Saturday, December 31, 2011

Canson Cutie Doodle


Art © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Today I finished the last (hopefully) revisions for the Health Department job and I only have time for a doodle before I take a quick nap. Got some New Years celebrating to do.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year's Eve. I will see you on the other side.

This was done in ink and Copic markers on 9" x 12" Canson paper.

This is Post #1561

Friday, December 30, 2011

Sketchbook Friday - The Joker


The Joker © DC Comics

After yesterday's Batman, this was a natural.

Today was to be a deadline on a project but last night (the client is in Los Angeles) I got an email that we would be extending that deadline to Tuesday. No one was going to be in the office today so I decided to take the day off too. I still have a few hours to put into the project, but I will finish it tomorrow while Deena is running errands. It was nice to just relax today, have some lunch with my lovely wife and wander around a mall in Tampa. A beautiful sunny day off in Florida. What more could you ask?

Today marks the unofficial anniversary of my blog. Sunday being the official day. I will post about that on Sunday. Reflect a bit and of course post some art.

This piece was done with ink, Copic markers, and white Prismacolor pencil.

This is Post #1560

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sketchbook Thursday


Batman © DC Comics

Just a warm up sketch this morning. I'm concentrating on a Friday deadline and using "free" time to work on the BIG commission.

This is Post #1559

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Wolverine


Wolverine © Marvel Entertainment

This is just me messing around. I took an 11" x 17" sheet of bristol board and smeared a mixture of acrylic paint on it with a paper towel. After it dried I just started sketching. Ink, Copics, acrylic paint and white ink were throw in for the final. I may play around with this process some more in the future. Nice to mix it up a bit.

This is Post #1558

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sketchbook Tuesday


Art © 2011 Gene Gonzales

In between working, I am still playing around with the paper I bought the other day. I just started doodling and throwing Copic markers, paint, colored pencil and ink at it until this happened. I have been looking at a lot of different artwork over the last week or so and have probably been influenced. Deena saw it and thought of a chicken hawk. We now have a name for it.

Mixed media on brown rough sketch paper.

This is Post #1557

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas Commission - Black Canary


Black Canary © DC Comics

It's the day after Christmas so I get to show another holiday commission. Brian, aka Batmite, commissioned this for his friend Jim. I know Jim (and Brian) from years of attending the Pittsburgh ComiCon. Jim has this cantankerous persona he puts on when dealing with me, and others I suppose but I like to think I'm special. We toss friendly insults back and forth all during the weekend. But the truth is he is a softy and it's always nice to see when I am there. So when Brian asked for a holiday themed Black Canary for his friend Jim, of course I said "Hell, no!" ; )

Thanks for the commission Brian and I hope Jim liked her.

I believe that is the last of the Christmas themed finished commissions. I am still working on the BIG commission for Royce featuring the Superman Family of characters. Be nice to Royce, he has been patient and encouraging. And if he uses the art for a Christmas card next year, you will want to be on that list. :)

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1557

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Merry Christmas from all of us at Casa de Gonzo!


This is Post #1556

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Commission - Muppets!


Characters © Disney

I have a few Christmas commissions I will be able to share over the next few days. Mostly after Christmas of course. But this one just the okay to post from the person who received it...

Little John commissioned this for his lovely wife Patwicia (love the story behind this spelling of her name). This is the second Muppets piece I have done for them and I find it fun to stretch my skills with a completely different style. Thanks to both of you and Merry Christmas!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1555

Friday, December 23, 2011

Sketchbook Friday - New Paper


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

I didn't want to show the latest progress on the BIG commission so today is a sketchbook day.

I had to go to the art store today for a few things and while there I picked up a sketch pad with brown rough paper. I thought it could be fun to play with so you will probably see it here from time to time. :)

This is Post #1554

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Work in Progress Thursday - Commission


Characters © DC Comics

I have had the strangest end of the year. I am swamped with work. This is not how it normally works out during this season. On top of some work that I was already committed to, I got two more rush jobs, ones that need to be done before the end of the year. Whew.

But I still made time to rough in the "photos" on the wall of the BIG commission. A few favorites and a couple of history photos. Fun, Fun, Fun! I'm holding back from showing the other side of the wall. Gotta keep some stuff close to the vest.

This is Post #1553

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Work in Progress Wednesday - Commission


The Kents © DC Comics

Another progress "report" on the BIG commission. In case you hadn't noticed in some of the other posts, there are blank squares and rectangles on the background wall. All of those will be framed "photos" and will be filled with illustrations. All part of the fun for me. And I hope for you when you see them. Today I drew the big framed family portrait of young Clark and Ma & Pa Kent.

This is Post #1552

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Work in Progress Tuesday - Commission


Superman, Lois Lane, Supergirl © DC Comics

I cannot begin to explain how much fun I am having with this commission. And a big THANK YOU to Royce for allowing me to share it as we go. I won't give all the secrets away though.

This is Post #1551

Monday, December 19, 2011

Work in Progress Monday - Commission


Krypto & Streaky © DC Comics

Let sleeping super-pets lie. Another detail of the commission I am working on.

This is Post #1550

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Work in Progress Sunday - Commission


Jimmy Olsen © DC Comics

Another detail of a large commission work in progress.

This is Post #1549

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Work in Progress - Commission


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

This is a detail of a work in progress. A very small detail of a very complicated piece, I might add. But when it's done, it will be super, man! :)

This is Post #1548

Friday, December 16, 2011

Canson Cutie: Xanadu - Kira (Olivia Newton-John)


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Let me start off by saying I am a fan of Olivia Newton-John. There. I said it. As a matter of fact, my first concert ever was seeing her at the beautiful outdoor Greek Theater in Los Angeles on August 27th 1976. I was 13. England Dan and John Ford Coley ("I'd really love to see you tonight") opened for her. My mom dropped me and my friend off at the Greek, by ourselves and when the show was over, she came and got us. Fighting all that traffic to get back to the Greek had to have been fun. In the pre-decades of cell phones, she just had to guess when the show would end. We almost had a chance at going backstage and meeting Olivia. At a side door, there was a man who was picking random people from the crowd there to come backstage. We weren't picked. Probably jumping up and down waving my hand and my ONJ scrapbook might have discouraged him from picking me. Anyway, it was a very memorable night and it has stayed with me all these years. (Her opening song was "The Air That I Breathe").

Which in a long way brings me around to this piece. See Little John is a fan of Olivia Newton-John as well. Something that came up at HeroesCon I believe. Well, us ONJ fans have to stick together. So John has wanted a piece featuring ONJ in her role as Kira in the musical Xanadu and who better to get it from than another ONJ fan. He selected the cowgirl costume she wears near the end of the film and we were off. Now this was a tough piece to do. There are no good references on the internet. Thankfully NetFlix has the movie and I watched it and made screen shots to get some kind of idea how the outfit works. Bad thing is, all the shots are blurry because she is too busy dancing and not standing still. But I think it worked out.

Thanks Little John, I hope I did Olivia justice. :)

Mixed media on 11" x 17" purple Canson Paper.

This is Post #1547 

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Sketchbook Thursday


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

This is a detail of something I was working on today. :)

This is Post #1546

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Sketchbook Wednesday


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

A couple of digital sketches to work out the piece I am doing for the 2-Pt Perspective blog.

This is Post #1545

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Ron Weasley


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

This was commissioned by Brian as a Christmas present. The recipient does not visit this blog so I was told it was safe to share it early. Thanks for the commission Brian!

This is done in black ink, white ink and white Prismacolor pencil on 10" x 8" Canson paper.

This is Post #1544

Monday, December 12, 2011

Conventionless Convention Sketch - The Flash


The Flash © DC Comics

This is an image I have been holding on to since September 13. Right at the beginning of the Conventionless Convention Sketch run. It was commissioned by Brian as a gift for Carlos. Seems there has been a back and forth discussion about who would win in a battle of Batman versus The Flash. This is Brian's idea of how his hero, Batman, would defeat The Flash. Carlos just recently got the gift art and now you can see it too. Thanks Brian, and I hope you like the art Carlos, if not the outcome. :)

This is ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1543

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sketchbook Sunday - Severus Snape


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

I'm not one to waste time if I can avoid it. So I doodled this at the laundrymat while a gigantic comforter tumbled away in first a washer, then dryer. It's not perfect, but then I was distracted by the smell of detergent, bleach and fabric softener.

This is Post #1542

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sketchbook Saturday - Hagrid


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

One of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter movies is Rubeus Hagrid. And I was suddenly compelled to sketch him after I was commissioned to do a Canson piece of Ron Weasley from his first year at Hogwarts.

Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that. ;)

This is Post #1541

Friday, December 9, 2011

Sketchbook Friday - Batgirl's Back!


Batgirl © DC Comics

Yeah, I know, dumb joke. :) Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1540

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Sketchbook Thursday


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Here is one of the ideas I was playing with for the military girls theme over on the 2pt Perspective blog. Done in Blue Col-Erase pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1539

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sketchbook Wednesday



Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Quick sketches today. Still have a lot of work to do. So much so that I didn't have time to finish my piece for the other blog. I will do that later this week. So I shall post here, nap, and start again in a few hours. Woohoo? Zzzzzzzzzz.

This is Post # 1538

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sketchbook Tuesday


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Just a little femme fatale art from this morning in my sketchbook. No idea where this idea came from. Scary sometimes. :)

I added color this afternoon. You can see the unaltered sketch below.



This is Post #1537


Monday, December 5, 2011

Sketchbook Monday - Dejah Thoris


Dejah Thoris © ERB - Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Since I did a Warlord of Mars yesterday, I thought a Princess of Mars would be an appropriate follow up.

Terra cotta Col-Erase pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1536

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Sketchbook Sunday - John Carter, Warlord of Mars


John Carter © ERB

I am quite excited by the release of the newest trailer for the JOHN CARTER movie. So I was inspired to sketch the title character. For fun I slapped some color on it in Photoshop. Below is the unaltered sketch.


Blue Col-Erase pencil in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper pad.

This is Post #1535


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Sketchbook Saturday


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

A warm up sketch from this morning in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1534

Friday, December 2, 2011

Sketchbook Friday - Jungle Priestess


Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

The next few weeks will probably be filled with sketchbook days. I won't be spending too much on them, mostly morning warmups. But I will try to make them interesting and not just a bunch of random lines. My commercial work load is filling up (couple of tough deadlines next week) and I am booked solid on commissions. BUT, what a great bunch of commissions these are. I will be so happy when I get to share them with everyone. The ideas are beyond fun! To those of you who commissioned the projects in progress, thank you! You know who you are. :)

This piece was done in pencil in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper pad.

This is Post #1533

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Black Queen - Conventionless Convention Sketch

This one is for Gary, a companion piece for the White Queen I did for him earlier in this run of sketches. Thanks again Gary.

If this post looks odd it's because I am trying to use the Blogger app on my iPad 2 to post. I will reformat this when Bloggers web interface is working again.

This is Post #1532