Get your Bigfoot Poster

I've had an etsy account for a while now, but I finally decided to put it to some good use! If you're interested, I'm currently selling limited versions of my designs/illustrations as posters. I'm going to hopefully posting one a week (if life permits). Some more should be going up soon, just be patient and keep checking!

If you're interested in commissions please hit me up on the contact page.

Otter Love

So I've had a few people message me about some interesting animals to do. I'm liking it. However, I had to do an otter. I have a special love for them.

I'll follow up with some new animals and a finished otter image soon.

Sea Lions For Shore - Again

I've been really excited to be playing again with my doodles. I've been having such a blast with this lil' Sea Lion guy that I'm tempted to do some more. I've been thinking of doing a whole zoo animal series. If you have a request for any specific animal I'm open to making a list. I have been really yearning for some playful creatures to do some prints of.

Sea Lions Rule

This is what an hour worth of down-time doodling' results in.

Exercising

Some recent doodles I did while I worked on my Valentine's card. These were fun. They're about the size of a quarter, and I pulled out my beloved Dr. Ph. Martin's water colors to paint them up. I only have four colors, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Green so I have to mix to get the rest of the spectrum in there. It was kind of fun to get back into the swing of hands on work and actual water color again. I always seem to really enjoy doing these teeny, doodle exercises. It only takes me a few minutes, but when I finish, I am itching to do more.

Oh, if you were wondering, yes, that is me in a bigfoot suit. I kind of have an obsession. As if you didn't know.

...one more thing

I didn't want to overdose everyone in just one post, so I'm breaking this down a bit into a second post. One thing I've been trying to do is get a bit more hands on with my work. When I'm not doing my day job, I tend to doodle and daydream. Because I sit in front of a computer all day, I practically have to force myself to get a bit more hands on when it comes to creating any type of image. I got myself one of those one-a-day sketchbooks a while back and over the last two months, been trying to get back into the habit of drawing on a regular basis. I wasn't about to get my hopes up and think I could actually do one a day, everyday. It's entirely too much to ask. I obviously have plenty to do. So, from time to time, I'll be sitting somewhere and pull it out to sketch. Oddly enough I can't seem to figure out what I want to sketch around me, so I've been sketching what is literally right in front of me; I've been sketching my feet.

I'm not sure I'm going to keep going with the feet deal, but it is a nice change from my insane, whimsical style.

Good Riddance 2010, Wait... What!?! Is it 2012 yet!?!

So we're all back from the holiday hurdle. Well, most of us that is. After the shenanigans that I have been through in 2010, I was glad to welcome the new year with open arms. A clean slate right? Don't we all get that feeling when the new year comes around? I guess I can't speak for most of you but I sure do. I always feel like the new year brings a whole new set of promises or opportunities, if you will.

After starting a new job, breaking some ribs after a nasty fall, learning I'm allergic to glutens, the Christmas excursion across the state then being broken down on the side of the highway at 9pm Christmas eve, getting back home to find that I needed a whole new engine in my car and finally braking the passenger-side window in our only remaining car, I have never been more ready for that clean slate. Now, I've embellished a bit here. The broken window happened after midnight new year's eve, but I did lose a button today on a jacket I've only worn once so that makes me a bit more jaded toward 2011 already. BRING ON 2012! The fact that I'm so willing to embrace the year of our apocalypse according to the few out there who still think that is

going to happen, speaks volumes.

Okay, this isn't a woe is me post. Really. I'm not asking for a pity party. Really, I've been up to a ton lately. I've been super busy with work, which is awesome, and I've been super busy pushing myself to the limits with my creativity.

Back in September, I got another opportunity to work with Clifton and Chase over at Reactor. They asked me to do an illustration for Intelligent Utility magazine. Not only was I proud to work with these awesome guys again, I was super proud to learn that it was going to be a cover illustration with some highlight spots on the inside.

I also started Sketching a ton more in my sketchbook lately.

Some of these I can't offer any explanation for. It's just my brain working without parameters.

Happy Holidays-ish

This sketch was sitting in my sketchbook for a while. Then it sat for about three weeks on my laptop. I've been meaning to get it up but there have been a lot of things happening in life lately. (Isn't that always my story?) I know, it's a redundant theme in my life but it's true. It's been an emotional roller coaster for me the last few months. I did manage to get it on our yearly Christmas card, so I feel I've accomplished something. 

Oddly enough I think my subconscious is trying to get me back to my inner-child/immature self or something like that. I have four more illustrations I have done in my sketchbook that are all goofy and child-like. Not that my 'doodles' aren't normally goofy, but recently they have a little innocence about them. I had some downtime tonight and happen to bring my laptop with me, so I decided to finally get out some holiday message to all few of my devoted and frequently returning followers. You know who you are. 

So without further ado, please excuse my semi-boring attitude, and go out and enjoy the holiday season. Watch a little It's a Wonderful Life. That does the trick for me all the time.

KC AIGA Reach Out and Read Poster Contest

Kansas City AIGA hosted a call for entries in a poster to support Reach Out and Read® Kansas City. The theme was based off the idea of early reading to help reduce illiteracy and help build early child development. Working with one of the copywriters at my work, Doug Salva, we put our heads together and submitted a few ideas. Like old fashion I had so much going on that I waited until the last day/minute to submit our work. 

Of course the results won't be in until February, but I was still excited to take part. It was a really fun experience and a nice change of pace from the very commercial work I've been doing lately.

You can read more about it here.

I love awesome people...

A little over a year ago, some GREAT friends of mine hired me to do some quick sketches of them for their business cards. These awesome friends are from REACTOR design studio. These guys, Chase and Clifton, are awesome. No, scratch that, they are EPIC. To my surprise, the business cards received some mention on the AIGA site for their A6 awards. What pleased me was that they included me in the mention, and it totally made my day. I have to say that being a part (even if it was an incredibly small part) of their project was great.

So, I proceeded to parade around for five minutes cheering for myself, and I shall spend much longer continuously cheering for the guys over at REACTOR. Congrats to them for being so mind-blowingly awesome at making sure print is indeed not dead, and for being such awesome people to work with.

A Taste...

of what I've been working on lately....

Illustratin'

Having Technical Difficulties...

Becoming a Free Agent

It's been a long while since I've been here. 
To be quite honest, I believe it's been too long.

I'm not going to apologize. I learned once that you never apologize for being busy. In fact I'm embracing it. Lately, in my life I've been too busy; too busy to keep up with ALL my projects, and too busy to worry about it. If some of you out there have been frequent followers, I'm sure you will be able to recall me saying I had three jobs. Not for much longer. I've been working around the clock to achieve freedom from one thing or another. Soon it's going to happen. There are big things on my horizon, and it's so close I can almost touch it. 

A taste of what I've been working on lately ...

... and a taste of some of my personal projects. 

To keep up with my 365 Photographic odyssey, please check out my FLICKR account.

I've been backlogged so much it would be insanity to post here.

The Loch Ness of Summer Colds - I caught it.

Again, I've been home sick. I'm not normally one of those people who reverts to an infant when they develop something as simple a sniffle. I normally like to put on the brave face and take it. This 'virus' as the doctor calls it, is quite possibly one of the most painfully debilitating illnesses I've encountered that has only involved a runny nose, and a cough. Who knew all those little things that can get screwed up due to your nose draining the wrong way!? I've been out of commission for literally days now. I'm trapped in my apartment. I tried going to the pharmacy earlier just to 'get out' (and re-stock), and holy moly was that a mistake. I thought I might have to call my Jim to come get me.

So, what have I been doing since Friday evening when this evil virus struck? I've been sitting on the couch. I've been watching movies and sleeping. I've been wiping my nose raw, and eating cough drops like candy. Seems like a lot of waste right? Well there is a window of time after taking my medicine that I actually feel (somewhat) decent. During one of these few moments of clarity I must have had the TV set to some mythical creature show, and I began to get this goofy idea. I've spent the last two and a half days throughout my intermittent moments to throw it together.

Pardon the bizarre posts while Abby is heavily surfing the cold medicine wave.

She really can't help it.

A Cowboy is Born - UPDATE

Finally got him inked, scanned and colored. Next on to the background.

A Cowboy is Born

So, I've been working on an illustration very recently. It is actually for something, but I can't divulge as to what exactly. However, I have been feeling neglectful of my followers to tend to fancy the hand work over my photos. I've gotten some feed back lately and the consensus I've gathered is that most of you feel the same as I do.... Where the blazes are your other talents!? Honestly, they've been abused, and have refused to come out to play for some time; with the help of some R & R and possibly some 'candy' I coaxed the sucker out of hiding, and I put myself to work!

I began with the idea, and did a rough sketch. Having not worked with transfer paper in a while. I decided to try it again and forgo the whole scanning digital rigmarole. 

It really only took me about 20 minutes, and then the inking on top of that took about another hour. All in all it seemed like a pretty quick process. Oh, and yes, in the picture above, that is my nail polish in "Juicy Tomato" and a container of dental floss. I often floss and paint my toe nails when I'm blocked. Don't ask me why, but it helps. At least I feel better once I've done one of the two.

There you have it. Some pretty rough pics of my short process of getting back into the swing of things. I can assure all of you that this cowboy has a name, a story and one hell of an attitude. He's being created for a very special person who should take good care of him, and probably not feed him after midnight unless he demands it. Now I've gone and said too much. Updates on the cowboy soon.

2010 APO Week Twelve

There has been so much going on lately I have had very little time to actually catch up on my regular posts, and even worse, my life. I kind of feel like I'm losing touch with certain aspects of myself. Within this month, I've started my third job on top of my full time day job and my full time freelance business. I began teaching an Advanced Digital Imaging (Photoshop) class one day a week at a local college. It's not just any college either, but my alma mater to be more precise. It's so odd being back on campus. It brings back memories of sleepless nights, grueling projects and my very limited time for a social life. Now that I have finally been out in the "real world" I realize that very little has changed. Sometimes I often refer to myself as a workaholic, and I'm pretty sure that I've been called one by my Jim on more than one occasion.

On top of that, I had some pretty big happenings in my life lately. A friend of mine, whom I've pretty much known since pampers, lost her grandmother, which in turn felt like I had lost a family member of my own. Having grown up with her literally my whole life, I wanted to be there for her and give her that loving hug and a shoulder to cry on. I know I would have needed it if I were in her shoes. However, as we all grow older, we move away, and she is one of my two best girlfriends (you both know who you are) that has moved out of state, and I'm really longing for a get together with all of us. Especially with light of whats been happening in her life lately.

 Then there was the breaking of my antique coffee mug that was my absolute favorite, followed the next day by the news that the Folgers plant in down town KC was going to close it's doors. I felt like it was a sign from the coffee gods. If you've ever driven through downtown KC, you know that once you hit a certain point in the tangle of highways, you are instantly hit with that fresh ground coffee aroma. It lasts about a half mile, and trust me when I say that it really does make you feel like you've had a freshly brewed cup of coffee that kind of puts a smile on your face. I truly loved doing my grocery shopping in the River Market during the spring and catching the wind coming off of the other side of the highway and smelling it.

I've lived in the KC area for the last 8 years, and I haven't fully married myself to the idea, but I'm definitely starting to feel like it's become my home town. I'm really going to miss that smell driving through downtown, and it's going to be hard to move on. Trust me when I say it isn't the same as cracking open a new coffee container as the aroma wafts up to your face. I guess from now on I'll have to close my eyes and pretend. It's a good thing I'm a creative individual. I have a vivid imagination.

3.19.10

3.20.10

3.21.10

3.22.10

 

3.23.10

3.24.10

3.25.10

I Have No Idea, So I Wouldn't Ask

So, this is what happens when a creative mind is left with very little or no stimulation during parts of the day. I doodled these over the course of a few weeks, and only in my spare time (which I seem to have very little of these days).  I didn't feel the need to go back and rework them at the time but as I was breezing through my sketchbook earlier, I found them. I might have to go back and revisit these ideas in the future.

Alien, Charlie my cat, and a Ninja Aardvark (?)

Happy 100th Post...

 

I couldn't have gotten through it without a lot of this.