Devilfish Project, p.22

Devilfish Project, p.22 by *3PU on deviantART

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Here's some photos of the family trek to get our tree.

No dogs were harmed (despite the long face) and many more trees will be planted in the Spring--safely back from the beaver lodges. I wonder if putting the word beaver in a post will affect my hit count?

Prepping the cart

Off we go

The right tree (already in the path of beaver destruction!)

Loaded up (try smiling Neptune!)

Back through the paddock

More Devilfish Art

Devilfish Project 4, colour by ~3PU on deviantART

Demetrius Rashad

Demetrius Rashad, inked by ~3PU on deviantART

Demetrius Rashad orbiting the earth in Hydrantos City with 2 of his genetic marvels...

From Max Ryan:The Devilfish Project

Best Birthday Present Ever

Well here it is...the best gift a person could give me.
This was what my wife got me for my birthday--she commissioned a painting from Quebec artist Dave Dowbyhuz of my much-loved dog Neptune.
Dave has painted him out on the lake doing some water-rescue work. Look at that determination in his face. Dave did a beautiful job capturing him perfectly--there's no doubt this is my boy! I love the colours and the way Dave painted the water. His work is simply amazing, he truly has a gifted hand. He has accomplished the impossible: I can stare at the eye of this painting and feel the connection that I know so well with the subject. His portrait is flawless.
I wanted it in my studio so I could have it with me while I worked but I'm apparently supposed to share it with others. It's up on our family room wall where I see it every day and it reminds me how lucky I am. I can't even put into words what such a thoughtful gift means. And I have to thank Mr Dowbyhuz for going above and beyond to help her keep this a secret.

More Pimpernel

Here's the two main Pimpernel images.

Go here to find out more!

The Pimpernel

click for the big picture!

Well, looks like it's out in the open now--so check out http://geeksyndicate.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/more-news-on-the-pimpernel/

Tractor Safety 101

This is the key fob for my new tractor. Apparently I'm not supposed to run children over. Good thing I looked at the fob. On the other side it seems to be telling me that women and children should be locked up in the house where they won't be tempted to run in front of me.

Husqvarna 1, Trail 0

Neptune runs on my new trail!

I've spent an hour or so the last few evenings out in the bush cutting trails for my mountain bike. It's pretty hard but rewarding as you make some progress. I've cut about 1200 metres in and I'll have to go back and chainsaw out some of the fallen trees. I'm getting the feeling I'll be spending more time cutting trails than riding them this year. It's all an investment for next season.
Had a bit of a Blair Witch moment late last night when I ran out of gas and the sun had gone down. Had to walk back in the dark without a running brushcutter to protect myself from bears which I was pretty sure had me surrounded.

Ariel Needs A Home

This sweet little (well maybe not so little) pup needs to find a family! Ariel is a 10 month old Landseer Newfoundland. She is currently being fostered by my wife and I but she wants her permanent family. Go here for more info and a lot more pictures of this wonderful Newf.

UPDATE: We were able to find an absolutely perfect family to take Ariel into their home. Ariel is now spending her days on a beautiful, active horse farm where she probably doesn't give us or our dogs a second thought!

Studio Tour, Part 3

I like old stuff. My computer equipment sits on a pioneer table and a harvest table from the early 1900's. My rapidographs and some other rarely used art stuff are stored under the harvest table (not shown) in a wooden bren gun ammo box from the first World War. I think you can see it in the pic from Part 1, and also you can see my Hudson Bay Trapper Point wool blanket from the 1940's which is awesome. I sit at my drawing table on a surprisingly comfortable cottage chair from the 1950's. And I used to draw on a huge Leonar Italian drafting table from about 1965-69. I swapped it out for the small table I'm using now because I had to use a really really tall stool to sit at it and that made it hard to reach all the other stuff I like to have at hand. The Leonar is stored in the basement, I halfway restored it by refinishing the tabletop and painting over the institutional grey base. I will try and set it up at the new studio--we'll see how it goes because the space is quite a bit smaller.
Some things to note from this photo, starting left to right: A3 scanner with cord dangling down to computer. I used to care a lot about what was in my computer and would put them together myself, but I really couldn't tell you what's in this. I bought it already put together and it works. I had a bad experience with Alienware customer service about 8 years ago and it put me off caring about what I was using. Next there's the photo of one of my dogs in a cowboy boot frame which cracks me up. Behind that is a creepy head I check for lightingsometimes when I'm drawing a face. I've named him Pin. (You probably need to be a Canadian horror movie buff to get that). There's two monitors there, one LCD one CRT. I have a Wacom tablet. Oh, there's a pretty sweet Playboy club ashtray in a 1970's shade of orange. Sitting on the external hard drive is a nostalgic "professional" badge from the first Wizard World that I got a pro badge (they'll give those out to anyone apparently!). On the right there's a picture of the best Newfoundland dog in the world, Neptune and a classy scorpion encased in acrylic.
Wow, I move exactly one week from today. Time to start packing.

Studio Tour, Part 2

Top picture is the view of the lake from the studio window. Blocked pretty much by trees but I would never cut them down--they're about 70 year old white pines that have trunks that are about three feet across at the base.
Bottom picture is of 2 of my bikes. They're kept here because we don't have a garage, and well, to be honest I like to stare at them. I'm sad I know. I have a racier aluminum hardtail stored in the basement with a bunch of other bikes but these two are the ones I ride the most.
In the back is a Norco CCX cyclocross bike. Like a road bike but with narrow knobby tires and disc brakes. Some nice Ritchey WCS upgrades and a carbon fibre TruVativ Rouleur crankset. The Jamis frame is brand new this year after I broke my Specialized last season. All the parts are swapped over from the Specialized. Highlights: XT/XTR group, Hydraulic disc brakes, and a Mavic tubeless wheelset with Kenda Nevegals.
In the right corner are my golf clubs. I didn't take a picture of my weight set because it is boring.

Studio Tour, Part 1

click to enlarge

Sad news (sort of): I'm currently packing up my workspace (and home) to move to a new location. I'm really going to miss this room I've made for myself here, I've sort of got everything the way I want it. So I've just started packing and I thought I'd document it before I got it cleared out. Please excuse the mess (although it is rarely tidy anyway), and at least I removed the 9 empty coffee mugs before I took the pictures!

1. Weight bench
2. Bikes leaning against fireplace
3. Drawing area
4. Computer area

More to follow...

Anatta

This is a pin-up I did for Anatta. I worked in trade with Wei Li who will do some translating for me on Hungry Ghosts when I can find the time to get back to it.

Anatta is a fantastic new webcomic by Wei Li and Anise Shaw. It's reminiscent of William Gibson's earlier writing fused with the maturity of his current work. There are fully realized political situations of a near-futuristic Vancouver and the social implications of a quickly adapted and invasive new technology. You can feel the world in Anatta trying to catch up with this explosive development in technology.

This is an advanced and well thought out concept and story that really promises a lot in the future.

Bounty Hunter Crossover

This is a cover I did for the Bounty Hunter/Shaman/Rabid crossover.

Fun In The Snow

Here's a flyer I did recently for Concordia University's Outdoor club. I had a lot of fun with this one since I rarely get a chance to go all cartoony.

Practice

Trying to get something to look right...

Kitty Pryde

Hey look at this: It's the X-men's Kitty Pryde in 1980 before she joined the group. That's a comic I'd read--Kitty Pryde: The Early Years.

Artie Lange

I'm just finishing reading Artie Lange's "Too Fat To Fish". It's been disturbing, poignant,sad, and hilarious.
I've heard him recount some of these stories before, and as well-written as the book was it was the first time I've felt like I'd prefer listening to the audiobook. He is an amazing storyteller, and somehow with his self-deprecating manner and laughter at his own predicament the stories of his degenerate lifestyle sound more ribald than sad when they're heard in his Rusty-the-Tin-Man voice.

Hayden Panetierre

I did this drawing the other morning as a warm-up. It's part of a drawing jam over at drawingboard.org.

Y'know I started with the eye on the left, thought it looked about the right size, then fleshed out the face, did the figure--only to find I'd run out of paper top and bottom. Too bad, because I wanted to finish it.