Time 2 Wail!

Here's a fun new 5 piece Tama drum set that my friend gave me a few weeks ago. It's gonna need some new cymbals & stands but otherwise it's in perfect order. I've been wailing on it and making the dogs go crazy. Just another noisey distraction but it's fun to beat the hell outta.

Crank it up!

Well, between work and working on the new house I've finally set up most of my basement studio. It all started when the weather last week was incredibly hot and the attic office was an oven. The new AC unit was cranking away and it was comfortable but the damn thing just kept running and running so while I was emptying the dehumidifier down in the basement I realized there was a 20 degree difference between the basement and attic. I decided I'd set up a temporary or second drawing board down there where it was cool. I had all the equipment down there from day one of moving in it just needed to be organized, plugged in and I had to set up another computer (with the recording software etc.) It felt pretty cool to plug in and turn it up. It's been probably 6 months since I picked up a guitar.

Here's the computer which runs the recording/mixing programs. (that's still in the box.)

Here's my ESP and Charvell Bass guitars, all ready to go! There's a 200w P.A. systen I run the Bass thru and I use for any mic set ups. And my 400w Varvin head that powers all the Marshall cabs. That thing is a monster! "Let's piss off the new neighbors." In a pile of other cases there's a few more guitars. A Gibson Flying V, an Ibanez Iceman & my first electric guitar, an old Elecktra. Upstairs on hooks are some others, an Ovation electric/acoustic, another Gibson acoustic, my beloved Charvel 6-string and a blue Fender P-Bass.

Here's a full stack of Marshall cabs and you can see the drawing board w/ a partially inked Captain America page on the lightbox. I'm getting about a page a day done down here & have 14 pgs. of 38 done. I should be working but decided to post this then I'll grab a coffee and get rolling. It's 1:37 am. yawn.

Here's another Marshall in the corner! It gets nice and loud down here. Now I just hafta find room to stick a drumset in.

Captain America Inks

Galactus Inks & Color

Obi-Wan for Issac

My friend Lee's son Issac won 2nd place in my 2006 holiday card contest. This was what he wanted, this is what he got! Obi-Wan.

What started out as kind of a joke ended up being a lot of fun. I think we got 8 or 9 replies. I'll have to dig 'em out and post 'em. No idea where they are. In a box somewhere is my guess.

Back On Track

Finally settled in the new house. What a crazy few months. I'm way behind but finally getting some overdue work done & out the door.

This is a Sandman I started in NY a while ago at the Javitz Convention. It was just a pencil sketch so I put some more time into it.

More David Mack @ NY ComicCon

Here's a hardcover of Kabuki "Dreams" with a fun sketch in it. It looks oddly familiar LOL! I got this at the Javitz show.

Steve Leialoha @ WonderCon SFO

Steve had stopped by on Saturday to speak with Gene Colan and we were introduced (though we had met one time previously in San Diego a few years ago). I wanted to grab a nice hardcover, if they were available, of the Fables series so I stopped by Steve's booth on Sunday in search of one. He had one copy of "1001 Nights" and was kind enough to do this cool blue line sketch inside. I have heard great things about this series so I look forward to reading it.

Linda Medley @ WonderCon SFO

I was sitting next to Linda at the con and was watching her work on a nice watercolor commission. We started to talk and after I saw her work spotlighted at the "World's of Wonder" exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum I went searching for one of her books. She pointed me in the direction of Comic Relief (she had no books to sell with her). They had all the individual comics but when I saw this collected hardcover of "Castle Waiting" it was an easy decision. She was kind enough to add this fun drawing and inscription.

David Mack @ WonderCon SFO

I saw David Mack at the NYC Con the week before but he wasn't doing more than the regular Kabuki quick sketches so I bought a "Dreams" hardcover with said sketch and left it at that. Things were hectic in NY and I knew he would be in San Francisco the next week. So when I saw him at Wonder Con I asked once again if he had a sketch in him, he put me off but I was going to keep asking anyway. I would keep trying at least. Never had a problem getting something in the past so.........

No luck on Friday but by Sunday I think I had worn him down and he agreed to do a Death sketch. I also grabbed a copy of Kabuki #8 with a sketch drawn on it & a fun Kabuki patch (all for my wife who couldn'y attend). David's a good guy & an amazing artist.

Driving Cross Country *sigh*

Well, we moved from California. Yep! And right in the middle of winter no less. Drat! I'll try and draft a more comprehensive recollection of the trip at a later date but one of the lo-lights was our nightmare thru Texas. An ice storm had rolled thru the day before we got there and the imbeciles, who should be ashamed of themselves, did'nt bother to salt or sand the interstate so literally the second we got to "Welcome to Texas" (F-U!) we were greeted by a 3 inch layer of ice completely covering the entire highway, it was basically a 200+ mile long ice rink, and a line of tractor trailers stopped as far as the eye could see. About 24 hours and a dozen or more jack knifed semis we we thru and into Oaklahoma (where the highways were perfectly fine as it was in New Mexico also). As we sat for hours and hours, stopped, while 18 wheeler after 18 wheeler were being scraped off the highways I got a little sick of driving so I handed off the wheel to our dog Benny, who's a pretty good driver, except he's got a bit of a lead paw (see photo & check out the speed-o-meter!) What a trip, glad it's over & I'll NEVER drive thru TexASS again!

Sandman & Delirium on eBay

I'll be posting this and a few other pieces on eBay later today. Gotta drum up some cash. The holidays really kicked my a$$! So check 'em out. My eBay sellername is: arstudios

http://tinyurl.com/y7kglj

I did this piece as a commission and after getting to this point I realized I completely missed the mark (after reviewing several emails) so I put it aside and started another from scratch. It's pencil on standard 11"x17" board.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year! I've been slacking off and relaxing but pretty busy at the same time, now I'm playing catch-up on a few projects. Today I'm continuing work on a Sandman commission based on #19 "Midsummer Nights Dream". It will be on 13"x19" board. This peice will have Sandman holding court in front of one of the travelling troupes wagons with Lady Titania and a bunch of little winged things and creatures that you see thruout the story some hidden in tall grass and in and around the edge of a forest so we'll have lots of plants, grass, trees, flowers etc completely around the entire piece, little glowing things, tiny fairies and the like, full blown watercolor.

I'll also be playing catch-up with a few post holiday posts. As soon as I can get it together. I've been juggling several complex jobs and I'm confused at the moment.

Storm (Dave Cockrum Tribute)

I was asked to contribute to the Dave Cockrum Tribute that's going into another printing with more pages and in hardcover. The only parameters were the character would have to be one of Dave's creations. My initial thought was Storm with a crazy mohawk but I went back & forth with some other ideas but kept thinking about a Storm piece. So when I sat down to do it I messed around and messed around and was not happy so I scrapped everything and started in on a Storm piece. It took several tries (I've never drawn her before) but when this one started taking shape (the shape that had been in my head the whole time) I ripped thru it and was verry happy. So I sent it off and got the nod and here it is. The piece will be sold and all proceeds to go to Dave's wife Paty. I felt honored to be involved and I hope Dave would have been proud. Read more details about the book and how to order one here. I'll have 11"x14" signed prints, on nice strathmore bristol, available for $25 each, all proceeds (minus shipping) will also be donated so email me if interested at tombofdracula@yahoo.com

Merry Christmas!

Nathaniel Dusk (Framed)

I worked on these pieces several months ago & just recieved an email with these pics attached of the frame job. I think they look great, well done. I also think the fun credit/info plate is a great touch & makes an awesome presentation.

Gene Colan - Spidey Inks

Here's a cool Spider-Man by Gene. You dont see many of these!

Goodbye, Dave (Cockrum) – A Final Deluxe Tribute

Dave Cockrum, the best friend that Aardwolf ever had, has passed away at the young age of 63. We already miss him deeply. Aardwolf previously announced a special reprint of The Uncanny Dave Cockrum Tribute in hardcover, but over the past six months we’ve worked with Dave to complete the project. Edited by Clifford Meth, this beautifully bound new book will contains over 20 pages of new, original Cockrum artwork as well as art contributions from Dave’s many peers, including Neal Adams, George Perez, Walt Simonson, John Romita, Marie Severin, Joe Kubert, Will Eisner, Travest Charest, Joe Quesada, Jim Lee, Dave Gibbons, and many more; written tributes to Dave by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Harlan Ellison, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Chris Claremont, and Peter David. 200 Special Editions will include unique, ORIGINAL Dave Cockrum drawings bound into the book. This book is being published in cooperation with the Dave Cockrum Estate. Order yours now.

http://www.aardwolfpublishing.com/

Iron Man Comments

"Good morning Dave,

Sorry I didn't get back to you last night, we had to go to Seattle for the night to see a specialist concerning my wifes pregnancy. Its cool though. But before we left yesterday, the fedex truck pulled up while we were getting ready to leave. Actually caught us in our driveway. I looked at my watch and we had plenty of time so we went back into the house and I started carefully cutting up the box. Seriously, I was so nervous I think it took 6 or 7 minutes for me to surgically cut all the tape. Didn't want to touch the art. Thanks for the bomb proof packing job! Then I was greeted to the coolest cardboard sketch of Iron Man on the box (which I'm keeping as well) and opened it up. My wife could see I went from a 36 year old man to a ten year old reading his first comic book again. My mouth was slightly agape and then it just turned into a shit eating grin (if there is such a thing) for the next ten minutes as I just stared at your colors. I'm not making this up to be dramatic at all man, this thing is awesome for lack of a better adjective. My wife was actually in amazement as well but she seemed more impressed with the size as to the art. I think she was expecting something actually comic book sized. I think not. Genes pencils are of course incredible as well but I kept going back to your colors. Man, this is my first work of art in any medium and it is stunning and gorgeous. I hated putting it back into the box so we could run out. I am going back to Seattle in a few days to take it to a high end art gallery to have it professional framed. Take care Dave, and thank you for the Christmas card. Is that your artwork by the way?

Talk with you soon,

Charlie"

Delirium Commission

Just finished this one, came out cool. Just in time, it's a holiday gift for someone. (Here's a better scan.)

"This is going to be the perfect housewarming/X-mas gift for my friends. Thanks again Dave!, Adam"

Next one is a watercolored garden illo, another gift so i'll grab a coffee and another pack of cigs and get cranking.

Just heard from my buddy Jason, who just got back home to Australia after a few years living in Florida. He's got another page of McBlack done and ready to ink and plans on pencilling some more.

Finished my Christmas shopping yesterday, it's been fucking killing me but it's done & done. I better get some good shit this year.

Last thing. I got a great email from my buddy Charlie, who commissioned the inking & coloring of the Colan Iron Man #1 recreation and it was incredible. He got the pieces yesterday and was blown away. I'll post that later or tomorrow.

Richard Sala

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1uqB7hUEkc