Monday, December 7, 2009

"Crunch"


... that is the sound I'm guessing is echoing off the inside of our fish tank right now. For the past year I've had a variety of interesting fish, all living harmoniously in the corner of our apartment. Two weeks ago I made a pet store run and saw these fun little fish called jellybean parrot cichlids. I usually research every fish we put in our tank, but I bought two of these on a whim. At the time I thought "how could they hurt anything, they look like little round gold fish.

I was sadly mistaken. Infact, I think these were genetically engineered as fish assassins, disguised as goldfish. As soon as I introduced them to our tank the larger of the two went to work, and since then he's taken out his partner (or perhaps his competition), and quite possibly four out of seven shrimp. Today, as I write this, I'm certain the battle continues.
If I'm wrong and these species are generally happy fish ... then we must have the Jason Bourne of parrot fish. I'm not sure if I should take it back to the store, or sell it to the CIA.

Field & Stream: The Double Issue

The holidays are just around the corner and I have exactly zero of my gift shopping finished. It has been a busy fall for me overall. Most of my weeks (and weekends) were spent working from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., but on all good stuff. I plan on writing a season recap soon after having a few artists and students inquire about juggling work, schedules, deadlines and what not. I think it would be a fun thing to share. More to come on that soon ...

Mean while check out the December-January Issue of Field & Stream on the racks right now. I had the pleasure of working on the cover story spread on hunting late season buck. I truly enjoy the challenge of illustrating these, and working with the talented F&S staff. They really keep the bar high.

My goal with these is to put the reader in his environment with a nice organic twist on vector illustrations. I'm also including a few of the rough sketches, since they are an import part of the puzzle. Enjoy:













Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Entangled ...


Pop question: Your surf fishing a rocky point ... You have a 50 lb bass leashed to you going one way, and another on your line going the other. How much gear will you loose?