I fractured my right shoulderblade over the holidays. Fell off a ladder. Wish it had been while wrestling a bear or fighting off a pack of ravenous wolves... alas... a freaken ladder. Couldn't draw at all for several weeks. Still wearing the sling now, but mostly as a reminder to take it easy until the bone has healed completely.

I wanted to upload final examples of my two entries into the Deities book. Looking back at the finished work, all I can see are the obvious flaws and silly mistakes. But I'm still pleased with how they both turned out.

Here is a shot of the final version of the Buhdi Pallien piece. Watercolor and lead pencil on cold-press watercolor board. We (the viewers) and the one little boy manage to see this larger than life, glorious feline goddess lying within touching distance of all the tourists. This was a fun one to do. Watercolor requires an enormous amount of self confidence and an ego to match.

My second entry for the Deities themed book from the guys at Tiki Machine is based on a Hindu goddess named Budhi Pallien. She's one of the earlier, elder gods. It's said that she liked to roam the jungles and forests of Northern India in the form of a tigress. Aaaand... it's said that she still does so today.

Well, that got me to thinking. How would a 10,000 (or so) year old tiger-goddess respond to our world today? What would she think of us? How would she interact with us? If at all.
And, how would we react to her?

I did some rough sketches of how she might look...




...meh... although I did like the simple stripe treatment.

And then decided that she HAD to be bigger than life. She's a freaken goddess. And I wanted to place her in plain site, yet be unseen by those all around her who can't be bothered to see the world around them.



This piece will be a simple one. A rough pencil drawing with water color washes on cold-press illustration board.

Been working with the guys over at The Tiki Machine on their new book.
The theme for this one is on "Deities". Kinda cool.

There will be two of my illustrations in the book. I wanted to do something from the native American peoples (specifically the Navajo) as the subject matter for the first illustration. Black Yei is my current favorite. Basically, he's the guy that's in charge of the stars and constellations, and he's the one who invented fire. The story goes that he used to keep the constellation of the Seven Sisters tied around his left ankle. However, whenever he danced, that star cluster would fly up from his kicking feet and smack him on the left brow. This happened so frequently, that he finally just had the Seven Sisters constellation mounted to his brow permanently.

I like the gentle humour found in many of the stories about the Navajo deities.

Can't show the final piece, but I can show you a rough sketch. This one will be digitally painted. I want to have the flame glowing with warm, yellows and oranges, while the stars glow with blue light. If I can pull it off, I also want the eye holes of his mask and the Seven Sisters star cluster to glow with the same star light. He IS a god after all.

Here's a quick, pencil sketch of another paper model design. It's an... a... er... Idunno. A steampunk vehicle thingy. Designed for exploration of rugged terrain. Lightly armed with a turret-mount machine-gun for protection. Lot's of rivets, gears and rust.

Will put this design in-line behind the other paper model projects I need to finish first. Must... finish... the... Kolywopter...

Monster Mythos

A friend of mine in the animation industry recently announce the release of an artbook. Something he'd dedicated a lot of time to bring to fruition. Monster Mythos, a collection of artwork based on theme. I love these types of artist collaborations. It gives us all a chance to see the impressive diversity of the creative human mind.





In his own words..
"Monster Mythos is an art book of legendary beasts, fiends and mystical creatures pulled from folklore all over the world. These spirited tales have been beautifully re-imagined and brought to life by a collective of artists from the animation and illustrative fields. Their hope is to bring the same inspiration and wonder to those who might not have heard of these beasts, as these legends have to generations before."

Dig it man.

Check it out at tikimachine. I'll be picking up my own copy soon.

Two-Headed Chicken Paper Model

This has been a fun project. I began this a couple of years ago when I first discovered the art of paper craft. I had wanted to create a model of my own design that anyone could download, print out, and then build for themselves.

Something that reflected my own style as an artist.



The two-headed chicken is about simplicity of form and color. The design deliberately relies on simple shapes and solid colors.



I think my favorite part are those big-ol feet...



and the curled, pink tongue.



I dig'em man.

This model is available as a FREE download from my website.

I don't know who originated the "Cows Analogy to Political Idealism"... but I've improved on it a bit. Hope it makes you laugh. Irregardless to what "ism" you may belong.

REPUBLICAN: You have two cows.
You mortgage your house to the hilt, borrow money to buy a bull and hire your neighbors to help you take care of the growing heard. Some of your neighbors in turn do the same and they also hire even more neighbors to care for their own growing herds as well.

DEMOCRAT: You have six cows. Your neighbor has four cows and a poor neighbor has only two cows.
You feel guilty for having six cows, so you get Ted Kennedy who has 10,000 cows to raise taxes to make your greedy neighbor with four cows give one cow to the poor neighbor. Now both neighbors have three cows each and everybody is equal. Of course, YOU still have six cows. But you can live with the guilt because Barbara Striesand sings to you and Michael Moor makes movies about the evil and greedy Republicans.

LIBERTARIAN: You have two cows.
You borrow money (without government interference) in order to buy a bull (without any government interference). But because there is no law against drug use (see without government interference) you can’t find any neighbors who aren't stoned out of their minds to help you take care of the heard.

SOCIALIST: You have two cows.
The government takes both cows. The government mismanages the care of the cows. One cow dies.
The surviving cow yields only half the milk, so milk is scarce and expensive. In desperation the government shoots the other cow for food and taxes the evil and greedy Republicans to avoid starvation.

LIBERAL or "Progressive": You inherit your grandfathers cattle ranch with hundreds of cows.
Your family sells the cattle ranch and becomes very rich by investing in cattle markets. You go to a fancy college and learn all about socialism and join in the protest against the evil cattle ranchers. You protest against people who eat cows because cows are people too. You protest against the cattle ranchers because they give drugs to the cows and you believe drugs are only for people. You protest because cow farts are causing methane gas which contributes to global warming. You protest because the cattle ranches are making a profit. You protest because cows are destroying the habitat of the yellow-bellied titsy-fly. You protest because America has the most cows. You protest by throwing cow blood on people who wear leather products. You protest against the use of the term "milkmaid" because it’s gender-specific. You protest because men are touching a cows naughty bits when they milk them. You become a trial lawyer so that you can sue the evil and corrupt farmers because milk and cheese products are making all the poor children fat and it is obviously the farmer’s fault. You use your family’s money to get into politics so that you can FORCE people to give you control of all the cows. You mismanage the cows and they all die (see socialism) and since there are no more republicans to tax and steal cows from, the people starve and become desperate. For the good of the republic you have to shoot a lot of the people to maintain order (see communism). You institute reform by forcing the people back to the farm where they can raise cows. But you’re ok because you still have the money your grandfather made on the family cattle ranch.

ENVIRONMENTALIST: You weep for the cows.
You paint cow spots all over your body and dance naked in the streets of New York to protest "bovine abuse". You join militant protest groups and stage midnight raids to free the oppressed cows from their slavery to mankind. You make up fake studies with false statistics and pay Al Gore to make a movie about them. You fence off vast tracks of land to keep everyone out for the good of the world community. And no one but the cows are allowed access to the land... Well... except for yourself, Al Gore and Robert Redford of course.
You pass laws prohibiting the use, sale and possession of cows or dairy products for the good of the world community. Of course, those of your neighbors who were formerly employed in the care, production, processing, transportation, maintenance, inspection, and sales of cows and dairy products are now jobless, homeless and starving along with their families. But that's okay, because there are TOO MANY PEOPLE on this earth anyway and it's ABOUT TIME we reached a SUSTAINABLE POPULATION for the GOOD OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY! Besides, you need the extra room for your own four cows.

COMMUNIST: You have two cows.
The government seizes both cows, shoots you, and sells your cows to the Americans for the good of the people.
The government makes lots of money, buys lots of tanks and has big parades for the good of the people.
Your family dies of starvation and the UN condemns America for selling you the tanks.

DICTATOR: You don’t need cows.
Because you torture and kill your neighbors to force them to give you the milk from their cows. If your neighbors don’t produce enough milk, you torture and kill their families. If they complain, you torture and kill their families.
If you time it just right, you can escape with your millions before the Americans come. The Americans clean up your mess and give free cows to everyone. You then publicly blame your bad behavior on racist and oppressive American Imperialism. Time magazine makes you person of the year for your courageous stand against the Imperialist Americans. Sean Penn places an ad in the New York Times demanding that you be returned to your rightful place as "benevolent dictator" over your neighbors.