Recent Gig Stuff

"Unibrow"

I took photos of these recent live drawings, and then adjusted the lighting and added the solid backgrounds in Photoshop. This was one of the days when I was drawing more character design-ish live stuff. At least most of the gig. I liked this guy's unibrow.

"Full Figured Girl"

I also liked how this "full figured" girl still looks cute in the drawing, enough where even she liked it, but she's still "full figured". I hate when I see caricatures of "heavier" people and the artists thin them down in the drawing, where it doesn't even resemble them. Hello, if you're big, I'm drawin' you big! That's part of your likeness. There's nothing wrong with being big. Just like there's nothing wrong with being skinny. Or goofy loking. Or, as in the pic above, with a unibrow. I'm gonna draw them all.

"Sleepy"

This guy, for instance, looked asleep when he was awake. Or maybe stoned. I didn't ask. But, I drew him that way. Oh I may draw with my "cartoon filter" on, so it's not all that insulting looking, but I will represent what is there.

Also, with "Sleepy" here, I was kinda feeling the Cartoon Network/Fairly Oddparents/Dexter's Lab kind of vibe. So, I did a little bit of the thicker outline, and the thinner interior lines.

Toon Weekly- Rock Star!

This one I went 'round and 'round on. So many things to do, so many types of rock music. Finally, I decided to combine them and came up with this guy. His name IS "Rock Star".
He's some guy from the future, when there is no music of the people allowed. A true totalitarian state limits all artistic expression of the working class masses. He somehow learns about 20th century Rock and Roll, names himself "Rock Star", and becomes a rebel rocker....inspiring the masses to rebel against their totalitarian overlords. (Shades of Footloose, CryBaby, 1984, and The Legend of Billy Jean).

He designs his costume based on many great rock and rollers, and types of rock music. There's the multicolored hair and studded bracelets of the punk rockers, the high boots of the glam rockers, the star over the eye ala KISS, the bandaged hand ala one of Michael Jackson's incarnations, the giant clock like Flava Flav to represent Rap music, and of, course, plenty of Elvis inspiration in the high collared jumpsuit. Finally, he has that kind of pretty boy androgynous face and slim build, while wearing makeup on one side of his body to represent more than one race, since true Rock n Roll has always been, in my opinion, a synthesis of the music of different races.

Anyway, there he is.

ROCK STAR! (not to be confused with DIET ROCK STAR, which is what I just finished drinking. ;D )

Holiday Work, part 4

So, this is one of those companies I do work for every year. Sometimes multiple times. So, even though there's always a few new faces, many of these folks I've seen many times over the last few years. Each year they try to come up with a new scene, something different. It's cool, because it's a challenge. But they're rarely easy. This year's idea was as Elves in Santa's workshop. Yikes. So many little bodies, all having to be different. So many little toys, and tools, too. Don't even get me started on having to do the perspective right on the ground, the tables, the walls, well, the entire scene. I hate doing perspective! Anyway, thought you might want to see it....

Holiday Work, part 3

Geez. Big group. They also requested lots of little tiny changes after I finished this one. Little stuff like the title of that book being changed, and the guy down in the front with the tie originally had on a sweater, but requested he now had to have a red tie on. Oh well, that's the nature of the beast on big group jobs. It's rare there's not some requested change. I try not to take any of it personally. Oh yeah...that is an ice sculpture of an eagle over there (their company logo) on the right. Yeah, try to draw an ice sculpture when the entire background is ice and snow! Tricky coloring....
If you look on the CC site, this piece is a variation of another big group job from a few years ago. THESE guys saw THOSE guys' piece (they're actually clients of one another), and wanted their own version done. It's a real "monkey see, monkey do" type of biz, as we all know, and that especially seems to be true when it comes to corporate groups like this.

Holiday Work, part 2

Here's another group pic from this year. These guys provided some really bad photos, but I was able to make them work.

ToonWeekly: Cyborg!!!

For the ToonWeekly Cyborg challenge next week, I sketched this version of a RoboMonkey. Now that I read he's supposed to have human and machine parts, per the challenge "rules", I guess his brain is human, and the body is monkey and cybernetic parts. Yeah, that's the ticket....

I drew him kind of quickly, a bit more roughly than I do a lot of these challenges I guess, but I thought it kind of fit the stinky, hairy, uncouth beast he is. Also, this is one of the few completely digital pieces I've done still. RoboMonkey to the rescue!!!

Merry Christmas!

Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas, everyone! May God Bless you and yours!

HO HO HO!

I also did this one this week, of OUR galaxy's Santa Claus, for www.Toonweekly.com. Had a lot of fun drawing Santa , and, of course, elves are always fun.

ToonWeekly - Christmas!

This week's Christmas challenge over at www.toonweekly.com prompted me to draw the Regula-6 galaxy's Santa Claus. Along with all the other members of the Santa Claus Corps of the Universe (SCCU), he wishes you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Holiday Work, Part 1

This time of year is crazy busy for many caricaturists, drawing Holiday cards and gifts for both businesses and individuals. This had to be my busiest season ever (Praise God!), doing this kind of work, plus gigs, some character design, and a magazine illustration. So much so, that my time has been limited to post on the old blog here. I'll try to change that in upcoming weeks, if by nothing else, posting some of my Holiday commissions. This one is an interesting story:
I drew these guys, some pretty renowned agents in the field of professional Poker (Who knew poker players had agents?) for the second year in a row. What made it interesting is the fact that I almost didn't draw them this year. They loved the pic from last year, they said, but for whatever reason, decided to go with another artist this year (I think maybe the other artist was cheaper). Then, for whatever reason, they didn't like the image they got from the "new" artist. So they came to me in a bit of a panic, wondering if I could even turn it around as quick as they now needed it. I was glad to help them out, and they loved my version. So, it all worked out in the end.

Toon Weekly : Karate Kid!

On this newest www.ToonWeekly.com challenge, we were to do character designs for an 80s flick. I chose "The Karate Kid". Originally, I was landing up with some pretty strong likenesses on these, since I am used to drawing caricatures. But, I decided to play with them a bit more. As if this were a real series, and the cartoon producers didn't QUITE have the rights to make the characters look like the actors, but still wanted them close enough not to confuse viewers. We've seen this happen over and over again in licensed series, for real.

Now I keep singing that cheesey song over and over...


"You're the Best! Around..."

Elvis Presley ( aways on my mind ) edited djf

Man, this song gets me every time.

The Huckster!

Wow, I like this guy. Lots of other people are starting to as well....

ToonWeekly Challenge #3: Loco Madre!!!!

This week's www.ToonWeekly.com challenge was a female wrestler. I made up a Mexican wrestler named "Loco Madre" for my entry. I am a big fan of the cartoon "El Tigre" right now, and fondly remember "Mucha Lucha", as well as the Hernandez Brothers' comics about female Mexican wrestlers, "Whoa, Nellie" from Fantagraphics Books, as well as all of the female wrestlers in their title "Love and Rockets", so this seemed like a natural for this challenge.

Loco Madre, the crazy mother!!!!!

Toon Weekly/ Harry Potter Challenge

Here's my second entry into the www.toonweekly.com character design challenge I've been talking about. It was a "Harry Potter" theme this time. I'm not really into the Potter stuff (too much magic and stuff...no, I don't want to debate it), but I can respect many elements of the stories and the characters. It was actually a lot of fun to do this one of Harry. I approached it as if the Potter people decided to do a Cartoon Network version of the books, but I still wanted to keep it a little darker colored, with some shadows.

Frankenstein!

A few buds of mine from the NCN, Justin Cook and Mike Giblin, recently started a character design challenge. I asked them if they minded if I crashed the party, and, to my pleasure, they welcomed me aboard. I think this is gonna be a cool thing...they're both really talented, great guys. I think doing this regularly will push us to develop our skills, and who knows, maybe even get some nice portfolio pieces for us.

I'm about two challenges behind them, I think, but I'm gonna try to catch up when time permits. IF time permits. Anyway, here's my version of the first challenge, Frankenstein. Check out both of their versions on their blogs, listed on my links to the side.

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

FOURTEEN years ago today, I made the best decision I've ever made, and married the girl of my dreams. Anyone who knows her knows that she is beautiful, inside and out (my toon here doesn't begin to do her justice). She's taught me what real love is, and I continue daily to strive to be a better man...just to try to deserve her.

"Behind every good man is a better woman", I've heard it said. It couldn't be truer than in this case.

Barbie, I love you. Always.

Happy Anniversary, Baby.

Happy Turkey Day!

I'll be spending time with the family this weekend, eating way too much food, and will probably not have a lot of time to post. So, till I get back here, have a BLESSED and Happy Thanksgiving. We've got a lot to be thankful for! God bless you and yours!

Recent Gig Pix

Here's some drawings from a live gig a few weeks ago.

I was thinking "Cartoon Network" here.
Here I was thinking more flowing, connecting lines. Ala Hirschfeld, a bit. And a few others from the 1930s and 40s who are lesser known than him.
Finally, what I call my animation character design caricature style these days. Geez, I gotta get a shorter term for it. Anyway, these are three of the styles I worked in that day. I also did one or two that were abstract, I believe, and at least one pretty exaggerated one.

It's fun on gigs to go back and forth between styles. I figure, every face is different, why shouldn't every drawing be? Why, as artists, do we have to stick to one style? I rarely have people say "But I wanted THAT other style I saw you draw in". Instead, they seem to get into it, and wonder how I'm going to depict THEM. It ups the "surprise" factor, I find. Plus, it keeps me artistically fresher, less bored, and less generic with my work.

Busy, busy

Geez, I've been busy. The Christmas season is already upon us, it seems. By the end of October, I start getting Christmas card commissions, and this year has been the busiest one yet. So busy, that I have, yes, let my bloggin slack a bit. Sorry about that! I'll try to do better now that I have my head above water. I really need a version of my buddy Tom Richmond's "Dreaded Deadline Demon", I guess, to post when I'm busy. Hmmm...I'll have to think about that.

Anyway, not only have I been busy, but so has my much better half, Barbie. Here's a recent pic of her working for Coca Cola at a convention. Ain't she pretty? Really, the job just entails looking gorgeous (easy for her), and serving Coke with a smile to attendees at these private conventions. She likes it cause it gets her out of the office, and the pay ain't bad.

Maybe later this week I'll get to post some artwork....