John Kricfalusi in Candy Cane Lane

So like most young cartoonist, John K and Ren and Stimpy were a HUGE influence to both my art, and my career aspirations. While I wasn't allowed to watch Ren and Stimpy as a tyke, I caught a re-run when I was 15 and my life was forever changed.

It was high time I did a portrait of the man, as a small and pathetic token of my gratitude.

This illustration is a reference to a story John K told on the commentary track for Sven Hoek. The story goes he had a freak out over the backgrounds in this episode, because he asked the background artists not to paint primary colors anymore and then he got yellow backgrounds. He then apparently shouted, "I'm tired of looking at Candy Cane Lane everyday."

Sketchbook Pages Ahoy!

I don't often share my sketchbooks with people, since my sketchbooks are also littered with personal diary entries and the art and chicken scratch is un-readable anyway. I tend to have a heavy hand and re-trace the same line a thousand and one times. BUT I recently invested in a bunch of different non-photo blue pencils and now my sketchbook pages are looking half-way decent! But you guys can be the judge of that.

I drew my pal Hannah during a class we both shared (and hated.) She's a super cool gal with a really fun to draw face and a lot of swag.

And I finally FINALLY saw "Road to El Dorado" after what...12 years? I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. It's not perfect by any means but, I love how pushed the facial expressions and body language were! And the comedic timing was down right Chuck Jonesy at times! I've always preferred humor in my animation over pleasant cuteness.

My only complaint is that it's upsetting to learn that Miguel and Tulio were originally written as a gay couple, who kissed and cuddled and had pet names for each other. And their relationship is supposed to provide context for a lot of the plot and drama that made it in the final cut. But of course, human sacrifice and strong implications of heterosexual sex are okay in a kids film, but two men calling each other "darling" is too much.

For Jay

So my good pal Jay (also known as Kik0theK1ller on Deviantart) drew these adorable and flattering drawings of me and my roommate, so I decided to flex my caricature muscle and do a little drawing for her.

She has an awesome Filbert tattoo. I am jealous of it. Haha!

Alpha Dogs!

   

An ABC Concept books for kids for an elective I'm taking at Pratt called "Kids Stuff." I went with a dog theme. For the class, we only had to work on the cover, and the letters A, B and C but I might just do the whole dang alphabet someday! This was so much fun!

Although I'm not sure what'd I do for the letters Q and Z...

It Was A Grave Yard Smash

Happy belated Halloween! I would have posted this earlier, but this is due for a class in a half an hour and I JUST finished it haha!

So yeah, for one of my assignments - I got to design the mother flippin' Monster Mash! 

The concept I was going for was old school monsters partying down with new school trick or treaters - wearing the current costume trends. 

Wonder Boy Cosplay

So, okay I know this isn't an illustration but it's my first serious cosplay! I made the costume myself (with some help from my mom and my awesome roommates Ilana and Mady) and I'm really proud of it. 

If ya can't tell who the heck I'm supposed to be, I'm Hank Venture as Wonder Boy from the Venture Brothers. 

I wore this at New York Comic Con this year. Not a lot of people could figure out who I was (I got a lot of "Rainbow Bright's" and "Gay Robins") But when people did know, they got excited...and I feel I should mention Doc and Jackson complimented me on it during the Q and A portion of "Let's All Smoking!" 

Some Dans Just Wanna Watch The World Burn

I love that Dan is a pint size arsonist. 

Dan Vs (c) The Hub, Dan Mandel and Chris Pearson