In the Air Force Spirit

My sister put a team together to walk/run a 5K/10K event to raise money and awareness for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Congratulations, Jennette, for being one of the top fund raising teams! She asked me to design a T-shirt for their team. The theme of the shirt was F-4 Phantoms in honor of our dad, who served in the Air Force and flew F-4s. He is fighting a new battle now with cancer. Thanks to my bro for pointing out that I had the planes wrong at first, resulting in a late night last minute change. He also suggested the Phantom "Spook". He is the mascot of the F-4s.

The Perfect Routine - Dreams of an Armchair Olympian

Fred had a dream... a full & a half spin, double flip, twising dismount.... and he sticks the landing!

In Loving Memory

My friend, Ritchie, took this photo at a mausoleum in Hollywood Cemetery. The only lighting was that of the moon. In a horrible coincidence, the day he gave me the photo to color, I found out my 5 year old daughter's friend from pre-school was killed in a car accident. My heart aches for her mom and twin sister. For me, the photo is now in memory of her.

Baby

My son on his 1st birthday - a bit overwhelmed.
A quick sketch I did while watching 30 Rock on Netflix. (God I love technology!)

Worry

Nothing can prepare you for life's real worries.

Wide Mouth Bass

If the topic had been "rainbow", it would have been a trout. A bass will do though.

Wrinkles

When I first saw this week's IF topic, Wrinkles, I thought I'd be taking a week off. Then I remembered a sketch I started about 10 years ago. Amazingly, I was able to find the sketch pad it was started in. So here she is, finished in pencil with a digital wash.

Primitive Entertainment

Some things don't need to evolve.

Pass or Fail?

Whether you pass or fail this test is a matter of perspective. One thing is for certain, no matter who you are, this test takes an eternity of minutes.

(this was a quick one night sketch for illustration friday. life's been frantic, but I didn't want to miss another week.)

Homage to the Sopranos

Don't forget to pay homage or you may find yourself sleeping with the fishes... on a one way ride to the bottom of the Atlantic...

wearing cement shoes.

On a side note: Thanks to all the professional artists that take the time to share their process online. It is helps immensely! This week I learned a gem about changing the layer mode to Multiple in Photoshop to keep your line work on top of any coloring you do. An even better tip was to use the Multiple mode to deepen the shades as you color. This was a freaking epiphany for me! I'd been trying to color using flat colors and manually adjusting the color and opacity.... how ridiculous now that I know better.

Pet Peas

Yes, I am a dork... Sorry for the stupid take on Illustration Friday's topic "Pet Peeves". I asked my 4 year old what her pet peeves were and she started naming names for pet garden peas.

Octopus's Garden

The idea for the song came when Ringo Starr was on a boating trip with his family in 1968. The the boat's captain told Starr how octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build gardens. Starr said that hearing about octopuses spending their days collecting shiny objects at the bottom of the sea was one of the happiest things he had ever heard, inspiring him to write this song. (long live Wikipedia!)

Thanks Sticklet for the idea!

Another interesting little tid-bit... Discarded beer bottles lying on the bottom of the bay make an ideal home for mother octopuses and their babies. The female is able to squirm her way into the bottle at the neck and then lay her precious eggs inside the glass. It offers security from predators for the eggs and momma.

FYI - The Active X bar is to play the music.

Cliff Jump

Pequest Falls
and the
Swimming Hole

Multiple Os

My mind tends to be in the gutter. (Big Smiley ;)
I used a photo reference for this one.

Theory

Come on, Noah. You brought the dinosaurs on the ark, but you left the unicorns to drown???

This is the "theory" of the Creationists. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Christian and believe in God, but I'm also an engineer who believes in science. The "theory" of Creationism is based on the literal word of the bible, not science. If you want to read a great photo essay with the same sentiment about the Creation Museam, check this out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/scalzi/sets/72157603091357751/ There is also a very funny separate essay, which I just read last week.

I decided to put some ink on top of this one.

Choose Wisely

Beer Goggles

Choose wisely - especially after a night of drinking.

Yeah, you know you've done it. Woke up the next morning thinking, "What did I do?"

Blankies!

Thumb-sucking and blankie-loving are genetic. My two kids are big into both - as was I. My daughter's blankie was actually one of my baby blankets. It's been through the ringer and has lots of patches. I had to quilt a satin backing to it to keep it from falling to pieces.

The Jersey Devil

In 1735, a woman named Leeds, who had already had 12 children, gave birth to a 13th. She complained to her friends and relatives that the “Devil can take the next one”. The baby, upon being born, was deformed and mutilated. The baby turned into a monster with the head of a horse, the wings of a bat and cloven feet. It promptly flew out the chimney and has been haunting the Pine Barrens ever since, mutilating animals, scaring the locals and bringing bad luck. http://www.prairieghosts.com/jerseydevil.html

I don't think a horse's head is very scary so I modified my Jersey Devil to have the head of a bat.

Plain Jane Eating Breakfast

Plain Jane is eating plain, dry white toast (just like Elwood), drinking her plain black coffee, and reading the local paper.

Jane is content.

(FYI...click the picture for your horoscope)

Digging through the wreckage

So I'm digging through all the household clutter and sorting things into piles - mine and his. I found a box my mom gave me filled with Rev. George A. Brown Memorial School projects. I was pretty amazed by this one done my 8th grade year, 1985. The assignment was Political Satire. My grade was "+" (whatever that means).

I promise not to post my 7th grade essay on the civil war - dreadful.

Stitch

Broken wing

Here's one of my first on the drawing tablet. I love using color for the first time.

Mermaid

Smokin'

Napping

Here's an old one. That's Chester on her back.