I bent my wookie

Chewbacca, Blue pencil, ink, and Copics on toned Stonehenge, 11x17", 2008.

This was a surprise Christmas present for a fellow artist, Chris Uminga. His girlfriend contacted me to see if I could do him a full color Chewbacca, which I have to say is the best request to date since I started doing commissions. I had a lot fun coming up with this one. Hope you all like it as much as Chris and Laura did.

Aquaman

Aquaman, Blue pencil on Stonehenge, 9x12", 2008.


Copic and Chartpak markers on Moleskine.

I finally finished up this Aquaman commission. Had a tough time finding a good underwater pose for him. The bottom image is from my moleskine. I went through quite a few drawings to get his face the way I wanted. I finally stuck with this one. Thought it showed his arrogance and distrust of humans.

Pink

Pink Monster, Pink pencil and Copic multiliner on Moleskine, 2008.

This is an idea I had for my next painting. I've never really done a predominately pink image before so I thought I'd try it out on this guy.

doodles

Just playing around with some new Copic pens that I got. Not sure what these guys will end up being... maybe a family of sorts.

Buffalo Blue

Detail of Buffalo Blue, Acrylic on wood panel, 8x16", 2008.

This is a detail of another painting that I did for the show this past Friday. I went with a flat graphic look for this one. The design of the character and the colors turned out so well that I'm thinking about making this my logo of sorts for the Sweatybuffalo site. I just have to tweak it a little to make it fit.

I should have the pictures from the opening soon. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures myself of the opening but my sister and friend did so I'm waiting for them to send me some.

Progress 4

How do you draw trees?, Acrylic on panel, 12x16", 2008



The Violinist, Acrylic on wood panel, 9x12", 2008.

Well tomorrow night is the opening of the show. Everything is ready to go and I hope there is a good turnout. For anyone that wants to come it is at 7:30 PM and will go all night. The gallery is called The Nth Degree and is located on 683 West King St. Boone, NC. I will try to post some pictures from the event after everything settles down.

Progress 3

Detail, Acrylic on wood panel, 9x12", 2008.


Detail, Acrylic on panel, 12x16", 2008.

More progress images of paintings for my show coming up this Friday at The Nth Gallery here in Boone, NC.

Progress 2

Yellow Dino, Acrylic on wood panel, 12x12", 2008.



Babu, Acrylic on wood panel, 9x12, 2008.

More to come.

Progress

New Coat, Acrylic on wood panel, 10x10", 2008


Work in progress, Acylic on wood panel, 9x12", 2008.

Still working away. 3 weeks in counting. I should have postcards and event flyers up by next week. Email me if you would like to receive a postcard for the show. (sweatybuffalo@yahoo.com)

Crunch time...

Just wanted to show a little bit of what I have been working on for the last month now. These images are from pieces that will be in my first ever solo show at the Nth gallery here in Boone, NC. The opening reception will be on Friday, October 3rd, from 7:30 until everybody leaves.
I still have a lot to do before the end of the month. But I'm pleased with how everything is turning out. As of right now I will have 9 to 10 new pieces going into the show. I will post more as I get them finished. Hope you like.

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy, blue pencil on Stonehenge, 8 1/2x11.


Poison Ivy, CS3 600 dpi, 8 1/2x11, 2008

Just finished up this image of Poison Ivy for a website called Concept Art. They do a bunch of weekly contest like character of the week and creature of the week. It's open to anyone that is registered to the site and there are a ton of talented people on there. The theme for this weeks character of the week was Dark Knight Villians, I included a link so that you can see the final idea I had for her. After seeing Dark Knight I couldn't pass up this opportunity to see what I could come up with. I think this is my favorite image that I have done recently. If anyone is interested in a print of this, just email me and I'll see what I can do.

Commissions

Death, blue pencil, ink, and Copic markers on Stonehenge,
8 1/2x11", 2008.

Captain America, blue pencil on Stonehenge, 9x12, 2008.

It's been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd share some commissions that I have been working on. These were commissioned from some nice folks at the Heroes Con. Hope they like them.

Gallery Show in Connecticut

The Cap'n, Acrylic gouache on cradled Gessobord, 8x8".

While I was at Heroes Con this year, I got a wonderful offer to submit a piece of art relating to super heroes to a gallery in Connecticut. I ended up submitting the Cap painting above along with the pencil drawing of Medusa that I did earlier this month. The exhibition is entitled Identity Theft: Reinventing the Comic Hero and it is being held at the Guildford Art Center in Guilford, CT. The opening reception is July 11th from 5 - 9pm. The exhibition will be on display from July 11 till Aug. 14. I included a link that has more info about the event. From what I've seen of the pieces that were sent to me through email, this show is going to be awesome. Wish there was a way I could get up there to see the show, but I can't get off from work. Anyway, a big thank you goes out to Chris Uminga and Matt Fletcher for the opportunity to show my stuff out there.

HEROES!!!

Sorry, Heroes Con has been over for almost a week and I haven't posted anything yet. I've been busy working on some new stuff since I got back (more to follow). I will defiantly post it as soon as I'm finished.

Anyway, Heroes was so much fun this year. Everyone I met was super nice. I was so pleased to see that my art got such a good response this time around too. I'm slowly getting used to producing more and more work and it is paying off. I actually got a couple of offers to do some real deal published work. Maybe even one through IDW? I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

The coolest thing this year was that I got a lot of request for commissions. I've posted a few that I was able to finish, but I still have a bunch to do. So thank you again to the people that are waiting patently for their commissions. I had so much fun talking to everyone I met. Two artist that I have to mention, Chris Uminga and Matt Fletcher ,they had some really awesome stuff. Check them out, I think you will like.
Another down to earth guy that I met was Scott Sava. He is the creator of a book called The Dreamland Chronicles, it is an all ages read graphic novel. I haven't got a chance to read some it yet but he has most of it online for free. Looks pretty cool though from what I saw. Scott stopped by the table and really enjoyed my art. He invited me over to his booth to check out some of the stuff that he has been working on. He even said that maybe I could do a cover for one of his Dreamland books thats being published through IDW. I think my jaw was hanging open when he said that. He also does children's books, which is something that I've always wanted to do as well. Just talking to him gave me so much hope that I can make it in this business. He knows what its like to be the little guy just starting out and he said that he could help to get my foot in the door. That was so inspiring for me to hear that. Thanks again Scott.

As far as the exhibitor booths, I bought my share in weight of trades and hard covers. Those $5 trade booths were a real down fall for me this time. On Sunday, this one guy ended up selling his Marvel titles for 75% off cover price. Let's just say a great deal of money was deducted from my credit card.

I also got to spend some time with my friends from college, which is always a crazy experience. I'm like the only one that still lives in the mountains of NC, so these cons are like the only time we get to see each other. I'm trying to see if we can do some more cons next year like Baltimore, but we have to save up some money to do that. Charlotte is the closest place that we can all meet without costing us an arm or leg, so we will have to wait and see. Make sure you check out their websites too. Adam Goudelock and Kim Feigenbaum.

All in all I had a really great time. It was inspiring and really got me excited to work on some new things for next year. Heroes Con 2008 was the best I've been to in a really long time. Can't wait till next year to do it again.

~later






~Thanks again to everyone that showed their support through the commissions. I had a blast drawing them.

Just in time

Photoshop CS3, 11x17" @ 600 dpi, 2008.

Just finished up the colors for this Medusa print. Not as textured as I would have liked it, but I like the simplicity of it.

Well this is last post until I get back from Heroes Con, can't believe it is already here. Hope to meet a lot of great artist and cool fans of comics this weekend. Remember to stop by SP-26 to see some of my art in person. I will be doing commissions as well as selling prints.
See ya later.

Medusa

Blue pencil and graphite on Rives BFK, 11x17".

I just finished this Medusa drawing last night. I'm still working on the color version, but I'm pretty sure I will have it done in time for Heroes Con. I'm actually going to have these printed off at the original size. It will be the first time having some prints that are larger than 8 1/2x11". I'm hoping that they will sell well.

Heroes Con Update

Thought I'd share this sweet image that Darwyn Cooke did for the Heroes Con. Hope I can get one. And I just got the official table location where me and my friends will be sitting. We are at SP-26. So stop by and grab some prints and maybe a sketch or two. Hope to see ya there, later.

Finished

Cheap Joe's Ad, photoshop cs3, 11x14 @ 600 dpi.

Thank God, I'm finished with this ad. I had to edit somethings from the original drawing to make the composition work. I also added some egg pieces flying off into the foreground to round everything out. Now I can get back to work on my stuff for Heroes Con.

More Heroes Con Stuff

Ad for Cheap Joe's Art Stuff,
blue pencil and white pastel on Rives BFK, 11x14", 2008.

Here is a flyer cover image for Cheap Joe's Art Stuff. I just finished the pencils and now I just have to put some color to it. It is actually their ad for Heroes Con, they ended up purchasing a booth this year to sell some of their art products. Since I work for them, I will be spending a little bit of time at their booth along with the small press table that me and a couple of friends purchased. I have links to their websites along the side of the blog. They are Kim Feigenbaum and Adam Goudelock. So be sure to stop by both tables to get some cool stuff.

Post Cards

Thought I'd share a couple of new things I've been working on this past weekend. This is a piece that I'm working on for my first solo art show. It will be on display at The Nth Degree Gallery in Boone, NC for the month of October. I'm debating on transferring it to a wood panel to paint it since the digital version came out so well.



I liked it so much that I used it for my self promotional post cards. I just sent off the color and type version to get printed. Hopefully they will make it in time for Heroes Con so I can give them out to folks. Make sure you come by for one and many other new prints.

Sasquatch Commission

Here is a commission that I did for a guy at the Hickory Con a couple of weekends ago. It is the second Sasquatch that he has asked for, hope he likes this one. This is the first time I worked on some toned paper with white pastel pencil for highlights. I really like how it turned out and will have to try it again sometime.

Sinister Six: Kraven the Hunter

KRAVEN!! I am finally done with these. Took a little longer than I wanted but I really like how they turned out. I am selling color prints of all these at a couple of conventions around North Carolina. I will be at Heroes Con in Charlotte June 20 - 22. Don't know what table number yet but I will post it as soon as I know. I can also sell prints off my website or blog, just email me if interested. (sweatybuffalo@yahoo.com)

Sinister Six: Mysterio

Mysterio is up. Hope ya like.

Sinister Six: Doc Oct

I didn't think I would ever get this one finished. I took a long time trying to decide where the robotic arms should go to give it a good composition. I like the over all jumbled look of them. It's like a puzzle to figure out which arm goes where.

Sinister Six: Vulture

I'm slowing making progress with these drawings. I have most of them drawn out, I just need to go back in and ink them now. I will try my best to post the rest by the end of next week. For now here is the Vulture.

Sinister Six: Electro

Here is Electro.

Sinister Six: Sandman

After doing that Spider-man sketch, I got this cool idea for the Sinister Six. So, here is Sandman and I will try to post all the rest as I finish them.

Spider Sense Tingling

Thought I'd share this cool sketch I did of your friendly neighborhood Spider-man. I find him challenging to draw at times because his mask pretty much obliterates his facial features. I might try to add color to this later.

Art-By-Numbers Reception

Well the reception for the Art-By-Numbers show was tonight and considering it was raining all night, a lot of people showed up for it. I haven't seen that many people in that gallery in quite sometime, so I'm glad the show was a great success for them. I was also surprised to see that I won second place for my entry into the show. There were some great pieces in the show and I was really excited to be recognized. I can't thank the Nth Gallery enough for having events like this to celebrate local artist.

Here are a few pictures from tonight's event:


This was my favorite piece from the show.(but it only got third)
It is a plush calculator titled "boobies"


Here is my piece!

I wish I could have taken more pictures, but the place was so packed you couldn't really move around. Thanks again to the Nth Gallery for this awesome opportunity.

Procrastination is Awesome!

Here is my submission for a juried art show at a local gallery here in Boone, NC. The theme for the show is Art-by-Numbers. My piece is called "Number Cruncher" and it is acrylic gouache on panel. I literally just finished it 30 minutes before it was due at the gallery. I probably could have done a little more to it, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I think the frame took me longer to make than the actual painting. Who says procrastination is bad?

Nimbus the Cloud Boy

Here is a piece I did for a Halloween show last year at a local gallery here in Boone called the Nth Degree. It is acrylic on linen 9x12. I've had this image in mind for the better part of a year now and I was finally able to paint it. I love doing random characters like this.