Spider-mang and his old lady...

My plan this week was to do my Little Carbon Robot Challenge piece 100% digitally, just to keep practicin' with the old (NEW) tablet I bought.

But, after about seven failed attempts at something I thought I was gonna like, I decided to shelve the whole shebang until I was hit by the ole inspirado. So Monday became Wednesday, and Wednesday became Saturday, some other week days were lost in the mix somewhere along the way, and before you know it, it's early Sunday morn, and I ain't got crap to show for the challenge. So I says to myself, "Myself, what are you gonna do to rectify this sitch-e-a-shun?" And so I answers back, "Me, I'm gonna get to crack-a-lackin'!" And so, with a pencil in one hand, and a tumbler of Big Red in the other, I hammered out something I'm not all that fond of, but fond enough of to call it a day, post that shit, and move on with my life. I'm not a Spidey fan, ya'll, and this week really shows it. Drawin' Peter Parker was a pain, but I did it. I did enough of it anyways.

If I have time someday, I might ink this sucker, but I ain't holding my breath, so you shouldn't either. If anyone else out there wants to ink it, well hey, permission granted!

Left 4 Dead II gets Clutch!

I don't own it yet, but I want to...like really really badly. If you've seen the trailer, you'll here some incredile audio stylings of the great blues/rock group, Clutch, with their song, "Electric Worry." If you've never heard it before, fear not, for I have provided the music video for you below. Enjoy...

Updatin'...

Been a little while since I update the ole blog, so here's an update. I've been working on Cracker Ace, as well as other art commitments. One thing I've been doing is taking part in a weekly character challenge with my art buds here in Sacramento. So far the challenge has been good. Here's my last contribution for the project...the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It's a progression from digital sketch to finished pencils.

Along with my character challenge, my Torn Comics mates held a contest for folks to draw kids dressed as their favorite Torn Comics characters. The winner got a free copy of Twist in the Night (the horror anthology from Torn Comics) as well as an inked character sketch from the Torn artist of their choice. I was picked by the winner to do the commission, and they chose Johnny 5 from "Short Circuit." WOW! Never drawn that character before, but hey, I'm game. Here's my initial digital sketch...

Woot!

"Los Locos kick your ass, Los Locos kick your face, Los Locos kick your BALLS into outer space!" - Los Locos, Short Circuit II

Little Carbon Robot Challenge - Week 1

My Little Carbon Robot pals and I are doing a weekly character challenge to help generate more work consistently, as well as push ourselves to draw things we wouldn't normally even think to touch. Our assignments are characters generated randomly from a list that currently has more than 600 names. I'm posting this image to show the actual size of my first rough sketch. Took a thumbnail sketch and decided to just pencil it out completely on a standard size of printer paper, with my reference for the ugly evil queen from Snow White on it. I like seeing this kind of stuff from others, so I thought I'd share it.

Sketchbook pg 4

Page 3 ain't finished. Already breaking my own rules. Here's page 4. All characters © their respective owners.

Sketchbook pg 2

This page features the same girlie from the previous sketchbook page, as well as (from the top) Miss Demolition from my "Cracker Ace" story, Eric Powell's The Goon, and Eddie from Doug TenNapel's graphic novel, "Black Cherry" which I'm currently reading.

Sketchbook 2010 pg 1

I've decided to start posting sketchbook pages here as I finish them. This sketchbook isn't going to be like other sketchbooks I've done in the past (sparsely used, often forgotten, and never finished). My plan is to try and fill an entire sketchbook from cover to cover as soon as possible. I've never filled a sketchbook completely, and I'm curious as to how long it will take me. I'm also not moving to the next page before filling up the current page. These will mostly be warm-up sketches, and sketches of characters I'm either currently drawing for projects, reading, or watching at the moment. My hope is that when it's finished, I'll pick out pages I think are highlights, and make my official 2010 sketchbook out of that. We'll see how that goes.

For this first page I was inspired to draw a girlie after watching a video by one of my favorite DA artists, Pat Carlucci on youtube. It quickly turned from a girlie doing a sexy pose, to a lame joke about an STD. Oh ho ho ho...me.

APE Photos...

Here's the snaps I got of our booth at APE this past weekend. If you want to read my recap of the experience, I posted it here: The Big APE Recap!

Roger "Gumby" Huerta

Locked in Kimuras are NASTY ju-ju. I wouldn't mess with them. I am a wuss. But Roger Huerta...he ain't no wuss. He ain't got no bones or joints either. Just look at this sick submission Gray Maynard locked on him in the third round of their fight this past Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 19... http://www.myvideofight.com/UFC/Roger-Huerta-vs-Gray-Maynard-UFN-19-Video
I'm linking you to a video of the full fight. If you don't give a crap about a good MMA fight, and just want to see the jiu-jitsu equivalent of "Bend it Like Beckham" then skip to 2:04 in the third round.

It made my shoulder hurt just watching it.

Mr. Huerta, I salute you!

The Green Lantern

PERSPECTIVE! WHOAAAAA....

My Opinion on ... Funny People

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd give an update and say that I've got a lot of work brewing right now, and as soon as I can show it, I will. For now, here's a movie review...

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Since "The 40-year-old Virgin" it seems like Judd Apatow can do no wrong. So far, I've enjoyed every movie has hand his hands in either as a director or producer. "Funny People" is no different. It works well as a fly-on-the-wall character study of a relationship between a wannabe comic named Ira (Seth Rogen) and veteran comic/actor George (Adam Sandler).

What works: For all the raunch Rogen has offered to the masses through his handful of films so far, he's excellent at playing the innocent and naive Ira. Adam Sandler is hard to take seriously when he's doing straight drama, as in "Reign Over Me," but here his performance was very natural as an over-the-hill comic who has no one because he's become a tremendous self-serving dick. The two have great on-screen chemistry. The relationship Ira has with his roommates (played by Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman) is funny, and a consistent source for laughs.

What doesn't work: The love angle felt less about telling a good story, and more about trying to get ladies into movie seats. Without it, you're literally left with a guy movie littered with dick and fart jokes, but with it, you've got an extra sappy storyline heaped on top of the festivities that works to only grind the film to a dead stop. Because of the love angle, the movie always runs WAY too long. Clocking in at just over two hours and twenty minutes, this movie oughta be no more than an hour and forty-five minutes, two hours tops. And the Eminem cameo wasn't funny...it was just kind of weird, in a "Where in the hell is this coming from" sort of way.

High-Rent on this one.

JB says check it out.

The Joker Lineart

Here's the lineart for the Joker piece I'm doing. Time to ink it up.

The Fowl Lineart

Not very clean lineart, to be sure, but it's clean enough to serve its purpose. I'll be inking this up soon.

The Fowl is © Dan Schkade

Gung-Ho Colored

Here's the finished version. Not exactly what I wanted, but it'll have to do. Hopefully I did Ragin' Cajun fans proud.

Gung-Ho Lineart

Here's the lineart for my Gung-Ho piece.