Some more sketches: Dogs, monsters, ladies and kiddos.

Been messing around in my sketchbook a little bit more recently. Here are some of my better looking pages.

I got to play chess with a class of 2nd graders and managed a couple quick candids. Their heads are awesomely shaped.

Also, Etta James passed away this past weekend. I did a quick sketch in her honor.

Thanks for peepin, more soon.  -SB!

Aung San Suu Kyi

Happy New Year!

Here's a quick portrait I did for my rep of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Bit of a new approach for me, but it was fun to jump into.

Speaking of new approaches, Night Shade Books's AD, Dave Palumbo, asked me to do a handful of comic strip interiors a while back. I had my qualms about taking the gig since I've never really worked that way. I love Dave and the work itself was so bizarre, I went for it.

The only copy I have with finished lettering. And probably my favorite. 

Oddly enough, this isn't the first time I've worked outside my comfort zone for sci-fi/fantasy work. A while back, I pinch hit for an interior artist for Tor.  This time doing a couple ink drawings for chapter heads. Irene Gallo had seen some ink drawings in my sketchbook and must have figured I could handle it.

Work from a sketchbook. Who knew?

Thanks for reading!

PS. It should be noted that the comic strip interiors were for a book Sam Wolfe Connelly did the cover for. It's gorgeous and his first book cover. He's the star of that show.
    It should also be noted that Dave Palumbo is a badass painter on top of Night Shade's art director.

Exposing myself, Vol.2

My Photobooth library was getting overcrowded, so obviously it is time to share some reference shots. The majority were spent on a project I still can't fully share, but there are some sneak peaks here, as well as many photos of bed head and neglected shaving.

One project, The Silence of Eggs, had it's own personal collection of weird. Nailing just the right variation of psychotic focus took a bit of work.

Note use of tools on rare occasions when my face is not elastic enough.

And, by the way, I own these pants.

Corporate Dealmakers

Without fail, if I leave my studio for any extended period of time, I will get a commission that I can't turn down.

On this occasion, I went to Altoona, PA with some artist buddies to check out Illuxcon. I have a not-so-secret interest in fantasy art and this convention is the premiere showcase for original genre paintings.  While drooling over idealized yet heavily armored women and every variety of slimey monster, I received a call to do a cover for Larry Gendron at The Deal.  I went from the dude staring at paintings to the dude sitting in the corner sketching. So it goes.

Lacking a scanner I was forced to take pictures of my thumbnails my ipad, send them to my laptop and work them up in photoshop. Not exactly my ideal creative situation, but it worked.

The topic was the top 100 corporate dealmakers. When I first talked to Larry, he was trying to find reference for the top ten, so I could put them on the cover. Considering the idea of doing ten likenesses while basically scrawling on napkins left me very scared. Lucky me, editors couldn't nail down the names and faces, so instead I got to go a bit more abstract (thank Jebus).

The idea was to show these imposing corporate character as getting ready for, or running into, battle. We agreed that a color scheme based off "300" could be a nice touch. My apologies to loincloth enthusiasts for keeping the characters in suits.

running, standing tough, walking

 We settled on the standing and looking threatening option.

Pretty fun going really atmospheric, pulling out white suit highlights and really saturating the reds.

In other news, my long time ebook project wrapped up recently, so I should posting a lot more regularly. Thanks for reading!
-S

The bedchambers

Here's a peak at another part of the series I've been working on. The whole project is wrapping around Thanksgiving, so I've been sequestered to my drawing table. Hence the lack of posts. Once I get my head above water again, I'll share some more. Stay tuned!
-S

More drawings and Dexter's mug

Apologies for the lack of posts. I'm still up to my elbows in graphite and really should stay there for a while. But, when the blog collects dust, I get progressively antsy. I am quite antsy. So, again, my apologies. At some point in the future, I'll throw a bucketload of drawings at you. Please bear with me till then and enjoy the handful I'm allowed to leak out.

Oh, and I made time a while back to produce a quickie Dexter portrait sample for my rep. Hope ya dig it. 

Thanks for reading!
S

My awkward years, immortalized in pencil.

I've been packing up my apartment to move from my current Brooklyn location to the hipster paradise of Williamsburg. My pants aren't nearly tight enough, and eyewear frames far too thin.

In the process, I found a sketchbook from middle school and early high school that somehow I've been hanging onto for.... 18 years? At the time I was taking weekly extracurricular cartooning classes in the backroom of a local Dick Blick. Being a very sedentary and sunlight-shy child/adolescent, my parents were quick to encourage anything that got me out of the house for an afternoon. I requested a bit of homework to add to the weekly comic pages (If I dig those up, I may show them as well) I was making, and this notebook was the result.

My instructor, who will remain nameless because he's since become an upstanding citizen, would make a list of complete ludicrous titles. My job would be to add a gag cartoon of some sort to each one. Here are a handful for your perusal (many were too blatantly vulgar to show. Trust)...

"The fat man with gigantic nipples standing on line for Star Wars on a cold night"

"Jerry and the Dog Sausage"

Top: "King Fatty Dumb Jackass in his castle eating gum" (apologies for the unintentional phallus) Bottom: "The animal kingdom bakes a cake for their friend, the loving manatee"

Top: "Giraff Whiplash" (sic) Bottom: "Morris the Cat arrested for beastiality" (sic)

Top: "Jerry the Gentile Giant" (sic) Bottom: "The Kitten Dog Fight"

"Exploding Robot Kittens"

Top: "The World's Fugliest Man Breaks Wind" Bottom: "Soil Trauser Aromatherapy" (sic)

Top: "Tina Tuna and Tom Terrific" Bottom: "Squirl Bread™" (sic)

Several things are instantly clear:
-my ability to draw animal anatomy was way more advanced than my human anatomy. Unfortunately, that isn't saying much.
-my love of Ren & Stimpy is very clear in the loving care I put into sausage and butt-acne textures
-the lists my instructor gave me were riddled with misspellings. I knew this at the time and thought they were funnier with the screwy spelling. I'm confident I am still right.
-while many are embarrassing, I'm pretty proud of a bunch of them. I will stand by the manatee, "giraff" and "squirl" any day.


And just to save my ego, here's some recent work.

Thanks for reading,
-S