Alphabeasts- Q is for Quarren!

I am pretty busy this week so I won’t try and be clever or anything like that. I also had to do a quick portrait scaled back piece this week because I waited till the very last minute.

Q is for Quarren:

Yep. It’s another Star Wars alphabeast. The “Squid Head” Quarrens share the same home planet as the Mon Calamari. Though they are less likely to exclaim “IT’S A TRAP!!”.

I posted this in the Etsy shop as well. Probably be doing that with the rest of the alphabeasts from here on out. You can see whats posted for sale so far HERE.

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The Predator post

I was doing this off and on over the last few days as a warm up drawing in the mornings and a closer at night.
Predator:

It’s blue. It’s for sale too. I am trying to post more stuff to Etsy and sell it. I have stacks of drawings and nowhere to put ’em. I posted a lot of my alphabeasts drawings in the shop as well. All of your friends are going to buy the good ones, so hurry up and check it out in my ETSY shop!

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Alphabeasts for sale!

I just wanted to do a quick post and say I have posted a few of the Alphabeast drawing up for sale on my Etsy shop!
So Go by a damn Garthim or something! Pretty please….

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Curse of Frankenstein. My contribution to draw hammer horror.

It’s been a busy week. I’ve been working on a couple different projects. Dealing with some back and forth stuff on a comic project, but that should be worked out tomorrow. Mainly I have been working on character drawings for a indy video game being developed for xbox live. More on that a little later.
Last month I posted a drawing of Hellboy for the Mooks tumbler project draw hellboy. This month he is putting together the draw hammer horror project. I was super excited about this idea! I love horror movies and some of my favorites are Hammer movies. The Reptile crossed my mind, then I flew to Dracula! Then the Hounds of Baskerville because I really wanted to draw Peter Cushing. In the end though, I went with Frankenstein, the curse of, to be particular. I love Karloff as Frankenstein. Beautiful in performance and image. But Christopher Lee’s Frankenstein in the Hammer movies, that is a convincingly sewn together and creepy fella! When I was A kid, thats what made me fall in love with Hammer flicks, they were gritty and gory in the best way they could do it!
The Curse of Frankenstein:

Lee’s Frankenstein had fresh red scars, bulky skin that looked wrong. It looked like someone cobbled together a new life out of cadavers. The look was done SO well. I’m getting all excited just typing about it!
I don’t love this drawing because I hurried through it because I thought I would have more time today. But I think it gives an idea what I love about the Hammer movies. I am thinking of doing another before the end of the month if I get time and trying to do it based around the modern “The Women in Black”. But time is a sketchy thing.

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A thought on “Before Watchmen”.

I am a giant supporter of creativity and pushing the comics medium hard into the future. I also respect both Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
I drew you a graph:

Don’t expect the comic power houses to do anything new. Everyone is reacting the same way they did about the DC reboot… and everyone got over that.
Don’t worry about it. Take a chance on something new and show the big guys you WANT new and fresh ideas.
Also, dance a little.

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Hoof prints on the ceiling of your mind….

I and a lot of my friends grew up with and adore the D.C. Hardcore and straight edge scene. We all took something from it, even if it wasn’t just music. A lot of us comic fans that know any of this know that Steve Niles was in both Gray Matter and 3, both wonderful examples of D.C. latter punk and hardcore.
To this day one of my favorite bands ever is Lungfish. A Dischord Records band that over the years a lot of people have described as a “Love ’em or hate ’em” affair. They are awesome and you will love them. YOU WILL!! Vocalist and all round fan created eccentric Daniel Higgs is a hero of mine. (I never toss around hero and idol, if this gives you an idea..). He released a record over the last year that was titled “Say God”. The first track is “Hoof prints on the Ceiling of your Mind”. Our good friend Jason got it as well as I. I give you the reason for this post…

As much as we love Mr. Higgs, there are times where we can’t help but crack a joke or two.

Jason lost his father a year ago today. It was hard for him and his family and, as friends, we all hurt just the same. Even those of us who didn’t know him. J is one of the most honest and sincere people you could ever hope to have as a friend.
My wife and I drove up (in blizzardy weather to Michigan) to attend the funeral and also helped contend with clearing out his fathers home with other close friends. His father had taken (very awesomely) to art. Paintings and drawings and on and on. So there was a lot of art type stuff that myself and mister Mike West took away feeling a little odd. Though, we knew it was better that way as opposed to sitting on the curb.
So, yeah, yeah.. I am rambling. The point is, I did this comic quickly as a way to say “cheer up!” and to say to J, The blue in the background came from a marker I brought home from your dads. I will send this to you soon and our thoughts are tucking you in tonight, sir….

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Alphabeasts- P is for Pikmin!

This weeks entry was rushed since I’ve been very busy. It is also a tip of the hat to one of my favorite newer video game properties. If by chance you are unfamiliar with the Pikmin games from the brilliant mind of Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, basically you are Olimar, an astronaut who crash lands on an alien planet. You only have a months time (if I recall correctly) to repair your ship and get off the planet before your life support runs out. There are plenty of creatures and other obstacles that stand in your way. The Pikmin are tiny plant creatures that Olimar discovers and gets to help him.

P is for Pikmin:

They come in different colors and, of course, each color has a corresponding ability (red is immune to fire, blue can swim.. etc..).
You have to pluck them out of the ground and order them around to do tasks like move a large object that takes like 50 of them or something. You also use them to defeat other creatures. A large portion of this is done by grabbing the Pikmin by the stalk on the top of their head and slinging them at the item or enemy you want them to attack/interact with.
They are pretty cute and adorable and so on, so it only makes sense that you would throw them to their deaths or accidentally march them into water or even into fire. All of which leads to the death rattle and ghostly spirit rising to that Pikmin garden in the sky. this leads to some sad, cute and hilariously frustrating moments.

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alphabeasts- O is for Ortolan!

This week I had to try and go the quick route again. I also wanted to do something different than Orc and the like. So I give you…

O is for Ortolan:

Another Star Wars entry. When i decided on the Ortolans, I immediately thought about Max Rebo. Being the “Jizz-wailer” (that is an unfortunate but indeed true title..) in the band at Jabba’s palace had to be a pretty happening gig. At the very least, local celebrity status.
So being in a rocking band and being surrounded by so much excitement all the time has to be awesome! It also probably means awkward alone time with the family. Having to spend time with your kid for a day when it’s one big party at work might make it tough to switch gears. So I imagine Max Rebo probably became a stay at home dad after his employer met his untimely demise at the hands of Princess Leia.
The shift had to take some adjusting.

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The Old Ones

Over the last couple days while taking breaks from commissions and Red Plains pages I started working on figuring out the look for another project. This is something that me a friend and I have talked about off and on for a long time. Honestly, I don’t think we have gotten much further than a rough outline.
It’s been awhile since I worked on a comic in the traditional ink on paper method and I want to get back to it. I like digital, but it’s not the same. Not as much fun and there is just a different feel that I start missing after awhile. That being said, I realized that digital has it’s perks though. So I decided to try and use both methods together. This isn’t a new concept by any stretch, but it’s a first for me in terms of comics. So before doing gray tones on a RP page this morning I played with this page…

The Old Ones

So the title (working title at least) of this project is “the Old Ones”. This is a drawing from a number of years ago that got me started on this (click here).

It is highly influenced by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, but not directly related to the lore. It’s more of an homage I guess.
The bulk of the story takes place in the Arctic.
The opening scene is loosely based on a story I found a few years back about a light house. You can read about it by clicking here.

I wouldn’t be looking for this project soon. I have other projects to finish up first, but I will post various concepts, sketches and updates as we figure them out. This page is just to help me get a feel for the look. May not even be the final page.

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Alphabeasts- N is for Nazgul

This week I went with another nod to Lord of the Rings. When I started taking part in the alphabeast posts, I started at B-is for Balrog. That same day I think I knew what my N would wind up being.

N is for Nazgul:

I went through a few different scenes and sketches before settling on this one. The main reason I went with this one is because of the amount of time my other Nazgul sketches would have taken.
This one ended up taking longer because it gets a little busy in the cloak. I’m not sure if I like that or not though. In the end I am happy with it.
This also made me want to do another Nazgul when I can take more time and give it a little extra “umph”, if you will.

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