Happy Holidays!!!

In an effort to be a little more 'green' this year, I've decided to put out our holiday card online as a desktop / mobile device background. Please feel free to click any of the linked images below to open up the correct size ratio for your screen or device and download it or set it as your desktop background or iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch background.

This image was inked with a Pentel brush pen on a sheet of bristol and colored with watercolor. I scanned it into Photoshop to adjust color levels and added some halftone pattern to the shaded areas. The text was laid out in Illustrator and copied into Photoshop as a smart object, then resized as needed.

Thanks to Thomas Pitilli for letting me borrow his scanner. And thanks to Of Zen and Computing for the Photoshop Action Set that made it easier to save out for various screens.

iPhone / iPod Touch

iPad

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Metal for Veterans

 

This is a poster I put together for a group of metal bands playing a benefit show in Boise, ID next weekend. My brother is in the band RipshaW and their album is now available. Give a listen here.

On the process of making this: The skull image was sketched out in pencil using reference from GoMedia. I inked it with a Sumi brush, using a very wet brush for a slightly sloppy flowing effect. Then some dry brush for some details and texture and then some layers of grays for more texture and tone. Then I used a flag image and messed with the layer options in Photoshop until it looked 'right'.

I thought the dogtags would be a nice way to display the band names. I started with low res versions of the band names and a dogtag image from Google images. In Photoshop I created a brushed steel pattern with the dogtag outline and then used some layer options on the band names to give them a 'stamped' look. Once I had the skull and dogtag elements, I brought them into Illustrator and added the requested logos and text. The font was free from dafont.com. Spent some time nudging and tweaking and that's about it.

Cycle of Violence - Portland Mercury

New editorial illustration for the Portland Mercury! Check out the article here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/cycle-of-violence/Content?oid=2940638

Hellophant

 Playing around in Illustrator...

Kicking Our Own Ass - Portland Mercury

Here's an illustration for the latest Portland Mercury. Full article here. I did this character a few months ago, and they had an update on the story that the character worked for - so there ya go!

Hitting the Bricks - Portland Mercury

Here is a new illustration I did for the Portland Mercury out this week. You can read the full article online here.

Checkered Past - Willamette Week

New Illustration in this week's Willamette Week. You can read the story here.

Trickster Update

I just got word that the book I contributed to, TRICKSTER, just went into it's second printing.

Also, recently NPR posted this great video of the artwork I did with the author narrating it.

It's a great book with a strong variety of stories and artwork.

Crisis Comes Home - Portland Mercury

Here's a new illustration I did for this week's Portland Mercury. The article is online here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/crisis-comes-home/Content?oid=2625752

Fixing the Future - Portland Mercury

Here's another one I did for the Portland Mercury regarding Oregon's current brokeness. I had a bit of extra time on this one, which was nice. I took some reference shots for the 'pose' and had a little more time to think about the composition. You can read the full article here: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/fixing-the-future/Content?oid=2574437

State of Disaster - Willamette Week

Here is the first of two editorial illustrations I did last week on the subject of Oregon being broke. I love drawing water, so this one came easy. Read the article online here: http://wweek.com/editorial/3630/14097/

RipshaW Band Poster

Shoot the Horses - The Portland Mercury

Here's an illustration I did for the Portland Mercury. They loved the illustration, but decided not to run the article in the end. The Merc posted it on their blog though: http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2010/05/13/best-illustration-we-never-got-to-run

One in Two Million - Willamette Week

Here is a news feature illustration that I did for this week's Willamette Week. It's about a weird case of double road rage. Check it out online here.
This was a same day turnaround job, so I didn't have much time to play with the concept. But I like how it came together, and I think it illustrates the story well.

Space is Cold

A loose sketchbook comic I did for fun... Maybe I'll continue it.. we'll see.

The Thing Vs. The Thing

The Thing from "Fantastic Four" Vs. The Thing from "John Carpenter's The Thing". Available as a print on Society 6.

Detective Story

Here's a new illo for Illustration Friday. I wanted a fairly static, graphic image with this one, but it needed some life, so I brought that out with textured lines. The watercolor rain was from another project, but I knew that it was exactly what I wanted there.

Dip - Illustration Friday

I used a new brush I got for the line work. It's actually a lettering brush, but I wanted to test it out. It was hard to get much variation in line weight out of it. The lines were coming out looking closer to sharpie than brush. I did some lettering testing after I inked this and it looked great. So I will definitely use this again for lettering, but probably only once in a while for inking.. depends on what I'm inking though I guess..

Rock Lee - Inks by Me, Pencils by Gabe Pinto

My friend Gabe and I were talking about working on a comic project together so we did this experiment. It's his pencils (see below) and I did the inks (see above). I had to lightbox the inks from a printout, since we're on opposite sides of the country.

I used several different brushes to get the right level of detail in parts. Gabe had tight pencils and I usually ink a little loose, so it's somewhere in the middle. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Thing vs. Thing Pencils

In progress..

Justice Delayed for Willamette Week

Here is a new black and white editorial illustration that appears in this week's Willamette Week. I pitched this as a sketch along with a few other sketches to the Art Director after reading the article. The AD liked this one the best and I agreed that it worked the best with the story. The inks were done with sumi ink and brush. I played with putting some gray into it, but it was working best as a stark black and white final.

Moby Dick Illustration

Here's an illustration I did for a design contest. I've had a thing for drawing waves lately.. I inked this with a sumi brush, which I don't know why I don't ink everything with sumi - it's just awesome. The only thing is, I think larger paper would help to be able to ink the details..

Willamette Week - The China Syndrome

Here is a new illustration I did for this week's Willamette Week. This is the first time I worked with WW, and I'm happy with how it went. Hopefully, I'll work with them again soon. Read the article here: http://wweek.com/editorial/3616/13726/

Portland Mercury - Curiouser and Curiouser

Here is an illustration I did for this week's Portland Mercury. It was a simple one, but I'm happy with how it turned out: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/curiouser-and-curiouser/Content?oid=2264200

Another Crash

More art for your eyeballs

Loan Shark Hunting

Here is a new illustration for the Portland Mercury. I'm really happy with how this one turned out, and it started with an awesome concept from the AD.

I tried something a little new with this one, I inked it on watercolor paper. Usually I just ink on sketch or bristol paper. It's kinda hard to tell the difference when it's all finished, textured and colored.. but the ink on the paper looked really cool. So yeah, paper does make a difference.

Read the full article here.