BIG BABY JESUS

Hey All,
Some new work is getting done on my "Big Baby" painting, so I thought I'd share. I'm doing a ton of new paintings that will all be wet for months, and I'm also doing a bunch of comic book designs that won't be shared for some time, so Big Baby's all you gets dig?


Peace,
Joe

A TALK WITH CHRIS CROSS

So I was chatting with comic book super artist Chris Cross today about some of these colors I've been working on, and he suggested I work on my values a bit and maybe try to paint my grays first and then lay some color on top.

I said, "Yes Sir, that sounds like what I should do." So I did, and here's what happened. Thought you might like to see more of the steps, so I shared a couple of them along the way.

Also, I sniffed around online and found an old Cross image that I thought was pretty dope to use for this little adventure. It's not the best quality, so I lost some sharpness and line quality here and there, but I'm not going to cry over that for a practice image.

Peace,
Joe

BIG UPS TO BRIAN STELFREEZE

Hey all,
Next up here is a Batman image by Mr. Brian Stelfreeze. This dude is so super cool. I had the privilege and honor of hanging with Brian a bunch back in 2005 when I knew even less than I know now, and he was amazing about dropping these little gems about art on me every two or three seconds. I just can't stress how cool he was and is.

I really don't know how he would feel about this piece, but I know it's a step forward for me. I'm really trying to go more and more detailed with every one of these images and just see how far I can push my knowledge of Photoshop and Illustration.

I'm working on coloring some old Toth pages right now as well. It's a five page WWII story, and I hope to post it some time this week.

Peace,
Joe

MR. ERIC CANETE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Hey guys and gals,
Earlier today I did a quick color job on a Cory Walker image from his book "Destroyer," and I had such a good time doing it that I thought I might try it again with another one of my favorite artists Eric Canete.

This image was a little more complex in terms of lighting, effect, and depth, so it took me about 35-40min to do, but I had a super duper time doing it. I really like the way the value study ended up too, so I included it in the post. Also included, of course, is Eric's original beautiful inks.

If I have the time, I'll probably do an Alex Toth or a Joe Kubert image next.

Peace,
Joe

CORY WALKER'S DESTROYER

So, like many of you out there, I'm a pretty big fan of Cory Walker. This cat can really make a wonderfully clean and cool image. That being said, I think it would be cool to see little more color play on his work. Most of the time, a relatively flat muted pallet is used on his images, so I just wanted to play around a bit with one of his blog posts and see what I could do to spice it up bit.

This is what I came up with. I know it's colorful. Bear with me :)
Joe

SAVE THE DATE!!!!

Hey everyone,

I'm going to have a number of pieces in an event on the 18th of July to raise money for the the Baum and Bloom sponsered silent are auction benefiting the Soulshine Children's Studio. Tickets are $25 a piece and it promises to be a wonderful time. Elio Guevara, Carlos Solis, Amie Hamby, and myself are the featured artists for the event, but there will be a number of other amazing talents donating pieces to the auction as well.

Also, there will be an open liquor bar and catered food along with a belly dancing exhibition and, as I mentioned before, some pretty killer artwork. So try and make it out if you can, and contact Haya Walton (hayamwalton@gmail.com) as soon as you can to procure your ticket/s.

Thanks a million,
Joe

PORTRAITS

So towards the end of last quarter, a good friend of mine named Jamie Liles asked if I would pose for some portraits that she was shooting for one of her graduate classes. I was more than happy to do so, and we had a great time, so here's the results. The first is my favorite only for the fact that I'm trying my best to look like I have muscles while showcasing some double/triple chin action. Pretty funny stuff.

Peace,
Joe

SOLD

He's one of the many images sold from my show last week. I'll be posting some photos as soon as I get them from my photographer as well. Hope you're all well out there. I'm moving into my new studio tomorrow and I'll be back to the painting.

Peace,
Joe

BIG BABY ART SHOW THIS FRIDAY JUNE12

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that I will be showing my work over at the Cherrylion Studios Gallery this coming Friday JUNE 12th. The opening is from 7:00PM-10:00PM and it will be a ton of fun. Lots of food, drink, and art will be available for everyone as well as some sweet jams, so try to make it out if you can. The post above has all the information you'll need, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to write me.

Thanks,
Joe

FINALLY

OK, so I finally had some photos taken of a bunch of the paintings I've been working on the past three or four months. I'll be posting them over the next couple weeks so I don't blow it all today :)

This first one is a two hour oil painting with a pallet knife on canvas. It's 18X24 I think. I did a number of portrait studies like this in the last many weeks, so you'll see some more of these in the future.

Also, I'll be having a solo art show on Friday JUNE 12 at THE GALLERY at Cherrylion Studios. I will post the flyer later tonight or tomorrow with all the info, but the show will be from 7:00PM-10:00PM and the address is:

889 Morris St.
Atlanta, GA 30318

if you want to mark it down now.

Hope I see you guys there,
Joe

UP MY GAME

This will be my last post today, and I have to blame it on Sean Murphy. This guy is so insanely good, it shakes me to my core. I don't know what happened in the last four years to launch him to this new level, but it's scary.

After looking at a ton of his drawings and pages today, I knew I had to hit the books hard again. That being said, I'm pulling out some new tricks and keeping my head down until I'm on his level. See you in four years :)

Go check his stuff out if you have the stomach for it. Sean Murphy Link

Peace,
Joe

LAZY DAY

So I'm mostly chillin at the house today, and I can't help but feel bad about not producing some art. I tried to draw some faces and stuff earlier, but ultimately, I just trolled the internet and hung out with my roommate Pete.

After much laziness, I scanned in this Spidey sketch I did on a post-it note a few months ago, and punched it up in Photoshop.

On the paper, he wasn't in any environment, but I put him in nature where he belongs. Now he can swing his way through the woods and across the planes. GO SPIDEY GO!

Peace,
Joe

SARGENT PUMP

So my roommates and I were discussing girls that pump their vaginas for fun this morning, and how disturbing those images are, and I got to thinking, "Huh, what if I were to incorporate those images into an image that many people find very appealing?"

John Singer Sargent's "Nonchaloir" is one of my favorite images that Sargent ever painted, so I thought it might be a good choise for this little experiment. I photoshoped a number of different inflated vaginas into the picture to test the waters.

In my opinion, the vaginas to not detract from the beauty of this image. If anything, I think they reingage me with it in a way I've never been. I also adjusted the colors of the original image to blend more with it's new additions. That also helped the overal appeal.

Let me know what you think,
Joe

PROCESS

Hey everyone,

Before I say too much, be sure to check out the post below this one about Elio Guevara's solo show at the Cherrylion Gallery, and be sure to go if you can. It's going to be an awesome show.

That being said, here are a couple panels of me trying to figure this comics shit out. I didn't have anything written when I began these, so I used some Bodart panels to guide me.

I started out with a tiny thumbnail on a post it note, and then drew the panels in the computer until I got them to a color sketch finish, and then finally did some larger pencils, and a little ink and a little more color and render and that's where it ended today. (WORST SENTENCE EVER!)

Hope you dig it. I think I'll print the inks when I'm done and throw some paint at these soon and then maybe some digital touch ups depending on the look. Hopefully this will be my process when I finally start doing some pages again, or maybe not. Who knows?

I'm off to see Star Trek bitches!

Peace,
Joe

samadhih

Hey Everyone,

Please come and see my friend Elio Guevara's amazing paintings on the 15 of May at Cherrylion Studios here in Atlanta.  There will be free wine and food, so don't miss out.

Peace,

joe

INSPIRED BY THE PAST

Just a quick off the topper.

Peace,
Joe

Red Face

One more for the night. Felt like that last one was a little half assed. Ironically this one took much less time. Weird.

Peace,
Joe

INDIFFERENT APOCALYPSE

This started off as a nude woman and ended in mayhem. I would say this is a sketch for something more defined, but I think we all know I'll never revisit this, so here it is for what it is; a sketch.

Peace,
Joe

Brandi

This is an image of my girlfriend in all her wonderful glory. Ain't she a beaut?

Peace,
Joe

BISOUS

This is an image of my girlfriend's dog Bisous. She has been asking me if I would paint the dog for a minute now, and I just haven't had the time, so I hope this will hold her over until I can sick my brushes on a bigger traditional image.

Peace,
Joe

GIANT

Here's an image I did about a month ago during a life drawing session. I really like this one, and I'm thinking about pursuing it as a painting. Not sure yet, but I thought I'd at least share it with you.

Peace,
Joe

SELF IMAGE

OK, so I've received my first Graduate Painting assignment, and it's a self image. I was told I could go in any direction I'd like with this piece. All I have to do is do it big as hell. So I'm working 30X60 inches on this image and this is my digital sketch for the under painting. There will be many layers and lots of transparency in the final image, but this is the basic graphic design of the image.

Ultimately, I hope to paint a transparent self portrait over the skeletal structure. Wish me luck :)

Peace,
Joe

I NEED MEDICATION

I realized today that I might actually have a serious problem doing the same thing from one day to the next. I can barely do the same thing from one moment to the next. Looking over my blog from the last many months, I've decided to hunker down and do a couple series of images that all go together. I don't know if I can pull it off without going mad yet, but I'm going to try.

That being said, here's a bunch of different images that I've done in the last month or so that I haven't had a chance to post.

Peace,
Joe

SELF PORTRAIT

Just did this on a whim at the end of a long day. I didn't set out to make it too Kent Williams(ish), but it certainly took that turn when I added the blacks. I really like it though, and I'm thinking it could be a good sketchbook cover some time in this year maybe.

Also, here's a look at my official SCAD ID. All you Avengers fans out there should really love it, as they miss spelled my name "KANG" (as in KANG THE CONQUEROR). I didn't even notice that until I just now scanned it. "WOOPS!"

Anyway, I'm super happy to be back in school. Starting Monday, I'll be moving all my supplies and canvases into my private studio space on the campus and I'll begin painting my balls off. Also, I'll be moving into the city in the next two weeks and getting rid of my car. It's going to be a lot, but I'm ready for it...I hope :)

We'll see,
Joe

ANOTHER CLASSIC COVER

I put a little more work into this one. It's not exactly the same as the original, but it's pretty damn close. This time I started with a pencil drawing and not a pen one, and I did 99% of the work in photoshop. These are pretty fun to do, since I love the subject matter so much and they take me very little time or energy. I think I did this from start to finish in about 30 minutes, so that's awesome in my book.

Peace,
Joe

GOLDEN BLOCK

So I was checkin out some cute girl drawings from some of my favorite artists today, and I thought I'd do one myself. It's just a head sketch to keep things quick. I drew it first on paper with an ebony pencil and did the rest in photoshop.

Peace,
Joe

GIRL IN BLUE

For those of you who saw this post before, I'm sorry. That never should have made it to the internet. I don't know what I was thinking. Here's the same image done with a little more taste.

Peace,
Joe

CLASSIC COVER

When I was growing up reading comics, there were always a handful of covers that people loved to redo over and over and over. Action Comics 1, Amazing Fantasy 15, and X-Men 1 are the three that jump to my mind right now, but I know there are tons of them. I used to joke and say, "If there is anything I never want to do, it's redraw one of these damn covers that I've seen a million times. It's so boring." Now, here I am drawing X-Men 1. I have to say it was a fun exercise, and it took me two drawings to match the original, and then some more redrawing inside the computer after I scanned it.

I didn't want to waste too much time on this, so I didn't render it much past the sketch stage. Anything past here would just feel like a waste of time. Maybe the whole thing was. I don't know. It was a lot of fun to do.

Peace,
JOe

THE MAN

Yep.

Peace,
JOe

GAY BARBARIAN

OK damn it! I know the economy is in the pooper right now and everyone is bummed out, but lets get some comments on here. I miss you guys. Let me know you're breathing. If you don't have something to say about this gay barbarian with a sweet, thick, wonderful man stash, then you don't have a soul :)

Also, the image below is of his villains in this wonderfully gay world. They are ballet dancing tree nymphs. Enjoy

Hope you're all doing well out there,
Joe