Scott Sackett

More Zbrush!

2012-01-11T22:02:00.001-06:00

Here's a skull I created while learning Zbrush. I wanted to render it like some sort of retro '50s kids plastic toy, instead of just trying to emulate bone.

Always the storyteller, I was looking for something a little creepy, like a Ray Bradbury tale of a long forgotten childhood Halloween.

Joker sketch

2012-01-10T19:14:00.000-06:00

Sketch of the Joker.

Learning Zbrush

2011-12-29T17:23:00.001-06:00

I'm learning Zbrush at work. This was my first attempt to do something in 3d.

Sketchbook

2011-12-26T20:20:00.000-06:00

This is a 2 page spread from my med Moleskin sketchbook. I don't always like my own art, but I LOVE the drawing of the girl with stripes on the lower left. I think I nailed the attitude I wanted her to have

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T20:59:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks you for visiting my blog. No matter how you celebrate it, I hope the holiday season was happy and that 2012 will be a better year for all of us and that you have a prosperous year both presonally and professionally!

The Process:

Step 1: I wanted to experiment a little with drawing in the computer, so I drew a rough in Autodesk Sketchbook express. At this point my goal was just to be loose, I was literally 'making it upa as I went along.

Step 2: I took my sketch into Photoshop and added it to a layer and traced over it. I did this step in Photoshop because I am more comfortable with the layers and sizing the print in Photoshop since I am just lerning Sketchbook. Once I got something I felt I could work with, I turned it light blue and printed it out at 11x 14.

Step 3: I inked directly on the light blue print. This was the most enjoyable step, becasue all the 'work' had already been done and I just focused on line weights and texture.

Step 4: I scanned the inks into Photoshop, dropped the light blue, then added colors.

More sketchbook stuff

2011-12-20T20:22:00.001-06:00

Here's a few more sketches from the last month or so...

Drawing of a co-worker

Working on figures

Trying to capture a likeness of The Hulk

The Scarlet Witch!

Book Cover, part 2

2011-12-20T17:13:00.001-06:00

Well, after everything was approved on the book cover and after I got paid, the writer wrote me. Basically he had decided that he wanted something a little more cartoony and he asked if I'd like another shot, so this is what I did:

The funny thing was I had thought he wanted something more realistic, so I steered my first version that way. Now I think everybody is happy and that's the most important thing.

Sketchbook

2011-12-20T17:08:00.001-06:00

It's been too long since I updated my blog. My cover below didn't go as smooth as I had hoped (more on that in another post) but here's a few sketches for now.

My wife has an iphone and is checking her email while we are waiting for food. I would be annoyed, but I was drawing, so what can I say..

I had to go to the doctor recently to get chacked out after having some vertigo. Luckily, it just an infection. Also luckily, I didn't have to sit on this table!

Finished cover

2011-11-21T21:37:00.001-06:00

Thumbnails for book cover

2011-11-03T18:02:00.000-06:00

As mentioned in my perious post, I've hired to draw a book cover. The author, Aaron Pogue loved the chacter sketches so I did a series of thumbnails. Of the half dozen I drew I liked these three and sent them to Aaron.

I had met face to face with Aaron and he gave me the big picture of his book and the entire series. This cover was described by him as a girl thief, in a balcony garden.

(Incidentially, I asked f it was okay for me to use the art in my portfolio, blog, etc. and Aaron kindly gave me premission. You should always ask, not every client feels the same way.)

I haven't heard back what Aaron thinks, but I'll continue to post my steps in this process.

Character Sketches

2011-11-01T20:04:00.001-06:00

I was hired to draw a book cover for a book called 'Notes from a Thief" by Aaron Pogue. As part of the deal, I did some sketches for Aaron, just to make sure we are on the same page.

The Thing

2011-10-02T16:48:00.001-06:00

While getting art ready to take to the New York Comic-con, I have been looking through old art and I found this sample of a Thing story I created to take to the con a few years ago.

I think my Thing is a little small for current Marvel continuity & I guess they weren't blown away by a story about Ben not being able to sign an autograph, but I kinda like it.

New Comic book Pages

2011-09-22T23:43:00.002-06:00

3 pages from a pitch I am creating for NYCC.

New art

2011-08-30T21:25:00.000-06:00

A couple of animal drawings and a sketchbook page of figure construction.

Critiqued by ComixTribe

2011-08-28T20:28:00.000-06:00

My Avengers samples were critiqued at www.comixtribe.com by Tommy Patterson and you can watch the video below. Someone commented to me they felt he was overly harsh, but I pointed out an editor has never sugar coated their opinion also he said he felt my work was professional level, so what more could I ask for.

The critique is pretty informative and worth watching.

Video streaming by Ustream

Zoo Drawings

2011-08-28T20:03:00.000-06:00

I went to the Oklahoma City Zoo recently and did some animal drawings. Funny thing about drawing animals is they won't sit still for you so part of the challenge is to capture the animal in motion. These are roughly in order they were drawn.

The big new attraction at the Okc Zoo is the baby elephant and i was told to make many drawings of him. Also, this summer Okc has had record heat and so I was only at the zoo for a couple of hours.

What if PIXAR did a Rocketeer film?

2011-08-22T19:58:00.001-06:00

The Rocketeer 20th anniversary from John Banana on Vimeo.

Blog broke!

2011-08-19T12:54:00.001-06:00

Oh man! I guess my update didn't work too well with blogger, so i haven't been updating. Now I figured it out and I'll be back to posting more frequently.

Web page update

2011-08-19T12:48:00.002-06:00

I just updated my website: www.scottsackett.org with a new design and lots of new art.

It's been awhile...

2011-08-03T20:42:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I updated my blog. I was assigned to draw a story for Viper Comics. I drew Caged a story written by Ross May for Crytophobia, Viper's online webcomic devoted to cryptozoology.

This was my first professional job drawing comics. Now that it is done, I am searching for my next gig.

SoonerCon '11

2011-06-05T07:30:00.002-06:00

I am at SoonerCon in Oklahoma City (my hometown) this weekend and I am doing free sketches. Here are some of the ones I thought were extra cool!

Big News!

2011-06-05T07:28:00.002-06:00

Sorry I've been super busy, but I got some HUGE news.

Last Sunday, I got an e-mail with my first comic book script assigned to me to draw from a big time publisher!

It's only 14 pages and it's for their online anthology, but this is a huge step for my career. I can't give any more details now, but I'll post more soon!

FCBD sketches

2011-05-08T17:40:00.003-06:00

Some of the around 50 free sketches I did for people for Free Comic Book Day! It was a blast and I love drawing sketches for people. I've not really done a whole lot of that sort of thing and so I was pretty intimidated at first, but I got pretty comfortable. I'm not sure the quality was always the best possible, but I know the price was always right!

Thor sketch for FCBD!

2011-05-06T17:27:00.002-06:00

Practice sketch since I don't normally draw with sharpies on a backing board!

Thor

2011-04-16T19:24:00.004-06:00

I've been so absorbed in trying to get "The Big Easy Score", my comic with writer Brian Tanner done and to a publisher that I've neglected my blog. The book is done and we are submitting it to publishers. Anytime you create something you pour a little of your own soul into it and the submission process can be discouraging because art meets commerce and often its a fight to the death and since commerce holds the gold it seems often to win. However, art is truth and in the end, truth always wins! Mario Wytch & I are meeting at lunch and having a 'pin-up' battle, where we pick a character and both draw it. Thursday was Thor and I wasn't happy with my entry, so today I drew this.

1952 VW

2011-04-16T19:23:00.002-06:00

'52 Volkswagen Beetle drawn for a car show.

Warrior Chick

2011-03-14T20:57:00.003-06:00

I'm going to be at Planet Comicon in Kansas City on March 26-27 and I wanted to do a few pin-ups to put in my portfolio.

St. Anthony Hospital - Power of Prayer

2011-01-18T23:45:00.000-06:00

I was on Youtube and I found this commercial I did Storyboards for.

It's been too long...

2011-01-13T00:01:00.002-06:00

I just realized it's been almost 2 months since I updated my blog. I have been hard at work on my comic book, The Big Easy Score and will post pages here soon. Also, I have been doing some work for a game company. The only downside to that is I cannot share any work I do for them. We are still nailing down some of the details and so at this point I am not officially working for them, but they are paying me for my work so far and have expressed enthusiasm for having me do more work for them, so hopefully soon.

Sketchbook

2010-11-15T22:42:00.007-06:00

Recently, we spent a week in New York City. Here are some pages from my sketchbook, drawn while traveling or just waiting.

Four panels drawn while flying, these are just my attempt to visualize some imaginary settings. Clockwise from upper right: A modern airport, a swamp shack, a fantasy type castle & a walled ancient Asian walled city.

Some figure doodles and a drawing of an italian restaraunt we ate at, drawn while waiting.

Some more doodles, the drawing on the right was drawn after my wife had a dispute with a girl on the plane who insisted her 3 bags were actually 2 and should be allowed.

A couple more settings. The unfinished drawing on the right was inspired by a dream I had as a kid about an old man who lived in a house that was more a marine museum/aquarium.

Moer Big Easy score pages

2010-11-06T22:14:00.002-06:00

Here are a few more pages from The Big Easy Score.

sketchbook drawing

2010-10-15T14:12:00.004-06:00

Drawing I did while waiting for my car to be serviced.

I think it's a Honda Crv & took about 15 minutes.

Big Easy Score page

2010-09-25T13:54:00.003-06:00

First done page for The Big Easy Score. I finished one page so the writer could see the final 'look' of the book.

The Big Easy Score pages

2010-08-28T17:31:00.003-06:00

First three pages of The Big Easy Score. I'm inking the book myself, so the pencils are loose to help keep the final inks loose. The 'pencils' are red because I drew the book with a red Col-erase pencil.

Ink Test

2010-08-14T13:38:00.001-06:00

One thing I want to do on The Big Easy Score, is to do all the inks with traditional tools, ie nib pens and brush. I feel the tactile feeling of dragging a nib across the page will add to the 'earthy' feeling of the art and convey the grittyness of New Orleans.

Since I haven't inked anything with traditional tools in years I decided i better break out some ink and brushes and practice.

I'm glad I did as most of my tools were dried up or rusted. Still I had enough to ink this panel. My hatching is rusty (each corner is different) but for the most part I like this and cannot wait to get started inking on the real pages!

Drawing in Photoshop

2010-08-11T21:19:00.003-06:00

I've been reading a book about drawing in Photoshop and thought I'd give it a try.

It's far from perfect, but I liked the look. A friend commented how he could tell I drew it despite being an experiment in a completely new medium.

2010-06-09T22:34:00.000-06:00

Final design for my soccer logo.

Lady Cockroaches

2010-06-08T19:34:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine did some charity work in Honduras. one thing he is involved with is a women's soccer team. They built a stadium in this village and formed a soccer team. People will come from miles around to watch the games and the locals can sell them stuff and make money.

My friend asked me if I would draw a logo for the team, The Lady Cockroaches. Thic is my rough.

Avengers sample

2010-03-13T09:16:00.001-06:00

New Avengers Sample

2010-02-20T17:49:00.003-06:00

Here is the double page spead I mentioned below. I scanned it early to show a friend and will tweak a few things before i send it in. This is a total of 6 scans pieced together, so when I re-scan the final I may do it a little different.

I need (okay want) a bigger scanner!

New Avengers preview

2010-02-20T17:34:00.004-06:00

Reaction to my Wolverine sample was okay, so now I'm drawing a New Avengers sample based off #56. I decided to draw this script when I read it and saw it all toook place in Times Square.

This is my first panel, HOWEVER after speaking to my contact at Marvel he suggested I draw the double page spread on the two pages before this. Only problem is some stuff in the spread dosen't match this panel.

So I have to pitch this panel. Which is too bad because I really liked the way the panel came out (except the background was a little too busy) I was happy with the 'style' of this sample, a slight change from my wolverine sample.

Marvel had commented that I needed more detail in my backgrounds so I went crazy!

I've really tried to experiment with my style and find something I liked and I think this may be something close. I think a drawing style is something an artist shouldn't examine to closely out loud or like knowing a magic trick, it will lose some of it's power.

Test

2010-01-29T18:53:00.001-06:00

This is a test of a blog app for my iPod.

Wolverine Sample

2010-01-03T22:24:00.003-06:00

Here is a sample I drew to submit to Marvel Comics from a script sent to me by the their talent scout. (I think I tricked him into it!)

The Great Blizzard of Christmas '09

2009-12-25T16:50:00.007-06:00

Obviously we got a lot of snow on December 24th. I think the photos speak for themselves.

Looking south towards D. L. Nelson's house.

Looking to my west.

Out my back door. Notice the neglected grill.

Luckily, I was well equiped for this weather.

12-15-09 life drawings

2009-12-16T22:41:00.002-06:00

all 20 min

CATFISH!!

2009-12-15T23:12:00.003-06:00

It was too cold to walk at break today so I drew this. I am planning on doing a 24 hour comic soon and i want to draw it all in Sharpies, so I'm practicing drawing quick with a Sharpie. This was drawn in my 10 minute break.

Catfish is based on a story someone told me as a kid. i don't remember the story, just that it really scared me. Catfish is a basically bigfoot crossed with a fish. Like I said this story gave me nightmares for weeks!!

life drawings

2009-12-15T23:09:00.004-06:00

5 min pose

20 min pose

Figure Drawing Workshop

2009-11-09T22:00:00.014-06:00

This weekend I attended the Figure Drawing Crash Course at The Society of Figurative Art (TSOFA) in Dallas.
http://www.tsofa.com/

It started Saturday at 9:30, so I left early.

Some people questioned why I would drive to dallas to go to a class, but when I got there I was suprised to find, of the people not from the Dallas area, I drove the shortest distance! One guy flew in from California!

I was glad to finally see the sun.

The studio was a really nice setup.

The day consisted of a morning of Miceal Mentler lecturing, then we spent the afternoon drawing. Micheal would look over our drawing and make corrections and suggestions. Here he is lecturing on interlocking the forms of the figure.

Part of the lecture on Micheal's system for drawing the head.

Using shapes to build the figure.

Creating the figure using line, shape or tone.

In the afternoon, we drew from a model, Laura Garabedian . She's an athletic girl into rock climbing and dance. Also, she's a pretty good artist. You can check out her work at http://lauragarabedian.com/ She had a great attitude and that makes a big difference in a model.

Here are some of Micheal's figure drawings.

And here are some of mine. Over the course of the weekend, I drew about 30 drawing like these. I was very happy with what I learned and I would recommend TSOFA to anyone who wanted to learn to draw the figure better. I will go back as soon as possible.

Sketches

2009-10-12T21:29:00.002-06:00

Here's some stuff from my sketchbook.

I have been attending figure drawing sessions at the art guild so when I look at these pages all I see are problems.

Plus on the drive to Colorado it was too bumpy to draw so I spent a lot of time studying Bridgeman.

These sketches are full of proportion problems and I seem to be consistently drawing my necks too thin.

However, I know the only way to get better is to keep drawing and I am encouraged by the fact that I find it easier and easier to spot flaws in my own work.

Big Texan!

2009-10-12T18:13:00.006-06:00

My wife and I had to travel to Colorado the weekend for her Grandmother's funeral. Always trying to turn lemons into lemonade, we decided to stop at the Big Texan on the way.

The Big Texan is hard to miss. If you don't see the big sign or the yellow building, you can't miss the big cow!

It's off I-40, right outside Amarillo, Texas. Michelle grew up in Amarillo, but she'd never been to the Big Texan. I've always wanted to go, but everytime we go to Amarillo it always on somebody elses time.

When we told her family we had stopped there, they kind of scoffed about stopping at a tourist trap, but to be honest I thought it was kind of cool.

The Big Texan's claim to fame is a FREE 72 oz steak. IF you eat it in an hour, with all the sides. While we were there these two brave souls were giving it a shot.

I had a much more modest 8oz strip steak. It was still pretty good.

Plus, it came with chili as a side! Only in Texas!

However for me, the really cool thing about The Big Texan was the atmosphere. It was done in kind of a '60s cowboy decor, with lots of animal heads and kitsch. If you are ever traveling thru the Texas panhandle, I highly recommend you give a try. And if you have an appetite, you might even try you hand at the 72 oz challenge!

New Pages

2009-09-21T22:58:00.003-06:00

These were drawn as a sample for Marvel Comics. The script is from Uncanny X-Men 500. My friend sent me bunch of scripts and I couldn't resist drawing the X-Men because I have been a fan since the Claremont/Byrne days.

Cover

2009-07-14T23:03:00.003-06:00

Here's my cover for Iron Tiger. In reality, I am going to clean it up a little bit. I think there's too much wording, but this is the basic layout and as close as I can get online to the paper color.

I'm planning on removing the cover blurb and price on front and the bio and some of the text on the back. I'll have to play with it to see how it looks, but that's the advantage of doing art in the computer.

The problem is when you are tempted to fiddle with it too much!

New Car

2009-07-08T21:08:00.004-06:00

I've been busy finishing up Iron Tiger, but I still managed to sell my '03 Honda Civic Si and pick up a new Honda Si sedan. A lot of people wondered why I got the same car again, but I really liked my old car and this one is better in every way.

The new ride.

Well, there are a few things I liked better about my old car. The '09 has a digital speedometer, I prefer a more traditional dash, but I'll get used to that. Also my old dash had a shelf above the glove box I kinda liked, plus an extra cup holder by the driver's door. And it's coin holder was felt lined to prevent rattles.

Still this is all minor stuff, I'm sure I'll get used to the new stuff pretty quickly and the new car is so much cooler!

IRON TIGER !!!!

2009-06-29T18:55:00.003-06:00

This is the first official page for Iron Tiger. Everything before was a test.

Sketches from my trip

2009-06-16T12:39:00.001-06:00

Here are a few sketches I drew while on my trip this weekend.

Here are a few sketches I drew while on my trip this weekend.

Iron Tiger Test redeux

2009-06-15T18:51:00.002-06:00

Iron Tiger pencils

2009-05-31T21:26:00.003-06:00

Here some of my favorite pencils for Iron Tiger. Since I'm inking these myself, I kept the pencils loose. But these should give you and idea where I'm going.

Iron tiger

2009-05-17T15:56:00.004-06:00

This is the first page of my comic I am going to take to SDCC. The look is very experimental and so I wanted to finish one page just to get a feel for how the finished book will look.

Like I said in my last post, I'm going for an old school zip-a-tone look. I was very inspired by the FCBD Teenage Mutant Nina Turtle book, both for the look and for the essays in the front of the book.

UPDATE: Okay, I've changed my mind. This is not going to be part of Iron Tiger. After I posted this I decided I do not like that and will be changing it!

Half-toned

2009-05-12T13:53:00.004-06:00

After hanging out with CB, I've been inspired to produce my own comic this summer. This is the look I am going for, kind of an old school zip-a-tone effect.

The drawing was done with some pens I bought in NYC last week in my sketchbook. The zip-a-tone was done by a secret method I've developed.

Talking to CB was very inspiring, like I said, he urged me to produce a comic. I am planning on doing Iron Tiger, an old school kung-fu comic. The look is going to be similar to this drawing, but not quite as loose.

Right now the plan is to draw the entire comic in my sketchbook, so if you see me in San Diego and ask nicely, you should ba able to read my entire comic in my sketchbook.

I'm not 100% sure how many pages Iron tiger is going to be, but right now it looks like it'll be 32.

Me and CB

2009-05-09T08:47:00.004-06:00

One of the fun bits of our trip to New York was I got to spend an evening with Marvel Comics talent scout, C. B. Cebulski.

The details are too sorted to go into here, but the evening started with us meeting at the "Marvel Bar", there was a terrifying high speed cab ride through central park in the pouring rain (at one point CB leaned out the window giving another cab the finger!) and ended with us at an illegal basment bar owned by a superstar comicbook artist!

Needless to say, I had a ball!

(Just for the record, I do not drink, the strongest thing I drank all night was a sprite.)

I wanted to get a photo of the evening for the blog, but it took three attempts!

First try: Steve the bartender manged to hold my phone backwards, taking his own picture!

Second Attempt: A little dark, but at least it's the right direction!

Final Shot: Steve truned on the lights, but it's still a little fuzzy. Given the time, I went with this attempt!

NYC

2009-05-01T11:14:00.002-06:00

We're leaving for NYC this weekend and I am so excited!

The Thing

2009-04-30T21:54:00.003-06:00

As an experiment, I drew this Thing page in one of those 11 x 14 black hardcoversketchbooks. My goal was to be able to draw comic pages in a form that I could carry around with me-kind of a mobile studio.

I've messed with this before with mixed results.

I thought this page came out okay, but I didn't like the paper in the book. The paper is too rough, soft and thick. I prefer dawing on paper harder and thinner.

I like drawing with a 2H and that tears up the soft paper.

Still I liked drawing in the book and a Starthmore has really good paper. I have a big summer project coming up and i liked drawing in the hardback book, so I guess I need to pick up a new book!

The Bodyguard

2009-04-29T21:21:00.002-06:00

Figures

2009-04-06T10:48:00.002-06:00

Figures

2009-04-06T06:55:00.002-06:00

Figure sketches

2009-04-02T09:43:00.001-06:00

Despite the lousy weather, DL Nelson and I drove to the Kansas City Planet Comicicon this weekend. I am glad we did, it was awesome. I got to talk to some pretty cool artists and several looked at my portfolio and gave me advice.

The general idea behind most of the advice: Work on the structure under the figures.

It’s not like I don’t know this, I just need to practice it until it becomes second nature. So that’s where this page comes in. I spent about an hour doing these sketches and there will be more coming.

Inking Practice

2009-03-19T07:18:00.003-06:00

Inking practice

11/08

Nash

2009-03-19T07:17:00.002-06:00

Adobe Illustrator

10/08

Grand Central

2009-03-18T20:13:00.002-06:00

Adobe Illustrator

10/08

Adobe Photoshop

10/08

Batman vs Zombies!

2009-03-17T21:25:00.004-06:00

Sketchbook

Dallas/11/08

Curse of the Bug

2009-03-17T21:22:00.002-06:00

Character sketch for a project that died!

Anatomy drawing

2009-03-17T21:15:00.003-06:00

I am posting more work from my sketchbook and I thought I'd share this. Not because it's really great or anything, but because the bulk of my sketchbook is this sort of thing. Practice, doodles scribbles, basically me experimenting.

Food

2009-03-17T21:10:00.002-06:00

Around Christmas I got really sick. I got a fever of 103.8 and lost my appetite. Everything I ate tasted 'wrong'.

Toast tasted like fish!

For some reason, while I was recovering, when I started drawing again, i decided to do some ink drawings of food.

Funny thing is I never draw straight in ink or draw food!

2009-03-16T22:18:00.000-06:00

Generic Muscle car from my sketchbook.

Cadillac Sketches

2009-03-16T22:15:00.002-06:00

Here are some sketches I did of a '69 Caddy in preperation for a finished piece.

Haircut!

2009-02-22T00:52:00.003-06:00

(before)

(after)

Well, I let my hair get pretty long in '08, but right after Christmas my wife talked me into getting it "cleaned up". Finally the other day I decided I was tired of it looking messy and so I went in and got it buzzed. Of course, I think it's too short, but I figure it'll grow out!

Mourning for San Diego

2009-02-14T10:20:00.005-06:00

This is my desk top for my computer and for my cell phone. I love that photo! If you haven't clicked on it and looked at the big version you should, it's really cool.

And every time I look at it I get really sad.

In case you don't recognize it, that is the San Diego Convention center. It is the home for the largest comic convention in the United Stated, The San Diego Comicon (or as they call it now, Comic-Con International.)

I started going to SDCC in 2000. That wasn't that long ago, but it seems forever to me, like I can't imagine a time when I didn't got to San Diego. And it seemed so, magical. It was awesome.

Hotel rooms were super easy to get. One year, we didn't decide to go until late and we still got a room for under $100 right across from the convention center. And there were a ton of restaurants and some of them were very affordable. There were crowds at the con, but if you got your ticket early, you avoided the only real bad line, the ticket line.

If you wanted to get your portfolio looked at by one of the big companies, it was mostly a matter of just waiting in line or getting there early to get on the list. Which was easy to do.

Like I said, it kind of felt special. Like Disney World for comicbook fans.

But something changed.

The first thing I noticed was the hotel rooms. The prices kept getting higher every year, but even worse, harder to get. In '08, we ended up staying in Point Loma. It wasn't too bad, but you know what it's not the same as it was. And just getting back and forth was a hassle.

I also noticed the restaurants have gotten worse. One thing I noticed was several had a special 'convention' menu with comic book style graphics. My friend thought it was cool until I pointed out to him that I'm sure the prices where higher in that menu then the normal one!

However really the last straw for me was the crowds. In '06, it was so crowded, it was impossible to move around on the dealers floor. But it wasn't the volume of crowds, but their attitude. The con has changed to more of a celebrity thing and the locals come out in waves. And they are terrible.

I saw a father encourage a child to throw a glowstick into a crowd at the costume contest. The manger of the hotel in Point Loma told us how he bought on pass and used it to sneak in his buddies. My friend's cellphone got stolen. I almost got into an altercation with a guy who claimed I ran over his toe in a crowd (Who wears flip-flop in a crowd of 100k+? Oh yeah, a MORON!)

I'm not sure what they could do to fix the con. More hotels would be nice, but the locals will still see us as cash cows and jerks will sneak in. And thieves and morons looking for a toe-stomping.

I'm afraid my beef with the con may have to do more with the changing nature of California in general.

Maybe one day, it will all be fixed, but until then I'll just look at my photos, think about my memories and weep for what's been lost.

Death of Iron Tiger

2009-02-01T23:00:00.006-06:00

Originally this had a home, but now it seems to be an orphan. maybe it'll end up being a sample.

What I am reading.

2009-01-14T22:27:00.003-06:00

I finished Pattern Recognition the other day. I really enjoyed it. It's been awhile since I read any Gibson, but I think he has matured as a writer.

Or maybe I've matured as a reader.

I read some discussion online about if this book was science fiction or not. I don't think it is. It's clearly set in the present, in fact some of the computer model and such are a few years outdated.
I would say the book is set in 'hyper-reality', that is, it is set in our reality, but the gadgets and such are of a high end above the day to day reality of most people. World class designers jet set around with ex-Russian mafia types with high end clothing and toys most of us can only read about.

I would compare it to The Ian Fleming James Bond novel. Fleming was from the "upper crust" and one way he added a touch of the exotic to the Bond novels was by using high end brands. Bond didn't just shave, but he used such and such shaving cream, with a special razor.

Gibson does the same sort of thing and paints Cayce Pollard as a world class developer of trademarks and trends. Her obsession with an online film footage leads her from London to Tokyo to Russia. Believe me, I'm not doing it justice.

Next up:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

This is the book the movie Bladerunner is 'based' on. I read this once in the early '80s, but I don't remember much of it.

Dick is know for his paranoid, 'what is going on' storylines. His characters comonly question who (and what) they are. things are never what they seem. I read some of his work when I was a kid, but I'm hoping to experience his work through a new perspective.

NYC!

2009-01-04T21:59:00.004-06:00

Our friend Sherrie sent us this photo she took of us in New York City this spring. I can see in this photo how much weight I've lost, but the picture was too good not to post!

What I'm Reading.

2009-01-03T22:15:00.005-06:00

One of my New Years Resolutions (I made about 40) is to read more fiction. Somewhere along the way I slipped out of the reading habit. Oh, I read pleanty of comics or art books and maybe even some historical books, but I'm wanting to read more fiction in '09.

When I was a kid I read tons of Science Fiction, but I think somewhere I stopped. So a few days ago I looked through my bookshelves for something I had never read that looked good and I came up with this:

Doc Sidhe by Aaron Allston

Okay, maybe it's not Moby Dick, but it's pretty good. It's kind of a pulp hero novel remixxed in a fantasy world. Allston is a name in role-playing game circles and this seems like it could be the basis for a good RPG. It's a good solid action story and so far I'm really enjoying it.

Next up:

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

I read a few pages of this at the library (you didn't think I'm buying all these books?) and was impressed by how readable Gibson has become. I read some of his cyberpunk stuff back when that was hot, but it always seemed dense reading to me. We'll see how this goes, I have high hopes for it.

Already, I've read about the main charcter de-branding all her clothes. A woman after my own heart; after I finish this I am going to de-brand my new backpack!

What I'm Listening to.

2009-01-03T22:04:00.004-06:00

The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

This popped onto my radar after seeing the lead singer at the Eisners this summer. I picked up The Umbrella Academy trade during the holidays and figured why not check out the album.

I really like it. For some reason, it kind of reminds me of Queen, but that's kind of misleading. I think that it has a sonic range that reminds me of some of the older bands like Queen or Rush, but you can definitely tell this is a post-alternative, speed metal influenced band.

( I've been listening to some '80s heavy metal and it's amazing to me how slow that stuff sounds. A co-worker claims Nirvana changed music forever. I would argue Metallica has.)

Anyway, I'm digging The Black Parade and it's in heavy rotation on the Walkman!

Sick!

2008-12-26T08:32:00.003-06:00

I'm pretty good about not getting sick. Usually, I might catch a cold about once a winter and since we've started taking regular vitamins it's been even less then that. If I start to feel bad, I'll start taking Zinc tablets and that usually knocks it out.

About 2 weeks ago I started feeling bad. I was really tired and had a pain in my lower abdomen. I thought it was just lack of sleep, but finally a few thursdays ago I gave in and called in sick. I figured a day of sleep would fix me up.

But the next day I got up and felt worse. So I went to the doctor and he looked me over but couldn't really find anything. So he gave me something for my stomach and told me to call him if I didn't feel better on Monday.

Over the weekend I developed a fever that shot up to 103.8! So I called my doctor and he decided I had an infection and to come in Monday unless I felt better.

So Monday I went in and he pushed around until he found the exact spot where I hurt and he decided I had some sort of infection. So he put me on antibiotics and told me to come in last tuesday.

It seems this infection is a particularly nasty one and he's worried it'll come back. So he put me on another round of antibiotics.

However, Weds at work I noticed I had the sniffles!

Now I have a full blown cold, except I cannot take vitamin-C or Zinc tablets because of the antibiotics!

So, it's the day after Christmas, I'm off work, the weather is awesome and i feel like crap!

What I'm thankful for...

2008-11-29T09:29:00.003-06:00

A few years ago at my in-laws during Thanksgiving, before we could dive head first into the turkey, my brother in law (it was at his house) went around and had all the men say what they were thankful for.

I hate that crap!

Don't get me wrong, everyday I thank God for the multitude of blessings I enjoy everyday. And I think that's what bugs me about having to list what I'm thankful for. How do I narrow that down to a mere list uttered while all the relatives' stomaches are growling?

I try and embrace everyday for what it brings, to enjoy every thing that comes my way. Bad things happen, but I know I've got it good!

Case in point:

Recently I was at Wizard World Texas. Now, normally cons can be really stressful, trying to get samples done, facing rejection, standing in line, that sort of thing.

But WWT didn't have any publishers there so I didn't really bother. Instead, I took my sketchbook and just enjoyed drawing.

Early one morning I was sitting in the lobby drawing, drinking coffe, with my walkman on. As I sat there, Jump blasting in my ears, two ladies walked up and sat down. One lady was upset and the other was talking to her.

I had no idea what they were talking about, Van Halen made sure of that, but it was obvious something 'bad' was going on.

As I sat there drawing, I began to think about my life. While I wish I had a better job, I really don't have a worry in the world. This lady next to me is upset about something, so upset she's crying in front of a stranger in a hotel lobby. And I'm sitting there drawing Batman fighting a horde of zombies, without a care in the world.

Maybe it's my simplistic outlook or maybe it's my lowered expectations, but I consider myself very blessed!

What I'm listening to.

2008-11-12T23:17:00.005-06:00

VAN HALEN!!

I spend most of my time at work drawing on my computer with itunes cranked up and my headphones on. I have a theory that '80s heavy metal is getting ready to come back big.

I don't know if my subconcious was tapped into the zeigiest of the emerging wave or maybe I'm just crazy, but today's audio flavor of the day was Van Halen's 1984!

1984 was the last salvo from the fire-breathing band that was the True-Van Halen. For those of you who may be too young to realize what this means, this was the last Van Halen outting with 'Diamond' David Lee Roth.

Nowadays, the Roth attitude seems a little worn thin, but at the time he was the coolest thing around. His hyper-manic delivery and Devil-may-care antics were the kind of thing every jr high boy wished they could pull off. And his machine gun delivery was the closed thing to rap this white boy had heard at the time.

And we loved it!

(My buddy DL Nelson told me he thought Sarah Palin should be in a Van Halen video. She could whip off her glasses and start dancing on the desks. If only, it might have turned the election!)

Too be honest, 1984 is really a pretty thin album. This was in the days of vinyl and it wasn't uncommon for an album to only have 8 - 10 songs on it. And really the best songs are Jump, Panama and Hot for Teacher.

(When David Lee Roth released his first solo album it only had 6 songs on it, because he said, 'Most albums only have a couple of good songs and the rest is filler. I just cut out the filler." Or something like that.

Early on in this post I mentioned I think early Heavy Metal is poised for a comeback. One reason: For awhile I had "Jump" as my ringtone. Everytime those opening chords would fire off, somebody would point at me and holler VAN HALEN!

Not exactly court admissable evidence, but I think the times are changing!

More sketches.

2008-10-29T22:30:00.002-06:00

Here's a few more sketches from my sketchbook. I pulled something in my back so I've been spending more time on the couch instead of at my drawing table.

I read one time George Perez had back problems and had a board he held in his lap while he drew on his couch.

My back problems are very minor and I'm already better, but the freedome to work away from a dafting table would be really cool.

Chicken and Cheese

2008-10-18T20:17:00.003-06:00

My friends Mario & Mike's animated video. Some profanity, but pretty funny, especially if you know the guys.

More inking practice

2008-10-12T20:21:00.003-06:00

Since I am planning on inking my new project I decided I need to get a little more inking practice in.

This weekend I didn't feel good so I spent most of the weekend drawing in my sketchbook instead of drawing pages at my desk.

Chicago!

2008-10-01T22:01:00.003-06:00

I made a quick trip to Chicago last weekend. Michelle was on a business trip where she had to fly into Detroit and drive around to do Energy Star Certification tests. I noticed she had a free day on Sunday and it was going to be in Chicago.

Some calls were made and a plan was conceived. I would fly into Chicago on Friday, hung out with Michelle for a few days and we'd fly out together on Tuesday.

It was blast! We saw Frank Lloyd Wright's home & studio, The Magnificent Mile, Wrigley field, The Museum of Science & Industry, the Millieum Park, a few comic shops and lots of bookstores.

By far thought, the best part of the trip was seeing our friends Kevin and Melanie and their kids Burke and Bailey.

I've known Kevin since grade school (his son told me 'now I know why my Dad is so weird!')

Burke also told me the other day he asked his Dad how long ago they invented elevators. Kevin told him three years ago.

I told him that's wrong, it was actually four!

Kev & Mel moved several years ago and ever since then D.L. Nelson and I have been looking for the "New Kevin".

(We nominated CB Cebulski, but he lives too far away and he's too popular to hang with us. But if he ever moves to Oklahoma City he may get the position. Unless somebody blackballs him.)

The low point was when we all had to leave and Bailey cried ("I don't want Miss Michelle to leave.) putting into words what we all felt.

Inking Practice

2008-09-05T14:13:00.006-06:00

This week was kinda slow at work. Since I work with our Princeton plant I pretty much have to sit at my desk watching for e-mails from them. I really can't do too much for another department because my work it typically a rush. So it tends to be wait, wait, rush, wait , wait, etc.

This can be kind of nerve wrecking, but it's impossible to try and predicit any kind of pattern. So I've decided to try and keep busy and make the best of it.

This week I decided to work on my inking. This spring, I bought a Pentel tradio pen at the Kinkoniya bookstore.

I had read online that Chris Bachalo draws with these in his sketchbook and swears by them, so when I saw them, I figured why not.

I hadn't really used it much since, so I broke it out for these.

(Yeah, i know the dude floating is a ripe of Ghost in the Shell!)

I really like the pen. you have to grip it kinda high on the barrel because the nib wraps around, but that isn't too big of a deal. Pentel calls this a Fountain pen, but it's a lot mot flexiable then that. With practice I can imagine you could get a really nice line outta this pen.

I 100% recommend this pen. It's chaep , portable and seems reasonably durable.

Famous Artists School Exercise

2008-08-26T20:45:00.004-06:00

Recently I bought the 3 book set of the Famous Artist School books off of EBay. This is the old (mine is 1960)correspondence school with the ads that have you draw the parrot and send it in.

I've worked on some of the projects in my sketchbook, but this is the first one I've really sat down and spent several days working on the lesson.

The lesson was on drawing textures and patterns. The assignment was to duplicate a photo with an emphasis on the textures and patterns.

I wanted to take my time on this lesson because I feel this is one (of many) areas where my skills are lacking.

My goal with these lessons is to deconstruct my drawing skills, to go back to square on. I am, for the time being, forgetting about comics and focusing solely on my drawing skills.

Syrobots!

2008-08-25T20:15:00.006-06:00

I saw this today on the wired blog and I thought Oh Holy Cow, I should not have seen this!

This is a robot made of those Styrofoam wedges in the sides of the box when you buy something electronic nowadays.

The Wired blog was this first one, which the writer and his son made.

This is so cool! I could waste serious amounts of time doing this. Before I strated drawing every spare minute this was the kind of thing I would do.

Well, maybe not this cool. But just obsessive projects.

The original inspiration for the father/Son project was this:

Seriouly, how sick is that?

You can read more here:http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/08/the-styrobot.html

Congratulations D. L. Nelson!

2008-08-16T23:17:00.005-06:00

D. L. Nelson is the first holder of the coveted 'Paul', the travelling trophy for RISK: The game of world conquest.

In a bold move, D. L. eliminated his last opponets in one sweep down North America, through South America, up Africa and finally decimating Europe to become the current Ruler of the World.

Keep watching here to see who will next hold "The Paul".

My Birthday!

2008-08-16T22:59:00.005-06:00

This weekened was my birthday and while my family party is next weekend, I still had a lot of fun.

To start with, on Friday Michelle & I went to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. There is a travelling exhibit of Roman art from the Louve. My only problem with the museum is I've been fortunate to travel around some and been to some really good museaums and ours isn't quite there yet.

(However, if you ever visit Oklahoma City, I HIGHLY recommend you check out the Western Heritage Museum, one of the nicest collections of western art anywhere.)

Then we went down to the tunnels under downtown Okc. Now called The Underground, this was The Concourse when I was a kid during the '80s. There used to be a lot of shops, but the late '80s oil bust kinda caused them to fall into disuse.

I visted the concourse 2 years ago when I had jury duty downtown, but was fairly unimpressed, but I did see potential.

Not they have done some renovation and I think they may be trying to re-vitalize The Concourse.

Which would be cool because every city needs a series of underground tunnels under it, because where else would the trolls live?

Finally, on Saturday my ebay purchase of the Famous Artist Course books came in. I had flipped through a set of these a few years ago at SDCC, but they were $200-$300 and that might as well have been a million dollars.

I had totally forgotten how cool these are. I am planning on taking some time and working through them. I think I will learn a lot from them.

Finally, on Saturday night some guys came over for a game of RISK, the game of world conquest, but I think that gets it's own post!

Octopus

2008-08-13T22:24:00.002-06:00

WHEN I was a kid, I had this very vivid dream about going into this large old house. Inside, the house was done up like some kind of aquarium, like a house Captain Nemo would live in.

(If you've been to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, the house felt kind of like the room with the big whale.)

The dream ended when the floor opened up and I slid into a large pool of water with some big fish in it.

When I drew this, I was thinking about that dream and the vibe I got from that house.

Batman

2008-08-12T22:18:00.003-06:00

In the same sketchbook I found my Confederacy of Dunces drawing I found this drawing of Batman.

I was trying something a little different, using more of the side of the pencil.

Not sure if I'd like to draw everything this way, but I still like this drawing.

And after all, isn't the point of a sketchbook the freedom to experiment?

maybe if I did more of these...

Confederacy of Dunces

2008-08-12T22:08:00.003-06:00

I was looking through an old sketch book and found this drawing I did about 8 months ago.

It's the main characters in "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

Dunces is one of may favorite books ever, I even have the audiobook on my cellphone.

If you've never read the book, it the story of Ingantius Rielly, who is a pompus slacker who is engaged in writing and indictment of this century, on big chief tablets, no less.

What really makes the book enjoyable is the juxatosition of Ingantius' pompus attitude and his complete inepitutde and general inability to complete the easist tasks.

Iron Man

2008-08-07T21:25:00.004-06:00

A quick drawing of Iron Man. A co-worker told me he thought the best art i've ever done was my 24 hour comic I did 2 years ago.

Holy Cow, what about all the work I've done since then?

Anyway, his point, I think, was he thought my work was better when it was loose and an easy way to draw loose is to draw fast.

Sounds good, except that can be really tricky. Where's the line between loose and sloopy?

Anyway, we were slow at work today so i drew this trying to work fast and stay loose. It was done with a H leadholder, but I had to darken the scan so it looks like I drew it with a ballpoint.

(If you look close, you can see where i spilt coffee on my scratchpad! You can also see it on the Batman drawing!)

More Sketchbook stuff

2008-08-06T15:31:00.002-06:00

From my sketchbook

2008-07-31T20:41:00.002-06:00