Sunday, November 30, 2008

Boxcar Astronaut #90



Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! After all the drama in the backyard lately, it looks like or favorite little mutt is trying to take a nap. Suddenly, it looks as if one of Diogee's fantasies is about to come true! Can it be? Is Diogee going to prove himself a player among canines, or is it all just another wild puppy dream? Check out this week's All New Boxcar Astronaut for our raciest episode yet!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Boxcar Astronaut #89



Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! The epic battle is over for now, ending with the mutual laughter of our heroes, Ben and Devin. Now, while the boys are away from their ships, Diogee and Caveman are looking to have a little intergalactic fun. Check out the hilarious results in this week's All New Boxcar Astronaut!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Boxcar Astronaut #88



Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! The boxcar spaceship battle for back yard supremacy is on! Ben and Devin have each other dead in their sights. It's a tense battle of wits as the two former companions stare each other down. How will this stalemate end? What will be left after the smoke clears, mangled bodies, bruised egos, or just plain silliness? Yeah, it'll probably end in silliness.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Bond, James Bond





With the new 007 film, Quantum of Solace, coming out this Friday, I thought it'd be a good time to draw a little character sketch of my all time favorite fictional character, James Bond. This little drawing was done on dark brown paper using colored pencils, a warm gray Tria marker, and a couple of pastels for subtle shading.

I grew up in the Roger Moore era, however, even as a kid I always preferred the Sean Connery films. Connery just seemed like more of a threat. Living Daylights, with Timothy Dalton was the first Bond flick I got to see in the theaters, and I've gone to see every one since on opening weekend. I'm rather excited about this new film because for the first time in 007 history, they've actually made a direct sequel, continuing the story from the wonderful Casino Royale. I can't wait to see more of Daniel Craig's take on the character. With the exception of his blonde hair, he looks and acts the most like the Bond from Ian Fleming's classic novels, even more so than Connery. Any true Bond fan will tell you that the character in the original books is much darker and more nuanced than the cartoon superhero he's been portrayed as for the past 40 plus years. It is the Bond from the books I really enjoy trying to capture in my drawings from time to time. For instance here's a painting I did a few years ago to highlight my favorite book, Goldfinger:


I remember back in the mid nineties when I found my first Ian Fleming book, a worn out old paperback copy of For Your Eyes Only, in a great used book shop in Philadelphia called the Book Trader. It was two creaky floors of mismatched, loosely organized shelves filled with ragged old books, just waiting for curious minds to dig through them. If you were looking for a slick Barnes & Noble shopping experience, this wasn't your place. No, this place had real character, a motley assortment of folks perusing the racks, the heavy quiet of an old library, and the unique smell of old paper and woodwork. Finding what you wanted was more like a treasure hunt, it required patience, perseverance, and a willingness to get your hands dirty. This was the place I first met the real James Bond, and found many other old literary gems I never even knew I was looking for. I guess the point of my nostalgic rambling is sometimes to find the truly interesting, life changing stuff, you need to look past the flashy, glossy, commercialized facade and get some dirt under you fingernails and dust on your knuckles.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Boxcar Astronaut #87



Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! An epic battle is on the horizon as the boys each attempt to force poor Diogee to choose sides. Will our lovable mutt stick with his helmeted master, choose to jump aboard Devin's new spaceship, or get distracted by something else and run off? Find out the entirely predictable, yet charmingly hilarious answer in this week's All New Boxcar Astronaut!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Master Yoda



You know, as much as I love Yoda, I am ashamed to say I can quote more of his philosophical lessons than that of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Confucius, Machiavelli, Jesus Christ and John Lennon combined. It's a sad commentary on the state of the world when you realize I'm not alone in this. Fortunately, I don't need to be some well read, deeply profound, inspirational beacon of humanity to draw pretty pictures. At least I know my place.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Mighty Marvel Sketches!

Ok, it's been a while since I posted anything other than the weekly Boxcar Astronaut strip, but I'm here to change that. In the past few months, my wife and I have bought a house, spent a lot of time on necessary fixing up of said house, moved in to this very same house, celebrated my daughter's first birthday, and went to Disney World all while working our full time jobs, raising our little girl and me putting out a weekly webcomic. Anyway, I don't want to bore anyone with any more excuses, so on to the pretty pictures!

For this post, I bring out a couple of older sketches of two of my favorite mighty Marvel characters I did just for the fun of it. First up is New York's favorite wall crawling menace, the Amazing Spider-Man. Spidey is one of my favorite characters to draw. Many a slow hour at the day job have been spent scribbling the webbed wonder on post-it notes and scrap paper.


Next we have a bit more detailed sketch of the clawed Canadian, Wolverine. I know Logan can sometimes come off as a bit cliche, but when handled right, he's just plain bad ass!

So that's it for now. More sketches to follow soon, I promise!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Boxcar Astronaut #86



Greetings, Fellow Astronauts! This week, Devin makes a dramatic return to the backyard, but he's not back for the reason Ben thinks. Watch the tension escalate as Devin unveils his own boxcar spaceship! Can an epic space battle be far behind? Keep reading the most dramatic Boxcar Astronaut story of All Time!