Gygax Tribute Show at Titmouse

The guys at Titmouse are having a Gary Gygax Tribute Art Show this Saturday, August 22. Gary Gygax is the visionary creator of Dungeons & Dragons. My brother and I were avid D&D players when we were kids. My brother was a barbarian who got killed all the time, and I was always an elf. Playing D&D really stimulated my imagination and it was one of my 4 major creative influences. (The other 3 were: Star Wars, Robotech, and Comic books)
So I was pretty stoked when TSR contacted me to do a bunch of Dungeons & Dragons illustrations for various guidebooks and monster manuals. Here are a couple of my favorites that will be in the Gygax show at Titmouse. These were done for Ravenloft; The Shadow Rift ( the Gothic, Horror branch of D&D). Word up to Squirgy the magic user and all my elf bruthas out there w/ the crazy dexterity. And big thanks to Chris P. for including me in the show.

Martian Madness

This guy is an old favorite of mine from back in the day. I sculpted him first and then I did this painting. I'll post a photo of the sculpture soon.

Mongolian Madness

Here is some development work I'm doing for a friend. This is a bad guy, Mongolian gang. I was concentrating on various ( big guy ) body shapes. Then I started having fun w/ some of the outfits and armor. Check out #5's 80's hairdo.

Lorna, Liam, and the Pterodactyl

This image has lived in my imagination since last summer in Yosemite. I roughed it out yesterday and I cant wait to paint it. And yes, that is the lovely Lorna and Liam, my muses. I'm about to post a lot of cool, new work. I have lots of new paintings going on right now, and as I finish them up, I'll post them. So check it out!
Addendum: That's right , that is a Pterodactyl. Actually it's a Pteranodon. And here are a couple of fun facts:
- not a true Dinosaur.
- wing span of up to 33 ft.
- toothless, yet carnivorous!
- agile, elegant, and quite fast!
- used large bony crest on head to steer when flying!
- their brightly colored crests were used for attracting females and indicated readiness to mate.

The Stricken Oak

O.K. Sorry I have'nt posted in a while, but work's been crazy bz. But we had a Movie poster theme art show at Fox. This was my movie poster for Frankenstein. More of a teaser poster actually. In the story, there's an Oak tree in the Dr.'s courtyard. It gets struck by lightning and is split and burned. The Dr. realizes that lightning will power the creature. He often stares at the the blasted oak as a symbolic reminder of how his life has been broken.
Anyways, the show was a great opportunity to bust out the oils again. The piece was very well recieved. Thanks and congrats to Cyndi who dropped the highest bid and scored this baby. Thanks to Toby also for an awesome frame. This one sparked another new painting, coming soon. Peace.
Happy holidays everyone.
Kodaddy

Kodaddy ( in color )

Here is the color version of my self portrait I did for the portrait show at Fox. It's one of my signature outfits as you can see: silver jacket, green vans etc. I added my cool guy shades cause Lorna thought it was wierd that I did'nt have eyes.

Liam, The Turtle, and The Frog

My hiatus is almost over. I know, it took a long time to start some new personal work. But I really needed the trips, the family time and the rest. It's been amazing. And now I am beginning a new series of paintings, and I have big plans for them. I draw inspiration from my son Liam. He brings joy to everyone w/ his spirit and enthusiasm. Having this time w/ him, at this age, and watching him grow into his character has been unreal. Anyways, anxious to bust out the oils and start painting. I'll post the finished ptg. when I'm done, but it'll probably be awhile, since I'm going back to work on Tuesday.

Characters

I was asked to posts these a bit larger. Here ya go.

Mechs

Here are some Mech sketches I always liked. I did them from my toys. At my old aptartment, I used to let the neighbors' kids play w/ my toys on the porch. These were their favorites. I only have one of these guys left, and he's missing his toes. But he's still cool. I keep him at work.

Actually, Yosemite...

Actually, Yosemite feels more like this...The high country that is. Wusup to the other Patrick. You lucky bastard. I really miss this one.

Yosemite

Off to Yosemite. Sweet G and I are going to the high country to visit Uncle Dyno . Gonna squeeze in one last trip before I go back to work. Ahh yeahh. Later.

Megas SB Panel

Check out this Megas storyboard panel. It's one of my favorites. He's about to reach towards cam ( filling frame w/ his hand) and pull out another robot's spine.

Juniper Lee Action Roughs

Still cleaning the studio and I found these Juniper Lee action poses. I use to rough them out w/brush pens on post its. Here are a couple of my favorites:
p.s. to my juniper lee peeps out there," miss you guys."

Storyboard BG Panels

Cleaning out the studio and coming across some cool stuff. These were BG roughs I did for Juniper Lee at CN. We had to draw the bg's on a seperate panel for animatics. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Plein-air Paintings

Portrait Of A Cloud

Open Road

Treetops, Washington

Leo Carrillo

Once upon a time, a couple of young painters hit the road w/ their French easels and painted along the way. We'd spend about 2 hours at a spot and whip out these plein-air ( I think thats how you spell it) paintings. We'd even sell some to locals for beer money and maybe another night or two. Here are a couple of those bad boys, freshly dusted for your viewing pleasure.

Head Painting

Awright, I'm cleaning out the studio as my hiatus slowly comes to an end, and I'm discovering a bunch of old gems. So I'll post some of theses babies as I dust them off. This is one of my favorite portraits. I love this model. How awesome is this dude? Great character!

Kodaddy

This is the self portrait I did for the portrait show at Fox.

Triptych

This is one of my favorite more recent paintings ( not that recent ). I'll post some newer stuff soon , once the scanner is up and running.

Stigmata

This was a piece I did for a group show at G825.

Time Rangers

This was a project I was developing w/ Neil,and Joe. Props to Hua Daddy for robot design and Mikey P for killer graphics.

Character Designs

So I finally have a Blog. I thought I'd start w/ a couple of character designs to get it started. Big props to Mikey P the mac guru.