All for Love!

I'm happy that I can finally share this with everyone, a different job from me . . . this was actually a collaboration of a few artists. I worked with the animation company Nathan Love who have done some amazing commercials, very talented guys. They created a baby-like cupid with no hair or wings and the gun, it was handed to me as a pencil drawing. Another artist painted the background. This was an interesting job because I didn't do any drawing besides the hair and wings . . . my part in this was to paint the cupid and gun so that it felt like and old "Victorian" painting . . . this was a challenging job and was a lot of fun doing something different!

The final billboard hangs in a train station somewhere in Switzerland, 30ft x 100ft . . . . crazy!

Drew Friedman and Roberto Parada!

I'm finishing up my book this week . . . wow, it is a lot of work! Anyways, it will be available very soon, I'll be sure to let everyone know. In the meantime, here's a quick sketch I did of my friend Drew Friedman, a great artist, and a real swell guy! He wrote the foreword for my book and is one of my many amazing guest artists!








This is a quick sketch of Roberto Parada, an artist who has inspired me for years . . . I'm a big fan of his painting!

I'll share some sneak peaks from the book soon as well as the entire list of guest artists!

Cover for The Weekly Standard!

I know, I know, not exactly what you would expect from me. This is the first portrait that I've done for a cover of a magazine, it was a lot of fun and was challenging as well. I only had two days from start to finish, on top of that, all of my reference for this guy was in black and white. I painted it black and white first, establishing my values. Then I painted thin and light on top of my values until I was confident enough to paint with my gut feeling . . . it's different, I hope you enjoy!

A Work In Progress . . .

This guy's face always gives me the creeps, wouldn't feel safe with him around my kids . . . . I hope that comes across in my attack?

Speed Painting #2

Here's another quick speed painting that I did to warm myself up for the day . . . this one took me 25 minutes or so. This time I felt like experimenting, so I started out with a black canvas and then painted the entire piece using the eraser tool. I selected a texture for my eraser brush to give it some energy . . . basically just pulling light out of dark.

Speed Painting #1

On the National Caricaturist Network forum, there's a thread called "speed painting". I've never really tried it before, or at least really timed myself. On the thread many artists post their quick digital paintings . . . good practice . . . so here's a 20 minute speed painting that I did today of Court Jones.

Update on H.B.'s Face!

The Big Sleep!

I'm finishing a bunch of new paintings for my book which will be out in June! This is one that I'm currently working on, a parody from "The Big Sleep". I love Bogie as well as the look of his films, but mostly Bogart's expressions and physical appearance . . . this is still mostly a block in, a bit more work left before I'll call it finished.

Obama for The Weekly Standard!

Here's the final Obama painting that I worked on Thursday and Friday. My first piece done with my new Cintiq, which is soooo awesome, I'm not sure how I managed as long as I have without a Cintiq? This was a quick painting, done in about a day and a half. The trick is to make it look as though I spent more time on it then I did, but a "rushed look" is not what I want people to see in my work.

So with that, I'm pleased with how it turned out. I usually paint much larger than the size the art will print . . . this time, I painted only an inch and a half larger than print size. I do not recommend this, and it was not my intention . . . I had already painted for a few hours when I realized the size in which I was painting. This piece is a full page illustration, from top to bottom of the page, so normally I should have painted it at least 4 or 5 inches larger . . . . it turned out fine, but when it came to smaller areas like the hands, eyes and feet, I couldn't really get in there and detail the way that I want to.

I painted this first with no background behind it, last minute I was asked if I could throw a background behind him for text and so forth . . . I'm not sure which one they went with?

Thumbnails . . . .

Working on another Obama painting . . . . a day and a half turnaround . . . this time a full body caricature! These were quick doodles, trying to work out an idea, neither of these two are what I went with . . .

My April Course is Almost Full!

There's only a few slots left in my April 29th class! For more info, or to register for the class click here.

The drawing is a sketch that I did of my friend Fred Harper, Fred does some cool art! I did this one with a ball point pen.

Update on my Donald Trump painting.

These days I'm working on the final paintings and whatnot for my book and came to the page with my Donald Trump and realized that I wanted to re-paint the face and hair . . . . the top Trump is the "new" version of the painting!
I painted my first version a little over two years ago, I like this new version much better! I never really felt settled with the first one, at first I was going for a more painterly look, so I kept the hair loose as well as the face. I spent for ever on that chair . . . . realizing later on that if the chair is going to be that detailed then his face must be as well.

I'm in MAD magazine . . . Big Whoop!

MAD 489, on stands now! I can finally share this with the world . . . I painted this a year ago, so it's great to finally see it in print! Been a dream of mine since I was 9 or 10, to draw for MAD, so it feels great to finally look through an issue with my work in it. My favorite part about the whole thing was working with art director Sam Vivano, he's a great art director, and I hope to work with MAD more in the future just so I can continue to learn from Sam. It's a fantastic issue, has great work in it from Hermann Mejia . . . worth the whole $4.99 just for his stuff!

Quick Cafe Sketch Video!

Hello everyone, wanted to share something a bit different, thought it would be fun to watch. These are some sketches I did really quick while sitting at Pollo Loco, Chipotles and the Emergency Room . . . . my daughter was really sick last week, was at the doctors quite a bit, she's much better now! These are really fun to do because the people I'm sketching don't even consider that I may be drawing them. They see a laptop and think I'm typing or something of the sort . . . even still, people do not sit still for any great length of time, the first two I drew got up and left in the middle of me sketching . . . I know, rude right? The music is Wilco, enjoy!

Bobby Chiu!

Another little sketch, this time a sketch of my friend Bobby Chiu, an amazing artist also from Imaginism Studios. Bobby's work kicks!!!! He does some of the COOLEST character designs as well as crazy animal creations . . . check his stuff out at Imaginismstudios.com

Kei Acedera!

This is a little sketch of my friend Kei Acedera, a wonderfully talented artist from Imaginism Studios. She's an awesome character designer, among many other things, she's quite an artist! Her and Bobby Chiu have just finished their latest book "Waterworlds" which will be available to purchase very soon at Imaginismstudios.com The other day I got a sneak peak at the Waterworlds cover that Kei painted, and it looks soooo cool!

Stephen Silver!

Another great artist! I had the pleasure of hanging out with Stephen last summer, was really cool watching him draw . . . . with such ease, wonderful line work, and quick! All in all, a really nice guy.

Hermann Mejia!

This is a little sketch of "The" "Hermann Mejia" . . . Hermann has been one of my favorite artists for at least the last 8 to 10 years. I believe that Hermann is one of the better caricaturist alive today. You've probably seen his work in MAD magazine, mostly movie parodies, but he has done a couple covers for them, and in my opinion he should be doing a lot more covers! If you haven't seen his work you are truly missing out, click his name in my links, you won't be sorry.

Wouter!

A sketch of my friend from the Netherlands . . . Wouter Tulp, a seriously amazing artist!

Joseph!

This is a sketch of my pal Joe Bluhm! I love this guy, talented beyond all reason, yet humble and totally down to Earth!