Pet Portraits - Ava & Khloe

Just finished up a new
pet portrait assignment.

Upon seeing it for the first time, the client responded with "Love love love it!!!!" so I'm going to chalk this one up as a victory for team Guzzo.



The same client had also commissioned a portrait of her lovely dog Khloe back in May.

It's always encouraging
to get repeat customers.

 

Lando Calrissian

Here's the next in that series of Star Wars sketch covers I've been working on.

First came Darth Maul, then Princess Leia, and now Lando Calrissian!

I've been away from my studio for far far too long. This year's non-stop convention schedule really took a lot out of me. I'm glad to report that I've recovered from the stress enough to be chipping away at the massive list of commissions that had piled up while I was out of town.


It's been way too long since I turned out any new work and it feels good to see that I haven't totally forgotten how to do it.

Lovecraft - Lavinny's Brat

This is the first piece I've had a chance to draw for myself since finishing Marceline back in December (Ouch. I didn't realize it'd been so long!) and it was a bit of sorely needed art therapy for me.

It's called Lavinny's Brat and is based off one of my favorite H.P. Lovecraft stories, The Dunwich Horror.

If you are unfamiliar with Lovecraft's body of work, I highly recommend you check it out. The Dunwich Horror can be read in it's entirely here.

If you're too busy for books, there's
a free audiobook version available.

The majority of this piece was completed traditionally, with Prismacolor colored pencils on toned Canson MiTentes paper. I pushed it as far as I could, until I realized I could go no further without digital help. After scanning it in, I was able to add a far more subtle range of shadows and lighting effects via Photoshop.

Lovecraft's vivid and otherworldly imagery seems tailor-made for illustrative interpretations. I enjoyed working on this piece immensely (the difficulties with watercolor paper not withstanding) and I'm looking forward to creating another one when my work schedule allows for it. The next piece will most likely be based on The Color out of Space, since the bleak meteor poisoned farmscape he describes in that tale is just too perfectly bizarre not to try to reproduce.

 I learned many important things 

during the course of this project:

1. Watercolor paper has a good side and a bad side. To confuse these sides is to court disaster. I started this piece months earlier, realized after hours and hours of work that I'd accidentally used the wrong side of the paper and that it would accept no more color (either with paint or pencils) without tearing completely. I was so frustrated by the whole affair that I had to put the piece aside for a while until I was no longer sick of looking at it.

This is as far as I got in my first attempt before the paper started to come apart.

2. Whippoorwills, which feature prominently in a lot of Lovecraft's lore and especially in any story relating to Dunwich, are extremely sinister looking little creatures! Seriously, take a look at that guy. You don't want him perched outside your window.

3. It is extremely difficult, when depicting a person with albinism, to convey they fact that they are more than just extremely fair. There is a very fine line between looking albino and just looking blonde. 

4. Speaking of difficult, it's tough to illustrate Lovecraft's work without highlighting the heavy omnipresent racism he
held towards pretty
much everybody.

Although Lovecraft wrote most of his work during the 1920's, when it was common to harbor racist feelings towards asians and blacks and immigrants of all sorts, it's not really accurate to say that his racism was just a product of the times. Lovecraft went the distance. He's so racist it's just absurdly silly after a while.

He hated ethnic groups no one else ever seemed care about, like Alsatians and Polynesians and eskimos and the Dutch. Everything's about decaying bloodlines with this guy. He hated sailors and hillbillies and anyone else who he thought might be breeding in "unnatural" ways.

I tried really hard to keep little baby Wilbur from looking like a stereotype of african descent, even though certain details of his physical description required me to stray dangerously close to a xenophobic caricature. I hope I succeeded.

Princess Leia

Here's the second of the Star Wars sketch covers I'd mentioned.

There's extra space at the top because the client is planning to get this piece signed by Carrie Fisher at an upcoming convention!















I've been enjoying a fairly peaceful July, but that lull is quickly drawing to a close and I'll be back on the road again by August. Here's the list of upcoming events:

Green = I will have my own table, so (if it's a con) look for me in Artist's Alley.

Orange = I'll be in attendance and might even be selling my work, but I won't have my own table. Look for me at the Stormwatch Comics booth.

Red = I'm attending, but not exhibiting. Chances are I'll be running around on the main floor, pestering publishers and persuading them to peruse my portfolio.

Spiderman & RDJ #1

I had a book signing for Roadkill DuJour #1 at Stormwatch Comics last week and it was a wonderful success! A ton of people came out (in spite of some mildly inclement weather) and shared in the Mama Voodoo cake.

Two regular customers even added RDJ to their weekly pull lists, which was extremely exciting for me!

Thanks again to Stormwatch Comics for hosting the event and being all-around wonderful people!

While at the signing, a customer requested a Spiderman sketch cover. Here's the end result, as well as the preliminary linework, for those that are curious.

Darth Maul

I've just finished a batch of summertime commissions that I'll be posting here as soon as their respective clients have seen the originals:

Here's the first of two Star Wars sketch covers I worked on this month. I forgot to do my usual scans, so there's no work-in-progress animation for this one.

The reference photo I used was from a statue, since I thought it'd be a little more interesting to show that Darth Maul's tattoos are a full-body affair.

Con Schedule 2013

The weather is finally starting to warm up, which means that con season will soon be upon us! I'm looking forward to it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that there are a number of amazing people in my life who I only ever see when I'm on the road. When you have friends who live hundreds of miles away from you, it's hard to hang out on a regular basis.

Green = I will have my own table, so (if it's a con) look for me in Artist's Alley.
Orange = I'll be in attendance and might even be selling my work, but I won't have my own table. Look for me at the Stormwatch Comics booth.
Red = I'm attending, but not exhibiting. Chances are I'll be running around on the main floor, pestering publishers and persuading them to peruse my portfolio.

I am certain that there will be additions and alterations as the year goes on.

I'll keep you posted if anything changes.

KICKSTARTER!

The Kickstarter campaign for Roadkill Du Jour is now underway!

We're currently at 12% funding with 31 days to go, so it's off to a good start.

Please consider becoming a backer for this project! Even if all you can give is a few dollars, it would be a great help! Click here to see the full Kickstarter page

Roadkill Du Jour is the story of a biker in the bayou who once ran afoul of a voodoo priestess, with devastating consequences. After killing both his family and his gang, the voodoo witch placed a curse on him- Now he can only eat things that have died on the road and when he does, his body transforms to take on some of the physical features of whatever he's consumed. Understandably, he's out for revenge, but his enemies won't be going down without a fight. In book #1, you'll see lovely tormented ghosts, monstrous half-crocodile men, mysterious black magic rituals, and more motorcycles than you can shake a stick at!

I've done all the coloring for this book (with the exception of the cover) and I've really proud of how it's turned out. This was my first digital coloring endeavor, as well as my first time using Kickstarter to fund a project. We're doing good so far, but I won't really be able to relax until we've met our goal number.

*fingers crossed*

March Update

It's been a while since my last blog post, so let me bring you guys up to speed.

Cover artwork was colored
by Shawn Harbin, not me.

Around Christmas time, I landed a digital coloring job for an indie comic called Roadkill Du Jour. The artist (Shawn Harbin) was a fellow Shakespeare Shaken contributor and when it came time to pick a colorist, he requested me specifically. Both Shawn and the author Kevin LaPorte have been a joy to work with and I consider myself extremely lucky to be a part of the RDJ team.

This has been my first time coloring someone else's artwork with a tablet, so it's definitely been a learning experience. I'm a million times better now than I was when I started, but I'm still averaging 10 hours a page, which is way too slow.

Book #1 is almost ready for print, so we'll be posting up a Kickstarter campaign for that project sometime soon. I'll let you know when that happens.

Anyway, I've taken a short break in between books to catch my breath and work on some portraiture assignments. I'm pleased to report that my drawing muscles haven't atrophied! This portrait was finished in record time! In the past, it's taken me over 20 hours to complete a double portrait- This one took less than 6.

This was created for a friend of the
family who wanted to give to his
grandparents something special
for their 50th wedding anniversary.

The photograph I was given to work with was fifty years old and it definitely showed it's age. It was somewhat grainy and unfocused, which made their facial features a bit hard to make out, but I pulled out the likenesses as best I could and I feel good about the finished product.

(The process animation shown below doesn't have as many steps in it as usual. I forgot to scan this piece until it was already halfway done. My apologies to all you fans of moving pictures.)

Upcoming Events:

Amazicon is coming up soon! It's a pop culture show that'll be taking place in The Clarion Hotel in Essington, PA from April 5 - 7th. There's going to be a Star Wars Cantina party after the show on Saturday, so definitely check your calendars!

The Punk Rock Flea Market is back in town! If you've never been to this event before, I highly recommend checking it out. I'll be setting up my table on Saturday, May 18th in the "Punk Rock Flea Market Dome", which is a fancy way of saying "the old FedEx Warehouse across the street from The Starlight Ballroom". The building is in Philadelphia at 461 N. 9th Street and the event will be open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm. Popular demand has forced them to extend the event into Sunday as well, but I will only there on Saturday (as far as I know).