Author/Artist
When my Cintiq was fresh and new, I drew this as a quick test of its capabilities for line and color. I like to do my line work with traditional materials, but the Cintiq does the job pretty well. It's a great tool for for edits and laying down color. I LURV coloring with the Cintiq (dimpled advertising smile).
Here's a sketch I did last year in Haiti. We had a large team at that time, so there were plenty of opportunities to sketch in the clinic while other non-medical grunts staffed the pharmacy.
I felt self conscious about sketching people at what's essentially a doctor's appointment, but they had nothing against it, and given my lack of practical skills, it was nice to be able to contribute something at a higher level. A few people asked for portraits. The most popular was my drawing of Delamy, our Haitian program lead. For some reason, seeing their stoic leader reduced to brush strokes was uproarious for the Haitian staff. One guy glanced at the drawing and just toppled to the floor like someone had decked him.
I gave the drawing to Delamy's wife, Elvira, so if it's somehow a source of comical disrespect of her husband, she can hide it away accordingly.
A couple days ago I added a new page to my site about Periscope Studio, the place where I put in my 9 to 5. It's a huge part of my creative life, so it definitely needs its own section here. Plus, I'd rather not make a boring page of faceless links to twenty websites in an attempt to represent everyone who's a member of the studio. This more better.
Here's a piece I did for the Hero Initiative this year. It's an organization designed to assist comics creators who need care- financial, health, etc.- that they would otherwise not receive. Their website can describe it best:
"The Hero Initiative creates a financial safety net for comic creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work."
A bunch of Periscope folks did covers, including Ben Dewey. I learned that the nice thing about the Avengers is that their historical roster is so full, you can pretty much draw whatever Marvel character you want. I ended up digitally editing out Wolverine's cigar here for the print submission, since smoking's a Marvel taboo, but I'm sneaking this original up. His lungs have that healing factor thing anyway, right?
And that's as much as I know about that!
Kids are hard to draw. 
When you're little, you mostly draw grown up people because that's your focus. At least it was for me. In an effort to express emotions to the fullest, you slather on the crinkles and creases in faces, regardless of what muscles and tendons might actually be working under the surface. And so, when you draw children and babies from that frame of mind, they tend to look like horribly shrunken little mutant adults. It's difficult to steer away from, but since my next project is likely to be full of kiddos, I'm trying to push myself beyond what I think looks right and naturalistic in an effort to capture those anatomical tags that yell, "HEY! I'm a kid!!!"
Today, that tag is the enlarged alien forehead. Not all of them have it, but it does say kid to me. Unwieldy, unbalanced, more cute. I noticed it a couple of days ago on Sarah's favorite mug- Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear are doing somersaults across a field with the rest of their crew, and Christopher's forehead looks like it's going trap him in a perpetual, tumbling spiral from sheer momentum.
Now for expressions minus the crinkles.
Here's my entry to Emerald City Comic Con's 2011 'Monsters and Dames' book. That's a mouthful. I'm experimenting with a new approach in this piece- digital color under the pencils and leaving everything more rough and (hopefully) full of life. It's somewhere down the road to those retro paperback covers from the 60s/70s. The plan is to adopt this approach in some form for future comics.
Here are some sketches from last night's dress rehearsal of Hansel and Gretel at the Portland Opera. Another fun night- but a lot more downtime via music notes from the conductor, so I drew him too. Even though there was a lot of wild stuff to draw on stage, his hair was my favorite subject. [nggallery id=7]
Here's a great video that OBP did on Periscope Studio and the crazy people who work there (yours included). Thanks to the glory of editing, we all come off looking more or less smartish and funny. Which we are, most of the time!
This last Monday I had the privilege of attending a preview night at the Portland Opera, along with about twenty other comics artists. The Opera company set us up with pre-show drinks and appetizers, a backstage tour, and then set us to work drawing the show. It was great fun, and terrific chance to cross-pollinate with some fancier forms of local arts culture. Here are some of mine, but check out the other work at the Opera link above! [nggallery id=6]
Between this and the Maryhill Museum's comics exhibition, we're feeling rather posh. If you're in Portland and looking for a fun day trip, head out just past the Dalles on i-84 and take in one of the craziest, loveliest museums you've ever seen.
Their current exhibition showcases a huge amount of Portland comics talent (I have a Sea Freak page up there), but they also have a great collection of Rodin, some crazy French fashion mini-mannequins, a whole section of Native American crafts and tools... Plus, there's a lot of good wineries nearby, to round out your afternoon with a tasting or two.
It's spectacula like Dracula!
Today I'm adding a few new illustrations, mostly done for Adidas, Nike, BT, Intel and a smattering of other ad agencies and animation studios. These jobs are good for keeping me on my toes stylistically, and I inevitably end up using some of what I learn in my more personal work
See more in the Illustration section!
Here's a little comic sample I did earlier in the year. Sort of a Last Picture Show thing with a sprinkle of horror. I ended up doing a different project, but I kinda like this page.
This weekend and the next, I'll be an artist in mini-residence at Robert Crumb's Genesis exhibit at the Portland Art Museum! The exhibit is pretty amazing- I believe they have the book up on the walls in its entirety, plus a bunch of Crumb's reference and concept materials. Check it out, and come say hi! I might even bring Hotlanta if he's on good behavior. I'll be at the at the big purple table on the ground floor at these times:
Sunday, July 25, 2-4 pm
Sunday, August 1, 2-4 pm
Hope to see you there!
Oh, Internet! I've been ignoring you, yes, but let me make it up to you with gifts. The last few months I've been working on things I can't talk about yet, so that makes for slim pickings, post-wise. Here are a couple pieces I whipped up on the side, though:
I did this for Sarah and her nonprofit employer, New Avenues for Youth, when they transitioned from a subterranean space to a shiny, newly renovated above-ground one.
Around that same time, I got hired to do a superhero-ish character design, and I used a pretty similar process for its execution.
Here are a couple new McMenamins paintings, hot of the presses.
My Morning Jacket is up first, with 'I'm Amazed'... When a band is sort of visually nondescript, put them in scuba gear and insert pretty mermaid. Boom!
Then there's The Shins, with 'Sleeping Lessons'. The song has a few lyrics that remind me of 'Alice in Wonderland'. I've always hated the screaming queen, so I did a more demure version. Still scary, I think.
Hey all! I've been painting faster than I've been posting lately, so here's some catch up! Three new pieces for McMenamins featuring more musical peoples...
First off, the Gogol Bordello crew go for a spin on the Crystal Ballroom jester face, above something map-like (It's for the song 'Wanderlust King').
Next, The Reverend Horton Heat ala scare film poster. 'Liquor, Beer, and Wine', obviously.
And finally, Lemmy from Motörhead joins some Jane Austen-y types for a game of cards. 'The Ace of Spades'.
Most of you have probably heard about the massive earthquakes that hit Haiti this week. Because my wife and I have some history of medical relief work there, people are asking me where to make donations that will serve Haitians best. Here are some recommendations:
Medical Teams International. This is a terrific organization with a large presence in Haiti. We've traveled under their umbrella to Haiti several times, and often work alongside their people. And we have friends who work at their Portland offices who are now tagging medical supply donations for Haiti.
Haiti Foundation of Hope. This is the organization Sarah and I volunteer with. We serve once a year alongside teams of doctors and nurses in a Haitian-built clinic in the north country. They are incredible people, and one of the best bits of news we received is that the Haitian team lead, Delamy Bizilme, and his family, are safe. The American team leads, Joe and Linda Markee, are arriving on a chartered plane in Port au Prince today, to start medical relief there.
Clean Water for Haiti. Our Portland community partners with them to provide clean water to Haitians via bio-sand filters. They help thousands to better health by introducing their simple filtration systems across the country. Clean water was hard to come by in Haiti before the quakes. As it stands now, water is scarce to completely unavailable in the most effected areas.
Partners in Health. Paul Farmer, the man behind this organization, has been involved with Haiti for years and understands the country's needs as well as anyone. He and his work are the subjects of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tracy Kidder's book, 'Mountains Beyond Mountains'.
If you're able, please consider giving to one of these organizations, and spread the word in your communities about the practical ways we can help Haiti. Thanks!
Here's another McMenamins painting, and it's schmaltz-a-riffic! But hey. Sometimes you need to bring the schmaltz.
A new Acorn Minutes sees Hotlanta responding to a delightful e-mail from a pre-K fan, dictated to her daddy. Topics include: Being an acorn person, civil rights, and family, among others. So come in out of the cold and cozy up to the fire with a cup of soup and some splendid conversation with everyone's favorite acorn warrior!
Here's an illustration I did for Comics Alliance's 12 Days of Christmas blog series. Other folks at Periscope did really great pieces too- go give them a look!
Hotlanta explores the wonders of modern technology at Periscope Studio! Part two in the acorn warrior's profile of Jonathan Case's life and times. Viva la cintiq!
Also on Vimeo!