Skyline

Opening the Hangar...

2012-01-11T13:01:00.001-06:00

It's been a long time since I've posted anything significant on this blog site and I do apologize for being absent for so long. The past four months have been extremely busy for me, what with working 40 hours a week and also working on a new project.

I've been pretty "hush hush" about this project the past few months, and have only told a minimal amount of people what I've been working on. If you've enjoyed the material I've posted in relation to the "Skyline" story, than you'll enjoy this "newish" project. Its an expansion of "Skyline". Same characters, however the world and the story are fleshed out in more detail thanks to my good friend and writer Paul Dodson. We've changed the name from "Skyline" to "Unbroken Skies". Anything and everything in relation to "Unbroken Skies" will be featured on a new blog site...

www.unbrokenskies.blogspot.com

I encourage you to stay tuned with "Unbroken Skies" if you've enjoyed and follow this blog.We're finally opening the hangar into a new and exciting world with fun projects and content.

I'm back and with new drawings.

2011-12-15T11:01:00.000-06:00

Sorry It's been so long since I've posted anything. Been busy. However I'm working on a really exciting project that I can't wait to share! A good friend and I are revamping a story idea. Stay tuned because we'll be posting some fun stuff here shortly. I hope everyone is doing well out there in internetland. : )

The evolution of my characters

2011-04-11T18:37:00.000-05:00

I put these together this afternoon, showcasing the design and evolution of a couple of characters from Skyline. I plan to put together more of these for my portfolio.

Tee shirt design!

2011-03-30T09:29:00.000-05:00

Hello there! Just wanted to let everyone know that I have submitted my Samurai Snapper illustration to Threadless Tees and it is up for voting. All it needs right now is your vote. Please, if you can take the time to vote for the tee it would be much appreciated. Just follow the link below. Thanks : )

Rumpelstiltskin

2010-12-17T23:36:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've hammered out an illustration in such a short time. Takes me back to the Campus Ledger days. This illustration is for a contest for the web site, "Schoolism"... https://www.schoolism.com/

The theme for the contest is "sexy fairy tale characters" and I chose to illustrate Rumpelstiltskin. The idea is that, in order for Rumpelstiltskin to spin straw into gold for the maiden, she has to strip for him. Such a dirty little man!

Erich Sokol, who is one of my favorite illustrators, was my main inspiration for this. I wanted the illustration to feel loose and have character, rather then be realistically rendered. If you're unfamiliar with Erich Sokol, look him up! He's amazing : ).

Cheers.

Wow, long time no blog...

2010-10-31T19:20:00.002-05:00

It has been a long time since I've made a post to my blog. To say that I've been busy is an understatement. A new marriage and a new job seem to be taking up a lot of my time.

Today, I found out that I have won 1st place in a comic/panel strip competition through the Associated Collegiate Press! This is awarded for my comic,"Skyline" of which I worked on with the Campus Ledger, the student newspaper at Johnson County Community College. The groovy thing about the award is that this is the second year in a row the Campus Ledger has won! The Campus Ledger also won a Pacemaker award, 3rd place for Special Sections, and Best of Show Award for a 2-year tabloid. We all worked really hard last year and I'm so proud of everyone. Working for the student newspaper was truly a great time and an unforgettable learning experience.

lhttp://studentpress.org/acp/winners/cartoon10.html

Congrats everyone! You are all awesome.

Influence Map

2010-09-07T01:30:00.001-05:00

I'm sure many of you artists out there are aware of the influence map that's been going around. A lot of artists are using this template to display their influences on their blogs and such. Thought I might take a stab at it. These are the most influential artists for me...

Carpet Monster

2010-09-04T18:20:00.000-05:00

So this is a quick illustration for one of my classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. The assignment was rather vague. Basically we were assigned to find a random object and create an illustration out of it. My fiance happened to have a box full of small carpet squares so I decided to use those to create a monster. This is also sort of a self portrait, hence the thick eyebrows. It seems that I'm running late to my morning classes quite often. It's not easy to make it in time when one lives twenty minutes away and has to battle morning traffic. Anyways, the objective for me was to best illustrate what's going on in my head during my long, traffic jammed drive to school. Plus, I like to draw monsters.

Wow, it's been almost a month...

2010-08-28T22:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted anything in almost a month. Just goes to show how busy things are around here. Our wedding is approaching quickly and there is still a ton to figure out. Busy, busy, busy.........

That doesn't mean that I haven't been working on stuff.

Here are a few of the many drawings I've done over the past few weeks. I'll post more as I find the time. The drawings consist of Baggar and a color version of Santos. You may recognize the drawing of Santos from a previous post. Anyways, hope everyone is having a good week out there.

Enjoy........

All Things Considered

2010-08-01T17:27:00.003-05:00

I enjoy listening to NPR while I'm working. As I listen to the radio programs, I often wonder what the person behind the microphone looks like. I decided to see how close I could get to the individual just by listening to his/her voice. Thought I'd start with the radio program called "All Things Considered", featuring the journalist Robert Siegel. Sort of close...I guess?

Time for something new

2010-07-30T13:55:00.002-05:00

So, the summer is starting to wind down, and panic attacks are starting to ensue. Now I need to look for a new job, finalize everything that I need for school, finish up last minute wedding details, finish the car repairs, and find some way to pay for a Pac Book Pro. Looks like I'll need to do this all in about a month. Yeeeesh!

I'm sort of in fight or flight mode, and I'm going to fight this till the bitter end, muhahahaha.

Anyways, while in the midst of all this life organizing, I've started hitting the drawing board pretty hard. I've picked up where I left off in relation to my story "Skyline", which now needs to be renamed. A movie is coming out soon with the same title. I'd hate for there to be any confusion.

I've been doing tons of development drawings over the past couple weeks for "Skyline" and I've finally hit a brick wall. I am seeing nothing fresh with the drawings I've created lately, which means that I may need a change of pace. I've been working so hard on "Skyline" that I haven't been drawing anything else. I think I need to take a break and enjoy drawing. To not think too much and just draw. That's what I enjoy doing most anyways. Sometimes I think too much when I'm drawing and it stops being fun. If I'm not having fun drawing, than I'm not making good art.

I thought I'd share some of what I've done over the past few weeks. Skyline became too complicated and a good friend advised me to tell a more simple story. I think that's exactly what I'm going to do for a bit. Here are some of the research drawings and concepts I've done over the past few weeks.

Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments section. Would love to hear from those who check out this blog. : )

Wedding Invite Designs

2010-07-27T16:01:00.001-05:00

So, I have been doing tons of drawings over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, most of what I've been doing cannot be shown yet. It's all very secret! I'll give you a hint though. It involves an anthology comic with some friends.

Anyways, thought I'd share a couple of drawings I created for my fiance and I's wedding invites. These are just some rough designs. I'll post the final image real soon. We are almost two months away. OH BOY!!!!!!

I Love You Lots-O-Snugglin' Bear

2010-07-11T00:32:00.000-05:00

Lots-O-Huggin' Bear from Toy Story 3 is probably one of my FAVORITE animated characters of all time. I just loved that guy. So much so, that my fiance put a Lots-O-Huggin' bear on our gift registry at Target.

I thought it might be fun to create another Lots-O bear that could be in the same toy line. This is a really quick sketch that I whipped up. His name is Lots-O-Snugglin' bear and he smells like Downy sheets.

Monster Waiter

2010-07-10T15:33:00.002-05:00

So, I started waiting tables at one of the most prestigious country clubs in Kansas City again.
It was great to see all the old staff and the members. Some things have changed while most have stayed the same. While it felt good to see everyone again, the annoyance of waiting tables settled in rather quickly. I guess that's life though, so you'll hear no complaining from me. Instead, you'll experience my frustrations with illustrations featuring this guy. That is, when things get really crazy. He's a monster waiter. Don't make him angry, he may just eat you up!

Miscellaneous Skyline Characters

2010-06-28T01:02:00.001-05:00

I've taken a long break from Skyline and have just recently started getting back into the swing of things. These are character designs of some new characters for the story. There is also a drawing of a young Santos. I generally like to start with the face before I start to conceive the body. Actually, I tend to work everything out in my head while I'm working on the face so when it's time to draw the character in full figure, I basically know which direction to go. Of course there are always several changes but starting with the face tends to give me the direction I need with the characters.

I love drawing monsters!!!!!!

2010-06-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

Drawing monsters is so much fun because there is no wrong or right way to draw them. They can be whatever you want them to be.

Kid Concepts

2010-06-14T23:36:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning work on a story reel that will feature some kiddos. I tried drawing them without a reference but they were not as interesting as I hoped they would be. It soon became necessary to dive back into my childhood to understand the shapes of kids. This meant using photographs as a reference. The first two concept drawings are of my niece and nephew. The last one is of myself. Hope you like.

Toy Story 3 article in the KC Star

2010-06-14T15:51:00.002-05:00

If you are like me, than you are way excited for Toy Story 3 this weekend. The Kansas City Star featured a pretty good article about the film and Pixar Animation Studios. Well worth the read.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/12/2007792/toy-story-3-probably-will-continue.html

Michael Sporn's Blog

2010-06-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

If you have not already, you absolutely must check out Michael Sporn's blog. He has been posting some amazing illustrations from artists such as Marc Davis, Rowland B. Wilson, and Wallace Tripp. http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/

Wedding Invites for Friends!

2010-06-13T13:24:00.002-05:00

My fiance and I's friends, Jeff and Kris, are getting married and they asked us to design the wedding invitations. They have recently found enlightenment within the religion of Buddhism and want us to reflect that in the invitation. They specifically wanted a bodhi tree as the main image. Here are a few designs that I worked up for them.

We didn't want to actually replicate the bodhi tree because we felt that it's unique shape would not lend itself well to the overall design of the card and the style that they wanted. So they are sort of bodhi variations and experiments. All of the trees were created with ink and the leaves were created digitally using Photoshop.

Wedding Stress!

2010-06-13T01:02:00.000-05:00

This is a quick sketch of how I've been feeling over the past few weeks. My fiance and I have kicked the wedding planning into high gear and its become more and more stressful as the days progress. We are almost three months away and yet, we are still in need of finalizing sooooooo many things. Ugh, I am so very tired of meeting with vendors and I had a near panic attack when registering at Pryde's. For those of you who are not from this area, Pryde's is a huge store that carries every single cooking gadget and such you could think of. It really is an amazing place and the people who work there are stellar. Grrrrr...anyways, I just had to get this bit of stress and anxiety out. I feel much better now. Can't wait till it's all said and done. It's going to be great.

Dodge City Comic Show

2010-06-12T23:31:00.001-05:00

This is my contribution to an art show taking place in Dodge City this coming week. The theme for the show is comics. It's been extremely hectic around here so this is all I've managed to squeeze out. I'm most familiar with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in relation to comics. I hope you like.

Sorry about the poor picture quality. The illustration is rather large so I had to take a picture with my cell phone.

More Skyline Concept Sketches

2010-06-01T14:42:00.000-05:00

I'm trying kick it into high gear with Skyline but it seems I'm falling behind a bit. Life is kinda getting in the way a bit. I'll hopefully have more to post here soon. These a few character designs. One is of a new character (who has yet to be named) and the other is of Baggar who is mostly 100% designed. Baggar is a lot of fun for me to draw and a rather complex character.

Sharks!

2010-05-30T18:46:00.000-05:00

Weekend Skyline Sketches

2010-05-29T16:09:00.008-05:00

Quick Cloud Studies for Skyline (update)

2010-05-10T00:47:00.001-05:00

These are some quick studies of the skies of Skyline. This bottom image is a new digital painting. I referenced this one more heavily because I am trying to study the shapes and colors of the clouds in more depth. Clearly this is not something that I can just make up. I used cloud references for the top two as well in addition to references of rock formations. Skyline is basically a western in the air, so I want the clouds to emulate the landscape of a western. These thumbnails are examples of my learning process.

Midwest Association for Professional Animators

2010-05-07T19:07:00.000-05:00

For those of you who live in the Kansas City Metro area and are interested in animation, you should check out this new local organization called MAPA (Midwest Association for Professional Animators). They have high hopes for animation in Kansas City which is great because animation runs deep within the history of KC. Ahem, Walt Disney anyone? Anyways, the group holds a meeting every month at various locations. Check out MAPA's blog for more information on animation!

http://mapanim.blogspot.com/

(sniff sniff) Final Skyline Comic for the Ledger

2010-05-04T23:00:00.002-05:00

So here is the final comic for the Campus Ledger. It has been a blast working on this thing for the past two years.

It was really difficult coming up with an ending for this storyline. Half way through this semester I realized how difficult it is for readers to follow a bi-weekly serial comic. Not only that, but the life of a student is demanding and those demands take precedent over story telling at times. I wish I could have spent more time fleshing things out. That said, I was sort of limited in relation to any type of story I could tell. I did the best I could and in the end I'm proud of the work I've done. I'm ready to hit Skyline hard now, which is why I will not continue the Storm Riders storyline after this semester. I'm ending it on a cliffhanger. Sorry, but I have grander stories to tell with Skyline! You just wait and see!!!!

The End at the Campus Ledger

2010-05-04T22:39:00.000-05:00

So today marks an historic day for me. Today I conclude my service as an Illustrator with the Campus Ledger, the student newspaper for Johnson County Community College. This is a position I've held for the past two years. It seems really strange to be finishing up my work here and moving on to new places. I want to thank the Campus Ledger for everything! I am really proud of our little newspaper for it has won national acclaim which is a big deal for a 2-year school. We have competed against some of the heavy hitters in 4 year schools and have come out victorious.

Here are a couple of my final illustrations for the newspaper.

Concept Work: Brothers

2010-04-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

These are real quick concept sketches that I created for a couple of new characters in Skyline. They are brothers. I'll reveal more as the story develops.

Campus Ledger Illustrations

2010-04-29T12:04:00.001-05:00

Here is some of the work I've created for our student newspaper. These are always tough because the work is most often always created on the fly. Just the nature of newspaper illustration I guess. That said, I always wish I had more time to work things out. Still, I'm very pleased with my work with the Ledger. It's been fun the past two years.

Sculpture Professor

2010-04-27T00:42:00.000-05:00

This is a caricature I created of my sculpture professor Mark Cowardin. I took the sculpture class last semester and really enjoyed the experience. Mark is a great teacher and a learned a lot about sculpture. Mostly I learned my art is more geared towards the 2-D aspect than the 3-D. Still, I enjoyed the class. Who doesn't like welding with an electric current?

Here is a link for more info about Mark and his work.

http://www.sculpture.org/portfolio/sculptorPage.php?sculptor_id=1000358

A Few Gestures

2010-04-26T21:15:00.000-05:00

Cool but Rude

2010-04-26T21:00:00.000-05:00

Baggar

2010-04-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a sketch I did of Baggar. Seems to be kind of snarling or something. Typical Baggar.

Weekend Sketch: Santos

2010-04-25T16:51:00.004-05:00

It's been sort of dreary around town lately. Naturally this type of weather tends to make one feel lethargic. I decided to do some sketches so that I may feel productive. This is one sketch that I did of Santos. I plan on working on a pretty big story this summer in relation to Skyline and Santos's character is starting to play a more important role.

Samurai Snapper!

2010-04-22T16:52:00.002-05:00

Campus Ledger Newspaper is #1 in the State of Kansas!

2010-04-22T13:27:00.008-05:00

The Campus Ledger, official student newspaper took home a record 40 individual awards and the All-Kansas Award at the state conference in Hutchinson, Kansas this past weekend. Congrats to the entire staff. We've all worked really hard this year. The Campus Ledger also swept all illustration and cartooning awards. Way to go team!

Sorry if the brightness is higher than usual in this issue. We wanted to see how this would affect the printing on newsprint. This is a battle we've been fighting from the very beginning. I apologize if this blows out your eyes on your monitor.

Who Wants to Have a Dance Party? (Update 2)

2010-04-21T22:48:00.006-05:00

Young Baggar

2010-04-18T00:10:00.002-05:00

I did this quick sketch of Baggar as a young pilot trainee and thought I'd color it in. He sure had a lot of hair way back when.

Peacocks are dumb (Update)

2010-04-17T18:41:00.004-05:00

This may be one of the strangest drawings anyone has ever asked me to do. It is for a good friend of mine who is about to have a family reunion and needed a comical version of their family crest for a t-shirt. Apparently his crest consists of a peacock but his family also wanted the peacock to be holding a Guinness and clutching cigars in it's feet while sitting atop a viking helmet. This was so funny that I couldn't say no. I was imagining grandma wearing a t-shirt with this image on it. As I started working on the illustration I quickly realized something. I really do not like peacocks...at all. I actually despise this bird. Go figure. These birds better stay away from me the next time I go to the Zoo if they know what's good for them!

(Update) Here is the final image!

Life Drawing Sketch

2010-04-11T16:29:00.002-05:00

I did the sketch for an animation I am working on.

Blog Plug

2010-04-09T23:45:00.004-05:00

One of my best buddies who is an animator in KC has started blogging. Check out some of his work...

bryasaurusrex-tales.blogspot.com

Also, our friend Jeff is an amazingly talented photographer and his site is well worth your attention.

www.witchdoctorvisions.com

Enjoy!

New Skyline

2010-04-07T15:41:00.002-05:00

Here is the latest addition to the Storm Riders storyline. There are some inconsistency's with this page and the last one. The big one is Santos's sword. I wasn't happy with the design of his sword in the last issue. I'm still working on the design so it might change again. To me, creating the back page comic is like practicing to shoot free throws. I'm taking this opportunity to learn from my mistakes so I can tell an even better story. When I finish with the Ledger I'll start on a new story for Skyline and these characters. It's going to be a lot of fun. To give you a hint, think Jaws in the sky...

Freedom's Frontier

2010-03-31T18:52:00.002-05:00

So I did this real quick story reel for a group called Freedom's Frontier. The goal for this group is to create local museums for their historical towns located in Kansas and Missouri. This was a huge challenge but it was also a lot of fun. It was challenging in that I only had a few weeks to draw all of these story boards and put them together in a reel in addition to school and the newspaper. Also, the information was so dense that I had to really work the material to get a nice flow. I think the music helps in telling the story. The opening belongs to Aaron Copland (who I love) and the end belongs to John Williams (Amistad). Don't worry fellas, no one is making a profit off your music. My only beef is that I used imovie to put together the reel. This was the first time I've ever done something like this so the challenge was rather fun. That said, getting this particular program to do what I wanted it to do was bone crushing. I think this could have been a lot better if I had more time to learn the program. Still, I'm proud of the work and I hope Freedom's Frontier enjoys it.

BAM! New comic

2010-03-24T00:43:00.003-05:00

Here's the latest issue of Skyline. Man I tell ya, I love working on this thing and I really appreciate the opportunity given to me by the Campus Ledger. That said, I'm beginning to succumb to the difficulty of writing a serial comic that is one page and appears bi-weekly. It is really difficult to tell a story this way and I' beginning to feel that a lot of people reading the comic are completely lost. I've been doing my best to keep things interesting but it's really difficult when the paper comes out every other week. I am honestly having an absolute blast working on Skyline and have learned so much. Maybe its just mid-semesteritous getting the best of me. Skyline will continue even after the end of the semester. I'll have to revamp the way the story is structured but until then...

TMNT Drawing

2010-03-22T19:21:00.005-05:00

I did this TMNT sketch during class today. For some reason I find that I retain more information during a lecture while drawing. This was done in my notebook with a basic pen.

Animated Self-Portrait

2010-03-22T19:05:00.001-05:00

Santos Sketches

2010-03-21T16:52:00.007-05:00

Here are some sketches that I did for Skyline this weekend. I'm ahead on the comic so I thought I'd take a break and do some character design stuff. I may post more later this week. These are drawings of Santos. Seems like I've been doing nothing but WACOM drawings lately so I decided to pick up a pen and draw on paper which was very nice and relaxing. Hope you enjoy. : )

The Mayor of Pickletown

2010-03-10T23:57:00.000-06:00

Donnie's Dragon

2010-02-27T10:55:00.002-06:00

I baby sat my niece and nephew yesterday which was a lot of fun. We watched Beauty and the Beast, Clone Wars, Naruto and played Mario Kart. Pretty much what I do if I have spare time. Anyways, I showed my nephew, who is seven, how do use Photoshop and a WACOM tablet. This is what he came up with. A dragon! How cool.

Skyline: The Storm Riders - Episode 3

2010-02-25T16:28:00.001-06:00

Paintings

2010-02-19T14:21:00.004-06:00

Drawings

2010-02-19T14:17:00.005-06:00

Lori Lovegood

2010-02-19T00:05:00.002-06:00

Lori Lovegood will be absent from this semester of Skyline. That doesn't mean she won't eventually play a role in "The Storm Riders" story line. I wanted to introduce Frankie sense she is just as important of a character as the impulsive Lori. That said, all of the Skyline stories written for the Campus Ledger are basic introduction stories. I'm basically trying to build the characters and interest in the story. The more juicy parts won't come till later, when we finally meet Hina, our main character. Seems kind of strange that I haven't introduced her yet, right? Well, her story in relation to our four fighter pilots is too dense to have it portrayed as a back page comic for our newspaper. I would need more space and time to tell our main story. Instead, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into this world and show you some of the characters that live in it. It is very hard to tell a story in a paper that comes out every two weeks. That said, I'm very proud of what has been accomplished and I hope that everyone is enjoying it!

Yeti

2010-02-19T00:02:00.003-06:00

Here is a Yeti character I created over the summer last year. I pictured the Yeti to be a wondering sage spreading wisdom to anyone who came across him.

Paintings

2010-02-18T23:56:00.004-06:00

My friend John, who is our photo editor for the Campus Ledger, was awesome enough to photograph some of my artwork. Thanks John! Also, I promise I'm not as morbid as my work my make me appear. I'm a very happy guy : ).

Studies for New Painting

2010-02-16T23:42:00.003-06:00

Cover Illustration.

2010-02-12T15:40:00.005-06:00

So our campus newspaper, The Campus Ledger, is a bi-weekly newspaper which is nice because it allows more time to do good work. Sometimes it can be rather stressful and I can find my self with very little time to get something done. Such is the case with this last issue.
I received a call early Tuesday morning from my editor Matt. He notified me of a last minute decision to make the front cover of the newspaper an illustration rather than a photo-illustration. He told me that he was not satisfied with the way the initial photo-illustration turned out and needed something on the fly. Generally I'm OK with this type of a scenario because this rarely happens and I know how important the cover is to our team. My only concern was the fact that I had a painting to finish and an Art History quiz to study for. My quiz was in the morning and my painting was due that afternoon. I really wasn't sure if I could pull through. To be honest, the success of the illustration lied with my editor Matt, production editor Rob, and my fiance Whitney.
Both Matt and Rob had a crystal clear idea of what they wanted. They gave me a description of the cover that I could clearly see in my head. This helps A TON! It is hard for me to draw anything if I don't see it in my head. Their idea was so right that I could not say no. Plus, this is all part of the job and I am more than happy to help them out of they need me. I honestly think that they have been running one of the best college newspapers in the country.
Then, my fiance Whitney was awesome in modeling for me. No, she looks nothing like a nerdy cherub. Still, I couldn't have done this without her help.
Because of everyone's help I was able to bust out an illustration within a matter of hours. One of the best parts of having a job like mine is the collaboration. I really enjoyed working on this and having the pressure to get it in on time. Thanks Matt and Rob for your faith and thanks Whitney for your support.
I think everyone who worked on this issue deserves a round of applause. It turned out great!

The Storm Riders: Episode 2

2010-02-11T17:11:00.002-06:00

You'll notice that the background is much different than the issue prior to this one. I was experimenting a bit with that issue's background. In the end I thought the original way I colored the background looked better. Enjoy!

Entropia

2010-02-07T13:34:00.004-06:00

Before I started working on Skyline I had another story idea called Entropia. This story took place on another planet and followed a private eye by the name of Hank Murdock. The story was a lot of fun to work on and a good learning experience but in the end I decided to put it on the creative shelf. Most of the themes of Entropia represent who I was at a certain time. Things have changed in my life pretty signifiacntly and now the story has very little resonance within me. I may come back to it at a certain time but right now I'm focused on making Skyline the best it can be.

More Painting Studies

2010-02-01T08:55:00.004-06:00

These studies were created in relation to my last post. I'll explain everything when the piece is completed.

Study for Painting

2010-01-31T15:44:00.002-06:00

This is a study for a painting that I am working on for my Workshop class. The piece was done in Photoshop using WACOM.

Good old San

2010-01-30T16:08:00.002-06:00

Santos

2010-01-30T16:00:00.002-06:00

Quick study I did for Santos one day.

Evolution of the Party

2010-01-27T22:19:00.008-06:00

This is an illustration that I created for our campus newspaper, the Campus Ledger. The article is about the evolution of the "party" over the years. They wanted an illustration that spoofed the classic evolution poster by featuring a character getting more and more intoxicated until he finally boards the porcelain taxi. This was a lot of fun to illustrate and a must give a shout out to my future sister-in-law for posing for the initial gestures. I couldn't have done this without her. Thanks Kelsey : ).

The complete 09' Fall Semester comic, Skyline: Fight or Flight

2010-01-27T17:08:00.008-06:00

Special Sneek Peek of Riders in the Sky: Episode 1 (Update Number 6/FINAL!)

2010-01-17T16:58:00.012-06:00

This is the extremely rough version of Riders. All done with a WACOM in photoshop. Still working on it so you'll have to pardon all the mistakes. I'll keep updating this page as we get to the final. Enjoy.

Talespin comics

2010-01-16T14:01:00.005-06:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to this great site that has posted a bunch of old "Talespin" comics in a .zip file. They are a great resource and are worth your time. Enjoy

http://prettysideofpain.ketnar.org/tsgoodies.html

New Character: Cougar

2010-01-15T23:03:00.003-06:00

Cougar is supposed look, well, like a Cougar. For some reason when I think cougar I think Terri Hatcher. Still, this character needs to be more caricatured.

New Character: Curley

2010-01-15T22:55:00.007-06:00

This new semester of Skyline will showcase three new characters. Here are some concepts of Curley. I wanted him to have an appearance of a bad guy you'd maybe see in an 80's movie.

New Skyline for a New Semester (update with more drawings)

2010-01-15T21:56:00.016-06:00

So a new semester is heading our way, which means a whole new semester of Skyline. I've been redesigning some of the characters as well as creating new ones. I'm pretty busy hammering this thing out and just finished the script yesterday. I'll post more on the process and revelations later. Right now, enjoy some character designs of the Baggar.

Baggar's design is based on an old drinking buddy of mine. I wasn't satisfied with the work I did on this character last year. It is necessary that he look more like my friend in relation to his character. These are some of my attempts at redesigning him. These are quick roughs to loosen up and explore his character. The images at the top are more finalized designs. Enjoy.

New Year, New Drawings

2010-01-06T00:17:00.005-06:00

Some new drawings in my digital life drawing series.

More Digital Life Drawings

2009-12-12T00:40:00.006-06:00

Digital Life Drawing 2

2009-12-11T11:13:00.004-06:00

I experimented with flat value rather than painting with just a local color.

Mary Cassatt...My inspiration

2009-12-11T11:07:00.011-06:00

Embracing the Digital Medium

2009-12-11T10:39:00.009-06:00

For the longest time I've been against doing work completely in the computer. To me, it felt mechanical and meaningless. The only artist that I know of that can truly create digital fine art is that of my professor Larry Thomas. His work is digital yet, it is still tactile and created with integrity. One can feel the human hand rather than the machine. This is a quality that I admire greatly in his work.
So the other day I started thinking about the digital medium and how I could apply it to my art. I obviously use photoshop to create the comic. Honestly, I have felt extremely uncomfortable using photoshop. It just doesn't have that tactile quality that I love about drawing on paper. All of a sudden a light went off in my head. The answer was so obvious. It doesn't feel tactile because IT IS A COMPUTER! What I mean is that the computer has it's own feeling, it's own way of being tactile which I should embrace. I would often use brushes in photoshop to try and hide the fact that the artwork was being done in the computer. Lately I've been wanting to create art that LOOKS LIKE IT COMES FROM THE COMPUTER. Something flat and bold. I wanted do some digital life drawing to see if I could pull this off and I've loved the process. Working in the computer has never been so much fun. Granted, what I figured out isn't exactly new or revolutionary still, when one discovers things like this for themselves, one tends to get overly excited. My main source of influence for these pieces is that of the artist Mary Cassatt and of Japanese wood prints. One thing that I've often discussed with my best bud, Brian Timmins, is that things don't always need to look "nice and neat" when creating digital artwork. Sometimes I feel like artwork can be "finished" to death. I find this happens to me a lot in my artwork. I was going for imperfection and simplicity rather than extreme detail or something that looked photo realistic. Also, in a way, this is my response to all the wonderful UPA styled pin-up girls that I've seen drawn for the past ten years. Though I love that style and all the artists who create those drawings, I wanted to do something different. Anyways, that's my thought process. I'll be sure to do tons more. I hope you enjoy.

Master Replicas: Sargent Studies and more

2009-11-15T01:27:00.007-06:00

Sculpture Design

2009-11-15T01:21:00.002-06:00

These are some designs for my wax sculpture.

Halloween Illustration

2009-11-09T00:21:00.003-06:00

This illustration was featured in issue 5 of the Campus Ledger. It was accompanying an article about haunted houses in the city. The illustration was done sort of on the fly. My production manager wanted an illustration that could be playful with the text of the page. We brainstormed the idea and came up with a monster tearing through the page. This illustration easily became my favorite illustration that I've done for the news paper. In a way, it allowed me to be my-self. I love working on the comic, but the process can become very tiresome. In the end, I do not feel the comics retain the looseness of the drawing that I strive so hard to keep. Plus, I really only know so much about photoshop. I try to approach photoshop in more of a painterly way. I'm less concerned with making everything crisp and perfect. This illustration really allowed my to be loose and free. The entire drawing was created completely in photoshop.

Happy Halloween - Werewolf

2009-10-31T15:18:00.002-05:00

I did this pretty quickly. Nothing to write home to mom about. Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Hina Studies

2009-10-20T23:04:00.006-05:00

These are quick studies of the character Hina who has yet to make her appearance in the comic this semester. She is still in the design faze and i'm trying to figure out the best age for her. She was originally intended to be around 18 or so. I decided to make her younger in contrast to the older characters. I still haven't figured out the right age for her yet but I'm thinking more along the lines of 8 or 9.

BLAMMO.....The Blog Of Jason Groh: Great Design is everywhere!

2009-09-28T22:57:00.000-05:00

BLAMMO.....The Blog Of Jason Groh: Great Design is everywhere!

Check out this great site!

Finally someone posts with love of animation and animation design rather than criticism! Thanks for sharing the inspiration.

Michelangelo Studies

2009-09-02T01:09:00.005-05:00

These are drawings based on sculptures created by the great Michelangelo. Life drawing sessions are hard to come by here in Kansas City. Not sure when Dr. Sketchy's is going to start up again. Hopefully sooooooooooooooon.

Birthday Adventure at the Kansas City Zoo

2009-09-02T00:39:00.013-05:00

Monster

2009-08-04T23:51:00.004-05:00

This drawing pretty much sums up how I felt at work today.

Dinos

2009-08-04T17:11:00.003-05:00

Doodles

2009-08-04T17:08:00.002-05:00

Hairy Bug Creature

Cupcake Monster

Skyline Character Concept Sketches: Hina

2009-08-01T18:24:00.002-05:00

Main character in skyline. She is much younger in the story than the drawing represents. This is a version of her when she is a bit older.

Skyline Character Concept Sketches: Captain Timmins

2009-08-01T18:23:00.002-05:00

Skyline Character Concept Sketches: Frankie

2009-08-01T18:21:00.000-05:00

Skyline Character Concept Sketches: Santos

2009-08-01T18:17:00.005-05:00

Another work doodle

2009-07-31T20:37:00.001-05:00

Work Doodle

2009-07-30T17:39:00.001-05:00

Did this at work. I have no idea where I found the time.

Skyline Character Concept Sketches: Lori Lovegood

2009-07-30T00:00:00.006-05:00

Concept sketches for Lori Lovegood, a main character in Skyline.

Monster Sketches

2009-07-29T23:50:00.001-05:00

Baggar

2009-07-29T23:20:00.003-05:00

Baggar is one of the main characters in my comic, Skyline. This was the first drawing that I did of him where I felt I has heading in the right direction. His design is actually based off of an old friend that I used to work with.

Skyline

2009-07-29T23:01:00.001-05:00

In just a few weeks a new semester will start and a brand new year working for our campus newspaper, The Campus Ledger, will begin.

I am returning to create the back page comic for the Ledger. Last year was the first time I've ever created a comic and had it published. It was an incredibly daunting task and to make matters worse, I was still developing the story I was trying to tell. Nothing in my head at that point was truly 100 %. I decided that the best way to get around that issue was to write a prologue about the story. It was a lot of trial and error, mostly error, but the knowledge that I gained was great and now I'm ready to go back and truly tell a great story.

My best bud Brian's wife is collaborating with me and helping me write the story. She is an incredible writer and I feel extremely privileged to have her help. My girlfriend Whitney is also lending her expertize with the layout and typography. I like to refer to Whit as the "closer" because she is the last person to touch the work and she always pluses the work to a much higher degree than I cold have asked for.

Above are concept sketches. The world takes place on a planet consumed by sky. There is absolutely no ground to be seen and everyone travels using airplanes similar to those fought in WWII. I'll explain more as I post more images.

I was really treating the sky more as a landscape and I studied the landscapes of Utah and Arizona to try and get sort of a western feel. To me the clouds represented mountain ranges that would constantly move.

Oscar's Book

2009-07-27T00:44:00.001-05:00

Oscar's book was my favorite Sesame Street book growing up. I think I ruined it by ripping the pages out and drawing all over the remaining ones.

Oscar was always my favorite because I felt that he was the only character that kept things "real" on the show. Sometimes Big Bird needed to be brought back down a peg or two, you know? If not, then he's liable to run away from Sesame Street and live with some random dodos, get kidnapped by some guy who owns a traveling circus, and will find himself painted blue. So it is a good thing Oscar is around.

I feel and look like Osacr a lot of the times when I get off of work.

Childhood Monsters

2009-07-26T23:29:00.001-05:00

I was terrified of my Stay Puffed Marshmellowman action figure when I was a wee little tyke. Eventually he became my favorite part of the film.

I have a hard time watching him get blasted at the end of the film. Most times I just look away. RIP Mr. Stay Puffed.