Morning drive in without coffee.....................

I'm driving, weaving in and out of traffic, why you ask????

Because of all the freakin slow ass drivers that insist on driving in the fast lane, but only going 65. WTF??????

I'm pretty sure everyone took the same drivers test, did they not ? 
And what does it say???

To move to the right if you want to drive like a freakin turtle!!!!!! OMG

Yes, I have NOT had my morning coffee yet, but...............

As I am weaving in and out of the slow  traffic I am going thru the plays and screw ups from the soccer game of the night before. ( like as if I was the soccer coach, which yes I know that I am NOT)

But it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see where the problem is. So why does the coach not express this to them at practice and make them work on the areas they are lacking?????

This is where my frustration comes in, all that hard work and all that we have gone thru and done to prepare for H.S. to find out that most of the kids that made the team played rec ball.  My kid could of sat on his ass all summer and still made the team. Now how pathetic is that?

I honestly have to say that my son has learned more and gained more from playing with a club team than he will from playing on his H.S. school team. 

That is very sad! I know not all H.S. are like this. Which is why this is so dissapointing. I expected so much more.

More Spookytown pin-ups by other artists

Here are a couple of more nice pin-ups that other artists have done of Spookytown characters for me. Both of them of Emma this time and both international.

First up is a really cute piece by Jennie Wood, an artist from across the pond, south of London, if I remember correctly. I love the style of this one, really quirky and it has a lot of personality. She's said she's also sending a me a another piece made with, as she says, "actual pens and painty stuff!" I'm definitely looking forward to that. You can check out more of her work here.
The second piece is by Steve Coffin, a Canadian comic book writer and artist whose name you might recognize from this blog. I did two pin-ups for him in the past. One for his comic Lutu - Warrior of the North and the other for Kung Fu Engine. I love the atmospheric feel to this one, with the fog effect. I get a great Scooby-Doo vibe off of it. Check out Steve here.

Sweet T's

Here's an another image I recently did for Tesar's. This is his wife, who does desserts for the restaurant. I'm not sure, but I think she might be getting her own place as well. I could be wrong.

Doodle: Noname guy

I paint this guy just for fun. Painter, 4 hours, no ref.

Book Recommendation

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin. If you've never heard of him, you should definitely look him up. Especially if 1. You like illustration and 2. World War II stuff fascinates you. I fall squarely into both categories.

The book is published by Fantagraphics and it's a really nicely done 2 hardback, slipcase set. Here's a description from their website...

Here, for the first time, Fantagraphics Books brings together Mauldin's complete works from 1940 through the end of the war. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an essential chronicle of America's citizen-soldiers from peace through war to victory.

Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. He had created his characters, Willie and Joe, at age 18, before Pearl Harbor, while training with the 45th Infantry Division and cartooning part-time for the camp newspaper. His brilliant send-ups of officers were pure infantry, and the men loved it.

I've had this on my Amazon Wishlist for a while now. A big thanks to my buddy Randy for giving me the heads up that this was available at Half Price Books this weekend, during their 20% off sale. $65.00 set, HFB price $20.00 and 20% off. Awesome, awesome deal. Now, if I can just get his biography for such a great price.

New Speedpaintings

Recently I got a new wacom tablet, so I just want to paint on my little laptop all day long. Here are two new ones I did in painter. Usually I only work with Oils/Flat oil, on one layer, 'cause this makes me feel like working on real canvas with real brushes. No erasing, no undo.

30 min, photo ref

4 hours, photo ref

Update

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, which is lame. I know I get disappointed when I go to the blogs that I regularly haunt and there are no updates. "What? No new post?", I protest in my head. So here's at least a little something about what is going on in my uninteresting (at least to people other than myself) life.

Mainly, I've been busy with freelance stuff. I wish I had time to take a break (as you can see from the "tired eyes" photo), but I do like having work, so I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm thankful for it. I've been doing more things for Tesars Modern Steak and Seafood. Designing labels for different sauce bottles, typesetting some online menus, another illustration, this time of his wife. Bunch of fun stuff. Also, I've been extremely busy doing illustrations for a relationship book that's coming out soon. I did the cover and so far I've done over 60 images and there are still a whole bunch more for me to do. I don't even know what the final count will be. I'm excited to see the finished piece.

I've still been pretty good about working on Spookytown. I did miss a day or two on my "must work daily on Spookytown" New Year's resolution. Hopefully in a month or so I'll post about my progress. Also in comic book related news, I'll be contributing a page to David Hopkins' "One Night Stand" project. It's similar to his "Mine All Mine" anthology that I also participated in. One writer, one broad topic, multiple artists, one page each. This theme is "casual encounters". I eagerly look forward to it.

Also, the big goings-on at the Slayton headquarters is Jackie Bear turning 1 year old. It's hard for me to believe, but it's true. I posted a bunch of photos from his big bash.

That's all I got, later for you.