Salvaged Concept BG

Concept art for the short film Salvaged that I am working on with my friend Ted.

This is about half way done and took me about 45 minutes. Working on this made me want to start drawing some canyons with the stepped rock formations. It was a good exercise and gets me thinking more about concept and about the look and feel of the environment, even when I do things that I consider to be failures it helps me. I always forget you learn more from failure then success.
I have already started adding details and it is looking better, though I would share it at a mid point. Expect to see a more polished version some time next week.

Sea Creatures for Science!

Laura is doing an internship for the Lawrence Hall of Science where she is helping with children education programming for their summer fun day program. The activity that she is planning is designed to help children see that the CO2 levels in the ocean are rising and how it is raising the acidity of the sea and effecting the sea creatures that live there from growing their exoskeletons. These were designed to have a social gaming (i.e. facebook and Myspace games) kind of feel.

Lobster
I had to do a revision on this one because my good friend Chris Vear, a native of Maine informed me I didn't give the lobster enough legs. They have 8. I was really happy with how this one came out.

Sea Urchin

Brain Coral

Chitinous Bivalve or a Clam

Sea Star

New Portfolio

Just posted a brand spankin' new portfolio come and check it out.

Drunken Sagas: The Hill House background design

I really dislike doing backgrounds; there are so many rules one needs to follow to make a really nice and dimensional background and they really just don't come easily to me, unlike drawing people who are more fun and intuitive for me. However, this being said, I need to challenge myself more to become a better artist, and I need back grounds if I want to tell rich dynamic stories. So I challenged myself to try and make 2 background drawings a week, and here is the first.
This is the home and farm of Paul the Wise. He lives atop the a high hill that is easily defended from intruders, much to Eric's chagrin. Every time he comes to visit he complains about the walk up and Paul always just responds, "One day you will be glad that I found this hill." Eric would indeed be glad years later that Paul had found this hill and even more glad that he had the foresight to build and escape tunnel. Though until that day Eric is always looking for a way to get Paul out of his long house at the top without having to go up himself.

Viking Portrait: Ikvar the Black

I was looking though one of my many sketch books and found a couple of Viking faces staring back and me. The first one I decided to complete was a profile picture, because I haven't seem to have done too many of these.

This is Ikvar the Black, if I recall viking history correctly men would get the name the Black because of the color of their hair. I imagined that Ikvar would be a hard and quiet man who some didn't trust, but in truth he was the most trust worthy in the party. Sadly, this wasn't realized until it was too late for Ikvar.

Grandpa Swede Portrait

Yesterday would have been my grandfather's 81st birthday. This is a portrait to commemorate the day. He was always my favorite to draw when I was a little kid - he was so easy with a big red nose and handle bar mustache, and he loved my cruel little portraits that I drew (not every one else was a fan of the things I picked up on). Every year for his birthday he wanted a birthday card from me. To continue the tradition I've decided to make a portrait of him every July 20th. This is a portrait of him as I remember him best, the only thing missing is his cigarette.

Where Stars are Born

This piece was born out of an argument over how awesome my beard is.
Laura and I were at the Bee Show earlier this year, where I exhibited a painting of skull with a bee beard called The Skull and the Bees where I had decided to hang out to discuss my piece. Being shy I instead sat on a stone wall and started sketching, and I soon sketched a self portrait where I was a skull with a beard much like the piece I posted earlier this year. Laura pointed out that the beard I drew was way too long and that my beard wasn't that "Awesome". WHAT!?! So in response I made a doodle of how awesome my beard really is, since you know, it gives birth to stars. Yes, it is that awesome.
This was meant to just be another little joke self portrait for fun that I did because I wanted to do another piece in illustrator. But Laura and I have been talking about updating my website so we took this illustration and made my new under construction page as a place holder of sorts until I can get my new website up!

PATHETIC Zombie Portrait 01

Yeah, this feels more like Pat to me.

PATHETIC Portrait 01

I watched this video of my dearly departed friend Patrick today and it made me miss him - so I decided do a portrait of him. He has been on my mind a lot as of late and I feel compelled to do some more art about him. It's been a while.
Also today I became an Admin on a fan page for Pat Hetic - a page for all of us who miss him to share images, videos, and memories. I may just make this the profile picture. Though now I feel Like doing a second portrait where I turn this one into a zombie... I think that will make a better picture and seem more Pat to me.
I will never forget you hetro-life mate.

Geisha Portrait 02

I'm on a roll today!

Blond Beach Bombshell 01

Yay for alliteration; I really enjoy this title and I may just do more like this just because the title is fun. I'm also into the idea of doing these drawings where I change the subject matter with the seasons.