Song ...

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Two posts in one day?!? Ohmigoodnesh!! ;o)

Today is Sunday and I've been workin' like a dog for the last several weeks, so I decided to take a little time to re-energize. Plus, I've really been wanting to get back into the Illustration Friday exercises.

This week's prompt was "SONG."

I've been listening to a lot of James Blunt and really loving it. Beautiful voice, romantic, powerful lyrics. But, most of his songs are reeeeeaaally sad. :o( Painfully, hauntingly sad, for a sap like me. One song in particular that gets me is "Goodbye, My Lover." It's a song about a relationship that ends too early and you feel like that really was the one for you.

Lyrics like "I saw the end before we'd begun..." - "I've seen you cry, I've seen you smile. I've watched you sleeping for a-while. I'd be the father of your child. I'd spend a lifetime with you." - "Goodbye, my lover. Goodbye, my friend. You have been the one. You have been the one for me."

Man, that's sad. :o(

So, that was on my mind. The sketch is of me (with current stage of beard, though, I kinda forgot the few hairs in my mustache) sitting in a chair in a lonely room, lookin' all sad, whistlin' that tune. Kinda goofy. Kinda melodramatic. Kinda true and kinda sarcastic.

As always, entirely Photoshop 7 and a Wacom tablet.

Thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray

"I'm THIS many!"

Hi, all!

This is another collaboration between Renae De Liz and myself. This time an invitation to her son's third birthday. She did the drawing, I did the inking, coloring, and lettering.

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You can also view a poster version here.

Her plan is to have an Incredibles themed birthday party next Saturday. She'll have the poster, a balloon arch (which sounds awesome), and cut out sound fx hanging from the ceiling. I'm really happy and excited to be a part of such a cool thing for Tycen's birthday. She's gotta be the best mom ever. Wish I had parties like that growing up. ;o)

On other things, I'm almost done with one coloring project, so I can get on the other two. Got that new card project starting in a couple of days. Just not enough hours in the day... especially when I've piled too much on myself... back to work ...

Thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray

Inks of "Love Letter"

Here are a couple of pages I inked over pencils by Renae De Liz, who's work I love; characters so dynamic and expressive. I was in an inking mood and she was short on time, so I agreed to ink it. These also happen to be her first sequentials ever, and darn good sequentials they be.

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They were inked in Photoshop 7 with a Wacom tablet as part of a project for PandamoniumComix.com

Check 'em out and let us know what you think!

Thanks for stoppin' by!

~Ray

Why ain't you be updatin', foo'!?

I know. I'm a stinker. Well, I'm just super busy.

. Just finished lettering Noble Causes #18.

. Coloring a back story for an upcoming issue of Image Comics' "Fear Agent."

. Really needing to get caught up on my other coloring projects. Both graphic novels: "Nothingface" and "the other one I still don't have permission to talk about"

. About to start a really cool sketch card project that I can't tell you about, but will hopefully be able to soon.

. Also about to start lettering a book called "Pencilneck"

Been doing some other random things like inking and whatnot. Will have previews of that sort of stuff soon.

So, I'm swamped again. Especially through March. It's going to be a tough month.

Oh, and I haven't set up my own gallery of these yet, but you can now view ALL of my Lord of the Rings: Evolution sketch cards online at http://www.LOTRsketchcards.com!! Just look for my name and let me know what you think.

Back to my workout. Have a great day, ever'body!

And thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray

The Premiere of "Monkeyboy!"

The newest of the Golden Goat Studios Webcomics is Brent Engstrom's "Monkeyboy!" Brent is a good friend of mine, living in my hometown. He's been working on developing and producing strips and comics of Monkeyboy since High School. Since then there have been a few books published, hundreds of strips for the K-State newspaper, and even a short in Image Comics' and Erik Larsen's "Savage Dragon" comic series.

The latest incarnation, I'm proud to say, is this weekly updated webcomic. I just finished working up the site and getting everything working over there. We'll be updated every Tuesday:

http://www.Monkeyboy.GoldenGoatStudios.com

Also, check out Mark Winters' "Glimmer," updated Sundays, and Aaron Weisbrod's "Nightmare World," updated Thursdays.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

~Ray

Fairchild from Gen 13

Inspired by the draw-off between Renae De Liz and "the machine" over on the Digital Webbing Forums. Did it in a bit different style than usual. Inks were a bit rushed.

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Photoshop 7 and a Wacom tablet.

Let me know what you think. Tired posting ... not ... very ... entertaining. Must ... rely ... on ... art ...

Thanks for stopping by. ;o)

~Ray

10Eastern Journal Project...

10Eastern.com*, an online drawing site, started a journal project where the sketchbook is passed around the globe to artists from the site. I happened to be one of those artists and recently got the sketchbook. Brent Engstrom, Golden Goat member and Beard enthusiast got me into it. He did a couple of pages and here are my couple:

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Pencil and marker.

Really cool to see what people around the world do.

I tried to do something that would encompass my work, sorta leave my thumbprint. Got some LOTR stuff in there, some superhero, monsters, and a dramatic, stylized piece sorta like a comic cover. Playing around with style and color.

Anywho, let me know what you think.

Thanks for lookin'.

~Ray

* 10Eastern.com has some REALLY graphic stuff on there, so be careful. *

The Style of Horror

Just playing around with style for a new horror project:

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Photoshop 7 and a Wacom Tablet.

I kinda like it, even though I slopped it out. I can move fast in this style, and it has the mood and intensity. It's basically just the combination of really thin lines, thick and rough shadows, texture, and harsh light and color.

Oh, and, yeah, the foreshortening on its right arm is a bit wonky. ;)

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for lookin'.

~Ray

Inking and Coloring notes...

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Did some quick notes for a friend on anatomy, inking, and coloring, and I thought they might be helpful to others as well.

Here I'm pointing out the trapezius and deltoid muscles. When people say they want a shoulder rub, they're generally speaking about their trapezius muscles, which aren't part of the shoulder (deltoid) at all. So, that's just to clear that up.

Next, I show one of the things that can be done to show depth in inking. Making the lines thinner near the light source and thicker on the other side of the object is a great way to bring the pencils to life.

Finally, for depth in coloring, I'm attempting to show that cool tones (blue, purple, green) recede while warm tones (orange, yellow, red) stand out. So, putting a little bit of purple in the shadows of the girl in this pic allows her face to pop forward a bit, or her hair, etc.

Hope that makes sense and helps someone out there. When I saw these things for the first time it was a pretty big breakthrough for my art.

As for what I'm working on, well, I'm back to coloring on my projects and just finished lettering Noble Causes #17 (great issue, pick it up!!).

Thanks for stoppin' by! ;o)

~Ray

Lord of the Rings cards are DONE!!

YAY!

Today I sent off the Lord of the Rings: Evolution sketch cards I've been working on. I did 306 in all (6 of which will be returned to me--hopefully the ones I requested). It's bittersweet. I'm really glad to be done, but I've really had a blast doing these. Each one is an experiment for me. I tried different styles, got carried away, and just enjoyed the LOTR universe. I'm so happy to be a part of this. I'll be beaming about this for many years to come. Can't wait for the next project (well, maybe a few weeks).

As soon as I have them okayed for public viewing, I'll post them up here (and anywhere else the WWW will let me). And, you can always check out progress at a great gallery site showing the work of all the LOTR sketchcartists work!

http://www.LOTRsketchcards.com
http://LOTR.GoldenGoatStudios.com
The TOPPS website

Now, if this sounds a little scatterbrained, that is because I have not slept yet. Last night I spent all night scanning and spraying my cards to get them ready to send out today (they're due at Topps tomorrow morning). I had to rush out to Fed-Ex and ship them overnight. When I got back, I didn't want to go to sleep at 10am and mess my days and nights around even worse than they've been lately, so I've been fighting sleep all day.

Tomorrow, I'll be getting back to my other projects, such as Noble Causes (lettering), Nothingface (coloring), and the other coloring project I have going. I've also got some Nightmare World stuff coming up. And I want to encourage you to check out the new GGS web comics! They're going great so far.

I hope you all had a great new year! I did, and I'm very much looking forward to 2006. We're living in the future, man!! ;o)

Have a great one! Thanks for stopping by.

~Ray

Christmas Beard & Dad's Geetar!

Welp, no matter how old I get, my folks always want to get me presents, so I gave them enough and pointed them in the right direction to get me a new digital camera (and a little extra for stocking stuffers; my mom loves stocking stuffers). I've missed having a camera so much.

So, here come some pictures:

First up, the Christmas Beard!!


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(Didn't get enough sleep last night)

Secondly, I am so, SO glad this gift idea popped into my head. My dad used to play the guitar all the time while I was growing up, but about 10 years ago he pawned it off to help us through a rough spot.

He was really surprised and as soon as he got it out of the package, he went right into "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. It was really wonderful.

Here's my daddy:


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I'm hoping to sneak some video of him soon. :har:

Hope you're all having a great day!

~Ray

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, ever'body! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!

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Hope you like my Christmas desktop wallpaper! I know I'm a little late getting to this since it's tomorrow, but there ya go. Download away! ;o) As usual, that was done entirely digital with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop 7.

In other news, I'm still hard at work on the Lord of the Rings: Evolution sketch cards. 150 down, 150 to go. There's a new site up for that, too:

http://www.LOTRSketchCards.com

And I just got my Christmas shopping done today ... Christmas Eve, right before the stores closed at 6pm.

So, I'm about to wrap those and hit the hay early.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!!

Thanks for stopping by.

~Ray

Drawlaxing the Hulk...

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Ah, drawlaxing. It's a term (I think) I've just coined. It's drawing something that's not related to anything when you're burnt out from drawing a project. Drawing to come down from drawing. And the Hulk is a great character for that. Not a lot to him but big muscles.

I spent last weekend in Great Bend with my sister and her family. It was my nephew Orrin's fourth birthday, he and my five-year old niece, Dawnstar, had a Christmas program (which was a beautiful thing), and I had court for that accident (read this if you don't know what I'm talking about). Just had to show that I did have insurance at the time and pay a little fine. Was pretty scary being in a packed courtroom with a bunch of people up for assault, armed robbery, and drug charges, but, thankfully, it didn't take long.

I also took my twelve-year old nephew, Seth, to Chronicles of Narnia!!! That movie totally ruled! I've been a huge fan and Narnia has been a huge influence on me since about third grade, so seeing this version of it was just amazing. If you haven't seen it, go right now! ;o)

Anywho, now I need to get to bed so I can really dig into the LOTR cards tomorrow. Still have 250 to do. There's also a new Lord of the Rings: Evolution Sketch Card website now, too, where you can see some of the official sketch cards. I'll have some of mine up there soon.

Okay, off to bed I go. Thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray

Blue... better late than never...

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The latest for Illustration Friday based on the prompt "Blue."

It's also based on Beast from the X-Men. If you didn't already know, Beast is one of the new characters in the upcoming movie X-men 3! Go check out the new teaser trailer here. It looks fantastic. I can't wait!

This was done with Photoshop 7 and a Wacom tablet (as with all of my work).

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray

Turtle Power!

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"I love bein' a TURTLE!!"

Just thinkin' how cool it'd be to do a TMNT book. DWP did one previously with super-talented artist Andie Tong. You can read about that here. Maybe another one will come up and I can convince Ed Dukeshire to let me illustrate it. ;o)

Also, needed a break from my projects. Deadlines are kiling me right now (been up for about 30 hours now) and I'm getting a bit drained (especially coming straight off of NaNoWriMo). Doing a fun, quick sketch always helps loosen me up.

Got the fifth Noble Causes TPB mailed out today, and finished lettering Noble Causes #16 (Great issue!!).

Now, I get to go to sleep. ;o)

Thanks for stoppin' by. Let me know what you think of the sketch.

~Ray

Great Beard, Great Cause! (not mine)

No, this post isn't about my beard. ;o) I will post a beard picture when I get one taken (still haven't gotten myself a new camera).

This post is about James Mathias. He's an artist I met doing Illustration Friday. He's growing a beard to raise money for low-income and homeless families.

Left - week one: January 7th 2005, 9:45pm:
Right - week forty-eight: Decemeber 2nd 2005, 5:15pm:



He's raised $315 of his $100,000 goal in the last year, so if you have a bit to spare, lend a hand. Not only is it a great cause, it's a darn cool way to do it.

To check out his progress, go here: The Shavior

To check out his site, go here: JamesMathias.com



Don't let a good beard go to waste!

~Ray

Holy Moly ... I pulled it off!!

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a contest for which you have to write at least 50,000 words of a novel in one month's time during November.

Here's a screenshot of my profile. You can see the weird, (can't think of descriptive words anymore) progress:

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Here's the winner certificate:

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I feel pretty darned proud right now. And really surprised. I really, REALLY didn't think I was going to make it (especially not an hour early with a few thousand extra words).

I came in at 53,000 words. After I uploaded it, it bumped me up quite a bit from what Word was telling me. The first 40,000 words I like, for the most part. The last 10,000, I'm not even sure what I wrote. I was in a fury of description and rambling dialogue. And there towards the end it's more like notes.

But, I finished despite the odds and that makes me feel very good.

Cue Rocky theme song and montage of me writing (and really needing a shower):

It's the eye of the tiger.
It's the flig-guh-di-flop.
Doo-duhley-doo-bee-doo
bada-baaaa-daa!
Supervisor...

YO, ADRIAN!!!

yay for me...



And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who encouraged me. After last weeks events, I really was going to give up. But, with your help, I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. THANK YOU!!!

~Ray

Down, but not out ... yet ...

Okay, the events of the last couple of weeks dealt a major blow to my NaNoWriMo novel. In fact, as of the beginning of this, the fourth and final week, I wasn't even at the halfway point yet (at about 21,000 words out of the 50,000 word goal of the month).

But, I never stop trying. I worked my butt off today to make it to 29,000 words.

Here, the grey shows you where I should be, the blue shows you where I am:



I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow and the next day, too. It's due at 11:59:59, Howland Island Time (GMT-12) on November 30th. So, I've got a little, teensy, tiny bit of time left to work. Probably not enough, but I'll give it a go anyway. I also need to figure out what time that would be in Central (Kansas) time. If any of you know, please tell me.

Anyway, I hope you fellow NaNo'ers are having better luck than I. ;o)

Thanks for stoppin' by.

~Ray

Tricksy Hobbitses!

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This is the latest for Illustration Friday. The prompt was "Small."

And with the Lord of the Rings: Evolution sketch cards I'm working on (and beaming about), I am, of course, on a LOTR kick! ;o)

So, the first thing I thought of was a little hobbit. Then, I thought of my mental image of The Hobbit, which is the cartoon I saw as a young lad. And since the cards I'm doing have to be of Peter Jackson's movie characters, I thought this would be a good opportunity to play around with the rest of the LOTR universe.

Oh, and I took a few style and mood cues from the lovely Lilah Dahl. Actually, I didn't even think about it, they just happened. So, that goes to show you how powerful her work is. I'll have to thank her son, Jon, too (oh, great, now his head will get even bigger ;o), for helping me realize that I need to let myself be a bit more free and experimental with my art.

Thanks for stoppin' by. Come in and sit for a spell. ;o)

~Ray

Lord of the Rings: Evolution Sketch Cards!

This is the project I've been so excited about, but couldn't tell you about:



Click here to read more!

It's a good thing, too, because I was about to pop! ;o)

Better day today. Looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow. Have a great one, everbody!

Thanks for stoppin' in.

~Ray