The Endless Highway

The Flood!

2006-01-17T12:12:00.000-06:00

Howdy folks,

I came across a local artist through the Comic Creators Network newsletter that I think is just great. You can check his comic "The Flood" out right here - http://www.ninetimesnine.com/theflood/

Be sure to check it out, you'll thank me later!

Recent goings on...

2006-01-13T11:28:00.000-06:00

Howdy folks.

Well, it's been a while since last I updated my tiny corner of the internet. As you can see, I added an Empty Room Studios logo to the right and I also tweaked my links a bit.

It's been and will continue to be an extremely busy month. My month began with a cover for Ink.of.Gods for the book Nano Tech. I have to say, Charlie Vick, the fellow I worked with from Ink.of.Gods, is great. He's easy to communicate with and a very professional and friendly guy to boot - not to mention patient. All of that said, the holidays screwed me up a bit and unfortunately, I was late on my cover for them, which was not cool at all. Either way, here is the cover -

Following close on the heels of the Nano Tech cover is another cover for Goodman Games Etherscope line and some card art for Upper Deck Entertainment. I will also be doing a pin-up for Alex Sheikmans comic, Robotika, in Febuary. If you haven't checked Robotika out yet, you should. It's absolutely beautiful!

Aside from that, I'm waiting on the go ahead to show some comic pages that I coloured for Layne Morgan Media Group, which was a fun project. Once they publish the comic, I'll be free to show the colour pages.

I have also been working on some stuff for Empty Room Studios first RPG publication, Steampunk Musha. Below are my colours for the cover, the pencils and inks are by Rick Hershey.

Well, that's really about it for this update. I should have some more material to update with here soon! I'm going to try to start keeping my updates around a week apart.

We'll see how long that lasts. Heh.

No Posts?

2006-01-02T19:53:00.000-06:00

For some reason, I had it set so that nobody could post in my blog. Silly me. Thanks to Mr. H20, it's been repaired. Expect some updates soon!

Almost Christmas.

2005-12-21T14:24:00.000-06:00

Y'know, the holidays suck. They interfere with work and they cost too much. I suppose there is no getting around them though. Anyway.

I recently finished colouring seven sequential pages for Layne Morgan Media Group. I learned alot and they were fun, but they took forever. It was really odd colouring somebody elses lines and this was really the first time I have ever done that, but it was interesting to look at somebody elses drawing that close. Hopefully, I can post some images soon!

Next up, I have a cover to do for a book for ink.of.gods publishing. After that, I am doing a couple cards for Upper Deck Entertainment, and then it's another cover for Goodman-Games Etherscope line. Hopefully, the card art will go well and I'll get more work from them and it's a fun job - I'll get more info about that soon.

Well, I hope everybody has a good holiday!

www.fablewoodstudios.com

2005-12-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

Well,

I just, more or less, completed the Fablewood Studios site for a friend of mine, John Schlim. He's an awesome writer and he's got some really impressive comics coming together with a variety of talented people, so you should all check it out!

Fish Story - Soul Cannon

2005-11-29T11:01:00.000-06:00

I felt the need to plug two blogs by Jeff Wamester that deserve to be looked at.

The first is the documentation of a webcomic he is developing. Check out the artwork, it's just great.

http://jeffwamester.blogspot.com/

The second is his research on webcomics and the general business of webcomics - great information!

http://soulcanon.blogspot.com/

Self Portrait?

2005-11-28T19:29:00.000-06:00

For Empty Room Studios, we asked that all the artists (and writer, heh) to work up a self portrait as a front piece for their galleries. So, I thought it would be a good time to work up a new one for myself as well (not to mention my gallery will be on there as well).

Fun stuff. Heh.

Genghis Con.

2005-11-16T12:30:00.000-06:00

Well, you guys saw the previous sketch, here's the final piece for the Genghis Con Gaming Convention. You can find out more info about the Convention itself here.

I would also like to thank Dustin Dade for some much needed help on the lettering! Thanks man!

Etherscope: The Great Metropolis Cover

2005-11-14T14:47:00.000-06:00

Well, Shane Hartley, over at Goodman Games, gave me the thumbs-up to show this bad boy off. It was a bitch, but I think it turned out to be one of the best covers I've done to date.

Logo Contest for Empty Room Studios and Steampunk Musha!

2005-11-12T14:27:00.000-06:00

Like the title says -

I would like to annouce a contest for two logos -

Information can be found here -

http://baegtobar.com/baegtobar/viewtopic.php?t=386

There are two prizes, one being a brand new 4x5 Wacom Graphire and the other being an original piece of artwork from me.

Thanks!

News, business, and artwork!

2005-11-11T17:28:00.000-06:00

Well, first of all, I am what you might call - non photogenic.

However, Li and I went to a wedding over last weekend and this picture was taken and it turned out reasonably well. So, I thought I might share it with everybody. If you can't figure out who is who, you should definitly have your head checked...heh.

Now, as to business - huge news! I've joined up as part owner of Empty Room Studios with Rick Hershey. Empty Room Studios is essentially an artist studio. When all is said and done, we should be able to handle just about any of your art needs, interior illustrations (both black and white, greyscale, and colour), cover work, web design, and logo design. Hell, if you have any kind of work needing done, we'd be happy to take it on. We're in the middle of moving and reworking the old ERS website as we speak, but we have moved the ERS forums over into the Baeg Tobar forums, so please drop by and drop us a line! Expect quite a few changes happening over the next several months and at the beginning of the new year. Great things are around the corner for Baeg Tobar and Empty Room Studios.

As to my own artwork, I just completed a cover for Goodman Games next Etherscope book, which turned out to probably be one of the best covers I've completed to date. At least one of the most sophisticated in terms of colour. I'll do my best to get that posted up when I get the go ahead. In the meantime, here's the initial thumbnail for the cover -

The piece actually turned out pretty different than this, but this is what got the ball rolling for the final. Tell me, do people like seeing sketches or just the finishes?

Here's a piece I did for Paragon Games (apparently they crashed right after I did this, so I've yet to be paid and I think it's probably safe to assume I never will - I'll be sincerely surprised if I do get paid for this work) from sketch to finished inks.

Well, aside from all that, I will be hopefully colouring seven pages for a book from Layne Morgan Media, Inc. in the next several weeks. It should be quite a bit of fun as I have never coloured anybody elses work, let alone sequential work. I had some good responses from the artist I will be colouring over, however. So, it should be interesting to see how all that goes.

I've also got several covers to start working on, a web site to finish up, and that previously posted Genghis Con piece.

I better get to work!

Later!

Mythic Heros Cover.

2005-11-01T20:10:00.000-06:00

Whew.

It seems like I've been working on this cover for a very long time, but, it's only been around two days. Anyway, here are the final colours on the piece! Now for a break!

www.jeffreykoch.net

2005-10-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

I just put up a new website for a friend of mine, Jeffrey Koch. We're going to be adding images to the site as he has alot more work that what is currently up there.

Jeff has been one of the most steadfast contributors to my Baeg Tobar project and I was more than happy to put together an online portfolio for him. And hey folks, he's available for work! So be sure to check out his stuff, it's great!

"Never Say No..."

2005-10-26T01:04:00.000-05:00

"Baby, please don't walk out on me.
I will never hurt you.
Someone else will really hurt you bad...
Baby, please don't walk out on me.
And honey, please stop being so mean to me.
Y'know I love you. I done proved I love you.
Please stop being so mean to me.
I've given you my money baby, and lovin' too.
I've done everything that a fool can do.
Try and keep you happy and satisfied.
I wan't you by my side.
Baby, please don't say no to me,
Til you've heard my story,
Because you just might like my story.
Baby, please don't say no to me.
Don't say no, babe...
Baby please...
Don't say no to me..."

"Never Say No"
-The Paul Butterfield Blues Band from their album East West

Damn, these guys are good. If you've never heard any Paul Butterfield Blues, your missing out. In the mid to late 60's, it was these guys that brought the blues back to the front and made it possible for other blues musicians, such as BB King, to really be recognized for the amazing music they make. The PBBB was playing the Fillmore along with Big Brother, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, and the Grateful Dead - and while I love all of these bands, it hardly get's better than Paul Butterfield (singer, harmonica), Mike Bloomfield (guitarist), and Elvin Bishop (guitarist) wailing out the blues.

Anyway, enough music ranting. I've been really busy. I just finished inking up six race drawings for a fellow by the name of Dan Stevenson. Below are a couple of my favourites -

I also just finished up work on Mark Schuler's website, which you can find here - www.markschuler.net. Mark was an instructor of mine at the Kansas City Art Institute - his help and guideance has been a blessing ever since I met him! So it was an honor and great fun to work on his website. Not to mention his work is amazing! Check it out if you get a chance!

Next up, I'll be finishing up a website for John Schlim Jr., I'll be helping bring his Fablewood Studios - www.fablewoodstudios.com - to life. John is starting up his own small press comic company. From what I've seen, I've been really impressed with the talent and ideas he has working for him. I'll be sure to include here an update as I get more work done on his site.

I'm also working on a cover for Goodman Games next Etherscope book, The Great Metropolis - this is turning out pretty good and when I get an opportunity, I'll post it up here.

I was also approached to do draw, ink, and colour seven pages in a comic from Layne Morgan Media. If the job goes through, I'll be working with a former instructor of mine from the JKS, Sergio Cariello. I'm sure any of you who are familiar with comics know who that is. Should be fun! We'll see if it actually happens.

I have also been talking with Rick Hershey over at Empty Room Studios. We've been discussing my possible joining of the studio and also perhaps some other interesting business ideas. It will be interesting to see what comes of that. Either way, he has a great group of artists working for the studio over there, should be fun to be a part of that.

Last, but certainly not least, I was thrilled today to get an email from Brannon "Ashy" Hollingsworth. He let me know that he linked to my website from his blog. He had some really kind words to say about my work as well, so I wanted to extend a bit "Thank You" to Brannon for the kindness and return the favour!

Check his blog out here - http://themisfits.blogsome.com.

Genghis Con Sketch.

2005-10-19T15:36:00.000-05:00

I was contacted some time back by the people that run the Genghis Con RPG convention in Denver to do a cover for their flyer and t-shirt. It sounded like alot of fun, so I was excited to get the job.

I really enjoy researching and finding correct clothing/armour for a time period and this is a good example of that. The Mongolians had some really interesting patterns and designs for their clothing and armour and so far, it's been fun working out the drawing. I can't wait to get into the guts of the drawing and really start working over the detail!

Here's the sketch so far - the final will probably be in pen and ink with some grey tones over top. I'll post up the final as I get more work done.

New music and Robotika!

2005-10-18T10:14:00.000-05:00

So I've recently decided to try out Napster. I have to say, it's been a good purchase. I listen to so much music as I work and it is something pretty great to be able to look up anything. And they have nearly everything.

Anyway, I found a couple albums that I think are worth mentioning - Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco, Desire by Bob Dylan, and Searchin' For A Rainbow from the Marshall Tucker Band. The new My Morning Jacket album, Z is pretty good too.

Robotika

Anyway, I thought it would be a good time to suggest the new comic from Mark Smylie's ASP called Robotika - this is from a friend of mine, Alex Sheikman and is absolutely great. I had the pleasure of putting up the full colour pages on the ASP website. So if you get a chance, go over and check that out.

New Masters of Fantasy!

2005-10-16T18:55:00.000-05:00

I just found out that I got accepted in Volume 3 of Epilogue's "New Masters of Fantasy" book! This show was juried by Donato Giancola, Jeff Easley, Don Maitz, and Janny Wurts. I haven't found out yet if I won any awards, but either way, my work will appear in the next volume.

You can find out more about it here -

I'll be sure to let everybody know which pieces were accepted just as soon as I find more out myself.

New art, news, and updates!

2005-10-15T19:50:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new blog/news/update section!

I felt it was hightime I reorganized the website and content. I hope to be able to update the blog here a little more often than I used to update the website. I'll include here information on jobs I get, new artwork, friends, projects, clients and whatever else comes to mind.

To the right, you can see various links to the above mentioned projects, friends, and clients.

As to this update, I put up a bunch of new colour and pen/ink work I've been working on for various clients - such as Final Sword Productions, Blue Devil Games, Bad Axe Games, and Goodman Games.

As of right now, I am also working on a cover for Goodman Games and another cover for Bad Axe Games. I'll put up more info as it comes in. I am also working on some illustrations for Mythic Dreams Studios and I'll be doing the flyer cover and t-shirt design for the upcoming Ghengis Con.

Anyway, I'll be adding client links to the right in the next week or so. In the meantime, check out the new work up on my website!

Thanks!