Mythology and Sports

I'm feeling very literal tonight. Mostly because I spent most of the day with a splitting headache brought on by change in the barometric pressure. (Seriously, I woke up and felt like my head had been spiked to the pillow.)

Nope, I just have two things to put up today and they happen to be about...mythology and sports. Get it? First the mythology.

My comic book store is named Odin's in Lilburn. I first went in there about 5 years ago and reawakened my love of reading funny books. But this wasn't the comic book store of my youth. This one was well lit and the people in it were friendly and seemed to know what customer service was. I'm not saying I don't miss the ambiance of Wuxtry II on Baxter Street in Athens. There was a definite charm to the dank, musty air, the boxes of comics next to boxes and boxes of old LP's (ask your grandparents, kids) and the "will he or won't he speak to me today" tension of dealing with whatever burnout was behind the register reading some obscure French novelist. I'm just saying it was refreshing to walk into a brightly lit store and be warmly greeted almost as if you were welcome to be there.

On their website and now their Facebook page they had portraits of Odin done by guest artists. I am not in the same fame category as most of these guys but I always like to show my appreciation for the businesses I frequent so I did my take on Odin.



Next up is this week's installment of my Bulldog cartoons.



I got a set of markers this weeks and I'm trying them out. These are the first two experiments. Hope you like them.

UPDATE: I thought of a teensy little way to tweak the Bulldog cartoon. Can you spot the difference?

Addition To Last Week...

Unfortunately I don't have a lot to put up this week but here is the latest in my Bulldog sports 'toon theme.



I liked this one. It worked out well from a compositional standpoint and I am improving on the coloring. Plus...I got to use the word "giblets" in a punchline.

I'm off this week so I am going to attempt to get a couple of new things put up before I have to go back to the grind of a regular job.

Cartoon Sports Mayhem

One of my many and numerous idols in the world of art and illustration is the brilliant Jack Davis. His work on Mad magazine and EC comics and pretty much every other major magazine in the world that has used his work on a cover is recognized as nothing short of amazing. For me though, his best work came in the mail every game day Saturday in the fall in the form of his Harry Dawg cartoons in the Athens paper.

Mr. Davis was a UGA graduate and still to this day supports his alma mater with drawings of his beloved Bulldogs. I love Mr. Davis's work so much that as a teenager when I first became conscious of having to apply a signature to my work, there was only one man whose signature I wanted to steal...Jack Davis.

Which brings me to today's installment. I love doing these types of drawings. I mostly love them for college sports. Professional sports don't inspire the same passion in me as college athletics do. But here are a few examples...

This first one I did DURING last week's ill-fated meeting with the South Carolina Gamecocks...unfortunately it didn't make sense to post it afterwards. So here it is for the first time.



A little rough but it was done sitting on the couch, in a sketchbook. Next I did one for the Falcons. Again, I don't care for professional sports as much, but I still enjoyed the process.



So then I did the one for UGA's game THIS week. As I had never heard of the team they were facing I had to run to the old internet for some info. The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Don't know if I have ever heard of a university using a Canterbury Tales reference as a mascot before but, hey...whatever works for ya.



Still not where I would like to be coloring-wise but I am getting there. (And posting it on facebook with some very helpful friends and family re-posting it may have gotten me a freelance gig. So...bonus!)

And finally in keeping with my sports theme, I went with an old friend and his son to see an amateur boxing tournament in Doraville yesterday. Here are the first sketches with very likely some paintings or illustrations of some sort to follow. Enjoy!

More Story...Less Slice of Life

I finished my latest Prehistoric Times submission last night. Two utahraptors attacking a gastonia. See what you think...



I'm starting to put a little more thought to the story behind the pictures. A lot of them were just pictures of the creature out in it's habitat just wandering around. Conflict is needed!

I think that is what was intended by Discovery Channel's new program, Dinosaur Revolution. Some of the people who posted on the Prehistoric Times facebook page were quite annoyed by it. (Mostly it was this one guy who seemed personally offended by it.) A lot of the people who have contributed to the magazine and been interviewed in it were involved in the making of this show. The main complaint was that it was too "cutesy" and "Disney-fied" (That is a paraphrase of that one guy who was so annoyed.) Was some of it unlikely? Sure. But overall it was an entertaining and informative show.

When Walking With Dinosaurs debuted nearly a decade ago (has it been that long? Geez, I'm getting old.) it was a breakthrough in dinosaur animation technology and was beautiful to look at. HOWEVER...it was also kind of slow. It was basically an all too real documentary...meaning that 95% of the time it was BORING. So then they made Walking With Prehistoric Beasts which was about prehistoric mammals. They learned from Dinosaurs and made it with more story involved. Much more engaging. Dinosaur Revolution is the next step. I give much praise to all those involved and hope we see more from them on this subject. I highly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who wants to see a good show about these amazing prehistoric chickens.