Not Much Blogging, But Still Arting

I’m probably never blogging in any meaningful way on WordPress ever again, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t still been collecting cards and doing stuff.  In fact, dedicating approximately zero seconds to this blog over the past several months has freed up enough time that even my uncannily lazy & hopelessly unfocused ass has been able to settle down a bit here & there to create a decent amount (for me anyway) of art.  So I figure I might as well show off a few of my better works from the “after I bought a tablet & started using Instagram” era (established early July, 2015).

Rey Star Wars Sketch Cover..

First up is the most recent, a Star Wars Shattered Empire #1 sketch cover of Rey from the upcoming Force Awakens.  I think I spent somewhere between five and six hours on this early Saturday morning.  Turned out alright. 😉

Kyle and Jake..

You’ll notice the faces are more accurate than a lot of my baseball sketch cards these days, because I just grabbed the reference photos off the internets instead of trying to work from a tiny baseball card.  Thanks, tablet!

Bo Jackson sketch card..

See what I mean?  Not a terrible coloring job at least, despite using filtery, washed out A&G as reference.  Meh, I like this card less every single time I look at it.  Let’s just move on.

Lou Gehrig sketch card..

They turn out alright sometimes though. I’m not entirely displeased with my performance on Lou anyway.  Now might be a good time to remind everyone that, while technically I am doing this for my health (I’ve noted before, arting is good for my emotional state), I would very much like to turn my art around for a little extra cash, or at the very least, some nice new cards to add to my personal collection.  So if you see something you like, do not hesitate to leave a comment or email me or tweet me or something so we can work out a deal!

Kershaw!

Moving on, we have this Clayton Kershaw I drew/inked up well before I had the tablet/Instagram, but didn’t get around to coloring until a little while after.

Mr. Terrific..

If you’ve ever noticed I do way more DC sketch cards than Marvel, the reason pretty much entirely is because my dad has way more DC books with excellent photo reference.  He does have lots of Marvel books too, but they aren’t nearly as photo-heavy as the DC ones, which was kinda important when I didn’t have any way to access the interwarbs over there.

Heel & Face Captains..

I’m not sure why I leaned so heavily on dad’s books for reference after I bought the tablet, but apparently I did for at least a little while.

Big Barda sketch card..

This Barda sketch card is a very rare and special occurrence!  It’s one of the only cards I’ve ever completed where I liked the pencils & inks well enough, but felt like my color job almost ruined it.

Charlotte/Becky Lynch sketch card puzzle..

Finishing up with some pro graps art.  First up, this dodgy, cartoony, hastily drawn puzzle of Charlotte & Becky Lynch, leaders of seemingly failed, yet actually technically successful, #DivasRevolution.  I started a Sasha & Bayley puzzle too, but it’s still at pencil stage.  And now for a wrestling rant.  Joy…

So if the idea was to be booked on the same level as the guys, well… they are consistently booked like shit too.  So as much as it sucks to say it, more frequent lengthier matches and a small handful of the women on the show getting even semi-defined characters is probably the best anyone could have reasonably hoped for.  It’s a damn shame mainline WWE is almost entirely unwatchable garbage (NXT is excellent, however), but on that sliding (circling the toilet bowl?) scale, the 8-12% of extra effort they’ve put into the divas since 3/4 of NXT’s Four Horsewomen were called up more-or-less puts the women on equal footing with the men.  Isn’t it a shame that the only really viable game in town right now is basically the Springfield Tire Fire?

NXT’s Asuka/the last thing you see before you die..

It isn’t all bad though.  Whereas mainline WWE is the most shitty wrestling show on the planet right now, their developmental system NXT is the very best (at least until Lucha Underground comes back in 2016).  Longform storytelling in wrestling is such a beautiful thing, and NXT does it very, very well.  The reason Bayley & Sasha Banks at TakOver: Brooklyn was such a huge deal is because that match had been for two years in the making (even if not quite entirely intentionally)!  They do right by both their men and women down there, and it is absolutely mindblowing that the main shows can’t even deliver the slightest hint of gravitas and emotional stakes that NXT does in only an hour a week + a two hour TakeOver special ever couple months or so.

Anyway, the well-traveled and pretty much universally beloved badass Kana recently debuted on NXT under the name Asuka, so I tried to capture the wonderfully terrifying glare she gave Emma & Dana Brooke at the end of her first appearance.

And that’s all I got for now.  Sorry about my not even remotely groundbreaking wrestling rant.  And remember, everything above is available.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our NXT…

Collection Transactions, Part Whatever of Infinity

Finist Prodigies Yu Darvish..

Since I don’t really have anything interesting or useful to add at the moment (haven’t scanned anything since 2/15), but still feel like I should put something on here, I’ll toss up a few scans from January’s COMC shipment that have don’t really have anything to do with anything, and make note of a few updates to the ol’ collection.

First up, now that Robinson Cano has proven playing 82 games a year in a ballpark not designed around his particular set of skills isn’t a hindrance in the slightest, thus strongly negating the Yankee taint of one of the few Yanks I’ve ever really liked, I have added him to the Single Page Sensations page.

The only card relevant to the post.  This is staying on the 2014 Canvas Collection Single Page though..

I’m also adding Kenny Lofton, because he had a stint with the Cubs and is on the all-time underrated team.  He is yet another Hallworthy player that got knocked off after his first shot on the ballot.  Not surprising, since it’s going to be a monumental struggle to get an even better player in Tim Raines in, but still total BS.  Nearly 70 career WAR?  Piss off, jabroni.  Screw the Hall of Fame.

Forget scanned, I don’t even own any pageworthy Loftons yet.  So here, have an Archives Frank Thomas Triumvirate..

I made quintet of new set additions to my Single Page Sensations wantlist: 1996 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallions, 2014 Topps Upper Class, as well as 2015 Topps Spring Fever, purple Toys ‘R Us parallels, and Gallery of Greats.  I’m also making my need of a page apiece of base for every year of Panini Golden Age (non-baseball subjects preferred) a priority, so if you got a pack of any of them laying around, hit me up, I might be able to use some of them.

After getting my hands on a couple, my lone full set addition I’d like to get my hands on is the 40-card, Walmart Exclusive Sting insert set from 2015 Topps WWE.

Gallery of Heroes Vladdy..

Finally, the big one.  Taking a page out of Gavin’s playbook, I want cards of any and all players named Caleb, as well as any variations on the name (Kaleb, Onterio McCalebb, etc).  There are a surprising number of players and a couple non-sport cards bearing the name, but none who have really done anything of note at the pro level, so this shouldn’t be a hard collection to do.  The reason I’m finally breaking down and doing this, without going into details, is a neurotic, therapeutic one.

The only players I know I have a card or two of are Gindl, Clay, and the aforementioned Onterio.  I have no set limitations or expectations on this collection yet.  I’m just going to wait and see where it goes for now.

Ending on a sexier note, with two very talented NXT gals on very different trajectories..

And that’s all I got for now.  Will try to be less half-assed in the future.  Thanks for stopping by!

Gonna fly now…

Now and Then, Here and There

’61 Post Ron Santo..

Time marches on

BowChro Bryant/Moran Dual-ing Die-Cuts..

The days pass

1995 CARDZ WCW Main Event Booker T..

The weeks, the months, the years…

2014 Topps WWE Chrome Adrian Neville NXT Prospects..

As we wander through our lives

Trifecta-completing Brandon Phillips RC..

Lost spirits on this lonesome path

Alshon Jeffery Inception Purple #’ed 41/99..

Uncertain and unwinding

D-Lee Atomic Refractor..

The wrinkles on our brow get a little deeper

Big Cat RC..

The glasses on our face get a little thicker

Rizzo Red, White, and Blue Prizm..

Seasons come and seasons go

Leaf Sports Heroes Dominique Moceanu Red auto 1/3..

Champions are crowned and the losers go home

The greatest RC photo of all-time, Purple Cracked Ice edition..

We lose ourselves in the past

Fridge RC!

Longing for our glory days, safe and certain

’75 Bill Madlock..

Engulfed in the rose-hued haze of memorialized time

’58 Vic Power..

While trying to live for a future left in doubt

Billy McKinney Mini Orange Refractor #’ed 8/50..

When all we have that’s a given

Finest Warriors Taijuan Walker..

Is the right here

2014 Bowman Platinum Carlos Santana Magenta Printing Plate..

And the right now

Bowman Heritage Soler Road to the Show..

Until our next…

A Good Run of Art

Somewhere between 1 1/2 and two weeks leading up to, and including, Christmas, I went on a pretty epic art run.  I drew a few sketch cards & a couple bigger pics of favorite wrestle ladies, and started a big random DC Comics group shot Chrimmus night, thanks to dad having one of his big comic encyclopedias handy.  I also did 20 NSFW pics over the span, mostly concept work for an idea I had.  You… won’t be seeing any of them here.  They aren’t that good anyway.  Sorry to get your hopes up. 😛

Aside from the group shot (no photo taken yet, not that far along anyway), I will show you the SFW stuff though!  You can still fap to it if you want.  I won’t judge (much).

First up, here’s ridiculously beautiful, the delightfully geeky, Japan tour-bound, New Zealand-based future wrestling legend Evie!

I’m not saying I’m in love, but, uh, maybe.. \(♥o♥)/

I have had a crush on Evie since the first time I drew her.  This is not unusual.  I am a lonesome bum and I almost always get brief mini-crushes on the pretty ladies I like to draw.  But this crush, it just don’t wanna go away. *le sigh*

Keep moving.  How about another beautiful and talented and geeky rising wrestling starlet I may or may not have a crush on?  Hit me with dat sweet, sweet Hania Huntress sketch

Hania Huntress, who is TOTALLY not an unmasked Saturyne..

Someday I will draw the She-Wolf far enough down her badass body for you to see her epic abs, but alas today is not that day.  Shame too, because she was rocking them in the pic I drew this from.

Now onto the sketch cards…

ECIII..

Ethan Carter III, whom you may remember as Derrick Bateman if you watched NXT.  He is an entertaining feller.

MMA legend Bas Rutten..

I opened up the twitter suggestion box at the beginning of this run, and my brilliant punster/MMA guru friend LegKickTKO chose him.

The Estonian Thunderfrog. Let that sink in… ESTONIAN. THUNDERFROG.

It was late, so I only got two suggestions.  And this is the other, from D aka Heinekenrana, aka one of the coolest people EVER.  Estonian Thunderfrog is amazing and one of the best reasons I can think of that you should support indie wrestling, by the way.

Roman Reigns is Papa-Romeo-Echo-Tango-Tango-Yankee. Pretty.

The Shield’s spearing machine/pretty boy/heavy/monstabeast Roman Reigns.  You are all now pregnant.  Even the guys looking at this.  Especially the guys looking at this.

NXT’s Tyler Breeze..

Speaking of pretty boy wrestlers, though in a less macho, more selfie-taking way, presenting Tyler Breeze.  The glittery gel pens don’t show up so well in scans, but trust me, the background is full of sparkles befitting such a superstar.

KANA..

KANA is a pretty big star in Japan and the ‘Murcan indies.  I’d been meaning to draw her for awhile.  She happened to become a topic of conversation that I had no involvement in, that nonetheless spilled into my timeline during my art binge, so she got drawn.

Hey, it’s Evie again..

Oof, right in the feels.  I feel like I’m going out of my mind when she crosses it.  And I kinda like the way that feels.  Closing out this post and the year 2013 with a sketch card of Evie, because I can’t not…

And now that I’ve made a fool of myself, onward to 2014!  Happy New Year, everybody.

Until our next…