Knowing (when to duck) is half the battle!

The Baroness punching both Scarlett and Lady Jaye.

Coooobraaaaaaaaaa!

Knight and Squire

In the DC Universe, there are a bunch of superheroes all over the world who were inspired by Batman and Robin. These crime fighters are collectively knows as the Batmen of All Nations.

One such pairing within the group is Britain's Knight and Squire.


I love these two, especially when they are written by Grant Morrison (who I think created this "version" of Knight and Squire - the current Knight being Cyril Sheldrake, last generation's Squire - and the current Squire being a young girl named Beryl Hutchinson.) I especially like Squire's colorful outfit, because gaudy superheroes are tops in my book. They most recently made an appearance in Batman and Robin #7, illustrated by Cameron Stewart, who did an excellent job on them and everyone else in the book for that matter. That issue inspired me today to draw my own Knight and Squire, and I must say they turned out jolly good, old chap.

Rheesh the Arborian

My blogging buddy Reis O'Brien from Geek Orthodox is running a contest to win one of two cool old-school Dungeons and Dragons action figures. The challenge? Make Reis into a Dungeons and Dragons character. Here's my stab at it - Rheesh the Arborian:


Rheesh the Arborian is a Wild Woodsman from the Northland Forests of See-a'tell.

The Arborian Clan are a generally peaceful, but vehemently territorial people. Wild Woodsmen are exceptional warriors, but rarely do they venture from their Clan nests to move beyond the defense to any position that may put them on the offense. Rheesh is the first of his Clan in seven generations to venture into the Wastes of Wa-Ha-shing'aton and beyond seeking adventures and wisdoms his Clan's secluded ways could never give him.

The Wild Woodsmen are known for their music, their art, and their exceptional skills with the bow and arrow. Rheesh has perfected his own Clan taught skills in each category and has enhanced them with greater knowledge gained from his travels.

In the tradition of the Arborian Clan, Rheesh got his name from the sound of the wind in the treetops at the moment he was born. Correctly pronounced, it takes the form of a whisper and is held on the tongue for over thirty seconds, slowly dropping in volume until silence, which is again held for fifteen seconds before conversation resumes. As a warrior he is nearly as silent as his name, but much swifter, moving through the treetop canopies and refuse-strewn city streets with almost supernatural stealth and agility. Usually, if trailed by a Wild Woodsman, the last thing a victim hears is the "thud" of the Woodsman's boots as they hit ground a mere fraction of a second before the victim is gutted and left for dead. With Rheesh, if he wants his prey dead they are rarely given so much advanced warning.

Supergirl and Batwoman

Two more ATCs for the night, because you can't draw with your kids around without having to field requests.


Supergirl and Streaky the Super-Cat.


Batwoman!

Although I can't really call them ATCs because I didn't get anything in trade for them! :)

Creature Commandos and GI Robot on Dinosaur Island!

Finished my first epic ATC creation - six individual cards, each representing an individual character, all combining to tell one story!

Private Elliot Taylor.

Lieutenant Matthew Shrieve.

J.A.K.E. (Jungle Automatic Killer - Experimental) aka GI Robot.

Sergeant Vincent Velcro.

Private Warren Griffith.

Dr. Myrra Rhodes.

Together they make up the Creature Commandos, in an epic battle against a giant Tyrannosaurus on Dinosaur Island!

Each individual character is a 2.5" x 3.5" ATC card. Combined the whole image is 7.5" x 7" and are all traded to Oran Parker for six cards of his creation!

Everything I Know About Creature Commandos I Learned on Wikipedia

I am doing an ATC trade with a friend and he requested the Creature Commandos and J.A.K.E. aka the GI Robot. I had heard of J.A.K.E. but never the Creature Commandos, so a quick Wikipedia study and I discovered they are, in a nutshell, WWII era monsters in the service of the US Army. According to Wikipedia they are: Lt. Matthew Shrieve (normal), Warren Griffith (werewolf), Sgt. Vincent Velcro (vampire), Pvt. Elliot "Lucky" Taylor (Frankenstein's monster) and Dr. Myrra Rhodes (Medusa).

They did some missions on Dinosaur Island, so I decided to do one epic image of them all battling a giant dinosaur, and cut it up into six ATCs.

Here it is pre-color and pre-cut:


If you look closely you can see the areas that will become individual Art Cards. I'll post more progress as I complete it. In the meantime, see if you can tell who is who ;)

I B'Wana Rock and Roll All Night

Here's a little sketch of B'Wana Beast I did tonight. Fun character.

Star Wars commission in color!

HaHA! Take THAT 2009! I got it done before you ended!

Star Wars Commission WIP

Another toys for art commission - the dude in the middle is the one who commissioned the piece, flanked by two of his favorite alien species.



Next step: Color.

Supercar #11 - Hey there, it's Yogi Bear!

Back during the beginning of October (and therefore not mentioned throughout my Halloween Countdown) I did a piece for a new collaborative art blog I am a (procrastinating) part of, called "the pop project." My first piece combined my love of cartoons and cars with Yogi Bear driving an old Willys Jeep.

Halloween Countdown 2009 LIVES!

This past October, I spent the month drawing unique monsters from my vivid imagination, and the second monster I created was Ducktopus.


Ducktopus was a hit with one of my readers who goes by the moniker Wyrmphreak and writes on her blog Demonals about her awesome stuffed creations. She not only loved my silly drawing of Ducktopus, but with a little nudging even accepted the challenge of MAKING A REAL TOY DUCKTOPUS!

Now I've drawn a great many things in my life, but never has one of them been made into a real toy. So I have been extremely excited as I've followed the progress of this project.

So imagine my utter joy when I opened up the mailbox today to find Ducktopus in the flesh stuffing!

Hahahhaa this is the coolest thing EVAR!

Ducktopus immediately found some familiar faces, who were a little less pleased to see him than he was to see them.

So he hung out with the freaks for a little while. But they were a little too weird for him, and that laughing dog made him nervous.

"I tawt I taw a Ducktopus. I did! I did taw a Ducktopus!"

Finally Ducktopus found some folks who accepted him for who he is on the inside.

It's good to have friends.

I can't thank Wyrmphreak aka Carrie enough for this awesome awesome toy. I seriously believe she could sell a million of them - maybe we need to start a business together! Ducktopus needs his own toyline, clothing, and TV show stat! :)

Halloween Countdown 2009 will live on forever in the form of a little stuffed octopus/duck hybrid.

Thanks again, Carrie. You rock!

Birthday!

They say it's your birthday...well it's my birthday too, yeah!

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #31

Because I can't think of anything scarier than a fish with the face of Bob Hope.

Also, this post marks the end of Halloween Countdown 2009!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who followed along, and thanks for your patience during the lull in the middle of the month. Next year (insert part where I say I'm going to prepare ahead of time; but in reality I'm just as likely to be caught unprepared again next year,) so tune in October 1st 2010 for more Halloween goodness!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monsters #26, #27, #28, #29, and #30.

Because dammit, I'm gonna finish this countdown BEFORE November 1st!

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #26

This one is another of my wife's suggestions. She said "Draw a unicorn who was given a frog body by a witch, who then shrunk it to put into a witch's brew.

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #25

[Illustration of Dog-Boy based on eyewitness accounts.]

Dog-Boy was abandoned as a baby and raised by a pack of feral dogs. Taking on all the attributes of the dogs that raised him, Dog-Boy's brain has developed and solidified as he has aged; he cannot ever truly re-enter human society in any normal sense. Not that he isn't intelligent; he can speak and could easily attain a job, own a home, speak, roll-over, and fetch.

It's his utter disdain for pants that really holds him back.

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #24

The Phantasmagore appears to children when they enter their school's restroom, turn out the lights, shut their eyes and spin in front of the mirror chanting "Phantasmagore, Phantasmagore, Phantasmagore, Phantasmagore!"

When the spinning stops and the child looks into the mirror, the demonic Phantasmagore appears and eats their soul.

These children grow up to become lawyers.


[Illustration of Phantasmagore based on unsealed court documents.]

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #23

Puss-opus.

Yup.

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #22

[Illustration of The Waterloo Alien based on hundreds of eyewitness accounts.]

This strange "alien" creature was witnessed by hundreds of townspeople as it strode confusedly down Main Street in Waterloo, Iowa at mid day, January 17th 1956.

No one knows what it was, where it came from, or where it went after it's fifteen minute stroll. Mass hallucination on such a large scale has been deemed highly unlikely by the scientific community. While a hoax seems the most likely explanation, the dozens of bullets fired at the creature by the town's police force had absolutely no effect. Personal bulletproofing on that scale is near impossible today; it was unheard of in 1956. Add to that the then unheard of special make-up and maskmaking effects that would have been required to hide any man made components, or the still impossible task of preventing tears in fabric or broken pieces from the gunfire. The creature strolled slowly, and was in plain daylight view for many minutes - more than enough time for witnesses to get an excellent view from all angles. By all accounts the creature was as alive and real as a deer or a bear that would have stumbled into town, albeit far greater in strength and alien in appearance.

Then suddenly, as quickly as it began, the creature rounded the corner of Main and Broadway...and simply vanished. No further sign, no trace of the creature was left, no follow up appearances; it was simply never to be heard from or seen again.

Later dubbed "The Waterloo Alien" by the media, this creature will forever remain one of America's greatest mysteries.

Halloween Countdown 2009: Monster #21

The great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton forged into the icy abyss with knowledge of a Snow-Lizard of myth and legend, but gave the stories little heed; there was enough to worry about with the elements and the morale of his men; why also concern oneself with rumors of monsters?

Shackleton's journal makes one passing mention of the beast; while describing three of his men who apparently slipped into madness (and later died,) Shackleton recounts their terror-stricken states and their babbling claims of a snow beast with scales like a lizard and humanoid proportions.

It is unknown how the mere sight of the ice-lizard could cause such madness, or how three men of otherwise excellent constitution could succumb to the same delusions all at the same time. It could all be excused as nothing more than the mysteries of the human mind, if not for four modern cases of spontaneous madness recorded at Antarctic Science Bases since 1982.

One involved a Norwegian botanists, one involved a Japanese Computer Specialist, one involved an American Zoologist and one involved a Canadian Photojournalist. All on separate occasions, all at separate Polar Stations, all slipped into terror stricken madness. All claimed to have witnessed a snow beast with scales like a lizard and humanoid proportions.


[Artist rendition of the Snow-Lizard. The artists who rendered this illustration later slipped into unexplained madness.]