New coloring book in progress!

I'm drawing a brand new coloring book right now! It's a challenge for me but, lots of fun, too.

Flying Pigs! A book of peculiar and pedestrian planes and their precocious porcine pilots!

Here we go!

And one I had to color myself to see if it would be fun. It was!

Listening to while posting: All of Toms Waits' "Small Change". Again...

Not so great morning

Got a call this morning that the cyclist who was struck by a speeding, out-of-control car yesterday was a friend of mine. Both he and the teenaged driver are dead. This message was left by a friend of Richard's at the place where they died.

This is an important message for all those who use the roads.

“ As you come here to grieve the sad loss of Joseph and to pay your respect to his memory, please remember that a man named Richard, who also was loved by family and friends, went out for a bike ride on a beautiful Sunday morning and never came home. When you get back in your car, remember the epic responsibility you have to those who love you, and those who don’t even know you, to come home safe!“
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/04/27/hinesburg-processes-loss-two-community-members/26453747/

The Aeronautical Hatred Continues!

More Planes Jme Hates!

It's the Boeing P-26 Peashooter. A plane that was cutting edge for all of eight seconds. Introduced in 1932 it was America's first all-metal low-wing monoplane. This was an innovation but, it also had throwbacks like an open cockpit, fixed landing gear and an armament of only two .30 machine guns. By 1935, it was already completely outclassed by the BF-109 and the Hawker Hurricane. These are reasons enough for Jme to hate it but, I believe he also hates fixed landing gear with spats. Me, I like the spats as well as the fact that these planes were wonderfully colorful!

It's the Fairey Gannet. Another Cold War-era plane. It's is a Bristish Anti-Submarine Aircraft that served in a couple of other naval air wings including the German navy. It featured counter-rotating propellers and three-piece folding wings. I also really like this so-ugly-it's-beautiful plane. I don't know why Jme hates it, I only know that when I showed him a photo of one he said: "Uck!"

This is a reach. I think I may be running out of planes he hates! Here's a shot in the dark. The Ling-Temco-Vought Corsair II. I'm wondering if he'd hate that kind of nose intake.

It's nearly a gimmie, what with the delta wing and all but, I'll bet this makes him go "uck!". The Saab J35 Draken ("Kite" or "Dragon"). I think it's cool looking, like something out of a Gerry Anderson TV show! Turns out I was wrong about this one. He likes it despite himself.

Coming next: Planes Jme Likes!

Listening to while posting: "Age of Consent" by New Order

Aviation Art to Annoy!

My friend Jme and I are aviation buffs. He and I differ on what makes a cool plane; most of the ones I love, he hates. So, I'm doing a series of Planes Jme Hates!

Here's the first:

Jme does not like delta wings! So here's a plane with 'delta' in its actual name: F-106 Delta Dart.
What's also not to like is the plane was so radar intercept-oriented that the frame of the windscreen was directly in the center, blocking the pilot's vision for dogfights (this was another bomber interceptor).

This is the first ink shading in a while. The need for practice is obvious. Happy about the perspective and the solidity of the form. Should have also taken more time with the lettering though.

Next up is the English Electric Lightning F.5. It's a Cold War jet could be called the "British F-104". Though it had cannon, this was another missile-oriented bomber interceptor.

What would Jme hate? Well, the nose intake leads to two engines mounted one on top of the other. Also, it's got stupid, tiny wings that can't hold ordnance. He'll also hate, once he knows, that the wing is called a "Notched Delta"; tiny AND delta-based that's a two-fer!

Until next time!

Listening to while posting: "Survival Sounds" the new album by Rubble bucket... again...

Epicness!

Every now and then I'll offer a free commission. Usually something small like an ink drawing. I like doing this 1) because it's nice and 2) people come up with crazier ideas when they're not paying for it!

I offered one to a kid at my current temp gig. All he wanted was "Bigfoot!".

Well, what does a sasquatch do when he/she isn't taking blurry selfies?

Bearfight. Yeah.

 

 

Listening to while posting: "C-c-cinnamon Lips" by OkGo

Glitter Dragons are go!

A bit late but, this will be the start of more posting here. Have to reach more folks!

The "Introducing The Glitter Dragons" coloring book is here!

Twenty-two pages of coloring! That's a lot of drawing by the way.

"It's much easier to color than the 'Spacegirls' one"
                                                             – Sadie, age 7

Pick up a book at my Etsy shop

There's also far too much Glitter Dragons swag available at my Society 6 shop

I bought a t-shirt of Momo for my niece. Not too bad, actually. The printing was pretty nice and the shirt of fair quality.

Listening to while posting: "Undercover Funny" by Atom and his Package.

Hey!

Do you want to buy your very own Spacegirls! coloring book?

Of course you do!

Head here to get one for you or any other spacegirl fan in your life

More Inktober and a new friend!

Remember Meridian Delacourte? Of course, you do! Well, she now has an arch-nemesis. Part Harley Quinn and part Vixen, she's a lot smarter than she looks and is more than a little crazy.

Yeah. I have to do something with those two...

Listening to while posting "Can't Stand Losing You" by The Police

Creepy Wolf Girl

As a rule, I'm generally not into gore much. But, perhaps it's more of a guideline.


Was at this year's Art of Horror exhibit on October 3rd and got bored. Not with the art, with only a few exceptions it was wonderful. Not just grossness but a good mix of visceral and psychological creepy-ness.

But, after three hours of watching and not being able to have good conversations, I had to go. So, I went out into the corridor and sat down to do Inktober for that day.

Here she is:

She became the seed for this year's 24 Hour Comics Day comic. I'll post that later. I've only got bad phone photos and want to scan it properly. Cheers!

Inktober 2014 begins

Three at once!

This was a day late. It was done eating fried chicken bits at Arts Riot in Burlington while waiting to attend a showing of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (oh, it was awesome!)

same place. The pen was bad and the paper had a heavy tooth. Not my best work.

This was done at the Art of Horror exhibit at the S.P.A.C.E. Gallery in Burlington. I was overheated and a little bored so, I went out into the corridor to draw. I like this one but, there is a horrible part of it. 24-Hour Comics Day is tomorrow and I can't stop thinking of a story for her! You're not supposed to have a story when you start, darnit!

Was gifted with a Jake Parker illustration class video for my birthday! Haven't watched it yet but, it still inspired me to make more space cars:

Listening to while posting: "Whatever Happened to George Foster" by Edwin Astley (On SomaFM's "Secret Agent" station)

It's coming!

Anyone reading this who lives within a hour of a 24-Hour Comics Day event had best go and participate! It's so much darn fun. Well, it's exhausting and takes a day to recover but, still darn fun!

Listening to while posting: "New Hampshire's All Right If You Like Fighting" by Scissorfight

Back!

I've been away from the blog for a while. Sure, people don't read blogs much, but I hate tumblr. It's so... un-attributed. I'll be posting more stuff here and we'll see what happens.

To start things off, here's a little quickie I did for my seven-year-old niece.

On my last visit, I managed to convince her to play Robo-Horse rather than just Horse...

Stay tuned for more!

Hey, it's Inktober and this week, I'm doing a series of Flying Pigs to commemorate the fact that I, Luddite that I am, now own a cell phone. And not a flip phone either (thought it does have the pull-out keyboard.

This is a little plane loosely based on the P-26 Peashooter but made a little chubbier as befits a Flying Pig plane.

This is based on the old Evil Nazi Jetpack Penguin pack. Two GIs take over an experimental airfield

Just a Generic Jet Trainer as part of the Flying Pigs demonstration team

This is my favorite aircraft ever: the F-104 Starfighter Not the greatest but, what's not to like about a manned missile with wings?

On to a starfighter of a different kind: the Starfury! t's a little bit of a cheat. Just doing the linework was 4.5 hours starting at 9AM today. so, I decided not to ink the whole sky but, instead, relied on Photoshop to make some space...

Thiis drawing depicts LtCdr. Pigatha Leigh, Commander Space Group (C.S.G.) of Zeta Squadron during the Secession of Babylon 5

listening to while posting: "Do what you want" by OKGo

Wow! Long time!

Sorry for the long gap. Things have been busy this summer. I'm now Assistant Service Manager at Earl's Cyclery & Fitness and, as you might guess, I've been a Busy Backson* all summer. I miss the days when I could just leave work and not have to worry about things.

 But, I've been managing to get in a lot of riding AND a lot of drawing!

 Mostly sketches, but I'm trying for some finished works. here's the most recent.

Just last night I finished inking a new portrait of Meridian Delacourte. Watercolor to follow but, I'm actually terrified of starting. I'm staying away from digital works because I like the risk; there's no Command + z here. Actually, I wish I was good enough to have it not be a risk but, I'm not there yet. Anyhoo.

We'll see if how the watercolring turns out. I'm also working on two pieces to submit for consideration to the Art of Horror show at the S.P.A.C.E. Gallery. Not sure if they're truly horrifying for that crowd but, I can only try.
Listening to while posting: "Show Me Something New" by the Shout Out Louds

Spacegirl Madness Continues!

I'm working on a triptych and trying to decide if it's too cheesy to live. For fun (and practice) I've been playing my bass along with a bunch of songs. This song, in particular, made me think of making art. Well, THREE lines in particular to make a triptych.


Now that I've finished the final pencil drawing (to later be inked and colored) and started sketching the next two, I'm wondering if it's too cheesy to continue and complete. What do you all think? (click to enlarge. The original is about 11" x 14")

Listening to while posting: "Two Reasons" by Young Rival

COLOR!

Holy crap! Color!

 I had a dream back on February 17th about this swordswoman. It was a short dream but, pretty cool. She'd just fended off a group of men, then (and this is a bit weird) set up a wooden drying rack, hopped up on it and said the line. It was all very cool and cinematic.

I worked out a sketch ( I changed the rack to a crate but, the pose is the same as the dream), ink-lined it and it turned out pretty good! I then proceeded to over ink it with odd shadows and stuff that I didn't like.

Today, I grabbed some watercolors from Sweet Enemy and decided to try to paint. I haven't done a watercolor in at least five years. It turned out better than I thought and I may re-visit the whole ink-and-watercolor thing. In the dream, her outfit was more of a coffee with cream color but, I fell in love with Mars Violet and decided to use it. (Click to amplify!)

 I just now decided her name is Meridian Delacorte.

Listening to while posting: Tom McShane "A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea"

Spacegirl time!

It's always spacegirl time. Those who know me, know that I do love the retro spacegirls. I prefer the butt-kicking types to the follow-the-hero around types, of course.

Anyhoo. This was the second piece I did for the Sweet Tarts show for the show at the S.P.A.C.E Gallery. The deadline was fast approaching when my original second idea sort of fizzled. Stuck for an idea, I decided to re-visit a piece I did as an art trade with pinup artist Becca (I got a Cdr. Susan Ivanova pic in return. Zowie!).

This first is the one that is on display at the gallery right now. Given the deadline for submission was a day away and my watercolor skills need work, I opted to avoid color.


The two color ones are tests for Christie, the gallery owner. She wants to turn the spacegirl into a promo sticker! Holy Skamokaway! Couldn't decide between these two color schemes. Any thoughts?




Listening to while posting: "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis. In my head. Haven't turned on SOMAfm yet. Weird.

Flattery will get you everywhere

So, last month I was asked to participate in a show at the Soda Plant Artists' Collective Environment (S.P.A.C.E) Gallery . It's a gallery that Sweet Enemy, who has shown there many times, and I frequent often. We're now good friends with many of the artists who show and work there.

The show was called "Sweet Tarts" and was an exhibit of pinups and erotic art. Yup. I don't usually do that stuff but, when asked, I oblige. Especially when asked to be in a show by a gallery I respect and among artists I admire.

Did I say 'flattering'? I meant incredibly daunting and quite intimidating. I mean, to do pinup/erotic work to be hung beside such artists as Jme Wheeler and Justin Atherton is intimidating enough. Add to that the fact that I don't do much erotic art and not many pinups recently and it's a definite nerve-fest.

The first one took weeks. Scraping the brain for ideas, then sketch after sketch. A critique, more sketching. Revision of final work, then more sketching. I've got tracing paper bits all over the place; a head here, a leg there all to be traced onto the final piece of Bristol. I finalized the work, then began the next difficult step: remembering how to do ink rendering. I've done lots of line work in the past year but, not much rendering. Boring line work seemed too gauche for my second real gallery show.

The inking too lots of experimentation and two failed attempts.

I was worried because the image is a little risque. Not for the crowd but, for me. For all that I love erotic art I don't do much of it. At least not for public consumption.

So, here you go. My first piece of public erotica (Super Marvel nerds will see a bit of "slash" here. Should I offer a prize?).
Click to make huger

It went over pretty well, I guess.

I say "I guess" because I was a bit to busy hob-nobbing to ask for a proper critique.

There was to be a second piece, a very ambitious second piece. However, it flopped. I'm still not sure if it is because of my abilities, or if the idea just will not work. Put simply, I could not get a workable, let alone interesting, composition going. Two days before the deadline, I started drawing. As time was of the essence, I decided to re-work a piece I did as an art-trade with the fabulous pinup artist Becca: a spacegirl for her Wall of Barbarella. I took six or so hours of sketching the body with another two or so on the face. Then tracing onto Bristol for a three hour inking marathon. No full rendering as there wasn't time.

There also wasn't time for scanning. The ink was still wet Friday night. Saturday night was for drinking nearly too many cocktails with friends. Sunday was for leaving on a plane to D.C. for four days. Sunday was also Delivery day. So, no scan.

 Yet.

So, if you can make it to the S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, please do so. It's a great space fill with great art and artists.

 Listening to while posting: "The End of the World As We Know It" by REM

Gitter Dragons Comeback!

The Glitter Dragons are back! Well, at least for this one drawing. I've been meaning to re-visit the GDs for a while but, not sure what to do. I thought of commissioning a friend for a theme song for the not-yet-existent Glitter Dragons cartoon and then doing a bunch of character studies.

Instead, here's a quick (three hour) re-imagining of one of my favorite albums as a Glitter Dragons album.

I might do another but, we'll see. I do like the Glitter Dragons. I like that I've created some characters that are cute but, also have the potential for complex personalities. I think...

Listening to while posting: "Don't Die Alone" by Jaguar Love (on Soma FM)