Well this weekend was semi-productive. While I didn’t finish the Bladerunner piece like I wanted, I did get pretty far on it. Look for it to be finished this week. I’ve also made some strides with the Treasure Chests & Booty cards, those are just about done as well.

The image above is third Empire Strikes Back return that I’ve revealed. It’s also the GRAND PRIZE in my Art for Smarts fundraiser! Thank you so much to those of you who have already bought slots, I hope to make the cards worth your while. I can’t wait to start posting them as I work on them, September is going to be a fun month!

Here’s a Legends & Lore Artist Proof recently finished. You may have noticed that it was sitting at 99% on the “to be finished” list for quite a while. The commissioner was very patient (thanks Joe) with me as I struggled to re-work, and re-work, that darn crystal ball. In the end I’m not as satisfied as I had hoped to be with it, but it’s definitely a lot better than it was a few stages ago!

Also finished is the Ink artist proof… It feels good to get some of these older pieces off my list, but honestly I just can’t wait to finish the Bladerunner poster for Jeff. He is another incredibly patient client who has been nothing but understanding with my difficulties on the project. I’m really going to give it an earnest effort this weekend, hopefully I’ll come through on the other side with a finished 8×10 and a grin on my face! Thanks all those who continue to read this blog, you rock!

Here is my contribution to the Treasure Chests & Booty set being released this year by Bad Axe Studios. On top of the base card I will also be responsible for 25 sketch cards, so stay tuned for those!

I didn’t get nearly as far as I thought I could this weekend. I have this terrible tendency to underestimate how long projects will take me! Anyway, I’m heading over to the commissions page to update it right now, so if you’re waiting on something from me, check there. Thanks all!

I’ve officially launched my “Art for Smarts” fundraising campaign to help me pay for my tuition at Animation Mentor! I’m really excited about this, and I truly hope it’s a success on all ends! To read more about it please go here: Art for Smarts

I can’t wait to start on the 200 cards for the event, and as I get to work on them I will edit the page to display all the cards for it. I’ll also be posting the bonus prizes soon!

For those of you waiting on commissions from me already, fear not. I have alotted time in the next two weeks to finish up all outstanding commissions before I even start on the fundraiser. Hopefully all will be wrapped up nice and neat as the month of September nears. I’m working hard to get everything done on time, (on top of all this I’m trying to polish up my entry for the 11 Second Club contest this month). Thanks everyone for stopping by, even though I don’t respond to all the comments, I do read them and I do appreciate them!

While I’m searching for a job I’ve needed to raise some moola so I took down my store and put up some of my pieces on eBay for a much lower price. Please check them out by clicking on the pic of the Psylocke card over there.

I’m also opening up a few commissions. The deal is $35 a piece for a full color 1 character card. If you’re interested please contact me at Ethrendil@aol.com

Well I’m not sure if anyone still comes here, but I’m going to start updating again. This site will start under going a makeover soon… I’m going to change the style and content to fit more of an animation vibe.

So what have I been up to for the last month and half… well I’ve managed to work on a few commissions, actually I have 3 sitting here that haven’t been sent out because I’m awaiting approval. I need to send out scans to those who bought them!

So with my commissions finally dwindling, and my last few card sets getting wrapped up I’m honing in all my focus on animation. I was accepted to a very exciting online animation school called Animation Mentor which I am extremely excited about. The semester starts at the end of September and I can’t wait!

I’m also trying to finish up a short animation to submit to this month’s 11 Second Club competition, I’ll post more on that as it nears.

Other than that I’m looking for a job, I’d like to start working in a studio environment around other animators. That’s something I’ve never experienced and is really a goal for me in the next few months.

Thanks to all who continue to support me, family, friends, and fans, I can’t do it without all the support!

I’ve had memory problems for as far back as I can remember (which isn’t very far). I’ll often forget that I told someone I’d do something, or that they told me they’d do something. I’ll forget if I had plans. I’ll forget what day of the week it is, or what month it is… Okay it’s not as dramatic as I’m making it out, but it is something that affects my day to day life and I’ve begun to wonder if it affects my art as well.

Is this just me? Am I incapable of remembering this stuff? Does it happen to everyone? Is there a procedure I can have done, like a brain-transplant? Probably not.

I study anatomy, art techniques, color theory, perspective, contrast, composition, etc. in an ongoing method. That is to say that I have tend to re-read books, or tutorials, about these things, even though I’ve spent the past 18 years of my life learning them. At a certain point shouldn’t it all become memorized? Not by me.

I DO remember things. The fundamentals of animation for example, for some reason those are engraved in my brain. Squash and stretch, overlapping, timing, spacing… I am extremely comfortable with that stuff. But take something uber complex like the human muscular system and I need a book there to help me out most of the time. Why? I know muscles, I’ve certainly studied them to death. From elementary school when I first tried memorizing groups of muscles so I could draw the X-Men on my homework. To Biology and Advanced Biology class in high school when we had to dissect a cat and label each muscle with toothpicks and paper. To community college when I took several life drawing classes with regular testing about muscles. To the Art Institute where I got my degree, taking even more life drawing, sculpting and anatomy classes, to post college life drawing classes… all the way to now, when I still need a darn book in front of me to understand where to properly place everything.

So I wonder, is this fixable? If I can improve my memory, won’t that make me a better artist? It’s not just the muscles I would remember, but also a particular technique that I nailed in a certain drawing, or some super secret trick to making perspective drawing fun (there could be one… we all might just not remember it). I’m sure it would also benefit everything else in my life as well. People (aka girlfriend) wouldn’t get mad if I forgot to think about her. Clients wouldn’t get mad if I forgot I owed them work. My dog wouldn’t get mad if I forgot to water him for a week… (just kidding, I don’t even have a dog… I don’t think).

I guess I’ll stick with Ginko and my books, desperately trying to remember the intricacies of the human body. It’s either that or a brain transplant.

3 weeks?! Holy cow, this thing can really get away from you. Sorry my updates have been null and void lately, been busy with some career altering choices. I’m done with official sketch card sets. I have 3 more obligations (Dreamers of Darkness, Heroes & Villains, and Treasure Chests & Booty). After those are completed I will no longer be doing official sets. The only exception I can see to this is maybe picking up Galaxy 6 at the end of the year, but in general I’m trying to get away from sketch cards. In my eyes the business is declining. Due to us artists trying to one up each other each time a set is released which has caused expectations to steadily climb, as well as the over saturation of sketch card related sets hitting the market, it’s making it harder and harder to tell myself that this industry is worth committing so much time and effort to.

So what am I going to do then? I’ll still run the site, with fewer updates most likely. I still want to do the free card giveaway, but I haven’t made a decision on that just yet. (Speaking of which I still have to choose a winner!)… otherwise I’m looking to get back into animation. I started updating my demo reel a few weeks ago and began to remember why I loved animating in the first place. Then I looked back at the past two or three years and I felt like I had just given up. Now, living in LA, and being so close to making this happen I just have to give it another shot.

So what is my schedule like? Well for the rest of the day today and maybe a bit tomorrow I will be finishing the Dreamers of Darkness cards to send in. Then it’s finishing up work for all you patient commissioners. Although I haven’t been updating I have been working and a few of the APs are nearly finished pending approval. By the end of next week I hope to be just about caught up with past due work, and then it’s on to editing my demo reel for submissions. I hope to use this site as less of a “here’s a cool sketch card I just did” and more of a “here is some awesome work that inspires me” or “here is one of my latest pencil tests.”

So I hope you’ll continue to visit,  I know a lot of my regulars are avid card collectors, but if you like my art please stick around and check out what comes next. Thanks!

Joker here is now available in my store. This one was fun to work on, took about 3 and half hours, but I’m happy with the results. A few other things that are just about finished and ready to post: My Tigra Pinup, which I hope to finish tonight and an L&L Artist Proof of King Arthur and Merlin which should also be wrapped up tonight (hopefully)… I’ll be gone all day tomorrow, so no updates. But hopefully I can make good progress on the Bladerunner piece and get started on the two Marvel 70th APs that were commissioned on Sunday.

As I said I won’t be around tomorrow, I’m heading down the coast to see some friends in San Diego. Promises to be a good day and I’m looking forward to seeing the beach.

Here’s the recently finished Alice commission for Zach. Hope you like it Zach! This one took quite a bit longer than I expected… I always underestimate the time it takes to do bigger pieces. Hence the reason Bladerunner is taking so long, it’s sooo big. That’s what she said. Zing!

The poll has ended and a Marvel Villain has won, beating out X-Men by one vote! So cast your vote for the villains I decided to put up and we’ll see who wins!

Anyway, I’m hoping to get the Tigra pinup penciled by tonight and up in my store by tomorrow! Oh, I almost forgot… I was approved to post this Boba Fett return from the upcoming Empire Strikes Back 3D set. Once the set is released I’ll probably put it up on eBay… unless someone privately offers me a lump sum, in which case I might have to reconsider. See you guys tomorrow!