Most recent image, this taken from a photo I found online (I got permission to post this from the photographer). I like the idea of pairing Digby (the fox) with quirky transport. I already have some other ones in mind. Cars are hard to draw but totally worth the effort as there's a familiarity and solidity to them that I think resonates with people. Or I'm just making this up. Ink, Illustrator.

Nothing big, just an icon I was asked to make to represent myself for an online project. While I'm waiting for Apple to get back to me and verify my iTunes account for selling, I'm sitting on the finished Tamino comic. I'm itching to finally make it available to folks. I really should be looking into the horrors of formatting the comic for the Kindle, but I haven't felt like it yet. Was going to do it for the Nook but with the recent announcements, why bother? Man, as usual, B+N seems to be handling their Nook publicity pretty badly. Case in point? My mom, who knows little about these things and therefore represents a good deal of the population said to me tonight, "So, Barnes and Noble is dropping that Nook, huh?" Sigh. It probably will mean something like that soon, but if that's what people think there is going to be a huge amount of returns at work. And we won't be able to sell one to save our lives. Hope I don't get stuck at the digital counter...

This is TOTALLY just some fluff, a blatantly commercial piece. And really, I did it just to experiment with the monkey's facial expressions. He's a rare character of mine in that he's not inherently grumpy or dour (see: Lucco, Guz, Tamino, Harlon, Ricci, et. al.). He'd fit in with Crawford well enough but might even be TOO friendly and happy for the crow. Dunno. Cromwell would like him well enough. I should definitely have a break from the, shall we say, 'less happy' stuff and do something a little more enjoyable and, likely, more commercial. I'm getting to the point where if I don't make some kind of money from my work, it will be too late. And it's fun. I know I'm doing this whole thing backwards, having started off making far more abstract art, heavy, metaphorical comics and am now aiming at something more shallow, bright and colorful but there you are. There are likely even some who are disappointed that I am moving away from the 'less difficult.' There's no saying I won't go back to it. For right now, this stuff is fun. And that's really all there is to it.

Another monkey. Dunno where he's going to fit eventually but he's fun to draw. Makes me want to draw all crazy like. That tail just begs to be given things to do. And again, I'm working well outside my usual color palette which is a very good thing. I don't like ruts.

Drew a couple of monkeys today. Monkeys are cool. I might do more of this one as that tail is just too fun to draw. Does he have a purpose? Nope. Just more distraction. Carry on...

Here's the finished Crawford and Cromwell story. The anthology I was making it for was sadly canceled. I had a LOT of fun making this and think it has some of my best work in it over all. Made a lot of characters for it, tried to keep things very lively and full of as much action as I could. There are little hidden bits just for me as I like, including a cameo by characters from Tamino and Fite. I even managed to get some females in there, something I'm still not good at drawing. While I'm sorry this didn't see print, I have no regrets as making it was a really good exercise and learning experience. Short work shouldn't be overlooked, at least by me. It allows me to do things and experiment without having to go out of control.

Just a quick pencil sketch done while waiting for dinner last night. Wanted to do something much less slick and smooth than the rabbits.

And Armand completes the set.

Inevitable that I'd redo this redo. Well, now it's out of the way and can go along with the others. Eventually I'll have to do the actual comic. Yah. Should look into that...

And so yes, I felt the need to do Benny in this style. Well, the idea of Delve Deep was to be a more commercial project so why not try the characters all out in this more commercial style. So there.

Had a long day and not much time left when I got home, so I threw together one more of these. It's a far more commercial style than I was working in. No real comment other than I think it looks slick. I will say that drawing anything again feels good so it was worth it just for that.

A couple of quickies from tonight as I was feeling like I hadn't done enough today. A much more commercial try at the rabbits. Just some throw aways but something to get out of my system as well. Just to see what this would look like, that kind of thing.

I haven't drawn much lately, and that bugs me, partially because, during this time, it didn't really bug me. Been putting a lot of work into getting Tamino ready for the iTunes book store. Having gone through it again and again, I think it's probably the most autobiographical thing I've done, and that includes comparing it to the Bio comic. I don't mean that it's factually -me- but that the feel, the thought process of characters and just the overall -ness of it is about as me as I think I can express in my art. I also don't think that this would ever be apparent to anyone but me. Anyway, all I have left to do with it is to purchase its ISBN and submit it to iTunes. Then there will be links and ads and stuff in hopes people might buy it and read it. Til then, there's this.