What else have I missed?

That's right, it's Spring Break.Sadly, for my wife, her break isn't until the end of April. That's great for me though because I can sit around and draw all day! Here's what I did today...

Now I realize I've been out of the comic book world for a few years. I'm  catching up and finding cool things I can rent from the library for free. In doing this I stumbled upon "The Umbrella Academy," written by Gerard Way and drawn by Gabriel Ba. I'll admit the story was a little strange and the story was a little broken up at times, but I liked the overall idea and characters. Besides, it had a character with a gorilla body and human head! How could I not like that???

Here's a progression of Spaceboy.

He was a lot of fun to draw. I wish I had made his gorilla body larger and more exaggerated.

Anybody out there have suggestions for other cool books I might have missed in the last five years?

Here's a Visual Journal from last week. The OCB is my usual choice for a birthday dinner. Pure gluttony.My wife likes to make fun of me because everything on my plate always seems to be brown or yellow.

Coffee...

This is no joke, even though it was very funny. It shot out three feet to my left and right and blew into my coffee cup just as hard making it shot up. It was insane. Luckily I still had a lot left I could drink. I know I'm not making a great sales pitch, but the thing is awesome. You never have to worry about it spilling because of the quick release button. I just have to figure out how to open and pour it without so much drama.

Added another layer.

Gorilla in the Works...

The first gorilla I did practically last year and never felt like I finished it. Time to go back and rework it. Experiment with layering watercolor.

 The original.

Some color added last night.

Some more color added today.

I'm going to keep adding and take it past that finished point on purpose. I never know when to stop and usually stop way a head of when I should.

A New Header...

It's time for a new header. Tomorrow is the start of a new year and some new resolutions. More about that tomorrow. One more night to live in sin.

Hanging with the Family...

 Some drawings I did while up at my parents' house for the last couple days. My brother had his birthday on the 29th too. My brother, my wife, and I played "Wheel of Fortune" on the Wii. Tons of fun.

Gorilla vs. T-Rex...

Here are a couple quick sketches and random doodles as I decided what I wanted to do for my lithography print.

This is the final image. My wife thinks I should open the T-Rex's mouth a little bit more and get rid of the floppy tongue hanging out. I tend to agree. What do you think?

For the ladies...

Well, Ma. I finally finished that picture for you. Hope you like it! I took it from a sketch I did a long time ago. Love ya!
Here is the second, of a dozen flowers, my wife will be getting. Love ya!

Another weekend, come and gone...

This will be for my visual journal. I drew this Friday night as my wife and I enjoyed a relaxing evening in, watching T.V. Often she'll sit on the couch, with her computer, as we're watching. I'm so use to drawing from pictures, but I drew this one as we were both sitting. I'm done inking, but will still watercolor.

A work in progress. Still going to try layering, especially on the gorilla to see how dark I can get. Will also ink the gorilla a bit once I'm done watercoloring.

Mom's picture...

Another quick sketch of possible picture for my Ma.

It's almost here...

Alterra Trip...

Exploring a couple ideas for my mom's picture.

Water colored a couple old drawings.

Observations of people at Alterra. I've been reading Chris Ware's sketchbooks lately and have been modeling mine after him a little bit.

Fooled...

Gorilla me...

Christine: You should have drawn the kids as kittens.
Me: But kittens aren't kittenly. Squirrels are squirrelly.
Christine: Groan.

Whoops...

I knew it would happen eventually, but I was really hoping I would escape it. I was trying to watch "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and write in pen a the same time. Didn't work. Messed up and completely wrote the wrong thing. I'll have to try and fix it tomorrow.

Didn't mess this one up. Will water color tomorrow.

It's fun drawing myself as some huge hulking gorilla when in actuality I'm one of the frailest, skinniest runners around.

Comic Book Class...

Today we had to create a short comic in class showing one of the six panel transitions that Scott McCloud outlined in his book "Understanding Comics." The first is scene-to-scene. I think. The second is action-to-action. We had about 2 hours to complete this. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The backgrounds need some work though.

Page 1













Page 2













More talk and thoughts about "American Born Chinese" by Gene Luen Yang. Cool book. The question we had to think about tonight was, "What would Jin be doing post high school?"

Watercolor...

Same things from yesterday. Just went back and watercolored them.

One Year Anniversary...

It's hard to believe our one year wedding anniversary has already arrived. Time flew! It was a great year for the gorilla and bee. I can't wait to see what happens during the next year!







Some drawing of Emma and "Chins." I wish I had scanned the cat on the left before I had inked it. I drew it weeks ago and it looked horrible. Was able to save it somewhat today even though the proportions are a bit off.

Long time coming...

It's been a long time coming, but I finally created a title picture. It doesn't fit quite right, but I'm not sure how to fix it at the moment. I'll worry about that later.

Warning: It's a sappy one...

This drawing may not seem to match what I wrote about, but it does. I wore my gorilla suit at the wedding. No, not the whole time. Just to one song, Phil Collins, "Groovy Kind of Love." Somehow it all made sense that night.

Gorillas...

The Bee and Gorilla Story.

My wife, Christine, drew the bee. I drew the gorillas.