Horribly Green Queen of Diamonds Sketch

Here is the sketch of a Queen of Diamonds I've been working on. Its this horrible shade of green, because somebody got carried away in Photoshop (I'll see if I can't fix it one of these days, or even rescan it). I went with a kind of tattered looking card for the vintage/retro feel, and as you can see, she's one of those tatted up pinup models that are all the rage these days, kind of generic now. You see, the original concept was for fan art of a specific model, one of my "friends" on MySpace, but when I was looking through her album of fan art, I saw that someone had beaten me to it. So, I just went with a cute little pinup gal, no one in particular. I guess that's what I get for snoozing.

Oh, and just a heads up, posts might be a bit sporadic until the holiday season is over, but I'll try to get back on track for the new year.

Faber-Castel Pitt Oil Based Pencil (soft) on some yellow paper I found a *hundred years ago, when I was a janitor.

*not really, it just feels like that long ago.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Topless Hula Girl

Hey Kids, this is just a quick sketch (from quite a while back) of a topless tattooed hula girl. Overall, I'm rather pleased with the results. maybe I should start coloring my sketches in Photoshop. Maybe I'll do that one of these days, and we'll revisit her. I don't know why, but I've been in a Tiki mood as of late, must be the Summer.

Testing

Don't be alarmed I'm only testing a few things out. The grand opening will be coming soon. In the meantime its my company logo.