Published - Blog Posts

Rashmi Patil / Yesugade ( Volume 1) Photographed by Amit Mali  Abstract Portrait 

Mailbox Peak

Mailbox Peak is one of those daredevil hikes people go on just to brag about it on social media. 4000 ft of elevation gain in 3 miles (or 6, if you go on the new trail), and there's a colorful mailbox on top that's plastered with a bunch of stickers you can take a picture with. It seems like the kind of thing you'd put on your college bucket list to tackle while you're still young and reckless. I first heard about the trail through seeing a couple ladies I knew post about it on social media-- and my young, reckless college brain vowed to one day trace the steps of those pairs of suave Gore-Tex boots clad in tight yoga pants. (I was and still am a connoisseur of yoga pants and the shapely beings that don them.)

Officially a published writer on Vocal Media! Hopefully the first piece of many to come! I originally wrote this for the Outdoor Shots challenge, but decided to spend more time polishing the ending. There’s no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.

20 years ago, I self-published my sketchbook: “Wang-Dang-Doodle!” This was the drawing I used for the cover art.. Recently, I agreed to sell the drawing to a local Original Art collector/friend.. So, I thought I’d better make some decent scans of it, first. Hard for me to believe how quickly all of that time has passed!

I was fortunate this past weekend, to win a couple of nice items at Heritage Auctions.. Here’s one of them: a large mixed media painting, by Daniel Torres - the great Spanish illustrator/comic-book artist! This illustration was published in the December ‘89 issue of PLAYBOY Magazine, to accompany excerpts of “The Killing Man”; Mickey Spillane’s 12th MIKE HAMMER novel!

A 16 year-old pinup drawing that served as my entry into this week’s 'Illustration Friday' contest, themed around the word: “DOG”.. The initial layout sketch was provided by my good friend and fellow Layout buddy: David Pietila. “Soopermutt” was a character featured in issues of the “Animal Adventures” comic-book, published in the 1950′s by ‘Timor Publications’..

A pair of freelance illustration jobs by artist/friend: Dave Stevens.. The 2nd one has been widely published, but has been rarely seen in it’s original context. These were ads for BOSS Audio products that appeared in GUITAR WORLD magazine, back in 1985. It took me years to locate the "Feedback Monster" version in the bad olde pre-eBay days!  Fortunately, Toronto had a number of good Used Books stores that carried back-issues of old mags.. Dave famously drew himself into the "Sampler Safari" one, as "Professor D. Sampler".. He’s sporting the jodphur pants that he'd already made famous in his ROCKETEER comic stories.. Intriguing to me, are the mail-in offers for larger 18" x 24" posters of these ads? I've never seen one. And it makes me wonder how many were printed, and if any of them are still around?

A Belated HAPPY HALLOWE’EN !!

They recently staged a "Hallowe'en" -themed Art Show at the studio I work at.. I decided to contribute a couple of old EC Fanzine illustrations that I did many years ago.. Sadly, I no longer own the pen-and-ink originals.. But I'd always wanted to color these; and the Art Show finally gave me the chance to do so!  Both images feature all 3 of EC Comics' famed "GhouLunatics" characters, along with a lot of other creepy and gory stuff!

Just saw that Lauren Bacall passed away at the age of 89.. One of the grand dames of Cinema, and a genuine favorite of mine! Back when I published my sketchbook in 2003, I included an illo featuring Ms. Bacall that was intended as an homage to Milt Caniff's late-great "MISS LACE" comic-strip.. Seeing as Lauren was a legitimate Pin-Up Queen back during WW2, it seemed completely appropriate?..

An 'IRON MAN' illo I did back in 2002.. Based (of course) on the beautiful renderings of this character by genius comic-book artist: Jack Kirby! A man who never said "No!" to foreshortening!!