Sketchbook: cheetah

Drawing from a "BIG CATS" book I picked up at Barnes & Noble. After a couple pages of quick gestures, I finally liked one enough to play around with some sort of finished rendering. This is with Prismacolor pencils (4 colors) and markers (2 colors, only in spots/edges). This took just over an hour while watching Tiger Woods kick ass on TV this past Sunday. It fills a 9"x12" page in my new sketchbook. It started off really line-based and cartoony, but the more I worked it out, the more rendered it became. I guess it was just a good image for me to experiment with.

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Sketchbook: animals

BIG update!

Leaving New York

Well, temporarily. I've done a good amount of work in the animation industry, in short spurts over the last three years and it's something I'm ready to take on full-time. While I don't want to get rid of my own ambitions like painting, illustration, publishing, and other new projects, I am pushing towards a career in animation, through visual development and character design.

This brings me to my new job, starting next week. I'll be heading to Shreveport, Louisiana on April 1st to help create storyboards and design on a new project with William Joyce of "Robots" and "Meet the Robinsons" fame. I'll be down south for about three months, and I'm really looking forward to working around the clock and creating a fun portfolio for this field in animation.

Sketch Infectus is out there

The pre-orders have been mailed and the book is stocked in the warehouse and ready for sale. I've seen a few reviews online (and won't discourage more!), and they are really positive and exciting! If you haven't seen it yet, drop by the Art Squared publishing website and take a peek. I'm quite proud of this book and hope you'll pick it up and get inspired.

Daily Sketchbook

With the aforementioned projects and time-consuming preparation, I've slacked a little on my updates and new personal goal to share something new from my sketchbook every single day. I'll do my best to keep updated, and here's another page from my sketchbook. This was just one of several fun warmup pages the other night... more sketches to come, this week.

Comic Conventions

I've been attending a few shows on behalf of myself and Art Squared Publishing, and they have been going great. Everyone visiting, getting their caricatures and books, have been delightful. Here are some photos from the most recent show, MegaCon in Orlando, FL:

The next appearances will be at the always amazing Toronto Comics Art Festival in May, then MoCCA in NYC. Hope to see you at either of those events. They are really fun and inspiring.

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Sketchbook: crocodile

I am nearly obsessed with creatures and life... people, animals, and anything in between or near them. From one of my many animal encyclopedias, I've scribbled a little loose, exaggerated sketch of a fat-necked crocodile. When they gain weight, it looks great, as their body bloats out in the middle and near the head, then this long, clumsy, cartoon-like jaw points out of it. They are threatening animals that look far too comedic for their ominous threat.

Sketchbook: Robots

Here was a quick attempt at having some fun creating cheesy robots. I really admire concept artists that can do this the "right" way, and I thought it'd be nice to warm up today by using a brush pen and a Prismacolor French Gray 30% marker on a small pad.

Daily Sketchbook

I've decided to post my sketchbook drawings or whatever I'm working on, as frequently as daily. I'm sure I won't keep this schedule perfectly, but I'll try my best.

Here are some new animal sketches. I'm playing with style and weight. Still (always) a long ways to go. And if you like these, then you should clickety-click over to get my new book. It's still warm from the oven.

Spotlight: Arkady Roytman

Howdy, y'all. This is a drawing of my good friend Arkady Roytman. This is a quick sketch (no more than 5 minutes) done at a session of the New York Society of Illustrators bi-weekly "Jazz and Sketch Night". Twice per week, this great organization hosts a night of nude or semi-nude figure drawing, complete with a bar and live music. It's an incredibly fun time where you can practice honing your life-drawing skills (and I love to occasionally cheat and draw the other artists!)

Anyway, the live sketch night is usually moderated by Arkady. He's only hosting a part-time now, but he still attends at least once per week and is a big part of helping the Society run from week-to-week. Arkady is a great guy, and watching him paint is sweeter than the jazz in the air. His watercolors are both subtle and entergetic, capturing the pose with a loose and wonderful palette.

Arkady has two blogs: One is for personal work, including illustration, commissions, concept art, fantasy art, figure drawing and more. He is an amazingly rounded artist and inspires me with his life drawings like no one else.

His other blog is just that: nude figure drawings. It's called "Nude of the Day." Arkady paints plenty of nude figures, and he offers these paintings fresh, daily. You can dig through hundreds of amazing paintings. Trust me, I've seen him create them... they are more beautiful in person, and you should consider investing in a nice original.

Lastly, Arkady has compiled a "best-of" book for his first year of daily nude sketches, which you can pick up pretty cheap! Why not swing over to his blog and get Arkady's book. I have one here at my house and I look at it frequently. Check it out and let Arkady know what you think of his work --

I think it's great.

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SKETCH INFECTUS has arrived!

So the bulk shipment of the books has arrived! I am quickly printing, packing, and preparing the books for you, so hopefully I can get the books out by Friday, Saturday or Monday.

FINAL NOTICE: The "pre-order" stage is over as of midnight tonight (okay, if you read this by 1:00 am, I'll let it slide), so tell your friends and get the last orders in, because with a pre-order you get a free sketch clipped from one of my sketchbooks, as well as another small gift from me. But remember, that's over TONIGHT, March 18th at midnight.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has already ordered the book and been very patient. You are all so amazing to support the arts and an artist like me, as well as being into sharing inspiration and method. It's so cool, and this is why I do it-- I'm happy to say there has been nearly 300 books sold, already! This is the one I'm most proud of, and I am so blessed to have so many amazing artists and supporters notice what I do, as well as sharing it with others and supporting the arts. So again, thank you.

Sketching again

EDIT: Extended Sketchbook Giveaway offer at the Art Squared Blog!
CLICK!

Sketching is so important. I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing sometimes. But after a few warmup doodles or sketches, it hits me and it feels natural again. Here are a few recent drawings from my sketchbook.

These are just quick observational sketches from photos, just to pass time and keep 'limber.' They are done with Prismacolor markers, fine-liner pens and Faber-Castell PITT brush pens on a simple white sketchbook from Barnes & Noble (good prices on sketchbooks).

Please excuse the lack of posts here, recently. I have been traveling a lot, and it's been quite hectic, however both New York Comic Con and Orlando MegaCon went far better than I had hoped. Thanks to everyone who dropped by, I'll have more photos and stories very soon.

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