Rocky Chuck Taylor Ad

Every time I watch the movie Rocky I always marvel over the fact that the title character does all of his training with Chuck Taylors. I am a huge fan of this particular style of shoe, but they really are crap for things like running. If the events in Rocky were true, I could only imagine the blisters and calluses he would get as a result of running with Chucks every day.

Anyways... I thought this idea of Rocky running with Chucks could inspire a new ad campaign. Suck it Nike.

Congratulations Where the Wild Things Are

Last night for the second time in my entire life, I walked out of a movie at the theater. Way to go Where the Wild Things Are. You now join the 2000 film Traffic as being the only two movies I have ever skipped out on.

Avoid Guitar Center on Weekends

If you go to a Guitar Center on a weekend, you will see at least one of these people. I guarantee.

Leyendecker Study

Last night I was trying to kill some time so I went to a Borders book store. I stumbled across the book J.C. Leyendecker and literally said "Holy shit!" out loud upon seeing it. (This caused a couple of the customers to turn their heads quickly). The cause for excitement was due to the fact that I have literally been looking and waiting for a book like this to come out for the last 5 years. Every time I ever went to a Borders or Barnes & Noble or Half Price Book, or any book store for that matter, I always tried to find a book dealing just with the work of Leyendecker. I got so desperate at one point I even went to Amazon.com and saw that there was a book about Leyendecker created in the 70's and that it was out of print. There was also a 46 page out of print poster book created in the 90's. I was always bummed out though because I felt that such a prolific illustrator deserved a thick, thick book. ( also, if you know your alphabet, P follows L very closely. Imagine my disgust every time I saw there were no Leyendecker books, but there were literally 15 books on Pollock. Really? 15 books about that ass-clown?)

Well, the wait is over. Here's a 256 page book filled with his beautiful images. Finally.

There is a painting in the book of an early 1900's pilot that I really dug, so I did a charcoal sketch of it.

Car Repairs and One Drawback to Summer Weather

Yesterday I took my car to the dealership to get an alignment. I knew there was a good chance I would have to be in the waiting room for a while because I had not pre-scheduled an appointment, which is why I brought a lot of reading material (Volumes 1 and 2 of the All-Star Superman TPB). The room was pretty full when I got in there so I picked a spot and started reading. It was bad enough trying to mentally block out the Rachael Ray show from the rooms T.V. but on top of that there was a woman talking nonstop on her cell phone. The idea of talking at a whisper or taking it outside never crossed her mind, so there I was trying to block out her voice as well, which was damn near impossible. On top of that, she was wearing flip-flops, which is one of the reasons I hate the summer. In my personal opinion I would say maybe 10 percent of our society should have the choice to wear flip flops or sandals. 12 max. The warm weather seems to bring out a breed of people that don't quite understand how gross their feet really are. Let me put it this way, if your feet look like you've been walking in powdered donuts all morning and your toenails look like Fritos Corn Chips, do everyone a favor and wear some GD shoes. Real shoes that cover up everything.

Batman phone sketch

I was on the phone for a lengthy time last night so I grabbed my sketch book at one point and started sketchin' . Colored this one real quick in photoshop. KURETAKE!

Robin the Boy Wonder

Pen and ink on bristol board colored in Photoshop. I tried out my Kuretake brush pen along with a couple Micron pens and a normal brush on this one. As far as the Kuretake goes, I used it to outline Robins body and for some areas of rendering like the dimples and folds in his shirt and pants, his hair, face and mask and some areas of his boots. I used the Microns on his cape to keep a consistent line weight, with exception to some areas around his arms. I used a #4 brush and ink to block in the dark areas on the back of his legs, the bottom of his boots, the tail of his shirt and his wrist guards. I did not really like how those areas came out, but that's what these studies are for.

Pac-Man

Poor Pac-Man. He's been in his room crying all day because he found out that Ms. Pac-Man was cheating on him with the pilot from Galaga.

Boba Fett

Here is another technique study with the inks and charcoal on gessoed board. This time the victim is Boba Fett, yeah, it's Boba Fett. I know what you're thinking, "Dude, I saw Empire and Jedi and Boba Fett's get up is green." Two words: Holiday Special. I like how some of this came out. In retrospect I don't think I would have used the charcoal to render in the dark areas on the fabric, gloves or the wrist guard. Those areas look real muddy and after the art was shrunk down a lot of the textures from the charcoal and gesso got lost. Originally I was going to paint him up in his classic getup, but I thought I'd do something different.

On an unrelated note, I found this video of Mitch Breitweiser working on a Captain America piece. I really dig his work and was glad to see this. You may like this video if you're a cat enthusiast. http://gallery.me.com/mbreitweiser#100156

U-Trek

Here is todays, tonights, whatever... submission. I am only responsible for the coloring on this piece. The original Brush/Pen and ink drawing was done by my friend Dirk Shearer. You can see the final inked piece along with the sketches and thumbnails at his blogspot address: http://dirkshearer.blogspot.com/.


I don't think I've ever colored someone else's pencils before, so this was a first for me. The color palette was influenced by the palette currently being used in the Wolverine: Old Man Logan story arc. (On a side note, I think Wolverine is a lame over used character, but even I think the Old Man Logan story is good.)

Bar, Pub, Tavern, A Place To Get Blitzed

Once again I played with the inks and charcoal on gessoed board. I kind of dug how this came out, though, I wish I would have made the grooves deeper in the gesso to get some of the textures I was able to get similar to the second Daredevil head. I like applying the inks to a gessoed surface because if I make a mark I don't care for I can scratch it away (like scratch board). As far as subject matter goes I went downtown and took a picture of a bar I went to a few times when I lived in that area. I could not remember the last time I drew a building. Colored in Photoshop. I will continue to play with this process.

Mike Watt

Aaron Andrews and I drove up to Cleveland the other night to see Mike Watt and the Missingmen. There are not enough positive words to express how amazing the evening was. We were lucky to see him since he usually sticks close to his home turf out in California. If I had the cash, I would honestly see him again in Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis.

Bleh on inks

Well, I inked my pencils and was completely disappointed with how the inks came out. Some of the subtleties in the pencils got lost in inking... so... I will scan the pencils and just "dink" it. But, as promised, here is another tease. I will not be able to get back to this for a couple days. Tonight I have a real gig to work on and tomorrow I will be in Cleveland seeing Mike Watt so once again, this piece will get put on the back burner. This piece is turning out to be like Chinese Democracy cause when it's eventually done, I'm sure it will suck.

The Horror

I originally got this idea in my head way back in September. Since then there were a lot of hick-ups that prevented me from following through. Finally, I got the pencils down last night. I plan on inking it tonight followed by colors this weekend ( if time permits me). Anyways, I'll give progress shots along the way, with a catch. I'm going to be a total boner about it and will only show a small segment at a time. So... here's some pencil work.

so, you wanna be on t.v.?

Well, Daisy of Love has started on VH1 and I got hooked, (sigh). For those that don't remember Daisy, the chick that looks like the real life version of Janice from the Dr. Teeth Band, finished runner up on Rock of Love with Bret Michaels a couple seasons ago. Now she is back with her own show. It's the same format except this time it's a bunch of dudes trying to end up with Daisy.

Here's the deal, anyone who's anyone knows that this show is going to go on at least one more season, so for my male friends out there I have created a guide on how to dress for this show.

1. Dye you hair jet black and faux-hawk it
2. Wear a lot of eyeliner
3. piercings, specifically the stud above the lip and below the nose. You want the viewer to constantly think you have a shiny booger on your face.
4. Tats. A couple sleeves worth. Don't forget to put musical notes on there somewhere because music is undoubtedly your first love. Also a few Chinese symbols and a couple barbwires around the arms. You should also have something across your neck that is hard to read until the fifth episode when the viewer realizes that your neck tat says "livin life".
5. A $200 shirt that says "Punk Rock" because everyone knows you aren't punk rock unless you buy an expensive shirt that says so. That is actually my favorite Minutemen song. I think the lyrics go, "Me and Mike Watt just bought some expensive Punk Rock shirts."
6. A studded belt that serves no purpose because...
7. ... the pants you'll be wearing are so tight, no belt is necessary.
8. Black bandana in the back pocket.
9. An impractical biker chain for your wallet.
10. Big ass skater shoes in a bright color.
11. Drink a lot of beer and yell out "Whooooo!" as much as possible. If you can somersault into a pool, that will also be beneficial for you. Oh, and have a tragic story, like your favorite parent died of some terminal illness. This will show Daisy that you have a soft side beneath your gruff "punk rock" exterior.

You ever seen Gremlins?

Cherry Stem-twisting Siren

If you can tie a cherry stem into a knot using only your tongue, you're OK in my book.

The song is "All I Want"

Flaming Skull, Not Ghost Rider

VIKING

There is a new comic coming out in April called Viking. The artwork looks pretty bad-ass and over on newsarama.com they had the artist give a quick step by step look at his process. Here's the link.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/090407-viking-sketch-process.html

Ultimate Warrior

Last week I had a conversation with a few chums about the late 80's / early 90's era of the WWF. By far my favorite wrestler at the time was the Ultimate Warrior. I think what I liked best about his character was the costume and the face paint, plus when his intro music played he would sprint out to the ring instead of giving high fives to the fans. ( I can relate because I also hate touching strangers and vice versa.) After spending the evening reminiscing about old wrestlers I decided to jump on youtube and watch old footage of Ultimate Warrior. I caught a few of the Warrior's interviews with Mean Gene and came to the conclusion that one of my childhood idols was borderline retarded. His interviews pretty much consisted of grunts followed by pacing and more grunts. Boy, could I pick 'em.

So he is the subject matter for tonights sketch. Also, if you're a fan of The Maxx, you will probably recognize this layout from the cover of issue #2.

scoundrel

Sketch with some color splashed on... I plan on drawing his life-mate and then finishing this one out.

BOOM goes the dynamite. IN YO FACE!!!!

I like to flip through old magazines on occasion. I'm not talking about WWII era Life magazines or anything like that...more like magazines that are about 15 years old. I like to see all of the advertisements for television shows that were unsuccessful or Joe Camel illustrations that were in print (before parents with sticks up their asses bitched to the point of getting Joe Camel removed.) Tonight I pulled out a Sports Illustrated year in review '92. Some of the topics were interesing, Can the Celtics carry on without Bird?, Can Michael and the Bulls make it A three-peat?, Can Bonds and the Pirates finally get to the World Series?...etc. There were also a lot of stories about the '92 Olympics that took place in Barcelona, especially since that was the first year the U.S.A. brought out the Dream Team. Anyways, I found this picture of George Foreman competing in one of the first of many comebacks he had in the 90's. This is a quick paint sketch done with gouache.

Flea Market

I went to the Flea Market today. Nothing like going to shopping booths separated by chicken wire and blue tarp. I saw a couple large guys in wheel chairs and imagined them going down the same aisle towards each other only to realize that when they would eventually cross paths they would not be able to get around, and the effort to go backwards would be too difficult to even imagine. They would just be stuck. What to do in that situation? All of the vendors talked as if they just came off the set of Deliverance, and they were all eating something... either loose meat barbecue or frozen custard. One guy had a booth where he was selling nothing but old keys. He literally had a wall full of thousands and thousands of keys. I wonder what would possess a man to wake up and think, "I'll be the guy that sells keys."

Guess the band... Get a prize

I pulled an old Rolling Stone dated November of '96 off the shelf today. As I was flipping through it, I saw an advertisement for this group, and I thought their faces were interesting enough to get sketched. I decided to make it a contest... If you can guess the band, I will mail you a prize. So...just so we're all on the same level... if you can guess who THEY are, there MIGHT BE a GIANT prize coming your way. Of course, the prize only goes to the first person to get it right, whomever THEY MIGHT BE... perhaps a fan of the new york GIANTS... or THEY MIGHT BE a GIANT themselves.

Hail the Crab Burger?

Imagine there is an after life, and you get there, and you don't see any of the gods mentioned here on earth. You see this guy... The Crab Burger... and he is one pissed off deity because in the entire existence of man, no one has ever mentioned him once. It would be like going up to Chester Gould and saying, "Hey, you like Dick Tracy? Bill Finger is a genius." To which Gould would reply, "Bill Finger?!?! I created Dick Tracy!" This would be followed by the guy scratching his head and saying," No... I was told that it was Bill Finger... so I think you're wrong."

Traumatized Joel

This was one of the worst moments in Joel Jackson's life.

Really Josh? Really?

So... if you read Mr. Holland's blog, which I'm sure most of you do, you will have read the news that he will not be participating for a while due to his workload and to spend time with his lady, which he has recently nicknamed "bitch-face". I figure since he won't be on here, now would be a good time to spill some dirt on the boy, like this... One time Josh told me one of his sexual fantasies involved him banging Elvira in a graveyard while The Edgar Winter Group song Frankenstein played in the background.

gone

SOW: Weight Watchers

blarg

Lame

This is a lame post. I was busy this weekend...

SOW: At the Office

SOW: Bringing Down the House!

The Imaginary Friend

High School Daze: My evolution

The Sow Trial

Revenge of the Sow

Wayne Kramer

Kick out the Jams......................

BLARG!!!

If you're curious why Josh and Shannon are drawn like this, you can ask them.

10 Bucks?

I found this paragraph pretty interesting. It's from the book Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson.