Daniel Faraday

Here's that twitchy, odd physician from LOST, Daniel Faraday. And no, he's not played by Henry Thomas from E.T.

Hurley hearts Shih-tzus.

Apparently, I'm doing a series of LOST caricatures, today featuring Hurley from the Season 5 opener. Next up, a certain twitchy, bearded professor/physicist. Stay tuned...

Time to get LOST again.

Finally the new season of LOST begins tonight. I've been on board with this show since its premiere and it has been a fun (at times frustrating) ride. It's really the only show I watch now.
The characters on the show are great, but one of my favorites is Benjamin Linus. Ben is a highly intelligent, resilient, manipulative and complex character. He's also a lot of fun to caricature.

Gig pix: 1/13/09

Here's a few pics from an 8 hour gig I did Tuesday. This first subject wanted to be Diana Ross. I still didn't make his hair big enough.

He started grunting like a caveman when he sat down.

Star Wars kid. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

My best work ever.

Here's a blast from the past, probably from around 1973 or so. This is the first record of my life-long passion for art. Judging by the artwork on my blog, you can tell I haven't improved much over the years. But hey, check out that blond hair!

Happy New Year 2009!

Another new year, another list of resolutions. I actually take new year's resolutions seriously, and try to stick to them ALL YEAR. So here are my resolutions for 2009, in no particular order.

1. Post more on the blog: I promise you that I will have posts numbering in the triple digits. That's right, I'm going to have well over a hundred posts for 2009. That's only a couple a week. My favorite blogs that I visit are the ones who post often. I want this blog to be one of your favorites too. I love when you guys hang around!

2. Publish MORE: I have some fun stuff in the works right now, and look for more chapters of Black Cat Bone throughout the year.

3. Attend more cons: This year, I'm already slated as a Comic Book Guest at Megacon in Orlando, February 27-March 1st. I would love to be a guest at other conventions this year and I HAVE to go to the NCN convention November in Ohio.

4. Lose more weight, get in shape: I'm eating much better on a nutritional level, I just need to be more physically active. Hmm..maybe I'll dust off that exercise equipment in the garage and fix my bicycle.

5. Get a website: This blog serves it's purpose well, but I need a stronger presence on the web. There are things in motion already. Stay tuned.

I have a few more personal resolutions that are none of your business! So far, however, 2009 is shaping up to be a great year. Once again, Happy New Year everyone!

Durkinworks Blog 2008: A Year in Review

That's it. 2008 is over. I remember back to the beginning of the year, one of my first posts outlined some of my resolutions for the new year. Let's see how I did.

1. Lose weight-get in shape: Okay, I lost 12 pounds recently. No, I didn't cut my arm off, I've just been eating a lot better. I've merely been avoiding high-fructose corn syrup, white food like sugar, flour and rice, and processed food as much as possible. I'm down a notch on my belt and I'm halfway to the next one. I feel the best I've felt in years and I've found that good, healthy food prepared the right way can taste amazing.

2. Post more on the blog: I posted 63 times in 2008. A marked improvement from 2007's 31 posts.

3. Re-do the Durkinworks website: The website has taken a year hiatus, but don't worry, it will be back in 2009 and better than ever.

4. Attend more cons: I did go to Megacon in Orlando, but I also participated as an attending artist at WizardWorld in Chicago and the CGS Super Show in Reading, Pennsylvania with Ka-Blam. Sadly, I missed the NCN con again.

5. Publish SOMETHING: I completed not one, but two issues of Black Cat Bone in 2008, a feat I never imagined I would achieve.

As for my personal goals, I was hit and miss on those. All in all, I did pretty well. 2008 was the year of the geek. I saw a new Indiana Jones movie in theaters and it was great to see the stores stocked with Indy merchandise. Movies in general were smarter and better done. Iron Man, Batman, Wall-E, Hellboy, even Kung Fu Panda, were all excellent films. The Clone Wars hit the small tube and it was very enjoyable.
As for me, I did a lot of work on the house with the help of Mom and Dad, did a ton of artwork, and fell in love with one of the most amazing people I've ever met. Thanks to everyone for a great year. Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas scribbles

Just a few quick Christmas-related toons for you. I'm off to go shopping. Ugh...

Gig pics: 12/11/08

As promised, here are a few caricatures from the past few days. The first was a grandfather/grandson pic. The older gentleman was in a wheelchair, so for accessibility, I had them pose to my right, which forced me to draw "lefty" style. I need to do this more often.

This guy loved to dance. Do the monkey!

He (yes, he) loved to sing....fabulously.

Where does the time go?

It's December already?!? Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been real busy with work, gigs and commissions. I'm bringing my camera to the next set of gigs, so hopefully, I'll have some more live caricatures for you. Stay tuned!

Gig 11/19/08

I haven't taken any gig pics in a while. Here's some from last night:

This guy was drunk. Very drunk.

This gentleman was great. I killed a whole Chartpak on him.

He said he wanted more hair.

Links Spotlight: Sebastian Kruger

On your right, you will see a group of links. These links are reserved for inspiring artists and close friends. From time to time I'm going to feature someone from the links. Today is Mr. Sebastian Kruger.

When it comes to caricature, there is Sebastian Kruger and then there's everyone else. He's a master, plain and simple. I have a signed print of one of his Keith Richards caricatures proudly displayed in my living room.

His current works are of particular interest to me. He did a series of blues musicians. Check out his B.B. King:

Here's John Lee Hooker:

Here's Sebastian and I at the 2003 NCN convention.

Be sure to check out Sebastian's link to the right, and stay tuned for the next Links Spotlight.

Oz

I always intended to color this one, (maybe I will someday,) but in the meantime, here it is in black and white.

Durkinworks Blog: Now with labels.

Just a little blog maintenance; I went through all the posts and labeled each one of them. Now they are organized into different categories. If you click the "label" at the bottom of a post, you will be redirected to other related posts in that category. Have fun!

Yo.

Here's the Jedi master himself. Mess with him you must not.

We Three Pigs.

Here's one of the three little pigs. Why? I don't know.

Frodo Baggins

From Lord of the Rings, my pal Frodo.

Ol' Supes

More marker stuff. Ol' Supes has really let himself go.

"Cursed" Jack Sparrow.

My daughter Kathy and I were re-watching Pirates of the Caribbean. We love Jack Sparrow. Here's my version of Jack in his "cursed" form.

Jack and the Beanstalk.

One of my favorite stories as a kid. I would love to illustrate a children's book based on this story.

Ani-Mashups

This is an idea I had while I was drawing at the Wizard World convention in Chicago. I want to do a series of mashups involving animated characters and comic-book characters. Here's Popeye and Wolverine: ...and Fred Flintstone and Hellboy.

Be Prepared.

Don't worry, he has a merit badge in mad ninja skills.

What's the story?

Okay, this one started with the old guy on the left. Then I drew the old woman and then the family in the middle. I haven't the slightest clue what is happening in this picture. Maybe you have some ideas?

Election Day 2008

Finally, Election Day is here. Let's get this over with.

Hungry Bear.

Awww...ain't he cute? Quick, grab the tranquilizer gun!

The Pack is Back.

After a grueling by-week the Green Bay Packers are back to face the Titans. Cheeseheads unite!

Look who's back in town.

These are two of my favorite people in the world, my mom and dad. They're visiting with me for a week. This picture was taken when I went up to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving in 2003 (hence the vacation-goatee.) I would expect us to get into some sort of trouble at some point during the visit, maybe even rumble with a rival gang. Don't even THINK about knocking that coffee out of mom's hand. "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way..."

Happy Halloween 2008!

A two-fer for today. The first is another marker-colored sketch, the second..well, is not.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Ele-Ape

A couple of animals. A little known fact: While elephants like to wear clothing, apes prefer to go commando. Look it up!

Uncle Ernesto

A majority of the artwork you see on my blog is colored digitally. This old fella is a rare exception that I've actually colored in marker (Crayola, to be exact.) I call him Uncle Ernesto. I have no idea why.

Post a day. I'm not kidding.

I seem to have a backlog of ideas and goofy little pictures that I've done. Now is the time to do something that I've always wanted to try: The Daily Post. I'm going to try posting at least once a day. Let's see how long I can keep this going. Go ahead and give me a hard time if I can't make it one week, I'll deserve it.

Here's the first one:

These guys just escaped a science testing lab. Don't mess with them. Trust me.

You call him "Doctor Jones," doll.

I love this guy. He has a DVD out today. Go get it.

Get ready...

Both chapters 1 and 2 of Black Cat Bone will be up on http://www.indyplanet.com very soon. I learned a lot after the first issue, so when I completed the second one, I really wanted to go back and revise the feel of the first one. I wanted it to be more gritty and atmospheric. It wasn't moody enough.

For example, a panel that used to look like this:

...now looks like this.

I'm much happier with the way it looks now. Stay tuned, because they're coming soon!

Black Cat Bone: Flood Water Rising.

Chapter two of Black Cat Bone. Coming sooner than you think!

I'm never alone.

There are several billion of things like this buzzing around in my brain. I have to let them escape sometimes to make room for new ones.

Spaceman.

I'm working on several things that I can't post just yet, but in the meantime, here's something just for fun.