They call him......Tim

Our Pal Tim is all sorts of good.  

Good dude, good Illustrator, good builder of giant easels, good friend, good everything.  Exchange those goods for great and my description may be getting close.  One of the most generous Artists to paint with, happy to throw down and amazing, upside down frog or to be the glue, painting in background elements or give things just the right touch ups to make other elements shine.  He possesses a keen eye, a quick brush and a steady hand and we are fortunate to to have him as a fellow Monster.

Want to see Tim for yourself?  Going to be in Columbus, Ohio July 18,19?  Then stop by the Small Press and Comics Expo THIS WEEKEND at the Northland Performing Arts Center.  And while you are there make sure to see some of our favorite people: Clare Kolat (conveniently located at the table next to Tim), Angela Oster and Ashley Ribblett!!!

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!

An Evening with the Monsters

Wednesday Feb, 11 7:00 P.M.

Cleveland Institute of Art

11610 Euclid Ave.

Cleveland, OH

Room 408

We have the great honor to join our friends at NOIS, Northern Ohio Illustrators Society, to talk about who we are, what we do and how we do it.  It's really a great opportunity to present to this amazing group of professionals and students at CIA.  If you are interested in dropping by contact NOIS for details.  

Our 5th Beatle

Not like Pete Best, the could-have-been drummer of the Beatles but GEORGE FLIPPIN' MARTIN!!!  The grease in our crank case, the guy we lean on when we are in need of a third arm the sometimes our Face man, Ron Caruso!!  Sure he's married to the lovely and talented Erin which would give anyone the reason to show up but our man Ron has gone the extra mile time and time again.

For example, the man is a talent in his own right and he's bent that talent to this fine, short documentary of our work that you can find on our YOUTUBE page.  

Surely we've posted it before but it bears posting again, it's great and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling every time I watch it.  Thanks a ton Ron!

And while I'm at it throw us a subscribe on youtube.  We do post things from time to time, important things like this mustache tutorial:

As this year starts moving and we get out and about expect to see more moving images of your favorite Rust Belt Monsters!!

Excelsior!!!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!!!!

 This is us, three years ago. 

Our first mural gig and we didn't even know it.  The first annual Bal Ingenieux for Ingenuity Cleveland.  Having started this blog only a few months before we were commissioned  as a group of Art performers and we had the bright idea to create a comic, from start to finish in one night.  

One group start a story on one side of the room.

The other group on the opposite side.

6 Artists, using cut paper, markers, whatever we had just making stuff up on the fly.  Just getting to know each other, playing it safe, you stay in your frame and I'll stay in mine. The only collaboration was in the story and that's all.

  That is till we got to the splash page in the middle.

IT WAS FUN!!!  

Way more fun than the panels we were working on to the sides, (doubt those even exist anymore).  We bumped elbows, worked on each other's drawings (we didn't paint as much then as we do now) and created something much more satisfying together than what we worked on alone. We were hooked!

In three years we are 30+ murals in.  We've grown as Artists from working together, we've had the opportunity to work in some amazing and humbling venues, work with great people and in short become a family.

Thank you all for your support these amazing three years. 

STAY TUNED!!!!!  

2015 is already shaping up to be a HUGE year!

Still ain't afraid of no ghosts

Been under radio silence for a while but I thought I would share a little passion project I did.  Lately I've been involved with a great group of people that are interested in helping the community while parading around our nerdy love for all things Ghostbusters, The Northeast Ohio Ghostbusters.  Soon the Non Profit end of the group will be officially up and running so we needed a logo and here it is.

I can't claim total ownership of this lil' fella, my pal Ryan Finley of the Scribble Nerds  started the ball rolling, a concept here and there from the group and I got to tie it all up in a slimy little ball.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween all!

Engine, Engine No.9

It's not commonly known who invented the caster wheel nor that the inventor was a genius of pure evil, exceptionally inept but still pure evil!  This is his Evil Engine No.9, minion and "guy Friday" to Professor Caster for most of his career.  Not quite adept loathsome or dirty deeds, or turning corners for that matter,  No.9 could port heavy loads, mix drinks and developed a knack for all manner of courtly and Gentlemanly behavior.  

Most of the wonders of this massive machine has been lost to time, only the lowly caster wheel remain to carry the Caster name.

An OK portrait of a GREAT painter

This IS Erin Schechtman, finally my birthday portrait is done.  

The intention to do portraits in the subject's "signature" media nearly hurt me with this one. Why?  I am more of a Draughtsman than I am a Painter.  Don't believe me check out this way to involved under drawing.

Crazy right?  Well after painting shoulder to shoulder with Erin for the last couple years has given me the drive to attempt more paintings.  Erin is what you might call an inspiration, it's hard not to learn from her.  Being in her company has upped all of our games and bolstered our courage to try more!

Everyone should have an Erin in their lives!

Happiest of late birthdays!!!!

Fun times at Great Lakes

Had a lot of fun at Great Lakes Brewery's 2nd Annual Comic Book Heritage night!  Drew comics with my friends for appreciative people, met Derf and generally got to nerd out for a few hours.  A great night was had by all!  Thanks to Great Lakes Brewery and Carol and John's Comics for the event.

Here are a few of my warm ups and sketch covers. Enjoy!