A New Year's Appetizer

Hey internet friends!
    I am totally still alive and I have a plethora of wonderful things to post here. Christmas was great and super busy, and followed immediately by my younger brother's wedding, so I haven't posted any of the things I've made lately. So enjoy my three redesigns of Calvin and Hobbes for Joe Olson's class. Realistic, for girls ages 4-8 and for boys ages 9-14.

Adventure Ho!

Alright friends. Here they are, finished and ready for adventure. Meet Moby and his Imaginary Friend, Sir Reginald Squeaks (Of the New Hampshire Squeaks). That means that Matt Bowman and Andrea Roberts are the winners of the Name That Toon contest and may request a drawing of their choice! Thanks for playing everyone! I think I like having Blarg Contests and will likely be having another in the near future. Also, INKtober Day 16.

Inktober Day 12

It looks like I'm doing more of the half-marathon for inktober this year. Here is today's offering, our boy and his imaginary friend setting out for adventure. Their names are still up in the air for a little while longer if you want to throw your hat into the ring. Whoever comes up with the winning name gets an ink drawing of their choice!

Inktober Day 9: CONTEST!!!

Yes, I know I missed Day 8, but I was doing oil paintings all day and my beloved ink fell by the wayside. So here is Day 9's offering.
CONTEST: These two, a boy and his imaginary friend, need names and I am too lazy to invent them. Leave your name suggestions in a comment. If I choose one or both of your names, one of my inktober drawings is yours for the asking. If you give me a great name before October ends, you can even tell me what you want me to draw. (Within limits. I'm pretty strictly G - PG).

Out of the Closet, In Color!

There just isn't much money in the labyrinth biz these days. I feel you buddy. Yeah, so I painted this in acrylics. I really need to learn how to get the color to scan better, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Out of the Closet

No. This is not an announcement, and I am still straight, single, and available (only ladies need apply). I'm talking about my little friends here. In this economy, it is almost impossible to work exclusively as a closet-monster any more. The union helped for a while, but there just isn't much money in scaring and emotionally scarring children. Besides, with the increasing realism and intensity of computer generated graphics and the rise of the zombie/horror thriller video game, kids are just harder to scare these days.
Hence, these gentlemen have come forth out of the closet and taken up secondary jobs to support themselves and their little monster families while they wait for their dreams of super-scaredom to come true.
I dreamed these guys up in response to a class assignment to paint a creature of some kind in a simple cityscape. I'm still fairly new to the idea of using a real brush and paint rather than their digital equivalents, but you will be seeing some updates as I work on one of these hard working fur balls.

The Dark Ictus!

     Everyone has those inane little questions that they always use in conversations with new people or when they have no idea what to do/say next. Mine is the ever useful "What is your superpower?" Most people (at least the ones who don't just blink at me and edge away) respond by telling me about the super power they wish they had. That's alright I guess, but I am convinced that everyone has some kind of super power. Sometimes a person can go their whole lives without ever knowing that they can read zebras' minds or sublimate bdellium with their eyes.
     My dad is one of the fortunate few who has discovered his latent superpower. He can kill small animals by touch. And possibly plants, we're not sure about the plants. He has, by his touch alone killed two rabbits and at least one chicken. Heaven help us should he ever turn his power to evil uses.
     The Dark Ictus, pictured above, is the super powered alter ego of a man whom I greatly respect, though I dare not reveal his true identity. That sort of thing gets people in trouble. He has the remarkable ability to nail your soul to the wall with his eyes. This picture is a theoretical scenario of what it might look like should the entire BYU Mens' Chorus become possessed and attack the Dark Ictus.
     If anyone else has discovered their secret super power and has a desire to share, feel free to let us know in the comments.

Holy Cow!

     Those of you who have been watching for a while may be aware that this is the time of year I usually post a rant/emo weep-fest about being rejected again from the art programs at BYU. For years I have deflected that age old college question, "What's your major?" by telling people, "I'm studying art." Notice, no claim of being an art major. I haven't been. For years I have been applying and being rejected from one department and the next.
     You may have noticed that there is no rant yet. And there shall not be one. I don't need to whine about rejection. I'm bigger than that.
     And I was accepted into BYU's Illustration department.
     See above.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there was a kingdom with a princess problem. And when you have a problem like that, it's best to call in a dragon as soon as possible... This is my character design for Sam Nielson's Digital painting class.

The dorkfish returns!

He's not much for the social scene, but his choir vowels are impeccable. I painted this in Corel Painter in about 2 1/2 hours for a friend who conducts an open enrollment choir here at BYU. He wanted an image to show his students to encourage proper resonance and vowel formation. Hence, buck-toothed, fish-lipped, bunny-eared dorkfish here.
I would also like to make note that I was paid in taco bell for this drawing. Seriously people: will paint for food!

I didn't say no purple dragons did I?

This is a purple dragon. I could probably have spent a lot more time on him, especially his horns...but I didn't. I'll come back to him eventually, but I needed something to post. And he's pretty cute. This is a lesson in anatomy: This is my nose, he says. This is where the magic happens.

Portfolio flavored goodness

Nothing especially witty to say here. I just suck at updating this thing and thought that I would share a few portfolio pieces I've been working on. Regular readers (Hi Mom) will probably recognize the first two paintings from earlier this year. These are the honest to goodness finished projects. The third is new. This is my environment design for Sam Nielson's Digital Painting class. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out.

The Swelling Ranks

Hello friends! I'm back and I've brought along yet another imaginary friend! Soon I'll have a whole army of these guys. Just think what you could do with a posse of imaginary friends. No really, think about it!
First, they don't eat real food. That means that you don't have to worry about providing any kind of actual sustenance for them. Second, they don't actually NEED to occupy any real space. Just brain space, and that only runs out of room when it comes to math and boring things. Third, these guys are indestructible! That is the whole point of imaginary friends, none of the bad things in life can touch them! And finally, they are always on MY side. No imaginary baddies stand a chance against my legion of imaginary friends. So much POWER!
Sorry, got a little carried away with the heady bliss of absolute power. It corrupts absolutely you know. It also rocks absolutely.
This is the latest in a parade of oddities from my third stint in Joe Olson's Drawing for animation class. I think I've got some other stuff roaming around my hard drive waiting for me to post...I'll just send the friends after them.

Go Team!

Sorry sportsfans. I haven't been keeping up with the hundred day challenge. With work picking up and getting off my application to the BYU animation department, I just fell off the wagon. The way things are looking it might be another week or so before I pick up on it again. Until then, here's something to keep all three of my regular viewers happy. This is the brand new logo for the world famous sports team, the University Villa Monsters. The Villa is a relatively small place, and as such, most of the Monsters' games of choice are largely imaginary, played with the thumbs, or with small game pieces not suitable for children under the age of five. But that doesn't stop them from being great! They're awesome because I say they are! Right?

Silly Old Bear

Toady is day 11 of the hundred day tour: Memory. I can't tell you how many memories I have that are wrapped up in stories like this one. For a long time I had a real fear of growing up. I thought that childhood was the last refuge, the only safe place. I have thankfully outgrown that sentiment and have instead adopted the point of view expressed by Mr. C. S. Lewis (I quote him often, get used to it) in quoting 1 Corinthians 3:11: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things...including the fear of appearing childish. I agree wholeheartedly. There is no reason on earth that growing up should mean growing hard and cynical. Things have to change, but our childhood joys can grow into even greater joys as we mature. Never confuse growing up with growing old. Getting old kills people. Growing up just makes them more alive.

Would I Lie?

Isn't this the most adorable spiked-bat-wielding thing you have ever seen? There are probably laws against things this cute. This is the post for day 8: Innocence. This is also one of my less socially acceptable imaginary friends. I should probably also point out that this character is loosely based on the brilliantly irreverent web comic Bear Nuts.

Things that go BUMP!

Here is post number three: Dark. I had it done yesterday, but my home scanner has been disconnected. There should be another one later today. This is one of the monsters that I need my imaginary friends to fend off.

Bunkey is a Viral Entity

This is Bunkey in his natural habitat; amid wreck and ruin. This was my final project for Joe's class. I LOVED this class. So much, in fact, that this was the second time that I've taken it! Bunkey here is actually a carry over from last semester. Michelle Weaver has an adorable little animal, part rabbit, part monkey; hence, Bunkey. He has become something of a celebrity and it has gone to his head. He's become a jerk, a drunk, a womanizer, an irresponsible gambler, incredibly violent and he swears like a sailor. Unfortunately, he is also still irresistably adorable. He knows it too.

Hmmm...another imaginary friend. I seem to have quite a few of these. Maybe if I had real friends I wouldn't need so many imaginary ones... At least they're bigger than my demons. And can give them wedgies. Admittedly, this particular demon isn't especially impressive, but hey,they can't all be nightmares.

Meet my 'little' Friend.

This is one of my imaginary friends. One of. His name is Ryan. I didn't choose that name, my cousin, Ryan, did. He looked at it and immediately told me that his name had better be Ryan. So it is.
I drew this as an exercise for my Drawing for animation class. The assignment was
1) Go buy four copies of the National Geographic and read them in order to learn something.
2) With these delightful new thoughts buzzing around our heads we were to create an appropriate imaginary friend for a ten-year-old.
I'm fairly pleased with him. The first article I read was about a lion reserve in Africa. When a lion dies, instead of allowing other animals to eat it or selling it off for the fur (Which really isn't all that desirable at that point anyway) they build a pyre and burn the critter. Hence the flaming lion. Ta-DAH!