Category: Illustrations

The Artist Within 2 – Cartoonist Portraits

I rarely promote other people’s Kickstarter projects here on my blog, but boy howdy, I’m excited about this one!

My friend Greg Preston is a photographer. Over many years he has been taking photographs of cartoonists, illustrators, and animators in their home studios. His first collection of them was published in a beautiful coffee table book by Dark Horse Comics a few years ago called The Artist Within, and was a huge hit at San Diego Comic Con where it had its debut.

Well, Greg is ready with his second batch of photos and has decided to self-publish them in a second volume called The Artist Within 2! I am excited because I love Greg’s work, and can’t wait to see more friends and colleagues portrayed in this way.

The second big reason I am excited is because I will be in this book, too! Yep, a few years back, Greg came to my place and took my photo for his collection – the SAME DAY that he took a photo of famous illustrator Drew Struzan!

Other such great folks in the book are Ollie Johnston (one of Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men), character designer Stephen Silver, fantasy illustrator Donato Giancola, The Family Circus‘ Jeff Keane, his brother and former Disney animator Glen Keane, John Lasseter, Disney animation director John Musker, comic book guys Steve Rude, Carmine Infantino, animation director Chris Sanders, and the list goes on. He even has the world record holder for longest working cartoonist, the 96 year old Al Jaffee who continues to do the fold-ins for MAD Magazine. I feel very honored to be in such company.

Here’s the Kickstarter video describing the book:

So, the book itself is a real prize, but there are also extra special things you can pick up through this Kickstarter that the artists have been donating – things such as this one-of-a-kind original art I created with ink, watercolor, and colored pencil!

 

A fresh & tasty original piece that one lucky Kickstarter customer will be able to behold without the watermark!

 

Or perhaps you’d like the opportunity to acquire one of three prints of my Frankenlisa painting, prints that have never before been offered for sale. I chronicled the step-by-step making of this painting here on the ol’ blog back in 2009 (CLICK HERE for a refresher), and it just so happens to be the painting sitting on my drafting table in my photographic portrait that will be in The Artist Within 2!

 

This is one of three prints of my Frankenlisa that will be signed and remarqued for 3 Kickstarter customers – sans watermark, of course!

 

So, please consider pre-ordering a book through Kickstarter so this amazing tome can be published. I plan to order a few myself! You only have until April 27, 2017, to do so! Here is the handy-dandy link: The Artist Within 2!

Categories
Art: Colored Pencil Art: Inking Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Character Designs Frankenstein Illustrations Monsters

Music Tour Poster

Two weeks ago, my pal Matt Diffee asked me to help out with a tour poster he was designing for bluegrass banjo artist Noam Pikelny. Diffee is widely known for his cartoons that appear in The New Yorker magazine. He drew the art for Noam (including the lettering), but due to some traveling he was going to do, he asked if I could color it.

So, I took Diffee’s pencil drawing, and proceeded to color it in Photoshop, and added some paper texture to it to give it more of that homemade look. Noam wanted it to be 11×17″ in size, so I added the spattered brown paper border further giving it that rustic look that compliments the environment of a pirate ship. At least I assume it compliments it. I’ve never actually worked on a pirate ship before. Sailing & pillaging aren’t really my thing.

Noam’s Universal Favorite tour begins today in the state of Washington, so it seemed like the right time to show you all this illustrative collaboration!

 

 

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Photoshop Illustrations

NCS Foundation Charity Auction

Over the past year, Bongo Comics’ Bill Morrison and I have been working on putting together a fundraiser for the National Cartoonists Society Foundation. This week we launched the auction on Ebay.

We have 85 items featuring the work of over 70 of the nation’s top cartoonists, illustrators, and animators, most of whom donated their own work to our efforts for which we thank them!

All the money raised goes to the NCS Foundation, a fully licensed 501(c)(3) charity, to help them continue their work in assisting cartoonists in need, providing scholarships to students, and further promoting the cartoon arts which has been the hallmark of the National Cartoonists Society since its inception in 1946.

To see the art and to place bids, CLICK HERE to go directly to the NCS Foundation seller page on Ebay!

 

Categories
Animals Art: Animation Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Painting Cartoons Chad's Editorials Character Designs Comic Books Disney Illustrations

Mistletoe

How about a little warmth during this season of cold weather? I’d like to think that real snow people might steal a kiss or two when humans aren’t looking.

A little ink and  gouache creation on brown paper…

He’d better be careful – don’t want to make her melt!
Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Painting Character Designs Illustrations Random Doodles Sketchbook

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

 

 

And just because now you are curious, here is Psalm 98 in its entirety, something I did not include in my printed Christmas card:

O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. 2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. 3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. 5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. 6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. 7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together 9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Categories
Animals Art: Colored Pencil Art: Painting Art: Watercolor Cartoons Character Designs Illustrations

A Christmas Carol

The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society is having its annual holiday shindig tomorrow night. This year they are doing it at a restaurant that serves British cuisine. It was my duty to make the invitations once again, so with the venue for the party being what it is, it seemed natural to base the art on the most British Christmas tale that comes to mind, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Playing the role of Bob Cratchit is NCS LA’s own mascot, Cornelius the Bear with Tiny Tim being played by Krazy Kat cartoonist George Herriman. In the NCS LA theme song, we herald the bravery and generosity of Cornelius who, back in the day, saved LA based Herriman from a runaway toboggan while up in the mountains. Since Corny is no longer with us, and since he is from Los Angeles after all, we depict him as an angel bear.

 

Cornelius Cratchit and George “Tiny Tim” Herriman

 

Just in case you are curious, I inked this traditionally using a brush and a watered down sepia ink to give the ink line an uneven quality, and it allows for the brown color to show better. Then I scanned it into Photoshop where the colors and plaid fabric were applied. I tried to give it a bit of a nostalgic look in the method of drawing, but also in the color choices. For color inspiration, I looked to the work of my pal and fellow NCS LA member Dan Piraro who has such a great old timey look to his color choices in his comic strip Bizarro, yet at the same time his work looks edgy and modern.

And there you have it. God bless us, EVERY ONE!

Categories
Animals Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Caricature Character Designs Illustrations

2016 Monster Month: Day 21 – Hipster Frankie

Welcome to the grand finale of 2016’s Monster Month!

As I have said here before, I love drawing Frankenstein’s monster a LOT. When trying to figure out why, it most likely stems from how much I loved the drawings the recently departed great Jack Davis used to do. His had such an ease about them, and a quiet grace amid his flurry of cross-hatching. So maybe each time I draw good ol’ Frankie, it’s a way for me to personally remember Jack.

This year’s Monster Month opened with a loose ink drawing of a more traditional view of the original zombie, so for our grand finale, we are ending with a modern version of him. With the hipster movement going on these days, I started wondering what ol’ Frankie might look like had he been put together with parts from this era. Perhaps he’d look a little something like this…

 

Sure hope his relationship lasts, otherwise that tattoo will be painful to remove.
Sure hope his relationship lasts, otherwise that tattoo will be painful to remove.

 

In case you are curious, this is a completely traditional drawing. Inked with a sepia colored ink, and some white & blue gouache paint in my new Strathmore Toned Tan Paper sketchbook! Thought he’d be a good one to start the book.

Well, thanks for following along with my Monster Month posts again this year. I always enjoy drawing them, and hope you enjoy this October tradition of mine. Feel free to check out all my previous monster drawings from years past by CLICKING HERE!

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Inking Character Designs Frankenstein Illustrations Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook

2016 Monster Month: Day 20 – Dangerous Proposal

Ah, young hipsters in love. However, it looks like they picked the wrong tree under which to plan for the future. Talk about your short-term commitments!

This drawing started out being that I just wanted to draw a tree in my sketchbook. Kinda got carried away…

 

When getting engaged, one should never choose to do so in an enchanted forest.
With this ring, I thee dead.

 

Well, Monster Month is almost over. Come back on Halloween for the GRAND FINALE!

Categories
Art: Drawings Art: Inking Art: Photoshop Character Designs Illustrations Monsters Random Doodles Sketchbook