Dinner Portraits: For Life!

I frequently ask Lindsey to do drawings for me and she won't because she's self conscious; I suppose that has something to do with my job and whatnot but I just want her make lines on paper to describe what she sees. It helps you visualize the world in a degree of detail that most people ignore.


I think drawing is a great skill for everyone because, given enough time and a little (genuine) interest, you can master regardless of your general physical state. Most kids love to draw at least a little (in my experience) and it makes me sad that most people stop at some point (usually middle school) because they begin making comparisons between their skill level and those other kids or grown ups who seemingly have an easier time of it. It's never too late though. If you are 'old' you can still draw and have fun doing it unlike skiing or something of that sort and yet most people won't. I say they should just listen to Yoda:



You have the entirety of your time on this planet to get good. Even if you never 'get good' then you can least play around with it and have some fun; so why not give it a shot? I want Lindsey to have the option to explore her life with a creative visual outlet because I know how wonderful and instructive it can be.

Screen Tone Situation

My Friend Ben Bates and I had a discussion about The difference between the Screen Tone that gets used in Manga and the halftone feature in photoshop. I have been using the half tone dot pattern that is found under Filter> Pixelate> Color Halftone. You can see the results below. What I like about it is that it approximates the look of vintage coloring/toning processes. What I don't like about it is that at different scales on a computer monitor it has the tendency to moiré.

This is an image from a short story I'm doing for an anthology. It is full of all kinds of crazy imagery, and even with my best efforts to separate forms with careful design, I still want to use a middle tone of some sort to help direct the eye. The dots print perfect in black and white because that's all they are; just spaced at different intervals. I'll post a screen of the same image and those of you who feel like commenting can give me a thumbs up or down.

Sunday Ritual.

I am not a church going man but I do spend my Sunday in my own sort of reverent contemplation. I try to reserve Sundays for time with my dearest Lindsey and doing the things I love. That can sometimes mean breakfast out, watching science videos on Youtube, playing guitar through my amps, petting the cats, Star Wars related activities and any other number of things that are just for me.

I like to draw her at breakfast; It's an excuse to stare at her
We went to breakfast again and we are about to head out for the day so I thought I'd offer up this little post in contrast to my super lengthy video game post of the previous day; in part I wanted to show that I do have leisure activities already and that I am by and large happy with my 'fun' choices as they exist.

To Game, Or Not To Game?

On occasion I will inquire about information on certain video game titles from friends who have made the leap into the world of modern systems; this is so I can experience their joy vicariously. I don't know where I stand on those sorts of games because I can see a balanced set of good and bad reasons to engage in (or reject) their use. I have negative associations with losing time to anything but guitar (the study of music in general really,) reading about science or the advancement of my art skills; this is probably why I should find another activity that doesn't reinforce my unrelenting fixation on productivity.


From time to time, I'm told, that just doing things purely 'for fun' is important. I know that there would be aspects to exploring the worlds made by VG artists that could be really thrilling and instructive. I have strong, positive memories of much less sophisticated games (than exist now) that expanded my imagination and live in my mind as real places. Here are the contemporary games (their sequels too) that I'm interested in:

Mass Effect:

Don't all these aliens look so cool that you would want to become a hermit in order to meet them?

Red Dead Redemption:

I love westerns and this would be like directing your own in real time or a grown up game Cowboys & Indians with requisite cursing.

Force Unleashed:

I have a life long obsession with Star Wars. No more needs to be said.

Left 4 Dead:

I am both terrified and delighted by zombies. I love the idea of playing this with my friends.

Dragon Age:

My friend Colleen says this game is amazing and I believe what she says. I also happen to be a fantasy dork, as you probably know.

Old Republic:

I might just be in love with The Preview but I'd imagine that it is probably pretty amazing to explore the world they've built.

Uncharted:

This is supposedly like Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider and Mission Impossible; What's not to love?

Gran Turismo 5:

I have such pleasant memories of playing this game series with Nathan, Ben Brosius and Bob Grunau that it might as well have been a fifth member in our gang.

The Last Guardian

I missed out on the epic scale and beauty of Shadow of the Colossus so I figured this might be where that aesthetic journey of adventure will meet up with my adult tastes for great puzzles and beautiful environments to explore via a huge gryphon-weasel.

Age Of Conan

I have a mild obsession with Conan The Barbarian. I almost bought the art of book for this game and I still might."What is best in Life?" A good question.

Any Future Legend Of Zelda Game:

The Zelda series has been that irresistible siren song that keeps drawing me back in to the world of video games. It seems to have it all and I can't get enough. Hyrule has a special place in my heart.

There are probably a few more games I've forgotten but these are the ones that stick out as noteworthy. I'm compelled by a few specific types of games; I like puzzle games, racing games and games where you can explore the world while fleshing out a character (BioWare seems to hit a lot of these notes in their titles). I know that some of them are for different systems and or PC but I'd most likely get the system that gave me access to the majority of the games on this list.

If my friends Ben and Nathan lived near by I'd buy an X-box tomorrow but both of them live in other states and have families to spend their limited free time with. I probably won't ever do it but I like to fantasize about how much fun it would be. For the foreseeable future I'll be an art, science and music monk. Feel free to try and convince me otherwise; I'm obviously open to changing my mind!

Quit 'Monkeying' Around.

I have been busy trying to catch up to my obligations and that is why you only get a drawing of a Chimpanzee (an ape not a monkey-in point of fact) that I did yesterday as reference for one of my many projects.

In all, I think he is quite handsome. Now I'm back to my drawing desk where I craft dream-scapes of fantasy for young and old alike!

Across The Finish Line.

I finished a big painting this morning after a month (roughly 30 hours) of fairly tedious, technical, educational, demanding and meticulous work. I can't show it to you but I can show you these lovely paint rags.


It is a splash page-style montage of historical fiction characters with vehicles appearing under and on the sea, in the air and thundering over the American landscape. As more info is allowed to circulate I'll post accordingly. For now, I'll celebrate with a handful of blueberries and a return to my main projects.

May the Force be with you.

A Quiet Sunday

Lindsey and I spent the day at the apartment. I had intended to go down to the studio but I decided to have some time with my girlfriend where I wasn't worrying about work for a little while. We had breakfast at a kind-of-divey place down the street that we like to go to (mostly because of location.)

Upon our return home I worked on what was supposed to have been Friday's update for White Pony and then I did a little sketch of Lindsey while she watched (and I listened to) Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. We just played a game of Bananagrams and I lost again (I'm on a historic losing streak.) I'm kind of a poor sport but I try to make up for that by being a good boyfriend the rest of the time.

See you soon!

I Love Paul Gilbert.

Paul Gilbert has been my favorite electric guitar player since I 'discovered' his brilliant playing in 2008. Anyone who has spoken to me for an hour or more, since that time, can attest to this.

Paul demonstrates the science of rocking out

Paul describes the pickups in my next guitar
He is best known from his tenure in a band called Mr. Big that peaked at the same time that grunge was on the ascent and, thus, was considered uncool. You may notice that those bands, as cool as they were, did not stand the test of time. Mr. Big has returned with all the giddy over the top spectacle that characterized the era in which they first emerged and I for one am glad because we need some of that gleeful grandeur in these times of silly reality T.V. and unexceptional celebrities.



How can you not love that chorus riff and face melting solo?



Yes! Tapping intro. Haters to the left- as they say
So I know this isn't a comics/art post but every now and then it's important to engage with something other than drawing to keep the batteries charged and my mind open to new possibilities. I hit a wall yesterday after working for 12 hours and Mr. Big was just the sort of sunshine I was looking for.

I'm Obscure, I Guess.

From time to time I try and do a 'mash up' with two things that I like and I seemingly have a talent for picking two or more things that next to nobody has ever heard of. In this case Periscope decided collectively to do Miyazaki themed drawings for our sketch blog and I wanted to be cleaver so I did this drawing:

If you don't get it you can follow this sequence of images and put it together for yourself:



Easy right? Next time I'll do some kind of unmistakable pop figure mixed with some wildly popular cultural phenomenon. I'll take suggestions and donations.

Stage 2: The Prince Of Eternia

These are the inks for my He-Man submission. Dustin Weaver suggested pushing his proportions toward those of the action figures or in step with how Bruce Timm would draw Batman.


I'm going to do a color version when (and if) I have the time. I'm in the midst of a deadline sprint on a few projects that will require major time commitments so I hope you'll forgive me if I waver from my planned days of posting. I had meant to post last night instead but Lindsey was working on her blog and I didn't want to interrupt. The results are stunning and hard won so check it out!