The Wild West!

My computer is temporarily out of commission and I am depressed about it. Here is the last drawing I am mustering up for 2013. It's a cowboy. The picture on the left was my inspiration for my drawing. I really dig the little guy. I used different colored ink pens to make him. Giddy'up!

LIL PARTY BOT!

Tonight is the biggest party night of the year, but I don't party. I mean, I party, but in the way of trivia and sitting in Matt Benyo's basement in a snuggie watching non-Jennifer Lawrence movies. So, in honor of the partying that's going down tonight, I made the lil party robot. I used illustrator and wanted to evoke a sense of fun mixed with childish wonder with the color (and I hope it makes you smile). Remember guys, you can have all the fun you want, but you gotta be safe. Party on, party bot.

The Grand Count.

I drew this, inked it, nibbed it, and photoshopped the background/white of the collar. I wish I could properly name this. I don't even know what it's from. I like it though.

Dogs, Houses, & Gaga.

I made a cut out of Lexi the dog (my friend Jiggawatt's), I drew a house while working crazy volunteer hours for the library, and I made a mixed media cut out of Lady Gaga last night during her ARTrave live streaming event via VEVO in celebration of ARTPOP. I've been a little busy, but thought I'd post a big batch of goodness. More to come! Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

Well boys and ghouls, we've reached the end of our trails. Or have we? Well, I have way too many ideas that I didn't get to do so Halloween blog updates have been EXTENDED. Maybe I'll post 5 days a week instead of 7; we'll see. After completing this Hocus Pocus piece, I want to die. This took me 13 hours and 185 layers in photoshop. Absolute insanity. I basically use photoshop the same way one would use illustrator except I use paper textures to create my shapes. I like the geometric look. Man, I could've kept nitpicking this, but I just had to let it be. So, without further ado, I present you with the Sanderson Sisters because what would Halloween be without them? No posts until at least Monday. This one took it out of me. Click to enlarge to see the crazy details/layers.

Nosferatu!

I absolutely LOVE Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; the 1922 F.W. Murnau film starring Max Schreck. Nos has always had a special place in my heart. I saw the film at the Detroit Film Theatre 6 or 7 years ago and I am thrilled to say that I will be seeing Nosferatu TONIGHT in Ann Arbor with live organ accompaniment. If anyone is interested in seeing something great and eerie, come join me! In light of these festivities, I spent all day and night making this Nos using Illustrator anddd I love him. Here are some initial sketches I did as well. What do you think? Click to enlarge!

The Tale of the Night Shift.

So, I've been watching Are You Afraid of the Dark cause tis the season. One of the scariest episodes has to be the Night Shift with the Vampire in the hospital. The character is actually one of the better ones from the series. When I was a camp counselor, I used to play that episode every summer. So, I went a little wild and crazy with this one. Maybe I overworked it, but I wanted him to have some of that menace that the character from the show had. Regardless, I had fun making this.

Woop Woop!

Cause here in Detroit, Halloween is totally synonymous with ICP. Together, the two Joseph's and the halloween extravaganza create the holy trinity of halloween here in the D and you can't have ICP without Faygo. Where the juggalos at?

Demon.

I'm dead. Or evil. Or a ghost. Or whatever. But I'm not a zombie. Make up job compliments of Matt Benyo. Happy Halloween, boys and ghouls. 

They All Float Down Here.

So this isn't Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but he's kind of creepy (if you don't like clowns). I painted this using watercolor and then when I was messing around with it, I made it look scary so I'm posting both of em. I'm not in love with it, but I also haven't painted in forever and happy birthday to my father, Charlessss!

Demontaur.

This is a demon minotaur. I don't know much about him, but he's mean as hell. I can't even look at him. I'm going to give myself nightmares. Click to enlarge this beast!

Are You A Fairy?

He is not a fairy. His name is the Pale Man and he is a child-eating monster according to Wikipedia. He gives me the freak out. I was terrified of him in Pan's Labyrinth. Great movie, by the way; gory and graphic. I like it for its fantastical nature. That aside, blood splatters on everything. Click to enlarge!

"Come Play With Us, Danny."

FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER. I love The Shining. I've watched it 4 times consecutively. I spent 6 hours on this. I work so slow. I inked this, took it into photoshop, made it a cut out, and had some fun with it. I wanted to show them half alive and then half bloodied up. I am super proud of it; probably because of the amount of time I spent on it and because I felt good about it. Mad props to Matt Benyo for being my art critic and helping me make some crucial decisions. Now I am sick and going to be exhausted tomorrow, but this made it worth it.

Monstober.

Matt Benyo and I are watching Halloweentown and I drew this creature. I don't know why. He's scarier than anything in that movie. MB named him Flombat!

Black Parade.

I was inspired by these little skeleton decorations I saw at my friend Betsy's house the other day so I drew them leading a parade. A little skeleton parade. Happy as larks.

Shawnee Smith: Colored!

OKAY I am really proud of this. I don't know why. Maybe because it looks finished? There are still things I could tweak (because trust me, I have), but I put a lot of time into this and I realized it doesn't really look like Shawnee Smith. Instead of looking terrified, she looks like a BA. Maybe some killer robot from the future. I don't know, but I dig this and I hope you do too!

I Want To Play A Game.

Jigsaw hanging out. Jigsaw on the TV. Matt Benyo actually gave me the idea to make the static fuzz over him like he's on TV which I thought was pretty genius. So, I inked it in my moleskin and did everything else in Photoshop. This is part 2 of the 3 part Saw series. I'm wrapping it up with the final Shawnee Smith tomorrow!

Shawnee Smith: Uncolored.

I'm doing 2 Shawnee posts. I drew it with mechanical pencil and then inked the hair and bear trap with Micron pens. I pulled it into photoshop to darken it and give it the grey. I spent a lot of time working on this; especially the details. Next couple posts will be Saw (good guessing, Lindsay)! Click to enlarge!

Final Preview!

Tomorrow I'm posting it. Any ideas? I sent Matt Benyo progress shots as I did it and he said I really captured the eyes which is huge for me because I'm usually not very good at the eyes. Here they are. I hope they haunt you.

Preview 2!

Preview of Coming Attractions!

I've got this piece I'm posting Wednesday. It took me a solid 8 hours and maybe when I post it you're not going to understand why it took so long, but I'm a little proud of it. Not much because it did get kind of destroyed in the process of being inked, but I'm still smiling. Here's a preview:

The Lost Boys.

I really enjoy The Lost Boys. Kiefer Sutherland was mean in this movie, but he was a vampire so it's justified. I always just remember him being mean in Stand By Me. I will never forgive him for stealing Gordie's hat in Stand By Me. I got ahead of myself with the inking here. Meh.

Challenge: Matt Benyo.

I've been on a portrait kick. It all started with this one I'll be posting on Wednesday, but for some reason, they keep turning out okay which is strange because portraits have always been a struggle for me. Matt Benyo posted a photo & challenged me to draw it. I said no, but I thought why not? There are a few things off, but BOOM; I DID IT. I've included progress shots which makes me like this a lot. This took me 4 hours and it's smaller than my palm. SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE. The point is that I am getting better and that makes me happy. Click to enlarge!

 

Old Costumes.

My aunt posted this link on my cousin's facebook and I was curious so I took a look. Instant nightmares. There's nothing scarier than vintage costumes. These two particular costumes really freaked me out. Drawings tomorrow!

 

October Country.

The October Country is a collection of october-themed stories by the great Ray Bradbury. It's a good read and I highly recommend it. I like the opening page (which I've included on the left). It gets me excited for Halloween. I sketched all of these little costumed creatures from my head and colored them with this pen I found that has 10 different colors in it. Which is your favorite character?

"What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?"

Scream is an absolute classic. Love it. I go through phases with movies where I'll watch them several times a night for like a week. I just did that with Scream. Every single time I watch it, I notice some subtle thing that I missed. It rules. Anyway, here's an inked drawing using a nib of Casey (Drew Barrymore) and Ghost Face. I took it into photoshop, colored it, used some cut outs. I can dig it. Click to enlarge!

The Lil Vampire.

Before my Grandma passed away in 08, I drew a picture of The Lil Vampire and told her that I thought the idea of a Vampire sitting down at a table and eating blood for breakfast out of a bowl was funny. I came across that drawing and decided to do some sketches (included below). Also included is the final, which I did illustrator. I had a lot of fun making it and I hope you enjoy looking at it. Click to enlarge!

Scary Sunday.

Taking a break from making things and posting this photo I saw Elizabeth Wight post. She has that whole creepy thing on lock. Vintage scary is way scarier than anything these days. So, back to the drawing board tomorrow!

Forget Smarterchild.

This is the Googly Minotaur. You either know him or you don't. He was my favorite.

Creature Comforts.

I was inspired by Blake Bradley for this one. I've never drawn anything like this, but it came to me during a lecture at U of M while pretending to be a student.

Batman & Robin.

A boy I was babysitting yesterday drew people in costumes & I found a photo in my phone of two adorable brothers dressed as Batman & Robin when they were kids (though if Batman had the choice, he would've been Spider-Man). This is for them.

2 Octobre!

OKAY I know this is underwhelming and amateur, but I was excited about October. Things worth noting: lil Nos and last night while playing trivia, Matt Benyo did a blind contour of me in which, I looked like a witch and he said, "Well, I want to be on the blog." So, I've included his witchy drawing. THE MONTH HAS JUST BEGUN.

OCTOBER 1ST!

TIS THE SEASON TO BE SCARY! I am thrilled to begin a 31 day venture into the scary, the spooky, the creepy, and the insane. It is my 2nd favorite time of year (1st being Christmas). There is nothing cooler than October. The crisp autumn chill in the air (though this 78 degree business today is debatable), CIDER MILLS, Haunted Houses, leaves changing, CANDY CORN. I could go on and on, but every day, I will be posting something October related so be sure to check back on the blog everyday! Let's kick it off with this creepy devil creature.

Fawns & Dawgs.

Do you watch Face Off? It's this neat show on SyFy where make up artists compete to create creatures/monsters/make ups. Well, I watch it with Matt Benyo and he came up with this idea to take their challenges and come up with our own characters and draw them. We were going to do this every week, but that didn't really pan out. However, we did do it for the 2nd or 3rd episode (it was a collaboration on the show so we did too). We wanted our unifying element to be the theme so we went with 18th Century France. I chose a faun and Matt chose a pixie. He should probably post his (but he probably won't). Here's mine. I should've made the legs longer, but whatever.

And to finish this post off, here is a drawing of a cute Target-looking dog pooping.

Cracking Skulls.

I taught the kids about Calavera Skulls (sugar skulls) and we made some. Glitter, gems, sequins, glitter glue, and markers = a nightmare. Actually, it wasn't too bad. These were the examples we used. Mine is on the left and Matt's is on the right. If I had spent more than a half hour on it, it could've been a real competitor.

Justin Riopelle just had his birthday last week and we celebrated fashionably late. We went out for weird hot dogs, trivia, Matt Benyo made Red Velvet cupcakes, and we both did paper cut out cards. Now, we both came up with the PBR idea since Justin is a Brew man, but Matt's idea killed mine so I let him go with it and switched mine to Blue Moon. I'm proud of what we both accomplished. These were two pretty tiny cards. Matt's is on top and mine is on the bottom. Happy Birthday again, Juice!

Elena's SmorgasBOARD.

A dear friend of mine (and Matt Benyo's) asked if she could commission me to do a smorgasboard for her. I had Matt Benyo join me in the creation of this gem because his art is great. Over the past few months, we've been working on it. Matt and I had the pleasure of staying with Elena (and Zoe) when we were in England so we put a lot of love into this board. They came over to the states last weekend and we met up with them to deliver the board and Elena loved it! Matt Benyo did all of the Buffy characters and references (minus The Gentlemen in the bottom left hand corner; I did that). We split this board pretty evenly and I love the work we did. Here is a WIP shot. That's Matt's leg; not mine! The final is about 23 x 23 inches including border. Thank you for allowing us to make this, Elena! Click to enlarge for details!

Zabraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe. They made him into a vampire hunter, but what if he was just a zombie? He'd be great. I did all of these zombie additions from my mind. Also, I'm kind of bummed out I did that frame, but I do like the background. Prismacolor(ed) Pencils and sharpies were used in the making of this zombie.

I'm PUMPED to post this commission Matt Benyo and I got paid to do next week that we can't post because we're delivering it to our international friends this weekend!!

And in October, Panic at the Disco will be releasing their new album!

Ann Arbor Art Museum!

It's actually called the UMMA (University of Michigan Museum of Art), but I prefer the title to this post. It's alright as far as museums go, but they falsely advertise a Warhol which is annoying. Matt Benyo is taking spring classes so I'll sometimes accompany him and attend a class because I like being an impostor student/learning and while he goes to the other, I go to the  UMMA and sketch from the paintings. This first one is "Lady Eleanor Dundas" by Sir Henry Raeburn. It was more of a warm up:

The next time I went, yesterday, I worked on "Laurent Cars" by Jean-Baptiste Perronneau and decided to take progress shots. I was really happy with the way this turned out; especially because I used pen. I took some liberties to do my own thing with the hair and cloak, but the face and stance are all from the painting. Drawing from the masters, as we were told in school, is still a good exercise. Click to enlarge!

Feeling 22.

I drew these, but they're not my own. The house is from Ray Bradbury's classic tale, "The Halloween Tree." It's about some kids that are stoked about Halloween and go on this big adventure to save their friend Pip. It looks at various Halloween traditions too. The skull girl was a picture my friend, Rhiannon, found and I had planned on drawing it and showed it to Matt Benyo and dared him to draw it. Well, he did (which you can see by clicking his name). So then I had to do it. It's in pen and white charcoal on Kraft paper. I was just trying to prove to myself that I could still draw.