Werewolf By Night!

In keeping with the monster theme, here's another IPhone/Sketchbook drawing.

Nooooooooooo!

Click the title to get the link. For Dire situations only.

Zilla

This was done on my IPhone with the Sketchbook app. Out of all the iterations of Godzilla out there, I think this one resembles the old Aurora model version... except that this one has atomic breath.

Another Nearsighted Comic

Nearsighted Comics

Game Jam Art

This is the main character from the Game Jam game we made at work. Over a 24 hour period we made a working game. It turned out pretty well and it was fun to play. This is part of the character's Jump animation-- actually, this is the only part of the jump animation. I just made the wings and tail flutter a bit when he was in the air.

Nearsighted Comics

Here is my homage (ripoff) of the Far Side... Nearsighted Comics. I've produced a few of these now and although I'm not very happy with the look I've established so far, I'm kinda happy with the gags I've been coming up with. ©2010 Rick Schmitz.

Star Trek Party Signs

These are some plaques I made for a Sci Fi party New Years party we went to. All of these are authentic ST foods or drink names that we used to describe what we brought to share. The pie was a peanut butter pie, "White" was a strong beverage, the Bloodwine was Martinelli's Apple/cranberry juice and Tronya was what my wife calls "70's punch"... ginger ale or 7-Up, fruit juice and serbert.

Wood Dude

Wood Dude, drawn on the bus.

Maybe I should post something here

Perhaps I should start posting again... I have a lot of drawings to share I a make them riding the bus to and from work. I just don't know if anyone will ever see them if I post them here. I guess there's only one way to find out...

Cappy!

Here's an old sketch... I really like this little guy... I like that he's a little tubby.

tryout

This is something I whipped up as a drawing test for a concept artist job a ways back.

He Groks Spock

I've arrived!

I have completed the long drive up to Seattle with 2 cats in tow. The cats held up well and I'm very glad to be together with my family again after 2 weeks being apart. I'll post more drawings when I get the chance.

The Train! The Train!

The original sketch is over at the TAG blog (see the links on the sidebar).

Short Elvis

I think the title says it all.

A Face

Look familiar?

Wow, that was a long time in-between posts!

It's been so long since I've posted that I got a new job and now I'm moving on to another! Yeesh!

I'm going to be working at PopCap Games as Art Director in Seattle! I may have some time over the next couple of weeks to get a few drawings posted, then I will be busy with a new job, new house, etc. Hopefully I will still find some time to get back here and post more Creeple or Tux stories.

Here's to wishing!

Strange dude

I have no idea who this guy is... he just came out of my pencil and on to the paper.

The Herculoids: An Appreciation

So over on the TAG blog there has been some discussion about old Saturday morning cartoons that are available for watching on YouTube. I have a personal favorite... the Herculoids. It was a Hanna Barbara cartoon set on a far-flung planet with a small nuclear family and monstrous friends/pets with super powers. They would fight of invaders to the planet as well as the hostile locals.

These cartoons were pretty short on story and long on action. Chuck Jones had once called TV cartoons "illustrated radio" because the characters would always say what they were doing rather than use complicated and costly animation to tell the story. However, by this point HB had gotten pretty good at making due with very limited resources. The quality of the drawing varies wildly from shot to shot, but they have fairly complex action “gags” that are easy to follow and fun to watch.

The Herculoids also benefit from having Alex Toth for a character designer and veterans like Homer Jonas working on the backgrounds. The inventive sound FX, voice acting and music round out the package.

Watching these as I did last night I noticed a few things. One is that this is a super team, just like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Because most of the characters are “animals” of a sort, they writers can by-pass all of the time consuming character development (such as it was and is in the TV cartoon world) and focus on the action. The human characters filled their stereotypes: Mother, Father, and Son. This also streamlined the story telling. There may be some sort of back story as to why these folks are on this planet living the way they do, but it doesn’t matter… it’s all about the action.

The other thing I noticed upon reflection is that my story Tux is clearly influenced by these cartoons that I watched during my formative years. As with the Herculoids, Tux is about a super team of a sort, with animal-ish characters fighting exotic enemies. I never made the connection until last night.