Is this sour-puss questioning my choice of media?
OK, no more lead sketches after today. The pencil is preferred on the beach--otherwise my beloved brush pens will dry out in the sun. I thank you for your indulgence.

I like trying to capture not only the faces, but the vibe between two people.

Especially if they are...lovers.

(And nothing better than lovers on a beach vacation.)

From a beach Xmas. I'm going to be posting a few pencil-y sketches here over the next couple days--don't be discouraged.

This is from a while back--when Blair and I were a-courtin'--but I just found it on our external drive and thought it would be good to share. It's felt-tip marker, inspired by a lovely day at the Huntington Museum.

I like seeing some color around here!

I mean, besides Ellis's comments.

My new passion is painting ceramic plates. This is the only one I've done so far, and I'm itching to do more. My cousins, collectively caricatured for Xmas. I took this shot before handing it over for firing. Haven't got a shot of it finished yet, but I learned you can't just over-paint mistakes with impunity--the color underneath will leach through in the firing process. No major harm done to this one. I'll try to share a pic of the final...I know you're trembling in anticipation.

Izzit too late for Xmas?

This was my brother's Xmas card from me. He's in an "old bike" phase. Sadly, this pic is much better than the one I did for our Xmas card. My apologies!

It was too good not to share, especially as we're romping through Epiphany (a church season that really resonated for me as a kid).

Every Jedi needs a master. After last drawing punk kids challenged me with, "Oh yeah? You think you can draw so good? Do YODA!"

(Luckily I'd caught a bit of "Empire Strikes Back" the night before--never would have remembered those forehead lumps without it)

(BTW, is it me, or is the puppet Yoda of Frank Oz/Kasdan et al a better "actor"--and therefore more convincing--than ANY of the CG Yodas?)

A drawing of my nephew as nascent Jedi. His name is Alden, not Alderaan.

I like how she looks like Ann Margaret.

I ate two pieces of chocolate cake for dinner last night.

From my recent stint storyboarding for the new DC Universe Online game trailer. Not brush pen.

Dr. Who-sie-Whats-it from "Frog Princess."

(INSERT MOVIE THOUGHTS HERE)

I'm only so-so at recollecting character designs. Hey, check out the new Disneyland commercial--the one with the family climbing up into their attic to find it transformed into Andy's Room by the Toy Story characters--Mike D. and Ed did all the animation!! It's awesome.

"So link it already!"

I'm linkin', I'm linkin'!

(DISCLOSURE: first link is Wii game intro movie, also done by Ed & Mike [& J.Q.], second is to Mike's blog--I can't find the new commercial on the web! Look for it on TV)

In today's hi-concept world, a page of three random heads just isn't gonna cut it.

Thanks for the comment yesterday, Get Zapped!

Saw the movie I keep calling "The Frog Princess" while on Xmas vacation. Saw it with 4 kids, ages 5 to (practically) 10. I'll join the general chorus and say, "It was better than I thought it would be."

But still, it could have been better.

Here's some brush pen sketches done after the screening to amuse the tykes. I'm not great at recalling specific character models, so there are many errors. But the general tone of lashed-together, half-assed fun approximates the movie very well.

Hmm, in the movie's case, maybe that should read, "lashed-together, yet over-worked and ultimately empty, formulaic fun..."

(Sort of Tim Burton as Elvis?)

New Year!