SoonerCon '11

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!

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

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!

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

Thor

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

'52 Volkswagen Beetle drawn for a car show.

Warrior Chick

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

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

It's been too long...

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

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

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

sketchbook drawing

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

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

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

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

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.

Final design for my soccer logo.

Lady Cockroaches

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

New Avengers Sample

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

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

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

Wolverine Sample

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

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

all 20 min

CATFISH!!

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

5 min pose

20 min pose

20 min pose