this month but, while suffering from a little bout of insomnia this last week, I had an image of Lily in my head with her hair pushed over part of her face. The pencil sketch for her came together quickly and I am hoping I can get her inked and colored before the beginning of August. We'll see what happens in the next few days.

I do like the pencil sketch of Krazz but, honestly, it's hard to say no to Lily. She's just too darn cute!

Inks will definitely be coming soon! And, if I have enough time, maybe I'll get over to Krazz and get some inks on him as well!

Have a great one!

Sports Illustrated Kids July

 I just finished up September's "What's the Call" illustrations for Sports Illustrated Kids so I figured it was about time I showed you the pieces that are in July's issue, out this month and on the stands as we speak.

This month featured scenarios that had a triathlete getting a flat tire on his bicycling leg of the race, a skier who loses a ski but still finishes the course, and brings up the question if you, as a second baseman in baseball, can throw your glove with the ball in it to first base and still have it considered an out.

These are always a lot of fun to do and I hope I keep getting to do them for a long time.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll talk to you soon!

This...

...just made my day a whole lot better.

Tonya Kay's Pin-Up Pole Show

Here is a piece I worked on last month while I was stuck in the little bedroom studio while the hardwood floors were being installed. Since it has now been shown off on all sorts of social media networks I figured it was safe to show it off myself.

A friend of mine out in Los Angeles, Tonya Kay, approached me about doing some pin-up and logo work for her for a new company she was starting called "Tonya Kay's Pin-up Pole Show."

We started with the pin-up figure, based off a photo shoot she had done a few months prior. We changed the hair a bit and played around with a few different costume designs before we settled on the leopard print look with the arm stockings. I tried to push for cat ears, a la Josie and The Pussycats, but was shot down. Ah well, what can you do?

Once the figure was done we played around with the logo a bit, added Tonya's purple classic car, The Grape Space Coaster, and settled on the final design.

You can check out Tonya's website HERE and check out the Pin-Up Pole Show HERE.

It really sounds like a great experience, riding around in a classic car with beautiful burlesque dancers, dinner, drinks, and rock and roll to cap off the evening. Yeah, I may need to go visit LA one of these days!

But, for now, I am really happy with the way the art turned out. Here are a few production shots of the work in progress. Because we were messing around with costumes I made a paper-doll like pin-up that we could add different clothes to. That alone was a lot of fun and I can see at some point doing something like this with different costumes.

The question is, what costumes to draw Tonya in?

Have a great day everyone! Enjoy the art and I'll talk to you soon!

Happy July!

Like you didn't know I was going to use the new Brick illustration for this month's blog header...

Happy July everyone! I hope you have a great month!