Seasons Greetings

This year's Christmas card. I wince as I post this, as there are still a few friends I haven't mailed this to yet. Please reserve your shock at my posting twice in one month!

The Gun Moll

Some weeks ago I took a paycheck to the only decent art supply store in St. Louis County and bought a variety of inks. I came up with mix of Higgins, some "non-shellac" nonsense and Pelikan Drawing Ink. In the future I can make do with Pelikan alone, as that's the only ink straight out of a bottle I can use with a decent black. You'd have better luck getting a better black out of old coffee than Higgins straight out of the well- yet I keep giving it another chance as though all the Higgins I've ever tried were just bad batches.

Mr. Happy

An older painting I had on my old site, and I honestly don't remember if I posted it here or not. Oil on board. I remember doing this when we first moved back to the mid-west from Jersey, camping out in my in-law's basement. Never a popular one with the immediate family. My son wouldn't enter the room unless it was facing against the wall and my wife always thought it was a rather cliched fantasy/horror piece. I suspect she's right.

Baby Tom Waits

At a function sometime during October, I happened upon a toddler whom I began to refer to as "Baby Tom Waits". It wasn't until I drew him from memory that I realized it was really Jack Nance from "Eraserhead".

New 52 Catwoman

In the year preceding the launch of DC's "52" facelift of it's titles, DC asked some of the Kubert School alum to submit ideas for the reboot.* My submission for a middle-aged Catwoman was roundly rejected as "Not appealing to DC's target audience of 13-60 year-old male shut-ins."

*Event occurred only in the artists head.

Old Acrylic Sketch

An oldie from 2000 or so. Acrylic on paper. El Greco would've been pleased with the color scheme.

A lunch hour sketch complete with thumbnail I did when my boss wasn't hovering at work. The turban was a last minute decision. All inked with my enemy microns.

Chubby Hulk

Another in the same spirit as the previous drawing. I don't think I intended to draw the Hulk, but it's where I wound up.

Carter?

An urge to draw Hawkman that left even as I was following it!

Rubes

Studies for a piece linking bib-front over-alls with developmental problems in the stereotypical rural South.

The Dog

The dog, taking a break from pouting to chew a rawhide bone. Drawn with a wretched micron.

Macy's Sale Flier

4 different bras, same model or what to draw when the Macy's sale flier comes in the mail.

Another 50 Minutes

Another example of seeing what I can come up with over a 50 minute lunch break.

Roger-Roger

Drawn in an Applebee's in Marshalltown, Iowa, waiting for dinner. I'm sure I was channeling my son playing Star Wars "Battlefront". For some reason I felt the urge to re-design the battle-droid.

Try the Quesadilla Burger .... with extra Cholesterol!

Blazing Diarrhea!

More smart-assery. A few years ago, when my son was around age 7, I had the idea of producing comic book covers of comics that I thought would appeal to his interests at the time (and mine as well). I went on to pencil a cover for "When the teacher stepped in doo-doo!!" and that's as far I got. Really, with a good colorist, I don't see how someone could resist buying this off the news stand.

The Host

A parent, waiting for her kids at Kumon Math Center, engaging in the national pastime. By the way, at a very young age, I thought "Smart-alec" was my middle name. Unsharpened black Crayola Pencil.

50 Minutes

50 minutes is about all I can realistically devote to drawing over a lunch hour ( if I don't eat) during a normal work day. It gives the illusion that I've done something creative, as all my time circles the drain! Along the way I may train myself to make quick decisions about composition, staging, proportion and pointy fingers. Distribution of darks is at the top of my list!

More Ruffage

A hodge-podge of pencil running during an evening of TV watching. See, if I have my sketchbook on my lap while watching TV, then I'm not wasting my time! It also keeps the cat off of my lap.

Character Designs for a New Era

Scrabbling about with blue pencil now and again. My in-laws gave me 2 china figurines of 18th century officers that'd been on their shelves for years. I keep them by my drawing board so that I have ready reference for that kind of poop!

Some Horses, more

I think this is the result of drawing during my lunch hour. I decided to employ horses, as it had been a while and you never know when you'll need to draw a horse!

Lucky Strikes

While watchin' the old Jack Benny Show, rather, The Lucky Strikes Hour featuring Jack Benny.
Since the show was sponsored exclusively by Lucky Strikes, everyone is smoking constantly. This was back in the days when the waist line on a pair of pants rode somewhere around the navel, and gravy was an expected item at every meal.

Black Panther and cobwebs

A sketch book page from a while back, probably clearing out the cobwebs. Blue pencil for old-time's sake. One of these actually looks vaguely like Marvel's Black Panther.

A Creepy Clown

What child wouldn't want this hanging from their closet door in the middle of a moonlit night? Drawn as I was imagining what a child probably would not want hanging from their closet door in the middle of a moonlit night. I had humpty-dumpty pillow that caused enough trouble on it's own and it wasn't life size. I recall arranging GI Joes strategically around my room to keep watch while I slept. These were the 11" GI Joes (with life-like hair), dammit, so they could've caused some real damage.
Now I just arrange bottles of Tums around the bed.

Last Doomfiste

The last of the Doomfiste character drawings, I think. I've traveled the Galaxy, wiping out their kind. Lower portion of the same page as below.

Doom Redux

I was cleaning and sorting stacks of old drawings in the studio this weekend and ran across this one. Here's one that didn't make it into the recycle bin. Again, my apologies for the lightness of the image, it's those darn HB pencils!

More Curves

Sometime last year, year and half maybe. I don't recall what I was going for, a Vampirella with an emphasis on curves I suppose. I keep a stack of 11x17 copy paper by the drawing board for warm-up sketches, quick ideas, etc., the size gives me room to play. I'm sure this was a warm-up sketch somewhere along the line.

More Juvenile Pursuits

Pointless juvenile imagery discussed at length in the previous post. I lifted the chopper from "Three Kings", the classic movie about the "First Gulf War to end all Gulf Wars" (snicker).

A Reactionary Piece

I was browsing one of my favorite blogs, Illustration Art over my lunch break. It's a great blog which leans towards the high brow for the most part. This particular day featured coverage of comic artists appearing at this year's San Diego Comic Con. I was following a chain of comments regarding the post on Ashley Wood and several of the contributors were in a huff about the "juvenile" content of Wood's work; scantily clad women, big guns, robots, etc., all the things I've come to love about Ashley Wood.
I grabbed a china marker from work, went out to my van and sketched this over the rest of my lunch hour. An ode to the Sacred and the Juvenile. I honestly don't know why I bother sometimes.

State of Modern Puppetry

This one's related to my superhero of the '90's, "The Puppet", of limited ability. I'm still living off of the residuals of that sensation. Note: the horizontal stripes on the stockings are for design/compositional considerations only and should not be considered endorsements for actual striped stockings, etc.

More Drivel

Well, "drivel" is a harsh word. An example of just moving the pencil around the page, really. It's like starting your car up regularly even if you don't have to drive anywhere, just to keep the parts oiled up and functioning properly.
I stole the raven from Mike Mignola's "Art of Hellboy" tome.

Bud Plant Catalog

Absently sketching from the Bud Plant Catalog. I'm back on the mailing list. Yes, I know Bud Plant is online, and there's probably an app which will deliver it straight up my bottom, but I like getting catalogs in the mail. It's full of great art/illustration/comic books as usual, but it's always teeming with "photography" books (ahem) too. Books with titles such as "Urban Butts!" and "A Concise History of Breasts". Informative stuff.
I've been scolded regularly for leaving it on the kitchen table.

Pen, Ink, Brown Paper

I keep forgetting that I occasionally use this sketchbook. This was done shortly after I discovered the sub-par quality of paper in my other sketchbook. After finishing, I realized I'd channeled a classic pose by Gil Kane. Pen n' ink on brown paper does make an appealing image though.

Hey, Ghostrider!

Yep, you guessed it, it's the flaming head of Don Imus. No. 2 pencil again.

From Russia, etc.

I didn't want to post this one, but I felt I would be dishonest if I didn't offer full disclosure. Inspired by a 3 second scene from "Enemy at the Gates" I absently drew a Soviet sailor while watching the rest of movie ( a family favorite along with Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone, etc., etc.). My son suffers a lot of post traumatic stress with this movie, as it brings up painful memories of the Battle for Stalingrad he experienced while playing a version of Call to Duty on his X-Box.
Yep, I'm a bad parent.

At the Bread Company

While in Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri, during the last week of July, my son and I duck into a Panera Bread joint to cool off with a slushee. The gentlemen above caught my eye. The elderly Bolshevik on the right wearing dark socks with sandals was an obvious choice. The other gentleman was so important that he needed to be in constant contact with the outside world at all times! "It's 3:00 pm in Jeff City, MO, better not risk even having the phone at arms length". Oy. Note: I forgot to bring my glasses with me so all of this was a big blur while I drew it.

Jefferson City, Our Capitol!

My wife recently took the Bar Exam over a couple of days in Jefferson City. This was the view from our hotel window. My son and I had a pretty good time. My wife, not so much.

A Future in Graphics!!

TV sketching again. This time I was inspired by a commercial featuring a young lass who turned her life around by pursuing a fulfilling career in graphics! It did not explain why the graduates of whatever tech school was being advertised, had to dress like it was 1984 .....

Conan Sketch

I was musing (again) about Frazetta's groundbreaking painting of Conan for the Lancer edition of Conan the Adventurer from the mid-60's. I was thinking about the bizarre expression Frazetta put on Conan's face in that painting and tried to drudge it up from memory. I didn't get close, but came up with a passable barbarian none the less.

On the Floor

My son, genuflecting before the television, same as us. Not shown: around 11,000 Legos in various heaps on the carpet.

Peter O'Donnell

Well, I've been ripping through Modesty Blaise books lately (the Titan reprints of the British adventure strip) and having a great time with them. This is a rather dry rendering of Peter O'Donnell, Modesty's creator, from a photo of him during WWII in then Persia. Probably talking about Kipling, the 'Soldier's Poet' and saying things like 'tommyrot' and 'bother', 'chaps' and 'lads', etc. It struck a chord with me as it reminded me of my old rock-climbing days; putzing about in dry climates, wearing battered shorts, rag-wool socks and pile jackets. Being outside in remote areas, drinking instant coffee and liking it, being young, -sniff-.
It's not an accurate likeness, although the stocking cap with ball on top is pretty close.

Pokemon Player at Rest

My wife is the only one of us smart enough to learn how to play Pokemon, so she occasionally indulges my son in a game or two. It is around this time that I began to tire of the stale, dry rendering I was adopting with an HB #2 pencil.

Stuff n' Nonsense!

The same day as below, drawn while waiting for my son to battle and defeat other noble pokemon players at a library tournament.

Playing the Pokemon

One of the local libraries held a Pokemon tournament one Saturday in early July or so and I played the dutiful father and sketched while my son played on. The child-star-handsome young man in the upper left is my son.
My parents were lucky since I suffered from so many phobias that I could barely leave the house when I was young.

Focus, You Dicks!

Sunday nights were "Movie Nights" in Baldwin Hall Theater at Northeast Mo. St. Univ. where I attended in the wee '80s and "Focus you Dicks!" was shouted at the beginning of every film regardless of the actual picture quality. It was a tradition. I think of that phrase when I look at the content of my sketchbooks. The range is baffling; grimacing superheroes, figure studies, tepid landscapes, and of course juvenile fantasies involving scantily clad babes with weapons.
I mean, really, how does one remember to bring their sword, shield, knife and boots and forget ones' bra?
I shudder to think what would happen if I narrowed my sights a little. On the other hand, the next sparkly thing that captures my attention could just be the ticket to success, my final leap home, as it were!

The Mall-Walker, the Pokemon Player and Security

Ahh life- she is beautiful! Random mall sketches waiting on Pokemon players around late June, early July maybe? You'll be happy to know that I've since switched back to black Prismacolor which means my sketches will be a lot richer. Unfortunately, there's a month's backlog of sketches until then .... please bear with me.

The Doomed Die Hard

My son looked over my shoulder and said, "Eeww, he's naked!" I toyed with this idea for a while, thinking up a back story and potential adventures, until I realized Hellboy has had a Right Hand of Doom since the early '90's or so. I dropped it shortly afterwards. This was also the last time I attempted to ink on my crummy new sketchbook.

Wonder Woman

My son and I have been ripping through comics this summer. I've instilled in him an appreciation for them, although it's slanted towards the 'Silver Age" of the '60's. He recognizes the masters; Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, John Romita Sr, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Joe Kubert, etc. at a glance .... my job as a father is complete.
Being surrounded by superhero comics causes me to spasmodically belch out various comic characters from time to time. Here, a rather butch Wonder Woman. I try to control the urge.

A Nautical Girl

Again with the nautical/girl theme. I'm looking forward to using a sketchbook that will accept pen n' ink someday.