Cpl. Blake Miller, Sgt. Mike McGuire & a very Happy Birthday to Chuck Norris

A friend of mine, knowing my affinity of New York Post headlines, pointed out a good one from last week to me.  I think it was about Tiger.  Shocker.  It got me thinking: Whatever became of my favorite NY Post cover person?  Cpl. Blake Miller.  You know the photo.  It was taken by L.A. Times reporter Luis Sinco.  It appeared on the cover of the NY Post in Nov. 2004 with the headline: "SMOKIN'  Marlboro Men kick butt in Fallujah".  Things have not been good for Cpl. Miller over the last six years.
But that picture of him just stays with me.  The same way Eddie Adams' picture in Saigon 1968 does.  Same with Joe Rosenthal's picture at Iwo Jima in 1945.  A slight segue here, I love the NFL and read Peter King's Monday Morning QB every week.  About five years ago he came across Sgt. Mike McGuire in his hometown of St. Louis, he's a IED hunter, real life "The Hurt Locker" guys.  In a strange way I feel like I know him a little bit.  He's served something like four tours in Iraq and this fall he's leading his platoon to Afghanistan.  He's the first thing I look for in Peter's column every week, and judging by the reader response I know I'm not alone (Just this week alone MMQB readers raised almost $200K to the USO for Sgt. McGuire's platoon and six others.  Peter King wants to raise enough money to outfit the other 194 platoons in Afghanistan & Iraq.  Check out USO.org or SI.com- Peter King's column for the link)  As for some lighter fare, it was Chuck Norris' birthday this week- March 10th.
I sent this sketch to Google hoping they'd use it for their logo on Mr. Norris' day.  They didn't.  So I'm sharing it with you.  What do you think?  Should I draw more Chuck Norris?  Let me know.

Megan Fox, Domino's Pizza & Chuck Norris

Well, needless to say I work with some characters.  Artists usually are.  From the top to bottom: "More Robots -Less Megan Fox" stems from a co-worker who loves the Transformers, but not the acting abilities of one Megan Fox.  It's become sort of a catch phrase around the office.  Speaking of my office, one day last April (it was the first warm day of the year) we went out for pizza at Dominos.  Me & my co-workers ran into the above drawn "characters" who were just smitten by them.  They left me alone for the most part but, I knew I was outnumbered. However, my art room mates fended for themselves just fine.  And lastly, anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge Chuck Norris nut.  I can rattle off Chuck Norris facts almost as fast as Chuck fires his Uzi.  This is me dreaming of one day being just a fraction of the man Chuck Norris is.

Fashion Portfolio

This assignment started before Harry Potter was "Harry Potter".  Before there was a movie, a second book or even a style guide -this project took off.  The whole art department had to read the first Harry book and come back with what we thought.  This is what I came up with for Quddich, magic wands & the cloak of invisibility. If I remember correctly nothing came of our entire presentation but such is the garment industry.  I still remember it fondly- no guidelines, no restrictions; read the book and come back with what you think.  Wish more projects were like this.

The Simpsons Tee Shirt Project

Sketches for a tee shirt/boxer company.  After I watched a few episodes of "The Simpsons" I came up with these ideas for a line.  Must admit, I'm not a Simpsons fan (I live for "Family Guy") but I did enjoy the ones that I saw.  Unfortunately this project didn't go anywhere.  Such is the life of freelance.  Too bad, I remember it being a very cool company.

Aesop's fables

The Fox & the Crow (top)

The Lion, Bear & Hare (bottom)

Happy New Year to All

Welcome to my blog, over the next year or two- I hope to expand my digital media presence by uploading my artwork over the years. Everything from college and before, to my current work and sketchbooks. After being pushed by my co-workers for months I'm finally ready to take on this project. I t should be fun. I was inspired to show my art in this format by a few artists I discovered on a "LOST" fan website- thought it looked great in this way. I hope to duplicate it.

Keep reading, I have a lot to scan, photograph, etc., etc.