Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
New Stuff!
Well, it's been a while since I've been able to post anything. The good stork brought us a brand spanking new baby boy and he's been taking up A LOT of my time lately. However, through the bouts of crying and feedings I was able to find time to work on a few things. Some of which I can't share at the moment but as soon as I can, you'll see it here! Whoever "you" are that are reading this palaber.
Here's a couple of the covers I had the good fortune to be able to lend my color sensibilites to...
The first one is the cover to the third issue of Jon Pay, Private Investigator. Created and illustrated by my Norwegian brother, who lives in Spain and runs a pizza shop called Charlies American Pizza. I have a hard time believing it my self. Charlie's an uber talented creator of worlds and if so inclined, check out his websites located in the links section.
The second cover is for Moonstone Books. The Phantom #19. This one was pencilled by Marat Mychaels and inked by up and coming superstar inker Adelso Corona. Marat and Adelso are a great team and great guys to boot. I'm honored they sought out my services for their cover.
The third image is by my now frequent collaborator Michael Kasinger(check out his blog in the links). This is a pinup for the Koni Waves tpb published by Arcana Studios. I highly recommend the trade and the finding the original issues. Mark Poulton and Steve Sistilli have put together a great noir-ish supernatural book that just oozes cool and harkens back to the days of Weird Tales and Creepy magazine.
In poker news I recently played in a local charity poker tournament hosted by the Kiwanis Club. $150 buy-in with $150 re-buys and a $100 one time add-on. Their were approximately 35 entries in the tourney and some of these guys were re-buying 4,5,even 6 times! I was determined to make my intial buy-in last as long as possible. I was doing fairly well when we hit the break and I had brought enough money for the add-on, so I took it. Good thing I did. I ended up making the final table of 10 players and was about the third shortest stack. Fortune favored me and I ended finishing "in the money" in 5th place, taking home $500. My biggest pay day this year. For curiosity's sake I've been tallying my poker play for the year for all the games I've played and thus far I've been making a profit. I'll have to see if Lady Luck holds out for me by years end.
...until next time true believers!
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
I'M ALL IN!
It's Texas Hold'em time. Some time since last summer I've been immersing myself into the addictive world of No Limit Texas Hold'em poker and I love it. Recently my buddy held his almost monthly Thurday Night Poker Club game. I've got to make a logo and t-shirts for that. Anyhoo, it ended up being a small game with only 5 of us playing. Still, a good time is always insured with this crowd and this Thursday was not a let down.
I can't recall how many chips my $20 bought me but we had denominations of, .25, 1.00 and 5.00. Blinds started out at .25/.50. And I went in planning to play my best tight aggressive poker. I started off as the small blind and got crappy hole cards so I was more than happy to lay those down. Now the second hand is where things just went loopy. I had 5/8 offsuit in the big blind. Everybody called around to me, so I figured sure what the heck. I've already got my money in. I check to see the flop. The flop hits 3/8/8. Hah ha! I am genius! Three of a kind. I'm fairly certain I have the best hand at this point. The small blind checks and I raise about 1/3 the pot. Everyone folds except my buddy on the button. He calls. Now I'm curious. The turn comes and it's a JACK. Now I'm slightly concerned since he didn't raise before the flop and since he limped in, he could have anything. Maybe even J/8. Some reason I don't think he does so I raise about two thirds the pot. He thinks long and hard, staring me down and re-raises me. Since I've played with him many times before I felt that he was trying to bluff me off this pot so I counter with an All-In bet. Now he's confused. After much deliberation he calls. He' got me chip-wise by a few chips so this might be the end of me. I turn over my 5/8 just as he turns over 7/8! He's got me dominated. I need a 5 on the river or my goose is cooked. A 9 comes on the river and through a total mental breakdown due to the stress of going all-in on the second hand of the night, I assumed his 7/8 beat my 5/8. I'm out. The guys graciously let me buy in for half the original buy so I can still play since I busted out so early. Then, before the next hand is dealt or rather played, the light bulb goes on. The best 5 cards win the hand. 8/8/8/J/9. His 7 and my 5 don't matter. Ugh! I'm an idiot. Fortunately everyone remembers the community cards and agree that it should be a spit pot. Phew! After all the confusion of getting half the chips back from the pot we continued play with a lot more attention to the cards from that point on.
It seemed like everyone had brought there "A" game and I saw a lot of improvement from our new guy. I was happy to see he didn't bust out first this time. Since I was playing pretty tight, my raises pre-flop were getting a decent amount of respect. Most everyone would fold and if I did have some takers, my betting after the flop usually made them muck their hands.
Down to three players now and two hands stick out in my mind. At this point I'm ahead in the chip count slightly. I look down at my hand and...pocket 2's. Okay cool. I'm going to try and get into this pot cheaply and hope I hit another 2 on the flop to make a set. Everyone had limped in and my buddy raises about half the pot after the flop. I don't remember what the exact cards were in the flop but there were definitely 2 face cards. Everyone folded again to me. I was pretty sure I had the best hand before the flop but now, not looking so good. I decide the best course of action is to lay down this hand. No need throwing my chip lead away just yet.
So I take a look at my next hand and KA-BLAM! Pocket 2's again! I'm gonna mix it up this time and raise! Oh yeah. I'm a wild man. I raise it 3 times the big blind and two guys drop out. The flop comes, 2/6/J. Hoo hoo! Got my set. I check and the guy to my left raises about 1/3 the pot. The next guy folds and it's back to me. I call the raise. The turn comes and it's as Ace. I check again hoping his ace made him a pair or better two pair. He raises again. About 1/2 the pot this time. Now I make my move and re-raise him 4 times his raise. That got his attention. He took a really long time studying me and the board. Muttering, "That was a good raise". Finally he made up his mind and mucked his hand. Later I found out he had a pair of Jacks.
Finally we made into heads up action. I had a feeling I would be finishing in the money this night. So what do I know of my opponent? We play together fairly regularly. He's been studying his game and has gotten much better lately. He's fairly loose and likes to see a lot of flops. He'll more often than not try to suck out on the river as cheaply as possible. He believes he can read people very well and plays really loose when he's been drinking. At this point in the game he's most happily inebriated. That's good news for me.
As we're playing I pick up on a huge tell from my esteemed opponent. Each time it's my turn to bet, as I ponder how much to bet, he immediately readies his chips from his stack to his side as if to say, whatever you do, I'm betting. I remember once reading that when an opponent acts strong they're actually weak. I go ahead and test the theory and bet 4 times the big blind. He exhales sharply and immediately mucks his hand. I was fortunate to exploit this tell for too many hands to recall. It was getting a little late and after numerous intoxicated pleas to go all in, I finally obliged once I had a 3 to 1 chip lead. I've got J/8 off suit. Not the strongest hand but I've got to believe his hand isn't that strong either since he's been calling all in so many times. We flip over our cards and he's showing Q/9 off suit. Okay, he's in the lead. He's about 63% chance to win the hand and double up. The flop come K/9/5 rainbow. Crap. He's got a pair now. Though it is a low pair. A Jack would put me in the lead. He's looking at a 85% chance of doubling up. Looking pretty slim for me. Then the turn hits. A 10. Ooof. A Jack will do me no good now. It'll give him a King high straight. My only salvation...a 7. Any one of three 7's left in the deck. About a 6% chance of that happening. We both stand up, cause...well, that's what they do on tv and I'm praying to the poker Gods. Finally my anticipation is sated when the dealer slowly turns over the 7!!! Whoo hoo! Big winner am I. I played my best poker that night and with a little luck, I made some money to buy some cool toys the next week.
Until the next game...as the poker ambassador Mike Sexton would say, "May your cards be live and your pots be monsters."
I can't recall how many chips my $20 bought me but we had denominations of, .25, 1.00 and 5.00. Blinds started out at .25/.50. And I went in planning to play my best tight aggressive poker. I started off as the small blind and got crappy hole cards so I was more than happy to lay those down. Now the second hand is where things just went loopy. I had 5/8 offsuit in the big blind. Everybody called around to me, so I figured sure what the heck. I've already got my money in. I check to see the flop. The flop hits 3/8/8. Hah ha! I am genius! Three of a kind. I'm fairly certain I have the best hand at this point. The small blind checks and I raise about 1/3 the pot. Everyone folds except my buddy on the button. He calls. Now I'm curious. The turn comes and it's a JACK. Now I'm slightly concerned since he didn't raise before the flop and since he limped in, he could have anything. Maybe even J/8. Some reason I don't think he does so I raise about two thirds the pot. He thinks long and hard, staring me down and re-raises me. Since I've played with him many times before I felt that he was trying to bluff me off this pot so I counter with an All-In bet. Now he's confused. After much deliberation he calls. He' got me chip-wise by a few chips so this might be the end of me. I turn over my 5/8 just as he turns over 7/8! He's got me dominated. I need a 5 on the river or my goose is cooked. A 9 comes on the river and through a total mental breakdown due to the stress of going all-in on the second hand of the night, I assumed his 7/8 beat my 5/8. I'm out. The guys graciously let me buy in for half the original buy so I can still play since I busted out so early. Then, before the next hand is dealt or rather played, the light bulb goes on. The best 5 cards win the hand. 8/8/8/J/9. His 7 and my 5 don't matter. Ugh! I'm an idiot. Fortunately everyone remembers the community cards and agree that it should be a spit pot. Phew! After all the confusion of getting half the chips back from the pot we continued play with a lot more attention to the cards from that point on.
It seemed like everyone had brought there "A" game and I saw a lot of improvement from our new guy. I was happy to see he didn't bust out first this time. Since I was playing pretty tight, my raises pre-flop were getting a decent amount of respect. Most everyone would fold and if I did have some takers, my betting after the flop usually made them muck their hands.
Down to three players now and two hands stick out in my mind. At this point I'm ahead in the chip count slightly. I look down at my hand and...pocket 2's. Okay cool. I'm going to try and get into this pot cheaply and hope I hit another 2 on the flop to make a set. Everyone had limped in and my buddy raises about half the pot after the flop. I don't remember what the exact cards were in the flop but there were definitely 2 face cards. Everyone folded again to me. I was pretty sure I had the best hand before the flop but now, not looking so good. I decide the best course of action is to lay down this hand. No need throwing my chip lead away just yet.
So I take a look at my next hand and KA-BLAM! Pocket 2's again! I'm gonna mix it up this time and raise! Oh yeah. I'm a wild man. I raise it 3 times the big blind and two guys drop out. The flop comes, 2/6/J. Hoo hoo! Got my set. I check and the guy to my left raises about 1/3 the pot. The next guy folds and it's back to me. I call the raise. The turn comes and it's as Ace. I check again hoping his ace made him a pair or better two pair. He raises again. About 1/2 the pot this time. Now I make my move and re-raise him 4 times his raise. That got his attention. He took a really long time studying me and the board. Muttering, "That was a good raise". Finally he made up his mind and mucked his hand. Later I found out he had a pair of Jacks.
Finally we made into heads up action. I had a feeling I would be finishing in the money this night. So what do I know of my opponent? We play together fairly regularly. He's been studying his game and has gotten much better lately. He's fairly loose and likes to see a lot of flops. He'll more often than not try to suck out on the river as cheaply as possible. He believes he can read people very well and plays really loose when he's been drinking. At this point in the game he's most happily inebriated. That's good news for me.
As we're playing I pick up on a huge tell from my esteemed opponent. Each time it's my turn to bet, as I ponder how much to bet, he immediately readies his chips from his stack to his side as if to say, whatever you do, I'm betting. I remember once reading that when an opponent acts strong they're actually weak. I go ahead and test the theory and bet 4 times the big blind. He exhales sharply and immediately mucks his hand. I was fortunate to exploit this tell for too many hands to recall. It was getting a little late and after numerous intoxicated pleas to go all in, I finally obliged once I had a 3 to 1 chip lead. I've got J/8 off suit. Not the strongest hand but I've got to believe his hand isn't that strong either since he's been calling all in so many times. We flip over our cards and he's showing Q/9 off suit. Okay, he's in the lead. He's about 63% chance to win the hand and double up. The flop come K/9/5 rainbow. Crap. He's got a pair now. Though it is a low pair. A Jack would put me in the lead. He's looking at a 85% chance of doubling up. Looking pretty slim for me. Then the turn hits. A 10. Ooof. A Jack will do me no good now. It'll give him a King high straight. My only salvation...a 7. Any one of three 7's left in the deck. About a 6% chance of that happening. We both stand up, cause...well, that's what they do on tv and I'm praying to the poker Gods. Finally my anticipation is sated when the dealer slowly turns over the 7!!! Whoo hoo! Big winner am I. I played my best poker that night and with a little luck, I made some money to buy some cool toys the next week.
Until the next game...as the poker ambassador Mike Sexton would say, "May your cards be live and your pots be monsters."
Sunday, March 18, 2007
3 Minute "THING"
The b/w was done by M. Anthony Castrillo for a book called 3 Minute Sketches, in which Marvel comics has given approval for artists to use any character from the Marvel Universe. The originals & published books will be sold and all the money will be given to ACTOR.
This was a lot of fun to color. Any time I get a chance to color Anthony's work I'll jump on it.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
The Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson
This piece was pencilled by Michael Kasinger and colored by me. It might be on the back cover of one of the issues to Clark and Jefferson from Ape Entertainment. Michael and I have been collaborating quit a bit lately and I'm having a great time coloring over his work. You can check my links for Michael's blog, The Art of MEK.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
OFFICE DRAW-OFF: ROBOT COWBOY
I usually don't get to draw that often lately so my offices' monthly draw-off affords me the chance to stretch what little graphite pushing muscles i have these days. And so, the Robot Cowboy. Had a lot of fun using the white pencil on the brown card stock to mess with the highlights. Enjoy!
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