Stumble into my TUMBLR!

Hello!

It's been more than 3 weeks,-- so I guess it's time for a Blog post? In case you hadn't noticed it yet on my personal Blog links, I've broken down and finally joined the current Tumblr craze..
I'm a pretty active Blogger, but bypassed the whole MySpace experience. And I'm not enough of a narcissist to tweet all day-and-night about myself, and become a Twitter twit.. But I do find social networking sites useful. And regularly use both Facebook and LinkedIn to keep in contact with Friends and people I'd like to be friends with!

I've decided that while the Burlesque/Striptease postings here on my Blog have been fun to do.. They actually don't "fit" theme-wise here, in what was initially intended to be an online showcase for my own personal artwork? I don't intend to pull any of my previous Blog posts down. But will now be using my Tumblr exclusively, for any and all posts on that part of my collecting hobby. I guess unless it specifically pertains to my artwork, too. Which is always a possibility..

Like this old sketchbook drawing of 50's-era showgirl: "IRMA The Body"..

Judging by the stats on my blog's SiteMeter, I get a fair number of visits from websurfers looking for information or images on specific Burlesk performers of the past.. If that's your thing, like it is mine.. Then I hope you'll take an added trip over to my Tumblr.. I've spent time scanning & posting parts of my obscenely-large collection over there. And I hope you'll find it as interesting as I do?

You can get there by clicking here!     Thanks.

Illustration Friday: "LAUNCH"..

Well, I'm getting a bit better at my "Illustration Friday" participation.. I actually got to the "inking" stage, this time 'round! I had hoped to add some color, too. But I have some urgent freelance work, that's going to prevent that idea. Maybe next time?
Here is my entry for the this week's Theme: "Launch".

Earlier in the week, I'd stumbled across a Tumblr that had a cute photo of a little tyke in a crazy retro Space Helmet, gazing intently upon a Toy Rocket. Serendipity, or Synchronicity? I dunno, but I took it as a cue for my drawing, here..
Here's what the Final Art ended up looking like:

As you can see,-- I used a combination of col-erase pencils and ink. I'm fairly happy with the results. The drawing came together quickly, with only a few probs. More disconcerting to me, was the trouble I had with the inking. My old eyes just aren't what they used to be, I guess. And even with relatively-new reading glasses, I still had trouble seeing the smaller details. Thank God for Photoshop, eh?! hah
I think I can credit the facial expression to my heavy Wally Wood influence. But I also see a bit of Rick Geary here, too. That came as a bit of a surprise to me, as I haven't looked at his artwork in a very long time..
Hope you enjoy seeing this one!

Many thanks, for dropping by.. See ya, next time!

Illustration Friday: "SOAKED"..

Hello!

It's been awhile since I participated in an "Illustration Friday" .. But here is an entry for the this week's Theme: "Soaked". For whatever reason, I imagined a poor Clown being soaked by a bunch of misfit kids. Perhaps the setting is an oldtime kid's show like "Howdy Doody", where a bunch of audience members are allowed to soak "Seymour The Clown" with a bunch of different spraying devices? I dunno. Who's to say where inspiration flows from..

Here's what it ended up looking like:

I didn't bother inking or coloring this one. Not enough time, currently. And the drawing has a few probs. But on the whole, I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out. It has the Wally Wood/MAD magazine qualities that I was hoping for, at least.

Thanks, for visiting my Blog.. See ya!

FF's 50th Anniversary!

Many moons ago, I roughed-out a sketch of the entire 'FANTASTIC FOUR' group.. I'd bought a few of the Kirby/Sinnott ESSENTIAL trade paperbacks earlier; and found them really inspirational. That vintage artist team seemed to really click, on the series. And Joe Sinnott's slick inking, really made Kirby's pencilling sing!
Realizing that my original Layout would likely require some finessing, if I wanted all of the compositional elements to work.. I thought it'd be a good idea to put each character on a seperate page. They turned out pretty good, I thought. But unfortunately, I never got 'round to adding a background. Eventually I sold them all off thru a series of eBay auctions; promoting my 2003 self-published sketchbook..

More recently, I read that the 50th Anniversary of the FF would be one of many "themes" featured in the Souvenir Program Book at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.. So, I dragged out my old FF artwork & sketched out a Background that'd work behind what'd already been done.
There were parts of the old artwork that I was never quite happy with.. So, in addition to adding a background, I decided to "fix" stuff like Reed Richard's outstretched arm. As well as give The Thing a "new" face. Here's what I came up with:

It looks a bit odd, with some parts still missing.. But drawing all the Kirby -type machinery/gear, is always great fun.. And because I had the character placements already blocked-out, I was able to (hopefully) spot additional elements, without making the Layout overly busy & congested.. Even so, it still took a bit finagling inside Photoshop to get everything to fit properly..

The only thing I was sure of, for the Coloring stage,-- was that I wanted the back wall (with the large hole) to framed using a darker tone. Ideally, this would contrast nicely against the bright skyline..
I decided to add a colored line for the cityscape, so as to not distract too much from my Foreground details.
Here's how the Final Art turned out:

Even though I started working on this quite awhile back,-- the deadline of April 29th came up frighteningly fast. I barely got the image file sent off, just under the wire! With a bit of luck, the pic will see print at this year's biggest annual comic-book convention..
Anyways, it was a fun project. And one that I heartily recommend to any/all artists interested in self-promoting their abilities to a defined audience..
See ya!

Big Green HULK(s)!

Well, I've been shamed into a new Blog posting by my good friend: Dave.. He brought to my attention, that an entire couple of months had slipped by since my last post?!.. Thanks, Dave.. That's what friends are for!
Here goes..

Here's an old drawing of 'The HULK' that I just finished coloring.. My favorite comic-book characters are usually the most iconic characters; and HULK is certainly no exception. He reminds you first, of Frankenstein's Monster. But adds an interesting Jekyll/Hyde dynamic, too; which contrasts the anemic Dr. Bruce Banner against his angrier, green alter-ego..
I contributed this drawing to a Charity Auction at one of the early Paradise Comicon shows. And I found out later that it was won by one of the organizers of that convention: Kevin Boyd. He has the original black-and-white artwork posted in his CAF Gallery, here.

This was an attempt on my part to try and create a version of HULK, in the art stylings of Jack Kirby. The artist that invented the character.. And who (in my opinion) still epitomizes the best take on the character!
I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out. Though I noticed as I was coloring it, that I goofed on the Light Source. The shadows simply don't jibe with the position of the Moonlight..

Years earlier, I did a more-cartoony version of the character.. Which I included in the sketchbook that I self-published, in 2003. Different time of day, granted. But very similar.. I've always described this HULK as more of a confused, drunken midget wrestler.. I recall that when I e-mailed this image to Dave Stevens, his immediate response was: "Love the drool.. hah!"

Goshdurn DOODLE Dump!

It's hard for me to believe that I let another entire month slip by, before updating my Blog.. I had the best of intentions to post something in January. And had started a number of drawings that I thought would fit nicely. But alas, Life seems to always find a way of impeding my completion on these things...
In any case, I'm well past due for a Blog update. So I went thru the vast pile of unfinished illustration ideas & unearthed a couple of older sketches. Composited in a bit of "newer" stuff, too.. And figgered this would make a sufficient posting? I hope so..
Below, is one of these:

Some of these sketches are pretty loosey-goosey. My stuff usually ends up more finished-looking.. But I think the 2 weird figures at the Top Left were supposed to be a kind of strange Charles Burns -esque 'Santa Claus'?! I can't even remember why I did these..
The gaggle of more-finished "inked" figures are Elves, which I may still use in a future Christmas Card. I like how most of these turned out.. There's a nice contrast in the overall variety. I can recall the l'il marching ones, were adapted from a Frazetta 'Funny Animal' comic.. Always a fun exercise!
The other blue-pencil ones along the Bottom, were studies I'd done from a pre-code 50's Horror anthology, I purchased recently. In fact, I'm 99% sure the Ghoulie-Guy rubbing his hands, is from a Jack Cole story.. Cole was a brilliant artist whose artwork I cannot seem to get enough of!

The above sketch page, is a little more finished.. But again, the ideas/concepts were never incorporated into anything I felt was worth completing. The inked stuff along the top, are studies from a classic Wally Wood MAD story, entitled: "Wreck Of The Hesperus".. The idiot daughter in that one, never ceases to crack me up! hah
The bottom tier is quite Wood-sy, too. Essentially, more riffs on his style.. A couple of weird Alien figures, in all of their resplendent nekkid-ity!
The stern-looking Male faces thru the middle, were an idea I once had for a kind of 'NICK FURY' -style Super Spy. He was supposed to look a bit like Robert Mitchum, I guess? I can't recall.. But I did like the way all of the l'il Ass Chins turned out on these! haha

Anyways, hope you'll enjoy perusing some of the detritus from these projects?..
Because I'm pretty positive there'll be more Doodle Dumps, in my future!

Happy Holidays 2010!

Season's Greetings, everyone!
Here is the 2010 version of my annual Holiday Card..

This year, I attempted another Art Deco motif; based on a few vintage cards that I've managed to collect off of eBay over the years..  Overall I'm happy with most of it. But in hindsight, it's probably a bit too close in overall design, to the Holiday Card that I did back in 2007..
The coloring was done digitally.. For the most part, it was applied color-to-color, without any holding lines. I cheated a bit here and there, though. The Birch Trees actually looked better with the remnants of linework, I thought..
Unfortunately, while the series of Gradient Fills I applied with Photoshop, looked pretty decent in the original file on my monitor.. The subtleties got a bit muddied in the actual printouts I received back from Kinko's.. Skewing everything, slightly darker. Parts of the Deer got lost on the Night Sky. As did some of the Pine Trees, etc.. 

The experience of making/sending out the Cards this year too, was somewhat bittersweet. As this was the type of project that I would traditionally do with my Mom; who passed away just last year. In fact, looking back.. I think I did it more for her, than for myself. She would nag me about getting the Cards done. And for whatever reason, I would always wait 'til the last-possible-minute, before actually finishing them. It was a real Dannys Christmas tradition! bwa-hah

As mentioned in my previous Blog posts,-- any Christmas Card done BEFORE my Birthday, is a raving success story.. So, I did alright this year! But I'm a man of limited financial resources, so I wasn't able to printout quite as many copies as I once did. But if you're on my Card List, expect a hard copy in your mailbox soon.. For the rest of my friends, I hope that this "digital" -version of the Card will suffice? Y'know, they say it's the thought that counts, in the end..

Anyways, I hope that everyone has a terrific Holiday Season.. Best Wishes to everyone at Christmastime!.. And hoping you have a fantastic 2011!