Go Figure! Sketch Night At Rainy Day Art Supply

These are some sketches from this past Saturday's sketch night at Rainy Day Art Supply. Our model this time was Autumn Decant. 

A blind contour sketch.

Some of the area's finest creatives amongst us that night: Our host, Kelly O'Hara, Darin Palmer, Kevin Minor, Jason Westlake, Jay Fosgitt, Jim Anderson and Jay Shimko. Check out their art!

Sketch Night At Rainy Day Art Supply

This past Saturday I was at Rainy Day Art Supplies for their Go Figure! live model sketch night. It's usually a good time and this one was packed! It was good to see so many artists there having a good time and sketching for a couple of hours. As always, our host Kelly O'Hara made us behave (somewhat. I think she likes a dose of chaos) and we had another fine model in Megan Morse. 

That night was working well for me (hence, more scans!) The blue colored pencil was flowing well.

This guy... No, just kidding, he was just fine, but with it being so packed with sardine artists he was planted on a pew somewhat in front of me. He seemed cool. Brian, I believe his name was.

Really exaggerated the legs on the left hand sketch. I'd like to say that it was intentional, because I think it came out well, but let's just chalk this one up to being a happy accident.

Very happy with the one on the left. The right hand sketch is a blind contour drawing. I love doing them.

These two are not so blind contour drawings.

I don't draw hands well at all. Happy with this one.

So, as I said, these sketch nights are very fun and worthwhile, for sure. Among the fine Detroit area artists present were Jay Fosgitt, Darin Palmer, Jim Anderson, Jeff Sornig, John Wood, Kevin Minor, John Martin, Anne Garvaglia, Jay Shimko and Terrell Culbert. Check out their art! Hopefully, I'll get to know some of the other regulars, as they are very good artists, as well. And they are patient with the rest of us.

Go Figure! Sketch Night At Rainy Day Art Supply

These were some of the better sketches from this past Saturday's live model sketch night at Rainy Day Art Supply. This time our model was Olivia Benton dressed as Catwoman and she did a great job putting up with us knuckleheads. Those knuckleheads, you ask? Well, they are some of the Detroit area's creative talents, such as Darin Palmer, Anne Garivaglia, Jay Fosgitt, Jim Anderson, Jay Shimko and our host, Kelly O'Hara, just to name a few (at least the ones that I know). It's a good setting, with friendly people and a good night out.

Rumor is... that a Klingon will be the next model.

Live Model Sketching

These are some of the sketches that I did this past Saturday night at the Go Figure! live model sketch night at Rainy Day Art Supply in Grosse Pointe Woods, MI. Our model this time was a young lass dressed as a luchador. These have been some fun sessions and it's always good to get in some live sketching with some blind and not so blind contour drawings, to boot. Good exercises!

Among the artists present were our host Kelly O'Hara, Darin Palmer, Anne Garavaglia, Jay Fosgitt and Jay Shimko. 

Darth Maul

                                                                 An in progress shot.

                                                                            Chasm
                                                                       app. 12x3x3
                                                         wood, varnish and colored inks

                                                                             Detail



All this month up until the 23rd the In A Gallery Far Far Away show at the River's Edge Gallery is still going on. One of the six pieces that I have in the show is the one shown above, called Chasm. The character is Darth Maul from the movie The Phantom Menace and the Clone Wars animated series. I chose to depict him with an oversized cloak, filled with darkness, thus calling it Chasm. As far as I know, this piece is still available, so head on down to Wyandotte to get your Star Wars, sci-fi and pop culture fix from some artists such as Bill Pulkovski, Kelly Nemzek, Matt Busch, Lin Zy, Jay Shimko, Anne Garavaggio, Slaw, Bill Morrison and others.

In A Gallery Far Far Away

                                        
                                     General Ursus
                       acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

No Canaries Here

acrylic on canvas

Although, the show actually started last week, tomorrow is the opening for the gallery show entitle In A Gallery Far Far Away. The show is sci-fi/fantasy/pop culture based and features some of Detroit's best illustrators and fine artists, including Alex Buechel, Matt Busch, Anne Garavaggio, Jeremy Hansen, Bill Morrison, Kelly Nemzek, Bill Pulkovski, Jay Shimko and myself. The speed painter Dave Santia will be doing his thing at about seven in front of the gallery. All proceeds from his auctioned paintings will go towards Benefits For Backpacks (I think). 

Here are the details:

A Gallery Far Far Away

The River's Edge Gallery

3024 Biddle Ave.

Wyandotte, MI 48192

www.artattheedge.com

The Star Wars costuming group, the 501st will also be on hand to make the evening even more festive. So, come on down river tomorrow evening, view some cool artwork, socialize with the animals, I mean the artists, and maybe hit one of the local eateries for dinner or a late snack. See ya there!

Motor City Comic Con 2012

This weekend (Fri-Sun), I will be set up in artists alley at the Motor City Comic Con at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Mi, so stop on by and say hello. I will have a few new prints, including the one above, as well as my new  Muck Man comic book. Two of the cast members of The Boondock Saints (Sean Patrick Flanery and David Della Rocca) and Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) will be in the house, so make sure that you stop by my table to pick up a print to have them sign for you!

There will be  some good artists on hand, including The Minor Brothers (Matt, Jake, Kevin), Jay Shimko, Matt Busch and Lin Zy, Chris Caldwell and Mark LeMeiux, just to name a few. So, come on by and show some support!

This should be a fun weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, talking shop and kicking back a few root beers.

501st Sketch Cards

Above are the sketch cards that I did for the 501st Legion that will be distributed at this year's Star Wars Celebration VI, which will be held in Orlando, FL. I will be using the Dengar and the bottom Tusken Raider as my return cards, with the Dengar already being spoken for. These cards are one of two projects that I will have a presence with at Celebration, the other will be an altered clonetrooper helmet that will be auctioned off for the Make A Wish Foundation.

Star Wars Sketchagraphs

These here cards are called sketchagraphs and are a subset to the Star Wars Galaxy 7 card set that will be released by Topps next month. Each card has an autograph by an actor or production person from any of the Star Wars movies and the animated Clone Wars series. 

These autographs include Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Alan Flyng (an Executive Imperial Officer and wardrobe designer), Ashley Eckstein (Asohka Tano-Clone Wars), James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi-Clone Wars), Timothy Zahn (author-Extended Universe), Ben Burtt (various small roles and sound engineer), Tom Kane (Yoda-Clone Wars), Matthew Wood (General Grievous), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Dickey Beers (various roles), and Catherine Tabor (Padme-Clone Wars).

Much thanks to my buds Jay Shimko and Scott Toth with help on deciphering some of these signatures!

Detroit Fanfare!

Detroit Fanfare is finally amongst us! This Saturday and Sunday at Cobo hall in Detroit will be the place to be for all of your comic and pop culture needs and this event is turning very fast into being the Detroit area's premiere con scene. The founders of Fanfare, Dennis Barger, Gary Reed and Tony Miello have pulled out all the stops in making this a fun and exciting weekend. Besides there being over 200 artists, there will be a few media guests there, as well. Peter Weller of Robocop and Buckaroo Banzai fame, Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead and Burn Notice, Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead and Kelly Hu from X-Men 2 just to name a few.

Motor City Sketch will have a presence there, as well. We will have our artists at the MCS booth throughout the weekend doing sketches for charity and some of will be doing a panel on Sunday at 2:30 talking about sketch cards, including Jay Shimko, Bill Pulkovski, Jake Minor, Matt Minor, Kevin Minor, Jason Westlake and Jeremy Treece.

I was honored to be asked to do an exclusive official Fanfare print and what you see above is just that, minus the Fanfare logo. The print is of guest Steven Yeun. You can get that print at the main table when you come through the door or at my table, as well. Although, mine won't have the Fanfare logo. I will be at table 224 in Artists Alley.

So, come on down and say hello. I will also have other prints exclusive to Fanfare and it's content, sketch cards, books and original art.

Saturday 10am to 7pm

Sunday 12pm to 6pm

You can get all the details at the Detroit Fanfare site by clicking here.

Alice In Wonderland

While I'm gearing up for the San Diego Comic Con next week, I thought I'd try to catch up a little in my posts here. So, I have the three images that I did for the Alice In Wonderland book called The Looking Glass. In the book there are 17 artists and over 30 illustrations all depicting their own version of Alice and her world. You can purchase the book directly through me or by clicking on the banner at the bottom of this page.

The book was concocted by fellow illustrator Bill Pulkovski and also has artwork by Matt Busch, Alex Buechel, Jay Shimko, to name a few.

The Queens

15x16

acrylic on illustration board

Alice And The Caterpillar

15x16

acrylic on illustration board

We're All Mad Here

15x16

acrylic on illustration board

I'd like to add that I used the likenesses of two of my nieces for the two Alice paintings.