Happy birthday, Shawna!

April?!  I can’t believe it’s been since April since I’ve last posted something on here.  Ugh…

Well, there’s good news-reasons for that.  I’ve had non-stop commissions through the spring and summer.  The bad news is that these pieces belong to the people that paid for them, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to share the work without their permission.  I’ll see if they’d like some exposure. So, check back for some of that soon.

In the meantime, it’s my love’s birthday!  Happy birthday, Reverend Deacon Shawna.  Thank you for making my life so wonderful.

Happy Aliens Day!

In celebration of Aliens Day (4/26, as in LV-426… c’mon, people!), I thought it’d be nice to finish the Colonial Marine spacesuit from earlier.  This is based on a Tony Akins design from 1993’s Aliens: Colonial Marines comic.  I added some sweet modifications…

I should have a color version to share soon, as well.

Send in the Space Marines!

There were some very pivotal encounters in my childhood that set the tone for much of the rest of my life.  Seeing the movie Aliens was definitely one of those encounters.  Finding out, a few years later, that there were also comic books based on the Alien Franchise, was just as profound but in a slightly different way.  At that point, I felt that I could not only enjoy the world those stories were set in, I could participate!

I started drawing the space (Colonial) Marines from the world of the Alien/Aliens movies.  Back then, in the late 80’s/early 90’s, references were hard to come by.  So, when I series like Aliens: Colonial Marines came out in 1993, I was ecstatic.  The first three issues, drawn by Tony Akins, inked by Paul Guinan, and colored by Matt Hollingsworth, were just… phenomenal!  The first three issues were chock-full of new spacesuit designs, space guns, star ships, and dynamic action scenes.

Having gotten a new lease on my drawing-life recently, I’ve been inspired to start drawing some of those designs myself.  Here’s a pencil sketch of the security from the Sungun station:

I’ll clean it up in the near future.  In the meantime, here’s a taste of one of the wonderful treats that series offered up:

How do we do it?!

Cody Hagman and I are working on a new project. You’ve seen a few things I’ve been working on for it, but I thought folks might enjoy seeing the steps it takes for us working together.

Under the dome

I was recently told by someone that they are tired of spacesuits with domed, or bubble-helmets. For some reason, those have always appealed to me. I want to say it’s because you can see the expression of the person inside, or maybe I always thought that mask-like helmets are better suited for combat armor or robots. It’s also possible that I add them to my spacesuits so often because they’re easier to draw…

Whatever the reason, I’m trying something different.

I used Copic pens on tracing paper, taped over my sketchbook for this lil’ guy or gal.

Food for thought

I always try to get away from the building I work in for lunch. I work long days and am unbelievably busy just about every minute I’m there. So, it’s really essential that I am not thinking or talking about work for at least an hour around mid-day.

Sometimes I read. Often I watch something online, but once in a while I’ll draw.

Living in Oklahoma City is very different than living in San Francisco. The sight of a guy in business clothes with a sketchpad out is unusual here, and I get weird looks quite often. That didn’t stop me today, though!

Getting ready… for action!

Like a bolt out of the blue, the desire to create and produce new artwork just comes back. I've been wanting to draw for some time, but wanting to and feeling compelled to are different things. Life gets busy, priorities can change, and time becomes a thief. However, when that itch finds its way under your skin, there's nothing for it except to start scratching…

Adventures in inking.

Inking, like any skill, requires practice to keep up.  Sadly, I haven’t handled  a brush and ink pot for too long.  I’ve been traveling a lot (too much?) in the past year, and it has required me to carry a more mobile set of tools to do drawing with.  So, I’m trying to make a more concerted effort to get back to adding some massive blacks to my line work.  I still don’t have an ink pot handy (they tend to make a mess when they break in your bag), but I can still apply what know with pens. This is just practice, and I thought I’d share:

Yes, it’s a spacesuit.  What did you expect from me?

Still kickin’

It’s been a crazy month of traveling, visiting, and trying to make sense out of work.  I’m finally getting to a place where I can start being productive again, and I promise there’ll be more posts with new awesomeness soon.  In the mean time, here’s a little treat form my sketchbook:

If you think you may have seen this one before, you could be right.  One of my favorite things to do when I just want to warm up in the morning is to throw some vellum over and old sketch and try and cleanly work some lines with technical pens.  The sketch was done years ago, but I felt it had more to offer.  So, I inked this on the bus… or maybe it was the train… definitely NOT the plane, though.  I hate flying so much.