Real First Names Are for Pooftahs (pardon the language)

 

The Whole Population of Carrabin

I'm back in the land of internet! Nah, just kidding, I'm still in Australia (where you can actually buy airspace as well as land), but managed to get my hands on a little signal, so decided it's time for a nice big update. Proud to say my sketchbook is nearly full (it's been a while since I've successfully gotten to the last page before smearing everything with food and coffee stains) though I've been more focusing on specific projects, rather than random sketches (so its not so fun to look through).

The Regulars of Westonia

Morning Coffee

Farmer Boys

Truckies

My Mining Boys

First off, I had the not so brilliant idea of drawing everyone I met in Australia (since January) who's had some sort of contact with me whether good or bad. It's turned out to be a rather sour endeavour after the first few drawings...quite amazing just HOW many people you meet when on the road! But those involved seem to love looking at themselves and their friends, and as I promised, I'm posting them now. No, I still have no scanner, hence the over exposed pap smear quality. I do have plenthy more where those came from...but I figured one location would suffice. Only 20 zillion to go!

Finally a cover image for my comic, Septembuary!

 

Also, I hope those of you following my work have been checking up on my other blog "Septembuary", as I do regularly post new comic strips there. And here's a bit of news that may come as a surprise, I'm going back to China! I've gotten a pretty good job this time round (helps when you know what you're looking for) with heaps of perks, paid holidays and all that, so I can manage a life between Asia and Europe. : ) Partly I'm going back because the money is much better than back home at the moment, partly because I felt horribly guilty for not devoting time to learn the language, and mostly because I want to continue compiling my comic book, for reasons I will disclose in a future post.

Yes, Australian News seem to breeze through any actual IMPORTANT events while spending countless hours on exaggerating useless things, and adding a whole soap opera thing to almost ANY story.  No, I have nothing against the little prince. Yes, I have major beef with certain news stations. 

And now back to Aussie land. Having worked in remote areas for the last few months (as in no tourists) I've been getting a really neat and different feel for the country this time around, and my partner suggested I should write down my ideas or do something with them. I've been wanting to explore different styles and such and this little side venture (cause I definitely don't have enough of those) gives me that chance. Plus, the inknig takes waaaay less time than Septembuary! Here's a little teaser for ya.

A few more weeks left in this beautiful and incomprehensible place and then I'm back to the Northern hemisphere where seasons and temperatures make sense, and the internet is free, plenty and functional. See you then!
 

Shy

 

 

I was going to type a long rant about this one....but sit back, and enjoy this endless amount of work. Working on it over the course of the year, I'd say it took about two months of "full time hours" to finish. I hope this brings a little smile to your face. : )

Happy Easter everyone!

Portfolio....What a Tease!

 

So where have I been this last month? Slacking? Being lazy? Eating junk food? Nah. No time to even think such thoughts anymore! December was hectic with overtime at work, but that is now officially over, and I have 3 months of just ART!!! And french. And uni applications. And bureaucracies. And notary offices. And a ton of other things I cringe thinking about. 

But basically, Gobelins finally put up the dates for all the application shit this week and.....of course karma hits me in the face yet again with the school making deadline a month earlier than last year...that's 30 days of getting better at art I could've used. After a few hours of moping and self pity I sucked it up and decided to start putting together some of the work I assembled. I'm pretty tough on myself and reject most of what I've drawn, and I'm still not 100 % happy with what I've chosen, but I have to start somewhere! I can always paste in a new image later on.

So behold a little teaser of what I put together so far! My Gobelins portfolio will be around 40 pages (like these) when finished, and I have until the end of February to assemble (and draw a ton more) it. But, it also turns out I need a mini portfolio for all the backup schools I'm applying to over the next two weeks...merde.

Now, to justify my dissapearing act over the last month. I was doing a lot fo art still, I promise! A bunch went up on my other blog, and I'm working on a semi-secret little comic project, which I aim to have finished for Valentine's Day. Here's yet another teaser:

And finally! One last update regarding my website. Oh wait, I have a website? Mhm. Poorly updated one. Or rather, very sporadically. The main page now posts updates when I add something to the site. And if you guys liked some of my comic work about life in China, my site has got plenty more where that came from. And as of March, I will try for weekly updates again since it's a project I love working on! For you lazy ones, here's a link.

Day to Day

It's been a while since I've properly ranted, or updated something

drawn without an actual "goal". These are just the last bunch of comic

sketches I started/stopped/continued since mid October or so. Those of you who have been following my blog for over a year or are just brave enough to venture into those...cringe-worthy entries probably know my passionate dislike for one of Canada's "national hertiage creatures" or whatever we call them, aka canadian geese. (fun fact: everywhere else they're just called geese...) 

But in my love-hate relationship with the ones who "colonized" my neighbourhood and are now too fat to migrate anywhere, I do love drawing them and the things they do. Yesterday as I took a walk, I saw a car almost get t-boned due to bunch of geese "chilling" in the middle of the road. (it's against the federal law to run one over) The driver honked and screamed at them but they just gave him the look they give everyone which basically says "f%$# off". Did they care that he was driving a pimped out jeep with a roaring engine that scared even me? Nope. Might as well put a crown on their stupid little giant heads.

If you're unfamiliar with these lovely creatures, please, do yourself a favour.

I love my winter coat. I especially love how many geese had to have their bellies shaved to make it. : D

This I started AGES ago (when weather was t-shirt appropriate) and finally cleaned up today. My weekday job basically requires me to be a man...or else destroy any nice clothes I own, so I just roll with it and get to be uber-comfortable for most of the week. Unfortunately as I bike to work I often get the smart alecs shouting "Careful on your bike young man". But clearly that doesn't stop some people...

Work is a very very fun place. It also contains inappropriately named objects which result in a lot of...misunderstandings. For example this is called a dickie, which we package in boxes. Our broom brand name is "Quickie", giant oversized boxes are actually named "gaylords", and we constantly have to put things on/under/in/behind racks. See where I'm going with this? Warehouse humour. The lowest form of comedy.

And last but not least, some designs of truckers. Though I'm pretty sure the redhead would make a better sailor type of dude...

First World Problems

Yesterday was a day filled with first world problems, beginning with my morning coffee having...egad: MILK instead of cream. My morning routine which kind of both confirms my existence and wakes me up was disrupted by a snotty nosed teenager with his whiney voice. I'm not in China anymore dammit, let me enjoy the saturated fatty things in life already!

Also as I was biking home (for like an hour) another snot nosed justin beiber girl thing timed a red light for me right before a huge hill and did this cocky snot nosed smirk as she slowly crossed the road listening to her boy bands. I swear I ripped muscles trying to bike that hill in third gear....and Yes I'm going draw her and she ain't gonna be pretty. Anywho, I could dig my own grave here with endless rants of immature problems, but this is an art blog, so shall we?

Isn't it ironic how you put in like 9 or 10 hours of life drawing a week and all you keep are maybe 20 drawings? Progress is such a slow thing...anyhow, here is week 2 and I'm back to using newsprint and CONTE! Damn I missed conte. Am I buying it like a good art student? Nope. Not gonna spend 2 bucks on compressed carbon. Still being a bum and picking up leftover scraps after life drawing. My goal is to not buy a single piece this year...ta da?

So let's begin with my 30sec-1minute gestures. Nothing special but I'm happy with the exaggeration of the poses.

I'm pretty happy with my 2 minute ones lately, and most of the models did those poses

for ages so I got a few I liked. I feel like I'm starting to get more detail down in 2 minutes...

I totally have a girl crush on this chick, she was just so pretty and such an awesome model! Also I've never had a model who looked so comfortable in her skin. Sexy! 

This was neat as this last model was my very first model back when I did life drawing one day at age 15 or 16...I think her name is Vivian but mostly I just remember her really badass tattoo. Maybe I can dig up some of those drawings at some point to compare! Also trying some different conte strokes with these 3, kinda like where it's going...

More stuff (yes, color!) coming at the end of this weekend. Got the house to myself

and my projects for 4 days in a row and I plan to use them well. : )

My Experience With Men

Open pic in new tab to actually see what's going on.

I used to have the biggest thing for Asian guys...until I moved to Asia.
I've been having a ton of fun making these comic shorts, and have a large word file full of note and ideas I jot down everytime I see or think of something. I'm still working on a title, but I think I will call it "Septembuary" as it was a student of mine who inspired this whole china-comic idea, with his odd combination of the two months that just made me roar with laughter the first time I heard it.
Been working on a bunch of other projects but don't want to put them up as I tend to jinx myself by revealing VIPs and never finishing them...

Buttless Pants