This Happened Just the Other Day

My wife and I were talking, so Siena wasn't getting what she wanted fast enough and started looking to get at it on her own.

I used Art and Abby from Business As UnUsual since they're more or less my conduit for chronicling my life. I guess this is a preview of the day when they actually have a kid of their own. For the record, there's no real effort at composition or anything going on here; I threw some quick color onto a scan from my sketchbook. Were I to finish it off I'd have the rest of their legs and chair at the very least.

Still, I thought it was funny enough to share. I'm finding parenting to be even more rewarding than I imagined it to be so far. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Hanna-Barbera does STAR WARS

More pieces for this month's theme - Hanna-Barbera - over on Planet Pulp. Once I started doing some sketches of Star Wars characters in the Hanna-Barbera style I couldn't stop my brain from writing up little bits for each one. My brain proceeded to come up with more and more ideas until I finally had to force it to stop. I love Star Wars, I really do, but there are so many things about the franchise that just beg to be toyed with. As I type this, I suddenly realize that these remind me of the Robot Chicken Star Wars bits, which I love (obviously?). Anywho, here are the first two. More to come...

Back on the radar!

So, yeah, I've been away for a bit. I wanted to avoid posting non-Troy art until the Troy poster was finished, but unfortunately I've been unable to get to it for quite awhile. I've either been working on paying gigs, finding paying gigs, or helping to raise my baby girl (who just turned 1 last week).

As much as I love realistic illustration, the market for it is small. I will continue to do realistic stuff for myself, but when it comes to getting paid for work I've turned towards a more energetic, cartoony style. Or styles, really. I love working this way but basically sucked at it for most of my life. It's taken a lot of practice and growth of my drawing ability to get moderately decent at it. Something finally clicked a few months ago though, and I've been sketching/drawing cartoony stuff every day for the last few months.

To that end, 2013 will be filled with those sketches/drawings/portfolio pieces. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the Troy piece this year, but making a living is my first priority, so I'll get to it when I have the time. Meanwhile, hopefully everyone likes this new stuff as well.

For anyone who likes my comic strip, Business As UnUsual, I'll be doing a lot more of those this year since it fits in perfectly with the cartoony style.

To start things off, here's a submission I just did for the current Planet-Pulp theme: Hanna-Barbera. There are several different styles that can be associated with Hanna-Barbera, but the Flintstones / Jetsons look is the one I most associate with the brand, so that's what I went with. It also happens to make for the best contrast between the live action subject matter and their cartoon equivalent.

There are some things I like about the Hanna-Barbera style, and I've learned some from working in the style, but there are a lot of things I would never do with my own work. The way they do/did male feet, for example. Ugh. Still, I had a blast doing this piece and I've got several Star Wars pieces to follow this one up, so keep an eye out for those.

Cheers!!