feathers in the road

I have a few blank canvases sitting around waiting to be used, particularly two with the wonky dimensions of 12" x 24". Probably not wonky for most, but I'm not used to such dimensions.

I've tried working digitally again in hopes of building up those rusty crusty skills. This is fairly messy but it was just intended to be a study or sketch or whatever. Planning something that could make use of those wonky canvases. I was thinking I could try to do a quick thing like this every other day and then select the best from those to paint up, but we'll see how that goes. Like I said, I'm still pretty rusty and fairly crusty with the digital recently, so it may end up less frequent than every other day, but I'll try.

I still find more comfort with a pencil in my hand when drawing away, which had lead me to think that I'll need to find some way to join up digital and traditional, and produce some sort of perfect marriage between the two.

I am working on other stuff beside this need to improve my digital/art producing skills and make use of my neglected canvases. Still puttering away. I will make a post about what I am doing when I get to a good stopping point in the process.

late autumnal reading

Two posts today! CRAZY.

A bit late since it's probably snowing for most. Maybe it'll remind you of when it wasn't so cold.

Thought I'd try out a textured brush, see how that faired.

Original linework is belowww.

frilly pearls

This was another fashiony piece I did around the same time as this one. I remembered it a week or so ago and finally got around to finishing it.

lookin' blue

Something that's something because it's something.

Robot Heart Kaiju Recap

AUGH.

I meant to post a blog before the signing event on Saturday, but it became a bit of a time crunch getting everything together. The only new things I displayed at the event were these awesome little pins I whipped up using art from "Cute Shoes," the comic I collaborated on with Angela for the Robot heart Kaiju anthology. Each pin sells for a dollar and is looking to find a place on your coat, your bag or in your heart. The pins can also be helpful in conversation if you are looking to find the right words, like when telling someone to slow down or are simply staggering about with your sentences. WAIT! Ah... They are incredibly helpful.

The signing.

It was pretty awesome. I got to see a lot of comics people I hadn't seen since the last big comic event, which I think was Phoenix Comicon, and catch up with them a bit. People like Eric Mengel, Denny Riccelli aka Dennmann, Madame M, and Jeff Pina. Not Thomas Healy, though. I see him every time I go to the comic shop, so we are pretty caught up. I also got to meet new people, namely Glen Curren, that I had only spoken with via Twitter! And I also saw a friend that I hadn't seen since high school, which was great! Good times indeed. It was definitely a great event filled with lots of meeting and greeting.

It was also awesome, because like I said in my previous post, it coincided with the big Godzilla birthday fest that the Mesa Atomic Comics was having. They played a marathon of Godzilla movies in the background, I think Vs. Mothra, Vs. Mecha-Godzilla, and the original Godzilla, so I was definitely entertained when things got slow. Also, birthday cake. Can't celebrate the birth of a giant monster that levels cities without cake.

Reflecting on myself and my prep, I think I psyched myself out a bit, which lead to only having the pins. I will try to be more nonchalant about it next time.

Oh...signing comic books? That I had a hand in making? Yeah. That's cool. I'll be there.

Seriously, though, I really want to thank Jeff and Thomas for giving Angela and me the opportunity to be apart of this awesome anthology with all of these dedicated comickers!! It really makes me want to up my gusto so that my first signing won't be my last. Thanks you guys! And thanks to those who made it to the event as well! It was great meeting you!!

Ah...

Yeah. Ah...

As I mentioned a blog post or two ago, many, many weeks ago, Angela and I had collaborated on an awesome little six page comic that will be a part of a Phoenix, Arizona based comic anthology. We are going to be in the group's second anthology, Robot heart Kaiju, which will be released THIS SATURDAY!

The theme of this anthology obviously pertains to robots and monsters (kaiju is Japanese for monster). Our particular story is a goofy cute little love story called "Cute Shoes" starring the guy up above as the dashingly awkward, yet lovable, protagonist. Will he get the girl at the end??! Who knows.

It will be a big release event at the Atomic Comics Mesa Superstore (click through to their site for a map to the location) that will coincide with Godzilla's birthday and the huge birthday fest that the store puts on. The signing for Robot heart Kaiju will run from 12pm to 4pm, but copies may go sooner than you think, so be sure to get there early in order to secure a copy for yourself. When you get to the store, be on the look out for this awesome cover by Jeff Pina!!

Contributors will be not only be on hand to sign that fancy fresh copy of Robot heart Kaiju for you, but will also be displaying their cleverly crafted comics and wares that they have dedicated so very much time toward. So if you're looking to taste the local flavor, be sure to check out what they have to offer.

I will be on hand at the signing event, but Angela will unfortunately not be able to make it due to a prior commitment. To find out more about what's going on with her, be sure to check out her blog.

I will make another post soon that will give more details about what I am going to bring to the table this coming Saturday, so look out for that.

I really like how the first panel of the first page turned out, so I thought I would share it with you, maybe entice you a little more to pick up the book check out our story, as well as everyone else's.

bloopadoop

Hey, it's November and this blog is in dire need of an update, so here's some unseasonal drawings.

Angela recently sent me a package filled with love, inspiration and awesome crayon drawings. Here is my attempt at using crayons. I drew the figure and didn't know what to dress her up in, so she ended up with a future-y plug suit-type get-up. Didn't intend for it to look like Samus in her zero suit, but it also sort of doesn't look like her. So that is fine by me.

And here's some chick topless in a letterman jacket. I get rusty at times so I'm doing my best to iron out the kinks in my anatomy understanding.

Froggy

By way of Twitter, I ended up over at Kris Anka's blog and saw this fun video he did recently set to a variation of "Froggy Went A Courtin'". So awesome. The rest of his blog is really awesome, too, so check out the rest of it.

I'd never heard that version of the song, so it made me think that it was based on a folk story or something. It is. Looking at the Wikipedia entry, it says that it's based on a really old Scottish folk song. You can check the rest of the entry for more info on it. Pretty interesting and fun.

Thinking about it some more made me want to do some two painting series or something based on it, but make them more realistic like I did those swing cats I did for the Misses Ellen Sunday poster.

I'll do something for Miss Mouse, too, as well as probably do a quick study of cutlasses, belts, boots and bandoliers for a finished piece.

Post-It Post

Hey everyone! It has been a while and a half.

I've been out of town visiting family and food in Minnesota. Man, I missed White Castles and state fair food. So good....I miss the grease and cheese and meat. Wish I had some right now.

I was also working on some...I guess "secret" stuff, but it's not really all that secret. I was just working on stuff in order to apply for corporate jobs. We'll see if that works out. I'll let you know if anything turns up.

I'm also in the process of working on a comic for a Phoenix comic Anthology, a looooovvvveee story. It is a super collaboration between me and Angela. I don't want to say too much more until I finish, so expect more information plus promo images in the next week or so.

Since it's all progressive stuff and I haven't really touched any of the other drawings I had compiled into a "need to finish" list, I'll just share some Post-It notes I doodled on recently.

I was pretty inspired by Katie Rice's Post-It doodles, not so much the style but just how loose she got with them, the use of markers and how much fun they looked. This has just been composition and straight-to-pencil practice, but I'll try to remember to get looser with my Post-It drawings in the future.

Drawings, The Way To Wear 'Em, and News

Here's the last of some of the stuff I've been sitting on. There's plenty more that's unfinished and will be posted down the road, so until then, you can sit tight with of these drawings and things. An assortment of inked linework and marker tomfoolery and a comic or something.
Plus, I'll mention some news bits down at the end of the post.

This is a journal comic that I did about a year ago. It was an assignment for my Illustration 3 course where we were supposed to take a piece of bristol or whatever material and had to illustrate what our day was like on August 27, 2009. The piece could be however long you wanted to be but was restricted to being 3 inches wide. Angela has her's posted over here. This is from Japanese 201. I hadn't studied enough over the summer, so..yeah.. it showed. Also, click to make it bigger so you can actually read it.

Just messing with some markers. They're Prismacolor so they didn't lay down to well. Or maybe I'm still not doing it right. I guess I should really start using that blender... Tried playing around with negative shapes, making her dress lineless.

Just a drawing of a skinny girl.

I drew this while still going to the U of A. I was looking for books that had period fashion and other bits on clothing in the 20th century and found this awesome book called The Way To Wear 'Em. Such a good book, if not for the awesome clothing it showed, the cartoons and drawings in it are phenomenal.

Oh wow! I was just looking up a link about the book, an image or anything, and discovered a copy on eBay. I guess the book was full of cartoons because it was a piece on the satire of fashion published by Punch, the British satire/humour magazine. Huh, very cool.
Anyway, I saw this one cartoon about these bohemians and their attire and decided I should probably get down to drawn before I spent more time poring over the book so I drew him. He was supposed to be bohemian but he looked like the Colonel with a crop.


ALRIGHT! NEWSTIME!

It's not life-changing news, but informative updates to keep you in The Know.

So Angela and I made badges for our Chu Chu Chums blog. Little profile badges that you can read and learn things about us, and then click on and be whisked away to our respective blogs.

Speaking of Chu Chu Chums, we're still doing our exquisite corpse comic WHO NEEDS 'EM??? I finally posted the latest installment after...much thought and meditation on where to take the story. Yes.

Here's the latest one.

Be sure to follow through to the blog and read from the beginning if you're just jumping on. It won't take too long to get caught up.

ALSO! SPEAKING OF ANGELA! She has her Chum Bears for sale up on her Etsy. If you missed out on picking up one of her Bears at the Phoenix Comicon or saw them on her blog and have been dying to get one for yourself, now is your chance! Now is your time! Head on over to her Etsy and check out them Chums now! Y'know..before they're gone again.

And it looks like she might take custom requests, too? Huh! If you're interested in that, I would definitely contact her.

That's all for now!

MONSTER MOVIE

Hey, everyone!

Remember when I said a while back that I would maybe post some pages from my mini comic, Monster Movie, that I did a few months ago? No? Well, okay.

Last week I uploaded Monster Movie to this super sweet site called ISSUU. It allows you to view a book, document, magazine, or in this case, comic in this really nice flash reader. Pretty nice. Pretty clean and easy to use. Pretty pretty.

Open publication - Free publishing - More robot

If it's acting up or Flash just isn't your thing, I also posted all the pages up over on my flickr account right here.

The cover.

Here is the drawing I did up to go with my bio in the back of the book.

This is just to share some of my comics stuff, especially if you missed out on picking up the comic when you were at Phoenix Comic Con in May or if you're on the fence about buying a copy. Because you know...Physical copies are still available for $2 (plus shipping) if you like tangible items over digital ones. Just to let you know.

ADAM

Hey, Everyone. Kind of a let down. I know.

Well, it ended up that I was going to try and post stuff before going to Angela's awesome group art show (you can see her new pieces up on her blog HERE) but I didn't. And then try to post stuff last week. But I didn't. So. Oh well. I'll do my best to make up for that. So here is a post today. I would say look for a new post this Friday, but I don't want to get hopes up again. If it does show up, then it'll be a pleasant surprise for everyone! And I will try to continue the Friday posts then.

For now here are some drawings and things.


Some inking practice using a crow quill. I like the colors on this one.

Another lady in shorts. More could have been done with the background probably but I just ended up laying down some simple colors because I didn't want to post the black and white lines by itself figuring it'd be too boring or lacking.

These people were drawn around the same time as the gym people, but I just colored them up recently. Again, I colored them up rather than posting the linework, and posting them together in a single image makes me realize I didn't have nearly as much extra un-posted work as I had thought.

A gritty self portrait. I was feeling kinda ugly and down so, there you go. This was inked with a crow quill, too.

Little Bigfoot. I had a lot of fun playing with the trees, texturing them and the like. This was drawn with a crow quill

More crow quill practice, along with playing with coloring and layers. This one was pretty fun.

Also, I'm an Adamaholic.

a few things

Ok. It's been a while, so here's a quick break down of some thoughts before I post some images.

It has been a while since I've posted to my blog. I know...I've neglected it pretty badly. I'm hoping I can keep up a Friday update schedule. There's a bunch of stuff I've been sitting on, so there may be a few more posts in-between this and next Friday's update. Other than that, expect Friday updates for now.

Also, just an FYI: sometimes I post things to my Flickr before I post it to here, I think because I feel I don't need to include as much text with the image? And because it's a nice little holding hub for my work? Either way, be sure to check that out, too.

With this and each subsequent post I'm going to try and get back into the habit of capitalizing letters at the beginning of sentences, as well as the letter "I". Probably not too important for my art blog, but I think it's something I need to work on and get back into the habit of doing.
Perfecting the art of the written/typed word.

Another thing that I need to work on that pertains to this blog and my writing skills and what have you: blog commenting etiquette.
What's the word on that?
I'm not talking about "Don't be brash and rude and out of line when commenting on people's blogs" or things of that nature. I'm more interested in how to go about replying to comments left behind by people. Is it best to reply to them in your own comments, denoting when necessary which person you're responding to, or should you comment back to them on their blog? Or...email them back saying thanks? Or just let it be and acknowledge that someone commented? I know I'm pretty guilty of that, so I want to change up my methods.
I've seen a few different things, people replying in their own comments section and other people not responding at all. I...don't really know which would be best to do. I guess the former considering I'm still trying to build a following, so best to act all proper, right?

And now on to the central part of the post: IMAGES!

I tried to do a journal comic a few months ago, but fell behind on it...and just kinda stopped. This is the only day I've inked so far. Inked it with a crow quill. I was a bit rusty with that and it took a bit to get back into...so I'm thinking that's why I fell behind on them? I like how Napoleon turned out. I should probably start this up again.

This is a figure ink sketch I did a few months ago and just finished coloring today. At that moment, I was into drawing women with the heavy eye make-up and making them all fashiony looking.

Feedback on the coloring would be greatly appreciated. I usually use a cell shading method when coloring, but I thought I should try to be more painterly, understand how that works. This one of the first few sketches where I messed around with different opacity levels on the brush. It was fun and cathartic but I felt lost the whole time, which I guess balances out.

And for those who don't know, Angela and I started up a Chu Chu Chums blog a while ago!! We have an official Chums Phoenix Comicon recap on there, plus we've recently started posting a collaborative comic story which is being done all Exquisite Corpse style!

Here are the first two panels (Angela).

And the second set of panels (me).

Check out the blog for more of the comic as well as other Chu Chu Chums updates!!
And the twitter, too! RSS feeds are cool but if you have a twitter account, be sure to add us Chums! That way you'll get updates on when we post new comic panels and about other Chums stuff that goes down.

late PHXCON recap

oh man, it's been way too long since i last posted, not counting the post i made about the Phoenix Comicon. which went well by the way.

and speaking of Phoenix Comicon, how about some...

PHOENIX COMICON REFLECTION TIME!!!

Phoenix Comicon was a couple weekends ago over Memorial Day weekend where i shared a table with the lovely Angela Montgomery. it was our first convention where we were on the other side of the table and it was great! it was such a good learning experience and definitely gave us a lot to consider for next time: table set-up, book display apparatuses, not going overboard on handing out promo items or just plan on bringing more, banners, etc.

if you weren't there, you can hop on over to the Chu Chu Chums blog to get a closer look at how our table set-up looked.

for the convention i whipped up a new set of pins, girls eating desert, to go with my guys eating food. i also had a special pin that came free when people bought my mini or was available for individual purchase.

and here is my 8-page mini comic, Monster Movie. if you picked up a copy with a white cover, don't worry, this is the same book. i ran out and had to make more copies and thought green would appear more eye-catching whilst sitting upon our table.

plus, if you were there and you saw me, but only from behind the table, then you may have missed me wearing THESE SWEET PURPLE HI-TOPS!!

i think these will be my convention shoes from now on. yes.

there were plenty of cosplayers running around everywhere, something you'd expect from a mainstream comic con. There was a mixture of US comic book cosplayers (Black Canary, Green Arrow, Powergirl, retro Catwoman, Scarlet Witch) and an abundant crowd of anime/manga cosplayers (Inuyasha, Bleach, Naruto, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, some assumed to be from CLAMP titles). the best ones were the obscure ones i wouldn't have expected to see at a convention, like Invader Zim, Gadget from Rescue Rangers, Ponyo, or Flint and Sam from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

also, good times were had with friends aplenty, new and old. many from Phoenix and Tucson that Angela and i haven't seen in a lonnnng time.
we saw our friend Toby's student film, Dorm of the Dead (which i starred in as an extra), screened as part of the con's film festival.
it was also a pleasant surprise to see former classmates stop on by, like Adam, Pat and Autumn, Jay and Natasha, and Christi and Bek. so good seeing those guys.
Ken Wright and his awesome family stopped by our booth for a bit before heading over to see his fellow Tucsonan comickers and our friends and yours, Dave Baker and Eric M. Esquivel.
we had the pleasure of being part of Tiny Army, an Phoenix-based independent artists collective, thanks to Tiny Army and Steam Crow founder Daniel M. Davis.
we also saw fellow artists in tiny arms Denny Riccelli and Eric Mengel.
across the way from us Chums were supercool artists and comickers Sam Spina, who has some pretty rad journal comics, and Jon Garza, who has some unbelievably snazzy designs.
we were lucky to have a nice table neighbor, Teel McClanahan, who also happens to be Phoenix-based, as well as write words for books and poems and things.
we also met another Phoenix-based artist, Jennifer Skarupa, who wore the wore a very cute lolita-ish dress, has some pretty cute things over at her site here.
i also had the chance to meet Javier Hernandez, the guy behind the El Muerto comics that the Wilmer Valderrama film was based upon. super nice guy. i've seen him at a few cons before, but never had the guts to go up and say hey to him, so i'm pretty glad i did this time around.
also also...i got some pretty sweet deals from Arizona based comics dealers Spazdog Comics and Atomic Comics. like..a couple trades and a full short box for $30 for myself and a bunch of X-Statix and X-Force comics for Angela. sweet. deals.
it was also nice to see former Atomic employee and comicker Jeff Pina again, as well as meet current Atomic employee and co-host of the webcast I Have Issues Thomas Healy.

sooooooo many peoplllllleee. it was only three-and-a-half days, but it felt like forever (probably cause i was sleepy). even so, i was supersad to see it end, but i am totally bitten by the convention exhibiting bug now and am excited to hit up future cons with my wares!

chummin' it up at Phoenix Comicon

Update time!!!!

Much..much needed update time...yes.

Guess what's coming at the end of May!! Memorial Day!! No...wait. Yes, it's Memorial Day, but it's also PHOENIX COMICON!!!

And guess who's going to be there?? Levar Burton!!! READING RAINBOWWWWW!!!

But that's not all...Dave Baker and Eric M Esquivel, too!!!!! WHOOAAAAA!!!!!

And also me and Angela! YAAAYYY!!

Angela and I have teamed up to form the awesome conglomerate that will hence forth be recognized as Chu Chu Chums!!

This is the sweet header that Angela and I worked on together (mostly Angela on this one) for our new blog, which you can view over here -> CHU CHU CHUMS

Chu Chu Chums will be the moniker for all of our collaborative efforts, with the blog acting as a place to show off our efforts. The blog will also act as an "inspiration engine" for the both of us as we look to inspire each other and help rev up our creativity.

We will also be doing weekly themed works that we'll try to post every week. It might get shaky in the big lead-in to Phoenix Comicon, but we'll do our best to post regularly. If you pop on over right now, you'll find our most recent posts seen below.

My mermaid.

Angela's mermaid.

And now some words from us Chums:

"Hey everyone, Chu Chu Chums are finally online! Woo! Party time, right? Yeah, well, for us, it's getting-ready-for-Phoenix-Comicon time! AH! EXCITING! Phoenix Comicon (May 27-30) will be our first time exhibiting our work. There will be comics, pins, bears and things... We will do our best to update with our progress as we get closer. We look forward to seeing you at Phoenix Comicon! Fun times!"

YUP!

Tickets are still are still available, so be sure to pick those up ASAP!! I'll also add that we well be at T-134, so be sure to look for us there! WOO!!! Excitinggg!!! Despite all of the hoopla-let's-git-er-ready leading up to the con, I'll try to post more regularly to get you me and everyone who should be reading this blog psyched for the convention!!

NOT HANDS

remember when Ben freaked out? no? well, he did. but he's not freaking out now, so he's okay.

after i saw he freaked out, i thought i'd freak out a bit, too. tried turning some instastress and tension into productive energy and made a reflective comic about my momentary woes.

Hourly Comic Day 20X

20X. that's the probably-not-new way of saying 2010.

oh man you guys. i did some hourly comics this year for Hourly Comic Day. February 1st was the official day, but i'm pretty sure you can make any day Hourly Comic Day if you wanted. you can find out more info about it here at the OFFICIAL SITE. and be sure to read John Campbell's comics on that site, too. the guy is crazy dedicated that he does it for the whole month of January as a big lead-in to Hourly Comic Day. crazy. but really good. read mine and then read those.

here are mine.

it felt like a slow, long day, but it was still pretty fun doing these. glad i did it again. yepyep.

noodley doodley doodley

figure i should post before too long.

nothing too special to post up yet. but i will hopefully soon.

till then, here are some noodley doodley drawings i did a while ago with some colored pens. pretty fun drawing with the colorsss.

can't sleep

yup. can't sleep.

i didn't want to draw myself looking all sleepy so i drew someone else.
felt like drawing ladies so i drew up a lady.
just messing around. nothing too serious. just sleepyserious.

gonna go try and shuteye now.
overdue for posts, so i will share more soon.