Daily Sketch #142

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe another year has passed. It really does feel like the years fly by faster and faster the older you get. 2007 moved so quickly but it was a fantastic year for me both personally and professionally. 2008 looks like it's going to be filled with even bigger and better things and I'm honestly chomping at the bit to get started.

The quick sketch today sums up my feelings pretty accurately.

Have a Happy and Safe New Year's Eve, one and all!

Daily Sketch #141

What's Up Ladies?

As is often the case, I have no clue who this guy is or why I drew him. I just started doodling while at the dining table eating dessert at my D's parents place. Not sure who he is, but I am fairly certain he's a jerk. (Hence the blog post title above) What do you think?

In other news, RUN do not walk to your nearest proprieter of comic books next week and pick up Black Diamond #6 from Ait/PlanetLar featuring my first writing AND drawing credit in the back up feature "The Curse". I just got my copies last night and it was like Christmas all over again. Woot!

Daily Sketch #142

Christmas Short & Sweet

Merry Christmas from David and Steve of "Dead Inspector"!
The boys wish you and yours a prosperous and weird crimes free New Year. Steve's designer t-shirt by John McClaine.

Daily Sketch #141

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's a bit late in the day for my usual blog post, but it's Christmas Eve so cut me some slack. D and I are spending Christmas with her family so the daily sketch is taken with D's camera. The Santa here is inspired by one of my future mother-in-laws many, many Santas about the house. I really dug his crazy Rip Torn-esque moustache.

As is customary in my Polish heritage on Christmas Eve, I wish you all a prosperous, magical New Year in 2008 filled with laughter, love, and new experiences. I have some exciting news to break in the New Year and am looking forward to a bundle of new experiences and big positive changes!

And as always if you are in the Holiday Spirit and want to support the daily sketches, click on one of the ads links on the side bar.

Daily Sketch #140

I Know Kung Fu

Well actually, I know Kenpo, but this guy probably knows kung fu. Just working out some character design ideas for my old man character I posted about yesterday.

Happy Holidays, by the way one and all! We're headed out over the weekend to visit Danielle's parents for almost a week so it's pretty unlikely I'll have regular posts next week. Everyone deserves a vacation, right?

I'll be celebrating my birthday tonight with my local B-more friends. It's gonna be a rockin' evening filled with pizza, beer, and my favorite party game - Guitar Hero. We'll be rockin' out into the wee hours of the morning.

Daily Sketch #139

Chimera Design


I've been working on a project in between working on my main art and writing efforts tentatively called "Project: Chimera". The sketch below is a development sketch of one of the main characters - a retired badass general. I wanted him to look old and grizzley, but I think he ended up looking Asian somehow. Still, I like the drawing.

I took Ender back to the vet yesterday and unfortunately his claw wasn't getting better with the antibiotics. So I had to leave him at the vet so they could perform a surgical amputation of his one claw to prevent further infection. I felt horrible about it, leaving the poor little guy there and the thought of taking one of his claws. I can't imagine what it must feel like to make choices like that for your kids. The good news is that I spoke with the vet yesterday afternoon and Ender was doing quite well, the surgery went great and the vet believes there were signs that the claw had broken which would have explain the infection. He was confident we made the right choice to remove it and said Ender was resting comfortably. While he was out we also gave him a thorough teeth cleaning so he should have fresh kitty breath upon his return. I'll be headed over later today to pick him up and bring our little man home for some seriously needed TLC.

My good friend and ex-professor Jose Villarubia is the subject of a "My Baltimore" video. A great look at my friend and the city of Baltimore. Check it out HERE.

Lastly, if you are a comic fan you should definitely head over to www.myspace.com/pilotseason where Top Cow is letting fans decide which two characters will get their own series in 2008. Voting is open until mid-January and fans can vote as many times as they like American Idol style.

Daily Sketch #138

Back from Cali

D and I are back in the cold from sunny CA and ready to dive headfirst into the Christmas season. We had a great time in Los Angeles and everyone treated us really wonderfully and made us feel quite welcome. I had a birthday dinner at Fogo da Chao which was awesome and the Top Cow Holiday White Elephant Party was tons of fun. Shout outs to Matt, Marc, Jenn, Bridget, Ross, Johanna, Chaz, Josh, Alyssa, Michael, Sheldon, and my main man Dusty.

I was pretty tired when I got home so just a quick free flow sketch. No clue who this guy is, but there you go.

Daily Sketch #137

Painting in Progress

I started working on the painting for my mom of her dog, Toby (look back earlier in the blog entries for preliminary sketches). Here's a shot of it in progress.

Not too shabby. I think I may have laid down some of the darker colors too early, but cut me some slack I haven't painted in about 8 years. I think this will end up being a mixed media piece. Right now it's mostly acrylics.

D and I are off to LA until Tuesday for the Top Cow Christmas party. Woot! Looks like we picked the right weekend to go out of town, it's supposed to snow and be in the 30s all weekend here on the East Coast. In Cali it's going to be a comfy in the mid 60s. Right on.

Daily Sketch #136

Another Page in Progress Update

Here's another look at the page in progress. Going to take a break on working on this page for a little bit as I work up a piece for a Christmas gift. More to come soon.

Pretty happy with the guys' expressions in this panel.

Poor Ender (my cat) injured his front paw a couple of days ago and the trip to the vet yesterday was one of the saddest I've ever been present for. They had to clean it and bandage it which I think was akin to torture for my little guy. He ended up being very sad and pathetic for the rest of the day as he limped around like a busted up boxer with his paw in a bandage. This morning he managed to get the bandage off. He's much happier but it means having to soak his paw in a warm water bath a couple of times per day. Just what we needed before leaving for a long weekend trip to LA this weekend.

Daily Sketch #135

More Page Work

Here's another panel in progress from page 15 of "Dead Inspector".

The vain part of me was very amused to find an entry for my name on the Comic Book DB website.

Fast Food Nation made me happy that I don't ever eat fast food burgers anymore. And made me think twice about ordering a burger period.

Daily Sketch #133

Hoodie Guy

Just a quick warm up sketch of a guy wearing a hoodie. Somewhat inspired by watching "Superbad" again last night. Joe said I should have done some penis guy drawings like Seth did in the movie. But then again Mom reads the blog and what would she think...

Looking forward to getting the X-Box back today from the repair center. Woot!

Daily Sketch #133

Kii-aaa!


Jump spinning crescant kick, my friends. Watch out. This guy knows karate.
Just a quick warmup sketch for fun. Did some jump kicks in training last weekend and it inspired the drawing.


I've been re-reading Ex Machina Volume 1 by Brian K Vaughn (or BKV as he's now more frequently referred to) and Tony Harris. The first time I read it a couple years ago I wasn't that impressed. It was okay I thought, but nothing spectacular. I'm about half way through the first volume again and I gotta say, I may have been wrong. The first issue was a pretty spectacular setup by BKV and despite not really having any action the story moves along at a quick pace. And Tony's art is always exceptional. Maybe it's just that I've read Runaways and Dr Strange: The Oath recently, but BKV is quickly moving up my chart. I know, I'm only 3 years behind. But hey, better late than never. I guess I have to get Y: The Last Man next...


The X-Box 360 is returning home today from its trip to the doctor. Unfortunately I have a lunch meeting and I have no doubt that the UPS man will wait until I leave the house to attempt his delivery. He's crafty that way.

Daily Sketch #132

More Panel Work



Here's another couple of panels in progress from "Dead Inspector". I'd say these are about 75% complete. JC Vaughn, the writer, sent me the completed issue #1 script yesterday and it has a really fun cliffhanger ending. In the first issue we establish most of the major characters and set up the premise of the entire series. Assuming my art carries its weight, we should have a solid first issue to shop around soon.



D and I went back into the Tivo archives last night and watched the first episode of "Journeyman". We thought is was quite solid and entertaining. They've set up some cool concepts and characters. We'll keep watching a few more episodes (having Tivo'd the entire season) and see how it plays out.

Daily Sketch #131

A New Page Begun

Check out this panel of David from "Dead Inspector" at the scene of a recent crime in the most recent page of "DI" I'm working on. I like the expression and body language being conveyed here.

In other news, I saw the latest page from the "Forever Man" project last night drawn by Thomas Nachlik and it is scary good. I got giddy when I saw it. Giddy, people. Can I show it to you? No. I know, I'm a tease. But trust me, it's awesome.

Daily Sketch #130

Light Line Drawing


Using a very thin pen I did a quick head sketch with no real blacks laid into it. Just a fun warmup experiment. Not sure who this guy is to be honest.

I saw the "Namesake" last night and really enjoyed it. Kal Penn gave a solid performance but the real shining star in the movie was the woman who played his mother, Tabu, a Bollywood actress. Great movie about family, love, and discovering who you are. Also watched "Number 23" over the weekend which wasn't anything ground-breaking but certainly an entertaining Friday night thriller. Oh and we put up our Christmas decorations this weekend including our decorating the tree. The trouble twins (cats) proceeded to knock have the ornaments off this morning.