new illustration sketches

Here's a sketch of a painting I'm going to do for Wizards of the Coast in the hopes of getting some work for them. I'm not gonna send just one, but a few more so I don't keep on having to send new stuff all the time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Saving Grace

This is my latest finished commission for my first real collector of my work. I'm really happy with the way it came out and he was also. I actually immortalized my roommate in it, so he's another person that's happy with it, ha ha.

My First Comic Con!!

Last weekend I went to my first Comic-Con and I was not quite sure what to expect. I had two pieces up in the art show so I wanted to make sure I was there. I had my portfolio ready and plenty of cards to pass out, my goal was to make connections. I arrived at the San Diego convention center and it was HUGE!!!! I heard the con was big, but actually seeing the size of the convention center and how many vendors there were was overwhelming. I went and hit the ground running, going to as many publishers as I could find. I hit up the Del Rey booth, expecting an art director to be there that I could show my work to. Unfortunately none was there, but I gave the editor my card anyway, hoping he would pass it along to the art director (kinda doubt it). I did that to several other publishers, and then went to pay a visit to my old boss, Eric Joyner. It was good to see him again and catch up. I learned that he met Matt Groening and had a small talk with him, very cool! After my visit with Eric I went to go visit one of my favorite artists, Donato Giancola. He is easily one of the nicest guys to meet, very open to give feedback on my portfolio. I learned a lot just from talking to him and getting feedback from a grand master. I might go visit his studio when I take a trip to New York in September. Next stop was Todd Lockwood, who was also very open to give feedback on my portfolio. He laid down a lot of faults in my work, which was actually very helpful and that I will use. Next up was my portfolio review with Wizards of the Coast, which actually went really well. They loved my work but want to see what I can do when I push my work even more, through color and dynamic composition. I talked to the senior art director of D&D and the game designer which really helped and gave insight to what they were looking for. I came out of it with the art directors card and already started an e-mail thread, which was golden. That's all I could ever wish for, a direct contact within Wizards that I could send work to as they come along and eventually come to the point of getting work from them. My paintings didn't sell, but getting that portfolio review and contact info from Wizards was worth more than my paintings.

All The King's Men Final!!!!!

It's finally finished!!!! I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I consider it my best yet, conceptually and technically. I'm taking this down to this years' Comic Con to debut it to the world! I'm super excited to get some feedback and see peoples reaction to it. I feel this painting needs as much exposure as possible and could very well lead me to my big break.

"All the King's Men" W.I.P. 6/9/10

Here's an updated pic on "All the King's Men"! It's getting there, but I have to solve more of the background and simplify some things in the wall.

It's Coming Along!!

So, here's another w.i.p. pic of "All the King's Men". Don't know if I'll make the personal deadline of May 28. I never know though, it may happen. I still have plenty to do on the background, the wall, and of course Humpty. I want to save him for last because I know I'll just half ass the rest if I put all my energy into him in the beginning. I'm happy with the way it's progressing.

"All the King's Men" W.I.P.

So, here's a work in progress picture of my latest big painting "All the King's Men". So far I'm really excited about it and am working hard on it. Seeing that this is my own personal project I'm holding it to some high standards and putting a lot of faith in it. I set a personal deadline to finish it on May 28, and it is now the 14th. I feel I really need to focus harder on it and get it done, but at the same time I don't want to rush it. I got a commission going on which I need to work on, but my personal priority is this. I still plan on taking this to comic-con and see how it is received. I hope it is a big hit.