Wind in the Willows... 70's Crime thriller.

Found these old sketches, they still make me chuckle.

I wanna see "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" done as a Steve McQueen car-chase.

New approach to Old Monsters: Cybermen

- A "Retro-Update" design -

Before their return and re-design in 2006, I was met with the challenge of approaching the classic design of the Cybermen, with a dual goal of (a) making them harken back to what older fans would enjoy and recognize, but also (b) make them appropriately frightening to new fans (and not... you know... how new fans likely already see the old Cybermen...)

"we are the knights of Camelot, we eat ham, and jam, and Spam a lot..."

I wanted to take the actual elements from the old design; rationalize in-story terms WHY they looked the way they did, and then tear it down to reveal what might be below, literally...

We could infer that not all Cybermen made in the past were created with top-of-the-line resources, there might not be enough to go around to convert thousands, nay, millions of sentient beings to the Cyber race. I'm sure a few hundred thousand were converted utilizing less-than optimal materials.

(which would explain the shroud-like wrappings on the original "Tenth Planet" Cybermen, the Zippers on the tunics worn by the "Invasion" style Cybermen, and the foil&Duct Tape jumpsuit & Moonboots (moonboots not pictured) of the Earthshock era Cybermen...)

So as sure as entropy eventually catches up to everything, so too does it come the old-school Cybermen.


Keeping the general shape, the very SILVER-ness of them... but showing entropy's effect in the exo-skin and insulation degrading and falling away... gaskets and joints deteriorating and falling apart... Those Old School Cybermen had all sorts of quirky weaknesses (such as an allergy to Gold... :) ) So perhaps some parts of it's structure succumbed to entropy whereas other components would still be operational... Underlying synthetic muscle, and fibers not-yet deteriorated cyber circuits, and of course, any remaining bones left over from the original biologic host. I was quite happy with how the design of a ruined, falling-apart Cyberman turned out.

(Of course Steven Moffat & team did a fantastic job with their own dilapidated Cyberman just last year...)

(next: A creature from the depths...)

Hellgirl: Portrait of the Damned

An oldie, but a goodie. I'm still really proud of this one!

Done for an old art contest: designing a Female version of Mike Mignola's Hellboy. Had a lot of fun with this one, from recreating the look of the cover design of the early Hellboy trades, and a reason for each aspect of the design... from the zipper on the underside of her Stone-Hand arm, and why her horns look cut off instead of the "snapped off" look of the standard Hellboy, why a Bomber jacket instead of a rugged trench... I remember doing a lot of prep sketches for this Illustration, which are in a notebook which is surely been lost since 2004.

LEOG - Time Travel & Alternate Timelines

Penciled months ago, edited quite frequently over the course of the last few months, and finished during a coloring RUSH last night, the Time-Travel LEOG Illo.


The League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen (LEOG for short) on Spill.com is one of my favorite Podcasts, and Time Travel is one of my favorite genres/storytelling devices. And here illustrated is the quite large LEOG crew, each as a character from one of my favorite shows, Doctor Who. Listen to their Time-Travel themed episode by clicking this link.

From Left to Right, (with full-fledged link storm)

11th Doctor's upper half: Grant (also of TV Dudes & Greatest Drunk Stories Ever Told at Loungegeeks.com)!
1st Doctor: Jason "Fish" Fisher!
2nd Doctor: Randy (also of Rogues Gallery Comics & Games in Round Rock Texas, TV Dudes, Loose Canon Comics at Loungegeeks.com)!
3rd Doctor: Greg (composer of the LEOG theme song, (also of TV Dudes at Loungegeeks.com)!
4th Doctor: LEON, the imitable host of the LEOG podcast!
5th Doctor: CYRUS! Stalwart LEOG CoHost, sound engineer and editor of the LEOG podcast!
6th Doctor: Beau (also of Loose Canon Comics at Loungegeeks.com)!
7th Doctor: Rubio, of johnrubio.com (and follow him on twitter)!
8th Doctor: Cat!
9th Doctor: Peter!
10th Doctor: Harris!
11th Doctor's legs: Grant (again)

It all comes full-circle. See the links to past LEOG episodes at the League Lounge on Spill.com!

"A Very Marvel Hangover" - Loose Canon Comics Podcast

A very recent illustration, done as a Birthday gift for Randy of Rogue's Gallery Comics and Games in Round Rock, Texas!



Requested by Randy, an illustration of a rant done on his podcast "Loose Canon Comics" (which is not JUST his, he's along with "Lounge Geek" crew Jason and Beau) in which they discuss what would happen if the events of "The Hangover" occurred to Tony Stark, Mr. Fantastic and Moon Knight.

Hilariousness ensue; as you can discover by clicking this link to listen for yourself! Visit Lounge Geeks.

And if you're in the Austin/Round Rock area, visit Rogue's Gallery Comics and Games and buy something from the delightful and helpful staff. (And do not be scared of their in-jokes. If you hear them say "WE. ARE GOING. TO DIE! :(" Do not worry. No one is actually going to die.)

Online Portfolio - 2011

For your perusal and artistic consideration, a selection of some of my finest projects and works to date. This gallery consists of Illustrations, Poster and Flier compositions, examples of package design.

Any and all questions and comments can be directed to me at this blog, or the email address on the resume or business card that brought you to this blog entry. Thank you for your time, and enjoy!

I was proud and honored to have been able to work on the package design for Kyoji Yamamoto's introduction to the USA. "Voyager: The Essential Kyoji Yamamoto" is a fantastic collection of his greatest Solo work, available thru CityBoy Records.

The Cover was to both evoke Kyoji's own flavor of Rock and Wonder, but also to give it a classic "Gold" feel. The guy is a classic, huge around the world, and finally arriving in the USA.

The entire CD package is full of Kyoji's history, in both text and pictures. It was a great experience to work with Bruce Pegg and Kyoji Yamamoto in creating this package.

Promotional artwork created for "Spill Dot Con 2011" art and entertainment convention in Austin TX.

Illustration done to commemorate the First Annual "Spill Dot Con 2010" art and entertainment convention in Austin TX. Thanks and apologies to late artistic hero Al Hirschfeld.

"Empire's" Leia striking her best "Rosie the Riveter" pose. My favorite design for the Syracuse Heroes Expo.

The 2008 Expo was larger, bigger, AND larger, with more guests, more hype, and twice as many days. Fight-club-a-riffic.

The theme for the Heroes Expo is always Star Wars, but the added Fight-Club motif allowed for some more fun elements to be added, hence the "Fincher-esque" color scheme and the film-strip look of 2008's Collectible poster.

A fun mishmash of fonts, pictures and offset printing registers for the 2007 Syracuse Heroes Expo. Grindhouse movie posters and Bronze Age comics were very prevalent on my radar at the time.

My first design working with Jeff for the Syracuse Heroes Expo in 2007. I had a lot of fun making it look faded and weathered, but also eye catching.

a quickr pickr post

Fire & Ice: Farewell gift to buddy Rob

Here's a little B&W Illo, and a quick story behind it.

I worked a desk job for many years in Syracuse NY. One day, I was told my small, cramped office (that had barely any air circulation) would be filled with one extra person other than myself. I was less than enthused. The person who was taking what little space remained was a fellow named Rob.

At first, my opinion of Rob was not high. I had enjoyed being by myself in there, so another person in that tiny room did not really interest me. Also, my first impression of him wasn't that great... NO ONE can be this happy and smiley ALL THE TIME. What was up with this guy?

Over time, What can I say. I lightened up. I stopped being a grumpy bitter cuss (or at least, LESS of one) and we became buddies. In-jokes grew. I discovered he was the underweight long-lost twin of Comic's C.B. Cebulski... Internet Memes were swapped and many Lulz were had. Most of all, this fine Gentleman said something that changed my life: "You really should watch the Venture Bros. You'd really like it."

Well when this guy announced he was leaving Rainy Syracuse for Rainy Seattle, for WUV, then I felt I owed the guy something. (I mean COME ON, he got me watching the freaking VENTURE BROS.) Since he and his sweetie were avid MMORPG'ers, and had ridiculously high-leveled Red Mages in Final Fantasy Online, well it seemed a no brainer to draw their Avatars slinging off some magic.

Fire and Ice, ladies and gentlemen.