Pied Piper of Hamlin

So I know a couple posts ago I said that I'll stop tormenting everyone by not posting most of the filth in my sketchbook. Unfortunately I'm a compulsive liar. And the things I've posted below are actually narrowed down to these pages!!!

So without further ado I present to you some of the pre-pre-production of a storyboard I'm working on based on the "Pied Piper of Hamlin". A fancy tale of a town in need, the unique musical talent the helps save them and a lesson on adolescent genocide.



More refined


Seeking better shots and poses from the roughs I did a while back.


Felt happy with how the piper began to look and then realized "oh shit, I can't draw his hands!"


Here's the model I don't follow.


And on I side note, I gotta stop watching reruns of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern....Damn diet, makes me feel like a pregnant chick (only I have cravings for cow hoof and chicken heads).

The "X" In CTN-X Was A Gross Mis-Advertisement

Woo-hoo, CTN-X occurred this weekend though I went only Saturday. Waaaaaay better than Comic-Con for those of you who did not make the venture to Burbank. More animation, less crowds, and no fanboy geeks dressing up as Wolvy (well, that is except me of course).

The only thing(s) missing were Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Film Roman; three of the largest TV animation studios IN THE FREAKIN' WORLD!!!! And all three within a two mile radius of the Mariott Hotel! Come on guys, get it together here. But other than that, quite the kick ass time. Definitely going back next year!

Now I should note that I suck as a picture taker. Would of had more but all these pics were taken within the last 10 minutes of the expo.

Pixar is awesome. Bill Presing is awesomer. Makes the rest of us look like disheveled hobo pocket lint. On a side note I think I scared him off a tad as I do with everyone else. Gotta stop drooling and charging at artists I like.


Animation royalty: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Never actually heard their story quite the way they told it. And of course I had the flash on for this one so the pic looks like ass.


Dean Yeagle...I'll let my silence speak for itself......


Dean Yeagle's "Scribblings 2" and "One Mandy Morning"; Bill Presing's "Book Plate Betties"; and of course Justin Orr had a Wolvy print on him and I couldn't resist myself. Would have got more stuff but ran out of doughage.

Mermaids, Unicorns, and Siberian Tigers in Outer Space

I figured I'd like to sit down and get a cool scene painted rather than post the usual crap I subject you guys to. So I've chosen to do an underwater scene with hot mermaids, manly divers, and the coral cave they love. Here's the concept although I may change a few things on the mermaid and I may also add another diver or two. Still not too sure of the overall size I want the characters to be in respects to the scene. And even now as I look at it the character orientation is ridiculously boring.



And here's the (mostly) cleaned up pencil of the scene. I had thought of inking it but since my focus is on painting here I figure the pencils are fine. God I hate drawing layouts.

Stargazer

He could hear their distant shrills; their moans and groans, of a city that creaks on rusted hinges. He knew of the carnage below in his city. The long shadows covering what shouldn't be seen. Its streets bathed in the crimson cries of the innocents.



But oh, how the stars shine. No memory of follies past, no reflections of evil beneath. Healed are those deep cuts; muffled are those screams of those you couldn't save. You are beyond the city that imprisoned you. You are free; you are Stargazer.

...and random sketch of a Futuristic Cop

Not a pumpkin for Halloween...Anymore!

Oh boy it's halloween...A time when leaves of red and gold litter the pavement. A time when the bright autumn moon is only eclipsed by the warm glow of front doors abound. And yes, Halloween, a time when it's OK for young children to gayly dance and prance through the streets, accepting sugar highs from every stranger they so damn meets. Ohhhh, Whodini, how right you were...The freaks really do come out at night.

Aaand on the note, some of you may like to know that after 4 months of not-so-strict dieting I've lost a whopping 40 lbs! That's right, I'm down to 250 (for the third time in my life) and have 10 lbs. to lose left to reach my goal of 240 lbs. Whoo-hooo! For those of you who hadn't seen me for a while, my appearance is as follows:

The lost weight has rendered me blind!


And hopefully another 10 lbs. and I'd look like this.

S&W Heartbreaker

I'm calling it the Smith & Wessen "Heartbreaker". S&W, please don't sue.

So here's the blocked out revolver (w/o scope):

NRA 4EVER!!!!

I kinda liked the idea of that revolver in the previous post so I figured it'd be cool to try and model it in Maya. Finding out that a lot of things are coming out a little different in 3D (probably thanks to that horrid front view). I got the gun blocked in so far, minus the scope. Another post coming soon!

I draw; who knew?

Here are some rough sketches. Not necessarily the best, but ones that at least have been taken past the point of incomprehensible crapage.

Yeaglesque (well, not really)

Well here's an attempt at some color (aside from the obvious attempt to destroy a classic style). I also fixed her hands, though I still don't think the right hand is posed as good as it can be.

Sorry Mr. Yeagle

Ole! 2 (Mexico Pics!!!)

Finally got the pics from my brother. The hotel we were staying at is a couple minutes south of Rosarito, Mexico. Very nice area; I recommend it.

This is the view from our hotel room. Absolutely gorgeous as you can see. They have many weddings here as seen on the bottom left.

Me and my brothers; to the right, my younger brother Ido and on the far right, my older brother Danny. It was Danny's 30th b-day hence the main reason for the trip.

Me looking fabulous as usual.

This is a staircase leading down to the surf. When we first got there the surf got up to about 10ft in size. Notice all the people surfing aren't anywhere near the farthest wave out...There's good reason for that as we soon found out.

Lunch at the hotel restaurant.

Lunch didn't quite do it for me soooo...

Save me Jebus!

All in all a nice way to finish the trip before you have to scamper across the border avoiding the night (and a stab wound to the back, Ole!)

Girlies!!!..again!

Felt like drawing some more girlies recently, checkin' out every retro-styled girlie site on the web. Trying to loosen up the style on my girls and allow for more flow and line economy.

So after checking out some of Dean Yeagle's work (interlaced with frequent sobbing and disgust with my own work), I decided to try a few Yeaglesque girls. Here's one which by no means comes close (reference would of helped). The hands, especially the left one, still bother me so I may go back and redo them:



This is another attempt to loosen up my girls (without resorting to the usual double Martini laced with roofies). I especially like the simplicity of her legs which is quite unusual for me. The color turned out pretty well too. And thanks to Yeagle for inspiring the "Torpedo" retro-breasts.

Pencils


Brilliant, blinding color

Quickie

I wanted to take that wacked-out guy a little further. Drew the layout all within Photoshop using my new Intuos 4! The sensitivity is insane!!!

On The Run

Ole!

Well, came back back from Mexico and I realized one thing: I had no head to have had decapitated in the first place. Long story short, I got torn apart by large surf, ate great Mexican food and just had an overall great, murder-less time south of the border. I'll get the pics posted as soon as I can get them from my brother.

Here's my second pass on the girl below w/color:


...and here's another color of a sketch in the previous post:

I prefer my head stay on my shoulders, gracias.

OK, I wanted to get one last post into the month of July before I ventured to the deep, blackened heart of The Mexican Amazonian Coastline. That's 4 posts in July!!!! A new world record!

Oh yeah, so I'm going down to Rosarito for some surfeage, some fun in the sun, maybe a decapitation or two; all great fun! A deserted sandy beach with hidden dismembered bodies just seemed a little more tempting than being shoulder-to-shoulder with geeky nerds, what with their Moon Knight outfits and various robot fetishes. I'll be back probably late next week or so with some kick ass pics.

So here's a second pass at that one girl. Fixed a couple things thanks to the wonderful, malicious attempts of Matt Long to destroy that which I hold dear. The right leg definitely bothered me more than anything, though now her foot, shall I say, offers an interesting silhouette? Judge for yourself:


21st Century Schizoid Maaaaaaaaan!


Adios.

My Father, The Red Cyclone

Wow, it feels goooooooood to draw a variety of things for a change. Like take for example the greatest Street Fighter character ever, Zangief. No reference, no research, no countless hours of nude self studies in front of the mirror. I just felt like drawing him and I just did it; what a concept, huh? And better yet he looks like absolute shit and I could care less (so no crit necessary on this one Matt, ha). Only in America (or possibly the former Soviet Union)!

The last thing you see before your lifeless body flies spinning through the air, your head, shattered like so many foolish hopes and dreams.


May color this one, but probably not.

Tal sayeth "Let There Be Colorth!"

Here's the color version of the sketch below; trying to experiment with different lighting techniques...I think she turned out pretty well.

The one good thing I've ever done!...Uhhh, 2.

Ok so It's been a while but for good reason. Pitch numero dos has been completed and is awaiting final printing! It's an action/adventure/comedy show entitled "The Mindscape Anthologies" and it KICKS ASS!!!! I have some time now so I'll try to get some of it online (as well as some stuff from the first pitch). Definitely more posts coming soon.

So months of inactivity have rendered me, well, huge to say the least; I look like a Samoan Jabba the Hut. My weight currently checks in at 290 Lbs. Yes, that's no typo...2-9-0! And although 300 sounds really great for bowling, it does not quite bode well for the human physique. So I'm joining a gym and hopefully I can lose some of it. Here's my workout plan:



And here a quick sketch I did the other day; color coming soon!

God it feels like summer!

Here's a quick sketch I did in the dark, damp pit I call a bedroom. The other version has me in this same outfit.

And remember kids...

I had been driving the other day when I had noticed this slogan on the bumper sticker of the "Van that Soccer Built" in front of me. Thought it quite interesting...

Stanley Kubrick agrees..."The one good thing I've ever done."

MY PITCH HAS BEEN COMPLETED!!! Kubrick says I'm no longer a disappointing vessel. Though it was 2nd to be conceived, it's the first out of the pipeline! I've been extremely excited and have been calling up everyone. If you would like to produce it please make your checks payable to the "Save The Tal Foundation". If you'd like to see a copy let me know and we'll figure out a way to do it without posting your email and what not.

Also, I turn 25 tomorrow! I asked my parents for a noose and they didn't oblige. We're going to dinner tomorrow so it looks like death by cholesterol this year...Hooray!

Now on to the artwork. I was going to post some more girls when I notice it has been a while since I've posted any guys. So I've put together a few sketches and hope you guys like 'em. Now that the pitch is complete expect more posts too!