From the Archives: Totem Mitosis

An older piece from a time when I was more focused on Totemic work.  I still work with totems, but it is no longer the body of my consciousness exploration.

{Sharpie}

From the Archives: Janus Tornado

More Janus imagery and more tornado imagery. This piece is drawn in a style that I used for many years prior to my introduction to Photoshop.  It was kind of somewhere between Francis Bacon and H.R. Giger.

Recommended Listening:
Cocteau Twins
Hitherto
The Pink Opaque

{Sharpie}

Weekly Mandala: Black and White Trio

These three mandalas are all centered on the internal, the discovery within.  In the first mandala, Furtex, we discover a small bit of knotwork at the center of this flowering vortex of fur. The mandala also seems to be taking place in pool of shimmering light.


In the second mandala, States of Weather, we are drawn into an isolated personality and sucked inside the whirling moods of this enigmatic figure.  Four ghostly hands pull back the cloaking fur to reveal The figure, shielded from its exterior world.  The figure seems satisfied to be completely absorbed only in its personal circulations.

In the third mandala, Machina, we uncover the machinery beneath it all. Far beneath snow and mountainous rock, we find the gears of creation whirling the world into existence.  These three mandalas all came from the same source material. Initially, they all had a very light coloration to them, but once they began to move towards completion, I chose to desaturate them completely.

Recommended Listening:
Ginormous
At Night, Under Artificial Light
At Night, Under Artificial Light

{Digital Images manipulated in Photoshop}

Update: The Great Stone

This is a reworking of an older piece.  The original was mostly just a sketch in an attempt to capture the idea as quickly as possible.  This is more finished than the other, but now that I'm looking at, I'm wondering what kind of painting it would make...or a sculpture.  LOL!  Ah the meanderings of art.  I suspect that a painting would take on a radically different style.  I would also add color.  Hmmm....there may be another post of this in future.

{Digital Images manipulated in Photoshop}

Interior Life From The Archives: The Old Blue Man

This is another from the Interior Life set.  I immediately saw this one bathed in blue.  Actually I kind of imagined him as the comet version of Ego the Living Planet from Marvel Comics.  A big blue head melting in the rays of the sun.  I'm going to have to color this one and update later.  I may recreate it using Photoshop because I need to SEE those blue flames / clouds.  My beard may be long enough soon to use as reference as well!

{Pen & Ink}

Update 012714:

Over at Zombie Bites, this piece was presented in Exhumed and reinvestigated with color in January of 2014.  Check out the Exhumed image here.

From the Archives: Tiger Me

The year I created this, the Tiger had begun appearing as totem for me.  In an attempt to understand this energy, I incorporated it into my artwork.  This is an example.

I had a strange dream at the time of a Tiger leaping and each of its leaps were a dramatic change in my life.  The last leap involved leaping into another man's yard where the Tiger turned into a tabby cat.  I had the impression that he was my lover.  Which was odd at the time as I was single.

The Tiger is generally a solitary animal and they hunt silently.  One of many totems telling me to keep my big mouth shut.  LOL.  The others are Owl and Leopard.  Also not the only totem to tell me to work in darkness.  I wasn't aware previously of their fondness for water....seeing them swimming is a strange and wonderful thing.

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

John Buscema Zippotone

Here is a Zippotone study over John Buscema's pencils/inks
from as issue of Conan the Barbarian.
All apologies to Mr. Buscema and Marvel.
Btw...they own the copyright so this is just me fooling around.
I love Zippotone...and you hardly ever zee it anymore in comics,
but it creates a strange energy in the images where it used effectively.
This is NOT necessarily one of those times.
Don't know who owns the copyright on this one,
I'm guessing Marvel. 
{Digital images manipulated in Adobe Photoshop.}

Manhunter Zippotone

trying on some Halftones
to an older image to see how they fit. :-)
DC Comics owns the Copyright to this Character. 

{Pen & Ink Image scanned and manipulated with Adobe Photoshop.}

UPDATE 010513:

A color version of this image was used to celebrate the second anniversary of Wind of the Gods.  At Zombie Bites, this piece was presented in Exhumed at part of my investigation into the coloring process for comics.  Check out the Exhumed image here.  Also, here are the links to the Pencilled and Inked versions of this image.

The Ghost

I don't have many words for this one. It was difficult to draw. {Graphite, White Prismacolour on grey drawing paper} 

Creature

Troll? Wight? Zombie? 30 Days of Night Vampire? You decide. {Graphite} 

Mighty Oak

A study for the HerosForge character MightyOak. {graphite} 

Character Study

a character study. {sharpie} 

Heat

Why I don't have laser vision. {graphite} 

Manhunter Inked

Inks on the Manhunter.  DC Comics owns the Copyright. 

{Pen & Ink}

This image with Zippotone applied can be seen here.

Manhunter Pencilled

One of DC's Manhunters. I have a strange fondness for "Big Red Robots".  The Manhunters Copyright belongs to DC Comics.

{Graphite on very bad paper}

The inked version of this image can be seen here.

Shaman Inked

Shaman Inked. Marvel owns character copyright. {Pen & Ink} 

Shaman Pencilled

Shaman is one of my all-time favorite characters. Please forgive the Raven's wings...I knew not what I did at the time... Marvel owns the Copyright for Shaman.  


{Graphite on Bristol}

Sasquatch Inked.

Fully Inked. Marvel owns the Copyright for this character.  {Pen & Ink} 

Sasquatch Pencilled

I had decided I wanted to explore the members of Alpha Flight. Here's My second. I scanned the Pencils this time!!! :-)  As Before Marvel owns this copyright.  I just like drawing their characters!  


{Graphite on Bristol}

Snowbird

Regrettably I inked this before I got the pencils scanned. Ahhhh Hindsight.
Copyright belongs to Marvel btw...


{Pen and Ink}