Belle Isle Aquarium Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

A few weeks ago, the Belle Isle Aquarium Committee, to which I am a volunteer, asked me to make a symbolic key that the aquarium would give to the Mayor of Detroit at the ribbon cutting ceremony marking the grand reopening of the 108 year old aquarium. So, after a week of concept designs and two left for the carving, I was happy to have come up with the fish key that is shown below. It had been awhile since I last carved something out of wood, but I jumped at the chance to do something as unique as this. I was excited to carve something again and with the weather cooperating by cooling down some, everything seemed just right. 

The symbolic Key To The Belle Isle Aquarium

This was the scene from our vantage point this morning just before detroit Mayor Bing addressed the press. Standing in the group just in front of me are BIA volunteers Gary Balduc, Doniece Langdon, Jennifer Boardman and Vance Patrick, the latter two are the ones whose efforts made this all possible.

Detroit Mayor and former Piston Dave Bing talking to the press.

Mayor Bing with the Key To The Aquarium. Thanks to my fellow artist, Leah Mangue for the screencap. Here is a link to the news story about today's event.

Here is an in progress shot of the carving. Part of what made this even more special to me is that both of my grandfathers are represented here. The workbench belonged to one and the chisels belonged to the other. When I was 19, my grandpa gave me part of his wood chisel collection and promised the rest to me when he was no longer with us. The chisels once belonged to a J. Murdock and this guy who protected railroad workers from 'hostiles' lived next door to my grandmother while she and my grandpa were dating. He had given the chisels to my grandpa and then he to me and they are probably over 100 years old. I had to covertly free the remainder after the passing of my grandpa, but that is another story. So, some history goes along with the fish key and it felt good to keep the story going.  

The aquarium will be opened every Saturday from 10-3, so come on down tomorrow for the grand reopening!

Night Of The Living Dead Sketch Cards

I've done quite a few sketch card sets this year and have fallen behind with showing them. I've been so busy, lately! Above are the sketch cards that I did for the Night Of The Living Dead set put out recently by the UK's Unstoppable Cards. I enjoyed working on this set and I went with the all grey look to try and keep with the look and feel of the 1968 movie that this set is based on.

Wizard World Chicago Recap, Part Three and Art & Sole

Normally, I tend to buy printed artwork at cons, such as graphic novels or books, but at this past Wizard world Chicago show I went for artwork, both original and prints. to start the show off right, my friend and fellow cartoonist Jay Fosgitt did caricatures (all by memory, I believe!) of everyone from our group:

Me by Jay Fosgitt

4x6

pencil

 I bought Michael Golden's latest sketchbook and since I've been wanting an original sketch from him for some time now, it wasn't too hard to talk me into it:

Acroyear by Michael Golden

4x6

sharpie on bristol board

I was thinking that I wouldn't get too many chances to get a sketch by the master George Perez, so I went for it:

Scarlett Witch by George Perez

9x12

sharpie on bristol board

And on one of my trips around the con I discovered an artist using deep sea divers in his work and he has achieved what I have been striving for all this time. It was a joy and a punch in the you know what, but definitely wonderful to see someone doing such great works. It also gave me a different perspective and a cause to sit back and re-evaluate where I want and need to go with my own symbolism on this matter. The artist's name is Michael Manomivibul and I bought three of his prints:

untitled

8.5x11

print on textured paper

Bubbles

8.5x11

print on textured paper

Flotsam

8.5x11

print on textured paper

A big thanks to Wizard World for having me at this show and also to the staff, which were very helpful. I appreciate all the work that you did for us! It was a great show!

Now, on to other things. Mainly, that this weekend will find me at the Art & Sole Festival in Grosse Pointe, MI. This will be a first of sorts, as they mainly have fine artists and crafts people at this show and now they will have a few of us illustrators to shake things up a bit. I'm a bit of a fine artist myself, so I can hang. Our sketch group, Motor City Sketch will be doing sketches and selling original artwork for donations, in which the proceeds will got to the Belle Isle Aquarium, which will be officially opening next week. More on that later. Much thanks to Rainy Day Art Supplies for putting all of this together!

Wizard World Chicago Recap, Part Two

Here are a few more pics from my weekend in Rosemont, IL at Wizard World Chicago.

My buddy Scott who was at the show getting autographs and such picked up this beaut of a commission from Dave Dorman.  That's one damn awesome Yoda painting!

 While we were in town I had to drop in to see my long time bud and Muck Man theme song musician, Chris Quigley. The last time I swept through town we couldn't hook up, so we went over to Schaumburg to see his buddy and their band play. They are called Space Was Cool and they rocked the place and even gave us a shout out. from L to R: Chris, Scott Toth, Bill Pulkovski and moi. Rockstars.

 As the show wound down I just had to get a sketch from the mighty George Perez, Drawer of Super-People and Super Nice Guy.

 And here is George with the Scarlett Witch that he just finished up for me. I was his last sketch of the weekend. Whew.

This is what happens when you cross a couple of artists. You wake up with a beheaded Yoda. Scott trembled in fear when he opened his eyes to this horrendous sight.

And to top off an already great weekend, on the way home we saw this guy with his tattoo of a band-aid on his arm. He was cool and he wanted you to know it.

In my next post I will show the artwork that I picked up or was given at the show.

Wizard World Chicago Recap

It's been almost a month now since the Wizard World Chicago show and I wanted to do a post on the weekend, so here it is. Better late than never.

I love cons for the little things that happen and make for good stories. Our first morning found Bill and I at the Hyatt for their breakfast buffet. The man who sat us sounded just like Lo Pan from Big Trouble In Little China and we had a good chuckle at the coolness of that. After we made our way the the buffet line and started to eat, I look over and who was coming in at that moment for breakfast? Lo Pan himself! Well, the actor who played him, James Hong. And he sat down right behind us. Love it!

The 1960's Batmobile in the lobby of the conference center.

                                            A cool night time shot of downtown Chicago.

Cartoonist Denver Brubaker and his lovely fiance, Jillian stopped by my table to say hello. h

He couldn't miss my table. He knew to head for the pink and the glitter, as you can see across the way.

 Brian Pulido, who was an awesome neighbor to have brought Lady Death with him on Saturday.

                                        And the Blues Brothers came by to say hello, as well.

                                                More pics to come in a couple of days!

Mars Attacks Return Cards

Last week I received my Mars Attacks return cards, or Artist Proofs, if you prefer. Each company has a different label for them. In this case, Topps calls them 'return cards.' You know the drill. If interested send me an e-mail. I also have a very cool Russell Walks sketch card that I will be putting up for sale soon.

Sometime this week I'll finally do a write up about my experience at Wizard World Chicago. I've so busy since coming home that I keep putting it off, but will remedy that soon.

As You Wish Project

The official Star Wars convention Celebration VI is currently underway down in Orlando, Fl. Late last year I was asked by the 501st to contribute to the Make A Wish Foundation's As You Wish Project, where we the artists had to alter a clonetrooper bucket in some artistic way, add our own special touch to it. So, after submitting two designs and being approved for both I chose to do a Deep Sea Diver Clone. A sort of steampunk version, of sorts. Here is the official helmet bio:

Deep Sea (DS) Clone Diver

Helmet Bio:

My deep sea diver clonetrooper helmet is based on just that, a deep sea diving helmet. I often use a deep sea diver in my artwork as a symbol of myself as an explorer of the sometimes wide and deep chasms of the sub-conscious. An adventurer mapping his own way of where he’s been and why.

I like the idea of having this futuristic clonetrooper juxtaposed with a more anachronistic and foreign aesthetic. I could say that this has a steampunk feel to it, but that might be stretching it some. I’ll leave that for others to decide. And having an airhose strikes me as being a little sarcastic, if not completely out of place in the Star Wars universe. The Jedi have used re-breathers, after all. Then there are the bolts that just tied it all together for me. It was not my desired helmet until those bolts were put in.

I began my project by cutting out the side and top visual ports and adding bars across all the visors. I wanted the bars to look as though they were welded onto the bucket. I used a combination of plastic and metal, as well as some found objects for the added parts. I also saw this underwater helmet having an organic feel and bought some fake coral at a pet shop and applied pieces to the top and sides, as a living, breathing extension of the helmet, which is why it is painted the same colors as the helmets copper and brass. 

There are other artists that also contributed to this project and all of these helmets are up on ebay as I write this to be auctioned off and all of the proceeds will go to the charity. You can go here to bid on my helmet (which already as a bid!), but please check out all of the other helmets as they are spectacular. My friend Thomas Spanos did a clonetrooper/Alien helmet that is the talk of the show, I am sure.