ONE WEEK DOWN!

DESIGNED for MARCH!

Yep, this evening will mark the end of the first seven days in this 2013 tribute 

to his MASTERFUL MENTAL MAGNITUDE, 

MODOK!  

The MMM blog is always a treat for me because I get to see lots of cool tribute art, in the name of MODOK.   Now, I know some people would call it fan art.  But, in spite of the fact that the images are often made by fans of the subject matter.   Something about the way the term "fan art" rolls off the tongue hasn't ever sat well with me.  So, I call it tribute art because artists devote love, time, and talent to things that are drawing, composing, and rendering.

For This particular image  I tried to render a M.O.D.O.K. with more mood lighting and less of my usual slant towards super bright colors.  I kinda like how it came out.  The sketch on the left was done with a brush pen (which I've since LOST), and the following color treatments happened in Photoshop.

I know I've said this before, and I sound like a broken record.
But, DO NOT HESITATE.  DRAW SOME MODOK!  SEND IT ON IN!
I'd love to celebrate MMM 2013 with anyone who's up for having fun and making an image based on an awesomely weird comic book character.

Keep on MINDBLASTING!
Hope you dig,

P

Bear Cave Bear...

This bear, lives in a cave. as many bears tend to do.  His electric bills have been particularly pesky of late so, he's had to find a way to work around some rolling blackouts.  He asks that if you plan to visit him that you bring along a six of beer, soda, some ice, and maybe some bratwurst.

He's also a fan of lawn darts and bocce if you got that laying around.

Hope you dig,
P

One foot in front of the other.

He'd found a map in the Parlor. The tattered paper told the story of many long dusty years in hiding.

So, I've been through the ringer here a bit of late.  But, Drawing seems to be the thing that keeps me at a most even keel, So I draw.  This little image makes me smile and I kinda needed to smile today.  I drew it in photoshop (where I've been dabbling more lately with whole images from start to finish.  Need to work out more locations in my drawings, think about setting a stage within the image.

This seemed like a good one to share and like I'd stated.  It made me smile.

Hope you dig,
P

MARCH MODOK MADNESS 2013!

So I referenced a little Carl Sagan quote to kick off my MODOK endeavors of this new year.  I actually have a bunch of images that I'm gonna try to knock out for the festivities as well.

But, I also kind of appreciate that I'll probably have to back burner a few for next year.
As always You can see the magic over at MARCH MODOK MADNESS.

Tell your Friends, Family, that Cute Secretary down on the fifth floor.  It doesn't matter!  There is a little MODOK inside us all and it's WONDERFUL.

Hope you dig.
P

I like old Video Games.

    Many times when I sketch or have a long project I'll either listen to music.  Or, I'll hop onto Youtube and find an old video game (be it a playthrough/walkthrough (or whatever you call it) because I find the music can be very good, and you don't always need to play the game to kinda enjoy the sounds of game play.

    Recently I watched a old NES play through while I happen to have my big Photoshop file open (It's a large workspace I keep open for mucking about with process/sketches/color experimentation) and I fiddled this out based on a cut scene... Something about Ninja Gaiden and its cinematic style of storytelling between game play has always stuck with me.  Hard game, memorable music, really nice graphics in the cinematics.

Hope you dig.
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Eat Your Art Out 6!

I'll have some work on display tonight, out on the west coast in sunny L.A.

This will be my second year showing with the Angel City Derby Girls, and the theme for this year was Creature Feature at the Drive-In.  The subject has made for some fun artwork based on what I've seen thus far. 

Personally, I struggled a bit to figure out what I wanted to do for the show.  A lot of back and forth with varied Ideas and executions.  When all was said and done I opted to draw a blob sort of character.  Perhaps I'll attach some of my other sketch ideas in the coming weeks. 
Come to think of it, I might just haul off and make some of the other art ideas I had for this show just to practice some new techniques.  Practice is a good thing right?

"Maybe We Could Talk to the Projectionist?"
Pen, Marker, Pencil on Vellum 2013.

So if you find yourself looking for something to do in L.A. tonight go check out the show.
See info at the AngelCity Derby Girls Site.
 

Hope you dig.
P

NoisyROBOT

He hopped around on his metal feet, while passing down a quiet street.
The buildings all echoed, while his vocal cords rang.
"CLING, CLANG, CLANG-A-DANG!"

Another fun time robot drawing, with some quickie Photoshop treatment, to keep myself loose.  Lately my plan for doing digital color has been changing a bit..  I try to spend more time knocking out quick compositions and focusing on color selection verses a lot of time spent rendering.

I'm rather happy with the outcome, right now.  It lets me incorporation a simple pen drawing I've done with some digital stuff.  Simply and effective.

Hope you dig,
P

ENCHANTED BOTTLE!

I seem to draw lots of cartoon figures lately, and they're often running somewhere.

It's not really a bear, or a beer for that matter.  But, this little fella is chasing after some liquid refreshment.  I imagine that come Friday night I'll probably do the same.

Hope you dig,
P

It's a Mouse.

"I just wanted to know if you have a snack for me."

Here be a little rodent.  I sure do like mice.
Hope you dig,

P

Flowpacity

Hey All,

It's been a smaller delay this time while I sorted out some gallery work and began to ramp up to the March Modok Madness for 2013.  I've still been drawing a fair amount too, just sluggish to post much of anything up.  To rectify that I'm gonna post up these studies I painted in photoshop. 

Yep, I've become closer and more cordial with Photoshop in the past few years.  There was a time when I wouldn't have dared to render something from scratch (mainly because I like the feel of having some manner of hand drawn or scanned element to play with) for fear that it would look too rigid, and awful.  The passage of time however, has called on me to do Photoshop paints that were quick and pretty... So, I adapted.

Probably the biggest epiphanies came from that first set of Ryan Church paint demos I saw.  Granted he was painting in Painter (not Photoshop) but, his approach to the process was revolutionary for me to look at and implement.  From then on I watched (and rewatched) samples of Seiler, Chiu, Bluhm, Zhu, and countless others just looking at how people paint and digitally.  Picking up habits that worked along the way, and trying new things.

Both of these lines were made with the same brush, using Black.

However, It wasn't until about a week ago that I'd read an online tutorial about resetting the FLOW of a brush as opposed to changing its OPACITY.  I'd always dinked around with opacity settings knew the hot keys right off the top of my head.  But, something new clicked in my brain this time.  I found a new way of approaching my work in photoshop.  By monkeying with the flow settings now I feel like the paints are more lively, flexible and I've had fun incorporating it into my workflow.

• So manage those layers while trying to keep them at a minimum.
• You CAN do a whole lot with that basic round brush.
• It's much easier on your eyes to interface with a workspace that is midtone.
• Check your values, and remember that you can always add color later.

Will shoot to share more soon!

Hope you dig,
P

Finley Ferrumfanny...

Here is a friendly little rusted out ROBOT pal I sketched... He was drawn with markers and some pen and I tinkered with him in the photoshops..   The stuff he's saying has no meaning,  but when I drew him I imagined he was just saying Hello in his native robot language...

Other then that, I'm still sketching. Working with the newly acquired Copic maker set I'm putting together.  Putting together a showpiece and cooking korean food a the moment.
Just trying to keep busy.

Hope you dig.
P

Little Marker Studies.

I've been doing some more playing about with markers of late.  Making a small set of COPIC markers that I can work with in the coming weeks and months..  I've been doing these small little characters to practice blending and color mixing so that maybe Everything I post on the blog isn't just me working in PHOTOSHOP.  I'm also trying to familiarize myself with the limited palette that I'm trying to set up.

My favorite scribble here is the whacky looking wolf.  And the strange dude in the pink pants.

Hope you dig.
P

Hello, like before....

Hey everyone,


Sorry I've been away for a bit but I'd rather not dwell on it too much.  Had a good long with family and friends back home and am readjusting to life here in the big bad city.  Right now I want to see about getting back into a steady regiment of sharing stuff here with you all...

I may not have been POSTING, but at no point did I stop drawing.  I've even picked up markers again recently and am trying to have fun with those too.  Getting some new photoshop chops as well.

Don't believe me?  Behold a scurrilous stack of scribble-dy scrawl and select strange sketches.

The photo is a few months old... So, the heap is a bit bigger now, and I look forward to sharing it with you all in the coming months.

For now though I'll go get some sleep seeing as how I'm not feeling very well today.
Take it easy everyone, and best wishes on 2013..

I hope you dig,
P

Rock'n Billy

I liked where this sketch started out so I slapped a color treatment on it and even a snazzy circular crop job... With some DITHER!...

Just havin' fun.
Hope you dig,

P

P.S.: Here's the lines without the colorin'!

The Gravity of Things...

Here's a scribble of Isaac Newton from a Few months back...
Just never wrapped it up, before today.
With summer drawing to a close, the last few months seem like they're finally being internalized and dealt with. Mind you I've been drawing bunches, but without the same zeal for posting as I'd once had... I'll definitely get back to posting here in the coming months... Making a mini challenge of hitting One Thousand posts before years end..

But, even as I do this I'm thinking there should be something more. I've kicked around the idea of doing books and more shows for a while... Possibly getting into more published illustrative based work.

Lots for me to consider...
But, more then anything these days I feel the need to choose a course... and take it...

Hope you dig,
P

Just plain weird...

YEP!!
It's a strange bubblegum pink colored rabbit creature...

Hope you dig,
P

Ugly Fish...

Truth is... some of them can be mighty tasty. And they know it..

Hope you dig..
P

BLUH WHALE!...

This emerged on a page of of brown craft paper a while back... the photoshop is really minimal.. I actually fiddled some colored pencils in with the inks on the here Blue Whale. Stay cool everyone...

Hope you dig.
P

HOORAY for the D.I.A!!

So, after much tension yesterday. I learned that the millage for the Detroit Institute of Arts has PASSED! The door of that fine museum will continue to be open to the public... I couldn't be happier or more eager to get back home so I can do some drawings there...

A quick thank you to my friends in Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne County. Who got out and voted to keep this Historic Landmark alive within the City of DETROIT.

Hope you dig,
P

THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS...

There is a vote going on today to keep the Museum open.. The though of it closing is really hard for me to handle. Made an image to reflect what I'm feeling right now..

P

There's a BEAR!

Yeah I need to get offa' my butt again here... I've been drawing, Sure.
Just need to post some more of it here, yah know. Get my artwork seen by someone other then just myself. Been a while since I'd drawn a bear so here's one.

P

Time to get Cooking.

Hey all,

Just a quick hello from the ol' Beers an' Bears because I've been a bit aloof of late with posting. It certainly has been on the warm side lately and that generally tends to keep me off the computer. Instead I favor of a cold drink and a sketchpad by the nearest fan or shady tree in weather like this. Beyond that the humidity and heat make me pretty sleepy, Which brings me to the art of this post...

On Monday, I awoke from a fitful evening of sleep to face the work week. Normally, my phone will sound the morning wake-up call (and following snooze alarms) to wrest me from my bed.... But I hadn't heard it. So, I got up. Upon getting dressed, I realized that I didn't have my phone. After a brief search it materialized underneath my bed. I figured I must have knocked it onto the floor, it does happen sometimes.

More interesting than finding my phone on the floor was finding that I'd received a text from my friend Brendan in Rhode Island earlier that same morning. The text simply read,

"I think you need to draw Walter White before Sunday on the blog."

So I did.
Later that day I scrounged a bit of ref and got down to a bit o' digital painting. I'm a fan of Breaking Bad and have actually painted Walt a few times before (three times I think) and figured I'd have another go at Mr. Cranston's MUG. On the whole I dig how the image came out... I tried to keep the paint rough and limit my brushes down to one or two. In the end I had to keep things simpler for the sake of time. So, the composition got truncated and I incorporated some Blue Meth. I might try to do a series of images like this...It was fun.

I'll see about compiling some of the work in progress here for the next post on the ol' blog. But, that might be a few days. For now I wanna wish everyone visiting the blog a safe and happy summer, and hope that you'll all enjoy the Season Premiere of Breaking Bad this Sunday evening.

Hope you dig...
P

Bear with a Beer...

Sorry I've been away for so long... I have been drawing and paying the bills here so that I have food and electricity along with the rent required for my domicile... HOWEVER, I was SHOCKED when I realized that I've neglected drawing bears lately, and I also am having a beer at the moment... So I bring this quickie lil' bear with booze image...

Hope you dig..
P

FISH AN' CHIPS!

When I was but a lad, my folks would make the occasional Friday night into a fish and chips outing... This usually meant a casual automobile trip downtown to either Fergie's or Milroy's... Both of them where good for a nice bit of fried fish and some chips...
Sadly, I'm probably not getting fish and chips with my folks tonight... Instead I'll post up this little Golem scribble... Eating a fish so juicy sweet..

Bit of pen sketching, some color pencil fiddle faddle, and a pinch of photochop.

Hope you dig,
P

BREAKING NEWS!!! I had an additional GOLEM to share...
Hope you dig...

ICE Explorer!...

I liked this sketch enough to visit it again with my little traveling bag of colored pencils... Then hit it with a small dose of photochop to spice things up a bit... Overall I like the outcome..

Hope you dig,
P

MR.OINK

I drew a grumpy downtrodden pig...

"As the years passed Mr. Oink began walking with a cane, he also became increasingly cranky... Most of the other animals avoided him from there on out... For reasons even beyond the fact that Mr. Oink no longer bothered wearing pants."

Hope you dig,
P

SOJU Hooskerdoo...

Last Friday night,
I had a conversation about the wonders of drinking in South Korea...
Soju (the sweet potato based Korean Vodka) can be a very clean buzz. At times IT IS deceptively strong, leaving it difficult to tell when you've had too much. Regardless I love the stuff and find it well worth drinking, plus it blends well with lots of stuff...

Also all this talk of Drinking socially was worth a funny drawing of this drunk fella tripping on a bottle.. I'm guessing he lost his shirt somewhere between his fifth and sixth bottle.

Hope you dig,
P

SAD ROBOT...

Yeah, it's been another one of those days... Needed to sketch to get out of my funk.

I was listening to some smooth tunes from a friends band (TEN MINUTE TURNS) and this robot kinda came into being... Clearly he cannot plug his trusty toaster since his R. ARM fell off...

ON top of ALL that his ROBOT guts fell out for no good reason... Sorry Mr. ROBOT...

Hope tomorrow turns out a bit better,
P

ROOSTAH'

Here is a recent scribble of a Rooster. I'm gonna get back into some more regular posts here now that I'm getting through some of my summer family events and obligations... I'll be sure to share some more images soon.

Hope you dig,
P

Little Brown Bear and a Little Brown Jug..

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Feel Rotten about it, and sadly I'll be busy for the next few days which will further impede my posts....
HOWEVER!, I assure you that I"VE BEEN SKETCHING OODLES ..and I mean..OODLES OF STUFF and I'm hoping to share it soon... NO JOKE... For right now though I'll put this out there. "Yeah, it's kinda straightforward here.. This bear likes a good drink." But, I love drawing bears..

Hope you dig,
P

FrankenToot...

Just another Monster with a Trumpet...or maybe its a bugle...

Hope you dig,
P

Slick lookin' fella..

I dug it, and figured you might too.. He sorta made me think of Jerry Reed while I was coloring it up... I kinda like how the Shapely Letter "E" showed up in his hair while I was sketching. Fun stuff...

Hope you dig,
P

Cats can CRITICAL HIT!

I drew a cartoon cat shooting dice... I figured he could be gambling.. But It's far more likely that he's rolling initiative to do battle with some goblins in a treasure laden dungeon... Happy Friday all!

Hope you dig,
P

Steve studies SKULLS

I was doing some Skull drawings last week before I got sucked into a nightmarish flu/fever/viral thing... Which wound up putting me out for the end of that week, and now I'm nursing a cough. In spite of the cough, I did manage to Check out AVENGERS last night and was blown away by it... Can't really say there was anything I didn't enjoy about the story and characters.... I ASSEMBLED!!

Sadly, no superhero's here in this post (I'll try to draw some more soon) just a cartoon skeleton with a cartoon dude that talks about anatomy...

I hope you dig,
P

SKELETAL SCIENCE!

I drew some skulls last week when I wasn't being hounded by the creeping viral bug that I managed to catch. I've not had a fever in some time. forgot how much it can take out of you and just how shitty you feel while having the "chills"

I'm feeling better now, still managing a bit of a cough and some chest congestion but looking forward to getting back to work.
Hope you dig.
P

Running Critter...

Not sure what kind of critter it is but, I liked this itty doodle from a recent sketch page...
Lemme know what you think.

As always I hope you dig,
P

GOGOPedro's 100 Hand SLAP!

Hey all, I recently got together with a few friends to do more art STUDIES. Began, with a focus on hands, because they're notoriously tricky to draw and often overlooked in art studies..
I found myself working from a book I've not looked a in a few years"The Book of a Hundred Hands" By George B. Bridgman.
It's a beautiful little book with plenty of descriptive hand drawings, along with the breakdown of structures within the hand, fingers, and the thumb. I looked at his drawings for inspiration, and also found myself redrawing hands multiple times to get a feeling for it as well as trying to work with line and some tone on a halftone sheet to study volume. Wanted to bust out some white pencil highlights in these image... Sadly, I ran out of time... I hope to be doing more of this in the future. I'd really like to build up my visual library and become a better artist all around.

Hope you dig,
P

Graphic Hair...

I've always kinda been interested in hair... IN Particular, how it can be drawn and stylized. Not to mention the challenge of painting its texture and subdued tonal shifts in more realistic images... I mean there are a lot of Red hairs in my beard which make for a rather odd contrast to the rest of the thinning hair on my noggin.. Which is going gray, and leaves me with an awesome salt and pepper effect for the time being.

Hope you dig this dude with a tough looking pompadour...
P

Frazzled Nerves

Lots on my mind lately.
My brain has a way of getting worked up, it always has.

Sorta nervous, kinda like this little guy.
Hope yah dig,

P

Running right along

Lately,I've been forcing my way back into a regular regimen of running and working out... Having to spend most of my day in a chair in front of a monitor has been taking its toll on me... So I'm gonna fight back now... I hope it won't hamper my posting too much.. Please keep checking in.. Much more artwork to show!. Feedback (as always) is most appreciated.

Hope you all dig,
P

MR. MANGY CAT...

It's another stunning portrait of myself, that I figured would be good for the blog... This time I'm a mangy looking alley feline... I've actually been seeing lots of cats lately when I go out for my late night run around Queens. Figured I'd share this and others. But I honestly can't find my additional cat, to save my life right now... I'm guessing i'll need to tidy up a bit...

Hope you dig..
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RAWK!!!

Here's a rocking rolling dude with a sweet dragon tattoo. The tattoo wasn't originally part of the drawing I just kinda added it in real quick over the blemish that I'd inked over on the paper. Sorta wished I'd had the foresight to draw in some cool tattoo stuff. But, that must have escaped my mind a few months back.. Now it's just a little fun character designs..

I'd like to imagine he's singing a power Ballad about TROGDOR: The BURNINATOR!!!

Hope you DIG,
P

Sea Worthy...

I've got a few quick sketches from the ol' pad of paper here.. I continue to be doing lots of drawings of silly faces, and then figured that I would draw some little cartoon boats also. I've also been thinking about ED EMBERLY's drawing books a lot lately... They were a big part of my youth and I always enjoyed the step by step process to draw stuff with his really graphic style.

I hope you dig um,
P

A little RED GHOST...

Sorry I've been away. It's never something I plan for..

Things have been popping up in the last few weeks to keep me from posting.
I find myself trying to get back into shape by way of regular exercise and its leaves me kinda worn out here lately. It seems that with only a few additional years of age my body has become less compliant with my demands on it. Beyond that I'm getting ready for some family stuff this summer, and dealing with my usual personal struggles. Since I'm not sure I'll be able to do any kind of focused May Marvel (MAYVEL) type tribute images I'm gonna post up this little RED GHOST doodle from a few weeks back. When I scribbled him I think I had a bit of Dr. WILY in mind but this is what came out in the end...

I dig it, hope you do too.

P