You're not paid to erase!

Things seemed to click really well tonight! My hand and my brain seemed to be on a pretty similar wavelength, and I like it. Leaving at least one or two drawings as real roughs is really freeing and fun. I feel a lot looser afterward and it sets a good mood for the rest of the drawings. Surprisingly I've noticed that mood and concentration really affect my work at least I think they do. I'll have to remember to stay happy and positive. That can't be too hard.

Claude and his turtle doing the "myspace pose".


Wolf Gilligan is on the loose.


Our little hero fighting a shark.


Was watching a bit of Glee while I drew tonight so I thought I'd try my hand at drawing Rachel.


A few days ago I was listening to the Art and Story podcast. At least I think it was the Art and Story podcast. Anyways the point is I think it was Jerzy that said something that has stuck with me for a few days. So I thought maybe it would give you something to think about too. "You're not paid to erase." Okay at this point I'm not really getting paid to draw either, but it's a great way of phrasing a point. You can take it a few ways. One loosen up you're, in this case, getting paid to draw. The thing you're setting out to do is draw, not to be meticulous or overwork an image, just let the drawing flow out. The other way to take it is, don't mess up! No one wants to watch an artist erase every 10 seconds. That phrase has just been on my mind when I'm cleaning up my rough drawings. Thanks for the inspiration.

Bonus Day!

Had a busy couple of days, and I've been wanting to try a bunch of new stuff at the same time. For some reason lately my Preston Blair study has been rather intimidating to me. I think I'm just building it up too much in my head. Still staying consistent though and working on knocking out my 10,000 hours.

Thinking about doing a monster series of Gilligan and I came across a Charles Schultz collection the other day so I had to mess around with some Peanuts style.


Claude and his turtle studying and practicing magic.


Little Hero paying homage to Frazetta, and getting squished by a gorilla. You know it's just like any normal day.


I started a new sketchbook that I'm only using Pen in. Trying to challenge myself not to be a perfectionist, just do it perfect the first time.


Quick little perspective sketch.


Ultimate 5!


A mutant chicken.


Like I mentioned earlier I was looking at some Charles Schultz work, but what got me there was Bill Keane. Not only is he the father of the great Glen Keane, but he's the creator of the Family Circus. From reading a bit about him he really had a great idea behind his drawing career. He kept his focus on drawing, but also on his family. I think that attention to family really showed in his artwork and was one of the factors in making his work great, popular, and timeless. Thanks for the inspiration!

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.

Shapes and Lines

I had a blast working on Preston Blair studies today. Mainly focused on lines and shapes and how mastering each one really makes or breaks your drawing ability. I still think I'm working too slow, but I'm enjoying it all and learning a lot so I can't complain.

Claude and his turtle on a global trek.


I think all of the time I spend reading John K's Blog is starting to sink in a la Gilligan and Stimpy.


I'm just loving coming up with weird action scenes to throw this little hero in the midst.


A little punk I doodled while on the phone.


Before I really started focusing on drawing, I used to draw pinup girls all the time. I think I'm gonna start doing that more often again.


I thought I'd mentioned the Pencil Test Depot before, but it looks like I haven't. One of my favorite things to do between drawings or when I get free time is watch old Pencil Tests especially ones done by Milt Kahl. One of the best resources out there is the Pencil Test Depot. It's run by a great artist too, Jamaal Bradley. If you ever wanna feel extra inspired and inadequate at the same time watch some of the pencil tests hes posted. Thanks for the inspiration!

Cyberbrows and a manbag

I find I'm spending less and less time with my Preston Blair study lately. I still am really enjoying it, but I get so many ideas and concepts of my own that I want to draw that I'm finding it hard to set aside the time I used to. I also think drawing really small sequential characters is getting to me. I need to draw bigger.

Claude and his turtle dueling again.


The Daily Gilligan


I've always thought the idea of cyberbrows (robotic eyebrows) looked really cool. I don't know exactly what the benefit would be, but I think if given the option I'd have the surgery.


Had to take a break to watch the new episode of The Office.


I've found I like doing these more adventurous, peril filled, Robin Hood style drawings.


On the heels of yesterday's Viking drawing I become fond of the idea of Vikings in normal situations. Tonight I present to you Viking playing Croquet.


While looking online to find a better way to carry around my sketchbooks, pencils, erasers, etc, yes, I suppose you could say I was looking for a manbag. I came across this great thread (Loose Sketches I Would Like to Own) on the conceptart.org forums. It's a whole collection of people posting pages from some of their favorite artists sketchbooks. I rediscovered Jean Giraud. Back when I was really into Sega games. Thanks mainly to my friend Benstylus. I looked into the Panzer Dragoon series of games. What captivated me about these games was the art. It was unlike anything I've seen before. Jean Giraud mixes comic book style art with a European almost children's book warmth and vibrancy. I really need to find a book of his to study.

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!