Relatives are relative...

by Mike Worley

I promised an image done for my daughter as her graduation announcement. Finally, it is done. To see the whole thing, just click on the image...


Also, here are my nieces with the hoodies I airbrushed for them as Christmas gifts. For all you airbrush jockeys out there, I make no claim to being either an expert, or any good at it...just passable. Or, the term most often used,...sell-able. Give me a pencil and a watercolor brush for inking, and I could hold my own, but airbrushing...I need more practice. But they seemed to like their gifts.



I can't help when a photo seems to scream for a good fumetti treatment. And this picture definitely brought out the worst in me. This is of my wife, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. The quote maybe from Shakespeare, but you can figure out the inference on your own...


Really getting tired of the snow. It's almost March, and we got hit with more snow/sleet/freezing rain again. Sucks.

Time to work on some comic strip ideas! Updates to come!

bunches o' stuff...

by Mike Worley

I almost have my daughter's graduation "invitation" art done. Should be able to post it tomorrow. But since I haven't posted in a week, I thought I'd put up some "warm-up" sketches. Ironically, I keep ending up with "apemen"...



...and I drew "Ikaris" from Marvel Comics' "The Eternals"...my first attempt at this character...


I found this on a zip disk. I had drawn the art a few years back. Had a short burst of creativity and wanted to just do the thing with markers to see what I could do with them. Still may try to finish something with it. I formatted it to print it up on normal "copy" paper. To see it all, just click on it...

...and no, That is NOT Stan Lee in the panels. Just a coinky-dinky.

Lastly, I've been trying to draw a portrait of one of the kids who works for me, and have struggled with the likeness. So I thought doing a cartoony version might give me some insights. But I do like how this turned out, and may see if I can use it to give me an excuse to work it over in Painter...

For some reason a "Grecian" motif seems to be the direction the sketch took.

Lates!

warm up...

by Mike Worley

It's February and snowing. Any hoo, I've made it a goal to do more "realistic" style cartooning to get that discipline back. This is just something I did to warm up. It's of the Australian comic book character, "The Panther"...


Later!

going live...

by Mike Worley

My wife and I attended a "simo-cast" of "A Prairie Home Companion" this evening, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. So much so that we set a dream to attend a truly "live" performance sometime in Minnesota. I have a great respect for those who perform live. There is no net, and if you hit a "clinker," it's out there to stay.

We took in a performance at Starlight Theatre one evening a few years ago. Saw Robert Goulet as "King Arthur" in "Camelot." During the performance, one of the secondary actors did some "hamming," and you could see Goulet trying very much not to laugh, eventually cracking up on stage. That, too, is one of the thrills of a live performance.

On a survey at work, I was asked to relate my favorite "concert," and I put down that it was in 1967 when I was a kid and my parents had taken us to Gatlinburg, TN. We saw Archie Campbell and his troup in action and it was the funniest and best show I'd seen.

One year, an artist who worked with me gave Becky and I tickets to a drag queen theatre performance of "Valley of the Dolls," and we both enjoyed it.

I think we're going to try to find more "live" things.

The following sketch was done at Cripple Con 3 a few weekends ago in San Antonio. There is a story behind it, but suffice it say it might put me in an awkward position. It was done for, and of, a colleague of mine, Ryan Forrester. I had wanted that weekend to be more getting back into doing more comic book style stuff. Let's just say the picture really tells its own tale...


It's supposed to snow tonight, and my right knee is hurting. Sure wish this weather would settle down.

It's February, and it's cold...

by Mike Worley

I've been doing more sketching lately, and I've been trying to get caught up on "requests." My daughter is graduating and needs artwork for her graduation invitation. There are some girls who worked for me last season who wanted some drawings, too. I put this girl at the top of the list since she and I are to "trade" artwork. She has already given me one of her drawings, and was wanting something "superhero-ish." This is a first attempt at her as "Poison Ivy"...


To try and understand her features, I've also been working on more of a portrait study from a prom photo. Here's how that drawing is coming along...


That's it for now.

Welcome to February!

a cold Friday...

by Mike Worley

Today has been very cold and blah. And it's been tough to get motivated. I've been writing some stuff, mostly a webstrip I have in the works. The focus is getting better, although the main character is an "everyman" in most senses. I did, however, give him a "challenge," one that fathers have struggled with through history...a teenaged daughter. Since the main character is a man in his fifties, I've given him, and his wife, the proverbial "ooops" baby...the one that comes along AFTER the decision has been made to stop spawning. Couple that with her being a bit of a "wild child," and hilarity and hijinx ensue(sheesh! did that sound trite!) Anyway, here's a sketch of her...


I started this sketch at Cripple Con a few weekends ago, but didn't finish it there. I based it on my old boss, Len Hernandez, even though it isn't really a caricature of him. Since today just wasn't coming together, I really just threw up my hands and chucked most of what I had planned. One bit of good news is that I'm severely Vitamin D deficient. Why that is good news is that at least I know, and can begin taking some pills to help rectify the problem. I think it is supposed to help with depression, too.

It's been a while since I just "played" in my sketchbook. Just drew for the fun of it. Haven't really done that in a long while, and it felt good. While it may not be one of my better efforts, I like that I'm not trying to impress anyone with it. It is what it is with all the meanderings of pencil and markers. Len, if you want the thing I'll send it too you. If not, no harm or foul.

To view it completely, you may have to click on it...


Erev Tov!

experimenting with some color...

by Mike Worley

I had to get this one out of my system. Not sure I like how it turned out...a bit over rendered maybe...but I haven't done any of the fancy "rendered" color stuff. I may end up doing a more simplified version. It ended up one of those things that once I started, I felt compelled to complete. Anyway, here it is. Some color on the "Faun Girl" drawing I did...


Back to the drawing board. And maybe find some kind of story to work this character in.

Lates!