MoCCA Fest!

I spent the day today at MoCCA Fest. For those not in the know, MoCCA Fest is the annual fundraiser for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. It's a cool comic convention where both amateur and veteran comic artists meet and show off and sell their wares. I had an awesome time checking out everybody's work and chatting with a couple of cool artists. Below are some pictures of the cool swag I walked away with.

The top part of this picture is all the free stuff I got: business cards, postcards, a couple of books and zines and even some pens! 

Here's a closer look at some of the stuff I purchased. Some was as low as $1! There were so many amazing artists, and I wish I could have bought more stuff. But alas, I am poor. I even told Liz Prince that I wanted to buy all her comics, but I didn't have enough money. She said that's what all of her fans say. 

After doing a quick count it turns out that of all the stuff I purchased, it is exactly split, half female artists and half male. I suppose it doesn't matter that much, but it was cool to see a lot of women representing!

 (Sorry the pictures are kinda blurry, I took them with my phone.)

While at the fest I also participated in a cool little function known as Dare to Draw. It's a live model drawing challenge specifically for comics artists. I didn't win any of the challenges, but I kinda liked some of the quick sketches I did. Enjoy!

The models held action props like swords and guns and stuff.

Yawn!

I drew this picture of a lady yawning in my sketchbook. The whole time I was drawing it I could not stop yawing. I'm yawning even now, just writing about it. Enjoy!

Another little sketch.

Some more Snuggly John! 

Snuggly John

Just a quick sketch of John as a rag doll. That's it.

Ride the Panda!

Rough Drawing 

Pencil

Inked

Colored

Final version after some touch-ups in Photoshop

Bonus!

So I actually drew and inked this piece entirely while sitting on my futon! I was a little too lazy to clean off my desk today. However, I actually do quite a bit of my work while sitting on my bed or futon. Growing up I never had a desk or space to draw, so up 'til around my junior year in high school I did all of my drawing while sitting on my bed or the couch. I guess I just kinda got used to it.

A Year In Review

Today it has been exactly a year since the last time I have updated my blog. Much has changed in the past year and you will agree that I have many excuses for not updating sooner. Okay, maybe not that many. Okay, so there is no real reason that I've not updated sooner aside from my own laziness. But I suppose better late than never. Plus, since I've waited a whole year exactly, it makes it feel all dramatic and shit. Anyways, without further ado, my year in review...

So we moved into this cool new place in Lincoln Square (Chicago).

Four months later we moved out.

And by September we were living in New York City!

We live in this tiny room in some man's house in Jamaica, Queens.

I have to put on pants to walk to the bathroom.

In October I got appendicitis and had to get my appendix taken out.

I started drawing a daily comic in the beginning of 2012.

Most of them were about how I wanted to quit my job or how tired I was.

So I stopped after two and a half months.

And just this past week I quit my job at Target...

Or so I thought. I don't really feel like telling the whole story here, but basically they begged me to stay. So now I'll only be working two days a week and no more 4 am shifts. I'll have a set schedule so I can work on my art more and start looking for other jobs. Thanks Target!

Here's the Christmas card I made and sent out this past year.

This is the rough sketch from my sketch book.

The inked version.

Painting the floor.

Finished painting.

Final version after a couple edits in Photoshop.

And now a couple sketches. Nothing special.

And of course a naked chick. Of course.

So there you are. That's basically what I've been up to since April 15, 2011. I have some exciting things coming up. I don't want to post anything about it just yet, but I have a project I'm starting work on, plus I'll be working on my portfolio full time for the next two weeks before I start working again. You'll see me soon. I promise. For realsies this time.

Doodling

Pen and ink.

Mmmmmm... ...pizza

Inks on bristol board. Based off of a little quick sketch.

Drawings Next To More Drawings

I decided to do a little drawing exercise playing with negative space. Basically what I was trying to do was fill up a whole page with drawings whose outlines are outlines for other drawings and have no background or negative space. I didn't get very far before getting tired. So this is what I have so far. I think I'll work on it bit by bit, kind of like putting a puzzle together. Maybe take a look every once in a while and see what I can see and add a little here and there. I'll post more as I fill up the page.

Taking A Break

For the past two weeks I've been working on a short comic for a friend of mine. I won't be posting it on here because it's a gift and it's of a personal nature. Anyways, I was doing some inking for this comic earlier today and decided to take a short break. During this break I somehow decided that it would be a good idea to take all of the random photos from my web cam folder and make them into a slide show. Kind of a lame idea, i know. But, it took all of ten minutes and it's kind of neat I think. Don't think it will really mean anything to anyone else, but whatever. So, here it is in all of it's unedited glory!

A Self Portrait

So I have been wanting to do a Photoshop self portrait in a similar style to this portrait I did of a friend's girlfriend. I've been at it for a while, but every time I start one I begin to hate it before I'm even half way done. Anyways, I finally sat down and made one that actually kind of looks like me. I'm not sure that I like it too much, but I think that's because after a while I get sick of looking at myself. I'd much rather draw cartoony pictures of myself. Anyways, you can see the final painting below. Let me know what you think.



Below are some of failures I was talking about before.



After finally finishing the realistic painting of myself I decided to color this little doodle, to make myself feel better. I actually think this one looks most like me.