What's cooking, D?

I'm close to finishing my illustrations for the kid's anthology book.  Here is another sneak peek:

I'll have more information as a release date is determined.  Then you will buy it because it is full of awesome stories and fantastic artwork!  It has been fun to work on, but it was more time consuming than I expected.  I've been told that when you start a project, you should double the amount of time you estimate it will take.   That seems about right.

I'm excited for the upcoming months.  I have four projects that I want to focus on for the rest of 2010.

1. Finish writing and illustrating my story named "Stacks".  I have a simpler line style for these illustrations that I think will work really well with the story.
2.  Focus on concept art, character designs , and storylines for "Morgan Monster Hunter and the Crypto Kid".    This will be an ongoing story,  I want to get some Morgan stuff out in 2011.
3. I need to get more comfortable with Photoshop and Illustrator so I will work on 2 or 3 portfolio pieces in each program.  
4. Rework a bunch of canvases. I want some actual physical pieces to display and sell.  I have a pretty cool theme in mind, which could turn into the illustrations for a story that I am still developing.  Must...get ...more..use...out  of each...piece.

And of course, I must stay focused on finding clients and marketing myself.  Not easy, my friends.

 Last but not least, I have a NEW WEBSITE in the works!  It will be waaaaaaaay cooler than my current portfolio site.  Hopefully, I'll have it up within the next week or so.  Stay tooned!

Rubabutu Rain Bird

In 1867, Charles Willoughby III discovered the rubabutu rain bird deep in the forgotten forest.  Willoughby couldn't have picked a more inappropriate name for the little creature.  It is not a bird and it hates getting wet.  Willoughby was mauled and killed two years later by another one of his foolishly named discoveries...the gentle love ape.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Crockens

Crockens love the ferny undergrowth of Nufsed's steam fog forests.  They spring forth with amazing speed and agility to eat almost any passing creature, including the other predatory "eaters" of the forest.  All creatures fear crockens, but many also rely on crockens for their survival.  Crocken eggs are the main source of nutrition for dozens of the forest's inhabitants. The crocken deposits ten to twenty "eater eggs" for every fertilized egg that it lays.  Even the males lay these watermelon sized "eater eggs".  An acre of crocken territory can have up to 25,000 crocken eggs on it's floor.  Crockens like to keep their prey close and fat.  Ahhh, the circle of life.

Illustration Friday: Propagate

Here is my submission for Illustration Friday: Propagate. To learn more about yappers see my previous post: The Yapping of the Yups.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Cliff Leaper

The cliff leaper clings to the glossy Marble Cliffs that line the coast of the Nufsed Sea. When it is hungry, the cliff leaper launches itself at one of the many species of seaflogs as they fly by. The cliff leaper opens it's mouth incredibly wide, and swallows the seaflog whole. The weight of the seaflog causes the cliff leaper to plummet to the sea below. There, it will float for several days while it digests it's meal.

The membranes of fatty skin that stretch between it's limbs allow the cliff leaper to glide great distances and ride the thermal currents that rise from the warm water below. These flaps of skin are also filled with black pockets of air for floating on the surface of the calm Nufsed Sea. When the cliff leaper's meal is fully digested, it climbs back up the smooth surface of the Marble Cliffs using a suctioning technique and repeats the whole process.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Coastal Mucksucker

The coastal mucksucker lives on the coast and sucks muck. It aspires to one day pack sand.

Mucksuckers Groening style.

Mucksucker on a T-shirt? Yep...

...or as a certain singer I know put it, "What's that giraffe-thing

on your shirt?"

The Brown Surprise

The brown surprise is one of the many predatory "eaters" found in the steam fog forests of Nufsed. Brown surprises are master trappers. They use their large tusks to dig deep pits in the soft clay of the forest floor. They cover the pit with a mat of twigs, branches, and leaves. Then it backs into the cover of dense ferns and bushes and waits. It doesn't take long for an unsuspecting creature to stumble into the trap. Surprise! The brown surprise hop-waddles out of it's hiding place and eats.

The orange surprise has spikey orange quills along it's back and lacks the tusks of it's larger brown cousin. Instead of digging a pit, the orange surprise weaves a web of branches and vines which entangles its prey.

TUNDRA TOOTH !

Christmas is over. Snow can go away now.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Crowned Quib

The crowned quib lives deep in the steam-fog jungles of Nufsed. It's mouth is located on top of it's head, allowing the crowned quib to pluck the many varieties of sugar fruits that hang from the trees. The sugar fruits are packed with massive amounts of sugar(duh) and caffeine. The energy provided by these fruits can make the crowned quibs a little frantic, but also keeps them alert. Crowned quibs are a favorite meal of the many "eaters" that live in the steam-fog jungles, including three species of tooth head, black woofs, chow with stripes, orange and brown surprises, crackle cats, crockens, and raeck claws.

Rainbow Crawler

Rainbow crawlers make great pets. They are clean and can roam freely on your walls. An adult is approximately 18 inches long from the tip of it's nose to the tip of it's tail. They eat a small amount of fruit each day. Many rainbow crawler owners grow mini-fruit trees in their homes where their pet can feed as needed. A happy and healthy rainbow crawler will lay a clutch of 25 to 30 multi-colored eggs (known as Skittles) every morning. The Skittles candy company owns the three largest rainbow crawler farms in the world. By stamping a small white "s" on rainbow crawler eggs, the Skittles company has found a successful marketing technique for these delicious little treats. M&Ms did a similar thing over fifty years ago with fudji monster droppings.

Emperor Bagoon

What's this? A berry! Ooo OOooO, Lot's of berries! Must be my lucky day. Hope I make it through the rest of today without something plucking one of my tail plumes. Also, I hope my crown growths don't get caught in the underbrush again. That was so embarrassing. Mmm, good berries. Almost makes me forget how much my eyes burn from that stingrat attack, and I can hardly even smell the muckwash anymore. And I'm pretty sure that snapping flower only broke three of my fingers. That could have been way worse. Wow! these berries are goo.....wait...ohh.. oh..oohhhhhh....I don't feel so good.... wait...these are....Oh Nooooo!.. KRACKLEBERRIES!

The Yapping of the Yups

The yapper is a large lumbering creature. It spends most of it's life digging for roots and bittlebug grubs. It makes a lot of grunting noises as it eats these favorite foods, but it's the constant and annoying "yapping" of the juveniles that gives the yapper it's name. A yapper will have between 6 and 35 "yups" in a typical litter. Yups have a bright red coat of fine fuzz and two pointed ear-horns. Within a day or two of birth, the yapping of the yups begins. They hop and play on and around the adults, yapping loudly. Thankfully, evolution has been kind to the yapper. Adults have no ears.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Sunflapper

Sunflappers have large wing-like ears on the side of their heads which they use for "flopping". Flopping can be thought of as either a really impressive hop or a really pathetic attempt to fly. Thousands of sunflappers can be seen flopping during the long, hot summer afternoons. This is how they find each other through the deep and thick grasses of the rolling plains where they live.

As they flop, their long rubberband-like necks stretch and snap between their bodies and heads. A sunflapper landing is not a graceful sight. The body usually lands first causing the neck to snap the head to the ground. The sunflapper drags it's head and droopy ear flaps along the ground until it's next flop.

I used the same sketch to experiment with some different color options and style:

Okapi Craving M&Ms

Give me M&M's or I'll blow up your planet!

My wife has been calling our kids "Bumper" and "Bruiser" lately. Great names! Anyways, Bruiser is home sick today so Ma and Pa are each working half a day. I'm taking Bruiser into the doctor this afternoon. And then hopefully he'll take a long nap and I'll get an extra hour or so to work on the Forgotten Wildlife poster.

I think I'll start with the Crowned Quib.

Here are some old sketches. I'll need some good photo references as well. I'm thinking okapi.

The Big Creature Feature

I am starting a project that I've wanted to do for a long time. It's a Forgotten Wildlife character poster. I am going to create each creature separately so they can be used in various other projects. A simplified cartoon style will transfer easily between different programs, projects, and media. I will post my progress intermittently and show some techniques and processes along the way. This will take a while, but I hope you enjoy watching the poster fill in over the next few months. This is a work in progress, so any advice, observations, or comments along the way can help make this a stronger piece.

Brave Enough to Hug a Smolderer

C.O.W. #156: Red Hot Doom

The smolderer has the world’s hottest blood. Sometimes it’s thick, rocky hide keeps the internal heat under control. Most of the time it does not. The smolderer’s surroundings are almost always reduced to bare scorched land. The phrase “Brave enough to hug a smolderer” refers to someone who is seriously injured or killed doing something stupid.

Black Woof / Monsters and Things

This is Black Woof. He has been my monster companion for at least a dozen years. He has been through many changes over the years, but his appetite has remained the same. He is feared by all creatures, who know him as "the Eater".

A few weeks ago, I blogged about Monsters and Things. They make cool stuffed monsters from vintage and unique fabrics. We saw them again at the local farmer's/craft market and bought a monster of our own. Here's a picture of our monster:
Visit their MySpace page for info on ordering a monster for yourself or as a unique gift. The owners are really nice and they make a quality product. http://www.myspace.com/monstersandthings
I'd like to give the art/craft fair scene a try next summer. I am building up a selection of sellable pieces, including original paintings, prints, vinyl panels and stickers, magnets and t-shirts. I also need to set up an etsy store and a website. All purchases will include a free bowl of home-made chili. Lids sold separately.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Surprising Little Creeper

Here is what I submitted for C.O.W. #155: Biped Insectoid.

Surprising Little Creeper

Like it's cousin, the hiding little creeper, the surprising little creeper is a solitary creature. It is about 30 cm. tall. When it feels threatened or annoyed, however, it will open it's "fear fan" which almost triples it's size. This is a great trick for scaring away a hungry predator, but unfortunately, the surprising little creeper is a little overzealous with it's fear fan and often scares away potential meals. The surprising little creeper is on the the verge of extinction due to starvation.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Vine Cat

Here is my submission for C.O.W. #154: Hangs Upside-Down

The vine cat is neither a vine nor a cat. This affectionate little creature spends most of it’s life high in the tree tops of the Nufsed steam fog jungles. While courting, the vine cats offer each other various gifts- painted flowers, sugar fruits, and jewel pebbles are some of their favorites. They mate for life and the gift giving ritual extends to their offspring. They live in literal “family trees” with the oldest generation living highest in the tree. As the suns set, mated pairs and their offspring gather in hanging tentacle clusters where they sleep through the night.

The Forgotten Wildlife: Mountain Monster

Even the great walking worms and legendary behe mouth are dwarved by the most gargantuan creature that has ever walked the plains of Nufsed: the notorious MOUNTAIN MONSTER! The mountain monster can devour whole forests in a matter of hours. Though all it really wants to eat are the trees, countless creatures are swallowed as the mountain monster gorges on the forests. Most of the creatures would probably be able to escape if it weren't for the mountain monster's excellent camouflage.

See if you can spot the mountain monster in the picture above.