Princess Projectra's night at the Tiki bar...

Man, this one is defining a whole new workflow. I drew this in my sketchbook, then used my phone to take a picture of the linework. I cleaned it up a bit, then used Illustrator to vectorize the linework. Dumped a PNG to Procreate and colored/composited. The background is from Frax HD, and back to Photoshop for final compositing.

Are there Tiki bars on Saturn?

I'm mashing-up the nifty Tiki style of the 1960s with some of my favorite characters. So, for some reason, i think it's funny if each character is drinking a wondrous beverage. More to come, so stay tooned!

Diana's Adventures in Tikiland...

I picked up the new Making of Moana book recently, and it's friggin' inspirational!  It triggered this Tiki-inspired Wonder Woman that I hope you find giggleriffic.

Rocky the Island!

Headed here on my next vacation! This started off as a sketch in my handy Moleskine. I took a picture and inked/painted in Procreate with Apple Pencil. I dug through photos I took on Turks and Caicos and found a nifty one for the background.

Chalupa's Tiki Adventure!

I had so much fun drawing my little dog (Chalupa), that I figured you all needed to see it closer-up than the previous piece.  As usual, a mixture of Procreate on iPad, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop gets us to the finish line.

Hunter Gatherer Fred!

Yabba Dabba Doo, y'all! Another take on everyone's favorite caveman. I did the figure work in Procreate on iPad with an Apple Pencil. I converted to vectors in Adobe Illustrator and plopped it into Photoshop to composite with an old background image.

Yabba Dabba Doo! How I'd update the Flintstones

So I really enjoyed the new Flintstones comic from DC Comics, and I really wasn't expecting to. The cartooning style didn't really resonate with me. I've been a Steve Pugh fan for over a decade, but I think the stylistic approach he took is a little too realistic. The Flintstones needs a layer of abstraction to work. I would have liked to have seen a Ben Caldwell or Sean Galloway kind of approach. Not saying I could do nearly as well as any of those guys, but I was inspired to take a stab at Fred and Wilma, dancing the day away at a hep vacation getaway..

One more for the day!

This piece was inspired by an awesome CD collection of Bikini Beats beach grooves.  Hope y'all digs!

Coloring Page Curiosity!

This illustration started life as a small sketch in my trusty Moleskine, but soon found new life in Procreate on my iPad Air. I don't know how I made art before Procreate... This piece has enough detail for the adult coloring aficionado, but is suitable for primates of all ages! Print it as many times as you want and have fun coloring!

Easter Monkey's Coming to Town!

Are you looking for something special for your little primate's Easter basket? Do you want to be unique? Do you want to be different? Look no further--this image comes on a variety of awesome items! Click an image to get more information or purchase directly from my Redbubble page!

Who remembers the Hair Bear Bunch?

I barely remember this cartoon, but I have an old Gold Key comic that made me a happy camper as a young-un. These guys tripped me out. If I recall the plot properly, they'd escape from the zoo each episode, then hop on their invisible motorcycle to have their fantastically formulaic adventure! The 'fro just slays me!

I keep meaning to develop my own vision of these classic characters, but I love 'em so much that I I find myself sticking really close to on-model. We'll see what happens when I get to Space Ghost and the Herculoids...

This is almost entirely done in Procreate on my iPad, but the special effects and fuzzy background were added in Photoshop.  Also, the light, smooth tones on the bears were done in Photoshop, but mostly 'cuz I can't figure out how to do 'em in any of the apps on my iPad.

Happy New Year, part 2!

I friggin' love the new Star Wars--plot holes and convenient script contrivances be damned!

As part of my New Year of tributes to the influences of my past (and sometimes present), here's my take on Rey--my second favorite of the new characters. BB-8 is in my #1 spot, but I find tech harder to draw than pretty girls.  I'm working on this piece a bit more--adding background elements and such, but was too excited to wait to post.

I did this one entirely in Procreate for iPad, with a Pencil by 53. Hope y'all dig it!

Happy New Year!

2016 is going to be my year of tribute. I'm going to share my homages to the pop culture icons of my youth with you, my fellow groovies.

One of the great tragedies of contemporary media is the death of Saturday morning cartoons. I used to schedule my Saturday morning based on the 2-page illustrated ads in my favorite Bronze Age comics--making notes in my Han Solo/Chewbacca spiral-bound notebook as to precisely what time to switch from ABC to NBC to CBS in an effort to watch ALL my favorite cartoons! I went through phases--sometimes it was Hanna Barbera's funny animals (from Yogi Bear to Scooby Doo to the Wacky Races to the Laff-A-Lympics); other times it was action/adventure (Just wait 'til you see my homages to Filmation's Tarzan and Flash Gordon). 

I've been doodling Jabberjaw, The Hair Bear Bunch, and Speed Buggy, and will post as I finish! My goal is to make an homage map, of sorts--I'll draw all the characters in detail, but the backgrounds will be really abstract for each one. Once I have anywhere from 20-100 characters done (I think of additional inspiration each day), I'll composite them into a single large poster scene. I don't really know why I'm doing it, since I can't really publicly sell licensed characters--but I'm getting a lot of joy out of it. I draw stuff that makes me giggle, and I'm giggling my butt off doing this!

Is there something you'd like to see? Let me know, and I'll perhaps work it into my schedule. I've decided to stop short at the Smurfs, Transformers, He-Man, GI Joe era--I don't have as much of a connection to that stuff. I guess I was too cool for school for a decade or so, and didn't come back to Saturday morning cartoons until Batman, the Animated Series began.

Santa on the 26th!

Santa deserves a break too! I imagine him on a beach somewhere, frollicking with all kinds of critters! Most of the characters were drawn in Procreate on my iPad Air, with a Pencil By 53. Then the whole thing was composited in Photoshop. Doing my best to put together a series of holiday illustrations--with an odd twist, of course.

Ancient Frodlodyte

I drew this little guy directly in Procreate with a Pencil By 53. The background is a picture I took on the Big Island of Hawaii, in the rain forest near the volcano. Everything's composited in Photoshop.

Late Halloween

I did this piece way back for Halloween--but neglected to include it here. Next year, I'll get this one ready for Halloween cards or some kinda decorative display.

This started as a doodle in my sketchbook, then took a photograph of the sketch with my trusty iPad Air 2. Production past that point was done with a combination of Nomad brush and Adonit JotDot Pro in Savage Interactive's most excellent Procreate app. I realized what a cool Halloween greeting it might be, but it needed a cooler backdrop. I made an interesting fractal background in Frax, then dropped it into Tiny Planets to swirl it up a bit. Then it was on to Percolator to get those groovy stars in the fractal pattern. Back to Photoshop for final production--some overlay effects for drama. The haunted house was a hodgepodge of references from different haunted houses I found on the interwebs, and did the linework in Illustrator.

Then I realized the piece needed a floating pig...

Happy late Halloween! Maybe I'll get to X-mas before February!

Paleo Kara, cover version

This will likely be the last of this series for awhile.  I have a ton of projects that have been patiently waiting for my attention.  Worry not--more to come as soon as I clear my plate a bit!

Saber-Tooth Froggie

Just when you thought you'd seen everything, along comes something new...  Done in Procreate with both an Adonit JotDot and a Nomad brush.

When Pigs Fly

 

This one's a little more cheesecake-y than I normally post here, but it made me giggle, so I figure it deserves to be here as well as my Furkini Atoll brand!  Lines are hand-drawn, but I painted it in Procreate on iPad with the usual Nomad brush!

Looking closely at my photographs...

 

A new series of critters interacting with photos I've taken over the years.  They make me giggle... As usual, Procreate with a Nomad brush on iPad!