Back to 100%...

A couple of weeks ago I had the dire misfortune of having a kidney stone.Ugh, such a pain I've never known before! I assumed this was what women experience during childbirth, but I have it on good authority (from a few women who've experienced both) that this is worse. As if that wasn't enough the painkillers they gave me, Norco, put my intestines to sleep- later I found out that I should have been taking Phillip's Milk of Magnesia pills at the same time to avoid this problem. Two trips to the emergency room, two nights in the hospital, a nose tube (NEVER AGAIN!!!) and a liquid diet for the better part of a week and I'm back and running...in a manner of speaking.

Anyway, I worked as much as I could during all of that (except for the time in the hospital, obviously), but now I'm busy trying to catch up as best I can and I am doing pretty good overall. Unfortunately what is suffering are my commissions. Don't worry, those of you with commissions, I am working on them as my schedule permits. They will all get done. Just bear with me and be patient - and accept my apolgies for the delay.

In the meantime please feel free to enjoy these images that you have probably never seen before. Many are roughs for commissions that went another direction or designs that were never used (as far as I know, at least) and some are sketches that were drawn in sketchbooks.

Listen to me...

...if you can. I'm finally getting used to the sound of my own voice (sort of) so I'll probably listen and cross my fingers that I don't embarrass myself. It was conducted by a couple of nice guys over at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Just go to: http://seqalab.com/ and take a listen and then take a listen to some of the other podcasts there. (I also understand you can get these via iTunes as well)

This is how they describe what they're doing:

The SEQALAB podcast is a production of the students, faculty, and alumni of the sequential art department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. This twice-weekly podcast is for comics enthusiasts and hopeful creators who want to learn about comics and their production, gain industry insights, and celebrate the significance of the medium. Through education, practice, and expert instruction it is the goal of SEQALAB to aid listeners in becoming successful self-publishers or industry freelancers

Sounds pretty good to me and I'm flattered they consider me worth talking to.

And as a special bonus (special?) I came across some old art that I drew when I was just an innocent 15 year old Burroughs fan. Should be good for a few laughs, eh? AND to prove we all have to start somewhere.

Gearing up...

I know it's been awhile, but I've been working on a series of short term projects that all had tight deadlines. Including a series of posters for Nickelodeon, starting a new children's book for HarperCollins, several character designs for some new projects, attitudes and expressions as well as putting together a couple of feature pitches.

And I'm still crossing my fingers that the secret project I've mentioned before manages to get all it's funding in place.

As if that's not enough I'm also toying with an idea for a new sketchbook. This time it won't be art from other projects I've worked on or even commissions. I don't want to give too much away, but it should prove to be pretty interesting if i can ever get the free time together necessary to work on it.

So, because you come here to see art and not listen to me whine about how little free time I have I thought I'd post some stuff that you've probably never seen before. These are in no particular order. Some are pretty old and some are really unfinished (especially the two Mars piecees) and some are for projects that never got too far or that I got hired for. I'll try to do this again before too long.

Still a Rogue...

Here's the finished commission of the adult Rogue and Logan getting ready for some smooching. I'm not sure what the results of that would be, but I assume Logan would heal fast enough - maybe it'd be worth it, eh?





I'm still busy working towards season 2 of Wolverine and the X-Men as well as some miscellaneous freelance gigs so the commissions are slow cominmg, but I'm trying to do what I can to not disappoint anyone.
I might have some cool news coming up soon on the secret project if all goes well. We'll see - in this business (and this economy) you can't count on anything until the check clears. I'll settle for it getting close enough to get my lawyer involved.

What a Rogue...

Busy, busy, busy. Between working on model turns, attitudes & expressions for Wolverine and the X-Men season 2 and some storyboard work on a couple of various projects it's hard to find time to work on commissions. But I did find some time this weekend to do just that.

Here's a commission I started awhile ago and just recently finished.

Another commission requested a similiar type of drawing except with one notable alteration. I guess Rogue is a pretty indecisive young lady, eh?

Later this week I'm going to try and finsih this one as well.

Catching up...

I know it's been awhile (again) since the last time I blogged. Since then a lot of changes have occurred work-wise. Both somewhat long term jobs ended almost simultaneously and I found myself looking (scrambling) for the next gig(s). Thankfully a couple of things came up and I was able to maintain all the important things like mortgage, food on the table, internet access and TiVo.

I did a few storyboards for a CG children's show, presentation work for a project that needs to remain nameless for now, storyboards for a direct-to-DVD project (which also needs to remain nameless), and character turns, expressions, poses, etc. for the second season of Wolverine and the X-Men. Which, in case you haven't heard has premiered on Nick and apparently has done phenomenally well.

I've also been working on a couple of pitches with friends, One for a TV show and a couple of feature ideas. All great ideas that just need more time spent on them before we actually go pitch.

The other big thing that's been taking up my time during the last week is trouble with my e-mail. Out of the blue suddenly people trying to e-mail me are getting their e-mail bounced and when I investigated the host couldn't really figure it out so I ended up (after hours and days on the phone) moving my e-mail to a different host. They were able to quickly help me and give me the answers I was looking for....so within a short period of time all my e-mail problems should be a thing of the past. I hope.

Here's the finished Kitty commission that was sent off awhile ago. I've got a few more to work on and I'll post them as soon as I can.

Happy Holidays

I know I've been absent for some time now and I will try to correct that and make more timely posts after the holidays. I'll bring you all up to date with all that I've been up to soon.

In the meanwhile I wanted to wish those of you who do still check in here from time to time a Happy Chanukkah and a Merry Christmas.

And here's a commission that I'm currently working on...

Roughing up Wonder Woman

This year I was asked again to submit original art for the Wonder Woman Day Charity Auction - it's a good cause and I'm always pleased to help. So this time I decided to create 3 pieces and color them in marker. These are the roughs I came up with. Originally I was going to ask for opinions as to which ones to use, but I ran out of time and had to chose on my own.
I'll post the final three a little later...

Something a little nouveau...

A couple more commissions. The Commissioner wanted these to be in an art nouveau type of style. I think they were somewhat successful. I have to admit that I swiped some from Mucha (always loved his stuff). Sometime when I have a little more freetime I might try to color these. Freetime? hahahah....

Wolverine in Brazil?

It's been awhile since the last post. I won't bother giving you the usual excuses (I've been busy, yadda yadda yadda), but I thought it might be worth a quick post to mention for all of you down south that apparently Wolverine and the X-men has apparently been already airing in Brazil and should be airing soon enough in Canada (next weekend, I think?)

Here's a link that shows several screen caps from the show that you all might enjoy: http://xmenfilms.net/photos/wolverineandthexmen/index.html

And just so you know I haven't been sitting still here's a finished commision that will be going into the mail Monday.

Comic-Con 08

For those of you who couldn't make it to this year's Comic-Con I thought you might enjoy a guided tour by Triumph

Coming soon...

With only a few weeks before the Comic-Con International I thought I'd use this time to mention a few of the panels that I'm going to try and watch. If you checkl out the entire schedule you can spend every minute of every day going to nothing but panels and still not see everything that you might be interested in and never have a moment to walk the hot, sweaty, cramped aisles of the display floor itself (and that would be a real shame)

Thursday
4:15-5:15 Lionsgate/Marvel: Hulk vs. Wolverine
Friday
5:00-6:00 Spotlight on Bernie Wrightson
8:30-10:00 Marvel/Lionsgate: Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow World Premiere
Saturday
10:15-11:15 Spotlight on Ralph Bakshi
1:15-2:00 Warner Bros.: Terminator Salvation
8:30-10:00 Marvel: Wolverine and The X-Men Animated Screening
Sunday
11:00 AM - NOON / Room 7AB
Remembering Dave Stevens

(I'll let any of you attending do the work and find out what rooms these will be in if you're interested)

With any luck at all next year the project that I've been hinting about for awhile (and a few of you have guessed) might have a presence at Comic-Con. We are getting closer every day and things are shaping up nice financially.

In the meantime here's another couple of roughs for commissions that I'm working on as well as a more polished piece:

Clip time again....

Just in case some of you haven't seen it yet...



They are also screening the first three episodes on Saturday of the San Diego Comic-Con (as it says at the end of the video - though it appears they got the date wrong)

Bakshi!!

Last Saturday night there was a book signing/party for Ralph Bakshi at Meltdown comics in LA in honor of the first Bakshi biography: Unfiltered (notice I said first - I'm assuming there will be more in the years to come). Since one of my sons lives in the area with his boyfriend it seemed like a good way to celebtrate an early Father's Day. We went to dinner and then walked down the street to Meltdown.

It was fun seeing Ralph again. I spoken to him once or twice on the phone in the last few years, but haven't seen him since the Cool World days - I think...but it's obvious from this photo I'm getting pretty old. Kind of looks like two old coots trying to carry on a conversation, eh? BTW that's Barry Jackson and Trish Doktor (BG designers for Cool World and lots more) and my 14 year old daughter looking embarrassed in the bottom right corner.

There's a link over to the side if you want to purchase the book .....or you could to Ralph's web-site and order an autographed copy

And here's a link to the ASIFA Animation Archive where you can find more pics from the event. If you haven't bookmarked this web-site already, you should.

Commissions....

Thought I'd let you take a look at a couple of my latest commissions - old school style with markers:

The bottom one is based on a costume Rogue wore for a school play in the episode Spykecam

Back to the norm...

Last year I participated as a seller at this event, but this year the timing didn't really work for me, but I still might try to get out there and look around. If you're in the area you should too. Here's all the info:

This weekend, The Creative Talent Network and Van Eaton Galleries are co-hosting the second Animation Book Look signing and sales event. Gathering authors and artists within the animation industry to meet fans, the event will be held from 1:00 to 6:00 PM this Saturday, May 17, 2008 at Van Eaton Galleries, 13613 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, California.
The festival features appearances by well known visual and literary artists along with lesser known animation authors. This unique event gives publishing and animation professionals the opportunity to promote their work to fans, collectors, and art aficionados. Over 50 artists and authors will be at signing tables, showcasing over 75 books ranging from children’s books to artists sketchbooks, illustration to fine art, and informative "How to..." to "History of…" books.
Featured artists and authors include Jerry Beck, Toby Bluth, Tee Bosustow, Stefan Bucher, Chris Buck, Jennifer Cardon-Klein, Dave Colman, Craig Elliott, Gris Grimly, Ryan Hungerford, Chris Jenkins, Mike Kunkel, Jason Lethcoe, Rik Maki, Tracey Miller, Patrick Morgan, Steve Niles, Brian and Phil Phillipson, Don Peri, Eric Pigors, Ragnar, Martha Sigall, Bob Singer, Jim Smith, Tom Sito, Marcelo Vignali, Amanda Visell, Tony White, Shigeru Yabu, Willie Ito, and more.
For more information, visit animationbooklook.com. The festival is free but RSVP’s are suggested, please call 818-788-2357 for more details.

And now for something Off Topic...

I don't think I've ever posted anything that wasn't art related or about me, but I saw this news commentary and thought it was important to let as many people see it as possible. It's a commentary by Keith Olberman on some recent statements made by our president. if you've never scen Mr. Olberman's show, Countdown, on MSNBC you should give it a try. He's one of the sharpest commentators out there.
Below is the video of that commentary, but if for some reason I can't get it to work right (I've never tried embedding like this) you can follow this link and launch the player.



Don't worry, I won't turn this into a political blog - I'm not bright enough for that, but I thought this was worth a pause from my usual self promotion...

Officially the trailer...

In case some of you haven't seen it yet, I thought I'd post the official trailer for Wolverine & the X-Men. Now you can see what I spent a good part of 2007 working on - or, at least, the trailer for it...



Start drooling now fanboys!

UPDATE: I hadn't realized that some might assume that these were my designs. They are not. I was not involved in the designs other then in the way a director normally is involved. The character designer was AJ Jothikumar.

Eye Candy

I thought I'd share a piece of art I needed to create as part of the pitch materials for the secret project that I've been hinting at lately. I think we're getting closer to putting it together, but you never know in this business. I'm hoping that I'll be able to release the info on it soon...assuming everything goes well.

I also want to thank all of you on my commissions list for being so patient and understanding. Here's a detail from one of the latest ones.