Happy 4th O' July!

Happy Birthday America and Happy Birthday to myself! This year's been quite eventful and shows no signs of slowing down.
Cape Con, my first time appearing at a convention as a G2 Comics employee, was a huge success! We got a ton of new fans, sold comics and prints, and I got to do a bunch of sketches for folks! On top of all that, I also got a cool sketch from the great Billy Tucci himself. My buddy Wayne and I have met and talked with him at just about every major convention we've gone to, but now I finally got some art from him! A great dude to say the least.



Next up, me and the G2 guys are heading to Wizard World Chicago in august, and it'll be the biggest Con I've been to yet. We'll be releasing a ton of new stuff including my comic-making debut, Raptor Samurai, which I pencilled. In the meantime, be sure to stop by the G2 comics website and pick you up some comics, or even some of my art prints!

Back to work (It's so awesome I can say that now!)

E.T.

Livin' the dream

At the Small Press Alternative Comics Expo I got to meet a lot of cool people, including G2 comics, an indy publisher from MO. We got to talking and before I knew it, I was asked to come on board and create promotional prints and comic book covers for G2's many awesome titles, specifically their new comic Raptor Sniper. I drew up a print of the titular dinosaur character and now I'm officially a freelance artist for G2 comics, making this my first professional illustration gig!

Without further stalling, here's the pencilling for the Raptor Sniper print



The full-color limited edition print is now officially on sale at the G2 comics website.
You can also buy the original Raptor Sniper comic in print or digital format. Keep an eye out for new limited edition prints for sale on the 15th and 30th of every month.

It feels so surreal to see my work up for sale for real on a website, and I may never get used to it. Anyway, a very special shout-out to Eric and Dan of G2 comics for allowing me to achieve my dream of drawing cool stuff for money!


E.T.

Movie Star portrait

Being a resident of Ohio, I am not exactly bumping into celebrities on a daily basis. That's why conventions are so great to attend, I get to meet a lot of people I'd never otherwise get to talk to. At Mid-Ohio Con last November (my first ever booth at a convention) I took a break from my booth and got to meet Michael Berryman, star of many horror and sci-fi films and all-around nice guy. He's probably best known for his role in the 1977 The Hills Have Eyes, but he's appeared in many other films like Weird Science and One flew over the cuckoo's nest. He continues to star in films and works with numerous charity organizations.



The night before the second day of the convention I drew a portrait of his character "Lisker" the alien antagonist from The Guyver, in both his human and alien forms.



I gave the original to Michael, who seemed really touched by it. He signed a copy of it for me, also signing my buddy Wayne's copy of the film. We got to talk with him and he shared a wealth of advice and many stories about working with Mark Hamill, Jack Nicholson, and the movie biz in general. I can honestly say that he's one of the nicest people I've ever met, and it was truly an honor that he enjoyed my work.

E.T.

I'm going to s.p.a.c.e.

March 19th and 20th I'll be showing artwork and taking sketch commissions at S.P.A.C.E. the Small Press Alternative Comics Expo. It will be full of independent comics artists and publishers, so hopefully I can give out some business cards and meet some new faces. I'll have my table next to Mike Eshelman who'll be selling his awesome bead sculptures of 8-bit video game characters again. In the meantime I just sent off my entries in the 18th annual Spectrum competition, I feel I've made some much better stuff since the last time I entered, so here's hoping I make the finals.

Also, as I've failed to explain in detail, I am now living in Columbus taking classes at CCAD, a very nice art school. This week I start my second semester, so I thought I'd share one of my projects from last semester's art history class.



We were assigned to create our own work of art inspired by one of the works of art from an ancient culture we studied. I chose the giant stone statue of the Aztec goddess Coatlicue, and decided to draw what she might have looked like in real life to inspire such a statue from the Aztecs. (A tad gruesome, but the Aztec deities weren't very cuddly themselves, and I stayed pretty close to the original sculpture)

Here's looking forward to a great new semester, and more fun art assignments.

E.T.

MID OHIO CON!

May very well have been two of the best days of my life. I did a ton of sketches for people, (a lot more commissions than I thought I'd get!) and met some really terrific folks. Gave out a lot of business cards and got my work seen, which is always good to do! Someone even wanted to get their picture taken with me after I did a sketch for them, which honestly is something I'd never dreamed would happen! (wherever you are, buddy, thanks a million!)

Did a lot of superheroes, a portrait, and 4 Dungeons and Dragons monster pictures for a guy who'd been collecting sketches of them from different artists. He had plenty of dragons so I was more than happy to draw him his first beholder.

I met so many awesome people at the con, the guy next to my booth Mike Eshelman (and his awesome perler bead sculptures of 8-bit video game characters) really drew a crowd. I also met the nice fellas at Broken Icon comics who really liked my work. I also did a sketch of the wonderful Michael Berryman, gave him the original and got him to sign a copy for me. One of the nicest people I've ever met and my first meeting with a true movie star.

So in conclusion, yes I had an amazing time, and can't wait to do it again!

E.T.

My 1st Convention Booth

November 6th and 7th I'll have my first-ever booth at a convention. At this year's Mid-Ohio Con I'll be selling some prints, maybe drawing some stuff, and hopefully get to know some more artists and get my work seen. I've got a lot of prints and cards to make until then, but if you'll be in the Columbus area on the 6th or 7th, come by and visit me at table 03.

I also got first place in last month's Sketch Theater contest! It was a great theme (Sea Monster!) and there were some terrific entries. For mine I chose to sketch my version of H.P. Lovecraft's sea god Dagon.



Naturally, I had to color it too, so here he is all painted up.



So anyhow, apart from me having started school at CCAD (columbus college of art and design) a month ago, that's all that's new around here. Hope to see you in Columbus!

E.T.

Contest pieces

Here's a couple pieces I made for the Gnomon Workshop's annual online contests. The first one's theme was the phrase "the descent" so I drew up an image of a fallen angel plummeting through the atmosphere. (I didn't get a place in the contest, but it was a lot of fun drawing and coloring this piece.)



Here's the piece for this month's contest, wherein our theme is the phrase "the road". Mine depicts a scene where a prison inmate, assigned to roadside cleanup, finds some unusual roadkill. I always thought the side of the road would be an unexpected place to find a supernatural creature.



I also recently joined Sketch Theater (a division of Gnomon). This piece was created for their monthly contest, the theme was combat android. Hadn't drawn a robot in long time, so this was a nice exercise.



In other news, I have finally caved in and joined facebook (though many of you already know that). Though some of my art is also on my facebook page, I have a new blog that will function as my real online portfolio. Check it! http://ectart.blogspot.com

E.T.

Happy Birthday to Me!

As of 9:30-ish this morning, I'm now 21. This means I'm considered almost adult enough to be able to rent a car, (3 more years!). Anyhow, we celebrated the 4th of July yesterday by watching Jaws. The way I see it, not only does the film take place on the 4th of July, but the Star Spangled Banner is also a great song to blow up a killer shark to. It also helps that Jaws is one of my all-time favorite movies, I even got a t-shirt at Heroes Con featuring Robert Shaw's cryptic chalkboard drawing. I can't drag my fingernails across the shirt to make that same noise, but I suppose that's just as well.



In other news, I will shortly be sending out promotional postcards of my work to several magazine publishers to advertise my illustration and cartooning services. These examples omit my contact info, but this is roughly what they'll look like.



If you would like one (and need any cartooning or illustrating services), drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do.


Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain.
For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston,
And so never more shall we see you again.


E.T.

Sanctuary

Here's a Deinonychus piece I recently finished coloring. We were visiting my aunt and uncle in Minnesota last month, and I drew this picture as soon as I saw the amazing garden they had in their back yard. The waterfall and plant arrangements had a really peaceful look to it.



E.T.

Heroes Con 2010

Hello all, just got back from Heroes Con and it was a huge success. I got to get my portfolio reviewed by some of the best artists in the comic and concept art biz, like John Tyler Christopher and Dustin Nguyen. The great Ben Templesmith even asked me if I was on drugs when he saw some of my crazy creatures. (I'm not, of course, but you know your art's unique when the artist behind Wormwood suspects drug abuse!) Everybody was very kind and informative, and the whole Con was a blast. Special shout-outs go to John Tyler Christopher for his awesome advice, and to the very talented Sara Richard, who recommended a place to help me start making prints of my work (be sure to check out her awesome art site, especially her dinosaurs!) Everybody can expect to see me putting prints on sale and taking commissions in the near future!

Here's one of my new pieces I showed at the Con, one of the Polypous creatures from Lovecraft's Shadow Out of Time:


Hopefully I can have my very own booth at next year's Heroes Con. Thanks to all the artists who gave me a chance to show my portfolio and gave me such great feedback!


E.T.

Dinosaurs!

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always been obsessed with dinosaurs. Besides the fact that they're freakin' awesome, dinosaurs are really fun to draw. I haven't drawn dinosaurs in a long time, but I'm happy to say that I've picked up the habit again.




Also, here's the last Best Lunch Ever cartoon of the season. Don't worry, the gang'll be back next year.



E.T.

It ain't no man

After a lot of drawing and a LOT of coloring, I finally turned one of my Predator pictures into a finished scene! I feel he's more suited to the jungle than an empty void anyway. As it turns out, the new movie Predators comes out 2 days after my birthday. From the look of the trailer, my favorite race of alien hunters is going to be rocking out loud once again!



In other news, the new Best Lunch Ever cartoon is done. This time it has nothing to do with Predator....for now!



On the 18th I'll be drawing portraits at UC Clermont's Spring Fling (costs 2 bucks, all proceeds go to charity), so come on down if you want to be immortalized on paper. I'm just sayin'... immortality for charity's a pretty sweet deal. (no I won't draw you as a Predator or a cartoon, unless you want me to.)

E.T.

Esgaroth Under Siege

This month's theme for Gnomon Workshop's 2-D contest is Esgaroth, the Lake-Town from The Hobbit.



E.T.

Family Photo

I Recently discovered the Gnomon Workshop site, a great place that sells instructional DVDs from the best artists in the biz. They are holding their monthly theme based art contest, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to show some art and maybe score some of those DVDs! The theme for this month's contest was Norse Mythology, so I drew up the three mean children of Loki: Fenris, Hel, and Jormungandr.


Loki's Children: (graphite on paper/color by corel painter)

Hopefully I can make it to The Gnomon Workshop Live event this summer and meet some of the artists I've admired ever since I was a kid. With demonstrations, Q&A, and industry professionals and companies looking for talent, it's bound to be a blast.


E.T.

El que hace trofeos de los hombres

With the new Aliens vs. Predator game out, I've been on a Predator kick recently, as evidenced by next month's cartoon I made for the Lefturn (the Lantern's goofy/parody/spoof issue released at UCC every April) The character of Tab in "Best Lunch Ever" shares my love of all things Predator (or Yautja, as they call themselves).



And with that said, here are some Predators I've been drawing recently. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a pencil when you should be paying attention in class.





Have a great weekend, and spread the word about my site! I could always use new feedback!

E.T.