Category Archives: pencil

cyborgs and sword skellies

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     This started out as a half-finished pencil drawing and I decided to spice it up a bit with a few digital tweaks.  The texture and tones of the paper that surfaced during the tweaking process are almost more interesting than the drawing itself.  I sometimes wish I was a cyborg so I could see things the way a computer does.  Seems like it would be a much more interesting world in a lot of ways.

OPG 2012 and my generous selfishness

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     Well, here it is:  The now traditional “October Ween” which signals that my annual Octoberween-Palooza-Ganza has officially begun!  And after a hasty search through my art-stuffs earlier this evening, I’m pleased to announce that I have more than enough unseen original artworks for each and every day of the month of October for your derisive laughter viewing enjoyment.

     I’ve also whipped up some wacky banners for all you crazy kids so you can annoy your friends with your suspicious taste in art.  Behold!


     If these free banners which I made with my own blood sweat and tears aren’t good enough for you selfish bastards then you can suck my ass click the banner tag to pick from (and modify if needed) any of my past banners from past events and various random occasions.

     Finally, you’re ALL encouraged to participate.  Just blog about Halloween, Horror, October in general or just express yourself with your own personal creation and send me the link so I can wrangle up all the entries to share with everyone else.  Why participate, you may ask?  Participation makes you cool and attractive to your preferred sex and also makes you eligible for possible giveaways during the month but most of all participation makes you eligible to put me to work for you.

     This may not be for everyone but qualified OPG participants (and by “qualified” I mean the first three participants who are interested) can put me to work on a commission just for them.  The only restriction is that the commissioned artwork will have a size limit of 8.5″ x 11″ for ease of mailing.  Other than that, you’re calling the shots.  Just give me an idea of what you want and I’ll do my best to create it.  When finished I’ll mail it off to you and ask that you donate whatever amount your conscience dictates (although I would appreciate at least the cost of postage).  Why am I making such a generous offer?  Well, selfishness really.  I enjoyed my last commission and I’d like to try it again so help me out and put me to work for you this October!

     Okay okay okay, I’ve babbled on enough.  We’ve got 30 more days to cover!  You ready?  Let’s go!!

Clint, Fuzzy Skeletonians and OPG 2012

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     Okay, so I got this idea recently to create Unflattering Fuzzy Skeletonian Portraits for anyone who wants one.  I dove right into it and soon found that I needed to brush up on my portrait skills so I found an image of Clint Eastwood to work from (since the old crazy bastard practically IS a Fuzzy Skeletonian).  I sat down and tried my best to capture his features.  The man has a great angry face and an awesome skull so it was a pleasure to work with.  What you see above is what I feel to be the best of several attempts.

     I have to say this is not going to be as easy as I imagined but you have to start somewhere.  Making someone skeletal and still recognizable is going to be a challenge.  I don’t want to just draw a freakin’ zombie with some flesh stripped away.  Oi, that’s been done TO DEATH.  I want something like bones that look like flesh, flesh that looks like bones…  Gonna have to experiment and mull this over a bit.  I’ll keep you posted as I hopefully make progress on this project.

     Oh yeah, I do plan to have my usual OPG shenanigans and goings on in October but I don’t really have any clear plan of what I’m going to do besides daily postings.  Right now I just plan on wingin’ that mother just like the very first October on my blog.

     Speaking of blog events, don’t forget to head on over to She Blogged by Night and wish her a Happy Blogaversary!  This is also the final stretch of the Camp & Cult Blogathon, which ends this coming Friday.  Check it out if you haven’t already!

defenses of the past (update/edit)

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(If you’ve already read the first version of this post and found it to be a bit unclear and/or unfocused I apologize.  I was rushing through it right before bed and I was both tired and unorganized in my thoughts.  Anyway, here’s the update/edit.  I feel it much more effectively puts forth the point I was originally hoping to make)


     I got myself busy with my markers over the weekend.  One night I completed a few drawings, ate dinner and watched some TV.  Later, when I came back to my room I saw the last finished drawing still on my inclined table in the very dim light before I got a chance to turn the lamp back on.  It creeped me out…  No, it flat out scared me and I stopped drawing for the day.  I find the older I get the more easily I forget recent events and the more I remember my past.  When the vivid horrors of the present become too much for me I retreat to the comfort of the past.  Senior citizens who can’t remember what they did yesterday but can easily remember their first day of grade school in vivid detail aren’t necessarily senile.  I think their minds are simply doing what’s necessary in order to survive the harshness of the present.

     The above drawing is not the one that scared me over the weekend.  My fear forced a retreat into my past and I chose to post an old pencil drawing from 10 years ago.  My defenses went up and I no longer had the desire to face my art in its present state.  My wife once made the observation that it’s remarkable sometimes to watch as my defenses go up when I feel threatened, insecure or scared.  Perhaps that’s why I chose this particular drawing.  What you see above could easily be a depiction of that exact phenomenon.  Layered defenses of the past shooting up to protect the frightened little me hiding behind them.

     And now for some WaCkY Creation Trivia!  This was completed immediately prior to defending angel.  In the upper-left corner you can see one of the scribble bats bleeding through from the page behind.  Here’s a detail with enhanced color to make it easier to see:


     Seems fitting that these two drawings are right next to each other.  Very similar themes of protection and defense.  May your own defenses serve to protect you well from the harshness of the day.  Thanks for taking a look.

robust face

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     Here’s some pencil from my 30’s.  This is from the same sketchbook as tribal mask and defending angel.  As you may recall, tribal mask marked an artistic rebirth for me of sorts and I think that momentum continued to grow with what you see above.  The thick neck, robust features and fierce eyes I think shows my confidence increasing as I worked my way back from complete artistic inactivity.

under the surface

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     Here’s a moldy oldie from the Summer of ’89.  I find this one interesting because seems to show the content that I fully embrace today just barely starting to emerge in my early drawings and doodles.  It’s just under the surface and it’s poking its head up to say ‘Hi’, trying to disturb the serene scene above.

     Heh.  Maybe this guy’ll show up on the 4th, bringing his flamey flames with him and I can drunkenly order him to light all my fireworks for me.  Have a good holiday, folks!

hollow head

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     Okay, now that I’ve gotten planking out of my system, we can get back to bidness.  Here’s some pencil from my late teens.  The original is noticeably lighter than what you see here.  When I was fiddling around with this post-scan I hit ye olde auto-adjust on the colors and everything just popped.  It really brought out all the original detail from this old drawing so I ran with it.

     As for content, methinks this has something to do with an artwork I often stared at as a kid in California.  It was in this book called The Mind my parents had in the living room.  The artwork in question was a painting done by a schizophrenic depicting their skull split open lying in a grassy field and you could see different compartments inside.  Each compartment showed scenes, memories, abuse, insecurities and the like from their life experiences.  I remember being obsessed with that book and that painting in particular.  As for my drawing, the head seems hollow with all the interesting stuff on the outside.  Perhaps the inside was gutted by fire, as there are some small flames still burning.

tunnel vision

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     Here’s goofy little drawing from my past.  Not sure what the eye tunnels are about but the electrical sparks in the hair seem to show the beginnings (or at least hints) of features prevalent in the Sharpie craze and, more recently, with nose bleed.  Weird how you can make sense of some of your past by examining your present state.

     Oh yeah, speaking of the Summer of ’89.  I’ve already been posting shit from this period and just didn’t bother noting it.  Check out the tag if you’re curious.

the maxx and radiationitis

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     Well, I’m thinkin’ I better get my art on before the radiation spreads and kills us all so here’s some past pencil pushin’ for all ya’lls.  This is some pre-Sharpie craze stuff from almost 10 years ago.  I’m thinkin’ there’s some influences from when the MTV showed the animated cartoon version of The Maxx all those many years ago.  I’m guessin’ the teethy little Isz had something to do with what you see above.

     Seriously though, folks.  If any of you start to come down with the radiationitis let me know and I’ll start my Octoberween-Palooza-Ganza early.  Likewise, if I’m the first to come down with it, I’ll do my best to launch the event myself and crank out as much art as I can before my arms fall off.

looooving me is easy ’cause I’m beautiful!

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     This is the only honest to goodness, actually attempting a photographic likeness, self-portrait I have ever done.  This was completed when I was 19 years old.  Early college, when I was all ambitious, arrogant and very serious about myself.  At the time I was all like, “I’m gonna draw myself using two mirrors, man!  That way what I draw will be an actual likeness of myself and not just a mirror image!”  And so I did.  I used two mirrors, concentrated very hard, narcissistically paid special attention to my eyes and pursed lips and, in the end, screwed the whole thing up by making the distance from the tip of my nose to my chin noticeably shorter than it actually is.  Eh, whatcha gonna do.  I was young, dumb and fulla cum.  The odds of me not screwing this up were pretty slim to begin with.

     Have a good new year.  I plan to get drunk and burn shit.

teen scream

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     Here’s a moldy-oldy for all ya’lls.  This is the oldest drawing that I still have lying around.  It’s been creased, torn and abused by time.  It expresses my teenage angst very well and I drew this when I was 17 years old.

     That was 23 fucking years ago.  My wife and I started having the hot, naked, sexors 21 years ago and if fate had taken a different turn we could have a child right now who’d be just about ready to graduate college.  And then we’d have to kill them.  Considering how college turned out less than successful for us without kids, it would have been an even bigger quagmire of despair, failure and disappointment if we had been raising a child.

     Anyway, that’s enough about that.  Thanks for your time, folks.  I appreciate it.

manimal cyborg dad

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     Here’s some more of my drawing backstory from high school.  Strong dad influences in this one (and, for some reason, a dash of Marlon Brando).  Also some beastman type stuff going on in there, probably from watching too many episodes of Manimal.

     Anyway, my dad got one of his eyes shot out with a bee-bee gun as a kid.  He apparently had a glass eye for a while when he was younger but by the time I knew him he was sporting an eye patch.  That combined with his dark, curly hair gave him a decidedly pirate look.  Thinking about it now, he would’ve looked much more awesome if he’d had a semi-translucent plate riveted over his bad eye, as pictured above.  Would’ve given him a much cooler, cyborg, road warrior look.