Siegfried reimagined as Steampunk

Did some more work on my entry to the CG society contest for re imagining of a myth as something in Steampunk style.

It's too camouflaged to tell much about as this point but it's good enough to jump to digital for additional edits.

I'll make Siegfried smaller.

I revised the drawing. I still have more tweaks to do, but it will all be digital, photoshop forward

I have notes on it to look at "9". If you haven't seen it, it's a short by Shawn Acker, going to make a Tim Burton film. I'll embed it.



My title is a link to an MP3 of Joseph Campbell I wanted Krayonzilla to sample.

Now the title is a link to the CGSOCIETY contest I'm participating in.

Yankee Swap

This is a little sketch I did for a Yankee Swap/White Elephant gift party we are planning.

Art Rage Tracing

Picked up Art Rage for 20 bucks in target the other day. They have a free version that i've enjoyed playing with in the past. For 20 bucks you can't go wrong with this really full featured paint program.

I used their trace feature to see the results tracing Tom's zeppelin. It's amazing when it's really small and thumbnail how much it looks like the source. Very random. It could have obviously been done with more attention. I like the tracing feature because it force "painterly". Makes you think about how much detail you could leave out

Updated "Közelgõ Vihar" Airship for "Dread Naught" story

What you're seeing here is an updated "first pass" at the airship "Közelgõ Vihar" or Coming Storm" in Hungarian. The time frame is 1915. The world is locked in a global battle for power and territory and a visionary scientist must reclaim his journal of inventions, stolen years before, from a rival who is now using it to undermine the Allied nations.

Yoshii's Daily Monster Archive

Nice collection of monsters made by Japanese artist Hiroshi Yoshii, who crafts a new monster on an almost-daily basis. Excellent display of Modo skills. I'm currently learning and using Modo and it's a pretty darn cool tool. I especially like the 3D paint tools. If you have ever used Lightwave, the common opinion is that you will feel right at home with Modo.

Here's a link to Yoshii's blog. It's in Japanese, but there's some more good stuff there.

Wheelie

It's not Tuesday yet, but I felt like sharing something, so here's an old drawing with some color.

Cork banner

Hey. Just spent the evening coloring what could potentially be a Cork collection cover or website/blogsite banner. Tell me what you think... or don't and be just like Ellis! (grumble) Dumb ol' Ellis. (grrr)

Big Man Japan

For your consideration...

ExLibrisAnonymous sketchbooks arrived

Fun books. I think the novelty is worth a couple of extra bucks.

addl note : Thanks for the heads up Rick

Cork 12

Even though I have the new Cork Facebook site and whatnot I'll still post Cork here. Feel free to berate me at either location.

Preliminary color work on Gun Nose Sketch

Hey ... thought I should start looking up tutorials on color work and begin developing a strategy.

I'll finish this in the coming week, but thought I should share a bit.

Tuesday Sketch - Bubble Boy meets the Moops

Title is a link to THE OFFICIAL FANS OF CORK.

I'll delete the unofficial one now. Hopefully the Pope is able to figure out how to change his membership to the official one. That was quite an add.

Cork 11

Here's another Cork. I hope you enjoy it.

Gun Nose Concept

I am currently in talks with Dave Dorman to produce a pro turnaround of this character ... something should be shaking there next week. Until then, here is my home grown sketch of G.N.

Unique Sketchbooks

Click on the title of this post to find a website selling sketchbooks made out of the covers of old books... Just in time for Christmas!

Work in Progress

This is a big drawing that I'm working on... I will be adding color and perhaps making it a full painting.

Flaming Rabid Thing for Tuesday

Tuesday idea.

Title is a link to a cool animated film about the guy that started Honda motors. Can't remember his name

Cork 10

I LOVE not having to worry about the graphic novel anymore. No guilt during the whole holiday weekend as I finished off another Cork. I've already pencilled in Cork 11, all I have to do is ink it so hopefully you'll be seeing that soon as well. New characters afoot.

STNG VS SW

What I Should Have Invested In

While reading an old issue of Action Comics from 1966 last night, I was amused to read the following letter in the Metropolis Mailbag letters column. I was thirteen in 1966, and it would have been difficult, but not impossible, to scrape up $40.00 for the investment. But who knew back then? The scan of the 80 page Giant Superman is the comic to which the letter writer refers to.

Details about Shel

Krayonzilla just told me today he had talked to Shel and learned most of what is in this letter from Karyl Miller.....




Date: Friday, November 28, 2008, 4:36 PM

Thought you'd like to read this e-mail I just sent to Wardell Brown and Matt Lorentz. Please forward the information to Jackie Estrada, Jack White and Lynn Stedd, and any other friends of Shel. Thanks !
Hope you both had a fine Thanksgiving. Wanted to let you know that Shel has been at Sharp Hospital in Kearny Mesa since April......yes, April (!)
David Siegel called us Wednesday night about this, and Joan and I went down to Shel's home in OB on Thanksgiving where his brother Mike is moving everything out. I've known Mike since the 1980's, though it's been some 20 years since I've seen him.
Today Joan and I went with David Siegel to see Shel. He's lost some weight and is fragile, but we had a brief and friendly visit with him. He's extremely hard of hearing, and is apparently on pain medication but at least we were able to see him and he was glad to see us.
The head nurse told us Shel will never be well enough to go home again, but otherwise he's stable.
Mike plans to eventually move Shel closer to a hospital near Mike's apartment in L.A.
I wanted to let you both know about this first, as Shel had both of your autographed photos framed and hanging proudly on his living room wall. Mike gave them to me to return to you if you want them.
The visit to Shel's was pretty emotional , as the first job I ever had in San Diego was helping Shel with his lettering on "Steve Canyon", while Joan transcribed some of his interviews. We lived right around the corner from Shel from August 1983 to August 1987. I also made several trips to LA with Shel as unofficial photographer while he did his interviews, and got to meet some amazing people.
Shel is allowed to have visitors, and it would be great if you guys could get in to see him. Needless to say, we ALL owe Shel a huge amount of gratitude for the Comic-con, SCCS, and so many other things that brought us all together.
He's at Sharp Hospital 7901 Frost Street near the 163 and Balboa Avenue. He's on the sixth floor, in Room 656 Bed 1. The hospital phone is 858-939-3622. I'm pretty sure visiting hours are 11 AM- 8 PM, but call and check first.
I realize this news is hard to read, but at least Shel is still here to Thank in person.
My Best, Charlie Roberts

Hey Gang

FYI. Lost my gig this last Monday so I'll be having lots of time on my hands.

Champion

Howdy. Here are a couple of colored pages from my graphic novel "The Life , Death, and Life of Michael Midas: Champion." Jonny Rench did the colors and Jordan Gorfinkel is the writer. It's supposed to be out in February from Devil's Due Press.

It was kinda done in a pseudo "widescreen" format. Most frames go border to border. I wasn't allowed to do traditional layouts or break any of the panels in any of the flashback sequences (which is 95% of the book). It proved... challenging let's say.

They're going to release it in landscape format which will be cool. Every page was designed initially to have a gutter placed running through the center of it so it could possibly be chopped in half and positioned lengthwise side by side. This means the 128 page book is now doubled to 256 pages. It hilariously makes me look productive.

Hope you enjoy. If anyone is near Ellis punch him in the stomach for me. Thanks!

Cheap Vellum

I walked into a paper supply store and asked if they had vellum. It was mostly office supply. But the clerk sent me to the paper i used in these scans. 500 sheet ream for about 50 bucks. I'm going to Kinkos and have a couple of sketchbooks made out of it. 100 page sketchbooks and leave the rest of it loose.

The title is a link to the paper I bought. Really nice. Like tracing up through glass but a great tooth surface. I may do a little inking with my new medium

Happy Thanksgiving

This was to be further finessed for the Thanksgiving sports page's Turkey of the Year award. But, alas, the paper no longer needed my services or those of 35 other people. So this is my Thanksgiving sketch to all of you. Have a great T-day!

Cork 9

And lo, the angels wept with joy for I FINALLY FINISHED MY FRIGGIN' GRAPHIC NOVEL!
About bloody time! I will be showing you some excerpts from the book soon (including colored pages), but now that I'm finished it means I can finally get back to more Cork.
In fact, here's one now...

New Lulu Book

I turned my Students work into a Lulu ready PDF. 120 pages. But expensive since it is full color. The PDF download is free. I don't think the covers are included.

Title is a link.

It takes almost a minute for the preview of the book to show.

Scanner Working

So my home scanner seems to be better now than it was before the move... weird. At any rate, now I can start sharing some of my "Bus Sketches", such as this one. You can also see one at my own blog... (linked to title of post)

Life mag Photos

Time Life and Google project. More photos than you can surf through in a year.

Title is the link

Tony DeZuniga's Pin-Up ....

Here is another little sampling of the creative energy beginning to gather within this project ... From his vacation spot in the Philippines, Tony DeZuniga posted this pencil pin-up for Gun Nose Presents. Johnny B. will ink it as soon as he finished his third page of penciled inside art.

Nice, I say ...

Update on "Gun Nose Presents ..."

Here is what is currently the slate for the "Gun Nose Presents" comic book. I am doing an edit pass on the script, five stories, each three pages long ... and I should have that done this week. I will than send it out to the inside artists for review and discussion.

So far, my overall plan is to have the stories completed and inked by March of next year. Because my friend Johnny B. may need to take two non-art jobs to cover his living and child support expenses (a recent development ...) he will likely not be available to ink the book like I had planned. I have a backup plan in mind, however.

BTW: if any of you know of a permanent art job, I'd love to steer Johnny toward it; he's currently looking at the Post Office and his current graveyard shift at Wal-Mart ... not a great existence for an artist).

So here is the cast as it stands right now:

Storyteller – Tom Carroll

Front Cover – Ben Herrera

Story 1 – Pencils by Johnny B. (nearly done), Inks by Tony DeZuniga
Story 2 – Pencils by Tom Carroll
Story 3 – Pencils by Rick Schmitz
Story 4 – Pencils by Ellis Goodson
Story 5 – Pencils by Joe Staton

Pinup #1 – Pencils by Tony DeZuniga, inks by Johnny B.

Pinup #2 – Pencils by Tim Vigil

Pinup #3 – Pencils by Ernie Chan

Pinup #4 – Pencils by Matt Haley

Pinup #5 – Pencils by Sanjulian

Pinup #6 – Pencils by Brent Anderson

Eyeball Game

link is the title.

it;s fun. i hover around 5 .

you can beat it

KrayonZilla

Krazonzilla, click title for a good Blog. An artists named Axel. But this post is about a Sherman Oaks game developer position.

Green Tech Well in contrasting background

Title is a link to the concept art forum sketch a day with more takes

A Pacifist Looks Forward

While mourning past and current sacrifices (both military and civilian, both heroic and needless), I look forward to a far-too-distant time when our species as a whole will finally understand this:

The moment you pick up a [insert choice of weapon here], for the purpose of eliminating a fellow human being, is the moment you've run out of ideas.

When Cartoons go Bad

Title is a link.
Good sick humour

Lil' Dude

Ellis says for me to post, so I'm posting. This is a little concept for a little game that was never made.

As far as unpacking is concerned the printer/scanner is unpacked, but it's so awful that I don't want to use it. We have a much better scanner at the office, but it's not currently hooked up to the network. I may just break down and use the crummy one at home.

In other news, I had lunch with Mike Christian yesterday. It turns out he works just a few blocks away from my office. He looks to be doing well and he's in fine spirits. It was very cool to hang out with him... perhaps he will read this and be inspired to post something... hint, hint.

0070

Sketch done while goofing with Mudbox at work. I like Mudbox.

And another just to keep the page from being too static. Hurry up and get unpacked Rick.

Forrest J Ackerman is slipping away...

Sad news from the world of Monster and Horror fandom. The King of all monster fans and the face and pulse of Famous Monster of Filmland magazine is knocking at the door of the great beyond, Forrest J. Ackerman is by all reports slipping away from us at 92. Henry and I had had the opportunity to visit the Great Ackermansion and have lunch with Forry himself one weekend back in the early 90's. It was something I thought I'd never do. As a big old movie monster kid of the 60's I owe it all to Forry and that first FM#55 I ever got. Great times. Better days.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38960

Cork 8

Had a small gap in my graphic novel drawing window so I banged out another Cork. Please enjoy the shenanigans.

Meltdown Trip

It was fun.It was great to see Kali, meet Nico. John K threw in a caricature for the John McCain vinyl toy I bought. Good times.

I also got the new Hellboy.

Pinky the Cat

This is at least 10 years old and still hilarious for so many reasons. Might be my first and favorite viral video. Happy Halloween, everybody!

Shameless Self-Promotion

I'll be at Meltdown this Saturday 2pm having fun drawing heads and things- come say hi of you're in the area!

Click the title-link for a commercial by my pal Nico of John K.'s political toys.

Tuesday Doo-Dul

I did this

I bought This

I saw the Watching the Watchmen at Borders. Looked through it. Got it cheaper through Amazon.

What sold me is just about every page of the comic book is shown in thumbnail form where Gibbons spots his blacks over his rough gesture sketch. It's just an inspiring clinic on composition and appealing shapes. I've been trying to slow down on book buying but had to have this one.

Then Yongwoo brought Shadowline by Ian McCaig to work. I'd seen it previewed at the Gnomon seminar. Had to have that as well. 80 bucks for more raw tonnage of books.

Nextengine 3D Scanner 4 Sale ...

FYI: I'm selling a NextEngine 3D scanner. Nice machine. Makes quality 3D scans of 3D objects. If you know of anyone who is interested (or any company that routinely sculpts things and wants to turn them into polygonal objects), send 'em to the Ebay auction ... this kind of thing is rarely seen on Ebay. Should be fun to watch what it does ...

Drawing on the Bus

I did this on the way to work and on the way home today... another Creeple character.