"Fight or flight"

Detail view


I finished this tonight and I thought I would upload it immediately instead of putting it off for a few days like I usually do. I'm not sure why this seemed important to me, it's not like very many people if any are actually looking at this blog. It's more like just a place to catalog my art during this part of my life, and not a place to show off my successfully published or popular work like so many other artists blogs. The older I get the better my work seems to get, but it also seems like my chances of being successful as an artist are slipping away. I know I need to buckle down again and work on getting my name into the mainstream somehow, It's just very frustrating sending out hundreds of promo postcards out and never receiving any feedback from them. What I really need is an illustration agent, who will go and find me the work, who has the connections to get my name out. The bad part is, agents like these typically won't take you in until you've had work published. It's a vicious cycle.

As for the above piece... it doesn't have any hidden meaning other than whatever you take from looking at it. I call it "Fight or flight." This idea popped in my head unexpectedly late last year. You know when your minding your own business and then a memory from the past just pops in to say hello? sometime last year I was sitting in my car in a parking lot wasting time before I had to go to work. Outside seagulls were eating some scraps of bread someone had left, when several crows swooped in to claim the food. They bickered and screeched and fought over the largest piece while there were plenty of smaller crumbs to be had. Then one of them grabbed the piece and flew away, two of them followed and a fourth one picked up something that looked like a shiny ribbon or candy wrapper then flew off. I guess this is a good reminder that everything has to fight to survive, let alone succeed.

The Holidays are here.

Well, it's hard to believe Christmas is already here again and I'm scraping ice off my car, wondering why fall was so short.

I've got a couple new pieces here. The first was a commissioned piece for a Christmas Card. I usually can't stand big headed illustrations, but I made sure their faces weren't distorted and demented looking (I can't stand that) like a lot of caricature's I've seen. The second is a piece I did as a gift to some of my family members and friends. It kinda captures the mood of the winters here in Ohio and reminds me that there is no escaping the snow. I've got a couple other projects in the works that I will post soon. Happy Holidays.

Some new work! Finally!

Here are a couple of pieces I've done recently. The first is just something for fun, I wanted to do a fun piece where I could work on some shading techniques and basically have fun. I'm really pleased with this. The second is a caricature that I did for my day job as a graphic artist. I'm not sure how I went from designing newspaper ads in a horrible environment to doing illustrations in a horrible environment, but I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that they have laid off something like half of the employees I work with. I guess it's just best not to tell anyone you have an art talent so that it won't be exploited like mine is starting to be. I don't like it.



On a happier note I've decided that I'm going to do some dabbling in comics again. When I was in high school I was pretty into comics and me and my friend Joe decided to give it a shot. I ended up doing about 2 and half issues and then kinda lost direction with it. Mostly because I was just making it up as I went and it was getting pretty tough to keep the details straight. This time I've got a really great idea and I'm writing every detail down and making an outline before I start. I think that I should be able to tell the story in less than 50 pages. It's not your typical superhero thing either, it's gonna be a bank heist story with an action sci-fi twist. When I'm finished if it's good enough I may try to get it published or at least self publish it. Anyhow, wish me luck.

I am going to try to make more of an effort to post more often on here. But truthfully I'm not sure if anyone reads these anyways.

Illustration Friday: Electricity

It feels like I've been gone from blogging forever, seriously. I am going to try to post more often as I work on new material. So anyhow, here's my entry for this weeks topic "Electricity". I'm not sure where the idea for this came from, but I kept drawing it a lot in my sketchbook and I thought it might look good as a finished piece.

Also below are some other recent projects including my art for a future Guitar Hero Party that I am planning on using for invitations. Also a portrait of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl for my friend Janet, Lastly is my attempt at a logo for my Sisters roller derby team the Gainesville Roller Rebels. Comments are welcome.

SOME NEW ARTWORK etc.....

Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I've updated this blog, and it's about time I put some new work up, right?

This one was created after playing alot of Guitar Hero 2 on my xbox 360. It is eventually going to be made into a promotional postcard that I can send out to potential clients (and I'll tell ya I've been mailing alot of these type of promos recently and hand addressing all 50-60 of them is no picnic). I really like my alien tentacle slug monster (for obvious reasons...he ROCKS), and I think he may appear in a few more rock poster esqe illustrations.

Here's another one. The idea for this came from reading an article about how major auto dealers are now releasing the next years model much earlier in an attempt to jump start excitement and sales of there newest cars. In fact this year Daimler Chrysler decided to skip the 2007 model of the Viper entirely and just sell the 2008 version instead. So this sleazy salesman is trying to "Sell the car of the future, TODAY! This ones going to be a promo postcard also, but it's missing some type as you may be able to tell by the emptyness of the left top and left bottom sections.

This next one was a commisioned piece by my cousin Erin. Erin has a holistic massage therapy company in California called SELF CENTERED and she was looking for a unique illustration for her new business cards. This piece shows the seven body chakras starting at the top down. The Crown Chakra, The Knowledge Chakra, The Expressive Chakra, The Heart Chakra, The Personality Chakra, The Sexual Chakra and The Root Chakra. (Immpressive that I know these huh? actually I just had to look them up again)

And finally another commisioned piece that a woman from work asked me to work on. It's a gift for a teacher named Manuel Halkais who is a speech and debate teacher at her sons former high school. I was also asked to include the teachers greek heritage and have him speaking at a podium.

I've been doin most of my illustrations digitally and have really improved with my Wacom tablet. I'm missing working with watercolor though and may do some actual painting soon for a change. Hope everyone liked what they saw and I welcome any comments or critiques.

I Spy...A Robot from the Sky

I've been absent from Illustration Friday for awhile now. Life gets crazy from time to time and I tend to lose focus if I don't alot enough time to actually be creative every week. Above is this weeks entry "A Robot from the Sky" and as an added bonus (below) another illustration I finished this week called "Treehouse Factory", which could be a great illustration to accompany an editorial piece about child labor. Comments are welcome!

Illustration Friday: Help

Help unlocking her heart. It's been awhile since I've participated. I didn't create this for this exact topic, but thought it might fit somehow. I spent alot more time on this one and I think it shows. I've also included the various stages of this project. Comments are welcome.

Halloween Trick

Here is a project I was working on for the Black & Orange gallery contest illustrator Penelope Dullaghan has created. (here's a link that you can copy and paste since I'm incompetent and can't create a link): http://penelopeillustration.com/projects/halloween2006/index.html

I thought it would be nice to share my process with this one and show the different stages of completion. Plus a glimpse at my workspace.




Here is my computer workspace. I use a Dual Pentium Imac with a Wacom tablet for all of my digitally colored illustrations.


Here's my drafting table with some of the stuff I use when I work on a project like this. I use Canson Smooth bristol board, Derwent pencils, Micron Pens & Generals Tri-Tip erasers.

Illustration Friday: Quiet (Night Powers)

Well although this wasn't created exactly for this topic, I think it kinda fits. Comments welcome!

Illustration Friday: perfect (MATCH) or "Tough Love" PT2

FOOLED YOU!!! Okay so no new illustration just wanted to spend some extra time finishing last weeks. I know it's lame to post under this weeks topic, but I want to know what people think of the color. Here's another look at some of the details...


Well, here is my post for this week. As you can see it's not yet complete, but I wanted to get it posted while I could. Because I feel like I've been rushing through the Illustration Friday entries the last couple of times and I'm not spending enough time on the color. So check back soon to see the full color version soon!

Ok, I just realized I forgot to link to a static page...Penelope is gonna be mad!!!! Sorry!!!

Illustration Friday: Play

Well here is my extremely late Illustration Friday post. Enjoy! Comments are welcomed!

Untitled Woman (Wacom Practice)

Here's a sketch I did that I decided to ad color to and practice with my Wacom Tablet. It's taking a little time to get used to but I'm pretty pleased with how I'm doing so far. Comments welcomed!

Illustration Friday: Sticky (Bubble Gum)

Here's my entry for this week. I spent last night working on this and finished it up a few minutes ago. This was a fun piece and didn't take me a ton of time. I need to get back to doing IF every week. It sure has given me a great portfolio. Comments are welcomed.

Illustration Friday - Portrait (MI:3)

It just so happens that I am working on a fun project that fits with this weeks Illustration Friday topic. I was thinking about how I need to work on likenesses, because if I want to get hired by some of the magazines I want to work with, I'll need to be able to draw a pretty decent likeness of anyone. I also am a huge movie geek, for the last couple summers I put off seeing all the movies that I wanted to see in the theatre for various reasons and later regreted it and wished I'd made more of an effort. So this summer I've made a promise to myself. I am going to see all of the movies that interest me, in the comfort of the Theatre on their opening weekends. To go along with this I am going to do several illustrations of my favorites after I see them. So here is my first entry for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 which I thought was one of the best spy action movies that I've ever seen. Better than both of the previous installments combined (and I really enjoy the first one alot). Even though it didn't make as much money at the box office as the studios would have liked I really thought it was completly genius, and I can't wait to see what first time director J.J. Abrams (creator of the tv series ALIAS, and LOST) turns out next. I've also already seen Xmen 3 and the DaVinci Code and started my DaVinci Code illustration last night (I've opted not to do xmen3 because I felt it was not as good as it should have been). So in case you were wondering here is my list of not to miss Summer Blockbuster Movies.....

- Mission Impossible 3 (Fantastic Movie 5 out of 5 Stars)

- The DaVinci Code ( 5 of 5 stars. Another great movie, I was afraid that it would be the occasional Ron Howard bomb, but it was pleasently great!

- X men 3 ( 3 of 5 stars. I enjoyed this movie but felt it didn't have as much heart as the 2nd installment. This movie was made for general audiences not fans of the Xmen comics. Unfortunatly too many storylines were smooshed together leaving the best parts of all the stories out. And the scene at beginning with the Sentinals...why even put a scene in with the towering Sentinals if your not going to at least show them in there 90 foot tall glory.

- Cars ( Another Pixar/Disney slam dunk. I'm not worried about this one, it's pretty much guaranteed to be great.

- Nacho Libre ( Comic genius Jack Black plus Napolean Dynamite Director Jared Hess, School of Rock writer Mike White, and genious musician Beck handling the soundtrack...plus the scene in the trailer where Jack Black flexes his but cheeks and it makes the whip cracking sound cracks me up everytime I see it (despite the fact that my girlfriend thinks I'm gay for laughing at it)

- Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift ( This one almost didn't make my list, I loved, loved, loved the first one....and wished the 2nd one could have even been close, So I'm hoping that a new storyline and direction by Justin Lin will help. Just one thing though, why the hell is Lil Bow Wow in this? Shouldn't he be at the babysitter?

- Superman Returns ( I'm gonna get teary eyed seeing this in the theatre... Superman 1 and 2 are amazing and the fact that this isn't a reimagining but a homage to the original is fantastic)

- Pirates of the Caribbean 2 ( Enjoyed the first one, this one looks even cooler with all the squidy tetacle looking pirates)

- A Scanner Darkly ( Richard Linklater's unique animated movie of Philip K. Dick's futuristic story about paranoia and the governments war on drugs.

- Lady in the water ( Probably my favorite director ever, M. Night Shyamalan. Even though I didn't really like the village, Unbreakable has to be one of my all time favorite movies)

- Miami Vice ( Ever heard of a guy named Micheal Mann? Well he directed HEAT and COLLATERAL and alot of people don't know this, but he also created Miami Vice...I think this movie as cheesy as it sounds could be kick ass!)

- Talladega Nights: The ballad of Ricky Bobby (Okay this looks hilarious....Plus this is Will Farrel where he belongs. this movie is brought to you by the same people who did Anchorman: The legend of Ron Burgundy....I love the fact that these comedies have really long drawn out titles!

- Clerks 2 ( Kevin Smith has apparently come up with something really great here. I love the rest of his "Jersy" films and the first Clerks holds a special place in my fat little heart...From what I hear the movie premiered last month at the Cannes Film festival and received a wonderful honor after the credits rolled...an 8 minute standing ovation from the audience...I saw video of this and the audience surrounded Kevin Smith and wife and the actors and clapped for what seemed like forever...and apparently this hardly ever happens either. )

My Business Cards!

TADA...here are my new business cards. I attempted to make them like little works of art and made them 2 sided. I got them printed on 4over4.com and I have to say they did a fantastic job. I left room on the back of the card to write information like price quotes, phone #'s or anything really. I should have my first set of self promo postcards soon..I can't wait to mail em out!

Illustration Friday - Under The Sea

well I missed a really great topic last week with "robot" but I'm trying to make up for that lost opportunity with what I think is a decent illustration for a semi lame topic (Under The Sea? seriously, enough water themed topics). I wish that I could find the time to participate every week, but I've decided that If I'm going to get more illustration work, I have to start doing alot more self promotion, I'm supposed to get my first set of professional business cards soon and I've ordered my first batch of self-promo post cards. I'm also compiling a mailing list of people, publishers and businesses that I think could use illustration work like mine. Along with this I'm in the process of leaving my current full time newspaper graphic design job for a much better paying job at one of their competitors. So basically things have been crazy & I've been having a hard time finding time for alot of things.

I am making time though to go see Mission Impossible 3 this weekend. If you can put Tom Cruise's crazy personal life aside. I've heard that if you want to go see a really great spy flik with alot of great action and cool stunts that actually has a great story. Go see this movie!!! If you were dissipointed by the first two and want to see it done right...Go see this movie!!! This time of year is a special time for me because it marks the beginning of the summertime big budget blockbuster movie. There are so many movies coming out in the next few months that it's making my head spin. Last year I only saw a couple of the movies that I wanted to see in the theatre, but this year, I swore to myself that I would see all the movies that I'm interested in. It will take focus but I think I can do it. Alright enough of me dorking out! Go see some great movies this summer!!!

I'll post some pics of my new business cards and postcards as soon as I get em. Hope everyone has a great week. Comments are more than welcome!

Finished Farmer Zombie

Here is the finished full color version of my "Monster" Entry from a couple of weeks ago. Comments welcome!

Illustration Friday - Speed (rocket man)

Well here is my rediculously late submission for Illustration Friday. I did the entire digital coloring on my new Imac with a scanner, Wacom tablet and my rediculously expensive copy of Adobe CS2. Now all I have to do is make enough money doing freelance this year to cover the cost of it. Anyone want to sponsor an underfunded freelance illustrator? Let me know if you want to donate money to the "please help me pay for my computer fund". Or even better hire me to do an illustration! Then I won't have to be a bum and beg for money. Anyhow enjoy. Comments welcome!

Illustration Friday - Monster

Inked Version


Here is my half finished entry for "Monster". Nothin more scary than a redneck zombie! I'll have the finished piece up very soon! Comments are welcome! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Illustration Friday - Feet

These are my Hobbit like feet....enjoy! (Ink & digital)

Well, it's been several weeks since I've participated in Illustration Friday, Many things have happened since my last post. I've moved from a giant apartment to a tiny apartment (and managed somehow to get all of my stuff into it), done some freelance work (thanks to my website), ruined 2 computers (that I've been nursing along for awile), and managed to be generally stressed out for like a month straight. Now that things have slowed down & I can for the most part think straight. I plan on trying to participate alot more, but I'm also trying desperatly to find the money for self promotion, so I can get some self promo post cards printed that will hopefully bring me a couple of freelance illustration jobs.