So you take a tiny little sketch and then ya blow it up...

I heard Scott Morse does it! I call them the odd couple...

All this screwing around in Photoshop is doing is making me realize how much I need to get back to traditional media. The weekend is coming up...

Oh and a cute lil' '59 Alpha Romeo...

Henri needs to get into shape...for the drinkin' contest!

I have a feeling he's gonna do juuuuuuust fine. Look at how he's sucking in his gut while running in the nude. Clearly, he is all that is man!! On a side note, my mother demanded today that I draw some Tigers. So look for that coming up soon. Hope all you cool kids did the right thing and called your mommas today.

Oh, special bonus! The first little doodle I ever did of Henri. This was back before I had any idea that his name was Henri, that he was in fact French or that I'd be drawing him constantly. He began as just a little notion of a character who loved games and puzzles and always found a reason to be pretty darn pleased with himself.

Ian Yonika...

So we all love those post-it notes sketches in the work place, right? But what do ya do when you don't have any handy but you really really need to caricature one of your dear co-workers. That's right loose leaf notebook paper!!

This is Ian Yonika, one of the super talented animators I work with and another Ringling grad. He's the first guy I go to when I need crits and just a huge inspiration every time I look over and see what he's makin' dance on the screen. Ian used to worry a lot about the world's problems and that's kinda what I was goin' for here. Nowadays, he is much more laid back and care free. Which makes me happy.

While we're at it, I can also vouch for this man's Dodgeball skills.

Henri takes a dip in the pool...

First time ever using Sketchbook Pro...and so far I really, really dig it. Hopefully there is a quick way to pull out layers generated in Sketchbook and throw them into Photoshop.

I didn't know Henri smoked. Or that he liked swimming. At least he was modest enough to wear a speedo.

Henri the Pirate!

I have this character named Henri who I draw when I'm trying to just loosen up. I'm hoping he'll star in this short I'm planning for the future. For some reason I drew him as a drunken pirate with long greasy hair and a hook for a hand. I'm thinking he might be playing dress up cause he's still wearing his trademark slippers. He's also pretty drunk and kids love that about him.

...I've gotta learn how to draw straight lines in Photoshop. Like really, really bad.

Jackson Bentley: What attracts you personally to the dessert?

T.E. Lawrence: ...It's clean.

Older stuff that still kinda has a bit of appeal to me...

I was going through a stack of old sketchbooks - man there was a lotta bad stuff. A lot of other blogians that I really respect have thrown up older stuff from time to time. So why not emulate the best...




Despite the flaws, there are things about each of these drawings that I enjoy.

Oh! Also, elephants. Show me an artist that don't enjoy the elephants!!

Big Elephant!

Sleepy, baby elephant.

Hats off to Hoffman...

"Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself." - Jeanne Moreau

Mr. Hoffman is a personal hero of mine. He has time and time again proven his abilities as a versatile actor. He's in a place in his career now where he has many more choices in the roles he takes then when he began in the business.

Rather than coasting on continually recreating his previous characters in earlier films or taking high-paying and "likable" roles he focuses more on work that will challenge him on projects that are far removed from the glitz of big Hollywood titles.

His most memorable roles are all quite diverse but the majority of them deal with revelations of deep, personal flaws. Often, they are people who we would not want to know in real life or people we admire and like greatly but never realize what troubles them in the depths of their soul.

In "Happiness" he made our stomach turn not just because of his perverse behavior but because we can all relate on some level to acting irrationally or inappropriately because of great self doubt.

In "Capote" we saw him transform himself, not just physically or through external mannerisms but we got the opportunity to see him completely inhabit an American icon and reveal aspects we may never have thought to look for.

But above all else these performances are honest reflections of feelings, impulses and shortcomings that exist in every human being.

He also of course takes little brakes to have some fun. It was a lot of fun to see Philip portray a psychotic arms dealer and slap Tom Cruise around in the last Mission Impossible. If you have a chance also check out his guest role on "Strangers with Candy".

The characters he has portrayed: often soft-spoken and weak or threatened and powerless may have painted his public image as such.

This is not the case. He is not a very tall man but he can have an intimidating presence. He's a big guy, and quite strong. I feel he could have very easily settled into intimidating, tough guy roles or kind, fatherly John Goodman-esque roles. Truth be told he could have settled into any number of personas and sold it to the world as character acting. The point is he is always trying something different or difficult. Something challenging, not easy. And that's what we have to do as well.

Just messin' round...

I feel that I really, really need to get my drawing fundamentals to a new level before I can spend a good chunk of time just playing around with color... but sometimes I can't help myself. Here I took a character of mine, Henri, and had a little fun in Photoshop.

Another quick play with color.

A battle of sheer will...

A lil sketch I did. It's for an idea for a short I've been kickin' around in my brain for a while now. There's nothing as funny as a gentleman who takes a competition far too seriously. Except for a gentleman who competes exclusively with small children. This applies not only to chess but also judo. Especially judo.

I'd like to introduce myself...

Hey folks. This blog should be a great place to post some doodles and random thoughts. Here's a little doggy I did a while ago. He's not solving crimes or coming to terms with a somber past but he does seem cautiously optimistic and that's something I'm all about these days.