nothing special to report---I have fully embraced the digital age and am now consistently producing digital paintings, of the beginner/intermediate variety. I am still learning a lot about techniques, tricks of the trade, usage of lighting, so on and so forth. looking forward to studying more and getting better.

Special Thanks to ornery and Flowers10 for scouting my fledgling works for feature in the Art Portal---much appreciated, peoples : }

my fellow creators, please take a moment to peruse the following article and take the appropriate actions necessary to protect your artistic creations:

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=Col umns&column=MindBiz&article_no=3605

you owe it yourself as intellectual artists, writers and creators to stop this from happening. unite my brothers and sisters; let's make our voices heard and prevent Legislation, Bill Gates and his confederates from stealing our hard work from us in plain sight!

Sign the petition, write some letters to your congressman and spread the word...

Peace.

I have made my return to the Art Forums this day, having completed a long pilgrimage of chaotic responsibility. I have lurked in the meantime and have witnessed the continued spectacle of the NG forums. I laughed out loud at times and I have died a little on the inside at times, and I missed it all equally, each time.
For those who care, I am back.
For those who hate, Go Fuck Yerselves and deal with it.
For better or worse.
Peace.

P.S. Tom, this one was done strictly with a laptop mouse and a good deal of filter rape LOL. I need an Intuos in my life bro. Pretty please, with sugar on top even.

I am close now...soon I will be among you.

First one in the bag. I had fun participating in my very first art forum "contest". I look forward to participating in future threads like this one. Every body involved really puts a lot of effort into their submissions...it's refreshing really. There's no real prize, other than recognition, which in itself has value, yet everybody puts their best foot forward. Awesome.

Well I just wanted to take a moment to express the pleasantness of this experience. I'm glad I became an active NG member. It's a neat way to network with a lot of people that I know are going to make the world take notice in the short term.

I'm gonna post the line work, my part in our submission, for the Doubles Showdown thread. I'm sure Craze will post the finished cut on his user page...if not, check out the Art Forum to see the finished collab in all of its glory.

Again, nice work Craze...if you ever wanna collab for shits and giggles, just lemme noe...I am down!
Peace.

After a weekend of sorting through reference sources and sketching out ideas for our entry in the Art Forum's Doubles Showdown, I have finally accomplished my objective. Now it's off to my partner as soon as I can shoot him a copy of the finished illustration for coloring.

It was a real challenge (read: bitch) to get it all together. While I was sketching out concepts for what would have been our original entry, I had an epiphany, and my partner thought it a novel idea. So we changed our plans. Only trick was conditioning myself to draw renditions of pre-existing characters; established and well-known characters. I haven't drawn this type of subject in a long time, and I think I'll do it more often after this experience. It was tons of fun, digging through reference materials and refining the trademarked look of each character.

Granted the final result may not be immediately recognizable, given the nature of the concept we went with, but I am pretty proud of some, if not all, of the similarities. My only regret: that I had to limit the size of the piece for technical reasons, limited scanner surface. In my mind it would have been a 17" x 14" piece in the end; this would have been the optimal scale for my intentions. Nevertheless, I think it will be a unique entry and with the added finishing touches my partner will apply, I think it will stand out.

Peace out.

Can't blog right now...busy working on collab for the Doubles Showdown thread...Mebbe next week, k?

I justed wanted to take a moment to give credit where credit is due. Ever since learning of NG during my tenure as a visual communications student in 03 I have had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the works of some very exceptional artists and animators. It's these people I would like to thank for making such brilliant web content.

Artists like Johnny Utah, Dan Paladin, Krinkels, Tim Frommeyer, Stamper and Mindchamber, to name a few!

Since recently becoming an active user on NG, I have had the opportunity to become familiar with many more underground talents around the Art Forum: Frolikyn, Smiling Idiot, mibodega, FSnake, ZuluCS, Vortex and Zile immediately come to mind, but of course there are many more that I hope to become more familiar with as time passes and more and more brilliant works are presented in the forum and the Flash portals.

Thanks NG! Peace out.

I am done playing the little reindeer games on the art forum! It's shit! Every time I say something it is misconstrued due to a lack of comprehension (lay men's terms: people can't read). You want positive critique, you got it: books, books and more books. Study! Fuck school, study where ever you are; on the bus, at a party, wherever!

And wait a minute! The only time I have ever done anything but add constructive criticism or kudos is when lesser artists do nothing but flame a great thread to make themselves feel more excellent. I am a champion of justice in the art world. If I tear off the head of a worthless bug you call friend, I apologize, but you should have learned them to behave.

Essentially I am quite harmless, if a little harsh and rude at times. I will not suffer the fool lightly and I haven't! So sue me! But I will not be participating in whatever the hell it is that goes on on NG with all of the flaming shite! Don't PM me asking me to check out your blog, cuz I won't. I'm not going to give anybody that satisfaction! And if I suspect you are not someone I want to hear an opinion from, YOU GET BLOCKED, so don't bother even checking me out if you apply. You'll just put yourself on my Radar.

Anyway, enough of that...forever.

This the latest sketch in the GoddaM Pinups series I have been working on for too long. She also happens to be a character for a top secret project my associate and I will be pitching to Adult Swim once he is finished drafting up the synopsis and script breakdown. 9 1/2" x 11", pen & ink, knee deep in the coloring process now, so stand by. I hope you enjoy. Lemme know what you think, realistic opinions only!

In a sea of mediocrity, how do you keep your head above water? By systematically seperating the chaff from the whey. In my line of work, I am required to devise the formula an artist uses to achieve the end product. I am expected to make the right decision when commissioning artists for any given project.

This means I have learned to identify the fakers- individuals who push art produced with a projector or light box, images slightly altered from their photo references. There is nothing wrong with using photographic comps as a point of reference, any artist worth his salt knows to employ this tool, but when it becomes the focal point of your particular style, you suffer as an artist, and this is evident to me.
My employers can find themselves in deep legal doo-doo if one of these huxters slips the dragnet, so I take forgery very seriously. Especially when the "artist" in question makes pained efforts to deceive others regarding the degree of their talent.

There is nothing to be ashamed of art forum users, some wolves have sharper teeth. Such is nature. You fail the moment you attempt to challenge an alpha with your blunt canines. End result; you end up pissed on. A lesson learned from life experience, in the real world, beyond high school.

Near as I can tell, the art forums are specifically for the posting and critique of ORIGINAL artwork. If you are going to offer, thoughtfully constructive criticism, more power to you. What doesn't work is all of the insulting comments without the inclusion of a better example! How can you tell somebody you are not impressed by their work if you have failed to provide an example of superior work. Too many times certain users post a comment on a thread that says, "learn to draw" or some other brand of similar BS, without any work to illustrate their own merit.

These people are worthless and their opinions should be outright ignored. Trust me when I tell you, the rest of the world ignores these people and will continue do so for the rest of their lives, why not join the club. I have. To symbolize this "passing," here is an illustration: