Fireworks and Karate Supplies

Red

2011-11-16T09:11:00.001-05:00

Here's a little concept art I did recently as I was trying to nail down a look for a short Red Riding Hood picture book story I was thinking of writing up some day. While it's not the best stand alone illustration, I'm happy with the look of the character and her world. I'm sort of working on figuring out two styles, one more of what some might call a more traditional "comic book" style for my stuff that is geared toward kids in the middle grade age range and something more like this for the younger, picture book set.

Portfolio A-Go-Go!

2011-09-15T09:18:00.000-04:00

I updated my portfolio site. I hope you love it.odditycomics.com

Time Turtle!!!

2011-08-25T10:26:00.003-04:00

Time Turtle's adventure through...Time!!!

New piece, hopefully for my portfolio. We'll see if it makes the cut.

I'm gearing up for the Northern Ohio SCBWI conference in September and I'm trying to revamp much of my portfolio before then. I'm wicked excited about this conference because it has been about 2 years since I last attended one. It's always really informative and a good time.

I love looking through old Polaroids.

2011-08-19T10:29:00.001-04:00

Look how cute Mongo was back then.

He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast...

2011-08-07T23:33:00.003-04:00

And he's gotta be fresh from the fight!

Gym Sock!
Hero to all the kids of Squaresville Middle School!

The Raging Cycloptic Janitors of the Fifth Dimension don't stand a chance.

It's Beach Time!

2011-08-03T23:00:00.002-04:00

I've been hanging on to this one for a while because I just couldn't seem to get the crab right. I think he's looking pretty good now.

Mysterious tales of suspense... and mystery!

2011-06-28T01:11:00.005-04:00

If you were a kid who was into mystery novels, would you judge this book by its cover and beg your parents to fork over cold hard cash for it?

Mind you, this isn't a real cover to a real novel. Not yet anyway. For now it's just a new portfolio piece that I worked up this week.

I think I'd like to do more book covers. They're a hoot.

I don't really keep a proper sketchbook...

2011-06-09T08:23:00.003-04:00

but I should. I do sketch quite a bit, mostly little character heads on scraps of paper that I find around the office. I was taught in art school (and I've heard countless artists say it since) that I should keep a running sketchbook at all times. I'm not the biggest fan of drawing in the bound books. I dig my loose leaf. So instead I have tons of loose paper that I shove into folders for projects or just a random sketch folder. Using an actual sketchbook would probably make sense, but I've stopped buying them because I usually only fill them half way, put them away and forget about them. I did once fill a small moleskine which was a cool experience because it gave me this sense of accomplishment. Maybe there's something to sketchbooks after all. I'm rambling because my brain still waking up. Rambling to end in 3...2...1...

The sketches above comprise some of my favorites over the last couple months. Except one, which is a few years old and has appeared on this blog before. I needed it to fill a space. One of these is a character sketch from a project that I'm working on now, but the others are just random characters. However, who knows, they may show up in a story somewhere down the line.

Tremont Art Walk

2011-05-11T10:04:00.002-04:00

Attention People of Earth: Will you be in the Cleveland area this Friday? Will you be in need of activities to stimulate your mind and entertain your eyeballs? I implore you to consider spending your evening at the Tremont Art Walk and swinging by Studio Le Beau for free refreshments, free pizza and the opportunity to freely stare at images of cartoon characters fighting robots. A smattering of artworks, created by me, will be available for public viewing this Friday at Studio Le Beau in the historic Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. 2360 West 11th Street.

Style Test

2011-04-15T11:42:00.003-04:00

Fooling around with a sort of old-school style test. It reminds me of brochures I would have seen at the school nurse's office back in the day. "Robbie feels happy because he has high self esteem."

Personally, I think Robbie looks happy because he's walking through the park on a wicked nice day.

I inked it all scribbly with an ultra fine point Sharpie and then colored it in PhotoShop. I've got a book Idea that might lend itself to a style more like this than my usual art style. I might have to do some tests with actual images from said book.

Astounding Tales of Thrilling Adventure

2011-04-01T10:37:00.004-04:00

The Professor is slashing prices all over the place.

So the concept that I had for this and the five pieces that I posted before it was to create brightly-colored, energetic illustrations that could be stills from the greatest Saturday morning action cartoon of all time. In reality, I don't know what that show is. It became mostly cool, somewhat quirky characters fighting an army of robots.

Visually my style is influenced by a lot of cartoons, especially shows from the late 90's early 2000's like Dexter's Lab, PowerPuff Girls and Samurai Jack. For this project I went full-on Samurai Jack mode and lost most of the line work. Those shows mean a lot to me because even though I didn't grow up with them, they started hitting the airwaves while I was in college and they helped point me in a new direction as a storyteller and cartoonist.

Another notable thing for me about this project is that, while I'm framing it in the context of this imaginary cartoon show, I didn't give any consideration to the story. That's pretty rare for me. Usually I can't do any personal work without the creating a story around it. Even when I'm doing random sketches of people's faces, my brain starts forming a back story for them as characters. Mostly this is fine with me. I see myself as a storyteller. Sometimes it can become burdensome, so I intentionally set out to avoid thinking about a story and just focus on crafting the images. Of course, most of these characters have shown up in my work before and I'm sure stories about them will creep in to my head eventually.

For now though, it was just a really fun project and I'm glad to have done it.

Maxin' and Relaxin'

2011-03-30T15:20:00.002-04:00

Because sometimes, you just gotta.

Battle Royale w/Cheese

2011-03-29T09:25:00.002-04:00

Getting down to my last few pieces for this series. I think I could draw cartoon battles all day.

Awe Yeah Buddy!

2011-03-24T10:04:00.003-04:00

I just want to be clear... I don't hate robots.

I like 'em just fine. Quite a bit in fact.

I just don't mind seeing them get punched in the head because, y'know... they're robots.

Especially evil black and green robots.

The Big Purple Fist of Impending Doom!!!

2011-03-23T09:30:00.005-04:00

Look out Octobot!!!

I'm having a ton of fun with these images. It's good to dive into a personal project now and then. Seems to help get the creative gears turning and keep me from burning out on client work.

As much as I enjoy the client projects that I have, there is no greater feeling than just sitting down to create whatever I want.

These robot parts just keep piling up...

2011-03-22T15:50:00.004-04:00

Here's a new piece featuring my Professor character and a horde of defeated robot minions. This one is a bit of a departure from my previous illustrations of him due to the colored background and shading. Not a big difference. I'm going to spend the next week or so working on similarly themed images, though they won't all feature the same characters.

And now a viking drops some knowledge on all a y'all.

2011-03-22T08:28:00.002-04:00

I can't keep him off the microphone. I don't even bother trying anymore.

Amazed, amused, baffled and perhaps even...STUNNED!

2011-03-10T15:35:00.003-05:00

Not sure what the emotion is here. Mostly just a sad attempt at ridiculous copycat Manga face to break the blog silence.

Blog silence resumes.

Nah, Just kidding. I'm going to start using this thing again real soon.

Honest.

It's 20011 Y'all

2011-01-14T10:39:00.005-05:00

And it's time to get ill.

This is only a test.

2010-12-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

Do not be alarmed.

Back to the beat y'all

2010-12-23T13:29:00.001-05:00

Believe it or not...

2010-12-09T11:44:00.002-05:00

I've been watching a lot of Greatest American Hero on Netflix lately.

Just your average stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder

2010-12-03T21:39:00.001-05:00

It is most definitely clobberin' time.

2010-11-22T15:38:00.003-05:00

Another redo I done did. In the Mighty Marvel Manner.

Bat Man Redux

2010-11-02T09:08:00.003-04:00

I may not be the first person to redo an old comic cover on the internet, but I am the handsomest. Just ask my mom.

Never Surrender

2010-10-29T11:38:00.002-04:00

He will not be deterred.

Gotta Catch'em All!

2010-10-22T12:00:00.002-04:00

Sketch bloggin' on a Friday afternoon.

...aaaaaaand scene!

2010-10-08T16:36:00.006-04:00

Here's some of my favorite pages from a book I recently finished for super-client Stone Arch Books. It's a tee vee parody. I'll let you guess the show. This project is the one that has been taking up most of my time these last few months, which explains the lack of updates. My intent is to expand my internet presence now that I have some free time. I'll be all over this internet now.

It's Almost October For Cryin' Out Loud

2010-09-30T10:10:00.006-04:00

I could go into how crazy busy the month of September has been and make excuses about why I haven't been blogging or I could show some pictures. I choose the latter:

Some images that I recently did for our church. My Pastor wrote a short story and I provided these illustrations to accompany it. It was a cool alternative to the books I've been working on lately. To change things up I inked them with a brush pen as opposed to digitally and I tried a different color palette. I only had a few days to turn them around and I'm really happy with the results.

Sketch Dumpin'

2010-08-27T12:10:00.006-04:00

And now a few sketches from the last month or so. Things are still wicked crazy around here. I'm hoping to start some regular updates again soon.

¡Animales!

2010-08-19T09:49:00.002-04:00

Not dead... just buried

2010-06-04T11:49:00.004-04:00

So the last seven months or so flew by, didn't they? I decided to check in with the ol' blog and couldn't believe how long it had been since my last post. I've been extremely busy with projects, which is great, but I've been left with little time for anything else. And so, the blog has suffered. The summer months will continue to be jam-packed, but I'm excited about where things are heading. More news as things develop, but for now, a few images from some things I've been working on:

This is the cover to the fourth and final Princess Candy book. I'm really stoked about this one because I think it's the best of the four. It should be available in the fall.

These two are from a very early-reader style book for a client in the educational business. A boy's pet frog follows him to school and hilarity ensues!

and here's some sketches from my moleskine:

Seasonal Confusion

2009-11-23T22:56:00.006-05:00

Recent day job work. Nothing like cranking out seasonal imagery before lunch to help condense the holiday season.

On an unrelated note, I'm totally loving this song and video at the moment:

This Week in Perpetual Motion 10: Tag!

2009-11-20T17:05:00.005-05:00

Ahoy! It's Friday again and this week I'm meeting my self-imposed deadline at a more respectable time than last with another fun-filled piece of children's book-type art! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Tag! My tribute to what seems likely to be the first game of human civilization. Who among us doesn't love a good game of tag? (full disclosure: I actually didn't care for the game much myself between the spring of 1979 and the summer of 1981 as I was constantly "it" on account of my being an awkward lad with a big head and short legs making it nearly impossible for me to catch my opponents. Overcoming these obstacles, I did later regain my love of the chase.)

Based on another book concept that I have, this piece was a lot of fun to finally bring to life. Initially I didn't have any ideas for the finished look of the illustration but I knew I wanted it to be somewhat different from most of my other work. The one word that came to mind was "texture", so I tried to bring in more textures than I usually do. At my day job I've been doing more work with colored line work rather than black (for some reason people associate black lines with "cartoony" which apparently adults think is bad, even though we produce things for kids, who love cartoons. That's a whole 'nother post.) So I did it here and I really liked the result.

In other news, I spent a lot of this week trying to figure out my next promo mailer.I was planning on just putting together a small packet with a few color copies, maybe some postcards. Then I was listening to the fantastic Big Illustration Party Time podcast (hosted by Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble) episode 39 in which the hosts, along with Thomas James of Escape from Illustration Island (an equally fantastic podcast that I have mentioned before) were discussing, among other things, possible alternative revenue streams for illustrators to pursue. Kevin Cross had mentioned the idea of printing up some quality art books that could be sold to fans but could also do double duty as a portfolio that could be sent to clients. This got me thinking about maybe doing something along those lines but on a smaller scale. So what I'm working on now is a small, printed book, digest sized with maybe four pages in it. While it would still be just a few samples it might be a more cohesive, well designed package as a book. That's the theory anyhow. I had hoped to have something to show, but I'm still designing it.

I'm thinking about doing them through maybe a print-on-demand outlet like Ka-Blam (as mentioned by Mr. Cross on BIPT) or finding somewhere I can do a short print run at a decent rate. If anyone who happens across this page has had good experiences with any of the various printing resources out there, feel free to drop me a line.

This Week In Perpetual Motion 09: Chicken Nugget!

2009-11-14T00:27:00.004-05:00

Back on track! For the most part, I'm about a half hour shy of midnight, but it's finished! This week's piece is a mocked up cover for a book concept I had the other day. The title of the book, in case it's hard to read on this low res version is, "Chicken Nugget: The Greatest Dog in the World Ever by Chicken Nugget". Without giving too much of the plot away it's basically the autobiography of a little dog named Chicken Nugget who is so full of himself that he really thinks he's the greatest dog in the world. Judging by the expressions on the faces of the townsfolk, his is not the majority opinion. I don't usually place type on pieces like this but I think the composition would look really odd with out it, as it's kind of central to the whole thing. As always, any crits and comments are welcome.

For the week ahead I plan on continuing sketches and prep work for the next Princess Candy book as well as dive into some much needed self promotion. Hopefully in next week's post I can share what sort of sample packet I'm working on. It's my intent to send a decent package to some publishers that I'd really like to work with. I'll let you know how it all goes down.

For now, it's totally bed time.

Thanks for reading!

This Week (and last) In Perpetual Motion 08: Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

2009-11-08T22:49:00.003-05:00

When I decided I would start doing this weekly exercise to build my portfolio I told myself that I would post something even if a particular week went awry. I said to myself, "Self, if we're going to do this, we've go to do it warts and all... good, bad and even ugly. 'Cause that's how life is self... it aint always pretty. You an' me gotta keep it real."

When I had this discussion with myself, I didn't actually think this was going to happen on week two.

I could go in to some litany of excuses, but who wants to hear that? The one legit reason I have is that paying work has to come first and that's basically what happened here. I had some gigs that I had to work on and I didn't have enough time for this image. So, when I had some computer issues, I didn't have the time to recoup and bust this sucker out.

That's why I blew it on Friday.

As to what happened this weekend, I have no idea. I've been trying to get this thing done and colored up but I just haven't been feeling it. So after many false starts and missteps on the colors I'm deciding to pack it in and call it a night. Doing so gives me that slammed with a 90 mph dodge ball in the gut feeling too, but sometimes it's not worth slogging through a piece just to get a crappy result when you can get back to it later with a clear head. Sad but true.

The above image is of the finished inks and represents the last phase of the project in which I looked at it and thought it was ok. When I get it finished up I'll post it.

Next week, something completely different. (ie. a finished piece and maybe more coherent thoughts)

Oh Johnny!

2009-11-04T21:32:00.005-05:00

You're such a card.

Pencil and sharpies.

Black and red to be precise.

Work was slooooow today.

This Week in Perpetual Motion 07: Deadline!

2009-10-30T11:02:00.004-04:00

Alright, so this is my first Friday since determining that I would post a new, finished piece of work every week with the intent of building my portfolio and keeping this illustration business heading in a forward motion. Did I get the piece done? Sure did, and I'm really pretty happy with it. Check it out:

Using my "kid in a bee costume" character again (cooler name forthcoming), I decided I would turn him into something of a young superhero-type starring in his own series of middle-grade graphic or possibly prose novels. That's a market that I think the type of work I like to do fits well in. The above image would be the cover illustration to one of his harrowing adventures. I'm thinking about some black & white images for the interiors that would accompany the text, if the book were to go the prose route.

Process stuff... My process isn't really anything revolutionary but I always like to see this stuff from other artists so perhaps someone may enjoy this part.

1. Thumbnail - This rough image is about 2.75" x 3.5". I just drew it up quickly one day, thinking about situations to put our hero in. Didn't spend a lot of time on it, just tried to get a sense of the composition.

2. Pencils - I worked at my intended final print size of 6" x 8.25". I would usually work at least a little larger than the print size. These were only supposed to be slightly tighter roughs, which is why I worked smaller, but I kind of got into the drawing and finished them up. I scanned them in at 600 dpi so I could blow it up to the size I would have probably drawn it at when I converted it to a print friendly 300 dpi.

3. Inks - Technically there isn't any ink involved here since I do the line work in Adobe Illustrator. I place the pencils on their own layer and set it to dim the image 50%. Then I start an "inks" layer where I use a combination of the pen tool to trace some of my lines as paths and my Wacom tablet and some customized brushes for stuff like the woodgrain. I'm using it more for the other lines as well, but I'm still learning with it.

4. Flat Colors - After the line work is done I create a layer under the "inks" layer and label it "colors". I do all of the flat color this way, using the pen tool creating shapes. It's probably time consuming to do it this way, but I've been doing this since art school where I was more comfortable with Illustrator and vector art than with PhotoShop. It's weird but I just like to do it this way. Anyhow, you'll see that the color isn't totally flat as I did put some shadows on the figures. Part of the aesthetic that I'm going for is a cell shaded Saturday morning cartoon kind of feel where the somewhat flat characters pop off of a more painted looking background. Which brings us to PhotoShop.

5. Painting and Texture - After I've finished the flat color I export my Illustrator file as PhotoShop document, preserving all the layers. I then open the file up in PhotoShop and start adding textures and painting some shadows and highlights (mostly on the background elements). This piece doesn't have much of that , just some painting on the ship, some texture on the sail. I used a scanned paper texture that I placed over the flats and adjusted levels until I got it where I wanted. I also used the gradient tool in the sky to throw some color variations in there.

That was about it. I'm pleased with the results. If anyone reading this has any comments or critiques please let me know. Feel free to give an honest opinion, I can take it. I'm always looking for ways to improve things and sometimes there can be glaring problems that the artist can't see because they're too close to the piece. So fire away.

Next week I'll hopefully have another new piece. I say hopefully because I'm getting started on paying work, which obviously has to be the priority. I think I can fit something though, so look for that on Friday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sailing Can Be Fun!

2009-10-28T12:27:00.002-04:00

Unless, of course, you're our intrepid hero at this particular moment.

Here's a little sneak peak at a work in progress. This is the pencil drawing I did for the piece that I'm going to have finished for Friday.

I hope you love it.

Thanks for looking.

This Week in Perpetual Motion 06: Moving Right Along

2009-10-23T14:09:00.006-04:00

So hey, internet, we're just gonna forget about September, ok? Between a new baby, two older kids, a full time job, finishing up Princess Candy book 3 and the inability of my brain to put together any coherent thoughts during that time, September and most of October were a bust as far as regular updates go. Not what I had hoped for this little experiment, so I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things now.

In the time between finishing the third Princess Candy installment and getting started on the next I've been trying to update my portfolio site, work on new pieces for said portfolio and build a contact list for an upcoming mailing. 2009 has been pretty busy so these have all been things I unfortunately neglected. I've also managed to do some writing for a web comic project that I'll probably be announcing early next year. Anyhow, I haven't just been sitting on the ol' duff.

You can see some of the fruits of my labor here at my portfolio site, updated with a smattering of newer images and a bunch of golden oldies.

Since I'm focusing my attention on the children's market one of the best resources that I'm using to build my mailing list is the 2010 Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's Market book. If anybody out there is reading this and has any other suggestions please shoot me an email or comment below.

As for new pieces, I'm trying to finish some up before I start on the next Princess Candy book but honestly, I've been in a bit of a rut. I have plenty of sketches of pieces that I need to get moving on but I'm over thinking them, wondering if they're the right pieces to market myself with or if I need to change up my style a bit. Consequently, I end up paralyzing myself with these considerations and don't get much accomplished. At least that was the case, until yesterday when I was listening to Thomas James' fantastic podcast, Escape from Illustration Island and he was interviewing Jonathan Woodward who runs the blog Zero 2 Illo. Jonathan has been using Zero 2 Illo to document his transition from a freelance graphic designer to a freelance illustrator, putting it out there as a resource for other aspiring illustrators. During the course of the interview, which was great (as always, Escape from Illustration Island is a phenomenal show), Jonathan explained that he blogs about his work schedules and posts deadlines for himself because if he didn't, he might not get the work done. Hearing that, I decided that some self-imposed deadlines would be just the thing to get me to pull the trigger on these illustrations.

So here's the skinny... each week I'm going to work on a new piece, and post it here every Friday as my Perpetual Motion report, column thing. I'll use that to go over the process, post sketches and whatnot, chat about other stuff I've observed along the way. Hopefully, the issues of style and marketing that I've been mulling over will work themselves out through doing the work rather than through all my navel gazing. Even if each image isn't star search material, I should end up with some nice additions to the portfolio. Sound like a good plan?

That's it in a nutshell. If you're still reading then I salute you for your tenacity and fortitude. In the future, there will be fewer words and most certainly more pictures. For now, I leave you with this space kid.

Illustration Friday: Flying

2009-10-09T14:46:00.003-04:00

When you're skating really fast, it give you the sensation of flying. Ok, it's a stretch, but maybe these kids just used flying to describe how speedy they were, like, "Man, I was totally flying across the pond! It was wicked!"

That's what I would have said when I was a kid. Actually, I'll say that this winter when I go skating.

Librarian 4 Hire: Super Sweet Yeti Edition

2009-09-24T22:31:00.003-04:00

Finally had the chance to finish up this piece for my children's book, Yeti 4 Hire. (you can see the original drawing here. ) Ok, so it's not an official book yet, but this is one of the samples for the submission packet I'm putting together. I'm still working on the book dummy and tightening up the manuscript, so it will be a while before I get it out the door. I'll just keep making time for it between the paying work.

Surrounded!

2009-09-23T17:25:00.003-04:00

Robots don't stand a chance.

This Week (and last) In Perpetual Motion 05: It Baby Time!

2009-08-29T01:13:00.004-04:00

So, last week there wasn't one of these here updates because, well, we had a baby boy! By we, of course, I mean my lovely wife gave birth and I stood there staring in amazement at her awesomeness as she did so (for the third time!). Everybody is home and happy and healthy and wicked rad. I'm so blessed with an beautiful family and I try to remind myself of that everyday. I took about a week off from work, with the exception of some freelance that I worked on whilst everybody else was sleeping, so there is very little to report on the art front. Please forgive me internet. I think I've got a pretty good excuse.

This week I've gotten back into the swing of things a bit more and I've been getting more done. As deadlines loom I'll be cranking away on stuff for the next couple of weeks and I'll post stuff as I can. Right now though, I'm wicked tired so I'm going to bed before this post begins to ramble too incoherently. Actually that last sentence may prove that I'm too late already.

Here's one of my favorite panels from the current Princess Candy book that I'm working on.

This Week In Perpetual Motion 04: The New Phonebooks Are Here!

2009-08-14T22:34:00.005-04:00

Big news this week... My copies of the first two Princess Candy books arrived in the mail and they're wicked awesome. Just look at the awesomeness in the above photo and that's just the sweet, sweet hardcover. Seriously, they look great. The colors are vibrant and just jump off the page. I'm totally stoked. I don't think I've ever been happier with how my work looks in print. Plus the design of the book is great from the title page to all the back matter stuff.

I finished a bunch of pages for book 3 this week, which is still coming along nicely. My new Intuos 3 has been a big too, so I'm glad I bought it. I plan on putting in a lot of hours this weekend so hopefully I can crank out a few more. Now I'm off to color a couple pages before bed.

I did this sketch of my Yeti character last night. I've got some big plans for this dude.

See, no harpoons this week.

Headin' for my beddin'

2009-08-13T02:04:00.002-04:00

After a long night of drawing the adventures of an 11 year-old, super heroic girl, I did me some sketchin'. Brush pen on a paper bag from the comic shop.

'night.

Redevelopment Project

2009-08-11T02:05:00.002-04:00

Building on the past for a better tomorrow.

This Week In Perpetual Motion 03: Sha Na Na Na

2009-08-08T22:30:00.006-04:00

Not much to report this week, despite the fact that I'm a day late doing so. One would think that the reason it took me a whole extra day to write about my work week was that it had been a rather eventful one, but not so. I was busy yesterday, and most of today but not with work... more like husband and dad type stuff. You gotta do what you gotta do, and I'm a happier man for it.

Work continues on the new Princess Candy book and all is well on that front. I got me a new toy this week... a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. It's the 6" x 8" one and it sure is purdy. I'm still breaking it in, but the bit that I've used it has been great. I did the first two books without a tablet as my old Graphire didn't like my iMac. Plus the graphire only had like a 4" x6" area anyhow and I never got very comfortable with it. I like the new one better already.

Ok, the work week must continue, so I should get back to it.

Next week, I won't use an image with a harpoon in it.

Excelsior!

This Week In Perpetual Motion 02: The itch is back

2009-07-31T22:28:00.005-04:00

So, this week...let's see...it went by really freaking quickly. I'm not sure why, but it flew. I'm still making my way through Princess Candy 03. I had a page with a classroom scene, a lot of kids and a lot of desks. It took way longer than the average page, but it's done and I'm happy with it. I love it when the effort pays off and you can be proud of the finished product. The other cool thing this week happened two posts ago, The first two Princess Candy books are available online. I'm dying to see the final printed versions of these, so I'm wicked psyched that they're available. There are quite a few really cool looking books from Stone Arch Books in their fall catalog, so I'm excited to be a part of that lineup.

Comics, eh? It was about two years ago that I hung up my comic-making hat and decided to focus my artistic endeavors on the children's illustration market. I refocused my portfolio, started sending out samples and advertising in that market and within the last year it's really been going quite well. It's kind of funny then that I'd end up doing kid comics for a publisher shortly after giving up on my own comics. Well, I shouldn't say "giving up", just shifting them in the priorities list. I have to say, working on these books has really given me the itch to get back into my own titles. In fact, for the last couple weeks I've been dusting off some old concepts and doing some writing. My own comics are going to still take a back seat priority wise since self-published mini-comics don't exactly feed a family of 4 (soon to be 5 any day now), but I'm making some time for them between paying gigs. You won't see anything for quite a while, because I'm going to get them buttoned up story wise before I even start producing pages, but I'll keep you updated on the progress. I'm pretty stoked about getting back into them, at least on a part time basis. My main focus will still be on children's books because I just love telling stories, no matter who they're directed at.

Ramble, ramble. I'm very tired so I'm not going to go back and read this before I post it. It might not make sense. I've still got a long night of work ahead, so I better get to it.

Excelsior.

Professor Xavier is a Jerk

2009-07-31T02:20:00.003-04:00

Yes, yes he is.

Princess Candy Books available online

2009-07-28T09:19:00.006-04:00

The first two Princess Candy titles, Sugar Hero and Marshmallow Mermaid (painstakingly illustrated by me, artfully authored by Michael Dahl) are available on the Stone Arch Books website! If you have a youngster in your life who likes things that are awesome or if you are a kid at heart yourself, head on over there and order six. You can put them in the gift bags at those posh dinner parties you're so fond of throwing. Or just keep some out on your coffee table to show off your intellectual prowess. Whatever the end use, they're the perfect addition to any home, sprucing up libraries and living rooms the world over.

This Week in Perpetual Motion 01: It Begins!

2009-07-24T13:34:00.008-04:00

So I decided to start a little something on the ol' blog. Every Friday I'm going to give a report on my work week... the freelance stuff I've been working on, what I accomplished, what I had actually wanted to accomplish, what worked, what didn't, new projects that come up, new contacts, cool things I find out in the freelance world, maybe some ranting, etcetera and so forth. It's more or less a record for myself, so that I can remember things from week to week since my brain has basically become a revolving door of information rather than the inescapable steep trap it had once been. Of course I hope my loyal reader and any of you who may have wandered this way looking for explosives and sweet ninja boots will enjoy it as well. Maybe we'll all learn a few things on the way. Probably not.

Now obviously an idea this incredible couldn't have germinated in my little ol' noggin all on it's own. In fact, I decided to do this after getting hooked on a new (new to me anyway) podcast this week, Art & Story.

It's hosted by Mark Rudolph and Jerzy Drozd, two freelance cartoonists and illustrators who share a studio and drop lots of knowledge about their chosen profession. Thay talk alot about comics and the process of creating them. They aso have daily episodes called Art & Story extreme in which they discuss their work day and other topics. That's the one where I took the update Idea from, only I'm not going to do it daily since I don't share a studio with anyone and only a day's worth of update would be dull from just little ol' me. These guys are not dull however, they're really informative and a lot of fun to listen to while you're up into the wee hours working on comics.

Speaking of working on comics, I'm full on into Princess Candy book 3. I've managed to get a few pages done this week, the above little peek is from the first page. That's going to be the focus of my freelance work for the next month and a half. Once the fall hits, my schedule is pretty open, but I'm hoping that it fills up again like it did last fall. Things have been hopping since right after last year's local SCBWI conference. That's also coming up in September and I'm pretty psyched for it. I'm planning on attending, so if you're a member, maybe I'll see you there.

Oh, yeah...the San Diego Comic Con is going on this week and I'm sad that I'm not there.

That's all for now. Until next week,

Excelsior!

My Summer Song

2009-07-14T11:47:00.005-04:00

So every summer there's one song that will capture my imagination force me to fall in love with it. It doesn't have to have come out that particular summer, but if I heard it during the summer and it got into my head in such a way that it crowds out love for other music, then it becomes the summer song. That one up there has the title for my 2009 summer song. It's "Parentheses" by The Blow. About three days into the summer, I knew this simple little pop ditty was it. I love her voice (I have a soft spot in my heart for female vocals, which is my explanation for my obsession with Karen Carpenter, which we shall now never speak of again) and the lyrics make me smile. The video could be better. I'm not too into the animation. None of the fan-made ones were much better, so this is what you get.

Past honorees of the hallowed summer song title have been "Where it's At?" by Beck, "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5 and Esquivel's "Mucha Muchacha."

Other music that has been getting me through late night drawing sessions:

Architecture in Helsinki: I didn't know I loved this band. I know that now. I also love this simple video.

Fleet Foxes: These guys are really awesome. They harmonize very well and the songs have an earthy quality to them. This video in particular kind of blows my mind.

There's way more, but this post is getting long.

I'm going to go eat.

Super Best Cover Version Supreme

2009-07-09T11:20:00.005-04:00

ka-pow.

Hai Karate

2009-07-06T09:05:00.003-04:00

When they took his woman, they didn't count on him not rollin' over like a chump.

The Professor in

ENTER THE DJ
Flying Fists of Hip Hop Fury

Sorry, the letterbox thing got me thinking about the cinematic possibilities.

uhhh... ya got any gum?

2009-07-01T01:26:00.002-04:00

I just finished penciling 3 pages for Princess Candy and I'm going to bed before 2 a.m. for the first time in quite a while. Yaaaay me!

Here's a little Spidey I drew at work the other day, waiting for a humongous file to save. I scanned it in last night and colored it up when I needed a break from drawing tales of middle school superheroes.

I totally love the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. I never saw a full episode until recently when I got a dvd from the library and it's a lot of fun. A very pure incarnation of Spidey's world. It looks great too.

Wrapped up in books

2009-06-23T22:05:00.004-04:00

So when my son wakes up in the morning on the weekends, the first thing he usually wants to do is sit down at the dining room table and draw with me. He has two recurring themes, dinosaurs and Super Mario Galaxy. I tend to like the latter better, so I usually choose Mario and we get to work. This past Saturday I managed to sketch this little portrait out between images of Mario squashing Goombas underfoot and the Dino Piranha from the Good Egg Galaxy. It's not anything special, but it was fun drawing with the crayons. We use the Crayola twistables or some such... they're great, because they are regular crayons, but in a plastic body and when you need more wax, you just twist them up, almost like a mechanical pencil. So I can draw with crayons without breaking them in my big doofy adult hands.

In other news, I'm working on a third Princess Candy comic for Stone Arch Books. It's a blast, and I think that there's a real improvement in the pages over the first two books. Of course, I'm in the beginning stages of the pencils so everything seems good. Later on the self-doubt will creep in and I'll be freaking out about every line I put to paper, but hey, such is the creative process.

What Dewey Decimal system?

2009-05-12T13:23:00.003-04:00

Feared by librarians everywhere, it's our pal Yeti!

Poor guy was just trying to help out and that's the thanks he gets. Sheesh.

Now in glorious color

2009-05-05T08:42:00.003-04:00

For those of you who like that sort of thing.

Galactus, age 7

2009-04-30T15:40:00.005-04:00

"Hey everybody, it's me, Li'l Galactus! Jiminy crickets, I sure am hungry!"

and with that there was a great deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

No, not really.

Aint That Kind of Street Fight: New Print 4 Sale!

2009-04-27T13:54:00.004-04:00

What kind of street fight is it anyway?

I don't know, but it looks like your friend and mine, The Professor, is ready for whatever it may be.

For those who are so inclined, a 16" x 20" print of this sweet image is now available via the internet. just follow this handy link.

Don't Know How to Party

2009-04-09T14:19:00.004-04:00

They're all done!

The books I've been working on that I've been so hush-hush about. Actually, I finished them at the end of last week, but I've spent most of this week catching up around the house.

So, what are these books you ask? 2 superhero graphic novels for Stone Arch Books about a character named Princess Candy. I'm not giving up any plot details, I'll leave that up to the publisher. I can say that they are sort of early-reader type books for kids about 8-12 or so and they were wicked fun to work on. The image above is one of my favorite panels from book 2.

Below are the two cover images.

In other news, I'm about to get back into the Yeti 4 Hire dummy and some others that I have planned. I'll post some stuff for that as it progresses.

She keeps Moet et Chandon in a pretty cabinet

2009-03-24T15:01:00.002-04:00

Still going...

Work continues on freelance job at break-neck speed, but I took some moments whilst my computer was doing other things (scanning, saving and copying large files from one machine to another) to squeeze out the above little thinger. It' was hastily drawn with an ultra fine point sharpie and I liked it so much I scanned it in and did me some quick digital paintin'. I've been drawing a lot of cute things lately and this old bag is decidedly un-cute, so it was a welcome change. Not that I have anything against cute things. Some of my favorite things in the world are cute... my wife, my kids, mini-cheeseburgers.

mmmm....mini-cheeseburgers.

Speaking of mini-cheeseburgers, do not get the burger shots from Burger King. They are a deception of the evil one and will hurt you in the belly area. Hurt you bad.

That's your P.S.A. for the day.

three years, seven days

2009-02-09T13:22:00.001-05:00

I missed the blog's birthday again. I'm terrible at remembering dates and such these days. Sorry FWAKS. We'll get that pony next year, ok?

So yeah, three years and seven days of narcissistic self-indulgence. So how do we celebrate it? With a new picture. Do you love it, and by extension, love me?

I'm really looking forward to 2009, I think it's going to be a good year for me, illustration-wise. All of these jobs that came up at the end of 08 and that have flowed over into 09 have really jumpstarted things in a big way for me. Look for updates soon.

The above image is from the previously mentioned coloring book, which I recently finished. It was actually a part of a larger composition, and it was black and white. Coloring it for the book would have been mean, like handing it to the kid and saying "you wanna coloring book?" and he's be all, "hell yes!" and then I hand it to him and he opens it and it was all colored in already, and I was like,"PSYCHE!"

(apologies to my former english teachers for the atrocious disregard for proper grammar in the above paragraph.)

Carrot Rope

2009-01-22T22:23:00.000-05:00

Anybody wanna start a Pavement cover band with me?

Anybody?

I Will Challenge the Mighty Titan and his Troubadours

2009-01-16T08:46:00.003-05:00

So here's a sampling of some images from a project I'm working on. There are little stories that go in the middle, each centered around a certain letter. The books they belong to are english workbooks for kids in other countries. There are 20 illustrations in all but these are a few of my favorites.

Head temporarily above water

2009-01-12T14:39:00.002-05:00

Happy 12th day of the new year. It should be known that I always wait at least 12 days to acknowledge anything new.

As I mentioned in my previous posts (I think I did anyway) I'm wicked busy. Seriously. I've got projects on top of projects. It's been a challenge but it's going fairly well. I'm tired, but my wife hasn't left me and my kids still remember my name. Ok, granted, they've taken to referring to me as that weird guy who draws in the basement all night, but that's close enough.

The above image is the cover of a coloring book that I'm working on for a client who wants to hand these out to the children of people who use their services. I had to move quickly on it but I'm pleased with the results.

I just finished a really big part of a workbook project that has been keeping me really busy, so I'll probably be posting some of those soon.

Excelsior!

Kim's Watermelon Gun

2008-12-05T15:44:00.003-05:00

Just posting for the sake of posting. Isn't that why most of us post in the first place?

It's Friday and the weekend is nearly upon us. Not many big plans or anything, mostly working. I am probably going to load the family truckster tomorrow (with family, of course) and drive out to IKEA in PA. Should be grand. While our abode isn't all IKEA'ed up or anything, I do like the designs of many of there products and haven't been to one of their retail outlets in quite some time.

In other news, my kids are watching DuckTales dvds like it's their job. I grabbed one from the library on a whim, thinking they might like it and we have since relieved the Boardman Library of their entire collection of DuckTales for the week. If you're there looking for DuckTales, don't bother. Not until after the weekend, when we return them. The animation is horrible for most of the episodes, but it's a pretty fun show and the kids are really into it. I have to say, it's kind of nice to see something that's supposed to be a humorous adventure show that isn't so freaking cynical. I like a lot of tv animation that's been going on for the last few years, but it would be nice to have something without all the "'tude" to balance it out. John K talks alot about the whole 'tude phenomenon on his blog, but I'm too lazy to link it. I largely agree with him though.

There's one episode in particular that the kids can't get enough of, "The Lost Crown of Ghegis Khan" which features an Abominable Snow Woman. It's very funny to hear a 5 and a 2 year old attempt to say abominable. Generally it sounds like domino.

The rest of the Disney Afternoon has not been as well received. Darkwing Duck seemed mildly amusing to them, but Talespin was totally panned. We have yet to try Chip N' Dales Rescue Rangers.

Turning the Fructose up to 11

2008-11-26T10:12:00.006-05:00

These little guys were a couple of rejected designs from work. They're cute and all, but I guess they just weren't hella-balls-to-the-frickin'-wall adorable. I still like them. Which is why they've shown up here.

Progress continues on the two big projects. I will post something as soon as I can.

I want two pigmy goats.

2008-11-06T13:57:00.004-05:00

I still can't really post any of the projects that I'm working on because they are nowhere near publication. However, I decided to put up this drawing from one of said projects, because I love goats. In fact, earlier this year when we were house hunting, I had my heart set on finding a more rural place with a decent amount of land so I could get me a couple pigmy goats. I've read they make great pets and are good with kids. I figured a couple of goats would be great fun to take care of and would help me realize my little inner dream of having a small farm. A very small farm actually, consisting entirely of two goats.

Alas the home we found and could ultimately afford was not in a rural area but a very nice little neighborhood with not nearly enough land for goats. So the realization of my dream will have to wait until one day when we buy that old farmhouse in the country.

Tapes n' Tapes

2008-11-04T15:21:00.002-05:00

I've been listening to Tapes n' Tapes "The Loon" LP recording pretty obsessively lately. It's very good. I hear tell then have a new album out, or coming out or something. I may have to pick it up.

We summon awesome forces

2008-11-03T16:22:00.005-05:00

Yet another new moji for my Squaresville Superheroes series. Making up silly superheroes is really fun and Mojizu is a great outlet for them.

Plus I really like typing the word Mojizu.

Still busily working away on my freelance projects, with the possibility of even more on the horizon. The 08-09 season is looking pretty busy here in FWAKS land.

I'll keep you posted about all of my secret projects as things develop.

Huzzah!

If you don't like us, you might have to fight us...

2008-10-28T14:05:00.002-04:00

New moji y'all.

I think I'm going to do a series of goofball superheroes like my friend Aquataclops here.

Meanwhile, back in the Awesome Throne room...

2008-10-22T08:39:00.005-04:00

So I've been wicked busy lately with a fairly large educational project and I haven't had much time to post. I can't actually post anything from said project, because it won't be published for quite some time. I did however manage to eek out this little guy while taking a short break from the paying work. His name is Sneaky Pete and he is my most recent Moji that I added to Mojizu. He was a neat little guy that I just cranked out real fast. Creating characters is one of my favorite things to do, which is what makes Mojizu so much fun.

Oh yeah, Fireworks and Karate Supplies regular "Tha Professor" is one of my Mojis and he's engaged in a Moji War. He did well the first round, but he's getting trounced in round two. If you're like me, you probably want to see Tha Professor move on to round three, so take a moment to vote for him and we'll see if we can make that a reality. We are the change Tha Professor has been waiting for.

Unsupervised, I Hit My Head

2008-10-07T22:17:00.003-04:00

So tonight, I finished putting the kids to bed and went down to the art cave to do some serious drawing. I'm working on a book dummy for a personal project and I really wanted to get a lot done on it before the next few weeks because my schedule seems to be filling up rather quickly with some big projects (more on that in the future!). I get to my desk, start getting all set up and I move my sweet adjustable clip-on desk lamp into position and it just falls down, shattering the bulb into a million pieces, all over the floor, my chair, my desk. Everywhere. So I spend the next howevermany minutes cleaning the whole mess up and determine that this is just a minor setback. I'll just get a new bulb and be back in business. But then I discover that the lamp is all messed up at the base and it won't hold the weight of the lamp any more. Back out of business.

See, the lighting down here sucks. We haven't redone the basement yet, so it's wicked dark and the nautical-themed lanterns the previous homeowners placed on the other side of the room give off crappy light. The dark wood panelling on the walls doesn't help much either. (Yes, we have a lot to do down here.) All in all, without the desk lamp, its not a conducive drawing environment.

So after a little moping, I decided to forego the drawing tonight and mess around with this old image in photoshop just because. Heck, I have to go to bed early tonight anyway because I have to get up early for an appointment. How much drawing was I gonna do anyway, right?

Looks like I'm buying a new lamp.

Explosions in the Sky

2008-10-01T13:53:00.004-04:00

I'm out of the musical loop. I've made an almost conscious decision to be there too. I stopped reading music magazines a long time ago. I haven't been by Pitchfork in quite some time because I was beginning to choke on the snarky, too cool for school-ness of the whole enterprise. And honestly I just stopped caring. I came to the point where I just liked less and less of the new music I heard various reviewers touting as divinely inspired (for that week anyway, beware the sophomore album!) and found it really hard to get excited about anything I was hearing. I call this point "getting old."

"Getting old" is great because it never matters what's cool anymore, you just listen to what you like. (Heck yeah I've got the Carpenters on my iPod, without the slightest whiff of irony) As all that angsty indie snobbery falls away you can even start to enjoy older music that wasn't deemed kosher by the keepers of musical purity and integrity. Seriously, nobody ever told me that ELO was awesome, I had to figure it out for myself.

All that being said, I have a new favorite band, as of about 2 hours ago. Explosions In The Sky.

I honestly don't know almost anything about them. I vaguely remember catching about a minute of their performance on Austin City Limits back in twenty aught seven. I thought they sounded cool, but did no further investigation. Today, I was reading the internet and for some totally unknown reason, remembered this band. I looked them up and holy schmoley, they're awesome. Now I don't know if these guys have been popular with the indie reviewer set, and I don't care. I may be the last person in the world to find out about this band, and that's fine. I just dug them so much that I felt compelled to post. I've been really listening to instrumental music lately (another post for another time) and these dudes will now be in heavy rotation. You can download one song from each album and the whole EP "The Rescue" from their website. I think you should, if you like things that are cool. But remember, not cool because I or anyone else said so, just plain cool.

The above video was created by a fan for a "make us a video" contest the band held a while back. I hope you love it!

Which Describes How You're Feeling All The Time

2008-09-30T23:40:00.002-04:00

It's Tuesday and this image sums up my week thus far.

It's Tuesday folks.

Tuesday.

Can't go wrong with a crappy hulk image though.

Illustration Friday: Packed

2008-09-26T16:47:00.004-04:00

He's packed and heading down to the train yard because, well...

He kept dreamin'
That someday he'd be a star.
But he sure found out the hard way
That dreams don't always come true.
So he pawned all his hopes
and he even sold his old car
Bought a one way ticket
To the life he once knew,
Oh yes he did,
He said he would
Be leavin
On that midnight train to Georgia

Watch this video and tell me you don't want to be one of the Pips. The suits, the moves... I always wanted to be a Pip.

Mojizu!

2008-09-26T09:45:00.003-04:00

I finally got around to joining the Mojizu

character design community.

It's pretty cool and there are a ton of awesome little characters that people have submitted. I posted two myself, one of whom is none other than Fireworks and Karate Supplies regular, The Professor.

If you're like me and you like to create little dudes and dudettes all the time for the heck of it, Mojizu is the place for you.

Bob Staake's new book

2008-09-23T08:37:00.002-04:00

Bob Staake's new book, The Donut Chef

is out and I can't wait to get me a copy. I love Staake's

art. His colors are great and he really gets a lot out of his characters even thought they're just built with deceptively simple shapes. I personally only discovered his artwork a couple of years ago, but I've been trying to get my hands on his books ever since. The Red Lemon

and Hello Robots

come to mind as other favorites.

Sick as a dog.

2008-09-16T12:00:00.004-04:00

Sick.
as.
a.
dog.

and so the season of perpetual sickness begins. From here on out, this cold (and I do believe that it will be this one cold) will tear through my family like a viking plundering and pillaging a small, defenseless village. This will go on from today to some time in May. Each one of us will get it and then pass it on to the other.

It's here. Wicked.

Yellow Magic Orchestra

2008-08-28T16:30:00.001-04:00

If my life were a video game, this would be the soundtrack.

Sadly, my life is not a video game.

Illustration Friday: Routine

2008-08-22T15:27:00.003-04:00

Y'all can't compete with the Professor's mad pop and lock routine.

He's the better of the best, best believe he's the badddest.

Someone please hire this Yeti already....

2008-08-22T10:33:00.002-04:00

Check it out, progress on "Yeti 4 Hire". I'm reworking the manuscript a little, planning on starting the dummy very soon and working up some finished samples to send out a submission packet, hopefully by the end of the year. This image is the first of those samples. It's the first image that really came to me when the concept of the book popped into my head. The Yeti's first foray into town seeking gainful employment. The townsfolk aren't sure what to think. My son continually asks me why the people all look so scared and I have to remind him that they don't know that the Yeti is a swell guy and means them no harm. For some reason this puzzles him. I tell him that he'll understand once he reads the whole book, to which he replies that this week, he only wants WALL•E books. I then bang my head against the wall. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

So summer is winding down. Though, it is winding rather quickly. We went on vacation at the end of July and since then, things have been a blur. August has seemed almost non-existent. I don't care much, because I like all the seasons and I'm not a kid, so I don't get my summers off. So bring on the fall. I'm ready for it.

Here's a little bit of trivia for those who like that sort of thing. Ever wonder why this blog is called Fireworks and Karate Supplies? Is it because of my fondness of these two, seemingly unrelated product classifications? Not exactly. Here's the skinny: I'm not originally from Ohio, no, I hail from the great state of New York, the empire state. I've lived in Ohio for about 8 years or so and over that time we've made many trips back to the state of my birth for holidays, family gatherings, visits to the grave of one Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth (long story, I'll explain another time), etc. What does any of this have to do with my blog? Not far from the Pennsylvania/New York border, which we obviously cross in our travels stands this place:

It might be hard to make out, but that sign indicates that this particular establishment does in fact sell both Fireworks and Karate Supplies. For years, this has made me very happy. I don't know why, but for reasons beyond my control, I find this very funny. No disrespect meant towards anyone who loves either/or/both fireworks and karate supplies, both of which are very cool. It's just that never in my life have I thought that these were two great tastes that taste great together.

That being said, apparently a lot of people do. I've checked the stats for this blog, and received the messages and emails... many people come here after googling Fireworks and Karate Supplies. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused, because I don't have a single firework or karate supply to sell. Thanks for stopping by though. I would refer you to the cats at the place pictured above. I think they can help you out. I mean, look at the size of that sign, they gotta have a lot of stuff.

Believe when I say I'm no better than you, except when I rap, so I guess it aint true.

2008-07-16T23:06:00.007-04:00

Here's a new piece I recently worked up for the ol' portfolio. Looking at it now, I see some things I'm going to change, but those will be minor tweaks. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm really starting to enjoy working this way, using a variety of textures (although in this piece not a very wide variety), no lines to speak of, bright yet somehow muddy colors. The whole thing is unabashedly digital while decidedly tactile. (Forgive me for that last bit, the phrase popped into my head and I couldn't help myself. I'm not really that pompous.)

I may be transitioning into a new style, or at least giving myself another working option when getting started on a piece.

In case you're wondering, the lined paper on the right side of the image does have a purpose. This image is meant to accompany a short poem I wrote, so the poem will occupy that area. I didn't put it on there right now because I didn't want y'all to get jealous of the ryhme or the ryhme routine.

Or maybe it's because I'm still working on it. It's the kind of thing you'd find in a Highlights type magazine, and I'd like to get it published at some point so I want to work out all the kinks before I send it off to various children's magazine editors.

But for real, it's tight son, it's tight.

Kids!

2008-07-09T13:13:00.003-04:00

Just some things I've been working on.

Illustration Friday: Fierce!

2008-06-27T10:42:00.006-04:00

Kids today just don't respect the ferocious fierceness of life's felonious, fanged beasts, what with their iPods, video games and the like.

Despite valiantly vile efforts, even the most cantankerous of carnivorous creatures is greeted with a collective "meh", by this new, gadget-minded generation.

'tis sad, 'tis sad.

On a happier note, this image is available as a big ol' poster at my store.

Along with many other fine products.

New Print: The Professor on the Turntables

2008-06-24T16:58:00.008-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I finally got around to updating my cafepress store.

One of the new items I added was this 16" x 20" print of the Professor cutting it up on the ol' turntables. He's such a card!

I know some people have issues with cafepress, but to be honest, I've been pleased with the quality of most of the products I have seen from them. So if you've been visiting this blog and thought, "I love this guy's blog, but I'd really love a coffee mug with his art plastered all over it," then head on over to the store and get three! Or a print or a t-shirt, or a bib for the little one, or a journal for committing your innermost thoughts and desires to paper, or a magnet... the list goes on and on.

Also, since I'm not a "premium" member of the press (such as it is) I can't have more than one of any particular product at any time, so most of these things will have a limited availability. When I want to make a different print, this one will be gone forever, or stored in the Disne... I mean Crowther Vault™, only to return for those rare, millennial celebrations.

To get the print, go to the store.

The Lovemobile

2008-06-24T13:27:00.004-04:00

Spreading the message of love... in a funny little car.

Now you too can spread the love around with some new products featuring this image at my cafepress store.

More new stuff to come soon, so check back often.

GRRRRRRR...

2008-06-19T10:51:00.002-04:00

He sure is mean looking, aint he?

Batman...

2008-06-17T11:13:00.001-04:00

he so crazy.

Illustration Friday: Punchline!

2008-06-13T16:56:00.002-04:00

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

So you wanna be an MC, huh?

2008-05-28T10:41:00.002-04:00

It's been one month and 25 days since my last post. In that time I did what are considered two of the most stressful things a person can do – bought a house and changed jobs.

Both have turned out great, but I'm not going to go into them now. I just wanted to pop in and show the blog a little love.

More to come...in the FUTURE!!!!*

(*to be read with a booming, radio announcer-type voice)

Does the things a spider can...

2008-04-03T16:55:00.002-04:00

Like wait for the bus.

I really like the designs for the new Spectacular Spider-man cartoon. The updates to the villans are cool and the teenage Spidey is a lot of fun. Of course, I rather enjoy the work of Sean Galloway,

who designed 'em. He also worked on the look for the animated Hellboy flicks.

Here they come.

2008-04-02T17:02:00.002-04:00

Watch out.

Illustration Friday: Homage

2008-03-28T11:59:00.004-04:00

My homage to one of my favorite comics of all time, Madman,

by one of my favorite artists of all time, Mike Allred.

I've been trying to make a point of reading "The Oddity Odyssey" once a year, and every time it's the bees knees.

See this ain't America's Most Wanted...

2008-03-27T13:04:00.002-04:00

This is America's Most Mackin'.

Sad Sack

2008-03-26T12:01:00.002-04:00

This image is like the previous 4 featuring my breakdancing superstar The Professor, in that it was done in illustrator with no initial drawing, I just started clicking and dragging with the pen tool to see where it would take me. It's a fun way to work.

This sad little guy reminds me of a kid I used to know in grade school, oddly enough. I can't remember his name, I just remember him being a downer.

Everything I do is funky like Lee Dorsey.

2008-03-26T11:42:00.002-04:00

I can rock a block party 'till your hair turns gray.

2008-03-25T15:27:00.002-04:00