Traveling sketchbook

A few months ago my good pal and interstellar super artist Dean Stuart asked our friend Jose "Malísimo" Moreno to make a sketchbook for him with the intention of having artists he knows pass it around, each artist picking a page and filling it with whatever they want. I was lucky number three and here's what I brought to the party

Maaaaan this was fun to make

Next in line is the Italian Rapscallion Jonathan Stagnaro. If you've never seen his work before, you will soon!


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Upcoming international appearances!!

I don't want to let too many cats out of the bag, but it looks like your favorite comic artist will be appearing in another beautiful French artbook and most possibly an epic multinational artbook later this year!

I'm stoked.


In related news, this is what my desk looks like this evening:

I swear I didn't stage this photo

Did I ever mention that most of Mirenda was going to be in color? I've probably made less than eight color paintings in the last three years, so bear with me while I get this color thing dialed in and I'll be sure to make it worth the wait ;)



Thanks for stopping by! I'm hoping to have this page completely done this weekend, so check back soon!

the Sketchbutt and Jenna

Anyone who knows me knows that I carry a little sketchbook in my back pocket so I can jot down any noteworthy things along the day. I've been trying to make sure and start a new one every year for the last few years, and this year I upgraded to a super sleek gold chrome model!

Each year so far the books have gone from a complete mess of written notes and doodles to deeply introspective one-liners with impeccable font-practice. This newest book seems to be a pretty solid mix of everything I've done before, but with more random horned animals:

This is the first one I've made myself, and there are three or four different kinds of paper in it!

Tonight I'm getting busy with Mirenda! Here's a taste of what passes for a "finished" composition in my house:

Lastly, and most amazingly, my girlfriend and incredible multidisciplinary artist Jenna Trost won an award from the Society of Illustrators!! Check it out!

I couldn't be more proud :D

So much good stuff going on right now. Thanks for stopping by!!

I dreamed I was alone in the forest...

Sorry for the sparse posting lately, most of the work I've been doing still isn't exactly presentable. (not to mention I still haven't gotten that new scanner yet...) However, I do have this tasty little snack to share with everyone:

The colors in this digital reproduction got pretty far away from the colors in the original painting, which bummed me out big time. I guess they aren't THAT far off, but far enough that it would have taken an obnoxious amount of time to accurately color-correct in photoshop. I'm still getting back in the swing of painting in color and I'm sllloowwwwlly getting a grasp on which colors scan well and which absolutely won't have it. I was pleasantly surprised to learn last year that quinacridone magenta scans beautifully :D

Check back soon, I'm getting back into regular blogging this year!



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It IS 2012 now. Finally!

I've been getting busy on new Mirenda pages, but they're not at a stage I can post just yet, so here's a sketch I'm working on for a yet unnameable project:

Get stoked! It's going to be incredible (hopefully!)



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Is it 2012 yet?

Sorry for not posting all month, I feel like I've JUST been made painfully aware of how much I rely on my scanner in my day to day life. I did, however, manage to get a picture of this super sweet bookmark I made for an amazing friend of mine:

I really love doing these weird dry-brushy drawings, and I used the holidays as an excuse to crank out a handful of them for friends and family. I've been wanting to get this technique into my "professional" work for a while now, but it doesn't really allow for much error correction. There's at least one part of my forthcoming graphic novel that will have a bit of this in it, but I'll try and get a bit more in there



Remember when I said I was going to talk to "Cool as Ice" Chris Koehler's illustration class to critique some comic pages they did? Well I forgot to come back and tell you guys the work was AMAZING. This is an introductory illustration class, and these folks are doing better comic pages than people I graduated with.

Check them out here

I'm a little bummed that the images on their site are so small and some of these digital reproductions aren't as sharp as the original paintings, but come on, were you doing this in your first illustration class?

"Becoming Cool" by the Astounding Alex Smith

Meanwhile, back at my house, I'm sick and my back hurts because my girlfriend and I got rear-ended on the freeway by some jerk on Christmas Eve. Did I ever mention I don't really like the holidays?



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Special guest appearance tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll be stopping by Chris "the Crippler" Koehler's illustration class to crit some comic pages they did and talk about other art/life-related things. Talking to students is always a lot of fun, and Chris is an amazing teacher who has gotten his students super stoked so this one should be extra great.

Chris is filling in teaching for Allfather of Illustration Barron Storey this semester, and from what I've seen and heard he's doing absolutely fabulously.

Check out his students' work here!

His students are blowing my Illustration 1 work out of the water, and it will be interesting to see these folks progress. With any luck I'll be able to positively influence a few of them with my overabundant enthusiasm and nonsensical painting techniques.



Aaaand here's a piece I did at a life drawing session a few months ago

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