Bunny Slopes

New piece in the latest issue of Bethesda magazine!

I did quite a few sketches for this one, and I was kind of surprised that they went ahead picked the wackiest one.  It was pretty fun to do, though.

It's A Watchmen Christmas Special!

This was originally grim and gritty, with Dreiberg whining about the true meaning of Christmas in the midst of a Black Friday riot, and the Comedian snarling, "You're looking at it," but riots are hard to draw, so instead we get the Li'l Watchmen cast going over their Christmas lists before meeting with Santa Moore.

Also, don't worry about Santa's helper there.  He knows what he's doing.  He's played an elf before.

Rudolph The Sad-Nosed Reindeer

This was fun.  I need to do more of them.

Making trading cards

Working hard.  Not sure what the paring knife is for.

The Line, It Is Tintin

For The Line: It Is Drawn, Tintin meets Bigfoot.  And for some reason, he's dressed as Han Solo and fighting Adam Savage, of the Mythbusters. 

Medusa in the bathroom

It's a little bit amazing how we, as a species, equate physical beauty with inner beauty, when they are demonstrably not related whatsoever at all. 

It also presents a challenge to visual artists: how do you make an ugly thing that doesn't also look evil?  I figure it's probably cheating to just take physically gorgeous things, and disfigure them.  "This lingerie model has a wart!  Stare in horror at her blemish!" 

Or stare in quiet appreciation at the 99.99% that still looks quite awesome.  But it's still weird.

Two Lines, One Shape

I started a new Tumblr. 

About twice a week, I post new pieces of minimalist art, based on books and movies, and anything else that comes to mind. It's a completely different style than how I usually work, and it forces me to think outside the box.

My latest is A Clockwork Orange, but I've also done the Lord of the Rings, John Dies At The End, and The Dark Knight.  I expect to keep at it until neither I, nor anyone I know can think of any more media.

"All in the Family"

The latest from Experience Life magazine.  Connected to an article about how certain family members may not be quite as pleasant as you would hope they would be, for once, please Grandma, I know you only have a few more years to live, but that doesn't mean you have to spend your time making other people want to die too...  and how to deal with that.

John Dies At The End

One of my favorite books of the past year, John Dies at the End, by David Wong (not his real name).  It perfectly blends horror, sci-fi, comedy, and the ordinary bullshit adventures of two guys living in [Undisclosed].

So of course I had to do a take on it.  Wasn't my first.  Probably won't be my last.

Dueling Politicos

There was once a time when Federal elected officials could go out by a river and try to shoot each other to death, and it was totally legal.  Sometimes they were bluffing, but that's still a pretty awesome idea, I think.

From the historical issue of Arlington Magazine.

Lost in Translation

A piece I did for the Domestic Disturbance column in Bethesda Magazine.  It's all about anachronistic phrases we still use, if we are old.  Really, when the last time you "rolled" down a window, or "taped" a show?

Safari

This is a piece I did a while back that I haven't gotten around to coloring yet.  I particularly like the water buffalo's dot eyes.

The Line: Game Over, Man!

The Princess meets the Queen.
From the Line: It Is Drawn.

The Line: It Is Krazy

Krazy Kat, by George Herriman, and Batman, by Bob Kane, mixed up, over at The Line It Is Drawn.

The Line: Dan Didio has Crossed It

This is my little Hostess comic mocking Dan Didio, Co-publisher (and therefore guy in charge of half the creative decisions) at DC comics.  Now, there have been a lot of complaints about the way DC is being run, and to be fair, I completely agree with the large majority of them. 

Bad editorial decisions have left DC with a comics continuity that makes no sense, alienated creative teams, present and past, pissed off the public, and generally screwed around with bad ideas that they think will make themselves look "cooler."

So Dan Didio is a bad editor, who is losing his company fans left and right, and whose decisions are leading to bad stories and lame characters.  So I made fun of him in a fake Cupcakes ad for The Line: It Is Drawn, over at Comic Book Resources.

Astrobase go!

Just Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, the Venture boys.

Pinkman and the Brain

So, I would watch this show.  I would also write the catchphrases for this show.

"Pinkman, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"I think so Brain, but how are we going to get a large cheese pizza on top of the roof?"
and

"Zort, bitches!"

among others.

From the Line: It Is Drawn, over at Comic Book Resources.

Media Manners

A selection of my work in the newest issue of Experience Life magazine, for the article Media Manners, about things you should not do while using social media.

Coffee cup

Sometimes I need to remind myself that I can still draw real stuff, without making it wacky.

Simon Pegg vs. Aliens

I remember doing this way back in college, but watching Simon Pegg running from blue aliens in The World's End brought it back.  I'd probably do more of these, but they frown on former students coming back solely to use AfterEffects on personal projects.

Absolutely unreasonable!  Harrumph!!!  [shakes cane in the air, adjusts spectacles, is immediately devoured head-first by an insectoid alien.]

And you thought Ben Affleck was a joke...

From The Line It Is Drawn, five of my favorite living comedians as the Justice League, inked in loving detail, and shittily colored.

From left to right, there's Patton Oswalt as the Green Lantern, Sarah Silverman as Wonder Woman, Jerry Seinfeld as Superman, Zach Galifianakis as Batman, and Louis C. K. as the Green Arrow.

Wonder Woman

My take on Wonder Woman.  I put her hair in a ponytail so it wouldn't get in her eyes, gave her some straps on her leg to attach swords or canisters of bear spray, put some straps on that top of hers, so it wouldn't fall down in battle, and gave her a miniskirt, which is more stylish than the Greek-style leather-skirt people keep thinking is a good idea, and more functional than hot pants.

Originally, she was also going to be surfing on top of a Steve Trevor-piloted jet (hence the giant missile) but then I remembered I don't know how to draw jet planes in perspective.

Oh well.

Louis C. K.'s Regret and Heath Bar Ice Cream

Here's my picture, from memory, of Louis C. K., entering a love/hate relationship with his second favorite thing in the world.

The only photoshop here was to brighten the brights and darken the darks.

Horton Hears a Nighthawk

Sticking to a strictly Seussean color palette, I have here Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, with the Grinch, Yertle the Turtle, The Cat in the Hat, and Sam I Am, slinging green coffee and hash on night shift.

I love the good Dr's line work.  Always have and always will.  It took me a while to properly ape it, but I think I got it down pretty good by the time I got to the empty windows and doors.

Over at The Line: it is Drawn.

Good enough.

My social life these days.

Good enough for now, I guess.

Acoustic Porn

The guitar is a very ...shapely instrument.

Look at the musicians' faces when they play.  They know what they're doing, on some level.

The Line: It Is Go!

Who watches the the WatchVentures?

Not me.  I don't have cable.

From The Line: It Is Drawn.

The Line: It Is A Steel Carrot

Seigel and Shuster’s cult comic hero “Superman” and Hollywood summer blockbuster franchise star, the Flaming Carrot, together for the first time ever, in over 7 months.  Go outside.  The air conditioner is trying to kill you.

From The Line It Is Drawn, over at Comic Book Resources.

The Line: It's (Ad)Venture Time!

Go Team (Ad)Venture!
The mark of Genius is that Billy Quizboy and Billy the Hero have the same first name.

From The Line: It Is Drawn, over at Comic Book Resources.

The Line: It Freaks Out Kids

From the Line: It Is Drawn, over at Comic Book Resources. 

The topic was children's books, and I pciked the indomitable Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, with its Stephen Gammell illustrations.  One story's picture, I remember, was so terrifying I couldn't actually finish it until I was 14.  That is worthy of kudos, and I based the cover off of that, doing my best bad impression of his work.  It's a shame I haven't seen more of Gammell's stuff since then.

The L: It Is D

V meets Q, on the way to M.  J and K will probably drop by later to clean up the mess.

From the Line: It Is Drawn.

The Line: It Is Stop-Motion

In honor of Ray Harryhausen passing, a little Raquel Welch/big rubber dinosaur action.
From the Line: It Is Drawn.

Who Likes Beer? Or Cheese? Or Both?

I did the art for a thing that's actually timely!  If you happen to be in Arkansas this weekend, you can go eat some cheese with beer at the Bernice Garden, just like that dapper fellow on the poster!  I wonder who drew him?  His handsomeness is surely indicative of the artist's own dashing looks.

Colors and design by Ellen B. Reyes.

In the Game of Watchmen...

...you win or you die, or you end up in some sort of murky middle ground with no solid moral compass to guide your actions from here on out, due to the immensely incomprehensible complexity of the changing world.


I have read the books, seen a little of the show, and went about agonizing (not really) for two days which characters to mash-up, and why.  Silk Spectre as Daenerys was pretty obvious, as in the course of both stories she starts out as merely a girlfriend or wife for a powerful man, arranged mostly for political and military ends, and slowly comes into her own.  Nite Owl could have been either Ned or Tyrion, and I went with Tyrion, for his more active sex life, and his habit of being good at spending money.  Dr. Manhattan could have been no one but Varys.  They're both apparently omnicient. Ozymandias could have been a lot of characters too, especially Lannisters, most of whom seem to be very practiced in the art of scheming.  But when you get down to brass tacks, Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish is the only one whose scheming managed to pretty much ruin EVERYTHING, and unlike most other schemers, he's still on top.  I needed a Ned Stark, and Rorschach fit that bill, mostly because of their unwavering moral code, but also because both end up in multiple pieces at the end of the book.  The Comedian could have been a lot of characters too.  GoT has a lot of morally questionable warriors.  Bronn, Jorah, or Jaime all could have fit the bill, but if you imagine Richard Nixon as Joffrey (not hard) the Hound becomes the clear choice.  They even both have facial scars!

From The Line: It Is Drawn, over at Comic Book Resources.

City Browsing

Wow.  Spending time in the book and comic shops of Chicago and New York this week, I have to say, there sure are a lot of zines out there.

But there aren't too many good ones.

I feel an obligation to fix that.

The 8 People You Meet In Coffee Shops

Here's the mini-comic I created as a promotional mailer.  This was actually made as four separate pieces, individually colored, and designed as a 360 degree view of the local coffee shop the Mud House, where I actually drew the entire thing.  The baristas are based on real people, and many of patrons are...uh...completely made up and not based on anyone, living or dead.  Except for me.  That's me looking quite sickly and with many more apple products than I actually own at the Work Station.

This version is not the print version, because the way mini-comics are made, half of this has to be printed upside down to fold properly.  Here are instructions on how to make your own.

If you want to make one of my coffee shop comics let me know in the comments and I'll e-mail you a high-res printable PDF, or let me know in person.  I may just have a physical copy on me.

Scheduling Conflict

Sometimes you have work.  Sometimes you're overworked.  Sometimes you're so overworked you don't have time to do anything at all.  Not even work.

The Line: It Is Gonzo

From The Line: It Is Drawn.  It’s the great comic book amalgamation of 2013! Pick any two comic book characters and our artists will combine them into an, you know, amalgamation! Just like when DC and Marvel did it in the 1990s (Superman and Captain America became Super Soldier, etc.)
DJStinky suggested:

John Prophet (from the delightfully psychedelic current run) and Spider Jerusalem (delightfully high on psychedelics)

Most of the monsters don’t mean anything, but if you look carefully, the grey one in the foreground is a wig monster from John Dies At The End.

The Line: It Wants to Be Anarchy

BigMike20X6 suggested:

V – ‘Cause I wanna be anarchy…

Never let it be said that  tools don’t matter.  They really do.  I use The Line: It Is Drawn as sort of an experimental leap pad for new techniques and general practice, and I have to say, no brush in my collection besides the Windsor Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 #4 could have done the hatching in this piece half as well as it turned out.

A little on the topic: it started out as illustrating a comics character with a song lyric, in this case, from the Sex Pistols.  I thought it was a brilliant match, and decided to add a few more elements to the mix: namely, a political angle and a playing card theme.  They seemed to fit together on paper, so I went with it.  Incidentally, given that the “A” is not the same as an upside-down “V” this does not work as an actual playing card.  Even without the lyrics running down the side, which I almost forgot to put in.  I don’t apologize for the stock art background.  I didn’t think I’d be able to do my planned composition justice in the time before it was due.

Mr. Cobain and Co.

I did this one Friday night a few weeks back, at the request of one of the baristas in the coffee shop where I hang out.  So forgive me any mild guitar inaccuracies; I had no references.

Re-do 3

And after tweaking.  Not too much has changed, but the vegetables have more form now.

After (most of) the digital coloring has been done, here's what we end up with.  I may tweak it further, especially with the  flying vegetables, just to give them a little more body and play with the lighting some, but this is the first stage you can actually compare it with the original on the bottom here.

The Line: It Is Such A Dork

For The Line It Is Drawn, Enid Coleslaw from Dan Clowes's classic, Ghost World, illustrated with the jumbo background name thingy patent pending Will Eisner. 
Forgive me any small perspective errors; this was done entirely without rulers or straightedges.

The Line: It Is Fab

The Fantastic Four as the Fab Four.  Found originally on The Line It Is Drawn.

jennjenn76 suggested:

Fantastic 4 in Meet the Beatles, Abbey Road, Rubber Soul, etc…

Sorry I only got to four of them, Jennjenn 76.