Stage 3 Final

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This has been another good Friday. Just hanging out listening to good music with candles burning and illustrating. Me happy :D

How about stage 2b?

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I think this looks better. It's more open. This will be much better for color.

Stage 2 on crying kid illustration

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Stage 2 is the initial scratchboard art. I think I will have to go back in and scratch out some more before I go to color. I was up past midnight last nite. The music was going and the energy was flowing. I hate having to go to bed when I am in the zone but I do have to be able to stay awake at my full-time job. I might do some on my lunch break. I can't wait til tonight so I can get back to it.

I can't stop sketching

Don't anyone try to stop me because I am having too much fun. Would it not be awesome to do this full-time? That would be the closest thing to heaven here on earth.

Birdie & the Bee

I keep thinking about doing some writing for the goofy bird and his B-friend. But when do I have time to write? For now it will have to be enough to just draw them without a thought in their little heads.

Weekend sketches

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I was sketching on Saturday but never made it to the scanner. So here are some more birds and a new octopus character I have been thinking about. I think the octopus is fun so I added him to the family. On a completely different note. The Steelers rotted on Sunday. After the game, I went to the kitchen to clear my head and as I was slicing up some home grown eggplant for a delectableparmesan, I had to repeat (loud enough for the living room to hear), "it's just a game, it's just a game"! It helps to keep things in 3 point perspective. It IS stupid to get the blood pressure up over silliness but I'm human. And I do love the Steelers. Especially when they play football. I don't know what game they were playing on Sunday. Maybe it was called Bengal Birthday Bash. As in "here fellas, we brungs you a shiny football all wrapped in yellow and black ribbon for you to have, so you can score 14 points in 54 seconds and even more after that". Stupid Bengals. They didn't win. They just accepted a generous gift. Wa, wa, wa. Okay, I'm done venting. So how about them octopi? If I had a team, I would name them the New Jersey Octopi. I better copyright that before someone steals it. Ha!

Phobia

I was just commenting to someone else that it cracks me up when something so little scares something so big (humans, me). It's hard to tell who has the most fear.

Do Bees Dream?

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Did I ever mention that I like bees? These are a little different than the previous ones. This was done when I was going through my donut lip phase. I like the lips but I kept getting art directed away from them. It took some time for me to get a character look that fit me and also made the A.D.s happy. This is an acrylic painting that I scanned and did some fancy layer composit work in photoshop. It took some fun experimentation time before I liked the colors. Blue is dreamy so I took it there and it feels kind of creepy like my dreams. I want to illustrate and mabye even write some of my childhood dreams. All I can say is my imagination can get a tad bizarre.

Vector Art

Texture is wonderful and that is my main thing but flat vector art is just plain cool. The flat graphic look is fun and bold. These doggies were done for Nylabone packaging. The hard rubber is good for their teeth, but don't tell them that. If you have dogs, you need to let them have all the good times these guys are having. Sheesh, listen to me. I sound like a dang Nylabone salesman.

I'm Drawn to the attention!

Hey guys. So I was ready to leave work today and decided to check out my mail and someone from a well known illustrator site said he saw a glowing review of my blog on the Drawn! site. I just got this blog thing going and it felt very cool that it is out there and getting seen. I LOVE illustration and everything that has to do with creativity! BTW, thanks everyone for all the encouraging comments. Keep it up cuz I need it. Much love.

Baby Newton

It wasn't until Newton was much older that he would discover gravity.

Change

I started this on my lunch break and here I am at 10:00pm playing. Not a bad Friday.

Latest Scratch Art

Jimmy digs bees. This one will be in color soon.

Finish your peas Jimmy

My goal is to do a sketch or illustration a day. This one wants to be a painting some day soon. I remember the angst that vegatables brought to my childhood. My tastebuds grew up though. Sometimes I have a plate full of peas and nothing else. I even love limas (cooked in garlic and butter). But beets will always be wrong not matter how mature my buds get.

Beezer

This is my latest. I have been building an updated body of work. This woodcut thing has got me fired up! There are a few woodcut pieces on my website. It seems more powerful than my usual technique. This is the first piece I have done straight on the computer. I usally draw the base in pencil, then scan it into photoshop and go back and forth between photoshop and painter. I have been doing more and more sketching in painter. I now have a digital sketchbook to compliment all my manual sketchbooks. I really need to sketch a lot more. It isn't easy working full-time as an art director and coming home to do more work but illustration is my passion and if I let it go too long my brain feels like it is going to explode. Ahh...the blessing and the curse of the creative mind.

Cat Scratch

This is my sketch for the day. My boys Frankie and Stymie would be upset to see how I represented their family.

Cute Chicks

Don't tell my wife Debbie, but I love to draw chicks.

Birds & Bees

Farm

This is my first illustration entry for my shiny new blog. I submitted this to Illustration Friday. A creative springboard web site run by the ultra talented Penelope Dullaghan. The illustration is from my latest book called "Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse", written by Rick Walton. The illustration and design are all me. It should be in bookstores by the end of October 2006. Go buy many and make me famous.

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Just getting set up. This is my first blog post. Does it get any more exciting? I would submit that it can not!