Category: Uncategorized

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Geek Gift! Geek Gift! Geek Gift!

I’m hawking my wares again! Just a friendly reminder that my coloring/story book, Grimmleigh’s Beastly Oddities is available on Amazon, and eligible for Prime shipping. I may be biased, but this is the perfect gift for that person in your family that goes bump in the night. Here, for your sampling pleasure, is a sample page:

cruiser

There is a story attached to this guy, too. It’s called “the Yeti that hates Beaches.” It’s probably the coolest story about a yeti that hates beaches you’ll ever read. And you’ll be supporting an independent artist! ME!

And if you already have purchased this book, you are amazing, and I love you for that.

 

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The Lemonade Stand is Open

Well, that was a thing.

On October 9th, 2016, at approximately 10:16 am, my wife took a spill and fell hard on her left arm. She was in terrible pain, and didn’t even hesitate when I suggested we go to the clinic to get it checked out. My wife is tough. Seriously. So, if she says she’s willing to see a doctor, I know it’s serious.

Two hours later, we knew she had broken her ulna, right about where it connects to the wrist. A few days later, yet another doctor informed us that she had a spiral fracture at the impact, so the bone had a lot of mending to do.

We own a restaurant. We run it together, and between the two of us we manage to keep a vegan diner running in a town known for meat and potatoes. With her unable to use her left arm and hand, it was up to me to make sure our tiny little kingdom didn’t sink. Well, seven weeks later, we haven’t sunk. Her arm is healing, and she’s just now able to help out around the restaurant. Life is returning to normal, and I have a little time to spare for my passion project again.

Many apologies to those of you who follow this page, it was never my intention to go Full Houdini… but life has its ways of keeping you humble, and I return to you humbled in many ways.

mollsandbruiser-card

 

 

 

Uncategorized, Workbench

Monsters and Luchadores! Monsters! AND! LUCHADORES!

I get these horrific creative blocks from time to time, and nothing that I am working on has the power to move my pen. When times like these come up, I draw monsters. This week, though, luchadores worked themselves into the mix, because, well, luchadores.

Luckily for me, these little drawings got me fired up about the Night Circus, so I designed the background monsters for the circus:

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the Night Circus artwork ©2016 L. G. Kade

I got lucky this week, too. The next page for the Miller’s Daughters decided to stop being such a brat, and I was able to get the inks done for that one, too. I should have the fully finished page up tomorrow!

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I have a few friends that extol the virtues of warming up with “meaningless” doodles before a drawing session, and I am really beginning to understand why. That practice not only loosens up your wrist and fingers, it also loosens up the creative faculties in your mind, making you a better conduit to express your thoughts!

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Time Lapse Theater: the Vampire Brides

I have been working pretty diligently on my next coloring book, Grimmleigh’s Classic Monsters. Previously this week I showed off some of the concept sketches for upcoming pages, and today I thought I would show the process from start to finish.

First, I take a picture of the rough pencils from my notebook, and import that into ProCreate on my iPad. Here is the photo:

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Now that the reference picture is in place, I get to work doing final pencils, then digital inks. At that point, I set aside the black and white art for the coloring page and backgrounds… But a lot of the time, I like to get into the picture and add some color. Here is video showing that process!

(I uploaded the video in HD, so it might take a minute to convert)

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Fan Art: Selina and Harvey

One of the projects I am working on re-imagines the Batman mythos, with Bruce Wayne as the psychopathic one percenter who gets his kicks by dressing up in body armor and beating on street people in the slums of Gotham.

Selina Color
Selina Kyle

Selina is a young woman with a mission: She has been gathering up and caring for the feral cat population of Gotham City. The little warehouse space she shares with her feline wards is cold, and feeding so many unwanted cats gets expensive. Selina is not above petty theft (and the occasional bigger heist) to keep the kitties fed.

Harvey
Harvey Dent

Harvey Dent was once the hot-shot District Attorney playboy of Gotham City. He was assigned to prosecute Boss Sal Maroni, who offered evidence linking the heads of the Wayne Foundation to organized crime rings throughout the city. Unfortunately, the courtroom was the scene of a horrific terrorist attack that left 17 people, including Maroni, dead. Harvey Dent was assumed killed in the attack as well; the truth may be worse.

Harvey Dent has been wandering the alleyways of Gotham’s slums, fighting a one-man war against the petty thugs and drug pushers of the city’s underbelly. The fate of his victims is determined by a single flip of his lucky quarter.

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Tea-Time with Tony Poulson

Tea Time? More like rambling lunatics at 2am. Tony Poulson is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, and a really good illustrator, too. He was kind enough to talk with me last night about his work, movies, and the creative process.

Gwen

Hey, Tony! Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to chat with me tonight! I know you have a lot on your plate with Comic Con coming up, and your show at Watchtower starting in a couple of days…

Thanks for asking. Truly. I always tell Jimmy (one of my co-panelists on the Geekshow Podcast) when I see him (which is often recently) that GEEKSHOW is definitely fuel for creativity. Fun as shit and honestly like my younger years with my friends chit chatting about geek stuff (sadly mostly all those friends “like” the same stuff, but aren’t as entrenched like I am).

You have a show starting at Watchtower Cafe this week, why don’t we start with what you do artwise for the people who aren’t familiar with you yet?

Since getting into Comic Con 3+ years ago I created a series called Hand Over the Hero.  I take classic and current characters and literally draw them being handed over by their friends, counterpart, etc.  It was an accidental idea from a greeting card I created for my wife ages ago.  She’d always joke about wanting to take a kitty with us on a date (back then we only had one, Gypsy, and now we have a stampeding herd…for realz).  I drew a confused cat being handed over and said “here, take your damn cat” on the inside.  The card sat on a shelf for 4 years before I turned the same concept into this series.

Working on this tonight after my conversation with Cori and Mike (at Watchtower Coffee)  

El1

 

Is that El?

Yep

Nice! I love it!

Thanks! Gotta add the waffle.

Hahahaha!

You work primarily with markers, and I envy that. Markers can be unforgiving… What is your process like? Are you the “concept, execute” type, or do you have 50 plates spinning at the same time?

I love the process of laying down some color and moving on. Don’t get me wrong I dick up here and there and even get the dread bleed through onto other colors, but you work with it and you get good at covering up. I started with Markers in high school and honestly don’t recall why I picked them out of everything in the art store (insert awesome story here about rescuing a princess from utter death and her bestowing a set of the kingdom’s finest art supplies here).

Well, now that I think of it, Kat Martin and I used the most intoxicating markers in high school when we drew the school’s massive weekly calendar during my term as a student body artist. Yep, that was it. Markers were also easy to transport and “setup” anywhere I could carry my bag of supplies (unless you ask the TSA in Denver who had to shut down their screeners and call every available supervisor to check my suspicious bag of art supplies after Denver Comic Con…I mean it only looked like a homemade bomb the way i stack my paper and markers). I also love pairing them with Prismacolor pencils and a few highlight pens to give the whites the POP they need. And yes, I have an ungodly amount of projects going on at the same time.

Pika

I’ve always loved the way you sling color. One of the first things I saw of yours was some Star Wars art you did, with Yoda at a bar. It was so elegant, yet simple, yet intricate… That can be really hard to pull off!

I see your dad helping you out at your booth during shows. Who’s the better salesman?

Him for sure.  He’s the life of the Con.  73 years old and the man will stand for 3 days straight, never complain, and talk to anyone and everyone. It’s so fun to be with him selling something… he’s been my #1 fan of for all these years. I used to go to trade shows with him so it’s cool to see it come full circle

Tony and Pops

I call this the “Gwen Stacy” question: All of your art is being dangled over the George Washington Bridge, and you can only save ONE piece. Which one is it?

MY art or what we own in our collection?

BOTH.

I’d say I’d save my Silvia Ji Original piece because it was the real first art piece I purchased and as far as my own work – GRAB THE HARD DRIVE – I don’t know what to save.  I’d say I’d pick my piece from that Star Wars show you actually had at Frisch – it was my first group show, the first time I cut out and mounted my art, and it’s C-3PO and R2 being denied at the Star Bar because of the oldest rule in the book “no shirt, no shoes, no droids, no service.”

I was really blown away by them (the Star Wars pieces). I almost bought them about a thousand times!

Thanks for sharing the Eleven sketch with us! Stranger Things was awesome, and a great throw-back to some classic movie moments. What is you favorite classic horror or sci-fi movie? (at this point, Tony says “waffle is go” and posts this pic:

El2

Now that is hard to pinpoint – but, not so much sci-fi, but Big Trouble in Little China is one of my all-time movies. Netflix suggests I watch it since recently viewing from the night before. No joke.

OH MY GODS. I adore that movie more than both of my kids. I love that Jack Burton is actually the idiot sidekick. It’s my favorite Carpenter movie.

I recall you loving that film.  Also, Swamp Thing.  I remember watching that on TV in my parents house back in the 80’s and remembering how disturbing it was when everyone starts to turn into crazy creatures.  Practical effects still make me all giggly inside because it’s fucking real!!! Bubbling skin is literally bubbling skin (well make-up skin), but still!!

Who are your favorite illustrators working today?

My friends, Jake Parker and Alex Solis.

Jake is so good! I fanboy so hard whenever I see his stuff. I really love the Society of Visual Storytelling site, he does a lot of great classes on there.

I can truly say I pay $15/month and have only watched 1 class. wtf is wrong with me???

I have a subscription, too. I was about an hour into the comic book class, and Jake says “you’ll learn a lot from just drawing, too.” and I was gone. Still pay the sub, because I know I’m going to dive back in head first when I run out of steam on these 15 projects.

Thanks for talking with me about your work, Tony! Other than the Watchtower show, where can people check out your art?

Instagram will give you the live stream @thetonus and my site has most of my current work for sale thetonus.com.  I also have apparel available at thetonus.threadless.com and that is always a work in progress to get the right print on the right product.

Flash

Seriously, Tony! Thanks so much for talking with me tonight. Have a good one!

Hold on one sec…

whatcha think?? (final pencils for El drawing pop up on screen)

El3

Hahaha! That is so great!

Suddenly, Tony and I both realize that Art Drop Day is two weeks away and panic. Well, I panicked. I think Tony kept drawing and fired up Big Trouble in Little China again!

Tony Poulson’s Hand Over the Hero series can be seen at Watchtower Cafe’s Gallery of Rogues (1588s State Street) from August 19th through September 9th!

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Workbench Wednesday: Sucky Job Edition

Here’s a look at what I have going on this week on the “workbench,” which is actually a couple of spiral-bound sketchbooks. Unless I’m sculpting, in which case it really is a workbench.

My creative process is pretty wonky, but it works for me. I sit down with a paper and pen, and just start doodling. I learned this (and a lot more) from a few Jake Parker videos at the awesome Society of Visual Storytelling. Just sitting pen to paper gets the hand warmed up, and gets your brain synched up with your fingers. From there, you either end up with some ideas that you can expand on, or you just spent some time warming up. If ideas come, I work on those next, if it’s a warm-up session, I try and work on projects that I started earlier. Most of this happens between 11pm and 3am, which seems to be when I am at my most creative.

This week has been all about the (surprise!) monsters. I started out working on a new book project chock full of mythological monsters from around the world, but my brain decided that it wanted to draw classic movie monsters with lousy jobs.

The Monster as a Grocery Clerk. I thought a wolfman kid on the belt would be funny.
The Bride at a call center. If you’ve ever worked one, you’ll understand.
Vlad as a lifeguard.
Quick pen sketches of the Roy Ashton Wolfman makeup
Vampire Brides, probably at a daycare.
This was from the earlier project, he was going to be a Strigoi, surrounded by the withered husks of his family.

A couple of these will get expanded upon, and probably end up in one of the books. The old Strigoi might end up in something else altogether; he’s just the right amount of creepy, so I’ll flag him in the creepy file for later.