Posts

Showing posts from 2011

Happy New Year, 2012!

Image
I got some scratch paper in my stocking again this Christmas. It's awesome stuff! This is one of the drawings I've done with it. I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year.

Season's Greetings 2011!

Image
And to those who don't celebrate Christmas but do celebrate other holidays around this time, happy holidays!

New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Animated Series

There's supposed to be a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series coming to Nickelodeon at some point. It's going to be computer animated. They have a Facebook page for TMNT here . There's also a Tumblr blog for it here . So far, nothing has been done with NinjaTurtles.com. Surely they're going to do something with it. Kevin Eastman is on deviantART, where my gallery is. He's in my "Friends" section. As you might know, he's one of the creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'm more of a traditional cell-animation kind of guy, but the new TMNT series looks pretty good from the pictures they've shown on the Facebook fan page. The weapons are a little different, but it looks like they're basically the same ones they're known for. One of the turtles looks like he's missing a tooth, and Michelangelo is supposedly the smallest one of the group, whereas in previous incarnations the turtles all look to be the same size. I've ...

The Next Issue of The Drawing Board Coming Up, #18

Image
I planned on having the 18th issue of The Drawing Board up last weekend, but I had quite a bit of school work that kept me busy. I'm hoping to have The Drawing Board #18 up some time in the next week. I think I'm going to keep the Christmas theme going since it is of course Christmas and I feel like the comic strip should reflect that. So, stay tuned. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

The Drawing Board #17

Image
The Drawing Board #17 is now up. In this issue, Jack welcomes the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Everybody have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Chow down on some turkey, mashed potatoes, whatever you have for Thanksgiving dinner, and dessert. It's one of the best times of the year!

The Drawing Board #16

Image
The Drawing Board , issue 16, is now up! In this issue, Jack gets excited about one of the best times of the year...Thanksgiving!

How Will Digital Effect Art?

Here's something I started pondering. How will digital effect art? Will there come a time when artists are doing all there art--except for such works as ceramics--on computers? Will we continue to use canvases, paper, etc., despite the growing popularity of digital? If you'd like, you can discuss this topic in the comments section below.

The Wolfman Short Story

Image
I'm currently working on a short story based on the Lon Chaney, Jr. version of The Wolfman . I like the original and the remake (as pictured above), but I was really getting into the classic Universal monster movies last month, so I wanted to do a story based on the original Wolfman . I'm currently in the process of writing the second draft. I read in The Boy Who Loved Batman that one of Michael Uslan's teachers told him to write and rewrite, so that's what I'm doing. I'm trying to perfect the story before I post it. I plan on doing an illustration to accompany the short story. So, I'll have that story up on here sooner or later.

Jack Miller's deviantART Page

Image
Jack Miller has a deviantART page. That's right, Jack Miller, of my comic strip series titled The Drawing Board . There are a few journal posts from him and all my Drawing Board artwork is in his favorites. He posts a journal entry every time there's a new issue of the comic strip. You can check out his deviantART page here .

The Drawing Board #15

Image
The Drawing Board , issue number 15, is now up!

The Drawing Board - Back to Basics

I'm currently working on The Drawing Board , issue number 15. After this issue, the series will return to three panels. I'll be glad to go back to that format. Eight panels are cool, but right now three sounds like more fun to me. Besides, comic strips tend to be three or four panels long in newspapers. I might do four panels sometimes. I might also still do eight panels, once a month. I'm looking forward to going back to basics. See there, I fit the subtitle of the blog post into the body of it!

Frankenstein's Monster

Image
I've been watching Halloween-type movies a lot this October. I've especially been watching a lot of the classic Universal monster movies. My favorite is The Wolfman . I really enjoyed Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein . I watched Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein . I'm planning on watching Dracula , The Mummy , and The Creature from the Black Lagoon next. Those movies are really cool. There are a couple of inconsistencies I've noticed. They don't ruin the movies for me, but I thought they were kind of odd. One was the first transformation scene in The Wolfman . Lawrence Talbot takes off his shirt and has an undershirt on underneath. In the next scene, he's the wolfman, but with a dark, button-up, long-sleeved shirt on. He would have had to have been putting on the dark shirt as he was transforming. In Frankenstein , Henry Frankenstein's fiancee had blond hair, maybe a little shorter than shoulder length. In Bride of Frankenstein, she has long, da...

Jack Miller as a Werewolf

Image
October is here, and that means fall, or autumn, and Halloween. I haven't trick or treated, or put on a costume, since fifth grade. I always really enjoyed Halloween, but now that I don't do that stuff anymore, I celebrate a different way. I watch Halloween-type movies. I watched both the 1958 and 1986 versions of The Fly last weekend. I watched Twilight Zone the Movie Thursday. Last night I watched the original The Wolfman with Lon Chaney, Jr. Tonight I plan on watching The Wolfman remake. I drew this drawing of Jack Miller as a werewolf this week, and today I digitally colored it. I'm hoping to wrap up the date story in issue 16 or 17 of The Drawing Board , and starting on some Halloween-themed issues. Everybody have a happy Halloween!

The Drawing Board #14 is Now Up!

Image
The Drawing Board #14 is now up.

The Drawing Board #14 is Almost Complete!

Image
I'm almost finished with The Drawing Board #14. I think I might have it up in the next few days. I've completed the details, and I've got three panels colored. I figure I'll wrap up the date story in the next one or two issues. I want to get ready for October. I'm thinking of doing Halloween-themed issues next month. I'm also thinking of doing a story focused more on Jack's comic strip. So, that's what's going on with The Drawing Board .

Gnomes are Cool!

Image
My dad likes gnomes, so I drew this picture of one. I also digitally colored it. I found some new options in the tools on my paint shop program, and I tried one on this artwork to give it that lit-from-above background. I didn't get the background as bright as I wanted it, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Brundlefly Rough Sketch

Image
This is my interpretation of the "Brundlefly" creature from the 1986 remake of The Fly . The face off to the right is Seth Brundle in mid-transformation. I know that the Brundlefly creature doesn't have wings in the movie, but I wanted to draw them on him.

The Boy Who Loved Batman

Image
I'm done with the script and layout stages of The Drawing Board number 14. The details are up next, then coloring. So that's what's going on with TDB . I'm currently reading Michael Uslan's book The Boy Who Loved Batman . Michael Uslan has been the producer on all the Batman movies since Batman in 1989. He's a huge lifelong comic book fan. He's taught a college course on comic books at Indiana University. He's Batman comics. He was one of the people at the very first comic book convention, which was in New York. This book really appeals to me as a comic book guy. Also, Michael Uslan getting the 1989 Batman movie made is partly why I'm such a huge comic book fan and Batman fan, and an artist. Comic books, especially the comic book movie Batman of 1989, inspired me to become an artist and pursue art as a career. I'm almost halfway through the book right now. It's a really interesting book, and I recommend it.

Hulk

Image
HULK STAND! Here's Hulk just standing around, looking in front of himself.

Shout, Shout, Let it All Out

Image
This is just something I doodled in my sketchbook and decided to digitally color. The title is a line from Tears for Fears' song "Shout." Here's the music video for the song:

Karen Gordon - Chapter One

Image
Karen Gordon – Chapter 1 By Josh Ralls It was Sunday evening when Karen Gordon’s aunt, also Jack Miller’s mother, called. Mrs. Miller: “Hello, Hon!” Karen: “Hello, Aunt Sarah!” Mrs. Miller: “How are you doing?” Karen: “I’m doing great.” Mrs. Miller: “How’s your job at the museum?” Karen: “It’s great! I love history.” Karen and Mrs. Miller often call each other on the phone and chat. Karen’s father, George, is Mrs. Miller’s brother. The Millers and the Gordons are all very close. They get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. Karen often calls Jack as well, or e-mails him or chats with him online. Mrs. Miller: “Did you know that Jack is working on his own comic book series?” Karen: “Oh yes! He said it was going to be a superhero team comic like Justice League of America or X-Men.” Jack is an artist who does work in comics. He has always been into art, and his family has been very supportive of his talent and his decision to become a graphic artist....

The Drawing Board #13

Image
The thirteenth issue of The Drawing Board is now up!

Art Projects

Image
I've been thinking about ideas for art projects. I'm planning on getting The Drawing Board #13 done and posted on here within this week, or maybe Sunday of next week. I've been wanting to do an artwork as a tribute to our armed forces. I'm also thinking of doing a comic strip about Eliza Dushku. That last idea is inspired by the comics on NataliePortman.com. I'll be posting those artworks as soon as they're completed.

Jennifer Kyle Posing

Image
Jack Miller's girlfriend from my comic strip The Drawing Board . The pose is based on Eliza Dushku's Saturday Night Magazine cover.

Fusion Profile Picture

Image
This is a drawing I did of a Transformers OC (original character) of a friend of mine, KyaValentine, on deviantART. I drew it so that it looked like a profile picture in a computer database, like maybe the autobots or decepticons, or both, keep track of their own and the enemy. Fusion is an autobot. To see Kya's own artworks of her character Fusion, and other great artworks as well, head on over here . Fusion (c) KyaValentine

The Drawing Board #12 Early Debut

Image
I just posted the twelfth issue of The Drawing Board early on here. In the latest issue, Jack and Jennifer make plans to go on a date.

The Drawing Board Stuff

Image
I wrote the script for issue number twelve of The Drawing Board tonight. I'll probably do layouts tomorrow. I plan on having this issue posted Sunday. I'm also working on a spin off in prose form. It will be about Karen Gordon. I'm also thinking about doing some short stories about Avery Ellis. My intent is for the Karen Gordon series to be a once a month thing. However, if I find that it doesn't interfere with The Drawing Board and I can write the stories quickly enough I could do two prose series, each one being one issue a month. But for now, I'm planning on the Karen Gordon series being a monthly thing. I figure prose would be great for her because I've always planned on prolonging not showing her physical appearance to create mystery for her. I'm already working on the first issue, or chapter, or episode. I'm considering calling them chapters or episodes. So, that's where I'm at now with all things The Drawing Board.

Transformers - Lowrider Profile

Image
Name: Lowrider Alliance: Autobot Alt Mode: Black 1973 Chevy Monte Carlo I photoshopped this to look like a blueprint. I'm thinking of tweaking the design at some point. Lowrider is a stealthy transformer.

New Thundercats Show

Image
The old Thundercats show will always be my favorite, but this new one actually looks pretty cool. I get the feeling that this new show would have worked really well as a live-action theatrical release. I hope Panthro's not really dead in this show. Mumm-Ra was in his regular form and he didn't seem like the weakling he was in that form on the original show, all bandages and a red cloak and hunched over looking like he could croak at any minute. They talk about thundercats in the past defeating Mumm-Ra and, although I'm sure it's not the case, it seems like those thundercats Claudus spoke of could have been the ones on the original show, if their descendants named their children after them, or something like that. So, if you're not happy with Thundercats being remade, you could use your imagination and picture it like that. This new Thundercats show seems really cool. I look forward to future episodes.

Grant Morrison Says We Should Emulate Superman

Image
I thought this was an interesting article. Grant Morrison talks about how we should emulate comic book superheroes like Superman with values like honesty and integrity.

The Drawing Board #11

Image
The eleventh issue of The Drawing Board is now up. Check it out right below the banner/header.

Captain America: the First Avenger

Image
My dad and I saw Captain America: the First Avenger at the theater, and it was FREAKING AWESOME!!! It's very true to the comics. I thought the way Chris Evans portrayed Captain America was great. I like the kind of character that Cap is. I like that he's in the tradition of the old school heroes around that time. Cap had such a great spirit even as scrawny Steve Rogers. The rest of the cast was great too. It was cool to see Tommy Lee Jones in it. Hayley Atwell was beautiful and intriguing as Peggy Carter. Bucky and Howard Stark were cool. The rest of the supporting cast were great as well. Joe Johnston has a knack for period movies, having directed The Rocketeer and The Wolfman remake. He really captured the spirit of the era. This was an amazing movie! By the way, I suggest that you stay after the credits. Some people left during the credits. I was, and I think the rest of the people who stayed were, aware that there would be a trailer for The Avengers movie after the cred...

The Drawing Board: Misheard Lyrics

Image
I present to you a Drawing Board short story. The Drawing Board: Misheard Lyrics By Josh Ralls Jack Miller and his cousin Karen Gordon are chatting online about misheard lyrics. A goofy conversation is taking place. Jack: Hi, Karen! What up? Karen: Hi, Jack! Not much. Jack: I’ve been thinking about misheard lyrics. You know “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, right? Karen: Yeah. Jack: There’s a part where she says something about gloss. It sounds to me like “Gribble grass a glibble gloss.” I have no idea what she’s really saying. Karen: Lol. I never noticed that. Jack: In Jordon Sparks’ song “Battlefield”, she’s saying “Better go and get your armor.” However, I think it sounds like “Better go gitcharama.” Karen: “Gitcharama?” Jack: Yeah. Another one is Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s song “Blinded by the Light” has lyrics that sound like “Blinded by the light, roll up bobba doosha, ‘nother roner in the night.” However, it’s actually “revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night.” Karen: ...

The Drawing Board #11 - the Final Steps

Image
This weekend, I drew the guidelines for each panel in The Drawing Board number 11. The last two steps are to draw the details and then color it. The 11th issue continues the storyline of Jack working on his own comic book series.

New Blog Design!

Image
I hadn't thought about mentioning it on my last post, but I changed my blog design yesterday. You have to scroll down towards the bottom to get a really good look at the background, but I put a variety of artworks of mine on it to show what kind of things I can do. I also made a new banner/header. I thought the cartoon image of me was fitting since I have my ongoing comic strip series The Drawing Board now. Speaking of that, I've got the layouts done and I think the next step will be the final draft of that issue. So, watch for that.

Jennifer Kyle (New Look)

Image
I decided to give Jennifer Kyle, from my comic strip titled The Drawing Board , a new outfit. I think this makes more sense because most of the characters are wearing short-sleeve, or sleeveless, shirts. In Fact, Avery Ellis is the only one wearing long sleeves, but then that's pretty much standard with business suits. I also gave Jennifer wavy hair, which I think looks great on her. The next time Jennifer appears in an issue of The Drawing Board , she'll look like this.

The Drawing Board #11 - Layouts

Image
I'm going to be doing layouts soon for The Drawing Board #11. I've got the script all written. I was thinking of doing a monthly spin off of The Drawing Board if I'm not too busy with the main series. I think I would do one issue per month. It would be in the three-panel style. The spin off would focus more on one of the supporting characters or one of the main characters other than Jack. I consider Jack, Jennifer and Matt the three main characters, maybe Violet as the fourth. The whole series mainly centers around Jack. It's about a guy, Jack, who makes a living as an artist. I'm keeping it in mind in case I decide I want to do The Drawing Board and another shorter comic. I don't think I'm completely set on doing The Drawing Board in the Sunday comics format from now on, but I'm giving it a try for now and I'll see how it goes. I plan on having The Drawing Board #11 finished soon and then getting back to the weekly schedule, so stay tuned.

The Drawing Board #11 Progress

Image
I think I've got an ending for The Drawing Board 11. I'll write that out and then get started on the visuals. I've been on a break from the series, but after this issue I think I'm going to get back into posting weekly.

Cartoon Self Portrait 2

Image
This is another cartoon self portrait I drew. I scanned it and digitally colored it.

The Eleventh Issue of The Drawing Board Coming Up

Image
I started writing the eleventh issue of The Drawing Board last night. This one continues the subject of Jack working on his own comic book series. I was thinking of continuing the Sunday comics format, and the process on this one is a little different from the usual. I'm starting out by writing a script. I worked up until panel six last night and figured I should have some humor within the next three panels. There wasn't really any in the previous ones, unless one or both of the characters makes a goofy face or something like that. So, I'll have to figure out where to go from there. I thought about taking a hiatus from the comic strip, and in fact I had skipped posting an issue Sunday. However, I started thinking about what I could do for the next issue and I ended up working on a script for it. I'm not sure if I'm going to get that issue done by Sunday. If not I might try for next Sunday or maybe the middle of next week. So, I'll be working on that. Stay tuned...

Goofy Smurf

Image
Goofy Smurf is a smurf I created. He's a wacky smurf. He's kind of a geek. If I were to compare him to another cartoon character, it would be Pinky of Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs. I created a transformer, so I thought I'd try creating a smurf, and this is what I came up. I figured he'd be a cool character.

Fastback Rough Concept

Image
Here's a rough concept drawing of a transformer I created. His name is Fastback, and he's an autobot. He can disguise himself as a 1970 Ford Mustang Fastback, hence the name Fastback. His weapon on his left arm is a set of rotating blades formed from the louver on the back window of his Mustang form. A friend of mine on deviantART named Liz, a.k.a. KyaValentine, created some transformers. So, I thought I'd give it a try. There has been a Mustang transformer named Barricade. He was the decepticon in the first live-action movie who could transform into a Mustang police car. I thought it would be cool if there was an transformer on the side of good, the autobots, who could transform into a Mustang, and an older one at that. I think it's pretty cool. I may try to do another drawing of him, a neater one. I'd like to do a more realistic looking drawing of him. This one is kind of cartoony. So, I may try that at some point and see how it goes.

In Memory of Max

Image
The tenth issue of The Drawing Board is now up. Normally, I just post a blog entry to announce the new issue. This time, however, I wanted to pay tribute to a family member who passed away this weekend. I posted this about him on Facebook Saturday: "We lost a member of the family this morning. Max was a tough little peach faced lovebird with attitude, but he was also a sweet bird. He was curious and energetic. We'd had him since the mid '90s. He lived years and years longer than the average peach faced lovebird. We think that was especially because of the love and care that my sister Brandy gave him. He loved her like she was his mother. We all loved him. There will never be another like him. May rest in peace. May God pamper him in Heaven as much as Brandy did down here."

Cat, Clock, Fruit

Image
I was thinking about something to post on here, and I realized I hadn't posted this yet. I had blogged about it, but I hadn't shown it on here yet. This was my entry for the Fotolia contest on deviantART awhile back. Basically you had to put a cat, a clock, and a fruit together in one picture in anyway you choose. You could draw it or paint it or whatever. Making photomanipulations was kind of new to me, so I thought I'd do one for the contest. I decided to do something really random and off the wall, and this is what I came up with. I didn't win, but it was cool to try.

Sean Penn

Image
This is a picture I drew of actor Sean Penn. I wanted to post more artwork in this area of my blog site like I used to, and this seemed like a good drawing to post. For awhile I hadn't posted much artwork in this area because I was really focused on my comic strip. Oddly, I was trying to think of stuff to draw other than my comic strip and I had a hard time with that. It was like I had partial artist's block. I think the artist's block is gone now though. In other news, I've seen stuff for Green Lantern: the Animated Series . I'm personally more of a traditional cell animation kind of guy. I'm generally not that into computer animation, although there have been some cool computer-animated works. This GL series is computer animated, and it looks really cool. The animation seems very rich. It's got good coloring, shading, etc. I'm looking forward to it. It will be on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network's site has a page for the show. There's not much ...

The Drawing Board News

I plan on having the tenth issue of The Drawing Board up on the coming Sunday. It will be in Sunday comics format. There will be eight panels, as opposed to the usual three.

Green Lantern's Brightest Day in the Movies (UPDATED)

Here's another article about the Green Lantern movie. It tells about how, despite that the movie didn't do as well at the box office as expected, there's still hope for sequels. I still think the first movie was amazing! UPDATE: Here's another interesting article, this one on how Green Lantern is actually a lot better than the news would have you believe, and how there's still a chance for it to be generally considered hit.

GREEN LANTERN!!!

My dad and I just saw the Green Lantern movie and it's FREAKING AWESOME!!! I can pretty much always tell if I'll like a movie before I even see it, just by watching the commercials. It exceeded my expectations. I know that there have been some negative reviews. Reviews are opinions, and I usually never agree with them anyway. Reviews, that is. My advice is to go see it for yourself. I personally think it's one of the best superhero movies, or comic book movies, or movies in general, that I've ever seen in my entire life. What's most important to me is whether I personally like it (and in fact I LOVE it), just as what's probably most important to you is whether you personally like it. My dad liked it too. He said it was more exciting than the Thor movie. All that being said, I hope more people will go see it and appreciate it, and that it will do extremely well at the box office. It's only been out for four days, so there's probably still time for it to...

Movies.com: A Fan's Take on 'Green Lantern' And What Non-Fans Don't Get

Movies.com: A Fan's Take on 'Green Lantern' And What Non-Fans Don't Get

The Next Issue of the Drawing Board

I'm taking my time with the tenth issue of my comic strip series The Drawing Board . Since this is the first time I've done a Sunday comics style comic strip, I'm taking my time to make sure I do a good job on it. This comic strip series is like a training experience for me. I haven't done complete comics since fifth or sixth grade. I've done a first draft of it. Once I've finished and posted issue number ten, If I choose to continue with this format I plan to have each issue posted regularly. I'm proud to have gotten to this point with my comic strip, going on ten issues.

The Drawing Board 9

The ninth issue of The Drawing Board is now up! In this issue, Jack tries to find his way through darkness.

The Drawing Board 10th Issue and Other Projects

The tenth issue of The Drawing Board is coming up, after this week's issue. I'm thinking of doing the tenth issue in Sunday comics format. I plan to have Jack start working on his own comic book series. He's worked on other series, but he has done his own yet. This will be an ongoing thing. I think the tenth issue will be the start of that. I'm also going to do probably a one-page comic telling the origin of The Golden Avenger. He's the character I entered in the Talenthouse contest for The Stan Lee Foundation. I've never really given him an origin and I think this would be a good way to do it. Another thing I want to do is rewrite one of my short stories and post it on here. I've got a couple and I might post both of them, but I want to do rewrites first. They're horror stories and they're kind of like the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Evil Dead movies where you have a hero fighting supernatural beings. Those are my plans. I've also...

The Drawing Board Cast (Updated)

Image
I thought it would be cool to put all of my character designs for my comic strip, titled The Drawing Board , into one picture. I just posted the eighth issue Sunday. I'll be coming up on the tenth issue after the next one. I'm really proud of this comic strip and what I've done with it. I hadn't done a lot of comics since elementary school. Back then, they were usually a page or more long, and they didn't have much dialogue. They mostly had action. I think Jim Davis' Garfield comic strip was part of what inspired me to take on the job of making a once a week comic strip. Garfield is a daily comic strip. I figured I'd start out doing my comic strip once a week and then maybe eventually I'd work up to a daily strip like him. I think Christopher Hart's book, titled Cartooning for Beginners , was helpful in my developing the right style for The Drawing Board . I was originally considering doing it in a more realistic style, but I felt like it wasn't...

The DC Comics Relaunch

DC Comics is relaunching their titles. When I first saw the news about it, I wasn't too thrilled. I thought that the DC Universe would be highly unrecognizable. I became more optimistic about it thought. I've seen the previews for it. It actually doesn't seem as drastic a change as I thought. If you go on DC Comics and go to their blog, which is also in my links, they've been posting covers and descriptions for the relaunches of each title. Each title will get a new issue number one. One thing I like about it, and I'm not the only one, is that there will once again be only one Batman. It will be interesting to see Batman team up with the new Robin, his son Damien. I think the only Batman he'd been partnered with before was the Dick Grayson Batman. I mean, he had more or less worked with the Bruce Wayne batman, but Damien wasn't officially Robin then. Dick Grayson will bill Nightwing again, with a black and red costume. The new costumes for the characters act...

The Drawing Board 8

The eighth issue of The Drawing Board is up now. In this issue, Jack's boss Avery Ellis makes his first appearance, and they discuss the next issue of the comic Jack works on.

The Drawing Board 7

The seventh issue of The Drawing Board is up now. In it, I wish everyone "a great, and safe, Memorial Day weekend."

The Drawing Board 6

The newest installment of my comic strip titled The Drawing Board is up on here and my deviantART page.

The Thor Movie

My dad and I saw Thor at the theater. It's a great movie. Thor is awesome beyond words! I figured Thor would be especially great with Kenneth Branagh directing, and it is. I won't give anything away in case you haven't seen it yet, but I think it's one of the best Marvel Comics movies, and comic book movies in general, ever. I think I might do a Thor drawing soon.

Cartoon Self Portrait

Image
Here's a cartoon self portrait I drew recently. I previously drew myself in cartoon form in a few artworks. I've been drawing myself with my eyes showing through the lenses of my glasses. With this one I decided to simplify the glasses and just draw pupils on the lenses. I really like the way I'd drawn that part of my cartoon self previously, but this is simpler and more cartoony. It's something for me to think about.

Cosplayers Aiding Japan

Adam Hughes has posted a journal entry on his deviantART page about cosplayers doing a calendar for 2012 with proceeds going to Japan Disaster Relief. To find out more, go to his journal entry, "Cosplayers 4 A Cause" (sic), here .

The Drawing Board Poster

Image
Here's a poster design for The Drawing Board , my comic strip. If you've seen the character designs, then you know who's who. If not, here's who's who. The left side from top to bottom is Jack Miller, Avery Ellis and Matt Kirby. The one in the middle is me. The right side from top to bottom is Jennifer Kyle, Karen Gordon and Violet.

Help for Colorist Moose Baumann

I thought I'd pass this on from David Williams, a.k.a BroHawk on deviantART. Comic book colorist Moose Bauman needs help. Find out more here .

The Drawing Board 5

The fifth installment of The Drawing Board is now up on here and on my deviantART page.

Frontierville Horse

Image
This is my entry for Frontierville's "Design a Horse Contest." As you may know, Frontierville is a game on Facebook. My sister brought this contest to my attention, and I did the design for it that you see above. I thought about making the horse green with the peace sign, but I thought that would be too wild for Frontierville. Farmville has had pink cows and green cows, but Frontierville's animals haven't had those kinds of color schemes for their animals. I thought the peace sign would be an interesting touch. If you're interested in entering the contest, it's on the Frontierville forum .

The Drawing Board 4

The fourth installment of my comic strip series titled The Drawing Board is now up on here and on my deviantART page.

The Drawing Board 3

The third installment of my comic strip series titled The Drawing Board is now up on here and on my deviantART page.

The Punisher Skull

Image
My sister made some decorations for my birthday using a machine that makes cutouts of silhouettes. One of the things she made was of The Punisher symbol. It already looked cool, but I photoshopped it, and I think this looks cool too. I like how the skull has a metallic look to it. My sister made the cutout of The Punisher skull with a foil-like paper, which has adhesive on the back. She put that on a black paper circle. The paper is more or less like you'd use for a scrapbook. It's one of my favorite decorations she made. Below is a picture of the decoration.

The Drawing Board 2

The second comic in my comic strip series, The Drawing Board , is now up on here and my deviantART page. You can check out the comic above this blog post.

Queen Contest on Talenthouse

Queen has a contest on the Talenthouse site for people to design a t-shirt for it. I would really appreciate it if you would vote for my entry in the contest. You can go here to vote.

The Drawing Board Debut

As you can see, the first strip in my comic strip series, The Drawing Board, is up here on my art blog.

My Comic Strip Series

I plan on debuting my new comic strip series this Sunday on here, as well as on deviantART. It's a three panel strip, and I plan on posting a new one every Sunday. This comic strip features the characters I've been blogging about on here, such as Jack Miller, Matt Kirby, Jennifer Kyle, etc. It will be right below the banner/header on here, and I'm thinking of putting it above my "Newest Deviations" section on my deviantART page. I'll archive the comic strips in a category in my gallery on there. You can go to my deviantART page by clicking on the link to the right. If you're interested, check out the first comic strip this weekend.

The Golden Avenger Powers Up

Image
Awhile back I entered a superhero I created in a contest by The Stan Lee Foundation. This is that character, The Golden Avenger. This is another drawing of that character. This one features him floating in the sky and powering up the energy in his hands that he fires blasts of. This is the second major drawing I've done of this character, and I'm sure I'll have more to come. I experimented with "Kirby dots/Kirby krackle" on this for that energy.

Karen Gordon

Image
This character is inspired by gimmicks (and I mean that in a good way) on TV shows like, for example, Wilson on Home Improvement . Wilson entire face wasn't shown on the sitcom, which starred comedian Tim Allen, until the closing credits of the final episode of the show. Throughout the show Wilson's top or bottom half of his face would be covered by something, or as in Halloween episodes, his face would be completely covered by something like makeup. I'm thinking of having Jack usually talk to her by e-mail or phone, or something like that. Karen, a high school friend of Jack's, will basically be a voice or text throughout the comic strip. At some point I might reveal what she looks like. I might do that before, and if, the comic strip ends. It depends on when I feel like it's more beneficial to the strip to have her seen and not just heard, or read. Like Violet only being referred to by her first name, for now I'm keeping what Karen looks like a mystery to crea...