Europan, Front Cover

Last post of the year!  Here's the cover for Europan.

Europan, Page 24

The final page of Europan!  Even though this is a somewhat downer of a story, I really like it!  I hope you've liked it also!

I've got a few more projects in the works, and I'm vacillating between them...but as soon as I make good progress in one, I'll start posting again!  Later!

Europan, Page 23

I like that shot of Europa against a backdrop of the storms of Jupiter.

Europan, Page 22

Can not return.

Europan, Page 21

I'll admit, this is a tragic turn of events...but, you know, that's not necessarily a bad thing...right?

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Blub blub blub blub...

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Oh no!  All the air is leaking!

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Draaamaaa!!!

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Uh oh...these aliens don't seem to be playing nice!

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ALIEEEN LIIIFE!

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I had to skip posting last Friday because I was spending Thanksgiving with my grandma, but here we go again with one of the lines I really in this comic...I like the idea of the cracks in the ice being some sort of message written by gravity!

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Like a pair of torpedoes, the two explorers rush into unknown territory.  On.  The alien.  Sea.  Floor.

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Deep under Europan ice...spooky to think about if you ask me!

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In yo' face!

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I'm actually really proud of myself for just going ahead and doing the infrared image on this page.  I like the way it compliments this part of the poem!

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The mission to explore the subcrustal ocean begins by getting under the ice...DUH!

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Gearing up for a trip under Europan ice!

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The briefing room.  Get under the ice and into the red zone...where no one has gone before!

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In which a Europan lander touches down on an icy surface.

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The evolution of life of Earth...PERFECTLY captured...

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Primordial ooze up in huuur.

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By Jove!  Words on comics!

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...aaaaaand LIFT OFF!

Europan, Page 2

Maybe it's a bit dramatic...but, hey, cavefolk to astrofolk.  The story of humanity, amiright?

Europan, Page 1

Well, here we go again!  Another project!  While I'm getting the animals-in-space card game ready for purchase, I've decided to participate in a contest called The Future Powered by Fiction.  I've only got two weeks to pull it all together, but I've made some good progress, and I think I'll have a chance in the comic book section.  Hey, who knows?  We'll see!

Animallum: Animal Abduction

WOOHOO! Got the first printing of what will from here on out be referred to as Orbital / Primeval's new card game Animal Abduction! Check out those decks, yo! I've got some higher-quality pics of the what the game looks like when in play comin' vury vury syoon!

Animallum: Alien Civ (The Goss Cloud) and Earth

WHEW!  Game = DONE!  Everything went off to the printer yesterday, and I should get the first copy in the mail in about two weeks.  After I play test it with some friends, I'll order some in bulk and make them available to order online.

These are two more card back designs for alien and Earth resources.  Each of these have a little bit more in the way of symbols on them in the final versions that show what types of resources you can trade for what in order to rescue the Earth animals.

I'm EXCIIITEEED!!!

Animallum: Alien Planets (Bokem, Trima Selvet)

Movin' forward with this card game, yo!  Here're the back designs of two of the decks for alien resources.  The reddish moon I've calling Bokem, and the planet orbiting three stars I've been referring to as Trima Selvet...though, I don't think their names will be referred to in the game.

Animallum: Earth Animals (Even-Toed / Hoofed)

Here they are!  The last bunch!  This group of even-toed ungulates made me really happy for some reason...I think the Bongo (number three above) has made it onto my favorite animal list!  From here on out, as far as the card game goes, I've just got to finish designs for both sides of the playing cards, then it'll go off to get prototyped!  Final stretch, now!

1.  Moschus moschiferus
2.  Rusa alfredi
3.  Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci
4.  Antilope cervicapra

Animallum: Earth Animals (Marbled)

Group number nine:  Animals with marbled patterns on their bodies.

1.  Urolophus cruciatus

2.  Neofelis nebulosa

3.  Atelopus certus

4.  Vormela peregusna

Animallum: Earth Animals (Mutated)

This collection of animal blokes happen to all have mutations typical (as infrequent as they are) for their species:


1.  Crocodylus siamensis (Albino)
2.  Ovis aries (Six-Legged)
3.  Micrurus tener (Two-Headed)
4.  Chaerilus celebensis (Two-Tailed)

Animallum: Earth Animals (Cool Pants)

I know what it looks like...it looks like I ran out of animal categories.  Cool pants?  Cool pants!  These are animals with cool pants!  I actually really liked the idea of making this category...I mean, you know, they're animals...and they have cool pants...

...ugh...

1.  Kiwa hirsuta
2.  Ailuropoda melanoleuca
3.  Anisocelis flavolineata
4.  Okapia johnstoni

Animallum: Earth Animals (Red Faced???)

So, um, I drew a category of animals who are forever blushing:

1.  Sagittarius serpentarius
2.  Cacajao calvus
3.  Agama agama
4.  Trosia fallax

Animallum: Earth Animals (Hemophagous)

Well, I'm at least halfway there with the animal groups for this card game!  I haven't decided if I'm going to do eight or ten groups, but I'm kind of leaning towards eight.  With three more groups, I could be finished with the major art for the game, except for the images on the cards' backs.  Got any ideas for animal categories?  Maybe I'll use one!

This batch of blood suckers consists of the following:

1.  Geotria australis
2.  Calyptra thalictri
3.  Diaemus youngi
4.  Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis

Animallum: Earth Animals (Troglobytes)

More animals!  This group-o-four's defining characteristic is their propensity for cave dwelling.  From left to right:

1.  Orthriophis taeniurus ridleyi
2.  Eurycea rathbuni
3.  Satan eurystomus
4.  Cambarus zophonastes

How I Found My Footing

Today is the 5-year anniversary of my wife and I getting married, and so I've been doing a bit a reflection, which led me to writing this blog entry.  I was looking through some of my old art, and I decided that it would be cool to share it online!

I've been doodling my whole life, but it was a concentrated two-year effort that actually led to me finding an art style in which I could be productive on the scale and quality that I desired.

2009-2010:  Pen, Ink, and Watercolors

These pieces are typical of me 3-4 years ago.  I would use a fountain pen with indian ink to create an image, and then I would color it with watercolor paints.  I was very pleased with how these turned out, but, using this method, I took way too long to complete an image.  I needed to find a better, more efficient method to express my ideas.  On the way, I also created these fan images from some of my favorite games:

 The Legend of Zelda:  Link's Awakening

 Super Mario Bros 3:  Piranha Plants with Mario Power-Ups

2010-2011:  Trying Pixel Art on for Size

Considering that I had in mind to do big projects, I went from fully traditional art using a fountain pen and watercolors to another end of the spectrum, pixel art, thinking it would be fun and fast.  I was wrongish.

  NES Controller Stuff

 Green Soda, Feather, Toxic Sword, Saturn

 Betelgeuse, Gear Icon, Lenses into Gypsum Dunes

 Platypus, Tamandua

Pixels turned out to, indeed, be fun, but the constraints of it prevented me from getting across the ideas that I wanted.  I ended up just making a bunch of icons of things I liked or that I thought represented my ideals.  I also tried to see if using a ballpoint pen instead of a fountain pen could make we work faster traditionally.  THAT turned out to be a huge leap forward for me.  I also started to play around with some narratives that I had floating around in my head:

Monks (Andrus Doru, Mutho, and Za)

(This story may yet see light under the Orbital / Primeval project)

 Fishman

(The world this little guy comes form will most definitely see light under the Orbital / Primeval project)

Ball Point Pen and Water-Color:

 Fishman

 Evil Sea Birds, Alligator Wolf

 Fishmen

 Parasaur Priest, Evil Red Sorceress

2011-Present:  Sharpies + Digital Color

I REALLY enjoyed making the characters you see above, but it still irked me how long it took to color with watercolors.  Then I made my last leap forward with these pieces...

 Moonipede

 Saturn

 Dog Flying Through Space

...and these two that I've already posted (together with alternate color jobs):

 Lightning Dogs

 Minotwahs

You can see that I started to experiment with brighter, more shocking colors now that coloring took so little time.  This directly led to me beginning the Lightning Dog comic, and, the rest is history!  I was finally creating content at a high enough quality that I thought it looked cool, but it was also speedy enough for me to start completing projects.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my journey to what I'm making now!