031 - RnD Wallpaper

I know all of you are just dying for some Dan art to don your desktop. Well look no further, folks. Right-click > save this beyotch and you'll never have a bland desktop again. Damn right!

Thanks for stoppin'!

030 - Two Aliens on the Court

When I'm low on ideas or modivation, I tend to go back to the archives and take a stroll down memory lane. I like to take old characters and concepts and revamping them for my current state of interest, or just making myself feel better by seeing progress XD

I never had names or stories for these two, I think I doodled them up for an assignment once in Middle School and buried them shortly afterward. Anyway, there designs were simple and fun, and it made for a fun revamp.

Here's the old pic (9 years ago!):

029 - Labyrinth Trio of Friends

Just watched Labyrinth for the first time. The conceptual design was great and Jim Henson is a man of genius.

It really makes you think about how much dedication and artistry went into movies in that time. There was heart and soul in these films... something that is really missing in those of today. With computers, we can create amazing scenes and unimaginable creatures... but there's really something to be said about what film makers were able to do back then. And not just the film heads, but all the artistry and craft of the people behind the scenes and behind the puppets. That shit is mind-boggling. I know CG work is hard and does take dedication, but come on. Three or more people all moving and coordinating just to make one character move? That's art.

Anyway, that's my rant on that. Now back to my chicken scratch!

028 - Mechanical Pumpkin Sketches

Doing that pic for Joe made we want to have another go at his character, the Mechanical Pumpkin. Just some doodles, nothing terribly exciting. Gonna have to do a proper portrait sometime soon.

027 - Gambit

Blah, Gambit deserves a better representation than this... Hah oh well, it's getting late.

Gambit of X-Men fame. He's gonna be in the upcoming Wolverine movie. We'll see how that goes... One of my favorite mutants, he better live up to my expectations!

Thanks for stoppin'!

026 - A Pumpkin and his Cake

It was my good friend Joe's birthday today. I was unaware, else I might have had something a bit grander made. Anyway, here's his little avatar, the Mechanical Pumpkin, having a little cake. Eat, little guy, eat!

025 - Sunday Updates

So Jared followed suit in drawing himself all Castle Crasher'd up(check it here). He reminded me I forgot the Animal Orb, so here he is. My animal orb would be a sloth named Mossy, who would latch onto enemies and slow them down.
So yeah, if you have a 360 and haven't tried Castle Crashers, what are you waiting for? Grab some friends and play it, foo.


My second update is on the bookmark from a few posts ago. Just some finishing touches, some shading and background details.

So that's Sunday. Pleasant Monday to you all, thanks for stoppin'!

024 - Dan, Castle Crashers Style

Jared and I have been playing Castle Crashers a bit lately. It has a fun style and great animation, and I thought it would be fun to draw myself as a character in the game. My weapon would be a deliciously dangerous roll of cookie dough and I would wield the power of sketchy magic.

I know what you're thinking... cookie dough wouldn't be a very effective weapon. No, probably not. But it would be delicious!

Thanks for stoppin!

023 - Bookmark (in progress)

My girlfriend has been hinting that it would be cool if I made her a bookmark since she's been on a reading spree lately. Well she's halfway through the 4th book of the Twilight series and I'm finally getting around to it XD

Not quite done, I want to polish it up a bit, add some more interest to the background. Keep an eye open for that soon!

Thanks for stoppin'!

022 - More Flamingo Manager

Just some newer sketches of the flamingo character from a week or so ago. I still really like the design, but am not really sure where to go with it. Just fun to draw I guess. Flamingoes actually have very strange beaks... it was hard not to just go "Toucan Sam" with it. The bottom portion of the beak is actually larger than the top, but I kinda blended the two for the sake of personal aesthetic.

Thanks for stoppin'!

021 - RnD Expression Sheets

More Artemus(top) and Dedrick(bottom) from my senior semester. Just some expression sheets I did to explore the characters as well as get a handle on how to draw them consistently. This was a really great exercise and it helped tremendously in finalizing these two characters.

Thanks for stoppin'!

020 - Inaguration Day

A new day for our country, let's hope things begin to get a bit better from here!

Just a quickie caricature of now President Obama. Not much more to say than that without delving into deep political conversation, which, while interesting, is not the point of this post. XP

Thanks for stoppin'!

019 - Random Character Sketches 2

"This burly, serious man has greasy dark-brown hair, black eyes and a brittle smile. He wears a black T-shirt and a beret."

"This lanky, businesslike woman has shaggy grey hair, aquamarine eyes and a wedding ring. She wears a blue swimsuit and a bandana."

More random characters today. Kinda boring poses, gonna have to punch it up next round.

Man, it's been a lazy day. The move is done, but work is still busy busy (three hours of overtime last night) so I am beat. But, I pulled together and got my illustration motor runnin, so no complaints.

Enjoy, thanks for stoppin'!

018 - Sketchbook Sunday 3

So I think I need to put these sketchbook days on hold till I get a scanner up and running again, that iSight just doesn't cut it!

Regardless, this is a character I have been doodling in my book at work lately. I envision this mysterious, parkouring graffiti artist who runs along the fringes of the law. He's not necessarily a criminal as he'll fight crime, but as long as it's for his gain.

I for whatever reason thought it would be funny if he has some magical little sidekick that would live in his graffiti and help him out and stuffs, so that middle page is some ideation of that.

So yeah, trying to flesh this guy out, maybe we'll see more of him later?

017 - R&D Poster

Video games are evil. They steal your soul. But it feels so gooooood. XD Seriously tho, the art gods were not advising me correctly when I decided to get an Xbox, cause it's soaking up all the precious little freetime I once had(and was typically used to draw).

Anyway, this is a poster I made for my senior project last year. Artemus(left) and Dedrick(right) are two inventive, brilliant brothers. They love to experiment and create, but more often than not, there experiments backfire and they are left to clean up the mess.

Well, that's the basic premise anyway. I really want to go back to these guys someday, maybe once I find the strength to work on an animation...

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Hope whomever is visiting is enjoying everything so far! I try and keep things interesting and varied each day. If anyone has any suggestions or requests on things you'd like to see, please don't be afraid to comment or contact me! I'm all ears, and really looking for inspiration right now.

Thanks for stoppin'!

016 - Mario Tat Progress 4

Just more progress on the group pic today. I waited entirely too late to post this, and wish I had more. We shall see what inspiration strikes tomorrow!

Till then...thanks for stoppin'!

015 - Desperaux

So my girlfriend Kate and I went to see Tale of Desperaux today. Overall it was a so so film. Beautiful style and animation, but sub-par everything else. The characters were interesting, but the narrative was very uneven and you ended up not really understanding or caring most of the time. However I will say that it made me want to read the book, as the books are most often much better than the films.

And I say again, it was a beautiful movie to look at. So, I drew little Desperaux.

Till next time, thanks for stoppin'!

014 - Mario Group Tat Progress 3

Getting the final lines started. I decided Peach still wasn't meshing with the group and am overhauling her again. Yay iterations! This one should be fun in color, keep an eye out for that.

And with that, back to gamin'! Shesh, I am terrible XP

013 - Distractions

Boy do I need a scanner... Hah, so I made the "decision" to buy an Xbox 360 yesterday, and my little project here is already paying for it. The awe of new and fun things will fade soon, I assure you, so hold tight! XD

But hey, on the off chance that you the viewer has a 360 as well, add me to your friends, my Gamertag is SavageHobbit.

Back to the real stuff tomorrow, promise! Thanks for stoppin'

012 - Sketchy Poses

This is my alter-ego of sorts named Sketchy. He first came about in one of the very first animations I did way back in High School A/V class, so he holds a special place in my heart for that. He's the prankster in my universe of characters. The Loki to my Odin, if you will. Good fun.

I'm gonna do my darnedest to have some progress on that Mario tat for tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that tomorrow. Thanks for stoppin'!

011 - Sketchbook Sunday 2

Kind of a slow sketchbook week, only worked 4 days this week so I guess that could have attributed to it.

Basically just some doodles of the one and only me! Trying to find a simple, fun way to depict myself for a potential personal/portfolio site. I want to have little drawings/animations of me doing random things along the bottom/side of the page. Fun right?

Haha, what a dork. Thanks for stoppin'

010 - Pyro Jaguar Giftart

This was a gift I did for a kind soul on dA, Pyro-Blaze Jaguar. She randomly gifted me a subscription, and I felt it fitting for me to repay the favor best I could.
There are many things I still love about this piece, the overall polish of it being one. I can remember it being so easy at the time to value and shade everything... yet now I struggle with it. I guess I am thinking too hard about it, just gotta let it flow.

Yet another older piece. We celebrated my mom's birthday this evening, so I had barely touched the computer till round 930. But the move is coming to a close, soon all will be back to normal and I will be churning out new pieces regularly again. Hah, I say that as if this has been going on for so long, and we're barely past a week.

Well, here's to many more! Thanks for stoppin'.

009 - Front Desk Flamingo

Older pic today. The move is about done, but it definitely consumed my day, that and taking my lovely Kate out for a nice dinner. So no time for a new piece today, but I still like this one.

Way back when I had dreams of joining a comic character battle site named enterVoid(check it out here). This was one potential fighter, an unnamed motel manager, who is indeed a flamingo. I had imagined him as some sort of ex-boxer or ex-fighter from the Caribbean. He would manage some small, shady motel on the edge of Void City, dealing with all sorts of hijinks that come with the job.

I love coming up with these kind of concepts, but I always fall short on really fleshing it out and producing stories... I tend to over think my ideas, running them into the ground. But, I'm ok with it... I usually come back to them down the road with a fresh mind and sometimes make more progress.

008 - Random Character Sketches

Whew, long and busy day of moving. Luckily it's only a few blocks down the street. Movers coming tomorrow to move the big stuff, good times!

Anyway, tonite I tried something a little different. I googled up a random character description generator and whipped up some sketches based on the results I got. Here's the descriptions I based these three on:

"A athletic woman wearing a tan T-shirt. She has bulging hazel eyes and her fuzzy black hair is in a long braid. She acts furtive, and has a cold."
"A fat woman wearing a yellow sundress. She has slitted black eyes and her flyaway flaxen hair is short and messy. She acts dimwitted, and has a brittle smile."
"A gangly man wearing a red nightshirt. He has squinty grey eyes and his wiry auburn hair is short and messy. He acts bossy, and has a round face."

So yeah, this was a great exercise and I'll definitely be doing more of this in the future. It's great to keep the pen to paper (or pen to tablet in this case) and lets me practice with body shapes and characteristics I might not use in some of my original characters.

Hope you enjoy, thanks for stopping by!

007 - Creature

Hah, ok long story short: Work + getting ready to move + relatives up from out of state + plus girlfriend over for dinner + WiiSports = only enough time for shitty attempt at something new. I guess posting something every day, you're gonna have to expect quite a few duds here and there...

Yeah, I wanted to try something more loose and textured today, but with no time this is what we get. Not creepy or menacing in the slightest. But yay for new attempts, right? I'll try and come back to this when I have more time to devote to it. Hows about a more finished piece to brighten the post?


Much better.

006 - Mushroom Vendor, Osh

Osh is a mushroom savant. He studies, breeds, and vendors them, as well as using them as tools and weapons.

Haven't drawn this guy in a while, and lately I've been doodling him at work (as you see in Sunday's post) so I wanted to do a more finish drawing. So, here we go! He's kind of fun, maybe we'll see more of him..

Hah, just for kicks, here's an old pic of Osh:

005 - Mario Crew Tattoo (In Progress 2)

OK, finally got Peach to a happy place. So now to just add the items and finalize. I'm almost afraid adding some power-up items might crowd it up too much... just gonna have to try some stuff out..

Till next time!

004 - Sketchbook Sunday 1

I bring a small sketchbook with me to work so I can doodle on my breaks. Just a little creative outlet, keep me going. I occasionally pop out a decent sketch or two each week, so I figure you the interested should see these too.

Bear with me with the quality, I'm without a scanner at the moment, so I had to use my iSight. It'll do for now.


Tom Nook is a nazi, but heck, gotta love the guy.


A quick sketch of an older character of mine named Osh. He's an imp with an affinity for fungi of all kinds.


Rocko lookin angry.


This ones a bit older than this week, but I still like it. Some random teeth zombie. Creepy is fun.

So that's it for now. I have tomorrow off, so expect an earlier update!

003 - Olimar Commands

So it's only the third day and I'm already having to make exceptions. This is a piece I actually did a few months back, just never posted it anywhere. I'm posting it tonite because I had to work overtime today at work, and I'm afraid I won't be able to make any postable progress on current drawings. I was afraid work might get in the way... but things should be slowing down since the holiday has ended, today was seemingly a fluke.

In case you're wondering, I am still working on the Mario tattoo from yesterday, but I would rather wait until it's in a more progressed state before I post it again.

Anywho, If you haven't played Pikmin and own a Wii, you're in luck, cause Nintendo is re-releasing the first game on the Wii, complete with waggle-rific controls. It's a fun, challenging, and unique game. I'm not gonna go on a pitch or review or anything, just pointing it out XD

002 - Mario Crew Tattoo (In Progress)

So posting a clean, finished piece everyday is a goal I know I won't reach here, but trust that if I post sketches, they are of quality and are signs of things to come.

A while back I did a fan piece of Bowser and his army of minions (check it here) as a tattoo for a more dedicated fan than myself. Well not long ago someone asked if I could do a companion piece with the Good Guys. Being an avid gamer and classic Nintendo fan, I couldn't refuse.

So here's the very basic start. I want to try and keep the same composition, but I'm finding that the number of noteable baddies far outweighs that of noteable goodies. I want to try to stay away from newer, spin-off characters... So I think I'll be filling the space with some classic items.

Keep an eye open for progress!

001 - J-Roo

So I guess by posting this I'm officially calling it done. Here's my friend Jared (ThatAnimationSite) as a Kangaroo. This was sparked from a conversation we had with some friends over pizza while visiting our old stomping ground of Menomonie, WI. The question of what animal you would be if you could be any animal was posed and he answered such. I answered a goat, but being ever indecisive, I changed mine to a ram, just for badass-ery.

I tried to represent Jared the best I could with his numerous character trademarks, if you will. Personal items such as the hat and necklace. He loves collecting vinyl figures, so I threw some of his favorite Dunnys in there. I just thought of it now, but there's no Apple love at all... Missed that one.

This piece started with a paper sketch that I traced in Illustrator. Typically I'd ink it in Photoshop, but I do love the cleanliness and versatility of using vectors. Only downside is it takes about twice as long.

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So, we're off! First post of what I hope becomes a lasting and enriching project. Now... to get to work on tomorrow's post...

A New Start with Art

Ok, so here we go. I guess not much changed... still working on visually jazzing up the blog, but here's the idea. I'm going to do my darnedest to post my art daily to this blog. Chances are it will be mostly sketches, but trust that I will be working my hardest to post only work I am proud of here.

Not exactly a new or innovative idea, but as an artist at the start of a new leg in life, I think it's important that I keep my craft honed and keep myself passionate about it. Work, the holidays, and other factors have really held me back as far as creative expression, and it's my hope with this blog to shake off the rust and keep myself focused on my passion.

So I hope you all enjoy what you see (all two of you that visit XD) Comments, questions, suggestions are welcome and appreciated!