Entry 40

This piece started out as just a quick sketch like yesterday but I couldn't resist coloring it. I've never quite been able to draw The Joker the way I want to, but I'm getting closer with every attempt. Overall I spent less than an hour on this from sketch to photoshop coloring, which makes me wonder what I might be able to do with this character if I sat down and spent some time with it, full process thumbnail sketches to roughs to extensive photoshop work. Might have to give that a try soon. See ya tomorrow.

Entry 39

Just a quick Wolverine head-shot for today, turned out pretty cool though :)
see ya tomorrow.

Entry 38

This is a quick initial character design sketch for something I might be working on soon, I don't know much about the character really except that he's fallen from grace and was a criminal for a while and part of the story is that he is trying to redeem himself. looking pretty cool so far but we'll see how it develops. see ya tomorrow.

Entry 37

If Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris were in the same room, that room would be so awesome that it could detected from space, and every woman with in two miles would become instantly pregnant. I need to work on likenesses, so today I tried to draw Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, it came out okay I guess, but I think I can do better. back to the drafting table for me, See you tomorrow.

Entry 36

how about a little spider-man action? he's got some fore-shortening issues, but this was just a quick sketch to get the old wrist loose. I should draw Spidey more often :)

Entry 35

*edit* 6-26-2007.
I originally posted this piece with no text, and intended to leave it that way. However, in light of recent revelations of the truly tragic circumstances and the recent fan backlash against Chris Benoit, I decided that I will not be removing this small tribute. Instead I choose to remember the entertainment and fun that this man brought to me on Monday nights and the graceful and gentlemanly manner he was known for conducting himself outside of the ring. I suppose I will always wonder what made the man so sad and delusional that he felt the need to do what he did, and my heart is with his surviving children, family members, and friends who must be in exponentially more shock than the rest of us are. They are in my thoughts and prayers.

Entry 34

I watched this movie today. I love this movie, its outstanding. great story, good comedy, great cast, and the directing and editing are nearly without compare in the realm zombie flicks. so I threw this together after being inpired, and I hope you like it as much as I do. see ya tomorrow.

Entry 33

What a difference ten years can make. Today while cleaning up my studio I found an image that I drew when I was 16, in 1997. The drawing was a girl with her head slightly down holding a single rose. It was actually in my “re-draw these” pile, and when I saw it and noticed the year, I decided that today was the day to give it a mulligan. The new drawing is more natural, has better lines, and an all around more attractive look. I made some minor changes to the girl’s appearance, I thought she needed a subtle smile for example, but tried to keep the same basic concept. I posted a scan of the original, big signature and all, so you can see the differences and (hopefully) improvements. I enjoyed drawing this one, so maybe I’ll do some more ladies in the next few days. See ya tomorrow.

Entry 32

its a magical muscle study today. I'm tired, I've been awake for 30 hours or something, I'm going to bed now.

Entry 31

Its been a very busy day today. My first Niece, Mckenzie Noel Vines was born at 2:51 pm weighing in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. I'm stoked. I'm still on drugs for my back but I managed to start roughing out a final Green Arrow idea, I think i'll do a couple more thumbnails before I start really drawing but I'm getting there. see you tomorrow.

Entry 30

This spry gentleman is Green Arrow, one of my all-time favorites. I used the "Long Bow Hunters" costume designed by Mike Grell because its just awesome. Mike Grell was always the definitive Green Arrow artist for me and "long Bow Hunters" is the definitive Green Arrow story, if you read comics and you've never read it I suggest you hit up your local comic shop. While you're at it, cruise the dollar bin and back issue boxes for some of Grell's Warlord run from the 80's, thats some killer stuff too. I gotta go draw something....

Entry 29

I'm on pain killers and muscle relaxers (I was prescribed for back pain) and I still sketched a hulk head for you people. how awesome am I right now? I'm going to bed, I'm on muscle relaxers.

Entry 28

nothing special today, just a quick daredevil :)

Entry 27

The Mighty Thor. The weird gap up by his chest/head was where I had to move his head over in photoshop and chouldn't figure out a way to effectively re-fill the space. I love drawing this character and drawing this sketch made me want to draw a full finished drawing. I'm almost motivated, lol. I love my sketch blog :)

Entry 26

today....today I spilled hot coffee on myself. on my crotch to be exact. today has been THAT kind of day, so I just doodled this little skull on some scrap notebook paper. Its not much, but its probably pretty anatomically correct as far as comic book artists drawing skulls is considered. I'm gonna go wash my pants....

Entry 25

This is the design for the t-shirts for Dorothy's show this summer. We opened tonight and I was really proud of how this turned out considering I only spent about an hour on it. The image was created using both photoshop and illustrator and will end up being about 10 inches wide across white shirts. I think its purdy. Tomorrow I'll make some art by hand :)

Entry 24

hey look its Peter Parker! there are some little problems with this image, for example his right arm doesn't look fore-shortened correctly, but I love the way his face turned out. i feel like he's instantly recognizable as Peter Parker even without some sort of Spider-Man imagery added. fun stew. no plans for tomorrow, just whatever comes out of the pencil. see you then.

Entry 23

For today, I mostly did some photoshop practice. this was an older layout page I did featuring DC Comics' Lex Luthor and his assistant, Mercy. I took the dirty rough sketched layout and cleaned it up and straightened it out and replaced all the frame borders with the line tool. I also re-typed the hand lettering on the original piece. I'd like to find a better font for lettering than ComicSans but haven't had the time. Ideally I'd like to make a font out of my own handwriting someday and use that. Looking at this I realiz that I really want to draw this page as finished art and that next time I think I'll try to letter/border in illustrator and see if I can't get a result I like better. As for now, I'm going back to the drafting table.

Entry 22

This Imposing gentleman is known as Mongo, the Uber-ninja. He's a minor character in the online comic strip Dr. Mcninja. If you've never read it I suggest going to the site and starting in the archives, cuz its a blast. I'm not sure if this angle is working out quite how I wanted it too, and something looks off with the arms, his right arm is meant to be slightly closer but I'm not sure if it just comes across as being bigger and weird. I think I'll go back and draw this again and see what I can come up with.

Entry 21

HOLY CRAP! almost forgot today! it was out of my mind, my sister started going into labor earlier and I just wasn't thinking about this. Along with the little monkey face I sketched out for today I'm giving a bit of a backstage pass and showing that the last few entries have been drawn on the same single sheet of printer paper. Also, as you can see I usually draw with a prismacolor blue col-erase pencil and then cahnge the color and touch up in photoshop. Will I ever get to that sequential entry? tune in to find out: same Axel time, same Axel channel.

Entry 20

Just a quick Wolverine doodle for today, so much for some actual sequential work. I'm just tired and didn't honestly feel like posting at all, but I'm dedicated to posting every single day on this blog. So, sequential art is in the near future, but fo rnow enjoy a little cartooned Canadian midget.

Entry 19

I'm working on a funny drawing of Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu and this is my sketch progress so far. I haven't found a likeness that quite works how I want it to yet, but when I finish this drawing it should be pretty funny. tomorrow, god willing I have the time and energy, I'm going for some actual sequential art, Don't touch that dial.

Entry 18

just a quick warm-up doodle of Detective Killpack for this very long and busy day. I've got a Star Wars Image in mind for tomorrow....stay tuned.

Entry 17

This was done in part as a slightly late birthday present and also as a thank you for actually checking out my sketch blog on a regular basis. This is my lovely friend Jamie Barnes as Puck from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The quote is Neil Gaiman, not Shakespeare but I thought it worked pretty well. I never saw the actual make-up for the show so I just drew what I thought looked cool, actually loosely basing it on Dorothy's make up when she directed the play last year. I hope you like it and I can definitely mail or e-mail copies if you want them. see you tomorrow :)

PS- for anyone who isn't Jamie Barnes, here's the photo I used for reference: Click Me!

Entry 16

that is all. ha!

Entry 15

For today, I finally drew Kara "Strabuck" Thrace from the outstanding Sci-Fi series Battlestar Galacatica. I'm sharing a little bit of my process here and showing the image in rough pencils and in quick inks. I'm not sure how much I like this pice yet but I might go back and touch up the inks and toss some colors and a background into it later. I've got something in mind for tomorrow that should be pretty cool , I just hope I have the time and photo reference I need

Entry 14

Nothing in particular for today, just some loose sketches of a couple of attractive ladies, lol. I've been needing to work on female facial expressions, especially with the mouth open. I find it hard to make the lips look right with the mouth open and then make it all look right with the shape of the jaw, turned out pretty good on the lower lady this evening however. Alas, back to the drafting table I go.

Entry 13

The last in my "Ladies of Peter Parker" series; this is Kitty Pryde. I loved how they put Peter and Kitty together, something they could never have done in the regular Marvel universe because Peter was already a grown up by the time kitty debuted as a 14 year old in the X-men continuity. A third and completely different choice for Peter and really cool because they got to do "super-hero" things together. For tomorrow, I;m either doing another Conan piece or the Starbuck drawing I've been itching to do, see you then.

Entry 12

"Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you will remember if we were good men or bad, why we fought, or why we died. No, all that matters is that two stood against many, that's what's important. Valor pleases you, Crom, so grant me one request, grant me REVENGE! And if you do not listen, then the hell with you!" Today I broke from my Ultimate Spider-man girlfriend theme to drop a nice little W.I.P. This is Conan, of Cimmeria; raver, warrior, thief, pirate and king. I'm working on this for a draw-off at penciljack.com and I'm really, really liking it so far and I had to post it for today's sketch. tomorrow we'll go back and draw the other lady in poor Peter Parker's life : Kitty Pryde.

*update* click here for full color glory!

Entry 11

So since I drew Ultimate Gwen Stacy Yesterday I had to give equal pencil time to Mary Jane Watson. The two characters are great foils and I always love when Peter Parker is having girl trouble, especially if the girl(s) involved are way out of his league. I tried to may MJ a little more day-dreamy and less "bad girl" than Gwen but keep the same level of beauty and character. The Ultimate Marvel Universe version of Mary Jane is the penultimate girl next door and I tried to get that across. Old school Spidey fans will notice I gave her a slight cleft in the chin like John Romita used to, no other way to draw her as far as I'm concerned.

Entry 10

Another girly pic today. This one is meant to be Gwen Stacy from the Ultimate Spider-man comics. They did a really interesting re-imagining of her character and actually made her a lot like Mary-Jane Watson's original character. I'd love to work on a Spider-man project someday and my personal pick would be Ultimate Spidey, especially if Bendis is still writing, I 'd actually draw anything that he was writing, even say Ultimate Howard the Duck meets Ultimate Darkhawk. More Ultimate Marvel fun tomorrow I think...