I am Worf, Son of MoghaarghAAARGHKILLTHINGS!

I think things are becoming a bit too formulaic. So, Worf, ironically, ended up getting the most controlled, and unremarkable piece, at least in my opinion. Maybe today just had too many distractions and I'm becoming too mechanical, I don't know.

I'm sure there are some Klingons at Fan Expo who'll dig it, but I don't particularly care for this one.

Dear Brother ...

In time for FanExpo, here is the first 'Trek' piece. I struggled with how to incorporate Brent Spiner's character Data into a piece, since the style I've been running with is inky and dark and muddy ... then I was hit with Lore, Data's infamously sinister brother, and it all came together.

Again, since these pieces are being cranked out so fast, I often don't know if I am happy or not with them, I just let them be and have a look the next day or so. This one, I feel, just feels too overexposed, but I may feel different in the morning.

Nosferatu

Just another piece ... another one I don't know how I feel about. But why break a good working streak?

You should all know that this is a portrait of the creature from F.W. Murnau's film, Nosferatu, in his final moments.

Dani Filth

I had trouble finding a good film still of Dani Filth, lead singer of Cradle of Filth, so I had to use a very shoddy picture which resulted in a sketchy drawing, which resulted in a strange piece.

I don't know how I feel about this. I never know.

Now I See the Funny Side ... Now I'm Always Smiling!!

I began with The Man Who Laughs actor Conrad Viedt to do my rendition of the Joker for FanExpo. For those of you who don't know, Conrad Viedt's performance in the 1928 film inspired Bob Kane and Bill Finger's original Joker from Batman #1, released 1940.

I may actually just do a few horror pieces, non-comic book related. I seem to be good at striking terror, at any rate.

Death and Cremation

Here are some roughs from the film I'm currently on. Some of these will go on to become more details as the production designer sees fit. I liked how a couple turned out, so here they are.

The Zoo, and Some News

Above are some drawings from the zoo. Not much to see here, some orangatangs(sp?) and a snake.

Now on to the news: I have recently been hired by a B-Studio in Los Angeles to come on board as an Art Director on an upcoming feature. I can't say more than that, but that it is nice to be acknowledged and respected enough, after all of this time, that I feel I am finally getting work thatwill allow me to tap into some creative muscle ...

Which leads me to my current situation: storyboarding. Well, frankly, I am ready to quit, but such declarations would be hasty. Let's just say that it's time to move on, and the demands of the profession have proven to be well beyond the actual rewards. That said, I will hold off from saying I'm done with it for good. Let's just say the end of that era is drawing near.

Sketching for the Hell of it ...

Perfecting Chaos Teaser

So I finished the concept boards for Perfecting Chaos, but I had drawn them in such a way so that they could be animated in a limited, animatic way. I figured I'd post that instead since its much more fun. I may use that last image for my new mailer.

Perfecting Chaos: Roughs for Concept Storyboards

These are the roughs for the concept boards for Perfecting Chaos, maybe one of the best scripts a director has submitted to me for concept work.

For these roughs I went into a lot of detail to show Audrey Cummings, the director, just how I wanted to handle the composition. Some of the angles and such may be a bit too comic bookish, but at the time that I was doing these I was looking a lot at Frank Stockton's work and that style of dramatic composing was influencing me heavily on some of these -- I tried to keep from doing it on all of them, that would be overkill. Since these are just conceptual, and not shooting, I hope they fly.

Another huge consideration was lighting. As a horror/sci-fi/thriller I think expressiveness is important. For this I looked to the early German silent era and stuff like that. Far too often I find that when a scene has little to no intended effect, especially when it comes to thrillers, the problem is often just as simple as lighting -- if they lit it right, it just might have worked.

The next stage will be more detailed conceptual shots. I'd like to try some new techniques when I get around to those.