The Legend of Heartbreak

It's been a while since I've provided an update (sorry, been out of the country). Zelda, one of the all-time greatest games. I spent soooo many days discovering, re-playing and battling throughout my life with this little guy. I did some quick ink and acrylic paintings and had a lot of success with Link last year at Wizard World, so I did a watercolor of this guy at this past Wizard World and that sucker went quick! I loved how it turned out so much that I wanted to spend some time and make him look all digitally nice and purty. Here she is (rather, he)!!! (And yes, he is available as a print) Thanks!!

How 'bout a free book?

Hellllllo folks! Whenever I pour myself some drinkable tap water, I often forget that this is a luxury to at least 50% of the world's population. So last year I wrote and illustrated a book aimed at raising money and awareness for this cause. The book was developed over the course of a year and I had a bunch of help from co-workers and friends in the editing process. I had no idea what I was doing as it was my first foray into book writing and illustration, which is something a want to get more into now that I co-own my design studio.

ANYWAYS, I just made the book available as a free download over at my blog devoted to the book. Check it out here or click the image below. Some actual books (Paper. I know, old school) are still available for purchase. Please spread the word to as many people as you can. Thank friends!!

Want your life to be a comic book (cover)?

Hello folks! I've strangely, but awesomely recently received a couple of commissions to turn their friends'/family members' life into a comic book cover based on some of my cover art I've done in the past. Like the ones below:

As strange as it was, it's actually not that strange at all. Sometimes it's hard to get someone that "perfect" gift. If they're at all nerdy, it's something they'd love because it's about them but it'll also be from someone they love. I'd want to put this person in their ideal super hero/adventure/nerdy world, so I'd love to know as much as I could about the person such as:

• Name of the person  and/or nicknames
• Passions, hobbies
• Favorite memory this person has
• Favorite movies, comic book characters, toys, etc

It can be a story from any moment in this person's life - growing up, school pals, today or the future (new job, off to college or graduation, military, etc) or as plain as JOE the FARTING HUSBAND (but keep it on the fun/happy/loving side). I'll take in all of the information I can and cherry pick the best ideas that tell the best story. Below is the latest example about a friend's car back in their school days (the friend isn't "the Beast").

So if you're looking to have your or someone you know's life turned into a cover, go ahead and shoot me an email (check my profile section) and I can send you more details. The current rate is $300 per cover and I usually get them done in about 1-2 weeks. Due to my existing everyday work load, I can only take on a few at a time. Thanks folks!!!

Lose a Few Tons

Hey friends!!

I've got a new design over at Threadless up for voting!! I wanted to capture a serious dilemma facing our monsters of today. Humans are high in saturated fat so monsters are recommended to decimate 2-3 cities a month along with the daily stroll. This will keep the veins and arteries open and less prone to clogging as well as build a healthy cardio foundation.

If ye like my design, please go vote for it here: http://www.threadless.com/submission/460023/Lose_a_few_tons. If you don't like it, pretend you do and tell your friends to vote for it.

Thanks all!! Hope you're having an awesome day!!

Introducing M'lady

Hey folks! As you may or may not know, all of the stuff on here is basically personal projects or commissions, but during the day I run a design studio with my wife. Since we are manning our studio booth together at Comic Con and we're meeting SOOOO many awesome people who will be visiting this blog, I wanted to share her blog with you. Check her out here. Enjoy!!

Let them have their cheese

So m'lady and I put our heads together recently and we developed this new Threadless tee. She just blurted out the phrase and I said, "Heck yes. Must be a tee!". So I set aside a little time to whip up what you see below. If you like it, please vote for it (here) and/or share it with your friends via the button below the post. Thanks!! (Back to printing for Comic Con!!)

If ye be a true playa, then your hands best be in the a-ya.

I used to be a hardcore hiphop fan. To the point it was the only stuff I listened to (nowadays I've expanded my musical genres). Even more to the point I dabbled in the music making myself. I wasn't any good. If I was, this blog would be "The music of Mud!" instead of my doodles. Anyways, my hardcore phase started in the early 90s so my discman was playing a lot of Wu-Tang, Snoop, Warren G, Bone Thugs, Tupac, Nas and of course, plenty of Biggie. So when I saw the good folks over at 10 Paces and Draw were doing a Biggie/Pac mixtape challenge, I HAD to get on board. I've done some Pac illustrations but those are lost somewhere, so I wanted to do Biggie (though I might still do Pac because I like how Big turned out).

I had fun exploring more of a charicature direction when I did Spiderman many posts back (here), so I wanted to try the same approach with Biggie. The inspiration, set by 10P&D, was Big Poppa. If you watch the video, there's a strong red tone to the video so I used that as the background. Here is the finished piece in all of its glory. Hope you enjoy!

How bout some 'stache?

Hello folks!

As we're gearing up for Comic Con (Wizard World) which is later this week, I took some time out to post some older graphics I did for tees that I didn't end up using. I loved them too much to see them go to waste, so now they're available as prints over at Society6. Check them out and go ahead and buy one if you super loves it! If you want a smaller 8.5 x 11 signed print, you can always buy them through the site here. Thanks and enjoy!

New Shirt: The Sequel

Hello folks! Guess what?! Got another tee printed over at Threadless!!! OH yeah! Check it out here:

I'm going to work up a printable version for Society 6. It'll be up soon I hope! UBER thanks to all who voted and supported the uni-cause. Talk soon friends!!

Double Post!!

Even more majestic than a double rainbow is the double post! It's been a while since the last post (busyness at the business). Time for some sweet updating! I've met the iPad goal!! Thanks to all who purchased prints or commissions! Seriously, there's a star on the walk of fame in my heart with your names on it. You don't need to share, you each get one. BUT I'm not done, let the commissions continue! So here's the latest commission that helped get me to the goal.

Huge thanks to Brian who is an awesome comic book nerd and a pleasure to work with. Great guy who had nothing but awesome things to say.

Here's the original. You'll notice I took some liberties with color and such. I was excited to play with the pink and purple tones on this guy. I love how it turned out.

I did say double post. Well another project that helped reach the goal was actually based on an old piece I did. Super awesome dad, Dennis, wanted something special for his son and he is a creative guy and came up with the idea of a lightbox. Check out the final piece recently installed (it even changes color)!

Well, all that's left to say is we're waiting for a lull in workload so we can think about what we can do for the Chicago Comic Con this year (coming up in August). If you'll be in the area, drop on by! Have a most awesome day! Feel free to shoot me a message if you are interested in a commission of your own. It doesn't need to be a comic cover, almost anything you can think of. ALMOST. Click here for details.