So, onto this illustration…recently there has been an ad campaign by JCPenney department stores full of people screaming “NOOOOOO” because they are missing shopping sales.  Griffith watched it, and suddenly started scrunching up his face and mimicking them.  We spent the rest of the weekend scrunching our faces up at each other and screaming “NOOOOOOOO!”  (Yes we are still doing it right now.)

Ah, simple times

(As a side note, Griffith just got a haircut. I loved his long baby hair, but it was getting into his eyes and ears and occasionally irritated him. His new haircut makes him look like he’s 5 years old, even though he is only 14 months old.  Now I tell everyone he’s 5 years old. Yeap, I am totally loving every second with this kid.)

Done in about 1.5 hours.  Fanart is a fun exercise.  Also, the comics I drew in middle school prominently featured TMNT…they were part of a superhero group that I created called “The Z-Men.”  I was so creative back then, don’t you think?

It could use a little more work in finishing the rendering, but I’m calling it “done” because it’s more like an exercise. I think the more I do these kinds of painting exercises, the more my rendering style will develop.

(For those of you not familiar with Tea Club, these are my main characters Hana Neko and Mr. Bear.)

Trying out a new character, and some new Painter brushes.  Usually I work with the Pencil and Digital Watercolor tools in Painter Essentials, but wanted to try out the Oil brushes for a “rougher” look, kind of more child-like.  This is a part of a working idea for a new comic concept.

So! Rather than focus on everything I didn’t do in the past 2 years, I am choosing to move forward. A new year is always a chance for a new start, and I’m resolving to close the gap between thinking and doing.  Basically, that means dedicating more time to get back to the basics of simply creating art (and maybe a little bit of writing about the process or the pieces).

I’ve also resolved to put together the last volume of Tea Club later this year.  I have to get through a move and a wedding first, but my plan is to debut Tea Club volume 2 at Comic-Con 2012. Once this volume is done, I can finally close the chapter on Tea Club graphic novels…at least for now

Unemployed Pandas will also be coming to a close very soon (the loose goal is to finish it sometime this month).  There are a handful of comics left before the series end, and I’m going to spend today drawing one of them.  Once the last few comics have been drawn, I’ll be scheduling the updates to the series finale.

My hope is to have more updates everywhere–this website, this blog, my company Facebook page, and of course my online store.  It is quite a challenge to coordinate all those efforts plus juggle my new family, but in the end it’s all very happy-busy work and will be all worth it.

Thanks for coming along on this ride with me, I will have more to show soon!

I know, I know, I need to do a WonderCon 2011 write-up. Will try to find some time in the next few weeks for the recap!

Yeap, none other than Big Butt Panda!!  He is one of my flagship characters who has been around P.M.B.Q. Studios for the last 10 years…hard to believe.

Big Butt Panda is a character who is very shy and humble, but is also quietly confident in that he doesn’t apologize for who he is or what he does.  He’s got a big caboose and knows it…and is even a little bit proud of it.  Life is good for him, and it gets even better when you bring him a healthy serving a bamboo.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  Could he be the people’s champ?  He is definitely a champ at P.M.B.Q. Studios, that’s for sure.

As for the design, my personal art exploration these past few years is to work with a more organic look.  I’ve roughed up my usual clean edges for a more “brushy” effect on this latest iteration of BBP. This exploration mirrors my preference in the traditional art world, which is to work with a brush. It’s such a versatile tool, allowing you to create many different line widths by simply varying the pressure.  It also takes a lot of time to learn how to harness brush techniques.  Personally, I enjoy the challenge of working with whatever comes out of a brush…if only I didn’t dislike scanning so much, I might do more traditional works with a brush.

BBP will be available in guy and girl-style t-shirts. If you can’t make it to WonderCon, these shirts will be available for sale in a few weeks on the Pandaline T-shirt Shop.

Continuing the “classic” trend, I’m bringing back another old favorite from 2007, Rocketbear:

Rocketbear is actually Mr. Bear, co-star of the Tea Club webcomic. He’s blasting off into parts unknown, boldly going where no bear has gone before. I always loved the action on this illustration. This design will be available on both guy- and girl-style t-shirts.

If you can’t make it to WonderCon, these shirts will be available for sale in a few weeks on the Pandaline T-shirt Shop.

This year I’m revisiting a lot of classic artwork, and I thought it was time to bring back KFU Panda:

The first iteration of this character and design showed up in my 2005 line of t-shirts, and the second iteration came in 2007.  I always liked the impact of a gold t-shirt, even though it is not really a mainstream color ^_^;  Well, I decided to bring back the gold in 2011 in guy/unisex shirt sizes.  This is also available in fitted ladies’ shirts in a nice light grey color.

If you can’t make it to WonderCon, these shirts will be available for sale in a few weeks on the Pandaline T-shirt Shop.