Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright...

...In the forests of the night. I was inspired to do this one not because of William Blake but because my super-duper pal Erin Clark did a bitchin' tiger a short while back. That and she sent me a picture of her kitty cat a few months ago and he was making a little face like the one I drew here (minus the little snarly nose).
Anyway I definitely wanna add color to this one. It'll probably be my first priority.
Drawn on 9 x 12 100 LB. Vellum Bristol Board, pencils and inks took about 3 hours (there is actually quite a bit more to the original image).

Joe Fixit

Joe Fixit was what the Hulk went by when he was smaller and gray and living (and fighting) in Las Vegas. It was an era for the character I really liked because it was full of action and adventure, but was free of the convoluted nonsense Marvel Comics has become known for in the last decade or so.
I'll color this one soon, when I get a little free time. I've been wanting to experiment with a color scheme style that I have seen guys like Dave Johnson use in the last year or two.
By the way, Dave Johnson is pretty rad, so you should look him up.

Psych

Shawn Spencer (James Roday) and Burton Guster (Dule Hill) from the USA Network T.V. show Psych. The show really is a lot of fun - they take nothing seriously and you tend to get one 80's reference after another.
The pineapple is a bit of an inside joke of sorts. Pineapples make regular appearances in the show, in fact it's become a bit of a game to "spot the pineapple" from week to week.

Anyway, I'd like to color this one sometime soon. When I do I'll post the results.

Indiana Jones

And the Secret of the Sphinx, by Max McCoy.
In my humble opinion it's not the greatest book ever, but it had a lot of cool-type imagery in it that made me wanna do a little somethin' somethin'.
14 x 21 on 100 LB. Vellum Bristol Board...

Hitman

Part of a series I wanna do (the Certified Deadly images based on story ideas) - this chap is a circa 1930's/40's hitman. While I don't know if a silencer is era appropriate or not I don't really care. It looks cool, so I went with it. Also I really dug the idea of the spot light beam terminating on the ground as a skull; I've been looking at a lot of Dave Johnson's work lately [LINKEY] and his sense of layout and design is in my opinion second to none. Definitely inspirational for me when I peep his work. I wanna do this one up in an era appropriate setting like an alley way with an old junker jalopy, street lamps and a body...

Aaaaaanyway, this was drawn on 9 x 12 100 LB. vellum Bristol Board pencils and inks took about 2 and a half hours.

The Wolf

A piece I did for the blog Just Saying I Love You. The version that will eventually appear over there will be a little different and will have colors by artist Erin Clark.

Drawn on 9 x 12 100 LB. Vellum Bristol Board, pencils and inks took about 6 to 6 and a half hours...

The Canary Trainer Edit

This is an edited alternate version of the original one I posted earlier this month. I changed the background figure of Erik/The Phantom. As I said, I really was not fond of how he came out in the original so I redrew him. I had to photoshop out the original guy and that was a bit of a pain in the butt, but it didn't rake too long.

All in all I'm much happier with this version. Redraw (pencils and inks) time on the background figure took about two hours or so. Pictured, above center: Erik/The Phantom. Bottom row (from left to right) Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler.

Masters of the Universe

A quick shot of some rough pencils for a Masters of the Universe image I'm working on. Pictured are Skeletor and He-Man. I think after getting them inked I'm going to photoshop them into different positions as I have an idea or two in mind and they would look better arranged differently.
I have an idea for their background roughed on on a separate sheet of Vellum Bristol Board.
Also I'm trying out some new graphic pens; I'm a diehard fan of Staedtler pigment liner graphic pens and I'd recommend them to anybody. They are archival and relatively long lasting, but their single greatest attribute - they NEVER fade when you are erasing your pencils. As long as they are dry they are solid! But I got a chance to pick up some Artist's Loft Illustration pens for a pretty unbeatable price, so I wanted to give 'em a go and see if they can hold up.

Happy Zombie Halloween Love

So I wanted to post some work in progress photos of this one. The photos pretty clearly show how rough and wonky the background was. I drew this while laying in bed and didn't have a ruler within reach so I just roughed in my idea for the background and today when I inked the image I went back in with a nice clean straight edge and got everything in line.

I had written in my idea for a thought bubble for the zombie. Originally he was going to be saying "Holy SHIT! Is that a U.F.O?!" but in the end I though the heart shaped though bubble with the brain inside of it and the "mmmm" bit was funnier.

And the finished product:
I lengthened the right leg a little and added in the brain in the heart shaped thought bubble, but here it is, pretty much as I imagined it.

Drawn (somewhat small) on 9x12 100 LB Vellum Bristol board, pencils and inks took about 5 hours in total.

The Canary Trainer

I'm not really liking the background figure (Erik - The Phantom) in this. I think I'll do a re-draw on the background and re-post in the not to distant future.
Anyway, background... This is based on the Nicholas Meyer novel The Canary Trainer. It's one of three Sherlock Holmes novels he wrote (along with The Seven Percent Solution and The West End Horror). This particular novel is set in Holmes "Great Hiatus" era after his faking his own death at Reichenbach Falls in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Story The Final Problem. Holmes finds himself in Paris playing violin in the Palais Garnier under Gaston Leroux (the author of The Phantom of the Opera). As one may expect, everything that goes wrong is attributed to "the ghost". While investigating these and other situations Holmes must also contend with The Phantom of the Opera.

Pictured, above center: Erik/The Phantom. Bottom row (from left to right) Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler.

Featured Deviant!

The group Only Line Art over at Deviant Art has paid me the honor of making me their featured deviant of the month. They also requested the inclusion of more then 50 of my images into their expansive gallery.
http://only-lineart.deviantart.com/
As I am exceptionally grateful I would like to encourage any and all who read this to check them out. It's a diverse group with a lot of excellent work featured in their gallery and previous monthly deviant features.

Thanks again ChemicalKidd!

Spidey and Some Baddies

I've always been a bigger fan of the more classic Spider-Man villains. Ironically it's the more contemporary look (ala the 90's) for the character of Spider-Man that I prefer.

Anyway this was a bit of a small thing - 9 x 12 on 100 LB. Vellum Bristol Board. Pencils and inks took about 4 to 4 and a half hours.

Dirty Harry Callahan

A poster I've been fiddling with for a looooooooong time now. It's based on the Dirty Harry franchise of movies starring Clint Eastwood.

The story revolves around Harry Callahans very first case after becoming an inspector, circa 1965-6. As the copy suggests, it is where he gets his reputation for being the one who handles all the dirty crap no one else will touch.

Gears of War

Comprised of elements from the old sketchbook. Based on a video game and a song for that game by the band Megadeth.
It's really not a very good drawing, but I really wanted to color it. So I did.

You Can't Have One...

... Without the Other.
Done for the fabulous Ms. Clark and her blog Just Saying I Love You. This particular piece is about love and hate as they relate to one another. Basically it goes back to the idea that you can't have good without bad, hot without cold, reeses without pieces... You get the idea.

Certified Deadly

A pen-sketch from the sketchbook. I liked it, so I colored and textured it. I threw on some "vintage" lines as an afterthought cuz it sorta reminded me of an old trading card...

Another "Another Day"

Another in the series.

The Sketchy

...The Strange Fantasy Life.
Another little sketchbook offering. I thought it was suitably bizarre enough to color it.

The EDIT of Alter Egos

This is an edit of the image found at this link [LINK-E-POO]. This edit more accurately reflects my original intentions with the drawing.

HellBoy - From the Sketchbook

Somethin' from my sketchbook that I though was kinda fun, so I inked it in.

I gotta be honest, I really don't like drawing in my sketchbook. The pages are small (9 x 12) and the paper is not as conducive to accepting clean ink over the lines the way 100 LB. Bristol Board is, so when I do something I think is kinda cool it ends up not looking it's best when I'm done with it.

It's great for getting out ideas, but I hate doing anything more complex then stick figures it it; I'll end up wanting to ink it and then ultimately not be satisfied because it's not on 14 x 17...