Selina

Took a little time to draw for myself the other day. After Darwyn Cooke initially redesigned Selina Kyle, I was really bummed to see the more classical take on the Catwoman costume go; however, the new look has really grown on me over time.

DOGS!

These are unused character designs for a freelance project I'm working on. Haven't had much occasion to draw dogs in a while so it was a really fun exercise to study some and try to get comfortable with it.

O-Sensei and NOT RUSSELL from Up

Here is a character inspired by Aikido O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, and the other a character based on my chubby asian self. From a storyboard I'm doing about a potentially disastrous Aikido demonstration from my childhood.

Done in Storyboard Pro on a Cintiq.

Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica (and Batman).

Time for my annual post. Sigh. Done on cintiq, my new best friend. Battlestar Galactica's Bill Adama and the Batman respectively.

Batman Fight Studies

Bot of the Apolocalypse

So the newest line of Futurama toys from Toynami came out recently and they look great! Since I have a tiny bit of extra time on my hands these days, I decided to sacrifice a Mezco Hellboy figure and customize the Toynami Bender to resemble my very own HellBender! I know that there are those of you who have mentioned upon seeing this that "my fanboy geekiness knows no bounds..." to that I say, thank you.

Futurama Hellboy/BPRD FCBD

So I emailed Guy Davis, one of my favorite artists, a few months back about buying some of his artwork. When Guy saw this piece I did of the Futurama crew as Star Wars characters, he offered me some of his beautiful artwork in exchange for a similar piece featuring the Hellboy/BPRD crew. Well lucky for me, Guy liked the piece I did for him enough to show it to his editor Scott Allie at Dark Horse, who in turn contacted me about coloring the piece and printing it in the Free Comic Book Day issue of Hellboy! I was on cloud nine about being in a book with the likes of Mike Mignola, Guy Davis, John Arcudi, Duncan Fegredo and Joshua Dysart. Thanks to all of these gentlemen for letting me be apart of this great book!

Little Girls

Random character designs searching for the star of one of my shorts. Sadly none of these little girls made the cut.

Many Drawings.

So I recently felt the urge to do a few pages that were completely full of drawings. Completely. Here are a couple of those, plus some other random sketches. The Japanese looking ones are studies for my new short.

Fun With Joker

Had a little insomnia last night, but at least it produced these little drawings.

My Bride.

So on a glorious Monday night of listening to music and drawing each other, I drew this sketch of Dawn. I believe we were listening to the new Killers album which has a great new version of "Romeo and Juliet" originally recorded by Dire Straits.

MARRIED!

So I got married recently. The wedding was a dream come true to say the least. Here is the wedding cake topper that I sculpted and my wife painted.

Simpsons Movie

Here's my favorite scene I worked on as Character Layout Artist (animator) on the Simpsons Movie. Since its been out for a while, I can finally show some of my stuff.

Star Wars Futurama

A Christmas gift for my buddy Kyle.

More from the Sketchbook

Another long period between posts. BIIG suprise huh? To update anyone interested, I'm currently on Futurama doing character layout and having a great time. These drawings are from my recent sketchbook. Please enjoy.

Come Fly With Me

So I've had two reasons I haven't been able to post much. One is that the Simpsons Feature is in crunch time and I can't post any art from that because of NDA's, and the other is that I've secretly been animating a film to propose to my fiancee Dawn. I got it to play in a local movie theater after a screening of TMNT. With our friends and family in the back row, I proposed to Dawn, she said yes, and now Dave am happiest man on earth. Here it is complete with crappy compression, for your viewing pleasure.

Note, YOUTUBE wont let me post the video with the music I had chosen (John Williams' Flying Theme to Superman) so you'll have to imagine it :(

Huntington Library

In probably what has been the longest period of time in between posts, I managed a few drawings outside of work. I'll start off with just one that I did at the Huntington Library, and soon as I scan in my other doodles (mostly cafe sketches and the like) I'll post them. The Huntington Library is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, and everywhere you look, there are things that beg to be drawn. What's more, the gardens are so beautifully designed that it seems like you never have to look very hard to find perfect compositions. This is one I like to call my "Bento Box."

Sketchdump

And here are a few new images from my latest sketchbook. Can you tell I like drawing Hellboy?

Sketchcrawl

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 11 was the first that I attended, and it was an awesome experience. For those who don't know about WWSC, several times throughout the year, a sketchcrawl is announced and people all over the world meet with local artists in their towns and spend a whole day walking and sketching, and subsequently post their results. Check out www.sketchcrawl.com for more. Here is a smattering of what I did that day. I met SO many talented artists and we all walked around drawing people and places from Old Town Pasadena until it got too dark and cold to do more.

Eve Painted

So I started painting Eve with more traditional warm spring colors, but it just bored me to look at. I thought in keeping with the snake theme I'd have the feel of the piece be more ominous by using the compliments of all the normal colors I'd normally use. Adam is next.

Eve.

Forgive me Blogger for I have sinned. It's been 2 months since my last post, and in penance I present to you, my tiny viewing audience the subject of my next painting. "Eve" (presented here in its current pencilled-work-in-progress form).

I can only offer my apologies to anyone who has actually been checking this blog and not finding updates, and also to share the news of my good fortune: that I've finally "broken in" to the animation industry, as a Character Layout Artist (animator) on The Simpsons Movie (coming summer 2007). I will do my best to continue to post, and I hope you all like what you see.

ARTPAD! UPDATED!

Oh man is this program addictive. http://artpad.art.com is a program that records your strokes as you draw, so you can watch and send videos of yourself drawing and painting.

Here are a couple of links to mine:

Superman: http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j1g39z1kfo4g

Lobster Johnson: http://artpad.art.com/?j1go7q5kens

X-men Gag: http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j1iimzkqhgg

Hellboy: http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j1igw312y2m4

Iron Giant: http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j1ihalgsbms

Mr. Incredible vs. Superman: http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j1igdm4lvu4

Rogues Gallery: http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?j1iedjkpqg8

(If the links don't work by clicking, please copy and paste into your browser.
Everyone should do this and post your links because you can't search on the site for one anothers! Just imagine how much we could learn by watching our favorite artists sketch on this program!

-Dave.

Sketches

I was organizing some files for my upcoming website, and I thought I'd give a sneak preview (as if you guys care) of the sketchbook section from www.artofau.com.

Poses

I know it's been waaay too long since my last post, and for the few of you who actually look at this blog with any regularity, I apologize for that. Here are the latest images from a job I can't officially talk about, but I like the poses anyway.

Pinocchio

Here's a frame out of my storyboard test for Dreamworks, in which Pinocchio is trying to convince Gingie to help him with a scheme.

Barbarians!!!!

Here are 2 ruffs of alternate characters I'm designing for a client's T-shirt company. He wanted a barbarian (kinda dopey looking) clutching a mace in one hand and a bible in the other in a Jamie Hewlett (with a hint of Frank Frazetta) style. That was a mouthful.

Lucha Battle

Here is a look at the second Luchador I did as a commission (as well as the first). Why is one wearing the symbol of the cross? Well I don't think I'm contractually able to say just yet, but you guys can just use your wonderful imaginations. My client requested a Steve Silver-esque (www.silvertoons.com) design style, so please let me know if I came close.

Luchador 1

This is one of two Luchadors I'm designing for a T-shirt company. More on that as it progresses.

Master Sam-kutu

This is a Jedi character design I did after seeing some tribal masks at a shop in Santa Monica. I figure he's a very old and wise Jedi, with a very rich echo-ey voice like an ancient earth god.

Colossus

Every once in a while I'll allow myself to draw a superhero for dessert. Colossus is fun to draw because I have to try to balance chrome light logic with muscle man anatomy. Anybody ever see the old X-men cartoon "Pride of the X-men"? It's one of my absolute favs. "It's alright leetle one, Colossus like rain!"

My Valentine

You know, nothing says "classy" like taking your Valentine's date to a restaurant where you can draw with crayons on the paper table cloth (Macaroni Grill). I did this drawing inspired by my lovely girlfriend Dawn. It's not a great likeness, but I like the design of the piece. Is it an addiction when you can't even stop drawing when you're out on a hot date?

YMCA Kid

Sketch I did inspired by one of the kids I teach at the YMCA. Thing I like about the drawing is that it is done from memory with no reference, and yet bears a striking resemblence to the subject. I wish I could post a photo to show the likeness, but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to take pictures of my students at the Y.

Final Spring Wind

Well, I haven't posted in a while, and I realized I never put up the Spring Wind final, so here it is.

Witchblade for Fun!

Hi guys, just like the subject line says, here's a painting I did of Witchblade for fun. My best friend gave me the generous gift of a new Wacom Graphire (FINALLY I HAVE PRESSURE SENSITIVITY!), and I had to break it in. -Dave

Christmas with Dumbledore

This is a Christmas present I did for my friend Albert. He loves Harry Potter, and he digs Mignola so I whipped this up for him. I heavily nicked Fawkes from an image Mignola did of an eagle on the back of one of the Hellboy trades, and it's all very referenced from Mignola's work but I still like it.