Hey everybody,
So I had a couple free days over the weekend and decided to finish up a personal piece I started a little while ago. There are still a couple loose ends I wanna tighten up, but I've been lookin at this too long. I'll come back later with a fresh eye. Hope ya dig it.
Mike
Just saw this on Fantasy Flight Games' site yesterday. This card was a LOT of fun to do. Kinda quick and dirty, I had to get it done in a day. Every once in a while it actually works out. Even though there's a lot of really loose elements, I enjoy the image as a whole and I'm glad FFG did as well. Hope ya digs!
I just got my comp copies of this card today and figured I'd post it. I actually did this one almost a year and a half ago. I had to do this one really quickly because I had procrastinated for so long due to some other work I was doing at the time but I'm still happy with the overall image. There are a couple of loose ends I like to clean up, but for a quick turn around I guess it's not too bad.
They actually used it for their packaging. That's always fun :-P
Here's the packaging
I did a squiggle to test my brush and kinda ran with the squiggle. This was super quick. About 3 minutes (def less than five). I'm happy with the freshness of it as simple as it is.
I knocked this quickie out while my daughter was napping this morning. Extremely random, and WAY outside my comfort zone but a lot of fun. Truly a Digi-Doodle. More to come.
In hindsight, this pretty much looks like a robotic Xenomorph. Oh well...
Here's a speedpaint/study I did recently. Tryin to keep the blog alive but unfortunately I don't have much new work that I can show.
About 2 hours
photoshop cs3
Here's a new personal piece I did. This is kinda a before and after. I started this before going to bed one night and eventually took it to what I considered a finish. But after posting it a couple of other places and talking with some friends (especially Reau) I realized it needed more work. I hope you consider the new one to be an improvement. Either way I hope you enjoy the before and after.
Mike
Before
After
Life has been incredibly busy lately with work, family and TAXES!!!! Booooooooo! Anyway, I'm waiting for my girlfriend to take care of some business so I can run a few errands. While I'm waiting I'm taking five minutes to do a quick update. I hope you dig some of it :-P
Here are the last batch of cards released for Alderac Entertainment Games' Legend of Five Rings. I'm in the process of revising the top two for my portfolio. I liked those pieces a lot but they just weren't finished enough. They still need a little more love.
Here's some of the recent stuff I did with Rob Liefeld. The Die Hard cover was a super quickie and it MAY be reworked a little before print, but I'm not sure if we still have time.
Mike
It's ironic that my last post was the birth of my daughter because that's where my free time has gone. And I gotta say it's amazing! She's growing so fast (I know everyone says that, but it is unbelievably true). I'll post some new pics of her soon if anyone's interested. As for posting art well... still waiting for a lot of it to be published before I can post, still working with Rob Liefeld on a lot of projects I'll post some links for those, and I unfortunately haven't had a millisecond for personal work which makes me really sad. It's something I have to MAKE time for in the near future before I forget that this isn't just a job :-P I hope there's still one person out there still checking in vain for a new post. It's Easter which means dinner with friends and family bit I promise within the next day or two I'll throw up a few illustrations I did recently. Hope everyone has a good holiday!
Mike
Here's a link to the latest project with Liefeld.
CBR - Armageddon Now: Jada
And some links on some articles about the first book.
CBR - Amageddon Now Unleashed!!!
And a preview of the first book with the not so awesome cover.
Newsarama Preview
In my last post I mentioned the fact that I had a daughter. Here she is in all her glory :P Born 7 lbs, 5 oz and 20 inches long I give you Sophia Caaaaaaapproooooooooooottiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!
I can't describe the sensation of realizing that you helped create a new life, especially one so cute! :P I'm still kinda in shock. Parent hood is so much more rewarding and so much more tiring than I ever expected :-P Ok maybe that's not entirely true, to be honest I think I expected to be so much more tired but either way it's a whole new experience and we couldn't be happier about it.
I've been neglecting the hell outta this blog! And it's the easiest damn thing to update. I'm not gonna say that that from now on I'll update more often... cuz
I'm such a damn procrastinator! And now I've got another MAJOR distraction. A BEAUTIFUL baby girl. My daughter Sophia was born on the 13th of October and our lives haven't been the same since. Priorities have changed, routines are all outta whack and sleep...? I don't know the meaning of the word anymore! But it's all for the best reasons possible. At the risk of sounding corny, I feel so lucking to have such an amazing daughter.
As far as work goes, I've been working full time with Rob Liefeld on his Graphic Novel Armageddon Now. So that's been keeping me extremely busy! And I'm still working freelance on games like L5R and A Game of Thrones when I can. Every once in a blue moon I get to do something for myself. So I'll post all that good stuff here now. Hope ya digs!
Some L5R Cards
Some Call of Cthulu Cards
Some Liefeld stuff. Pencils by him, Paintover by me.
Variant Cover for Deadpool #1
Hardcover to Armageddon Now
SomePersonal stuff
A Wolvie for my boy Reau's Wolvie Wednesday Finale
Big thanx to Irene Gallo for sharing this on her blog, I had to repost it. I absolutely LOVE the Gorillaz! Everything they do is so much fun.
So yea... my muse strikes again! This is a painting of my girlfriend that I did last night. I wanted to do a "quick" portrait just practicing some things. The only problem with that is I don't know the meaning quick. So technically this was a failure, but I'm still happy with the end result. I really do have to start working on my speed though, originally that was the whole idea behind the painting. Next time I just have to set a time limit for myself.
Just got back from the Marvel screening for "The Incredible Hulk", and I gotta say damn... there was a whole lot of badass in that movie! They definitely turned up the action and intensity for this Hulk. The acting was great, I loved the story of Bruce Banner and where he was living in the beginning. Getting to see Marko's hulk come to life was a trip as well. I think my only real beef with it was that some of the CG looked a little rushed and too artificial. Whether you liked the first one or not, if you go back and just watch how the hulk's character was animated and look at the textures of things like his skin, hair eyes and such, it was damn near flawless. It's just too bad his color was so distracting that most people mistook neon skin tones for bad CG. Either way if you dig comic book movies this is definitely a must see. It was a lot of fun, you get all the kick ass one on one brawling action you want out of a Hulk movie.
I said I'd post some pics from Philly so here are a few.
The whole Koni Waves Gang!
Dex and Reau are straight GANGSTA! Oh yea, that's Reau's Art Arsenal on his wrist.
Frank and his wife pimpin out his book Eve. These guys are so nice! Good Peeps.
My buddy Jim and Dave Palumbo at the Marriot drinkin and drawing.
Dave, Koi (drunk as a skunk) Pham :-P and Joe Quinones gettin gangsta!
And in true Gangsta Geek style we all throw up our gang signs! I'm not sure who's is more hardcore, Joe's or Daves? Oh yea, and that's me on the right... west siiiide.
I started this sketch at Wizard World Philly not long after chatting about the Venture Bros. with Joe Quinones . I said have to paint this, and here it is in all it's bloody glory. This is an homage to one of my favorite cartoon characters on TV as well as an homage to one of my favorite artists and friends Phil Rynda who was one of the original character designers for the show. I hope this painting does the character justice, it was a blast to do.
