Oh Crazy

Hello all, it has been a few busy days but I am back. This lovely lady was one of the images that was in the "Music" book I had on hand at Staple. My whole intention was to make it a very bright soft piece. Most people think of crazy as a dark place so I wanted to do the opposite. Why is it that when you see crazy people you rarely see them not smiling... I ponder.

Picture Perfect Smile!

Not much I can say about this other than "in the works". Oh and no those are not octopus arms on the sides, just an attempt to frame the portrait. Very excited about the project and will reveal more as time comes.

THUNDER!

In the category of "80's characters that Dave has drawn and I colored his work without asking first" is this Lion-O piece done a few years back. It is one of those, "Hey look what I found in the attic." I know it is not a new piece by definition but it is new to the world. Much like the recent Ninja Turtles piece I posted earlier, this was a drawing that Dave drew and I just had to add colors to it. As like the turtles, I was glad to see that he took to my colors. So far, so good. Maybe I should get a hold of a Skeletor from Dave....

Munny Z

WOW, I can honestly say that this was months in the making... and it was finally done in one night. A friend of mine gave me a Munny as a gift from her fantastic New York voyage and it has been sitting there since late last year. It wasn't lack of time it was fear. I did the mistake of looking up Munny art on the web and what I found blew me away. At that point I thought there was nothing to the creative extreme that I could produce. Months later the planets aligned, there was zombie in the brain and brushes on hand and I went to town. The End.

Punk!

"just you and me punk rock GIRL!" Oh The Dead Milkmen always a playlist favorite. If memory serves me right I believe the request was made after he saw the one in the art book I had. Luckily he isn't an Avril fan either and was pleased with the final product.

Grease?

And back to the sketches. I really had a lot of allowance on this one, no real request more of a surprise me. Started drawing away and I new I wanted to go totally blonde since most of the request were of dark haired ladies. Interesting enough, my wife made a comparison to Sandy from Grease. All accidental I can assure everyone.

TNMT

Okay I thought maybe there can be a break with the convention sketches and show some recent work. What you are seeing is an original piece from Dave Olivarez Jr. of the Turtles. So what did I do? The colors. I had gotten a hold of the original and he asked me to add the logo on the back ground and um I kind of added color too. Luckily he liked what I had done. What started off as me just having fun adding the old cartoon/basic color with shadow touch ended up being a piece that took me back to cartoons and cereal. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® are registered trademarks of Mirage Studios USA. Based on characters and comic books created by Peter A. Laird and Kevin B. Eastman.

Medusa

Not that I ever get tired of illustrating various versions of Goth Grrl or Alice but it is nice to get something totally new and unexpected. In this case I was asked for Medusa. I think the challenge was to get the snakes just right. She may be on the prettier side but hey if you new she looked like the one in Clash of the Titans, would you even bother looking?

Music in the Brain

One of the earlier quick sketches requested at the convention. The original thought when doing the sketch was to continue the work that was in the art book already and it never hurts to add Goth Grrl into the mix.

Scarlet

Here is another lovely lady requested as a quick sketch at Staple!. I think there is a handful more of quick sketches left and then I promise to move on to the newer images that I have been working on. Rumor has it that the finale of Lonely in Black right is around the corner!

First at show

Oh Alice! This quick "Alice Andy Interpretation" sketch was actually the first request I had at the show. When the individual was asked what the piece should be, they looked over at the print I was selling at the show and responded, "her". Ask and it shall be done. Although in closer observation it kind of looks like Alice played by Goth Grrl from Lonely In Black...

Say Cheese!

Here is a quick sketch I did for a Staple! attendee this past Saturday. When asked what he would like drawn on the back of the art book, he took a moment to think and said what about me! A smile later it was done. Had fun with this one, I couldn't stop smiling the while time, it was contagious.

James & Heather

Year after year we are pleasantly surprised to see James and Heather at Staple! and I have to say that you could not meet nicer people out there. They have always been loyal supporters of Lonely in Black and really anything that we have done to date. I had always said that if I only had one person out there pick up my stuff and enjoy it, it would all be worth doing it again. In this case, two people! Shows like Staple! give us creators and artist opportunities to meet interesting people and in rare occasions make good friends. See you next year!

Look Out! Sock Monster!

Back from Staple and I must say that it was an awesome experience as always. Unlike previous years this one was a little different because I even did the after party and participated on the live art show. I will definitely be updating the blog regularly with all the sketches I did at the show for some really nice folks.

Also I wanted to take the time to tell you all about this cool Kat in the photo. His name is Neil Brideau. I had the privilege of sharing a table with Neil at Staple!. Really nice guy and talented as well. I was actually eye balling one of his books that had a very interesting character on it and I could not resist adding my style to it. Neil is actually holding up the piece I did in honor of his "A Sock-Monster Collection" book. Hope I did your characters some justice Neil. Check out his work when you get a chance at http://www.fromthewell.info/.