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This is one of my favorite pieces I created at 111 Minna gallery and club in San Francisco for the Sketch Tuesday artist event on 3/21/12. The event allows artist to make art on the spot and place it for sale for patrons visiting the space. The art is black acrylic ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.

I started with some light blue pencil lines, then etc on wet ink, then loosely painted the figures with broad watercolor strokes and finished with some more ink. Fun!

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Drawn at 111 Minna gallery and club in San Francisco at the Sketch Tuesday artist event on 3/21/12. The event allows artist to make art on the spot and place it for sale for patrons visiting the space.  The art is black acrylic ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.

This one was my first one I sold.

Continue reading »]]> I am pleased as punch to finish my new comic book ‘Snonan the Brave,’ the story of a warrior snowman and a quest that will make his face his greatest fear! Featuring lose ink drawings and wordless dialog for all-ages. For years I had this idea of a story combining a Snowman + ‘Conan the Barbarian’ and thought it would be perfect for a winter themed tale. It was a lot of fun for me to create, giving me a chance to experiment with different techniques and tools.

I will be updating more infomation on my new comic later this weekend (time permitting)

I will have copies of the book for sale at the Image Comic Expo this weekend starting today Friday Feb 24 and running though Sunday Feb 26. I am at table Artist Alley 607 (see animated map below). Find out more at: Image Comic Expo

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I will be attending the Image Expo on February 24-25-26, 2012. I will be sharing a table with talented artist Rae Wood in Artist Alley. It’s a brand new convention, so it will be interesting to see the attendance. You can find me in Artist Alley AA 607.

Dates: Friday February 24 to Sunday February 26, 2012
Location: Oakland Convention Center – 550 10th Street – Oakland, CA 94607
Website: http://www.imagecomicexpo.com

Attending: Image Creators included: Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Rob Liefeld, Brian K Vaughan and artists/creators Eric Shanower, Andrew Farego, Jeff Walker, Karen Luk Illustrations, Llyn Hunter, and Rae Wood

IMAGE EXPO is a three-day celebration of creator-owned comics happening at the Oakland Convention Center. Image partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino, will be the guests of honor, appearing throughout the weekend for signings, panels, and special events. Other special guests include Image founders Rob Liefeld, and Whilce Portacio, plus the creators of today’s best creator-owned comics, including: Joe Casey, Jay Faerber, Jonathan Hickman, Ryan Ottley, Richard Starkings, Fiona Staples, and Brian K. Vaughan.

IMAGE EXPO is Northern California’s premiere comic con experience in 2012. The three-day event takes place at the Oakland Convention Center in the heart of the bustling nightlife and restaurant center of downtown Oakland, CA on February 24-25-26.

IMAGE EXPO isn’t just about Image Comics, it’s a celebration of independent creativity in comics. The exhibit floor is open to anyone who makes creator-owned comics. We’re also going to be hosting unique programming for fans, aspiring creators, and library professionals. We’ll be continuing our tradition of supporting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s important work to protect creators and retailers by hosting special events including a massive benefit auction.

More info at: http://www.imagecomics.com/news/120/EXPERIENCE-CREATIVITY-AT-IMAGE-EXPO-A-3-DAY-CELEBRATION-OF-CREATOR-OWNED-COMICS-

Continue reading »]]> As you know from my previous posts, I participated in the Cartoon Art Museum’s Sketch-A-Thon at the SDCC2011.

Most of the time we created original art for a donation to the Museum for an individual, but sometimes we did drawings that were just examples while waiting for a customer. A few of mine that did not sell I was able to borrow from the Cartoon Art Museum to Scan and return.

YOU can buy a drawing if it’s still available for a donation of $10+ (plus shipping and handling if needed) and all proceeds go to the Cartoon Art Museum.

All characters are © there respective owners and these are only done as fan tributes and not for reproduction.

I did a few drawings that were “Kick Butt” version of Disney Princesses. This one is Princess Tiana from the “Princess and the Frog” who I saw as a warrior with voodoo powers. (below) To see my version of Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” visit my previous post.

Another Disney character I drew is the mysterious Hat Box Ghost which was a character in the famous Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland. The character did not last long in the ride and was removed shortly after it opened making it a mystery that the fans love. Me too.

The last piece of art is my version of DC Comics Superman as a steam punk hero.

Continue reading »]]> When I was at the San Diego Comic-Con 2011 (July 20-23) I got a few sketches to add to my collection that were drawn in a cool blank picture book I got at Artist and Craftsman Supply. Some I got from the booth of certain artists and some I bought during the Cartoon Art Museum Sketch-A-Thon. All are very cool.

The art is by Chris Giarrusso, creator of the all-ages comics G-Man. The comic is really fun and a good read.

- www.chrisgcomics.com/

The art is by Dan Goodsell creator of Mr. Toast. I got the sketch when I bought a small book of the Mr. Toast characters as superheros. (BUY IT HERE)

- www.theimaginaryworld.com

The art is by Chris Houghton the artist on a great new all-ages comic series about Reed Gunther and his best friend and steed Sterling the Bear. I got the first three issues of the comic and have read and re-read and keep enjoying them.

- reedgunther.com/

The art is by T.Cypress who is the creator of Rodd Racer, a new graphic novel. I love Toby’s style which I feel inspired by with my own work with brush and ink. This drawing is marker, dry brush, splattered ink, and charcoal. It was really great to watch him create it.

- www.tobycypress.daportfolio.com

The art is by Scott Shaw who is just super-dupper-awesome. He has done everything from storyboards and animation to comic books. See more of her work on this post on the Sketch-A-Thon.

- www.shawcartoons.com/

The art is by Jamaica Dyer who is a talented bay area artist. See more of her work on this post on the Sketch-A-Thon.

- www.jamaicad.com/

The art is by Travis Hanson the creator of the web-comic “the Bean” which you can buy from his website or even better, help out with a current Kickstarter fundraiser.  The comic is really a great read for all-ages.

- www.beanleafpress.com/

The art is by Kostas Kiriakakis is just amazing. I saw his first sketch during the Sketch-A-Thon and knew I wanted one. I had to quickly figure out what I wanted him to draw and so I had him draw Samurai from the Superfriends cartoon series. He has work in the new issue of the comic anthology Flight.

- wwww.kiriakakis.net

AND as a bonus, here is a cool drawing of Sabrina the Teen Witch last weekend at the Cartoon Art Museum’s Archie Family Fun Day. The exhibit that it celebrates is really good and here is a review.

The art is by Rich Koslowski who did free sketches to everyone who came to the event which was really really cool. He is a very versatile artist, so go check out his work at the URL below.

- www.richkoslowski.com

Continue reading »]]> So here is the second chunk of photos from the first day of the Cartoon Art Museum Sketch-a-Thon at the San Diego Comic-Con 2011. We were doing a fundraiser to help the museum by having artist rotate ever hour and create original art pieces for donation of $10 or more. As you can tell that most folks got their money’s worth.

To go back and see PART 1, FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Anthony Hon busy drawing.

Scott Shaw’s Captain Carrot.

A drawing I got of Fred Flintstone as Batman.

Another amazing drawing by Mike Dubisch.

Scott Shaw and Chari Pere busy drawing for their fans.

Anthony’s awesome Hulk drawing.

Dirk Tiede draws Batgirl.

Museum Curator, author and artist Andrew Farago draws his version of Daffy Duck.

Brad Rader’s drawing of Goliath from the TV show Gargoyles which he worked on.

Wow, someone got a drawing by Chari and Scott. Lucky lucky lucky.

My first ‘kick butt’ Disney Princess drawing.

The amazing Jamaica Dyer gives us the mysterious adversary of Batman, Poison Ivy.

And one more from Seamus Smith.

To go back and see PART 1, FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Continue reading »]]> This year I again volunteered to help one of my most favorite organization at the San Diego Comic-Con 2011, the Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco. I can only wonder around the convention so much before getting burned-out and this was a way to also promote my art as well as help a great non-profit.

The idea is that the Museum has artist scheduled every hour to do original art for a donation of $10 or more. The art was amazing and it was great to hang out with other artist.

These photos are from the first full day of the convention Wen July 21, 2011. I did not get photos of everyone and every drawing I am sad to say. This is just the start of posting a lot of images of the artist at work as well as the final results.

Enjoy.

a drawing by…Me of Adventure Time characters

a drawing by Seamus Smith

Rick Lucey and Renee making art

The fabled Hat Box Ghost from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland by…Me.

Andrew Farago draws Captain America

Mike Dubisch painting a very cool dragon.

World famous Captain America from Marvel Comics and the new movie.

Continue reading »]]> So, for my first post on the San Diego Comic-Con 2011 (SDCC) I thought I would post some pictures and talk about an exciting trend that, to me seems to be altering the convention forever.

These pictures are from my first day in San Diego, Wen July 20, 2011. The convention was going to kick of with it’s Wednesday Preview Night and I had arrived early enough to sight see and take some time to explore. I arrived at where I was staying in the Gas Lamp district and the first thing I saw was this…

note: click on the images to see a bigger version at Flickr.com

At the top of the building is an inflatable of two of the most popular animated characters on TV today, Jake the morphing dog and Finn a funny kid with a hat with bear ears from Adventure Time! They are best friends and live in the land of Ooo where they have adventures fighting monsters and rescuing princesses. The show is one of the best things on TV today and it’s fresh and original and attracts fans of all ages. I am myself a big fan.

Let me take a few steps back to the last time I was at the SDCC, in 2009. One of the new things that year was that the Sci-Fi Channel (SyFi) had partnered with a local restaurant a block from the convention center to transform the business into Cafe Diem from the series TV Eureka. That meant that instead of having a big booth in the convention center, they choose to basically have a restaurant as their temporary home. That meant that they were not dictated by the rules and hours at the convention center and the business they partnered with stood out even more then they would with out the new branding. CLICK HERE to see what it looked like this year.

The idea of breaking out of the convention center into downtown was so cool and different…fast forward to this Summer, 2011. Now there are many of these temporary pop-up businesses that have skipped the convention center and partnered with local businesses. This year there was the 3rd year for SyFi Channel  joined by Spike TV, Conan O’Brian, South Park/Comedy Central, EA Games, some Marvel monster truck thing, a stand alone video game convention and more. But there are two pop-up businesses that stood out to me…

The characters above were part of Cartoon Network’s take over Ciro’s Pizza to the hit show Adventure Time. Outside you are meant with graphics that feature a graphic of Lady Rainacorn (a magical creature and girlfriend of Jake the Dog) and an inflatable candy person (the Candy Kingdom is a major location in the show). Inside all the walls were covered with a digitally printed mural of the locations and characters and enhanced with colored lighting and TV’s played clips from the show as well as interviews with the creators and fans. Here on the walls we see images of the snowy kingdom of the evil Ice King bathed in blue and purple lighting by the Soda Machines and then transitioning to more bright and sunny lighting at Finn and Jake’s tree house and over to the Candy Kingdom.

And to even stand out more, they had a group of young guys who were dressed as Finn and passing out tokens for a free slice of Pizza and a Drink from 2pm to 4pm every day of the con, how cool is that.

And they also have a parade of characters from the show twice a day for a meet and greet.

Most of this would have been impossible to do in the crowded convention center, but this temporary business was one of the stand-out elements of the event.

Another of the standout elements of the SDCC was Trickster, a pop-up store featuring the art, comics and other goodies by some of the hottest artists today. The Trickster was set-up by a group of artist frustrated with the heavy movie/TV heavy attention at the convention and wanted to focus instead on art and artists. Inside a converted wine shop there was a FREE retail space filled with drool worthy merchandise and room for small classes that cost extra. At night they had live models, drinking and partying and someone outside was selling sushi. Words can not explain the energy in the place. Here are some photos at a quieter moment on Wednesday before the crowds invaded.

During the convention they had great artist signing books and meeting and greeting peers and fans alike. HP was on hand to print out files for free and the publisher of the Trickster hardcover book was on hand to discuss printing services. Simply an amazing achievement and possibly a game changer for the identity of the convention.

So, the question on my mind is where will this trend of pop-up businesses for the convention go next. I can clearly see it being doubled by next year as some of the biggest players forgo the convention center for a more visible spaces in the Gas Lamp district. That is good since there will be more room in the hall for some that could not get a space and the big companies can take their brand to new levels on the outside. We’ll see what happens in July 2012.

Continue reading »]]> SEE THIS YEARS SCHEDULES WHEN I AM DOING SKETCHES FOR THE SKETCH-A-THON this year.

I will be participating at the Cartoon Art Museum Sketch-A-Thon at this years San Diego Comic-Con, July 21-23, 2011. While I am scheduled as a featured artist in the list below, I will be working the booth as well and should be there a good chunk of the time, so come on by and say ‘Hi’.

Thursday, July 21 through Sunday, July 24, 2011
$10 Suggested donation per sketch

The Cartoon Art Museum is pleased to announce its programming for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, to be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 21-24, 2011. This year marks the fifth annual CAM Sketch-A-Thon, which features a host of artists donating their time and talents to support the museum in its fundraising efforts. This year’s roster includes professional animators, graphic novelists, newspaper strip cartoonists, political cartoonists, comic book illustrators, webcartoonists, underground cartoonists and self-publishers, providing the Cartoon Art Museum’s booth one of the most diverse artistic populations at Comic-Con.

Artists will draw for visitors during one-hour sessions at the Cartoon Art Museum’s booth, #1930 on the convention floor. In exchange for a donation of $10 or more to the Cartoon Art Museum, supporters will receive a customized convention sketch from a professional cartoonist.

Thursday, July 21

11am-12pm: Kraig Rasmussen, Rick Lucey
12-1pm: Brian Kolm, Steven Kunz
1-2pm: Mike Dubisch, Brent Schoonover
2-3pm: Dirk Tiede, Brad Rader
3-4pm: Anthony Hon, Andrew Farago
4-5pm: Chari Pere, Scott Shaw!
5-6pm: Seamus Smith, Jamaica Dyer

Friday, July 22

11am-12pm: Brian Kolm, Mick Gray
12-1pm: Karen Luk, Debbie Huey
1-2pm: Ron Yavnieli, Kimo Yancey
2-3pm: Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman
3-4pm: Tom Gammill, Mell Lazarus
4-5pm: Seamus Smith, Michael Capozzola
5-6pm: Kraig Rasmussen, Frankie Addiego

Saturday, July 23

10-11am: Brian Kolm, Larry Marder
11am-12pm: Jon Macy, Brad Rader
12-1pm: Rachael Moore
1-2pm: Seamus Smith
2-3pm: Michael Gross, Michael Capozzola
3-4pm: Kostas Kiriakakis, Jamaica Dyer
4-5pm: Keith Knight, Brian Kolm
5-6pm: Kraig Rasmussen, Mia Morgan White

Sunday, July 24

11am-12pm: Seamus Smith
12-1pm: Carolyn Watson-Dubisch, Mike Dubisch
1-2pm: Rachel Dukes, Megan Rose Gedris
2-3pm: Kraig Rasmussen
3-4pm: Michael Capozzola
4-5pm: Andrew Farago

Continue reading »]]> I will be drawing and meeting folks at the San Diego Comic-Con this July 21-23, 2011 at the Cartoon Art Museum booth as part of the Sketch-A-Thon.

Here is the what Andrew at the CAM wrote HERE

Fifth Annual CAM Sketch-a-thon at San Diego Comic-Con International

Continue reading »]]> I will be exhibiting at APE 2011 the Alternative Comic Expo at the Concourse Exhibition Hall in San Francisco on October 1-2. I will be sharing a table with artist Karen Luk too which is going to be very cool. You can find us at table #655 near the back right side where the programing room is.

So this October come out and say Hi!

What: APE, alternative press expo
Where: Concorse exhibition center, San Francisco CA
When: October 1-2 (sat/sun)

Continue reading »]]> And the rest of the art I created at Wondercon 2011 (April 1-3), this time all original characters by me.

Octopus – click above for a bigger image

Some creature thingy – click above for a bigger image

Steam punk women – click above for a bigger image

Archer – click above for a bigger image

Fantasy women – click above for a bigger image

Batman Tiki – click above for a bigger image

Cat – click above for a bigger image

Dead pirate – click above for a bigger image

Dragon – click above for a bigger image

Continue reading »]]> Here are some more art I created at Wondercon 2011 (April 1-3).

Pokemon creature – click above for a bigger image

Etrigan the Demon from DC Comic – click above for a bigger image

Vision and Scarlet Witch from Marvel Comics – click above for a bigger image

the Might Thor from Marvel Comics – click above for a bigger image

Continue reading »]]> Just an update of where you can find me this Spring and Summer

Looney Toons Family Fun Day at the Cartoon Art Museum – San Francisco CA (ages 10-14)
Saturday April 30 – all ages with admission to museum

CAM-JAM 2011 : Animation – Cartoon Art Museum – San Francisco CA (ages 10-14)
May 22, 2011 – Artist event

Cartoon Boot Camp at the Cartoon Art Museum – San Francisco CA (ages 10-14)
June 6-10, 2011 – Story Board to Animatic
June 13-17, 2011 – Intro to Stop-Motion
June 20-24, 2011 – Dynamic Character Design

Kids on Campus at Chabot College - Hayward Ca
June 20-24: Cartooning: Monsters & Critters
June 27-July 1: Cartooning: Star Wars Art

Schulz Museum – Santa Rosa CA
July 11-15, 2011 – Drawing 101

July 21-23, 2011 – appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con