Moostone Sketch Cards

Here is my first foray into the wacky comic world of sketch cards.
More info on the Moonstone card set can be found here:
http://www.5finity.com/

Dracula in progress

It's not very often that I show at con (I usually help Bawidamann man his booth and network) and even more rare for me to do a con sketch but a fan contacted me after the fact and asked me to do a portrait of his wife. He had bought a few prints in Chicago 08 and wanted to commission an image of his wife and possible any classic monsters that I was willing to draw with her.

I had plans to do an editorial piece of Dracula so I offered to make his wife the Vamp victim in my next illustration and sell him the original. Luckily for me, his wife was a pretty lady. The image is still in progress as the final will have Ingrid Pitt with Lee but here is the original painting with some preliminary color ideas. I plan on revisiting and wrapping up the final image before the New Year as I have a very loose deadline and a full docket.

Though it will be a long while before I can show these images I just wrapped up three Cthulhu images for FFG. I am currently working on 4 Moonstone sketch cards. I am also starting to do my layouts for a local collaboration book featuring some sequential work. I am gearing up to do four pieces for the upcoming Monster manual for D&D. Finally I will be teaching next semester at NKU this January. Looks like it is going to be a busy Holiday season with lots of fun work ahead.

Spectrum 16, Royal Flush, Talisman, and D&D

Its nice to finally see some of my hard-work from last year finally in the stores and be able to post some work.

RoyalFlush:
Here is the Brian Posehn Iron Maiden spoof illustration as seen in the new issue of Royal Flush.

Spectrum 16:
The book which just hit stores looks amazing. I have two piece in, one piece in Book and the other in the Editorial section.
You should also not miss fellow CCAD alum, Andrew Bawidamann with his elegantly designed full page Witch illustration and a handful of Eric Fortune's emotive art, including his brilliant back cover. Also gracing the pages this year was fellow local artist and bagpipe aficionado Oliver Meinerding. Congrats to all for the amazing work and to Arnie and Cathy for another beautiful awe inspiring book.

On the gaming front:

Talisman: the Frostmarch from FFG was just released in which I did one card, the Hieromartyr.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=29&esem=2

Also D&D used my Wizard illustration for the cover of the Arcane Power Wizard power cards game. http://www.amazon.com/Arcane-Power-Wizard-Cards-Accessory/dp/0786953551

Finally I would like to give a shout out to Mark Brooks. Mark is an amazing Marvel artist who I meet a few years ago in Chicago at a convention. I first mention Mark because he is amazing and you should check his work.
http://diablo2003.deviantart.com/
I secondly mention him because he was gracious enough to take some time to walk me through some color process and the pieces viewed here have the first inkling of me trying to incorporate those techniques into my work.

Royal Flush magazine Book 6

Royal Flush magazine Book 6 is here or almost here as it drops October 27th.

In case you are unaware here's all you need to know about it.

http://.com/about-2/royalflushmagazine

Here's the new issue that is chalk full of killer art, big names, and
has a pretty cool little piece I did for an article on Brian Posehn.

http://royalflushmagazine.com/current-issue/

Pre-orders can be found here:

http://royalflushmagazine.com/merch/

http://www.gigposters.com/classifieds/detail.php?siteid=9885&pre=1

Here's the Promo blurb:

Easily the best Royal Flush book to date by a landslide, Book Six boasts an exclusive cover story with Playboy's Hugh Hefner, including first-time-seen comics he drew over 60 years ago.

But that's not all! there's even more!
With killer interviews with and articles on Joan Jett, Ted Nugent, Basil Gogos, Leslie Nielsen, Hispanic Batman, Alice Cooper, Harvey Pekar, Jack Kirby, Frank Zappa, Dethklok, Jim Gaffigan, Brian Posehn, Jeffrey Ross, Danny Trejo, Jenna Jameson and 112 pages of comics, commentary and calamity!

The def-defying Hugh Hefner cover portrait was exquisitely painted by Robin Eley.
The eye-gouging Joan Jett cover was illustrated by Josh Bernstein.

In honor of Mr. Hefner we have included 2 Bonus fold-out centerfolds. Each featuring sexy ladies, famed underground artists Paul Pope & Brian Ewing went to town on these two posters that will adorn your walls for years.

Speaking of amazing art and talented folk, This book also features the work of so many talents, it's shocking!!

Here’s a sneak peek: K3N Adams, Angryblue, Aaron Augenblick, Josh Bernstein, Florian Bertmer, Bryan G. Brown, Chris Caniano, Steve Chanks, Cojo, Harlan P. Cress, Ryan Dunlavey, Robin Eley, Brent Engstrom, Brian Ewing, Jason Goad, Basil Gogos, Danny Hellman, Woodrow J. Hinton, Seldon Hunt, David Kennedy, Adam Kidder, Peter Kuper, Jeph LaChance, Jesse Lefkowitz, Sara Antoinette Martin, Brett Marting, Mark McCormick, Patrick McQuade, Jan Meininghaus, Jeff Newelt, Harvey Pekar, Jesse Philips, Paul Pope, John Pound, Frank Powers, Gary Pullin, Erik Rodriguez, Adam Roth, Steve Ruvolo, Rob Schwager, Scrojo, Pat Sentman, Brendan Small, Stainboy, Adam Swinbourne, Adam Turman, Sean Pryor and Rick Veitch!

And a few more links for good measure:

http://royalflushmagazine.com/currentissue
http://www.facebook.com/RoyalFlushMagazine
http://twitter.com/royal_flush_mag
http://www.myspace.com/royalflushmagazine
http://www.cityscoopsny.com/?p=2207
http://www.facebook.com/RoyalFlushMagazine?v=app_2347471856

Here's a pic of the cover and a photo of Posehn holding the original drawing I did for the mag.
If you want to see the finished illustration pick up a copy, I'll post a blog with the image after the book officially drops!

Uncle Creepy and Mike Ploog

Coaching soccer is finally wrapping up and I can take on more assignments now that autumn has broken.
It has been a while since I posted work as most can not be posted until published. The last few months I have
completed a handful of assignments for Fantasy Flight Games which titles include: A Game of Thrones, Warhammer, and Talisman. Hopefully I can post the images soon.

In the meantime in the spirit of the season here is an Uncle Creepy
sketch I did to possibly garner some work from Dark Horse. If the spirit moves me I may just for practice color him.
I love working without reference when I get the chance and playing with line-weight. You can see some of my influences
come through when I have to rely simply on my mind and imagination.

One of my most power earlier influences was the Mike Ploog BlackWolf illustrations from the Bakshi film Wizards. Any one unfamiliar with Ploog's film and comic work should take the time to google him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Ploog


I am also working on a Hammer Christopher Lee and hope to post something soon.

George Liquor Grab-Ass'n

Inspired by meeting John Kricfalusi at Comic Con I did a detail of his character George Liquor.
It's been a very long time since I have finished a drawing from imagination and I have to say the
absence of reference was refreshing and fun. Also I have no idea why but I derive a strange enjoyment
from drawing plump gelatinous man nips. I may have went a little heavy on the Untidy Whiteys but hey I went for broke!
I also made two backgrounds, a nice cobalt blue which sets of the subtle nuances of patriotism in George's misty eyes and the other I call affectionately Piss Stains. Enjoy!

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/

San Diego ~Comic Con~ 2009 The Blow by Blow in Review

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/

I was going to skip this post because of heavy workload. However I haven’t posted in a while and in order to really get to work, I usually like to clean out the clutter in my studio and my mind before I really sit down to hash out new projects. So here are the cliff notes of my con adventure.

Originally I wasn’t going to San Diego, I opted instead this year to go to Chicago Wizard con. As fate would have it I learned the first day of San Diego comic con that the three major players all pulled out of Wizard Con which would have made my Chicago trip pointless. So with a lot of help from my friend Trish and my amazing wife Lisa I canceled all reservations for Chicago and got to the airport on standby that night. Amazingly I made both trips up and back without incident and actually quite enjoyably. As always a good friend Rene Lafargue always makes sure Andrew, Ewing, and I don’t go homeless when in town.

I learned an important lesson about frame of mind on the journey. I went on standby being humble and gracious because chances were I was going to get bumped and hassled maybe even lose my luggage if it made the flight and I didn’t. But that frame of mind to roll with the punches and being grateful for whatever I received made my trip much more pleasant, than previous years of panicked stress and the I deserve this or that mentality. I saw many people yelling, a few crying, and very stressed. I was very thankful not to be one of them.

Wednesday:

Though I had not really planned it, two wonderful ladies Jen and Pfunk picked me up from the airport and immediately escorted me to a pre-con party at the airport bar where I met up with all my friends. After a few drinks and the closing of the bar we returned to a friend’s house. Mr. Lafargue and his lovely sister have been very hospitable to Andrew and I for many years now. There were five of us staying at Casa de Lafargue that night and while Mr. Bawidamann was wise and called it a night early, I unfortunately did not. After the singing and some wine I got exactly 13 minutes of rest before we had to get in a taxi and open up the booth. Luckily I did manage to take a shower before we left.

Booth 433:

For anyone not familiar I will explain the yearly comic con scenario for my collective group. All of us share a huge booth space at con and have for several years. The booth is #433 and is always located at the same place on comic-con’s floor.
The booth is run by the Brotherhood who put on X-Sanguin, which is a huge themed after-Con-party. If you’re curious what a party looks like you can check it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcqKNSNo8Uo&feature=related
or here: http://www.freaksnightout.com/
The booth seems to be growing each year but the current residents looks like this: the Suicide Girls, Rich Black and the Brotherhood on one side and Brian Ewing and Andrew Bawidamann on the other. I help Andrew run his booth when I am not busy with meetings and networking. Sometimes I sell swag but usually I just help Andy man the booth.


Thursday:

We got a taxi around 7:15am. I had a bottle of OJ for breakfast. We got into the hall around 7:35. Setup the booth right until 9am when the doors opened up and we sold shirts and prints the whole day. Got to catch up with Ewing’s crew Aaron and Justin. I think I only left the booth to go the bathroom once, very busy day. I bailed with Pilar at 6pm to order some Chinese for everyone and got 30 minutes of sleep before we went out for the night. I met up with Bawidamann and Ewing for the Baby Tattoo party at the Hilton. We got a chance to meet some really cool artists and talk with Arnie and Cathy Fenner, the couple behind Spectrum and many other fantastic illustration books.
http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com/
Later that night we met up again with Aaron and Justin of Rocket Society http://rocketsociety.com/ and walked the city to see some dude paint cartoons on naked ladies but when we saw the line we ended up opting for this cool Irish pub for Drink and Draw. They were shooting a tv series when we were there and singing some really bad karaoke. I love Irish pubs, especially when the barkeeps wear naughty socks. Andy again wisely went home around midnight and I decided to stay. Not the best decision as I was then head-butted by a flailing drunk girl. Never the less I was able to get my wife Lisa a really cool Drink & Draw shirt from Dave Johnson and his crew.
http://www.drinkanddraw.com/
The rest of the night was kind of surreal. I know it involved shots, Chinese food cleavage, snoring, more wine, a cucumber, a taxi cab driver living the thug life, and 1 hour and 23 minutes of sleep.

Friday:

OJ from Starbucks then repeat yesterday until 2pm. So basically I was waiting for an editor to swing by the table. He was there to see Brian and I. We were not sure when to expect him, as con is crazy. Around 1pm they took lunch orders, and unfortunately my lunch went AWOL on its return visit. Starving and sleep deprived I made a really poor choice. I ordered the closest food available, which happen to be a 3-day-old jalapeño pretzel hotdog. The smell alone made me gag but I ate half. The horrors I survived that day as I ventured into the rancor that is the Comiccon bathroom are too horrendous and unsanitary to be described. While it seemed I had lost years of my life I’m sure the whole ordeal took 5 minutes. Upon my return Ewing had informed me that the editor was looking for me at our booth but alas he was no more, much like the protective lining in my stomach. I then began to get violently ill with what my best guess was a reawakened ulcer. By 4pm I could bare the pain and the con BO no longer. I jumped into a taxi and headed back to Casa de Lafargue where I rolled around in pan unable to rest until 7pm. At least it was in a bed this time and not the floor as Andy was out. The night started to cool of as well, which also helped, quite a bit. Luckily, Jen the saint showed up and drove me to Rite Aid where I loaded up on a night of antacids, fluids, and sleep. I know not why my dreams were so wild that night; but ere the waning and fantastically gibbous moon had risen far above the eastern plain, I was awake in a cold perspiration, determined to sleep no more. Such visions as I had experienced were too much for me to endure again but vaguely burned in my brain resided the same two fragments Brian and a cucumber!

Saturday:

Amazingly I felt lovely the next day. We all woke up early and Pilar took us to the Hash House. The HH is apparently home to the world’s most ridiculously large flapjack. After a great breakfast we were off to work another day at con selling Bawidamann pinup to the world. Although very busy we had a lot of help from Jackie and Katie so I got to leave the booth for a bit. I stopped by Eric Powell’s booth and got a doodle. I also was lucky enough later in the day to meet a long time hero of mine John Kricfalusi. John was the animator extraordinaire that created Ren and Stimpy. I grabbed myself a McCain figure and sweet Sody Pop sketch. http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/ Also Andrew while out snagged me a Travis Charest and Adam Hughes sketchbook!
http://www.justsayah.com/
http://travischarestspacegirl.blogspot.com/

After I returned to our table Josh Bernstein (my A.D. for Revolver and RoyalFlush) and his lovely lady stopped by. Shortly following I got to meet Brian Posehn as he passed the booth. Earlier this year I did an illustration for Royal Flush of Brian so I introduced myself and since he dug the work I gave him the original. He graciously posed for a quick pic with the art. http://www.revolvermag.com/ and http://royalflushmagazine.com/
Andrew and I wrapped up the day feeling pretty good as his stock of shirts and prints dwindled to almost nothing. Andrew had a business meeting so Ewing and I got some fish and chips then headed to the Dark Horse party to hang with Chris Warner for a bit. Afterward we headed to the X-Sanguin Zombie party and met up with the rest of our group. The night and day flew by in a blur. The night ended with an after party sketch session with Mr. Ewing showing me why he gets paid the big bucks. My head hit the pillow around 5:30am and hit the shower at 7am.

Sunday:

I have learned from cons in the past that this is the best day to do the majority of my work. So with Jen, Barb, and Andrew manning the battle stations I was free to network for most of the day. For the most part it went very well. I already lined up some new work that I am really looking forward too and had a chance to meet some really cool editors from both DC and Dark Horse. Hopefully in the near future these contacts lead to a successful relationship with both companies.

On a fanboy note I was really excited to see and get doodles from some of my favorite artists Dave McKean and Kent Williams. I also became a fan of Jason Shawn Alexander and have to make sure to find some of his titles next time I’m in the bookstore. Stopping by the Spectrum booth I got to meet Brom, which was killer! Finally I snagged a James Jean portfolio with the last of my cash.

http://www.davemckean.com/
http://www.kentwilliams.com/
http://jasonshawnalexander.com/home.html
http://www.bromart.com/
http://www.jamesjean.com/

After the least painful load out yet the con was wrapped up with a wonderful tradition. We all head to the Turf Club with all our West Coast friends for drinks and delicious steaks. While the music was terrible I felt very fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful people and for being able to do what I love for a living.

Monday’s flight back was a painless as possible and while I had a great time with great new and old friends it was heaven to finally be home with my amazing wife and my stinky little dog Rockwell.

I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff I forgot to mention but that’s the highlights and I have to get to work and make some art! Here a few pics to give you some sense of the trip.

Yoda Doodle

Sad to say it has been a very long time since I did a drawing just to draw and enjoy it. So in an attempt to motivate myself I have decided it was time to hit the ole sketchbook.

It's very rare that I do Con sketches for anyone but on occasion I do one for a close friend. I used to do on location caricatures jobs to make ends meet frequently during high school and college but those experiences taught me I don't like drawing on command for audiences. The peanut gallery always makes me nervous and I lose my focus and because someone is standing there waiting, the drawing is delivered prematurely and haphazardly. The one thing I learned from working at a newspaper, if you fill the world with inadequate 20-40 mins drawing they will come back to haunt you forever, usually on google, you'll Rue the day GOOGLE IMAGES!

I can't remember how many years ago it was but I went to a book show in Cincinnati (something on the Banks). I went to see many friends, local writers, and fellow illustrators. One of which was Craig Boldman http://www.craigboldman.com/ who is an amazingly talented writer/actor extra extraordinaire/artist/ for Archie's comics as well as many other things. I was with my wife visiting his booth when Craig caught me off guard and asked me to a sketch for one of his fans. I admire Craig so I didn't want to disappoint him but I didn't want my wife to wait while I did a hour long doodle either. It also help that Tom the guy who wanted the sketch was extraordinary nice and had photo reference, pencils, pens, and a sketchbook all with him and he knew exactly what he wanted. Long story, short, I did a terrible little Yoda sketch that has haunted my dreams ever since I gave it life.
So I thought I'd do a little Yoda for myself and while I was at it drop a little sage Yoda advice for good measure.

Kolchak: Monsters Among Us Cover

Moonstone hired me to do a new book for their upcoming title Monsters Among Us.

Here's the promo blurb:

Kolchak the Night Stalker: Monsters Among us

Written by David Michelinie, Christopher Mills
Art by : Don Hudson, Tim Hamilton
Cover: Woodrow J. Hinton III
188pgs, 7” x 10”, $18.95
10 digit: 1-933076-59-3
13 digit: 978-1-933076-59-1

TV’s premiere paranormal investigator returns!

“Mills' purple prose narration evokes Darren McGavin's voice and gives the book the verisimilitude necessary to contrast the premise as well as serve as a catalyst for comedy.”-comicbulletin.com

Two, two, TWO titanic and terrifying tales, collecting the Kolchak "Frankenstein Agenda" and "Night Stalker of the Living Dead" mini series! The farmlands don't always hold peace and quiet, as these two complementing Kolchak tales illustrate with an eerie clarity. In one town, Kolchak stumbles across a hulking mutation of a man-gone-wrong, and becomes as wanted by the U.S. Army as the creature they are stalking! And in yet another small town, there is a secret behind the silent, endless acres of corn... a secret that is turning townsfolk into decaying, walking dead! Kolchak has best use his... BRAAAAINS... if he's going to get out of this one!

One thing that I really appreciate with Moonstone is the long deadlines and friendly work relationship that is conducive to discussing the work. Joe and Dave have always been very easy to talk to and willing to listen to my ideas. The long deadlines make this a stress free give and take. One thing that can often cripple published illustrations is a heavy handed art director. If the art director did their job right, they hired the right person for the job, and allowing that person to create freely usually produces the best work possible. With that being said its also the illustrators job to remember that we are producing a product for a commercial market. It can be a delicate balance sometimes and thus far I have been very lucky in my career.

A few things that were interesting about this particular job was this is the first wraparound cover I have designed. Originally the image was just a single cover as show below.

When I was first contacted the vibe I was getting was that they wanted another split cover for doubled billing for two stories on the cover. I was very reluctant because one, I had just did a cover like this and I hate repeating myself and two, when creating elements in a composition giving three things (story1, story2, and Kochak) equal importance is usually a good way to produce crapolia. I went to comic shop to look at the cover and after doing several I sent in four thumbnail that I thought would solve the problem. The first three were basically what they were asking for and the third while trite was what I really wanted to do.

After reading the stories I found both have a very Americana down home country feel and I wanted to resonate with the audience immediately. American Gothic immediately popped into my head and the idea of the farmer and his wife being Zombie's. i knew the idea might be a little trite especially with what was going on over at Marvel but i still felt it was a solid concept to build on. Luckily Dave liked the idea and it was decided to do a spoof on Grant Wood's Grant Wood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia American Gothic.

After I completed the image it was correctly decided that the monster in the second story was not showcased enough. The cover image was solid though and I didn't want to do anything to weaken the design so I suggested doing a rear cover in which I could continue the painting off frame and show the Frankenstein Agenda Monster in all his Martian glory. It would also let me add the framer back in since Kolchak the pimp stole his lady! I think the final result turned out well and hope the fans enjoy the cover.

I would also like to give a shout-out to Chet Zar enter

I have never meet him but after watching a very inspiring tutorial of his I had some fun throwing in some details to my zombies and monster. I'd also like to thank these blokes for the in-progress crits:

Brian Ewing : It's a small world...

Oliver Meinerding

Bawidamann.com | Mailing List

EricFortune.com - Home

33 Years of Randomness

Holy smokes Batman I'm old!

So for my Birthday I googled my name and found an award that I never new I won:

CityBeat Wins Statewide Journalism Awards

Spanks for the heads up there CityBeat.

There's a Cover I just completed coming soon, but in lieu of my art to come check this stuff:

very nice piece from my favorite DingOling:

Inside all of us is a wild thing…that may or may not be finished yet? | Oliver Meinerding

Great stuff- these fellahs are da bomb:

SiDEBAR - COMICS, ART & POP CULTURE

Gotta love gayfish:

I'm Going Home! - Clips - South Park Studios

Why pay for art school go here:

Gurney Journey

Worth every penny, good read for manga fans:

drawn and quarterly

Word of the day:

Chutzpah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Art Critic:

I am better than your kids.

Bated Breath:

Diablo III

D&D Arcane Power Artist link

There is a nice write up about all the artists who worked on Arcane Power in the ArtOrder  (a blog by Jon Schindehette Senior Art Director Dungeons & Dragons® Wizards of the Coast)

ArtOrder: The Artists of the D&D® Arcane Power™ RPG Supplement

White Wolf

All images are © White Wolf

The images appear in The Beast that Haunts the Blood: Nosferatu:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=60626&filters=0_0_0_1800

and

Scion Companion:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=60466

Zombie Film Concept Sketches

These sketches where done as character exploration for The Undertakers Film.

http://www.theundertakersmovie.com/news.html

Wizards of the Coast D&D

All images are © Wizards of the Coast

They can be found in the Arcane Power.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/9780786949571

Book List

Spring has sprung and with it I have several books hitting the stands.
I have had several different inquiries about release dates on different projects so here are some very overdue links with some of those publications and where to get them if your local comic shop doesn’t have copies.


Gaming:

White Wolf

2 pieces in this book:
http://flamesrising.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=60466

2 pieces in this book:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=60626

Wizards of the Coast

5 pieces in this book:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4art/20090420

Comics

Moonstone

Kolchak the Night Stalker Annual #1C
variant cover by Woodrow Hinton III

https://secure12.softcomca.com/moonstonebooks_com/begincart.asp


and I'm finishing up my next Kolchak Graphic Novel Cover and a piece for Revolver magazine.




Peace and as the two time traveling galactic phone-booth sages say "be Excellent to each other"!
W

Spectrum 16

Back in 1997 while at CCAD my roommate Andrew Bawidamann and I stumbled across two books at a local shop called Spectrum 1 and Spectrum 3. He bought Spectrum1 and I bought the copy of 3, the one with the Frazetta cover. We poured over these two books for weeks admiring the art that we wanted so desperately to create; at the time only a few names were familiar to me, John Bolton was one of my favorites as I recall. At the time we had no idea what Spectrum actually was other than a collection of some of the most awe-inspiring artwork that we had ever discovered. It was in those early Spectrums that Andrew and I would get a glimpse of the art that we some day would be making. As the years went on we learned that Spectrum was an annual contest and book produced by two of illustrations most distinguished aficionados Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner. The function of the annual was to showcase the best in Fantastic Art including comic, science fiction, and horror.

Following my graduation I kept busy with many editorial projects channeling the techniques and whispers of Rockwell and my mentor Chris Payne while meeting deadlines and being rejected for my pale imitation of these truly great artists. It was in these terribly difficult times of stagnation that I was forced to start making the art I was suppose to be creating. In 2007 my Van Helsing illustration was finally selected for inclusion to Spectrum 14 and following the next year my Stake Out was selected for Spectrum 15.

This year I was privileged enough to get two pieces into Spectrum 16, which drops next fall. In the scheme of things I am still a relatively new player in the fantastic realms. I am still in the process of fine-tuning my artistic voice and expanding into new markets. While it has been a dream come true for me to be included with names like Sienkiewicz, McKean, Vess, Hale, Gustafson, Dorman, and Stout I know I have a very long way to go before I am battletested and can consider myself their equal. Regardless of this daunting task if my audiences feel a fraction of the passion I felt when lost in those imaginary worlds that I visited when I opened up my first Spectrum I will consider my life a great success.

Visiting Artist Andrew Bawidamann

Andrew Bawidamann, illustrator/designer/pin-up artist, is graciously visiting my classroom at Northern Kentucky University Monday night March 23rd @ 6pm.

Andrew's designs have been featured in countless annuals, advertising campaigns, and magazines. He has his own line of clothing as well as several successful product lines. Andrew will be showing and talking about his work, his early years, and discussing the complexities of entrepreneurship and merchandising.

http://www.bawidamann.com/

As I feel this is a great and rare opportunity for those interested, my classroom is open to artists, servicemen, laymen, and students alike.
Anyone interested in attending feel free. If you need more info call me (Woody) (513-225-4067) or email me.

If you go:

NKU Fine Art Building right next to the lake
3rd Floor Classroom by the computer labs
The class is to the left off the 3rd floor elevator and should be the only class open

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

A talented young lady ( Kristin Royer ) contacted me and asked me to do a few sample pages for a noir style mystery she had written. Here is a proposed cover (1 of 3 ideas) plus a few sample interiors I have completed.

Kolchak The Night Stalker Annual Released

I just got my copies from the publisher today. The printing I think turned out pretty darn good.
Moonstone is the publisher and you can check for the book at your comic stores or here:

http://moonstonebooks.com/

Be aware though mine is a variant cover ( cover C ) so it may be rather more difficult to get your hands on one as they are more limited. I look forward to my next Kolchak cover and I believe it will be sooner than later.

Links

I feel very neglectful as this blog has not been updated since December.

Unfortunately all the work I have done over the last several months I can not contractually post until published which to my best guess happens in late Spring. 

In lieu of no art and since I am teaching different techniques to my students here are a few helpful tutorial links that I have found interesting in no particular order.

http://www.imaginefx.com/-2287754330544769555/Combining_traditional_and_digital.html

http://www.illustrationacademy.com/Demo.htm#

http://www.adobe.com/uk/print/gallery/loughran/howto.html

http://arrestedmotion.com/2008/12/creative-process-eric-fortune/#more-6613

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34402640@N00/sets/72157601901917696/

http://www.boltcity.com/workshop/copper_tutorial/tutorial_03.htm

http://www.robertocampus.com/2007/06/photoshop-tutorial-wonder-woman-pin-up-digital-painting/

http://www.youtube.com/user/MassiveDVD

By no means is this a list of sites that I personally profit from if they are selling products nor do I pretend that they are the only or best resource available. I also will mention I have no direct contact with the artists or works being linked in this blog.
I am just posting them in the spirit of paying knowledge forward as clearly these artist intended by being gracious enough to share the information. Anyone who has more to post please feel free.