Original Angry Moon Sketch

Sometimes the idea for an illustration can take a very long time to come to fruition. I mean from concept to final piece, not sketch to final, although that can some times take longer than you might want, too. I guess you could say that some ideas are like a wine, they have to age properly to reach their full potential. Anyway, I don't recall the exact date when I came up with the concept for Angry Moon, but it was at least four years ago, if not longer. After bubbling around in my head for a while, I did this color sketch sometime in 2007, and I think I finished it digitally in 2008—and just for the record, I worked on many other projects in between, its not like I spent 5 years on one illustration. Just wanted to clear that up. And now without further delay here they are.

This is the original color sketch from 2007;
colored pencil on midnight blue pastel paper.


The finished digital illustration from last year,
probably about September or so.

Devil Girl: Lady Luck

As I mentioned not too long ago, I have been focusing on T-shirt designs lately. This is one which is probably going to make the final cut, although there will probably be some modifications before it goes to print. It pretty much speaks for itself, just a gambling themed devil girl with a retro feel. Illustrator CS.

StaggerSkull: A Couple of Older T-shirt Designs

As I mentioned the other day, I've been a bit busy, so a couple more from the archives. These are variations on a T-shirt design called StaggerSkull, which I did . . . Hmmm. I'm not quite sure when, but it has been a while. All done in Illustrator (skull from Go Media vector pack).

The standard version in Red.


The ladies version (suggested by my friend, Precious).

Murder of Crows: Real Band or Not?

Not! Nope, these are not real bands, nor does the venue exist, oh but imagine if they did. When I was a server, my fellow pubsters and I would often make up band names to keep things lighthearted while the pub went into absolute bedlam. I still make up band names from time to time, and the result is that I often find myself with a head full of fake band names, which leaves precious little room for important things, such as obsolete cocktail recipes (ever heard of a Bronx?) and ribald limericks. What to do? The obvious answer was to create this promotional flyer, if for no other reason, than to make a little more room in my brain for important nonsense. All done in Illustrator CS.

Hot New Blog Coming Soon!

Hey Kids! I'm just here to tell you about my hot new blog coming soon. Actually its more of a web page disguised as a blog, or maybe its a blog disguised as a web page, its just be too soon to tell. Anyway, if you're looking for my T-shirts, or custom services such as art, T-shirt design or cartoons (and more) this will be the place. Technically it is there now, but I haven't even posted on it yet, so there is really no point in linking to it. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

-Cheers.

Yet Another New Logo

I really do like my previous logo, but I don't think it represented me and my style completely. It was strong, and very retro, but for me and my style, just a bit too clean. I think that's one of the curses of being a creative, you're just never satisfied with your own work for very long, a little over a month in this case.

So, I jumped back to the drawing board (computer actually) and came up with this one. Its intentionally lopsided a bit, I imagine you could say: more playful. Recently I went to the Oregon Coast with my Girl, Ace, which very well may have inspired me on this new approach. It better brings to mind images of the Historic 101, Route 66, and the Super 99 Highways. I'm really pleased with the retro color scheme too, and someday I think it will look great printed on a T-shirt. This one is a keeper. If you're wondering about the font, it is Square Meal Hearty from the folks at Font Diner.

Pot Roast Guy: Ice Cream Stripes

This is one of my humorous illustrations done in my neo-retro style. Sometimes things are really funny at 4 am, and as I recall that is where this one originated. I wouldn't really call it a cartoon, but the idea was that he would be saying something along the lines of: Oh my stars! My pot roast! When I got the illustration done though, I decided to let it stand on its own, but I still like the name: Pot Roast Guy. So, here he is with a nice striped vintage background reminiscent of Neapolitan ice cream, well except for the teal stripe. He does look quite startled, kind of like the universal look on someone's face who has been walked in on, while they were sitting on the toilet. I'm just saying.

SplitSkull: Spade T-shirt Design

What we have here kids is a one color T-shirt design. I don't know if this one will ever actually go to print or not. I t doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the design, its just that I think I'll be going in a different direction for my first round of T-shirt designs (more in the humorous neo-retro vein). The skull came from the Go Media Vector Pack # 5 (I think), everything else was me. The original version was red and black, and I may just go back to that, but this represents the image quite well.

Speaking of T-shirts, I've been looking into starting an Etsy store, and it looks like a go, so as soon as that's finalized, I'll be updating that info here.

Lots of New Stuff to Come

Well kids it has been quite a while since my last post, but I have been as busy as the proverbial bee trying to get things lined up and so forth. I probably started this blog a little early, and really should have had all this stuff done first. Nevertheless, we have a new month, and I'm hoping to post regularly now.

This is one of my newest illustrations called: Coffee Doofus. This is an example of my neo-retro cartoon style. Some implied scatology, but not overly crude; when you drink to much coffee, it can make you have to go all of a sudden. Still, it seems harmless enough, and somewhat amusing. I'm quite pleased with it overall. Inked and colored in Illustrator.

Woo-Hoo! A Brand New Logo

Well, I'm still scrambling around like an Australian gopher, trying to get everything organized and running smoothly. In other words, touching up some portfolio stuff, building the almighty web site, trying to get PayPal to not be a pain in my ass, just business stuff. In the meantime, here is the almost world premier of my new company logo, I actually did a pre-premier last night on Myspace. Surprisingly, my girlfriend, Ace, was the only one who noticed, but she thought it was pretty nifty. I truly love the red, black and cream retro color combination, in fact, I think it my favorite. Another favorite element is the font, Starburst Lanes (available from Font Diner, if you're interested). It is technically what you might call a "bowling font" yet I find it very versatile. As for the geometric shapes, well they are all Googie influnced, reminescent of the great signs for motels, drive-ins and coffee shops that you might have seen along Route 66 or the Super 99 Highway, back in the day.

Okay, as you can see I'm still not on a regular posting schedule, but I should be soon, so until then, cheers!

Pencil Slut

I've come to the realization that I'm becoming a bit of a pencil slut. I seem to be bouncing from one favorite pencil to another, much like the town trollop on payday. No sooner do I find one I love, than a new one comes sashaying along, enticing me with unimagined charms, and smooth lines. Shortly thereafter the old love will be sitting in a corner of my pencil drawer, forlorn and abandoned, tossed aside like yesterday's cheese.

Before you consider me too much of a freak, let me back up a bit here. Many years ago, I caught part of a show on PBS about ants, and I noticed one of the ant experts was in the field with his sketchbook, using a mechanical pencil to great effect. So, I thought to myself: hmm, maybe I should give that a try. I don't recall what kind of pencils I had been using up until then, but I was soon hooked on mechanical pencils, using them almost exclusively. I never really thought about it very much, and then somewhere along the line I started adding a standard #2 pencil to the mix, I have no clue as to why that seemed like a good idea; if you haven't tried this, it works about as well as a lawnmower with one wheel missing, although not as dangerous. Nevertheless, somehow I failed to notice just how much I was struggling with my drawings and I couldn't figure out why, although I probably just assumed that I was a crap artist. At some point a few years ago I rediscovered colored pencils, specifically using them on colored pastel paper, although I've found that using the back side, which has less tooth, works better for colored pencils. I found myself struggling less, and enjoying the drawing process more, yet I still didn't make the pencil quality connection.

Fast forward to a few months ago, when I discovered Derwent Sketching Pencils, and it clicked: yes, Bob-O, there is a reason they make special drawing pencils, because they work. Thin lines, thick lines, shading, man alive! these Derwents had it all, and I was in love, or so I thought. Of course, this was before I discovered the almighty Derwent Drawing Pencil. It isn't graphite, but seems to be some kind of charcoal-colored pencil hybrid.I asked at the art store, but nobody could tell me definitively what exactly is in them. Not that it really matters to me, because they just plain rock! They're dark like charcoal, but without the dust, and oh so smooth, like drawing with liquid velvet. Okay, perhaps that's a bit too poetic, actually I would say its more like drawing with a skinny black lipstick. However, as wonderful as they are, already I'm finding faults, nothing major, just a bit too smeary, and they become dull too quickly. So while I'm smitten for now, but I know its only temporary.

* Just for the record, the above illustration was done in ink, and colored in Photoshop.

Dork-Fest 2008

Hey kids, check it out in celebration of International Dork Appreciation Day, I'm posting a visual feast of dorkiness.

Enjoy!

A somewhat dorky anxious guy.
Just a quick sketch of the rare hipster dork.
uh . . . yeah, pretty much self explanatory.
The magnificent art dork in all his splendor.

Coffee Shop Girl

Now here's one I did quite some time ago. I was sitting in a Starbucks one evening, when this lovely young woman came in. She just naturally struck this great pose while she was waiting to be helped (there were actually people ahead of her in line, but I didn't put them in). Anyway, I recorded it in my trusty sketchbook, and then nearly a year later as I recall, I did this digital version. More of a practice piece than an actual illustration.

Route 66 Girl

Sorry kids, I've been a little busy, and somewhat scatterbrained as of late. A while back I was working on this really cool illustration of a cute little hitchhiker gal with a desert background, kind of a Route 66 feel to it. Well, fortunately I saved the girl as a separate file, because shortly after that, my computer took an enormous poop. The nearly completed illustration was lost for ever, as was my desire to create it (or re-create it). So after I got the computer fixed, I came up with this version. This was actually published last year in an online magazine called Off Beat Pulp (issue #1). Now that I think of it, my "All Aces" pinup girl was published in the same issue as well.

Okay, cheers for now, and I'll try to keep up on posting a little better. Oh, and I will be doing the grand opening/official introduction post soon, also.

All Aces

This one is actually from last year, but it is one of my favorites. Just a cute little gal with no pants and a bunch of aces

Daisy and Her Glorious Bare Bottom

Well golly, here's Miz Daisy and her glorious bottom, this is the uncensored version, by the way.