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Just a series of sketches and me in my costume...
A Kosmoceratops exploring the cosmos.
Shroooom!
Some sail-backed amphibian I dreamed up one afternoon.
Szetem'na
Trick or Trick Kid
Fuzzy Pickles!
... as Ness from EarthBound. Happy Halloween!
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I just moved my website to a new host and now I need to learn a new UI for my portfolio and my blog. Anyway, anyone else looking forward to the HBO Max Harry Potter series?
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One day I ended up taking a long phone call at my day job. I had a sketchbook handy, so I went wild and came up with this wyvern design. I really liked it, so I drew many more! I'll just stick with these three:
A wyvern is a dragon with one pair of legs and one pair of wings.
I thought the wings would look cool if they had some kind of markings on them.
Drawing the head proved tricky for this angle.
Moomintroll and the Snorkmaiden
I had my first real introduction to Moomin last year. I started watching the '90s anime series on YouTube, then I read the comic strip and the books by Tove Jansson, and I even played the Snufkin video game!
"Hollow form"
I saw The End of Oak Street, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I love dinosaurs but I don't watch a lot of horror movies. I'll spare you my comments on how scientifically accurate the dinosaurs were (or weren't), but I will say how delighted I was to see coelophysis (pronounced SEE-lo-FIE-sis) in the movie. I grew up in New Mexico and Triassic period dinos tend to get overshadowed by other more famous dinos, so it was really cool to see. Of course people are comparing this movie to Jurassic Park, but I'd say it's more like The Twilight Zone meets 65, as in the Adam Driver dinosaur movie. If you're into sci-fi thrillers, you might like Oak Street.
The End of Oak Street more than earns its PG-13 rating, so if there are any kids under 13 reading this blog, please ask your parents or legal guardians before you see it. It gets pretty intense!
The End of Oak Street more than earns its PG-13 rating, so if there are any kids under 13 reading this blog, please ask your parents or legal guardians before you see it. It gets pretty intense!
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When I was a tender lad of ten, I hatched an idea for a dinosaur racing game. My dad started a program for me to tinker with on the family PC, but I didn't know the first thing about coding so after a while the project fizzled out. But I continued to draw the characters who were supposed to appear in the game for several years after.
His name was originally Compy, but at some point I decided I preferred Nathan.
The Japanese text reads "Dinosaur Kick!!"
Lately, I've been imagining a different kind of game featuring my dinos, specifically a 2D Game Boy-style sidescroller. Something akin to Super Mario Land 2, which is one of the first Game Boy games I ever owned, so there's a lot of nostalgia there.
I'm not promising a video game any time soon, but I do want to tell a story about Nathan and his adventures in some form. I've been busy working on other things, but I really like the idea, so I think we'll be seeing more of these characters soon.
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A manifesto for children's authors and illustrators.
I just attended an SCBWI conference in Hillsboro, Oregon and I thought I'd share a few things I learned. I attended a panel hosted by David Hohn, an artist based in Portland. He went into detail on his illustration process, from brainstorming to the finished piece. It's making me think there's a better way for me to create illustrations, which means experimentation.
David likes to start with divergent thinking, that is unfiltered word mapping of what he's going to draw. An example he used was from Treasure Island, where the words he jotted down for Long John Silver included the obvious like "pirate," but also more outside the box words like "gangster."
Another big thing he talked about was getting the tones down before coloring. This is something I'm going to try for and see where it takes me.
David likes to start with divergent thinking, that is unfiltered word mapping of what he's going to draw. An example he used was from Treasure Island, where the words he jotted down for Long John Silver included the obvious like "pirate," but also more outside the box words like "gangster."
Another big thing he talked about was getting the tones down before coloring. This is something I'm going to try for and see where it takes me.
David Hohn was demonstrating tones and colors here.
The world isn't hopeless as long as there are storytellers in it.
The conference covered other topics too like what sort of books agents and editors are looking for, book banning, AI in the publishing world, how to write stories, and making the sort of books we want to see. I would have liked to go to more panels, but alas, I couldn't be in two places at once. SCBWI conferences often have too many good things to choose from!
Finding the "why" is essential in storytelling.
As a Final Fantasy fan, I got a kick out of seeing the Jollibee mascot ride a chocobo.
And while I was in Hillsboro, I took the opportunity to eat at Jollibee since I don't get to do that every day. The spicy chicken sandwiches and ube pies are delicious!
Page 1 — now in color!
I included my six page Treasure comic in my portfolio at the conference. It's still in a rough stage, but I've decided to post it as-is on my website. I plan to do more work on it, but for now I'll direct you to this link to read it.
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I've been chipping away at this project for a while now and I hope to be able to have something to show around to art directors and agents. Think of it as the "pilot episode" of a larger work, in this case a middle grade graphic novel. Eventually I'll post the whole "pilot" on my main website, but for now, here's a bit of a sneak peek.
I showed this page to an artist friend. After some good feedback I ended up redrawing about 90% of this one page!
Little by little it's taking shape.
This guy's going to be in the comic too!
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I can't believe April went by so fast! I've been busy with life, but I manged to pound out a script for a short comic. I've been sketching away, trying to get everything in place. My goal is to have at least a couple pages done so I can present it to art directors and/or agents at SCBWI conferences. I won't say too much about it now, but it's part of a science fiction adventure story I've been dreaming up.
This is Dan. I've been working out how to draw him.
This bulbous fella's name is Szetem'na.
This is Erin. I've posted other illustrations of her before.
This is the first ever illo of Erin I drew.
There's still a lot of work to be done, but if nothing else. It'll be a real learning experience. And speaking of, I recently learned a bit about repairing electronics. Some years ago, I purchased a secondhand Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP. It was well-used. The outer casing had scuffs and scratches, and for some weird reason, a tiny hole in the hinge, as if someone had tried to run a thumb tack through the plastic.
It looked OK on this side.
But not so much on this side.
Just what was the previous owner doing?
I've watched a fair few of Odd Tinkering videos on the YouTubes. In fact, I'd say that was the catalyst for my desire to try refurbishing my Game Boy. I decided to give the system a new shell and a fancy IPS screen.
The motherboard
New casing, new buttons
My favorite video game
It was quite the challenge dislodging the hinges from the old Game Boy and I had a heck of a time connecting the new screen's ribbon cable to the motherboard. I was legit afraid I was going to break something, but thankfully everything looks good so far. When I powered it on, I felt such a wave of catharsis! I kind of want to do it again.
The Crested Booka, a monster from my favorite video game
However, tinkering with more Nintendo handhelds will have to wait. I've got some drawing to do. Until next time!
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I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go on a Disney cruise with my family. I had never been on any kind of cruise up until recently so I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since it was a ship to Mexico, a country which up to that time I had never visited. Plus my Español isn't very good. Still, you don't get to go on cruises every day.
The Disney Magic
Mickey looks good in a sou'wester!
The ship itself was very nice. A bit tricky to navigate sometimes, but thankfully there were directories on every floor so you could find where your activity of choice was being held. And boy were there lots to choose from! How-to-draw sessions, trivia games, and live entertainment including magic shows, piano concerts, and Broadway-style plays just to name a few.
The legendary Mickey Churro Waffles
The food was amazing! Especially at the themed restaurants: Animator's Palette, Lumiere's, and Rapunzel's Royal Table. I made an effort to eat healthy foods, especially at breakfast, but the ship had a plethora of other things like pizza, french fries, ice cream, and all of the other indulgences that come with vacations.
El Castillo, a Mayan pyramid
One of my biggest highlights was the excursion on Progreso, an island off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. The area has a lot of history. For example, 66 million years ago, the asteroid that caused the extinction of all the nonavian dinosaurs landed where the island is today. Yucatán is also home to the famous Chichen Itza ruins, which is the best-preserved of all of the pre-Columbian Mayan settlements. It was an incredible sight!
I made a point of going to as many how-to-draw sessions as I could. Also, I love Spider-Man!
Oh, right. I'm an artist and this is a blog about what I've been up to, art-wise. Actually, I made plenty of time to draw. To pass the time while waiting for activities to start, or even during quiet moments in my stateroom, I sketched one of my original characters in the Procreate Pocket app on my iPhone. One of our servers at the on-board restaurants saw me sketching and asked me to draw something for him. Since he was originally from Portugal, I decided to draw a ceratosaurus, a dinosaur who roamed what is now Portugal in the Jurassic period. I also wrote "thank you" in his native language for his excellent service and for being a really cool guy in general.
What I had been chipping away at.
My sketch for our awesome server!
Evidence of divergent evolution in the Disney universe
I think I ended up catching some kind of upper respiratory bug on this trip, but when you're around this many people this sort of thing happens. All in all, it was a fun trip and if given the opportunity, I'd gladly do it again! In the meantime, I'm going to continue sketching and developing stories. And if you ever go to southern Mexico, be ready for high heat, humidity, and street vendors trying to sell you stuff.
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Ye olde Carnotaurus
A certain dinosaur-themed attraction at a certain theme park in Orlando was recently closed indefinitely. I'm glad I got to see it for myself about seven years ago, but it makes me sad I won't have another chance to experience it. But c'est la vie, what can you do? I chose to draw two of the dinosaurs from the attraction-in-question in a medieval bestiary style.
Ye olde Iguanodon
Did you know I've done some bestiary illos before? And not just dinosaurs; I've also done folkloric creatures from Japan and Australian mammals too! You can check them out here.
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I think it turned out nicely!
This is a sign I designed for my dad, who wanted an enamel sign to honor his grandparents who had farm in Wyoming, raising sheep and growing beans and sugar beets. Multiple signs were printed, most were given away to my aunts and uncles as Christmas gifts, and I received mine just a few days ago. The whole thing was done in Adobe Illustrator and the signs were printed by the good people at Ramsign. They turned out great and my family has been overwhelmingly positive about the end product. Thanks Ramsign, and thank you, Dad!
I inked this guy with a fountain pen.
In other news, I bought a 64-count box of Crayola crayons on a whim and I've colored a few sketches with them. The iguanodon pictured above is one of them. So why the crayons? I figured they would help me approach my sketchbooks as a space to play and what's a better way than to be a kid again?