These a a few of the sketches that I’ve been doing lately that will be making the rounds with me next year on the con circuit.  The first con I’ll be at will be paradise con in Toronto Ontario.  The Sketches are Micron and Sharpie on Bristol.

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So here is your oportunity to have your voice heard!!!  The Poll is open to all registered and non-registered readers!  Let me know what you think!

So lately I have been mentally preparing myself for my first comic con which is just about a year away.  I know it’s WAY early for that kind of thing, but I figure you only have one chance for a first impression and I want mine to be a good one.  Anyway here’s a work in progress shot of one of the sketches I’ll have up for sale at paradise con 2009.

Hope to see some of you there!

Rawb

Hey there Console Hoppers… So this week has been all kinds of nuts!  The sickness I mysteriously contracted ( I suspect my wife to be the culprit ) really put me out of sorts, which definitely had ill effects on my production schedule.  But now the worst of it seems to have past and things are more or less back to normal.  I thought…  Today when I came home at lunch to take Amanda to college, she was complaining of a sore throat, and stuffed nose…. again!  So I’m planning on devouring large quantities of Vitamin C and building a barrier of pillows to insulate my precious mortal form when I go to bed tonight.

So Amanda and I had our first of three visits to the building construction company to pick out some “upgrades” for the house we are building this year.  I thought that this experience would be either a game of resist the pressure to buy all sorts of useless crap or being scared into upgrading everything to some god awful hypoallergenic bullshit building materials… but it was neither.  The sales lady did not try to push anything on us and answered every question we had about the various options we were looking at.  All in all it was actually a good experience.  I can’t wait to see what the place looks like when it’s done!

So I just watched the first episode of the new Knight Rider series… where to begin. First of all the new Kit is a Ford Mustang GT Cobra and it is definitely a really sweet ride. The virtual HUD that Kit can display across his windshield is pretty awesome as well… But that is pretty much where the good stuff ends.

I’m not sure if the writers of this show truly realize just how stupid they believe the average Television watcher really is… but the absolute bullshit they are expecting their potential fans to swallow is astronomical! Apparently now Kit can transform from a Mustang, to a Pickup Truck and a “suped-up” version they call “Attack Mode.” Yeah so these guys seem to think Kit is a cheap transformer Knock off or something. But Kit seems pretty believable when you hold it against the rest of the show.

The Acting in this show is just this side of an elementary school production of Peter Pan. The atrocious dialogue is paired with the cast’s almost uniformly unrealistic reactions to situations and complete lack of depth of character. I am almost positive that the cast finds the show as unbelievable as the audience does. There was a scene in the show where Michael and his female costar are in the car which is covered in some kind of SUPER NAPALM that can’t be extinguished ( even with Kit driving at 377 mph ) and the internal temperature is climbing past 140 degrees Celsius… and there is barely a drop of sweat on either of them… that doesn’t stop Micheal’s love interest from suggesting they remove their clothes however…. Obviously a lame attempt at adding sexual tension between the characters… funny thing is that it doesn’t work… And as the temperature pushes past 150… still no sweat…. When the fire actually IS extinguished the rescue team rushes in and pops open Kit’s still pristine doors ( which are now miraculously cool enough to touch ) to save the half naked duo. More stuff happens after this that is equally ridiculous but I’ll save you the pain of having to listen to it.

This show is quite literally an insult to my intelligence… everything about is just completely impossible to accept… and trust me I was willing to suspend my disbelief on this one, I really was… but there is only so far that I can go. If you haven’t seen this show please do yourself a favor and don’t waste an hour of your life on it… Do something more constructive… like digging a hole in your backyard and filling it in again. I don’t understand how people gave these people money to produce this steaming pile of crap…. Guys, if you really want to just give money away I would be happy to oblige… No really… anytime, just send me a cheque.

Knight Rider, what a waste of time…unless you enjoy vomiting in your mouth while you watch TV…

Hey Guys, just a heads up on Thurday’s strip…. I have been unexpectedly asked to help my sister in-law move tonight and since I do the bulk of Thursday’s strip on Wednesdays, the strip will be posted on Friday this week.  I hope that everyone understands…

So I recently heard about something called “Webcomic Idol” that is being put on by the guys at Bomb Shelter Comics and I decided to sign up. They are offering some stuff like free hosting for a year and a website redesign…. but I designed my own site, and I already have plans for a later redesign so I’m not sure if I really care about the prizes…. really I’m just looking at it as a way to expose the strip to a new audience. So please feel free to stop by there when they open the voting… but remember… you vote for the comic you want eliminated from the competition, not the one you want to win. Just keep that in mind…. I know that seems weird, but I guess they want people to actually read the comic…. go figure

Hey guys… yesterday’s strip didn’t quite make it to completion.  Some of the background work ended up being pretty damn detailed, so it’s gonna have to go up tonight.

Last night Ottawa was hit with our first winter storm of the season… supposedly we got 15-20cm… which roughly translates to half a foot of snow…. I’m not looking forward to having to get out there and shovel the old driveway, but duty calls.

Pumpkins, candy and kids in costumes…. Halloween is a fantastic time of year. The weather might be getting a little cold, but there is a certain amount of merriment floating through the air. It seems like this is one of those holidays that people can really sink their teeth into. It’s always great to se people go all out decorating their house, and planning little tricks to scare the kiddies… as long as it’s all in fun. There is something really awesome about opening your front door to see a little kid with a huge smile on their face and exclaiming “trick or treat,” it warms the heart…. Halloween really is one of those rare holidays that is legitimately for the kids, and in my opinion there aren’t enough of them.

Hey guys, thanks a lot for all the feedback I’ve been getting over the last couple of weeks. It’s great that so many people are enjoying the strip.

So there won’t be a strip for Thursday because I’ve been feeling a little burned out over the last few days and I feel like I need a bit of a rest. My wife has insisted that I’ve been spending too much time working on the comic lately and that she wants me to take it easy for a while. I’m not sure exactly what I’m planning on doing to cut down on the time I’m spending on the strip…. I’ve been wanting to do a little work on my digital painting and some art tutorials to add to the site, so I’m going to have to figure out where to apply my time. Anyway, I hope you guys understand. Hopefully I’ll have something cool to post on the site by this weekend, whether or not it’s a comic remains to be seen.

Hey guys…. I’ve been bitten by the painting bug lately and I thought I would share a little sample of the kind of stuff I’ve been up to…. This is a speed painting I started at lunch today…. it’s approx 2 hours work in Alias Sketchbook Pro…. Click the thumbnail for the full image.

So yesterday I decided to trade in my copy of Farcry 2 for a far superior game…. and THANK GOD I did. Left 4 Dead is a hoot! It is in the words of a friend of mine “Stupid Fun…” You take the role of one of a group of 4 survivors of a zombie appocalypse. The PCs are apparently immune to the zombie virus and so a single bite is not about to take you down, which is a good thing cause these aren’t the usual lumber slowly towards you kind of Zees these are the runing, jumping, climbing I want to tear your face off kind of zombie. They are fast, brutal and deadly…

The game is broken down into a trek from one saferoom to another, with survival as the only real goal. Safepoints along the route provide you with an arsenal consisting of Shotguns, Uzis, Assault rifles and High Powered Hunting Rifles. And you will need almost every bullet, cause the horde is numerous. Unlike most shooters, “clearing out” an area of zombies does in no way insure any level of safety, and that is all thanks to the AI known as “The Director.” You see the game is set up as if you are partaking in a Zombie survival movie and “The Director” throws zombies at you at the most inopertune times as well as at certain scripted moments. Just when you think you are safe a horde might burst forth from around the side of a house or out of the abandoned video store you just passed. It really does make for a dynamic experience. Also make sure to watch out for the Zombie bosses that turn up from time to time, such as the Tank ( a zombie that looks like it’s on 58 different types of steroids ), Boomers ( Big fat zombies who’s vomit attracts the horde ), and Smokers. ( Zombies with super long, frog like tongues that fly out and grab you…. also they explode in a cloud of toxic smoke when you shoot them )

This game is great fun and I highly recommend it…

Enjoy!

So now that I’m back animating, my 9-5 is probably gonna be a little more then 9-5 if you catch my drift… That combined with the Christmas season is gonna see me get a lot less time to work on the comic, so I’m gonna have to move to only one strip a week, which I’m planning on uploading on Thursdays… This schedule will not last forever, but I hope you guys can bear with me for the interim.  Hopefully I’ll have the chance to upload some warm-up sketches as well as the comics, maybe that will help fill the gaps between updates.  Thanks a lot for understanding guys.

Rawb

Hey Gang!

Sorry I’ve been gone or so long… I took some time off for Christmas to spend time with family and friends and such… I hope everyone’s new years was great and that no one drank themselves into a coma or anything.  The new strip will be hitting the site on Friday and then every Friday thereafter until I have more time on my hands….

Rawb

Who’s that handsome Fella with that stylish hat?!

HEY GUYS!  I am sooo sorry that I’ve been so behind on everything of late.  Work has been crazy and I think I have been trying to occupy myself so that I’m not thinking about the impending end of my contract…. but that time is fast approching and I’m finding it harder and harder to ignore.  I am sad to say that after a solid 3 years of work with no break in this industry I am looking at my first real taste of “Downtime.”  It’s scary it really is…. Especially considering I’m just about to hit the last (and BIGGEST) downpayment on my house.  For the first time in my life I’m gonna have to apply for E.I.  Sigh…. now what that means is I may just have  more time on my hands for comicing and it’s ilk…. but I don’t know… Like I said… I have a big payment to make… and that is gonna leave my bank account crippled.  I’m gonna have to think about this.

On another note…. This is really embarressing…. But I just found out that my email client has not been connecting to my Website Feedback email address….. EVER!!!! I just got it working and I’ve been flooded with over 3000 emails!!!!  So if you’ve sent me an email in the past and I never answered it I am SUPER SORRY!  I’ll be answering everything in my inbox over the next week…. You are not forgotten!!!

Edit:  OMG apparently running an online casino is not lucrative enough… they all seem to need to advertise on my site!!!

Hey Guys… this is just a test point for my new comments security… Please leave me a comment of some kind if you have a minute just so I can see if things are working as planned….

You know lately I’ve been feeling like the world has been throwing me for a ride.  See it however you like… a test, paying for future blessings…  but things are turning around a little bit and I feel a bit redeemed.  Now I still have some “time off” coming up so things aren’t THAT great but still.  I’m planning on doing a lot more comicing during that time as well as polishing up my portfolio.  I’ve also been contemplating a new website design…. but I don’t want to bite off more then I can chew so maybe you guys might have to wait on that…  We’ll see.  The other thing that is GOING to happen is the tutorials… oooooh yes they are happening!  I’m assigning myself 8 hours a day where I MUST do artwork and that is one of the things high up on my list.  Lots to look forward to, hope you guys enjoy!

Hey guys I jus thought that you might like to know that I have completed the first 4 pages of my tutorials and that they are online and ready to view!!!  Click Here or on the link button on the left sidebar to go to the menu… I hope it helps a little… and remember, there is much more to come!!!

Hey guys… I’ve been listening to these audiobooks from “Graphic Audio” lately and they’re super inspiring… They have a whole line of DC comics stories that are just top notch!… Check em out if you have the time…  Anyway so here’s a pinup of Captain Marvel that’s been spinning around my head for a bit… finally sat down and did it.  This is the cropped version… Click the image to see the whole thing.

Well do not despair!!! For I have provided you with a roadmap to aid you on your trek through my strip! Thats right! If you cast your eyes above to the Nav Bar at the top of the page, you might notice a little link called “storylines” give it a click and you’ll be taken to a linkpage to various beginnings of story arcs… Hope y’all like!

Okay so you may or may not know that I’m a little bit of a nerd for the supernatural.  When I was younger, I read alot and I was always particularly drawn to great feats of magic or eldrich monsters…  Vampires and Werewolves are some of those fantasy staples that the general public can enjoy with out investing too much into the history and lore of monsterology (I just made up a word! Patent pending!!!!) So anyway, anytime I hear that a movie of these sorts is going to grace the silver screen, I just have to see it.  After all the good ones are few and far between.  And I have to say that Twightlight did not dissapoint…  That is to say it kept true to the “below par” standards of most vampire movies.

That’s right!  I didn’t like it… Now the girl.. Bella… whatever the actresses name is, she was pretty good.  Decent acting, nice looking girl…. no Oscars there.  However her co-star (I’m not good with obscure actor names) was TERRIBLE!  This guy was the exact opposite of good.  Infact he is a black hole of acting that would make all actors around him spontaneously suck!  Anyone associated with this guy would probably go home at night wondering were all their talent went, feeling as drained as a victim of a vampiric attack might feel.

Oh yeah there’s one last thing…  VAMPIRES ARE NOT FUCKING SPARKLEY!!!  Is the stupid jackass who wrote this the same one who wrote the god damn rainbow werewolves from blood and chocolate?  I’ll have to find out…

If you like vampires… give this move a miss, trust me.

Yeah so I’m not trying to make this a regular thing or anything, but there are times that i have to step in and save people the pain of experiencing what can only be described as BRAND RAPE!  And this is most definitely one of those times.  One of my favorite, FAVORITE TV series ever was HBO’s “Dead Like Me.”  This show was nothing short of brilliant and canceled way before it’s time.  I liked this show so much that I bought BOTH seasons in a single purchase, at full retail cost that was a hefty price tag… But that is how much I liked it!  I don’t know how many times I watched the damn things… The quirky, sarcastic nature of the humor in this show was really refreshing. That accompanied with the intrigue of life on the not quite other side really keeps you hooked to the show.  Needless to say when I heard that they were making a movie, I was THRILLED!  I should have listened to the little warning bells going off in the back of my head though…

This movie is nothing short of Cow Excrement!  If you liked the show, for the love of GOD don’t watch it.  Such great characters and stories could only be ruined by someone of  LEGENDARY incompetence.  Stephen Herek, Stephen Godchaux and John Masius will forever have a place in my heart as the assholes that ruined the franchise for me.  The movie was all about George (the series main character) reconnecting with her sister…. Except that she shouldn’t be able to…. the series made that TOTALLY CLEAR!!!  *Growl in anger*  Damn you people!  The Story wasn’t even any good!  The series left you so many awesome loose ends to tie up! Grrr….  Don’t subject yourself to this crap please oh please oh please!  Just go out, rent Season One and enjoy the awesomocity….  Believe me you’ll thank yourself for it.

Had this tweeted to me…. too funny.

So the other day a Mr. David Goodman wrote to me regarding the fact that he had chosen my comic strip as the subject for his weekly webcomic review!  You can find the article here.  Mr. Goodman was incredibly kind in his review, and I wanted to thank him publicly for writing such a fantastically positive review of my work.  It was much appreciated!  His only gripe with me is my update schedule… hmmf… seems what a day to point that out eh?  Ah well, be assured I realize this is an issue and I will be working hard to maintain my recent Monday - Wednesday - Friday schedule to the best of my ability from now on.  I love making the strip and want you to be able to continue to enjoy reading it.  Thank’s again David, I look forward to reading further reviews in your site.       www.thefanboyreview.blogspot.com

So the new theme has been completed and updated and I’ve already caught a few bugs.  Apparently Internet Explorer had some issues with the first draft, but I think I’ve fixed it all.  I hope you guys like the new look, feel free to drop me a comment with your opinions or any suggestions of things I can add.

Hey guys!  So I went to that Game company today to see what was going down.  Unfortunately the head of animation wasn’t there so I don’t really know where I stand with the place.  I did get to talk to Steve Daggitt, he heads up the conceptual art department.  Apparently concept art is pretty different from what I expected it would be.  Things have changed, and a good deal of it is photo manipulation these days.  So I guess I need to practice that kind of thing.  Here is what amounts to my first ever attempt at photo manipulated-art.  Steve showed me a bunch of his stuff and one of the Scion Ads kinda stuck with me.  So I thought I’d try my hand at something similar.  What do you guys think?  Oh BTW, that’s not their tagline or anything…. just seemed like some douchebag line a PR company would use.

So as I have suggested before, I have a tendency to have an irresistible urge to investigate any medium that dips its quill in the inkpot of the supernatural. It’s somewhat of an obsession for me and I have to say, when you find one of those few gems buried in the mounds of detritus, it is quite rewarding. Having said that I stumbled upon this 2007 release by the name of Cthulhu. Yeah straight to the point! I like that. But you know what? It’s a good thing they named it that cause if you were to just glance at it via a channel flip late night on the SyFy (god I hate that) channel, you’d never know this movie was originally inspired by the dark and eldritch scribing of H.P. Lovecraft. You might even call it Lovecraft Light.

So all in all, the movie isn’t too bad. It has some peculiar points to it. The hero is gay…Yeah that’s not a bad thing; I’ve got no problem with itt. But couple that with flashbacks suggesting that he and his boyhood friend might have sat under the boardwalk jerking off together… Yeah, you might be losing your already limited audience a bit. It’s peculiar because the movie builds the idea that the main character and his “friend” replace the usual male lead, accompanied by his female love interest on this dark adventure. But still… A little unsettling.

This movie was inspired by the story “Shadow Over Innsmouth” and I have to say they handle the town’s aquatian denizens quite artfully. You never actually get a good look at the monstrous half-breeds but their implied horror is still powerful. There is no question that this was a low budget production. The sound engineering is a dead giveaway. A distinct lack of Foley work and distracting background noise attests to a green crew, but all in all an enjoyable film. The tale of Innsmouth definitely has a strong draw but I would love to see a good production of Mr. Lovecrafts other works, particularly something like “The Thing on the Doorstep,” which is a personal favorite. So if you aren’t a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, I would probably give this movie a miss, and even if you are a fan I would suggest not calling over your buds and save your popcorn…But if you’re bored on a Sunday afternoon, not a bad watch.

Saints be praised!  I read about this over at Penny Arcade and I had to Re-post it.  Apparently action star and general purpose movie tough guy Vin Diesel used to be really into D&D when he was a kid!  How awesome is that.  The stereotype of the pale, acne ridden math club nerd who plays D&D is starting to recede.   That makes me feel a little better about the D&D game I run on Saturdays… now Gabe over at PA says he doesn’t think Vin has played 4th edition (he hasn’t kept up to date) and he’s probably right…. but I really can’t be pointing a finger since our party is playing 3.5 and a couple of them are resisting the move to 4th Ed…. Personally I kinda like the new stuff they added to the new version, but the players want what the players want… 

Been sketching at night and I’ve been a little preoccupied with the swords and sorcery stuff of late… Anyways here’s a Highland Barbarian for ya! (click for full size)

Yes that’s right! It’s back! with a new look and less focus! WHOOO! That old page made me feel like I had some kind of curriculum to follow… needless to say I rebelled. So this new page is more like a I’ll tackle whatever subject I feel like! Kinda-dealy… Anyway wanted to leave y’all a post here so you can request the next subject you want me to tackle….

Till then there is this! How to Draw a Simple Head

Hey Gang!

I’ve been running a D&D campaign for a few weeks now and we recently started using some miniatures… The D&D minis are all well and good, but I used to play Warhammer and the quality of the painting of the D&D product was killing me… so I went out and bought some skeletons and for one particularly nasty fight…. a Hydra!

Anyways I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out and I thought I would share….

enjoy!

Hey gang…. I’ve been working on a digital painting over the last couple of days and I thought you might like to see a work in progress shot….

I’d love to hear what you guys think….

Hey Guys, I haven’t made much progress on this piece lately, but I thought I’d share anyway since I got such a great response from the last posting…

So now I think you should all get what’s going on here….

Also some people were asking for a Digital Painting tutorial and I’m not quite ready to do that at the moment… I have however been taking some screencaps as I’ve been working so you guys can see a little step by step progression.

Anyway, hope you guys like….