The Burgh n'@

Not misspelled, spelled the way a Pittsburgher says it. I love my hometown.


And, I just really liked this. It was about 70 that day.


More later. Probably about Hell, but maybe something artsy. We'll see. Cheers!

Music: "My Hometown" - Bruce Springsteen

From the Crypt v.2, Item 8: Devil May Care

6/29/93.

Back to the past, as it were. This one was still in that super-muscled phase I went through back then, but at this point I was starting to come into my own by making it a little more stylized. Daredevil was a long-standing favorite character of mine, and it was a nice change to do something slightly more action-oriented (for me), while still giving a somewhat iconic pose. Of course, there're tons wrong with the picture (anatomy, still not a strong suit), but I was pleased enough with it. I liked using the other inks to make 'highlights' of the picture, and this was more shading (fake though it was) than I normally used. It was a bit of a different picture than I was used to, but I still like it.

Probably nothing to post next Monday. It's been quite the week thus far, and with friends coming in from out of town this weekend, I'll most likely not get a chance to prep anything Sunday. So, see you Wednesday.

Music: "Devil Inside" - INXS

The Remembrance Table

This Table set for one is small -- Symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner alone against his oppressors. Remember!

The Tablecloth is white -- Symbolizing the purity of their intentions to respond to their country's call to arms. Remember!

The single Red Rose displayed in a vase reminds us of the families and loved ones of our comrades-in-arms who keep the faith awaiting their return. Remember!

The Red Ribbon tied so prominently on the vase is reminiscent of the red ribbon worn upon the lapel and breasts of thousands who bear witness to their unyielding determination to demand a proper accounting of our missing. Remember!

The Candle, the candle is lit -- Symbolizing the upward reach of their unconquerable spirit. Remember!

A Slice of Lemon is on the bread plate to remind us of their bitter fate. Remember!

There is Salt upon the bread plate -- Symbolic of the families' tears as they wait. Remember!

The Glass is inverted -- They cannot toast with us this night. Remember!

The Chair -- The chair is empty. They are not here. Remember!

Remember! -- All of you who served with them and called them comrades, who depended upon their might and aid, and relied upon them, for surely, they have not forsaken you. Remember!

Remember! -- Until the day they come home, Remember!


--Larry H. Tassone, USAF (Ret)

Today is a day to honor all veterans, but I thought it would be an especially appropriate time to post this picture, taken this past Memorial Day at the Plum Legion. I'd never seen this tableau before- I've been to more than one Memorial Day tribute, but this was new to me. The solemnity and reverence with which the men of the Post attended to this table, and to the reading of the above, truly touched me- all the more remarkable given I was there for a ceremony honoring my father, as well as all those members who passed on over the past year.

So often, when I think about all those men and women who have served America, I think about all the ones who died, fighting for their Country, or their Family, or just the Soldier next to him. Or I think about those who lived, and came back to their Country, and to their Family, and to their fellow Soldiers.

Not often enough do I think of those soldiers lost to us- those Missing in Action, unable to come home to their Country, to their Family, to their fellow Soldier; and the Prisoners of War, who sometimes do come home, but are always haunted and marked by their time kept away from their Country, their Family, their fellow Soldiers.

So please, think about them all- think of the veterans living, deceased, and lost...

Think.

And Remember.

From The Crypt Halloween, 5: Finis

Happy Halloween!

From The Crypt Halloween, 4: The Other Monster Squad

10/6/89. At least this one was started around Halloween time.

Not much to say about this one- my favorite monsters, in color! My sister had gotten me colored pencils for Christmas past, so I was trying to put them to use. Not much to say about this one, other than I don't know why the Mummy appears to be floating, and for whatever reason I always remember drawing Dracula like that- Bela's outfit, but completely different face. There's a reason I drew that face, but I can't remember what it is. So there you go.

I'm tired.

See you tomorrow.

Music: "Monster Mash" - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett

From The Crypt Halloween, 3: Horror's Hero

7/24/90.

Not quite a horror monster, Darkman was nonetheless a horror fan's dream. Imagine a superhero movie done by Evil Dead's Sam Raimi... oh wait, that was Spider-Man. Well, go back twelve years or so and you'll see Raimi's first superhero movie. Coming out a year after Tim Burton took the 'comic' out of 'comic books' and redefined the superhero movie, Darkman was an early successor to that grim and gritty, super-stylized movie, channeled through the mind of Sam Raimi. Starring a pre-Qui-Gon Liam Neeson, it failed to make much of an impact at the box office- but made quite the impact on little film and movie geeks everywhere. I remember loving the bombast and insanity of it all- one of the bad guys had a machine gun built into his prosthetic leg!- as well as the drama and pathos of the poor, disfigured scientist who can no longer feel anything but rage... plus he's got a face that melts every 99 minutes! I haven't seen it since the early 90's, so I have no idea how it holds up. I would hope it's another good example of Prime Sam. I found a few pictures of Darkman- I might post another one for your viewing amusement later this week.

Oh- although it didn't do well at the box office, the filmmakers knew just how to hit up the geek market: They made two follow up films that were direct-to-video, starring Arnold Vosloo (that guy from The Mummy)- probably because he was cheap and bald, which makes for less money on bald caps. I never saw them, so I can't speak for their filmic value. Might be worth watching, yes?

Music: "Theme from Darkman" - Danny Elfman

From The Crypt Halloween, 2: First Cuts

12/20/89. Cause, you know, nothing says 'Christmas' like Freddy Krueger. Nightmare Before Christmas, indeed.

Looking back at these old pictures, I've come across a number of Freddy Krueger drawings. Now, before you decide I need medical attention (or reaffirm your initial opinion), let's take a look at another thought in play here. Essentially, Freddy Krueger, star of some hard-R movies, had by this time become a superhero. Okay, supervillain, to be precise, but hardly a horror movie monster. Sure, he killed kids in their sleep and terrorized a generation of teens, but let's take a closer look. Horribly damaged as a young man? Check. Virtually impossible to kill? Check. Long metal claws? Check.

He's not a monster.

He's Wolverine.

Alright, a bit of a stretch there. But, hopefully you take my meaning. By this point, the late 80's, the horror of Freddy (not even sleep is safe) had been replaced by a joking, nearly cartoon image of the original- the later episodes were practically action movies with more blood and makeup effects. Where had all the horror icons gone?

Looking at this pic, evidently Freddy took them out. I forget where I'd first heard the mention of a team-up between Freddy and Jason (one of those fanboy dreams that never, EVER live up to the hype), but this was a little idea that I put down on paper. I never did see the movie. I'm betting whatever I was thinking here was probably better than what made it to film.

Music: "One, Two Freddy's Coming For You"

From The Crypt Halloween, 1: We Still Belong Dead

8/20/90.

At my Mom's this past weekend, I came across a huge collection of my old drawings. Instead of shuffling them to the bottom of whatever box they came out of like usual, I decided to bring them with me and look through them again, just to see if I've made any progress since then. I thought if nothing else, I could maybe find some choice ones and post them, just to show how bad I used to be way back in the day. Funnily enough, I ended up coming across a bunch of Halloween-themed (or genre-related, at least) pics and thought, since I didn't have anything new to post for Halloween, and I've been running old pics already, I could combine those two and post these REALLY old pics. Not even from the crypt so much as the old burial mound... But, there will be, with luck, a post for each night this week. Rejoice!

So this first one, I hope you can see, is Frankenstein's Monster and his Bride. This pic looks like it was influenced by an old photo or scene from the movie (the poses feel familiar) but I don't think it was a direct drawing of a photo. As you can see, I was a fan of the Universal Monsters going back quite a ways. Not much to say about this picture, though looking at the green ink, it reminds me of the time I spent drawing, then using the different color ink pens to ink the drawings instead of just plain coloring them. And, if you look at the Bride and squint really hard, she kind of looks like Madeline Kahn.

More tomorrow.

Music: "Tubular Bells" - Halloween Soundtrack

From the Crypt v.2, Item 7: Hell's Highway

June 7, 2009.

This one is pretty easy to describe. Much like my long-ago posting of 'breed', this one is directly inspired by a song. In this case, Ministry's "Hero". I was a huge fan of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails back in the day- nothing like some industrial music to get the outrage flowing. I'm not as much into it now- I guess my tastes have just changed a lot (go ahead, say it- I've gotten old :)- but my tastes have always changed. It's still fun to listen to every now and again, or better yet, catch on the radio.

But, this is just what came to my head when I would listen to the song. Also, it's inspired in large part by a story from 'Heavy Metal' called... "Friday", I think? About a clone trooper who doesn't think just like all his fellow clones. Wish I could remember the exact name.

And there you go.

Probably not going to post anything for this Friday, but you never know.

Music: "Hero" - Ministry (what, did you expect something else?)

From the Crypt v.2, Item 6: Snickity Swipe

May 1, 1993.

Well, we're back to the old stuff. Which is good, as I don't have any new stuff to post yet. Things have been quite... tiring here. Life is busy. But it'll do that.

This is Wolverine, obviously. Or I hope obviously. Couldn't get enough of the little runt back in the day. Now... eh. Don't get me wrong- I like the character well enough, but it's hard to buy into the character anymore when he's probably as ubiquitous as Spider-Man anymore. For Kirby's sake, he's on a cartoon for little kids! You know, the guy with foot-long metal claws who kills people? Little bit odd, that.

But I digress. This particular picture is known as, in the parlance of the industry, a 'swipe'. A swipe is when one artist uses another artist's work- usually a pose, but can go so far as to copy the actual style or composition. Often done without acknowledging the shoulders upon which they stand. If they do make the proper sounds (usually "-name-, after Kirby" for example), the swipe is known as an homage. Splitting hairs, but then that's what fandom does best. Let's see- using my profound geek memory, as I recall this is a swipe of Liam Sharp's Death's Head II, probably from one of the early issues. But considerably less detailed than Mr. Sharp's work. The original drawing was a character called, surprisingly, Death's Head II. I at least did the work to make it look like someone different.

'Swiping' is a big deal nowadays in the industry, what with the ready availability of photo references online. There's one artist who is almost as well-known for his swiping photo references as he is for his drawing ability. I remember his earliest work- honestly, it was better then than it is now, but I know I'm a minority opinion. He's gotten so bad, in the most recent issue of the book he shares art chores on, he swiped a different artist and 'drew' the exact same character in the exact same way- but the artist he ripped off is an amazingly different style of artist. Shame, shame! Swiping is something many artists do at one time or another, and it's difficult to say where using photo reference ends and swiping begins, and I'm probably not one to make that call. I've done it in the past- especially in terms of posing and so on- but then again, I'm not being paid for it. Oh well, as long as someone is paying for the work, artists will continue doing it.

Okay, off the soapbox.

Enjoy the day!

In other news, I think I figured out what to go as for Halloween. My only problem now is finding all of the things I need. You'd think Gothic stuff would be more in now, but you'd be wrong. Or perhaps over the age of 17 and shopping somewhere other than Hot Topic.

Also, I went to my first Haunted House in well over 20 years. I had a lot of fun, but I came to the realization that I should've been going for at least the past 10 years. I walked in and started figuring out what the gags would be, where the surprises were coming from, how they did the gags, and what music they were using. I enjoyed it, but if I were younger, or less jaded, I wouldn't be so interested in the how of it and just enjoy the spectacle. Still, I'm hoping to go to another one this weekend.

Music: "Terrible Lie" - Nine Inch Nails

Toes in the Water

Well, another Columbus Day has passed, and so has another trip to Chincoteague Island, VA, with my friends. This house was the biggest yet rented (and probably the biggest house we will ever rent- it's the biggest on the island!) and filled with much happiness and good food. Here are some sights from the trip:

The Chincoteague Lighthouse. We visit the island every year, and this is the first I've been to the lighthouse in... a long time. Didn't go inside, but I'm old now and have trouble with all the steps.



Here's a lovely view from the back of the house. In spite of the weather forecasters' doom and gloom, it was all in all a great weekend.



Yeah, that's right. The house had an ELEVATOR! aka, kids'-attention-getter. Okay, I rode it twice.

That's all for now. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so there most likely won't be a post Friday, but I'll be back Monday. Oh- extra credit to anyone who has a suggestion for a Halloween costume for me.

Music: "Toes" - Zac Brown Band

ReVision and Milestone

10/4/09.

This marks my 200th post. Since Joey's been telling me to revisit my old work in order to try and jumpstart my mostly stalled creative inclinations, and since I knew this 'milestone' was coming up, I thought I'd combine those two ideas and went back to my first 'retro' post, which is also the one of the oldest pieces of 'modern' art I can find (I have older stuff, but I won't punish you like that; and I have larger art from high school, but it won't scan). In case you've forgotten, that original post was the start of a design for a banner meant to be presented at the Pittsburgh Arts Festival (or whatever it's called). My idea was to do a banner with an angel and demon, as gargoyles/statues, over the Pittsburgh skyline. Really, that was the plan. If you look back to it , it's kind of hard to see any of that. Ah well, I was young and lazy, not to mention I just didn't have the skill to draw it back then.

Cut to 15 years later. Okay, I'm still lazy, and my skills are sometimes questionable, but I've had 15 years of experience figuring out how to draw things (and finding the reference to allow me to draw things)- not to mention the fact that my imagination works differently now. The biggest difference, strangely enough, is the simplest difference: I bought a drafting table. So, I have a dedicated workspace now- no more drawing on the TV tray (well, until there's something good on). But, by buying that table, it gave me a focus and motivation to actually work on drawing again. Damned if it didn't work. I'm hoping it will continue; but if it doesn't, it won't be for lack of trying.

To those of you who've kept coming back post after post, either quickly cruising through or reading every single rambling, over-punctuated sentence, I thank you. This has been a pleasure, a burden, a pressure, and a reward, and I'm glad to have shared it with you. I plan on posting here for as long as I feel like I've got something to post... and even when I don't feel like it, I'll try to keep on going. It'll be back to the old school with the next post (next week; Chinco is this week!), but I plan on following it up with more new work.

The process is not yet finished
But it is going on;
This is not the end,
But it is the road
-Martin Luther

Cheers!

(oh, by the way, the 'hint' from last week referred to the song 'Double Agent' and the line "my angels and my demons at war"- obscure even for me, but it's my blog so there)

Music: "Doomsday" - Murray Gold

From the Crypt v.2, Item 5: SooperDooper

April 22, 1993- Earth Day, apparently. (You can tell I was a college student then, since I made note of such things)

Nothing special to say about this one, other than 'hey, it was a phase I was going through'. Actually, as I look at the re-designed costume, that's very much a relic of the 90's as well. That style of costume- no-underpants, panels running the length of the body- was pretty popular back then. Hell, that was the only style Rob Liefeld seemed to draw back then. But really, the over-muscled thing? Yeesh. And not even accurate muscles! Looking ahead a bit, I think the pictures veer away from that back into the realms of normally over-developed musclebound freaks we call superheroes.

As an FYI, if I'm doing my math right, I'll not be posting this Friday, but will have something up for Monday (fingers crossed). As a hint (if you care)- it's something old, done as something new, and look at the 'Double Agent'. Surely that's too obscure, even for me. Oh, and I blame Joe for the idea in the first place.

Music: 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown' - Jim Croce (think about it...)

From the Crypt v.2, Item 4: Mutant Mods

March 28, 1993.

The first question that came to mind when I looked at this before scanning it was, "why does a mutant whose power is healing from any injury need a suit of armor?" That's the kind of thing you only think of with age... or perhaps with common sense. I can offer no excuse, other than hell, it was the 90's and people dug that sort of thing. Everyone was getting armored up back then, in the comics. Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Spider-Man... it was only natural to do the same to everyone's favorite mutant. Though I don't think he ever showed up with armor in the comics.

As far as the picture itself, I can't make much by way of comments on it- I don't recall what made me put it together the way I did, but two things do come to mind. One, I remember struggling with what to do with those stupid boot he used to wear- they looked like full-sized versions of his mask- but on his calves. Not sure how he walked, and I don't think he was very stealthy with those things on. Two, I liked the idea of his face being completely hidden- I think it made his mask look more frightening. Don't think that would fly with Hugh Jackman in the role, though.

Alrighty- enough for now, I'm bone-tired. More Wednesday, with luck.

Music: "Mr. Roboto" - Styx

From the Crypt v.2, Item 3: Ripped (Off)

March 5, 1993. Seems like it was a pretty productive time for me, artistically. I really can't think back that far to what might've been going on, but at the very least I was drawing.

And what a drawing it was. sigh. See, this is everything that was good and bad about comics in the 90's (stop me if you've heard this one before). The 90's brought a real and lasting change in how comics were seen and perceived. This is when books stopped being about the characters and (frequently) became about the creators of the books- the comic book equivalent of the end of the studio movie system and the rise of the 'movie star', in my opinion. Sure, there were always very famous and popular artists (let's face it- people are pick up comics for the art initially) out there, but it became a whole other animal back in the 90's.

If there could be said to be a unifying style to this art, it was 'dynamic'. The artists themselves varied pretty wildly in the details of their art, but overall it had a real sense of action and vibrancy in it. Lots of useless detail lines helped. Also, over-rendering the people into something that looked more like an anatomical model of muscles rather than a 'normal' human being was a big difference. Super heroes always looked stronger than mere mortals; now you could see how each muscle was better. Hell, I remember there was actually an artistic trend in comics to draw the guys with bulging arm veins! Yep, true. One could ponder the meaning, symbolism, and effect it had on the average comic reader back then, but I'll spare you (for now).

Anyway, as you can see, I feel for this trend hook, (crosshatched) line, and sinker. The main culprit of this art style you see above was a guy named Bart Sears. I don't remember him always drawing like this, but there are some artists out there who can change their style to reflect current trends, and I guess he was one of them. Of course he pulled it off much better than I ever managed. My problems with this are like all my problems with drawing: I didn't have enough background to really understand what I was drawing. These weren't copied from anyone else's work, so I was left to figure out how the muscles were put together on my own, and figure out where the lines would go. I did okay, I guess, but really? that's just ridiculous. I never had the knack to really pull off these super-muscled people. So, when you see something I've done of late, just think: I could still be trying to draw just like this.

Back then, though, I recall being pretty proud of it- it was reasonably dynamic, and God knows I put enough lines in there. Bits and pieces I'm still pretty proud of, really. But jeez, how did these people digest food, with waists like that?

Music: "Them Bones" - Alice In Chains

From the Crypt v.2, Item 2: Please Don't Go Out On Me

March 4, 1993.

(Okay, so "Go" is actually off their second album, Vs., which came out in Late '93, but sue me- the title's good)

Speaking of overserious... Pearl Jam's frontman, Eddie Vedder. Couldn't tell you where I found the reference for it, but it was one of my better attempts at drawing a 'real' person. Hell, it's better than half the stuff I try drawing now.

Pearl Jam was THE band for me back then. They were the ones who really opened up my ears, musically, to all the different types of music out there, going beyond my limited interest in music back then (limited to B94- a top40/pop station). Through them, I found my way to all different types of music, and as so many teens do, started charting my own course in terms of musical tastes and, to an extent, helping me find my own way socially, as well.

The funny thing was, I'd gotten the Nirvana tape, not the Pearl Jam. I mean, I'd just started hearing PJ, but Nirvana was awesome. Then one day Joey came over with his Pearl Jam tape (sorry folks, this predates our owning CDs) and we listened to both tapes. By the end of the night, I'd decided Pearl Jam was more to my liking, and Joey ended up a bigger fan of Nirvana. Both were amazing, of course. I imagine every generation of kids comes of age with a particular group or type of music, one that really helps influence their formative years, or serves as a touchstone for them as they look back and remember. For me, and probably for a lot of my friends, it was bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

Wow- God help the kids who grew up in the early 2000's...

And yes, I wore the flannels, the ripped jeans with thermals underneath, and the kickers. It was the thing to do.

Music: "Release" - Pearl Jam

From the Crypt, Series 2: Lost and Dreaming

Well.

It has been a while, hasn't it?

Sorry about that, really. It's just... you know... Life. And things. Everything's going fine, or as fine as it seems to go, and then next thing... it's like... what happened? When did I stop? Sure, there've been some pretty good reasons for not being here, but really- this was one of those things I'd done, those commitments I'd made, that I thought would be easy to stick with, to see through. Until I realized that I'd started looking at this blog as one more weight on me, one more pressure. Hell, it's just a scanned picture and some rambling- don't even get me started on actually trying to draw anything...

So, to come back here, like this... well, I'm going to give it a go as I had before- I'm going to post some stuff from the past, and comment on it, and make it look like I'm doing something. Let's call it- slow-motion catharsis. I'll be posting some 'new' art soon enough, honest- I'm just not ready to yet.

If you're willing to stick around and look back 17 years or so into my past, then I hope to be somewhat illumination and not make it a waste of your time. Failing illumination, perhaps at least some amusement.

Right.

Okay then.

So, this is the first drawing of my second 'big boy' sketchbook- the ones where I started taking the drawing (too) seriously, instead of scribbles and whatnot. The subject is another recurring character, Neil Gaiman's Morpheus. In this one, he's not really patterned after Kelley Jones' take on the Dream Lord so much as a more goth/proto-emo take of my own. He does have that freakishly elongated physiognomy that I like to think I did intentionally... This drawing bears all the hallmarks of my early 90's art influences- way too much detail in the muscles, over-rendered (and incorrectly draped) clothing, and a vague 'ostentatious without being pretentious' look about it. Oh, just you wait...

As usual, I'm left with a mix of pride, abashedness, and wistfulness when I look back at these drawings. I think I did pretty well back then, for no formal training, no anatomy knowledge to speak of... and I also feel kind of silly for looking at the overseriousness with which I approached just about everything back then. But, having just spent some time at my niece's high school, watching and listening to large groups of teens interact, I'm pretty sure that overseriousness wasn't just me. And a touch of wistfulness, because I drew the hell out of things, then. Day after day. And I had the patience to keep at it- I think the longest I might've gone without putting pencil to paper back then was maybe a week... and I bet if you checked my school notebooks you would've found something in them that wasn't notes.

So there you go. That's today's post. I'll be back with something else 'fore too long. I think there's an anniversary of some sort coming up.

Music: "New Divide" - Linkin Park

"With Great Power, Comes Great Merchandising Opportunities"

...Does Whatever a Spider Can...

Hi guys. Just posting a Spidey drawing I've had sitting around for a while. Well, hell, they've all been sitting around for a while. I've been wanting to do this one up in a certain style- which I've kinda/sorta done here. If it looks a little different from most of my posts, that's because I've also colored the lines making up the picture. This is done all the time in animation (especially Disney, if you can remember seeing traditional hand-drawn animation from them, and especially the 'new classic' Disney stuff like Little Mermaid on), as well as by a growing number of comic book artists. It gives the work a different flavor, which is what I was going for here.

To be honest, I should've inked this first to eliminate a lot of the roughness in it, and perhaps I will in time, but I just wanted to post something, anything, so here it is. I'm really taken with this particular design of Spidey; it's something a little different, a little (okay, lot) cartoony, but fun. It's definitely inspired by the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon on TV now, especially the design work of Sean 'Cheeks' Galloway. His style is so clean and fun, it's not hard to see how it would be perfect for cartoons.

Anyway, there you go.

Music: "Spider-Man Theme"

Who Watches?

Just a quick post. Since it's been weeks, I figured the best way to return was by barely posting anything.

Here's a quick sketch I did back at a drawing session at Sean's. I'm not sure what else I drew, if anything. I remember being really frustrated at not having any ideas, but this came to me. It's not much, but vaguely amusing. Even vigilantes need to eat, right? The one red shoe is a (now-intentional) accident of painting. Oh yeah, I'm posting this in honor of the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Watchmen- and if you go to Best Buy, you can pick up special edition packaging in the shape of either Rorschach's or Doctor Manhattan's head. Possibly the most disturbing, yet sure-to-sell, packaging I've yet seen. Oh wait, they did do the Ape head for the complete Planet of the Apes series. Nevermind.

Apologies for the lack of posts, especially to those of you who check the blog on anything approaching a regular basis. Things are... things are fine, but the past few months have not been very kind to my desire to draw. I feel like I don't have the time I once did, and there are so many things to do, sometimes other things have to get put back on a back burner. Right now, drawing is one of them.

I'm hoping the next couple weeks will change that. I'm not going to say more, but we'll see if history is kind enough to repeat itself.

Music: 'Desolation Row' - My Chemical Romance (after Bob Dylan)

Hey Now, Hey Now...

Sometimes, you just don't feel very happy.