Pet Portrait - Jack

Creating a portrait for this sweet, super photogenic dog was a lot of fun!

I logged in twice as many hours as I'd estimated, but I feel like it really benefited from the extra time.

Chewbacca

Here's the latest Star Wars sketch cover.  Enjoy!

Phoenix Rising *NSFW*

At last year's Chicago Wizard World, I had the pleasure of meeting a fan of mine who had already collected a large number of my sketch covers and was very excited about the idea of commissioning a custom piece from me! He requested a nude rendition of Jean Grey from the Xmen, in all her wild glory as the Phoenix. I've been dying to draw this character, so I jumped at the chance!

I'm so very pleased with the finished product on this one. More often than not, when I'm working on a new illustration, it's a struggle. Unforeseen problems come up and you've got to improvise, maybe the materials don't behave the way you expect them to or a layout that looked okay in the early stages just isn't going to work in the final... So when a piece like this one comes along, where everything just falls into place effortlessly, it's such a joy. I'm especially proud of the reflected light underneath her breasts.

This was my first time experimenting with watercolor pencils and it was definitely a success. I look forward to incorporating them into future works.

I put some clothes on her after it was all finished so that I can sell prints to a wider audience when I'm on the road. Even the PG-13 version looks great.
I am SO happy with how this turned out.

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.