Paul Gilbert and I made a video!

Here is a music video that I did with Paul Gilbert, my favorite electric guitar player on planet earth. He is a great communicator, has a sense of humor and is an all around cool guy. He had written the lyrics of this song with his Mom when he was four and asked me to interpret them. I just went with what I saw in my head, based on those lyrics, and this was the end result:

Keep a lookout for the godzilla poster and old ibanez 'rocket roll' flying V that I snuck in there.
It was great to work with him on the project, He and his band were really open and communicative in the process. I had never created assets for animation so it was a learning process for me too; I got a bunch of worthwhile new tools out of the project in addition to receiving amazing ibanez fireman guitar! He ended up using images from this video for the tour merchandise. I now have t-shirts, stickers and a cup with my illustrations on them in association with the work of an artist I greatly admire.It was a ton of work but it was a blast.

Working For Monday!

That's right folks! The mystery project I alluded to in my previous post has been announced at San Diego Comic Con during Mark Waid's panel on Digital comics. In case you missed that event it is called 'Working for Monday.'

It is the story of a long suffering assistant to a super-villain who may just be trying to take him down from the inside! Lori Matsumoto is writing it (and helping me narrow down my designs to get just the right look.) It is really fun so far; I've thumb-nailed the first two installments. I love the story, the characters and the scenarios. It's going to be great! It will start coming out soon via thrillbent.

Nostalgia Cake!

My Fitness trainer Paul (yes I have one) asked if I could draw a design/scene for the top of a cake, to be served at he and his sister's shared birthday celebration. It didn't have to be fancy because it was going to be printed in edible frosting. He sent me a little rough sketch that featured a few golden oldies of the 80's which represented their shared childhood fun.

I did my best to elaborate on that sketch in the shortest possible time-frame; I used the same technique for the final image that I do for storyboarding which involves composting of carefully chosen imagery and then essentially tracing out only the right lines. It took about 4 hours to compose it, draw all the characters and color it. It was a ton of fun.

New (Semi-Secret) Project!

I'm working on a project for Thrillbent with Lori Matsumoto that will be announced more officially at San Diego Comic Con but I thought I might preview a bit of it here. I am designing characters based on real people so that I can draw it more like the Tragedy Series and use reference to speed up my process. I won't tell you too much about it now other than the fact that I'm excited about the story and the format where it will be published.

This is a series of haircut ideas for the main character based around an actress that she will resemble

This will be a butler/confidant character and I wanted to see if a different ethnicity (other than white) could work in the part but you run the risk of falling into stereotypes and I don't want to piss people off when I'm trying to be inclusive.

These were my first attempts at a main character, the villian and ideas for his mask. He isn't themed (like 'the scorpion' or something) so I wanted to keep it simple and iconic if possible. I want it to read really small- as a good tag.

I went a bit crazy with mask ideas but I kept seeing new ones in my head and I wanted Lori to have a bunch to choose from.

This is a design for the hero/nemesis of the bad-guy. I asked Lindsey what she would want to wear if she were going out to be a superhero and she said 'something supportive.' I thought that was an interesting place to start so I started with a full bodysuit and went from there. I kept thinking about that scene in 'The Incredibles'... "No capes"
If you are going to SDCC this year be sure to Check out Mark Waid's panel, on Thursday at 12:30 in room 24ABC, and tell me how it went. I'm working on a piece of promo art that should be featured on a big screen (I assume) at that panel.

This is taken off the SDCC website.

Wedding In The Woods.

I am getting married! It is a funny transition to make in some ways because it isn't a huge shift in my sense of commitment or love for Lindsey (we have been together for almost 6 years) but it does make me feel more grown up for some reason. Lindsey asked me to doodle up a wedding invite to send out asap. We're getting married in a state park near where she grew up. The logistics are complicated, but since I am not a church-going man and she likes trees, the woods seemed like the best place to have our ceremony:

She wanted something more simplified and cartoon-like without being a cartoon. I think she was leaning towards a 'folk-art' type of illustration so I tried my hand at that using (ironically) photoshop so I could adjust the colors to match what she was looking at for inspiration. I like the foxes and I hope you do too.

Chicago For A While

Lindsey and I went to visit our friend Michelle Alba in Chicago last week. It was great! We went to the Field Museum, The Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium where I took many photos of historic astrolabes, armillaries and orerries; if you read my web strip then you know I'm that sort of guy. I am also the sort of fellow who LOVES pancakes. There is no better place to get pancakes, in my opinion, than The Bongo Room. It is highly recommended; it make what most people call 'pancakes' unworthy of the name.

I fit in a few sketches. Otherwise we were having too much fun and absorbing the great sights and company offered only in the Windy City.

This sculpture, located in in Millennium Park, is officially titled 'cloud gate' but colloquially it is called 'The Bean.' there is a constant swarm of people around it because it is beautiful and irresistible. The construction of this fine object is really worth reading about.

This was a family eating at Giordano's Pizza. One of the kids was busily mashing buttons on his gaming system, the parents not acknowledging each other and the other two boys just stuffing their faces with famous stuffed pizza. It seems quintessentially American so I did what I could to capture it. I was drawing while enjoying my own stuffed pizza with green peppers and, a rare treat, a root beer; it was wonderful.

The Spoils Of Stumptown

This year I got a last minute table at Stumptown Comicsfest. It was a good time overall but, my hasty preparation, throwing poor Lindsey into the deep end of assisting me on the show floor, a diet comprised almost exclusively of doughnuts and coffee, appearing in the comic art battle, the inconsistent traffic of day 2 combined with my exhaustion from work and being fresh off the energy of ECCC made for a near-breakdown by the end of the festival. I did make some nice commissions (mostly on day one) and here they are:

I make T-Rex red. Maybe it is a latent affection for devil dinosaur that I'm not paying attention to.

This was for a 'super-pets' themed sketchbook. I like the Green Lantern and I love cats; this produced Meow Jordan.

I think this might have been done on day 2. The theme of this sketchbook was batman villains. I always liked Killer Croc and Poison Ivy so I did a quick doodle of them both.

I had a hard time deciding on a pose and I don't know the Sandman characters very well but I get the impression it is a really enjoyable series. The people who like it show a rare devotion to the stories and the characters. I like drawing fish even though I'm not great at it.

Here is my darling Lindser and me posing in a rare moment of mental composure. I think she is a gem.