Slave to the Grind

I'm back?

2011-03-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

Am I really? Umm, maybe... I don't have a steady web connection at the moment, but I'll try to start posting more often, includng my trials and tribulations on starting a project.

I'll post what story ideas I have, and include some conceptual sketches while I learn how to use Photoshop.

In the meantime, here's a couple of sketches to start us off:

This is Pal Joey, a gunslinger from my Terminal City storyline. He's an ex-pat Brit living in Terminus (called Terminal City by its inhabitants). He smokes, drinks, is tattooed and likes going around without a shirt most of the time (not sure why).

Terminal City is a crime noir story in the vein of Frank Miller's Sin City and Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto.

This group shot is of a group of people (durr) who are paranormal investigators. I haven`t fleshed out many details about them or their storyline, except one or a couple of them will be psychics of varying degrees, and the world they live in will be dark and foreboding, in the vein of H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, possibly the same world, but in modern times.

Finally, this is Matthew Ketzer, a sorcerer in the modern day world. I'm still debating whether to make this story a dark fantasy with vampires, werewolves and the like, or to set it in a more fantasy-heavy setting in the modern day, a là Wizards of the Coasts' Urban Arcana RPG setting.

As you can see (maybe), Ketzer is tattooed with mystical symbols of protection, like the Egyptian ankh, the Hand of Fatima, and the pentagram with two crescents, which in my research I discovered is a Wiccan symbol of protection (the pentagram and two crescents representing the waxing and waning of the Moon. I never saw the symbol myself, so I designed this one, at the bottom right of the sketch).

Okay, that's all for now. Hopefully, it won't be another two years before I write again. Maybe just one year (just kidding... maybe).

Later, y'all!

6 Months Later

2009-01-09T04:23:00.000-08:00

Oy. It's like I'm counting down towards something, but I'm not. I just don't really have the time to put anything really important down on this olde blog. This is just a quick little update to keep my account alive. I'll write more later. But right now it's 4:30 in the a.m. and I gotta work tonight. So... l8r, kiddies.

P.S. the artwork on display is just a couple of pictures I drew using my new laptop tablet pc and MS Paint.

7 Months Later...

2008-07-25T04:37:00.000-07:00

Wow. Seven months since I've posted anything, and nothing has changed, really. Still living my so-called life, still working in Hell's Kitchen.

Movie Reviews (because you care about what I think):

Cloverfield: Killer movie. A rejuvenation to the giant monster movie genre. With early trailers making me think "Gojira" the movie itself, as well as Clover him/herself, had me on the edge of my seat, sometimes literally. Just ask Stan. *****

Iron Man: Sweet movie. Back in the day, the number one name being thrown about for the leading role of Tony Stark/Iron Man was Tom Cruise. I'm SO glad someone in Hollywood has half a brain to get Robert Downey Jr. for the lead instead. Visual effects were killer, as was the practical suit created by special effects wizard, the late, great Stan Winston. *****

The Incredible Hulk: "You are the all-seeing, all-dancing Hulk of the world." Visions of Fight Club dancing in my head, I went to see Hulk with high expectations (one of them being "I hope this is better than the Ang Lee film") and was not disappointed. Especially satisfying was the cameos of Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno (Big Lou also did the voice of the Hulk in this movie: "Hulk Smash!"). Also the actual look of the Hulk was better than the first movie: in the first, he was a light green and looked... soft; in this movie he was a darker green (straight out of the graphic novels) and looked harder and stronger, each muscle standing out in high-def detail. *****

The Dark Knight: This was the most recent movie I've seen so it's still fresh in my mind and it's still great. I can't think of anything else to say. ****** (out of five)

I've seen other movies, but can't remember any right now.

Other things that got my attention:

UFC: Anderson Silva moving up in weight class. His first match against James "The Dirtman" (or whatever) Irvin tells me Silva found a new playground to dominate.

The Watchmen Trailer: Holy shit! Each scene in this trailer looks like a panel taken right out of the graphic novel. The next can't wait for movie, probably the first can't miss movie of 2009.

The Day the Earth Stood Still trailer: Keanu Reeves "kinda" looks like a good choice for the alien Klaatu, but the moviemakers completely missed the point of the original. Of course with today's movie audiences, the original would be considered a "snore fest" with it's slow pace and lack of action. At least Gort will be showing up (if you watch the last couple of seconds closely).

Heroes Volume Three - Villians: The commercials currently showing on NBC show a lot, but yet not enough. But of course, I'll be there to see what happens. Nathan and Niki/Jessica still alive? Gotta wait and see.

Well, the time on the wall tells me it's now past 5 in the morning, and I have to work tonight, which means it's time for bed... later.

Catch y'all on tha flypp syde, yo.

-Bigg D

Drunken Sketch Monkey Kung-Fu

2007-12-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

All right y'all. I apologize for the super-serious and depressing blog last time. I'll try to make things a little lighter, starting right now.

A couple of times in the past month Stan and I have gone out after work, and after a couple of drinks, I opened the sketchbook and this is the result.

These were done with a simple .5mm mechanical pencil with HB leads. The first is a jam Stan & I did. He then followed up with a Reaper Goddess. The rest was kind of a blur. More next time.

-Dane

Life is Killing Me

2007-11-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

My last post was in August. I'll try to explain what happened in the past four months as briefly as possible.

Well, I worked. A lot. My mom left for vacation, when somewhere in Alberta, her spleen ruptured and she was rushed to the hospital in Edmonton.

She was released a couple of days later and brought home to Prince George. She looked so weak, so frail. I had never seen her like that before. I was scared. I knew what was coming.

Then the third week of August I worked six days in a row. August 21st, I was looking forward to my one day off before working a swing shift the next night. I was planning to go out, go to a movie, that sort of shit, when I came home, my aunt, who was staying with us at the time, told me my mom had been taken to the hospital. She was in the ER, waiting for a bed in the Hospice House. I was also told my brother was on his way.

So I stayed home all day, waiting for someone to come take me to the hospital. No one came.

I fell asleep in my big comfy chair, and was woken up around 11PM. It was my brother and his family. He had just come from the hospital. He was too late.

Our mother has died, a half hour before.

The next few weeks were a blur. I was barely alive, just going through the motions of my life.

Wow, this is depressing. Needless to say, I'm still here.

No new art. Maybe later.

Well... Now What?

2007-08-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've updated the old blog. Well, I really haven't had anything to say.

My vacation in Victoria was fun. But I really didn't do any "touristy" things. I hung out, visited a couple of shops, saw a movie (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer! Woo!), then came home after running out of money. 'Well,' I hear you saying, 'why bother travelling 15 hours each way when you could have done all that at home?' 'Well,' you hear me replying, 'everyone needs to get out of their town for at least a couple of days.' I'm definitely gonna do it again, and soon hopefully. Maybe Christmas.

When I got back home and to work at Hell's Kitchen (AKA Denny's), my worst fears were realized. Before I left, I saw I was scheduled for that Sunday of my return, followed by Mon., Tues., and Wed., which is when the schedule week ends. Normally Monday and Tuesday are my nights off, and they need at least two people in the kitchen on late nights on Thurs., Fri., and Sat., so I just knew when I was getting back, they (the Powers that Be) would have me scheduled for seven nights in a row, at least. But I was wrong.

IT WAS EIGHT FUCKING NIGHTS IN A ROW!! AND AFTER MY FUCKING VACATION!! So I wasn't used to standing on my feet for eight hours in a row. Needless to say, after my third night (Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning), I was begging to be put down. But it never happened. So I fought my way through it, survived, and here I am.

Now what?

I thought I had finally decided on my first webcomic, an anthology-style (read: rotating cast, various stories) action series but, par usual, I got bored with it. I'm flirting with a fantasy comic right now, but even as I type these words, I find myself wanting to move on to something else. Again!

So... now what?

-Dane

P.S. No sketches this time. I ran out. Give me time to scan in some of my new shiznit.

Gone

2007-07-09T11:46:00.001-07:00

Howdy, y'all. Well, as the title of this entry suggests, I'm leaving. But I'm only leaving town, and it's only for a week. I'm heading south to Victoria, just because I can. I went there a few times and just fell in love with the city, so I go back whenever I can. The last time was a year ago. So, I'll leave you with some art, and when I come back, some new stuff along with (hopefully) some news of an upcoming webcomic. So, art.

Damon von Teufel. Not sure where to put him (as in, "what genre?") , but I like drawing him.

LOGAN!

Being bored at work sometimes brings up stuff like this: the "Righteous Sword of the Name" and the "Faith of the Fallen". And I'm fully aware that that is a title of one of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (my favorite book in the series actually).

Throwback. My Dogg Trevor wanted me to do this one.

Short but sweet.

Aiight, I'll see y'all in a week.

-Dane

It WAS A Good Day...

2007-06-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so my weekend now starts on Monday. Which is alright, I guess.

So Monday night, I roll over to my Dogg's place, and we jam on some Guitar Hero, pounding back the forties, even smoking a little somethin' somethin'. I passed out. Hard. Straight back onto my boi's patio. We had a good laugh about it after. It was a good day.

Fast forward to last night, back at the slave pits (aka Denny's), when from 10pm until 1am it was busy. Didn't start my prep work until one (which SUXX!); didn't finish, because at 3:30, while dicing bacon, I sliced off about half of the fingernail of my left index finger. It still throbs, and it's hard to type with my finger wrapped in thick gauze. The bleeding was hard to stop, but my girl Venassa was there to help. She was a rock. Huge props to her.

Well, hard to type, getting sleepy from the bloodloss, so time to go. Art below.

L8r, g8rs!

I Know Kung-Fu

2007-06-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

'Sup, y'all.

News: Not much really. Work (sucks), sleep, work, sleep, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Got Guitar Hero I & II, so I've been rocking out when I can. Drawing again. New stuff up soon. Need a vacation. I'm getting sick of the Slave Pit (aka Denny's), but I don't want to quit, so I NEED a break. Just gotta talk to the Powers That Be first. Maybe tomorrow, when I figure out when I want a break.

I want to start a webcomic soon, but I have too many ideas in my oversized head. I'm going to start writing them down, then narrow my choices down to one (or two). More as it develops.

Now, more old sketches. I wonder if I have any left.

Uhh... what?

2007-05-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

All right. First...

All the art I'm showing off is old stuff, at least a couple of months to about a year old. I'm taking a small break from drawing to focus on what I really want to do (artwise, that is). The last time I took a hiatus from drawing, it lasted 6 months, until my buddy came to me with a project he wanted to collaberate on with me. The project never went past the character sketch stage, but it brought back my love for drawing. So this, too, shall pass.

Onwards...

First, some characters from my sci-fi/cyberpunk work.

This is Mark Thirteen. Get it? It's from the Bible: "And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh shall be spared..." St. Mark 13:20. It's end of days/son of perdition type stuff.

Finally, BALLA!

L8r, all.

Work sucks. Get Crunk!

2007-05-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

All right, y'all. I'm back, and survived another night at Denny's. Now, LET THE WEEKEND BEGIN! Oh, I can hear you now:

You: But, Dane. It's Sunday. The weekend's over.
Me: SHUT UP, BITCH!

That's pretty much how most of my conversations go (well, not really; just building street cred... on my self-promoting blog, no less).

Okay, enough blah blah blah. More art. This time, from this fantasy world I've been building in my *snort* spare time. *uncontrollable laughter*

Anyways, onwards...

Conor mac Mane mac Eogan, AKA Conor Wolf's Child, AKA Wolfchild, AKA Farwander. I have a lot planned for this guy.

Draegyn mac Sidhe ("shee". Commonly "faerie"). Here I called him "Kinslayer". A former Brandubh ("Black Raven," a group of assassins). The marks on his face (to be in red) are his exile marks.

Tallyn Stormrider, swordmaiden. The Stormrider clan is both respected and feared for their fighting skills.

Bregan mac Fergus, AKA Doomwalker. "Doom follows in his tread."

Good gods, I put WAY too much thought into this stuff.

Well, that's all fer now. I need sleep. L8r, y'all.

iHola!

2007-05-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

So... my first post.

About me: I'm the late-night cook at the local Denny's. When I'm not working or sleeping during daylight hours (the daylight burns me), I watch movies (or watch Scarface yet again), play video games (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is my current fav), read, write, draw, walk the dog (not a euphemism; my dog Scout), and get crunk wit' my homies.

I need a life, I know.

Oh, some art: The first is CJ from San Andreas... possibly. Call it an artist's rendition. The other two are characters from this dark urban fantasy story I've been working on for years. They don't have official names; I've been calling them Hunter and Ghost.

Well, I'm tired. The sun is out which means it's time for bed. L8r, y'all.