Santasaurus

Just something silly.

Crunch!

This was a quick sketch in grayscale wash and pencil on Strathmore 500 watercolor.-Wes

Chase - Final

Okay, that's it, I'm done with this. I think Stacy's idea was good, however, I went with my daughter's opinion, and of course she preferred the smiling dino thing. I'd love to do a whole book like this.

Sitting in a Tree

Ink and watercolor on 140 lb. cold-pressed Strathmore Gemini watercolor paper

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for a wonderful, loving and supportive family. I'm thankful that I'm able to occasionally pull my head out of my butt. I'm thankful to all the people of this world who work hard to make a positive difference in the lives of the human race and the human individual. I'm thankful for friends and colleagues who enrich my life.

While delivering commencement addresses, Fred Rodgers would ask everyone to take sixty seconds and think of all the people in one's life who believed in them and helped them become the person they are today.

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.

New Brushes.

It's silly how pumped I get about a shipment of these. I should have placed a quarter in there for reference...that big one is just HUGE. This shipment ran me about $140 at rexart.com. I've used them for years. -Wes

The Happy Chase

My wife thought it looked like these guys could be friends, so I decided to try a different take and see how that would look. Comments welcome.

The Chase - Phase Three

I've flattened it out now and working on details. Didn't like the short hair.

The Chase - Phase Two

T-Rex on the Run

A more-involved sketch I did this week.

Ink, watercolor on 140 lb. Cold-Pressed Strathmore Imperial watercolor paper.

The Chase- Phase One

You wouldn't believe how many layers I've got going on here. This is phase one of the coloring. This is much more complicated than what I usually do. I like to keep it simple. Backgrounds are always an option for me, one I avoid at all costs and always have. That's why I gotta make myself work on 'em. I'm using lots of layers here. Starting with simple flat color. Making sure the color composition works first. Will work on each part one at a time, and try to achieve a good sense of depth, color harmony and balance, contrast, and movement.

"Peanuts" greeting cards from the 1960's

My wife's aunt is moving to California and while packing she found a bunch of "Peanuts" greeting cards from the 1960's tucked away in her belongings. She gave them to me. What a treat!

From an illustrator's perspective, look at those backgrounds and fluorescent colors!!
From a fan of "Peanuts" perspective, look how mean Lucy is, even in greeting cards!

Eh.

Here's another drawing gone bad. At the very least, I'm trying to rely too much on Photoshop thingies instead of trying to handle it more like I would with traditional media. But then, I can't paint leaves or grass with a brush and paint, either. The one good thing that came about from this is that I'd like to explore the overexposed sunlight look some more.

The Chase

This sketch was inspired by watching amazing footage of a leopard chasing monkeys from treetop to treetop.

Watercolor sketch

Here's a quick sketch for a project I'm working on.

Ink, watercolor on bristol board

First Tooth

My little girl lost her first tooth today. Very traumatic, as she swallowed it. I can already see what the highlight of tomorrow will be!

Digital Camera.

I'm getting better at "not trusting myself". Even if I've drawn the pose a thousand times, why not take a quick digital shot of the pose and see it for real. I've discovered quite a few things I would have left out. -Wes

Birthday Card

This is a drawing I did for my brother last night.

Lincoln

Stacy inspired me to start doing warm-up sketches again. I was also inspired by this sketch of Lincoln by N.C. Wyeth. For this one, I found a photo on the web of a Lincoln imitator. I did a quick color sketch in ArtRage2. Then I found a real photo of Lincoln to use as a reference to make it look more like him. From there I took it into Photoshop and smoothed it out some with the smudge tool, which I use way too often. About 30 minutes, I guess.

Mister Rogers

"Still Life of Jug"

This still needs a lot of work, but I have no idea how to do it. I always reach that point where I just don't know what else a drawing needs. Luckily, deadlines make that a moot point usually! This was just for fun, though. Although you're right, Stacy, drawing Archie & the gang would be one of my dream jobs... although I'm not sure the page rate is what it once was. But maybe I could be the Alex Ross of Archie Comics. That would be cool.

Warm-up drawing

This was today's warm-up drawing.

Ink, watercolor on Arches CP paper

Jughead

A sketch inspired by a Dan De Carlo cartoon. Trying to get more comfortable sketching on the tablet PC. This was drawn in ArtRage.

Larger than Life Permits

I was looking at an old Bob Montana Archie comic strip. It was 18" wide, and made me think about how I've changed the way I work over the years to accomodate my scanner. Would we be working the same way if our art was sent out and photographed the "old-fashioned" way? Is bigger better? Is it detrimental to our art to work within these false constraints? Makes me envy graffiti artists!

Richie Rich #1

This is the first Richie Rich story published in RR #1. I did not get permission to reproduce these pages here because the publisher no longer exists due to the stupid Harvey brothers. What were you guys thinking? If the faceless corporate entity who owns the rights contacts me, I'll use the opportunity to persuade it to let me start up the comics again for them. The kids need these comics again.

Gasoline Alley

I love this old Sunday strip by Frank King.