ART by TRT

grandma

2012-02-12T01:03:00.003-06:00

Its been waaaay to long since ive posted here on my blog, so to anyone wanting to see new work on a regular basis, im sorry. Anyway, i managed to squeeze some time out of my hectic work schedule and paint this portrait of my grandmother for her 80th birthday. i hope to be posting some more work here soon so stay posted. peace.

Walter White

2011-09-21T06:18:00.002-05:00

finally finished.

Heisenberg sketch

2011-09-01T06:31:00.001-05:00

Rick Ross

2011-08-13T16:26:00.004-05:00

been a couple weeks since ive posted, but i can happily say that the big gap in between posts has been because ive been busy working on other projects instead of me being lazy and playing mortal kombat all day. anyway, i did a quick sketch of Rick Ross the other day and i liked how it turned out so much that i decided to go ahead and do a finished painting. check out the finish as well as the sketch it started from below, hope you enjoy and i hope to share more stuff soon.

2pac

2011-07-20T05:09:00.002-05:00

IM BAAAAACK & MGK

2011-07-11T23:00:00.005-05:00

its been a very long while since ive posted anything, but i am happy to say that i am drawing again and am able to to share some new stuff with everyone. Anyway, I'm making the return with a painting of one of the best up and coming hip hop artists out right now. for those who dont know (and unfortunately a lot of ya dont) this is Cleveland's own Machine Gun Kelly. If you are a hip hop fan in any way you owe it to yourself to check out his mixtape, you wont regret it. As for the painting part, i mostly was just trying to get the rust off after not drawing for so long. i had fun working on it, especially the tatt's but of course i see a few things i could improve upon. in addition to the painting i did a little movie poster version thats a play on the old "Machine Gun Kelly" movie starring Charles Bronson. I hope to be able to keep the artwork coming on a regular basis from now on so this should be the first of many new things. as always i hope you dig the image, and be sure to comment and follow me on twitter or the new facebook fan page which should launch in full soon. peace.

Give the Drummer Some...

2011-04-15T23:50:00.003-05:00

for those of you who dont recognize, this is the man simply known as ?uestlove. he is without a doubt one of the best drummers walking planet earth and a key part of what is essentially the greatest hip hop "band" of all time, the ROOTS. had a lot of fun trying some different stuff with this one. i wanted to see if i could get it to look more like a traditional painting than a digital one. i think i achieved that in some ways, but it could still be improved. anyway this was just a fun experiment, hopefully i have some more stuff to show sooner than later. peace

Progress with Blade

2011-04-08T20:43:00.005-05:00

At least once a year i go back and look at some of my earlier work and i re-do the piece just as a way to see what ive learned and how far ive come. this is about the 4th time ive done this and its something im gonna try and keep going. the first piece here is one i did about 3 years ago now. In fact this was actually the first caricature i ever painted. the latter is my take on the same image 3 years later plus 3 years of experience and knowledge. neither are perfect, but i can definitely see a lot of improvement and progression when i compare the two. hopefully i can continue to grow and learn as an artist and these paintings will get better and better. hopefully i will post some more stuff soon, peace.

"The Fighter"

2011-03-26T17:35:00.003-05:00

Christian Bale in his Oscar winning role as Dicky Eklund in "The Fighter". Awesome movie, if you havent seen it, check it out.

just a taste...

2011-02-23T05:08:00.002-06:00

whats up all, its been a while since ive really posted anything here, mostly because my life outside of art has been pretty busy as of late and its left me with little time to do anything.well one of the projects i managed to work on during the insanity is a piece for a book by the amazing artist dave wilkins. if you dont know who dave is, stop reading and google him, his work is SICK. anyway dave has created his very own comic and i am honored to have been chosen to do a piece for the hardcover release. i dont wanna give it all away so here is just a small taste of my contribution, be sure to pick up dave's book to see the rest of my piece as well as all the other awesome art in it. i'll post when i find out more about when the book, EL ZOMBO FANTASMA: MICHELDA EDITION will be available

MLK Finish

2011-01-26T03:58:00.002-06:00

MLK Sketch

2011-01-22T02:34:00.002-06:00

I had a really slow evening at work so i decided to mess around in the sketchbook pro a little and ended up with this. It has a few things that bother me, but i like how it turned out overall so I'll probably paint it if time allows and fix all the little quirks. will post more soon, PEACE

Zach Galifanakas

2011-01-18T22:55:00.004-06:00

last week i gave 4 or 5 options on who i should do my next caricature of and the vast majority of my friends voted for Zach Galifanakas. I had just watched dinner for schmucks which he is hilarious in, so i went with his character Therman. Not to much to say about this really, just playing around and having fun drawing and painting, hope you like it and there will be more to come soon.

Wiz Khalifa

2011-01-10T01:43:00.002-06:00

It's a trick..... Get an Axe

2010-12-16T21:28:00.002-06:00

Whats up everyone, just taking a quick second to share what ive been working on lately. For those that dont know this is B movie icon Bruce Campbell in what is probably his most famous role as Ash from the Evil Dead trilogy. i ended up doing this piece as a special request of a few friends of mine, so i hope they as well as all of you enjoy it. Now on to some more sketching, hopefully i will post some more stuff soon. Happy Holidays to everyone, PEACE

The Rock

2010-11-25T02:48:00.004-06:00

As ive said before the freelance stuff thankfully has kept me pretty busy lately, but it leaves me with little time to paint stuff for myself. I had not really planned on doing this painting, but when saw The Rock was the subject for the monthly caricature contest on Wittigraphy.com, i had to try and make some time for it. I with no question love Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I started watching professional wrestling right before the big boom in the late 90's and The Rock is the main reason i tuned in every week. Everything from the "roody poo candy ass" stuff to "layin the smackdown" to "know your role" all the way to the covering Elvis with "the smackdown hotel", i ate up all of it. To me the Rock is one of the greatest shit talkers of all time, and to this day, some 10 years after he left WWE, no one even comes close to him on the mic. Anyway with me being such a huge fan i of course had a great time painting this one. Though he's probably more well known for his acting roles these days, i wanted to focus on what first drew me to his character. The shades, the gold, the brahma bull tattoo and of course the "peoples eyebrow", are the essence of what the rock was back in those days and i had a blast painting every bit of it. Anyway its late and I'm turning in for some much needed rest. hope you all enjoy and i will be posting more stuff soon.

Goodfellas

2010-11-05T22:10:00.002-05:00

Another long gap in posting on here, unbelievable how fast a month can go by. Ive been pretty busy as of late with the 9 to 5 and a few projects that hopefully i will be able to talk about when the time is right. With so much going on at once ive had almost zero time to do any personal work, but i have found time to work on this piece off and on over the past few weeks and i finally have it to a point where i dont feel ashamed to share it. For those who dont know this is my take on the poster for the movie Goodfellas, which is seriously one the best films ever made and one of my favorites of all time. Its one of those flicks that i can go back and watch over and over again, which would explain why ive seen it at least 50 times. i remember a time when i was in college where i came home and watched Goodfellas start to finish every day for 8 days straight.If you happen to have never had the privilege of seeing this film, stop reading right now and go watch it. Anyway , i hope you enjoy the post and hopefully i will be able to post some more sketches and finished stuff sooner than later

Finished Biggie

2010-09-25T06:14:00.003-05:00

As i said before, I still feel really rusty lately, but i am trying my best to weather that storm. the quick sketch i posted earlier wasnt good enough for me so i decided to take the Biggie piece to a more finished state. i think im happy with how its turned out, i took some good advice from the great Jason Seiler and tried to keep things a bit looser than i normally do. I think it worked out pretty well. Any way i just felt like sharing the finish, hopefully i will be able to post some more stuff sooner than later. Also i need to shout out a local artist in my city Bill Scoular, and his Skooladesign. this guy is married to a co worker of mine and is seriously ill. He did a wood cut of Biggie that was a huge inspiration for me to paint this . be sure to check him out.

back with biggie and barker

2010-09-10T02:01:00.005-05:00

i feel like its been forever since ive posted anything on this blog. Over the past month or so ive been really busy with jobs that i unfortunately cant share. Between that work and my regular 9 to 5, i have had basically no time to draw anything for myself. things are finally starting to slow down and ive been able to get back to the caricatures though i feel a bit "rusty". anyway i decided to post a couple of the sketches i was able to get to a decent stopping point this week. First up is legendary MC Notorious BIG followed by kick ass drummer Travis Barker. hope you all enjoy. also im gonna try and paint at least one of these, hopefully it wont be such a huge gap in finished work like its been lately. anyway gotta paint, ONE

President Obama

2010-07-30T05:49:00.003-05:00

I kind of feel bad because Obama has been in office almost 2 years and a major public figure for almost 5, yet this is the first time ive actually done a finished painting of him. Honestly not sure why it took me so long to do especially since he is one of those people who in my opinion HAS to be drawn. Love him or hate him, any body who has even thought about calling themselves a caricature artist has at least done a sketch of this guy over the past few years and i guess i just felt it was time i throw my hat in the ring. had fun painting this one, i tried out a few things i hadnt done before, some i will continue to do, some i wont. the experimentation is all part of the process i guess. On a side note, ive had a few people question as to how i work on my pieces suggesting im using some sort of photo- manipulation or photoshop filters. i assure you everything is 100% drawing and painting, no short cuts, no warping of photos; and just to prove my point ive included the horrible 25 min sketch this painting started as. anyway i hope you all enjoy, PEACE

Eva Mendes

2010-07-18T21:34:00.002-05:00

Its been a while since ive posted anything here. That has mostly been due to the fact that ive been working on a couple of things that i unfortunately cant post right now, but might share when the time comes. Anyway i had a break in the stuff ive been working on and decided to do a painting of actress Eva Mendes for a contest over on Wittygrapgy.com. She was actually pretty fun to paint though its hard for me to exaggerate things and still get across how beautiful she is. anyway back to work and hope you enjoy the painting.

True Blood

2010-06-15T00:44:00.002-05:00

About a year or so ago i posted a painting i did of Alexander Skarsgard who plays Eric in one of my Favorite shows, True Blood. Well the new season of True Blood started last night so i decided to do another painting, this time of the shows two main characters Sookie and Bill. Got a few things im workin on so im back to the drawing board, peace.

Isaac Hayes Sketch

2010-06-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

Ice Cube Sketch

2010-06-06T03:13:00.003-05:00

T.I. Sketch

2010-05-30T20:34:00.003-05:00

I've found myself listening to a lot of T.I. lately so i decided to do a quick sketch of him this after noon. this was probably about an hour or so drawing

1,2, Freddy's Coming for You.....

2010-05-27T00:11:00.004-05:00

I decided to do a painting of my personal favorite, and quite possibly the greatest horror movie icon ever created, Freddy Kruger.I admit its a bit ironic for me to be painting this guy, mostly because he scared the absolute piss out of me as a kid. I have very vivid memories of running from my grandmothers living room with my eyes shut because the commercial for "the dream master" just clicked on in the middle of me watching nick at nite. i also remember avoiding my living room for the entire time my dad had "Freddy's Dead" checked out from the video store. I couldn't even look at the box without getting genuinely scared. Long story short, as i got older i got over my fear of Mr. Kruger and now i cant get enough of the guy. I recently went to see the remake of the original with Jackie Earl Haley taking on the iconic role; and though he can never touch Robert Englund, he did a good job. More importantly it inspired me to do this painting paying homage to the original Springwood terror. hope you dig it

Mike Tyson

2010-05-07T20:32:00.003-05:00

Whats up everybody, posting the finished version of the Mike Tyson sketch i started a few days back. after much thought i decided to keep it as i had it in the sketch; with the black and white finish and a splash of color in the gloves. special shout out to Mike Eppe and Scott for your input. A few people have mentioned wanting to see some of my process so i decided to include some photos of this piece as it progressed from start to finish. hope everyone enjoys. back 2 work.

Tyson Sketch

2010-05-03T01:13:00.003-05:00

Ive always been a fan of Mike Tyson. In fact i was one of those people where the crazier he would seem to act in the media, the more i liked him. even after the ear biting and the insane post fight interviews, i was a fan. The other day a friend sent me a video of something i thought that i would never see. Mike Tyson at a tea party. Thats right, iron mike, the baddest man on the planet sitting down to tea. it was just bizarre. The entire time i thought Mike was gonna snap and literally fold his interviewer in half, especially when he offered Mike cannoli (apparently he loathes them). Anyway after watching that video i got this urge to draw Mike, so today i did this sketch of him in his glory days.
You can check out the video of Mike's tea party here

Nelson Mandela

2010-04-18T20:15:00.002-05:00

Mandela Sketch

2010-04-03T04:38:00.002-05:00

Hulk Hogan Sketch

2010-03-28T02:34:00.002-05:00

Whats up everybody. just messin around in sketchbook pro again and decided to make a post of it. This time i went with the immortal Hulk Hogan. No real purpose behind this on, just kinda playin around havin fun. more stuff to come soon.

MJ again

2010-03-25T15:42:00.005-05:00

What's up everybody. Just posting another quick sketch i finished up last night. I drew this same pic back in the beginning of December but never got around to doing a finished painting of it. if you go back a little you can see where i posted it here on the blog. Anyway, i finally got around to painting the original and decided i wasnt happy with it at all. I then decided that it would be better to just do the sketch all over again. Since the two are pretty much the same sketch, they arent worlds apart, but this time round i tried to pay more attention to exaggeration, having cool and interesting shapes, contrast, and just have more fun with it. i think i like the second one much better. hopefully i can find time to make to paint it soon.

Tapout again

2010-03-21T02:39:00.000-05:00

whats up all. After i shared the caricature of my friend Shawn a few weeks ago, i got few requests from people to have paintings done. Out of all the requests i got, the one i was most excited to get started on was his father Andy. I can honestly say Andy is a damn cool guy as well as a UFC fan, so i decided to give him the works for his caricature. hope "Tapout" enjoys the final product and that i dont get my ankle broken if he doesn't. As i said in an earlier post Ive been trying to draw a lot more so expect more sketches and hopefully more finished work too. PEACE

Return of the Dragon

2010-03-16T04:08:00.002-05:00

Whats up all, just felt like sharing another sketch i finished recently. I ve been trying to draw a lot more and improve on my structure and shapes which would explain the lack of finished paintings lately. anyway i love Bruce Lee and i was satisfied with how this one turned out. the hands got kinda funny on me, but im just havin fun on this one so i ran with it. forgot it can be fun to just mess around and draw. I should be posting more stuff soon so stay focused, hope everyone enjoys.

Tapout

2010-03-11T02:09:00.003-06:00

Ive fallen into another one of those drawing slumps again, but im slowly working my way out. this is the first drawing ive done in a few days that i'm happy with so i'm sharing. The caricature i did of my friend shawn a couple weeks back was a real big hit with his friends and family. So much so that his parents asked me to hook them up with caricatures too. his mom and dad, and their good friend Terry are awesome people so i'm more than happy to do it. anyway this is the sketch i'll be painting of my friend shawn's dad, Tapout.. i mean Andy. hope he digs the sketch as well as the final painting which i will be posting as soon as its finished. im kinda busy painting different things for different people so hopefully it wont take too long.

Progress...

2010-02-27T13:09:00.006-06:00

One of my favorite things about doing art is the progress you make as an artist. There arent too many things you can do that constantly provide you with some sort of idea of how much you have improved. I just like the fact that i can go to work from 5 years ago, 2 years ago, or even a couple months ago and see some sort of change for the better. With that said this here is my good friend Shawn. I did a less than stellar caricature of him about 2 years ago which you can see here, and i thought i would give it another shot. If you clicked the link above i think you'll be able to see the difference in basically everything. on a side note, in addition to being my friend, Shawn is a HUGE star trek geek so i felt i had no option but to paint him in the star fleet uniform. he got a laugh out of it, hopefully you all will enjoy as well.

lucy liu

2010-02-17T03:19:00.004-06:00

Did this for a monthly drawing contest on wittygraphy.com. for some reason i had a lot of trouble nailing her likeness, but hopefully it reads as her. i might do some more tweaking to it here and there but for now its on to the next one

Kobe Bryant

2010-02-04T18:54:00.003-06:00

There will NEVER be another Michael Jordan. Period. but if anybody is gonna come close, my vote is for this guy

Dr Cornel West

2010-01-24T15:26:00.003-06:00

Scarface

2010-01-15T16:08:00.002-06:00

One of the best characters, played by one of the best actors, in one of the best movies of all time. probably doesn't have the same impact as it did in the late 80's but still a great movie. if you haven't seen it, make sure you do.

Michael Jackson Again....

2009-12-22T17:53:00.003-06:00

did a version of this one as a gift for a huge Michael Jackson fan in my family, hope she as well as all of you dig it. happy holidays

Michael Jordan Sketch

2009-12-10T22:02:00.002-06:00

Jason Seiler!

2009-12-03T00:02:00.006-06:00

I did this painting of master caricature artist Jason Seiler for the latest drawing challenge on the chiustream website. There are a few things i may touch up with this one, but given the short amount of time i worked on it, im ok with how it turned out. i give Jason a ton of credit for making me a better artist so i hope he approves. if you see this before the voting closes be sure to head over to the chiustream section on schoolism.com to vote for your favorite version of mr Seiler. Peace

Samoa Joe

2009-11-30T16:11:00.002-06:00

Alright, i admit i like professional wrestling. some friends try and give me a hard time about it, but i admit i still check it out from time to time. I got into it during the huge craze that took the world over in the mid 90's and its just stuck with me. I loved seeing the undertaker sacrifice people, stone cold beat up on vince, the NWO, DX, Goldberg, and watching the rock be the rock.Im not as big on it as i was back in the day, but i still find joy in watching a grown man get hit with a steel chair or get powerbombed through a table. Anyway ive been watching a bit of TNA wrestling lately and decided to do a painting of possibly my favorite wrestler currently, Samoa Joe. i know the guy doesnt look the typical roid rage wrestler build, but trust me, son is nice in the ring. speaking of pro wrestling, be sure to check my man Lash LeRoux. Not only is he a professional wrestler, but he is a very talented artist as well. anyway, back to work, PEACE.

The Godfather

2009-11-22T14:18:00.002-06:00

Curits "50 Cent" Jackson

2009-11-18T04:15:00.002-06:00

ive been listening to 50 cent's new album "before i self destruct" since it leaked a couple weeks ago and i gotta say im really liking it. anyway, since ive been getting back into his music lately i decided to go ahead and paint the sketch i posted last week, hope you enjoy

Godfather Sketch

2009-11-13T22:06:00.002-06:00

Scarface Sketch

2009-11-12T21:06:00.003-06:00

Ali Larter

2009-11-10T23:45:00.003-06:00

decided to do a quick painting of actress Ali Larter. im a fan of her and all the different roles she plays on heroes, even if that show has gotten out of control in a bad way over the past couple seasons. She also stars in the movie "obsessed" along side Beyonce and Idris Elba and i half to say its not half bad either. i decided to try a different coloring technique than i normally use to see how i felt about the results. i think the color version is alright but it has its flaws and i cant decide which version i like better. might just have to keep playing with it

50 cent sketches

2009-11-09T00:01:00.003-06:00

Michael Steele & Slaughterhouse in progress...

2009-11-01T22:45:00.002-06:00

well, thanks to some great advice from Jason Seiler and some patience, i think that big slump ive been in lately is officially over. now the only problem im suffering from is working on too much stuff at once. i much prefer this problem by the way. with that said im just throwing up some of the stuff ive been working on as of late. nothing special, just some quick maybe 30-45 min sketches ive done for some stuff i plan on finishing in the near future. so here goes the new head of the RNC michael steele and 50% of the rap supergroup slaugterhouse. hope you enjoy, more stuff coming soon

Beyonce

2009-10-20T23:34:00.005-05:00

Its been a while since i have posted anything, mostly because ive been in a crazy slump lately. anyway i decided to share one of the paintings that i finished recently, hope you enjoy.

Jay-Z

2009-09-30T04:02:00.014-05:00

I kept messing around with the Jay-Z sketches i posted earlier this week and decided to go ahead and finish up one of em. that shirt was a MONSTER but i think it turned out OK. Dont know how much plaid im gonna be hand painting in the future though. Anyway, back to work, and check out the link below and pick up blueprint 3 if you haven't already. Peace

Some Quick Stuff

2009-09-26T01:00:00.004-05:00

How time does fly. One day you're posting new work then the next thing you know its two and a half weeks later and you've done nothing. anyway i figured its time to get out of my artists block mindset and share some work. these are in no way finished pieces, but i might take it there one of these days. ive been listening to a lot of Blueprint 3 since it dropped on the 8th, so i decided to do some quick sketches of J-Hova himself. hopefully i can share some more finished work soon

Juice

2009-09-10T18:59:00.004-05:00

i was going though my DVD collection a few days back and came across my copy of Juice. not sure what it was, but something about the cover struck me as cool and i decided to try and caricature it. i didn't push the exaggeration as far as i wanted, but im still happy with how it came out. The movie itself is excellent. I remember seeing it for the the first time when i was about 9 years old and thinking how disturbing Tupac's character Bishop was. at first glance you might think its just a shoot em up movie set in an urban environment. when you really sit down and watch you see its really an example of what power, violence, greed and the need for respect can do to even the closest of friends. the best reason to watch this movie is Pac. even though it was his first film, it may very well be his best. his portrayal of Bishop is something you just gotta see. for those not familiar with the flick, the trailer is below. take some time out and peep it.

Wanna do bad things with you......

2009-09-05T22:59:00.005-05:00

Ive recently realized how big of a fan i am of the HBO show True Blood. I picked up on it toward the end of the first season and it was pretty good, but something about this new season really hooked me. Now my anticipation for the final episode of season two made me realize i cant get enough of it. For those who havent seen it, take the time to check out the first season on dvd, im sure you will be addicted. and for the twilight fans, this is basically everything that pathetic franchise wishes it could be and more. By the way i hate Twilight, sorry kids. Anyway to stay on topic i decided to caricature one of my favorite characters from the the show. Bon Temps own vampire sherrif Eric Northman

GFK

2009-08-21T09:03:00.002-05:00

I finally got my Ghostface Killah painting to a point where I'm comfortable showing it to people and calling it done. i enjoyed painting this one even though the leather drove me nuts. gonna go do more sketching, hopefully SLAUGHTERHOUSE will be my next project.

Ghostface Killah sketch

2009-08-09T21:00:00.002-05:00

for those not familiar with the music, this Ironman,aka Tony Stark, aka Ghostdini, aka wizard of poetry,aka pretty Toney aka Tonetana, better known as Ghostface Killah. Ghostface is one of the more prominent members of the Wu Tang Clan and one of my favorite musicians ever.The guy simply has a style all his own. wordplay, stories, flow, ghost has it all.I actually had the pleasure of meeting Ghost in a Holiday Inn about a year ago and all i can say is Ghost is real. Anyway ive been on a big Wu Tang kick lately so i decided to do a sketch of Ironman himself. for anybody who has never heard Ghostface, check the link below. this is one of the greatest songs ever written. no matter where you are from, this song touches you

Finished Robert Di Nero

2009-08-05T23:01:00.003-05:00

final version of the Robert Di Nero painting ive been working on for the past few days.

Di Nero WIP

2009-08-02T20:00:00.002-05:00

pretty straight forward on this post. some people have asked to see what some of my stuff looks like as its developed so i decided to throw up the early stages of my current painting of Robert Di Nero. this is just the block in stage with a little extra attention paid to the eyes and mouth. the original sketch is posted below if you wanna see how it started.

Schoolism???

2009-07-29T14:57:00.003-05:00

Since i started my blog and website I've had a few people ask me how much i benefited as an artist from taking classes through the schoolism.com online courses. though i always sing the praises of school whenever i am asked, i think its easier to show you than it is to tell you. As i stated in a earlier post I'm currently working on a few paintings that may or may not end up hanging in Antonio's Pizzeria, the new restaurant a friend is involved in. one of the signature sandwiches on their menu is the" Tony Soprano" and since I am a huge fan of that show i thought he was good person to start with. Well how does that fit with Schoolism? I'll tell you. while working on this piece i came across an old painting i did of Tony Soprano in summer 2007. i think you can see the differences between the two. So for anybody that is on the fence about signing up for a schoolism course, DO IT. It is some of the best money you will ever spend.

Birdman Continued...

2009-07-26T02:33:00.001-05:00

Birdman Sketch

2009-07-21T18:15:00.001-05:00

say what you will about his questionable past, but Chris "Birdman" Andersen is probably the coolest person in the NBA today. very seldom do you see people in the sports world shine just because they are damn cool. people love Lebron and Kobe because they are amazing athletes, people love Birdman because he is energitic, has awesome tattoo's and even cooler hair. oh did i mention he isnt half bad on the court too.

Antonio's & Robert Di Nero

2009-07-19T14:48:00.001-05:00

i haven't posted anything new in a while and that is mostly due to how busy i have been with life in general over the past two weeks. In addition to my job, caricature work, and my steven silver character design class (which is going really well by the way), one of the things i have been working on is this logo for Antonio's pizzeria. The father of a friend of mine recently became owner of an awesome little pizzeria in KCMO. They already had a logo in place but they asked me to do a little clean up and re-design to see if i could improve things. the one on the far left is the original logo and the other two are some of the proofs i gave to the owner for approval.

we have yet to make any final decisons on what the logo will end up being, but hopefully i can come up with something they will really like. with that said if anybody finds themselves in the rivermarket area in KCMO be sure to stop by Antonio's Pizzeria. It is seriously some of the best pizza i have had in my life, cant wait to go back and get me another slice of "Joe Pesci".

even though i have been a lot busier than usual i still found time to do a quick caricature sketch here and there. While working on the Antonio's logo i had the bright idea to do caricatures of some of the celebrities that have sandwiches and pizza's named after them. there were a lot of greats to pick from but i decided to start with Robert Di Nero, one of my favorite actors ever. godfather II, Casino, Goodfellas, Deer Hunter, Cape Fear, Once upon a time in America, the man is excellent in everything. hopefully i will have more to share soon. PEACE

RIP Michael Jackson

2009-07-09T14:35:00.001-05:00

I cannot begin to say how big of a Michael Jackson fan i was growing up as a kid. I like so many others idolized the man. when he passed it was almost like a member of my family had died. no one will ever come close to recreating the type of magic he gave the world for four decades and music as a whole will never be the same. a lot of negative things have been said about Michael in his lifetime but I just want to take the time and say thank you. Your music has been and will forever be a huge part of the person I am. Rest in peace and much much respect.

Lil Wayne

2009-06-29T00:17:00.001-05:00

pretty straight forward on this one. I painted him about a year or so ago and wanted to see if i could do better. im somewhat happy with the turnout. that neck tattoo is really hard to paint because its so detailed. anyway back to work.

Lil Wayne WIP

2009-06-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

not too much to say about this one. I have painted Wayne in the past and decided i should try to take another shot at it to see if i can improve on his likeness. this is basically just the under painting and i have a ton of stuff to adjust and clean up. right now just sharing the work in progress and hope to finish sometime this week.

Rihanna

2009-06-21T01:07:00.000-05:00

I was looking over some of the stuff i have finished and noticed that i haven't really done very many pieces where the subject is a female. since i don't want this to turn into the "sausagefest" blog, i decided to do a quick painting of R&B songstress Rihanna. She has some great features for caricature and let's face it, that flock of seagulls doo she sports is screaming to be painted. anyway sorry again for neglecting you ladies. will post more soon.

Jamie Foxx / Ray Charles

2009-06-16T03:01:00.000-05:00

I was on google image search the other day and came across this picture of Jamie Foxx in character as Ray Charles. Not sure why but something about the picture stood out and i thought it would look good as a caricature.

Finished Eminem

2009-06-11T00:48:00.000-05:00

Final version of the Eminem painting, I've been listening to Relapse pretty much non stop since it came out and i really wanted to do a caricature of Em. I might try and add some color to it later, but for now I'm happy with black and white.

Eminem WIP

2009-06-09T03:27:00.000-05:00

i haven't posted anything in a few days so i decided to share the Eminem caricature ive been working on. this is the third version of this piece ive worked on over the past week or so. i never thought this guy would have such a hard face to draw. anyway i hope to post a finished version soon. I also started my new character design class today and what ive seen so far is pretty cool. hopefully i will post some work from the class on here too.

Cee-Lo Green

2009-06-02T18:18:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if this guy is a house hold name at this point, so for those who are not familiar with him this is original Goodie Mob member and half of the superstar duo Gnarls Barkley, Cee- Lo Green

Mr Spock Finished

2009-05-27T20:26:00.000-05:00

This is my finished version of the sketch i posted a few days ago. Its actor Zach Quinto as Spock in the new Star Trek movie. Though I do admit to liking the new film I still am in no way a Star Trek fan and i think Zach is WAY cooler as Sylar in Heroes. Anyway I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I still have a ways to go, but i think the painting practice is starting to pay off a little.

Mr Spock

2009-05-25T18:15:00.001-05:00

Okay i gotta start off by saying that i absolutely hate the Star Trek franchise. I dont like the original series, the next generation, deep space nine, or any other incarnations of the show. Still, in spite of all my hatred for everything Star Trek my friends talked me into going to see the new JJ Abraham's Star Trek. I honestly have to admit, it was really good. the whole time travel thing was a bit much but i really enjoyed the movie, and thats saying a lot coming from me. i liked it so much i decided to draw Zach Quinto as Mr Spock. This is also my first sketch using my newly aquired Autodesk Sketchbook pro 2010. its taking a litte getting used to but i really like it so far. i may never draw in photoshop again.I do plan on doing a finished painting of this so check back in a couple days, hopefully it all turns out well.

Blakey Portrait

2009-05-24T19:11:00.000-05:00

I was looking for something to paint up real quick just for practice and to try out some different stuff. the problem was i couldnt decide what i wanted to paint. Then i came across this sketch i did of my cousin Blake over Thanksgiving and thought what the hell why not. I admit i really exaggerated some of his features and based on his reaction, im pretty sure he hates this painting. That of course means i love it that much more. So with that said, take a bow Blakey, i just made you famous.

Bruce Lee

2009-05-18T14:28:00.000-05:00

For people who know me, they are aware that Bruce Lee is one of my favorite people to ever walk this planet. I will watch anything staring or about him and have seen "Enter The Dragon" no fewer than 50 times to date. With that said, the fact that i havent done a finished painting of the man is just insane. So, here is my tribute to the late great Bruce Lee

The D

2009-05-16T18:28:00.001-05:00

its been a while since ive posted anything. one day you take a break to relax and the next thing you know a whole month has gone by and you havent finished anything new. here is my attempt to break the monotony that has been the past few weeks. its probably my favorite rock band ever, Tenacious D. With Kage and Jabels singing, playing, and beign hilarious at the same time, how can you not like the D?

Pudding & Sweaters

2009-04-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

I was going througn some old files the other day and i came across a caricature sketch i did of Bill Cosby a f ew months ago. For some reason when i found it i got this strange urge to paint it. the further i got into it the more it began to look more like a portrait and less like a caricature, but im still happy with the turnout. I keep getting the feeling like I need to put Jell-0 or Pudding pops in the background, but i can't decide. Anyway here is what i have so far, sans the desserts in the background

John Madden

2009-04-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

I have spent the past day and a half painting the sketch i did of NFL announcer and king of obvious commentary John Madden. There are still some things i can go over and work out with this one, but overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out. feedback is welcomed. PEACE

Aggressive Expansion!! part 2

2009-04-11T22:44:00.000-05:00

The itch i had to paint my joker sketch was way stronger than i originally thought. I started off telling myself i was just gonna do the sketch and put it on the back burner for a while. Then i told myself I was just gonna block in the general colors and come back to it later. Well one thing led to another and i ended up finishing the entire thing in day and a half. I had some problems deciding where i wanted to put the "HA HA's" and if i wanted them in at all. also played around with the "why so serious" phrase in there. give me feedback on that if you want because im still not 100% sure. i may post the other versions so you have something to pick from. anyway for now, this is the one i was happiest with, hope you enjoy.

"A guy who can use his arms and legs at the same time"

2009-04-11T12:22:00.000-05:00

I am actually posting this a day late but who cares because yesterday was the great John Madden's birthday! as soon as i realized it was his birthday it was a no brainer as to whether i was going to sketch him or not. In fact, don't be surprised if this turns into a painting. I love Madden, nobody states the obvious quite like he does. The NFL will never be the same when he decides to step away from the booth. Anyway happy belated birthday John. i hope you celebrated with turducken.

Paul Rudd: a race against time and terror to save the planet

2009-04-08T04:10:00.000-05:00

I am currently trying to put out a lot more work and get it done as fast as i can. I've kinda developed a routine on how i like to go about paintings and now im at the stage where i want to cut down on how long it takes to get through that routine. anyway i started a sketch of actor and fellow Kansan Paul Rudd. I decided to take it from a sketch and make it a finished painting. from sketch to finsih this one clocked in at about 4 to 5 hours total. not bad compared to how long other work has taken me.

Burned!!

2009-04-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

I have to say that i have recently become obsessed with the show "Burn Notice" on the USA network. I just picked the first season up on DVD a little bit ago and have already watched it twice. Cant wait for 16th when season 2 drops on DVD. Anyway i wanted to share a painting i did of Jeffery Donovan, the star of my new favorite tv show. will post more stuff soon. PEACE

Colon's B-Day

2009-04-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to former 4 star general, white house secretary of state, and G.W. Bush supporter Colon Powell

Happy Birthday Robert Downey Jr

2009-04-05T00:15:00.000-05:00

Hey all, for those who dont know its Robert Downey Jr aka Iron Man aka Tony Stark's birthday today. I really became a fan after Iron Man and Tropic Thunder so i decided to do a little sketch before i called it a night. im really not that happy with how he turned out, but i figured id share anyway. i may sit down and figure out what exactly about the likeness bothers me someday, but for now here you go. more sketches and hopefully some finished work soon. PEACE

Aggressive Expansion....

2009-04-04T18:19:00.000-05:00

Today is late actor Heath Ledger's birthday. To celebrate i wanted to do a quick caricature sketch of him in his greatest role as the "joker" from The Dark Knight. I just did this for practice and it ended up taking way longer than i thought it would. somewhere around 2 1/2 hours or so. i kinda like how it turned out out so i may paint it one day. anyway, happy birthday Heath, RIP, and im going back to do more sketching.

Happy Birthday Godfather

2009-04-03T21:53:00.000-05:00

Im posting this a little late in the day, but hey its still April 3rd so it counts. anyway today is the birthday of the "godfather" Marlon Brando and i decided to do a quick sketch to celebrate

It has begun......

2009-03-31T03:15:00.001-05:00

hey everybody, this is my first post of what i hope to become many. i plan on using this blog to post up my some of my artwork as well as some of the stuff that wont make its way to my website TorrenThomas.com. hpe you all enjoy, PEACE