Everyday Rock Star

I'm a very observant fellow. As an artist I suppose that comes with the territory. Ocassionally when I am out and about I notice a beautiful woman drawing lots of attention from the guys. Sometimes she's aware of it but often times she's not. Watching this whole scene unfold from the outside looking in is fascinating to me. It also sparked the inspiration for this illustration.

This is an illustration of what would happen if all of the men surrounding one of these beautiful women suddenly exposed their true feelings and desires, making her an instant rock star.


P.S. I added myself to the group of guys in the background. That's me by her hip with the v-neck sweater and tie. I figured I might as well toss myself in among her many fans. Goodness knows I have certainly been among the many secret admirers when a beatiful woman walks by.


N Lark

Christmas in Wisconsin

Here I am, home for the holidays in Madison, Wisconsin with my family!
Here's a fun little illustration that I did today to celebrate the wonderful family holiday.
Mom and Dad are there at the top. The bottom row is all of us kids. The order from left to right is as follows...
Me, Dominique, Arianna & Jared.

Merry Christmas everybody!

N Lark

Leathal Weapon - Remix

This is the first time that I've tried something like this. I took my Leathal Weapon illustration and a decided to do a "Remix". Here it is, all amped up with a new background, sweet new lighting and special effects. This was a lot of fun! I think I will probably be revisiting this whole "Remix" idea with future (and perhaps past) illustrations.

Leathal Weapon - Riggs & Murtaugh

Well, I just couldn't help myself. I had to tackle another one of my holiday action favorites. Here is my homage to the dynamic, incredible and classic duo of Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh of Lethal Weapon fame.
This has got to be one of the all time greatest action films. The chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover is outstanding and the character development is superb. I can't imagine anyone watching this movie and NOT falling instantly in love with this pair. They held it strong through the sequels as well. Riggs and Murtaugh: two titans of the action genre.

Holiday Anxiety

I had this idea floating around in my head for about 3 weeks and now I've finally gotten around to drawing it. Man, I would hate to be this poor guy...

"Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho."

I am an enormous fan of the first Die Hard film. Bruce Willis was extraordinary and original as John McClane and Alan Rickman blew the lid off of movie villains with his portrayal of Hans Gruber!
Now I realize that most folks probably don't think of Die Hard as a Christmas movie but I certainly do. I have many fond memories of being on holiday vacation during high school and watching Die Hard. I'd plop down next to the Christmas tree emanating it's warm glow, dig in to a giant bowl of Cap'n Crunch (Christmas Crunch of course) and watch John McClane do his stuff! I love it.
So here's a fun little original illustration of one of my all time favorite movie heroes.

Peppermint Swirl

It's official - I am definitely in the holiday spirit!
So here's a fun little holiday drawing with a twist. This time I decided to pen a few words to go along with it. I wrote a poem titled Peppermint Swirl which captures a feeling that I'm sure lots of guys can identify with.
Sometimes it's the simple things...

Me, Mort, Jason, Batman, Gil and George

It's 1:32am and I'm sipping on a hot, tasty cup of home brewed coffee as I hustle to complete my book illustrations for Mort the Worrywart written by Jason Wolf. I sip my java from my favorite mug. It's a Batman coffee mug with an illustration of ol' Batsy swinging through Gotham and it reads "I do my best work in the dark." So true, so true. I love using this mug when I'm up working late and I can look out of my studio window and see the pitch black sky and lights of the city stretching into the distance.

Since it is now after midnight and technically a new day, I flipped my Gil Elvgren daily desk calendar to reveal yet another astonishing masterpiece. Gil Elvgren was the premiere Pinup Artist from the 1930's through the 1970's. His draftsmanship and technique are flawless. Gil... if you can hear me... I'm working hard and staying passionate. Thank you for the inspiration and I promise I won't let you down.

To top it off I've got the Nov. 25th, 2008 archived episode of Coast to Coast am hosted by George Noory playing through my laptop and I am swimming in knowledge and intelligent talk radio.

In other words, heaven does indeed have a place on earth.

Good night everyone, sleep tight. When you wake up you can rest assured that at least one person out there in the world was wide awake doing his darnedest to maximize his talents and create a little magic in the world. For what it's worth, I'm doing my best.

One Bad Pirate!

Now this was just good old fashioned fun to draw. Anybody who knows me, knows how much I love pirates. My love for pirates probably stems from my very early childhood when my father would read me portions of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island before bed at night. Nowadays That love affair with pirates occasionally manifests itself in my work.

This is a slightly different approach than most pirate illustrations. Here I decided to go with a young pirate. I loved everything about working on this. I was careful in my research of the clothing, flintlock pistols, ship and cutlass - all of it is late 17th century.
I drew this on the thick and sturdy piece of cardboard that came attached to a pad of Bristol Board from the art store. I think a lot of artists throw that cardboard away when the pad is empty. I wish they'd mail it to me because I can't find this same kind of cardboard anywhere else! I love the worn, warm, old world look that the cardboard gives to the drawing.

I used a mixture of graphite, ink, marker and colored pencil to draw this. I actually finished this on October 12th of this year (2008) but I'm just now finally getting around to posting it.

I hope you enjoy this because I had one heck of a good time creating it!

Presents!

It's time to break out the holiday artwork!

Christmas is fast approaching and I can feel the holiday spirit wrapping itself around me. This is an illustration I did of my little sister. She loves panda bears and she has a stuffed panda toy just like this one. She named him "Pan Pan".
Even though she's a big kid now (22 years old) I felt inspired to draw her as a little girl all full of excitement.
I've titled this one "Presents!" because this is what my little Sis looks like on Christmas morning when she goes running for her loot under the tree.

I Love you, Arianna!!! I'll see you soon!!!