Old School--SITH Happens!

Here is a sketch cover piece that I did to display and hopefully sell at Rose City Comicon this weekend.

I wanted to do something different than the zillion other Vader pieces I've seen on similar sketch covers and struck upon the idea of taking the original concept painting of Vader from Ralph McQuarrie's pre-production illustration of Vader and sort of space suited Luke facing off with lightsabers ablaze. I've always loved that painting and to this day it still gives me the nostalgic feeling of mystery and adventure that originally seeing Star Wars in the movie theater gave me. That painting really tales me back...

So here's to you Ralph McQuarrie! George never could have made Star Wars without your vision, and the Vader we all know and love wouldn't exist without this guy!

(Below, I'm posting the McQuarrie painting so you too can enjoy it's genius!)

Spiderman-on-man Action!

So, on July 11 I set up my little convention display down at Destiny City Comics on St. Helens Ave in beautiful downtown Tacoma for a mini Pride Day related event. To be honest--it was slow for me. Lots of people came through, and I think the shop had a really good day, but I didn't do very well personally. Only one Magic card sketch commission--which, of course, I forgot to photograph, and I sold a couple of prints. :P

However, I DID manage to do another sketch cover while on sight. I put about 3 hours work into it--with pauses to chat with potential customers. In any case--it came out pretty good! Using a special "The Amazing Spider-man: Renew Your Vows" #001 variant blank cover issue, I created the Universe 69 gay Spidey! I originally wanted to have him lip-locked with the Miles Morales Spiderman, but had forgotten that the character was only supposed to be a young teenager and so it would be wildly inappropriate. I thought about using Venom, but I ultimately decided to use one of the Spidey clones. I liked the Scarlet Spider costume the best of the many clone versions, so SS made the cut. Btw, I used my growing new collection of Copic markers for the colors.

The design is actually based on a J. Scott Campbell cover in which Spidey was kissing Black Cat, while poor MJ looked on from the background. In my Universe 69 variation, Spidey is kissing Scarlet Spider (actually a clone of Peter Parker himself) while, once again, poor MJ looks on--BUT, in this world, Black Cat is there to help Mary Jane Watson through this difficult revelation! Anyway, it turned out pretty good and is now on display (and for sale) in the comic book shop where it was born.

Happy Pride!

Batman Saves the Weekend!

Last weekend I manned the C.L.A.W. table at an interesting event: The Northwest Pinball and Arcade Convention. I have to say right off the bat that the show was not very busy for us non-game related vendors. I got two commissions my entire time there and even my friend Mark Monlux had difficulty raking in customers!! But it was still pretty cool, although I'm not much of a gamer--but I DID get to see the Flintstones prop car from the movie, courtesy of the LeMay Car Museum, which is also here in town.

So here's a pic of me trying to look busy and important, alongside the caricature of Mark Monlux, fellow CLAW member and purveyor of "cartoon reviews of movies" in his "The Comic Critic" books. I did the drawing as an enticement to passing customers to get their caricatures done.

I did finally get two commissions from a very nice couple who wanted me to do fun sketches of their boys. The older boy was actually a Magic fan and wanted me to draw him as an MTG style goblin. The parents asked me to portray the younger son as a flying monkey because he liked my drawing on the CLAW banner. I added the soccer ball because he was wearing a soccer jersey. They seemed to be really happy with them, which always feels great. After that, though--it was dead! I sold a couple of prints and that was it for two days! *Sigh*

Since the second day was a complete bust, I decided to put my time to some use by working on the "Batman '66" sketch-cover comic I had acquired. I worked on it most of the time I was there and went WAY too overboard on it, but it came out pretty snazzy. I wanted to do something sentimental to honor my youthful appreciation of the old series. When I was a kid--Adam West was Batman to me. (Also, I got an enthusiastic buyer for the piece, so it sort of salvaged things for me!) So, thanks once again, Batman!

So while it was the most unsuccessful weekend I've had at an event in some ways, I got some good things out of it. I probably won't do the event next year...but one can never say what the future might hold.

Creepy Characters of Crypticon!

This past weekend I set up shop in the Crypticon Artist's Alley to do Zombiefied Caricatures! The results were mostly positive and a little negative. But I'll get to that in a sec. The event itself is always a lot of fun and it was held in the same Hilton convention center venue that host a few other cons I go to (specifically RainFurrest), so I felt right at home. I knew several of the other venders, such as my friend Quentin Shaw (QEW Publishing), whom I coincidentally ended up sitting right behind...well, back to back--because of the way the tables were set up. Also my friend Nick Gucker (or Nick the Hat, as he is popularly known), a fellow illustrator who does the promotional artwork for Crypticon was nearby. And there were several other artist friends as well as attendee friends I don't get to see very often! So it was great in that respect.

And speaking of "old friends", here's a pic of me hugging the life-size, remote controlled Dalek that the Anglicon folks had at their booth!

Anyway--so the point of the whole thing for me was to do zombiefied caricatures! These were more in the style of studio pieces. I took pics of the clients and we talked about their particular interests. This gave me ideas about elements to incorporate into the artwork. These drawings were bigger and more elaborate than caricatures I've tried before at a venue. I charged more, of course--tho probably not as much as I should have for the amount of work I ultimately did, but my pricing is a work in progress too.

I didn't get as many commissions as I had hoped, but I did OK. Possibly enough to justify trying it again next year. But I have GOT to refine the process. Still have problems with materials and still taking too long--about twice as long as I should...and sometimes more. :P

Anyway--here are some of the pieces that I did along with pics of the happy customers! (That was another good aspect--everybody seemed really pleased with the final results! That's always a good feeling.)

Anyway--there they are, the best of the creepiest! Just wait until next year, Crypticon!!

Turbo Pony!

The C.L.A.W. strikes again!

My local cartoonist's group (the Cartoonist's League of Absurd Washingtonians) recently held one of our monthly public drawing sessions and the theme was Big Daddy Roth Hotrods! This is normally outside of my comfort zone since I am not a big car enthusiast, but I decided that since Absurd is literally the middle name of my group I would do something as silly as possible. And what could be sillier than taking a My Little Pony sketch-cover comic and turning one of these sweet, innocent, beloved characters into a frothing, bug-eyed, frenzied hotrod street-demon!

Anyway, this was the resulting artwork.

Enjoy! ^0^

Charting a New Course!

The Brillustrator is IN!

Last Saturday I participated in a small, local birthday event at a small, local bookstore where I set up to do live caricatures. I've been working on this for a while, studying the work of other caricature artists and watching demos and tutorials on YouTube, trying to glean secrets of the craft. It isn't the first event I've done live drawing at, or even one where I've called what I was doing caricature. But it was really the first time I've really felt like what I was really doing caricature drawing--although, admittedly, I'm not quite there yet.

I had decided I wanted to pursue caricature art as a career possibility a few months ago when I picked up a copy of Tom Richmond's book "The Mad Art of Caricature!" I have long been a devotee of artists like Jack Davis, Al Hirschfeld, Johnny Severin and my favorite of them all, the amazing Mort Drucker, and I have done caricature illustrations over the years, but never really took it seriously as a vocation of any sort. Nor had I EVER entertained the idea of doing live caricature events. Studio caricatures and live event caricatures are very different animals; but as a member of C.L.A.W. (my Tacoma cartoonists group), I have been doing public sketching events for a couple of years and even though it wasn't really what I would classify as caricature drawing, I have been able to handle it better than I thought. Also, in my sorted past, I did charcoal portraits in the mall during a couple of Christmas seasons back when I was just starting out and it's very similar to that kind of dynamic. Studying the techniques of live caricature artists, I began to realize that I had the right skills, that I could do the things they were doing. I just need to learn how to apply those skills in a slightly different venue. It's really all about the stylization.

One good piece of advice from those on-line videos, btw, came from my main source of tutorials and examples--Mr. Elgin "Subwaysurfer" Bolling--an NYC caricature master, who said: "When you first start out, you will not like anything you do. You'll hate it and think you're no good. But stick with it and eventually you will get the hang of it and be happy with the work." That's paraphrased, but good advice, because frankly I had not been happy with the drawings I have done recently at events. And even this last one, although the studying and training are starting to click, I still am not feeling like my "caricatures" are successful yet--although the clients seemed pleased with them, and that's an important consideration after all.

In any case--I am somewhat unfairly comparing my work to artists who have been working in the field for 10 or 15 years, so I'm trying to cut myself some slack. I will get these techniques down and get the time cut down too! (Still taking too long.) Anyway, here are some of the drawings I did at the King's Book Birthday Bash, showing my current progress. As you can see--the drawings are a bit tighter and a bit cartoonier, but I haven't really got the exaggeration part of it worked out yet. Anyway--baby steps!

Lived Long and Prospered

I met Leonard Nimoy one time, at a comic convention, with about 10,000 other Star Trek fans--but it was wonderful. I made him smile as I tried to decide which photo to have signed. He let me shake his hand. It was a mere moment in his world, but it was the culmination of 40-odd years of mine!

I've been a fan of Spock and Mr. Nimoy for over 4/5ths of my existence, so that was his importance to me. I even Trick-or-Treated as Spock for Halloween maybe 38 years ago! My friend Bruce was Kirk (in a gold shirt and hand made insignia), and I was the Vulcan, wearing a cheesy plastic mask, blue shirt with insignia and carrying my phaser, tricorder and communicator model set, which I used as toys. (I should point out that when I played Star Trek with my other friend Todd, I was Kirk, because he always insisted on being Spock!)

As I got older I grew to appreciate the qualities of Leonard Nimoy, the actor/director/photographer, etc as much as I appreciated and admired Mr. Spock, the beloved childhood hero. He was an amazing talent and a genuinely good person--as good a human being as his alter ego was a Vulcan! In any case, I'm grateful I got to enter his orbit, even if only for that small moment.

Normally, I would have wanted to do a more serious portrait, trying to pour a whole life of joy and somber appreciation into it after his passing. But I am on a caricature bent at the moment and I think he would have enjoyed this small tribute. He was a generous spirit full of good humor. I like to think it would have made him smile again for me.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Nimoy! You did indeed live long and prosper.