Ernie's Holiday Ditty

The Visitor Pages 8-9

The Visitor Pages 6-7

The Visitor Pages 4-5

The Visitor Pages 2-3

The Visitor

This holiday tale appeared in the Hellboy Christmas Special, a one shot anthology published by Dark Horse in 1997. Besides the feature story by Mike Mignola, the book contained contributions by Gary Gianni and Geof Darrow. This story is lettered by Lois Buhalis.
Maybe best not to read with kids who are still fond of Santa Claus.

--Starchie

Cratchet and Son

From a couple years ago. I never tire of depicting Sam & Max in a Charles Dickens setting. It inspires a sort of out-of-character sincerity in them that I enjoy.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Picnic

Here's another Toybox greeting card. I enjoy chopping in the white around the characters and looking for the simple version of a painted Christmas ornament or a bottle. I own the blanket, and used its colors to drive the rest of the palette.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Father Christmas

Another installment in the Greeting Cards from Previous Years series. This was fun and I somehow managed to keep from overworking it. The paint is fairly thin, almost watercolory.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Sleigh Ride

An early "Toybox" greeting card. This one got me onto the kick to do paintings of these characters just for fun, with no overly specific narrative in mind.
Acrylic 8X10

--Starchie

Marley

My friend Dan Scanlon is posting his previous Christmas cards on his site. Seemed like a good idea worth either ripping off or "paying homage to". I try to do either a Sam & Max or a Toybox card every year. Haven't painted this year's card yet but in the meantime...
4X9 Acrylic on Bristol Board

--Starchie

Flint Paper

An old character design for the canceled Sam & Max Freelance Police game. I like working in this rough pencil with built-up acrylic wash style. It's quick and can look remarkably finished even though it's loose. Does that make any sense?
8x10 Pencil and acrylic on bristol board.

--Starchie

Autumn

An older Ernie and Suda painting. It's somewhat unfinished but over time I realized I wasn't going to work on it anymore and am actually pretty satisfied with the shaggy edges. I need to remind myself to paint shaggier.
Acrylic on Canvas 9X12

--Starchie

Your Eyes Are Like...

At last. The secret of her allure revealed.
(Real post coming tomorrow)

--Starchie

Grim

Enough cuteness. Here's a horrible clown.
8x10 Acrylic on chipboard

--Starchie

I Don't Draw Like This

I know people who do this style really well. This was my first stab at this kind of broad color swatch way of doing a caricature on a Cintiq tablet. It was kind of fun to try on such a non-intuitive way (for me) of painting.
I'd like to try this style with real paint sometime.
8x10 Digital

--Starchie

Little Walt

As a requested antidote to all the "creepy" posts, here is a somewhat "cute" entry. One of my first acrylic paintings designed to go in this handmade frame by Alexa Eurich.
10x10 Acrylic

--Starchie

Vice

Here's a stray Day of the Dead painting I should have posted a few days ago. It sort of became a self-portrait along the way though I don't think I have his problems.
4x6 Acrylic

--Starchie

Happy Halloween

Toybox - Page 12 - The End

Toybox - Page 10 - 11

Toybox - Page 8 - 9

Toybox - Page 6 - 7

Toybox - Page 4 - 5

Toybox - Page 2 - 3

Toybox - Page 1

This story was was painted long ago for a DC comics anthology called Fast Forward. The mandate for the stories was "Do whatever you want." I had this handful of characters rattling around in my head for a while and tried cobbling together a world for them to inhabit. Posting the first page today, then two pages a day until Halloween.
Pen and Ink on bristol with Gouache colors. Lettering by Lois Buhalis.

--Starchie

Zombie Cheerleader

This Halloweenie post is a pin-up I did long ago for Pixar story artist Rob Gibbs when he created his zombie romance story in the first issue of the comics anthology Afterworks.
Pencil and digital.

--Starchie

Nocturnals

In continuing celebration of Halloween month, here is a back cover pin-up I once did for a comic called Nocturnals. Nocturnals is created by talented storyteller, painter Dan Brereton with stories that follow a noirish collection of Halloween themed characters.
Pen and Ink with digital paint from color guides.

--Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Friday

Frankenstein is blue because this is the last official Frankenstein Week posting.
More Halloween posts coming soon. Anybody care about Phantom of the Opera? I mean the cool old Lon Chaney rotting skull head looking guy, not the cheesy half-masked Broadway ballad-singing sad sack.

--Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Thursday

I'm on the road today, driving from LA to San Francisco so today's Frankenstein is rambling as well.
I added a sepia tone for no particular reason. Happy Frankenstein Week.

--Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Wednesday

Sometimes these things creep ME out.

--Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Tuesday

Oooh, he's a beefy one.

-- Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Monday

Another lovingly rendered Frankenstein for your perusal.

--Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Sunday

My Frankenstein offering for today.

--Starchie

Frankenstein Week! - Saturday

I've drawn hundreds of Frankensteins, Devils, Skulls, Phantoms of the Opera and Gorillas. It's sort of a nervous habit like cracking the knuckles or binge drinking. In honor of Halloween month I'll post a Frankenstein sketch a day for the next week.
How could you not enjoy?!

--Starchie

Taste

An odd little painting from a couple of years ago.
Probably the start of the red ground idea that I tend to revisit over and over. This one is extra red which makes the eyes itch and plunges viewers into an inexplicable blind rage.
6x9 Acrylic.

--Starchie

Battle Zoe

Here's a self-rejected piece that I did not submit to the I-Am 8 Bit show this year. I just wanted to paint a cute girl and she's somewhat halfheartedly incorporated into a broad interpretation of the classic Battle Zone game environment. It's not really a painting, more of a painted sketch but I post because I sort of like the colors and the girl. It was fun to do but ultimately not something I envisioned hanging in a gallery.
Acrylic - 8x12

--Starchie

High School Confidential - The End...

Okay, I'll admit I've been fairly kind to myself with these posts. 

There are many dustier, more gruesome skeletons in the closet than these. Even so I'll be glad to get back to the new stuff. This one was a sample illustration for a manuscript written by my older brother Lee. I can't remember the title but I sort of recall that the bird can whistle through his beak like an ocarina.
Watercolor on textured board.

--Starchie

High School Confidential Part 2...

In high school I read those Chariots of the Gods kinda books by Erich Von Daniken and others who made the bombastic claims that every damned thing ancient people ever created was inspired by visiting aliens. I guess I was not altogether convinced as here is a little painting based on my version of that idea.

--Starchie

High School Confidential Part 1...

...That means don't tell anybody. I painted this crap in high school. Some folks were curious after I had made an idle threat to post some vintage offerings. Just a couple more and we'll call it a day, okay?

--Starchie

Harold in Repose

Acrylic piece done for a group show called Crazy 4 Cult 2 at Gallery 1988 in LA. 100 artists have done works inspired by classic cult films. Opening reception is tonight from 7 - 11 and is hosted by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier. Stop in if you're in the neighborhood:

7020 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038
(South East corner of Melrose & LaBrea)

http://crazy4cult.com/

I promised a high school piece but the one I pulled onto my flash card today vanished. I'll find it again and post it this weekend.

--Starchie

A Little Process

In a halfhearted effort to answer those who asked that I demonstrate my process here are roughs for the two pieces posted down the page.

They were done digitally in low res on a Cintiq tablet. I printed them out to the size of the illustrations, then roughly transferred the sketches to the final board loosely by flipping them like animation paper and roughing out the paintings with a blue Colorase and then black Prismacolor. I did a little clean-up to the line drawing but worked from a fairly loose sketch for both.

High school "art" coming next! BEWARE!

--Starchie

Totoro Forest Project Tickets

Tickets went on sale this morning for the Totoro benefit auction which I wrote about in a previous post below.
Check out the link as some of the levels of participation are still available which include the bound catalog of all the paintings.

https://totoro.spotlightboxoffice.com/purchase/step4?ticketID=1

--Starchie

Sam and Max X Two

It's been awhile and the San Diego Comic Con was quite the distraction. At the show Telltale Games was offering the disc release of Season Two with my new painting which is also available as a print. Also, included here is the cover art for a new Sam & Max game soundtrack from Season Two. The music is by Jared Emerson-Johnson. It invokes the old Touch of Evil era crime flicks with smart, effortless nods to other genres.

Based on a reckless threat on my part to post some of my high school artwork I've had some requests to actually see that through. I've dug some out and I'll post them shortly if only to remind you to "Be careful what you wish."

--Starchie

Totoro Forest Project

My piece for an upcoming benefit show called the Totoro Forest Project.
The proceeds will go to preserve a threatened slice of forest in urban Japan. The very same forest that inspired director Hayao Miyazaki to create the animated film, "Totoro". The pieces have been donated by a wide range of artists and the art will be auctioned. A book of all the works is being assembled so if you can't attend the show you can at least purchase the book and know that the proceeds will do some good.

Read all about it and browse the many amazing pieces:

http://totoroforestproject.org/

--Starchie

Carol

Another installment in the wedding gift series. The couple has a dog that's more cute and less cartooney than the one in the painting and they spent their honeymoon in Kauai. I guess you could sense a pattern in how these paintings develop.
Acrylic on board.

--Starchie

Pidgeons

It's wedding season so this week I'll post a couple of past wedding presents. This one is for a couple who honeymooned in Venice -- the real place, not the one in Vegas.
Acrylic with a little colored pencil.

--Starchie

Who Are You?

From the ancient flat file strata, character sketches from some long-forgotten development project.
Some sharp little spud might be able to guess the property.
Pencil and smudge stick on bond paper.

--Starchie