Superman Art

I realized after claiming that I thought it was the best Superman piece I had ever done, that there wasn't a very clear picture of it in the video. My love actually took one of it that night. Here it is... check out the site next Wednesday when there should be some Supergirl or Wonder Woman art. Enjoy!

Super Family Illustrations pt. 1

As soon as we moved into our place at the end of October, I kept telling MS that I wanted to draw pictures of Superman, Wonder Woman and Supergirl in the style of Michael Turner. The months came and went and nothing happened. Then we got Tiny (our gigantic 50" television) and I was even less inspired because I felt I had lost some of the real estate (although I hadn't). The walls stayed bare for months.

Fast forward to mid-March. MS has signed herself up for photography classes. I think thats amazing. Shes following her dream... something that she is really proficient in and has a great eye for. For the next 6 Tuesdays she will be in class. So I was sitting at home working on stuff for the Green Issue when I decided I need a break. I started digging around some comic art, when I came up on printouts I had made of Superman, Supergirl and Wonder Woman. So being inspired by MS following her photogography dream, I decided to pick up a pencil and started to draw.

As long as I can remember, all I've ever wanted to do was draw Superman for DC Comics. My life took me in a different direction, and I became a designer, design manager, art director, group art director and currently a creative director. Never a comic artist. I've always had a million excuses, I'm too slow, not good enough, can't make enough money... and while all of that is probably true, I've never lost that dream.

I plan on doing lots of drawing over the next few weeks. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to quit my job and try to be a comic artist, but I do think the pieces i've drawn over the past few months have been some of the best pieces of my life, and with that comes a little hope. Maybe, just maybe, I have what it takes to one day draw Superman for DC Comics.

Harley Art

I have a good friend at my old company who is a huge fan of the Batman character Harley Quinn. So much so, that he named his daughter Harley. Late in 2006 I was bit by the art bug. I was trying to draw a lot (never enough) and decided I was going to recreate a Harley cover for my buddy. After lots of back and forth we decided on Harley Quinn #35. I thought there were better covers but I liked the perspective, and thought the angle of the buildings were cool.

I did all of the artwork at my old job. I really did nothing but that piece for a few days. I was quite happy with the way the piece turned out. I thought it looked great except for the speed lines on the bottom of the page, which I decided to free hand after thinking the ruler was taking too long. All in all, I thought it was a great piece. My buddy seemed really happy with it as well.

Burning Babies Smell Good...

My love and I finally made it out to see 300 this past Friday. I loved every minute of it. As much as I liked Sin City, I thought this movie was stronger. A much more faithful adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel. Iconic scenes were lifted directly from the novel itself. Yes its only March, but it has clearly been my favorite movie of the year.

Gerard Butler was great as Leonidas. He was perfectly cast. I mean he is a relative nobody (Phantom of the Opera and Tomb Raider 2) who performed incredibly. Near the end of the film when Xerxes and the Persians are getting ready to surround the Spartans, Leonidas turns to Dilios to send him back to Sparta, to retell the story of the 300 to inspire future generations, and I'm not sure what the exact words were... but my love turns to me and says "Did he just say say burning babies smell good"... I burst out laughing in the theater.

Anyway, I loved this film... one of the best comic adaptations of all time. I'm actually very excited for Zack Snyder to work on The Watchmen. I've always thought it would be impossible to bring that book to the screen, but I also thought the same about 300. I cant wait to see what Zack does with this film.

Crap Cakes... a.k.a. Adventures in Cooking

MS was going to be at work late geting her contact sheets in order for her photography class. So i eagerly ask "What would you like me to make for dinner." We were gonna have Meg, and I didnt want to stop and get fast food for her, so I wanted to actually make something. MS has had great success with the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, so I decided to hit their website and find a recipe. We decided that crab cakes would be a good idea, Scrappy loves crab, and so do we. I found a recipe that seemed simple enough... should've realized then it was gonna be a problem.

The recipe only had two steps. Simple I thought. I'll be able to handle Meg, her homework, making dinner, feeding her and then giving her a bath and still having time to read story. Yeah... not so much. As I started adding ingredients I started to realize it didnt seem wet enough. It didnt seem like everything was binding together. It all started to go downhill fast. Meg was starting to get really hungry as well, Math homework was an adventure (she just doesn't understand the values of money yet), luckily i bought extra crab, and was able to feed her that alone while i continued prepping. She loves it, And American Idol was already on, so she was good.

As I start to put everything into the frying pan, I start to get really upset. They just dont seem to be sticking together, so its like crab mush in the frying pan. I have 8 up in the pan, which actually for all the drama dont turn out so bad. The second batch starts to get much worse. Its starting to get much later, so I start to worry about getting Meg in for a bath. So I figure I could drop the second batch in the pan while I start to get her bath ready. Bad idea. I guess because the pan was already very hot, the second batch got pretty burnt. I finished giving Meg a bath, and then dove into the third batch. The third batch was a little well done, but not burnt. So, all in all, about 12 of the 20 crab cakes were fine... no more than that.

I was already in a way bad mood over not being able to mix this, make cakes or get them into the frying pan. MS always makes cooking look so effortless. So I felt the need to punish myself and eat the really burnt crab cakes ( I hate wasting food), plus I wanted MS to only see the pretty good crab cakes. My one saving grace in the whole evening was MS sitting on the couch when she got home and saying "Baby, these are good, they are very tasty"... her saying that made me happiier than she knows, I still felt crappy though because I felt like I couldnt get these crab cakes right.

The next day, my buddy who went to culinary school tells me "Dude, what were you thinking, crab cakes are a very delicate mixture... not for a novice" Oh well. Lesson learned. I promise I will attempt this again, preferably after some more practice.