Just gatherin' dust...

To all of my Blogger subscribers:

First of all, thank you for your support and interest in my posts, even if they are few and far between. Or less.

If you're still with me, and are interested in my newest endeavor (one that is seeing frequent updates, as well as plenty of art to boot), please follow my blog at dustbunnycomic.blogspot.com

This is where I'll be showcasing the progress of my upcoming graphic novel, "Dust Bunny". Hope to see you there! Thanks!

Buggin'.

An unusual anomaly for myself - two posts in a day.

Never the less, the "bug bit me," and I had to crank one more out before bed time. Incidentally, that brings me to this intuitive iota - Mite. He's Dust Bunny's nearly invisible sidekick.

It's always fun to play with scale and proportion on characters. For the most part, he's only a speck on the pages, spending most of his time perched on Bunny's shoulder. So the dynamic of the two characters is pretty fun.

If you Google dust mite, you get some pretty creepy looking images. So it was an interesting and fun journey to try and give this character a visual appeal, while still keeping a loose tether to his references. I almost colored this to clearly illustrate that he's wearing a puffy, orange vest (ala Marty McFly...no pun intended...this time...), like an accessorized second banana should.

That's it for today. Off to bed, where I'm sure hundreds of these guys are anxiously awaiting me!

For the Love of Bunny...

Well.

After a solid year, looks like it's time to dust off the old blog. Not to say the same for my website, which has actually had a handful of additions over the past 9 months. But for the most part, freelancing for clients has kept me from embarking on any new adventures of my own. I'm hoping and praying that changes here, pretty soon...

So, I did this today. It's for a story I've been working on for about a month now, and though I've almost filled an entire sketch book with concepts and doodles surrounding this character's universe, I don't actually have any finalized art for him. So I dedicated myself to this today. I would love nothing more than for this idea to take off here in the next month or so, and really laser-focus my efforts into it. But in my experience, plans are made to be ruined. So we'll see.

As for now, this was a fun promo-type piece to put together. It was a much needed break from the undertakings that client-based work often brings.

You're on my Chiklis...

I know I did the rough draft of this guy a while back. But in honor of finishing out the series last night - incredible, by the way - I thought I would finish ol' Vic Mackey up.

This was fun.

Play me a song...

Sometimes, you just have to branch out and do something a little different. From time to time, I like to put the pencil down and explore an avenue I don't often venture down. And here's what happens...

I've been picking at this for about 3 days now, on and off, using a program called Reason. A lot of the instruments in the program don't sound as authentic as the real thing, but the piano is pretty nice. I've thrown together a couple of concoctions here and there in the past, just dorkin' around. So, it's always a trip to see what my spare time develops. I'm not as musically inclined as some of my friends, but I think I know a thing or two. It's not finished. But I like where it's heading. I especially like the way the ending turned out. Click the witty link below!

Jazz is not just an Autobot!

Enjoy!

Vic Mackey layin' down the Smackey.

Vic Mackey, from The Shield.

It's not finished yet, but I started watching the series today, even though it's been over for a while now. Thanks, Josh. I got midway through episode 2 and decided that Michael Chiklis was an interesting looking guy. So I drew him.

More as it develops...

Sweet Home Chi-blog-o!

Had this on my mind last night before I went to bed, so I cranked it out this afternoon.

And they all lived...

And the final piece.

Thanks to Jeff (and here!) for helping me balance out the background (as well as some of the foreground colors) in this piece to help the characters pop. And a special thanks to Mark for giving me some morale boost. I was informed that sometimes, I'm too hard on myself when it comes to my artwork. I can't disagree with that, but I don't know how to change it either, really.

Anyway, here is the final. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I think a lot of it has to do with the revisions I made on Snow White and the dwarves. I completely redrew the character to make her a little more appealing all around.

It's interesting, too, but Jeff pointed out a plethora of styles working in this piece. I can't fault him for that, because J. Scott Campbell, Doug Tennapel, and Joe Mad all had a hand in this whether they knew it or not. Onto the next piece!

My, what big progress you have!

Thought it might be neat to post the progress.

I started where I left off (in the last post) at about 8pm tonight...er...yesternight. It's rolling onto 4am now. But I guess that's how you know what you love.

For the coloring, I didn't know how I wanted to do it. But I knew I wanted to approach it from a more painterly/comic book style since I intended on leaving the brush lines very apparent. I haven't colored anything in that vein in a while. But I think this is turning out nicely. I still have a lot to tweak (and finish altogether), like the tortoise's hand, obviously. Once that pig-creature is complete, and a few more this-n-thats, I think it'll be ready to post, finished.

I have until 10pm tomorrow night...er...later tonight to finish it all up. Hope you like it so far!

Once Upon a Try...

I'm a struggling artist.

And when I say "struggling," I mean struggling to better myself. I struggle to "get as good as that guy" or to try and advance to the next level in whatever I'm doing. I struggle to keep my edge as an illustrator, so that my craft doesn't get old and boring...or, God forbid, redundant. I'm also broke. So...just in case there was any confusion, yes, I do fulfill that stereotype.

And with the struggle comes new challenges. Like this one. This is a piece in progress. It's another entry for sketchoholic.com. This week's interview is with Humberto Ramos. The theme is "Fairyquest." That's actually the title of Ramos' book, but with the open theme, it leaves a lot of play for interpretation. So this is what I've got. Take a shot at guessing the fairy tale creatures before you read any further.

Down front, we have the tortoise and the hare in their never ending race, of course. Snow White (who will be possessed by evil apple vapors) surrounded by some mecha-dwarves. On the other side, we have a jacked-up Pinocchio and, above him, an evil Japetto pulling the strings. And finally, in the center, is the big bad wolf and his 3-headed pig monster in the background.

I'm really happy with how it's going so far. We'll see if it ends happily ever after...

Leaps and Bounce...

When there's no doubt in your mind that you didn't do your best work on a piece, and you posted it, it just eats at the back of your head. So it was with this one. It's still not my ideal composition, really. But for what I created it for, I think it works just fine. I'm constantly bothered by artists who openly admit, "Oh this isn't the best I can do. But (insert excuse)." If it's not the best you can do, then fix it.

Yet, on the other hand, it's always refreshing to see artists make honest mistakes, or confess to shortcomings. I know that when I admit a mistake out loud, it's both liberating and humbling all at once. Not that I'm some force to be reckoned with. And maybe I'm just (insert excuse). Nevertheless, here's round 2 of "For the Love of Bunny." Yeah, I called it that.

I rehashed the entire turkey character. He just wasn't "jive" enough, I don't think. Plus there was nothing really pushing any sort of mood in the background. That wasn't imperative, but I wanted...something. Throwbacks from MC Hammer and Parliament on iTunes probably assisted in that on some level. So, despite a pressing workload, this is what I concentrated on today. Something about taking a break and doing something for myself - even if it's essentially the same thing I'm doing for others, professionally - is something I need sometimes. It keeps me grounded and reminds me that I do this because I love it. And when I can recapture that desire to create, it makes the jobs extremely more enjoyable. And when the jobs are more enjoyable, the final product is something both sides are happy with.

I decided to leave the below post up, just for the fun of seeing the process. Enjoy!

Ya dig...?

Well it's been quite a while since my last post.

I've been quite busy with things these past 2 months. Some miscellaneous projects, some freelance. So to give myself a break from work, I decided to do some more...work...

Right.

Anyway, this is my entry for an upcoming Sketchoholic contest. Francisco Herrera will be interviewed by Bobby Chiu - both incredible artists. I'm relatively new to how it all works on the Sketchoholic website (I just joined yesterday), but I thought it could be really interesting to see the interview, as well as who wins the contest (which will be announced during the interview). Anyway, this little illo ate up a whole night of mine. So tomorrow, it's back to the grind!

Well, the other grind...

The Radical Squadron.

So here's the final piece. I decided to go with a more graphical approach to the background as opposed to an actual environment. There's just something about the grittiness of these characters that lends itself well to backdrop like that, methinks.

I'm debating on doing a series of these...maybe with other characters from my childhood. Dunno yet. Anyway, enjoy!

Razor's Edge.

So, here's Razor...also incomplete. Just some minor tweaks here and there. I almost didn't include the pencils, but then I thought it might be kinda cool to see how far he departed from his original sketch. I was having issues with the perspective on the original drawing - namely the hand with the glove (glovatrix) on it. Not that I couldn't get the perspective right. I just didn't like the way it was positioned, plus it didn't seem very interesting. Same with his other arm and both legs. So, really, the only thing that stayed pretty close to the original sketch was from the chest up. I just think he looks more...put together...in the new pose.

I was afraid he wouldn't turn out as good as T-Bone. But I'm actually equally pleased with him. How's that for a little fan art? Ted Turner let go of a couple of gems when he canceled this show.

Aw crud!

Yup. It's a SWAT Kat.

Still some adjustments to make on him. And don't you worry your little whiskers. The other one's on the way...