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

Yeti Loves Halloween!

The best Halloween costume I've ever had! Made by my wife Renae De Liz
2007, I think.

DC Comics: Legacy sketch cards!

This is a project I've been excited about for a LONG time and really wanting to talk about. Well, they're all done and turned in and the news has been made public, so I can blab about it a bit. ;o)

It's called DC Legacy and features the evolution of these popular DC characters over since their creations.

I ended up doing 500 cards for this set, drawing a lot of my favorite characters in all their different incarnations. So awesome!

Anyway, here are some of the cards. As more are made public I'll post them.

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And several other Goats worked on them as well:



(Right to left: Renae De Liz, Me, Jeff Welborn, Brent Engstrom)

See more of their work and news about this set here here.

Thanks fer lookin'! ;o)

~Ray

Shrek the Third sketch cards!

I drew 300 sketch cards for the Shrek the Third set from Inkworks. Here are some of them:







Here are the other 200 and whatever: Clicky

Those are done with marker on blank card stock.

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I'm going to try to catch back up.

Thanks for reading. ;o)

~Ray

Back to writing! + Wolverine!!

Hey, all!

Kind of excited about this, so I thought I'd share. After several months (almost a year!!) I'm back to work editing the novel I wrote last year for NaNoWriMo. Life has been crazy this last year, so the only writing I've done has been a short story or two. I kept putting off anything bigger until yesterday when I just decided to start editing one chapter at a time. I finished chapter three today and, thankfully, so far I like what I'd written and am feeling very optimistic. It's sort of a dark, weird, horror/fantasy book (but not swords and sorcery type of fantasy). It's a new year and I hope to get this sucker polished and submitted.

In other news, Renae and I recently had our 1-year anniversary (not married yet, but together a year just the same). Click that link for pictures. Love you, Renae! ;o)

Working up samples for some exciting new card sets coming this year. Hope I get 'em! Hooves crossed!

I'll be attending the New York Comicon next month where I hope to meet Stephen King (*squeals like a giddy school girl!*) We're also looking for roomies, so anyone thinking about going, let me know.

Finally, here's a marker drawing of Wolverine that will soon be up on eBay for sale (I'll update for that):

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And that's all for today. Gotta get to coloring. Thanks for stopping by and have a fanstastic day!

~Ray

Vintage Movie Poster cards!

This is a new set from Breygent, the company that did the Wizard of Oz cards we worked on. Now, we're recreating old movie posters on 3.5" x 5" cards for such classics as "Creature from the Black Lagoon," "Mantis," "The Fly," "Rasputin," "Invasion of the Saucer Men," "Attack of the 50ft Woman," "Invaders from Mars," and a bunch of other ones.

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Hope you enjoy those. Thanks for lookin'!

~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

On Another Journey...

Hi, all! (if you're still visiting my blog with so few updates lately)-

I'm leaving once again for the West Coast. Oregon, San Diego, Disneyland (first time!), back to Oregon, then back home to Kansas. Going with Renae to take her son back for a visit with his family. Then, of course, we're hitting the San Diego Comic-Con!! That's going to be a blast. But, the most exciting thing is a trip to Disneyland. Like most people, particularly creators, I grew up on Disney cartoons. And being a poor kid half a country away from anything remotely Disney-oriented, I always dreamed of visiting. So, thanks to Renae, I'm on my way!

All-in-all, the trip will be 6,000 miles and take about a month. It's going to be crazy, but lots of fun.

I haven't been blogging much because I've been trying to get my mounds of work done before I leave. Got quite a bit done, but it looks like I'll be working my butt off on the road, too. Yeesh...

I'm working on some cool new projects that I want to go in depth about. Marvel: Complete Avengers sketch cards is definitely the one I'm most excited about. I'm also coloring some books, lettering some, illustrating a graphic novel, and inking, coloring, and lettering a Dark Horse-hopeful mini-series.

So, I'm busy, but enjoying the heck out of life.

Oh, speaking of which, I turned 24 on June 28th. Forgot to mention that. This is, indeed, the best year ever for me. Can't wait to see where the rest of them are going. ;o)

I'll try to update more and post more art while on the road (after I get some of that work done... yikes ...)

Thanks for stopping by!

~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

Illustration Friday - "Robot"

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

Oddly enough, Renae and I were just talking about this concept earlier today. Those automated lines that sound like real people and you have to talk to them instead of just pushing buttons. Very strange.

So, this was the first thing that popped into my head when I first saw this week's prompt. And a quick photoshop paint sketch is what followed. Fun working in this style (or what this style would be if I spent more time on it).

I will be gone for a week or so starting Monday. I'm flying out to Oregon to help Renae move back here to Kansas. Excited am I! ;o) Should be back around the 1st of May, but I'll be busy, so it might be a little while before I get back to bloggin'.

Anyway, I'll see ya when I see ya. Thanks for stoppin' by to check this out!

~Ray

Wild Isle! : step-by-step!

Here's a piece I just finished for the game Wild Isle (nothing on their site yet).

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All Photoshop 7 and an Intuos II Wacom tablet.

Here are the steps:

Sketch
First Pencils
Second Pencils after getting some great critiques from Renae De Liz
Inks in progress
Close on Tiger
Close on Mad Scientist
Inks in progress 2
Close on Elephant
Inks in progress 3
Close on Bear
Final Inks
Flat Colors
Colors in progress
Colors in progress 2
Colors in progress 3

Let me know what you think and thanks for stoppin' by!

~Ray

Illustration Friday - "Spotted"

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Hey, all!! It's been a while since I last blogged. I've been hard at work. Finished up the Wizard of Oz sketch cards yesterday and sent them in.

Gotta color another 12 pages in the next 7 days before flying out to Oregon to move Renae here to Salina, KS. YAY!! Happy, happy! ;o)

Anywho, this piece to the left is for the latest Illustration Friday exercise. The prompt was "Spotted" and for some reason, this goofy little guy (who ... of course ... looks like chubby little ol' me) popped into my head. I was really burnt on coloring, so I decided to take the rest of the night (it was 3am here, I've been going to bed around 5 or 6am) to work on this and relax. I'm happy with 'im. ;o) All Photoshop 7 and Wacom tablet. Feels good after doing so many cards with pencil and marker.

Alrighty. Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the feedback in advance. ;o)

~Ray