The Beetle

Here's a rendition I did of the old school version of Spider Man nemesis THE BEETLE. This was done for the Maverix/Glide auction this weekend (more on that below). It is also ACTUAL MEDIA...ink and paint on paper -- no digital!

I was a huge Spider Man fan as a kid, and even though Spidey handily kicked the Beetle's ass every time, I still thought he was kinda cool. The "new" Beetle has no resemblance to the cool old design. He looks more like something from Michael Bay's Transformers. Yeech.



The Beetle will be sold to the highest bidder in silent auction.

Details on the auction:

Maverix is hosting a fund raiser for an important organization in our community, Glide Memorial Church. The proceeds from this fund raiser will go specifically to support their Children's Creative Arts Media Center.

The evening will include food, drink and the music of our talented DJs. Original and digital art from prominent contemporary artists will be up for bid in a silent auction, with the evening culminating in a live auction for the most sought after pieces!

It is a great opportunity to get the jump on holiday shopping and support a wonderful organization working with and for the under served children of our fair city.

Come celebrate the holidays Maverix style!!

Sunday December 2nd. 6pm til 10pm.
1717 17th street @ Carolina
SF CA 94103

click the pic for more info


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Catty for a cause

UPDATE: Progress shots and final piece now added.

Ok, so I lied. The sketch a few posts down isn't going to be the eventual piece up for auction, but rather this one here:

This is the digital sketch for the actual auction piece. I wanted to do something that was a bit more familiar, plus I'm a Catwoman fan. I'm inking it now and wrestling with a way to color it in the hopes of somehow coming close to the sketch below. I consulted a couple of the guys here at the studio and got some really great information on their process and how they approach a piece. This image could be the beginning of a long road back to traditional media for me which I'm excited about.

The auction is this Saturday, info is here.

Digital sketch:



Here are the process shots:


This first one I was experimenting with watercolor and acrylic. The watercolor is on the right and is just a test section of the couch. I felt it was lacking intensity color wise. On the left side is the acrylic; I liked the flatness of the tones, but since it's opaque, I would not be able to trace off the ink lines on the light box. It would require either a transfer of the drawing or a "winging it" approach, recreating the drawing by eye. I didn't feel comfortable with either of those options at the time, so I went for test two.


The second test was done with Tria markers; they're alcohol based and would easily pull up the ink into a muddy mess so I laid down blocks of color first and then inked over it on the light box. The problem with this was it was hard to see the ink lines through the darker areas (such as the purple on the couch). Again, I liked the flatness of the tones.


This third test is what I eventually went with; a combination of watercolor and Dr. Marten's concentrated water color. This turned out to be the best way since I could ink the drawing on the light box, then watercolor directly over the ink lines. The concentrated watercolor added the intensity that I wanted. The major issue here for me was the toothiness of the paper...it didn't have enough to grab the liquid and it tended to pool in areas, got pushed around by the brush, and eventually dried uneven. So for this technique, that is the area that needs a bit more exploration. The concentrated water color also dries very fast which makes gradients and transitions tricky.

Well, the final turned out a LOT different than the original digital sketch...this was the first actual traditional color media work I've done in a very long time and I learned a lot from it. It was definitely not easy and there were a couple of times when I thought I was going to bail out of the whole endeavor. But it's done and I'm happy with it.


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Ring Girl

Ring Girl I did for Sam Hiti's Fist-a-Cuffs blog.

Auction piece: Work in Progress

I've been roughing out a number of compositions in the hopes I'll arrive at one that I like. This one is on its way, a portrait of Rose and her pal Liz who make quite a duo in the Cora story. Once I get the drawing right, I plan to do it up with actual ink, frame it, and get it on the wall at Maverix before the 29th. More info about the auction can be found here.

Rose on paper

Here's a drawing I did for a fellow artist. This was one of the rare times recently that I've drawn with actual media...something I hope to do with more frequency.

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Caster dancing

Liz Caster will appear in parts of the CORA book as a saloon dancer. Here is an early attempt at what she may look like.


(Liz Caster is a fictional chartacter and not intended to represent anyone living or dead; any resemblance is coincidental).

Auction update

Here is the finished framed piece. It will be hanging among some great work by artists including Peter De Seve, Tadahiro Uesugi and Pierre Alary just to name a few. If you're in the bay area, come by Maverix Studios (1717 17th st) and bid on some art to support a good cause! The auction runs from 5-9pm Sunday night May 20th.

For Auction

This weekend there are not one but TWO benefits to support the humanitarian Organization EMERGENCY - life support for civilian war victims.



Saturday May 19th - it’s the 14th World Wide SketchCrawl which will be a world wide fundraiser.

Sunday May 20th - Maverix Studios and friends will hold a benefit Art Auction in San Francisco.

Here's a digital sketch of my contribution to the auction, which will eventually be an original inked drawing titled "Rose and Lilith" based on characters from historical writings (Lilith) and my comic, Rose and Isabel.

You can get all the info for this weekend's fundraisers at Enrico's Blog
and the Maverix website.



(Here's a color version which may end up as a print or something.)

Ring Girl

UPDATE: The ring girl I drew is now up at FACA. Below is an alternate I did.




Here's part of the ring girl I drew for FACA. You'll be able to see the rest of her as well as ring girls by Ronnie del Carmen, Sam Hiti, and Paul Pope as they tote around the cards for Rounds 2, 3, 4, and 5 of FACA!
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Xythyxx needs your help

UPDATE

: thanks everyone for your votes! Because of you, Xythyxx has made it to the final round! He defeated Pink Dynamo in a no-holds barred grudge match that ended in a coin toss because votes were tied between the two gladiators! Keep an eye on Fist-a-cuffs for the next challenge, which will be tag-teams with 4 artists contributing to each matchup.

This is a bit of a departure from my normal posts but my gladiator fighting over at Sam Hiti's Fist-A-Cuffs needs your help.
Funny this should happen at March Madness time because right now is the final four, Xythyxx is down by two votes, and voting ends tomorrow! So run to Sam Hiti's Fist-A-Cuffs and vote for Xythyxx! (once you get there scroll down until you see the drawing matchups).

Thank you!

Drawing writers

Here are some warmups I've been doing for a commisioned piece on literary figures.

Cintiq/Photoshop

Howard Zinn:




James Ellroy:


(Zinn and Ellroy based on photographs by Robert Birnbaum)
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