I've got to give props to John Soukup for the fantastic job he did on his part of Jam Card #1 (I'm still working on #2). This card is way cool!!

Hi everyone. I don't get to check in here too often, so I'm way behind in comments and stuff (I do like to respond to everyone), but I wanted to update everyone on the projects I'm working on in the meantime.

• Commissions - Got 1 of 2 large pieces done for someone who's been patiently waiting since February. I'm embarrassed it's taken so long, but thankfully there wasn't a deadline set. I've been trying to get them done recently, just so tough to set aside enough time. I hate working on things a little bit here, a little bit there. I prefer having large blocks of time set aside to work on stuff, which I normally don't have.

Also have a set of 6 card commissions I do need to get done before Christmas as they're gifts.

• Secret project - I still don't know if I'm officially allowed to announce my involvement yet, but I've been asked to do a few more pieces, so that's also on the front burner.

• Dungeon Dolls - I did upload one card here, but printing errors have delayed release of the set. I think they're shooting for mid-January now.

• Star Wars Galaxy 7 - It wouldn't be Christmas without a Galaxy deadline! I'm doing these way different than usual, I hope they're received well. I normally get the most comments on my crazier ones, so hopefully these go over.

Also doing 2 jam cards with another artist whose style is radically different from my own - fun challenge!

• Spook Show - These are due out soon as well, fun subject! Check out monsterwax.com for more. This stuff's right up my alley.

• Night of the Living Dead and Avengers (tv series) - Just waiting on blanks, have some cool ideas for NOTLD. This is another dream set for me, I'm SO into the subject matter! Now if they just follow it up with Dawn and Day sets...

• Tarzan 100th Anniversary - Yup, I'm working on these too. Had to pass on Walking Dead Season 1 due to other commitments, so I'm glad to be working for Cryptozoic.

• Scares That Care - Working on a t-shirt design similar to the Horrorfind Convention stuff I do every year.



I think that's all I've committed to at the moment. I'm at the point where I reluctantly have to turn jobs down, which sucks because honestly I'd love to work on everything thrown my way. I don't mind drawing things I personally don't care about (subject-wise) because it becomes fun to try something new.

Thanks for sticking with me, everyone.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I just got the OK to do so - my painting of Donovan McNabb is currently being used as a set dressing for The Silver Linings Playbook, starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro. [link]



Very cool stuff. They're filming right now in Philly so I was able to hand deliver it to the production studio a little while back. Hopefully it makes it into some decent shots in the film. Exciting!

So yup, I am still alive. I didn't fall off the edge of the Earth. Actually had a nice 8-day vacation in Disney World and my mind is still down there. My daughter had a blast, it was nice to just get away from EVERYTHING for a while.

Now I'm back at the grind. Got a few updates for you:

• Fellow Sketch Card artist Michael "Locoduck" Duron does caricatures in Disney World, and as luck would have it he was set up at our hotel for two days. We commissioned him to do one of my daughter as Tinkerbell which came out fantastic! Be sure to check out his stuff. [link]

• Got a nice unexpected surprise in the mail. Back when I was drawing cartoons I had submitted some things to Aquarium Fish Magazine (now Aquarium Fish International and Aquarium USA). In the mystery package were copies of the November issue and the 2011 Annual... with my comics in them. Oh, I didn't mention.... I sent these out 7 YEARS AGO! I knew they had a backlog (I hadn't had any correspondence with them for a good 6 years), but man, 7 YEARS!! Well, at least they finally saw the light of day which is pretty cool. They also colored them, all I sent were b&w line art. When I can I'll post them on here. But in the meantime I think you can find these at your local Petsmart.

7 YEARS!!

• My "mystery" project should be seeing the light of day in the next couple months. Can't wait to share with everyone.

• Dungeon Dolls has been delayed due to printing errors, hopefully Axebone can get everything straightened out soon. I know he's been going insane trying to get this set out the door.

I haven't posted my sketch card samples here yet, but they're elsewhere online if you want to do some searching.

• Still waiting on blanks to arrive for 3 sets (of course they're all gonna arrive at once), and I've already got one thing lined up for 2012.

• I'm trying to catch up on my commission list. I've chipped away a bit at it, and I'm trying to get them done before the blanks I'm waiting on arrive.

Most of what I've uploaded recently is now available on Ebay, check it out! [link]




AUCTIONS END TODAY! Well, a few tomorrow.

Well, Chicagoland has come and gone! I made the most of my trip, but it seemed like one crappy thing after another happened while on the trip - the rental car cost more than expected, my shoe fell apart (seriously), my daughter was pretty sick while I was away and my wife followed suit.... just a series of events making me feel like I should have stayed home. Wish I could have been home for them.

Still made the most of it and had a good time at the show meeting collectors and many other artists who I didn't know of until then. Didn't sell a whole lot which was a pretty big bummer, so I've got a lot of leftover artwork from the show. Pretty much anything I've posted recently that was to be available at the show is still available, let me know if you're interested. I also have a few more things to post as well.

Sunday was cool - got to go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field (I'm a HUGE baseball fan so this was pretty damned exciting), and ate the best pizza I've ever had - authentic Chicago deep dish. Yum!

The Bettie Page Private Collection was also released over the weekend. The set looks great, and as I was flipping through it I noticed..... my art for the base set wasn't in it. Was pretty disappointing, but there is Set 2 in the pipeline, so I've got that to look forward to.

My cousin made the trip with me which was awesome. If he wasn't there I would have probably lost my mind.

Heading to Chicago tonight, should be a great show! [link] I've been posting a whole mess of new stuff that I'll have available at the show, come buy something.

Also, word is the Bettie Page Private Collection sets are shipping and will be available this weekend at the show, can't wait to see how they turned out. A ton of time and effort has been put into this set, it looks all around to be a big winner. I'm glad to be part of it. I posted my base card art, but I've been holding off posting my sketches. I'll let some of them surface first. It's nice to be surprised.

Once I return from Chicagoland I'll be catching up on my commissions.

And I'm still getting prepared. I'll have lots of original artwork for sale. Hope to see you there!

[link]

Looks to be a fantastic finale (last show!). Lots of great guests lined up, glad to be part of it.

Well, I'm FINALLY caught up on "official" card set work. Secret project is done and out the door, and I finally turned in my Dungeon Dolls sketch cards (thanks, Axe!). Got some things in the pipeline, but I'm still waiting on materials so my time now is turning to my very much overdue commission work. I've got some outstanding Bettie Page commissions from the Philly show back in May - yes, it's taken me this long to get to them. I can't apologize enough for the wait, and I'll be getting on them right away. I didn't want to rush them with all the other stuff going on, so I'll have the time now to get em done. One I need to paint, so that'll take some time. I've got a few larger pieces to finish up for someone else, and a few other odds and ends, but at least nothing that'll keep me up late EVERY night.

I'm also trying to get myself ready for Chicagoland [link] - less than two weeks away!! As I get things done I'll have more work to post here, give everyone a taste of what I'll be bringing to the show. Given it's only a one day show (two if you count Friday night, but not sure how long it'll actually go on), I may not bring my supplies to do on-site work. But I'll be flying into Chicago Thursday night, and aside from heading out to lunch with my cousin (who's making the trek with me), Friday will pretty much be open so I was considering working on some stuff at the hotel before the show starts that night. I guess it all depends on how much I get done between now and then. I really don't feel like lugging all my supplies with me, but we'll see. Sunday we'll be hitting the Cubs game at Wrigley, should be cool, I've always wanted to go to a game there. Gonna miss my family, will be the first time I'll be spending an extended time away from my daughter. She's been having a lot of medical issues for a while and is scheduled to undergo a procedure tomorrow morning. She's a tough little kid! I hope she doesn't get mad at me for not being around next weekend - weekends are normally "Daddy" time! At least we have a Disney trip in the works for next month, can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to a week away from ANY type of work!!!

If you're in or near Gettysburg, PA, right now.... why are you reading this? You should be at Horrorfind Weekend - The Spookiest Show on Earth - which starts today! And while you're there, be one of the cool kids and BUY A SHIRT!!

Next year will be the 50th Anniversary for the landmark Mars Attacks card set from Topps (Bubbles)! Would you like to see them celebrate in style with some new releases? Tell Topps you want MORE MARS ATTACKS!!!

Stop reading this journal right now and email them - Support@topps.com

Seriously, do it! Stop reading!!! Why are you still reading this? Email Topps, demand more Mars Attacks!!

So I finally shipped off the last pieces of my secret monster project! Now I'm cranking to get other things done that I've pushed off while this took over my life. And I'm trying to get ready for Chicagoland which is already just a month away! The Rolling Stones were wrong - time is NOT on my side!!

Thanks to my family for putting up with me being so tied up with everything - I love you!   Also, for those of you who I owe waaaaay overdue commissions, they're coming soon! Thanks so much for all your patience while I get myself in order here, it's been pretty chaotic.

No rest for the weary though - Soon enough I'll be working on Night of the Living Dead from Unstoppable Cards. This is a dream set for me. If they follow it up with a Dawn of the Dead set I just may explode.

The Bettie Page Private Collection release is right around the corner too, should be exciting! There has been a ton of buzz and promotion for the set, it looks poised to be a big success. I've been trying to track down all the promos for the set, I'm only missing a few. If any of you San Diego Comic Con-goers got one of the Prismatic versions of the CC promo, let me know!

Then I may take it easy for a while with official stuff (I think I say this every year). I'm sure Star Wars Galaxy 7 is lurking, I've already got some cool ideas and reference at the ready. Would be nice if they waited until after Christmas to ship them out, it's REALLY tough to get them done during the Holidays. I don't think collectors would mind waiting until April or May for another set.

If you haven't pre-ordered your Horrorfind 13 shirt with EXCLUSIVE image on the back, what are you waiting for? There's only less than 10 hours to do so!!

Get it here ----> [link]

Anyone know where has been? He hasn't updated anything in 9 months. I've got an outstanding commission with him, any notes I've sent him over the months have gone unnoticed. Hopefully everything's ok, he just kinda fell off the planet.

Oh so close... should be done my insane-o project soon. The light at the end of the tunnel never looked better.

What really sucks is I probably won't be able to post what I've been drawing for a good few months.

So, did you go? Got a report somewhere I can check out? Figured by now I'd see stuff everywhere, kind of disappointed in the lack of reporting on the show.   I never did get around to submitting something for the program, just couldn't find the time. I really wanted to do something for the Spy vs Spy anniversary.


In other news......... I'm still pretty tired all the time. I am NOT a night person, staying up well past my bedtime drawing every freaking night is wearing me way thin. I'm glad to be busy, but holy crap, I never thought my current projects would take me as long as they have been. All I can do is keep at it and look for that light at the end of the tunnel!

I posted all of my Vampirella sketch cards. I'm not all that familiar with the character aside from what she looks like, so I went at them differently than any other sets I've worked on. It's hard to keep someone looking consistent without a specific person to reference, I applaud comic artists who can draw a regular guy and make him look the same throughout a book. Some of them I thought came out pretty stellar considering I got to them at the 11th hour.

I also recently posted the artwork for the next Horrorfind Convention shirts and programs, make sure you check it out especially if you want to pre-order one. Last year's sold out pretty early on, so make sure you get yours now! I won't be attending again this year, but it's always cool to see pics of a crowd of people wearing your design. Props to my buddy Walt Sablotny for his awesome pencil work, as usual!

Looking forward to Chicagoland in September [link] but I'm also looking forward to possibly getting a day or two of rest in before!

Soundgarden just about killed me last night, but it was so awesome!!

Back to reality... and the numerous projects on my plate. I'm behind on my "super secret" project, which I'm actually catching back up on. I'm putting everything I've got into this when I'm not at work or at being a good Daddy, I really hope the end result is as awesome as it sounds!

Still got Dungeon Dolls to wrap up soon on top of this, and in the meantime trying to catch back up on my commissions. Got a few Bettie Page cards to do (from the Philly show) and some others. I can't begin to tell everyone how much I appreciate their patience. So much got put on hold with the "secret" project that I'll be quite happy when I finish that last piece!

Also been hard at work doing my part on the new Horrorfind convention shirt design. Going in a totally different direction than usual and it's looking pretty fantastic so far. So for those of you wondering, hopefully it won't be too much longer before pre-orders begin.

Far as I know I'm on board for Night of the Living Dead from Unstoppable Cards. Not sure when the blanks are going to arrive, but they can take their good old time! If this gets delayed til Winter I'll be a happy camper. I'm gonna need September and October off from official projects just to put some sanity back into the fold, but if those are due then, so be it. I'm sadly getting used to running on less than 4 hours of sleep.

I'm really exciting I'm going to see Soundgarden tonight! They've been my favorite band since I was 13 years old and I never got to see them live. I acted too late on their last tour in 1996 and missed getting tix, figuring I'd just see them next time. Then they broke up, I didn't think they'd ever get back together!!

So I figured I'd do a quick little feature on some Soundgarden-inspired artwork. Check em out!






Drown me in you!

I'll be a guest at the final Chicagoland Entertainment Expo. See you there!

[link]

Asking another favor from the DA community.... my daughter is up for voting on Gerber's Facebook page to win a $50,000 scholarship.

Vote today, vote every day!

[link]



My baby is so beautiful.