DAILY WARM-UP SKETCH 2013

Awesome sketches, Joe!

I really love those hooked claws on the dinos. I've always liked claws like that for some reason, they're just cool, and look very solid and real despite the sketchiness.

Hunter, love the flaming skull! Kirby krackle always makes everything better!

Thanks Peter. I'll try to remember to do something even more clawier soon.

Hunter, very cool, is that for the anthology?

Today's theme for me was an homage to Howard the Duck, as seen on Marvel Treasury Edition #12, I ran across my box of Treasuries last night while cleaning. Dropped in my own Duck character, Quark from a funny animal strip I'm working on.

Joe Lee wrote:

Please do,

Feel free to join in, like i said above....

Joe Lee wrote:

I know it's not for everybody, but anyone else feels like joining in, feel free, you don't have to do it everyday.

And if you want a critique feel free and request one. But keep in mind these are supposedly rough/ warm-up sketches, I'm not sure how productive criticism will be in most cases.

But, if you have a more finished piece in need of more involved critique, why not give the piece it's own thread? That'll give you more breathing room for a fuller discussion, and you can go into greater depth of what you may be looking for in regards to the critique of the piece as well. Does that sound ok?

Yea I totally missed that in your 2nd post, haha.

As far as feedback goes, I explained what I was looking for in the other thread. I've got some ideas on how to expand a conversation..but we'll see if it's practical to implement them at this time.

Here is the one I did today. Most of the daily sketches I do are loose and fun, whatever pops into my mind at the time. Special shout out to the grande cappuccino that had me firing this out in twenty minutes.

From Monday:

Joe Lee wrote:

Thanks Peter. I'll try to remember to do something even more clawier soon.

Hunter, very cool, is that for the anthology?

Today's theme for me was an homage to Howard the Duck, as seen on Marvel Treasury Edition #12, I ran across my box of Treasuries last night while cleaning. Dropped in my own Duck character, Quark from a funny animal strip I'm working on.

I can't stop staring at this. Very cool space duck.

Hey man, those are some fuckin' cool ass dinosaurs.

Joe Lee wrote:

Hunter, very cool, is that for the anthology?

It could be!?

Speaking of which my day for sketching is up!

Let me get some coffee in me and I'll try and do this "Morning style!"

Now this....this one IS for the Anthology!

First initial concept sketch of Alvin for my Flaming Skull Sunday strip spoof.

This is what I wanted to do with the sketch originally...sorta

AAAAAALLLLLLVVIIINNNNN!! Like the chipmunk, y'know? Actually, he makes me think of a grim 'n gritty version of the very old Looney Tunes character Egghead, who was a precursor to Elmer Fudd. So he's definitely got some pedigree. If it's not giving away too much, Hunter, could you give some back story on him? The backlit leather jacket and pants should look good inked and I like the skull emblem with its one x'ed out socket.

and Guydc, your chick with horns is very cool! She has personality and gives the impression of a real person which, considering the horns, is a substantial accomplishment!

edquinby001 wrote:

AAAAAALLLLLLVVIIINNNNN!! Like the chipmunk, y'know? Actually, he makes me think of a grim 'n gritty version of the very old Looney Tunes character Egghead, who was a precursor to Elmer Fudd. So he's definitely got some pedigree. If it's not giving away too much, Hunter, could you give some back story on him? The backlit leather jacket and pants should look good inked and I like the skull emblem with its one x'ed out socket.

and Guydc, your chick with horns is very cool! She has personality and gives the impression of a real person which, considering the horns, is a substantial accomplishment!

Hey Ed, sure no problem.


This is Alvin formerly Malvin who's basically a more teen take of Calvin from Watterson's character.

The story if you recall from the super secret anthology thread was a parody of Hobbes going around making Faustian deals and one of the "victims" is a low-income kid who makes a deal and is transformed into a taller, parody of Calvin-GhostRider/Johnny Blaze hybrid.

This was just my initial sketch to get something down. I've been slammed so much at work/adjusting to snowy weather and settling down here in Illinois that I haven't done much drawing in several weeks. Esp. with the work schedule change. I have like zero friggin' energy! What the hell?!

I think I'd like to do something similar to what I did with the Luchadore and do a full on character conceptual sheet of this. So this character may go through changes!

I guess I'll need to do two. One for his younger/squatty self and one for twilighttween form too.

I literally though had to scribble the above sketch down on a post it inbetween the baby screaming at me and my young son pulling on me. They're taking turns kicking my ass on my day off!

I'm trying to see how much ink I have in the printer so I can print out some photos you sent me for reference so I can pin that up above my drawing table and remind myself that it needs to get done and done soon! Apologies old friend! Or Young-older Friend, haha.

Older is about right, I had forgotten that you gave a rundown on him in the anthology thread!
A Calvin/Johnny Blaze hybrid sounds great. The tiger may have got the blame, but I always
knew that boy had a little of the devil in him. Looking forward to more in between your juggling
a baby and diapers while your son kicks your ass, maybe Aubrey can video that? A U-tube
sensation!!!

Yesterday's sketch...

Today I was doing some rough ideas for some dragon tooth extraction tools, keep in mind they would all be roughly the size of a standard shovel or garden rake. I'm developing a whole bunch of dragonslayer tools for a larger series of book illustrations I'm working on.

Guydc3 wrote:

I can't stop staring at this. Very cool space duck.

Thanks man.

I was happy with how that turned out too, I think I'm going to make that one a finished color version.

JamesCarter wrote:

Hey man, those are some fuckin' cool ass dinosaurs.

edquinby001 wrote:

...and Guydc, your chick with horns is very cool! She has personality and gives the impression of a real person which, considering the horns, is a substantial accomplishment!

Seriously. I agree. Very real looking. Very distinctive. It looks like you had a live model sitting for you.

Wow, much coolness!

Guydc, Dr. Not and Horngirl both look awesome!

Joe, Space Duck and Space hamster both make me laugh just looking at them. Very excellent characters!

Hunter, love that Malvin character!

That dragon tooth puller is awesome. I bet if you built a real one you could sell it for a lot of money.

JamesCarter wrote:

That dragon tooth puller is awesome. I bet if you built a real one you could sell it for a lot of money.

Ha its funny you should say that, I started building a few already today. Mostly out of scrap wood and not real size. It was getting hard to visualize the things. I'll post some pics Monday. I have some other tools i want to build too. I'm doing a whole two page spread of the interior of a Dragonslayer'sworkshop, and a few other illustrations might need some tools as props as well, and i wanted them to be consitent with each other.

I don't care if they would really work or not, i just want them to look like the might work, or work as well as any other old tools.

Are you still researching and referencing are are you actually on the strips themselves yet?

Peter Urkowitz wrote:

Joe, Space Duck and Space hamster both make me laugh just looking at them.

Thanks, I've been working on the project for a long time. I'm working on vehicles now. Watching a lot of Flash Gordon serials.

Joe Lee wrote:

I don't care if they would really work or not, i just want them to look like the might work, or work as well as any other old tools.

They look like they could really work to me, and I've got some pretty old tools laying around the shop.