Happy Holidays!

2015 is coming to an end soon!

I didn’t get to spend as much time with my alien menagerie project as I’d hoped this year, but I consider it a victory to end 2015 with the second installment of “Santas From Another Planet”

These are some of the sketches that led to the final design.

Inspired by my love of the Ugly Stickers and Odd Rods from the late 60’s, “Santas From Another Planet” is a Holiday card with a trading card attached to the front.

I hope you have an enjoyable Holiday Season!

x.39 Optikus

acrylic on Fabriano 300 watercolor paper 8" x 10"

Back in art school, I used to twist every assignment into something science fictional with the aim of building a portfolio to get work as a book jacket illustrator. Now I have an even more specific instinct to see how any theme for a show can lead to an alien menagerie piece. In 2012 the Society of Illustrators Member show called for illustrators to create art that illustrates one of the traditional five methods of perception. I didn’t submit anything, but I did put down some ideas and held onto them. Recently I’ve taken those and made X.39, who I’m calling “Optikus”.

I took the name from a song by the band KTU, just because I liked the sound of it. It turns out that “optikus” is “optician” in Hungarian.

Happy Year of the Sheep!

acrylic on Fabriano 300 watercolor paper 8" x 10"

~working out the year of the sheep, some sketches.

新年快樂

새해 복 많이 받으세요

chúc mừng năm mới

Happy Lunar New Year!

x.38 outer-space-asparagus-man

acrylic on Fabriano 300 watercolor paper 8" x 10"

The doodle on the left is where I began working on x.38. I developed it in a few different directions, and the sketch in the middle is one of them, but I wasn't ready to commit. When I found the doodle on the right in my stash of alien menagerie drawings, the path to a final idea became much more apparent. The simple ball-point pen doodle was inspired by how I would assemble the bud from a Rose of Sharon with the flower to make a small 'person' when I was about five years old.

 I think it was inevitable that this memory would find it's way into my alien menagerie eventually.

The 'Phylosians' from Star Trek: the Animated Series were also on my mind. Always thought they were cool.