Busy busy busy

Sorry for the absence but the holidays can be a busy time for me. Probably for everyone else too. Christmas was good. I've been eating fish for the past week. It's a tradition that we have lots of fish on Christmas and afterward I'm so sick of it all I just want to eat beef. So I helped my friend move back home a day ago. He's going back to school to pursue something he's passionate about. Something I can definitely relate to. We took a break for lunch and I demanded we get a burger. I just needed that influx of red meat after a week of fish. The new Modern Warfare has kept me from sketching for a few days. I'm back into my daily routine though. There is only so much time I can spend playing video games before I want to spoon my eyes out. Here's four sketches to make up for my absence. They're all magic cards. Look for a future post where I inked and colored Krosan Colossus. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

Vengevine

Bloodbraid Elf

Krosan Colossus

Phyrexian Plaguelord

Christmas Time Rant

Christmas is quickly approaching. I love Christmas but I hate Christmas time. Everything is busy. I go to my local B&N to sketch and read magazines to which I don't subscribe. I usually stop at a Starbucks on the way even though they have a cafe with Starbucks coffee. Their cafe isn't the best. Anyway, it's now ten times harder to find a table and it's so noisy. I have to lock my crappy-ass car if there is even a trace of something I care about. The lines are much longer if I wanna buy something. Not to mention the roads are filled with crazies that never drive. When it starts snowing everything is worse. I'm a humbug. That was my rant. Here's some digital art as I'm gonna rescan this last sketchbook. They all turned out terribly. The first is from Alien obviously. The second is from the internet I think. The last one is a magic card called Time Warp except that I never drew the wizard. I couldn't get him right and decided to omit him. Thanks for reading about my brainsplosion.

Alien

Beast

Time Warp Wave

Nothing To Do Here

Alrighty I'm back. My knee is still killing me and my d-bag brain keeps playing the embarrassing scene of dislocating my knee in front of an entire bar in my head over and over again. I don't have much to say tonight so I'll leave it at that and get to the uploading of the arts. The first is a picture I found online and the rest are from magic cards. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Automaton

Nicol Bolas

Simic Guildmage

Steel Overseer

Volcanic Strength

Just FYI

Sorry for not posting. I hurt my knee recently. Popped it out and then into my socket. I've done it before and ever since then I do it once a year. Unfortunately I'll be unable and it would be unwise for me to walk. My computer with my scans and digital art on it is downstairs so it's in an inaccessible zone of the house. I'll be posting again in the near future. If I can extrapolate how much I improved these last two days I'd say it'll only be a week at most. Maybe only a day or two before I'm heading downstairs. Thanks for understanding.

Original Works Ahead

I was recently informed that December is Pokemon profile picture month on Facebook. Obviously unofficial and completely nerdy. I pledged to draw one each day. This pledge led to a breakthrough in my art. After months and months of drawing copies of pictures I find online or in magazines I finally decided to set out to create an image based on reference photos. I gathered up some pictures of mushrooms and crabs and drew my very own version of Parasect. I'll post it later, maybe all 30 days as a single post. From this moment on I'll be trying to create more of these originals. Now on to the sketches. The first is a bug warrior I found online. I think it was a figurine. The second is a Magic card Orzhov Guildmage. What the hell, here's a digital sketch of a shipwreck that I did based off an online pic.Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Bug Warrior

Orzhov Guildmage

Shipwreck

Did Someone Divide by Zero?

Incredible. My day was incredible. I went to my college campus to see if I could pick up my classes where I left off when I left for health problems and so far it's looking good. Looks like I won't have to retake or repay for them. Then, to top it all off, some incredibly cute girl strikes up a conversation with me and I get her number. I guess life still has some good days to offer me.The first sketch is from Guild Wars 2 concept art. It was in a magazine. The second is the magic card Howl From Beyond. I drew it around Halloween. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Bark Elemental

Howl From Beyond

Skill vs Talent

Thanksgiving is over and I have one thing to ask all of my readers about. Do you see a difference between being called skilled and talented and which would you rather be called? This is from a little debate a few of us had at the dinner table. Someone said I was talented and I said that I'm not talented, I'm skilled. The difference to me is that talent is effortless while skill requires constant practice. I felt that being called talented takes away the acknowledgement of how much I practice. I've finished a sketchbook every other month for the past year and a half. I consider that a lot of practice when you consider all the time I've spent sick in the hospital unable to draw. Anyway, where do you all weigh in? Alright, on to the sketches. The first two are just some practice sheets. They're from early July when I was getting a little better at drawing faces. The third is a recent sketch of a picture I found on the internet. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Facial Progression

 Gladiator/Team Action Guy

 Wonderful World

Slacking and MoMA

I know, I know, I've been slacking. BIG TIME slacking. It's been a week since my last post. I have been sketching and working with my tablet so I'm keeping myself busy. I still sketch in my sketchbook as I like the tactile sensation of it. Also, I can't take my tablet with me to the local cafe. Those trips are practically the only time I get out of the house during the week. The weekend is the only time I spend more than a handful of hours out of the house. This past weekend I went to MoMA. Nothing inspires me more than looking at another artist's work. They had The Starry Night there. They had a Pollock. A huge, room-spanning Monet (Monet is one of my favorites). They had an entire room of Picasso. They had Rothko (another one of my favorites) and Hopper. By the end of the day my feet were killing me. I wore my converse, worst decision ever. My toes are angry with me. Anyway. I'm on my desktop posting this and my latest sketchbook sketches are on my laptop. I guess I'll just have to upload something digital. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Ultalisk

Long Time No Post

So I fell a little behind on posting. It's been about 5 days since I last posted and, well, I have an excuse. I think its a rather good excuse too. I got my computer fixed and my Wacom hooked up. I've spent the past few days getting used to the Wacom and let me tell you. It's soooo much fun. It's been a while since I've used Photoshop so it's been taking some getting used to. Each time I draw something I learn something. I can't wait to post some of my work. Anyway, here are two more ink drawings from Magic cards.

Troll

Cliffrunner Behemoth

Derwent Pencil Rant

I've gotta take a second and tell everyone about Derwent Pencils. As far as graphite encased in wood is concerned I love Derwent. I like to make hash marks more than I like to shade so I use the Graphic line because I feel like the lead is less smudgy. But for people that like to shade more than hash I'd recommend the Sketch line. I recently ran out of 2b pencils and it was torturous. I love using 2b pencils, it's my favorite hardness. I finally got out and bought a few and drawing with them is like curling up on a couch with a hot chocolate. It's like riding a bike, like playing with your dog, like good food. It just feels awesome. Had to get that rant in there.
Alright, below I'm including two works I've done in ink. One of the ways I passed the time between not having a healthy supply of pencils and having one is using pens. I think ink can make me a more confident artist and every once in a while I use them. The first is from a picture I found on the internet and the second is a panel from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. Don't let the movie ruin it for you. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Reflections

Teaching Horror

New Scans And Good News

I just scanned in my last sketchbook. I don't mean the last one I'll ever do, I mean the last one I have previously completed. I spent a lot of that sketchbook practicing figures so not really much to upload from it. I'm happy to say that although I am practicing my figures and faces in my new sketchbook I am also breaking it up with some pretty sketches that I can upload. I also have a quick health update for everyone. I have officially been moved from the post surgery transplant clinic to the medicine transplant clinic. Basically, this means I'm doing much better. They've already removed the picc (peripherally inserted central catheter) line from my arm and talked about reducing my medication. Hopefully soon I'll be returning to normal life and get a job and go back to school. Alright, that's it for the health updates. Here are the sketches. The first is a Magic The Gathering card and the second is from a fantasy and scifi drawing game. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Hovermyr

Sushi's Revenge

Blame It On Halloween

Shame on me. I haven't been sticking to my 3 sketches every day regimen. Blame it on Halloween and snowstorms. That doesn't mean I haven't been sketching but interviews for a new job and trying to complete the classes I left incomplete are taking up some time. That's right, new liver, new life, new job, old school. Also, in pursuit of making my own comic book/graphic novel I've been using a good amount of my time doing writing exercises in the hopes that after a year I won't be such a piss poor writer. That's no excuse though as I have had plenty of time to sit down and draw. Oh well. Here are some pretty pictures. The first was a sketch I did while watching America's Next Great Restaurant. It's some logo ideas for the last couple of contestants. The second is just a landscape picture I found on the internet and sketched. I believe I was watching Game of Thrones just to give you an idea of when I drew this. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

ANGR Logo Ideas

Butte-iful

Snow Day Special

My friends in warmer climates constantly say they wish that it snowed by them. I say fooey! While I love how the first moments of a snow fall are incredibly beautiful, snow is just a pain in the butt. Eventually it gets dirty and brown, you have to clean it off your car in the morning, driving conditions are usually terrible, and grumble grumble grumble. So I'm pretty much snowed in and might not be going out at all today. As a result, I am making this post. I'll even include an extra piece. That's right, three pieces today! Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Robot Speedster

Horror

Dragon Turtle

More Sketches!

Hey peoples. So I see that I have increased traffic recently which is good. I like having a few more readers. I've recently decided that I'm not sketching enough anymore. One sketch per day is too few. I've, therefore, increased my work to 3 pages per day! I know, not much of an increase. When you consider the increased size of my sketchbook and all of the practice I could fit on a single page it's pretty good though. I've been practicing drawing fabric folds and can fit about 4 sketches on a page. Plus, I usually use a page to sketch something I like. Anyway, here are this posts sketches. The first is a graphite sketch of an ogre taken from a magazine and the second is Roland Deschain taken from the Dark Tower graphic novel alternate covers. I love drawing cowboys and this one was especially stylistic so it kinda grabbed me. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Ogre

Roland the Gunslinger

Girls, Girls, Girls

I know all of my followers can tell from previous posts that I love drawing creatures, vehicles, and other such staples of the fantasy and scifi genres. I don't believe I've ever uploaded my absolute favorite subject yet and I'm not willing to go back and check. Today, this post, this is my favorite subject. Girls, women, females, the fairer sex. I love women, their shape, hair, clothes, eyes. Everything about a woman is beautiful. Hold on, I'm getting side tracked.
I've never been good at figure drawing and have, until recently, been limited to stick figures or lumpy and amorphous shapes that don't resemble the human body at all. This past year I've been practicing my ass off to get better at figures. Here are two from a couple months ago. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Purple Dress

Umbrella Girl

Gluttony

This past weekend was my grandmother's funeral. Depressing weekend. That side of my family is super Italian. I mean, I have an uncle that grows his own grapes and makes his own wine. So when we get together every meal has to be a feast. I ate so much I think I'll be working it off for the foreseeable future. Anyway, we're coming up on the end of the sketches from past work. This blog is constantly a month or two behind but I've been trying to catch up with my current work by posting more pictures per post. I would estimate that in a couple months I'll be posting current work. Here are my two sketches. I think the first one is from a Magic card and the second I think is from a magazine. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

 Demon King

Scratchy Dragon

The Strongest Woman In The World

Grandma, I'll miss you. There's so much I wanted to learn from you still like how to go mushrooming and many of your amazing recipes. Now who's going to have my back when I correct my mother's attempt at italianizing words? You taught me how to be strong against any odds. You fought off two pitbulls! There'll never be another woman as strong as you.

 Here's some sketches. They're both from the 3rd Edition Monster Manual for Dungeons & Dragons. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Earth Elemental

 

Basilisk

Last Three Sketchbooks

The sketches in this post and many to follow are from my latest sketchbooks. They are the last three books that I filled. The first two were my usual Strathmore 400 Series Drawing pads in the 6"x8" size but the last one was 8"x10" which proved to be more fun. I'm currently filling another 8"x10" from the Strathmore's Windpower series as it is greener. Actually, I have a question. Which is greener, the Windpower series or the Strathmore Recycled pads? Anyway, here are the pictures you've all come here to see. These are from the trading card game Magic The Gathering. Besides having awesome artwork, it's a fun game and I highly recommend it. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Drake Umbra

 Goblin Arsonist

Nighthaze

Naya Hushblade

Wizards

Blackcleave Goblin

Grotag Thrasher

Goblin Tunneler

I'm Alive But My Computer Isn't

I wanted to drop in and say that I'm still around. I feel pretty awesome at this time but something horrible happened! My computer is no more. I'll be setting up this old laptop so I can scan some more art in but my new wacom is kinda useless right now. Digital art is on hold. I'll be back to updating by the end of the week hopefully. Here's a bunch of art to make up for my absence. Actually, it's the rest of what I have uploaded. Enjoy. Thank you for reading about my brainsplosion.

Cartoon Cats

Heart

Robot

Robot Freddie Mercury

Screamer 4

Skull

Animals Inked

Bookshelf

Climber

Hay Bales In a Field

Hay Bales In a Field (Inked)

Coastal

Bone

Leaves 1

Leaves 2

Red Mask

Primitive Dock

Sea of Wheat

Treant

Treefolk

Warbles

Weasel