Great Video with me sketching in it!!!

Randall's Quest To See Denver's Best from Art Directors Club Denver on Vimeo.

I was approached by my friends Randall and Lindsay about being in this movie because they wanted an Illustrator to be in it. I think the idea is to show some different aspects of the Art Director's Club of Denver, in promotion for the Annual Show, this year. So we have Screen Printing with Stew and Nicky at Ink Lounge Gallery, Bryce Boyer Photography,Chris Thomas at Ripcord Design, and Myself doing Illustration. So about half-way through the movie you get to see me working on a sketch that I was doing for my original Chrome and Chroma painting. I never ended up making the painting that the sketch was for, since I went with "The Wild One," instead of this idea. But the drawing was based on a motorcycle ride up to Estes Park, and it got me to thinking about doing a series on Motorcycling Across Colorado. I still might do the series but right now I'm more inclined to focus on getting published, again, rather than gallery work. You can also briefly see my motorcycle in the movie, at 5:30 in, right after Randall leaves Herb's. Hope you enjoy the movie!

Here's the Sketch:


The ADCD Annual Show will be Sept. 24th. For more info visit www.ADCD.com.

The Wild One - painting for Chrome and Chroma 3

Apart from my motorcycle pin ups for Pinc Tacos, I wanted to do something that was completely original for the Chrome and Chroma 3 Motorcycle Art show. After I got back from Chicago, I spent a few days researching, sketching, and researching some more about what it was that I wanted to do that would speak to people. At first I was kind of stuck on the idea of making a painting with subtle references to Indian Motorcycles. I did a drawing of an American Indian making smoke signals that look like an Indian Chief Roadmaster. Then I drew a Bison Skull with the Indian logo. Then a couple of drawings of girls in leather jackets with Indian Motorcycle logos. Then I stepped back and realized that the drawings were nice, but ultimately uninspired and not terribly original, like I was just advertising for Indian. So I still wanted to have a painting with a classic feel so I starting looking to some of the things that inspired me to become a motorcyclist. One of those things was a 1953 black and white film called "The Wild One," starring Marlon Brando, about a motorcycle gang that comes in and shakes up a town. Then the leader, Marlon Brando, falls for the Sheriff's daughter and then things start falling apart. So, since I don't want to just remake a picture of Marlon Brando, I did a couple of sketches where I reversed the role and made Brando's character into a female. At first the sketches were overtly sexual with dynamic poses. But then I thought about the character and went with something that was more cool and collected. I wanted a girl that was attractive, tough, and methodical the way a gang leader should be. Here's a side-by-side of my sketch and the picture of Brando that I was working from.

Duck The Zipper - New Sketches!

I've been having some fun doing more thumbnails and half-assed sketches of this character. I haven't quite figured out his story, yet. I'm sort of thinking he's kind of this gear-head superhero who's a mechanic during the day and a vigilante at night. Kind of an amalgam of Ghost Rider, Punisher, Batman, the Crow, Spawn and probably some other of my favorite heroes. I guess I should probably talk to DJ N'YABASS about the ideas for a story. I'm listening to Duck the Zipper, right now. You can find the whole album on Soundcloud.com
N'YABASS - Duck The Zipper
N'YABASS described the album as the emotions inside the head of Duck the Zipper. There's definitely a bit of narration in the album from start to finish. It all wraps up with some sad love-songy kind of longing for a girl, so next I'm going to try to maybe throw in a female character and see how that evolves.

Duck The Zipper - aka Merganser aka Morgue the Zipper

So I've been fiddling around all day with this Duck idea, and I've come up with some strange and interesting solutions that have very little to do with the DJ's initial idea. I just kind of let myself go in any old direction that my pencil felt like and this is where I ended up. The first series was what you might expect to see, an anthropomorphic duck creature thrown into a zoot suit for good measure. But as I started doing my thumbnails and getting some action out of the bird, I began thinking to myself, "What if the bird is a symbol, Like BATMAN! So instead of being a bird, the character just has bird-like equipment and he's actually more of a Kick-ass superhero type of character. So what kind of equipment would make him cool, birdlike, and stealthy? How about a wicked looking bird helmet! I know, right? that's what I said. Freakin Sweet! So I sketched it out and then decided to do a full body character study and colored it up a bit in photoshop. These probably aren't sketches that will stick around for the final draft, but process is as process does and I just wanted to show you all what kind of fun you can have with a pencil.

Duck the Zipper - A Hooded Merganser

My brother Jesse is a DJ who goes by the name N'YaBass. He's on the verge of putting out his first Album entitled "Duck the Zipper" about the emotions of his own fictional character of the same name. We had a discussion about the character and he asked me what ideas I had and if I would create an image that he could use for his Album Cover. The first thing that I thought of when I heard "duck" was that I definitely don't want to make yet another Daffy, Donald, or even Howard rip off. So I told Jesse that we need a new distinctive duck like a Wood Duck or a Merganser. He hadn't heard of a Wood Duck and thought that I literally meant a duck carved out of wood. I described the birds to him and he said "Cool." So I've been stewing over this for a night and I started working on some thumbnails and some other sketches of ducks. I had a list of other ducks including the Harlequin Duck, the Bufflehead, and the Barrow's Goldeneye. All very distinctive and ornate waterfowl in their own right, but I decided that the Hooded Merganser was the way to go. I saw many Common Merganser when I was in Alaska, last summer and remembered how much my grandmother really got excited when they came around the cabin.

A little info on the Hooded Merganser: The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is the smallest of the three merganser species occurring in North America. Male hooded mergansers have a large white crest surrounded by black. The top of the head, neck and back are all black, and the chest, breast and belly are white. Wavy black lines can be seen on the tawny sides and flanks. The hindback, rump and tail are dark brown. The long, narrow, serrated bill is black. The iris is bright yellow and the legs and feet are dull yellow.

These ducks feed by diving and swimming under water to collect small fish, crustaceans and aquatic insects.

I Liked this picture because all of the rest of the pictures were really nice and fluffy. This one shows the true and terrible nature of the savage male Merganser, preying upon this helpless crustacean. HAHAHAA!