The Hazzardous Universe book series - Set for release in March

It's hard to believe the earliest sketches I drew for Hazzardous Universe are dated "1993".  That seems so long ago.  Two of the main characters, a pair of bumbling extra terrestrials, were conceived that year for a comic strip competition for my college's newspaper.  While other responsibilities kept me from completing the strip in time for the competition, the ideas stayed with me and grew over the years.  Now they will get their chance to shine.  This March, Hazzardous Universe, will be released.  It will be a four book series written by Julie Wright and inspired by the character art and short stories I created from 1993 to 1997.  Julie has crafted a wonderful story filled with imagination, adventure, and humor.  I have created 29 new illustrations for the book, as well as the cover art. Together, I think we have created something to be proud of and that we're sure you will enjoy.

We will be announcing the official release date and details for our launch party shortly. 

The latest . . .

One of the great things about teaching at DaVinci Academy is that I get two weeks off for Winter Break.  Normally I would spend that time trying to relax a bit, but not this year.  This year, I'm playing catch-up.  In late October, my wife and I traveled to China for two weeks to complete the adoption a little girl.  The adoption process has been a wonderful experience for us, but obviously, it requires great amounts of time and energy.  So, this week, I'm taking advantage of any free time to work on Julie Wright's and my book, Hazzardous Universe.  In fact, I've been drawing aliens and teenagers like a mad man with the hope and intention of completing the art by the end of the week.  The book is entering the final editing stage and is planned for release in March 2011.  It's exciting to see it take shape.  The cover art is complete and I'm working on 29 black & white interior illustrations.  I'll post a couple sneak peeks as soon as I can.

In the mean time, here's an illustration I did a little while back for Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.  It's for a story called "The Vicksburg Dead" by Jens Rushing. 

Playing with Abstraction

Here's a digital illustration I did a while back for Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.  As I drew it, I became very interested in vertical and horizontal lines and the shapes these created around the figures.  It became a sort of game in which I tried to create a realistic painting based on a more abstract composition.  Tonight I took it step further and quickly rendered the painting as a complete abstraction.  What do you think?

Isolation, revised

This is a digital painting I did several years ago for my friend, Darwin Garrison.  It's based on one of his short stories, entitled Kyrie's Gauntlet.  I happened to take a look at it the other day ended up tinkering with it in photoshop.  I made just a few minor changes.  In particular, I added a hint of green cloud forms behind Kyrie.  I think the complementary colors of the cloud and the red jumpsuit help create greater emphasis and energy.

Troubled Angel, Oil, 15"x30"

I snuck in a little painting time here and there between other projects and finally have this one close to a finish . . . or in other words, I better stop before I completely ruin it.  I've enjoyed working with black and white and examining the power of values.  I've also incorporated a lot of texture into this one, most of which isn't very evident in the photo.