Life at the Gym

People have often told me I'm slightly more observant than the average person. People have also told me that I'm weird and conceded. All of these factors played a part in developing the idea for this comic. I've had a membership at Gold's Gym now for almost a year and have subsequently entered a whole new world. For those of you who have never been to a gym, you're missing out and I don't mean on just the health benefits and the attractive people you may see. I'm referring to the overall kind of people you find at the gym. I'm not saying they're weird, rude, cool or bad just a different kind of people and all very interesting. Oh, and a tip for other single guys out there, the married ladies don't wear their wedding rings when they work out so be cautious when approaching.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

As some of you may have noticed, most of my comics are filled with solely guy characters and have very few female appearances. I suppose that is because I'm a guy and feel inadequate to be speaking on behalf of women everywhere. I apologize to all the lady fans who have felt neglected with only male characters gracing the presence of my comics lately, but that is all about to change. From here on out I'll slowly introduce female characters and give them a more vital role to play in the comics and perhaps create some female characters that actually have reoccurring roles. I think it's important to have a balance of male and female characters for lots of reasons. It is true that I have shied away from using female characters because I didn't want people to think I was poking fun of girls (which I did a lot back in college). Just keep in mind that anything the characters in my comics say can be said of either girls or boys. With that being said, please enjoy the comic.

A "What if..." for Fast Sundays

(Warning: Read the comic before reading the following text!!) This comic was made with Fast Sundays in mind, obviously. I'm not saying anyone should invent flavored envelopes, but I think it would be hilarious if someone did. Not only would you avoid getting that nasty glue breath on Fast Sundays, but you'd probably have tons of people lining up to pay their tithing just to lick the envelopes. If these envelopes existed, my favorite flavor would have to be spearmint. Yum! (Also, I've added the same technique to this comic as I did to the character illustrations I've posted previously).

Character #2: The Blacksmith

Here is now my second attempt at drawing, inking and coloring yet another fantastical character. This time around I decided to go with a much more masculine character, the good ol' blacksmith. The type you go to when your armor and weapons are in need of repair, and the person who can fix the busted horseshoe from your horse. Decked out in studded leather and medieval steal-toed boots, nothing stands in the way of this determined blacksmith especially when he has an oversized hammer in his hands.

Character #1: The Priest, the Healer

It is time to reveal more of my "nerd" side by showing fantasy type characters I've illustrated from my sketch book. I'm a big fan of the blogs that are able to post a new sketch or drawing every other day if not everyday. It's fun, fresh, and admirable to witness artists achieve this task. As much as I'd like, I can't produce any worthwhile sketches even close to that frequency so instead I'm just going to post drawings of characters in no particular timed fashion. This way I can practice creating characters, inking them and then coloring them in the computer. In a way it's an experiment so we'll see where it takes me. Don't worry though, I'll still be posting comics in the meantime. (I've now posted two versions of the same image. The one on the left has nothing special done to it. The one on the right has had some light texture and noise added to the colors plus the black line is more of a dark brown. What do you think?)

Facebook: Taking Over Our Lives One Friend at a Time

I've been dying to do a comic that involves Facebook and hope to do more in the future. Cell Phones and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are slowly taking over our free time and integrating themselves into our everyday lives. TV shows and printed media, like comics, all use things like cell phones, internet, and other technologies in their content daily now. Remember watching those great shows like MacGyver where all you needed was duct tape and a pocket knife to solve your problems? Classic characters of the 80's never had need for things like cell phones and Twitter. Crazy how things change, eh?

Another "Friendly" Visit

I was lucky to get another job from Friend magazine a few months ago.  I really enjoy working with them.  They're a wonderful organization and I love doing illustrations for kids.  This time around I got to do about 7 illustrations to fill a double page spread.  The illustrations were scenes of a little girl and her interactions with prophets from the scriptures.  Really fun illustrations (at least for me they were)!  Here are just a few (to see more check out the June 2009 Friend).  Enjoy!