I wanted to do another ink today, and the first idea that hit me was actually Hellboy (it’s the 20 year anniversary of Hellboy today). But as I sat down to give an ink a try, a different idea hit me. I’ve learned over time (painful, painful time) that I shouldn’t fight those needs. The brain wants something else, so I pay attention. In this case, my brain started talking about skulls, and reapers, even Read more…
Most of the time, my brain is just bouncing around with a million ideas. It’s one of the reasons why I have multiple sketchbooks and digital notes, so that the better ideas don’t get away. Sometimes, one of those really sticks in my head, and I feel the need to get it out. That was the case the other day, when I was listening to the Nine Inch Nails song “March of the Pigs”. In Read more…
I’ve written quite a few blog articles for the Apex Book Company, and every so often I’ll add a piece of my own art to my writing. Sometimes it’s a pre-existing piece, and every so often I’ll create a brand new piece to go with the article. The article I wrote for them in October, The Devil’s Footprints: Creating Oddities From The Mysterious, was about my fascination with all things “strange”. I started the article with Read more…
Recently released from publisher Cemetery Dance, here are my illustrations for their anthology Four Killers. Sharp-eyed followers of this page (both of you) will notice that I also created illustrations for their anthology Four Ghosts (here). Let me just say up front, I think these first two are some of the best pieces of art I’ve ever created. I don’t mean that to sound arrogant, I just think, as an artist, they are two of Read more…
I decided to tackle new designs for one of my favorite films, El Laberinto del Fauno, or Pan’s Labyrinth. I’d previously created ink works of some of the creatures (namely this one), and I thought I’d give a shot to some movie poster designs. Note, these aren’t official by any means, they are just my personal designs. The first two were similar, and all three feature the same quote from the film. It’s no real Read more…
Awhile back, I did a number of illustrations for author Ray Garton’s book Vortex. It recently was released from publisher Cemetery Dance, and I thought I’d show both of you (there are still two of you that read my blog, right?) the artwork for the book. To get us started, let’s talk about the cover. I went through the cover’s genesis when that was first shown off, feel free to click here and read all Read more…
I’ve been trying to get back into my art, after the hiatus that I took earlier this year. In some ways it has worked fine, in others, not so much. But the other night I just had it in my mind that I wanted to do some ink art, so I did. I’ve created an ink of the Creature From The Black Lagoon before (here, even), from a front view. But I’ve wanted to revisit Read more…
I’ve been trying to create a new art piece every week, and soon I hope to make that every day. Until then, I’m enjoying the personal projects and ideas that I’m exploring. I have quite a few ideas for digital pieces, stories, ink art, paintings, even sculptures. Digital art allows me the greatest level of tinkering, which is one of the reasons I love it. Case in point, this week’s new art. This piece, which Read more…
Being an artist of multiple styles can be a lot of fun. It also allows me to work out ideas with, what I consider anyway, to be the right format. Sometimes an idea might look better as an ink. Sometimes it requires a fully illustrated or painted method. Other times, like the piece below, it’s a combination of all of the things that I do. I’m a tinkerer by nature, which doesn’t work so well Read more…
A couple of years ago, I did illustrations for a book from Cemetery Dance called Four Ghosts. I found out earlier this year that it had been published, and I put the artwork for it on my Tumblr (here! Go visit it!). I realized just today that I never posted about it on my site, so, here we are. The nice thing about the book is that the stories are all great, and they are Read more…
Last year, I created a cover for author Vincenzo Bilof’s Necropolis Now: Zombie Ascension. So, as is sometimes the case and something I look forward to, he asked if I could create the art for the book’s sequel, the now-released Queen of the Dead: Zombie Ascension II (go get it here). Most of my year has been taken up by my art hiatus, from doing nearly any kind of art at all. I’ve done a Read more…
When I was unemployed in 2011 and 2012, I returned to doing a lot of inks. Dozens of new inks, and it was a great return to a medium that I hadn’t worked on since the early 2000’s. In working up to going to my (so far) one and only art show with a booth, I did as many as I could. That was partially so I would have physical pieces to sell, originals to Read more…
When I’m not working on full illustrations for books covers, interior illustrations, or even inks and paintings, I try to sketch. It can be considered practice, or working out ideas, and sometimes it’s even just for fun. Sketches often come in the form of pencil drawings, the traditional means. Occasionally I’ll sketch in ink, but not very often. I do, however, stop and manipulate photos sometimes, which I consider a form of sketching. Much like Read more…
I’ve been very fortunate to have created art for several of S.P. Miskowski’s books, they are wonderfully written books that everyone should check out. I’ve just completed both the illustration and design of her latest cover, a book called Astoria. After you are done ordering it, come back here and read about how I created it. I’ll wait patiently. All done? Here we go. S.P. Miskowski is a very “visual” author, and working with authors Read more…
Awhile back, I was lucky enough to finally meet an author in person that I’d known online for a number of years. Then the author, Michael T. Huyck (go visit his site, people), asked if I could do some tattoo art for him. I’ve had the question before, but I’ve never made it to the final stage of tattoo art. Sometimes I don’t hear back from the interested party, sometimes it just doesn’t come up Read more…
I’ve had this idea stuck in my head for quite awhile, to do a movie poster design for the film Something Wicked This Way Comes. I’ve always thought that Jonathan Pryce’s villain Mr. Dark was fantastic, and I loved the way he said what he did in the film. He was a great match for the character in the book, also a plus. Like the Elephant Man art that I posted over the weekend, I Read more…
I’m not sure how many people even remember the film The Elephant Man. It was made in the early 80’s, and for me had a great quality to it. Director David Lynch certainly was a lot of that, especially with his early, unique style. But it’s an actor’s film too, especially with the main part of Merrick himself as portrayed by John Hurt. I thought it would be a fun experiment in movie poster design, Read more…
Here is my newest digital piece, I call it Blame. It was created from various photos, textures, and hand drawn elements, and I first featured the walkthrough on my Tumblr page. Here is the full piece, and the steps that I used to get there. The first step, the original photo: Second step, adding some bling. I thought the chain would look cool. Half of what I do in art is just so Read more…
I’ve been doing hardcover imprints for Thunderstorm Books for awhile now, and it’s something that I always enjoy. This time, I needed to come up with an image that was of a gunfighter, with a little bit of a sinister twist. Now, many of you probably don’t know that I do love westerns. So the chance to do a gunslinger like that is pretty cool, and from the start I had a pretty good idea of what Read more…
Just the other day, Thunderstorm Books posted their newest book, Bryan Smith‘s Grimm Awakening. I was lucky enough to do the cover art for it, which was a great thing for me because I also did the cover for the original version way back in 2004. It’s not often that an artist gets a second shot at the same work, and coming eight years apart was fascinating. It’s a great story, and Bryan’s writing with Read more…