a little this and…

…a little that.

three doodles for your viewing pleasure. again from my comic for cartooning class. i tried a different style on each one, trying to find something comfortable for production. anyways, enjoy. big thanks for jim cheung/mark morales. i couldn't get the smoke right on the fight scene and ended up finding a beautiful piece they collaborated on so i ref'd it. that's why they're da' pros and i'm a shmuck.

this is what it sounds like...

…when the doves cry.

so keith asked me to roll my story for cartooning forward to a more pivotal point in leo's life. i worked up some sketches of him as a soldier, but i only colored one.

and i loathes it. like i loathes that fishy taste in my iced tea at red lobster. for some reason i've been having a huge struggle to color anything lately. it's as if all my learnin' is getting in the way of me enjoying it. and i end up feeling stunted.

must fix that.

be a friend…

…punch a baby!

working up some ideas for a young leo, a character from my comic. sketched/painted in photoshop -- 1.5 hours

into the lost wilderness...

sir yvain fought many long battles for king arthur. as the seasons passed, tales of his exploits spread, his legend grew. after 15 long years, yvain returned home to his beloved laudine. in his absence however, her heart had grown cold and she cast him aside.

refused by his love, yvain rode into the lonely wood in the grip of a great madness where he dwelt for many years, insane with grief. there, tangled in the briar thorns he weeps, his anguished cries reverberating through the twisted trees, the knight of the wild.

–

a study for my character book. i'm pulling ten characters from either literature or my own creation and creating a book of process and study.

yvain is mad, his hair tangled and matted. leaves and twigs throughout his beard and hair, scars from the thorns cover his body. the last vestige of his humanity remains the sword he wielded when he was still a knight of the round table, now rusted and pitted.

pen & ink, no pencil! -- 2 hours

typical...

so usual. why can no one understand the greatness of link?

the hunted...

...stumbling, the frantic man tore through the shadows of the alley. he had heard of everymen of course, the most feared of all government black ops agents, but had never dreamed he'd be in this position now. he collapses to the ground behind a rusty and pitted dumpster trying to catch his breath. how the hell had this happened? there had been 6 men on his tactical team and now he was down to three rounds and wounded. in moments, he had become the prey, no longer the hunter. cautiously he chances a glance back from where he came.

nothing.

he turns back and a cold, wet hand stifles his scream.

"what do you want with me?" a quiet voice asks.

the frantic man can taste the blood on the quiet man's hand. he shakes his head furiously, "i don't know" he mumbles into the steel palm, "please, i don't want to die."

the quiet man stands and raises his sidearm to the frantic man's face, the click of the gun's hammer speaking without hesitation.

"neither do i."

the everyman is a character created specifically for cartooning class here at uco. even though i don't see him going any farther, but he was definitely fun to explore.

fun with photoshop

well, this is an illustration for a poster concept for the oklahoma department of health services that we're doing in clocktower. they want something that they can use to offer help and assistance to first time pregnant women. we definitely wanted to take the scary/fear angle away from this, so many billboards and posters seem to do that. some lonely looking teenage girl looking scared and some ominous body copy.

the idea here is that being a mother is a beautiful experience, and they'll offer you the tools to paint the perfect picture for you and your child. it may get shot down, it may not. who knows? but i'm particularly pleased with this so far. impressionism isn't one of my strongest points and this was assuredly an exploration into that.

and the award goes to...

...your mom. i know, it was a shock to me as well. anyways, happy whatever it is day. nothing terribly finished, just some character studies. trying to keep fresh up on anatomy and all that jazz. the two gunmen are for a project i'm working on in cartooning at the moment. quick photoshop color job. playing with some new brushes i made.

saturday was fun. went to the addy's with kathy, rocked out in ma' tux and perhaps drank a bit too much of that fine table wine. regardless, it was a blast. even if i was slightly irreverent during the main proceedings. after all, i'm a big kid and one is more or less supposed to uphold their reputation right?



it really was an enthralling presentation! i swear!

basking in the glow

...of a deadly sunset. no beard and jrum locked in eternal nomadic battle across the world. i spent the evening with luke of chocolate shotgun fame. we recreated a bunch of brushes and techniques today. and i discovered the method of creating open canvas brushes in photoshop. i had to color something, so here it is. also, i learned a little about clouds.

nuthin' much but it was fun to color -- 1 hr

c'mon east coast

alright tomorrow, my future home is going to be voting … please don't let me down - get out and vote. whoever you want to vote for, just be sure to participate! or i'll hate you forever.

and at the halfway point

so a few hours yesterday and today. going to drop in a coliseum background in a bit, do up a sexier type treatment and basically make this into a movie poster of sorts. then i'm gonna twist laura's arm to send it off to barack and get it autographed.

word.

taking the fight...to the man

a friend sent out an email this morning. in which they said, part of obama's appeal is that he's only been in washington for 4 years. i think that's actually an intriguing point (hurray for inspiration right before cartooning class). so intriguing that i recalled the movie gladiator as i was thinking of this cartoon. russell crowe's character is asked to give rome back to the people; told in fact, that only he can do it because he hasn't seen rome, has not been tainted by it's corruption. and he gives his all to make it happen, even after he has nothing left to lose. his character maximus was dynamic, inspired loyalty, and fearless, and dedicated to the idea of rome and it's ideals.

i think that's an interesting parallel some people may draw between the two of them, even if neither man lives up to their ideals.