Tis the Season....

Ha! October is finally here!

This is the time of year that I wait all year for. I love the weather, I love the colors as trees begin to change, and most of all:

I love Halloween.

In honor of the season, I'm running a blog-a-thon here at Second Star, one that I hope you will join in on.

Allow me to draw your attention to the snazzy Peter Cushing badge in the right sidebar. I've joined in on the Halloween Countdown this year; just click on it, and it will take you to the Halloween Countdown blog, where you'll find a list of many other Cryptkeepers, and I hope you'll spend some time checking out their blogs as well.

I had originally planned "The 31 Days of Halloween", but I won't be able to keep to that intense of a schedule this year...for one thing, my computer died last week, and my only online access is through my mother's computer, and my online time is rather limited now. Plus, Mom's computer moves in three speeds: slow, really slow, and "Merciful Zeus, it's going backwards", and it's rather frustrating.

So I now plan on posting every other day during the month of October, beginning tomorrow. I will post one piece of Halloween/spooky artwork for your perusal and hopeful enjoyment. Some of it will be pencil sketches, some will be more finished paintings, some will be photos of things I see around town that help keep the anticipation of All Hallow's Eve going strong. At least one will be whatever pumpkin creation the boys and I come up with for the front porch this year. I might even post a tale or two...

I hope you'll join me; I'm sure that not everyone will like every piece that I post, but hopefully everyone will like at least some of them.

Also, to quote Tim Burton's Batman: "I want you to tell your friends about me." If you like what you see here, pass it on to someone else you think might enjoy both my artistic endeavors, and the Halloween Countdown in general.

See you tomorrow...

Brad

Playtime!

I recently bought a package of Derwent brand "Inktense" watercolor pencils.  They're not cheap, but through a local "back to school" sale, I was able to get 30 % off, and I've wanted some of these for a long time, so I splurged.

Unlike other watercolor pencils, these aren't made of graphite; the "lead" is made of water-soluble ink. The colors that wash out when you apply water are so much more vivid and intense than any other watercolor pencil I've ever played with. Even before I brought water into it, these are among the best colored pencils I've ever used.

Here's a (what else?) dragon that I did as experimentation. Each wing panel has a slightly different color/brush/technique combination, 'cause I really wanted to play around with these things.

The verdict? Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils:

Best.

Things.

Ever.

I'm off to play some more!

Thanks,
Brad

Work Your Fingers to the Bone...

I was going to wait 'til October to put this up (I have something big and fun planned; stay tuned), but decided to go ahead and post it now, 'cause I haven't put anything new up in a bit.

This started out as a doodling-with-a-ballpoint-pen-while-talking-on-the-phone thing, and grew into tribute to my love for the master of stop-motion special effects, Ray Harryhausen. His movie monsters (in particular, the skeleton warriors of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts) frightened, delighted, and inspired me as a child.

Just for kicks and giggles, here's the same image in negative ('cause I think it looks cool):

As I said, I've got something planned for October that I think will be fun, and I'll be making the announcement as soon as I have my plans finalized. Don't worry, there'll be some more stuff between now and then, so I hope you'll keep checking back.

Thanks!

Brad

Drawing With (Dragon's) Fire

Wow.

It's been too long since I've posted anything, but then, it's been too long since I've had anything interesting to post.

I've been digging into "pyrography", or wood-burning, which is something I messed with as a kid but haven't done in probably thirty years.

I'm wondering why I ever stopped.

Here's a name plaque (I almost type "plague" every time---funny how one little letter can make such a big difference, eh? But I digress...) that I'm working on for Hunter. It's on cheap wood and no doubt would look better on higher-quality, "real" wood, but it's coming out okay, and Hunter loves it.

I'm going in with some paints a bit later, just to add a bit of color, and then I'll be launching into one for Blake.

I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks,
Brad

The Birthday Dragon...

Sorry that I haven't been posting much lately; the school year is winding down, and I've been really busy (the upswing is that over the summer, I'll have a good deal more time to work on stuff; I love being a teacher ;))

I've been working on a few things for some of the kids at my school, and managed to get a special birthday card done for my friend Rob, who turns 40 today. I turned 40 recently (you can read about it here, if you're so inclined), and even though Rob constantly reminds me that I'm older than him, and consequently closer to the grave, I'm delighted that he is now among the ranks of us who just plain ain't young no more.

Stanley decided to make an appearance for Rob's birthday:

I couldn't get a decent shot with my digital camera, and I'm having some scanner issues, so the colors aren't quite as vibrant as they are on the original.

But I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and now have another idea for places that Stanley can take me.

I hope to have some other stuff to show you soon.

Thanks,
Brad

Keepin' On Keepin' On...

Here's the latest on my Blue Dragon.

I'm still kinda making it up as I go, but I'm liking where it's going.

Still tryin' to figure out what I'm doin'...

Thanks for checking it out!

Brad

Blue Evolution

I just wanted to share the progress of my blue dragon.

I haven't really done a whole lot; just deepened some of the colors and started to put a background design in.

I've got a little bit of a plan, but I'm still kinda making this up as I go, and that's the way (uh huh, uh huh) I like it.

I'm having lots of fun with this.

Moving along...

I hope you like it.

Brad