What do you get when you cross Luchadores, the 4th of July, and a Newsbot?

Give up??? THIS GUY! Just in time for Independence Day I'm releasing the very colorful and festive Independence Bot all bespangled and starred. Bestarred and spangled? Starred and Spangled? Be...spp...st...whatever. The templates will be up for a short time sometime this week and this little gem assembled and signed by yours truly will be available for the winning in some sort of contest super soon as well. I'll post a link to it when it's all set and stuff. I know I'm riding on the coattails of previous newsbots by simply redecorating them, but gosh-darnit if it isn't fun to do! I have quite a few more newsbots planned for the rest of the year. Maybe a back-2-school bot (thanks, Ashley) and some sweet-sweet newsbots in Halloween costumes just in time for...Halloween. I think I'm even feeling a festive, Holiday Newsbot or two and maybe...just maybe I'll go out with a bang with a Happy News Year Bot. That might be a stretch. We'll see. Maybe if everyone's good...at the end of the year we'll collect them all in a book...that you could buy on our online store. It's an idea.

Also...I have a sunburn.

photo by Lindsey Awesome Turner

The Iron Giant or Wordy McWordsalot

So...this post is a little bit on the long-overdue side. I don't know if long and overdue are supposoed to get a hyphen or not, but we're going with it...partly because I'm a rebel when it comes to grammatical rules, but mostly because I'm a rebel when it comes to grammatical rules because I can't remember grammatical rules.

It's overdue because I'm something of a procrastinator and by procrastinator I mean lazy bastard. It's also overdue because I didn't really know how to approach blogging about it for fear of sounding like I'm bragging. Now, we all know bragging is something I'm not opposed to, but in this case I really don't want to come across that way.

Here's the deal. Two of my (now former) illustration students who shall remain nameless have left my tutelage. They won't be taking any more classes with me and they decided to do something special for me...something really special. They got me the sweet sweet Iron Giant toy you saw above all my words. That bad boy was in the original box for the last 10 years so I did the only logical thing...I opened it and played with it.

It all started when they wanted to meet shortly after the semester's end under the pretense of me looking at some of their work and discussing projects they might want to tackle over the summer. I should have known when I showed up and the previously mentioned artwork to be reviewed was nowhere in sight. Ultimately, the second student arrived and they proceeded to say wonderful things about me as a teacher and how much they appreciated the ways I helped them this past semester. It means a lot to me that they feel this way because there are times I really wonder whether or not I'm helping students. I have no formal training as a teacher and I can only hope that the knowledge and experience I pass on will help propel them further into their careers as students and artists. I know students like me because I'm funny, but I hope they like me because I challenge them and they learn from me. There are days I feel like I'm just a badass and I'm on top of my teaching game and then there are days I feel like a total hack and a fraud. It's esepecially scary because you find yourself caring about each and every student. They become peers and friends and you want to see them succeed. Not to mention I find msyelf learning from them as well and I think that's just fantastic. As I write this I feel myself wishing I'd waited another week to try and plan out something that flows a little more smoothly, uses fewer words and ultimately just sounds a little more eloquent, but one week will turn into two and this big giant thank you will remain unsaid for far too long.

While I didn't cry in front of those guys..I did well up a little. I'm an emotional guy. What can I say? They both worked overtime at their jobs so they could afford this thing...this thing that you can't just get anywhere anymore...because they don't make them anymore. I feel touched and completely unworthy, but not so much that I'll give it back. It's totally mine now. What's so awesome is that I never knew these toys even existed. I LOVE the Iron Giant.

So...I didn't cry in front of them at R.P. Tracks over my barbeque tofu sandwich...but I did cry in my goggles on my way home...on my motorcycle. Have you ever ridden a motorcycle wearing watery goggles? I don't recommend it.

At any rate...for what it's worth, you two, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You made my day. And to all my students who work so hard and bring so much enthusiasm to class...thank you as well. There's a bumper crop of really hard-working and talented students in the illustration/comics program at MCA right now and I'm fortunate to be a part of it. May the force be with you all.

Ghost sketches

Howdy Gang,

I realize it's been quite some time since my last post, but really...isn't it always? So two things...no, three. Actually, there may be more than three so I'm just going to get into it.

One: Me and Ashley have a house now and we're in the process of rendering the kitchen...less-wood-panely. That's a word. I looked it up. We're almost done...and by almost done I mean we need to repaint the kitchen AGAIN because we don't like the blue...and there are several cabinets left to be painted and put back on their magical hinges. You'll all have to come visit soon. I'll post pictures when the work's all done.

Two: I will be posting later tonight pictures of a sweet sweet gift bestowed unto me by two students who I will no longer have the privelage of teaching and who will be returning to the legendary tutelage of the legendary Joel Priddy. I'll save all the sappy verbal goodness for that post...but trust me when I say it's sappy and full of goodness...and ROBOTS!

Three: I've decided to try my hand at some pencil submissions of the Dark Horse character GHOST. She dresses all in white like a ghost and carries twin handguns like a ghost and goes around shooting up bad guys in a vengeful way like a ghost. I've only read a few of her comics, but I'm pretty sure that was the general plot...that apart from her cleavage. I'm pretty sure the comic was mostly about her cleavage. My GHOST is a bit more conservative...at least in dress. I got rid of the little lacy window on the chest/abdomen of her suit because really, what purpose does it serve outside of reeling in 12-year old male readers? I think it would be nice to continue to show her shoulders so there's a moment of contrast when the scarf thingy...at least that's what I think it is...drapes across said shoulders, but I may still end up covering her clavicle and upper chest so that when the cape/cloak is down she's completely white. A word on that cape/cloak/hood/scarf thing. I cannot for the life of me figure out the mechanics of that thing. I have no idea how it stays on. I'm guessing at it's construction in my sketches. I think the scarf attaches to the cloak and that's how it stays on...because it sure as $#*t doesn't tie on and it isn't like your average hooded cloak. No sir. It's like some sort of modified nun's habit or something. Anyway, to make a long post short (too late) these are my sketches. Just warm ups and screwing around mostly. I've downloaded the 8 page sample script from Dark Horse's website and am going to pencil it up and take it to Wizard World in Chicago this summer so as to get feedback from some industry folks. I'd love to snag myself some fill in work on a book and maybe get the proverbial foot in the door.

Dudes, I'm so awesome.

I'll be humble again tomorrow...but for the right now...I own. Srsly, ppls, I can haz you seen my new papercraft? No, for really! It's awesome. What's wrong with my speech? I don't know.

So I zombified my Newsbot just in time for the Zombie walk today. (Well...it's almost today) Introducing Zombot. The phenomenally phantastic photographs below are by my pal Lindsey Turner. This particular pre-assembled Zombot comes with a sweet sweet severed Newsbot head and leg to munch on so as to satisfy his Zombot cravings for robot flesh...which is really just metal when you think about it...and THAT's really just paper when you think about it.

Deep.

You can read more about the contest at http://thememphisblog.com/win-your-own-zombot/. If you feel like downloading Newsbot he's available from the CA website or right here on my blog. Download him. Put him together. Just don't leave him alone or he might eat your iPod.

Comment on my post and tell me how awesome I am...I mean...Zombot is.

Some robot designs

Because today's National Robot Day...didn't you know? Hmm. Really? Oh. Well...maybe I made it up. Anyway, to make a long story short (too late!) I'm finally getting back to "the moon story." These are designs for M.A.X and S.A.M, the two star-crossed robots that fall in love. S.A.M. is the only robot girl on earth and dresses like a human so as to fit in. M.A.X. wears a sweet sweet motorcycle jacket because it looks cool. Feedback?

Validation as an editorial illustrator or "Day of Infamy"

I've been at the C.A. for about 3 and a half years now. In that time I've won zero awards and it's left me feeling...well...shitty. I didn't expect to show up on the first day like some sort of Illustration rock star and sweep awards away from all the contests, but I must admit I hoped. It would seem, however, that this year I snagged two (COUNT EM!) TWO awards of excellence in the 30th annual Society of News Design competition. Woot! The first was an illustration I'm not too fond of and which I'm pretty sure won mostly because of page design...which had a little to do with me, but MOSTLY the very talented Richard Robbins. The second, however, was pretty much all me.

Go me! It's my birthday.

I mean...

Anyway, I don't immediately have the file for the one I'm not crazy about, but I do have the file for "Day of Infamy" which examines whether or not 9-11 replaced Pearl Harbor in the minds of Americans as our greatest national tragedy. I can't actually believe this illustration won anything, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth...because...well...I just don't.

More things Obama

These are two paintings I recently did for all the crazy buzz that was Obama's inauguration. The first was a painting that ran with quotes in the negative space above Obama and below Dr. King. I suppose I could get my hands on that file and post it. Maybe later. Anyway, it was an examination of how Obama's carrying on Dr. King's dream. The second was a center piece illustration for a fun facts page for kids. It's actually an old idea I had for an Obama illustration well before the election. I thought the stark contrast of the bright White House held carefully in the obviously African-American hands was just a nice image. It very quietly says everything I sort of feel in my heart. I'm particularly pleased with the way it printed in the paper. If only our stock was bright white instead of newspaper gray. Oh well.

Inauguration Day Fun

So, kids, President-elect Barack Obama became President Obama today and I couldn't be happier. My friend Lindsey is there in the mix and I'm jealous. While I can't be there, I can be here...making semi-fabulous Obamacrafts for you to download and assemble. And...this is the wrong photo. I emailed myself the wrong photo. That's great. This one isn't horrible, but it isn't as good as the other shot...and neither are as good as they could be if one of our fine C.A. photographers had actually done it. I didn'g get the files finished until late last night so he may or may not actually make it to commercialappeal.com for download. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Print, cut and assemble your own President Obama anyway. Starting...now. Go!

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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.