All My Friends Are Dead

... at least all my 65 million year old ones.

Ever since I can remember, I've always loved dinosaurs. There's just something amazing about these great creatures that once ruled our world; creatures we still know so little about. You can tell a child there are no monsters hiding in their closets and under beds, but you'd be lying if you said that they never existed. And that's what's so amazing:

Dinosaurs were REAL.

I mean, think about it: creatures as tall as a five story building, eight inch long teeth and a ferocious appetite, faster and stronger than most present day land animals! The world was a very different and wild place.

I spent last saturday in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, sketching and studying bone structure for a solid five hours. Several people would come up and compliment or ask me about my work. I met a lot of people from all over the globe, and it was awesome to share my love of dinosaurs and art with them publicly.

The memories of my first visit to the museum when I was about six years old are still quite vivid. I couldn't quite read an entire book yet, but I could say "Pachycephalosaurus" without blinking an eye. Like every kid, I was absoluetly blown away by the size of these monsters I had only previously seen in illustrations.

Before my family and I left the museum that day I remember stopping at the gift shop. I was allowed to get one item, but somehow I ended up walking out with three things: a Carnegie Collection Allosaurus and Stegosaurus toy; and a giant, landscape-print Dinosaur Encylopedia. What attracted me to the book were the illustrations from the amazing paleoartists Gregory S. Paul, Doug Henderson, Eleanor M. Kish, and Brian Fraczak. I owe a lot to that book for giving me the inspiration to draw dinosaurs. To this day, Allosaurus and Stegosaurus are still my most favorite dinosaurs, and I still own the now tattered and coverless encylopedia.

Check back soon, more dinosaur sketches on the way!

Anthony and the Dinosaurs

This series is supposed to be a personal narrative. Since I didn't have access to my baby pictures or a time machine I had my little brother stand in for me. I have a few more image ideas I'd like to try if I come back to this story again. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

College Paper Illustrations

Been working as Illustration Editor for my college paper about a year now. Keeps me on my toes and practice for freelancing. Here are some of my favorites that were featured in The Leader, as well as a few comics from The Lampoon.

The Illustrated Odyssey

Hey everyone! So I've been really busy these past few weeks and here's one of the reasons why: been working on an illustrated series for class. We were asked to create three images from our own imagination on a written work (such as a poem, book, or song). I chose to do my favorite epic poem, Homer's "Odyssey."


















I started with dozens of thumbnails and character sketches. I knew I wanted to have a common theme throughout the series. Since the role of women in The Odyssey is quite apparent, I thought I'd do a series on the women Odysseus encounters on his journey home. This idea changed over the development process and I ended up doing the three most memorable scenes: Odysseus' years with the sea nymph Calypso; the fiasco on Cyclops Island; and Odysseus reuniting with his wife Penelope.



I first sketched each image on cold-press poster board. I scanned these images into the computer and did a few color tests to see what worked best. Then I began painting with watercolors on the poster board sketches. I know this process is not the best. I plan on using a projector or perhaps tracing paper on my next project-- this way I can avoid horrific mistakes that might be irreversible to the original sketch.

After painting I scanned each image into the computer and touched it up using Photoshop. I also added frames I had designed and painted for each image and touched these up as well. And voila!






















Here we see Odysseus after surviving the demise of his ship and crew by the sea. Originally in the text it was Zeus who struck the boat with his lightning. I decided to substitute Zeus for Poseidon, who would later pummel Odysseus before he reached his home. Odysseus is awed by the beauty of Calypso, the seductive sea nymph, whom he will be held hostage by for the next seven years.






















My most favorite part of Homer's poem: Odysseus and his crew escaping the clutches of the cyclops Polyphemus. After the hungry host became drunk, Odysseus gouged out the monster's only eye using a fashioned spear. The crew then escaped Polyphemus' clutches by hiding under his sheep.






















This last image is of Odysseus and his wife Penelope, reunited after so many years apart. The slain bodies of the treacherous suitors turn the floors of Odysseus' home red with blood. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and Odysseus' guardian, reclines in the window shining her blessings upon the couple.

More Illustrations

Here are some more illustrations from school. This first color image was made using watercolors, india ink, and prismacolor markers on cold-press poster board. This image was made to express extreme perspective-- I haven't come up with a title for it yet (any ideas would be appreciated!).






















These last two images were both made using ink on hot-press poster board. The one of the giant robot was a similar project to the "Clinophobia" image, where we were given a phrase and asked to create an illustration from it (in this case, "He thundered into the room"). I drew my inspiration from a lot of old monster movie posters.






















This last image is my illustrated version of the Kookaburra song. These monkeys were pretty fun to draw and I love how clean the india ink puts down on the poster board.

Some Old Stuff

Hey everyone! So I finally got around to creating a blog and putting up some of my art work! I thought I'd first put up some of my personal favorites. These are all done using Corel Painter X. I hope you all enjoy!