Buddy the Elf

I had to take a quick break from my DC super-hero illustrations (which I've been posting on my twitter and instagram accounts), and do one of Buddy the elf. Elf is hands down my favorite Christmas movie and I thought it was finally time I paid tribute to it.

Junior Road Worker

For my son, who's been asking me to draw a road worker.

Leo and Bebop

One thing I never get tired of drawing...Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So I made this (thanks to my pal Chris Lee for the pizza suggestion).

Mr. Peabody and Sherman #3

Here's my cover for the 3rd issue of IDW's Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

Target Gift Card

Last year, I was extremely fortunate to get to work on a 2013 Christmas gift card for Target. I was asked to illustrate an interactive Santa card (you record your voice on it and it plays back in Santa's deeper voice) and, needless to say, I had a ton of fun working on it!

Thanks so much to Sara Lintner and Kelsey Ciatti-Miller, who worked with me on the project...you guys rock!

Here is the final illustration along with some process work.

Peter Pan

A quick illustration I did last night.

Hello!

Turtles are fun to draw.

Toy Tuesday - Sprout

Since I've been horrible at posting new work, i've decided to create a new weekly challenge for myself. Every Tuesday I'm going to be posting an illustration based on a toy from my personal collection. It will be similar to the toy posts I did a few years ago.

I picked up a Sprout vinyl toy this past weekend, and thought he would be perfect for the inaugural illustration. Enjoy!

Mr. Peabody and Sherman #2 Variant Cover - IDW

I've been pretty quite lately, due to client work, but here is the 2nd cover I illustrated for IDW's Mr. Peabody & Sherman comic.

And here is the solicitations image with the logo:

Mr. Peabody and Sherman #1 Variant Cover - IDW

Since solicitations are out now, I can finally share the variant cover I did for IDW's upcoming Mr. Peabody and Sherman comic that will tie-in with the upcoming movie by Dreamworks. Many thanks to editor Sarah Gaydos for giving me this opportunity!

A larger view of the art

Pipe Study

Yesterday I found three old pipes at the local thrift store and I was inspired to paint one of them. It was a fun experiment and I found the style to be extremely relaxing.

Ben 10 - Cannonbolt

Another Ben 10 that I did a couple of weeks ago. This will probably be the last one for awhile.

Ben 10 - Greymatter

Ben 10 Ghostfreak

One of my favorite aliens...Ghostfreak!

Ben 10

Ben 10 is one of the few newer cartoons that I actually enjoy. It a fantastic show (I've loved every incarnation of it, although I haven't seen any Omniverse yet) and I've been wanting to do some fan art for a long time. Planet Pulp's theme this month is anything Cartoon Network related, so it gave me the perfect excuse to draw some Ben 10 action.

I've included the original sketches along with the final pieces. Originally I was going to render them in my usual gouache/dry brush style, but I opted for a more retro style in the end.

Popeye Classics #12 Variant Cover

Here's the variant cover I illustrated for IDW's Popeye Classics #12. It was an incredible honor to be asked to illustrate a character I adored as a child (and still do, as an adult).

The sketch was my original take on it, but they wanted something more like the Popeye illustration I did a few years back. I went with a pretty simple visual gag, but I'm happy with how it turned out. If i had to do it over though, I would have drawn some giant vegetables to really sell the joke. Oh well!

If anyone finds a copy, i'd love to see it!

Doc Ock

Here's a quick illustration I did of Doc Ock, just for fun. I've been reading the 2nd Amazing Spider-Man omnibus (which is amazing btw) and felt like drawing the good doctor (he's a little crazy in the head though).

Good Ol' Charlie Brown

After posting some pics on Instagram, of a book I recently I found about Charles Schulz, I was inspired to draw Charlie Brown for my morning warm-up. I was initially going to go with his famous yellow shirt, but I've always been a fan of his lesser-known red one.

I'm still experimenting with a more textured style, so that's what I used for this piece.

 I've been a huge fan of Schulz's work ever since I was a kid and I have very fond memories of my grandma telling me all about her uncle, Roman Baltes, and how he gave Schulz his first cartooning job (lettering comics for a catholic publishing company, which you can read more about here).

Needless to say, I always felt like I had a special (albeit slim) connection to Schulz, so it was a lot of fun to finally pay tribute to his wonderful creation.

The Incredibles

I've been wanting to do an Incredibles illustration of the whole family, and finally got the opportunity. This was created for Hero Complex's RED show, which opened last friday. They still have some of the prints left and they're available here.

Be sure to check out all of the amazing artists who contributed to the show!

S is for Snout Spout

I've been experimenting with this new brush set I recently purchased, and I'm having a ton of fun with them! I'm getting a much more realistic gouache look now, which is something I've been trying to achieve with my art (one of these days I'll work up enough courage to actually attempt actual gouache painting).

My inspiration today was the Masters of the Universe figure, Snout Spout, which I picked up recently at a garage sale.

Character Illustration Class at Skillshare.com

Hey everyone, I'm super excited to be teaching a class over at skillshare.com, starting May 29th, called "Character Illustration: From Concept to Final Artwork." In the class i'll be taking you through my process of illustrating a pirate character. I'll go over concepts, sketches, rendering in Illustrator and Photoshop, and even talk a little bit about color adjustments and the use of textures.

If you enroll before May 9th, you can get 25% off by using the promo code, EARLYBRD.


Click on the banner to learn more!

March of the Monsters 2013

So basically, when I started this blog, I had intended to do monthly projects (not every month but on a regular basis) where I'd choose a theme and draw something each day of that particular month. As I started getting more and more client work, that idea kind of fell to the wayside.

My favorite theme was always March of the Monsters. I only did it twice, but I always looked forward to it. Although I still don't have enough time to do a daily drawing, I at least wanted to create a few pieces this year.

Here is the first one, which my daughter named Mr. Squiggly Monster.

King Lionheart

This is my submission for SkummBeast's Boot the Foot blog. The blog is all about re-imagining characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toyline. I really wanted to take a crack at King Lionheart in a more children's book style and really pushed the messy, painted look (even though this piece was created in Photoshop).

I got permission to post this now, even though it isn't up on Boot the Foot yet, so be sure to check that site in the next week or so. It will have a TMNT design around it as well a short Q&A about me.

Calling Dick Tracy!

I've been wanting to do an illustration based on Dick Tracy and just never got around to finishing one. I decided to try again in my newer style, and here's the result. Of course, Dick Tracy isn't complete without his rogues gallery so I'll be tackling a few of them as well. Enjoy!

Yogi Bear

It's been awhile since i've posted anything, but that's definitely going to change with the new year. I'm making it a priority to post more personal work even when i'm busy.

I've been wanting to do a Yogi Bear piece for awhile now, so here is the first of many new illustrations!