steam machines

Early Bird

2010-04-19T01:33:00.002-06:00

Something for class tomorrow. Err, today.

The King of Sketchbooks

2010-03-30T23:33:00.000-06:00

On April 19, 2009, I finished a sketchbook by drawing The King of Sketcbhooks. Since then, the last page of all my sketchbooks has been devoted to a drawing of him. He's gone through several changes of outfits, ages, and demeanors, but he's always there at the end of every book.

Sometimes he's better drawn than others but he's always there. So, another sketchbook draws to a close.

Speak and Spit

2010-03-28T17:19:00.011-06:00

Hannah tossed out the idea of going to the zoo and doing some life drawing of the animals there. Anybody else interested? As far as I know, El Paso has the nearest zoo. Here's a link, and admission prices:
Adult (13-61)$5, Senior (62+)$4, Child (3-12)$3

In other news, welcome to Angelina and Heather as new members of Pencil Pals aka Steam Machines aka Caligula Dentata!

Quick watercolor and ink. I've been looking at a lot of inspiring blogs lately, maybe too many. But here are my favorites:

FFFFOUND!
DETHJUNKIE
This isn't Happiness
Them Thangs
Morbid Anatomy

These are all great sources for interesting photos to leech some ideas from. Most of them feature NSFW content, so beware!

Turn off that TV/computer/significant other/life and fucking DRAW GODDAMMIT!

Remember, if at first it seems that work is overwhelming, if it seems that it can't be done, keep in mind that

YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.

Black Metal, Or Heavy Metal?

2010-03-03T13:06:00.001-07:00

I did this fat drummer for an art trade with a friend.

This is a companion piece to this guy that I also traded to the same dude:

Both these guys are in the same band, I'm open to suggestions as to what the name should be. Leave your suggestions in the comments!

Black metal is one of those genres of music that really interests me, but I just can't listen to it for an extended period of time. I've tried, I really like it and own several albums that are fantastic, but the recording quality is just not made for my ears. This video explains it all:

Vile Haberdashery and Other Assorted Goodies

2010-02-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

On the weekend of the January 29, I had the pleasure of participating in the Global Game Jam. Participants show up at one of the official locations on Friday, and at 5:00 pm receive that year's theme. At that point, people break and brainstorm ideas over food, then present their game outlines and divide up into teams. Participants then have until 3:00 that Sunday to create a complete, working video game. There were over 300 locations this year in over 35 countries.

The theme for this year was "Deception!", with the added challenge that our game had to include either a "maid, a raid, or a trade." I teamed up with 3 other people: Hannah McGill (creator of the lovely Pawnography poster in the previous post and my sister), Hector Saenz (a co-worker, friend, and podcast-bumper-recording rival), and CC Chamberlin (a co-worker and founding member of Barking Dog Interactive). Together we slaved over the next 48 hours to create a game for the iPhone called Vile Haberdashery.

Vile Haberdashery is a multiplayer iPhone game that uses only one phone. Players take turns as one of four siblings, trying to kill each other off to gain a larger portion of the inheritance. Blackmail, coerce, and flatter household subordinates into doing your dirty work for you. All character art was handled by Hector, Hannah, and I, with some help from CC. CC handled all of the programming, and pitched the original idea. This was one of those rare things where the initial idea worked flawlessly, and allowed us to devote all of our time to making really awesome artwork. All of the work here was done by the three of us.

I had a ton of fun at the game jam. Honestly, I was worried before it started that this was going to be just a big waste of time, that I would be giving up my whole weekend without even being able to complete the game. I am happy to report that I was really, really wrong. The whole event was a ton of fun, and we not only finished our game but submitted it to the iTunes app store! You can purchase it right now at the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

The theme was really great, especially since it provided me with an excuse to draw a sultry lookin' maid (something that doesn't happen too much when making educational games). And now I will finish this post with some more artwork from the game, and an unrelated picture of ravens because I drew it and I like them.

The Internet is for Pawn

2010-01-26T23:05:00.003-07:00

As seen in this awards video. Oh and hi, new here, just got invited to the blog. :)

The Art of Conversation

2010-01-17T10:20:00.003-07:00

I think we've all had a conversation that felt like this before. Ink on illustration board with digital color.

Smart Animals Being Dumb!

2010-01-07T01:20:00.004-07:00

Hey all, here is a series of trading cards I made about smart animals looking dumb! I highly recommend drawing something smart looking stupid, it is very therapeutic. I do not recommend drawing intricate borders like that on trading-card sized pieces of illustration board, it is very hard on the eyes. And the hand. The owl doesn't look as dumb as I would have hoped but I can't really say she looks particularly smart, either.

Pretty Puppeteer-NSFW NSFW NSFW

2010-01-02T19:05:00.003-07:00

First post of 2010!
It's not that bad to warrant three nsfw warnings, but there you go. Cover of the coming track of Subhuman.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T13:33:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Sum Arts Fest 2009

2009-12-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello! Unfortunately, I lost some of the photos of the people I met! Something about not pressing the camera button or holding the damned thing too long or not long enough. I've had this camera for almost four months WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME. But I have enough to maybe give anybody who didn't go a peek at what they missed.
A big -nay- a HUGE congrats to David Loera who won the raffle for the Comic-Dirge painting giveaway! Expect your prize in the mail soon! Thanks to everyone who participated!

December Update-Too much Too fast

2009-12-11T13:03:00.003-07:00

SUM ARTS FEST
SAT+SUN December 12, 13 11am-7pm
Mikey's Place
3100 Harrelson St.
I'm going to have my own table selling some art prints, comic books and giving away most of it. It's supposed to be a huge community event, featuring art, music, and performances from the locals of Las Cruces. Here's the nifty flyer I've been posting around town.
Also, Subhuman track 4 is out and available to be picked up at certain spots around town. You can even email me and I'll be happy to send you a copy! Here's some spots you can pick these bad boys up:

The Tattoo Company
1900 S. Espina Ste. 5. 575-526-7113

I got a brand new tattoo from these guys (shout out to Ian, Sam and Cameron)and it's looks fuggin' badass. Pictures as soon as I get the final touches!

Phat Glass
1211 East Idaho Avenue, Las Cruces, NM (575) 647-2555‎
These guys are always cool and have some pretty awesome stuff in the shop.

Supplies are extremely limited, and since they're FREE, they go FAST. Go go go!

WIP - The Art of Conversation

2009-12-08T00:16:00.004-07:00

Just wanted to give everyone a sneak peak at the linework for my next illustration. Enjoy!

Better Late...

2009-11-18T14:02:00.008-07:00

Buddy of mine hired me to draw two different pin ups for a sleeve tattoo he's getting today. I had about a two day timeline to get these done but they came out ok considering. I only used a few colors on each one to give it a little bit of that old rock-a-billy event poster look. That and I'm not to sure what tattoo art limitations are. I don't think the tattoo artist will able to get all the detail I have in there, but it's there if he needs it. Also tried to make the proportion and gesture of the figures interesting just in case the tattoo guy decides not to pay attention to line weight. Just wish I had more time to do the whole sleeve for him.

Busy Beaver

2009-11-09T21:51:00.003-07:00

The cover of the coming Subhuman.

Super Max High Five Awesome!

2009-11-09T01:00:00.003-07:00

Super Max High Five Awesome!

Sketchdump!

2009-10-14T23:22:00.010-06:00

Hey everyone, have some sketches. These are some my favorite odds and ends from the last several months. To do lists, inks, pencils, whatever, it's all here. Enjoy.

Tattoo flash by the Breeze and November Plans

2009-10-12T12:51:00.005-06:00

Here's the flash the Breeze did for me recently. It's already been inked on my left forearm, but is yet to be finished. Once it's done and fully healed, pictures will be posted! A big thanks to Breeze for the amazing piece of art! Also, for anybody interested, Robert Crumb's massive undertaking of illustrating the complete book of Genesis was finally released a few weeks ago. Here's a blurb from his newsletter:

Robert, in accordance with his agreement with W.W. Norton Company (the publisher of his latest book), will spend much of this autumn promoting Genesis. In late September he will hold a two day press event in Paris, and in the middle of October start his press tour of the US in New York City. From there he is headed to Richmond, Virginia. From there he attends an event in L.A. where all 200+ pages of the original art which comprises the book will be shown at the Hammer Museum. From L.A. he goes up to San Francisco where he will do some interviews but also take some time off to visit friends. In the middle of November he goes to the University of Texas in Austin to finish the tour. Upon his return to France, he looks forward to beginning the new book he and Aline plan to do together.

I definitely want to head out and meet the old fart. Plans are still in a fetal stage, but I'm not going to miss this! McThrill Sounded interested in meeting him too, so maybe a road trip is in order.

Insomnia

2009-08-31T23:31:00.003-06:00

I occasionally suffer from tinnitus, which is the fancy term for "ringing in the ears." During the day it's not really a problem. But when I can't sleep at night, the ringing gets worse and worse, until it feels like it is the cause of my insomnia, rather than the other way around.

Sketchbook Dump

2009-08-08T16:57:00.003-06:00

Finished my sketchbook last night. This one took longer than the last few and it may have been all the events, new job, and fluff of hair and dead skin that grows everywhere that never stops never stops never stops. Anyway, theses are my favorites. Mostly portraiture and warm up drawings from magazines and photos,

El Paso Anime Con '09

2009-07-29T22:11:00.002-06:00

Wow, this one is a late update if I've ever heard of one. Epac was a great success! We sold plenty of prints, got to meet a ton of good people and even made some friends along the way! The feel good story of the month! Congratulations to Beth from El Paso who won the raffle for the Steam Machines painting! Thanks to all who entered, next year we plan to have more stuff to give away and an even larger amount of prints and drawings! Again, thanks to all who attended and stopped by our table. We'll see you all next year!

Crime Pays

2009-06-29T18:04:00.002-06:00

2009-05-29T21:35:00.002-06:00

hey guys, ill be in cruces tomorrow (may 30th-june 7th) taking vacation after we just had the E3 crunch! if you wanna draw for a little at village inn or wherever then call me up or just let me know when and what day you guys meet up. 575-202-2672

-mitch

Commission - Finished!

2009-05-23T01:56:00.001-06:00

I'm calling this one finished.

W.I.P. - My First Portrait Commission

2009-05-19T00:12:00.007-06:00

Just thought I'd share a little WIP shot of my latest piece. I just finished inking, and am ready to begin the coloring process.

The actual size of this piece is 10" by 18", although I scanned it with the intent of printing it larger. This is my first major piece where I've used brushes for the inking. They're a lot of fun, I would recommend them to everyone because they are just that awesome.

Also, as the title would indicate, I was commissioned to do this piece by a guy on a website I frequent. He's even paying me money for it, surprisingly. So I guess I can add "freelance illustration" to my list of jobs now, too.

A Little Less than Human

2009-05-14T17:37:00.005-06:00

SUBHUMAN, a small format comic by Steammachines member Enigmata! Subhuman is a collection of short "stories" not intended for children or the squeamish. The preview issue is FREE for your taking and available at the following locations:

The Cave
2645 Missouri Avenue Suite 2
Las Cruces, NM 88011
(575) 521-9244

Black Rat Tattoo
1770 S Telshor Blvd
Las Cruces, NM 88011
(575) 521-4699

Phat Glass
1211 E Idaho Ave
Las Cruces, NM 88001
(575) 647-2555‎

The Tattoo Co.
1900 S Espina St # 5
Las Cruces, NM 88001
(575) 526-7113‎

The first issue can be bought for only $2 at:
The Cave
2645 Missouri Avenue Suite 2
Las Cruces, NM 88011
(575) 521-9244

Fly to the shops and pick one up now! Fly fly fly!

Making the Leap Into Color

2009-04-26T21:24:00.004-06:00

I've been makingg a conscious effort lately to use color in my pieces, and to create more "finished" works of art. Here are my two most recent finished pieces.

The horse was a birthday gift for my mom. Or rather, will be a birthday gift for my mom - I haven't actually had it printed yet. Full size, it will be 2 feet by 1 foot.

Contrary to Popular Belief..

2009-04-20T11:44:00.003-06:00

Beliefs can be contrary to the population! Also, a much needed update.

2009-04-02T08:44:00.004-06:00

Hey guys, been awhile, you all are doing awesome things, its great to see you guys really pushing it and progressing and the unique styles that are coming out of it. I didn't get to see all you guys during the winter break, had some family business that came up, so apologize for that. But ill be down there again probably late May or early June, and see if I can make it out to one of the drawing meetings, if you guys are still doing that. things are going good here, it's a scary time for video game studios, soo many shutting down and laying off people. I'm happy to say that we are still chugging along. here are just a few things i've been playing around with in my free time, some are kinda old actually. I mostly do sketchbook stuff at home since I work in digital all day.

Do What Thou Wilt

2009-04-01T21:13:00.002-06:00

It's the whole of the law!

I'm still alive...

2009-03-26T23:37:00.005-06:00

...And drawing. A quick sample of what I've been up to:

I've been intimidated by color long enough, I bought some cheap paints and a bunch of expensive markers and am going to be using a lot more color from here on out.

Shameless vandalism or shameful art?

2009-03-22T21:11:00.005-06:00

You decide!

Game Concept Art

2009-02-03T16:33:00.003-07:00

Heres is some concept art for the monster themed ATV safety game Gerritt and I are working on. The 1st image is Gerritt's the rest are mine. Mine are still a bit rough due to time constraints and wanting to do as many concepts as possible. The task was to create a Vampire, a monster hunting ATV rider (no weapons allowed), and a giant B-movie ant. Here's what we came up with.

Artist Trading Cards

2009-02-02T12:56:00.014-07:00

After a month or two of working on them, I completed my series of 5 artist trading cards. I based each of mine of the name of a different devil or demon and tried to come up with an original, non-cliché representation of each of them (except Lilith, she was my first card and not very well done compared to the rest of them). For those that are interested, I'll give a brief explanation of why I chose each specific image.

For Satan, I originally wanted to stay away from goats, hooves, tails, and most of the traditional images associated with him. Originally, Satan was an angel who was cast out of heaven, so I designed him with that in mind. He is a corrupted version of the Cherub described in the first chapter of Ezekiel, "As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle."(Ezekiel 1:10) So, only 3 faces are shown here, but they are a goat, a crow, and a dog. The rest of the image (wings, hands, etc.) is straight out of the description. The book at the bottom doesn't have any significance, sorry. I needed something to put there, and the book seemed visually pleasing.

Mephisto is the shortened name of Mephistopholes, which wouldn't fit on the small width of the card. He is usually desrcibed as being human in appearance, but that would be very boring to draw. He usually plays the part of the trickster, convincing people to sign away their souls in his red book. I went with a cuttlefish for this image because of their high intelligence and ability to blend in perfectly in any surrounding, two traits also associated with Mephisto. The aquatic theme of his border is only to match his design.

Lucifer's name conjures up images of fire and the phrase "Lucifer's Hammer," which is the name of a science fiction book I read as a kid about a comet colliding with the earth. I like the idea of Lucifer being Hell's blacksmith, so I gave him a hammer, and an anvil.

Beelzebub is also known as "Lord of the Flies," so he's a collection of fly parts. Sorry, nothing too complicated with this one.

Lilith was the first card that I did, and the one that I took the fewest risks with. In Christian mythology, she is supposed to be the first woman that God created, alongside Adam. However, she viewed herself as an equal and would not submit to his will, so God sent her across the sea and created Eve from one of Adam's ribs. I took a very literal view of her, drawing a seductive, forward woman with horns to signify her new alignment. I might redo this card, as the border is very bland, and the typography is pretty bad as well.

If you line up the cards next to each other, the vines all interconnect from card to card. Fun!

Assembly Line (NSFW)

2009-01-04T14:54:00.004-07:00

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, these Artist Trading Cards are really cool. James and BREEZE have been getting the whole group into these things, and there's going to be some more updates with these cards soon! Artist Trading Card Links: ATC: Artist Trading Cards Art in Your Pockets: ATCs I finished my first set and thought 'd show it off. And because I have too much time on my hands, I even incorporated a magic/chess game mechanic. CORE RULES K-King. Once the king is dead, the player looses the game. A player can only have one king and queen in play at any time. Q-Queen. A player can only have one king and queen in play at any time. t-Titan. Sole purpose is to deal or take as much damage as possible. p-Peon. These guys make up the majority of your army. X/Y-This fraction represents the card's power and health. Players decide how many units to have at the start of the game. Every time a p is captured, you can use them to buy/activate different cards. That's it! I'm going to add some more card types later on, like a J card that adds rules to the game (ex. Sudden Death: Whoever captures the next p wins the game. ) Finally, here's some more things I've been working on.

Work work work (NSFW as usual)

2008-12-28T23:11:00.003-07:00

Finally replaced my scanner cable. Still playing around with watercolors and inks, and although the stuff I'm showing off here are more on the artsy side of things, there will be some comics I will post once I finish them.

Auld Lang Syne

2008-12-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I'm insane and have decided to try and make a 14" by 22" movie poster based on the idea of, "What if Auld Lang Syne was the title of the most awesome action movie ever made and it starred Father Time and Baby Time and had a T-rex and a robot and an atom bomb?" This is a half-size mock-up for that movie poster to get the composition and lighting right. Yes, the baby is dual-wielding Colt .45's. The final project will be inked and huge. I have left space at the bottom (not shown in this picture) to write in fake production credits, so if you want in just tell me. I can totally make you a producer or director or something. Also, if anyone reading this has a good tagline for this movie I would love to hear it. The best I've come up with so far is "A new year's resolution...TO KILL!" and that's not very good.

Art Trade

2008-12-07T21:51:00.001-07:00

I drew this as something for an art trade with this guy in Chicago. He draws crazy comics and publishes them in a zine, and we agreed to trade so this is what I sent him. Hopefully I will get a copy of his Zine in the mail soon.

Basically, i started drawing this really adolescent and juvenile picture with all these womend in it, but the negative space was really bothering me. So I thought to myself, "What could I possibly add to make this more juvenile and chauvinistic?" The answer, of course, is panties and bras.

Two of these women were drawn from references, and one is straight out of my head. See if you can guess which one.

Busy Beaver (NSFW)

2008-12-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hey, I've been talking with Jess Reinhardt (local artists here in Las Cruces) and it's really inspiring to see how much time this guy spends on his work. It never occured to me, but he gave me advice on taking the sketches from my sketchbook and moving them into finalized drawings. Your sketchbook should be like blueprints for your projects. I told Jess about our meetings, and he seems really interested in showing up. It'll be good to get him to talk about motivation, time management, etc. He has some really cool stuff to show off too, but I don't think he has any online... Anyway, here's some new stuff:

yooo

2008-11-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, been awhile. Don't have much time, but hope all is well, and you guys have some new and exciting things going on with your art. Ill be back in Cruces for the holidays, dec 25th - jan 3rd. so if you guys still get together to draw, then let me know. here's some recent junk: something I noodled around with for a few nights after work. and a few 1-2hr warm ups before work:

MASTODON!

2008-11-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm alive and well in New York. I just wanted everyone to know that I am drawing A LOT here, and will bring you all back something awesome. Here is a mastodon skull I drew in the Natural History Museum. There's also a wapiti on the page, but he's trying to run away because he knows he's outclassed.

Critique on comic color scheme

2008-10-14T23:55:00.000-06:00

So, I finished inking that two page comic I was working on, and have scanned it in and am starting to play around in photoshop with colors and such. I'm not very well versed in either photoshop or color palettes, so I'd like for anyone who cares to to comment on this. I've got the general colors of the backgrounds in place, and some coloring on objects. What do you think? Do the overall colors work? How should I be coloringg this piece?

The Debut of Uncle Vernon the Pig

2008-10-08T23:41:00.000-06:00

It's Uncle Vernon! He's a pig.

And a right proper one at that, too. He's very snooty, apparently like Monsieurs James and Phil, who do not wish to grace this blog with their artwork or comments. Yeah, that's right! I called you out! On that blog that you started but don't read anymore! BURN!

Arizona doodles

2008-09-28T20:43:00.000-06:00

I was in Arizona this weekend, visiting my parents. I don't recommend visiting Arizona, it's full of bugs.

This guy was just chilling at a rest stop just across the border. He's pretty much life-size in this image. Everywhere I looked at this rest stop, there were locusts and bees. I saw at least three different species of locusts. There might have been more than one kind of bee, but bees freak me out so I didn't look very closely.

I drew this with a brush pen at a lake. The lake smelled like licorice for some reason, and it actually looked more like a lake than this little swampy section I drew. Once again there were tons of bugs.

And finally, i worked up Friday's drawing theme of "robot" into this guy. He loves you so much!

And here's some older drawings from a couple days ago.

Massive (NSFW)

2008-09-26T14:47:00.001-06:00

More selections from my sketchbook. I've been fairly productive now that school has started, and there's more sources to draw inspiration from. Some of these contain questionable material, and borderline tastelessness to a more sensitive audience, so beware. I'm trying to shift from sketches to doing more watercolor/ink paintings, but we'll see how it works out. I did manage to finish this one, and I'm very satisfied with the results... Also, here's some drawings left in my sketchbook from the group, who choose to remain unrepresented (that's a call to arms to James and Phillip, respectively).

Sketchy sketch sketch - now with ink!

2008-09-24T21:21:00.000-06:00

Some sketches from yesterday and today. I have fought with this tiny sketchbook for months now, and hated it. But today I tried using ink in it, and man that thing takes ink like a champ! I like my sketchbook now!

More contour drawings

2008-09-20T15:10:00.001-06:00

More giant contour drawings from my birthday party. Thanks to everyone who came and participated.

Just a heads up, this next one is nothing but birds, fetuses, and penises. So don't look at it if explicit representations of birds offend you.

Contour Drawings

2008-09-17T00:20:00.000-06:00

So in honor of my birthday today, we all showed up at my house and did giant contour drawings. The idea was that one of us would start by drawing an image, and the next person to draw would have to fit part of their drawing into the contour of the previous drawings. After a while, you start getting some really interesting shapes and some really interesting drawings crammed into those shapes. These are both about 4' wide. Thumbnailed due to large amounts of objectionable material that some prudes may find offensive.

Ninja's post from his sketchbook

2008-09-15T09:18:00.000-06:00

working on light and shadows

peek a boo..

2008-09-14T11:17:00.000-06:00

Why hello there. Looks like you guys are improving a lot, at least the lot of you that show your stuff in here. Hope you guys have some new and exciting things going with your artwork. I've been damn busy, but its been the best time of my life. Everybody is so passionate about art, and video games. The talent is overwhelming, but hey it makes you that much better! This is just the tip of the iceberg, something I did in my freetime a few days ago. I actually dont get around to doing a lot of personal digital stuff, it's mostly just been sketching in my book, and little brush tests here and there, this peice started out as a brush test, also a little inspired by Rembrandts paintings and the way he uses light and colors. Anyway, hope you are all doing well, and still drawing like mad men.

Steamy Sketch Dump

2008-09-12T12:54:00.000-06:00

Not to be outdone by my contemporaries, here's some drawings from our meetings, along with selections from my sketchbook. On a somewhat related note, I took advice from James (who has yet to show off his skills here) and did a study on some of my favorite artists at the moment. By looking closely at their drawings and copying some cool pieces exactly, your brain seems to absorb some of the artist's power, the lawful equivalent of devouring their heart. No joke, I took a few of Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl, Gorrilaz) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and virtually traced their drawings, and the next day, my drawings improved. I highly recommend this exercise, it made me a true believer, true believers. Also, I completely forgot to bring those CD's with pictures from our trip to Comic Con to our last meeting. I'll be sure to get those to you guys as soon as possible. Ninja claims to have more, so there will possibly be a different version of the CD coming. A 2.0 version.

BLEEEEEEEAAARGGGHHH!!!!!

2008-09-11T23:21:00.000-06:00

Gross!

Bucket of Links

2008-08-27T12:11:00.000-06:00

Some links I've been meaning to post. Mostly comics related, and others are there to inspire and awe. You can decide which does what. Enter Void From the FAQ page:"EnterVOID.com: the first in online sequential art battles." Our goal is to provide an environment for prospective comic artists to sharpen their artistic and story-telling abilities through sequential art (or comics). Our site provides what has been dubbed at times an "arena" or "battle ground" for up and coming young talent to display their skills and refine their art. Comics are the heart of VOID. There are two basic types of comics featured on the site. The first, and most popular, have been known for years simply as "Battles," where artists challenge each other with predetermined guidelines and do battle. The second type of comic featured predominantly on VOID is known as a "Beyond Battle." In this type of sequential, artists are able to depict their character's stories further, without being confined by the rules of being in a formal "battle." Gig Posters From the FAQ page:This site is dedicated to the artists, designers and musicians who create amazing gig posters to advertise shows and events. The art of gig posters, flyers, and handbills showcases the talent of many designers who see little to no profit for creating gig posters. I am pleased to host this site for the world to see all of the amazing art and dedication to promote the music scene. Zuda Comics A monthly online comic competition. Winners receive a publishing deal. There's a lot of inspiring stuff here. Comic Space Think of it as myspace for comic book fans and creators. Blue Vertigo Huge directory for graphic designers. Has numerable links to free stock photography, fonts, logos, Photoshop brushes, etc. Jenny Everywhere An open source comic character with reality shifting powers. She is completely free to use anywhere in anything. If I think of any more, I'll post them up.

Some excerpts from McThrill's sketchbook

2008-08-11T00:04:00.000-06:00

I've been working on some anatomy and figure studies. Nudity ahoy, so be careful and don't get fired.

Backs are pretty sexy, it turns out.

I like her hair, and stomach. I think they turned out well. Not so crazy about the fade-to-nothing crotch, though.

I hate the shading on her face, but I think her hair looks pretty neat. I like her posture as well.

I swear to god, the reference I used for this was a female, and looked very feminine in the photograph.Something went wrong, though.

This is my favorite. I did this today.

Selections from Enigmata's Sketchtome

2008-07-22T11:46:00.000-06:00

Uploading some sketches from our meetings and some new doodles from the last few days.

Stock Photography

2008-07-16T22:48:00.001-06:00

I found this guy's site through the latest issue of ImagineFX. He's got a pretty good variety of stock models in various pose, free to use. If you're looking for some good high-res stock models, he's got quite a few on his site. http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/

Got it!

2008-07-11T12:26:00.001-06:00

Hey guys, so I got the job in Florida. I have a very short time to pack up my stuff and go. I'll be leaving tomorrow bright and early. The game looks amazing. I've never seen anything like it. it looked so much fun to play and I think it will really be groundbreaking. Especially the level of art direction, and all the art I saw the guys producing was mindblowing. There is even going to be an "Art of" book when it's finished which I'll be in. I don't have much time right now as it's been crazy stressful the past few days, but I will be posting still, I'll probably make a more in depth post when I have the time. I know you guys are going to Comic Con, I might go if time allows, I actually can get in free from a "Pro Pass" so i thought that was pretty awesome haha! Definately next year if not this year. Also if you guys ever make your way out to Florida, let me know! best of luck -Mitch

Enigmata's Wizard of Oz

2008-07-07T11:16:00.000-06:00

I feel we should clarify what we're doing here... Steammachines is a group of Las Cruces artists who meet on a weekly basis to share artwork, critique each member's work, discuss projects, and exchange ideas. Every week, we come up with a theme to get our pencils moving. This blog is meant as dumping grounds for the work produced during those meetings,announce any upcoming events, etc. This time around, we've decided to test our character design skills by re imagining and redesigning well known characters from the Wizard of Oz. Each week, starting from the end of June, we will drawing characters inspired from the film, with additions from the books as we see fit. We will be updating sporadically with new drawings so check in often. Anyway, here's my contribution... On the left: The Good Witch of the North. The idea behind this was that despite being known as the "good" witch, she is still a witch. Witches are supposed to be scary, and the more potent the witch, the more intimidating her presence should be. I see her name being more of a general label she's earned than a proper description of her alignment. She's not evil, but she's not a crusader for good either. Something like that. On the right: The Scarecrow. Kind of hard reinventing a character whose name alone plants a very specific image in your head. I added some mechanical parts to his arms and spine, and kept his post on his back. His arm is still attached to a horizontal plank while the other has a sickle attached to it.

Glenda redesign

2008-07-06T02:39:00.000-06:00

Character redesign for Glenda, good witch of the north from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. I figured this blog had beeen around for long enough that I should probably contribute some more artwork. Heh.

change of plans

2008-06-20T23:04:00.000-06:00

Hey guys, so I went to Houston, checked out TimeGate's studio, everything went really well, nice studios, and they seemed to enjoy my stuff, but while I was there I received an e-mail with an even better opportunity from Ignition Entertainment in Florida. So they'll be flying me out to Florida sometime next week to show me around the studios, lunch, talk art and the new project, the whole deal. The art Director, J.P Targete (!!!!) called me up to my surprise, super nice guy and super talented. Also Steven Stahlberg is working there as well, really super talented guys, and artists i've looked up to since I started doing concept art. You guys should look them both up. So if everything goes well, i'll be going to Gainesville Florida, instead of Houston. Just some tips and advice i've learned so far from this whole experience, and talking to some of the artists. I know not all of you are looking to be concept artists, but just incase you want to pursue it someday, some may be really obvious: Diversity- I'm talkin characters, environments, vehicles, creatures, weapons, storyboards, even some 3d thrown in there. Do it all! Passion- A game studio would much rather have someone who wants to learn everyday, draw non-stop and is just passionate about what they do! I know i'd much rather work with someone not so good, but has equal passion for drawing, rather than a really good guy with little to no desire to get better. I garuntee you that the not so good guy will exceed the other guy in a year or so. I've seen many examples of this happen! "forever a student" is a great way to think. The proof is in the pudding, Doing is a lot more than saying you will do something. I've unfortunately seen many of that too.. Style- It's prefered you don't have one. Better yet, is the ability to have multiple styles, ranging from cartoony stylized to realistic and choose what's appropriate for the project. just another aspect of diversity. Lifestyle - This is actually super important and a lot of people don't realize it. Sleep enough, Workout, eat right. It helps you focus and stay alert. Humility - yeah you wouldn't beileve how many amateurs i've seen totally dismiss a professionals critique. I've seen it the other way around as well, a professional thinks he's perfect. "forever a student" Time Management- you wouldn't beileve how much you can actually get done if you stopped doing all the random unproductive crap... T.V., internet surfing, too much video games. one of my friends put it very well " Think of it like this, while your watching T.V. you are now watching someone elses creation, people who put their sweat and blood into it to get it put on television, you could be doing the same thing." soo yeah, those are just some of the things i've been talking about with those guys. I hope it helps, as a lot of it is pretty universal to any artist. I should have put blogging in the Time Managament.. haha back to work! -mitch

Life after EPAC 2008

2008-06-16T19:32:00.000-06:00

Steammachines had a very successful turn out at this year's El Paso Anime Con, I hear we had more people stopping by our table than anybody else. That's great news, and we will definetely be attending next year's event. Now that we know what to expect, we will be prepared. Maybe even a table cloth? A big thank you to everybody that supported us with their kind donations, I hope everybody enjoyed our work. Feel free to contact any of us, we appreciate any kind of feedback, positive or negative, but keep it constructive! I'll be posting some of the drawings I got from the other artists and some photos soon so check back soon! Edit: Here's the photos, much sooner than I expected! I took a LOT of pictures (most of them blurry) and I'll update with more later this week. Check back soon! Also, some of the cosplay pictures can be seen in my scraps gallery on my Deviant Art page, check it out.

M@'s and Barontieri brushes

2008-06-13T11:57:00.001-06:00

His new brush set: http://mv.cgcommunity.com/echange/matbrushes07.zip The old brush set: http://mv.cgcommunity.com/echange/matbrushes5.zip Barontieri's brush set: http://www.barontieri.com/Misc/BARONTiERi.rar and both of their websites: http://mv.cgcommunity.com/ http://www.barontieri.com/ Thanks to Mario for reminding me. -mitch

Matthieu Bessudo

2008-06-11T20:17:00.000-06:00

I realize that the main point of this blog is to share our own work, but I think it's also a good idea to share information about other artists who inspire us or who have a really exemplary body of work. That being said, I came across this illustrator through another blog that I read. His full name is Matthieu Bessudo, but he goes by the moniker McBess online. I find his style to be pretty awesome. He obviously takes a lot of liberties with his figure drawing, but it's pretty apparent that the exaggerations (like the Olive Oyl bendy arms everyone seems to have) are intentional. They make for very expressive poses, as well. If you poke around his website, you'll find quite a few images and comics. The hand-lettering on the comics is particularly awesome. He is an animator as well as an illustrator, and his demo reel is embedded below. Also, you'll find a few links to his website, and a link to the Desktop Wallpaper Project on the Kitsune Noir blog, which is where I found out about McBess. The Kitsune Noir link has a couple of really awesome high-res wallpapers. http://www.mcbess.com/ http://kitsunenoir.com/blog/dwp/

Ninja's EPAC preview

2008-06-03T23:37:00.000-06:00

Some stuff by our very own Ninja for the El Paso Anime Con.

!!

2008-06-03T22:11:00.000-06:00

sorry I wasn't able to make it to the meeting tonight, I have (potentially) really exciting news, but I won't be able to say until next week. See you then! -mitch

EPAC Preview #2

2008-05-31T14:08:00.001-06:00

Some more drawings I'm planning to show at this year's El Paso Anime Convention (EPAC). These are all at different levels of completion, and the final prints will be in full blazing color. I'll save you guys some copies, but in the meantime, tell me what you think of them.

Steamy Art Dump #2 (EPAC Preview)

2008-05-28T13:30:00.001-06:00

A preview of what's going to be at our appearance at El Paso Anime Convention. I'm going to see how much it would cost to get these printed as 11x17 posters.

Study and a speedy

2008-05-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

A study for the day, trying different textures, and brush stroke economy. Mainly a study in light and color.

the reference. and a 30 min speedy.. I figure I'd like to use this blog as a way to put up inspiration, good artists, artist blogs and any kind of art information that I find interesting , i shall post up here. I know I'm always telling you guys to check out these certain artists that are really good, so it would probably be more convenient to just post their website or blog in here. It would be cool if you guys did the same. also I thought i'd leave you guys this funny quote from Edgar Degas that I read at the Museum of Art in Denver: "An artist should copy the masters and re-copy them, and after he has given every evidence of being a good copyist, he might then reasonably be allowed to do a radish, perhaps, from Nature"

Con-Job Mega Update #2

2008-05-27T12:42:00.000-06:00

James and McThrill have been mentioning this for a while now, and I finally checked it out last night. The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings. Read it now. It boggles my mind that this guy could ever get a job doing anything with a pencil. Some important dates to remember: El Paso Anime Con Saturday, April 12th, 2008: Start of Participation Invitations extended via e‐mail Saturday, May 24th, 2008: Deadline for all Invitation Acceptances Saturday, May 31st, 2008: All signed Contracts & Payments due Saturday, May 31st, 2008: All preliminary Portfolio Reviews due Saturday, June 7th, 2008: Mandatory Participant Orientation & Final Portfolio Review EPAC08 will be held from Friday, June 13 to Sunday, June 15 in the Union East Building of The University of Texas at El Paso. Here's the Artists' Alley Information Packet. San Diego Comic Con PREVIEW NIGHT WED, JULY 23 6PM - 9PM Open only to pre-registered 4-day attendees and professionals THU, JULY 24 - SAT, JULY 26 9:30AM - 7PM With additional late-night hours for programming, anime, games, film showings, etc. SUN, JULY 27 9:30AM - 5PM I bet their myspace page is updated often, so check it out Also, a fast facts page. More updates soon!

2008-05-26T14:33:00.000-06:00

Hey fella's, i've been a bit absent lately. But here are some of the things I've been doing lately, trying to build my portfolio, and am in the process of getting some freelance work coming in. I like the idea of updating this blog daily. I'll do my best to post daily sketches and studies, etc.. ALSO, everyone should join the Deep Contest over at Conceptart.org http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=125901 lots of really great prizes.

Con-Job Mega Update

2008-05-19T01:49:00.001-06:00

So for anybody who is interested, some of us here are going to the San Diego Comic-Con International 2008 this summer. A road trip is in motion and were all bustin'. But first, before we go nuts and head over to Cali, we're going to sell some really cool, 100% original artwork for peanuts, but not literally. The place? EPAC at Utep in El Paso, Texas. Further details and some previews from attending Pencil Pals (herein referred to PPs) are coming eventually. Anyway, I found some a link that might help those uninitiated by cons (such as myself): Newbie's Comic -Con Survival Guide

Steamy drawing dump

2008-05-04T23:12:00.000-06:00

2008-02-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Okay guys, sorry I've been slacking. I haven't got around to posting any material or even setting up my scanner now that I've finally got a computer to work with. I'll admit that I'm a lazy bastard, but I managed to give some critiques that can help someone out. See you guys tonight. Are we still up for the Saturday comic jam? Anybody flakes out, they're out of the band.

Tank

2008-02-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, here's a little one-man tank. Animated for fun hehe. -mitch

Steamy steam steam

2008-02-18T01:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally managed to log on to this account. Blogger was giving me some trouble as I signed in - I got stuck in an endless login -->confirm-->login loop, but finally found a shortcut around it. Hope they get that fixed soon. Anyway, on to the drawings. Right now, just some sketches that I've done over the past couple of months.

Steamy.

2008-02-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I guess I'll start this off with everything i've already done for the project. I have some tank thumbs that I'll post up later. -mitch

Steam Machines

2008-01-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Steam Machines is the collaboration of 6 different artists. This Blog will document the creation of a new body of concept art, one that hopefully over time will become a window of a larger world.