Temperature droppings

I am at home and still bundled up from being outside 3 hours ago

it's too cold to enjoy my milk!

This is why I like Bryan Lee O'Malley

there was "some confusion" about yesterday's brief post, so here it is again with some more clarification.

@radiomaru: kids, just so you know, "character design" is like .00001% of my job. so get over yourselves and draw some comic pages

kids...
TRANSLATION: young, amateur would-be cartoonists

...just so you know, "character design" is like .00001% of my job...
TRANSLATION: i design characters, and then I spend 99.9999% of my time doing other stuff that isn't designing characters

...so get over yourselves and draw some comic pages
TRANSLATION: so stop making up new characters when you'll never tell any of their stories anyway

This applies strongly to anyone who claims they want to be "A CHARACTER DESIGNER" when they grow up.

How many "CHARACTER DESIGNERS" do you think there are in the world? People who go to work each day, have a coffee, design some characters and then come home? NOT VERY MANY!

All I'm saying is don't expect to spend your life making up characters and dreaming up their epic adventures. If you expect to ever tell those stories, you have to stop designing them at some point and start doing the rest of the work.

No knock on the process of character design. I am in the middle of designing new characters now, and it's really fun and rewarding, but also I can't wait to get in to the actual pages.

I see kids every day on deviantart making up their characters and their epic stories. I was the exact same way in high school. I'm just trying to tell people there's more to it than that.

Sweet Tooth

I made a...thing. For our window display for Sweet Tooth at Casablanca Comics!

First I took some large cardboard thing and started drawing Gus's face from the cover of issue 5.

An hour and a half in and the lines are done!

Next I color in the black and start cutting the top layer of cardboard in the desired shape (it's a wall mount)

This part takes the longest and is the most tedious. I won't even finish before my 5 hour work shift is over and it's time to go home..

I finish cleaning the paper and I cut it all out while I watch the unrated version of Bad Santa.

Then I paint it with watercolors after inking the background/cardboard

and then it dries!

It was super fun and was definitely a challenge because

a. I don't draw large pictures. Everr

b. I don't draw in a style even close to what Jeff Lemire does, so I was forced to try something outside of my comfort zone

I'm pleased with how it came out, and I hope we have a chance to win the Window Display contest!

Scribblies

A bro drawn for every day of Brovember, and a flier for Brian's show tonight!

I can't stop the rock

All I want to do is play Team Fortress 2 all day while eating kimchi and drinking milk. Is that too much to ask?

America got Did

Doodled while reverting to juvenile Beavis and Butthead on Netflix. My brain has melted!

Coraline!

Almost two hours of drawing that should have been spent sleeping!

Did you know?

..that the Disney-animated 101 Dalmatians was released in 1961? It really blows my mind to see something that was so smooth, well designed and just plain pretty almost a quarter of a century before I was born.

So today I morning-doodled a young Cruella. She had a little more meat on her bones back then, before she was high on crack 24 hours a day. Did you see those crazy eyes when she was driving that car near the end? Cocaine's a helluva drug.

The Newest Patch

Here are some Halloweenie doodles.

One is to represent scenester kids and their sick love for vampires. And with some of the fabric they choose to wrap their bodies in, it might as well be Halloween 365 days of the year, amirite?

The other is for all those lonely frankenstein ladies out there. Poor things.

#37

MY SCANNER IS WORKING!

PokeTrainer Mel and Marshtommmmp!

#36

Team Fortress 2 is SO much fun!

This isn't finished but I've learned a lot from it so far.

Like how much I suck at light sources.

And how much cooler it looks if I use a colored light as opposed to just white highlights.

Fun fun!

:D

http://www.facebook.com/chris.giarrusso?v=wall&story_fbid=155576851132069

I feel so cooooooooooooooool

Hello, Fall!

Went apple picking with my brother, mother and boyfriend. It was a gorgeous day out. This is by far my favorite time of year to be living in Maine. (:

More than meets the eye

I painted Julie a box for her birthday and I continue to make signs at work. Proof that I'm still pretty much drawing everyday, I just don't really have the means to post all of it.

#19

I chose this one because it was an easy warm-up. A warm-up to another picture I ended up scrapping entirely. Oh well. (:

Original Post here.

This wasn't on my list

..but it's a self-portrait, right?

teehee

Inspiration

Self-Portrait Project!

Thanks to Amanda Blanchette's inspiration on drawing ourselves as Street Fighter Characters, I'm making a list that I'll be referring back to that involves even more fun! And I absolutely encourage anyone that reads this blog to do it too.

The idea is to illustrate yourself (or a friend if you so wish) in theme with anything off the list. Or come up with your own! You can even combine themes! And then you'll have a whole bunch of pictures of fun.

It's mostly just meant to inspire or use as a warm up. It's also great practice for character design - some are intended to coerce a bit of research. Using yourself as the subject adds an aspect of comfort so concentrating solely on the theme is easier.

I'll probably be adding to this list as time passes (if you have any unique suggestions, I'll gladly take them!) I also don't expect to finish the entire list, but we'll see how far I get. (:

from each continent (when drawing yourself from the continent you are from, be specific! For example, I live in Maine but I was born in Arizona, so I'd do a southwestern-theme!)
1/ Africa
2/ Antarctica
3/ Asia
4/ Australia
5/ Europe
6/ North America
7/ South America

8/ the star of your own Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network Cartoon (with a sidekick/companion!)

9/ as an original character from one of your favorite childhood t.v. shows

10/ a super hero with 1 super power

11/ a Noir character

12/ an animal

14/ a plant

15/ a fairy tale character

16/ a zombie

17/ a ninja

18/ a monster

19/ a baby

20/ an adolescent in your old favorite outfit

21/ aged/elderly

22/ a bum

23/ a hippie

24/ as royalty

25/ what you wanted to be when you grow up

26/ what you want to be when you grow up

27/ in your dream house

28/ in the future

29/ as a caveman/woman

30/ as a movie celebrity

31/ the photo that ruined your fame as a celebrity

32/ nega-you

33/ dressed as your favorite person

34/ as if drawn by your favorite artist

35/ as a different ethnicity (try not to insult anyone)

36/ as your favorite video game character

37/ as a Poke-Trainer (with your favorite Pokemon of course)

38/ wearing clothes made of your favorite food(s)

39/ how you see yourself

40/ how you wish you looked



READY GO!

A Record Year for Rainfall

I just received my book for The Sketchbook Project! I'm pretty excited. I'll try to keep up with posting what I do for it here...

Ha!

We'll see. (:

New doodly-do's

If I had a scanner that worked and/or drivers for my currently not working scanner, I'd post more stuff. But instead I must leave it to you to just imagine the fun things I've been drawing on paper!

Also, Tim makes me very happy. Tell your friends.

You'll always be my Clash at Demonhead

I go through spurts of drawing a lot some days, to drawing very little(if at all) on others.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in just a few more weeks! Excitement!! I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour very much, and I think Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together is my favorite of the series.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should take the time to find out.

Don't startle her next time!

Pooly Cooly gifted me a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam, and now I can't get it out of my head. Playing an FPS on a PC is ten million times more fun than on a console. I've been missing out for YEARS! And my uncanny ability to become absolutely obsessed with any good video game never ceases to amaze me. I even make Tim hang out in my room while I ignore him and play co-op campaigns online with Abs and Mick. What a jerk I am!

STAR WARRRRRS

Only days before PortCon

The past three days have been sort of like this.

EDIT: 2 Hours later, to add to the AWESOME of my week, I went rollerblading with The Mick, and I fell, causing this to happen -

[click here for not a fun picture of an abrasion]

I have a similar burn on the back of my other leg's thigh, but you probably don't want to see my butt.

Also

I chipped a tooth.

Eff, I used to have NIGHTMARES about this sort of thing.

How's YOUR week going?

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

The PowerPuff Girls was one of my favorite television shows to have ever aired. Ever. In high school, I even had my room painted blue, pink, and green despite how much trouble it caused my mom to paint it. I established long ago that my PowerPuff self would be purple with brown curly hair - tell me that wouldn't have fit perfectly!

Oval is a Shape

I am ridiculously out of shape. I had to look this realization in the face this weekend and did not like what I saw. Tim and I went on bike rides on both Friday and Saturday with a total distance of about 17 miles. Now my butt hurts. And I didn't even know it was possible for me to sweat so much. (I know, gross, right?)


We won't be going today, but most likely will tomorrow, and I hope we do at least 3-4 times a week throughout the summer. I consider this training for the Maine Boff Games in August. I will rock some faces in dodgeball this year, I will!

It's been 10 days since my last day off

This is how I spent three hours of my Saturday afternoon. How's your weekend going? (:

Maine Comics Arts Festival

MeCAF is and was marvelous.

The workshops on Saturday were really neat and informative. John Shableski from Diamond Book Distributors had a great presentation on Graphic Novels, taking a lot of references from Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. He had a really good point about Norman Rockwell as being more of a cartoonist than an illustrator (and just because it's painted doesn't mean it's no longer a cartoon - look at how many comics and GNs are painted with gorgeous watercolor!). And Robyn from the Center for Cartoon Studies did an interesting workshop on panel composition. Dave and I went to the PBJ Time place above the Portland Public Market in Monument Square for food (Nutella, Almond Butter, and banana toasted on Cinnamon Raisin Bread - DELICIOUS) and we made it back just in time to see the last half of the discussion with Brian Wood and Jeff Lemire. Then we stayed to see Susan and Everett Soares talk about Small Press Publishing. I learned a LOT about a LOT and even took a few notes that day.

Afterwards, the volunteers and all the guests were invited to a reception on Peak's Island at the Inn on Peak's Island. I'd never taken the ferry nor ever been to the island, so I was puuumped. I spent the evening talking to Stacey Kardash as we ate delicious hors 'douvres including delectable pieces of lamb. Mmmm, lamb.

Then I went to watch the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and stayed up until 2am because I am a genius.

Sunday was the big day of awesome, despite being 45 minutes later that I meant to be due to sleeping in, and all the guests were really nice. For those that have ever been to PortCon, or almost any other convention, MeCAF is just a giant Artists' Alley. Ocean Gateway is a beautiful building and the talent that shows up to display their work there is just so...inspiring. (I found it kind of hilarious that everyone who knew me said something along the lines of, "Sorry about Skottie Young" immediately after seeing me. I guess I really made it clear how pumped I was to see him, eh? Hehe, but it's okay, he'll be coming to Portland another time for a signing. (:)

As soon as I was given the chance, I went to Brian Wood's table and had my copy of Demo signed. He was very nice, and not once did I hear anything about him being short with anyone. Right after that, I headed to Jeff Lemire's table and he signed my copy of the Sweet Tooth trade, as well as drew a picture of Gus in it. I'm still so happy; I love it when they do that :D

The first biggest highlight of my day were when a little boy came up to say hi to me: "I remember you, you drew me that picture of Spider-Man and Batman at the comic store!" It was so cute! He was the first person I drew a picture for on Free Comic Book Day and him being what, 8 years old, tickled me that he remembered. I smiled and thanked him as he shyly hustled away.

The second best thing to happen is when Jeff Lemire came up and I handed him a doodle I drew of him with antlers (like Gus from Sweet Tooth) and told him it was fanart. He thanked me, said he'd put it on his wall, and then handed it back saying, "Hey, you didn't sign it!" I felt SO COOL. He said it was "really cute" :D And later after everyone packed and cleaned up, he thanked everyone for coming, said he'd be back next year, whether it'd be for MeCAF or for a personal appearance, thanked me again for the drawing, and pat me on the back. It was awesome.

What I love about artists and writers is meeting them and finding out they are the coolest people on the planet. All the other guests were friendly and so grateful for the hospitality. I'm already pumped to see what guests make it next year...Here's hoping one of them is Bryan Lee O'Malley :D

EFF

MAAAAAAN

Skottie Young has a family emergency and can't make the festival this weekend. He'll be making an appearance another time, but I'm so bummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmed. Obviously I hope everything is fine and dandy with him, but maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

Just another Wednesday

I tribute to the late R.J. Dio, a mixed media piece on my favorite animal, and the 19 shelf-talker signs I made at work today.

Who watches the Watch(wo)men?

hehehe

Oh yeah

I haven't been posting much art, because the process of taking pictures of it, then uploading it on Verizon's website, then saving the image, then uploading it to Photobucket and then posting here sucks. Digital stuff is 10x easier to post, but I don't draw digitally often enough to post every day.

But here are a few of both digital and traditional fun to keep you occupied for now:

I drew this because Indiana Jones is one of the hottest characters ever written. And mostly only because he was played by Harrison Ford. /drool

I made three posters similar to this one for FCBD...

I drew this as a reference to some things I've [apparently] said in my sleep:

I drew this card for my Mum for Mother's Day...

And this is a bad photo of one of the sketches I did for a customer on FCBD that really likes Archie. Apparently they plan on getting it framed. Glee!

I have this super fun idea for a picture I'll be working on this evening that I know many people will enjoy. Stay tuned :D