Parasaurolophus-Type Dinosaur

I broke out my colored pencils - which have languished in a drawer for maybe a decade---? to try some color (so please be gentle, it has been so long, and I have a lot to learn, still). I love sketches and black & white ink or pencil work, but I've been rusty with color, so this was good practice.

This is for my friend Thaily, who has been so helpful and supportive of me over these many years. It's a "fantasy" dino because I had fun with anatomy and color (I know Parasaurolophus-type dinos may not have had that neck-flap from the "horn", for instance), but it was an enjoyable experiment. Thanks for everything, Thaily!

It is small, under 5", and was done with Prismacolor pencils (mostly) on laser printer paper.

Life's What You Make It

Baby,
life's what you make it
Celebrate it
Anticipate it
Yesterday's faded
Nothing can change it
Life's what you make it

(Everything's all right)
life's what you make it
(Everything's all right)
Life's What You Make It


((The drawing makes more sense if you've seen the video – here on YouTube. Are they fighting or dancing? It is what you make it. ;D))

Lyrics © 1985 Mark Hollis, Tim Friese-Greene // Talk Talk

ACEOs - Round Two

Hi! Here are a few more of the ACEOs I did back in May and June 2012. As I've said before, ACEOs actually work out really well for me, as I like to draw small anyway, and the cards are easy to carry around and sketch on in bits of free time. Also, they are good for working out ideas that I may develop into bigger paintings later.

    
I love thylacines, so the first (titled "Not Forgotten") is my take on one. I also love (as you probably know by now) Mesoamerican art and jaguars, so the second is another painting of a jaguar lord/Tezcatlipoca– or Tepeyollotl-type figure. The third is just a silly painting of an African Wild Dog, a species I haven't painted much (but should paint more - it's fun to try new things). They are done in pencil and gouache (some with a little ink) on illustration board. They are up for sale at my Storenvy store. I took artistic license with all three, and just tried to have fun. I have some more I will post soon.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look! :)

ACEOs

Hi everyone, as you may have noticed, I've been popping online in various social networks, but figured I'd better update here, too! I've been trundling along, fitting in art where I can. ACEOs actually work out really well for me, as I like to draw small anyway, and the cards are easy to carry around and sketch on in bits of free time. Also, they are good for working out ideas that I may develop into bigger paintings later (like the unicorn).

If you like them, some are for sale at my storenvy store. Click for a larger image.

  
  
  
  
The first three were drawn in pen over the summer of 2011, colored earlier this year. They were drawn freehand in ballpoint pen and colored later in gouache on an ACEO sketch card (90lb. weight paper stock, specifically in a Borden & Riley Artist Sketch Vellum Mini Spiral Pad). They are the standard ACEO size (which is small – 2.5" x 3.5").

1. Fox Magic V (kitsune); 2. Rusty Cage (lupine); 3. Pale Shelter (canine): Kitsune lore fascinates me, and "Rusty Cage" and "Pale Shelter" were inspired by the respecive songs.

The next batch were drawn on illustration board, and some were painted with gouache.

4. Unicorn: I find unicorns of all shapes, sizes, and conformations beautiful, whether they're the wildly fierce heraldic type, or more deer- or goat-like, or even the horned, cloven-hooved horse kind. I love to draw all different types, too, but here I was inspired to draw a more horse-like one. Fluffy manes are fun! I hope to make this into a painting. Note, this one has sold.

5. Lynx; 6. Golden Tiger (a modified "golden tabby tiger"); 7. Happy Cat: (this little smiley cat could be related to the Cheshire Cat, as a matter of fact! ; 8. Tigerish Hellcat: I have always loved to draw snarly things, even when I'm in a good mood; it's very satisfying, drawing all those curved muzzle wrinkles and teeth. I loosely term this stylized fiery creature a "hellcat".

I know, no big epic paintings from me lately, but it's either this, or nothing with what time I have... and I'd rather do something small and achievable than nothing at all! XD I will get back to bigger things someday.

Thanks, as always, for looking! :D I hope you are all well.

Werewolf Calendar 2012: Now For Sale!

Hi everyone! I apologize for being offline so much; between work, our daughter, family stuff, and lately, Hurricane Irene, I've been busy, and I know I've missed a lot here, both good and bad. I hope you all are doing well!

I did complete a very big project (literally): my piece for the 2012 Werewolf Calendar. My theme was "urban werewolves".


NOTE: Sales are now closed.

www.WerewolfCalendar.com

Join the Werewolf Calendar Community on DA: http://werewolf-calendar.deviantart.com/

About this image: I went with more of an "urban werewolf" idea, rather than a "hybrid werewolf". I love werewolves of ALL kinds, from big raging beasts to long lanky ones and everything in between, but I went with somewhat "average-sized", more lithe ones for this idea. I thought they might make more sense in a city where they don't want to stand out too much.

I wanted to try a night scene: moonlit, though the city's never REALLY dark, I suppose, with bare branches as the season is winter. I had done a sort of urban werewolf couple years ago, and this is kind of an update. The lion statue is "Patience", one of the two lions - along with "Fortitude" - from the NY Public Library. I hoped it might make a striking calendar image, plus I thought the idea of werewolves disrespecting a lion as top predator might be subtly funny.

Work notes: The original pencil drawing for this is HUGE: almost 20" wide. Last year I couldn't get in the detail I wanted working at actual size, so I drew this much larger. My pencil technique (lots of layering and push-pulling of the graphite) is very time-consuming, so this took me a very long time, but I did enjoy it. I scanned it in six sections, merged it together, then added color with a mouse in Photoshop CS3. I looked at hundreds of wolf photos and royalty-free and creative commons images for the lion and library, and the trees are based on a photo I took myself.

I hope you like it!

Just heard it's the centennial of the New York Public Library too! Neat. :)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, 2010. Merry Christmas, Joyous Yule, and Happy New Year! Whatever you celebrate, I wish you all the best. :)

Done in Adobe Illustrator CS3.

I was really pressed for time this year, so unfortunately I didn't get to do a big card-mailing. :/ I hope this (sort of) makes up for it! I'm very sorry and I hope to be able to mail out cards as usual next year.

UPDATE: Art (Pen Sketchbook: 3 Lupine Shapeshifters), Werewolf Calendar Sales Closing!, Imagekind

I'm chugging along at work and at home, but still trying to fit in some art time! Here are three pieces from my Pen Sketchbook II. The Fall (especially near Halloween) always makes me want to draw werewolves, or at least werewolf-type creatures; I don't know if these would pass for werewolves in the "this is what the general public thinks werewolves are like" sense (like The Howling or The Wolf Man), and I know people are very picky about them online too (judging by the comments I see everywhere), so to dodge the (silver?) bullet so to speak I'll just call them "lupine shapeshifters". I would like to thank all the books, calendars, and magazine clippings I've been sorting through in preparation for re-doing the living room for inspiration as well.

    
First is "Ruffian", who looks to be somewhat more of a red wolf or coyote-hybrid type guy. He came to mind while listening to Tori Amos' Don't Make Me Come To Vegas. Yeah, I know this idea has probably been done a million times before (and better, too), but who cares? He doesn't. Heck, I don't, either. I'm just glad to be drawing something!

Second is "Vagabond", a scruffy wolf-type guy, also more red-wolf-like. I love to draw big, muscular creatures with perfect pelts (as you can no doubt tell from most of my other stuff), but scraggly and lean is fun too. I tried to mix human features with the lanky frame, so his face isn't quite lupine, nor are his legs. Some wolves have surprisingly thin limbs!

Third is "Den Mother", also territory that has been crossed many times before by many artists, but it was still fun and enjoyable for me. I liked layering things up and I enjoyed doing the roundness/flatness of it. If I re-did it, or painted it, I might try to make it more realistic, as well as do a more general-public-pleasing hand/paw or full paw instead of the weird hand/paw mix thing I've got going on here, but when sketching for me I just draw what I feel like.

Thanks again for reading! I hope you all are having wonderful days. :)

Art Post: Cave Bear

Here is another painting from my "Prehistoric" series, done for a convention (see the other three in previous entries). This one, like the Giant Hyena, is approximately 12" x 12", and also on Natural Fiber Painting Panels, painted in gouache. It is based on the cave bear, Ursus spelaeus.

Like the others, this was a learning experience, and I don't claim to be completely accurate; I have so little free time I wanted to make sure art stayed "fun" for me, so I did this one like the others - as a stylized and iconic interpretation, where I took liberties with scientific accuracy. I tried to keep the colors toned down and similar for cohesiveness, as it will be with all the paintings in this series.

As always, thanks for looking!

Art Post: Giant Hyena

Here is another painting from my "Prehistoric" series for an upcoming convention (see the first two in the previous entry). This one is approximately 12" x 12", also on Natural Fiber Painting Panels, painted in gouache. It is based on the giant (or "short-faced") hyena/hyaena, like those from the genus Pachycrocuta.

Like the others, this was a learning experience, and I don't claim to be completely accurate; I have so little free time I wanted to make sure art stayed "fun" for me, so I did this one like the dire wolf and sabretooth - as a stylized and iconic interpretation, where I took liberties with scientific accuracy. I tried to keep the colors toned down and similar for cohesiveness, as it will be with all the paintings in this series.

As always, thanks for looking. Sorry I have not been on much. More art soon!

Art Post: Sabertooth & Dire Wolf

    
Here are two paintings from a "Prehistoric" series for an upcoming convention. They are 8" x 10" on Natural Fiber Painting Panels, painted in gouache. I really like the surface - I transferred a xerox of my drawing using Saral Transfer Paper onto the boards, and the lines held up under multiple washes of color. Best of all, for me, the surface didn't buckle, shred, pill, or otherwise deteriorate, a problem I'd had with other paper-based surfaces.

This was definitely a learning experience for me. I still have a long way to go to improve my lighting, anatomy, etc., but at least I found a surface that seems to work with my style.

As for the images themselves, they are my stylized, iconic interpretations of a sabretoothed cat and a dire wolf. The sabretooth I did first, and was good practice. The dire wolf is roughly based on dire wolf skulls, which are a bit thicker and broader than today's gray wolf, but are overall rather similar. Obviously with both I was playing around and not going for complete scientific accuracy. I tried to keep the colors toned down and similar for cohesiveness, as it will be with all the paintings in this series.

Sorry to be out of touch; I have not been online much lately, and the last few days not at all.

I'm Still Alive...

... just in the bowels of Trade Show preparation. This is typically the craziest time of the year at work (my 9-5 job, not my personal stuff), and this year is no exception.

However, I am still drawing in bits & pieces of spare time! I still have other things to post, but for now, here's a little ACEO-sized pen and white pencil drawing on some chipboard:



I've been inspired in part by all the prehistoric creature reference books I've been reading/researching lately, in preparation for a summer art show. Still hoping to have lots of new stuff! I would like to make this into a full-color painting, maybe with him as a white lion. Though I don't play it myself, I think there is something in the World of Warcraft game that looks like this, but he's not based on that; back in college in the 90's I'd drawn him on the back of a spiral notebook, and the chipboard's color and texture reminded me of that cardboard back cover, so here he is, in 2010 form.

More soon! Hope you all are well!

Happy Holidays!

(click for full)


Wishing ALL of you wonderful holidays and all sorts of good things!

Update: Art (Werewolf Calendar 2010 - Presales Now!)

I've been a bit behind in posting art, and for that I do apologize! I've been trying to finish some things up, but I think I will be working all weekend on some stuff I'm behind on. Good thing it's a long weekend!



Here is my entry for the 2010 Edition of the Werewolf Calendar. You may remember this was finished in June 2009, but I was given the go-ahead to post it in August.

-------------------------------

About this Piece: I decided to go with the "opposite" of last year's image. I used warm colors instead of cool, had the werewolf facing left with its back to the viewer, and drew darker fur (it's based on a Mexican wolf). Instead of Celtic style decorations, I used imagery that was Mayan in inspiration, though of course I adapted things in my own way; you'd not see glyphs arranged quite like that in actual Mayan art, for example.

Since the ancient Mesoamericans often depicted ornamentation, markings, and jewelry on their shamanic, transformational, and animal figures, I found it fitting to include them on this one as well. Though they are influenced by Mayan ornamentations, they are of my own design.

A note about subject matter: I understand werewolf appearance, lore and legend is very special to many people; this calendar is not meant to be the definitive resource on werewolves, or to present werewolf appearance, attitude, or action in a way that excludes others (for example, I like werewolves in many different appearances, and I love the snarly fangy ones, too); rather, it's a fun spin on wildlife photography calendars, and is not meant to compete or clash with anyone else's ideas about werewolves*. Enjoy the art and idea, if you like! If not, that's cool too. :)

Pencil sketch here, final pencil piece here. Detail image here.

Tools Used: Most of the work was done by hand, in pencil on Strathmore bristol board. I laid out some of the background in Adobe Illustrator CS3, then re-drew it by hand on the final board to make it more rough and textured. Color was added in Photoshop CS3... yes, with a mouse. I will be getting a tablet! Just need to order one.

*Personally, I love werewolves of all kinds, from drooly Hollywood ones, to more "civilized" ones, to ones from old tales and folklore.

Update: Art (Pen Sketchbook Project)

Here are some more sketches from my Pen Sketchbook Project, a random assortment. Some are from Spring, I'm so behind!

   
From left: A guardian-type creature, a re-translation of drawings I did as a kid of Guardian Figures from Asia. Though I didn't draw it in this picture, the bird legs fascinated me as a kid, and I drew many of them (albeit in my own style). Next are two more Krampus-type creatures. Last is something that popped into my head while listening to Muse's Supermassive Black Hole (thanks to for turning me onto Muse). I don't know, I pictured it bellowing "Supermassive black HOLLLLLLLLLE" or something.

More soon! Thanks, all, for looking. :)

Endangered Ark

Here is the work I did for the Endangered Ark Art Card Deck. Presales are still available here! (there are also some neat things like keychains and LE prints). I will have some to sell online and at art shows, but for now, you can get in on the presale directly from the site! Remember, ten percent of the proceeds from decks bought directly from the site of the Project will be donated to charities decided upon by the participating artists.

As always, I like my pencils better than my originals... (more practice for me, eh?), so here are both, of the Amur Leopard, Black Rhino, and Day Gecko.

        
These are the images as I did them; they are slightly different (cropped, as necessary) for the final cards. In doing these, I kept in mind that they would be printed smaller, so I tried to be conscious of how they'd look scaled down - would they read okay? would they clog up too much? does anything jump out as wrong? - and so on. I attempted to be as true to the animals as possible, looking at many images of the animals to make sure I had a good sampling of references (mmmm, research) — though I am not a photorealist, so they are noticeably stylized.

Besides the decks, I will have prints available, and perhaps some LE prints too, as well as the pencil originals of the leopard and gecko.

Thanks, as always, for looking! :) More soon!

More from my Pen Sketchbook Project

Here are some more images from my ongoing personal Pen Sketchbook Project. These images were all done over the last year - mostly last Winter and Spring, and this Winter, too; I was busy with other projects for most of the rest of the year, and didn't have much in-between time to sketch for myself. Note, I am now going back and working on them more, as I feel like it. They evolve over time.

Click to view full picture - some of the thumbnails are cropped.

First is a guardian lion type creature (all-black, all-gold, and white lions are special to me) - not a real lion of course. Done to a-ha's Here I Stand and Face The Rain ("Trust me / For whom I am / Lay all your pains / Into these hands"). Second is a sort of manticore, though not a "by the books" one. Yeah, more weird human faces. Third popped into my head, a peaceful creature. I debated giving this one a mouth, but left it off - these are symbolic, after all. Fourth shows some random little owlthings. And Fifth is inspired by Nine Inch Nails' song, Letting You ("We are letting you GET AWAY!").

    
Have questions? Here's my disclaimer: Now, before anyone says (and rightly so) that the anatomy's wrong, or they're not researched well, or there are mistakes, or they're messy and unfinished, or asks where my "usual" type and style of artwork has gone - don't worry; these pieces are just weird things from my head, drawn at odd moments (at lunch, waiting for laundry to finish, etc.), and actually give a good idea of what I draw for myself, when I am inspired and not worried about anatomy, or historical accuracy, or mass appeal. There is a lot of of stylization and symbolism here!

I hoped you liked this little glimpse into my mind. :) More soon, and thanks for looking!

More from My Pen Sketchbook Project

In an attempt to keep updated with my Pen Sketchbook Project, here are some pages I did in the fall and winter; I'll have newer stuff soon, I promise. :)

        
The first is a kitsune/foxlike thing (not trying to be realistic), that sorta inspired another small piece. The second is a random, horned snow-leopardy-cat thing. The third and fourth are more of my sphynx creatures; I like playing around with the facial features. I imagine the third is more muscular, and serves a guardian function, while the fourth is more of a sage-type - who I have dubbed "Sphynx Mulder" (though I didn't plan on him looking like that XD). I imagine him and others of his type in large, sun-lit rooms, discussing the workings of the world (or maybe tossing pencils at the ceiling ;>).

The last is actually from a while ago, but I forgot to upload it; it was inspired by the line "I've become... impossible" and the music leading up to it, from the song We're In This Together (note: YouTube link) by Nine Inch Nails (it's not supposed to be Trent Reznor*, though, just some random guy). Yes yes, over the years I've drawn a lot of NIN-inspired stuff; I have sketchbooks full of it. :D This is one of the more recent ones I did, but now that NIN's The Slip is out (download it for FREE!!! Legally!!!), I am just champing at the bit to draw some fangy, clawed, scaled, skull-headed things, as always happens whenever I hear their music. Argh, I am busting with ideas but need more time. :P Oh well, more soon!

*When we went to lunch at Quaker Steak & Lube a while ago, we noticed a familiar-looking face in a photo on the wall. We asked the waitress about it and she said, "Yeah, that's Trent Reznor - he grew up nearby and stops in every once in a while. Nice guy." Glad to know he's nice! It just seemed - odd? unexpected? surprising? - to see him sitting there smiling out at us at a chicken-wing place XD

Mini Pencil Sketches

For an art show this summer, I created four little pieces I did in the manner of my sketch cards (small pieces that are easy to carry and work on in bits of free time). I double-matted them all nicely, and sent them off to my agent there. They were a lot of fun - I did them in the medium I know best (graphite) and chose subjects I love (dragons, bunnies, horned cats, and vaguely-foxlike things). You can see a (quick phone camera) photo of the matted group here, and an individual one here, to give you an idea of the size. They are actually on white paper, but scanning them a bit golden preserved the shading. Maybe I will color them in Photoshop, someday, too.

      

Art Post: Sketches and More

Here are some small things I've been working on in between larger projects. The first is a little color test of my pen sketch of Aqua'Demia; just a little fun, not a finished piece, though I tried to make her skin look kind of translucent. After that, a brushpen drawing and the original RSVP pen sketch for a friend, and the pencil sketch/WIP for another friend, which is now transferred to black board and waiting to be painted. Also: a "hellcat", a "uniboar", and something named Zerfan, all gifts for other friends, too, based on descriptions they gave me.

            
Thanks for looking! More soon!