Day three has arrived of the sketch duel between me and my good friend Andy Heckathorne. My friendship with Andy goes back to my days in college where we took many art classes together by day, and worked on the school newspaper together by night. It is because of this close friendship that I won’t claim ownership of this contest quite yet. All bets are off on Friday, though.
For those of you who have frequented my blog in years past, I usually post a monster each weekday during the month of October in what I call Monster Month. Unfortunately, real work schedules have kept me from doing those personal pieces this year, but seeing that we are still in October, there is no way I can let a week of sketches go by without adding a monster to the mix.
I present to you this orange beast master of flame, a fire breathing dragon complete with a hot dog accessory!
This guy would be really handy on a camping trip.
Another sketch comes to you tomorrow in the great 2015 Sketch Challenge!
Okay, okay. So yesterday we started off with a bang (so to speak) with some cowboys in this week’s Sketch Challenge between me and my buddy, Andy Heckathorne. Andy drew me getting punched out complete with a black eye (which you can see by clicking here). Today, I return the favor by sending him a bear that will maul Andy, if the bear doesn’t tickle him to death first.
I love drawing bears. There are lots of them on my blog. It is almost like it is a necessity for me to draw them now and again. There’s something about being able to put a goofy grin on them, and they have that lumbering, plump exterior that you can twist and turn any which way you’d like. I drew this guy on some brown Canson paper with ink, with added drybrush touches of white gouache.
Never trust a grinning bear.
Come back tomorrow to see what Day 3 in this Sketch Challenge will bring!
A couple of months ago I was hired to do a corporate illustration in a comic book style for the ServiceMax company. Specifically, I was asked to draw the piece in an old school Marvel/DC Comics style showing a business-suited hero pulling an office building with screaming workers away from the brink of destruction. The art director gave me a rough sketch of what he wanted, and after a little back and forth, the hero emerged.
You’d be screaming too if all your toilets were rupturing after being severed from the plumbing.
This style is a little out of my wheelhouse, but was fun to draw for the client nonetheless. It is nice when someone hires you to do something they haven’t seen you do before. We artists often like the challenge. It breaks up the monotony of doing the things you get pigeon-holed into doing all the time. Thanks, ServiceMax!
The other day I was doodling in my sketchbook with a blue pencil when this little creeper came out. I liked how he looked, and decided to put some ink on him. The rough inking raised his appeal a bit, and then it escalated into including some shading. Having just made a pot of coffee, I dipped my brush into the coffee and gave him some brown stains to complete the sketch. I know he doesn’t look it, but now he smells good – like a caramel macchiato latte.
Since he was painted with coffee, now it will hard to resist licking the paper. Sigh.
“Hey, ho, hey!” That’s the greeting of the NCS LA. To those not in the know, NCS LA means the National Cartoonists Society, Los Angeles Chapter!
Cornelius the Bear in all his plaid angelic glory.
The NCS LA reorganized this year to become a pretty busy group of professional cartoonists. We used to have one gathering a year in December, but since this past December, we have been doing monthly activities where professional cartoonists can socialize with colleagues, learn something, and hopefully soon will involve some volunteer drawing for worthy causes.
Part of what the NCS LA has discovered is some of the history of our group. Our mascot has become Cornelius the Bear because back in the day he saved the life of Los Angeles cartoonist George Herriman, creator of the comic strip Krazy Kat, from a runaway toboggan. Cornelius is no longer with us here in the City of Angels, of course, so he himself is depicted in angelic terms on our official crest. I recently drew my version of Cornelius as seen above wearing the NCS LA uniform of a plaid sports coat.
That image of Cornelius was used on a flyer I put together advertising to our membership a field trip we took a few weeks ago to Revolutions 2, a fantastic museum exhibit of original illustration art at the museum in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA (go see it before it closes in early August if you haven’t already – it’ll knock your socks off!). Illustrator William Stout showed us around the exhibit, and was able to tell tales of his own art that is in the display. Afterwards, we went to lunch at a place where Walt Disney and his animators used to hang out (yes, that’s my Walt on the flyer, too).
The flyer for the first NCS LA field trip. (RSVP info removed since the event is over!)
If you are a professional cartoonist creating comic books, comic strips, illustration, animation, editorial cartoons, or any other genre in cartooning here in Los Angeles, or will be visiting our fair city in the future, please get a hold of me to find out when and where our next gathering will be! We’d love to welcome you here!
Some cats sit all alone in the moonlight, and can smile at the old days; they were beautiful then and remember a time they knew what happiness was, and they let the memory live again.* Other cats just like making new memories such as climbing on birthday cakes.
This was a little birthday piece I did for a good friend who has three cats. I may have made up their color schemes, though. Unless these are what Jellicle cats really look like, then the colors were very specific and intentional.
I don’t know about songs, but for sure Jellicle cakes are for Jellicle cats.
*Yes, those are lyrics borrowed from the song Memory in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS.
I thought it was time that I posted another selfie. No, not a photo of myself, but rather it was time to try a new version of my toony self by way of a self-caricature. It takes a little longer than holding out a camera and snapping the image, and it is much less blurry this way, but it is fun to see how far the image can be pushed and have it still look like me. Really, it all comes down to just wanting to make a new profile picture for Facebook.
If you would like to see past samples of self indulgence, CLICK HERE!
They say “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but I imagine this would inspire the Cliff’s Notes version.
HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!!!! Now, for the next month or so, try real hard to not write 2014 on letters, checks, or other important documents. I’m still trying to stop writing 2013, but it is much easier to make a 3 look like a 5 than it is to do so to a 4, so I’ll be okay.
I had the good fortune to visit the country of Russia last year during the summer when the weather was nice. There were hot days, and there were warm days, but was reminded several times by the locals that the winters are long and cold there. I also was told that Christmas isn’t celebrated there so much as New Years is.
So, here is a little painting of the New Year’s celebration in Russia. Go nuts, guys, and dream of summer!
