Stuff...

When there's this much of it, I don't know what to title the post.
First, a new comic!


Then, approximately one million sketches.
These are from church and Cub scout day camp.
More sketches from church, in my fancy new Fabriano sketchbook with tone paper...even though I haven't gotten around to capitalizing on the coolness of the paper yet. I wanna do some washes with white highlights, but we'll see when I get to that.
Here's the last stuff from the most recent sketchbook I killed.
And some sketches from Comic-con and Sea World (which I had never been to before). We (not just I...since I was part of a larger group) got to meet basically all of my favorite artists from Disney and Pixar (except Enrico...but that'll have to wait till APE, I guess). Also among the comics/animation industry people we got to meet were Powerpuff Girls and Foster's creator, Craig McCracken and Understanding Comics' Scott McCloud--radical!! In additional news, our comic, Peep Show, was really well received by all the people we traded with (and, lucky you, it's still available for purchase in the sidebar of this very blog). Scott Morse and Paul Briggs even traded their totally rad sketchbooks! Thanks, you guys!
As if there weren't enough going on, Jake and I started playing an eye-spy sketching game. Basically, you pick a person out of the crowd and then make up a story about them. Here are some of the results of our game.


Then, while I was on the plane, I was pretty excited about the game so I played all by my lonesome--it was still pretty fun, though!

Of Baby Pirates and Zen Vegetarianism

So, I am leaving for Comic-Con in a little less than 4 hours (meaning that I'll get a little less than 3 hours of sleep). But I couldn't just leave you faithful readers with nothing to read while I was gone, so I've whipped up another couple of short comics. I'm actually thinking of putting some fun watercolor washes over these journal comics and then binding them nicely (perhaps hardcover?). Let me know if you'd be interested in purchasing such a creation. In the meantime, BABY PIRATES!!


I'll be sure to sketch a bunch at Comic-Con, so I can document all of its weirdness.
See you next week!
(As a side note, if you order Peep Show off the sidebar to the right in the next couple of days, just be aware that I won't be shipping it until next Monday, 28 July 2008; sorry for the inconvenience!)

Presents!!

So it's been a little while since I've updated, but not because I haven't been busy making more drawrings. I've been doing that, and I've been taking care of that cute baby and doing some freelance storyboarding at a couple of different places on a couple of different projects.
In other news, today is Allison's birthday! Hooray! We are just hanging out at home today, and her freshman year college roommate, Laurie, came to visit. Since it was Laurie's birthday a month and a half ago, we're just having a birthday bonanza.
Anyway, here are a couple of things I've been working on. I've been trying out gouache lately (with mixed results), and it's been a lot of fun.
Here's a snapshot of my little studio space in our apartment:

And here's Lauries cowboy, Big Tex (pre-framing). If I've learned anything from this experience it is this: if all else fails, fill in the background with giant cucumbers and call them cacti.

I painted this teeny thing for Allison, so she can think fondly of her little monkeys when she's at work and we're at home playing. It's a little smaller than 4.5" square.
I dunno why it's so fun to paint small but it is.
More sketches to come soon, when I get a sec away from work!

The Cover(s)!!

So, as you may have heard from Jake, our book is officially finished!
It's at press right now (as you read--cool, huh?), and should be ready in under a week. We're pretty thrilled.
At the risk of being totally redundant, I will shamelessly promote our book here, too. It's called PEEP SHOW (not because of the cabaret scenes in the comics--of which there are none), but because it is a comic sampler, with two--count 'em--two comics!
We're taking the books to International Comic-Con in San Diego in a couple of weeks, where we're selling them out of our backpacks, since the con didn't want to give us a booth...which is actually lucky for us, because now we can wander about all we want! Hah ha hah haaa!
Anyhow, like Jake said, the books are gonna disappear quickly, so if you want to buy one email me (deliciouschocolatepudding@yahoo.com) or jake (jakeness@gmail.com) post haste, so we can reserve you a copy.
Without further ado...the cover(s):


We stole the idea from Enrico Casarosa and Ronnie Del Carmen, who printed a cool sketchbook like this, where there are two "front sides" (and no "backsides" to the book...which, come to think of it, is weird for a book called Peep Show).

Hah!

A little teaser image from my comic that will be ready in a week! (The actual comic is in black and white with a midtone...I just colored this for fun.)

Guess who's 10 weeks old already.

Can you believe it? Cute baby is 10 weeks old--and growing cuter by the minute. I haven't posted pictures of him in a while, so here is a handful.
At 10 weeks he's already sitting in the big-people chair.
And standing on the big-people desk (even though big-people aren't even allowed to do that).
We finally got the okay from his pediatrician to take him out into public places, so we went to visit Great-Grandma Stephens in Orem, UT. These two are almost exactly 97 years apart (Sawyer was born on the 20th and Grandma Stephens's birthday is on the 22nd of April). Plus, I realized that Grandma Stephens totally looks like the good sorceress, Fin Raziel, from Willow. Radical.
Yep.

Now, For Something...New!

Well, here's a small spread of exploration that I've been doing for an upcoming comic short. Hopefully to be ready in time for International Comic-Con in San Diego (less than a month away)!
Everything is sort of up in the air right now, but that's part of what contributes to the zany nature of comic-making that I appreciate so much. I like not knowing. Well, at any rate, this is the direction I seem to be heading in--I hope it turns out fun!

More Crazy Baby Adventures.

Just 'cause a baby is a cute baby doesn't mean he's not crazy too. Let me explain...

Superheroes

So I work at a Flash animation studio called Flash Potatoes here in Provo. We have a lot of fun. For a side project at work we're designing ourselves as superheroes.
Now, anyone that knows anything about me knows I know nothing about superheroes since I squandered most of my childhood reading funny books and not hero books so much. That said, this is by and large a foray into unexplored territory for me--even so, I think this is mildly successful; but more importantly, it's accurate.
I present: The Schnoz! Super powers include: Preternatural Olfactory Perception. Weaknesses include: Stealth and Charisma (-10).
Anyway, it was fun to try out something new. Usually when I draw me as a superhero I just draw regular me, since I feel pretty super most of the time anyway.
And that's today's important lesson.

The Cubscouts Just Sucked One Year of My Life Away...

They might one day go as high as five, but they really don't know what that would do to a person...

As of late I have spent way more hours of my life than I ever intended on...you got it, the Cubscouts. Tonight's offering is brought to you by a two and a half hour long Cubscout Health and Safety meeting. Well, one thing I can say for the Cubscouts--there are always a lot of characters at these things.
It's funny how sometimes when you start drawing in a crowd, people will ignore you or eye you suspiciously, as though they are wordlessly challenging you to some kind of staring contest. Occasionally people are interested in what you're doing and want to see your drawings. Then a crowd forms and everyone is looking at your not-so-flattering interpretations of them. The large woman on the right hand side of the third one down happened to love the picture of herself.
And that made my day.



As a sidenote, I don't typically go for likeness so much as for personality, but I'd like to mention that this guy is spot-freaking-on. I was very satisfied.

Oops (an apology and an invitation)

ADDENDUM: due to a gross misreading, I thought Sketchcrawl was on the 12th...but in actuality it's the 21st--which means we still have time to join. Provo-ites, let us unite and draw on the 21st! Where's a good place?

Impromptu Sketchcrawl

On Thursday, a group of friends and I went out sketchbooking--it was pretty great because the day happened to coincide with Worldwide SketchCrawl # 19! We had a fun time, even if the first hour or so was spent drawing each other (and making nerdy conversation in which we decided which superhero each of us was most like).
Oh yeah, AND it was Stacey Bethers' birthday! So I drawled her. Jake took care of her superhero self, here.
Then, because we are attached at the hip, Jake and I went to Sam Hawk where he ordered some mysterious Korean dish that he couldn't pronounce (when at a loss, you can always just point at the menu). While we waited, we drew--what else are you gonna do with down time like that?
THEN, I went to a Cubcouts meeting (I was recently volunteered as the Cub Master of our local pack--which is pretty silly when you consider that the extent of my scouting knowledge is limited to burning plastic grocery sacks over a fire and trying to flick the melty plastic bits at friends). But I did get some drawing done!

I saw these interesting folks at church. Can you believe the strange things some irresponsible parents try to feed their young?
Some sketches from earlier in the day--this is of my good friend, Jeff Call. I can't remember which superhero he would be.

This great moment in time happened at a local bus stop. Come to think of it, lots of great moments in time happen at bus stops.

Sick Day

Okay, so I was sick this morning. So sick that I didn't go to school--and not "sick" like when I didn't want to go to elementary school (or high school, for that matter). This was real sick--like, "I skipped out on my figure drawing class" sick. But being stuck at home doesn't mean I can't have a sketch adventure, it just means I got to spend all day with my cute baby and beautiful wife, which made an otherwise rotten day pretty great!

Family and (mostly) Dry Media

I can only imagine that this is what Allison thinks every time she sees me with Sawyer.

And in this week's installment...strange gestures...
Finally, some sketches from this week at church. Allison and I are on a rotation schedule where she attends one meeting and I attend the other. I've been going to the 11:00 and she's been going to the 1:00, but this week we switched so I got to see some new faces. I also thought I'd switch it up by trying out some color pencils. I hadn't touched my Prismacolors in forever, so I dusted 'em off and gave 'em a spin around the block.

Somehow a Kelly Loosli look-alike was attending church at this building today...
And a little inkwash...you didn't expect all dry media, did you? Well, I mean, I did drybrush, if that counts.

Ballet and Other Adventures (with Cute Baby bonus material)

Spring semester tends to be a lot more relaxed--having a leisurely snack and stroll between classes.
At BYU we have this groovy Foreign Language Lounge/Center where there is a kitchen and a social area with fireplaces. There are also a bunch of TVs showing stations from around the world. I like to watch NHK while eating lunch sometimes. After drawing this with my trusty Pilot Parallel pen (which I discovered a couple weeks ago doesn't react well with watercolor), I tried out some markers just to see what would happen. I like Copic markers, since they're not water-based--and lo and behold, the inks didn't run. Groovy.
Went and sketched dancers today. As a warm-up we (some fellow sketch adventurers and I) sat in on a modern dance group. Then we spent the remainder of our time in the ballet lab.
Ballet is also pretty groovy--and there were a bunch of characters in there, which was fun.
Mostly just some quick gestures. After spending so much time in a figure drawing class, I am reminded of how much more fun it is to go out and draw real life happening--even if that real life is also sort of a performance.


In other news, Cute Baby loves to dance. I know why you come here, and I try not to disappoint. Here's Sawyer getting down to one of his favorite tunes.