Wrapping up 2008

I didn't think I'd get another illustration in for the year, but I really wanted to do a self portrait for 2008, since I didn't do any in 2007. Well, here it is! It looks just a touch manlier than I look in real life (oops), but I'm actually happy with it other than that -- but let's see how I feel about it in 2009, a.k.a. tomorrow.

I don't know why, but I just had so much fun doing this picture. It was one of those moments where I felt like I was starting to learn how to draw. ^_^

Too many birds!

The Carolina parakeet was the only parrot native to the United States. Sadly, the species is now extinct. This illustration is just a bird lover's fantasy of a place where parrots are as plentiful as the leaves on a tree.

I actually first got this picture in my head during my sophomore year of college, when we were assigned to do an illustration for a charity. At the time, though, I knew I couldn't pull it off. So three years later, I finally decided to give it a shot!

Another "new" illustration

I originally did the rough pencil sketch for this back in college, but I never carried it through to the finished version. So this week I did some editing to the sketch and then finished it up! It's an illustration of a rain goddess of sorts. When she cries, it rains.

"Storm Clouds"


When I get a chance, I'll probably add it to the "portfolio" page on my website.

Recent and Semi-Recent Stuffs

Here's a bit of what I've been up to, from newest to oldest. (Click the images to see them larger.)

Wood Fairy


This one, finished yesterday, is a little drawing of a wood fairy. I wanted to play around with camouflage, and I was mildly amused by the idea of Spanish moss as hair, so I threw that in as well.


Portrait of Pogo


Just because I was going through digital painting withdrawal... It's been cropped in, hence the wacky composition.

Sexy Man Roll


This quickie illustration was done in honor of a friend. It's named after a kind of sushi we saw advertised at a restaurant in Sarasota. It of course incorporates the famous twin brothers Julius and Mason.

"Natures" Sketches


And finally, some more flying ferrets. These are some character sketches for a story I'm working on, which takes place in the real world as well as in a world where souls or "natures" dwell. Each character is depicted in both worlds, and the activities of their human forms impact their souls.

While most of the souls/natures are a bit fantastical in appearance, they're still mostly humanoid overall -- with the exception of this character, whose soul is a Chinese dragon-like flying ferret. ^_^

I plan to do a full illustration of this ferret-creature in the near future, once I get the design nailed down.

A few sketches from last weekend

Just a few sketches from Labor Day weekend. I went to Sarasota and got to see my awesome friends who are still down south. (Best weekend ever!) It's always great being around people who inspire you to keep making artwork, despite any kind of grueling daily routine that may get in the way.


Concept sketch for Unholy. I'm working on redesigning the environment, this being Remi's church (disguised as a supermarket).



I hadn't drawn Annie for awhile, so I figured I'd do a quick little sketch of her and Pogo. She's one of the few thieves who outrank him in terms of skill!


And a random little thing I scribbled while waiting to board the plane back to Chicago. Because who wouldn't want a giant flying ferret that they could take with them to the beach?

Unholy - Character Redesigns

I lost a good chunk of my high-res layered comic pages in a hard drive crash, so I figured that if I'm gonna have to redo a bunch of pages, I might as well redo them way better. So I'm going back and redesigning everything with more of a critical mindset, including both the characters and the environments. The goal is to get the look and style of the comic much more defined.

I had some rather interesting inspirations for these new designs, but they're definitely more suited to the general mood that I always intended for this story. I'll eventually put these up on my actual website, but I don't have time right at the moment.

(click images to see them larger)



And individually:

This is what I do with my spare time

I've been very busy with work for the past three months, and it's taken me awhile to get used to the schedule, and especially the commute. I find that I don't have much time to myself at all, but luckily I'm finally adjusting and am getting better at finding moments when I can do some artwork.

This weekend I just wanted to do a quick piece to get back in the swing of things. And it turned out... well... um... ^_^



What's really scary is that this isn't even the first human/sausage illustration I've done! Anyway, I'm gonna get back into doing some "prettier" and more fully rendered art in the future, as well as getting back into Unholy!!!