now that july is prepared to embrace us with her hot, humid unforgiving hands, i thought it was due time for another obligatory music post. here are the albums i’ve listened to the most this first half of 2009:

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this is my super late contribution to terrible yellow eyes.

where the wild things are was one of my favorite books growing up. i must have had my parents read it to me a million gazillion times and then, when i was old enough, i read it a million gazillion more times. i reread though it again for the first time in years before working on the above drawing and it’s easy to see why the book  was (is!) one of my faves. the story really locks into that important imagination trait vital to being human, but especially to being a kid. plus maurice sendak’s crosshatched illustrations are so visually real and unique that you can’t help but hope that wherever the wild things are it is a place that really exists out there somewhere. my little drawing doesn’t do justice to their world at all, but it was still an honor to pay tribute to something that inspired me to create and tell stories in the first place. and also quite humbling to be invited to be  part of a collection of so much incredible work!

jen and i are really looking forward to the movie too, which might have a little bit to do with our favorite arcade fire song featured on the trailer.

even though we just got back from north carolina,  jen and i are driving back tomorrow for heroes con! i’ve never been to this show before so i’m not really sure what to expect. but at the very least i hope to see some of you there! you’ll be able to find me in indy island at table 520. and here is a quickly photographed pile of some of the stuff that should be on top of that table.

EDIT: people keep emailing me about the stuffed Buffalo in that picture. he was a homemade gift from the multi-talented sally thompson so unfortunately he is the only one of his kind. sally, if you are reading this, i need a Cow to go along with Buffalo! :)

was able to get an angel done early for next week’s drawergeeks topic. this never happens!

was also able to catch two more summer movies this weekend that were both fantastic in each of their polar opposite ways: up, which is another pixar film in case you didn’t know, and drag me to hell, which is the best sam raimi horror movie since sam raimi directed a horror movie.

my current summer movie rankings thus far:

1. star trek
2. up
3. drag me to hell
4. terminator salvation
5. wolverine

and with that, i’m off to the gideon media arts conference, which i already blogged about HERE. wish me luck!

joel carroll and i recently (well, i guess its been over a month now) did a sketchcard trade. he drew me a galactus, and i drew him this power girl:

he didn’t get a colored version though since i’ve yet to find a way to digitally color on a sketchcard. i was just in a coloring mood this morning and needed something to color.

in case anyone is interested in a black & white card sized commission, i’ve been drawing them for about $10 lately. or trading. obviously.

i was lucky enough to catch an advanced screening of star trek a couple of days ago, and couldn’t resist drawing uhura for today’s space girl topic on drawergeeks today.

i always thought it was funny how no matter what planet the original enterprise crew would beam down to, it was always a desolate rocky terrain. like there are no other planets in the galaxy that look like anything else but new mexico.

anyhoo- star trek was super fun! my spoiler free review under the cut:

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May 31st – June 4th is the second annual Gideon Media Arts Conderence and Film Festival in Ridgecrest, NC. This year there is a big push towards graphic novels (yeah!) and I’ve been invited to be on staff with Ken Raney, Art Ayris, and fellow parabler Ben Avery. In addition to a panel discussion, a graphic arts gala and some one-on-one time with the students, I’ll also be offering a couple of workshops- one on webcomics and the other on comic anthologies. These are both subjects I feel I know plenty about at this point, even though there are a gazillion more experienced creators in both those areas that might have a lot more to offer. The difference in this case is that all of the workshops and events at Gideon will have a Christian emphasis to them and (hopefully) give everyone involved a stronger insight on how we can use our creative talents to better serve the Lord. Gideon will also be the first opportunity to see Parable in full book form, since I’ll be bringing a few sample copies with me to show around (although that probably won’t be as exciting as watching me try to talk in front of a room full of people).

Gideon is still excepting registrations so if you’re interested in attending, click HERE to find out the details. And for more info on the Graphic Arts section of the conference, including Ken, Art, and Ben’s involvement, click HERE.

I hope to see some of you there. I think it’s going to be a really fun time!

it’s troll week on drawergeeks! mine enjoy sweater vests, ice cream and cheesey photoshop textures.

fan art week on the buffalog continues! only this time i drew a  fan comic.  a NINTENDO fan comic! a super smash bros fan comic to be more specific. and it’s up on the super awesome video game fan comic site LIFE METER today! read it now!

like my last post, this comic is kinda fan specific so don’t feel bad if you don’t completely “get” it. but i’m still pretty proud of it, especially since i completed it in only two weeks (this is unusual for me) and is an idea i’ve had doggy paddling around my head for almost THREE YEARS. plus, i love drawing kirby.

EDIT: for those unfamiliar with the game, this might lend some clarification on that last panel.

here are the first two pages

one of my favorite comic type people, johanne matte, is collecting her entire water tribe epic (aka: the most passionate avatar fan project ever) into a couple of books. even better, she’s giving those books away to artists who draw some pinup art for them. since i REALLY want those books, i drew some pinup art:

i’m afraid unless you’re familiar with the characters though, this little doodle might be lost on some of you. i also realized that, as huge an avatar fan as i am, this is my first avatar fan art. and it is fan art of avatar fan art. so sad.

i felt like drawing catwoman the other day. not really sure why other than i like cats. and women.

they only want to be your friend.

for today’s ninja topic on drawergeeks. :)

where have i been?

this was another faerie commission (people must like faeries—i get asked to draw more faeries than anything else). in this case, the commissionee asked for some specifics: blond, waking up in the morning, a cup of coffee, a ladybug, a certain brand of chocolate (her favorite), and similar to the faerie seasons i was also commissioned to draw not too long ago.

yes! i think i pretty much covered everything! “oh, you didn’t want clothes on her?” so close…

click here for some nakedness!

check it out guys! i published another book! and it is available now (on an also all-new cow & buffalo site)! exclamation marks!!! read the press release below:

Cow & Buffalo’s second book is here! Stuperheroes collects the popular webcomic’s entire superhero epic from August 2006 to December 2007 and includes an all-new six page back-up story, select comics from 2007’s “Journey Cow” event, new illustrations, guest art and a recipe for The World’s Greatest Sandwich featuring a special comic introduction starring none other than Mike Maihack himself. It is available now for only $10 at www.cowandbuffalo.com (shipping included)!

Also, for a limited time only, Cow & Buffalo’s first book, Adventures in Sandwich Making, is on sale for only $5 with the purchase of at least one copy of Stuperheroes. This deal is only available at cowandbuffalo.com and not any other retail market.

Specs: Stuperheroes features a full-color, perfect-bound cover with 112 black and white pages inside. It is a book.

i’m really proud of this one. there’s more action, more humor, more exclusive all-new content and 33% more pages than their last book. i’m drawing a sketch in every book purchased too. so what are you waiting for! :D

click here for some way cool book photos

on sunday, hourly comic day reared it’s crazy, unforgiving head and jen and i had a blast, although somewhat stressful time, keeping up with the festivities yet again. this year we both had the day off and spent the entire time together so it’s kind of fun to read both our comics from our different perspectives (not once did we peek at or ask about eachother’s comics either- it made it more fun to read them together at end of the day). and oh yeah- there was this little television event that was on that evening too. you can read jen’s day HERE and mine directly below this paragraph.

(for those interested, my previous hourlies can be read HERE)

read on for more day off excitement!

it’s my first art post of 2009! here is some metroid art i did for drawergeeks‘ classic nintendo themed topic up today.

i don’t play a lot of video games, but man i love nintendo. it’s the only consule i’ve ever owned, mainly so i can just play the next zelda (the best!) or mario games. as much as i love the awesome cast of characters nintendo has created though, i’ve honestly never played metroid. but it just so happens to be jen’s all-time favorite video game franchise- so this is for her. it was also good practice at drawing tech, which i don’t ever draw. ever. but it was still kinda fun. hopefully i didn’t offend any samus loyalists out there by giving my own slight take to her armor.

(oh- and jen and i’s current nintendo distraction is lego star wars: the complete saga. yeah!)

MUSIC!

i’m really into ingrid michaelson right now (is it too late to add  be ok to my best of 2008 list?). and this video is super cute.

…for me to list my top albums of 2008!

it was a strange year, since a lot of my regular favorite artists released new albums last year, but very few of them are on this list. not that any of those albums were that bad, they just didn’t exceed what i thought they were capable of. instead this list consists of mostly new artists i got into (because, i suppose, there were no expectations), and there  were a bunch of them! because of this, i’m listing my top twenty this year instead of the usual ten (i just felt bad for leaving so many favorites out).  here we go!

1. only by the night (kings of leon): maybe a little too over-produced for some people, but to me kings of leon finally fine tuned their sound and created their best album to date.
2. dear science, (tv on the radio): i’m not sure tvotr can put out a bad album…
3. with a buzz in your ears we play endlessly (eng translation) (sigur ros) : same goes for  sigur ros. if the second half of this album didn’t wind down so much, i would have made it my number one.
4. the stand-ins (okkervil river): wasn’t overly impressed with their last album, but this one really sucked me in. and now i appreciate their last album more.
5. vampire weekend (vampire weekend): took me a while to understand what all the fuss was about (as usual), but i get it now.
6. consolers of the lonely (the raconteurs): yes, jack white sure knows how to make a great rock album, but i think brendan benson helps bring out the best in him.
7. keep your eyes ahead (the helio sequence): so underrated, especially after listening to their previous albums. i read that brandon summers damaged his vocal chords so bad before releasing kyea that he had to essentially learn to sing all over again. it really worked in his favor i believe.
8. narrow stairs (death cab for cutie): wasn’t sure about this one at first, but it slowly crept into my system where now i think it might just be one of their best.
9. common reaction (uh huh her): okay- it’s poppy, but i love it. i can not get enough of these girls.
10. at mount zoomer (wolf parade): i’m biased of course, because spencer krug is one of my favorite artists, but this was a fine follow-up to apologies, if not quite as good as that or sunset’s spirit lover.
11. oracular spectacular (mgmt): the album title says it all. i have a feeling it might have “a current sound” to it when i go back to this in a couple years, but right now, it’s still awesome. i’m curious to hear what mgmt does for a follow-up.
12. the glass passenger (jack’s mannequin): not my usual flavor of tea, but this album was so fun and melodically consistent that i couldn’t stop listening to it. always putting me in a good mood, it was one of my most played albums of the year.
13. thirst for romance (cherry ghost): just… a good album. i don’t know what else to say.
14. only as the day is long (sera cahoone): beautiful, beautiful sophomore release.
15. fleet foxes (fleet foxes): you kinda had to figure they would be on this list somewhere. although i almost enjoyed their sun giant ep more than this full release.
16. keep color (republic tigers): another underrated album of 2008. with keep color, this band accomplished what more experienced bands than them have failed to in recent years.
17. heal for the honey (brooke waggoner): an excellent debut full-album following an equally excellent ep. plus i’m a sucker for female artists with a great voice and mad piano skillz.
18. perfect symmetry (keane): for their third release, keane actually managed to put out an album that combined the best of their previous two releases creating a very accurately titled album. i kinda thought they might go the way of third-eye-blind, but perfect symmetry says otherwise.
19. volume one (she and him): zooey and ward is possibly the best team-up since cookie dough and ice cream.
20. a hundred million suns (snow patrol): i’m still a fan of this band, despite their incredibly over-played success. i just miss the days when they were just mine! million suns kinda plays toward their current popularity in a lot of ways, but lightbody and crew try just enough radio repelling experiments to keep original fans like myself happy. and i still love lightbody’s ever positive romantic lyricism.

i also need to mention two great ep’s came out last year as well:

1. the sun never sets on the cool kids (mumford and sons): without a doubt my favorite new band of 2008. if they make a full-album this consistently awesome, i can already tell you it’s going to be placed number one that year.
2. white lights (deas veil): why only five songs, deas veil?? i need more!

stuff that happened in 2008:

• gained a nephew
• contributed something to cbt
• went to megacon. hung out with some cool friends.
• finished twilight princess (took only eight months!)
• went on my first cruise. realized having a personal chef, butler, maid  and giant yacht probably wouldn’t be that bad.
• went to fluke and hung out with some cool friends
• started a new comic
• dr horrible
• went to mocca and hung out with some cool friends
• avatar finale
• y: chapter 10
• the best summer movie summer EVER.
• went to sdcc and got a hug from tori frickin amos (and hung out with some cool friends)
• went to europe
• i went TO FLIPPIN EUROPE
• became hospitalized for the first and hopefully last time.
• sky•doll in english
• went to a world series game. finally got baseball.
• went to dallas and hung out with some cool friends

things i want to do in 2009:

• start working on that new comic again
• publish parable
• finish my parable 2 comic
• rid the world of evil
• sell some books
• lose some weight
• draw more
• hang out with some cool friends
• don’t forget about the ones i won’t see

yeah- it’s a cheesy pun, but it’s also a cow & buffalo tradition. :)

i’ll be taking a short break from cow & buffalo for the holidays but i’ll have some exciting announcements related to it shortly after i return to updating it in januray.  i may still find myself posting some stuff on this blog in the meantime though. we’ll see.

a little sketch i decided to throw some color on.