Fundamental misunderstanding of cow anatomy

So apparently when I was about 5 and was visiting my uncles dairy farm in Wisconsin, I drew him a picture to commemorate the trip.  Wow.  Now either 5 year old me had a fundamental misunderstanding of cow anatomy, or my dear uncle John was raising mutant, serpent like cows with never ending udders.  Hey, its real easy to blame the artist here.  I'm just saying lets keep an open mind.  

I especially like that my uncle took the time to label what was what.  I would have never guessed that was a "back of cow".

Rooting for the home team - Rough sketch examples

Here's a couple more illustrations for this Kansas City project. If there's one thing KC has in spades, its passion for our teams.  I shouldn't phrase it like that.  There's certainly more than one thing we have. Did I ever mention we have Tacos In A Tub? Tacos. In a tub. That's right. SO let me start over.  

PROMINENT in the long list of awesome things about Kansas City (including tubs full of tacos) is our passion for our sports teams. We have some of the best fans in the country - be it football, baseball, soccer, or college basketball - people here can't get enough. And they're good fans too. Go to a Chiefs game wearing a Raiders jersey and you'll still get offered brats, beer and ribs in the parking lot.  Then again if you're a Raiders fan you might want to keep an eye on that Brat during its journey from the grill to your hand.  Just saying I can't speak for everyone.

The point of this sketch was to put the emphasis on the excitement and experience of the crowd more so then the teams.  I love our major teams, but I swear you could go to a chess tournament or a curling match in this town and still find people tailgating in the parking lot and lovingly yelling expletives inside.  Its an awesome place to be a fan and we're always ready to root for the home team.

City of Fountains

So what is the best fountain to capture the spirit of this "City of Fountains?"  Is it the epic, classical JC Nichols fountain so often seen in file footage used by the local news?  Or is it a more modest and personable fountain? Perhaps something you pass on your walk to work where you can stop and eat a sandwich?  Maybe it's that fountain the kids can play in without getting yelled at?....while you eat a sandwich. I guess in the end I just wanted to sketch a place for some lady to eat a sandwich.

Kansas City BBQ and the Meat Sweats

Kansas City is famous for its BBQ which is often associated with a sweet, spicy sauce. For me its associated with the meat sweats.  What are the meat sweats you ask?  Well, the meat sweats are a phenomena  experienced when one consumes way too much meat.  Its not a typical sweat like you'd have on a hot day after running a few miles.  Oh no.  Its a clammy, gross, strange protest of the body.   Meat sweats are like an indication of my primal instincts gone wrong.  If I lived ten thousand years ago and successfully hunted a wooly mammoth, I'd think, "I'm going to eat as much as I can because who knows when the next successful hunt will be!"  Well my barely evolved brain still thinks that way despite the fact that I don't have to don a loin cloth and have badass atlatl skills in order to assure my next dose of protein.  So now when I get that strange  perspiration of gluttony, I remind myself that I don't need to eat the whole animal and  Its okay to take a break and eat some celery.  Now where's the ranch dressing?

Next time: Ranch Dressing Seizures

I really should have used this space to talk about the awesomeness of KC BBQ instead of my perspiration issues.  Ah well.

Here is a rough sketch of a Kansas City BBQ scene based on the atmosphere of the American Royal BBQ Competition.

KC Jazz rough sketches and a music ramble

Here are a few rough sketch examples for an illustration on Kansas City jazz.  This too is for the aforementioned mystery project about KC. 

I'll admit it. I've always loved Jazz. Not the shirt shopping muzak or 80s saxophone make-out tunes people associate the word with.  I'm talking old school jazz like the works of Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus and of course KC's own Charlie Parker. When I first was exposed to that kind of music my brain thought "Yes...of course". I feel the same way about the Blues, but it also has a modern day image crisis. Seriously. Go type blues into Pandora and prepare yourself to hear a thousand soulless viagra commercial theme songs for every "Hell yes, thats it" song that strikes a chord. But almost always that one song is worth it.

Anyways I shouldn't sound so judgy. What do I know? Well actually I do know one thing: I played an instrument just long enough (ironically, in a heavy metal band) to know that getting together with some buddies, finding a groove and locking in a crappy song is better than passively listening to a great song any day. So all you people making elevator jazz and things-are-just-fine blues, keep on keepin' on cause its awesome that you're doing it, and I'm sure its just what someone needs! There, I've said my piece. Now back to making art that a kid could draw.

The Town of Kansas...and Westport

Here are some sketched ideas for the first illustration of a new mystery project.  OooOOo a mystery! I will say this - its about Kansas City!  I'm having a blast with it and learning a lot about the area.  And when I say I'm learning a lot its not code for "I reluctantly did boatloads of mind numbing research".  Honestly I'm having a hard time putting down  the books and keeping myself from taking too many "research" road trips around town.

One thing I've begun to unravel is the relationship Westport had with Kansas City.  I just figured settlers got off their horses two centuries ago and said "Here we shall make thy bar district!  Jebediah! Thou quaffs ale like a Puritan!"  Not so!  Turns out it was a small town where people would set off on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.  It was a Port to the West.  Which makes sense because it always baffled me why a town five miles from the river would have "port" in the name.

Well.  It kind of turned out to be a river port too.  There was a nice rock landing on the Missouri 5 miles north of Westport.  It was nicer and less prone to becoming a muddy nightmare then the popular landing in Independence, and since it was further west it would shave off overland time for settlers making the wagon journey across the country. So a road was cleared from Westport  to the rock landing. (That road pretty much ran the path of modern day Broadway.)  Well, that landing got to be pretty popular and a town company was formed to purchase and develop the area around it. Hence the Town of Kansas was formed, having narrowly escaped being called Rabbitville, Possom Trot, or Fondas something or another. It grew up quickly and Voila!  BBQ and Jazz!  Okay there was a lot in between but its late and I need sleep. 

A family staging in Westport for the journey...well...west.

Early pioneers in a keelboat approach the small settlement of Kawsmouth

Meh

Dinosaurs! Again!

Here's how the dino art for wall stickers ended up.  They're all loosely based on actual dinosaurs.  Well, all except the sauropod which is based on my idea of a brontosaurus which wasn't an actual dinosaur.  I seem to recall it was a misnomer for the apatosaurus.  Anyways in my universe the Brontosaurus is alive and well!  AND Pluto is a planet (don't get me started on that one).  Its just weird the way we label things.  A good example:  The other day I was with my 3 year old at the store. While waiting in the check-out line he picked up one of those styrofoam, lacquer coated decorative pumpkins and said "Dad! Ball!"  I said,"Evan, thats not a ball, you know what that is. Can you tell me what that is?"  He looked at me with a devious grin and drop kicked the pumpkin.  As it went sailing across the aisle he looked back at me and said "Ball."   

Anyways I want to do more dinosaurs.  I almost wish this was just a warm up, but I gotta move on to the next thing.

These wall stickers will be available at MyRoomRevolution.com .  Just use the links to go to the Amazon or Etsy stores. My wall sticker sets are pretty easy to identify. There are many to choose from in addition to the great sets made by the guys at My Room Revolution.

T-Rex

Brontosaurus!  Okay fine, apatosaurus.  Happy?

Ankylosaurus. My whole life I've pronounced this dinosaur as AN KLEO SAURUS, but its AN KIE LOW SAURUS. Which makes sense cause thats how its spelled!  Makes me think how a lot of people pronounce library as "Libary".  But then again there's words like Wednesday and Favre where we all agree that we'd rather pronounce as if the letters were in a different order!  Hmm I seem to be on a tangent...

Stegosaurus 

Hadrosaur 

Raptor

Triceratops.  Still the best ceratopsian.

All together

Dinosaur sketchy underpainting thingy

Here's what I'm working on now - some dinosaurs that will be made into wall stickers.  I'm getting caught up  to make way for a couple big projects that are on deck.  One begins tomorrow.  In fact I should stop writing this post that 3 people will read and get out to the studio stat!

Ladybugs for stickers

Here's a baker's dozen ladybugs that will be made into wall stickers.

Here's how the original rough looked.  I made this on a previously painted panel partly because I thought it would look cool and partly because I'm out of new panels.  

Sketch to color composition to final art

Here's an image sequence showing the progress of an illustration from b/w sketch to color composition to final art.  If you look close you can see that some things were changed along the way, which is why taking these steps can be really useful.

My Brain At Work

Here's a snapshot of how my brain sometimes works. This is a real series of thoughts I had while walking and talking.

Blechh

Another quick painting from the other nights session with a buddy.  I call it "Blechh" but it also goes by "Open a Window! NOW!" and "Jazz Fart". Classy, I know, but it was one of those goofy nights.

Apple Boss

A friend and fellow artist paid me a visit yesterday.  After a great time running around town, we capped off the day by staying up painting until 3:30am.  We had no goal or expected outcome other than just painting random stuff.  I'm pooped but man it was fun.  I'm thankful that nights of caffeine fueled delerium and maniacal laughing are still possible.  I mean, I knew it was still possible, but its just weirder when I'm laughing maniacally by myself.

The Robbery of the Kibble Express

Here's a rough color comp of a previously shown sketch. 

Progress

This manuscript/dummy revision is my main focus lately. I haven't wanted to post too much about it since I've been "figuring it out" but its super close to being done.  I'm at that point where I want to say "Good enough!" and start submitting it, but my gut tells me there is still work to be done.  And if there is one thing my gut knows, its tacos. Is that a non sequitur? YES but I'll make it work:  I can have a taco that appears yummy but if the meat is not quite done then my gut is going to reject it.  I guess what I'm saying is this manuscript looks like it could be a delicious taco, but the meat needs to cook a little longer.

Then of course there's the chance I got mixed up and made the tacos with dog food and no amount of cooking will save them.  

Wow, I really need to bail on this awful comparison.  Back to work.

A bit more

I'm thoroughly engrossed in this project.  Its a challenge to pick out sketches to share that aren't too revealing.  There are ones I really really want to show, but not yet.  So again, another rough sketch with no context.  

Being Sketchy

I'm working on new sketches for a story revision.  Woo!  Happy to be back to work on this labor of love. Here's a couple samples with no explanation or context.  Ha!

Rivercene

After some rough starts, Joseph Kinney ended up doing quite well for himself in the steamboat business.  He built a mansion for his family just across the Missouri River from Boonville.  The mansion was playfully called Rivercene by Joseph and his wife Matilda as a pun playing off the fact that the river can be seen from the house and the house can be seen from the river. Rivercene still stands today and it remains a striking building unlike any other in the area.  

This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Steam Boat Race

This illustration for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney saw some changes since the most recent composition sketch.  Mainly, I changed the angle of the steam ships so it looked more like they were passing by instead of heading right for the poor spectators.  I also changed the POV of the ships to make it appear as though the crowd is on higher ground instead of near the shore line. Below is the final illustration along with some of the original composition sketches for this chapter.

This artwork is for the Notable Missourian book on Joseph Kinney, written by Maryellen McVicker and published by Truman State University Press.

Final illustration of steamboat race

Final composition sketch showing steamboat race 

An early idea sketch for this chapter showing the race from inside the wheelhouse.  I still like the potential of this one.

An early rough sketch.  Hell I'm not sure why I'm including this one.  It doesn't look like a race or anything really.  It more looks like some knucklehead just hanging out with his lady and waving a flag while ships pass by.

Assistance League Mural Finished!

Well this was just a lot of fun!

The full mural 

School bus detail

fish buddy

Girl and Bluebirds

The Greeter

Rabbit. Yep. Its a rabbit.

Schoolhouse

sledders

Blue Girl