Best of Birds --

Various Birds from the SBMNH collection

Black Crowned Night Heron (left), Cormorant

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History's Bird Hall is an excellent resource for anyone's bird drawing ambitions.

Animal Life 2015 -- Cal Academy San Fran.

Africa Hall

 African Lion studies

Gerenuk and Sable Antelope sketches

A few minutes spent in the California Academy of Science in San Francisco, CA during my March 2015 trip.  Fun stuff -- I'd highly recommend the museum if you can afford the admission.

Anime Girl with Mask

Unfinished, just for fun.  I go on a drawing spree everytime I buy myself shine-y new felt tip pens.  This one didn't make it into my portfolio for the Game Developers Conference this year.

I generally don't like to label my work anime, since I feel it brands me as the nerdy, computer bound, reclusive type.  And that's just to close to home to be comfortable...

"Guardian" Inked!

Working the Sakura Microns and the Pentel brush pens for some comicbook style inking!  

Background: 

The inspiration for this came from reading about middle-eastern religious beliefs surrounding the "spirits" associated with corpses and human bones.  It stood out to me that a "four-eyed" dog had protective powers in regards to these spirits (this is the type of anthropological factoid that somehow sticks in my head indelibly).

In my head I saw a dog with four literal eyes, and I'm unsure why i took the more realistic approach.  I've vowed to next draw something truly strange to make up for dropping the ball at an obvious weirdness opportunity.

Ahriman and Ahura Mazda Sketch

Battle of the cosmic brothers Ahura Mazda and Ahriman.  Drawn with carmine red prismacolor colerase pencil.

Centaur and Dogs "Ball" Digital Painting

"Ball"

July 28, 2014

Detail of "Ball"

After two weeks of alternating frustration and success, I feel over-all pleased with this idyllic scene of man (?) and dog at play.  

This perhaps marks a turning point in my choice of medium.  My comfort and preference for digital painting and use of the Bamboo Wacom tablet has markedly improved.  I'm still struggling with texture, and am curious about my options in Photoshop.

I want to thank my niece, Kali, for her feedback on this work.  Her youthful viewpoints are unique and insightful.

India ink character designs

"Guardian" ghost story illustration

A concept for a ghost story about a dog named "Gaurdian".  Tell me what you think.

Bodhisattva

Obviously I've been inspired by eastern art in the form of anime, but I'm also a big fan of indian painting.  The Hindu and Buddhist art from India is very colorful and fanciful.  It is also rich with symbolism.  One of the commonly depicted subjects is a Buddha or Bodhisattva.  Both terms mean enlightened being, but with different connotations or criteria.  Art with hindu themes often depicts gods, and daevas and the various celestial heavens and earthly hells.

This is the beloved, immortal bodhisattva holding a lotus flower that symbolized the blooming of the enlightened mind, I think...

Lammergeier Vulture -- Digital painting snapshot

I love these birds -- they are very large birds of prey, but not vicious, usefully eating carrion rather than hunting.  They are also clever enough to crack bones by dropping them on rocks.

Girls

Some sketches where I tried to get a feel for a relatable looking girl for an image I need.

Faces on new paper

Katsten Comics Character Sheet

Katsten, Jessicat, Phillip, Alastor, & Old Man Sprout

I have half a mind to restart my old comic series - The Adventures of Katsten, which features a clowder of alley cats with a Freegan attitude.  An adventure awaits them when they are uprooted from their makeshift town and forced into the wild blue yonder.  Led by the aspiring leader and philosopher Katsten and her best friend Jessicat the skillful craftscat, the group bravely ventures where no feline has gone before, meeting new friends and adversaries along the way.

Lady Lion

An old drawing of the Sphinx I made several years ago that I found in the same box as the cyberpunk drawing.  The lion body has been given more substance and realistic features.  I kept her face cat-like, but still very human.  As of yet, I am still considering the wings that extend from her arms.