Monstercake

Digital Renaissance Fair

2011-07-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Here's an editorial illustration I recently did for Seattle Magazine's August issue. The article was about how to bring in a wider crowd to the Renaissance Fair by incorporating some current trends in popular culture and technology to the mix. The AD Sue Boylan wanted to convey a scene in a mud pit with people playing with their various mobile devices, labtops, etc...

Here are some sketches of the concept;

I was given the ok to come up with sketches for other approaches, and I kind of liked this interpretation of an executioner tweeting. Maybe it was a little too morbid...

The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook

2011-05-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

These illustrations were done for the recently released Quirk books title "The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook," a guide for would be pirate enthusiasts. I've been really fortunate to work on a number of titles for Quirk books, and not one of them has ever felt like a "job." The book was written by Jason Heller, a regular contributor to The Onion.

Hellboy with Mullet.

2010-12-29T22:17:00.001-08:00

Here's a little something I've worked on recently to get me back in the swing of things. Lately my creative drive has been severely lacking, partly due to general laziness. I've been catching little moments of inspiration here and there, and luckily with this piece I just went with it. It feels small and inconsequential, but it also gives me just enough momentum to carry on, hopefully building up speed along the way.

It's good to start small, and not get caught up in being too grandiose.

Done in watercolor on Fabriano WC paper. about 3 x 3.

Android Karenina

2010-06-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Quirk Books latest mash-up from the esteemed Ben Winters, Android Karenina, is out now! Tolstoy's seminal work has now been infused with cyborgs, grav-trains, trans orbital bullet ships, wormholes, and alien infestations. Fifteen black and white illustrations done by yours truly are tucked inside this doozy of book! Once again thanks go out to Doogie Horner and Jason Rekulak of Quirk Books for giving me the opportunity to provide content for another mash-up. Each illustration proved to be a unique and varied challenge that made the process thoroughly enjoyable! Here are some of my personal favorites:

Monster Stew!

2010-03-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

When I was a wee lad, I used to draw monsters. A LOT of monsters. Monsters on napkins. Monsters on ruled paper. Monsters in coloring books. Monsters on the walls. So when I was asked to create a series of illustrations of well known monster arch types, I couldn't resist.

The book is called "Horrorscopes" and it's being published by Chronicle Books. I was asked to create twelve interior illustrations plus a border illustration that would be used throughout the book.

Kudos to Kristen Hewitt, the wonderful art director, for keeping everything cohesive, and reigning me in when I got too gory (which was often...).

Without any further ado, enjoy the monster stew!

Sherlock Holmes!

2009-09-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

I've got another book coming out from Quirk Books today; "The Sherlock Holmes Handbook: The Methods and Mysteries of the World's Greatest Detective," by Ransom Riggs. The book is full of interior illustrations and it's a fun read for any fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's most loved character.

Originally I was given the task of creating a look similar to the original Sidney Paget illustrations that appeared with the published stories, but it was too daunting a task to handle. Thankfully they were happy with the look I was able to provide, and I think they conveyed the right atmosphere for this kind of subject matter.

This project required a lot of versatility in that I had to illustrate a variety of scenarios as well as objects and animals. It was a fun challenge and I love the design of the book, done by Doogie Horner over at Quirk; it looks and feels like an old hardcover novel from the 19th century.

Here are some samples:

Sherlock experiencing a bit of malaise.

Sherlock Holmes exhibiting his skills in Bartistu.

A cane is not necessarily a sign of a handicap.

Move over Errol Flynn.

Shedding a clever disguise.

The Hound of The Baskervilles.

The Victorian Opium Den as described in Holmes' world.

The Baker Street Irregulars.

The avid beekeeper.

An accomplished violinist.

The demise of Professor Moriarty.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!

2009-08-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

The good folks at Quirk books are coming up with another monster mash-Up book this September; Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It was a dream project to work on all the interior illustrations. The beautiful cover art was created by Lars Leetaru.

This was a very rewarding project due to the fact that I was able to illustrate such a wide variety of cool miscellany: sea monsters, underwater sea bases, giant pirates, gynormous lobsters, and intricate underwater diving suits! It was pretty much the reason I became an illustrator!

Thankfully I can show two illustrations from the book, which comes out September 15. Many praises must be given to Doogie Horner and Jason Rekulak for having faith in me to get the work done. They gave me good direction and were enthusiastic about the artwork I showed them throughout the months it took to complete the title. Click on the title link above to reserve your copy at Amazon!

What's the deal?

2009-07-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I haven't been the most ardent keeper of my blog. There's a number of explanations (excuses) I could pilfer from to explain my abscence-the biggest being my involvement in some book illustration projects i've been entreched in for the past year. A couple of them I can share with you, some I can't...

Last year I was approached by Quirk Books with an offer to illustrate a new addition to their Secret Lives series, The Secret Lives of the Supreme Court. It was easily the most extensive project I've ever been involved in; 35 two color illustrations + cover art. With some luck, and some patience from my enduring wife, I was able to meet the deadlines and come out of it all unscathed.

Here's a sample of some of my favorites from the series:

Antony Scalia

Clarence Thomas

Frank Murphy

Harold Blackmun

John Roberts

Louis Brandeis

Sandra Day O'connor

Thurgood Marshall

William Howard Taft

William Rehnquist

William Brennan

The process was pen and ink colored in Photoshop. Looking at the work now I have mixed feelings about it. I'm proud of some of the illustrations, and embarrassed by some of the others. All in all that's not a bad thing...it's good in some ways to feel a little unsatisfied, only because it can push you to get better in the long run.

Many thanks to Doogie Horner at Quirk Books, for guiding me through the whole process and pushing me creatively, as well as campaigning on my behalf for the project. And also many thanks to my wife Mary, who put up with my long nights and my fuzzy sleep deprived brain for so many months.

Next up; a peak at the cool Sherlock Holmes project I had the great fortune of working on!

Sketch

2009-01-25T07:46:00.001-08:00

Here's a sketch for a personal illustration project. I'm working on updating my portfolio and decided to take on some projects that would get my butt in gear. The concept for this illustration was kids who suffer from the heavy expectations of the adults in their lives. Next up: finished inks.

There Will Be Blood

2009-01-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

A rough sketch for a new illustration. I'll post the various stages of development as I complete them. I've been lying really low for the past couple of months after having completed a large illustration assignment for a book that's coming out in May of this year. I'll post details about that project soon. Now it's time for me to crack the whip and get productive-It's so easy to fall into the trap of doing nothing...

Almost Famous...

2008-08-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! Where the "F" have I been you ask? Well, pretty much in my studio, holed away working on a book illustration project which I can't divulge any details about yet. But I do have a funny tale to tell y'all about. A few days ago I got an email from a fellow out in North Carolina who had a funny story to tell about an old drawing I did some years ago.

Here's the skinny;

Hello Eugene. I work for a major corporation and my job is in R&D printing t-shirts. Every now and then, I get time to do some for myself and my friends. Well, a few weeks ago I decided to google some Tweedy pictures because one of my good friends bachelor party was coming up and we love Wilco. Anyway, I get to like page 30 on google images and there is your artwork. It's perfect for a t-shirt, so I edited it and increased the resolution for printing(about 300 dpi). I put it on a shirt and give it to him and I thought that was the end of it. Well, weekend before last my friends were going to see Wilco in Charleston SC (we live in NC) and I couldn't go but my friend went and wore your shirt. He worked his way to the front(like he always does-that idiot) and believe it or not, he could tell Tweedy kept looking at him. Then after a song, Tweedy stops the show and says "that is the most disgusting shirt I have ever seen. That doesn't even look like me". Kind of joking of course. Then he plays another song and after that one he still can't let it go. So he starts talking about it some more "I look like the Geico caveman, and my nose is bigger than that". After another song, he can't take it anymore so he helps my buddy onstage and asks the crowd what they think, smiling the whole time. He even tells my buddy to hold out the tshirt and then he puts his face beside it and asks the crowd. Anyway, he had a huge smile on his face the whole time. My buddy ends up stopping the show for 5 minutes because of your artwork and he gives Tweedy a hug and shakes Nels Cline's hand as well. It made my buddy's life. Here is an excerpt from a local newspaper about it: During the show, Tweedy noticed a fan in the front row wearing a shirt with an image of the singer he found unflattering. 'I look like the Geico caveman,' exclaimed Tweedy, who proceeded to bring the fan onstage to model the image for the rest of the house.

Charleston News Story

For some context, here's the image

postcard design

2008-05-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

Time to get some new promotional materials out there! I decided to create an image solely for the purpose of using it on a postcard. Plus I needed a project to get me back on track with my work. I'm using a large format card for this design so I don't lose too much detail.

Jokester!

2008-04-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here I go with yet another take on the Joker-figured it's a good start to the new moleskine...

bear's gotta come out of his cave someday...

2008-03-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

Once again I've fallen behind on my posts-but this time I have a good reason...

fatherhood!

My wife Mary gave birth to our beautiful daughter Audrey Olivia Smith, last November. I've spent the last 4 months figuring out how to take care of this new, amazing little person-as well as keep up with all the work I seem to want to pile on myself. I'm working hard on some new promotional materials which I'll post soon; in the mean time I've decided to post my submission for the new Beasts! volume from Fantagraphics. The competition is pretty fierce, over 200 artists submitted work, so my chances are slim. Although I don't think it's my best work, doing this project got me in gear and I'm ready to jump back into the fray of creating art again.

And here's my piece for Beasts!-

The Red Cap, here's the wikipedia entry for this little beasty:
A Red Cap or Redcap, also known as a powrie or dunter, is a type of malevolent murderous goblin, elf or fairy found in British folklore. They inhabit ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland. Redcaps are said to murder travelers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood (from which they get their name).^[1] Indeed, redcaps must kill regularly, for if the blood staining their hats dries out, they die. Redcaps are very fast in spite of the heavy iron pikes they wield and the iron-shod boots they wear. Outrunning the buck-toothed little demons is quite impossible; the only way to escape one is to quote a passage from the Bible. They lose a tooth on hearing it, which they leave behind.

Telenovela Color Final

2007-09-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished illustration in color including a header-I've been informed that they are going to play with the format of the illo and split it up throughout the article. The font is Bahaus 93-a new favorite of mine. I painted the illo with Hobein Acryla Gouche.

Telenovelas

2007-09-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on an assignment for StopOver magazine about the dominance of telenovelas in the lives of South Americans. Telenovelas are basically soap operas that have a finite number of episodes and are usually shown 5-6 days a week for about 6 months or so. "Ugly Betty" is a descendant of the Columbian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea (I am Betty, the ugly one.) A good deal of the article deals with how the majority of the public that watches these telenovelas have nothing even remotely in common with the characters represented in these programs; white, well-off, and generally disconnected from the everyday problems of the average person living in the modern cities of South America. The high drama format of the telenovela provided me with lots of fun imagery to work with, so coming up with thumbs wasn't dificult at all-

One of things I wanted to play with in the thumbs is the recent actions by Hugo Chavez involving the shutdown of Radio Caracas TV, one of the founders of the telenovelas, for reasons that range from the distribution of "pornographic" material (the telenovela) to political malfeasance. It's been reported that 70% of the Venezuelan people opposed this act.

I went with two very different ideas for the rough sketches - With the first I was interested in presenting the idea in a comic panel format (According to my dad, telenovelas started out as photonovelas, which were staged photos presented in a comic-book format. I didn't find this out until after the sketch was done). The comic panel format allowed me to show a number of different vignettes that represented the general themes of the telenovela, primarily being two people shacking up, and people freaking out about those people shacking up-not too different from our soap opera crap.

The next sketch took a little less complex direction but I think it got the idea over in a conceptual and simple fashion. I liked it because I thought a reader would be able to see it and get a pretty direct impression of what the article would be about.

To my suprise the AD and editors decided to go with the first sketch - In a way this was my choice just because I wanted the chance to illustrate Hugo Chavez. Below is the finished drawing that is going to painted in acrylics. The header is just a comp to be done later in photoshop.

Getting down to business!

2007-08-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

This week I'm working on sprucing up my promotional materials, starting with a business card. I wanted to create something that succeeds in getting my info out there without being overly "professional" and slick. Basically I was looking to make something that would be fun and hopefully catch someone's eye, almost like a mini postcard.
I couldn't tell you why I've been so obsessed with beehives lately, maybe it's there "Lynchian" creepiness...

THE HIVE!-with COLOR!

2007-08-14T06:59:00.001-07:00

Process-final

2007-08-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

THE HIVE!@#$@!

2007-08-10T05:38:00.001-07:00

Process-stage 2

2007-08-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Final Inks.

Process-stage 1

2007-07-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a pencil rough for a cover submission I'm working on. Done with pencil on vellum.

Been a while Mr. Smith...

2007-07-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while due to some projects I've been working on, one of them being a comic submission-Here are some panel roughs done on vellum. I transfer them onto bristol via lightbox.

Here's a quick sketch of Black Bolt. Geekdom ensues!

Painterpeople!

2007-06-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

My talented wife has a new painting blog called "painterpeople." Check it out to see some fine oil painting mastery! If you like what you see, and your pockets are fat, feel free to bid for one of her scrumptious paintings for a chance to call it yours.

LRRH-finito!

2007-06-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

Finally finished this piece intended for a possible postcard image. I'd say it took about 8 hrs on photoshop mostly due to the fact that I'm pretty green with the software. The digital process is definitely more forgiving, and it's certainly nice to be able to correct mistakes or change color schemes instantaneously. I can't say I'd use it exclusively, but it's nice to have another tool to use in the creative process.

FIST-A-CUFFS

2007-06-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked it out already you should mosey on down the internet speedway to Sam Hiti's "FIST-A-CUFFS." It's a tourney of epic porportions that pits artist's creations against each other and the outcome of the battle depends on your vote. Some great artwork, and funny "smack" talk, makes for good times. See it now! or forever know you have missed one of life's greatest pleasures!

In the works...

2007-06-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

Something I've been working on lately-finished version coming soon.

Communication Arts!

2007-05-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

An illustration I did was accepted into Communication Arts Illustration Annual! It was entered in the unpublished category-done with FW acrylic inks. Good ol' Neil Young...

King No More...

2007-05-21T21:37:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since my last post and I have no decent excuses, accept that I just lost interest in the whole blog thing for a bit. Originally monstercake was meant to be a daily practice but I am of a weak constitution and couldn't deal. So I bring you a new monstercake, but not necessarily improved-there will be no attempts on my part to blog daily, just snippets into what i'm working on lately and observations about illustration and all things art related. So here goes with some work that I've done in the last year-

I know, who hasn't done a portrait of Johnny Cash? Done w. crowquill pen and FW Acrylic Inks. I practically drink the stuff.

Must see her live...someday. I started out with a light pencil sketch and painted the piece with Holbein Acryla-Gouche, which makes nice matte colors.

Same materials as Regina.

Sucka Punk.

MF Doom is a monster

2005-12-28T22:52:00.000-08:00

Like Rip van Winkle

2005-11-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

Too much has been going on for me to keep up with the posting. I've got plenty of new sketches to put up as well as other goodies so expect them soon. I apologize for the abrupt disappearance but day job + personal work = broke ass Eugene!

On another note: I am available for commissions such as this Old School Iron Man I did about a month ago;

full watercolor finishes - $175
pen & ink - $110
pencil finishes - $70

All commissions done on heavy duty cold press watercolor paper and are in the 11 x 14/12 x 16 size (default size, I'll work bigger or smaller and price accordingly). Could take up to two weeks, shipping included.

I'll be back

Roger the Homunculous

2005-10-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not so sure about this one-it didn't turn out they way I had hoped.

The Foley Catheter explained + SBC is evil.

2005-10-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Lot's of things have happened since three weeks ago. As some of you may know I was gone for up to a week because I was drugged out of my mind while carrying a rather invasive instrument on (in?) my person. That ordeal is over now, and although I can't wait to tell my future spawn the time their daddy was half man, half machine, I never want to go through that again. What the hell is this Foley Catheter I briefly mentioned in a previous post you may ask? Well I've decided to draw one for you:

Well I had my crap back together for almost a week or so, until SBC decided to crap up my internet for the last three days. Bastards. The deal is fixed and I'm back. So here's my latest creation, an accurate representation of the little, angry-imp that's been fueling my hatred lately:

I'll be back tomorrow with my three monsters from the last three days!

Fuck SBC!

The Sandman

2005-10-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Zombie

2005-10-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

I felt a little out of it today.

Boo...

2005-10-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

chain-smoking sasquatch

2005-10-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling better now.... so you know, my shits daily again.

The Twins pt2

2005-10-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Twins

2005-10-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

David Brent & the Foley catheter

2005-09-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Ricky Gervais' character David Brent surely isn't a monster. But he's odd and misfortunate, and I felt needed to honored here due to the fact that "The Office" has allowed me to forget I have a tube in my urethra helping to drain my bladder. It's all weird and inexplicable and according to those in the know, not at all life threatning or too serious. Regardless, given my current medical state Monstercake might be absent a couple of posts in the next week. Thanks for all the support and keep on coming by, the Monstercake will never be gone for good!

Uni-brow

2005-09-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

I loved the old Dick Tracy villains, this one is definitely inspired by them.

Hellboy pencil sketch

2005-09-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

sasquatch

2005-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of vampires, I feel like drawing a drunk sasquatch!

there, I feel better now.

The Viscious Punk

2005-09-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

the attack dog...

The Crack Artist

2005-09-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

The middle child; art school drop-out, whose taste for drugs might be greater than his taste for blood.

The Competition

2005-09-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Who sucks the bloodsucker's blood?

The Vamp

2005-09-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

The CEO's wife; making sure the whole family's fangs are sharp.

The Brainey One

2005-09-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

The Attorney

2005-09-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

A bonafide blood-sucker.

Damned - The Heir apparent

2005-09-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

The wayward son, who can't stand all he'll inherit. Poor Bastard.

The Unstable sibling

2005-09-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

If anyone's curious, several months ago I played around with some vampire characters that I eventually posted on my other blog. I'm still working on the characters and their individual stories, but I imagine this one to be the younger sibling of the character in the previous post. I also wanted to try out some full-body sketches rather than the bust shots I did for the characters in my older post. These are all done with Hi-tec-c ink pens and a Pitt Brush pen for the heavy blacks. Blood courtesy of Photoshop.

Oh yeah, regarding the new template; I was having trouble with posting images for some reason in the old template so I decided to go with something a little simpler. I also wanted my posts to have more "room" visually so I went with the simpler style. I'll work on the color schemes for the backgrounds and fonts soon.

Sleep......

The CEO

2005-09-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

White Trash Monster

2005-09-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

Business in the front, Party in the back...

Thingy

2005-09-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

For the record, I hate the fantastic four, but I've always dug The Thing.

spectre 3

2005-09-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

watercolors...

Today's monster....

2005-09-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

....clearly has a political slant.

I call him the Dick Monster...

Proper Gentleman 4

2005-09-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is the last one in the series. I was inspired primarily by Deadwood for these folks.

Proper Gentleman 3

2005-09-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Proper Gentleman 2

2005-09-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Ditto.

Proper Gentleman 1

2005-09-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

A pencil drawing done scanned into photoshop for some less than stellar effects.

Popsicle monsta

2005-09-08T21:05:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to the end of Summer, so long you sultry bastard! You made my bum sweaty!

Oh, this one was done with pencil in me sketchbook. With a little bit of photoshop filtering.

Ghost Tears

2005-09-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Since some folks are curious about what techniques I'm using I thought I'd mention them in my posts. This piece was done with acrylic inks, which have a thickness that helps create some nice, deep blacks. I initially start off with a pencil sketch off the top of my head, and than get into it with the inks, using a variety of nibs as well as a kolinsky sable brush to lay down the heavy blacks.

Sushi-face

2005-09-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today's post is in honor of Drawn!; along with introducing me to a vast multitude of incredible artists on the web, they've given my little blog a shoutout.
I'm incredibly honored!

Abe Sapian

2005-09-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

Today's post is brought to you by Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic. It's a great read for any fan of the horror genre, and a huge source of inspiration for this very blog.

spectre 2

2005-09-04T20:48:00.001-07:00

Death

2005-09-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

Forked

2005-09-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

banshee

2005-09-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Apparition 1

2005-08-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Tongue Spook

2005-08-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

Minos

2005-08-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Fur Coat

2005-08-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

EL MUERTO!

2005-08-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

Impish Devil

2005-08-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

spectre

2005-08-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

ghost

2005-08-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

g-man #2

2005-08-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

Cop

2005-08-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

g-man

2005-08-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Beehive

2005-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

medusa

2005-08-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

BURN!!

2005-08-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

little wraith

2005-08-17T06:37:00.000-07:00

pugilism

2005-08-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

pe pe

2005-08-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Coming Soon....

2005-07-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

....I said, it's coming soon!......