Stooges

NOT me, Ellis and Scott. The schnoz on Larry should have been redone--it's excessive, it distracts and it detracts from the other good parts, but hey, I am an imperfect artist. Speaking of which, Ellis, can you please post that "tower" you designed for our latest game project? I'm sure everyone would love to see it.

(I like how the grayscale setting made the image a little grainy and reminiscent of an actual Stooges film.)

Jeff, glad you're back. You've been missed.

Tennapel Podcast

Thanks Todd for the Scar Ref. Coworker Todd knows I'm drawing cats till I get it right.

Scar has nothing to do with the Tennapel link above other than I seem to remember Lion King is one of his favorite movies. And as such might inspire much of one of his own graphic novels. Doug is pretty informative about his process and how often times he's thinking in a very derivative way. Some of you with graphic novel ambitions might be inspired by his talk. I'm going over to his place in a bt to see his TWO! new graphic novels. One is Black Cherry (rated R). The other is called FLINK. I'll give the Blog a review before Moriaty does....maybe. Things come out of the chute fast on AintItCool.

I've reviewed the Books Black Cherry and Flink in the first comments.

And.....I'm Back

Hey guys. I'm back in the real world. Thanks for all of your condolances and thoughts in the previous post about my father. I really appreciate it. He had been suffering for a while (five years actually) and he needed to go. We got the word Friday afternoon and didn't arrive for his actual passing. Maybe travelling from LA to SD during Friday rush hour was a factor? Anyway it was a week of helping my Mom get her papers and house in order, seeing family and friends, and no sleep. Now life is back to normal (read: LA traffic here I come!. I posted the eulogy for my Dad that Mary Claire gave if you're interested.

Pirates on Heroin

Here's more dry erase work. I was looking at a Jack Davis drawing from the EC Horror 2007 Calendar.

Tom, I'm very flattered that you posted some of that old stuff of mine. I've been having blog log-in probs--I've got them ironed out now, but was unable to properly respond to some nice things both shared and said. So I've decided that I am posting today--come hell or high winds!

And just wait'll you see my latest white board opus--"The Three Stooges!"

A wretched etching.

I haven't posted a drawing in awhile, so here's a girl.

Frank Cho has something I want

It's not out yet. I hope it doesn't cost too much.

The title should be a link to more

Funny Comic Panels

All comic fans, please go to this web site and see the Top 15 Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels:

http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2007/03/top_15_unintent.html

Wendling Cats and CSPAN Heads

I noticed that of the 4 paintings I've done copying Frazetta, 3 of them had big cats as a central element. Explaining the appeal of Wendlings cats to me.

Wendling on one side, Me on he other

I've been Copying Claire Wendling cats. The goal is to invent cats like her because once I do I can go on to ruling the world. But the cats on the right are sadly what I invent on my own.

R.I.P Skrbbl's Dad

Jeff's Dad passed away after 5 years of pretty bad health. Hung in a long time after a bad stroke.
Everyone knows Jeff has a great family and they're all together in SoCal now trying to maintain order with all the wild kid disorder that results from a major reunion.

Condolences to the main man of TAG and his Mom, Mary Claire, and the rest of the Ranjo clan.

Politics is Show Business for Ugly People

Valerie Plame is a babe though. Kinda smarmy.

Mr Bounder / 300 SUCKS!

Done on a storyboard proportioned post it . Then I cropped it to full screen

And the 300 part of the Headline. God it was awful. If I can contribute in any way to stopping the tide of this things success, consider it done. Awful acting, pacing, music, acting, script, costumes, special effects and acting. And slow motion. Lots of slow motion. Sadly it was my first IMAX experience. That's how badly it sucked. A system designed to be completely immersive and I felt like I was watching a bad puppet show. ARRGHH. My brain hurts.

Changed my mind. Go see it. And then buy the Steve Reeves collection.

I Post for the Absent Mr. Davis

It is the eighth anniversary of the original Everquest today. Rich Sjoberg was digging in his files looking for digital memorabilia and found these three Marty Davis Whiteboard Masterpieces made long ago at Sony Interactive during his first career in video games. Marty has always been a whiteboard master. Note his self-portrait in the upper left hand corner of the top one.

High Moon update.

Well, I haven't even started yet and I've been fired.

Actually no. I just wanted to update you on a few small things. Firstly, congratulations to Rick on landing the 'I'm now better than everyone' west coast job. It's too bad he feels the need to one up me just because he can't stand not being the center of attention. Sad little beast.

I'll be accepting the job officially tomorrow. I'm very happy with the terms and they want me to start April 16th (I have to give a months notice on my current place. That's the delay.) If anybody has any ideas about the area surrounding Carlsbad as a potential place to move let me know. Although please keep in mind the furthest place away from Ellis would be preferable.

Sorceror

Watching SORCEROR and Hannity and Colmes

Looks like I got one, too!

Hi guys! I, too, will soon be starting a new job, and this one will be ON THE WEST COAST! Yes, I make my triumphant return to California next month as I start work as an Art Director at a mobile game company in the Bay Area.

SEE you guys soon!

Looks like I got it.

Hey guys,

To answer Ellis' question and to fill you all in, I was officially told on Monday by High Moon Studios that they were going to make me an offer on the job I interviewed for about a month ago. I'm going to be a fulltime storyboard artist for them. They're sending me the offer by mail so hopefully I'll receive it by Wednesday (Mar. 14).

So it looks likes I'll be moving back to San Diego (Carlsbad to be exact) within the next month or so. I don't know specifics yet like when they need me or where I'll be moving to but it looks to be a great place to work. For those of you who don't know, High Moon Studios is a video game company located right near Palomar Airport. I actually know a good number of people there, in fact Chris Ulm, a creative director, used to be my editor at Malibu Comics and the CEO of the place is John Rowe with whom Ellis and I worked with back in the late 80's early 90's. Here's a link to their website:

www.highmoonstudios.com

Click on the "studio tour" button to see some pics of the interior. They also got some pretty funny video clips they've made.

Anyways, I'll update you guys once I hear from them again and know more facts. In the meantime, here are a couple of frames from the art test they had me do. They're from a page of script from an early draft of the film Gladiator.

Whiteboard Script

I'm trying out a script writing experiment based on the idea of doing chapter stops just like you'd see on a DVD and then scripting about 3 pages per stop. This is a pirates vs ufos idea. I believe the artists Rick Griffin is the masterpiece creator of that genre.

I don't get it. I can't get images to load at the moment. I'll edit this tomorrow with my sample.

Scott. What's the word?

A Truck and Mountains

Let's try and shove that ol' guilty silhouette right off the page. How about a sketch book page to start off with? The mountains represent Mount Rainier, Washington, where we have taken some of our most fun vacations. It must be one of the most beautiful spots on earth. The truck is a recycling truck that picks up our bin every Friday morning.

The Case Of The Renegade Refugee

If you're as old as me some of the top sheet would be familiar old character actors. Perry Mason regulars.

Also included a war reporter showing up quite a bit on cable news with a very broken nose. The nose goes into a straight on shot while he's in 3/4 angle to the camera.

The bottom sheet is a grab gag of stuff noted as I watched Spellbound (spelling bee) and To Live and Die in LA. (Director William Friedkin, bottom right, one in to the left) And a movie with Ricardo Montelbam (sp?)(bottom left)
All done with ink pen, no pencil. I do the big shape of the head and then go in the middle with eye and socket shapes but quickly switch to nose size and placement. I adjust feature notes around the nose and mouth and hair and I get a mini likeness.

More at work Caricature workshop stuff

Included the ref photo. Nothing pushed but the landmarks came to be with a lot of ease. My new hobby of TV drawing is helping me be a quick study

Tuesday Drawing A Little Late

Oh, never mind, it was a boring story.

Watching 24 and some other stuff

The closest likeness is the disgraced former President.

My two attempts at Powers Booth reek.

My Russian Embassy security guy is pretty good.

And I got a glimmer of the conspirator that tried to assassinate America's second Black President.

Halloween in March

This is the video that I promised Scott. At dinner before the Ghostrider movie, he confessed to us that he is a bonafied "Ghostbuster" and that he is interested in all things creepy. That explains alot.

Warning!: It's a 40 minute video so recommend watching it at home around midnight with the lights out.

My New Grandson

My stepdaughter Amber gave birth to her first child, Nick Irvine, February 12. He's our third grandchild and first grandson. Nick was a few weeks premature, but he's been eating well and putting on weight rapidly the last three weeks due to his mother's milk being very nutritious. He sleeps a lot and that helps his growth.

By the way, where has Skribbl been? Vacation? Crunching?

Action!

A few action poses I did over the weekend... They almost convince me that I can still draw!

Ellis, My Oklahoma Man-Muse

I just like his head. And what better way to celebrate my return to the TAG Blog than with an Ellis image/homage?




Here's an earlier Dry Erase Board drawing celebrating my weight gain. Ellis's recent svelte health-style just feels like a constant reproach.

So I drew my feelings.

At work.




He'd had a little word bubble that said, "You are getting fat, my friend."

How rude.

The Prancing Pony!

Check it out! It's the Prancing Pony! I made that sign!

Actually, I've been updating my website and there are a number of new images there of things I worked on to a greater or lesser extent... check it out!

Thanks Yongwoo

For taking such a cool picture of me yesterday. Guess where I was