Frank Frazetta

Was a little nervous to start my Preston Blair study for today. One, I usually don't do comic book style drawings so the superhero type was a little new to me and two, for some reason I'm nervous redrawing my circles these days. I think I nailed it though, Just doing it and not psyching yourself out is half the battle, or is that not what GI Joe used to tell me.

My niece recently found some tadpoles (polliwogs is a way better name though) so Gillifrog was born.



Claude and his turtle sharing a pint.


Our little hero vs a fierce Owlbear.


Unfortunately for us the Mustache Bandit discovered Twitter.


I woke up this morning and saw on my Facebook feed that Imaginefx had reported that a hero of mine died today. Frank Frazetta passed away today. A few years back I rediscovered Conan. I was instantly hooked. I loved every part of it. From Conan's mannerism and attitude to the over the top violence and gratuitous sexuality it's one of the few franchises I like everything about. The movies are fun, the stories great, and the art especially is spectacular. I love Frazetta's style there was no one who did what he did back in the day. After doing a bit of research and reading some great articles about him on both the Inspiration Grab Bag, Lambiek.net and Cartoon Snap. I was reminded that he also did some amazing cartoons in his early career. Thanks for sharing your gift Frank Frazetta. I'm wearing my Conan T shirt in your honor.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. Thought I'd share what I drew for my mom for mother's day. Hope you like it.

Started off having a heck of a time with tonight's Preston Blair Study, but I think they turned out quite nice. Persistence seems to be today's lesson.

Rhys and I went out and saw Ironman 2 at the drive-in theater. What a great time! They even showed old movie theater cartoon adds before the movie and during the intermission. We were both too sleepy to see the second movie How to Train Your Dragon, which we both love, hopefully we'll get to see it again before it leaves the drive in. If you haven't been to a drive-in in a while treat yourself. I'm sure you'll have a blast. Anyways that all was to bring about IronGilligan.


Claude and his turtle Romancing the Stone or Tarzaning. I'm not sure which one's better.


Our little hero vs a couple lvl 1 slimes.


The Mustache Bandit is at it again. Taking a sort of Carmen Sandiego spin with this guy, and loving it.


Since Rhys and I were kinda geeking out over Ironman and comic books in general. It occurred to me that I haven't talked about how much I love Superman. When I was growing up the show Lois and Clark came out and well it quickly turned into a Sunday night ritual. After my dad had seen how interested I was in the show, he introduced me to the actual comic book Superman. He had read a lot of them when he was a boy so he took me to the comic book shop and let me pick out a couple. Lucky for me this was right at the time the whole Death of Superman arc was coming about. What a great time to be a Superman fan. At the time for me this was the pinnacle of drama. I remember Superman #75 it was so engaging. I was hooked. Dan Jurgens' art was like nothing I'd seen before. Thanks for inspiring the little Superman still inside of me.

Everything's better when you add "in space" at the end

Life has been busy lately. I'm finding it challenging to keep some sort of normal time slot for drawing. So I've been keeping a sketchbook with me everywhere I go and trying to find inspiration from everything around me. Whether it be a story someone tells me, the color and shape of the trees outside, or a song I overhear on the radio, etc. I've got to train myself to keep my eyes and ears open to everything and use my experiences and the bits of time here and there to keep growing and learning. Started a new page of sequential drawings and struggled at the beginning to keep the same model with the reference on a different page of my sketchbook, I don't like using rulers. For some reason I feel its cheating. I like how over the top some of these gestures turned out, and ya I know I've got to get them into a gif like I keep saying I'm going to.

Claude and his turtle going for a swim.


Gilligan pretending to be a bird.


I realized while drawing the mustache bandit that he has a similar resemblance to Earl Hickey.


Seahorses in Space!


Vikings at the Grocery Store.


If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I've played at least a few computer games in the past. One of them being World of Warcraft. A few years back they came out with a comic book based on that franchise. Of course I was interested just based on the lore and story, but when I saw the art style I was blown away. Ludo Lullabi captures the style of the game perfectly and really blends it well with a true comic book feel.If you're ever looking for a new comic book to read even if you haven't played the game just grab up the World of Warcraft comic and I'm sure you'll love the art too! Thanks for the inspiration Ludo!

Late Late Night

Okay, I think I mean early morning. So I've got to figure out what to do. I either need to cut down on my drawing, cut back on everything else (which I don't have much to cut out left), or work faster. I haven't gotten a chance to make that sequence drawing into a gif yet. Hopefully tomorrow. I didn't even get to finish re-penciling (I need to just start inking) about half of the drawings I did earlier this evening. It's interesting trying to keep on model and stay true to the flow of action with every new drawing. I'm really enjoying the learning process.

Gilligan trying to walk like an Egyptian.


Claude and his turtle swashbuckling.


Wanted to try something a little less "cutesy" for a change so I thought I'd try out Robin Hood vs. a Demon.


The Mustache Bandit strikes again!


I cam across Herrera's Box Blog the other day on Twitter. His drawings are so dynamic and mix an old cartoony feel with a true comic book style. His drawing style instantly feels recognizable yet truly unique. Thanks for the inspiration!

Productive Day!

I thought I was behind all day today. Then I realized how late it was so I started scanning the work I'd done, and well it turns out I drew a lot. Moving on to the the more animation side of my Preston Blair Study. Today was line of action in a sequence. Time permitting I'll turn these images into an animated gif tomorrow.

I'm still not sure where I want to go with that Minithology idea I had. So I thought I'd draw a Pegasus, that soon turned into this.



Some weird Dr. Seuss like tentacle.


Claude and his turtle in an epic game of tug of war.



Gilligan preping for a party.



Tried out that exercise where you draw a random shape and turn it into something. Ended up doing a Robin Hood and Friar Tuck image.


When I was little I had a fascination with drawing Abraham Lincoln Beards and Hats on everything. So I'm working on a new character the Mustache Bandit. Who basically draws mustaches on everything and everyone.



Watched a bit of Pen and Teller's Bullshit with Rhys this evening and thought I'd try to be productive while I watched.



A couple other people who were on the show.


A distant cousin to both Totoro and Snorlax.


Picked up the Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I could just stare at each page for hours. He has such a simple fluid style. I just love it. I've got to learn to watercolor some day.