I should have one last image up for 2007 by the end of the day! Otherwise, if all else goes wrong...Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

I have to tell you all, I now have an art dealer, Paolo, who is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. He reps my best buds Chris DiBari and Ryan Stegman as well as a bunch of other cool cats. He's going to be selling my pages from now on, and surprisingly I have a decent number of them already. When possible, I'll be at a table with the rest of the Cadence Comic Art guys selling pages and prints. Paulo will also be handling commissions for me, so if there's anything you've been wanting from me and dying for a piece of original art, head over to:

Cadence Comic Art

I do ink commissions and even watercolor ones. The Rambo piece below is a pretty good indication of what you'll end up seeing in a commission from me. I really put as much energy as I can into each one.

So, I'd be grateful for the support, so tell your friends if you can. I've been putting out the best art I can for years, but now I am at a point where I can help support myself with my art.

P.S. My art dealer would love the support as well.

Don't know why I decided to do a Rambo pic...oh wait, I do know...because he's RAMBO!!! You really don't need a good reason to draw Rambo. I drew him a little more on the crazed side, but I felt like having some fun. I did it primarily during a podcast while I was talking. Lots of fun with great people. I've been working on my line work, getting line variation, and cleaning things up a bit while still having fun. Lots of things to consider, but a better result in my opinion.

Here's a major image dump for those that read my blog! All except for the Fury pic were with traditional inks then put into photoshop. The Fury pic was drawn in Painter and then colored in Photoshop.

BTW, if any of you are going to Baltimore, I'll be there, either wandering around, hanging out with the Gaijin guys, my buddy Tony Shasteen, my good friends Jake and Luan (Spacegun), and ESPECIALLY with my good friends Chris DiBari and Ryan Stegman, who will be at the Cadence comic art table.

Took me next to no time, but it was fun...pure digital. Been a while.

Laid down some colors with prisma markers at random, then built something on top.

I've been so tired, it's been ridiculous how tired I've been at the end of the day. I think it will be better, I'll have more time and hopefully more energy to work on things. I've gotten back past my warm-up mode, and I'll be back to working in my little sketch book.

I do have new art, I'll just scan it later. Before I begin this, I'll tell you that this isn't a rant, or something filled with bitterness, but instead observation. When I first started off on this quest to become something "big" in the industry (two years later, only a little further in terms of jobs), I had all these ideas of what "should" happen. Of course things change when you really get there. You read magazines like Wizard growing up (before all the sites like Newsarama sprang into popularity), and you think it just happens overnight. Basically "Hey, now I am 'talented' now I'll begin working on major books." WRONG, you can be extremely good, and it still won't guarantee that you'll work on 'big' books. You have to pay your dues, and it's a hard lesson to learn.

There are horror stories from nearly every comic creator about their first jobs where somebody jipped them on pay for a book, and it never saw print. I've done a decent amount of work, some was never seen, but most of it has, or will see print. I still haven't seen decent pay, but that comes with the territory. A lot of guys are just entering the industry in their thirties, some because when they were young they made a large mistake, and only a decade later are they getting back in. The thing is, I'm still pretty young, and I have to fight that generalization of "young artists flake out on you." I also have to fight off the "he's young, so he'll fall for a scam." I get a lot of offers to do work, but if I'm unsure of the success rate, or if I just plain don't have the time, I have to be honest and say so. People will ultimately respond well to honesty. They don't want you to start a job, put in a "good effort" and fail. They want to know that either you can do it, or you can't and they can find someone who will. This industry is full of people who have dreams...dreams but not money. With hollywood, people have the money or the resources to get money to pay for even bad ideas. With comics, most people are working with a zero-dollar budget, and then hoping that the book will be picked up.

As great as ideas are, presentation sometimes falls short, or a gimmick overtakes plot and good storytelling. For anybody that actually reads this, just think about what you are wanting to do in this business. For a while I tried a lot of different plans of attack. I tried making a fan-friendly style, I tried just working non-stop to create images to get noticed, I tried contacting different independent companies with good reputations and just offering my services. Still didn't get a job. One would thing that people would be really happy to have someone who's pretty talented with a history of good work ethic basically giving away their services...but they still want someone with a "name." It's a hard thing to get past. How do you make a name for yourself when even smaller companies want someone with a "name"? At that point you have to either attend shows and really get in good with a company and then work your way up on smaller jobs. Or you can go the route I'm in right now, which is doing work in anthologies, and building a reputation. Believe me, at least someone will remember you if you do your job right.

The most important thing I learned this summer was find the right reason why you are working. I was trying to work for other people and trying to impress them. I had lost focus after something awful that happened last year around this time, and it took me a long time to remember that I don't need to be doing work for everyone, just me. In terms of money, right now I'm doing okay, so comics are not necessarily a source of income yet, I have the ability to do what makes me happy, as opposed to doing what I need to in order to survive. I'm retracing my roots as a traditional artist. One of my cousins was in town last week, and I brought out my watercolors for her, and it brought back a lot of memories and a lot of feelings. I still have this desire burning inside me, almost a defiant attitude that is saying, "People don't believe in me, I have to do this for myself, and when they see what I'm doing they'll be sorry they missed it." Through my later years in higher learning, I always used the mantra "No Respect" for the majority of the world, who didn't show me any for my hard work. It used to hurt a lot when I put in the time and effort and received nothing back. I grew a tough skin, and found my own way.

It is important to understand why you are doing this, what makes you happy, and do it. Keep growing, because to stagnate is to rot away artistically. An illustrator does they job that they need to for survival or success, an artist is someone who has to do art no matter what the rewards or consequences are. For an illustrator art is a job, for an artist, art is life. Find your motivation and stick to it. I was in a class for commercial design at one point, I learned some things about motivating yourself so that you don't have artists block as often. You can't let yourself get to that point, so you have to train your mind. Don't rely on reference, train your mind to have volumes of reference by studying the world around you, look at what people wear, study composition, color theory, it is all important. Because when it is your time to work, and that blank page is sitting right in front of you, don't let it intimidate you. Paper can't fight back, show it who's boss. You only get a few chances to mess up before word gets around that you can't hack it. So enjoy the opportunity, have fun with it. There's a reason you were picked, and that's for being who you are, not someone else. Be true to your artistic voice.

A great artist, and a great person. I only met him in person once, but he had a profound effect on the industry. His work was playful and full of adventure and depth. Something amazing about him was how much he grew as an artist constantly. Many stay resigned to the style that "works" for them in terms of getting work. He constantly pushed the boundaries of what he was doing, constantly blogging, constantly going to messageboards and encouraging the next crop of artists.

I don't know what to say though, this is a horrible tragedy, he will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. If anyone hears that anything can be done for him, please keep me updated. If there is a tribute, or an art sale to raise money, I definitely want to contribute.

Go HERE for more information.

I was at this thing all week, and we did a watercolor painting, very "blah" and paint by numbers. If we did anything outside of what was asked, we got yelled at. So while waiting for the paint to dry or between the oversimplified steps, I decided to play around with my uniball pen and the paynes gray and van dyke brown we were given. I had done an ink wash on the paper, which is the warm gray in the background. It is fun to work on a pre-toned surface, it really alters the results and gives a more traditional effect. I really need to get back in the habit of doing watercolor. I found a craft brush in my old stuff, one I converted into a tool for inking, the others I'm going to devote to watercolor. They hold water so it's less mess for on the go painting. Plus, I've got this really sweet watercolor sketchbook. Leather cover, the interior pages are high quality thick watercolor paper from India. I got it a while back, but the year was so crazy I have yet to work in it.

Some of you may not know, but I'm a huge fan of Tom Green. I used to watch him back in the day on MTV, but lost track of him after his second series. But my BFF Chris DiBari got me back into listening. Ryan Stegman, Chris, and I talk on Skype and listen to him on his internet show while we draw every night. I finally got up the courage to call in, so it was cool getting to talk to him and be the final caller on the second half of the broadcast. It's like 15 minutes, so you can skip ahead to the end. Either way, I'm definitely calling in again.

I think it would be cool do do something with Nightcrawler. When I was a kid, I used to think he and Colossus were the coolest. Especially when the arcade game was out (the X Men side-scrolling fighter). I miss when he was more of a high-octane, swash-buckling character. Less intense and ultra-Catholic priest type. That's emotionally draining and kind of kills some of the thrill the character presents. I like to think of him more set up for intense, 80's movie style non-stop action. But also with a kind-hearted side.

Just felt like doing a pin-up this morning. I did a bunch of coloring and sketching on Monday. Tuesday I got a page done and another pin-up. I've been keeping as active as possible until I get a regular gig.

Well, I decided on creating a sketchbook for the Baltimore Convention in September. I want to do a black and white one. Maybe I will try and hold off on some of the gray tones as well. I know, it's scary to see white on my art...but go with it baby, you know I'll treat you right!

Felt like playing around with Captain America.

It's been a while since I used any digital watercolor techniques, but now I feel as though I can utilize them in a more grounded approach. With this drawing, it just made more sense to use this technique than anything else.

Nobody said otherwise or gave any suggestions, so the entry for my 50th post is...Vader!

Blueberry, a character from the old Moebius comics.

Some back-story on this. Predator was a movie that dazzled me at a young age. My parents took my brother and I to the drive in theater to see a family-oriented film. My brother would probably remember what it was, but that wasn't what caught my attention. My parents made us dress up in our pajamas so we could go straight to bed when we got home, but we also brought blankets. At the drive-in there was a screen behind us, there were about 5 or so movies going on at the same time. Well, I kept pretending to fall asleep then turn around and watch it without sound until my parents would catch me. When I was in pre-school, my mom was in the hospital at the time. My dad rented movies and made sweet-rolls for my brother and I to keep our minds off of things. He brought home "Predator," and even though at four years old I couldn't comprehend what all was going on, I knew that I loved every minute of it.

The next day at pre-school, my best friend at the time had her grandfather visit and talk about his experience in the military. I asked a bunch of questions and then I went off on a tangent about Predator, and then said "ugly motherfu..." then the teacher quickly shut me up. My dad was told about the incident, and he kind of laughed it off later.

Anyway, still dig the heck out of the character even though Paul W.S. Anderson did his best to try and ruin it for me. But whatever...still cool...

Some of my friends suggested that they wanted to see me do a drawing of Emma Frost, the White Queen. So this was what I came up with. I used my P2 process again, which is getting more refined with each illustration.

I'm nearing 50 posts. That really seemed to catch up quickly. If anybody actually reads this, give me suggestions on what to do for my 50th post, and I'll do the top two...probably because there will only be two...but whatever!

I'm trying to do this a little more now. For those of you who actually look at the blog, you get to see exclusive pictures. Normally, I'll post all the art that goes up here on other messageboards, the only difference is that I put it up here first. But Lately (as with some of the portraits), you'll only see them posted here. This is a Punisher picture I did this morning.

Basically, what that means is always check the blog first. It's the primary spot to see my artwork.

I decided on using a more graphic approach to drawing batman today. I started the picture using a standard style and it just wasn't jiving in the least. So I dropped in a blue gray background and started going over the existing lines with the two highlight tones. The resulting piece you see beside this text.

Just felt like drawing a Wildstorm character. It's funny, some people were raised on golden-age comics, others "silver," and me? Well, I was raised on Wildstorm comics. Sure, I've always had a very diverse taste in comics, but some of my favorites came when I was in my middle-to-high school years. So it was fun to draw this character. It was also fun figuring out how to create the door. I don't like to drop in pre-made stuff if I don't have to.

Another Painter experiment. This time a character from a comic one of my "comic mentors" works on. Brian Stelfreeze has been such an influence on my art in general for the past...Lord even knows how long. I first met him the second semester I was in college. Went down to A&M and met him, spoke with him and listened to him lecture other people while working. 6 hours, and it completely changed my approach to art. The way he talks about color is intense, but it's extremely important. Since then I make my yearly pilgrimage to "Brian." We'll talk techniques and any cool new materials available. It's just great to have that. He does this for everyone.

But anyway, this is a character from the Image/12 Gauge book The Ride. Some of my all time favorite comic artists have worked on this book, and it would really be a dream to do ANYTHING with them. But I just did this in Painter and Photoshop...which henceforth shall be referred to as P2 for the sake of saving me some additional keystrokes. Anyway, lots of fun. I also had my friend Tom Feister give me some pointers on it. I'm really happy with the result.

I'll tell you a funny story, not funny "ha ha," more funny "odd." It's been years since I really did any portraits. I think the last one I really did before this was one of Alan Cummings for a Design I project in college. We had to do a 28X35 ink reproduction of a portrait using a mark of our choosing, mine was a partial "C." Because of poor planning by the professor, we did not get class time for the project, and we had other projects to do outside of class. So, one Thursday before finals, I had two projects to get done, so I cranked out the one for the other class and spent 16 straight hours working on the Alan Cumming piece using microns. By the time it was done, I couldn't see straight, I hadn't eaten, my hand wouldn't come out of a "claw" shape. I went to meet up with my friends, and nearly fell asleep, but didn't, so I felt sick. We walked to class through the tunnel under the highway. My hand was completely numb and cold. When we got to class, there was an indention in my hand from where the handle of my portfolio was. I got a super good grade in the class, but I guess all that last minute work was a put-off. I really shy away from reference. Whatever I need I try to take from the world in mental snap shots. I don't like to give myself too much time or else it stifles creativity. Back in high school I was pretty bull-headed. I would always try and add my own spin to portraits, when all people wanted was a basic portrait. My mind would think that it was just too boring for me to spend time on a simple portrait, why not add a cool background. I guess I've always been like that. With limited time has come the attempt at trying to fit in as much as possible. But as I've been growing up, I've learned that things have their limits. I'm really scaling things back lately with my work, and it's helping a lot. If you can find a point that ties all of this information together, major "Rad" points go to you!

I felt like working on some faces when drawing in painter, so I did some portraits of some of my friends. Cully and Tony. It's been a long long time since I a)used reference, and b)drew anything that resembled something. I kept the ref to as much of a minimum as possible. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Also, I must profess my love of my wacom Intuos 3 and Painter.

Just having some more fun with the wacom tablet.

I just finished an 8 page story completely using Painter for the lines and photoshop for colors. It was a different experience, but the finished product looks pretty good. I found out a lot of what works and what doesn't. Here's a sketch I finished after the story. Meryl from MGS.