Illustration Friday: Small

I kept thinking about giants when trying to come up with an idea for this weeks IF so, this is what I came up with. Everything is small when it is next to a giant. I was going to do shrunken heads. That would be cool. But, I'll save that for another day.

The Sultan Rides!

Nothing impressive but it is something to post. A very random sketch. When my 7 year old daughter saw it she said I was weird. Success!

Not a cat taco!

Here is a little painting I did today for a friend who owns Bajio. A resturant with the best Mexican food around. I started out just doing another doodle, but it seemed to fit his resturant so, I went ahead and painted it. Another friend of mine,, does paintings for him all the time. He does some amazing stuff. Jim Madsen Anyway, I showed him my sketch and he threw some color on it too. Not bad eh?

Illustration Friday: Strength

I didn't think I'd have time for IF this week, but I started sketching and came up with this. It was a very quick sketch and I added the color here and there while working on another job. I don't know who he is yet. Maybe Overdeveloped Upper-body Man...I dunno. Any ideas? Those bags of chip can be hard for anyone to open.

Superhero: Team Sod

I was going to draw something for Illustration Friday. The topic is strength so, I thought superheros. Unfortunately, this is not what I meant to draw. It kinda came out this way. It just doesn't say strength. I know Mr. Turf looks strong but he is wearing a grass suit. He's not so big after a good mowing. And, the Amazing Watering Can is, well...i don't know what she is. As a team there is nobody better to battle those pesky dry spots. I'll have to come up with something else for strength if I can. Deadlines come first.

Crayons and Pig

We went out to eat tonight, which is really the best way to draw on the back of placemats. My son (3 years old) was in rare form. The orange streaked waitress was informed that "You have funny lookin' hair". Then a really big fat guy walks in and he says "Dad, look at that really big fat guy!" I was proud that he was so good at observing details, but could he just keep it to himself.

We pulled out the placemats and crayons. He scribbled the maze and the crossword. Excellent craftsmanship. I asked him what he wanted me to draw. A gun and a skateboard. This was the resulting drawing. Sometimes crayons are the best media in the world. I also drew a really big fat guy but, I didn't include it. Really, he was BIG.

Earlier in the day I was doodling on the phone and made the pig. Added paint. Voila! Enjoy.

Superhero: Captain Hand Puppet

Captain Hand Puppet! He fights crime with the help of his trusty hand puppets. Beware evil-doers.
Drawing superheros with ridiculous powers never gets old. You should try it.

Landscape

Illustration Friday: Night

I don't think I'll get around to painting something this week for the topic, but I do have some paintings that would fit. These illustrations are for a book I just recently finished painting called "Dance by the Light of the Moon" by Joanne Ryder and published by Hyperion Books for Children. The whole thing takes place at night, so it should be appropriate. It's a fun little book based on the song "Buffalo Gals" originally published in 1844. The book will be coming out sometime in 2006. I'll keep you posted. Until then, enjoy a little preview.

Scientist motorcycle chick

I wasn't sure who or what this girl was supposed to be when I drew her but, with the help of Denis Goulet I have it figured out. She is the world famous scientist who goes to work on one of those old motorcycles with a sidecar. It is quite obvious now that I think about it. Thanks Denis. Now I feel like I want to draw her in a scene-- you know, fixin her sidecar.

Headgear

I drew this portrait of my wife when she was a youngster. It's for her blog. The 80's were cruel.

Snow Sketch

I was doodling around and drew this girl. I ran out of room for her legs on the paper so, I stuck her in the snow instead of just cutting them off. Besides, that would just be cruel. I liked it so I thought I'd add some paint.

Illustration Friday: Broken

I spent the past weekend in Moab Utah driving around on jeep trails. I took my sketchbook and some watercolors thinking I might draw something while I was there, but it was a very bumpy road. Very bumpy! I don't think you would have liked the results. I drew this little sketch when I got back.

We had a few minor breakdowns during the trip. The first day, one Jeep broke a long-arm strut. We strapped it back on and hobbled back to town, found some guy with a welder, fixed it and were ready to go again the next day. At the beginning of the next day, one guy blew a power steering hose. While we waited for him, we noticed a broken shock on the same Jeep that broke the day before. (the photo of us looking under the Jeep) Both of them were fixed pretty quickly on the trail and we were back on our way. About halfway through the trail, we were going up an obstacle when the power-steering hose guy broke one of his torsion bars. These vehicles have so much power it just twisted it right off. No problem, we would just take it off, throw it in the back of the truck and drive carefully the rest of the way. Not five minutes later, my brother was going up the same obstacle when his driveline blew. This was bad. We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from any paved road. It meant that he would have to get back to town in two-wheel drive--a nearly impossible task for the terrain we were in. It would require the the help of the other jeeps to tow and the use of winches. Luckily, one guy happened to bring an extra u-joint and another guy had some spare brackets and we were able to rebuild the driveline in the middle of the desert on the side of a mountian. Good thing we had tools. A great time for lunch. On Saturday we drove for about 7 hours and covered only 16 miles of trail. We had a blast even with the breakdowns. I can't wait to go do it again sometime. With all the breakdowns, it seemed appropriate to draw something about this trip. It somehow fit the topic.
I spent the past weekend in Moab Utah driving around on jeep trails. I took my sketchbook and some watercolors thinking I might draw something while I was there, but it was a very bumpy road. Very bumpy! (video) I don't think you would have liked the results. I drew this little sketch when I got back.

We had a few minor breakdowns during the trip. The first day, one Jeep broke a long-arm strut. We strapped it back on and hobbled back to town, found some guy with a welder, fixed it and were ready to go again the next day. At the beginning of the next day, one guy blew a power steering hose. While we waited for him, we noticed a broken shock on the same Jeep that broke the day before. (the photo of us looking under the Jeep) Both of them were fixed pretty quickly on the trail and we were back on our way. About halfway through the trail, we were going up an obstacle when the power-steering hose guy broke one of his torsion bars. These vehicles have so much power it just twisted it right off. No problem, we would just take it off, throw it in the back of the truck and drive carefully the rest of the way. Not five minutes later, my brother was going up the same obstacle when his driveline blew. This was bad. We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from any paved road. It meant that he would have to get back to town in two-wheel drive--a nearly impossible task for the terrain we were in. It would require the the help of the other jeeps to tow and the use of winches. Luckily, one guy happened to bring an extra u-joint and another guy had some spare brackets and we were able to rebuild the driveline in the middle of the desert on the side of a mountian. Good thing we had tools. A great time for lunch. On Saturday we drove for about 7 hours and covered only 16 miles of trail. We had a blast even with the breakdowns. I can't wait to go do it again sometime. With all the breakdowns, it seemed appropriate to draw something about this trip. It somehow fit the topic.

Halloween Costumes

Halloween is over. One of the best holidays of the year. I thought I would show you the family costumes. My wife, Lorien, really makes some great costumes. None of those bought-from-Walmart kind of costumes for her.

So, here goes. To start off I'll show you what I did. I didn't get a lot done as far as work goes but that doesn't mean I didn't draw anything. While I was trying to get motivated for work I drew some tattoos. I think I was bored. My wife did the one on my shoulder (it's a heart with her name on it) and I did the other two. I'm left handed so I had to draw the mermaid with my right hand. Not great, but it was something to do. I doesn't have anything to do with the costume I was planning on wearing. I'll get to that later.

Every year my mom has a "Skeleton Soup" party for all of her grandkids. (she has 35) It is always fun and there is good spooky food too. I mentioned to my brothers what I thought would be funny to do for a costume and, before I knew it , I was getting a new haircut.


With some elmers glue and a few strands of hair from my mullett wig (it went nicely with the tattoos) I now had a new killer comb-over. I'm sure I was the envy of the neighborhood. I look like some kind of middle aged biker accountant. Still not my real costume but, it was funny.

The pictures of the costume didn't turn out too great. It was dark and so was I. So, to set this up, I need to show you last year's costume. My wife and I made this Dark Rider costume. I turned out pretty cool. The best part was that I wore stilts underneath the robes. I was over seven feet tall. I just roamed around walking up to unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. It kinda freaked out the neighborhood kids. Made one mom scream in terror. (that's my wife the ghost)


So, this year we took it a step further. My brother went and got this BIG black horse and we rode it around with the costume on. He is almost as big as the horse (He is the one with the beard). An intimidating pair. I took my turn after him. It was great fun. It made for another great halloween.



Here are my kiddos. They look great too. Now we have to wait for next year. Hmmm... what should we do? We'd better get started.