My buddy and I went on a hike at Alum Rock Park this morning. We saw deer, ducks & fish as well as some cool human-made stuff. Tonight I did some new sketches based on an idea a few days ago for a possible future project. More on that later.

The weather has been cold & rainy since I got back from my trip on Wednesday. I’m so close to being done with Grant County Park.

After a minor update to my heart eyes logo, and uploading it to Instagram for Valentine’s Day, I got a few comments suggesting I put the design on a shirt. That was never the plan but I’m up for it. Unfortunately I’m going to be out of town for 3 weeks so it’ll be a month, maybe more, before I could really start production. I’ve started sketching ideas for the label inside the neck that tells you the size and, depending on cost, a small graphic for the back. There’s not much else I can do till I get back besides get pricing, lock down the artwork, keep the momentum going and take some pre orders. We’ll see if people are still interested a month after Valentine’s Day for this lovie-dovie design.

I drew myself as the titular character from the original Donkey Kong video game just for funsies. Fun Fact: Mario made his first appearance as “jumpman” in the Donkey Kong arcade back in 1981.

Here are the three designs my friend liked from the 10 sketches I sent. They’re slightly cleaned up and with a bit of color. I’ve sent her these samples now I’m waiting on feedback before moving forward.

Here’s a sneak peek at some rough sketches for a 2” x 2” label I’m designing for a friend.

I did this just for fun. When I was a kid I loved Ninja Turtles so much I remember drawing them over & over till they looked sorta like they did in the 80s-90s cartoon.

I made this little sketch when I realized I had to upload two posts today.

I finally inked him. Black ink on white paper but I forgot to take a picture. It’s a Thank-You card going out with a t-shirt order and I already sealed the envelope. I digitally inked the one below and added a little color. I used the photo of the pencil sketch at the bottom.

I went and did a site visit Thursday evening where I, and other local artists, are going to paint on the asphalt. I’ll be doing my USA map below. I did a quick color fill in the bottom pic to get a better idea of what it’ll look like when it’s done. More details to follow.

I spent all day cleaning and at night drew myself dancing with a broom, like Turbo in the movie Breakin’.

I didn’t do shit today besides laundry but I did draw this on my iPad tonight.

An opportunity came up today to design & paint fun interactive paintings on concrete at housing project in downtown San Jose for kids to play on. Think hopscotch & four square. This opportunity came via the arts nonprofit Local Color. I and a couple other artists are waiting on more information from the organization, and for dry weather, before we can begin. 

In other news, I penciled the this 3 eyed vampire kid as a Thank You card for me to ink later. 

Last night I drew the Extra Super Duper Jumbo Size soda & fries. Tonight I drew the cheeseburger to match. Both sketches are really small at about an inch and a half tall.

I didn’t do much today besides clean and do laundry. I did do a little bit of sketching with a number 2 pencil tho.

I stayed up way past my bed time drawing this. Enjoy the time lapse video below.

Nothing artsy fartsy to report today except for I redrew the letters in the name Phoenix, who's getting an EMN background treatment like the Layla-Mae piece I shared yesterday. I'm still not a 100% satisfied with the letters in both of them so I might tweak them again. I also sketched the little dude at the bottom and really like the way it came out.

One of the design projects I'd been working on over the last couple months was finally revealed Saturday night. It was the album artwork for my buddies' band The Wet Bandits. They finally released their new album, "Elysian," on Halloween and made it available to stream on Spotify & Apple Music and purchase via iTunes. My friend, Adam, the guitarist, asked me to design a beat up version of the Warner Brothers water tower. I think it was originally going to be a sticker but obviously turned out to be much bigger. Below are the original sketches from Adam's stick figure drawing to my detailed sketch that eventually turned into the digital illustration. There's also a timelapse video at the bottom of how I began the building out the tower then beating it up in Adobe Fresco. I eventually moved it into the desktop version of Adobe Illustrator to finish it. I also did the CD layout which is currently in production and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy

I sketched a ghost wearing a Frankie Mcfly shroud for day 26 but haven't inked it yet so Tuesday will be a twofer.

It's happened every year for the last three years that I've done Inktober, I start running out of ideas and spend more time thinking of what to draw than actually draw. I think I've just entered the slump. Today I spent hours trying to come up with an idea and only sketched a few with pencil. Tomorrow I'll have to draw & ink two drawings to catch up.

I drew myself as Bruce Banner transforming into the Hulk from the cover of his first comic book. I sketched it out a few times before laying down the final lines and inking. I included a sketched a did a couple weeks ago when I was considering doing "Jacktober" which is a variant of Inktober that pays tribute to comic book artist Jack Kirby. If I had more time I probably would have drawn Betty & General Ross equivalents down in the right corner to fill out the space.

I spent most of the day working on the skull and a few hours on the drawing.

I touched up the sketch I started a couple days ago in my new sketchbook. I cleaned up and added more plants coming out of the top of the head and eye sockets. I also think I've found the right pen to ink my protester drawing. It's a Uni Pin Fine Line brush pen, and I can get the different line weights in the range I want for the piece. I've finished drawing the lines/shapes on the ceramic skull I'm painting for the upcoming 31 Skulls show, (more info TBA) and if I counted correctly, there are 61 pentagons & 58 hexagons wrapped around the skull. Tomorrow I'll start picking colors & hopefully begin painting it.