Snyde Remarks

A Little More on My First Gallery Show (Prints Available)

2011-10-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: A little piece of virtual press about the show.

I recently was asked by good friends who were moving from L.A. to Seattle to open a new art gallery if I would be interested in doing a piece for their grand opening show. I jumped at the chance as I have been interested in trying out the gallery thing for some time and of course, I wanted to help my friends in their exciting new endeavor any way I could. A VERY busy & hectic work schedule at my awesome new job (which I'll go into more detail on soon) prevented me from having the time to do an actual, "REAL" painting, but I was able to sneak in a little time to whip up a decent little digital piece in the form of "SkeleTotoro" that I've already shared here on the blog.

The fine folks over at the gallery managed to find the time during their extremely busy grand opening weekend to scan, photograph & post all of the pieces online along with the ability to purchase both original pieces of artwork & prints for all of the pieces that were in the show. You can view the entire catalog HERE.

And if you were interested in owning SkeleTotoro prints, you can go here directly.

(*note that there is a typo, and the prints are actually 11 x 17)

Unfortunately I was unable to make the trip up to Seattle to be at the show in person, but I'm humbled to be in the mix with such a talented group of artists & really enjoyed all of the other pieces. The show will be up until November 21, so if you are in the area or visiting during this time, you should definitely plan a trip over to Ltd. Gallery, which is located in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle:

307 E Pike St

 Seattle, WA 98122

The gallery has already asked me to be in their next show sometime in December which will be Star Wars themed, so look for a brand new Chewie piece (or pieces) to appear just in time for the holidays. Currently I'm thinking of doing several small original paintings on wood panels which I will also scan in order to make prints available.

Thanks for all of the continued support and encouragement!

  -Clarke

POP! Goes the SkeleTotoro This Friday.

2011-10-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

Meet SkeleTotoro!  Digital-11 x 17 piece I created for my first ever gallery show that opens this Friday, Oct 21 Ltd. Art Gallery Grand Opening Event: POP! The Art of Pop Culture

If you or someone you are loosely acquainted with is in the Seattle area you should go check out the awesome grand opening show of my friends great new gallery this weekend. I somehow managed to convince him to hang a piece of MY artwork in it.

Unfortunately I'm unable to make the trip up to Seattle to be at the show in person, but I'm humbled to be in the mix with such a talented group of artists & can't wait to see all of the other pieces. Also, I think there's going to be another show in December that's Star Wars themed, so look for a brand new Chewie piece to appear just in time for the holidays.

Butterfly Queen

2011-08-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

My oldest niece's Birthday is this Saturday & she asked for a "Beautiful Butterfly" for this years card/gift art.

Did I succeed guys?

Guess Who's BACK???

2011-08-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

Yup... the obsession with this dude continues. Expect more Soon(ish).

Yup, I'm still at least marginally obsessed with Chewbacca, so expect more of this type of thing.

Just a quick Digital painting/comp that I did in about 2-3 hours from scratch with no sketch or real plan of attack other than, "I'm gonna paint a Chewie for a friends Birthday gift."

Stylistically, it's a bit different, so um, yeah... What do you think?

Shark Week!

2011-08-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yay that my wife's Birthday is always on Shark week and she actually loves Hammerheads!

These are fun times we live in people.

Happy Birthday Baby!

2011-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

That is all.

For now.

Gesture Time!

2011-08-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been studying gesture drawing with Mark McDonnell at AAI for almost two full terms now and finding it immensely helpful, exciting and fun! I feel like taking these classes has really helped me to make some good solid strides in my work overall and I look forward to continuing to take more classes for as long as humanly possible.

Here's a healthy batch of randomly selected, non-photoshop embellished examples that I've been rather pleased with. I plan to take many of these further and clean-up, color, etc in the not-so-distant future times.

Expect more posts like these in the future as I get around to scanning the piles upon piles of drawings I seem to generate after each new session.

*Generally these are all short poses ranging from 2-5 minutes long with a costumed/themed model. No real Backdrop or "setting" though there are often props. Though many times, as Mark rightfully encourages, I step outside or above and beyond the costume, theme and props and make up my own stories to accompany the specific poses.

I LIKE it Spicy.

2011-07-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

I don't always just do silly and/or sweet card artwork for people. Sometimes I like to try and bring the "funny" like in this ridiculous little comic strip I did for the family's favorite neighborhood mailman.

I like the way this came out and want to try more of these little, short form stories & gags.

She Seems a Lil' "Off" To Me

2011-07-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back in my gesture drawing class, the model didn't show up and so we had to wait, and wait... and WAIT while not a whole lot happened and the instructor did his best to fill time with some demos and lecturing. ME, being the daydreaming juvenile delinquent that I am, just used the time to doodle away helplessly, and this creepy(ish) little lady magically appeared on the paper under my nose.Not an ENTIRE waste of time I guess?

Is there anybody out there?

2011-07-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

Part of me wonders if I haven't neglected this blog so long as to alienate any of the small number of followers & regular visitors I once enjoyed, and maybe I should just delete it and start fresh, or on Tumblr.

Thoughts, opinions, anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Poor poor neglected blog o' mine. Sorry pal.

In the meantime... Here's a little somethin' fer yer troubles.

Sorry also that this all-to-infrequent post is nothing more exciting than just a few more pieces of gift/card art. I have some other non-card/gift art stuffs that I will share, I just need to wade through and prep for posting. Let's see how the rest of the day goes...

Baby Steps.

Let's at least start this off with some of the more recent & better of the bunch.

My Nieces' 2nd Birthday-I decided to do a little painting of her in her favorite outfit-Ballerina-Fairy Cowgirl with hair-do.

Next up is a little card I whipped up for a talented artist friend who seems to dig the ginger-headed, scantily-clad gladiator-ess type ladies (with sexy short hair). After a few drinks he seemed to enjoy it well enough.

Next up... Father's Day! Here's the cards I frantically dashed off with my limited time and skills for my Dad (who proves that owners do indeed begin to resemble their pets after a while) and my Father-in-Law (a good-natured and fun loving mailman who isn't this grossly disfigured in real life.)

Mother's Day for the Mother-In-Law. My own Mother's card came out so louse I don't dare post it here. (yes, I'm a horrible person and an even worse son.)

My Step-Mother's Birthday, so she got the obligatory caricature of one of her dog's as my brains were scrambled and I couldn't think of anything more enthralling.

And... last but certainly NOT least, my Nephew's Birthday card. It was really great to hear that he was super into Mario Bros. this year. So I got all geekily excited and knew just what sort of card to make for him, right? Well it WOULDA been, if some idiot artist didn't flop the iconic color scheme on Mario's fancy coverall pajama's. Even WITH reference right under his nose... FAIL! Despite my expecting that said Nephew would instantly zero in on this as he is a real stickler for such detail. Nothing, He loved it. So, um... *SUCCESS! (*mild flavor)

Okay, thats it for this initial post. I have some other stuff to share and maybe you can help me decide which I should go for next. Huh... Huh? Whaddaya Say?

Soooo, would you like to see:

Gesture Drawings (I've been taking classes)?

Failed Character Design Test for super-cool cartoon show?

Random-Ass Sketchies?

Failed Storyboard Test(s)?

Mystery dung bag?

The fate of this blog is in your hands. Choose wisely.

-C

Oops!

2010-11-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Some (not-so-recent-ish) gift card art stylings I forgot or never got around to posting before. I forget?

-Enjoy!

What is this... the Hall-Mart blog?

2010-07-22T11:01:00.001-07:00

yeah yeah... I know. Not much to see here aside from my continuing adventures in failure at gift/card artwork lately. Sorry if that doesn't float your boat, but I'm enjoying it & the struggles for the most part. I also don't have time for much else these days since the homework from my awesome Storyboarding class at AAI w/ Karl Gnass is keeping me quite busy (and fulfilled). Someday I will get around to more & different sort of posts. Well if everyone would stop having friggin' Birthdays and bat-mitzvahs that is ;)

*Bigfoot vs Chewie Birthday Card:

*Bigfoot vs Chewie (alt pose/layout sketch)

*My Niece's First Birthday Card (she had a ladybug theme)

*Bonus sketches of random & increasingly weirder ladybug type things

*Extreme, bonus failure-front cover illo (from same card) This is why I shouldn't attempt semi-realistic portraiture of loved ones... not in a rush anyways! Luckily my sister has a well-rounded sense of humor, as this looks NOTHING like my niece.

Continued Chew-tas-mic Cartoonies & Yet Another Card

2010-07-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Still taking a crack at the occasional Chewie and have been meaning (i.e. forgetting) to share these here on the blog. So before I forget yet again...

And now for a word from our sponsor...

Thank you, please enjoy the rest of your program without further commercial interruption.

The gift that keeps on giving...

2010-06-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

... and giving

*This is the front of a B-day card for my Lil' Sis... I'm trying to polish my pretty much non-existent watercolor skills/experience, and this is only about the third or fourth watercolor I've ever attempted, so I was trying to work more slowly, cleaner & simpler. All in all I think it worked aside from a few REALLY yucky crap parts (candle anyone?)

*And here's some custom interior lettering from the same card where I thought turned out well enough to share.

And GIVING!!! ;)

*This one's a Father's Day card for my Pap (done prior to the piece above)... I told myself when I started painting this one that I was going to keep it nice, clean & simple. Going slowly & taking my time so as to not have it get all muddy and poopy... FAIL!

*And just for the hell of it... here's the original quick & dirty sketch I did when planning out the card concept. I ultimately abandoned this since, though funny, it would have been a nightmare to do as a watercolor. Until I get much better anyways.

Seems that I've been doing more & more pieces of gift art for people lately & I'm finding that I really enjoy it! (despite the implied sarcasm above.)

I've decided that no one's ever going to get a bought/manufactured card anymore, and also that I will try and do some sort of small, custom piece of hand-made artwork as a gift for as many folks as humanly possible from here on out.

It's been fun and rewarding so far, and keeps me working at new ideas, practicing techniques and all sorts of other stuff too. I typically try and somehow work my own sensibilities & interests with the recipient so that the end piece works well for all and perhaps goes in the trusty portfolio.

Mostly, these are small (4X6 or under) mainly using watercolor, but with some additional marker-age and pencil poop tossed in for good measure.

How do these look color/value wise to all of you?

Doing these and trying to get the scans to closely match color, value, texture, etc has been a struggle and makes me realize it's likely time to invest in a new scanner and monitor as soon as possible. Need to land a new job or at least some well-paying freelance first.

Hope you dig, and I'll try and post some additional, non-gift art the next time around.

Hot-cha-cha

2010-06-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Just an assorted lot of sketches and finished pieces that were done recently as greeting cards that I've whipped up for family & friends type folks whilst staying indoors & immobile for the past week plus recovering from an especially nasty sunburnt.

"Hot Pepper" card - front (markers)

Interior of "Hot Pepper" card

*Screwed up the beard and it looks more like a tutu here-yikes!

Some studies and sketches for the "Hot Pepper" card.

"MOM-Cat" card - front (markers)

This was my original sketch/study and I wanted to use it as a small interior illo, but time got the best of me.

Studies and sketches for the "MOM-Cat" card.

I much prefer the more naturally "retarded" look to the cat head "O" here to what I ended up with on the final. Cripes!

Some random small card experiments done in marker that I wont say much about. Not just yet anyways. But perhaps you'll enjoy them nonetheless.

And just to round it all out... a special super weird & wonky post-it.

More soon!

Chew-tas-mic!

2010-05-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Seems the Chewie head from the previous post was marginally popular, which made me want to do a full-body version based on the head design. However, that actually hasn't happened... Not just yet anyways :)

But it did get our good ol' Wookie pal firmly lodged in my head and so I've been finsing myself sketching LOTS of random Chewies lately. Here's a few initial/rough sketches and designs for a whole assorted selection of Chewies. A "Chew-gasm" if you will...

"Night of the Living Dead" or "Hilbilly Zombie" Chewie (Still undecided which is better?)

Based on a fantastic discussion on this piece with a friend, it was decided that this homemade, 2x4 Bowcaster uses porcelain Jesus figurines as ammo-Feet first, so as to be more sharp when piercing the skulls & hearts of the undead.

Then we have... "German Disco" Chewie

Or... what if, Han & Chewie came from a a galaxy NOT so far away? Say, like Deutschland? I think if/when I work on this one, I'll have to explore Han & some other characters as German disco-types. I already have a few SUPER silly ideas.

"Super-Deformed" Chewie

"Xtra Dooper-Super Deformed" Chewie

"Chew-Box-A"

And I leave you with my personal favorite (so far)...

"Chewie Licks the Empire"

This one just developed rather naturally in front of my eyes as I sketched on a lazy Saturday afternoon over coffee and blustery sunshine. The drawing is decent and all of the main structure to tie it together as a solid illustration are here, which likely means this will be the first one I dive into when I have time to break out the ink & paints. Wish me luck!

Ultimately, my goal is to refine most, if not all of these into finished/colored designs and illustrations. Seems like good fuel for further paintings, as I REALLY want to get back to doing more of that sorta thing. Though working on a complete portfolio & website re-vamp is taking up the majority of my time and energy these days. But hopefully it'll pay off and be worth it.

Here's a super-secret bonus page of exploratory roughness and non-sensical note-taking for further Chewie goodness that is yet to come.

Hope you enjoy them. I get the feeling I still haven't gotten all the Wookie out of my system yet either, so expect more.

It's not all, 100% uncut Chewie lately though, and here's an extra little bonus sketch to prove it.

-Mwwwwarrrr for now!!!

Because it's Star Wars Day ur Sumthin'?

2010-05-04T18:19:00.001-07:00

Quick lil' Micro-update...

...may the Fourth be with you.

*and a super secret bonus sneak peek at something I've got swimming 'round the ol' noggin' that I hope to get ready as part of a little Comic-Con give-away.

More soon!

Embrace the Randomnality of Your Existence!

2010-04-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today, if you'd so kindly patronize me, I'd like to take you on a fun little guided jaunt through Randomville. Hurry along now and don't fret... I'll have you home in time for supper.

...First we have a fine, rare specimen from parts unbeknown

... then, while en route to our next fabulous destination, we pass by a motley crew of interesting ol' chaps.

Now we are exploring world famous, Collaboration St. , whereby someone, who dared ask to remain unidentifiable, scribbled some fancy doodles of cats we both know all too well. Doodles which she refused to allow me to share, and so I was then forced to transcribe them as follows:

...and what is typically seen alongside chubby felines you dare ask?

Why portly nerds swollen with melancholy of course!

Oh but we must move on weary travelers, for right around the bend in the road lies...

A semi-tough and rumble looking punk chick (sponsored by Neil Gaiman's awesome book, Neverwhere.")

I don't trust the looks of this ripe gutter-trash, so best we hurry along before our third eyes be blackened.

Whoops! wrong turn... Sorry folks, pay no attention to those uncouth children and their dirty dirty facial hair!

Wait a min... was that a wee Harley Quinn I spied? What is she doing associating with that lot?
No mind, onward & upward we go.

Now THIS looks vaguely familiar and should help get us back on track.

We've done a good ol' loop-de-lou and are back on collaboration street where this time we have a fancy shape that was created by the talented cat-lady at my request and on top of which I laid my artistic bologna.

Now where's that shortcut to?... YIKES!... Watchit numbnutz!!!

Those mysterious random bits of wonder jumped outta nowheresville and almost collapsed my lung people!

Don't think me rude, but um... uh... dare I ask who you are, and why are we all crammed into this tiny little box together?

Right... right. (crazy I tells ya!)

...so um, here's your party favor for coming along with me today. it's not much, but honestly, what did you really contribute anyways?

*Better quality scans of the post-its from the previous post be your boobage prize.

Maybe next time I'll remember where it was we were trying to get at and we'll have another go at it, eh?

-C

Post-it Poopage

2010-04-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's some randomly selected post-it doodles since we're all sharing and caring...

*Sorry for the somewhat lousy scans-scanner at work totally sucks. But I plan to clean up and color a few of these real soon anyway.

You know that last blog post where I was waxing poetic about my current job? Well... things have changed slightly, I'm not any less happy about my experience(s) or the work, but it seems that I am back on the hunt for new work, at least temporarily, as the pipeline is a little dry. So if you have or hear of something you'd like me to work on... by all means.

Thanks and looking forward to relaxing, rejuvenating, re-connecting, more frequent blog posts and a major website update with new portfolio and reel are all in the works and forthcoming with some of this newfound free time I'm going to be having.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Well, now that we got you all back up to speed...

Watercolor (and Pencil) on Vellum Bristol 2.25" X 3.25"

Accompanied by the original thumbnail sketch (to size).

This is pretty much the first time I have ever used Watercolors and I have to admit that I am pretty happy with the results. (Despite a few warts and bruises that bug ME...)

I'll have to keep working on my technique as I surely have a lot to learn, but I jumped the first hurdle at least!

-Thanks for havin' a looksee!

... Still Alive-Just Been Busy I Guess?

2010-02-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

...A little insight and sneak peak at what's been keeping me so damn busy and contributing to my absence for the past year or so. We finally wrapped up the lion's share of the design, art/creative direction and loads of other fun and exciting challenges on several of the Dreamworks rides and attractions (Donkey-Live!, Madagascar-Crate Adventure, King Julien's Carousel and a few additional figures for the Dragon coaster entrance.) More details and images to follow as the park is finished and open to the public... I just HOPE I get a chance to take a trip over there to actually see and ride on these things in person someday!

Linkage One

Dos Linkos

Third One's a Charmer (not really)

If you made it this far... WOW-Thanks!

I am having lots of fun working at this new studio in areas I may have otherwise never considered. Things called "Special Venues," (IMAX, Custom Domed theaters, etc) Theme Park Attractions ( I get to work with friggin' animatronics man! A dream since childhood.) and broadcast materials too! Every project is geared or structured around animated characters/properties. Some original... others like the Dreamworks projects mentioned above, based on existing properties. Primarily focused on original 3D/CG animated content and often times in 3D Stereo and even... 4D (an actual REAL thing... NOT made up!), an area I admittedly had little to no experience with beforehand and to be honest... not much interest in either. But thanks to the good people here who were willing to take a chance on me, I have a whole new respect and enthusiasm for 3D animation and film making! Now I've got almost two years and a dozen projects under my belt; Projects where I've been involved in more ways than I could imagine, doing everything from conceptual/design work, art directing, and even directing animation.. Whew! Funny how life works that way sometimes, ain't it?

I've come to realize that... Life is perhaps the greatest WIP you'll ever face as a creative person. How quickly the tide changes and unexpected twists and turns lead you down strange and unusual roads full of challenges and opportunities that you may have never pursued if left to your own devices.

I'm gonna make an extra effort to blog and share more with all of you and hope you'll keep coming back to visit again & again. I also promise to keep the word to image ratio in better flux from here on out. ;)

2Fer

2008-06-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

Just because it's Friday and I love you all...

And because I'm going out to partake in none too many a hearty barley-laden adult beverage and have a blast tonight. Maybe some of you will even join me there?

And because I found this on my HD and forgot how much I actually liked it.

And because the world would be a better place if we all lived every day as if it were St. Paddies day. Even the filthy terrorists. "Have another O-Schlitz on me Mr. Moe-Hamm-it."

And...

I got Nuthin!

Nasty Lil' Articohke

2008-06-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just finished this one up for fun and decided to post it here in the interest of keeping with up with the updates for the few of you who bother to stop by and see what I'm up to.

I'd love to make a vinyl or sculpt out of this guy one day. (*Hint Hint)

Character art done entirely in Flash. BG & everything else in PS. (*Please excuse the lazy Photo-manip.) But hey... I think it kinda worked well. But I'll let you guys be the judge.

The final art originated from this super-quick quick post-it drawing I whipped up one fine morning when my lady had an "out of body experience" after partaking in some hot spinach & artichoke dip. Her first... and probably LAST time eating artichokes after I recommended their tastiness.

Enjoy! and I'll be back with even more stuff real soon.

Gift Art

2008-05-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks!

See I'm not a filthy stinkin' liar!

I'm actually posting again and I DO plan to keep with it.

So... THERE!
(*And thanks for the comments too.)

Not much this time around. Just a quick piece of gift art I did up for a Birthday card for my good buddy Alan.

Ya know it's not as great a present as an i-Phone or a tricycle with a sidecar, but hey when ya got no job... gotta use other means to quench the insatiable thirst of the mighty Birthday Gift Gods.

I quite obviously need some new markers as these ones were crappin' out on me during the creation which made the results range from unexpectedly cool... to horrifying.

Luckily Alan Cummings isn't SO great a friend that I cared quite enough to completely re-do the piece.

And Hey! If you or anyone you know would like a piece of gift art (or decorations for the craphouse walls) I'm more than happy to take commissions, so go ahead and shoot me an e-mail and I'll whip up something nice and fancy for you or your (not-so) loved-ones.

So enjoy, and I'll be back with more random-ness real soon.

-Clarke

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back!

2008-05-16T13:33:00.003-07:00

No it's not Mr. Kotter, just lil ol' me.

But it's been a long hiatus. Much too long for my liking and I know I've promised before, but... I'm a filthy liar, what can I say.

But this time I fully intend to get back to blogging and actually have a bit more free time then previously to do so. And I hope you realize that just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I'm not drawing dear fiends... Ohhhh noooo.

Well enough blabber for now, here's some new-ish stuff to wet your voracious appetites for the moment while I scan and compile some new stuff for all three of you to enjoy. (Thanks Mom, Dad & Fido!)

Here's my humble rendition of Chuck Jones' "Sniffle's" character. A bit of gift art I did for a very special someone who's favorite cartoon character is none other than Chuck Jones' Sniffles. I like the way it turned out and share a great admiration for the character myself despite it not being some of what I consider to be Jones' best work. He was still trying to copy Disney too much at that point and hadn't found his voice yet. But enough animation history...

*Click any of these small wimpy images for bigger bolder full-bodied flavor any man, woman or child can appreciate.

And next up we have a batch of Post-it drawings I got in the habit of doing every day using 3 recurring themes. One of which was Elephants, which are always fun to draw. So much floppiness, girth and overlapping action opportunities. If anyone overhears this conversation we're having... Yikes! Anyways... I have taken to doing lots more of these guys and even came up with a concept and character design I think is really fun. For the time being I dub these Eli-Phants!

And you didn't think you'd be getting away visiting my blog and checking out new artwork without a healthy portion of Random-Ass drawings now did ya?

Anyone else find that Post-its are basically the most perfect yet worst thing to draw on.  I mean there's something special about the
quality of the paper and for me at least, being confined to such a small canvas
usually results in good things.  But then what to do with all the little
buggers and how to store or present them?  Any ideas folks?  I just hope
one day soon that the fine folks at 3M decide to realease the same formula paper
in a handy-dandy 8.5"X11" format without the "Sticky".

More of the Random-Ass Variety with a fun little colored character concept I'm toying with thrown in for good measure along with a preliminary Character design (green guy) for a d-list celebrity friends super-secret project. He didn't totally love it... what noive! And who DOESN'T love undead cupcakes... REEEALLY?

Okay folks this is just a mere taste of the smorgasboard that I hope to unleash upon you poor unfortunate souls in the days, weeks, months, years, and eons to come.

And FYI a big part of the reason I have more time and energy to blog is directly related to the employment to unemployment ratio in my life. So if you're a fellow artist out here in Sunny LA, please feel free to shoot any paying job leads my way. I'd love and appreciate hearing from ya. Just don't tell my mother... she still thinks I'm a lawyer.

More Recent Marker stuff

2007-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, at least now we're getting to some more recent stuff (for better or worse).

These are mostly studies I was doing while looking at golden books and trying to play around with marker and coloring techiniques using a very limited palette. I definitely think I learned a few things that I can now apply to my own work while doing these. They were also pretty fun and felt worthwhile at least which was a nice change. I plan to do more of this sort of thing and keep exploring on what seems to be a smaller simpler scale which seems to help when trying to break bad design habits and form newer better ones.

This last one is actually a somewhat old initial character design I came up with that I was pretty happy with and want to explore much more. A pretty rare thing these days.

And here's a few pages of of more recent randomness. mostly floating heads which I draw way too often. I was doing good for a while and was drawing full bodied characters. But when that becomes a bit of a struggle to do well, I all too often find myself slipping back into the trap of just drawing all kinds of random decapitations. I have to start making an extra effort to break that habit for good. But sometimes I guess it's hard to want to go further and invest time into a body design when I'm not really pleased with the head in the first place. I mean when's the last time you looked at a character and thought about how brilliantly the body was designed, but it had a real boring head? if the head and face aren't working a bodies definitely not gonna save it.

Well that's all I have scanned for the moment... But I do still have a stack of older and newer ballpoint pen sketches and doodles that I plan to scan and post soon too. Hopefully by the time I get those up I'll have another fresh batch of stuff that's shareworthy and I can be back to more regular updates.

Lookin at dirty magazines

2007-03-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places to visit and spend what little free time I have since I moved to California is the ASIFA Animation Archive where there is never any shortage of interesting and inspiring artwork of all kinds. I try to get over there as much as possible to either volunteer or just to hang around and look at whatever new treasures Steve and others are kind enough to share.

Here's a few pages worth of study sketches done many motnhs back while formatting scans of some beautiful old Playboy cartoons. I think most of what's here was done while looking mostly at Sokol and maybe a little Dedini.

It always seems like when I am really starting to sink my teeth in and figure a few things out by doing studies like this that the time has flown by and I have to pack my things and head home.

I really wish I had more time to spend over at the archive to just sit, study, draw and try to learn as much as possible by studying the approach of such brilliant artists. Looking at this level of work makes me realize how little I learned in art school, and how much I still have to discover on my own.

I often wish I had access to a resource as great as the ASIFA Archive when I was younger and had much more freedom and free time to devote to the art of learning, instead of feeling like I'm frantically trying to make up for lost time and figure out things that I feel like I should already know at my age.

But I refuse to believe it's too late and will continue to keep working at getting there, even when the process is painful and slow at times.

Still more catching up to do... so expect more.

What Month Is It?

2007-03-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Wow!... it really has been a long time since I updated this thing. Sorry about that. I've also been somewhat bad about keeping in touch and getting back to people in general over the past few months too, so apologies all around again.

I've been really struggling to find some sense of balance ever since the move and unfortunately that has poured over into my artwork as well. I've been feeling like I'm stuck in a horrible creative rut for months now and frankly it terrifies me. That is the main reason for my not posting much, it's not for lack of drawing. But most of what I do is kind of in that awkward and painful stage of experimentation where everything seems like a miserable failure and I dont find myself feeling very strong or confident about much of anything that comes out of my pens and pencils lately. But I am still trying to suffer through and keep working at it by studying and copying older artists work that I admire and trying to push myself to learn new things and think differently about how to approach design and technique in the hope that the fog will soon lift and I will come out of it a stronger artist.

But I have decided to try and start posting semi-regularly again, even when it's not material I think is particularly strong. I have always found it hard as an artist to see much value in most anything I do... always thinking that no one could possibly be interested in seeing most of what I do, and only seeing what could be improved or done better. Perhaps by putting some of this stuff out there, some of you might see things I'm missing that actually are working that I'm incapable of noticing myself, and maybe... just maybe that might help me find a little more direction. I can sure use it!

Okay so obviously this first one is Reeeeal old!

Just some sketches for a Holiday card I never got around to finishing or sending out. Hey there's always Christmas in July I guess.

And here's a page of sketches I did trying to study some old Hank Ketcham from a book I have. I've always loved his sense of design and think he has one othe greatest line qualities I've ever seen. Obviously I need to study much more and much harder... and I plan to.

The next three pages are just random assorted phone doodles and other nonsensical tidbits that while nothing overly exciting to me, were at least good or had something in them that was interesting enough to save them from the trash.

I have several more catch-up posts like this in the works as we speak, and may even get them up later today.

It's About Time...

2006-11-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since the last update, just been pretty busy trying to get all settled in here and get my life in order. Here's some random assorted studies and sketches from the last month or so.

Bye!...

All Settled in...

2006-10-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

So I figured it was time to update the blog with some new stuff.

(I also disabled the comment moderation, so your comments should once again appear immediately)

Bye... for now.

2006-09-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well the day is finally here...

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving to drive cross-country and move out to the wide and wooly world of Los Angeles and expect to hit town on Saturday, September 23rd. So I hope to see a lot more of a lot of you crazy artist blogger type people in person real soon.

I'll be returning to pester and annoy all of you once I am all settled in...I promise. hahaha

But first here's one last update of my silly scribbles

-Clarke

Even MORE Craptacular goodies

2006-08-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well a few...

This is what happens when you do warm-up drawings while watching silly old Ub-Iwerks cartoons...

And this... what ISSSS this? do you know? do you want to know? Cause I can totally tell you if you do... just ask me.

And it wouldn't be a regular day of silly doodling if I didn't sketch up some weird manner of water fowl.

Oh and as a special secret bonus... If you are my friend on MySpace, I have posted a little slice of heaven to my blog there that you should go and check out. I'd post it here, but It's just a bit too raunchy. hahaha

So long pals... be back real soon I'm sure.

Wanna Play Scrapple?

2006-08-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well this isn't a huge update by any means... just no time for such things at the moment.

But in the meantime please accept these meager scraps from the ever-growing sketchpile.

This last little guy comes your way and mine thanks to that toy luvin fool Tiramisue! who has incedentally just started a whole new blog of amazing coolness called Toybox Safari! Check it out - it's all kinds of fantastical fun.

Oh and unfortunately I had to enable comment moderation due to some aformentioned teenage drama that has reared it's ugly head.

Someone please Slap the Shite out of me already!

2006-08-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

To hell with all that filthy excuse filled rubbish that you saw here previously. I was being an idiot. Instead of sitting here and marinating in hate, frustration, and self-pity, I'm gonna get off my ass and make sure I post some new stuff very VERY SOON! So be on the lookout folks, I got plenty of PISS & FIRE in these veins and heart still to come.

And FYI to all you California people and potential employers...

I will be leaving Connecticut on September 16th to head out to L.A. and should hopefulyl be in town and somewhat settled by the beginning of October.

So consider this a warning!

Thanks for all the support and e-mails,

-Clarke

less talk more art...

2006-08-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share some random sketchbook goodies which were mostly done at random points during my Califorina excursion and afterwards.

This little crazy ugly guy actually lives outside of my window here and we have become friends. he is truly hideous and yet strangely and hypnotically fascinating at times. I can't help but say hello to him/her every time I leave the house.

Aint nature intoxicatingly grotesque?

Welcome to La La Land!

2006-07-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Gang,

I'm here in Burbank right now at the Holiday Inn until next Sunday or so, so if any of you folks wanna call me to try and hang out & draw or ridicule pedestrians or whatever other sort of fun stuff you might have in mind just give me a ring. So far I have no plans any day at night really, so I'll likely just be hanging out in my greta big swank but lonely hotel room drawing and crap to dull the boredom while I wait for some of you cool californians to call.

Hope to hear from ya soon,

-Clarke

Shameless Whoring

2006-07-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well I managed to throw together a sketchbook for this weeks San Diego Comic-Con at the last minute (As usual - big surprise!)

here goes...

38 pages B&W W/cardstock cover

No table or anything just me wnadering the hall with my bag of goodies along with agent helix, monkeyking, & Drugs.

Stop me if ya see me. And if you don't catch me in San Diego, you can always try to get a hold of me in L.A. the following week, and if nothing else, shoot me an e-mail request and we'll work something out.

Only making like 75 or so of these and Mostly looking to do trades with people, but if you really want one I guess I can be persuaded to take cash also.

see ya in a few days people!

Wuh-Wha-Whattt... Could it be...Another Update?

2006-07-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

YES it is!

So I am still slaving away day and night on this whole new portfolio thing in preparation for my trip to L.A. in a few mere weeks. While I have made a LOT of progress and feel like I have put together my strongest batch of samples ot date, I still often times wonder if I will be able to accomplish all that I have planned - Such is the plight of the hare-brained procrastinatin artiste.

Lately as I near closer and closer to finishing up, I find I need to take a break from what it is I am SUPPOSED to be drawing and just do some sort of thing for the sake of nothing more than just to do it - or whatever.

I have actually filled up two entire sketchbooks and assorted other lonely scraps of copy paper over the past month or so and thus have LOADS of new stuff to share with you guys. So much so that I really would like to try and put together at least a small half-assed attempt at a sketchbook for San Diego to trade and hand out to folks who are there. Time will tell though if I will be able to fit that in somewhere. I'll let ya know.

Enough blabbering already, time for some artwork.

This batch of images are all somewhat related in that they are sketches that I whipped up with the idea in the back of my cloudy rotten mind that I will turn them into paintings sometime soon after I get back from California.

First up is a little something extra Girlie that I whipped up for my niece's 5th birthday that I hope to have painted for her in time.

next batch is a couple of loose ideas that still need work for possible entries in next years I am 8-bit show.

This one is just some sort of cartoony & cute sea lion type character that I thought I might like to try and paint just for the hell of it.

And here is the latest in a long line of one of my favorite subjects - Ducks! (birds in general)

I like this little guy a lot and just think he needs like a topless mermaiden towards the left hanging out on some rocks calling him hither with her witchy-woman charms and then it might be a WINNER!

And here we have something that I won't say much about, but if anyone out there can tell guess correctly as to roughly what it is, I'll do up a sketch for you of whatever you like as a special booby prize.

A couple more new things

2006-06-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a few more new sketches and stuff as promised...

bears have been popping up in my sketches all over the place letely...

I also found an interesting new way to help me when I'm feeling at a creative "loss"

I take a highlighter to some copy paper and try to make an interesting and fun shape

Then I add more shapes to the main shape until I think it has formed some sort of creature or character worth pursuing (which only happens after a lot of trial and error)

Then I just go in and add all sorts of details and linework and smaller interior shapes to make it a little more interesting - and VOILA! or something like that

... i think?

long overdue new schtuffs

2006-06-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

well while technically these are all varying degrees of "new"..

but they're new to all of you out there at least, and I couldn't bear to just leave so many words with so few images on this blog for much longer.

enjoy these and - I'll be back with more weird crap later today or tomorrow.

Good News or Bad News?

2006-06-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a little while now since I last updated my blog with anything of real value or interest, but thats all about to change, and here's why...

As of this past Wednesday, I got laid off from my day job which is bad news since I won't have a steady paycheck coming in, but is also good news since I really hated the job and was becoming more and more depressed, frustrated and angry with each new day there. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I can now devote much more time to working on my portfolio and getting off my arse and actually making the whole move to L.A. thing a reality. But at the same time, I'm also going to be sweating at times because of cashflow issues and all sorts of other fun real life crap. But I really can't complain since I have been lucky enough to land a couple of good freelance gigs recently and am working extra hard at finding even more to keep me busy and motivated.

Long story short, starting next week, expect to see much more frequent and interesting blog updates with loads of new artwork, insight, and maybe even a rant or two for good measure.

-Clarke

Goofy & Girlie

2006-04-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here's that update of "regular" type work that I promised to post for those of you who are bored to tears with watchingme try to learn construction.

*Disclaimer: all of the sketches contained in this post were done before I started being concerned with construction-so if you're one fo the fine folks who has been offering me help, please don't think that I have regressed, I'm just posting these for fun.

Random Doodle Week

2006-04-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hooray! This week has been set aside by no one in particular as a national holiday known as random doodle week, where bored artists with blogs post a bunch of old, unrelated and generally non-sensical doodles in the spirit of celebration.

Don't forget to post yours...

More Satyr Stuff

2006-04-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

About a month or so ago I was working some more on my whole Satyr Cartoon idea thing, and here's some more sketches that arose from that time for you while I work hard on learning more about construction and other important crap.

Hogwash!

2006-03-27T19:17:00.001-08:00

First off I am sorry for not updating in over a week with any new images for the few of you out there who check my blog regularly, but I was just on overload last week.

A while back me and some of my internet cronies thought we had a brilliant and foolproof plan for a comic compilation project and gathered an amazingly talented bunch of artists together only to fall flat on our faces so to speak. I take majority share of the blame for the project's ultimate and unfortunate demise, but it was a worthy learning experience for sure which forced me to push one of my ideas further than I ever would have if left to my own slacker-ish devices.

Anyway, long story short... here's some "P.T. Hogwash" artwork of mine from that ill-fated project that I don't think anyone who wasn't involved in the above mentioned project has ever laid eyes on. These sketches are all over the place and range from concept sketches to rough inks and all points in-between. A lot of the look, feel, story and concept behind what you see here is directly related to the stuff I have been posting on my other blog - The Inspiration Grab-Bag, even though I started working on this project long before I even knew what the hell a Blog was.

I really still am in love with this concept and the characters, and hope to re-visit them and push the whole idea forward in the near future, so perhaps this isn't the last you should expect to see of these guys.

And to all my ToyBox bretheren... Thanks for all of the hard work, memories and inspiration fellas. I only wish things would have turned out different in the end. Oh to think what might have been ..."SIGH"

The ASIFA Archive Needs Your Help

2006-03-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a minute here on my blog to point out an invaluable resource that everyone cartoon fan needs to know about, and that is the ASIFA Animation Archive run by Steve Worth. Steve and his ragtag crew of volunteers and animation fans have created a one of a kind resource that is unfortuantely not recieveing all of the credit and help it so rightly deserves as a top notch center for the research and preservation of all things related to animation and cartoons.

While I haven't had the pleasure of visiting the archive in person just yet, I have made contact with Steve and all of the scans from various books and comic strips here will eventually become part of the archive for all to enjoy in high resolution versions. I strongly encourage any of you out there who also have similar treasures that relate to animation and cartoons to conrtact Steve and offer up your wares for the bnefit of the archive and cartoon fans everywhere.

Click on these links to see just a few examples of all the great inspirational material Steve and his helpers have made available for anyone interested just by visitng the archive.

ASIFA Winter Cartoon Roundup
ASIFA Winter Animation Art Roundup

Also please include a link to the archive blog on your website or in your blog links area to show your support for such a worthy cause.

Thanks.

Funny Animals

2006-03-12T14:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a batch of funny, wacky & crazy critters for you guys.

Hey Jude!

2006-03-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

John K's blog continues to be an almost daily non-stop supply of inspiration, entertainment and education for me as he continues to doll out a grain of wisdom here and there amongst all of the insanely cool artwork. It looks like he has once again challenged his minions to take a crack at a celebrity caricature to see what we folk are made of, and I just couldn't resist making an attempt of my own even though I don't think it's all that great.

Ball Joints & Lilly Pads

2006-02-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

Often times like many of you out there I just find myself doodling the day away with the closest thing at hand when I'm "technically" supposed to be working on some god-awful bore of a task at my sucky day job. More often than not this means Drawing with a ball point pen on a legal pad or some other scrap of paper that is handy. Often times these are some of my loosest and funnest sketches (god are either of those even real words?) There's just something that takes over you when you have these tools in hand as opposed to "real" art supplies and you just let all of your barriers and preconcieved bullshit down and just let things flow. Here's a couple of my recent Ball-point - legal pad masterpieces of weirdness.

Now where's yours???

Satyr Stuffs

2006-02-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a crapload of Silly doodles of some funny satyr characters I have been working on for ages for an idea or two that I have been kickin around for way too long now. Recently I have been once again sketching these crazy woodland creatures a lot, so I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite sketches. Some of you may actually even remember these fellas from waaaay back, but I doubt it as they have gone through some major design type changes and explorations since then.

And another one...

2006-02-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Seems I can't stop drawing this fella, so here's another one I just dashed off.

And yet another... perhaps the last... for today at least.

More Super-Happy Funstuf

2006-02-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

As I promised, here is more artwork and crap that goes along with that Lil' onion fella that so many of you seemed to like from my previous post.

Sorry about so many of these scans being so lousy, but they were done with a non-photo blue pencil and are tough to scan. I do plan on inking and coloring a lot of what you see here in a similar style to the Lil' Onion guy real soon, but I wanted to see what people thought of different versions of certain characters and such first.

Oh and if anyone has any guesses as to what these are for or inspired by... fire away in the comments and I'll let ya know how hot or cold you are.

***A last minute addition whipped up mere moments ago that I wanted to add***

God Bless the Internet! (yet again)

2006-02-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

Yes God bless the internet and the almighty BLOG. John K. of Spumco fame has started up a blog that he has been overloading with all sorts of super-inspirational goodies from caricatures to character designs along with a good heaping of his always interesting drawing and design theories to boot. I for one have been absolutely addicted to his blog and find myself checking it several times a day and leaving comments on nearly everything he posts along with hundreds of others. The flip side of this, is that I have been feeling like I have creative super powers over the past week now and have been drawing and sketching like an absolute madman and building upon the creative wave that I was already riding.

So what does this mean to you?... and why should you give a care?...

Well John recently asked people to create their own wonked-out caricatures of Angelina Jolie and the unholy beast that has become known as "TOMKAT" so I figured I would give em both a shot just for shits and giggles. I don't know how succesful any of these are but they sure were fun to work on, and I even brushed up a little more on some of my inking skills and such in the process, so they definitely were worth the little time spent.

I will be posting and updating this here blog a lot more often and already have plans for at least three or more updates for this coming week alone and I have no plans to slow down anytime soon, so sit back, relax, and plan on stopping back here a lot more often.

Lil' Onion

2006-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here's something I sketched at lunch yesterday and then threw some PS colors and crap onto later in the day.

I really like how it came out for the most part and it is actually for an idea I have been kickin around in the ol' noggin a bit lately. I'll give more details later on depending on where this goes...

Girlystuffs

2006-02-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

Here's this weeks batch...

I have been drawing up sketches upon sketches of the lovely ladies lately and while these are an "improvement" it is still blatantly apparant that I need to practice a whole helluva lot more. Or maybe you all would just prefer more silly men and wacky animal drawings?

I totally wiped out the black and dark gray brushpens from a set I bought a while back and now I am left to deal with medium & light grays, so that's why the blacks aren't so strong here.

This one was a quick little brushpen sketch that I decided to play around with a little more via this really cool little Aquash pocket watercolor set I picked up at kinokuniya a week or so ago.

I think I lost control over the drawing here and her torso got really long in comparison to her lower half.

Again, I think this is a step forward as far as overall girl drawing progress goes, but can't help feel that I lost control or something when it got to the hair and head, and I don't know, but there is just something else that is really "off" here as well and I can't figure out just what it is...

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

Just something silly I whipped out with PS and my mouse in-between other tedious tasks today after seeing some other silly star wars doodles on other peoples blogs.

A Fresh Batch

2006-02-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Here's this weeks batch of sketches and such...

I've been really buckling down lately and making sure to find the time to draw for at least an hour every day after work, so I had loads more sketches that I had wanted to scan and post for this weeks update, but since it looks as if even after only Monday that this is already turning out to be one hell of a week and I just don't have the strength to stay up any longer tonight. I'll see if I can get around to scanning some more stuff later though, so check back.

monkey see monkey do

2006-01-29T20:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry not monkeys exactly... Just a few doodles that I did up while watching some old cartoons on DVD recently.

Better late than never... I guess?

2006-01-22T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well as promised here is an overdue update to my blog, but the images are a bit past their expiration date it seems since they all relate to the x-mas season. Most all of these sketches and doodles were cooked up while I was toying with various ideas for my x-mas e-card that never got created... I'll be back next week with something a tad bit fresher.

What the hell am I thinking???

2006-01-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

I have a new blog that I just started up as of today and I know what you're thinking.... "WTF is he thinking! that goddamn retard can't even keep up with regular postings on this blog, let alone another - what a tool!

Well save it buck-O...

Actually I have decided to start another blog as a direct result of my currrent state of artistic slump-dom, in the hope that as I scour my vast archives of cartoons, comics, and coconut radios for reference and inspiration, I just might have some sort of creative breakthrough/crisis, and perhaps some poor misguided souls out there in webby-town might likewise enjoy and/or benefit from having access to this material.

Primarily I will be sharing pre-1960's artwork in the form of scans from books and magazines, DVD screengrabs, movie clips, etc... along with some form of short personal commentary on what it is that I like about this stuff and how it might help me in my creative endeavors, and will update with new material at least once a week every Wednesday.

so... um... like click the title of this post to go to the Inspiration Grab-Bag Blog & check it out and all that happy horseshit crap.

or if you're a lazy Shithole like myself... click HERE!

I have come up with a new gameplan for this blog as well, and I plan to update weekly with new artowrk of some sort every Sunday night - Monday morning starting next week.

Still Alive!

2005-12-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't updated this poor forsaken blog in what seems like ages, but it seems the gods conspire against me since I have not only been in a horrible creative rut, but I also lost a harddrive recently and have been utterly deluged in overtime and such less than exciting sorts of work at the dayjob these days. But enough of that crap, let's see some artwork...

This is a little something I did for work recently - appx 6-8 hours in photoshop CS, roughly 60+ layers, a Mouse and one incredibly cramped hand. For once it isn't something that i totally abhorr, but then again I still havent gotten any final approval on it yet either so I will have to wait and see if they end up using it as is, meddling with it until it is totally worthless, or not, but who cares... I am pretty pleased with it after all.

I promise to have more stuff to post real soon, since I have in fact been sketching quite a bit lately, just haven't had much time to post or update this blog.

Practice, practice, practice...

2005-09-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

A friend recently saw my blog and commented that while he thought these newest skecthes and such were a vast improvement over where I was last he saw, he also suggested that I attempt to focus a little more on solid construction and giving a more volumetric feel to designs even when they are in a "flat" style. I had already been trying to apply this method to my work for a short while even before recieveing the comment, but still felt as if I wasn't "getting it" just yet, so yesterday at lunch while I doodled away whilst trying not to bite off a finger, I decided to try even harder to give whatever I was scribbling soem more volume and weight, and below is the one halfway decent result i managed to eek out over that half hour. I think it's definitely a step forward, but still not quite theres o to speak. I actually like this little fella and haven't doen up a "finished" color piece in soem time now, so I have made a promsie to myself that I will find some time to add color and such to this sketch before the end of the week and post it.

-Clarke

Assorted Assfoolery

2005-09-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Just some more sketches from the past few days or so...

A partner for the previously posted Philth...

a snooty french canadian waiter of sorts...

Just read the accompannying text, and please don't ask me what is going on exactly...

A bald fat comic-con type of fella...

Back with more soon.
-Clarke

Massive Doodlage

2005-09-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well the boss-lady is away today, so I was able to find some much needed free time to scan some recent doodles.
-Clarke

Links-A-Lot!

2005-09-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Well sorry for not posting any new art updates lately, I am just very very busy at work on a new portfolio at the moment.

In the meantime I couldn't resist making note of the sheer incredible abundance of Art(ists)-Blogs that have been sprouting up like MAD! I can't wait to check out what amazing new bits of inspiration I might find each morning as I make my official daily blog tour around the net. Since it would take me a good long while to post all of the sites, names, and images from the multitude of blogs that I haunt on a daily basis, I will simply direct you to my newly updated links section where I have added what is likely the first batch of many many more insanely cool blog links.

Enjoy!

-Clarke

Dandy-Lion

2005-08-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

Not much of an update, just a little doodle I managed to squeeze in during a hectic work day, that I inked with a handy dandy green brushpen. I think it turned out pretty good... & something about it reminds me somewhat of like a muppet that was drawn by roy nelson or some crap like that... if that even makes a bit of sense.

But I like where this lion is going stylistically, and I think I'm gonna do some more sketches of him and perhaps even a friend or two soon.

I likely have to serve the living hell that is better known as jury duty tommorrow, so I will undoubtedly have a buttload of random new doodles after sitting there all day. If any of them are worthy... perhaps i'll post another update tommorrow.

-Clarke

***UPDATE***
here's a shot at giving this fella a body...

not so sure how well it works just yet, but it's a start. I'll likely just have to re-draw and tweak it like a hundred more times before it gets to that happy magic place.

AMSTERJAM!

2005-08-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow I'm off to experience Bootsy Collins/Heineken's AmsterJam - live music mash-up concert at Randall's Island in NYC

It sounds like a really interesting concept and has a fairly decent line-up so far. Combine that with loads of foreign brews at the ready, large crowds, & lowered inhibitions, & it sounds like it outta be nothing short of an all day drinking and music binge extravaganza...

I'll post a write-up perhaps with a few shoddy cameraphone pics once I return and sober up.

Anyone else going to catch this show?

A Lonnng overdue update

2005-08-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

Well I must admit that I have gotten rather lax in updating this here blog, but have no fear as I hope to make up for it with this next post.

First up is a blow-up of a teeny tiny thumbnail that I whipped up for IF (illustration Friday) which is one of the coolest artistic web projects to come along in a long while with a plethora of incredibly talented folks contributing ona regular basis.
I have always wanted to participate in this great little project, but just never seemed to get around to it, so hopefully I will work this out and make it into a finished illo very soon.

Next up is a little char sketch i did of one of Kyle Carrozza's fabulous characters, Sailor bird from his upcoming short "moobeard" that he is developing through frederators What a Cartoon! series. I've always been a big fan of Kyle's zany & cartoony artwork. Check out his MOOBEARD production blog in my links section for more schtuff.

And here's a few skecthes for a new character/story I have been fiddlin around with in the ol noggin these past few weeks or so, but I don't want to spoil any surprises just yet, so i won't say much more.

Last but not least are some random early stage development sketches for another new project that I am working on for a stop motion short, and once again that's about all I'm at liberty to say

The reason for my lack of updates to this here blog o mine is that I am working feverishly on throwing together a spankin new portfolio that will cross-over into a new sketchbook that I hope to have for sale really soon. So please bear with me. beside I think this is the most consistent set of art updates I have EVER managed anyway so what are ya bitchin about!!!

-Clarke

Ninten-Dope

2005-07-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a few quick sketches I cooked up recently for a video game characters thread over at the drawing board.

I have been a huge nintendo fans for what seems like eons. I have always found them to have a great selection of fun and imaginative games that are just brimming with delightfulyl fun and inventive characters in a rather cartoony style. While I like other more "adult" games and systems, nintendo will always have a special place in that candy - coated cartoony portion of my black heart.

Back from SD! (updated with sketches)

2005-07-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:

here's a mish mash of some of the incredible sketches that the fine folks I met while in SD were so kind to bestow upon my lowly peasant-ish sketchbook.

Click HERE to go to drawingboard.org where I have posted full size images of each of these.

Well I have returned from Comic-con full of isnpiration, enthusiasm, and hope for the future. Met loads of great new people, reconnected with some old friends, and even managed to get a few possible new job leads. However I am totally wiped out at the moment, so you'll have to wait a little bit longer for the full report and accompannying pictures.

Gone to San Diego...

2005-07-13T02:19:00.000-07:00

Well I'm off to San Diego this morning for the almighty Comic-Con, which is sure to be a whole load and a half of excitement and extravagance, so don't bother looking for any updates until next week when I return with all sorts of goodies to share and tales to spin.

Everyone Loves Hellboy

2005-07-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

well lots of people like to draw him at least...

and why not he's such an incredibly cool, fun, and versatile character. No matter how you twist and distort him, it's always amazingly apparent that it's still the big red monkey. Mignola deserves a nobel prize, grammy, oscar, or or or something of that nature for creating such an iconic character that will eb sure to live on for eons.

anyway here's some semi-recent super-distorted head sketches I did of the big red menace posted here for your listening pleasure, since I haven't done much else whilst I prepare for the annual pilgrimage to SD next week.

Even MORE! girl sketches

2005-06-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

Well heres a fresh new batch of girl practice sketches I whipped up over the past few nights after suffering through pure anti-creative hell at my day job.

I just keep thinking... "SD here I come! SD here I come! SD here I come!" and somehow I manage to get through another day.

Bats & Broads

2005-06-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Finally kicked the shit out of my computer properly and got it back workin again, so here's a few things I meant to post a while back before all of the technical difficulties.

hopefully I'll be able to post something more substantial next week.

-Enjoy

Annoying Computer Must DIE!!!

2005-06-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of recent posts, but my $#*@&@ computer isn't being too cooperative lately, and I've been duking it out with the little bastard on a daily basis for the past week or so. Things have gotten so terribly frustrating with it constantly freezing up on me, or deciding to not even fully boot up, that I have tried everything imaginable to remedy this from antivirus software to re-installing windows from scratch, and annn wouldn't ya know it.... I'm still having issues. Short of buying a new computer that I totally can't afford, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do next. But hopefully I can coax the sunuvabeyotch into working long enough one of these nights to get those precious few fine folks that stop by here some new imagery.

S'more Girl Practice Sketches

2005-06-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to add a few more girl doodles and such as part of my recent self-imposed practice sessions.

Hope you enjoy these.
feel free to leave a comment too if you like.

Wacom Fun

2005-06-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

I was messing with trying to get some of my new wacom settings just right in PS on a little break from work Friday, and ended up creating a little piece of new artwork that I think turned out fairly good, and even better it was actually fun and a bit different from the sort of hard lined thing I "typically" do.

I really felt almost like I was painting again with real media as I worked on this piece with no real aim or direction in mind. Just playing with forms and textures was a very different yet enjoyable feeling that really made me get lost in the moment for a bit as I tweaked and prodded this little piece over and over again. What a refreshing change of pace for me, no goal in sight no contrived formulaic linework or shapes pouring from my hand for the umpteenth time, no editor or art director to please, just me and the "piece". Hell I'm very tempted to break out some of my old paints and a piece of board and give the "real" stuff a try.

I would love to be able to do nothing but this sort of thing on a daily basis, but you and I both know that ain't happening in the "real world" - not if I want to eat and have a roof over my head. So, I'm thinking of trying to do at least one of these random freeform type experiments a week to help keep my sanity and stress level at a manageable level.

Guitar Girl

2005-06-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on a little "girlie" drawing practice type kick these days, and it's painfully obvious that I need a lot more practice.

This ones was created using a ref. pic from the drawing board's "Drawing Jam". I didn't bother to post it over there since now looking back at it this isn't anything to write home about or draw attention to.

I am slowly and painfully becoming happier with my ability to draw "de womenz", though I'm not quite sure what I was hoping to accomplish here as the figure is totally ungrounded, the thing she's sitting on is supposed to be a bench of some sort, though you'd never guess by looking at it, the circular cropping of the background doesn't really add anything to the composition other than helping to point out lousy I am at placing figures within space.

blah blah blah, bitch, moan, bitch!.

I probably should have left this one as just a sketch and moved on, but I haven't colored anything in ages, so why not. Maybe the next one will be a little bit better... maaaaybe.

Spring cleaning

2005-05-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Spring is kind of sort of in the air up here this holiday weekend and since I have been rather busy between the daily grind and working on several side projects these days, I seem to have accumlated quite the freakin mess in my studio...

believe me there's good reason I didn't include the floor in these pictures...

maybe if I'm lucky I'll find a little of the motivation & inspiration that i seemingly lost a while back as I sort through this pile of crap between the occaisional cheeseburger and beer this fine memorial day weekend.

DOOM GIRL!!!

2005-05-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

well it seems that after all my crying that I can rest easy regarding the work that I created for this years Zowie!

I had been informed that if I bust my hump and get my story finshed (inked & colored) that it will be added to future printings of Zowie (of which I am sure there will be many given the talented line-up)

here's a little sneak peeks of random artwork from its current pencilled stage>

stay tuned for more...

Sniff Sniff

2005-05-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well, It looks like I won't be having A story in the latest ZOWIE! comics anthology after all folks. My submission just wasn't up to par to fit in alongside the multitude of amazing talent that was included in this years book since I didn't have the time to properly finish it beyond the pencilled stage due to no ones fault but my own.

I'm a bit bummed out that I won't be involved in such a great book, but at the same time I totally understand why.

So I won't be posting any samples of the story I cooked up for Zowie here just yet. Bt there is a slight chance the story will see the light of day soon either in a sketchbook. That is if I can find the time and energy to do another one for this years SD comic con.

Of perhaps it will find a home elsewhere in an undisclosed publication????

for now you'll just have to settle for the title....

DOOM GIRL!

A long Overdue Art Update

2005-05-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, as promised for god knows how long now, is a very overdue artwork update.

This is just a mere sampling of the multitude of sketches and other assorted crap I have compiled in my studio and at my day job since the last update, so expect much much more to follow...

Some girly girls:

a few silly goofy caricatures:

and a sweet heavenly angel to round out the batch:

This is the type of thing I do at my day job....thrilling & cutting edge aint it!

Check back later in the day for some more artwork from my upcoming contribution to ZOWIE! DEUX

Review: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

2005-05-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well in an effort to get off on a better foot with this blog thing I have since deleted my test post, and am attempting to put something more bloglike up in its place, so here's my half asses attempt at a movie review for what's being billed as the last star wars movie ever.

f you're a 30 something who had the pleasure of grwoing up in the late 70's early 80's like myself, and were completely immersed in the original trilogy, then do yourself a favor and do your best to leave as much nostalgia, and other excess baggage and overexpectations behind and I think you will be very surprised at how good a movie this really is despite a lot of the negative reviews (well a good SF/ starwars movie anyway)

I was lucky enough to land tickets to an advance private screening on tuesday night sponsored by pepsi in new york, and was overwhelmed with how much I enjoyed this movie. This one more than makes up for the pure steaming pile that episodes 1&2 became, and I would place ROTS in third place - well above and beyond jedi while even pushing hard for second when judging the entire trilogy. (ANH would be 2nd and Empire first).

i went into this movie with less than stellar expectations due to the dismal first two movies and was incredibly pleased... i was blown away in fact.

granted a lot of the dialouge is pure cheddar... but then again IMO what star wars or other sci-fi type flick really isn't. if you want top notch dialouge that actually seems like it means something, go watch angela's ashes or something more "serious" like that.

That aside the dialouge was sparse and the action aplenty... think of a format similar to a 2+ hour epsidoe of samurai jack for example, and thats along the lines of what you get with ROTS.
or me there were several cringe worthy moments like the tarzan wookie and basically any scene that artoo was the focus of.

I also thought that overall a lot of the moments that had real potential to be just jaw droppingly great were waaaay too rushed like when the council tries to arrest sidious and they have their initial little lightsaber slapfight. I mean this is supposed to be the cream of the jedi crop and sidious just dispatches the first two of them as if he was putting out a cigarette... the fight with mace was somewhat better, but only got really interesting once the more psychological aspect of anakin and the whole jedi code thing came into play.

another moment that majorly stuck out as very rushed was obi wan versus grevious... very anticlimactic in my opinion for some guy who was supposedly this great military strategist who's ballsack grew 1 billion times over when they cybernetically enhanced him... i dunno

last and most glaring was the final darth reveal in full costume when anakin/darth asks about what became of padme... this should have been a much much stronger scene, but got a real quick glazing over. I mean if anakins sole motivation for going to the dark side was to protect the woman he loves, then why oh why would he just shrug it off liek sidious told him he burnt his toast??? vader/anakin should have had a short duel/battle with sidious in a fit of rage, only to have sidious overpower him and keep his ass in check.

the thing that made me really like this movie though was that I finally felt like I cared about what was happening and going on with a lot of the main characters, and was somewhat surprised at how things actually played out in a story where you already know the end/ultimate fate of the main characters. That and the fact that it was rather well edited so that just when things were getting cringe-worthy and you were clearing your throat to groan... you quickly cut to some sort of action.

I was also very very pleased that the wookies were kept to a bare minimum - especially ol chewie.

i'm still a bit on the fence about the whol eintroduction of pre-fight theatrics and battle stances, etc that seemed to be much more noticeable in this movie.. but maybe they were there all along and i didnt notice. i dunno

I thought that the emperor really carried this movie and was the part that made me get far more involved with what was happening this time round. his devious machinations and manipultaion of anakin - who seemed to actually be settling down as a jedi and really trying hard to follow the "jedi code" was just deliciously evil. Anakins fall was very interesting to watch and I could totally understand and sympathize with his character and the decision-dilemma he was faced with. I thought hayden actually did a good job of playing this tortured soul and portraying such inner turmoil... he just doesnt do lovey dovey all that good is all.

the final battle was a little too dragged out and intercut far too much for my taste, but that image of anakin perched atop the little droid saber in hand approaching obiwan will forever be ingrained in my head as a vision of pure evil and hatred, with his confrontation of padme being the only time he didnt pull it off.

I also really enjoyed a lot fo the visual clues they dropped in towards the end like obiwan picking up anakins lightsaber, and the image of uncle owen peering across the tantooine landscape. but dammnit they really shoulda tossed in a quick shot of yoda landing on the hellhole that is dagobah.

One other thing i didnt really "get" was the whole "explanation" of the jedi spirit trick thing...
okay so if yoda learned it from qui gon and then taught it to obi wan... how the hell did anakin learn it and from whom? as if memory serves me right the whole spirit lovefest at the end of jedi was yoda, obi, and anakin???

and was it just me or was this hands down the WORST performance ever delivered by Sam "the man" jackson... ugh he is even worse in this flick than jake lloyd or whoever played toddler anakin.

okay i'm totally lettin the geek flag fly with the last few questiosn so ill stop for now before i never get laid again.

so what did everyone else love/hate about this movie?

okay maybe now after some reflection i will slightly retract my previous statement and say that this movie is a solid third place but cant really contend with ANH.

I'll still go give it a second view this weekend though and see if I still think the same crap I'm spouting now. you'll have to wait and see.

well thats all for now... hopefully I'll be back and posting more often and hopefully future posts will include some new artwork.