Giblin Family Christmas

Commissioned caricatures for a Christmas family portrait complete with the parents, their kids, the kid's spouses, the grandchildren and the dogs!

MCC Weekly 16: You can be my wingman anytime!

MCC Weekly #16: Iceman from Top Gun

I considered drawing Val Kilmer and tiny Tom Cruise as Batman and Robin, but with their faces covered I didn't know if the joke would carry through.

Instead I opted to try another crack at caricature since that kind of exaggeration has been difficult for me. Fortunately I was able to learn something from my past attempts.

Sketch you later!

MCC Weekly 7: Ash Splash

Who's Laughing Now?

Originally I was going to go for a more humorous set up involving Ash's possessed hand teaming up with Thing from The Addams Family, but instead I opted for a more rubbery representation of Bruce Campbell's face so that I could experiment with my new red paint pen and blend it with some grayscale markers to create a more realistic shade of blood.

In retrospect, if I was going to distort the face as much as did, a bright red poster paint blood probably would have worked better and come off as funnier.

Sketch ya' later! 

Hail Caesar!

This was my last finished project of 2014. I got some new markers for Christmas along with a movie rental gift card that let me to catch up on "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes". The combination of the two was quite inspiring.

Now I want to hear from you. What do you want to see from me in 2015?

Use the Farce Luke!

Alas, this post is not about any new Star Wars buzz or related fan art, this is instead a caricature of my cousin Luke done as a Christmas present.

I don't draw caricature as much as portraiture, (not since that one of Joaquin Phoenix in January) but I could probably benefit from playing with pieces that call for exaggerating the subject, rather than just copy what's there.

What I learned:

1. When working in a style that you're unfamiliar with, it's important give yourself plenty of prep time to experiment. The project may sound simple, but it'll come out better if you give yourself time to play with the possibilities.

2. If you're asked to draw someone that you've never met in your life. Make sure the client gives you MULTIPLE reference photos. Five minimum is a good place to start.


Now I want to hear from you. What have your art projects taught you in this past year?

Art & Advocacy Auction

I was invited to attend the Art + Advocacy Auction for Safe & Sound, an organization that aids children who have been in abusive homes. 

So I had a table set up and drew live portraits in exchange for a donation.

Portraits Galore

During the sketch event at Grandma's Pumpkin Patch, I was asked if I could draw portraits at a children's birthday party. I said I could and these are the results.

Now I've got to get back to drawing my Christmas cards.

Sketch ya' later!

Sketch Spook-tacular!

Just some portraits that I put together for fun this week. Some of them even tie into the Halloween season! 

Beetlejuice

Frankenstein's Monster

Humphrey Bogart

Freddy Krueger

The Eleventh Doctor

Imhotep the Mummy and the Phantom of the Opera

Lauren Bacall

Vanna White

The Many Faces of Lon Chaney

To prepare for Halloween I put out a call my Twitter account asking what I should draw. I got many colorful responses that I'll be posting throughout the month, but the one that got my attention right off the bat was a request by Michael May (of Michael May's Adventureblog!) for silent film icon Lon Chaney.

I gathered up some reference photos of Chaney in little to no makeup to get a grasp of what his face was like. He has a very unique portrait; The high brows, cheekbones and hair combed close to the scalp make him like grim like a skull, and yet he has big ears and a teardrop shaped nose that feel like they belong on one of the Muppets.

To demonstrate his extraordinary makeup, I dropped the opacity on his face and drew some of his monster faces over top. This was part was rather challenging as it was difficult to tell sometimes were the prosthetics started and ended.

The Man in the Beaver Hat
from "London After Midnight"

Erik, from "The Phantom of the Opera"
You can trust a guy with a name like that.

Now I want to hear from you. Doing a "character design" project like this was very out of the ordinary. Is it something that I should continue with something similar?

What would you like to see me draw during the month of Halloween?

Sketch ya' later!

Fair Weather Sketches (Day 1)

This is the week of the Midland County Fair. The local comics shop, Collector's Corner was gracious enough to let me set up at their table to do so more sketches. 

Determining a winner depends on the adaptation. If it were Godzilla vs. The Megazard, the victor is Godzilla no question. Megazord is just a robot, it'd be like tearing into an aluminum can.

But if it was Godzilla vs Zyuranger's Daizyujin, it'd be Daizyujin no question. Godzilla is a dinosaur with "god" in his name, but Daizyujin IS a dinosaur deity.

Yeah, the Sentai is weird like that.

The nipple-less Hulk returns!

Superman

Michelangelo with his first love, pizza!

Lara Croft.

I gave a picture of boobs to a teenage boy. I feel like I've just given a gun to a maniac.

  

Ashly, Reed, and Danyele.
These guys were willing to stand still for a long time!

Olaf

Wolverine sans mask

 

Kyth and Brandon. Another portrait! 

Tanner as a cowboy. Theres something about these portraits! 

Another Olaf!

Sven

Maximus

Zombie Deadpool

The Joker

A simple sunflower was the best way to end a rainy day. 

 

I set up a tip jar at my table. I should have thought of this a long time ago! 

Sketch ya' later!