You heard the viking man- He likes certain things.
Author Archive
Flowers n’ Pie
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Faker and Teela Wedding
Monday, July 25th, 2011My friend Travis, the commissioner of both my Faker and Teela watercolor painting, and the Man-E-Faces vs. Shakespeare tattoo design, got married last Friday. I decided I’d create a Masters of the Universe wedding card that I thought both he and his lovely bride Lori would appreciate:
This is my third digital painting that I have completed in about a month and a half. Of course, by “completed” I mean “stopped working on”. This time, I had to be finished so I could print it onto a card and give it to them, which turned out to be only 2 days from when I got around to starting it. While there’s kind of a raw look to it, I think I prefer it to the ultra-smooth, air-brushed look to parts of my previous paintings. If you could see this larger and at a higher res, you’d notice there are actually brush stroke-type marks I made to approximate texture. I did this a bit in the other paintings, but then had sections of the other pieces which were overly smooth. I prefer to be more consistent in the future. My favorite part in this one is the veins on Faker’s arm. Let me know what you think. BTW, I’m hoping they open their card before seeing this blog post. I’d hate to have ruined the surprise.
Weird Al Meets Donkeyshines
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011I was pretty psyched about how good my seats were at the last Weird Al Yankovic concert I attended. During “Wanna B Ur Lover”, he actually jumped off stage and got right in my wife’s face, staring creepily into her eyes. However, that’s nothing compared to how close my Twitter friend Dawn got to him.
Apparently, Dawn and Al both went to Lynwood High (in CA, I’m assuming) They are both still in touch with their former Physics/Calculus teacher who hooked Dawn and her son up with back-stages passes after a show.
Since Dawn was wearing the Donkeyshines Nessie in a Fishbowl t-shirt, I almost feel like I was there myself. I don’t want to be one of those guys who tries to get celebrities to wear their shirts, but…wouldn’t Al look good with a Robot Penguin on his chest?
A Lesson in Fire Safety
Sunday, July 17th, 2011Some bears are more pessimistic when it comes to fire prevention.
Angel and Edward
Thursday, July 14th, 2011Before Edward was staring longingly at Bella, fighting his metaphorically sinful nature, there was a vampire with a soul named Angel who had similar dilemma involving a certain vampire slayer he happened to be in love with. I’m certainly not the first geek to wonder about what it would be like if these two hunks were to meet. However, most of the forum discussions seem to be about which vamp would come out on top in a fight, so I thought I would explore a different scenario. What if Angel and Edward fell head over heels in love?
When I googled “Angel and Edward”, I found a link to a site called “Angel and Edward’s Wedding”, but the site had been taken down. For all I know that could have been the wedding site for two real people. It was ranked pretty high in the search, however, which means there must have been more guests at that wedding than there are geeky Twighlight and Buffy fans. That would have been a wedding larger than the San Diego ComicCon. Anyway, it took me about 8 days to complete this digital painting, and for the most part I am happy with it. There’s something stiff and flat about the way Edward came out and something is not quite right with Angel. I figured any Buffy fan would recognize this composition as the Season 2 dvd cover. Anyone who didn’t get the reference probably wouldn’t know who Angel was anyway, so it wouldn’t matter if it was a poor likeness of David Boreanaz. It actually took me much longer to finish Robert Pattinson, as there was no single photo that captured the pose I was after. Therefore, I needed to use a bunch of different references, as I did with my Angelina Jolie vs a Basket of Kittens painting. I prefer doing this anyway because it just feels more original than outright copying another person’s photograph. Since I am not planning on selling this, I guess there should be no legal concerns. Incidentally, all of you are free to pass this around, etc. I would be grateful, though, if you sent a link back here! Also, let me know what you think of the painting. Think of it as my way of celebrating the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York!
Apple-Man
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011Apple-Man just wants what’s best for the bunny. Which is to not be cut by a sword.
Cake Face
Monday, July 11th, 2011It would be difficult to trust people if you had a cake for a head. Let’s face it- people like to eat cake.
Socks With Sandals
Friday, July 8th, 2011This man wears socks with sandals. Aside from that, there’s nothing unusual about him.
Kangaroo Alien T-Shirt at Donkeyshines Jr.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011Here’s a design that actually first existed as a Mother’s Day card many years ago. It has gone through a few drafts, and now I’m finally releasing it on a basic T at Donkeyshines Jr. for only $11.99
I will eventually make this available on special ladies’ tees, premium men’s tees, and perhaps even in children’s sizes.
Mumm-Ra vs. Gargamel Finished!
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011So I finally finished my first real digital painting. And by “finished”, I mean I’ve grown tired of working on it.
I’ve learned that its even more tempting to work on a digital painting forever than it is with an actual painting. Maybe because you never run out of paint. Although, I suppose in theory you could run out of disk space if the file is too huge. Anyway, I learned a lot with this. I did a lot of things ass-backwards and made a lot of extra work for myself. I’m not even sure if I’m using the best Photoshop tools, or if I’m layers in the most efficient way and all that. It sure took me a long time, and I am not really satisfied with the background. I got pretty lazy about it, actually. There’s just a brick wall, a half-assed ceiling and floor, and a big caldron full of molten Smurfs, I guess. And Gargamel apparently stirs is soup with that tiny spoon he’s using to clobber Mumm-Ra. Aside from the caldron, though, the room is just big and empty. I suppose next time I should give more thought to the overall composition BEFORE I start. Not sure what I’ll paint next…
