Full finished Lil Dude page

I'm going to be publishing these from time to time just to get the word out and so you can see what I've been working on all this time.

Most of these pages will be without the text. Gotta keep you guessing in some way, right?

Its been a long time

Ok, after well over a year and a half at least./ I am done with the first installment of the LilDude comic series. now comes getting th ething published. this could be my big break or not. Eoither way, I will make sure people can see my work and this is what makes me happy. And what am I doing now? Well working on a new book of course!! A mini comic starring Rooney and the folow up to the first Lil Dude book. Kinda at the same time. Ahhh, it feels good. Here are a couple of prelim sketches for cover designs I was kicking around. Which is the actual cover? Well.....you'll have to wait and see. ; )

I'm back

It has been quite a while since my last post so I am way past due.l I have been illustrating a chldren's book and fatherhood and new husbandhood (don't vthink bthats a word) is taking up time. It is time well spent cthough, of course. I am getting better at adjusting my time. So here are a few sketches. And of course I am still woking on the Lil Dude comic book. It had tro be put on hold for a little bit, but it is back in the swing. It is almost totally inked! But anyway, here is a quick Cap sketch and somehing I made up that I will kinda follow up on Baby Rhino. Spider-Man fans will get that one.

Holiday Specials

This is an article I wrote for my office newsletter. I put a lot of thought in to it and wanted to share it with everyone.

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Tis’ the season for all of us to share with our families, eat, be merry and dive into the treacherous lines at the department stores that become more like waiting to ride a roller coaster at Disney World than waiting to check out. Aside from the obvious things we all think of when you think holidays and the month of December, the forgotten gem that was always one of my favorite parts of the Holidays as a tike was the Animated Christmas specials. Of course you may call me partial because animation has always been close to my heart, but there was a time when even though it had been on last year and every year before that, everyone still talked about how much they were looking forward to seeing Rudolph, or Frosty or the Grand Puba of Christmas animated warmth, Charlie Brown. These shows are timeless and that is why the networks can still show them today to our children and their children and they will still hold their value. Sure we may have Shrek and Pixar and all the CG animation that makes good ol’ cell animation seem like cave drawings now, but the simplicity of the stories, the music, and the characters that makes us laugh and cry and forget that these are nothing more than drawings on paper or foam figures. Who can say they don’t feel the drive of Rudolph and Yukon Cornelius as they trek to the North Pole and Hermey the Elf whose dream is to become a dentist.
I would always ask my mother when the shows would come on and I would make myself a reminder to be in front of the television with a cup of hot cocoa with mini marshmallows, heated in the microwave. Ok, so it wasn’t all that long ago, but the memories are still sweet and they are vivid. For a time there was a pullout calendar in the Courier Journal that marked all the airings of all the holiday shows. Now they all come on early in the month of December and sometimes closer to Thanksgiving. The first time I missed A Charlie Brown Christmas during the holidays it didn’t register at first I was so stunned. I remember trying to find out when it came on, still early in December I thought, and I found that it had already aired. At the time it was like my best friend had moved away and I would not see him for another year. I guess they are following the trend of grocery and department stores that put out Christmas decorations before the jack-o-lanterns have even started to rot. It’s as if the network execs are saying “lets get these old things out of the way, kids only care about Spongebob and Dora anyway.” This makes them easy to miss if you aren’t carefully looking out for them which lets me know they aren’t getting the appreciation they deserve. You can turn to basic cable and see the Grinch quite a few times during December and around Thanksgiving, but now the Chuck Jones classic animated special shares air time with the live action Jim Carrey feature film. Without turning this into a campaign for classic animation, there is something about the way that Looney Tunes pioneering animator Chuck Jones could breathe life and personality into a character that makes his Grinch so sinister, so evil you want to jump through the tv and hurt him when he takes those presents from Whoville. “Mr. Grinch! How Could you!” Even when you know he has a change of heart and gives them all back at the end of the story.
To this day I still get misty eyed when Frosty turns to a puddle of water when he loses his hat. Shouting Happy Birthday when he puts on that hat is just so cute and memorable you can’t help but give him a pass for smoking that pipe around the kids. Of course Christmas is not complete until you watch the classic of all classics, A Charlie Brown Christmas. I don’t mean the newer updated version, I mean the classic, muttled color, heartwarming story of poor unlucky Charlie Brown and that horrible tree that you just gotta love. Charlie Brown Christmas is a staple at Christmas time like Egg Nog and annoying relatives. Ironically, its so entertaining to see poor Charlie being mistreated and taken advantage of but yet, he and Linus still manage to teach us the true meaning of Christmas. My favorite growing up was the lesser known Twas’ the Night Before Christmas about a clockmaker that plans to greet Santa with a song when the giant clock strikes 12. A mouse that doesn’t believe in Santa sabotages the clock and adventure ensues to save Christmas! The songs in this special are so catchy that I can still sing them all word for ward despite its airing being harder to find than a Nintendo Wii last Christmas. The coolest thing about it is there is a scene with an African American kid who loves to draw and draws a picture of Santa. And his name just happens to be Randy.
There are many other animated shows that I haven’t mentioned like Garfield’s Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and quite a few others, but they all deserve mention and should be shared with our kids and even if you watch them alone I guarantee it will make you feel like a kid again when the stresses of the grown-up world was just something you heard about.

CAGE and Mr. president Elect. not necessarily in that order.

Hello all, it has been a while since my last post. I have been busy being a daddy and future husband and oh, yeah. Witnessing HISTORY. I can't stop smiling. God is good and I am extremely excited about being a part of this. And moving on to completely unrelated toics, This Cage sketch I had the idea for a while back. I figured it would be cool to do a rtro 70's style Luke Cage, aka Power Man. My take on Iron Fist is coming shortly too so keep a watch out for that. Here is the rough sketch to rough inks to colors.

A preview of the Upcoming Lil Dude book

First Preview page of the Lil Dude graphic novel

I have wanted to make this happen for a long time. Now I am making it happen. Stay tuned. I will post sketches and a couple of preview pages. Not too many now, I don't want to spoil it. But the book will come out. The release date is TBA and I will let the world know in every way possible.

I have removed the preview page of my comic from this blog and from my myspce page. If anyone is actually looking at either. the reason is that I got some good advice from my fiancee. As artists we are sensitive about our work, some so much so that they are afraid to show anyone for fear of any sort vof commentary at all. But I think whenyou are trying to dive into a entertainment medium like cartooning or comics, you need to be able to take criticism. You need to be able to let as many people as possible see your work. I am constantly striving to get better. And in doing this project, the comic, I have grown alot as a person and as an artist. You really learn how passionate you are about your work when you have a child and you have much less time for yourself. It has made me realize that I really do want this and I want it badly. Which brings me back to the page. I have been working on my book now for quite some time and I have watched my self grow in the process. My earlier pages are kind of crappy compared to some of my later stuff aftwr I have become more comfortable with the process and my characters and found my voice alot more. When you spend a lot of time, as artists know, looking at your own stuff you start to hate it, and or you start to become numb to it. My problem is that I was so excited about getting the thing done that I was less concerned about quality. And thats not good. I have some really great pages to show and you will be seeing them in my book in the next couple of months. The page I posted was not quality and it was not the best work I am capabkle of, and it was not indicative of what is to come in this book,. My fiance helped me to realize that. It was tough to hear, and I resisted at first making excuses and the whole nine, but so true and I am blessed to have somebody that can be honest with me and help me be the best I can be. You hear all the time that family is not the best to critique your work, but sometimes, you have a special person that you can rely on to push you and make you better. So the first preview page is yet to come lets say and it will be good. I will probably be going back and redoing some of my early pages too. Which is tough, but ultimately I want my work to be my best work, not just finished. Stay tuned...