Man Talk!

Here's a couple of illustrations I did about the "Language of Men!"

They were done for my editorial class taught by the incredible Cathy Gendron. The assignment was to illustrate a humorous article on slang from Esquire Magazine. Fun stuff!

Some Thoughts on "100 Drawings in 48 Hours"

I got this nice comment from DB Dowd the other day and figured I'd share my response here:

Hey Chris, congratulations on your set of drawings. I'm the source of this obnoxious but wonderful challenge, via Bob.

So what did you ultimately get out of the experience? As a more-or-less fully formed professional with a coherent style, did you learn anything from it? It tends to work pretty well as a diagnostic tool for students (who often devalue or overlook what they naturally do well) but I haven't seen someone like you actually do it. So I'm curious--what did the process yield for you?


Bob Flynn asked me some of the same questions and overall, I think I did learn something (way to be vague, Chris!). It wasn't so much the amount of time I spent at the drawing board in two days, but it was the amount of different illustrations that this exercise forced me to do in such a short amount of time. I learned far more about my thinking and creative habits than my drawing habits (although I still learned a little about those too!).

Often times, because I was only able to spend about 5-15 minutes per drawing, I wouldn't have the luxury of being able to work out a solid idea that I was pleased with. Instead, the exercise is all about gaining confidence and going in guns a blazin', which is great! It forced me to completely throw out any insecurities I had about the 100 drawings. There's simply no time to try and be a "perfectionist" (not that my regular work is anywhere near "perfect!").

The whole experience was very liberating and I urge any artist to try it once, if for nothing else, the excuse to draw a lot of drawings that if they come out terrible, who cares? The important part isn't the end product as much as the experience and getting through the 48 hours learning a thing or two about yourself (which is pretty valuable knowledge!).

Again, many thanks to DB Dowd for creating a really great exercise as well as Bob Flynn for turning me on to it.

That's enough ramblin' for me. I promise the next post will have some drawin's in it!

Inking a Reed Gunther Panel

Thought it might be fun to film me inking some Reed Gunther work from the upcoming issue, "Trains, Reigns, and Pains!" Play it in reverse to watch me erase the ink with my magical brush!

Bum Painting

In the last couple months I've been able to bust out the ol' acrylics a bit and have been playing around with mixing paint and colored pencil. Here's a quick exercise playing around with this technique.



Other than that, I've been busy with all things Reed Gunther! Over on the Reed Gunther blog, our newest zine, "Cactupuncture!" has been posted. Check it out here!

Have a good one everybody!

Painter Roommates

This is one of the many perils of having painter roommates. The photo's blurry but this is Scott Daly photographing a dead squid for his next book cover painting for '20000 Leagues Under the Sea.' I'm just trying to eat my lunch...

Reed Gunther: Trains, Reigns, and Pains!

Hey guys and gals!

Shane just posted up a sneak peak of a page from the third issue of Reed Gunther, "Trains, Reigns, and Pains" over at the Reed Gunther blog here!

The issue will be available in January so keep your eyes peeled!

Heeby Jeeby Comix!

Hey everyone, Bob Flynn, David DeGrand and myself have started up a goofy blog that features fun and bizarre all-ages comics! It's called Heeby Jeeby Comix, so check it out!

Here's some process work from my one-pager, "Sick or Treat."




For the final colored version as well as Bob and David's hilarious comics, be sure to check out HEEBY JEEBY COMIX!

Happy Halloween!

Kurv Magazine 018

I checked my mail the other day and found a neat little surprise: The AD of Kurv magazine sent me the latest issue (which was "guest edited by Barbie") that features a bunch of pieces from cartoonists depicting their take on Barbie turning 50. Fun stuff!



There are some really great pieces by some really great artists including Drew Struzan. I was honored to participate last Summer and it's neat to see my piece in there. Looking back, I'm not in love with my illustration but hopefully it gets a laugh or two.



And here's a little write-up they had about me above my piece:



Thanks again Nic for letting me participate!

Covered!

Not too long ago I did a remake of an old comic book cover for Robert Goodin's blog, Covered. It's a really neat blog where each day there is a new post showing a contemporary artist re-drawing an old comic book cover. The object is not really to parody or completely change the old cover but rather pay homage to it. Kinda neat!

I did this remake of the obscure 1966 Gold Key comic, "Milton the Monster" by an unknown artist:



Robert and I were both pretty stumped on the creators of the comic, story, etc. I do not own my own copy but does anyone have more information on "Milton the Monster?"

Thanks for letting me participate Robert!

No Matter Which Way You Slice It... Cartoon Violence Is and Always Will Be Funny.

I actually did this over the Summer but I figure now with Halloween closely approaching, it's more than appropriate to post now. ;) What is everyone going to be for Halloween?

Well... Do ya?

Long live Green Brain Comics!

Smack/Reed Gunther Pin-up!

My good buddy Sean Mack (better known as Smack) and I decided it was darn falooten time we traded us some pin-ups! Smack is the cartoonist behind the web comics, "The Smack Chronicles" and the newer "Revolutionary Times."

Smack's one awesome guy and got Shane and me his Reed Gunther pin-up about 3 days after we first talked about the idea of trading pin-ups. Jeesh, he's fast! It's an awesome pin-up and totally hilarious. You rock Sean! His pin-up will definitely be in the back of Reed Gunther issue 3...



And here's the pin-up I did of Smack's "The Smack Chronicles." I tried to incorporate a lot of the characters from the strip along with Smack's love for Pepsi and cleavage. Hope you like it Sean!

Here's the inks:

And the final Colored version: