Time Flies when your in love

Happy Anniversary baby! Jaime cakes and I have been an item for a whole year now. Can you believe it? Time sure really flew. Have to admit it's been a ride, but I'm still head over heels for her. Wish I could do more for our one year, but the I.O.U that's going to be attached to it will make up for the lack of many gifts. I promise that.
Lots of love for you always my queen!!!!!

Zombies Vs Cheerleaders

Here is a teaser image for the other project I just wrapped for 5finity! The premise, Zombies take on Cheerleaders. That was all we had to work with, so boy did it leave things open to interpretation! I really had a blast with this set, and contributed 20 cards, plus 2 ultra rare battle worn clothing cards! The set is completely sold out before it's even been released.

Mandy Cards from 5finity

Steven Frank and 5finity productions opted to put together a card set based on Dean Yeagle's super sexy character Mandy. I was invited to contribute sketch cards to the set as a rare artist. Meaning I only contributed the above 8 cards. It was an awesome honor to be a part of the set, especially because of Dean's influence on my work and my love for the character. I put as much effort into the cards as I could and had a blast. the first three cards were my returns, and the other five went into packs. So needless to say pulling one of mine is tough chore. Of my returns, the Dino Mandy has been sold to someone attempting a master set, and I gave Dean Yeagle the Cheerleader card as a token of my appreciation. So that leaves me with one. The Mermaid Mandy. The card is not only my remaining return, but is also signed by Dean Yeagle. At this point I am keeping it for myself. But you know, money talks. LOL.
Anyway, this was great fun! The next one to be released was even more of a killer!

CTN Animation Expo and my California Adventure

Shame on me for not posting anything to the blog in over a month. And I was doing so well!
The good news is, I have something to blog about and it should be long enough to make up for missing so much time.

A few months ago I heard about the CTN Animation Expo which was to be held in Burbank California November 20-22. The event was set to showcase animators and artists from all the biggest in the business. Disney, Nick, Dreamworks, etc, were all going to be there. And there would be recruiting and talent evaluations as well. Seeing how it sounded like an amazing opportunity to network and meet some of the people behind lots of my favorite animated movies, I knew I had to attend.
I couldn't decide however if I should just go as an attendee or actually purchase a table and set up shop, so I inquired about the benefits of a table. Low and behold I received a reply from Tina Price, head of the Creative Network (and one of the creative minds behind The Little Mermaid, Hercules and a slew of other awesome animated movies) with an invitation to complete some caricature demonstrations at the show. Basically I would be drawing on the main stage in a few 20 minute intervals and then get to hang at the show the rest of the time. Only a fool would have said no, so I didn't. I was jazzed as hell. THAT was in September.

As time moved closer, I hadn't heard anything, so I sent the first of MANY emails trying to find out what the schedule was looking like, and what if anything I needed to bring. But my emails went unanswered. I started to get nervous, and even considered canceling the trip. Finally in Mid November the schedule for the demonstrators was released, and I was nowhere on it. There were several TBA slots and I figured perhaps I'd be worked in there. Still, I was nervous and a little upset at the lack of response to any of my emails. I broke down and called the number associated with the show. They said they'd get back to me. Finally, the day before the show I got a call back saying not to worry, there were slots open and they'd work me in.
I was able to breathe a bit, and was looking at the positives. I would get to meet Dean Yeagle, Humberto Ramos, Andreas Degas, and J. Scott Campbell had been added to the list of demonstrators! I figured, hey my ticket is purchased, the time off is there. LET"S GO HAVE FUN!

After an long day of travel I arrived in Burbank. I was excited but cautious. I got to the hotel right at the beginning of the VIP reception. There was a long red carpet leading to the convention center for the VIP's, complete with a check in table and fancy lighting. The shock came when the registration table didn't seem to know who I was. I stood by the red carpet for a bit waiting while they sent for someone inside to get things straightened out. A few minutes later I heard an attendee call out to Tina Price. I figured, go to the source! After all she invited me. So after she sent the attendee down the red carpet to enjoy their night, I stepped over to her and introduced myself. She knew who I was, and before I could get much out, she was distracted by what I could only assume was someone a lot more pertinent than I was. She walked away mid conversation, chatted them up, then directed them down the red carpet. And there I stood. She walked off, I felt snubbed, and waited for another long while as more VIP's walked down the aisle.

I honestly think I stood there for close to 45 minutes before I finally walked back over to the check in table and asked, "So did we get things all straightened out, or am I just going to keep standing here all night?"
One of Tina's assistants took me back to the VIP waiting room and gave me a wristband for the show. Assured me it was all probably an oversight and I would get to draw as promised. "Check back with me in the morning and we'll slot you in"
Frustrated, and a little depressed I turned in for the night.

Day two I was up and at the show early. I made my first stop to see Dean Yeagle, amazing artist and creator of the adorable and sexy Mandy character.

Both he and his lovely wife were both amazingly down to earth people. We talked about his artwork and the Mandy Sketchcard series from 5finity productions. I gave him an artist return card I had done for the set. It was an honor to have worked on it, and I couldn't think of a better man to get the card. I'd say honestly between he and J. Scott Campbell they have been the biggest influences in my depictions artistically of women.

Dean drew a smoking Jessica Rabbit sketch in my sketchbook, and I snagged a few books from him.
From there I walked over and chatted with Sean "cheeks" Galloway. Another amazing artist who also incorporated his nickname into his signature! I had met Sean several years back and then he came across as a bit snobby, and mean. So I was hesitant to meet with him again. But the man is freaking talented, and I really wanted to dig him.

So I waited my turn, and watched as he sketched for people, chatted with them and all around seemed like an entirely different individual. When it was my turn, he couldn't have been more of a polar opposite than the first time. Genuine, kind, eager. He came across as more of a fan than the superstar he is. He looked over my Book of Jones and my sketchbook and was almost like a kid looking at a cool comic. (I noticed he did that with another guy as well. Showing that he really loves art and looking at lots of it) I bought his hardcover Cheeks:Unclenched book and he did a cool Jessica sketch inside for me.

I emailed him later and told him the story of our first meet, and he was so cool about it. Stating that at that point he was still fairly new to the convention scene and as a result a little withdrawn. Judging from his blog, his deviant art, and his twitter, Sean "Cheeks" Galloway has come out of his shell and is an awesome human being.

On the way through the exhibitor room I came across Tina's assistant from the night before. She was looking on at the demonstration station. I made small talk and asked how the schedule was looking. "We're good, I think we're good," was her response.

I had officially been bumped. I was irritated but determined to have a good time. Allow the show to continue to inspire me.

And inspire me it did.

I came across Ryan Hungerford. Wow what style this guy had. Very toony stuff, but just absolutely brilliant to look at. What caught me the most was his Star Wars stuff!

I told him I would love to see him working on a Topps Star Wars set. Crossing my fingers that we will! When that happens, all you sketch card fans can thank me! LOL.

The rest of the show I got to attend some panels and discussions. I was able to meet some absolutely brilliant artists in the animation field including, Harald Siepermann, Marcelo Vignali, and Andreas Deja. (All of whom signed my sketchbook and did a little sketch!) As if I hadn't been inspired enough, I was all set to watch J. Scott Campbell conduct a demonstration at 7 pm. So around 5:45 I made my way to the demo station where a small crowd had begun to form already. I sat down fairly close and to my delight was able to see Adreas Deja first at 6. He sketched many of his characters including Scar, Jafar, Gaston, and Mama Odie from the upcoming Princess and the Frog movie. In addition he also regaled us with stories from the process. Some of which were quite funny. But as time moved on it was looking like he would spill over into J. Scott Campbell's time slot. I looked around only to realize that sitting next to me were J. Scott and his girlfriend, famous Star Wars Slave Leia Christy Marie.
Unfortunately, 7 pm came and went. And so did his drawing session. HE had been bumped too.

I asked him if he would still be drawing the next day at noon. He assumed that was the case, and I decided I'd give it another shot then.

On day three I was in the exhibit hall by 10 am. I grabbed my front row spot for the noon session, and figured I would get to see another artist draw before that as well since someone was scheduled for 11. Low and behold, that artist no showed. I realized as well that I had seen this location that was "supposedly" all booked up, empty several times. That in itself was upsetting. Around 11:45 Dean Yeagle walked over to the demonstration station and sat down. Now while I was elated to see Dean draw, I was a little confused as to where J. Scott Campbell was. Minutes into what was a highly awesome demo, J. Scott and Christy walked up behind me. He told me that the night before Dean had been bumped from his time slot, and now he would be drawing somewhere else at noon. I explained that I had been bumped as well. And he looked at me and said, " It happens to all of us."

There was some comfort in that. If they could bump Dean Yeagle, and J. Scott Campbell, I didn't feel so bad since next them I was a small fish.

Now came the decision. Finish watching Dean, or go inside and see J. Scott.

Ultimately, I walked over to see the Danger Girl artist at work.

I was shocked at the fact that I was able to stand as close as I did. That I was able to ask as many questions as I did. It was kind of like a VH1 songwriters session. Had this been a comic convention I would have NEVER had this opportunity.

At the end of the drawing session I was the lucky recipient of the more finished 11 by 14 piece he did featuring Danger Girl AbbeY Chase.

The session was really special and being that I would say undoubtedly that J. Scott Campbell is my favorite artist, and his work my biggest inspiration, that hour was the icing on the cake and made the entire trip worthwhile.
As day three hit it's mid session I wandered over to see Don Bluth, Stephen Silver (who drew a great Kim Possible for me), Humberto Ramos, and Cheeks and thank him again. On the way out I headed back by Dean's table to say farewell also. We chatted a little longer and he did a quick Mandy sketch for me as well.

I stood outside the exhibit hall however shaking my head in confusion. I couldn't understand why I had been treated the way I had. On the surface the show should have been the ultimate in professionalism. But the way the demonstration schedules were handled, they way artists were bumped, and like myself ignored, left a bitter taste in my mouth. I expected more from them. Had they decided against using me for the demonstrations, I would have understood. A simple email, an apology, SOMETHING. Instead I felt snubbed, looked down upon, and worthless. In one of the discussions, Marcelo Vignali stated that for years, San Diego had Comic-Con. That the animation artists were kind of grouped to one corner. But that wasn't the case here. THIS, this was their Comic-Con.

I saw that in some ways as a reversed situation. The comic artists in tow didn't receive nearly as much attention as the animators. And maybe as a result were easier to bump, or move around. And we are talking BIG names here, Humberto Ramos, Mike Mignolia, and J. Scott Campbell. Good luck getting any decent face time with them at a comic show. But at the CTN Animation Expo, they were smaller fish in a big animators pond. And I was made to feel like the bottom dwelling kelp.
I can only imagine that next year the show will grow larger and it will be harder to get one on one time with some of the artists, but if you are going as an attendee only, it's well worth the trip. You'll leave inspired and wanting to draw. You'll probably spend a lot on sketch and art books as well. HOWEVER, if you get that invite to conduct a demonstration and have not worked for Disney, Pixar or Dreamworks, or contributed in some major form to the animation industry, be wary. Get it in writing. Get a retainer fee. Me? I'd just like them to make it right with me. I'm professional enough to know that if I blatantly blew someone off after inviting them to an expo, I'd be doing some serious damage control. No matter how big or in my case how small, the artist was.

That being said, I was ready to go. But what does one do with half the day when in California?

Well, if you like Disney, Theme parks, and have a comp ticket, you rent a car and take the 40 minute drive south to the Disneyland resort!

I headed there around 3 knowing the parks would be open until midnight. Plenty of time to soak it in. When I arrived I heade to California Adventure first. I hit the Monsters Inc. ride first. I knew that I wanted to take in as much of the parks as I could in 7 hours.


The best bet was to do the things that we don't have in Disney World first. The Monsters Inc ride was very cool.


From there I did California Screaming ( a kicking roller coaster) and the Maliboomer.

I also wanted to compare Soarin, and The Tower of Terror) I managed to circle the park in just over an hour. Taking advantage of the single rider line was a godsend.

I wrapped it up there and ran across to Disneyland. After all the Indiana Jones Adventure was waiting, calling my name. Sleeping Beauty's castle was drenched in holiday icicle lights.

I couldn't wait any longer. I was like a junkie looking for his crack. In this case my crack was the Indiana Jones ride. it had been 7 years since I'd ridden it, so I decided I would ride it once for every year I missed.

I did 6.

It was like Indiana Jones euphoria.
The next attraction I wanted to check out was the Haunted Nightmare Before Christmas Mansion. I was expecting there to be some decorations and the occasional reference to Jack Skellington, but I was blown away by the overhaul of the ride. It really felt like a Nightmare Before Christmas ride. The interiors were all modified with sights from the movies. Even the stretching room had been retooled. The soundtrack took you in and the ride was complete with life size Jack and Ooggie Boogie animatronics. Instead of hitch hiking ghosts, you took with you a creepy gift from Oogies back of prizes. Excellently executed and something I wish the Magic Kingdom would do as well.

Even though I didn't ride it, I did take a picture of the facade of It's A Small World. The Christmas light fairy effectively threw up on it, and had Clark Griswold do the rest. It was gorgeous!
I was doing so well on time that I took in Pirates, The Matterhorn, The Train, Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage, Roger Rabbit's cartoon spin, and even watched Fantasmic. I think it's good both here and there, but their Malificent Dragon looks cooler.

On the way out I snuck in one last Indy ride. Vowing that it wouldn't be another 7 years before I came back.

The next day I began my long journey home to Florida. I have to admit that Orlando really has become home. I used to say that I liked Disneyland better, but now, I think they are both equal. There is something about Florida that just rubs me the right way.

SO that concludes this, the absolute longest post I have ever entered. For those of you that read it all the way through. Thanks, it's nice to know my adventures mean something to someone!

Star Wars Fan Days 3

What an amazing show! I have to say this post is going to be dripping with pictures, so please bear with me! I got to pick up my girls a day and a half before the show, so we had some time to prep, and to play. I took them to the Galleria Mall in Dallas and they were in love with the American Girl store.

Wish I had the money to drop on the 100 dollar plus dolls. Inside the mall itself was a bit of a let down as most of the stores were geared toward those with the moolah. But I did manage to snag this great picture of my two grown up monsters on the escalator. Check out the ceiling work in the background.

Hailey and I stayed up very late that night to prep for the convention the next day. It was nice to get there and see so many familiar faces. So we got set up and I decided to go ahead and have caricatures available as well. I had a small stack of paper left over from a purchase I had made from Caricature Connection some years back, so I took that too. I figured maybe I would do a few caricatures throughout the show. Of course I needed a demo and who better to model for it then my own little princess Maya. But they had to be STAR WARS related.

The set-up was pretty cool and we were almost ready to tackle the show. Even Hailey had a few sketch cards she planned on selling! (and sell a few she did!!) Who could ask for better booth babes?

As soon as the show opened, I was flooded with people wanting StarWARCATURES done. How did I know they were going to be such a hit? Maybe I should have charged a little more. Kilted Darth Vader came walking by. And scared Maya.

Hailey and my cousin Eli posed with Darth Maul!

And there were a ton of other cool costumes at the show as well!



I also sold quite a few original pieces, wish I had taken more pictures of those.


Toward the shows end, I got snag a cool photo of Anthony Daniels, C3-PO himself!

Day one was a monster success! I was starved and ready to visit with my Aunt Audrey and my best friend Radish. Both of whom I hadn't seen in at least 8 years! So we went out for food at of all places a mexican restaurant called EL PASO!?

The food was yummy! And I got to catch up with Audrey and the gang!



Went home and actually fell asleep by 10. Yeah, we had been tired out. And it was onto day 2!

Before the show started that day, I had promised superstar Katie Cook that I would draw a caricature of her! I cannot gloat about how amazing she and her Booth babe/hubby Ryan are. The girls both adored them and I did too!

And Hailey was one of the lucky few at the show to get an actual sketch card trade with Katie! Check out her little Snips!

Hailey's luck continued as she got to meet and take a picture with James Arnold Taylor, the voice of General Kenobi in the Clone Wars!

We kept pushing right through the day! And Hailey got to meet even more celebrities, including a Stormtrooper, Ventress and Chef Vader? Is that Jar Jar surprise?



Maya, hung back to avoid all the Darksiders coming by, electing to color, play and munch out on daddy's lunch.

After lunch they were ready to meet Christy Marie, the most famous Fan Slave Leia on the planet!


And Daddy got to meet her too!

Hailey got to run around the showroom quite a bit, and as the last of the day was wrapping up she got to chat with Denise Vasquez and Randy Martinez!


And I got to finally meet Steve Sansweet in person. What a great guy!!!

The show was pretty much over, and although tired, it was sooooo worth it, and probably the most fun I have had at a convention! And lots of thanks to Ben, Phillip and all the staff at Fan Days! They sure treated us artists like gold. I would be back next year in a heartbeat.
Also thanks to my sketch card brethren not pictured, Rich Mollineli, Cat Staggs, Jason Sobol, Justin Chung, Grant Gould, Jessica Hickman, Russel Walks, Kevin Graham, Joe Corroney, Matt Busch, and anyone else I may have not listed!
Also an even greater thanks to my "wingmen" at the show, Jamie Snell who sat to my left and was superbly awesome and talented and a big heart to my girls!

And to Spencer Brinkerhoff who sat to my right. The girls loved you to death man, and I did too!!!


Thank you sooo much Fan Days 3, the girls and I had a fun force-filled time!

One of those bad nights

I came home from work tonight only to find that my girlfriend hadn't been home yet. So I tried texting and tried calling, but got no answer. Now she is a hard working teacher, always dedicating herself to her kids and her classroom, so staying late is no big deal, she does it often. Still, as 1 am trickled in, I started to become un-nerved. Was she okay? Was she cheating on me? Her daughter had not heard from her either, so I jumped in my car, and made the drive down to her school. Nothing. Then I swang by her mom's house. Not there either. I started to boil over, get a little angry. Lord knows based on my marriage and the infidelity that came from my ex-wife, that I have issues with insecurity.
So I made my way home, sat in the living room trying to work and waited. Waited, and waited more. Finally around 4 am there was a key jingle at the front door. As it opened I heard her speak, and then I heard a male voice respond. My heart started racing, I clenched my fists. How was I going to handle THIS? Then the door pushed open further, and I saw her silhouette and then HIS! WTF!?! She had brought another man into our home!? I was about to scream, when I heard her crying, and the I heard the man speak again. This time there was a familiarity to his voice. Then finally the light bulb hit. It was her step-father.
Come to find out she had stopped at the store on the way home from work, and evidently passed out in the parking lot. When she came to, she was in the hospital attached to an IV and all kinds of little electrode things. Her phone had died, and her mom didn't know my cell number. My sweet little bonehead of an almost step-daughter hadn't answered her phone when they tried her. I was relieved and horrified all the same. I kept picturing my baby sprawled out on the ground. Had she hit her head? How long was she there before anyone noticed? She said the doctors almost had to hook her up to a respirator because she was non-responsive.
I kind of wanted to kick myself for even thinking she'd strayed, but you know given my history, you may understand why I did.
Needless to say, I spent the last three hours by her side, and counting my blessings she's okay. But now I'm pooped, emotionally drained and in need of a nap.

Things to come

I've been slaving away over a portfolio/valentine book of sorts. It's all about Indiana Jones, and is in full color. It's called the Book of Jones, and it will be ready in time for Star Wars Fan Days 3.
So how can you get one? Well chances are you can't. See it's not a book I will be selling. It's going to have an excruciatingly limited print run and the only way to get it, is if I give it away. I am handing them out to a select few as gifts and I may give away a few extra to some customers. But it's totally NOT for profit. Just for fun, as a way to give something back.
I'll post more images from it as the show gets closer.

Saw

I can't really say that I have ever really been THAT big a fan of any franchise horror flicks. I think Freddy and Jason are cool. And I enjoy a really cool horror flick from time to time. The Descent and Drag Me To Hell were a few of my favorites. But other than that, aside from The Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies, no franchise has really stuck with me.
I watched the first Saw movie some years back, and was entertained and caught off guard by the twist at the end. But other than that, I never had much of a desire to see any of the follow ups. Then Universal's Halloween Horror Nights added Saw to the mix this year. They talked about the fact that the Haunted House based on it would feature traps and scenes from the Saw franchise. So I figured it was time to catch up. After all, I like to be in the loop of things I am going to see at HHN.
So I rented Saw 2 and 3, and was hooked. Damn, even more plot twists, a captivating villain, and a killer soundtrack. 4 and 5 didn't really let me down either.
So after I was caught up, I kept thinking about the movies, and had to go see the first one all over again to see the little twists and intricate story lines I had missed. And the movie grew on me even more.
A lot of folks complain that it's like torture porn. But I don't really see it that way. What gets me more about the movie is the characters, the plot twists, and yeah some of the mechanics behind the traps that come up. How people make the choices they do. And really that the damn movies are all about valuing your life.
It seems odd that I can go on for so long about a franchise like Saw, but I have to be honest, I rank these movies as my personal favorites up there with Darth Vader and Indiana Jones.
I want to play a game. Can there be much they have in common with Tobin Bell? Can you the reader make any connections? I actually can see several. Can you? Let the game begin.

Pissed Off Pato

Okay, so several months back I drew a cartoon of a messy pig to illustrate how gross it was to work at a caricature stand after a messy person. I posted this drawing on a private company blog and it too on a life of it's own. The powers that be ended up creating a few other animal toons as well. But my favorite of the bunch was Positive Panda. He was the animal we were supposed to focus on when things might not be as bang up at work as they could be. When sales were slow, or it rained all day, we should always stay positive.
So when September settles in and sales tend to slump it's expected that you may have a slow night here and there. Those nights become "learn nights" as opposed to "earn nights." Nights where we focus on our craft, hone our abilities.
Last week I had one of those nights at a typically good location. I drew 2 pictures. That's right, over a 5 hour span. 2. But through it all I remained Positive Panda. Chalking the night up to a September slouch. The very next night I saw the same thing happening, but I stayed Positive Panda. And after some chatting and laughing and free add ons, (I would color the black and white pictures free to keep a butt in the chair and effectively advertise to other guests) I had an okay night.
This week I was back at the first location for a second time this week. I had a fairly decent showing there a few days ago, and then tonight hit. I had one of the worst nights ever. There wasn't any level of positivity that could break through it. I spoke to the handful of people that did come by.

"So how long will one take?"
" 5 to 10 minutes."
"Great we will be back tomorrow."
"No one is here now, I can take care of you in a hurry."
"Well we have dinner reservations."
"I can start the pictures and finish them up while you eat, what a time saver."
"No that's okay, but we'll definitely be here tomorrow."

I had that conversation several times. Told people where the bathroom was, pointed out restaurants, and smiled. I smiled a lot. Positive Panda. Then I drew a little kid, free of charge to try and drum up some business. Nothing. Lots of compliments and aw how cute's. But no sales.
Then a pulled a demo, a fantastic face with a big mustache. His family took pictures and laughed.

"We definitely need to come back for this after dinner."

They never came back for it. But they got photo's of it for a nice prize.

As the night progressed and my poor back screamed in pain from standing there, I began to lose sight of that Panda, and inside I was growing a little pissed off. But I still smiled. Smiled A lot. I wondered how I could get stuck with the crappiest total two weeks in a row. Who had I pissed off? Was God giving me a sign that maybe I needed a new profession?

I ended up doing 1 picture tonight. One. But even while closing and answering one last question from a family of four who was "coming back tomorrow" I smiled.

Then I cussed like a sailor all the way to my car.

My nickname is Locoduck. Duck in spanish is Pato.

Tonight I created a new little animal. Sorry Panda, for now I'm just one Pissed Off Pato.

Oh that costume. Just a little sumthin sumthin.

Star Wars Clone Wars Widevision

Busy times are on the horizon. One card set I am working on is Topps upcoming Star Wars The Clone Wars Widevision set. These cards are a beaut as they give me a lot more room to work with. I'll be doing one hundred (Attempted full color) cards. The catch? Mine are only going to be available in retail packs this time around. Guess that will make them harder to track.
Either way, It's going to be a blast! I am working on a few other sets as well, but more on those later.

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

Did this 4 card puzzle for a collector. I'm really digging the way it came out, and am pretty sure I am going to make something close to it into a print type thing.

Wow.

Disney buys Marvel.

It's amazing what one wakes up to find out about on a Monday morning. So yeah, I now sort of work for Disney, and Marvel. Scrup. Not sure what to make of it, but I am sure it will be full of interesting developments. Please by all means, Discuss!

Want to Watch me Draw?

Below is my Ustream Broadcast schedule, come hang out!

R2KT

This piece was originally simply a donation piece for the Marla Bea Benefit auction. I decided to do this one and the Black Cat piece as well. And while I am proud of both, I simply love and adore the Star Wars piece the best.
You see it started as me trying to draw something unique for the auction. The requirement was that we draw a strong female type from pop culture and feature the color pink. I thought about it for a long while and realized it would be cool to make a pink Artoo unit. So that was the plan.
Then this past weekend I was at Mini Megacon checking out the exhibitors. I came across the Florida Garrison of the 501st Legion. These guys are a class act all over the world. If I had a Stormtrooper outfit I would totally join. Maybe I'll start building one at the Star Wars Fan Days 3 show in October.
Anyway, I noticed a pink Artoo action figure at their booth, and struck up a conversation with one of the guys there. I apologize in advance for being too sloppy to get a name. I wanted to know if it was indeed a female droid? Low and behold there was, and she had a name, R2KT.
He went on to share the story in brief about young Katie Johnson. She was a beautiful little girl with an affection for R2, and a losing battle with Brain Cancer. Now if I have this a little off, I am sorry for my poor detailing. Apparently, her father was in the midst of building Katie her very own pink astromech droid when she took a turn for the worse. Some of the professional R2 robot builders then stepped in and created a real life pink R2 unit, and called it R2KT. Sadly, Katie lost her fight with cancer and passed away sometime after. So now R2KT has become a staple in the Star Wars world. She is an ambassador of sorts, making appearances at Hospitals, and functions, and continuing to bring more awareness to cancer. The droid was even featured briefly in the Clone Wars movie.
After hearing Katie's story I knew I had made the right choice to draw this piece.
This drawing became more emotional for me as well because of the fact that my little girls had just left me, to go back to Texas. But I guess I should thank my stars, that I can still call them or see them.
So my heart and thoughts go out to Katie Johnson's daddy, and it is very hard to now part with this piece. But the positive side is that it will help to bring us in someway closer to saving future Katie's.
You can read more about the MarlaBea Benefit auction by visiting the following link
MARLA BEA BENEFIT AUCTION

Personal Heroes: George Lopez

I'm not coping well with the fact that my daughters left me today, so in order to keep some sort of distraction I'll make a post about one of my personal heroes. George Lopez.

I'm not exactly sure where I first stumbled upon George Lopez. I'd heard of him before, and even seen him in Shark Boy and Lava Girl, but I don't think it was until I became aware of his show on Nick at Nite that I got a better appreciation for the man as a comedian. All I knew is that after watching the first episode in reruns, I was hooked. I don't recall ever laughing quite so hard at a sitcom as I had this one.

I'm sure there was some attraction to him ( and no I don't mean it like that, cochinos!) because of the obvious Chicano connection. After all I am LOCOduck, But I related to the humor as well because that's what I grew up around myself. It's odd to note as well that George Lopez seems to be the perfect mutation of two people, my step-father; a typical stereo-typical Mexican Alpha Male cut-out, who aside from the various bruises and fantastic insults, I gained two note worthy things from. A sense of perverted humor, (including a healthy addiction to porn, THANKS Orozco) and an appreciation for segundo barrio oldies. Then there is my biological Dad, ( who while yeah, didn't stick around for reasons that would require an entirely new blog post) was the nurturing, intelligent and supportive male figure in my life. Not to mention, that I think he and George Lopez do look oddly alike.

If you pushed my two hispanic father figures into one, I sincerely think George Lopez would be the result. In his situation and stand up acts, I hear the barrage of Mexican curse words my step father would use until I pissed myself laughing, some of the same mannuerisms are there as well. Hell the opening "Low Rider" song was a staple in my step-father's tape deck. But then there are samples of my bio-dad as well, George Lopez is one superbly intelligent man, goal driven, and family oriented, he seems like he would give you the shirt off his back, much like my father.

Therein lies more of the respect and connection.

But let's face facts, George Lopez is one really funny "buey." I have watched his HBO special "Tall, Dark and Chicano" about 4 times now. It was filmed live in San Antonio where any of my regular readers know my heart lives it's second home. I find something new to laugh at every damn time I see it. Whether it's the jokes about burritos and McCaca's, the latter of which just tickled my little girls, or his facial expressions, the man is comic gold.

He gives the Latino community a superbly respectable face, dresses like a modern day "Jaime Bond" and is cherished by so many. I think HE was the reason I was willing to sit through Beverly Hills Chihuahua, (which I ended up really liking and buying.)

As you can see I have a world of admiration and respect for the man. He remains high on my list of people I'd love to meet. And he's the kind of Latino I'd like to grow old and become.

Muchas Gracias George, you make one helluva man.

Sketch Card Goodness

Well I was having some issues with my scanner, but it's back in order now. Trying to enjoy the last few days I have with my babies until they go home, so I'll make it quick. Here ya go!






Well I was having some issues with my scanner, but it's back in order now. Trying to enjoy the last few days I have with my babies until they go home, so I'll make it quick. Here ya go!

Legends and Lore

I was invited a few months back to participate in a card set for sadlittles.com called Legends and Lore. But was even more awesome was I was given the opportunity to create a base card for the set. I have to admit I was a little bummed by the subject when I got it. "King Arthur!?" I thought. COme on, where was my chance to draw a cheese cake-ish red riding hood? I had no idea where I was going with it. But finally I came up with the most iconic (at least in my opinion) image of King Arthur. The Sword In The Stone. So this is what I came up! Have to admit I was pretty happy with the end result after all, and I can't wait to see it in print!
Snag up the set, by visiting sadlittles.com

Home Again

I'm back. San Antonio was nice! Nice, but oddly enough, hotter than Orlando. I have lots of pictures to share! AS promised, here is the night shot of downtown from our window. Doesn't do the reality justice. One of the things I will miss the most about San Antonio is the food!

Jeebus, we ate sooooo much of it while we were there. Had to stock up because lord knows the pickings are slim for decent mexican food around here. We got a chance to enjoy the ambiance of Mi Tierra. It was a great mexican restaurant in the Market Square of downtown San Antonio. Aside from the delicious food, there are also strolling Mariachis,

and of course my favorite part, a bakery! There you can sample all sorts of freshly baked goodies. I was slightly hurt the first day we went there since they did not have any maranitos (gingerbread piggies) my absolute favorite.

But by the end of the trip I brought a boxload home. YUMMMO! After our meal we made it through market square and came across a caricature stand. It struck me that my mother had never seen me in action. The artist had a model sitting there so I lingered behind and pulled out my sketchbook and drew one of my own.

My mom got to see me at work. I ended up giving the guy the drawing so he made out with a two for one. You can see in the background the other artists version as well.

There was a slightly disturbing image I came across at a local grocery store in one of the toy crane machines. It seems innocent enough, but that bag seems to be getting a bit too friendly with that doggie.

Sadly I noticed as well that one of my favorite spots as a child, "Kiddie Park" had been closed. It seemed a lot smaller than I remembered it, and now looked like it was condemned.

At night, we al loaded up and hit the town to do some drinking, dancing, and after a little more drinking apparently I was ready to become a rockstar. Yeah look at the Locorockinduck go.

In art news, I managed to work on the trip as well, getting almost 20 cards drawn, and averting a sales crisis. I promise I will show some of those in the next post. In the meantime I will give one last poke! Have to run ya'll.

Greetings from Texas!

Hey Gang.
So I am currently deep in the heart of Texas. My babies are back for a week to hang with their momma at the beach. Instead of tracking back and forth I'll be waiting for them here until they get back and taking them back to Florida when they are done. It's nice because I get to spend some quality alone time with my blushing baby doll, and we didn't even rent a car. We are staying at one of the oldest and historical hotels in downtown San Antonio, The Crockett. It's appropriately named as it sits directly behind the grounds of the Alamo. The view from the window is awesome, and I can't wait to see it at night.

Everything is within walking distance, bars, movies, restaurants! Ah the life. And not to worry, I brought a handful of blank sketch cards to work on as well. I'll be able to draw and ink a ton of em, but coloring won't come until I get back to Orlando. But half the battle will be done anyway!
And on the commission side of things, please understand that I am trying to clear my list as fast as possible. So I may knock the people with one or two cards out faster and quicker, but it doesn't mean I am not working on the bigger orders. I just prefer to save my clients on postage and send out lump sums of cards rather than two out of 10 or more. And for the record, I am NOT taking on any new commissions just yet, so no one is jumping into the mix and causing longer delays. I am on a steady groove right now in my drawing world, and plan on getting very caught up this week. I will update the blog several times this week. So keep checking.
In the meantime, here are a couple of caricatures I drew of my co-workers this past Sunday.

The Greatest American Hero

I have thinned my commission and job list down once more. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just wrapped up a handful of sketch cards for Sadlittles.com Legends and Lore set. I need to now crunch down and move 40 cards out the door for The March of Dimes charity sketch card set featuring the Greatest American Hero. Here is a quick character study and reference I put together. While I love the show, and have the first season on DVD it's nice to have a quick study I can look at.
A few other items of note. I have a small webcam now and am setting up a ustream account so that anyone who wants to can watch what I am working on. More details and schedule to follow soon. On the right of my blog as well will be a current workload list. If you have work coming from me, refer to it.
Okay off to bed. Have to enjoy my last day at 33.

Rolla Coasta of Life

Hey gang. I know it's been almost a month since my last post. I have to admit that I knew they would be spread out, but this was a ridiculous length of time. So there have been a lot of positives in that amount of time, but it's been a proverbial climb. About two weeks ago I jumped on a plane to go and bring my little darlin daughters home. The trip was a 15 hour marathon consisting of me boarding a plane to Texas at 9 am and returning home with them that same night at 11 pm. Needless to say, I packed pretty light. And leave it to me to keep drawing caricatures of sort at 3500 feet. For whatever reason, I decided to draw Southwest Airlines flight attendant (And budding author) Angela.


She was so gracious in accepting the picture that I became somewhat of a mini celebrity on the flight out, at least with the first half of the cabin. My apologies to everyone else I didn't get to draw. Maybe I can exchange caricature art for airline tickets. LOL.
When I got to Bandera Texas I scooped up my lovelies and we made the track back home. It was so awesome to be bringing them home for basically the whole summer. They were superstars all the way home. At the airport in Orlando while waiting for their luggage I snapped a pic of what in my opinion has to be one of the best Star Wars weekends ads ever.



Wish I had gotten to attend this year. The next few days saw me finishing packing up my life, and the three of us heading to the house of Mouse. Got to meet Tinkerbell which was cool. Then move week started. And it was a nightmare. The second night in our new place, and there was a massive lightning storm that took out a house a few homes over. It caused havok to the electricity and cable, leaving me internet-less and air conditioned impaired. The cable company ran a temporary line and before the day was over, a lawn guy ran it over and disconnected my world wide web once again. A few days later we were back on-line and I had managed to move just about all the heavy stuff into my second story studio. I was ready to get set up and working. After all the heavy lifting I had done the week before, it was a small box that took me off my feet and effectively destroying my back and keeping me bed ridden and un-able to do almost anything but wince and cry like a 1st grade girl. I have managed to miss work because of the intense pain and the inability to sit for longer than a few hours. And once again my personal workload is piling up on me.
So here I lie still in bed, finally managing to put some thought together long enough to update you guys. I've managed to pull a little tray by my bedside so I can do some drawing to try and ease the load. So that be that. But ultimately all is well because I have my little mini ducks at my side for now.


Have a great weekend.

UP from here

Well yes, the post is about UP, (and so is the three minute cave art you see here) and it's about many other things. Beware my readers, it be one of them looong winded posts.
I had the chance to see a few movies over the past week. Some were with my hunny bunny in a theater, while others were playing on the tube while I was working. And although the race was tight, UP edged out Drag Me To Hell by a hair. What a beautiful flick Pixar has put together. I had heard that the first few minutes were better than any love story out there today. And it is so true, once again, the mix of music, beautiful animated human emotions and story that Pixar is so good at floored me. But more on UP in a bit. '



Drag Me To Hell was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The fact that that my girlfriend wanted to see it was in itself a bit inspiring. To be honest I wanted to see it because the title amused me. So we made our way to a midnight showing, and I was instantly wrapped up in the grossness, the over the top moody sounds, the jump moments, the camp, the soundtrack, the delicious throwback to older horror flick films (right down the oddly grainy projection itself.) I had a really good time at this movie. My brother made a good point though, asking if it was a horror movie or a comedy. I couldn't really answer. I simply said, "It's a Sam Raimi." And a breath of fresh air.

Other movies I saw kind of ran together. Vickie Christy Barcelona, The Spirit, The Wrestler, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Max Payne. Yeah, honestly nothing to write about, (although I really had better hopes for liking The Wrestler)

I managed to get quite a bit of artwork done too. Finished all my Archie cards (scans to come soon), I got several commissions done. Including these delightfully foot filled cards


and the boat caricature below. And I continue to line up my never ending list. I finished a base card for Sadlittles Legend and Lore set (wish I could show it) But I am really enjoying my drawing time.

For those of you waiting on cards, please continue to be patient. I know how hard the wait can be. I am in the same boat, awaiting almost a year now for a sketch. I also must add that my schedule is going to become overloaded the next few weeks since my girlfriend Jaime and I have decided to move in together. We have a beautiful home lined up to rent, and one of the best parts is, I will be bringing my little girls home for the summer. Of course, the move, the trip to get my babies, yeah, it's all happening over the next two weeks. So I beg for your continued tolerance.

Hey by the way, there is a cool blurb about yours truly over on the raider.net. If you click this link and scroll about half way down, you can catch a glimpse of the duck in all his awkward Animal Kingdom gloriousness.
Locoduck on the Raider.net

Oh and side note two. I was at church with Jaime a couple of weeks ago, and this passage stuck to me, leading me to evaluate and recognize one thing, ( Corinthians 15:33 says, Do not be mislead. Bad Company corrupts good character.) I AM NOT BAD COMPANY.

Anyway, this I guess brings us back full circle to UP. For those who have seen it, you know the way it ends, with blessing of a new adventure. I have braved through my black clouds. And with my move, my babies, my new love.....the only place life can continue to go is UP. Onwards to adventure a new.

PS Also on a new Upward adventure is my brother from another mother Kenny Durkin. Congrats to he and his new blushing bride Andi. I love you guys!!!

Recent Caricature Order

The photos I got for this were not as clear as I would have liked them to be in the sense that they didn't show the faces of the coaches too well. So I decided it best to for a more simplified cartoon approach. It was received with great enthusiasm!

*EDIT*
I got these pictures in my email today. Looks like the caricatures went over very well. I always like getting cool follow up like this. As you can see, I also included personal head shots of each coach as well.

Toony Bin Entries

Here are my two contributions to the last two drawing challenges at the Toony Bin.



Here are my two contributions to the last two drawing challenges at the Toony Bin.

Cap and Spidey

I love these characters and I am starting to enjoy coloring on my computer a little more. It's a bit time consuming, but worth the effort. This is what I work on usually when I don't have access to all my art supplies. I have a handful of commissions I am working on as well. And don't forget to get your Toony Bin entries in. I have seen some awesome entries so far.
Have a great weekend my friends!!

Born Again Trekkie

So I have always hated Star Trek. I always thought it seemed like the most boring space adventure out there. Not even close to touching the beauty that is my Star Wars. So when I heard there was a new Star Trek in the works, I rolled my eyes. Then I heard it was a new beginning, and I thought "Oh Great, they are re-creating suck from suck"
Then I saw a preview. "Not bad,not bad at al,"l I thought to myself. Then I saw more previews and I was hooked. I was actually stoked to go check it out. I watched it on Friday and I was blown the frack away. It was spectacular. It was everything that the old Star Trek wished it could be. The new cast gave it such an energy. The special effects were great, yeah, it was oh so delicious. I'm ready to go see it again, and again, and again. My only hurdle to overcome was reminding myself that I wasn't watching Sylar from Heroes, Shaun from Shaun of the Dead, and Harold from Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. LOL. I overcame and they kicked all kinds of ass in the movie.
4 Quacks.

By the way The Toony Bin is up and running. You can see what it is by going to toonybin.blogspot.com

oh what a week.....

To say it has been an interesting week is an understatement. Last Friday started with a trip to the movies to see Wolverine. It wasn't a bad flick. In my opinion however the other XMEN films were all much more entertaining. I think Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was amazing, and wish there had been more of him in the movie. I'm glad to hear that there is a Deadpool movie in the works with Reynolds already attached.
Saturday, brought us to Free Comic Book Day. In all honesty I haven't participated in anything to do with it since Spider-man came out at the movie theaters. But this year I decided to take my girlfriends daughter to the shop in Lakeland to get some swag. Sadly there was zero presence. Not a consumer in the place snagging free books. The upside was that we got to get one of each. But the best prize of all was the Indiana Jones fertility idol piggy bank that I scored there. I had never seen it before but it was awesome. Yeah the dork in me re-enacted the famous sand bag switch a few times to the eye rolling chagrin of my honey. After that we went to grab a bite at the Macaroni Grill and low and behold, they had coloring placemats. The artist in me couldn't resist, and here is what I came up with. The food wasn't half bad either. Our last stop of the night was to see Monsters VS Aliens in 3D. Of course the movie started 45 minutes late because they couldn't get the projector working. After having some fun in a silent and increasingly impatient theater with my Iphone Whoopie Cushion application, they moved us to the theater showing The Battle for Terra. Not one ticket had been sold for it. They comped us and started MvsA there. It was deliciously gorgeous. And pretty damn funny as hell. I liked it better than Wolvie.
Sunday I got up and went to church with Jaime. The pastor spoke about decision making and crossroads. It was surprisingly relevant and poignant. As I have been at a crossroads in life lately about a few things. It helped clear a lot up, and for now there is a ton of clarity swimming around my head.
Monday I was readying my special new announcement when we got some bad news. My girlfriends granny had passed away. I quickly acquired a plane ticket to South Carolina for her, and found myself in the position of taking care of her daughter for the week. I was flattered that Brit wanted me to stay with her. But that meant a lot of long driving back and forth to work, to check on my chihuahua and back to her house. Most everything art related had to be put on temporary hold. The drawings I did get to do came from a college program graduation. It's always fun to work with and see old friends. I drew this gal from China, and didn't hold back. My co-worker Andi was trying to reassure her that it was very good but very funny. When the gal saw it she laughed and heartily appreciated it. An hour later she came back and gave Andi and I each a Chinese good luck charm. We joked that we hoped it wasn't some kind of voodoo cursed talisman showing retaliation for the drawing.
Thursday brought some obnoxious clients. I just knew that it couldn't end well. I will say that the drawing started as this. Sweet, toned down, fairly flattering. (Believe me it was) It got rejected. My co-worker came back and asked if her neck had really been "That big". To demonstrate the actual thickness the picture went to this.
(Yeah, I was a little more honest and unforgiving this round) I hadn't yet added the braids or glasses as I didn't want the client walking back by and seeing the more "exaggerated" version. My co-worker laughed and said from the photo it "looked like a big pile of $#i+" I died laughing. Then he pointed out the "dirty neck" and I about pissed myself rolling with laughter. Needless to say, I finished it up, adding the glasses and the braids, and was very happy with the end result. I think I just made myself a portfolio piece. So all was not completely lost. I wish business had been better for the day, but thanks to the crossroads speech, I am reassured that the decisions I have made thus far in life have led me to a very happy and fulfilling career in art, and have brought me to encounter many fantastic people. The positive side is that my girlfriend is headed back from South Carolina now, having said her goodbyes and shed many a tear, and our life will continue to grow together. I will post the details of my new art challenge blog "The Toony Bin" on Monday. Thanks for reading, and have a blessed weekend!

....something's coming.....something good.....

Artistically inclined? Feelin creative? A little competitive?
Yeah. Monday. Check back here.

....and so it goes

I'm home. And there is so much to say. I had an amazing time with my daughters in San Antonio. But I miss them so much already. It was really amazing to see them interact with Jaime (the love of my life) and Brittany (her awesome daughter). Hailey (my oldest) really took to Brit, it was like she really enjoyed the prospect of a big sister. She got along really well with Jaime as well, giving her a hug when we left and telling her "Take care of my daddy" What was even more remarkable to me was that I had my Mom and my Dad in the same place at the same time again. I can count on one hand how many times that has happened in the last 10 years. But for a few days, all the most important people in the world to me (minus my brother :0( ) were in the same place at the same time. It was more than enough to bring a duck to tears.
We went to Six Flags on the third day and despite the rain and drizzle, we had an awesome time. Walked right onto every ride. Unfortunately I proceeded to lose my cell phone on one of the loop de loops. The good news is Jaime hooked me up with an early birthday present and I now have a cool Iphone. (So email me if you need the number)
I got to take my girls to see the Hannah Montana movie and I really enjoyed it. Especially her song "the climb." In watching I realized why I like things like High School Musical and Hannah Montana. It's because you pretty much see them everywhere you go. And in those properties I see my daughters. I guess it helps keep them always close.

I found out over the course of the trip that I would be working on two March of Dimes Charity sketch card series. I'll be drawing cards based on the world of Archie comics, and some based on one of my favorite 80's TV series The Greatest American Hero.
So the trip itself was fantastic, and holding my little monsters again was like a dream. But now I have to admit I am walking around feeling a little lost. After all I had so many people who loved me all in the same place at the same time and now I'm lying here alone.

In other news.....I am officially divorced as of today. I had to go down to the courthouse and finalize it. I wish I could say it was a sad thing, but I can't. Onto bigger, better, and happier.

Thanks for reading my rant.

PS Congrats to Dave Baker and Billsid, I'll be hooking them up with free sketch cards. The freebies continue. I'll be holding another random drawing next week.

Slave Jessica....

I guess I am on a weird draw jessica as kick. This is mixed watercolor and marker sandwich. And is currently available on Ebay. I'll be figuring out the winner of last week's sketch card drawings sometime this weekend, so there is still time to enter and win!
Now I should probably get ready for an excrutiatingly loooooooong day of caricaturing. Whew, I love my job, but a twelve hour shift can really be a kick in the pants.
Have a great day!!

Fan Days

I just got confirmation that I will be appearing for Star Wars Fan Days III this year in Plano Texas. I'll be rubbing elbows with a ton of my favorite artists and peers that I have worked with on many Topps card sets. it will be good to see them again. The show is in October and you can get more details by visiting http://www.scifiexpo.com/DCC/fandaysIII.html

Thanks everyone who has commented on Tragic both here and else where. I know for some reason some of you weren't able to click through to it, if you want to try typing http://www.locoduck.com/tragictheclown.html into your browser, that is a direct link.

I'm also getting really excited, because I get to visit my daughters next week. I cannot wait!

Anywho, here is a little something I did a few days ago as part of a long overdue commission. Enjoy.

Tragic The Clown

So I have written many stories before, but none of them have been more personal than Tragic the Clown. It came about at a very rough point in my life. A time when I knew that my marriage was on its final legs. It is a story that one probably would be surprised to see in comic book form, but since I was a kid, comics were always an escape. They were a way for me to deal with the hosts of other bullshit that I was coping with in life. Anytime something seemed to be going wrong in my life, I drew to deal with it.
Tragic the Clown came at a point in my life when I believed that love was in deed a figment of imagination. That it was something that could possibly never exist. I worked very hard on the story and gave it almost a year of my life. I was very proud of it when I published it and had a stack of freshly baked books ready to sell at Megacon one year. Unfortunately, I sold about two copies. My poor personal "Chasing Amy" story got shoved to the side while my sketchbooks, and other items got picked up instead. I ended up giving many copies of my book away. To my somewhat bittersweet delight, every person that read it, seemed to love it. I know I do. And I hope that you will too. Please take some time to read it all the way through. I would love to hear your comments on it, and will respond to every single one. In addition everyone who reads and comments on THIS post in particular will be eligible for a free sketch card drawing. Hell if the feedback is heartfelt and good enough, I may just give everyone that responds a card.
So click on the illustration below and enjoy.

Click HERE to read the Tragic Story

The Comics

So some of you may or may not realize this, but comics have always been my first love. I would love to one day get to write and or draw for one of the big names. But until that day, I have plenty of stories to tell on my own. And I have even published several of them with a HUGE thanks to Ka-Blam comics. Not only are the books quality, but so are the people that run the show, Barry and Jenni Gregory, Thomas Florimonte and Mikey McElroy.
So what I am doing starting this week is making my books available for you guys to read free. I'd love to get everyone's input on the stories as they become available.
To bribe you for your comments I will be giving away one free Personal Sketch card of the winners choice pulled from all comments made on different posts this week. In addition, I will give away one free Sketch Card at random to one person who comments in this week's comic's thread.
So that means my readers have a chance at winning two free sketch cards this week.
Tragic the Clown will be the first comic posted!
Thanks to everyone for their comments and support so far.
And congrats to last week's sketch card winner. Brent Ragland. Drop me an email at locoduck@locoduck.com Brent and we can get you set up.

Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake

.....and here is your camp counselor Jason Voorhees. He's very into fitness, he will make sure your kids get a great work out, and is constantly on the run. He's great in shop class, really knows his way around tools. He'll work with your child's vocal chords, and is very creative. Kids are constantly challenged by him. More importantly he will make sure there is no co-ed fraternization between camp members.

Anyone else see the new movie? I enjoyed it.

Free Sketch Cards and such

I'm pretty swamped with thought right now. Something massive is looming and although decisions have been made and actions are about to take place, I am still certain this current private issue will haunt me for the rest of my life and hopefully not after.
Regardless, I am trying to continue updating my blog with certain frequency.
And as the title says I'm giving away free sketch cards. Unfortunately they aren't the ones pictured up top. Those are just a few Indy Masterpiece Panoramics I wanted to share. I thought they were fun.
What I am giving away this week is a free Sketch Card from Lord of the Rings Masterpieces. You don't get to see who it's by, or what it's of. That's part of the surprise. But I don't really collect Sketch cards myself, so why not pass them on to you.
How do you win? Well you just comment. That simple. If you comment on one of my posts from this point forward, you get your name thrown into the weeks drawing. One entry per comment in each entry. So if I I do three different blog posts and you comment in each one, you get three entries. I will draw a name at random next Thursday. Then I'll send the winner the card free of charge. Not a bad incentive for typing a few words huh? You don't have to be a blogger member to comment, but if you do, at least include a first name so I know who wins.
So get to commenting, there is swag to be had!!!

The way of things

So I am desperately trying to get my commissions out of the way to focus more on drawing for me. I always believed it was more fun when I did it that way. The truth is I have never been much of a conformist when it comes to drawing. For the most part, I draw what, when and how I want to. I haven't been doing as much of that as I like to lately. Truth of the matter is, I draw for a living at work. It's a great job, and I have fun and live comfortably doing it. But there are times when I get home from having drawn for 5 plus hours straight, and then I just want to sit on my ass and watch mindless drivel, (American Idol, Survivor) and some not so mindless, (Lost, Lie To Me, Dollhouse, How I Met Your Mother)
But I'm trying to shake that. Since there is a lot I want to do still. All kinds of creation bouncing round inside this little Loco head of mine.
So I am close to getting to that point.
In the coming months, there will be updates to the sites, Mine, Blogger, Myspace, Facebook and DeviantArt.
I am working on a few projects of a personal nature and a couple of professional ones.
It looks like a good buDdy of mine and I are going to be forming a creative alliance to make some fantastic cartooning goodness. We've collaborated successfully before, why not keep building on it. He remains one of the most awe inspiring creative forces I have known and only great things can come of us continuing to work together.
I plan on putting some social drawing interactions together.
I will be posting Tragic the Clown here so anyone can read it for free. I still think it is a story that should have been read more.
And I plan on giving away free sketch cards.
But most of all, I plan to start drawing more for ME again. After all that's what kept it an escape to begin with.
In the meantime, here is one of those pieces/projects I had bouncing round the head.

The Big Bad and Red

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a healthy obsession with all characters fairy tale. My favorite of the bunch is Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
Ever since I started working at Caricature Connection I have been dabbling with water color. Before this gig hit almost 5 years ago now I wouldn't dare pick up a brush. I was absolutely intimidated and turned off by the medium. But I have to work with it everyday. And the funniest thing is, I started to enjoy it. I want to continue to explore the medium more, and this was my first attempt. I did a basic sketch and then just started it straight with watercolor. It wasn't until the very end that I added some small blocks of ink. Overall it came out pretty close to my idea of the finished project.

Han and Leia Sorta

This is a commission I did a while back of a client and his girlfriend. They were celebrating an anniversary and he asked me to draw them as Han and Leia. I cut him a good deal since I was feeling ever so romantic and all cute like about love. I'm fairly pleased with the end result, and decided to share it with you guys.

Anyway, I just finished coloring thirteen sketch cards and I drew a lot of caricatures at work tonight. I'm spent and going to bed.
Have a great day!

I've fallen and don't want to get up.

Valentine's has come and gone. And yet somehow I find myself by the grace of God still floating on cloud number nine. I guess that's what happens when someone so amazing and true comes along and shows you what Love is really supposed to be like.
In case you haven't gotten where I am going with this, I have fallen. When you least expect it, it happens right. And I never saw Jaime coming.
My life has changed for the better since I have met her. It still hurts that my girls are a million miles away, but Jaime brings a sunshine to my day like I have never experienced.
Truth is like so many others, I was starting to sour on the whole concept of falling in love until I met her. And in all honesty I think what we have is as close to love at first sight as you can get.
I thought I knew what being in love was. Swore up and down that I had been there done that. But you know what. I was wrong.
And the most amazing part is that the same miracle is happening to her as well. Proving that maybe just maybe there is that right one soul mate out there for you.
Now I could go on and on for hours about what she makes me feel, talk about the way we laugh, the fact that we literally can spend all day in bed together just with our sparks. I can gush about how well our hands intertwine, how amazing she feels in my arms, and how great her hair feels when I run my fingertips through it. I could even write a war and peace sized novel about the fact that I can see every blue sky in her eyes, and how her smile lights up my day every time she flashes it. I could do that. But I don't want anyone to get a tooth ache.
I do want you all to know that I am the most in love I have ever been with Jaime, and I thank God for her, and that feeling.


Have a great weekend!!

Master Windu

A sketch card I recently did, and something to keep my blog from looking lonely.

Why So Serious

Yeah, he needs to win as many awards as possible for his role. I drew this to get some attention to the stand, It worked.
Okay back to sketch cards. They be calling.

...In with the New.

Let me preface this by saying I am sorry. I am sorry because this will no doubt be the most long winded flow of opinion to escape my fingers in the history of my blog space.

So 2008 bottom line sucked monkey balls. I cannot possibly be happier that it's over. It was so bad in fact that it took me 7 solid days into 2009 to write about it.

"Why Mr. Duck did 08 leave such a horrid taste in your mouth?"

I'm glad you asked.

See 2008 saw the end of an era, which in retrospect probably should have been dead 4 or 10 years ago. 2008 introduced my world to the end of my marriage. And it really wasn't so heartbreaking that the sacred vows of matrimony were shit upon by she who supposedly held it so dear. What hurt the most about it was the fact that as an end result, my two beautiful daughters now live a thousand plus miles away. THAT in itself is what knocked 2008 into the gutter for me. And as a result sent me into a downward spiral. I hit rock bottom, fell behind on my work, became an emotional wreck.

But I suppose it wasn't all bad. After all 2008 brought quite a lot of good. Fucking Indiana Jones was back on the big screen. And for all of you whom may have said it sucked, well I give ye not one, but two ass cheeks by which you can kiss. Movies in general were quite kicking in my opinion. And don't even get me started on the TV I discovered in 08. I finally got into LOST, watched Firefly, discovered George Lopez, and fell completely in love with How I Met Your Mother.

2008 also gave me the opportunity to go to places I had never been. Chicago and Utah. Yeah..well I didn't say they were Awesome places, but they were places nonetheless.

And how can I forget the opportunities I was given to draw Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Marvel characters.

With the breakdown of a once solid (and I use the word solid in jest) relationship, I was given the green light to explore new ones. And explore I did. Sometimes with sitcom like results. I think I drank too much for the first time in 08 as well.
08 did reunite me with family that I hadn't been connected with as much as I'd wanted to be. I plan not to let that gap ever grow again.

And how about that girlish figure of mine? 08 took me from a very tight pushing 40 waist size to a slim 36. Who new working out could be so beneficial?

And one of the more positive notes on 08 had me ending the year in the arms of a gorgeous blue eyed red head.

What does that mean for 2009? Well it's been good so far.
And yeah, this year I actually have resolutions. What they are, well....

1) I need to catch up on my workload. Then once I have, I plan on severely cutting back on my participation in sketch card work. What I do contribute I want to be quality. Plus there simply are other things I want to work on with my art.

2) I want to continue the workout routine. I like having energy, feeling good, and fitting into my clothes nicely.

3) More recipes for the budding young chef.

4) A revamp to my blog, and site. This was actually already in the works until that whole divorce thing derailed it.

And you know, there are more things I want to accomplish in 09. But with the good comes the bad. I for one know that there is a lingering storm approaching, but I have found an abundance of strength and a firecracker that seems to want to get my back this year.

So I'll roll with it, I'll make 09 a thousand times better than 08 ever wished it could be.

A few tidbits

For those of you who are waiting. I got approval on my Marvel Masterpieces Proofs and they will be going out in the mail in the next few days. The one I have posted here is a four card set, and IS available. I may toss it up on ebay but am not sure yet.

Also, I am working on Topps upcoming Star Wars Galaxy set. I will be contributing 350 cards to this set, and it marks my first go round with the 6 movies. So I am jazzed!!!!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.

Feed me Seymour!

This piece was done around Halloween. I have been taking a trip down ultra detailed lane lately and straying a bit from cartoon side of the world. Still I am finding that even with that, some of my more cartoonish aspects are peeking through. Perhaps I have finally found a happy medium. Anyway, this piece took me forever to ink. I haven't inked in a while but if I was going to go in, I may as well have gone in full force.
So here is a bit darker look at the wonderful movie and show, Little Shop Of Horrors.

Done on the back of an 11 by 14 bleed sheet.

Bret The Hitman Hart

So anyone who knows me.....well, knows that I am a big wrestling fan. And Bret hart was always my favorite wrestler. Anyone who knows me even more....well, also knows that I was fortunate enough to become friends with and travel with the Hitman.
Meeting and knowing the best wrestler in the world will always be one of my most treasured memories. I mean not many people can say that they got to hang out with their childhood hero.
Of course as time wore on and life took it's course for both of us, we fell out of contact. But I always followed his career, both the ups and downs of it.
Recently Bret released his autobiography Hitman: My real life in the world of cartoon wrestling. I remember him talking about this book on a few occasions and was happy to finally see it released. After snagging up my copy I got to know Bret more through his book. And I was worried that it might knock my childhood hero off his pedestal, and I guess in some respects it did. But in doing so it made Bret more human. A human who overcame and achieved loads of greatness that most men only dream about.
Bret did a book signing at the Virgin Megastore in Orlando last week, and I was right in line, not only to get my book signed, (and one for a good friend) but to visit an old friend as well.
My ex wife joked that he wouldn't remember me, but I knew better.

On the way into the store I noticed a few other fans dressed as Bret and Shawn Michaels respectively. And for whatever reason they decided to act out the sharpshooter right in the parking lot. It was a bit funny how long it took them to actually get into the move. "Bret" was afraid his pants would tear.
After waiting in line for an hour and a half I got to see Bret. It was funny to watch him do a double take and then smile. "You haven't changed a bit Mike" he said. The moment was brief and he gave me some contact info so we wouldn't lose touch again. And it was good to see him, if only for that moment.

Had I changed? I'm sure we both had, especially after 12 years. So I came home and compared the images, and while the reflection may have changed a little bit. The friendship was still there.

The Return of the Duck Part 2.

I have all kinds of blogs and art I am ready to post, and I know I have been gone for a long time. But I am watching all my uber talented buddies update their blogs almost everyday, and I am getting motivated to try the same. It's not that I haven't wanted to update. But I am so embarrassed by how far behind I have fallen with my workload that it would have been weird taking time out to update here.

But I have knocked a bunch of it out of the way. And I have dusted off some of my emotional cobwebs. In the next few days I'll add art, and a few stories for my two readers who may have been concerned. But here is the most recent of stories accompanied by an appropriate illustration.

Yesterday was a good day. I have to admit that I was a little bummed initially when my plans for the way it was supposed to play out fell through. Sometimes surprises can be a tricky thing. But the intent and thought behind it was there and that was what was important.

But Ultimately I ended up having a very unexpectedly and much needed good time. It was a night of release, silliness, enlightenment, irritations, and self discovery and empowerment.

My good buddy Luandra stepped in to help fill the night and I was really glad she did. We got to check out Walking with Dinosaurs, The LIVE experience at the Amway arena. It was crazy cool, and the seats were awesome, albeit a bit scrunchy. But it was really cool to see what these massive beasts might have looked like walking around with us. The show was a tad shorter than expected, but a good time nonetheless.



Needless to say, we had time on our side, and we headed to downtown Orlando. We ate, drank, chatted, drank some more, chatted, moved, drank more. Yeah. Much needed buzz central.

But it wasn't until we got to the I-Bar, or Independent Bar that we got to see some of the nights more interesting characters. I didn't have my sketchbook with me, but I sure registered some of the more amusing of the bunch. From up in one of the corners of the place we could observe all the slices of life that came in through the door.



There was the gal dressed as a nurse, and the Nelson haired fellow with the leather jacket and no shirt. But I think our favorite was the what appeared to be 40 year old guy in the blue polo that was all by himself on the dance floor. He was fascinating and I suppose somewhat disturbing at the same time. Everyone in the place had their own distinctness. Even in a quirky goth way, or outlandish style. But here was this normally dressed polo wearing, jeans and tennis shoes, slightly over weight guy just having the time of his life.

He swayed to the music with purpose. Eyes closed fists often clenched. Like God himself was moving him, saving him with Depeche Mode remixes. I laughed and thought, you'll never see me doing that. Alone out there. But the more Lu and I talked, the more I realized that maybe that guy, maybe Mr. Blue Polo was happier than anyone in the place.

Just maybe he was the most focused and balanced of the lot of us. He was content with his station in life. So happy and enthralled to be himself, that nothing else mattered but life, and the moment, the music that was racing through him. Envy settled in at that point. Lucky Bastard I thought.

Then Lu switched it up and said, that it could be the polar opposite and maybe days before he had his heart broken, lost his job, found out he was dying and ran over his puppy. Maybe he was so depressed with himself and life that this lonely dance and song was all he had. And that's why he was feeling it so powerfully.



Whatever the case was, that was our night. Odd discussions over alcoholic distractions. But you know what, it made me thankful for everything I did have. It made me realize that I had quite a bit going in a positive fashion. There was pleasant distractions in the form of artistic flare, a handful of other minds out there to mingle with as well. Work was good, I had just seen my babies, and here I was with probably one of the coolest women, and friends a guy could ask for. Hell I even cracked wise with my favorite ex in Texas.

So leave it to the buzz, the atmosphere, the dramatic underlying battles within, the art wanting to burst free, the challenges and shooting full of holes of theories on relationships, stolen face collisions both strange, unexpected, funny, meaningless and totally fucking perfect for the moment and to the realization that in Lu I have one of the best damn friends on the planet.

Hell, even the french toast, eggs and coffee afterward were even a little tastier.

Yeah it was a good night. It was a great night. If only they could all be like that right?

Return of the Duck

Okay wow, so it's been since August 7th that I posted anything?!? Well a very brief reason why that happened is as follows.
I've gotten a divorce, watched my daughters move a thousand miles away, and had to relocate myself. I'm still in Orlando, and my skin is thick. Life goes on Indy.
I'm hurting more than I care to let on, but I am putting on my Tragic the Clown makeup and allowing life to continue, to take me on a new adventure.
I love my babies more than life itself, and they continue to be a part of my every waking thought. I will be a part of their life so I try not to be down about the indirectness of that involvement. Seeing them will just be like a constant Christmas I can't wait to get to!
As Evita sang out. Don't cry for me Argentina.
So now it's back to work. I just wrapped up and was approved on all my Marvel Masterpieces 3 cards. I will post scans this week.
And now it's on to Indiana Jones Masterpieces for Topps. I am doing 360 total cards, and they include 30 Panoramic cards as well.
The artwork below is a teaser for the set that was featured in the sell sheet for the set.
That's all for now folks. Much LocoLove.

A Star Wars Love Story 3

A Star Wars Love Story 2

A Star Wars Love Story

It just came to me, in a moment of creative bliss. Like an exploding catharsis. An entire mini drama, ala Star Wars. I will try and update pages everyday or at least every other day. But Page two will be up tomorrow night.

Lost makes me cry, Scrubs makes me laugh, and nothing is ever as good as it seems.

So I am back from my trip. Good times. To a degree. But more on that later.
For now, I will say that I got to watch a few episodes of Lost season 2 on the plane. And damn, that show makes a guy cry. Everything from the emotional losses to the perfect music choices. The show's like a damn drug I have become helplessly addicted to.

Scrubs on the other hand had me laughing my ass off out loud. So many ways I can relate to Zach Braff's character. Except of course the part about being a doctor. But what is cool about the show is that it too tugs at the heart strings. I'm sure glad there are several seasons of these shows out still to watch.

And I'll be honest, after finding out that nothing can possibly be as good or real as it seems, I could use the distraction.

Rant over. Artwork soon.

Because one is not enough

So I go for ages without posting and then BAM two posts in one day!?!!? Well I wanted to share this one. I know I am waaaaay behind, but I was finally turned on to Firefly and Serenity. And Damn I wish I'd been keen to it sooner. The show was completely addicting. And it sucks that it got canceled. But what a ride. And I am now forever a fan. And dare I say it, I think Malcolm Mal Reynolds is just as cool as Han Solo.
To prove it, here he is.

Heroes Season 2 scans

Since the product is out on the market and I am seeing my cards on ebay, I guess it's okay to show these.

Are you ready for some long windedness?

Back from Chicago and what a trip. It seems my life has been turned upside down and inside out. I WISH I could spout on and on about why, but some things currently are better kept under wraps for now.
I will say that I was inspired to draw this sketch card from Moulin Rouge.
I saw it for the first time a few days ago and was instantly swept up. Ewan McGregor's character reminded me a lot of an overly over the top romantic I once knew. A guy who believed in love more than anything. Believed that as long as you had that going for you, anything was possible. That love could conquer all. That guy has been dead for a while. Or so I thought. Maybe it was the movie, but more than likely it was something else that re-awakened him. Of course the fear is that without the proper motivation fueling him, he may die out again. Or it maybe a temporary reliving. God I hope not though.
I met a lot of new people in Chicago, and was floored by some of the amazing personalities and talent out there. I only wish I had gone as a fanboy and not so much an exhibitor. Although by Sunday I had given into the fanboy a bit more. Over the weekend they also announced that Michael Turner had passed away. And that was hard to hear. It's sad that the world would lose such a talent, and take him so soon. He was only 37. There will be a huge amount of un drawn covers that the world will never be privledged to see.
I do have my computer back and thankfully all data was saved. So the heart of my studio has returned and I am slowly getting back into the groove of things.
That said, my website will be looking significantly different in the next week or so.
I also learned a few hard lessons about relationships this weekend. And I realized that I have no idea how to handle them. I thought that the fact that I had two amazing solid friends for over 18 years who support me through thick and thin as I do them was an example of how I could maintain great time tested relationships.
And as close as I think I am to achieving that lately, I think I'm completely clueless. But I'm trying to fix that. Make certain changes to preserve friendships, and to maintain a relationship permanently. Lord knows I'll probably blow it though too.
But know that for those of you who read this and care. As of this moment, I am extremely happy, but a little sad at the same time.
Now I need to catch up on my commissions. That's a damn good place to start.
So here is one more, I'm starting to really enjoy drawing Buffy.

Wizard World Chicago

Okay all kinds of news! My computer is home and all data was saved! Hooray!!!!
Now I am at Wizard World Chicago for the weekend. I will be at booth 4706 in Artist Alley all weekend so stop on by and see me! You never know how generous I will be feeling.

Also Anyone waiting on commissions, they will go out next week when I get home. Including any sketchbooks that were ordered.

Also I just got word that I will be contributing 200 cards to Upperdeck's next Marvel Masterpieces set!

Also, heh, lots of also's. Here are a few shots of the con from the preview night. Me nad my good buddy Kenny's table, and TNA's lovely knockout Gail Kim. Hailey drew her a picture and made sure I got it to her. For the record, Gail is one of the coolest most down to earth pro wrestlers I've ever met.

Okay kids, got to run, I'm late for the show......

I haven't died

I know it's been over a month now, and I just wanted to step in and let ya'll know I'm not dead/ But my computer currently is.
It's in the shop and working off the dinosaur in the house is a bitch. But hopefully as soon as I nail this Clone Wars deadline in a few days, I will post something with a little more meat on it's bones.

The rest of the Marvel Masterpieces 2

I'm in a world of sick. Stomach viruses suck. But either way, here are the rest of my Marvel Masterpieces 2.

Jorilla

Sean Delaney wrote a really cool script called Night of the Jorilla. I just got finished reading it and was inspired to doodle these up.

Buffy

Just realized I'd NEVER drawn the Vampire Slayer.

Indiana Jones Podcast

Hey guys and gals.
Your old pal Loco was interviewed about the Indiana Jones Heritage Sketch Cards over at the way cool Indycast podcast.
Check it out, tell me what you think.

Indiana Jones Podcast

Otis Frampton

So I bought my first ever commissioned sketch card. People collect all types of cards. Some get a variety of different characters, and others settle on a specific topic. I chose me and the duck. I figured it would be kind of cool to get interpretations by some of my favorite artists.
Otis Frampton was the first one I chose. He is one of two of the biggest influences in my sketch card work. The way he envisions characters on a small canvas is unmatched and so unique. It's no wonder that he is so darned popular in the sketch card biz.
It is also worth noting that he knows when to quit. He's recently removed himself from the sketch card biz to pursue other areas of his art, (Including his book Oddly Normal)
In true passion fashion, he got to dabble in some of his favorite characters (his last crusade being with Marvel Masterpieces 2) and accomplished that, and is moving on. Very admireable and impressive.
Either way here is Otis Frampton's wonderful interpretation of Locoduck Studios.



You can see more of Otis's awesome work on his blog. Hos link is at the top of my food chain on the right. Thanks again Otis, for the card and the inspiration.
If anyone else wants to try their hand, I'll post it here. You can email me the image, and ultimately I would love to display the original in my studio.

Recent Cards

Here are a few I just mailed out a few days ago. I finally saw ALL the Harry Potter movies, and after years of saying they didn't seem interesting to me.......I'm hooked.

Marvel Masterpieces 2

Well thanks the heavens, my first batch of Marvel Masterpieces 2 cards from Upperdeck have been approved and greenlighted to show. So here ya go. I'm having a blast working on these by the way.

Lights out

Ya know I forget sometimes how much I adore electricity. Orlando has been having some crazy rain weather lately, almost as if we were in the middle of Hurricane season. I worked Animal Kingdom all day yesterday and by the end of it, we were soggy bottomed as all get out. The rain never helps sales either, unless you work an indoor location.
But around 7:30 pm i got a phone call from home notifying me that we had lost power. I called Progress Energy and they said it would be back on around 9:30 pm.
Needless to say, it came back on at 7:45 am this morning.
I got a good night sleep for a change, but there wasn't much to do. No light to draw or read by, no tv, no computer, no internet.
I managed to play a few games on my laptop before it ran out of charge, but other than that, it was a long and uneventful night.

Anyway, here are a few caricatures I drew during the day at AK, along with a couple from other shifts. I don't take too many Caricature photos anymore as to not be repetitious. But every once in a while I get to do something non conformist.
Like the gay couple who wanted to be a Jungle King and explorer, the Whale boy, the Yeti, the jedi, and I just liked the Dinosaur on the dino boy.

I'll post some of my butt sketches in a few days.

Is it me? Or is it the Duck?

Took one of these tests. I think it's fairly accurate....except the part about not having a job. Anyone else agree? Disagree? Give a crap?

Your Score: the Shock Jock

(52% dark, 57% spontaneous, 42% vulgar)

your humor style:
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | DARK



Your sense of humor is off-the-cuff and kind of gross. Is it is also
sinister, cynical, and vaguely threatening to the purer folks of this
world. You probably get off on that. You would cut a greasy fart, then blame it on your mom, and then just shrug when someone pointed out that she's dead.



Yours is hands-down the most outrageous sense of humor; you like things
trangressive and hardcore. It's highly likely (a) you have no limits (b) you have no scruples and (c) you have no job. Ironically, it's your type of humor that can make the biggest bucks in show business.



PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Howard Stern - Adam Sandler - Roseanne Barr






The 3-Variable Funny Test!

- it rules -

More Indiana Jones

Here are all 33 scans of my Indiana Jones Heritage sketch cards. You can click on any of them to make them bigger. I promise, I'll show some non Indy stuff in the next few days.

Indiana Widget.

I wanted to add this to my sidebar, but couldn't. So really, this is just for me.

YUM-O!

Must head to the grocery store right now.

Cupid Corps #1

This is the cover image, minus Barry Gregory's fantastic logo for the latest publication from Locoduck Studios. The book is available to buy through the website, and will be making stops at conventions I appear at this year.
More on the idea soon, but I had to get the cover on here tonight before someone falls out of a chair again.

Topps TV Promo Video Starring ME?

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was filmed and interviewed about sketch cards, and the video is up. Excuse my horrible not made for tv face as it appears half way through.
The video itself was very well done, major Kudos to Alan and Lorne.

Email

I should finally have a few minutes to breathe. I'll update lots of stuff soon. In the meantime, I am having major email issues with me site right now. So if anyone needs to email me anything use locoduck@gmail.com for the time being.

Star Wars cards

Yeah, I started these at some point last year with the idea of doing a set for each movie. I just finished the first set the other night. Whoops.

Medieval.

I am still peppering the challenges over at Toon Weekly. Here is my latest. The topic this time was anything Medieval, so I went with the executioner and his pet Dragon.

Indiana Overload

First let me just say...."wheeeew."
I can actually let out a short breath and attain some small moments of peace.



I just shipped off my 306 Indiana Jones sketch cards, and they were a blast to work on. I wish I could have dropped a lot more into them, but deadlines seem to always sneak in.




I was pressed for time on them, and in the midst of it all, I had Alan Narz and Lorne Mathre from Topps TV drop in to interview me for a short video (slated for March) on the Indiana Jones sketch cards and sketch cards in general. I tell ya it really does get hot under all those lights when you are performing. It was really a neat experience though.


Of course, thanks to God, I won't have down time for long. I just got word that my adventures with Indy are far from over. I will be participating in the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Topps set as well. I signed up for only 100 cards this go round as I am juggling other projects and haven't even seen the movie yet. But I am just as jazzed!

On top of that Megacon is looming on the horizon and I still have to prep 2 books, and pencil 8 pages and a cover for another one. More details on that soon.

But for now anyway, I'll enjoy the few minutes of relaxation.....

Stop the Press

Hee hee. So the sell sheet for Lord of the Rings Masterpieces II by Topps has hit. And lookee there, out of 102 artists they used one o mine as a sample. I think there were about 256 others I'd have gone with, but it's so cool and flattering nonetheless to see myself represented among such talented individuals.
Can you pick out mine?

This little piggie

I drew this tonight, on a gawdawful non moving bleh of a night. I HATE HATE HATE, having to clean up after others. I think I have become quasi obsessive compulsive. I just cannot handle messes anymore.
When I got into to work today, there was eraser dust all over the carpet at my stand, and my easel had paint all over it. I had to take 15 damn minutes out of my shift to go track down a broom, clean up the carpet, wipe down the board. UGH. How a person can live like a slob is beside me.
So nonetheless I illustrated this little piggie in the hope that the guilty culprit(s) might clean up after themselves, as this is NOT the first time this has happened.
I think if it happens again, I'll find out who it was, go in right before their shift, and crap all over their work place. That wouldn't be crossing a line would it?

Anyway, on a more positive note, I had a brief conversation with my best friend of 20 years now, and it was so convincingly refreshing. After my "rant" from before it was nice to hear from him. Un abridged Un forgiving and true. I miss hanging out with him. If only he lived closer.

Now if I could just find a little more of that here......

Oooh La la

Here is a preview of a book being worked on by myself, Thomas Florimonte, and Barry Gregory. It's a work in progress that we plan to have available just in time for Megacon!

You Can Have What's Left of Me.

It's been a rough damn week. I was laid out for most of it with all kinds of sick. But a lot of things happened this week that pissed me off as well. And now that I am in recovery phase it seems like I've hit a stride of clarity.
There is a big realization I see, and that has a lot to do with how I have started to sign my name. Michael "Locoduck" Duron.
I think since certain fucked up events have transpired in my life, I've grown two separate sides of my personality. Disclaimer: Please do not confuse a mental disease with that of an analogy. Because I am clearly not one with multiple personalities.
But there are two sides to every coin. Locoduck is what I once was. Completely carefree, happy, full of life, laughter and love. Michael Duron is the side of me that is bitter, angry, cynical and generally pissed off at the world and the cards he has been dealt. But Loco is that side helping me to deal with the crap that is out there.
Of course we can put the whole personal life aside, because that in itself is what caused the split. What seemingly sent me into the deep end of the darkside.
But you know I have seen a lot of other things professionally and from an observers standpoint in others and in myself that I DO NOT LIKE. I am beginning to see entirely too much fakery and fantasy out there in people and their actions. And to a degree in mine.
One of the biggest roadblocks I have set for myself is in what I am trying to do artistically. I seem to be more and more trying to impress others and not enough of doing it for me. There was a passion there that made me pick up a pencil, and a gingerly flow that followed suite as a result. What I once drew, I drew for me, and if others wanted to partake in it, to enjoy or appreciate it, then all the better.
But now I seem to be doing it first in the hopes that others will take notice.
That shit stops now.
I have decided I am going to fall back into the flow and draw in a way that makes me happy. That helps set the nature of the beast back in order. If you'd like to look at it and even comment, please do so. If not well I could give two damns less.
Placating egos is another thing that I refuse to do any longer. Whilst some of it is genuine and well deserved, lately I find myself pushing the playback button on the praise player.
That shit stops now.
If I have something genuine to say to you, I will, and I will do it until the angels sing Hosannas on high. Because dammit you deserve it, and I'll be the first to polish your knob over it. But don't expect any fake fucking praise any more. Not clients, not friends, not family, not Mr insert your name here.
I just tire of hearing audible meaningless comments waterfall out of my mouth and fingertips (if I'm typing of course.)
I'm trying to find my inner peace once again. To re-align Michael "Locoduck" Duron into one upstanding joyous individual. Please be patient while this merger takes place.
Believe it or not, I had a pretty good day. I'll have some cool photos and stories to share next time. But for tonight that bitter pill had to vent. The good news is he feels much better now. The bad news is he drew his toon weekly entry while he wasn't doing so good.
I love you all . I really do. You know that's honest. Remember, I said I wasn't going to placate egos and bullshit for the sake of bullshitting anymore.
Have a nice week.

Cory was in da house

I wish I had some artwork to post, but unfortunately cold/flu/allergy season has knocked me on collective arse. I'm struggling to get some work on the Indy cards because my deadline is looming. I found out that I'll be spotlighted in a video short for Topps focusing on sketch card artists and the Indy set at some point in the near future. So I really need to get better so I I don't look like ass run over twice.
Right before the sick kicked in, we spent the day at Disney. Cool enough was at the end of our night we bumped into a vacationing Kyle Massey from Disney Channel's That's So Raven and Cory in the House. He was gracious enough to pose for a picture with my daughter Hailey.
Okay back to work.
cough Maybe cough.....where's the advil.

PS. I bet no one else has the cool and caring bosses I do.

You decide

I need input from my friends and readers who don't frequent the forums I do.
I'll be doing a mix of styles for the upcoming Indy set. I have been given the okay to show my first three cards, and I'd like input on which of the three styles you like the best.

So please, even you lurkers, drop an opinion. It'd be greatly appreciated.

Puffer and His Jelly Samich

The theme this week at Toon Weekly was Under the Sea. I liked this challenge a lot because it forced me to think outside the mermaid box. My buddy Keelan talks about how tiring drawing mermaids can get at work, and he was right. So I wanted to go somewhere else under the sea.
I thought of the types and new I wanted a little fat fish. No more perfect candidate than the puffer. It occurred to me that the stereotypical "fat kids" like to eat paste. But that didn't work for me, so I decided he needed a sandwich. And at a young age all kids seem to love PB&J. So I figured I'd stick a jelly fish in that bread and wa-la! I give you Puffer and his "Jelly" sandwich.

BTW, all my Lord of the RIngs cards are done and on their way to Topps. Action and adventure await, as I can hear that box of Indiana Jones cards calling.

Have a great week everyone.

Indiana Jones Heritage. It's official.

****I ran the below blog on December 18th but had to pull it the same day after I found out that word had not been made official yet that I was approved by Lucasfilm. SO for the last 3 weeks I have been sweating it out, waiting for word. But it's official now. I'm in like flynn. I'm also doing 150 more cards than previously expected. Like Indy said, I finally found my "fotune and glory"*****








You know it always sucks when you are awakened by a doorbell and have to answer the door looking like crap. But when it rang, I just knew. I knew it was the Fed Ex guy. And while he's been round my door plenty of times before, THIS, was potentially the most important doorbell ring in my career.
So I darted over, bad breath and all, and there he was. Like a sparkling star he smiled and laughed at my stupid "I just woke up" joke, handed me my package and wished me a happy holiday.
I knew this box would make it so.
I walked into my kitchen with my seven year old daughter in tow. And like Ralphie in A Christmas Story, I tore through the fed ex box. My smile slowly grew larger as I read what was inside. The anticipation was building even in my daughter. She was anxious, like she too knew what was inside. So I began to hum outloud, that adventurous tune I'd heard in a theater and on DVD so many times. The tune that graces my cell phone anytime a call comes.
And just like that, I pulled out one of my blank Topps Indiana Jones Heritage Sketch Cards!!!!
Hailey and I were jumping up and down dancing in the kitchen. Our screams awoke even my three year old.
After almost two long grueling months of waiting, I was officially a Lucasfilm Ltd. approved artist.
I'll be drawing 156 Indy cards over the next month or so, and I couldn't be happier. Indiana Jones as a property is my Holy Grail. My childhood and heart lay within the universes of Indy and Star Wars, and now my artistic career gets to voyage there as well.

Lucasfilm Ltd approved artist.... Merry Christmas to me!

I'm so EMO.

The weekly topic over at toon weekly this round was a rock star. Most of what I have been hearing lately, and the concerts I have been to, have involved a lot of screaming. Now it's not that I don't like the music, because most of it is REALLY good. And it's not even that every single song is about something depressing, it's just the screaming. Some of these rock stars have really good voices but they choose to hide them behind completely incomprehensible shouting.
So here is my entry this week. An emo rocker in all his shouting, depressing, 2 size too small jeans glory.
I wish I had more time to have done a little better, but here he is nonetheless.

Lord of the Rings Masterpieces 2 Preview

I still have a little over one hundred to go, but nonetheless, here is a nine card preview of my cards for the upcoming Topps release.

08 please be great.

Happy New year to my three readers. It's always nice to bring in a new year. Kind of dust off the crap the manifested itself in 07. So of course, I have promised my self some changes, resolutions etc for 2008. I really need it to be a good year! And I hope it brings good fortune to you as well.

There will be some new projects, and a new web overhaul in the next month or two, but for now, here is my latest entry to Toon Weekly's challenges. The theme was CYBORGS. One of my favorite cyborgs has always been Gizmo Duck from duck tales. I always thought he should have his own series. So I decided to humanize him up a bit and add a few modifications. Here he is in action.

It's getting harder to complete these though. Especially when I have 300 sketch cards still waiting to be finished....So back to work on those.

Merry Christmas

I have to admit, I haven't been in much of a holiday spirit lately. I guess as you grow older, some of the wonder fades, and you live for the moments that you can live within your kids eyes. See the magic through them.
Well on this the beginning of Christmas Eve, it's starting to set in.
So I plan on just reveling in the moment with them. It's going to be a beautiful couple of days.
And for all of you whom read this blog, to my friends, family and lurkers. Much love and magical Christmas wonder to those of you who celebrate, and those whom don't. Happy Holidays, and God Bless.

Marvel Masterpieces 2

Talk about coolness. Over the past year I have had the opportunity to work on sketch cards of some of my favorite properties around. Lord of the Rings, Heroes, and now Marvel Masterpieces from UpperDeck. When I was a kid I remember collecting these gorgeously painted cards of my favorite super heroes. And now, some 12 years later, I will be contributing 100 sketch cards to the set.
Somewhat of a lifelong dream really. Getting a chance to draw Spidey, Cap and all the rest of the Marvel Universe professionally.
Heck 100 cards might not be enough to cover all the characters I want to draw. But this should be a blast.
Anyway, now back to the 200 or so remaining cards I have to tackle, and then onto another box of cards that are sitting on my shelf calling out to be drawn on. Of course I can't officially say what they are yet, but it's another one of those boyhood dream projects.

TOON WEEKLY CHALLENGES

Between all the sketch cards I have to do, I'm amazed I can squeeze these cool challenges in. Every week the gauntlet is thrown and some amazing artists participate with inspiring results!
SO here are my three answers to the last three challenges. The first was to draw Harry Potter, which was good, because I had a commission going out of our boy anywho, so I killed two birds with one stone.
The next was to design a female wrestler. I went for the Diva approach. The American Diva needed a sidekick to run interference for her, and what better than a cute little Chihuahua named US.
Lastly was to design an 80's movie property into a cartoon. I chose one of my all time favorites. GREMLINS!
Anyway, you should try your hand at these challenges, or at least see the other great entries! You can click on the link to Toon Weekly on your right.
....now back to work. I only have 248 more cards to go...for now.

Blast from the Past

I was going through a few recent and not so recent pieces and decided to gather them all together and make sure that they give a decent example of my more "comic book action" side of the pencil. This is usually the style I choose to use when voyaging into the world of Super Heroes. As you can see I am partial to Marvel but there are a handful of DC characters I adore as well. There is this little set of Sketch Cards called Marvel Masterpieces I would love to be on! SO I crammed as many samples of what I would do with these cards if I got my grubby little hands on. So Enjoy, and cross your fingers for me!

Giddy Like a Schoolgirl

Frankie

I was doodling these out. It looks like I may be participating in a few drawing/design challenges with a handful of talented artists over at toonweekly.com
The first challenge that I'll jump on is Frankenstein.
The most important thing I thought to focus on was how to keep that brain in his head. In the first drawing he has some steel supports flapped right over the exposed brain. And in the second, a nice padlock keeping the lid shut.
I also played with the idea in the second piece that he'd be somewhat of a walking vegetable and not have a lot of control over his facial functions. Hence the hanging drooling lip.
Anyway, that's that for now.

Mucho Stuff

So Thanksgiving was a blast. Mom visited from El Paso, and we ate like it was going out of style. It was fun to ride Revenge of the Mummy with her too. One of the coolest aspects came when we picked her up at the airport. We noticed a super tall guy in the crowd coming off her plane. Low and behold it was Former San Antonio Spurs superstar The General David Robinson. I figured since I wasn't at Disney working, where it's a no-no to approach celebs, I'd ask him for a picture. Boy was he tall, and very humble. Made me really miss Texas.
I was also able to catch up on some commission work, and I just wrapped up 103 more Heroes cards for Topps. They are coming out soon....I hope. Here are a few of the commissions I sent out.
And of course some of the coolest news, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters in May! And LFL has released a few promo images. I cannot wait for this flick.
Anyway, that's the news for now.

Enchanted

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was quite pleasant and I'll drop you some more info on it shortly. For now we should give note to a movie I saw on Thanksgiving day. Walt Disney's Enchanted.
There are so many wonderful things about this movie. The most important in my opinion is the return of the hand drawn animation to a feature film. There has been so much computer animation out there, some good, and some really bad. But this movie brings us back to the roots, and does it well. Another thing Disney movies seem to be lacking is music. Alan Menken, one of the musical geniuses behind The Little Mermaid and a host of other Disney classics returns with pizzaz! As I left the theater humming the tunes, and still have them stuck in my head.
Of course there is comedy and Amy Adams does a great job as Princess Giselle.
I have always been somewhat of a romantic and this is one of those fairy tale movies that re-established that hope for magic in me.
Below is a clip of one of the movies musical numbers. It like a live action version of "Be Our Guest" and "Under the Sea"
Check this out!

Work work work

I'll be drowning in sketch cards for the next 30 days or so. Topps asked me to add 103 more HEROES Sketch cards to my bunch bringing me to a total of 350+ cards. On top of that the news of a third visit to Middle Earth working on 206 Sketch cards for the upcoming Lord of the Rings Masterpieces 2 set.
So needless to say my fingers will be getting a workout.
Now I'm just crossing my fingers on a third project that would be an absolute Holy Grail of projects for me to work on. It's all in Lucasfilm LTD hands now.

Arrgh

You know I look around at my place and find more and more little colored treasure maps all over the walls and floors. And it reminds me of this piece I drew a few weeks ago. Kids are funny, and this little pirate in training decided to make a treasure map complete with crayons on mom's wall.

Super Soap Weekend brings me back from the dead

Okay well I have been hiding for a while due to somewhat of an embarassing fiasco, but life seems to be back on track. I got to work a gig last night which brought me back into the swing of things in grand fashion. It was for the closing party at Walt Disney World's Super Soap Weekend. We got to draw several of daytime tv's sexiest people, men and women. I wish I could show you some photos but because of privacy reasons we kept our cameras holstered for the night.
But what a night it was. I got to meet and draw former Playmate turned daytime TV and Dancing with the Stars actress Kelly Monaco. She was quite a doll!
But the highlight of the night came from All My Children and One Life to Live stars Melissa Claire Egan and Tika Sumpter. Not being a watcher of daytime TV I was unaware of them. But they quickly established themselves as TV royalty with their fantastic playful personalities and gorgeous looks. They were two of the most humble, and down to earth actresses I'd ever met. You know the kisses on the cheeks of thanks were just a bonus. It was my pleasure to not only draw them, but to spend ten or 15 minutes getting to know them. They each have a new fan in me.
But it's the gigs like this and the people I get to work with, (it was nice to see my good friends Keelan and Ted again) that remind me why I am a very lucky man.

PS I plan on updating this page everyday this week with more news and art. I have quite a bit of catching up to do!

Rock Bottom

Had a really shitty day, maybe time to rethink a few things. While i think though, here is a little sumthin sumthin.

Heroes Scans

I got an email today from Topps trading cards saying that I was one of the first batch of approved artists on the Heroes set. I did cart wheels in my studio before reading on.
The email also gave me permission to post my scans on the net. Some characters are still awaiting approval so my Sylar cards and a few others, I cannot show. But here are the cards from the first round that I can. Now hopefully my second set will meet with aproval.

Back to work on Commissions

The second set of Heroes cards are off and on their way to Topps and then to Universal for final approval. It's been a tad nerve wracking as some artists have had all their cards rejected by Universal. Still for me, no news is thus far good news.
But now I have a few commissions I need to get back to and send out. Here is one of them that is completed. The Goblin Queen.

More Sketch Card Commissions

The hits keep coming.

Clash of the Titans

So to speak. Buzz Lightyear versus Mr. Incredible. My friend and comic book genius Barry Gregory gave me the idea for this piece. It's the first time in a while that I have sat down and drawn a full 11 by 17 work in a long while. I think it makes for a great story, and this is truly a battle I'd love to see. Who'd win?

Heroes Round2

Well it looks like orders for the Heroes cards are shooting through the roof, so TOPPS has ordered tons of extra sketch cards. Looks like I'll be doing another 100 cards.
Topps also released a preview sheet with twelve cards that Universal has approved. Hooray, mine was one of them. I blew it up here so you could take a better look.

More Sketch Cards Completed

Here are a handful of more commissioned sketch cards.

Dante's Inferno

I'm involved in a huge tournament over at www.digitalwebbing.com. In that tourney (which started with 90 artists), the moderator gives topics, to which we provide illustrations. We are in the final rounds and down to 8 artists. In this round the topic was to draw one of the circles of hell in Dante's Inferno. The specified ring was that of the Gluttons. The description of the piece went as follows...
"I've been reading Dante's Inferno once again, so this round you shall be drawing a scene from the 3rd Circle of the Inferno. So let's see, cerberus guarding the gluttons who are forced to lie in the mud under constant rain and hail."
I think I pulled it off, but I figured, if we were dealing with Gluttons, wouldn't they want to EAT ALL THE TIME? Given that there is no food, I would assume they'd turn to the next best thing. Eating each other.
It's a bit of a twisted piece, but gave room for a lot of creativity, and I really enjoyed working on it.
I'm not one to creep myself out, but this piece did it. Thoughts?

Recent Sketch Card Commissions

Heroes are out of the way, wrapped up and shipped. What a great project that was. I am so jazzed about the new season and the dvd release now more than ever. Can't wait till the set hits stores in October.
Now it's time to wrap up some lingering commissions as well. I have quite the backlog. Here are some cards that went out today.
Okay breaks over, back to work.

R.I.P. Cinderella

SO two year olds are funny. They do the darndest things, and get into the strangest of messes. My Maya is no different. She's on a "play in the toilet" kick.
We close the door, but it does no good, since she reaches the door knob. Assuming that she was quietly playing in the play room was dumb on our part, and the other day we found her playing with several of her little tub toy Disney Princesses in the potty. We pulled them all out, gave her a stern what for, and that was that. Until my wife tried to clean the toilet, and it wouldn't flush. I quickly took inventory and realized that Snow White and Cinderella had gone missing.
Reluctantly I plunged my arm into the toilet and found the ass end of one of them blocking the drain. After some manuvering with a screw driver, I managed to free Snow White.
But the toilet still would not flush all the way.
So I took the screw driver and found that Cinderella was jammed way in to deep, but would not budge.
Eventually I managed to snake her deeper into the drain, but only had a slow flush come out of it.
Early the next morning I was at Home Depot buying a Plumbing Snake. And to make this long story short, was able to push Cinderella all the way through and into the sewer system below.
So did she drown, did she committ suicide, or did I kill her?
Whatever the conclusion you may come to, she's gone. She leaves behind several other tub toy BFF's and a two year old determined to continue to play in the toilet.
In her honor, I'll share this piece I drew several months back. It's, in my opinion a bit "crappy"...(PUN INTENDED)....But here it is nonetheless.

Ready for Business LOCODUCK STUDIOS

Hah. Well there are a few more things that I need to add to it, but alas, my baby is born. For years now I have so wanted a tudio space of my own. After all for the longest time my studio space consisted of my lap.
So when it was time to move, I made sure I found a place where I could set up shop.
Low and behold, we found one.
Here is the Locoduck Studio in all it's rough glory. I'll be spending entirely too much time here I'm sure. So I made sure to leave a space where my girls can hang out as well. And thanks to that amazingly large drawing table (thanks Ted, Kenny, and ESPECIALLY KEELAN), there is enough room for me to draw side by side with my 6 year old.
Now that my domain is in order, it's back to work. On commissions, personal projects, and oh yeah, that HEROES thing.

Back from the dead

So it's been a long tiring month, and I apologize for my blatent lack of posts. But it looks like we are finally getting settled into our new place, and before you know it, I'll have an official studio space to work in. (so excited)
Anyway, a bit of news, looks like I will be working on the upcoming TOPPS TRADING CARD Series HEROES. Not only a bitchin show, but a huge break. I love the NBC series and now I'll be drawing 150 sketch cards.
As soon as I have clearance I'll start showing some samples.
In the meantime, as I mentioned, I'm tired. Be back with more in a few days. Promise.

Chris Benoit

Talk about strange, shocking and depressing all in one. Anyone that knows me, knows I am a big fan of wrestling. And Canadian wrestlers are pretty close to my heart because of my short friendship with Bret Hart.
And I was just like everyone else in the respect line for Chris Benoit. So you can imagine my horror when I stumbled on to the net a few days ago and came across headlines of Good bye Chris, and Benoit dead.
As I read further into the headline I saw that his family was gone too. I wondered immediately had if they'd been in an accident?
But the details that have now emerged have made me sick and sad at the same damn time.
And I ask myself why?
I actually had the chance to meet Chris Benoit and his son out at Disney about two years ago. And He seemed so nice, so calm. They were trying to grab a soda refil in the food court of The Caribbean Beach. Unfortunately for them the building had closed. Fortunately for them, I was a Chris Benout fan, so I let them in, so long as he'd pose for a photo.
Hmm. I have it somewhere, but at this point I'm afraid to look for it.
Me and a murderer side by side. Two very different fathers.
The same goes for this piece I post today.
A part of me thinks I shouldn't have drawn or finished it. But how do you differentiate the talent and career of Chris Benoit, respected wrestler, from Chris Benoit : Killer?
Can you? Do we just forget the accomplishments? And figure it as good riddance to him, and prayers for them?
There seems to be all kind of conspiracy theories abound about what might have gone down. Fingers pointing to the possible "Chris was framed" angle.
I don't know what to ultimately make of it except for this.
Three lives are gone and nothing is going to bring any of them back.

Free Sketch Cards

I know I'm a bit late with this post, I was fortunate enough to be able to have my daddy come down and visit and hang with us for a bit. And given the fact that I hadn't seen him in ages, well, he took priority!
Anyway, you read the headline right, I'm going to start giving away free sketch cards. One per week, sometimes of the winners choosing, sometimes one of mine, and sometimes both!
How do I win sketch card goodness? All you have to do is post comments on my blog! You will recieve one entry for everytime you post a comment on my blog per week.
So basically if I post a new entry, and you comment, you are entered in the drawing. If you comment more throughout the week you'll be entered for those comments as well. The contest will run from Sunday to Sunday, and at the end of the week, I'll draw at random one winner!
Oh and by the way, posting something like "that's cool" over and over on the same piece will not count. Each comment should have some substance and be different. Locoduck will be sitting here right beside me filtering out the junk comments!
This is a short, almost over week, so anyone that comments this week will have their entries carried over to next week.
Good Luck, this contest will go on indefinitely, or until I get tired of giving away free cards! Bleh.
In the meantime, enjoy this image of wicked Captain Jack!

Pan's Labyrinth

There was no doubt that when I first saw the trailer for this movie I was intrigued. But having two little girls makes R Rated movies tough to get to. SO I was elated to grab this at the video store.
Came home, popped it in, and saw SUBTITLES?!! Oh man nothing bums me more than having to read subtitles while watching a movie. To my delight the movie was filmed in Spanish, which I speak with some fluency.
I have to say, it's kept me thinking about it four days after watching. I really get into World War 2 time period movies, and creepy fairy tales and mythology were an added bonus.
I can see why it was R rated, pretty violent and gory. But the little girl who plays Ofelia, the main character was phenomonal.
Overall it was a great flick and it looks like it will definitely be jumping in my collection at some point.
Anyway, enjoy an illustration of the Pale Man, one of the film's creepiest characters.

Be sure to check back here Monday as I begin giving away free artwork....more details then.

Dog Days of Work

I realize it's been a bit since I posted, so I'll give something. This cute little mutt. Yeah occasionally at work I get asked to do caricatures of people's dogs. I always find it a bit challenging because they aren't human faces. And when you toss in the fact that I'm usually working off a cell phone or something, it makes it that much harder to get a decent likeness. Still, I feel like I achieved something with this one. So wala. I share it with thee.

Movie Review Friday

So maybe, just maybe, I'll toss in a movie review or eight from now on for Fridays. ever since I got the Blockbuster Online subscription, I've been living in movie rental bliss. And I see myself more and more wanting to sketch while watching. So my Friday's are going to littered with movie reviews of sorts, accompanied by art from said flicks.
We'll see how long I can keep it up.

Happy Feet. Yeah, didn't make me too happy. I don't understand exactly how this beat CARS for best animated picture. It was a bit overloaded with music and confusing going on's. I didn't like that every penguin looked basically the same, and the stroyline in my opinion, was a bit...well blah. And eventhough the animation was quite good, my kids wouldn't even sit through it.
So yeah, not good for me.

The Pursuit of Happyness. Good stuff. If you're a father you can truly relate. You can't help but feel sorry for the main characters struggling to grab a foothold in life. And dammit if I didn't want to buy one of Will Smith's Bone Marrow Machines myself. Definitely inspiring and touching, and the Fresh Prince and little Willy did a great job. And what a Captain America cameo!

Which brings us to CRANK. Wow what a hokey flick. Action packed and crazy fast. The premise sees a hitman named Chelios injected with a lethal China cocktail. The only way to slow inevitable death is to keep his adrenaline going.
The flick was completely unbelievable, overly violent, and sex driven, (let's hear it for the public dicplay of affection in Chinatown.)
In other words, yeah, I loved it.

To Infinity And Beyond

Here's another piece from quasi-concept to finish. The challenge was to draw Buzz Lightyear in "my" style. So I started with a few sketches here and there. Fleshed out the color scheme. Then put it down to layout, and wala.
I bought a little nothing WACOM to work on my coloring skills, but unfortunately ran out time before I could put it to use on this piece.
But I'm determined to start making magic with it.
By the way. I totally dig ZURG, what a great bad guy.

Screwin Round

I drew Donna Troy at random. She was one of those characters I'd never drawn before so I figured what the hell. I initially did the standard comic style version before fiddling round with a looser more cartoon style.
I inked that one, and decided to throw some quick color on it. Figured it needed some sort of background, and wala.
Kinda cool I guess. Her head's a bit on the large side, but other than that I was fairly pleased. Now one of these days I'll learn how to color well on Photoshop.

BTW, I watched the Departed tonight. Wow. Lots of brain matter flying round. But good nonetheless.

Jungle Queen

So I'm thinking of taking some of the more popular caricature designs at work and drawing them in a more comic book like style. The Jungle Queen is by far one of the most popular. So here we go.

Yawn...Another Caricature.

Didn't want my blog to slip into obscurity, so here is one of my most recent favorites.

Reality TV Junkie.

Okay, so I am addicted. I enjoy the hell out of reality tv shows. But they've become overwhelming, and now it seems I don't want to keep up with any of it anymore. But in all fairness I was digging "GREASE: You're the One That I Want". And I have to admit that I called the winner of the Danny part from the start. Good Old Max Crumm, (sorry Keelan.)

And eventhough I thought he had talent...WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH SANJAYA on American Idol. I found him likeable during the audtion phase, but now...ugh. I feel bad for the kid. I wonder if he realizes what a butt of the joke he's become. I think if I were him, I'd just quit. But I guess it shows that perhaps American Idol, is becoming Green Day's American Idiot. Because that's what the voting public is becoming.

Oh and PS, yeah the drawings are mine. Look what Loco can do with a sketchbook and a few bored minutes.
Hope everyone had a better Easter than I did.

Meet the Robinsons

Okay so I'd seen the previews, and to be honest the movie didn;t seem too appealing to me. Aside from the obvious reference to Tommorrow Land, it didn't say Disney to me.
But yesterday I decided to treat my oldest daughter to a movie after school and I let her choose the flick. I was really trying to persuade her to see TMNT, but alas, those darned 3D glasses were too enchanting for her to pass up.
I, being the duck fan that I am, was delighted to see a 1955 Donald Duck short before the movie in 3D as well.
The movie started a tad slow I must admit, and as it picked up steam, it got confusing to a degree, as most sci-fi cartoons tend to do...IE Treasure Planet.
But once the movie hit cruise control, I fell in love with it. It has a lot of Disney Heart in it, and the characters become quite endearing. You quickly realize that it isn't so much about time travel and sci-fi, as it is about family.
The music is modern and fitting, and damn good. And the CGI that seems to be littering the market, was well suited for this show, as I couldn't envision it anyway else.
Far better than Chicken Little, I walked out of there feeling pretty good, and the Walt Disney quote that wraps it all up, helped scream Disney to me at the end.
Check it out if you can.

On Sale Now.

Well, you can officially purchase copies of my recently published books, "IT CAME FROM THE POND: THE COLLECTED SKETCHES AND ARTWORK OF MICHAEL DURON" and "TRAGIC: THE CLOWN"
The sketchbook is 52 pages B&W and runs for 8.00.
Tragic is 60 pages and printed in perfect binding, has greyscaled interiors with red spot color and runs for 10.00.
All prices include shipping and handling.
You can purchase through PAYPAL by clicking on one of the links to the right.

Project Next

So what on earth was I going to do to follow up with Tragic The Clown? I had a few ideas, but like most this one just came together over several days, and convenient events.
I have a pending title, and here is the first concept sketch. Could be a long year. Or perhaps a Mini Series this time around.

The Customer is always flipped off?

Okay so my good friend Keelan snapped this picture of me at a recent gig we did together, and damn if I didn't laugh my ass off. I'm sure it was just a simple gesture caught on film, and the intention was not what it seems, but it sure looks like I am flipping this guy off.
Hah. So apparently, I get paid to draw, make fun of people, and flip them off. Tis the life.
Candid Camera is fun.

Spiderman 3

Hurry up and release damn it!!!

COOKIES

Yet another food related pin-up. My original idea was to have a cheesecake "girl"scout with a red wagon full of cookies being devoured by Cookie Monster. Then I saw a few of the submissions, and they all had Cookie in theirs as well. So it was back to the drawing board. I managed to bastardize another cookie related icon, the Keebler Elf. Fairly satisfied with it, but I really need to learn how to color on the computer.

Winds of Change

I'm bored with my website. I think I have entirely too much old crap on it. I have so many random mascots serving little or no purpose. So I'll be dumping it all and starting from scratch at some point in the near future.
I've also been blowing a lot of time time looking at random art blogs. I swear I could take a week to just be inspired by the plethora of work out there.
But not to fear, I haven't been slacking in the art department. Here's a little something I did for something I will diverge more info about at a later date.
SHAZAM!

Sandman and Seen in a waiting room...

I'm doing some warm up sketches of the Sandman for a draw-off and this is what I came up with for now. I've also grown attached to my sketchbook and take it everywhere I go, fortunately there is never a shortage of subject matter as these two fellows show. Hope everyone had a great weekend.



And as a bonus, here is one of the Lord of the ring sketch cards I revamped.

Yum

Stummbled across some ancient character design sheets through JIMHILLMEDIA.com for Disney's Long abandonded Don Quixote project, and just had to share. They need to back and do this project!

Time to take a (caricature) dump

Here are several caricatures from the past few months. Just a little reminder, that eventhough I was slaving over the comic book stuff, I was till working at the greatest job in the world.

Ice Cream

I'm a moderator at Digital Webbing.com in a draw-off section. We've been running pin-up contests where I throw out a word and folks get to design a pinup around it. For the most part it's been edible items, Bubble Gum, Champagne, Ice Cream, and now Cookies.
While I had definite ideas for each, Tragic the Clown, and Megacon were taking up most of my drawing time. I managed however to sketch something out for Ice Cream the night Megacon finished. Unfortunately, I fell asleep before completing it all the way. It's a bit risque, but it's doing well in the voting polls.

....Meeting her idol.

One of the neatest things that went down at the show, was Hailey's chance to meet her imaginary friend and schoolgirl crush, Sean Astin. Ever since she saw ENCINO MAN a few years ago, David (the character her played in the movie), or Daven, as her young developing speech would say, has been her security blanket.
She plays with him, works with him, is married to him, etc.
So for months she was looking forward to meeting him. He was at the show! So 30 bucks, and a half an hour in line later, my baby got to meet him. He was a great guy, and seemed very humble. Hailey was a bit star-struck and gooey, but could not be happier!
That in itself made MEGACON entirely worthwhile.

Megacon Day 3

Well, I missed a day so I'll double up on the photos. Megacon is now in the bag, but what a blast it was. Met a lot of great people, drew some cool pics, was inspired by the massive talents, and was able to spend a ton of bonding time with my oldest daughter. She hung with me all three days of the show! I would have liked to shop a little more, but I was too busy drawing.
I have some books left for anyone who may be interested. I'll post info here soon on pricing. In the meanwhile, here are some photos of work I did at the con.
It was a good time. Thanks also again to my pals at Ka-blam.com , I enjoyed the high quality of work, and the dinners afterward!!!!

Megacon day 1

Well day one has come and gone, and I was pretty durned happy with the set-up. Lots of talented people there, and The Books looked great! A ton of thanks to my friends at Ka-Blam.com
I took the girls along today, and eventhough my littlest had a melt down, Hailey loved every moment and stayed the whole day. She is determined to be there all day again tomorrow. Should be a busier day, and maybe she'll get to meet her crush, Sean Astin.
Here is a group shot of the set-up and the lococlan. And one of a few Princess Leias I drew.
More news tommorrow!

MEGACON

Well we are on the eve of the big show. I'm pretty jazzed and ready to go. Both Tragic the Clown, and my sketch book are al printed up and available to buy. I'll be drawing all kinds of commissions and probably spending just as much as a earn. Nonetheless, I'll try to give daily updates over the next few days. For now, I must get some sleep.
And here is the colored cover for the sketchbook, whuch will also be poster sized at the show. Mick Clausen at minwinderstudios.com did an amazing job!!

TRAGIC THE CLOWN COVER

Here is the cover to Tragic the Clown. The logo was done by Brien Roth and he did a fantastic job capturing the look and feel of the book. The official release date is Feb 14th, and it will be available at Megacon and the internet soon.

It Came from the POND!!

Well Tragic the Clown is all but printed, just waiting on a few pinups so I can ship it off to be printed. So now I am working furiously on putting together my sketchbook. Apropriately titled, "It Came from the Pond! Collected Sketches and artwork from Michael Locoduck Duron"
And here in all it's black and white glory is the cover image. I'm looking to get it pretty quickly colored as well since I have zero computer coloring skills.
I'll post a colored version as soon as it's ready.

Tragic News

Well it's not as bad as it seems. Just posting an update on my current project. This is a mock up of the cover. I have a contest to design the logo going on right now at digitalwebbing.com.
The book will be available at the Orlando Megacon Feb 16-18. Along with a sketchbook and some random other items. The good news is, it's very close to completion now. All pages have been layed out, scanned in, and are in the last stages of greyscaling. All that's will be left is the final layout of the book itself, and the lettering. More news on it soon.

Tragic New Year

Whew. The first day of the year was rough. You know I was completely gung ho about ditching the shitstorm that was 06 and jumping feet first into 07, but today was wierd. I just hope it's not a premonition of what's to come.

You know for the first time in years, I had a fantastic New Year's Eve. We spent the evening at Universal Studios. Rode a few rides, had a few drinks, watched some way cool fireworks.
But two of the coolest highlights to me were the fireworks themselves, holding my three gals close and kissing the Mrs at midnight. I don't think we'd ever been in the thick of a crowd with music and fireworks at midnight before. Some sort of magic moment I must say.
The other moment was really heart warming.
They had this dj pumping out the hits and crowds dancing. So mom hung back with Maya the bee, while Hailey and I hit the dance floor. Man did we have a blast. She is definitely a dancer like her daddy.
It was a great night.

But what's Tragic about the New Year, (aside from the televised hanging of Saddam, not that I think he didn't deserve it) is the comic book I am working on, which will debut this year at Orlando's MEGACON.

More info on it to come, but for now I give you a title, and the first image to circulate on the net, which many of you recieved on your page this season.
This, is
TRAGIC: The Clown.
And he arrives to touch your world in February.






That's all for now my friends. Happy New Year!!

Expedition Everest

So if you haven't gotten the chance to ride Disney's newest ride, you should. It's a ton of fun, and has one great big ass Yeti in it. For a drawing challenge over at the Caricature Connection board in which we had to draw a yeti, this was my contribution.

I resisted the urge to draw a cartoony Yeti with a pack of gum. Decided to go a tad more feral.

Sketch Cards

It seems to be a new trend. People are collecting Original Art sketch cards now instead of just Commissioned artwork. I learned more about it after my second round of Lord of the Rings Sketch Cards. So it looks like I'm throwing my hat into the fray. Here are my first 2.

LOTR Sketch Cards round 2

Here are the rest...

LOTR Sketch Cards

Finally have clearance to show these. 81 of the 206 that I did. Overall I am much happier with the way these came out.

THE NCN CON

Well it's right around the corner, the NCN convention. It's right up the street, and I am trying to go. Prices are pricey....in the 250 dollar range....
BUT it's the place to be for Caricature Artists like me. I'd like to try and compete this year, so I am taking donations for those of you that are interested.
If you like my art, dig the blog, and appreciate the effort, take a minute to donate a few bucks to the get LOCO to the NCN CON FUND.
Some of you lurkers have privately requested caricatures of certain celebrities, well anyone that donates and has a request will get it filled as a THANK YA.
If you'd like to help, you can paypal me a donation by clicking here....

LINK DOESNT SEEM TO BE WORKING, so if anyone wants to donate, they can by going to the paypal site and using my email LOCODUCK@LOCODUCK.COM
You can remain anonymous or let me know it was you. Either way it's appreciated.
Have a great day and thanks in advance.

With apologies to Steve Silver

Here is one I drew up the other night. Couple gave me complete freedom, but they wanted something I hadn't done before...So thanks to Keelan's links to the School of Suck, and my latest obsession with The Kim Possible cartoon....well, here ya go.
They were really pleased with it by the way...
The other young lad wanted me to draw him up as Darth Vader, so I took some liberties with him, and delivered a NON-Conformist Disney-cature, and he LOVED it.
Wish I had the time to do this Darth Vader body in the parks...

Heh, Batman baddies,

Up to no good they are....

Steve Irwin

All I can say is Tragic. I became more aware and attached to the man by association with my wife. She had a big appreciation for his dedication to animal conservation, and his enthusiasm for educating the general public on it. So for the past 8 years I've been following his career, sometimes toungue in cheek, but always with respect.
His death is a loss to not only his family, but to the animals he was looking out for. My heart and prayers lie with his eight year old daughter, three year old son, and wife. God Bless ya Croc Man.

Caricature Mania

Here are some recent Caricatures I've served up hot and fresh at work.
Some of them are more exaggerated than others. I am trying to push the limit a bit with the Disney guests. But they are usually here for the cute and cuddly cartoons.....





This one I forgot to snap a picture of the kid, but I thought the body was cute enough to share...

This family wanted to be pirates from the movie, but wanted the scene to be continuos once lined up side by side. A bit challenging, but I was satisfied with the reults....

CITY OF ANGELS

I was watching this totally great flick yesterday, and happened to have my sketchbook in hand. A few minutes later I came up with this...


After the movie was over I decided to play with the idea a little more. Sketched out the three main players.....


When I went to inks, I decided Meg Ryan would look much cuter without the massive teeth smile, so I simplified, and liked the result much better.....





Decided to color it up....
Then I got bored and added a background....It was a fun experiment in Caricaturing. I may have to play with this concept a little more.....
As you can see, the drawing bug is really itching again, and thank God for that.
Have a Damned Decent Day.

LORD OF THE RINGS REVISITED

Well looks like I am onboard to work with TOPPS once again, doing another 206 sketch cards for a New LOTR series coming in November. This time around, I am trying a newer style, more animated. Not sure if I want to mix and match my styles or do them all up this way.....Suggestions?

OZ vz WONDERLAND

I drew these up for a co-worker. Apparently someone is having a party with an Alice in Wonderland VS The Wizard of OZ theme.
Probably a little too late for invitations, but figured I'd share them anyway.

BLOG VERSION 3.0

I may have to look elsewhere to blog. Everytime I try to use blogger to upload an image it boots me off the net. Not just on my account but on any......grrrr.....Let's see if dark anakin shows up...

Okay...Mr. Skywalker shows up, I guess if I just hot link all images from my site, I should be good....
So Updates hmmm....
Well, my life has been a complete roller coaster of shit and happiness, stress and stress, and did I mention stress?
But the truth is I do draw every now and then for those of you who may have forgotten. So welcome me back as I try to grasp back onto reality.
This blog is officially re-opened. I promise to flood it with junk, or my artwork as some may call it.
For now it's under construction...

But I do have some news that I will post later in regards to more LORD OF THE RINGS cards.
And yeah, I do have some new caricature stuff to post, as well as a few items from the sketchbook. So PLEASE, check back often.
God Bless all.....
Have a damned decent day.