Riding Out Wall Street

I did this illustration last week for a story about finding places to put your money rather than the stock market. I've got about 35 cents in my pocket. I think I'll put it on the shelf next to my keys. That's safe! Wait! Where are my keys?



Here are the thumbnail roughs I did when I received the assignment.



And here's how it looked when it hit the page!



Sorry I'm so brief today. Company's coming and I've got lots to do! Thanks for looking!

If you like it/hate it leave a comment or tweet it at me. I'm always happy to hear from even my most brutal of critics... like mom.

A Very Old Illustration of Ray Bradbury

I saw the spine of a Ray Bradbury book on my shelves this morning and I remembered this illustration. I was motivated to look on the blog to see what I had written about it. Alas, it appears I never posted it. I think this was done in 2003 or maybe 2004, and that was a few years before I started the blog. It must have slipped through the cracks.


I had a wonderful time working on it. Making art for the newspaper, every once in a while you get to do something for a story that is exactly what you've wanted to do all your life. Drawing a big illustration for a story and interview with Ray Bradbury might have been the first and most perfect intersection of dream-job and practical work I've ever had.

With a lot of effort and home-study I was beginning to have some confidence in my digital painting and used every trick I had learned up to that point. I was completely thrilled with how it came out. I don't remember who came up with the headline -- it certainly could have been me, and I hope it was! -- but doing the headline in the style of the old Amazing Stories logo almost put a tear in my eye when I finished it.
The End.


June 18th edit: 

I've just noticed that there have been more visitors to this blog entry lately and I felt I should point out that I wrote and posted this piece about three weeks before Mr. Bradbury's passing -- it might seem odd to the casual visitor that there is no mention of that. So, that's why.

I'll add that I think he was a huge, huge talent. Without question, he is one of the immortal writers of the 20th century. Thank you for all your wonderful work, Mr. Bradbury.

Sorta Unfinished Characters


Here are a couple more character design experiments. Not that great, and not even finished, but there have been chores and a household emergency to tend to this afternoon.

I probably will not get back to these any time soon, so might as well post them now.

Pardon the very hasty background.


Quirky New Character Design Doodles

Here are a couple of character design doodles. They are somewhat unfinished, but I set a deadline for myself on these and I fudged on that already.

For my next attempts I will try to design more mainstream, serious characters. I don't know why, but my efforts turn slightly silly when I don't pay close attention to their evolutions.

Drawn in Photoshop!