Interlude

While I try and muster the post-holiday energy to make three more installments to my "thankful" miniseries, I thought I'd post a few random sketches that I have put in Limited Edition AGGREGATE copies.

Speaking of that, if you have no idea what AGGREGATE is, well, it's a book of a whole bunch of my drawings. Here's my official ad (which doubles as a pleasant distraction from my ever-languishing website that I promised to update like 5 years ago). The limited edition copies are suddenly going fast - thanks to THIS flattering post by Dan Dos Santos on the most excellent MuddyColors blog.

And speaking of self-centered hyperlinks, I have a long-winded 2010 look-back post on Rottface News if you have the interest.

Hope everyone has had a fantastic year and that y'all have a great New Year's. Thanks for all your look-sees and comments - and to everyone that parted with their money for a copy of my book! Take care and see you in 2011!

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS #7

Armor that favors sex appeal over protecting vital organs.

Why should I be thankful for this? You take away cleavage-accentuating armor and pointy toothed creatures and fantasy art doesn't exist. And I'm left to mow lawns for a living. And I'm not even that good at mowing lawns.

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS #6

We live in the day and age of planned obsolescence. Makes me sick. To think that people actually design crap to perish and need replaced after a very short lifespan, when, obviously even to a layman, they could make it last for decades with little maintenance! Christmas lights and everything tech-based come to mind as the leaders in this frustrating and disgusting practice .

But even with built in short life spans, sometimes you get something that totally defies the system. First of all, I have a Zebra Danio (a tiny inch-long fish) that is at least 6 years old. It has looked like it got stepped on and spent some time in a garbage disposal for the last few years - Many times I thought it was dead - yet, there it is, still flitting around my aquarium - eluding the little mer-grim reaper.

But secondly, is my scanner. It's an AGFA Snapscan 1212 that I think I bought in 1998 or early '99. It has been my workhorse for all those years - scanning no less than 8000 (but probably much much more) drawings and paintings for me in that time. It has long since lost the lid which broke off like 5 years ago. And for the past two years or so, the power line connector has been really touchy so I have to unplug it and then plug it back in to get it to work. But it keeps kicking and doing what I bought it to do - so I keep using it.

Over 11 years of life and use from a computer component is unheard of! Anything that sticks it to greedy-ass companies that design shit to break down so you have to buy a new one more frequently is exactly the kind of thing that warms the cockles of my heart. Bravo to AGFA, even if I have the only 1212 that lasted longer than 4 years, I applaud them for letting this one slip by them on the assembly line.

Yet, I'm seeing the signs of approaching death for the old girl. She's a bit more persnickity about starting up these days - it's taking a bit more attention and fiddling to get it scanning. But, even with death so close, it still works - and I keep scanning.

Thank you, AGFA Snapscan 1212 for your many moons of honorable and courageous service!

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS #5

I love books. I like reading books but those kind I usually borrow or get from the library or possibly buy and then lend/give to someone else. But as far as buying, collecting, and stocking my shelves to their weight limits, I love books with lots of great pictures to look at.

I had a very modest, easily moved collection of books before discovering the greatest store ever. Ever since I discovered this store and gave myself the (mostly justified) reason to build a vast library of reference material, my collection has exploded. I don't know if I can estimate how many books I have purchased from the greatest store ever - but it's a lot. I recently just moved and believe me, there is a lot - and books are heavy (in case you didn't know).

Books of art from Klimt, Homer, Wyeth, Rockwell, Lockwood, Whelan, Berkey, Hildenbrandts, Gurney, Brom, Remington, Poortveilt, Alan Lee, Howe, Ian McCaig, etc - all for dirt-ass cheap. Books of photography - I scoop them up and devour them, too. The greatest store ever's a phenomenal trove of reference books and inspiration - and a dangerous place to be if you're trying to curb spending money!

So, what is this glorious place? Why, Half Price Books, friendo. If you didn't know that already, you have problems with your cerebrum.

Oh how I am thankful for Half Price Books!

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS #4

Speaking of piping hot liquids (as per my previous post):

In the last four or five years, I have become a hot tea junkie - and not because I'm addicted to caffeine - because I'm drinking no-caf stuff most of the time. No, I just really like drinking hot tea. I like iced tea, too - but the hot stuff is where it's at. I even drink it all through the Summer (though I don't come in from a sweaty lawnmowing session and toss back a cup o' steaming chamomile!). But certainly during the cold and dark months, my hot tea consumption goes way up - with green tea being my fave.

I might not ever have another reason to draw something as simple and unremarkable as a teapot ever again so, with that, as I sit here sipping yet another cup of green and staining my teeth, I'm thankful for HOT TEA!

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS #3

I'm no fan of modern technological advancement. Because most of it these days is thrown out there way too soon and was created just to get people to buy shit - and/or replace something they already have even though it works perfectly fine. That's our abominated version of capitalism for ya.

There was a time before this suffocating tide of money-worshipping when inventions and innovations were actually benefitting quality of life - instead of unnecessarily complicating it and thus making us undoubtedly the most annoying organisms in the entire universe. Inventions like the telescope, the screw, the toothbrush, the radio, scissors - all very good and useful. My vote for one of the greatest inventions of all time? The Water Heater - specifically for HOT showers.

So this day I am thankful for HOT SHOWERS. Not showers made hot by hot naked ladies taking a shower (though that makes a more captivating sketch than just a shower head). No, I'm talkin' about temperature hot - as in a degree less than scalding hot. I loves me a nice, near-boiling hot shower. You didn't think I bathed at all, did you? Well, I probably never would if the hot shower was never invented. Aw yeah. In fact, I'm going to go take one right now.

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS #2

There's only a small handful of singers that can give me goosebumps when their pipes go into action. At the top of that list is Mike Patton. And on top of the top of that list is Chris Cornell.

I'm not going to break down every song and album and all that - just suffice it to say when Cornell lets loose with the larynx and lungs, I lean homosexual. Just a tad. Soundgarden was on Conan just the other night - Cornell sounded like he was 20 again and singing with Badmotorfinger abandon!

I was sitting at my booth at IlluxCon with "Like Suicide" in my head and doodled out this little portrait from memory. Such whims as drawing likenesses from memory usually end up a crappy mess - but this one came out well enough.

So, in honor of Soundgarden reforming and the upcoming holiday, I give thanks for Chris Cornell. Well, specifically his voice I guess - but you get what I'm saying.

Appropriate to Thanksgiving and this post, check this: Thank you!

10 THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR BESIDES THE OBVIOUS - #1

It's too easy to be thankful for good health and great family and friends and that I am able to somehow make money painting pictures of dragons and guys with convoluted armor schemes. I take none of that for granted and am thankful daily for it - hourly even!

But way off to the side is that little pocket of minutia that doesn't often get any thanks come November - or any other time of year. I'm here to spread the thanks to those too often unthanked things.

25 days to Thanksgiving. What's one of the things I'm thankful for? Predators. Not the recent movie Predators - that movie was ho-hum at best. I'm talkin' in general. Predators are like, totally awesome to the max.

SKETCH-OF-THE-DAY 100!!!

With a little surge in posts not seen since the early days of my draw-blog, I made my way to Sketch-of-the-day 100! And it only took me about 500+ days to get to that number. Wow. Bad.

I wish I had something more grand to display for this momentous occasion - but, considering the jobs I have beating down on my schedule like a silverback, this is all I had time for - a modest random-sketchbook-doodle. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, and since plugging my book of pencil drawings hasn't gotten a plug in a while - I will take the time to plug my book: Buy my book! Seriously. Do it. Your life can't possibly be complete without it.

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This is an oldy I dug out of a folder of D&D miniature designs that was still lingering on my computer. Ugh - age does not serve many of my D&D miniature drawings very well - but some of them do retain some fun and flair. This one is fairly nice - even if it does look like she has no left arm. The miniature came out nice, too.

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PROPELLERS!!!

In other news, Studio Rottface has moved to Dublin, Ohio! So all y'all Magic: The Gathering folk out there that like to send cards for signing would be advised to e-mail me first (steve2@rottface.com) lest your cards go to my old studio location. Which is now a deep chasm with a river of bewitched magma at the bottom.

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Will I break the 100 entry mark before the end of the year? These days, that seems to be asking a lot. While everyone else was having fun and taking vacations, I spent the Summer slogging through a long chain of decidedly UNfun days - all revolving around the profoundly stressful project of cleaning and "staging" one house for selling, looking for, finding, and buying a new house, and then MOVING into the new house. Now, living amidst boxes, I can say that the worst is over - unfortunately, so is Summer!

I celebrate my melancholy over a lost season by posting a random sketchbook page that I doodled out in some Renton hotel room at the very beginning of Summer so many moons ago....

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Dogs? Not slavering hounds from planes of evil and chaos - but silly ol' dogs? That's right - just when you think I'm going to go fastball high and tight, I throw a change-up and make you look silly. And what's with the baseball analogy?

Anyways, yes - dogs. A good friend wanted to get a little sumthin special for her beau so she requested a drawing of the four dogs that they share their lives with. In a very rare occurrence, I worked directly from photographs - *gasp*! - and exaggerated some of the their features ever so slightly to emphasize character.

This was a fun little side project. But don't expect a series of sketchy dog portraits now though.

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"My Wish is Your Command" is another piece for a Archenemies Magic: The Gathering card. Along with the previous post's "Fauna Shaman", this is one of the most fun pieces I have done for the acclaimed collectable card game. The drawing I am particularly fond of mainly because it took so long to get to. I must have went through a dozen or so iterations of this awkward concept before something finally clicked. Someday soon I will post to final painting but for now, enjoy the pencils!

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Leading up to GenCon, I thought I'd chuck a Magic: The Gathering drawing up on the ol' drawblog. This drawing is for "Fauna Shaman" and the finished painting (which you can see over at ROTTFACE NEWS) is one of my favorite that I have done for Magic. Yeah, you can argue that maybe it isn't my best piece - but a lot of the feelings I have for my artwork comes from how much fun I had creating it. In the case of Fauna Shaman, I had loads of fun.

In fact, I knew going in that this would be a fun painting so I made it a much bigger image than necessary. The cropline for the actual card art is roughly through the middle of Mr. Toad.

Anyway, if you're wondering what my status is for GenCon, again, go on over to ROTTFACE NEWS and waste some more time reading my writings!

SOME THINGS DON'T MAKE THE CUT

It's hard to say how many drawings are in my book AGGREGATE. On the back cover, it says "over 150". That was just a big number thrown out there because I knew it was safely over that. But honestly, I think the number is closer to 200 drawings - but that's because there are lots of little doodles and snippets included - and can I rightly count all of those as separate drawings? Probably. But it's not necessary to count every single one - the buyer of one of these books is definitely getting their money's worth if only in amount of things to look at.

But even with how many pieces got put into the book, I have a whole folder of drawings that didn't. Probably another 100 or so drawings I'd say. Picking artwork for the book was mainly about quality - but I also made cuts based on diversity. And some cuts were made, simply because the book is 80 pages long - not 81. Something had to get left behind. So this piece here was to be the drawing on the last page up until pretty late in the game when I did some reshuffling and reworking. Even though it didn't get in, I thought I'd give it an extra life here on the blog. Enjoy!

CAN YOU GET FUNGUS FROM AGGREGATE?

Are you one of the many people concerned about contracting a harmful or embarrassing fungus from handling AGGREGATE: The Art of Steve Prescott? Studies have shown that 1 out of every 245 million people will be exposed to fungus spores (known as "Myconids") - most notably on page 68 of AGGREGATE. Are you one of those people? Top scientists believe so.

If you are a hypochondriac and are very easily duped by health-related scare tactics, then you are at extremely high risk. But hope is closer than you think. In a Harvard study of 3 people that may have had a fungus problem, symptoms subsided after the purchase of a second or even third copy of AGGREGATE!

If you think you may be at risk, ask a doctor about this delightful book of pencil drawings. Or, just self-diagnose and begin your treatment today!

Contact steve at: steve2@rottface.com for more information.

ANOTHER SNIPPET FROM AGGREGATE!

Most likely for the rest of this gonna-be-crazy Summer I'm going to be posting various pencilworks that I have included in my book: AGGREGATE: The Art of Steve Prescott. I'm doing this for two reasons -

1) to promote my book which everybody should buy if only to reduce the amount of boxes taking up room in my studio!

And 2) because I'm going to be insanely busy with a wide array of projects and work for at least the next two and a half months which will make squeezing in some fresh draw-blog material difficult (but not to be completely counted out!)

Today's post is a preliminary drawing I did for a German card game called : BlueMoon. I did the entire "Buka" set which you can check out HERE.

This particular drawing became THIS PAINTING which was one of my favorites from the whole set. AGGREGATE includes a two-page spread of drawings from this project.

What is this AGGREGATE book I speak of? Go to: ROTTFACE NEWS for more info (second article down.)

AGGREGATE IS NOW READY TO BE HAD!

That's right, people! My books are finally in and ready for the purchasing! Since this is my Draw-Blog, I'll spare you most of the blather and commentary. But, if you insist on a bit more information (not to mention ORDERING information), I then send you to ROTTFACE NEWS.

For the sake of interest and for something worthy of being on my Draw-Blog, I have posted the raw image for the wrap-around cover to my book - sans type and such - as you can see. I actually did this drawing in two separate pieces and just kind of stitched it together taking advantage of the hair texture to hide the seam. The wonders of photoshop.......

SKETCH-OF-THE-DAY 092

I've been a bit preoccupied as of late so I haven't had a chance to come up with a new series of sketches to start. In leu of this lull in ideas and activity, I will instead dig up yet another pencilling from the past. This is an oldy but a goody - one of my favorite little D&D interior drawings despite being near 5 years old I think (maybe 6!). It's a Poison Shadow Lizardfolk considering sinking one of his primitive-but-effective arrows into that trespassing adventurer over there.

AGGREGATE flight status: DELAYED. I will report news when it gets to me. Soon though.

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Z is for Zägh

A mysterious giant bird in Islamic mythology, Zägh is said to have a human head and the ability to understand and speak all the languages of mankind. So basically, a big, weird, translator that is able to fly from one language-barriered conversation to the next.

This manface bird could have been very useful to the Babylonians when they were trying to build their crazy tower. If you recall, the Tower of Babel was supposed to be built high enough to reach heaven - but since it was being built as a testament to the ingenuity and totally-awesomeness of mankind (and not the totally-awesomeness of God), Yahweh came down and bestowed upon the Babylonians citywide language confusion. The Babylonians could not understand one another anymore. The brick layers wanted more mortar but they kept getting tunafish casserole - the architects demanded more buttresses but kept getting slapped in the face. Thusly, their lack of communication halted construction of their ridiculous tower and it fell into ruin.

AGGREGATE update: My 80-page book of delightful pencil drawings, sketches, and doodles is nearing the end of the printing process. If all goes well, I should have the books in a week or less!

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Y is for Yehwe Zogbanu

If you be a hunter wandering around the west African state of Dahomey and you don't mind where you be walkin', you might just stumble into the territory of Yehwe Zogbanu - and that would be quite bad for you (especially if you like being alive and uneaten).

Yehwe is said to be a gigantic, fiendishly predatory giant with 30 horns on his head and body. And he likes to kill and eat hunters that wander into his yard. So next time you see a "No Trespassing" sign - well, consider staying out of there.

On another note, my book AGGREGATE is now going to print!!!! I'm hoping to get the books possibly by the end of March - maybe early April!!!!

Soon.....

Read more at Rottface News!

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ELFY PINUP

This elf chik was a private commission. I do private commissions every once in a while if I can fit them into my schedule - this one was easy and fun enough that I was able to knock it out rather quickly and so it didn't end up causing any problems.

I'll get back to the last two letters of the alphabet of mythological figures in due time - but since it has been a while since my last post, I thought I'd post some decent filler for the time being.

Enjoy!

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X is for Xiang Yao

In Chinese mythology, Xiang Yao is a monstrous serpent with nine human heads that accompanies the black dragon Gong-gong. When these two chums travel around together, where ever they go, their "excrement" turns pristine rivers and lakes into wretched, tainted bogs. Lots of ways to spin THAT into a metaphor about stupid-ass humans.....

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W is for Wendigo

The Wendigo is a malevolent, cannibalistic, and a downright horrible evil spirit common to the lore of north-eastern native American tribes - most notably, the Algonquian Indians. There are many descriptions of this eidolon but most boil down to a gaunt (almost skeletal) humanoid with nightmarish features seen skulking around cold and windy northern boreal forests chowing down on humans. A person can change into a Wendigo or be possessed by one - either causing cannibalism or because of it - not a good thing. And so the Wendigo is kinda the boogeyman of the Algonquians - used to keep tribe kids in line: "Hawk-in-the-Sky, stop biting your brother, you'll turn into a damn Wendigo."

Interestingly, there is a condition called "Wendigo Psychosis" (not kidding) where a sufferer, even in the presence of normal food like Doritos, craves nothing but the delicious flesh of a human - human steaks, human-kabobs, human casserole, human sandwich, human buffalo wings, and human smoothies. You name it - Wendigo Psychotics dig it.

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V is for Vodyanik

Vodyanik is a water spirit in Slavik mythology described as resembling a creepy old man with a fat belly, a hat made out of reeds, and a skirt made out of rushes (that fits the description of most pan handlers, doesn't it?).

Vodyanik can be either a malevolent spirit or a benevolent spirit depending on which side of the bed he wakes up on. If the day starts nicely, he may just overturn fisherman's boats - but if the coffee machine isn't working, he's more likely to drown people trying to bathe in the shallows.

In other news:

Be sure to check out my new Rottface News page: rottfacenews.blogspot.com

Especially if you're in the mood for a long-winded recap of my 2009 tribulations. But low, there are some links in the article for new artwork of mine.

And speaking of new artwork - I might not have a new website up (what else is new) - but I did post a bunch of new paintings there - so check out ROTTFACE.COM for some new stuff, too!

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U is for Unkulunkulu

Unkulunkulu is the supreme deity - the sky god - the Ayatollah of Rock-n-Rolla of the Zulus in southern Africa. As the great defender of warrior nations, Unkulunkulu is also regarded as "He who topples kings" and "He who roars so that all nations are struck with terror". Essentially, he ain't no wuss and he ain't no ball boy.

As such, he arrived in the cosmos and made humans out of grass. Then he sent these silly creatures two messengers - a chameleon carrying the secret of immortality and a lizard with the message of death. Chameleons are ponderous and easily distracted so, of course, the chameleon stopped to eat some ants or something and the lizard got to the Zulus first. Alas, the dumb humans took the message of death and missed on the opportunity of partying through the centuries with Connor McCloud.