My Biggest Project Of The Year

Gavin Cade Vanhoozer

Born December 24th, 2009

The Melting Of An Iron Heart

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy Holidays. Thank you so much for keeping up with the blog this year and leaving such supportive comments. I look forward to sharing more with you in the new year!

Holiday Apology

Saying that you are sorry isn't usually an easy thing to do. It forces you to admit wrongdoing, and generally lets people know that you aren't perfect. In this particular case however... it's easy.

I am SO SORRY for the ridiculous drawing that I posted yesterday. It has to go down as one of the worst pieces of poo that I have ever posted to this blog. I have been busy here at work, and I rushed to get something posted yesterday. Huge mistake. I think that my eyeballs were on break when I decided that the sketch was "post-worthy in any way. Blech, blech, blech... ptooey! I am a professional? (Cough... cough... hack!... cough)

The composition is terrible. The tangents that are created by the characters overlapping make my brain hurt. The line work makes my eye twitch. I could go on and on. Whew... breathe. I actually feel so much better now. Thank you for letting me yell at myself.

And while this is by no means a great drawing, I feel it is in some way a valid re-interpretation of my original intent. I offer it up to you as a slightly better offering for today.

I will now go practice drawing circles and straight lines.

thank you.

What Cliff?

Snowball Assault For The Holidays

May you all have a fun filled weekend.

A Quick Color

I have been really busy here at work, and my mornings have been really short... so I am cheating and throwing some color on an old drawing. I am very tired. Just saying.

Ho And Ho

It's That Time Again

Hello and howdy! Back to the drawing board!

Now that December is upon us, it is time for me to start sketching a Christmas themed drawing or two. My usual method involves many roughs, then a few that go through to a painted piece. Some may even involve robots. Go figure.

On a side note, my holiday blogging will be cut short this year, since I am taking some time off to enjoy the birth of my son! Christmas Eve is the day the baby is set to arrive... but my last day here in the studio is December 18th. I will be off for almost a month, staying close to home and spending some quality time with my amazing family. My hope is that I will be posting several times over that stretch... and I apologize in advance for the baby pictures I am sure to include.

When I return, I will move into the "clean-up" stage on the Wizard of Oz art I have been working on. No worries, it hasn't been forgotten.

Thanks so much for checking the blog, and lets draw a bunch of Christmas art before the holidays!

The Ever Growing Chamber

Thinking In The Chamber

The Wizard's chamber is slowly growing. I didn't have much time this morning, so there is not a tremendous amount of progress to show.

Going forward, I think that I will be taking more time to develop these concepts before I throw them at you. I am still more than likely going to post bits each day, but it may not be the whole piece until I feel the drawing is in a better place. I love sharing my in-between scribbles with you guys at a fast pace, but I also realize that I need to do good work. Sometimes that takes more than a single morning.

Be patient with me!

Pay No Attention...

In the movie "The Wizard of Oz", the wizard's chamber scared the crap out of me as a kid. In my version of the story, the Wizard is still a fairly normal, mild mannered guy... who creates this huge persona using what he knows. Gadgets and steam! I think I will use this as a start for something truly huge... need more smoke and mirrors.