Newsbot

Hey Kids,

In case you missed it...'>this ran at the top of A1 in the December 6 edition of the Commercial Appeal. You can visit commercialappeal.com and click on the "build your own newsbot" link. There you can watch a short video where I show you how to assemble your own newsbot at the speed of light. You can also print the templates and instructions there. Good times. I encourage you to build your own newsbot. I've built 5 not counting the prototype. I'm forging a small army of paper robots.

You can also print directly from the templates I've posted here: page 1, page 2

*Newsbot photo by Mike Brown of the Commercial Appeal.

One man...three techniques...master of none.

Well, Kids, how many of you are tired of me starting these posts with "well, kids?" I guess I should try something new once in a while. Something like...I don't know...3 images at once. Before President Elect Barack Obama (Captain Awesome) was elected I had to do an illustration for a story that compared his health care plan with that of John McCain (Captain not Awesome). I decided cut paper was the way to go because honestly, nothing makes me feel more artistic than deadlines, panick, and using scissors. You can see the page here. Next was an illustration about the dangers of everyday things like mercury in fish, crazy chemicals in our aluminum beverage cans, cell phones maybe causing brain tumors, and some crazy chemical in plastic bottles. Last, but not least...maybe...is this piece for a story about Memphians voting on charter ammendments. They had the idea of a voter making his/her decision at the box. I'm all "ammendment illustration"-ed out these days so I welcomed someone else cutting out the brianstorming process just this once. While I don't love the illustration I do think the texture is interesting.

My throat hurts. For real.

That has absolutely nothing to do with this illustration...whatsoever...but I just thought you should know. Unless my throat hurting is a symptom of something much more serious...something that would lead to my hospitalization...THEN it relates. Wow...that worked out well.
What a segue, eh? This illustration accompanied a story about Care Pages, which are web pages created for and by patients so that they can stay connected with the outside world and keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones. Can you find me in the illustration? I'm totally in there.

Oh...oh, how I've missed painting.

It's been a while. Every time I return to painting after a long hiatus...which always seems to happen right after I return to painting...I feel like I've actually forgotten HOW to paint. That wasn't the case this time. While, I didn't jump right back into my old groove I didn't flounder as much as I did the last time I returned. So...I'm planning a painting that I hope to get started on later this week. Good times. There are some moments I'm not crazy about in this piece, but time was running out and I had to just let some things alone. This week's painting will rock much harder.
Apologies to Tim Barnes. My love of your style is probably a little too obvious here. I'm not trying to rip off your awesomeness. I promise. For starters...I'd never come anywhere NEAR your awesomeness. For nexters...well...it's a little different...right? Don't answer that.

Yeah...she has horns

It's because she's half dragon/half human. She's the heroine of one of my stories and & her story have been on my brain lately. Maybe it's the crisp Autumn air we had yesterday morning. Probably not. I did this weeks ago.

I'm not sure I love how I handled the white ink on her forehead, cheek, and ear, but...well, too late now.

Rock to the top

So...I promised more art. This was a poster I did for a friend many many moons ago. She sings in a band called Rocky 4 Phoenix. It would take too long for me to explain how they arrived at this name so I'm just putting the poster up. It's no Tara McPherson poster action, but it's still pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

Well, kids. I suppose you're wondering where I've been?

I guess that means it's time I get back to blogsvegas and start blogging again. It's been a busy, crazy, hectic summer...and also...I bought a motorcycle...so...between being really busy with work and all...I'm also guilty of riding my motorcycle, looking at my motorcycle, washing my motorcycle, sitting next to it and talking to it about life, love, and art, and occassionally whispering sweet nothings to it. I realize I owe about a fabillion people about a fabillion emails and I'll get to them this week. I'm working on my syllabus for the upcoming semester. Once that's done...I'll give you a shout. And actually, it's probably more like 5 or 6 people. You know who you are. I still love you.

I just love my motorcycle a little more.

And yes...yes, that's my motorcycle. I wouldn't just slap an arbitrary motorcycle picture up there. You can tell she's mine because there are all those little newspaper dispensor/honor system thingies in the background that have "The Commercial Appeal" written all over them.

Speaking of which...if you haven't read it...it's still news.

Speaking of speaking of things...how awesome would it be if I secured myself one of those sweet little newspaper doo-dad guys and made a robot out of it. Doesn't it just scream robot?

Well...I think it screams robot.

So...who wants to see some cool art????? I have something ready. I just need to hear it from you that YOU are ready.

Infidelity

This one has a funny story behind it. I was originally told that the story was more about skeezy old men catting around...cheating on their ladies...having affairs...getting a little action on the side...participating in extracurricular activities...well...you get the picture. Suddenly, however, after I completed the illustration the story was changed to something along the lines of "how to rebuild your marriage after the affair" so...yeah...my image didn't really make sense. I was a little miffed. Misscommunications and whatnot. I'm over it now. I still like the image, though. I like how creepy it is and that it almost looks like the long golden hair might belong to the crusty older guy. It made me uneasy, but I thought it helped the overall vibe of infidelity so I left it alone. It also starts out dark and cold at the bottom and heats up as it nears the other woman. In the original sketch the guy was looking in a mirror and sitting on a dresser in front of him was a picture of him with his wife...who clearly didn't have long golden hair. Ultimatley, I thought the removal of the wedding band and the tan line worked well enough on their own and by taking away the photo I gained an element of mystery. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself.

Hispanic slice of the pie

So...it's been a while. Terribly sorry for the lag, but the last couple of weeks have been hella busy...or is it hell of busy. To be honest I'm not sure. But I can assure you that whether or not it was hella or hell of...it was busy.

I'm not necessarily in love with this piece, but then again I'm not really in love with any of the pieces I have uploaded to the ol' photobucket at the moment.

Either way...on with the show. This piece was about the Hispanic slice of the American dream...the American Pie. Yes, I know that it's actually apple pie which is more commonly associated with America, but to be honest with you I liked the red better. I needed something to contrast the color of the crust and apples weren't cutting it. Note the American flag table cloth and the swank shape cut out of the pie...it's Mexico! The article raised the question on whether or not illegal immigrants actually take jobs away from Americans and the answer...for the most part...was not so much. It also raised other questions which at this point I can't remember.

I had A-1 today. Sweet.

This is another in the series on MLK. This was a lino-cut to match the woodcut I did for the last MLK piece I did. I have to say that it's a nice change of pace to actually dig into something with sharp instruments and then roll ink on it...and then make prints from it. It makes me feel like a real artist.

Kickin' It Old School (of fish)

Sea of Debt is still one of my favorites. It heralds the beginning of me actually developing some finness with my inking...like 2 years after I started using a brush. I think the guy is still a little chunky, but there are some nice things happening (or at least I think so) within the shark's head and mouth. This ran somewhere in the neighborhood of two years ago. I'm thinking of reworking it as a portfolio piece, but changing the guy and his placement a bit. Any other suggestions?

Well then...how's this?

I went back to the original helmet look, but kept the lower air intake, rounded lenses, and I shortened the fin. It's better, but not necessarily there yet as far as where I'd like it to be.

I'm a rocket man

I decided I should put a Shane spin on the Rocketeer design. Ultimately, I wouldn't touch it...it's perfect as it is...but I didn't want to just draw him as he was either.
I wanted the helmet to have the same vibe, but I gave it more rounded goggles. I moved the air vents from the top of the helmet to the bottom...so a respirator could be plugged into them when he hits higher altitudes. Which leads me to the oxygen tank I added to his chest. I'm toying with longer gloves, but that's about it. I think the Rocketeer redisigns were invite only, but I'm going to finish it anyway. Whaddaya think?

Loving Touch

The story was about a Memphis woman who's husband suffers from the disease. She created a series of exercise videos for the two of them to do together because individuals with Alzheimer's still like to be touched and interacted with. While the article talks about many of the negative impacts the diseas has on those with it and their loved ones, it focuses on staying positive. The overall tone of the story is to make the best of what time you do have left together. This was my favorite of all of my thumbnails.

Unused ideas

So...I got an email from the sports department editor saying they needed a cover illustration for a special section about the Memphis Tigers in San Antonio. They had the idea of the Memphis Tigers logo jumping out of the Alamo. L.A.M.E. So...I spent a little time thinking about a simple 3 color graphic (I'd have used orange instead of red, but that's the only color sharpie I had on me at the time) and also thinking about the page design. I felt I was really onto something cool, but they decided (earlier and without letting me know) to go with photos. But...no time is wasted if you come up with ideas...regardless of whether or not they use them...right? That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Two Fer Tue...er...Thursday!

When individuals are released after having served sentences for drug-related crimes, they're at a fork in the road. There are many different directions they can travel, but only two paths they can take. They can either rehabilitate and head for good things on the horizon...or...they can fall into the same patterns that got them in trouble in the first place and wind up back in jail...which I imagine blows the proverbial goat.

Balancing The Classroom

This illustration was for an article about "No Child Left Behind" and the weight it placed on the shoulders of teachers. I put little kid Shane in there. He's sporting the Superman shirt. Little Ashley is the little girl with dark hair on the far right. You get to do cool things like that when you're an illustrator.

SPEAKING VOLUMES

This illustration accompanied a story about a group of individuals who met at...if I remember correctly...the University of Memphis and read from banned books. My first image (later you'll be able to click "image" and see it) was a book bursting open...and in the process bursting out of chains which had previously rendered it unreadable. Ultimately, we settled on this idea...open books as mouths.
I knew I had a winner when I got a text message at work from the Amazing Priddy stating that he noticed and liked the image when one of his students was using newspaper images for a collage.
If I had it to do over I'd take the two horizontal brown lines out of the bottom...I find them distracting now. Almost EVIL looking. I know...the lines aren't really evil. I just wanted to link to that picture because I think it's fantastic. I need to find a way to link to it in every post. I don't have anything against the Pope...I just think he looks like Emperor Palpatine. I'm just saying.

A Harder Hill To Climb

This is my most recent Viewpoints cover illustration. The original was a woodcut that I struggled with because I haven't done one in a fabillion years. From this woodcut came several less-than-stellar prints which I chose the best of, scanned into photoshop, let it be it's less-than stellar self in black, and then made a layer beneath, increased the levels and noise, and then changed to sepia. Ultimately, it didn't turn out too badly...for a woodcut/photoshop hybrid.

Memphis Sport Cover

This is the original version of the cover I did for Memphis Sport Magazine. The idea was to portray Memphis Tigers player Joey Dorsey as a "monster on the court" by kinda sorta ripping off this Hulk cover. Ultimately, we 86'd the lava ink spatters and went with something cleaner. These things are on stands all over Memphis and they're FREE...so pick one up!

Comic Goodness part 1

Comic Goodness part 2

So...this is my second Holiday edition of my C.A. comic Drawing from Life. We're not counting the Halloween Fiasco because it was just that. Originally, I wanted to do an 8 page story featuring only the Sky Pirates, but we opted against it. I managed to work a little of it in this story, but hopefully...hopefully, I'm going to make my own comic of it next year. Woo hoo!

The Rocketeer...

But which one should I finish for the Dave Stevens tribute over at Project Rooftop???

Woah...what's this? I'm blogging two days in a row? Fancy that!

This piece was for the sports section a few days ago. I'm not usually keen on the sports illustrations for several reasons. One of which is that I'm not actually a big sports fan. The other is that most of the guys in the sports department (bless their little hearts) aren't exactly what I'd call "thinkers outside the box" and do most of their thinking on the literal side. You know the kind of people I'm talking about. They work in Photoshop elements and think it's the same thing as actually working in photoshop. Their idea of being creative is to take some text and get crazy-go-nuts with it by...wait for it...wait...wait for it...making it diagonal. Now, I'm not saying the world doesn't need people like that. It does. They're called accountants.
Ok...enough sports department bashing. They're actually trying harder these days to get creative (for reals) and we've had a couple of productive brainstorming sessions. Enough of my jibber jabber, though. I'll tell you a little bit about the illustration. The column was about the Memphis Tigers basketball team and the challenges they face as...apparently...the rest of the sports world hates them and thinks they're thugs and whatnot. They wanted to go with a "Memphis vs. the World" kind of vibe so of all my sketches they liked the Atlas reference and that's what we went with. I couldn't be more delighted that I didn't have to draw an anthropomorphic tiger...again. This was a pencil drawing that I scanned and worked my secret magic on in Photoship...or as lamen and experts at typing like to call it...photoshop.
Enjoy.

Remember me? It's Christmas!

Ok...I lied. It isn't really Christmas. But it's close enough when you consider I'm about to shower you with gifts.
Ok...I lied again. I'm not really showering you with gifts. I'm showering you with long overdue blog posts. But those are like gifts, right?
Right.
So...let's get to it!
This was the image for the Christmas Party invite I sent to most of you, but later found out you didn't see. I waited on my stoop, but nobody came. Pout.
Not really. Some of you did come and it was awesome. We'll do it again this year!