He's no Chester

Quick update. My honorary niece (my niece's cousin who lives with them) is turning 6 in a little over a week, so here's what I painted for her. Cheetahs are her favorite animal. I have 17 more paintings to do before Christmas, so I'd better get busy! I'll update some as they happen (don't want to risk spoiling the surprise).

6" x 9" ink and cel vinyl acrylic on watercolor paper.

Back from Vacation Doodles

Just got back from a 2 week vacation in Hong Kong and Japan. It was a great trip and we got to spend time with some friends and take in the sights. We did a ton of walking and took a ton of pictures (2 gigs worth). I also bought a small load of toys, of course. I had little time to draw, but here are a few morsels.

A snake.

From Hama Rikyu Garden in Tokyo.

This exquisite specimen was seated across from us at dinner at Ichiba Coji in Kyoto. She had the worst posture I've ever seen. She was really thin, but still brought some muffin top, to boot. I'm not exaggerating much in this drawing, btw. She sat texting while her boyfriend read his book the entire dinner, so there was very little in the way of communication. Very strange.

Ryoanji Temple rock garden.

I may post a couple noteworthy photos from the trip soon.

In other sad news, my favorite current cartoon, El Tigre has been cancelled after only 6 months. Full of great action, and comedy and artwork, and with a team of super-talents. Nickelodeon has apparently cancelled the show because it wasn't beating their ratings cow, Spongebob. If they wanted a show that could beat Spongebob's ratings (which El Tigre did early on), they just cancelled the only one that had a real shot at it. It's not surprising the ratings tanked, they kept running the same episode over and over and kept moving the timeslot around without posting it on the site. There were quite a few times I tuned in to see the show only to find F-ing Spongebob in it's place. It seems like they don't know how to HAVE a hit show, because even Spongebob would've been cancelled with that kinda crap treatment. What a pisser. I'm gutted for the people who made the show great, and for the fans.

I think I'll write their programming department.

Samurai Jack Backgrounds Pt 9

As promised, some more screencaps from Samurai Jack! They were created by the usual group of super-talented people: Dan Krall designs, Scott Wills, Bill Wray and Jenny Gase-Baker paintings. Copyright Genndy Tartakovsky and Cartoon network. And if you don't have the recently released season 4 dvd, shame on you.

Ep 24 - Jack Is Naked
(partial pan)



Ep 26 - Jack's Sandals


Ep 27 - Chicken Jack




Fan-favorite Ep 28 - Jack and the Rave
One of my favorites of this episode.

Quickie doodles

Not a big post today. Just a couple quick doodles.

Saw a tree like this near work. I believe it's a weeping blue atlas cedar. I love how these trees look. So much personality.

I drew this ostrich while my niece watched. After I was finished, I couldn't help but think I've seen something like it before. For the life of me I don't remember where. Maybe my brain playing tricks?

Stay tuned for some more Samurai Jack background screencaps soon. You won't be sorry!

Supes and Shrubs

My buddy Tom had a birthday. He and I are Smallville fans and he likes Superman, so that's what he got. Just a quick doodle.

Supermang

Tom

Unrelated to Tom's birthday I did some more bushes. Three were dabbed on with an old dish towel. The other was done using steps similar to Eyvind Earle's painting steps for Sleeping Beauty, though not as nice, of course.

This post was mainly to buy some time while I work on a bigger personal project... it's still under wraps.

Tree fetish

I guess I have a bit of a tree fetish. I've been taking lots of photos of interesting trees and plants over the last few months. I haven't used the photos yet, but here are some studies of trees from memory.

These are based on a scary tree I saw. Thought it would be fun to add faces. I'm planning to do a painting based on them later.

Marker.

Brush and cel vinyl. Mostly just color studies, but I wasn't happy with these because there's not enough interest in the leaf shapes and patterns. Everything is too even.

Just a tree.

These are all done with paper towel sponging. I overworked and ruined the bushes, but I'm happy with how the trees came out.

Sea sponge. Overworked some areas of these and ruined them.

I'll try some more studies... like sponging with a dish rag and keep practicing until I get the result I'm after.

Doodlink

It's my friend and coworker Ian's birthday. He recently asked why he doesn't have a drawing of mine, so here it is, Ian. Happy birthday!

This is to remind you that you still need to finish Twilight Princess! Look at Link's determined expression, doesn't it make you feel guilty?

Doodledy Doo Doo

While driving back from Portland this weekend, I saw these towers looming. Since the camera wasn't handy, this is how I remember them. I added the rain for effect.

A big tree at Seattle Center.

A witch.

Since I work 1 block from the Space Needle, I drew a cheesy picture of it.

Flight of the Ninja

My good buddy I-Miun just had a birthday, so on a whim I decided to do a little painting for him very last minute. 4 x 6 inches cel-vinyl acrylic on thick Canson watercolor paper.

Click for larger. Used a combination of frisket and multi-step streak-brushing for the effect. My scanner had a hard time with the reds. The actual piece looks a little better.

This beautiful painting by Bill Wray was the inpiration, though my result was a bit different.

With the birthday boy.

Samurai Jack Backgrounds Pt 8

More screencaps of Dan Krall and Scott Wills backgrounds from the show. These are all from episode 19 - Jack Remembers the Past. Copyright Genndy Tartakovsky and Cartoon Network.













If you like these, head on over to Lou Romano's Blog for some lovely color keys from the Powerpuff Girls show. You won't be disappointed!