When Good Designs Go Bad

Sooooo, aside from the fact I didn't get paid for this piece it was a bit of a nightmare all around.
My friend Erin Clark linked me to a video sometime back about how design goes bad with too much meddling from the client. That's basically what happened with this album cover I was hired to do (for which, again, I NEVER GOT PAID!!!!!!).
Constant interjections and "how about this", "wadda ya think of that" and "let's try such-and-such" turned my great idea into this unbalanced, formally weak pile masquerading as art work.
Well the client loved it until he had to pay me. Then he didn't like it so much.
Visions of the interior of a court room danced in my head until he mentioned the word "bankruptcy".
Lesson learned? HALF UP FRONT!!
I'm probably just going to end up cannibalizing this piece to use its parts in other projects.

The Shadow Knows!

Commission piece of The Shadow for my friend Natalie for her friends birthday. Apparently he's a big fan of the character.
Pencils and inks took about 2 and a half hours; digital finished took about 4 and a half hours.

Lion Country...

A now defunct wild animal park in Southern California, Lion Country Safari was a place where you could drive your car into a preserve and watch the big kitty cats (among other things)...
I believe there is still a Lion Country Safari in Florida somewhere.

Total time spent about 4 and a half to 5 hours. I didnt really keep track this time...

Earths Strange Neighborhood

I had forgotten all about this one - it's been sitting on my computer for about a month now.

This piece is entirely digital; no hand drawn elements were used. It's a combination of manipulated photographs and digital texture fills.

Total time spent was about 4 to four and a half hours.

The Lady Killer

I just called it that because I couldn't think of anything better to call it.

A dual exercise, this functioned as an exercise in basic design (something I still feel I need to work on). and as a way of working on some of my "vintage" techniques.

The drawing took about 2 hours total for pencils and inks. Digital finishes took quite a bit longer at about six and a half to 7 hours.

Ramesses II

One of the most prolific rulers in all of ancient Egyptian history. He lived to over ninety at a time when 35 was considered ones twilight years.

He also sired a lot of children. Rumor has it that the Ramses Condoms (c) get their name from his inspiration.

Pencils and inks took roughly 2 and a half hours for both steps. Digital colors took quite a bit longer at nearly six and a half hours.

Total time spent: Approximately 9 hours.

Birthday Stuff

This was the birthday card I made for my friend Erin - one of the best pals a person could ask for.
Pencils and inks (on the "present" box) was slightly less then an hour.
Total digital time about two hours (give or take). But thats because I spent about an hour of that time working out the design in my head. Actual work time was about 45 min to an hour tops.
Total time was approximately 3 hours.

Ash/Bruce Campbell

...From the movie Army of Darkness, one of Bruce Campbells more amusing rolls and one of my favorite flicks.

This was a quick $20 commission for someone in the local area.
I am going to throw some color on this one sometime here to spice it up a bit.

Total time on pencils and inks were about 2 hours.

Choke - Redux

The is a total reworking of the colors on this one: [Choke] .
I like the more vintage/ rustic/ aged look. It plays to my sensibilities better.

Reworking of colors - aprox. 1 and a half to two hours.

Life

...Orrrrrrr a close facsimile thereof.
I'm not really sold on the colors for this one - I like it but I'm not wowed. Certain parts seem... incongruous.
Total time 5 and a half hours.
Drawing elements with digital finishes.

Back in Black

Fiddling around with some attempts at design for comic related stuff.
I had the drawing of Spidey in one of my sketchbooks and wanted to use it for something and this is where I ended up.
As simple a layout as this is I easily spent more time thinking about the design then I did on the drawing (pencils and inks - about two hours). I had this on my computer for about 3 or 4 weeks before getting it to this point beacuse I couldn't think of anything really cool to do with it.
This is alright I guess but it seems more like a showcase for my knowledge of photoshop then one for any design skills I may (or may not as the case may be) posses.

It's A Jungian Thing Sir!

More ideas of a fine art nature on which I was working.
I like this one specifically because in terms of the Jungian duality we see two ends of emotion in the representation of the heart and the more aggressive side in the angry face. We also see what has drawn out the duality in this case (the shoe print).

That and on some levels this makes me laugh a bit on the inside.

The Result

Well, there you have it...
Hand drawn elements with digital colors.

A Moment of Something-Or-Other...

I did this one here as a card for a friend of mine to thank her for a rather enjoyable day. The card is intended to be folded in half at the horizontal mid-way point; that is why the top most portion of the card is inverted here.

The cannibalism bit is an inside joke, and the kitty on the back (next to Meeeowzers Inc.) is a high contrast image of her very own cat (whom I am taking care of at the moment).

The drawing for this took about an hour to pencil and roughly an hour and a half to ink in. Digital colors and layouts took about another two hours so all in all I spent about four and a half hours on this one.

That's super, man...

I had posted a version of this piece in one of my various galleries before but I removed it some time ago because it was complete and utter crap.
Well I redid the Earth (this time generating it digitally myself instead of relying on found imagery) and I recolored the whole thing and redrew Supes head.

I no longer hate it.

It's not full on love, but it's not hate either so I suppose that's step in the right direction

Back Into the Swing of Things

This is the first thing I have drawn since my computer went down last month. She's back up and running now though so it's time for me to get back into the swing of things.

This was an idea I had exploring certain obvious feelings of inadequacy many people have about their lives.

This is a work in progress and I plan on coloring this one in an old school style (complete with benday-dots and muted pastel colors).

A Creepy Sorta Valentines Day Thing

This was a little something I did up as a valentines card for my friend Erin.
It went over well.
It's a little creepy looking but if you knew Erin you'd know she's down with most things creep-tastic.

Including me, which I suppose works out pretty well.

"F" my life

WARNING: NOBODY VISIT THE SITES SURFTHECHANNEL.COM OR MEGAVIDEO (one of the associated video hosting sites)
I was watching an episode of The Venture Bros. on there from my laptop when my anti-virus started going crazy.
My system has once again become infected by the anti-virus virus and now I am locked out of my system as I can only get my computer to boot in safe mode.
As a result I (if I can not recover the files) have lost MONTHS of artwork.
Dozens of images.
Textures that themselves took months to make.
Work I was using to try and get a show going for a little later in the year.
Every high-res, multi-layer version of every image on this page below this post is GONE.
And on top of all that my laptop is once again an 800 dollar paperweight.

It's like the last 3 or 4 months of my artistic life never happened and these low-res imaged uploaded here and at other sites are taunting me - reminding me that I'm a f'ing moron for not backing up more regularly.

I cant even begin to tell you how much shock I'm in at the moment.

Hell Needs a Makeover

No reason for it really. If nothing else it was just a little exercise in design/design elements.

Treachery

This was something I doodled up in one of my sketchbooks. I kinda liked it so I threw some ink on it and some digital colors.

It's called treachery because the center bust is wearing the crown of Lower Egypt (the Nile River delta region), however the woman below him (one of his Queens perhaps) has the crook and flail - the symbols of royalty/divinity; that is something reserved for the Pharaoh.