Illustration Friday "Welcome"

My entry for this week's Illustration Friday drawing prompt. The topic was "Welcome." I don't know where this guy is welcoming you to or what his intentions are, but there he is and here you are.

Haven't kept up with Illo Friday for a while. Hope to keep it up.

Thanks fer lookin'!

~Ray

Illustration Friday - "Worry"

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Felt like doing something more like a pencil drawing, but this was still done in Photoshop 7 with a tablet.

Oh, and in case you're wondering why she's so worried about her pimple, it's not. It's a worry wart. Get it? hahah! I'm clever. ;o) That's why there's also a face on the wart. Because it's worried, too.

Yeah ...

Thanks fer lookin'!

~Ray

Illustration Friday - "Wide"

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Took a few minutes to work up the newest Illustration Friday from the prompt: Wide.

This one was a tough one. The really broad topics usually are. My brain shut down and all I could think of was a wide head. Kinda looks like Stewie from Family Guy or Arnold from Hey, Arnold!.

But, I do love a good wrinkly, oddly-shaped head painting. So there you go. ;o)

Hope you enjoy. Thanks for stoppin' by. Have a good day!

~Ray

Illustration Friday - "Electricity"

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Wow, so it's going on a year since my last post. A lot has happened since then. Lots of work. But, also two identity theft problems that kept our bank account locked to us for a month at a time. Kinda hard to pay bills or ... eat when they do that to you. Following that was the Ice Storm which knocked out our electricity for almost a month, up until a few days before Christmas. We finally started getting through that when we got some happy news; Renae and I were going to have our first baby together. But, to our dismay, the pregnancy ended in miscarriage about 7 weeks in. It's been a really trying time.

So, you can see what I haven't blogged. But, moving on from all of that, I would like to start it back up. What better way than with an Illustration Friday prompt: Electricity

Trying to kill two birds with one stone here. I need to work up some samples for Marvel, too. I think I'll be finishing the rendering on this painting and I'll repost it when I do.

I hope to keep up with these from now on, though it will always be tough. So many projects, so many experiences, so little time.

Anyway, thanks for looking, and reading if you made it through all that. Hope you enjoy and come back for more.

~Ray

Illo Friday "Thanksgiving" + catching up: Lord of the Rings, Marvel: Avengers, and more!

Hi, all!

First up, my entry for Illustration Friday's prompt: Thanksgiving:

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When I first thought of Thanksgiving, all I could think about was what I'm thankful for, and right now, the top of the list is my girlfriend and her son. They're everything to me. But, I've already done a few drawings of them and figured another might make the idea a little stale. I could look at sweet images of them all day, but you might not be as interested. Or maybe I was afraid of looking sappy. ;o)

At any rate, I decided to think beyond that. Only thing that I could think of wasn't too far from the original. I just spun the camera around on myself. This will be our first Thanksgiving together and my first time being "the man of the house." Which means I'll be carving the turkey for the first time. Must ... not ... mess up ... 0.0

So, anyway, this is what came out. A silly drawing of me being chastised by the turkey I'm attempting to carve. Whoopee! And done really quick with some rough tones thrown in to give it that autumn feel. Yay! ;o)

Hope you enjoy it anyway!

Now, onto other news...

It has been quite a while since my last blog. Four+ months, actually. I don't have time to get everything caught up, but here goes:

. San Diego was awesome! Sat at the Upperdeck booth, sketched and signed Marvel: Avengers cards. Met Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (some of the many cool people there, Seth Green, comics folk, etc.)

. Disneyland was amazing. I really had no idea how magical the place really was. It astounded me. I'm so thankful to Renae for getting me to go.

. Broke down in California and ended up stranded for an extra week.

. Since that happened, I've been working my butt off to get back on schedule and stay there. Still butt-working...

Here are some of the main projecs I've worked on since last time: Marvel Heroes: The Complete Avengers sketch cards, Lord of the Rings: Masterpieces. There are quite a few others, but those are the big ones. They were a blast. You can see some previews here (click for more):

MARVEL HEROES: THE COMPLETE AVENGERS





Click for more!

And here's a HULK piece I did for an eBay auction. Click to check that out and see a silly picture of me:



eBay Auction | Larger Version

LORD OF THE RINGS: MASTERPIECES







Click for more!


And here's an LOTR piece I did for an eBay auction. It's already sold, but you can click to check it out anyway::



eBay Auction | Larger Version

Okay, so that's that.

I'm about to start work on a new sketch card set that are recreations of Vintage Movie posters from such classics as Invasion of the Saucer Men and Attack of the 50ft Woman!! Can't wait. Well, I can a little because I have a lot of other deadlines, but I'm anxious. ;o)

I guess that's all I'll blog for now. This is easily the most ridiculously long blog I've ever done, but I wanted to get it all in there. From now on I'll try to keep things updated more regularly, but it'll be tough.

So, thanks for stoppin' by. I hope it was worth your time. Have a great Thanksgiving!

~Ray

Illustration Friday - "Cake"

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Here's the latest for Illustration Friday. The prompt was "Cake."

One of the most beautiful things I've seen is a mother baking with her son.

I didn't have a lot of time for this one, but I wanted to convey that feeling. The warm light coming in, the closeness of mother and child, and just the happiness of the moment that would become a memory they both cherish.

Oh, and, yes, I realize that poor diaper-clad boy is dangerously high up. That was for the sake of composition. And, hey, momma's got a hold of him. Never safer than that. ;o)

Thanks for stoppin' by. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

~Ray

Illustration Friday - "Sorry"

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Here's the latest for Illustration Friday. The prompt was "sorry."

I drew this a month or so ago. Couldn't think of a better example of when I've felt sorry. Can't tell ya the story behind it (too personal), but you can use your imagination. ;o)

And, as you can probably tell, I'm back from the trip to Oregon. Along the way I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, saw Alcatraz, drove through a tree, visited Trees of Mystery, and all sorts of fun stuff. I'll post pictures when I have the chance. Some great ones.

I'm back in Salina, Kansas now in the new house and office. Life is good. Busy, but good.

I'll get back to posting more frequently soon. Thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray