Sour Flesh Sauce

Trying to get a job in the big city

2010-08-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

It has been quite some time since my last post, but not for a lack of activity. I have been sidetracked for about the last year on widening my net a bit and am now applying to a studio that, while having nothing really to do with graphic novels or illustration, would be an amazing opportunity that I would be an idiot not to pounce on. In any case, should I get the job, I'd be relocating to NYC, and it's very easy to answer the question, Do I stay in Central PA and pursue graphic novels in my spare time while working in a supermarket, or do I move to New York City and pursue graphic novels (among whatever other opportunities may arise) while working in a painting studio for a major artist?

Cookie Monster

2009-07-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to work on several things at once, and have succeeded in driving myself nuts and not getting any one of them completely resolved. So, I decided to take a break and sketch a quick, figurative self-portrait for fun, only really planning to use it on my Facebook account. Like a lot of things I've been doing though, I became more than a little engrossed, and what was supposed to be a quick afternoon scribble ended up being a highly-rendered ballpoint pen drawing that swallowed several of my nights. I am pretty fond of it though.

Cthulhu sketch

2009-05-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

How the fuck is it that I made it to 27 years of age and had never fucking read H.P. Lovecraft? I've read many who were influenced by him and his ideas, like Junji Ito and Mike Mignola (and there is, of course, the 1982 movie, The Thing), so I guess I could say that Lovecraft has inspired me second-handedly for years. But, holy shit, is there nothing quite like the original material. I found a website that has a number of his works posted to read for free and tore through "The Call of Cthulhu" and "At The Mountains of Madness" (the latter being my favorite of anything of his I've read thus far), and not wanting to have to read off a computer screen anymore, I spent a Barnes and Noble gift card on three of the Del Rey collections of his work. I re-read "Cthulhu" this morning and started into "The Dunwich Horror" right after. Words cannot express. So, here is a ballpoint sketch I did of Cthulhu. There's quite a bit in all of his work that I would love exploring visually. Especially since I have yet to find much of any kind of really proper translation of his work to film or comics.

I need to fill wallspace!

2009-04-22T09:55:00.001-07:00

Finally, after living in this apartment almost two years, I am getting around to making something to hang on my living room walls which have been bare since the day I moved in. I want to do some really large pieces on stretched paper. These are some sketches I've been monkeying around with lately for one of the pieces.

untitled werewolf piece

2009-04-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

Cryptkeeper sketches

2009-02-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

Some Cryptkeeper sketches. The first was a quick one done during the NY Comicon this last weekend. The second was done after I got back home and looked through some of my EC library. For this sketch, I wanted to adjust my style to pull off something closer to that 1950's, almost noir style that many of those artists had. I was thinking particularly of Al Feldstein. He wasn't the best artist in their stable technically speaking, but he had a sense of the image that allowed him to pull off what, in my opinion, were the most memorable cover images of that series. (My personal favorite has always been issue #24 showing a re-animated corpse with its arms tightly clenched around a screaming man as they both sink into a pool of quicksand.)

I get real bored at work... Really Fucking Bored.

2009-01-29T17:40:00.001-08:00

Recently, I was leafing through my copy of Junji Ito's Uzumaki after having seen the film version. The film did not compare to the original book, and I missed seeing more of those wonderful snail people.

untitled zombie piece - color

2009-01-28T17:49:00.001-08:00

untitled zombie piece - pencils (what exists of them) and inks

2009-01-28T17:24:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, due to a crash on an old computer, the pencil scans I had taken for pages 1-3 are gone forever. boooooo hooooooo hoooooooooooooooo.

"The Scavenger" - color

2009-01-28T16:49:00.001-08:00

"The Scavenger" - pencils and inks

2009-01-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

Silent Hill piece - "Sato and the Well"

2009-01-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

I loved doing this piece while at the same time it made me want to cut my fucking throat. I'm still not able to make Photoshop painting do exactly what I want it to, but I'm enjoying learining the process and getting closer to being confident with this medium. Regardless of how explicitly close this piece came to what I had planned, I am immensely pleased with and proud of the finished result.

When you see something red and fleshy and gross, that should tell you that total awesomeness will soon be upon you. Words to live by.... And that is the end of that.

As for some behind the scenes work:

This is the original concept sketch for what I began referring to as "the Tumor Fountain."

This is a second sketch I did of the "Tumor Fountain" (actually on Election Day) to begin playing around with the process of coloring raw, uninked pencil drawings:

Tumors and Orangutans

2009-01-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

doodles.

"30 Days of Night" a few sketches

2009-01-20T17:52:00.000-08:00

This was a small doodle, less than 2" square, done in ballpoint pen before I had started on the 6 page piece.
Doing a whole piece in ballpoint pen and then Photoshop is something I definitely want to try in the future once I get a better handle on the process. Translation: when I know it well enough to not be slow as balls getting from blank piece of paper to the final object. The piece I'm finishing up now on the computer is being done all in pencil, and then digitally painted. So, I'm working towards that.

"30 Days of Night" portfolio piece - color

2009-01-20T17:46:00.001-08:00

"30 Days of Night" portfolio piece - pencils and inks

2009-01-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

This piece, visually based more on the movie than the graphic novel, was originally conceptualized in color, and therefore, was drawn differently than it would have been had I intended the finished product to be in black and white. More negative space was left in the inked drawings and some background elements (such as the fire) were left out entirely where I thought they could be better executed with pure color than with line.

I'm gonna shoot it in your eyes, okay? Ready?

2009-01-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

Before long, there will be things here. I will put them here, so I can vouch for the fact that things will be here. You can trust me.

In the meantime, chew this over:

A co-worker recently suggested during a conversation that there should be a singles website for the lovelorn mentally-challenged. Immediately, I thought of the name "Ilikeitslow.com," but I didn't say anything because I thought it would make me seem like a fucking prick. So, the question is, am I a fucking prick?