Art Show

It was a fun night - I was enjoying watching people take their pictures posing with my painting.  Thanks to World of Wonder for putting on these types of shows and for asking for my submissions.  

As promised, here is a movie of the progress - I thought I documented it fairly well, but when it comes down to a small flash movie, you don't see too much.  

A fun fact, I started this painting while driving to an appointment.  I scribbled down the idea on the back of my Iron Man ticket stub.  That's the first image you see.

Enjoy the movie. 

Oh, and here are a couple pics of the soiree, Friday night at the WOW Art Gallery.

Dial M for Madonna art show

Here is my final piece - I will post a little movie on the progress over the last two days.

The show is tonight - in 2 hours!

By the way, the painting is Acrylic  on Canvas - and is titled Leda.

The Dancer

Early Daytime Velma

Thought I would take advantage of every minute before I had to return to my life of work.  I still am interested in the Scooby Doo gang, so here is an early Velma.  I kept her iconic turtleneck and skirt, but I am giving her a bit of a 20's goth edge.  I plan on some tattoos and maybe some lace.  I'm not sure what she is doing with her hands at this point.  Oh, and I lost her glasses - I figured she would have contacts in this day and age.

Updates

Sketches and updates to 

my Scooby line.  I think the square-jaw may be Fred.  Work has been really busy so I got the time last night around 3am to work on these.  More to come, especially now that I got the internet back up at home.  Comments always welcome.

The Mystery Machine

I have no idea of how this idea came to me - and these sketches are extremely preliminary.  I wouldn't publish them except I haven't published ANYTHING in a long while.  So here are two...

I wanted to do updated modern versions (less stylized) of the Scooby Doo gang.  Maybe I will add Don Knotts at the end for the celebrity guest star!  

Bad Sketches

Well, you have to start somewhere!

Just added the Batgirl prelim sketch.  I think I will pursue this one.  Ok, off to work!

Pink Monster

Monster

Lately, I have these recurring nightmares that always star this horrid beast.  Hopefully this sketch will purge my subconscious obsession.  Here's to hoping.

Actually, I enjoyed doing this sketch.  I am practicing more anatomy and exaggerated

 foreshortening.  I dig the hand in the foreground.  I enjoyed doing his nails.  No jokes, please.

Geez, how did his waist get so little?  But in general, practice makes perfect.  And I have a lot of practicing to do!

But the Hulk is still a favorite of mine, even though I am inundated daily with his face.  I find myself sketching his deep set eyes and sloped brow often while I am in various meetings at work.  I also like how his little nose is set really close to his eyes.  I should probably pay more attention during those meetings.   

I decided to update this post with a version in color.  I couldn't stand any more green, especially since St. Patrick's day is tomorrow.  Actually, I was thinking about this sketch on Mad TV which wasn't very funny, but it's good for a chuckle.  

Maybe I should give this Hulk a clutch or something.   

Storm!

Sketch with some finishing work.  Here, Ororo is the Wind Rider - the goddess of weather.

Just added the beginning of Storm in color. Painter makes me feel like I don't know how to paint anymore.

Panda-Man at the BBQ

I don't know why, but I have pandas on the brain.  I started drawing a panda but then started thinking about that SNL skit where Will Ferrell is barbecuing  screams at his kids to get off the shed.  He starts nice and quiet, but then explodes.  Maybe I just like my panda-man - or 'manda bear' in his polo shirt.  I should give him the embroidered logo.  

Actually, I recently got a Cintiq tablet and I have started playing with Painter.  There are lots of fantastic things you can do, but I think the key is to not overdo it.  I think it's really easy to over-work the paintings digitally.  So I am trying to keep it simple. 

I'm not sure how the comb-over is 'keeping it simple', but hey.  It's funny.

Progress Movie

Maybe I am taking too much time with the Superman illustration, but I dig it.  So here's the movie!

Hope this works.  I used Flash 7 so maybe more people will find it compatible.

Don't forget to leave comments!

Final Superman

I may add legs - and I would like to figure out how to not get the white border around the image on this blog...

But overall, I dig it!  I'm glad to see all the progress - some very tiny changes, and others really large.  Hope you enjoy him.  And I know, it's late.

The Doll

I'm back - it has taken me a while to add another entry because I've been busy at work and at home.  I've also been wanting to start an illustration for a book contest, but I have been waiting for my Cintiq tablet from Wacom to arrive in the mail.  I had a false alarm yesterday in the mail room, but instead received a horse t-shirt.  I'll take a picture of that soon for all to enjoy.

So here is another fun woman - I call her the Doll because she whispered it in my ear.  (Does anyone read the actual texts?)  She may get updated if she asks me to.  But until I hear her sweet beautiful voice again, Lunesta is done.  Oh yeah, that's her first name.

Last Superman post of the day.

Whew, I am getting detailed here.  I added more shading, did more face work, tightened up some lines, and overall, spent waaaay too much time on this for one day.  I promise a more condensed post with the progress when this is all done.  Hopefully tomorrow, but I may need a break from the hero genre for a bit.  Oh yeah, damn that hand!

Superman in progress

Another quick peek before he's all done.  I have hand work to do, lighting on his suit and cape, underoos, and legs!

Superman III

Ok - now I am getting to the nitty gritty of Supes.  It's taken me a while to get inspiration to come back to this piece, but now I am really enjoying it.  The dynamics of the cape, the lighting I'm rendering, and the color have all been really exciting.  So I have to keep working on his anatomy (my sticking point) and all will be well.  I am aiming for a flying pose - with at least one hand coming forward breaking frame.  Very typical pose.  Hope you all enjoy it and hope you are clicking to see all the fine details I am adding.

Red Head

From Meathead to Red Head.

I began with a Nagel wannabe and then changed her to this glam-puss.  I like her vintage feel and her fire red hair.  Kind of makes me think of a more detailed Shag illustration.  I had fun with the glasses, but I think they may be a bit much overall.  Her hair is cool - I like the distorted, obscene head underneath that hair.  From start to finish, Red took me about 3 hours.  Time for bed and maybe I can do another one tomorrow or work on one of the others in progress.  Don't forget to click on these illustrations to get the large view.  The details make the piece.

MeatHead

Since I haven't had a lot of time to create new posts (and since I had my first official complaint at the lack of new posts  XD), I decided to show some older work.  These are my MeatPeople.  I went through a marker phase and did three portraits of people with meat for heads.  Here are two of the three.

Enough Superman for tonight.

I think this is heading in a good direction.  It has enough detail to make it more interesting - I just threw in some color for the blue suit.  The big S was fun to make.  The hair was a pain to get the right shape.  More to come tomorrow or soon.  Time to sleep now!