Larry Squiddman

While I was drawing Larry, I thought about having his tentacles holding stuff, like his Starbuck's cup and cell phone, but then I remembered I already did that shtick earlier, and decided to skip it.

Drawing Tip: If you want an object to look moist and slimy, all you have to do is draw a solid white highlight on the side facing the light source. Works every time.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.



Here's the original sketch of Larry. Mostly the same, except for the final drawing I evened out the size of his hands.

Frankenstein 003: Frankenstone

Part of my 100 Frankensteins Project.

I was never a big fan of the Flinstones. I always much preferred the futuristic gadgets of the Jetsons to the Flinstones and their prehistoric animals with the corny lines. So since I never watched it much, I have no idea if they ever used a character like this on the show or not. It seems too obvious for them to have passed up. If they did do a Frankenstein joke, I swear I didn't know about it beforehand.

If you click on the image to embiggen it, you can see I tried giving it an animated cel look, as if it's printed on clear acetate and painted on the opposite side. I took the layer with the drawing on it, then selected "layer styles" in Photoshop. I added a drop shadow and set the distance to 0. That made the drop shadow spread out from all directions, instead of going off to one side. I adjusted the size of the shadow until the black lines had that cel animation look.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the rough sketch I used to draw Frankenstone.

And here's the even rougher sketch that I started out with. I decided to add a little bit of action to the proceedings, instead of having him just stand there like he's waiting on a bus.

Frankenstein 002: Frankenbaby

Part of my 100 Frankensteins Project.

Would a baby Frankenstein monster grow up normally, or would you have to keep replacing his parts with larger ones?



Here's the original sketch of baby Frank. At the last minute I decided to dump the rattle and go with a bottle. Then at the even laster minute, while I was drawing it, the image of the iron riveted bottle full of blood juice popped into my head. I changed the proportions of his body a bit as well.

The Inhumans Art

I made this drawing/art/wall hanging a few years ago as an Xmas present for my friend Keith. It's the Inhumans, one of my favorite Marvel Comics superhero teams.

The Inhumans were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Fantastic Four #45, way back in 1965. They started out living in a secret city in the mountains on Earth, but eventually moved their entire race to the moon. I'm sure neither Stan nor Jack had any idea this little team they whipped up would prove to be so popular and go on to last as long as they have.

I don't know what exactly it is about them that appeals to me so. Maybe it's their wild, Kirby-designed costumes. Maybe it's their bizarre powers. Only Jack Kirby could come up with a guy whose whisper is more powerful than an atom bomb, a lady with prehensile hair and a teleporting bulldog all in the same team.

Marvel has tried giving the Inhumans their own book several times over the years, but they never last very long. Maybe they're the kind of characters that work best in small doses, or need an air of mystery about them. Sort of like Boba Fett, before George Lucas ruined him by needlessly showing us his origin.

Anyway, several years ago I visited one of the late, lamented Warner Brothers stores and was browsing through their animation section. They had tons of animation cels and lithographs of the various DC Comics characters on display there. I was particularly impressed by a lithograph consisting of a lineup of Batman villains from the animated series. Sadly, the price was far out of my ballpark. But as I stood there staring at it, I thought I could probably make something similar myself.

That started the wheels turning, and I thought why try to recreate a piece of art that someone's already done; why not do something new? So I decided to make a similar art piece of my favorite team, the Inhumans.

I tried drawing them in a style similar to the Batman animated series that was all the rage back then. I drew the characters on paper, inked them, then scanned them into Photoshop where I added color and shading.

Then to help get an animated cel look, I printed the drawings on clear acetate, the kind used on overhead projectors. I then carefully cut out each character (which was easier said than done, especially the Medusa character!), then lightly glued each one to a piece of illustration board.

I then cut out mattes, framed it and in just 87 short steps I had a piece of animation art just like the ones costing hundreds of dollars at the Warner Brothers store. Well, close enough, anyway.

And then I gave it away. Oh well. I still have the art, and can always make one for myself some day.

Here are some closeups of the Inhumans characters.

First up is Black Bolt. For those not in the know, he's the leader of the Inhumans, and husband to Medusa (the Inhumans are all related in some way or another). His power is his voice-- even his slightest whisper can level whole cities, so he spends his days in silence. Don't ask me what's up with the tuning fork on his forehead. Lockjaw has one too. I suspect it's there because it looked kewl.

Medusa is the wife of Black Bolt, and sister to Crystal. Her power lies in her super strong, prehensile hair. She can pick up objects weighing tons and hurl them at enemies, all without getting split ends.

The shading in her hair was done in vector with Freehand (which they don't even make anymore). Did it take a long time to draw all those curved highlights and shadows in her hair? Yes. Yes it did.

Gorgon is a cousin of the Inhumans, and has super powerful legs with hooved feet. He can create seismic waves by stomping the ground. Only Jack Kirby could make a guy whose power is stomping seem cool.

Karnak is the brother of Triton, and has the power to smash through anything with his super powerful hands. I suspect karate was just becoming popular in America when this character was created.

Triton is brother to Karnak, and um... can swim fast and survive the ocean depths. Basically he has the powers of a fish. And Aquaman. He even has to wear a special suit to help him survive outside of the water. That ought to come in handy, now that they moved their city to the moon. He looks cool though.

Lastly we have Crystal and her faithful dog Lockjaw. Crystal is Medusa's sister, and she can control the four elements (earth, air, fire and water). Lockjaw has super powerful jaws (natch) and can teleport himself or anyone who's touching him. For decades he was portrayed as a dog (albeit a very intelligent one) until sometime in the 1980s when Marvel decided he was actually a person who just looked like a dog. That revelation was so colossally ridiculous, even for a comic book, that I chose to ignore it. I say he's a dog, and nobody can make me believe otherwise.

As I mentioned earlier, I was trying for an animated look here, so it's a bit different from my usual style (the thick black outline around everyone was to make it easier to cut them out of the acetate sheets). There's a million things I would do differently if I was drawing this project today; for example I wish the line weight would vary a bit instead of being so monotonously uniform. I'd also get rid of the crosshatched shading as well. That's the way it goes though.

Frankenstein 001

Ever since I was a kid, my all-time favorite monster has been Frankenstein. Why? Who knows? Maybe it's because deep down he's not really a monster, he's just misunderstood and wants to be loved and accepted like everyone else. Or maybe it's because he's got green skin and a flat head and throws little girls into the lake.

By the way, I know that the monster's name isn't Frankenstein, but it's easier than saying "The Frankenstein Monster" every time I mention him. Plus I've been calling him "Frankenstein" since I was 5 years old, and old habits die hard.

I can remember trying to stay up on Friday nights to watch horror movies on TV, back in prehistoric times before home video. The movies usually didn't start until midnight, and I would usually conk out well before they were over. But when a Frankenstein movie was playing, I was always able to stay awake.

But I digest. Here's my version of the Frankenstein monster.

I've noticed that when I'm sitting around doodling, I end up drawing Frankenstein quite a lot. So for no other reason than because I say so, I've decided to start the 100 Frankensteins Project. I'm challenging myself to draw one hundred different versions of Frankenstein (no time limit, just whenever). I doubt if I'll make it, but I'm willing to give it a go.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

I couldn't decide on which version of the background to use. I ultimately went with the plain background, but I thought I'd include the dungeon-looking one here.


Here's the original sketch of Frank 001. Nothing much changed in the final drawing, other than cleaning up the lines a bit.

(Marshall), Bob & Holly

A few weeks ago I went to a Horror Show in Louisville, and got the chance to meet Holly (aka Kathy Coleman) from the original "Land of the Lost" TV show.

As you've no doubt noticed if you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are), I was and still am a big fan of the show. It had a huge influence on me as a kid. It was about a family trapped in a world full of dinosaurs, hostile lizard men and aliens; what more could you want out of a show?

So it was quite a thrill to meet someone who was such an important part of my childhood. It's not often you get to meet and chat with someone you grew up watching on TV. It was also a bit surreal. My first thought when I met her was, "Wow, she's real!"

Holly's a little older than the last time I saw her, but then aren't we all? She's still got the same wide, toothy grin though. She's also still about the same size as she was when she was on the show! She was very friendly and we talked about LOTL for quite a while. She had a cameo in the new movie (as did her TV brother Will), but it was ultimately cut from the final version. That's probably not a bad thing. She said she hadn't had a chance to see the movie yet. I told her not to bother.

Angus The Prober Redux

I wasn't very happy with the way I originally drew Angus' probe (seen a few entries ago). I thought it looked too much like a flat sword and not the billy club shape that I had in mind. So I reworked it a bit and I think it looks a lot better. And more painful.

Robot Runamuck

I don't usually do a lot of vector art, mainly because I can't get nice, fluid, variable lines like I can when I draw with a pen. But I thought I'd experiment and give it another try. My vector work usually comes out looking too stiff to me. I figured if it's gonna end up looking stiff, then what better subject matter than a robot?

This one was drawn entirely in InDesign. A lot of people are surprised when they find out I draw things in InDesign instead of in Illustrator. It's got most of the same drawing tools as Illustrator, and IMO is easier to use. The aging effect was a jpeg imported into InDesign and placed on top of the art.

Another reason I don't do a lot of vector art-- this drawing took me DAYS. I bet I spent three or four times as long on this one as I would have if I'd been drawing it in Photoshop on my graphic tablet. It was a fun experiment, and maybe next time I'll be able to do it faster.

It might make a fun t-shirt design.

False Advertising

Their storage space is most definitely not infinite. Nor will they allow me to store myself inside. Clearly a class action lawsuit is in order.

Have Some Sympathy

As you're no doubt tired of hearing, last week I vowed I would attempt to post an illustration every day for the foreseeable future. Today's illustration makes seven in a row. I think one week's enough. It's tough finding the time to draw something that I think is worth posting every day. I don't want to post a bunch of poo just to be posting. In fact I see about a million things I'd like to change on several of the past week's illustrations. So it's back to the irregular posting schedule. It was a fun experiment though.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.
Here's the original sketch of Lucifer. For some reason I sketched him staring at some kind of one-eyed bird thing. As I was drawing the final image it seemed to make more sense for it to be a little demon.

Mordechai J. Coilberg

Last Friday I announced that I was going to attempt to post an illustration every day "for the foreseeable future". So far I've posting a new drawing for six days in a row. Unfortunately I will probably go back to my normal output level after tomorrow, making it an even week. It's tough trying to pump out a decent illustration every day.

Anyway, here's today's drawing. As usual, he was drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.




Here's the original sketch. Nothing much changed, other than refining the lines and proportions a bit.

Angus The Prober

Angus secretly dreamed of being a haberdasher, but he went into the probing business to please nine of his fathers.

I think I need to rework his probe a bit. It's looking a little too much like a sword rather than a rounded rod. Maybe if I got rid of that hilt-looking part.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original sketch of Angus. Obviously his probe was an afterthought.

Business Monster

He's just a successful business monster waiting for the train, on his way to the office.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original sketch for the business monster. Unlike most of my sketches that are drawn on paper, this one was drawn right on the screen with the graphic tablet.

Fregan T. Moonkarma

Look at that dirty hippy!

I was a kid when hippies first began to appear in our society. For some reason the sight of any male with hair more than two inches long would cause my dad to fly into a seething, white hot rage. I honestly believe that if he was walking down the street and saw Hitler killing a puppy on one side and a hippy minding his own business on the other, he'd say, "Look at that filthy long-haired hippy! Have you ever seen such a sight in your life?"

Dad seems to have calmed down some since then. Maybe because you don't see a lot of hippies anymore.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original sketch for the hippy. I made his hair fuller and more luxurious in the final drawing.

This Gives New Meaning To The Phrase "Trick This House."

This tastefully decorated home is located here in town a mile or two from my place.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the owner of this house is not married...

I wonder if the idea behind this is similar to using wooden decoys when duck hunting? Throw a couple of decoys in the water, real ducks fly over, see them, land next to them, and BOOM! Perhaps the home owner is hoping that a decoy female displayed on his roof will attract any flocks of supermodels that happen to be strolling by.

It's interesting to note that this is not an ordinary mannequin. It appears to have been specially sculpted into a "Slave Princess Leia lying in submission at Jabba's feet" pose. I had no idea they made such things.

If you look closely you can also see what appears to be silver duct tape around the mannequin's ankles, which is presumably holding her fast to the roof. Unfortunately the tape looks a little too much like shackles.

I drove past it last December and the owner had put a scarf and wool cap on her for winter.

Codwallander J. Suavington Goes For A Swim

Yesterday I said I was going to try and draw something worth posting every day, and true to my word, I've done it two days in a row now. That's two days longer than I thought I'd be able to do it.

Note to aspiring artists: If you add fake dirt and aging to your drawing, it'll cover up a lot of mistakes!

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.
Here's the original sketch of Codwallander. Pretty much the same, except for adjusting some proportions.

Alex Creatchmeyer

I've decided that I want to attempt to draw something worth posting every day for a the foreseeable future. It won't happen of course, but it's worth a try.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

In Search Of: A Business Card Design

Nothing makes you feel like a prize doofus more than when you tell someone you're an illustrator and they ask you for your card... and you realize you don't have one.

With that in mind, the past several months I've been on a quest to design an appropriate business card for myself.

It's been a long and painful process (OK, more like an off and on process whenever I would remember I was supposed to be coming up with one), but I think I've finally found one I can live with.

At first I was going to just have one large image of Biff (the little guy in the upper left corner) on the card, as he's unintentionally become my face on the web. But then I wished I could feature more of my art on the card somehow.

Just for the heck of it I laid out a card full of characters I've drawn, in a grid of tiny squares. I figured they'd be so small you wouldn't be able to tell what you were looking at, but was pleasantly surprised when I printed out a sample and saw that the faces were perfectly legible. Small, but definitely recognizable.

But if I used this design then I had no idea where I would put my contact info. Thankfully I discovered that most print shops will now print on both sides of a business card. So I just stuck my logo and all my contact info on the reverse side. Finally, a business card I'm reasonably happy with.

Now I need to get to the print shop, stat!

The various tiny faces were all drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet. The card was laid out in InDesign.

Here are the runners-up in my quest for a personal business card.

I didn't really plan it, but Biff, the surly little bald guy, has sort of become the face of my online presence (no, he does not resemble me, thank you very much), so I felt like he should be featured on the card for consistency's sake.

I like the bottom one a lot, but I wanted to somehow feature more than just one illustration, so I had to go with the grid of faces. Better luck next time, Biff.

Jimmy Gnashington's Third Grade School Photo

A very quick little drawing-- about half an hour. Usually when I draw something I sketch it out first and have it all planned in my mind. Tonight I decided not to do any of that and to just draw. I sat down at the computer and started doodling onscreen and after a few minutes this came out.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

The Rare And Elusive Red Unicorn Demon

I hadn't done a "painting" in Photoshop for a while, so I figure it was about time to try one again. Now I remember why it's been so long since I did one. Line drawings are much easier!

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original sketch of the demon. The final drawing didn't change much at all.

My Trip To The Wookkiee Planet

A few years ago I went to see "Star Wars: Return of the Sith" (mercifully the last of the prequels) and while watching it I had a thought. No, not "Boy, do I wish I was in a different theater," although I'm sure I probably said that before it was over.

It happened during the big battle between the Wookiees and the Trade Federation droid army. Something about the Wookiee home world of Kashyyk seemed awfully familiar.

It finally came to me after I got home. Kashyyk bears more than a striking resemblance to the Chinese city of Guilin!

At the top is a scene of Chewbacca and a Wookiee General planning their strategy on Kashyyk, with a view of some unusual mountains in the background.

At the bottom is a photo I took of the city of Guilin, with a view of some unusual mountains in the background. Notice anything familiar?

In another example, at the top we have the Wookiee army rushing toward a river with the strange mountain formations in the background.

At the bottom is a photo I took of the river Li, which winds through the strange mountain formations in the background.

At the top we see a Wookiee flying some sort of dragonfly-copter over the river with the strange mountains in the background.

At the bottom we see me sailing the river Li in Guilin with the strange mountains in the background.

I've been to the Wookiee planet!

Apparently when the folks at Lucasfilm needed an alien landscape for the Kashyyk, they realized they'd already used ice planets, swamp worlds and cities in the clouds, so they turned to China. Guilin, with its beautiful and unusual mountain formations, has some of the most alien-looking landscapes on earth. Guilin's not exactly the most well known place on the planet, especially in America, so they probably thought no one would notice if they co-opted it to stand in for Kashyyk. Sorry, guys, but I gotta call you on this one. Next time try coming up with a truly alien landscape instead of copying one from the Chinese.

It's Henri, The World's Least Convincing Mime!

Looks like Henri's doing "trapped in a box." Or is it "Walking against the wind?" "Flower growing toward sunlight?" "Ducking discovers its mother felled by a hunter?" Honestly it's kind of hard to tell.

Don't quit your day job, Henri.

By the way, unlike most of the world, I don't hate mimes. I appreciate it as an art form, and I recognize that it takes talent, skill and stamina to perform. That said, mimes should always be confined to the television. They have no business out in public squares, accosting innocent passers-by. Remember that, mimes of the world. Don't approach me in public and act like I stink, or mimic my walk. Stay on the TV where you belong.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the original sketch for Henri. The final drawing changed quite a bit, most notably in the position of his hands, and the lengthening of his legs. If you're a regular reader of this blog (as I know you are) you'll notice that that leg lengthening thing is a common occurrence around here.

For some reason whenever I start making a final drawing from a sketch, I feel the need to make the character's legs about 40% longer. If I'm drawing a tall & skinny character, they always seem to look better to me if their legs are extra long.

Roadrunner

I was doodling in my sketchbook the other day, and for no apparent reason I drew a roadrunner. So I decided to turn the sketch into a full blown drawing.

Call it my interpretation of the Warner Bros. version. I wasn't trying to recreate him exactly, but rather filter him through my own style.

The Roadrunner has got to be one of the most annoying characters in animation history. I think everyone who's ever seen even one of the cartoons rooted for the Coyote and wished that once, just once, he'd catch the stupid Roadrunner and eat him.

In fact, years ago I read that the U.S. Army commissioned a special cartoon from Warner Bros., in which the Coyote finally caught and ate the Roadrunner. According to the legend it would be shown to the troops right before they went into battle; I guess to pump them up?

Alas, it was just an urban legend and no such cartoon exists.

No matter how many times the Coyote's Roadrunner-catching plans failed, he never stopped trying. Maybe there's a lesson about perseverance or something in them.

When I was a kid there was a Roadrunner comic book, and he was even more annoying in it! The comic version could talk (!) instead of make "meep meep" sounds, and he always spoke in rhyme. And like all funny animal comic book characters, he had 3 identical triplet nephews who followed him around. If I remember right the Coyote wasn't in the comic; it just showed the Roadrunner's family life. I remember not liking that comic.

By the way, Google "roadrunner" some day when you have time. Not surprisingly, a real one looks nothing at all like a large skinny ostrich. It's just a small speckled bird with a short neck and a slightly longer than normal tail. Most of the other Warner characters are fairly accurately drawn; it makes me wonder if whoever designed the Roadrunner had ever seen one before.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.

Here's the sketch for the Roadrunner. I lengthened his legs a bit in the final drawing and cleaned up some lines, but otherwise not a lot changed.