Bogey

This is a portrait of Humphrey Bogart I've started for what will eventually be a poster for the Maltese Falcon (possibly my favorite film, it and Gladiator are always fighting in my brain for the top spot). I'll of course post the finished product here.

Fun Guy

Don't be fooled by the sad look on his face, that's how he gets invited to parties.

Depth Perception

I've been drawing so little lately-my new baby, lots of overtime at work, Final Fantasy XII, and a new freelance job have all been eating my spare time. Once the new Zelda comes out in four days (four days!) I'll have forgotten entirely what spare time is...I guess playing video games could be considered spare time.

This is another piece for the Avalanche Art Blog. It's not as finished as I would like it to be, but I don't really want to work on it anymore.

Welcome, Foolish Mortals...

...to Ghoulsmire Castle!

-Done for the Avalanche Art Blog challenge.

Melancholy Monarch

MAX!

I'm a dad! My son, Max Lonnie Keele was born on Oct. 17th-the day the population in the U.S. reached 300 million and exactly 2 weeks before Halloween. At birth he weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 and a half inches long. He's named after the main character in the book "Where the Wild Things Are" and his grandpa. Both he and my wife, Heather, are doing great and I couldn't be happier.
When we got him home, one of the first things I did was draw him. He's often got this funny, thoughtful scowl on his face (which I tried to capture). Heather thinks he turned out looking a little like the Brain from Pinky and the Brain (in my drawing, not in real life). I don't think he currently has any plans to take over the world, but who knows what the future may hold...

Mutant Housewife Swamp Creature

Three weeks until Halloween.

Sawyer and Sayid

A lot of us LOST fans here at work (and even a few who've never seen it) have been drawing characters from the show in anticipation for Wednesday's season 3 premiere.

'Tis the Season

A Halloween theme seems to be moving through the blog world. If this is the way the blog winds are blowing, let it not be said that I don't also blow.

de Muertos y Gringos

Things have been insane at work and my wife is on the verge of birthing a baby so I've had precious little time to draw lately. However I was able to produce this, my addition to the Spaghetti Western theme which Joe, Sam, Ryan, and I have been doing. Better late than never I guess.

Sketchbook Dump

I've been regularly keeping a sketchbook since I started high school (10 years ago). These drawings are all from my brand new one. The zombie was done with a brush pen after a night of playing Dead Rising with my brother. The others are ball-point pen and were probably drawn in church (one of the best places to draw).

Marion the Barbarian

I kind of stole this idea from my dad who once did a Francis the Barbarian. Big burly guys with girly names are funny to me. John Wayne's real name was Marion Morrison.

Jamaica Inn

Daphne DuMaurier is my favorite author. One of the things I love about her is the rich atmosphere she conjures when describing the locations in her books. Jamaica Inn is an old building perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean on one side and barren mashland on the other. It is the only building between two towns and was once a place of refuge when travelling the harsh landscape between. But not anymore. Mary Yellen's mother has died and she is going to stay with her aunt and uncle, the new owners of the inn. She is dropped off by the carraige at the foot of the road leading up to it, the driver won't go any nearer.
The new Art Challenge theme here at work is to draw an environment. When I heard the theme I had recently finished reading Jamaica Inn and the openning scene which I described above had really captured my imagination. I don't do environments often but I had a lot of fun doing this and want to do more.

Girl with Swirl

Paradise Lost

I feel guilty that I haven't posted in a while. I'm amazed at people who do it so often. Work has kept me really busy, which is a lame excuse because all the frequent posters that I mentioned earlier have jobs too. Many of them work at the same place I do. I've decided to post more of my sketches and get less hung up on only posting more finished pieces.

Anyway, this is Gollum, if you couldn't tell (one of my co-workers thought it was Ghandi, I added the thought bubble to make it more obvious). I wanted to draw him at the depression stage of his withdrawal.

Axe and Arbor

The Call of Booty

Okay, I think these will be my last pirates for a while. There are more in my sketchbook, but these two were my favorites. I've seen Dead Man's Chest twice now and I'm going again tonight. I absolutely love every single second of it. But I'll be the first to admit that I'm hopelessly biased. Old Pirate legends and ships and sea monsters and treasure maps and all that stuff is like crack to me. I can't get enough. Watching Pirates of the Caribbean is like someone feeding hot fudge brownies to my soul.

Anyway, I added a bunch of links to other great blogs recently. If you're featured in one of these links and wish not to be affiliated with me (something I can totally understand and maybe even endorse), let me know.

Welcome to the Jungle

I haven't posted anything in a while and this is the culprit. My wife is nearly 7 months pregnant with our first child and we thought it would be fun to give the future baby room a jungle theme, including a jungle mural on one wall. So all my free time for the past couple weeks has been swallowed up in painting it. It was fun.

Avast!

I keep drawing pirates (I'm excited for July 7th).

Seattle

My wife and I recently took a trip to Seattle to visit some friends. I drew these while we were out there. The tree was inspired by the twisty, viny, mossy, rooty awesomeness that is the Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. The guy is just some guy.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

It be too late to alter course. No fear, have ye of evil curses, says you? Ha. Properly warned ye be, says I. Who knows when that evil curse will strike...(Dialogue from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland).

Twilight Princess

I am probably more excited about the new Legend of Zelda than I have been for any video game in my life. For me, there is not a single experience that exists in the realm of entertainment media that tops a good Zelda game.

Tommy and Ray

I'm a big fan of both Film Noir and cheesy sci-fi movies of the 40's and 50's(though I can't stand Mystery Science Theater 3000-shut up and let me watch the movie, I know why it's funny). Anyway, I drew these as a tribute to all great pulp art.

Post of the Living Dead!

Stained Glass

I recently finished a stained glass course, this was my final project.

Forced to be Polite

I was at the gas station yesterday and after I filled my tank the machine asked me if I wanted a car wash. My choices for answering were "Yes" and "No, thanks." No, thanks? I didn't want a car wash so I was forced to enter the polite decline. I wasn't thankful for their request, but I couldn't say no without expressing gratitude to them for asking me. There wasn't a "No, I don't want your stupid car wash!" option. It just bugged me.

Anyway this is an image I generated for another art challenge here at work. I was in a bit of a rush but I like the way it turned out.

Stream of Conciousness

Sometimes I can't think of anything I want to draw, even though I'm in the mood to. So I just start moving the pen with nothing in mind to begin with. The results of this are generally not good, but occasionally, like with these two images, something nice comes out.

Monsters and Dragon Quests

It's really cool working with a bunch of artists. We have Art Challenges every month, this month the theme is Monster's with a personality. This is my submission.
On a side note I've recently finished Dragon Quest 8 (after spending 90 hours with it). It is an absolutely marvelous game. It was one of those gaming experiences I can tell will really stick with me. Like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Silent Hill, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, and above all, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Dragon Quest 8 will go down in my personal Hall of Fame.

RIP: Arrested Development

Fox has proven it is very adept, yet again, at killing a great show. And not just a great show, the best tv show in history! While hope is not completely lost that it may survive somehow or move to another network, it's looking more and more like it's gone-leaving tv as humorless as it was when it arrived. The only thing worth watching anymore is LOST. But it's much less funny.

3 Day Weekend!

Which means I had some nice drawing time.

Sketchbook

Happy new year! I know January is nearly over, it's taken me a while to get around to posting an update. I got some great new video games, particularly Guitar Hero and Dragon Quest 8. They've been taking up a lot of my time but I've still found some nice extra moments here and there to draw.