The more someone gets to know you, the more they treat you like family. This is not always a good thing.

                                                                                              – Judith

It amazes me that we spend more of our normal weekday with co-workers than with our own family. My work-wife of many years, Ally Peters, PMP,  was shared throughout our department. She had about nine husbands and took care of each and every one of us. She called us her boys. She was all southern belle but, don’t let the pretty exterior fool you, she was tough. She could drink us all under the table and had no problem calling you out for being a doosh. We said she was a dude in a chick-suit. She had our geniune respect for sticking up for our team and giving us a voice within the company. Every morning, about five of us and Ally would get coffee together and talk about what we did that weekend or our plans for the following one, depending on where we were in the week.This dynamic lasted for a litte over six years until our department was dissolved. Ally was the only one from our group that survived the cut. As most things in life, it’s only after it’s gone do we truly appreciate it. Thank you, Ally for creating the healthiest work environment I’ve had so far in my life.

The subject matter is based on my best friend, Larry and his crew. I deliberately left the windows in the interior of the truck blank, so there would be more separation between the crew and the truck. Larry is drawn with a bit more contrast than the others, therefore he sticks out a little more.

Why not make the iPad a phone? Because, if a device is too large, you’d look like a putz with it up to your ear or, in this case, hanging off your belt. I wore my Blackberry on my hip for about a week (Yes, I was an IT guy. Held the title of Systems Engineer and everything). I stopped after contemplating wearing my Mag-Lite and Buck Knife on it as well. I felt it best to quit using my belt for anything more than holding my pants up before it got out of hand.

Another line drawing from way back when. Every once in a while, I come across one. It’s interesting, because of how much I draw now, my perception and evolution of the lines I draw has become increasingly clearer. In other words, I’m getting better at drawing what I see in my head. Having said that, I have to think about how I drew the figures and try to replicate the technique. By the way, the gentleman to the left has a freshly drawn head. Can you tell a slight difference between that one and the other two?

You know what’s worse than a villian? A supervillain. The guy that’s pulling the strings. See how I worked the “string” angle?

I used atmospheric perspective and drew it with a pencil.

Must get back to watching football now.

Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.

                                                                                   – William James

Did you ever have a moment when you really were in danger?

When I was a youngster, I drifted past the breakers on a raft unbeknownst to the ever-watching eye of my mother. I don’t believe I knew how to swim very well, if at all. I remember there wasn’t much sound out there. I saw my mom on the shore waving her arms and jumping up and down. You know when your mother is really pissed-off and yelling at you and you can’t hear her, you’re in serious trouble. That scared me. I remember the lifeguard who swam out to my rescue. He had a smile on his face and acted like he swam out to play with me. Not only was I not in trouble, but I made a new friend at the beach. It’s really good to know there’s people like that out there. He could have easily yelled at me or have been a doosh, but he wasn’t. He was just happy to see me. My mother, on the other hand, had mixed emotions.

In this sketch, I’m playing with the fore, middle and background. The horses head (foreground), has darker outlines and lighter highlights, making it the focus of this piece. The horse and rider in the background are much lighter and less defined, giving it deeper atmospheric perspective and the rider’s head and body are a keen mixture of both. I left the bottom half of the horse and rider sketchy to balance out the sky around the horse’s head.

This is what you get when a grown up kid asks for a portrait.

Another commission piece. Suit and tie? Hell no. How about a sabre and a flintlock! I read in a Pirates display in the Myrtle Beach Aquarium that unlike commissioned ships of the day, pirate ships were a straight up democracy. Which makes sense, really. If the majority didn’t like the Captain, they would just throw his butt over the side.

Using the “Pitrates of the Caribbean” grunge look, I deliberately worked his head a little more than I normally would. If you knew young Brian, you’d realize this is a darker version of his face and features. I kept the paper slightly dirty to keep the look consistent. He has dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. I was going to do another big-head-little-body characture like Hal Prather,  but it just seemed more fitting to give his body a more foreshortened look.