Real finished poster

We actually got to print these off on a large format printer today...turned out pretty nice...

Here are the mask files.Clearly I had to change the guy mask color but I blame the outrageous color shift on photoshop...Not sure why a document from illustrator won't keep colors intact when x-ferring to pshop...My quick fixes for printing didn't work out with these colors and when printed from photoshop the items looked like they had sat in a sunny window for a month...Illustrator printing='d perfect.

IF: Bicycle

In West Virginia if you are REALLY poor you have a bicycle up on blocks in the front yard rusting down instead of an automobile...either that or you are trying to make the rest of the folk think you are an athlete...

Being from WV I can make these claims and give you permission to laugh...it could probably hit home to some Kentucky or Georgia people as well...but they probably don't find it as funny...

Spring Showcase Poster/Postcard

This will be the first year that we are doing a gallery show...usually we are pretty pooped from dealing with portfolios...but the opportunity came up so we're giving it a shot...not the strongest class but they do have some good work...so we'll see how it goes...I'm excited and hope it works well for them.

IF: Journey 2

Meeting day at school...so it was drawing time...the original idea was just the blank vast distance between the bed and the alarm clock and what a terrible journey it is each morning...but that wasn't an accurate representation of my room...vast or empty...plus I had another hour and a half to kill whilst listening to our guest speaker...

IF:Journey

(click to enlarge...and then you might have to click again to bump it up one more time...had to do the critter a bit smaller to fit the scene in....)

After doing the sea monster one I figured I would do another one for the IF topic...there's a bridge at the local community college that I snapped a pic of and figured this would be a nice place to throw in a hobo critter. I saw a post on a portal a few years ago where people were putting drawings in everyday settings but can't recall what it was...because I'm getting old...and my mind is bad.

Poster Prep Item 1

First created for use on a poster for an upcoming event...

IF:Bottled

IF: 'DU-ET! DU-ET!'...Suicidal No-Talent Singers on the Ledge...

"They thought the crowd was chanting 'DO IT! DO IT!' and jumped...I guess it could've been worse...they could have complied and actually started singing..."

IF:We said DUETS only...

"Well you blew it for us again Larry."


It was funnier in my mind...I think it had to do with coming off a spring break where the average temperature was 33 degrees...I'll try to do better next time...Larry is the head on the far right just in case it was eating you up to know.

IF: Toy

When I was little I had lots of monster toys...I had the Kraken from Clash of the Titans (the tail and flippers ALWAYS fell off when you played with it)...Godzilla with shootable fist (his tail always came off too...and his toenails were broken pretty easily) and my favorite of all time...especially because it held together really well...Rodan...I'm not sure when exactly it disappeared but it had flapping wings, a mouth you could open and close by a switch on the neck...and real grasping action claws...being I couldn't think of anything funny (which is often what I hear when I do draw something with that intent) I decided to look my toy up and do a quick sketch...It's hard to believe that I thought it looked so cool back in the day...now it just seems like a bad plastic muppet to me. The good news is if you are a kid nowadays and aren't sucked into video games 24-7 there are lots and lots of really well designed and manufactured toys out there. Check out the Gremlin toy on this page and watch the video on the air sharks at the very top...

IF 'Cult'ivate...the secret order of the turnip-headed moon worshippers

"Sorry my boy but you can't join...all of our members are homegrown..."

Dad's Night Poster

A poster I did for a guy I work with...I think they get together and shoot things...while playing music...and eating hog...I hope I didn't misunderstand and this is really some kind of black tie event or I did this all wrong...

IF: Stir Fried

"Excuse me...could one of you gentleman direct me to the location of the Vegan Rally?"


Earlier when I thought I only had 10 minutes I did a poorly drawn cartoon with the Kool-Aid Man attacking kids at a party and was going to title it "Stir Crazy"...you know because you stir kool-aid...and in essence you figure that would effect his brain since the fluid somehow has to relate to internal organs...somehow...but then I found out I had 25 minutes so I could think of a better yet equally dumb and poorly rendered idea without having to continue drawing running and screaming kids...

So I thought about 'stirring up trouble'...and then I thought...vegan walking into a hunting lodge...and then I thought...that guy would get fried...and hey...you use vegetables in a stir fry...and then I thought about what I was going to get for lunch...and it has been all down hill every since...

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

Church doodle...

You might say that isn't a very good attempt at a sheep disguise...I'm afraid it doesn't take much anymore...I could give you some crazy statistics and evidence but I'll just leave it at this...
"My people perish from a lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6

Self-Portrait IV

Updates

A while back I did a ptero head and had plans for doing a large new pic...

I did lots of body sketches and it took me a while to try and figure out what I wanted to do. I even did a maquette with biohazard trash-bag wings to try to figure out how the wings would go as they were folded in certain positions.

Of course because it wasn't painful enough trying to finish up my large styraco rendering in pointillism...I almost went for graphite...and then almost went for colored pencil...but I enjoyed doing the stego head so much that I decided to go for pointillism again...the board size is the same size as the styraco and I do have the entire body sketched out at but I need to work on the scenery. I like it so far and I'm glad I decided against the turtle and went with the octopus. I did do turtle drawings but it just looked a bit less fluid and forced...so far so good.

And of course here is the progress made from last time...I did get started on the water which seems to be turning out okay. I do have more background work to straighten out and I'll have to go over the entire body and head to adjust values...and I added some elements in the extreme foreground. Estimated finished date...June 15th...of 2024...

IF:Unheeded Warning

"I told you their fries were salty..."

IF:Swarm

Swarm of Sock Monsters... it almost makes you nervous to know what is in the underwear drawer...

Colored Stegosaurus

After I do my pointillism items I like to color them after I've made prints. Our new printer lets me run through watercolor and heavier stocks of paper...which allows me to print the original size of the work. In times past I had to shrink everything down to fit 8.5x11...not anymore! And as mentioned...even better...I can run through much higher quality paper...I do have prints of this as well as my oviraptor from earlier for sale...you can see that info here

IF: Layers

I recently moved to a new apartment and have been surprised at the large number of cats...I've counted 6 'regulars' to this point...and not just any cats...but all of them are very large...and they are always drooped over railings with flaps of skin and fat acting as a grip. One particularly large feline that hangs directly over where I walk I nicknamed 'Layers'...because he's got them.

On a seemingly unrelated note...I'm a school teacher...and as most folks know school teachers often help out of pocket with supplies...I demand a lot out of my students because I know what they are walking into as they shift into college...and I understand that they sometimes have less freedom to go out and get items they might need for projects...I want them to have the best shot at scholarships possible because there are times that is the only way they will be able to get their foot in the door for college. That might mean buying actual art supplies or even driving around and searching for props...one of the funner ones was driving around to every goodwill and thrift store within a 3 hour radius to find a certain shirt logo...To help with this I am selling some of my stuff or creating some work specifically to sell. If you wouldn't mind on occasion pop on over to my Blankenstine Is a Sellout blog and see if there might be something you like. Or if you've seen anything I've done in the past you liked I might be able to recreate or even sell the original (provided it hasn't been promised to my own kids).