Wolverine

Wolverine is a character from the X-Men comic. He's part-man, part-animal, in a long tradition of characters such as, Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, Tarzan, The Wolfman, etc, trapped in a struggle between bestial impulses and civil order. As a superhero working within a team this makes for an interesting social dynamic. He must work with others in an organization, while at the same time he's at his best when he goes berserk and attacks the enemy. He's basically a murderous psychopath barely under control. In a lot of ways so is James Bond, he just looks smoother, nobler and more refined. I think these characters allow us to cut-loose of our civilized selves in a safe and harmless way. In a story these characters are very appealing but would be awful people to know in real life.

ICKY

OOK

Revised: 5/5/07 10:24 PM

Sunfish

I painted this for a sun themed school charity auction.
My nickname for it now is "Retarded Sunfish", because I accidentally coated the front of it with an acrylic retarding agent instead of varnish. I was working on two paintings at the same time and switching back and forth between materials. Whoops! It seems to have washed off okay.

Revision: I should have probably mentioned that a retarding agent slows the drying time for acrylic paints. This allows for more blending with acrylics as they are a fast drying paint. Using it accidentally as a varnish caused the painting to be perpetually sticky, hence the need to remove it.

Spacemen

The Guy

You'll see this guy at various jobs at various companies. Something has happened to him. He's come to embody the monotonous dull routine of the job he does. The musty smell of old carpet, the annoying glow of flourescent tubes, the dry text of office memoranda; all of these have seeped into him as his will has seeped out. He seems nice enough, in a distant way. You might say hello or even engage him in small talk, but you'll never get to know much about him or what it is he does. You'll just know this: Whatever happened to him must not happen to you.

OI!

This very punkish picture is another sketch that was colorized and messed with in Photoshop. I was never really a punk but was and still am a big fan of the CLASH.

You Should See the Other Guy

This was to be the front of a get well card for my nephew who had been in a car accident. The inside of the card was going to show his face, after the bandages were removed, rearranged like a picasso painting . I wasn't sure how bad the injuries were to his face so I decided to do a less edgy card. As it happens his injuries were minor and he would have probably enjoyed the card. Still, I would have felt horrible if he was disfigured and then presented the card I had planned.

Kids Do the Darndest Things

Dad goes into boy's room to tuck him in and notices the boy sleepily hitting himself in the head.
Concerned, Dad asks the boy, "Why are you doing that?"
Boy responds, " I can't stop thinking bad thoughts."
" Bad thoughts?" the dad asks, as tiny beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead, " What kind of bad thoughts?"
In his mind the dad is suddenly adrift on a tiny raft in the cold arctic ocean. Around him are huge, sharp, foreboding icebergs. In their facets he sees tabloid headlines reading: "Shooting Spree at School", "Family Killed by Child", "Bodies found In Shallow Grave". Above his head an iceberg breaks free.
The child notices the dad flinch and asks him, "Are you okay?"
Recovering himself the dad asks again, "What kind of bad thoughts?"
The boy begins to relate all manner of normal childhood mis-behaviors; Not listening to mom and dad, roughhousing, not coming when he's called, small devious pranks and mischief, etc.
Relieved, the dad explains that all these things are normal and that we all think bad thoughts or misbehave from time to time and that's all part of being human.
"Thanks dad." the boy says as the dad heads toward the door.
"No problem." replies the dad as he starts to close the door.
"Sweet dreams," the boy mumbles as he rolls over into his pillow.
"Yeah," a dry nervous chuckle escapes as the dad replies, "sweet dreams."

Random Sketches with Vibrant Pixel Colors

Some fun nonsense.

Aquanoodle

Here's another sketch blown up and colored in Photoshop.

Teutania and Sally May

You could read into thse drawings all sorts of psychological meanings and for all I know they might be there. The fact is though, that these are a result of a collaboration by my hand and paper while my mind is elsewhere. Mindless doodles. The names in the title are just what popped into my head when the computer asked me to name the scanned file.

Heavy Ink

Here are a bunch of brush marker sketches.

And so on...

Kurt Vonnegut is up in heaven right now, looking down on us.
(That was his favorite joke.)
And so on.
(That was a recurring line in his book "Breakfast of Champions", as well as some others.)
HiHo.

Sketchbook Goon

Bunny Thing

This was inspired by a book by artist Michel Gagne, called "Insanely Twisted Rabbits.
Also check out his Insanely Twisted Puppet Show.
Gagne is a multi-talented artist/animator who worked on "The Iron Giant" and "Osmosis Jones". You can find links to the rest of his site and view examples of his work. (Sadly, I recieve no kickback for this referral and I don't even know the guy. I just like his work and his do-it-yourself attitude.
)

They're coming to get you, Minnie.

What?

Have a nice day!

Eyelien 2

A variation on the theme.
Maybe I'll paint this also.

GOT CANDY?

Hippity hop and Easter's on it's way.
This really has nothing to do with Easter. I sketched this in my sketchbook when Aardman's "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" was about to be released into the theatres. I thought at the time that the were-rabbit should look more like this.

Eyelien

I just finished painting this little mutant. I started, thinking I was only going to do a quick warm up, but then just kept going. There are some things I'd like to change but overall I think this looks pretty good. My son, who is 7, is learning about Monet in art class. He said I should paint something nice next. Something like Monet. So, maybe the next thing I paint will be water lillies (with weird tentacled creatures lurking just below the surface). This was painted in acrylic paints on (not the best)watercolor paper.

Below is my first sketch of the picture. It was drawn with Prismacolor pencils. I like this more in a lot of ways. He's squatter and cuter, and the light background is less foreboding.



Here are some photos of the painting in progress.

Scary Mug

No matter what your political loyalties may be,
you really must agree,
all enemies must beware,
Condoleeza's deathray stare.

MORE MUGS

I don't know why I called him Carlo. It just seemed to fit him.

The funniest mug of all.

Old Ink From an Old Sketchbook

Miasma

This is an improvisational ink drawing that I turned into a Photoshop/Painter color painting. I've been meaning to paint this sort of thing on canvas or watercolor paper but haven't gotten around to it yet. I guess I'd better get cracking. ( My wife said, "Looking at this makes my stomach upset." I'm sure she meant that in a good way.)

So, you from around here?

Myrtle.

CRASH

I made this wallpaper to put on my website but never put it up there. It was made in Painter.

Eager Client

This ink drawing was done for a gallery show called, "Works of Wonder", I had with my friends Scott Rosema, Anthony Carpenter and Mike Mason. I decided not to use it in the show because it didn't fit with the theme. Although I can't help but wonder what this guy is thinking. I like the inking I did on this. It's tight and expressive at the same time, and looks a little like an old fashioned pen and ink illustration (even though it's done with a brush).

Head Games

This mug was is an example of me mucking around with a small sketch in Photoshop and seeing what all I could do with it. It's colorful and kind of psychedelic.

Huh?

Another ugly mug.

This Dame is...

The picture above is the revised version.

Another in the thug mug series of graphic curiosities set forth to amuse any who by chance find themselves surfing this obscure channel on the ultimate ocean of digital info. I'm not entirely happy with the design graphics (too plaid looking) but gave up tinkering, I might re-do this one (top picture is revised version).

Monsterwokky

Down the wobbly Wembly went,
the Snickerty Snoot in hot pursuit.

From the book "Bedtime Tales for Disturbed Children."
A collaborative effort by Lewis Lovecraft and H.P. Carroll.

LUSH LIFE

Again, like the kid with the bad teeth that I posted before, this isn't a caricature of anyone. It was a sketchbook ink drawing that was scanned and colored in Photoshop. The graphic style of the picture is a nod to my friend Anthony Carpenters Sketchville blog posts (see links list at right).

This has never happened to you?
Just a grotesque doodle for friday surfers who happen by.

Here's another.

This is a photoshop painting that started from a small marker sketch. I painted it in the style of Bill Wray, who actually paints much better and with real paint.
This is not a caricature of anyone but does closely resemble someone I once worked with.
(In my previous post I mentioned that I'd try to post something happier and less psychotic. I don't know if this qualifies-I guess I'm just psycho. So much for that career in politics. Heh, heh.)

Mech Mess

This is an ink sketch from my sketchbook. I enjoy doing improvisational sketches like this. I never know at first what I'm going to draw but eventually something takes shape. This one is kind pissed-off looking. I'll try to post something happier next time.

Here are an assortment of post-it/scratchpad doodles.

Here's a recent painting. It was painted in acrylics on watercolor paper.

Here's a closer look.

And this is even closer. The painting was done from a small drawing done in my sketchbook which was enlarged and then transferred to watercolor paper.