I've been gone a LONG time. Work's been an absolute beast (but a "good" type of busy) but it looks as though that soon my head will be above water. Before I start drawing after an extended hiatus, I usually open up one of my most recent pictures and see what I can do to fix it. The Kratos and Wonder Woman vs. Olympus picture was the latest to receive that treatment.
Funny how you can think something's okay when you first complete it, but when you go back later, it can seem hideous. When I popped out the original of the Kratos/WW pic, I just shook my head in disgust over the proportions of Wonder Woman and the faces of both her and Kratos. Hopefully most will agree that I changed it for the better. But only time will tell...

My computer seems to be systematically shutting down, with both Photoshop and even Painter not operating (Photoshop won't even open). All because of an Adobe install from their website. Tip, don't ever try to uninstall a Photoshop trial...it can mess up your system...BAD. You have no idea what I had to do just to scan in the Kratos pic and get it on this site.

Anyway, long story short, my apologies to those who are awaiting commissions from me. I promise that I will be catching up on those asap (although those that require digital colors will have to wait until I purchase my new PC).

Well, I've been looking at a lot of great art on the site and I've been taking notice of some of the more popular categories among comic/manga art viewers. I'm not comfortable drawing some of the more extreme categories (that fall into the fetish arena), but I guess I can try my hand at some of the more tamer ones. If anyone has any suggestions of what type of pics seem to be the most popular on deviant art, let me know and I may try my take on one in that style. In the meantime, I know that every now and then you have to go "cheesecake" and draw some pin-ups of the ladies, so I've already finished a couple of pics and I'm just starting to ink and color them. As always, thanks for stopping by and checking out my art!

Well, I'm about to start posting the sketches and pics I've done since attending the comic con. I started using the tonal markers I bought seemingly forever ago on some basic sketches. I've also used the only color I bought (red) to highlight some of the sketches. I've been having fun messing around with the new art tools. But the most drastic change is that I took the great Art Adams advice and picked up some copic pens and have started inking my sketches. Its made a pretty drastic difference. For any aspiring comic artists out there, if you feel more comfortable with pens, pick up some copic markers! I've always had people tell me that I'd have to learn to use a brush, but Art Adams showed me the light!

Now if only I could get comfortable with coloring pics...oh well, one step at a time, eh?

Well, I'm here in San Francisco with some friends attending Wondercon 2009. I have been totally blown away by some of the artists here. It makes a HUGE difference when you see the original artwork as opposed to a scan or even in a sketchbook. I had a chance to speak with some of my favorite artists like Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, Greg Horn and Art Adams, who I have a newfound appreciation for. I mean, Art's attention to detail in his pics is absolutely unbelievable! What doesn't come through (IMO) when you see his stuff in smaller print is the animation quality of it. Fantastic. He's also shown me that you CAN ink pics with great success with pens.

Anyway, the big thing I am taking away from this years show is that I need to start taking my time with my pics. I'm pretty impatient and I usually don't like to take longer than a couple of hours or so on a sketch or a couple of days (3-4 hours a day) on a more complicated picture, such as the Ladies of Marvel pic I recently completed. I'm going to do my best to make sure that those days are over. All of the artists I mentioned above quoted taking 5,6, 7 or more days on a piece...and that's drawing ALL day according to them, 8-16 hours a day! So I guess good things do come to those who wait. If you have a sec, drop me a line once I put my first few pieces over the next few weeks and let me know if you see a difference in my work. Also, feel free to suggest any characters you'd like to see my take on. The plan is to possibly get a table at a local convention in the future and see how that goes, but I'll need a portfolio with popular characters to get started, so suggest away!