monoprinting

monoprint off of plexi glass

abe

I have been messing with monoprint techniques as a way to break things up. Abe Lincoln for fun.

Figures November 2014

Rocket Raccoon and Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy gets my seal of approval. If you were waiting to see it until after you heard my opinion, then go forth and see it. You have my blessing.

eight three fourteen Kevin D. Bandt

unused cover pencils

rdggirl5

The Amoral Stingray

So this was a fun project! Written by Aaron Walther and illustrated by yours truly, The Amoral Stingray isn't your standard superhero. In fact, he isn't a hero at all; quite the opposite.

Preview here- https://imgur.com/a/WiCvi 

Here's hoping someone picks this up, it was a lot of fun to draw the pitch and it would be great to see it go even further. 

test

warmup

more Redditgetsdrawn

Reddit Gets Drawn

Did some warm ups...well they started as warm ups... then i was having too much fun and kept going.

work

New page is live on www.catledrivers.com and it is a weird directional shift in a lot of ways. Yep I am back to painting in photoshop for finishes and yep, still black and white. I am going with a loose style for this since I am trying to breath some fun back into the book for both myself and the readers. The book is going in a new direction and the art is reflecting that.

I've also started to do and inked lettering for the pages since reading some Cerebus by Dave Sim and realizing how much I have neglected sound FX and lettering. Eventually I want to do all the dialogue and captions by hand but right now my handwriting just isn't there yet.

On the linked blog post for this page I talk a bit about trying to maintain the fun and enjoyable side of art in the face of real life, lack of time and depression. I don't think I'm spilling the beans here by sharing that most artists are emotional wrecks. I'm totally guilty of it too. It hits you when you'll least be able to stand it. Those feelings....UGH>>>>>>>>!!!!! Those feeeeeeelingssssss..... The feeling that you're not good enough and that you'll never be good enough. Everything you do turns to crap and you've been fooling yourself all this time. For me this hits when I've been away from the drawing table for too long and try to pick back up where I was the last time I sat down to draw. I'm always shocked that gold isn't just flowing out of the brush (or stylus). But it will sometimes hit when I'm at the day job and the pressure there gets to be overwhelming. I don't pretend that my job is like anyone else's. I know its high stress. I know that it is the exact opposite of what I want to be doing with my life but the money's been good enough to keep the lights on and food on the table. Sometimes though the feelings hit me while at work and there....there it could easily break me. The idea that this is just a bump in the road (a little detour on the road to success) morphs into a convenient lie I've been telling myself to be able to get through the day. That this is forever. Things aren't going to get better. LIFE IS HARD!!!!!
And BOOM! I'm in a bad mood! A desperate and frustrated person that nobody wants to be around.

Really the only cure for me is getting some work done and realizing that none of that matters. I'm young, healthy and married to the best person I've ever met. Things can always get worse and I rarely notice the good things until they're long gone.

Hell, I don't have answers for myself let alone anyone else. I read things like http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/surviving-post-employment-economy-201311373243740811.html and the "POST EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY" and the hope for a cushy "ART JOB" seems like a fairy tale I've been duped into believing. It probably is.

I took a drive up through Northern Wisconsin not too long ago and the real POST EMPLOYMENT ECONOMY is incredibly visible. Every house you go past has a car on the front lawn for sale, a sign offering to do some type of work, a shed or barn that has collapsed on itself and somebody sitting inside because they don't have a job to go to. Its crazy and its not getting better.

From my point of view---- If you're going to be an artist. You cannot do it for the prospect of a job. "SOMEDAY I WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH!!!" Its a B.S. reason to pursue this thing. Do it because you love it and can't imagine not doing it.

I was going to post the 4 versions of this drawing that I did. The struggle that I went through in laying this out and getting it just the way I wanted but what would be the point? All that matters is that its done and I can move on to the next piece.

FEEL BETTER you're not alone and ITS NOT YOUR FAULT.

http://www.amazon.com/King-Road-other-short-stories-ebook/dp/B00JQMXO7E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397926707&sr=8-1&keywords=aaron+walther

Hey Everyone!
Since its available on Amazon, I figure its safe to show some of my work for the kid's book KING OF THE ROAD by the venerable Aaron Walther.

Its a beautiful story that has great lessons in it. Be fearless even when life doesn't really go the way you expect it to. A great story with some great art (if I do say so myself!).

Thor Portfolio piece

Cat-LE Drivers #2

Advertising Tryout

Here is a look at a try-out that I did earlier in 2013 for a company that makes those dry erase advertising videos that you have probably seen on YouTube. I didn't get the job but I still kind of like the end result. Rather than have these collect dust on the hard drive, I figured I would share them with y'all.

What the @#$% happened to the colors!

So, I am going to be going sans color for awhile on Cat-LE Drivers.
It was a tough decision but I need the time to devote to some other projects and I don't want to stop or slow the story because of it.

FrankandFett

commission work. All traditional (Pencil, pen, watercolor, acrylic and airbrush)

work in progress

still doing digital inking and really digging it!

also-

are you reading

www.catledrivers.com

?

Relative Space

So the last two weekends were absolutely insane! I had to pencil ink and color 10 pages for the awesome Aaron Walther and his anthology Science Hero (available at this year's Wizard World Chicago). I'm pretty happy with the outcome and the process was a revelation for me- going fast is good! Comics aren't about perfection. Its about the story. Tell the story in as pretty of a way as possible as fast as possible so the reader doesn't lose interest. 

Wizard Chicago

This year I decided to take a break from this show. Last year wasn't really all that great for me. The new layout, the lack of organization, my own personal lack of enthusiasm for the show led me to this decision. I couldn't get motivated to commit the time and money to it this year. I will go visit for a day as a spectator but really that's just to catch up with friends. I am thinking about doing it next year but it depends on if this year is any better. There are a lot of shows that I would much rather do (Emerald City, Heroes, New York) and I am starting to make plans to attend them.

Sorry for the break in posting.

Its been a bit. I know. I'm sorry. I just wanted to share a few shots of a much larger commission that came out of C2E2. Great group of friends here. SO MUCH FUN TO DRAW! They wanted to be drawn as ancient gods. I couldn't say no!

C2E2 was a blast. I was pretty sick but I mustered through it. I wasn't going to miss a second of it no matter how sick I got. Cat-LE Drivers got a lot of great reviews! People seem to dig it so I guess I gotta keep it going.

Came back from C2E2 and found that our roof was leaking! The carpet was soaked and it ruined a bunch of my comics collection. Very frustrating. Then a failed windows update fried the main computer I use for painting. So long story short I got a new computer and I am finally back in action. I am really excited to share some of the illustrations I am doing for a young adult novel. The drawings are a lot of fun to do and are a huge departure from the comic book stuff. It makes me want to do a cartoony children's book just for fun.