I've got a quick couple of commissions and art gifts to do during the month of June, although they shouldn't take all of my art time away from "Bare Necessities." I'm working on one of them right now, and I should post it some time this weekend. Then the chapter will proceed.

I'm working on "Bare Necessities" pages 27 - 30 now. The chapter should be wrapped up in mid-July, and I plan on working on the next chapter right after that. The next one will be called "Coils of Fate," and it should be pretty short--more like "Rats" and "Plot" than "Fair Harvest" and "Vision Impaired." The first week of July will be taken up by another giant wall mural project, but it shouldn't take as much time as the last one. [link]

I'm thinking about retitling this section "Re-found," since the deviants whose works I post here have all been in my watch for some time, slightly overlooked in the hustle and bustle of my life. ~odavis has a masterful approach with colored pencil--his drawings capture some of the qualities of Degas' colorful Impressionism and Da Vinci's good old "chiaroscuro" shading technique. The women he pictures are captured beautifully (Freudian Slip, maybe? ). He does some wonderful hat-tipping toward Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Edward Hopper, and others. Check out the thumbnails below to see what I mean.
Then go pay his gallery a visit.

Years ago, I had an uncle who lived far away but who would show up every now and then and tease me mercilessly. He sang songs like "I'd Rather Be a Mugwump Than a Jeffery," and "Jeff's Got a Boogie Hanging From His Nose." Although it angered and frustrated me to no end, it was also quite flattering--none of my siblings got this kind of attention from him. And, beyond that, it soon became apparent that he and I shared another interest/passion alone in our family: Art. My Uncle was the only person I knew personally who could draw better than I could. He encouraged me to push and follow the art when many others were discouraging. Now, of course, I know lots of people who can outdraw me, especially here on DA, but my uncle's work continues to astound and inspire me. He has been a fantastic friend to me since I was just a little tyke, and now that I'm a bigger tyke, I count him as one of my closest, dearest friends. He has mastered scratchboard, though you won't find it in his DA gallery. He prefers pastels, and loves Impressionism in the style of Degas (maybe that's the theme here today), although other influences are there, including Cezanne, Gaugin, and even Van Gogh, with perhaps a little Fauvism thrown in here and there. Uncle, you're tops.
Check out his stuff.

The quickest, easiest way is to buy a print on DA (see below). Or, if prints aren't your thing, you can purchase my self-published book called Black Canvas I: Art from the Shadows. See the next section for more about it. Beyond that, I’ve been published in a few books, including Sword and Sorcery: How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Adventure Comics by Bryan Baugh, and A Life of Ravens by Alex Ness. Both books can be purchased on Amazon.com, and are full of awesome artwork and writing by some very talented people.

This is a collection of 42 ink drawings which I sell personally via Paypal or money order for $10 plus shipping. If you’re interested in obtaining a copy, just send me a note. Above this is a glimpse at the pieces that the book contains, most of which can be found here in my dA gallery.

Here's my prints page. [link] I’ve got about 20 things available, but I’m trying to put more up. I think dA does a pretty good and fairly inexpensive job of printing and shipping things. I’ve purchased a bunch of prints here, myself, which I’ll show off in the next section.

Most of these things now decorate my home, and I’m quite happy to have them. The artists are great, and their works hit a chord in myself and my wife. My thanks to all, and to dA for the opportunity!

I get a lot of people asking me if I do commission work, and the answer I generally give is “Not usually.” Still, it doesn’t hurt to ask, and I don’t really charge too much for them, since money isn’t the real motivator for my art. However, the catch is that I can only rarely force an image into my head, and if it doesn’t pop on its own, drawing it is like pulling my teeth out. So, in the end, it’s best just to suggest your idea, and let it percolate in my mind, and if something shows up, you get your commission. If not, I’m sorry. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it, though…