67 - male eyes part 2 or the second thumb to the eye

Keep plugging away. Of all the tips I have ever read, all the advice I have ever heard, it is to just keep putting pencil to paper and burn through the first 2000 or 3000 bad drawings that we all have within us to get to the good stuff. One more step along the way, one more page done.

66 - male eyes

A page of male eyes to continue as I work my way through the Hart book, enjoy.

65 - And the eyes have it

Still going on with the Christopher Hart book, now we start on the eyes. The page had a nice version of realistic versus the more simplified form. I did those and then figured why not throw down a sketch of the man that's all eye. For those that don't know, and SHAME on you if you don't, this gentleman is Allen the Alien. One of the coolest characters ever and one of my very favorite supporting characters in the wonderfulness that is Invincible.
Flat out if you are not reading this book you don't actually like superhero comics. Invincible is the best thing out each month for the capes persuasion and Allen has always been a crowd pleasure whenever he shows up.
Go out and get this book, right now issue 75 is on the stands and has some serious doings inside as the Viltrumite War kicks it into gear. Though the best idea is to go back and read it from the start, I figure if you start now, you will go back and read it from the word go as it is just that good.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER - never get between a Unopan and his grubs!

64 - well they ain't tails

Two more and away we go...
Just more heads from the Christopher Hart Simplified Anatomy book. I'm really enjoying the book and it's nice to actually be enjoying drawing again. Sketches, tattoo designs for friends and redesigning a beer company logo, things are good.

And to bring back on old fav...
SAT-Spoiler Alert Theater: Saw 3-D
Did the yearly outing to see Saw 3-D with my friend Valynn and I have to say it was well worth the extreme theater prices for a 3D movie. Great traps, the fun of having body parts flung at the screen off of saw blades tearing into bodies. Nothing like watching a film in 3D that was shot specifically for 3D, especially a horror film. If you ever enjoyed a Saw film I would recommend seeing this one in the theaters and paying for the 3D glasses, it is well worth it. If they are actually ending the franchise with film as they advertised it will be a fitting end. And if not I will see you guys next year Saw - Jigsaw Reborn!

63 - Nothing like a striking image...

Flipping through a back issue bin over at Captains Comics, on Vista in Boise if you wanna stop by, and was struck by this great image of a scary ass clown and a small child. I had to check it out, and when I saw that it was a Joe Kubert cover I knew I had to own it. One more great image in my collection.

And to somewhat continue a theme, we have a sketch page of heads from Christopher Hart's Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist. Good stuff, but now we must increase the speed captain!

62 - Sometimes you just need to get back to the old stuff...

Of all the different things I have worked on I had almost forgotten how much fun designing a tattoo can be. Once again like my days in the Navy I have a friend who wants to get some ink done and I get to come up with the design. For all the artists out there that don't know, it is an amazing feeling to see something you created put into someones skin forever! I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance.

61 - Damn stack of books...

On my book case I have a giant stack of books on How to Draw. How to Draw the Marvel Way, How to Draw Monsters, How to Draw Cutting Edge Anatomy, big ol stack of books and I have never gotten around to really doing anything with them outside of using them as reference for certain drawings. Add that to what I believe to be probably my biggest deficit as an artist, a lack of filled sketch books and I think they add up to a simple answer. I simply need to increase my output, after all these years I still don't think I have gotten the bad drawings out of my system, I still haven't found my "style".
So that's the new goal, in between projects now I am going to do my best to just put out some pages, ease up on trying to do perfect drawings and just draw. If I have heard one constant from all my art teachers and all the artist blogs I have read and tutorials I have seen it's that sheer numbers are the best way to go.
So as it stands now I have Simian beer labels to design and monkey motif t-shirts to work on and when I'm not doing that I am going to try to draw my way through this big ass stack of books.
These sketches are from the first book I'm working my way through, Christopher Hart's Simplified Anatomy for the Comic Book Artist, the idea of this one is to make characters with the more streamlined look ala Michael Oeming's Powers. I have a bunch of Hart's art book's, nice step by step instructions now it's just up to me to do the work.
Anyways critiques are always appreciated, that is if you made it through this diatribe, blah blah blah indeed. Now back to the monkeys...I shall return...