Terror Dogs need love too

Little piece I did for Ghostbusters Cleveland's APL fundraiser at Wizard World Cleveland.  Always fun to draw the lil' pooch!

Did I show you these GHOSTS!?!?

Little late for Christmas but not for sketches!  These 2 pages I did over, Christmas Eve, Christmas Night and the Day after Christmas.  Not a bad start to a sketchbook I'd say!

The tale of a Green Lantern and a Sea Hag

More absurdity from my sketchbook.  This time a Green Lantern and a Sea Hag enjoy!

Sketchbook Ahoy!

It's been a while since I've posted and it's been for good reason.  Life has kept my brain busy elsewhere but as things are getting leveled out I'm finding more time to jump back into a brand new sketchbook!  Here's a 2 pager based on the Adventures of Buck Rogers.  A friend gave me a collection of the old comics and it has fascinated me!  So much so I put pen to paper, enjoy!

Five Years.....

We've lost far too many greats so far this year, but greats we are fortunate to have shared an Earth with. 

Thank you Gents.

I live, I die, I live again!

Mad Max: Fury Road, if you can draw it's really hard not to draw Furiosa after watching.  I did.  Intended it to only ever be a sketch in my moleskin and she turned into this.  Sketched in my sketchbook, cleaned in Photoshop and finished in Procreate on my IPad.  Turned into a fun exercise that I intend to do again.

She started here, watching tv and drawing.  Going to blame the TV watching on the wonky eye I caught in Procreate.

And here, the time lapse exported from Procreate.

Popeye el Marinero

A good friend of mine couldn't make it up to Carol and John's Comics for Free Comic Book Eve and lamented not getting a sketch.  He said, "maybe next year I'll get you to do a Luchadore Popeye for me!"  Why wait till next year I say!!!

This sketch is brush pen and good ol' crayola marker.  enjoy!

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen

After watching Daredevil on Netflix I too was bit by the gotta draw some Matt Murdock bug!  It was a great opportunity to play with ink and to see, again, how few colors I could get away with in one piece.  I got this one down to 4 if you don't count the ground color.  Enjoy!

Bal Ingenieux: 4th Annual poster

It's that time of year again to unveil the Bal Ingenieux poster!  Each year I try to pay some tribute to the Illustrators who came before me from Cleveland's own, Kokoon Arts Club.  They were a group of Artists of every discipline who band together from the late 19 teens into the 1960's.  Many, fabulously talented Artists exhibited together, studied together and once a year threw these amazing costume balls that quickly became the place to be in mid-century Cleveland.  

The Bal Ingenieux was brought back as a kind of tribute by Ingenuity Cleveland and for the last few years I've had the honor to create a poster for the event.  This year I decided to go a bit more jazz age and kinda Futurist for this piece and it all sprung from this dress.

This photo is from one of the Kokoon Art auctions from the 1930's.  Not exactly the style you think of when you imagine a dress from the Thirties.  It does however fit very comfortably in some of the art from that period.  See Viktor Schreckengost if you would like to see some of the best examples of that style ( proud Clevelander and someone I was EXTREMELY fortunate to meet when I was a student at CIA).   Check out his Jazz Bowl series:  

It's graphic, playful and just moves your eyes all over the place!  

Another inspiration for this piece that may be a bit out of left field but once you see the art I think you will understand, Laura Dumm is another fellow Clevelander who I've also been EXTREMELY fortunate to meet through our regular Drink and Draws. Her and her husband Gary Dumm (himself a GIANT in the Indie comic world) keep churning out some of the most lively art you can ever set your eyeballs on.  What struck me is their use of color and pattern, I frequented dummart.com for inspiration in the early phases of this piece (and you should to!).    She is certainly not a contemporary of the Kookoon Arts club but her and Gary certainly imbibe that spirit!

So there ya go another year's Bal Ingenieux on off the board on on the wall.  As you can see the event is this coming weekend and if you are able to go I would highly recommend it.  For more information check out balingenieux.com

And be sure to check out some of the in process drawings here!

World's Mightiest Mortal

SHAZAM!

He was one of my first comics, had Captain Marvel pj's when I was a kid so it was only right that I painted this for this year's Free Comic Book Day Art Show.  This piece was done with watercolor, inks and acrylic on my old favorite, clayboard.  If you would like to see it in person along with last week's Batman and TONS of great DC art done by talented folks in the Cleveland area make sure you come to Carol and John's Comic Shop THIS WEEKEND!  The original and prints of Shazam as well as all the other art in the show will be available.  

Great fun to be had by all!  Check out all the event particulars here!

Batman: Pretty Poison

Keeping on with the Free Comic Book Day Art Show theme that was so deftly started by Tim (best Aquaman incarnation EVER), here is my fist of two pieces I have in the show.  Good ol' Batman the Animated Series style Batman.  

My original idea was to do this batman on a red background as they did the backgrounds in the first few seasons of the animated Series.  As I started throwing my Dr. Martin's concentrated watercolors down on the clay board I was really liking the glow I got from the crimson and magenta so I went with it.  Some ink, acrylic, salt and more watercolor later Batman fighting in a cloud of Poison Ivy's toxic gas was born.  I took the title from a good Ivy episode and voi la! 

This piece along with Tim's amazing Aquaman and other stunning comic images from my fellow Monsters and other Cleveland Artists will be available for show and purchase Free Comic Book Weekend and Carol and John's Comics, Cleveland, Ohio.  It's an amazingly fun weekend so be sure to come by!

More to come.......

Gauntlet Day 2 Collected

If you missed it the first time around, the Monsters recently ran a gauntlet...and ART gauntlet.  Here is Day 2 submissions by Time and Craig.  Enjoy.

Day 2: The Reckless     Marooned      Sensei

by Craig Worrell

Original Post

by Tim Switalski
Original Post

The Bride

This piece done in graphite and acrylic is my first contribution to a fundraiser that is near and dear to me.  My hometown, Princeton, WV, through the Princeton Renaissance project is undergoing some massive and much needed renovation and improvement.  From cleaning up main street, renovating old buildings, city icons that have languished in disrepair, hiring local Artists to paint massive murals and generally injecting some civic pride and fostering local commerce in a city who has long needed a helping hand.  Because of the work of a very dedicated few my hometown is on the mend but still needs help!

A few of us, local Artists and natives living elsewhere (aka me) have been asked to paint these antique ceiling tiles that once adorned the ceiling of the Royal/Lavon Theater as well as some some speakers from the Anita Drive in Theater to be auctioned off to benefit the good work of the Princeton Renaissance Project.  If you would like to OWN this or any of the other excellent works of art offered check out the silent auction site HERE . 

As I said it's for an excellent cause and any bit of cash raised will go a long way to helping an area that needs it.

Thanks!

In Search of...

Remembering the passing of the great Leonard Nimoy in my sketchbook this week.  Drawing on recycled paper, bleach , graphite, white colored pencil and a little acrylic.

Craig's Gauntlet Final Day! Popeye

The Invincible Hero       Seafaring        Father

With that combination of words how could I NOT draw Popeye!?!?!?!  He's a fun one to draw and I think I may have to draw him some more, get the proportions a little better.  But there ya go, Popeye!  Enjoy!

P.S.  If you want to see Popeye done right head over to the site of the incomparable Gary Dumm at dummart.com.

Craig's Gauntlet Day 4: Sir Steven the Cook

Today's challenge:

The Knight Templar     Refugee     Chef

This one is a bit of a stretch but if you have watched the Steven Seagal movie "Under Siege" you will get at least the chef/cook part.  The refugee part, kinda left that out.

Craig's Gauntlet Day 3: Careers in Science

GAUNTLET DAY 3

The Outlaw     Young     Mad Scientist   

Fun with a ballpoint pen and Mad Science.

Craig's Day 2 : Usagi!!!

Today's random word and phrases is:

The Reckless     Marooned      Sensei 

It's funny, I'm finding these random words are stirring up very specific stories.  The first one, "Treasure Island", this one the Legend of Miyamoto Musashi and the duel with "The Demon of the Western Provinces".  You can find the full story here.  Essentially the story goes that Musashi traveled Japan finding teachers and swordsmen of renown to test his skills as a samurai.  The long and short of it is he challenges a swordsman, this 'Demon", to a duel on an island.  He makes the Demon wait, making him angry that he had been disrespected and about the time he was blinded by his anger.  Musashi shows up, does not draw his sword  but instead brandishes an oar from his boat, further disrespecting the swordsman, and kills the Demon.   

So why is he a rabbit?  Cause I wasn't the only one inspired by the story of Musashi, The amazing Stan Sakai created this amazing character, Usagi Yojimbo who is a combination of the great Samurai movies and the story of Musashi.  You should check it out!

Craig's Gauntlet Day 1 - Treasure Island!

My take on today's Gauntlet, 

The Evil Mentor      Armed       Space Marine,

Space Long John Silver from, "Treasure Island".  Sure Disney did "Treasure Planet"  but this grouping of words and phrases made it IMPOSSIBLE not to make the connection.

If you would like some description of what the heck the gauntlet is check out our Facebook page !  If not, tune in again tomorrow for more random sketches!

Tim the Enchanter

This portrait is both WAY late and WAY early.  

After last week's Rust Belt post on birthdays I remembered I hadn't yet finished my portrait of Tim!  So here it is.  I have been inspired by Tim's work long before we started the RBMC.  Ever since seeing his work at Doctor Sketchy he was one of the reasons I came back every month, someone to marvel at and someone to push me to draw better!  He still does that weather he knows or not.  As one of the new Doctors at Doctor Sketchy Cleveland not only does he inspire but supplies a jungle gym for the rest of Cleveland to learn on.

He's an amazing guy with an amazing talent and a friend I wish everyone to have: honest, level headed and always there when you need him.

Happy WAY late and WAY early Birthday Tim!!