Anyhow, I do apologize for not having any updates to share over the last few months. Truth be told I would have loved to post in my blog here but time wouldn’t allow for it. With the coming of 2010 I will put forth an effort to post more often even if the updates are short and sweet. I appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to visit my site and the last thing I want to do is neglect you for it. Please allow me a moment to fill you in on what you’ve missed since last October.

2009 Wrap-Up

• I snagged a killer illustration job from Bob Hazlett over at One Half Amazing. You see, Bob had this genius idea to take his existing resume and transform it into a comic book and after I showed him just how BAM! POW! SHAZZAM! awesome I was he was sold! Have a look at the finished product.
• In addition to using the artwork I created to make a comic book style resume Bob also went the extra mile to create his own iPhone App (also featuring my illustrations). I don’t know about the rest of you but I think this is totally rad. Check it out! (Note: You’ll need iTunes installed to open this link)
• In late November I started a new full-time job as a Web Designer for a company out in Golden Colorado. Upon my arrival on my first day of work I found that my training manual for this position featured He-Man & The Masters of the Universe. Needless to say I was thoroughly amused!
• In December I snagged a couple web design projects of my own and a couple of illustrations to boot! Things are going to get fairly busy around here very soon!
• Last but not least I finally decided on a writer for my upcoming webcomic. MissDoomCookie and I will be working diligently over the next four months in hopes of having our creative collaboration ready for the public by April 1st 2010! .

That said I’ll close this long overdue post with an image of one of the characters I recently designed for the project. This is merely a first draft and subject to change but here he is nonetheless.

Archibald Blacktusk (of the Derbyshire Blacktusks)

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the way this image is coming together. I’ll be submitting this progress report to the real Mr. Lazzaro this evening to see if there are any glaring issues he would like to address before I move forward and begin applying color. As of the other day I had his wife’s seal of approval so hopefully that will remain intact after their review!

Looking forward I now have two new web projects to begin brainstorming for in the coming weeks. The first is for a wedding, while the second is for a rather “hush hush” game related community website. We’re still bottom of the 1st inning here so anything goes at this point but hopefully both of these projects will pan out nicely and I’ll have a couple of completed web projects to add to my web design gallery in the very near future.

Last but not least, I made a series of updates yesterday for my visitors using Internet Explorer. Things should look slightly less wonky now and you should actually have the ability to send me messages via the contact form now. So hey, while we’re on that topic why not pop over and drop me a message now. Alternatively you can leave me a comment right here! I’d love to hear from my viewers! In the meantime, have a pleasant weekend wherever you may be. I’ll see you monday.

When asked how he wanted to be portrayed in this image Chris was unsure. He and I share the gene responsible for an insatiable thirst for knowledge which can make it hard to commit to one archetype. People with this gene are rarely satisfied with knowing how to do one type of job or skill and instead constantly find themselves in the student role as they continue to learn and grow. Chris, however, has been fortunate enough to be gifted with a natural affinity for teaching as well. I can vouch for this having taken his Introduction to VB.NET 2005 course at Drury University back in 2005. He is a skilled craftsman, master programmer, and analytical problem solver coupled with a light-hearted inner gamer, outdoorsman, husband, and good friend. With that in mind, I decided to take on his online avatar request with broad sweeping strokes by focusing most of my energy on finding a pose that communicated the core of who he is while using a few simple props to illustrate the individual parts of the whole person. Some of these props are already visible: The laptop computer, the stack of books, the crude circle on top of the books which will eventually become an apple (the fruit of knowledge). With more detail I’ll be able to hint at other aspects of his character as well. Perhaps a logo on the lid of his laptop, or his t-shirt for one of his favorite online games? Maybe I’ll add the key-chord for his sea-doo on top of the books as well and a wedding ring will most certainly be needed.

Well there you have it friends, my first art project update here on the new site. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. As a side note to any IE users viewing the site: I am aware that there are a few CSS issues with IE currently. I will strive to have these fixed this week. Thank you for your patience!