I'm Mr. 10 below

I'm really enjoying these Preston Blair movement cycles. They are challenging and fun, and in the end you can flip them and make them move! I still need to find a balance between my perfectionist mentality and the amount of time I have, but I'm starting to feel the benefits from putting in the time!

Since Rhys loves Unicorns it was only a matter of time until Gilligan visited that land.


Our little hero cowering in the presence of an Gristle the Ice Lord.


Claude and his turtle attend the annual beard festival.


I recently found out about Jerzy Drozd and Kevin Cross' other podcast the Saturday Supercast and wow what a treat. They delve into cartoons like nothing I've ever heard before. The episode I listened to was about Christmas Specials, and mainly A Year Without a Santa Claus. I can't believe I had almost forgot about Rankin and Bass. I used to love their holiday specials. Not only did they have crazy stories and catchy songs, but you instantly fall in love with everyone of their characters. I did some searching and found a couple of artists who had connections with Rankin and Bass mainly Paul Coker, Don Duga, Bob Camp, and Jack Davis. Thanks for the Inspiration!

Busy Busy Busy!

In the last day and a half I finished up my application for Animation Mentor and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Cross your fingers extra hard for me! Found out that the art institute wants some examples of my work, but evidently all the want is basically still life with gesture drawings, so part of my time is gonna be spent working on that. Preston Blair is a genius I'm learning so much from his book, and along with this blog, keeping me focused on drawing. Here's a couple animation cycles.

Claude and his turtle exploring and goofing around.


Hungry Hungry Gilligan showing off his pearly whites.


Our little hero is deathly afraid of birds and soon crocodile men.


A couple portraits I'm working on for my art institute portfolio.


I was thinking about the email John Shroades sent me in which he mentioned Chris Van Allsberg. Who has produced some of the most amazingly beautiful illustrations, but that made me think about some of the children's books I loved as a kid. One of those was Graeme Base's 11th Hour. Graeme base is best known for Animalia. What I love most about Graeme's illustrations is not just his vibrant color but how much detail he can cram into a single image. Unlike Frazetta who would articulate breathtakingly his main character and the action and then leave the rest of the image completely subtle, Base adds so much detail that you have to spend some time soaking up every little unique aspect of the image. I did a little research on Base and came across a video interview he gave. He said being a successful illustrator comes down to the 3 P's. Passion, you have to love what you do and do it for your own enjoyment. Perspiration you
have to master your style. Lastly Providence, you have to have just a little smidgen of luck. Thanks for the inspiration!

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!