My blog was originally supposed to be art-related.  Well, one has to do art in order to post about art.  Two things that are a problem are: 1) time and 2) motivation.

My boys motivate me.  I love drawing with them.  They are also my biggest fans and supporters.

Anyway...  Deviantart.com recently had a Mythology Contest to draw something for a T-shirt.  I love mythology.  I tried drawing something "realistic".  It didn't go well.  It rarely does.  So, I reverted back to my cartooning.  This was the result:  

I don't know if it will win, but I was pretty happy with the result.  This is the most successful minotaur I have drawn to date.  The contest was limited to 5 colors; I am planning on re-coloring this later using whatever colors I want.  I'll probably be drawing more of this guy later.

If you have a Deviantart account, and you want to vote, you can find the art HERE.  Just click "I Want This" to vote.  Thanks.

(If it doesn't win, I may make some products available with the re-colored art through CafePress or something...)

Car Salesmen

Car Salesmen amuse and frighten me.  Mostly, they frighten me.

They wait, patiently, for the right victim.
They circle, like sharks or piranha.
They have a hungry look in their eyes.
They may have been human, once....
...they are something else now....

BORED

I'm at the dealership, originally to get a lube, but now waiting to see what "that noise" is.
I should've brought my iPad, but noooooooooooo.
I just paid dodge-em in the lot with some salespeople.
My research indicates that standing by a Charger is the fastest way to get a salesman interested in you.
Anyway, I brought a sketch pad, and am trying to use it and not play on my phone.
I decided to attempt breaking from my usual subject and style - I decided to draw a monster of unspeakable evil.


...... I ended up with a creature of mildly indeterminable malevolence.
Sigh. I guess I just don't have it in me.

On the bright side, I appear to have plenty of time...

My friend Kristen says: if you're behind on your blog, you need to upload a random cat picture. I had to borrow a cat.

Pacific Sharp Nose Shark: Shark Week Sketch Jam

I missed a day of the Shark Week Sketch Jam, which was the lantern shark. Aaaaaaand then I didn't post my Pacific Sharpnose Shark. So, here are the last few days' worth of Sketch Jam sharks:
Sharpnose, Lantern and Shark Ray.

The last day was a "pick your own shark" day. I chose the Shark Ray because I have never drawn one before and I thought it would be fun.

Bamboo Shark

Day 5 of Shark Week Sketch Jam is the Brown-Banded Bamboo Shark.

Both boys decided to join me for this one.

Shark Week Sketch Jam: Longnose or Saw Shark

Day 3 of the Shark Week Sketch Jam was the Longnose or Saw Shark. Logan and Sean both participated with me today. These should be the last ones drawn in the hospital.

Shark Week Sketch Jam: Thresher Shark

Day 2 of the Shark Week Sketch Jam over at DeviantArt was the Thresher Shark (yesterday). Despite the fact Sean was still in the hospital, we both managed to get our sharks drawn and submitted.
Here's the DeviantArt group: Shark Week Sketch Jam

... or you could just look at them on this blog....

Shark Jam: Hammerhead

I am participating Shark Week Sketch Jam! over on the Deviantart website in honor of Shark Week.

Every day, the moderator will name a shark, and the participants all submit a drawing of that shark to the group page.

DeviantArt: Shark Week Sketch Jam

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I ended up drawing today's shark (Greater Hammerhead) in my son's hospital room. The up side is that he decided to participate as well.

Work that lasts

So...
I was just flipping through the South Carolina Aquarium's website. It is cool that a lot of the pictures I took while I was there are still being used.

There's also a non-working link to Fish Fusion, an interactive I illustrated for the the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. A quick web search showed that it is still alive and well Click Here to Play!

It is neat when things you do last...

(Speaking of which...if you go to the Great Hall gallery of the SCA site, you can see a picture of two little boys using a touchscreen - they're some of my best work.)

Snowtrooper Cartoon #1

Well, the boys and I watched (for the millionth time) The Empire Strikes Back the other day. I had doodled a Snowtrooper a while ago, so I turned it into a little strip.

There are actually 2 more Snowtrooper comics waiting to be scanned, colored and posted.

Enjoy.

DeviantArt postings

Ok, I believe it is safe to say that I am not much for blogging.
I haven't been posting much of anything, other than Facebook, for months now.
I do, however, have a DeviantArt account, if you want to check out a few misc. drawings and doodles.

Matthew Ward's DeviantArt Account

Drawin' and Playin'

I recently happened on a copy of TINY TITANS, a comic book with art by Art Baltazar.
It seemed like a simple, fun style, so I thought I'd try it. Instead of DC characters, I started drawing Marvel heroes. For my first few tries, I thought it came out pretty well.

Pokemon fever

My sons have only recently gotten bitten by the Pokemon bug. While there have been many times I thought I would scream if I heard the word again, it has led to some fun, including making up our own Pokemon. I encourage him to make up his own, develop and draw them. Well, I got sucked into it, too.
This is my first attempt at creating a Pokemon - Sharkor!
I have been informed that this is obviously an "evolved" Pokemon, and apparently I need to come up with the first, unevolved state. I almost think I understand that, which scares me. I'm sure there will be more of these...

World Of Warcraft Comic 2

I got another comic posted as an honorable mention on the World Of Warcraft's monthly comic contest! Click here to see it! (Even though you won't get it if you don't play the game...)
This is fun. My first published comic was many, many years ago in DRAGON magazine. I actually got paid for that one!

*** 6/18/11 Update - WOW has changed their site, so the link doesn't work.  Here's the drawing on my DeviantArt site:  WOW comic #1

Fat Catfish

Hitting the archives again....
This was an image I did for a friend about a year ago. It was for a sign about not over-feeding fish.
So I drew a fat catfish, and added the Stealers' log because she's a fan.
This is one of those drawings that makes me smile just looking at it.

WarCraft Comic 01

This is the comic that got an honorable mention on the World of Warcraft web site's comic contest a little while back. I wasn't sure about posting it originally, but it turns out they actually encourage that sort of thing. I also got an email from the web master suggesting I submit some more, so there's something else I have to work on...
For those who don't play: The big guy is one of the new races in the game - they have all these tentacle-like things hanging off their faces.

Camping Bear

Ok, I'm just going through my computer files, looking for things that might entertain people.
Over time, you'll see a number of camping comics. It is a topic that seems to have an endless supply of humor. Strangely enough, I've never actually BEEN camping.
...probably because these are the types of things that would happen to me...

World of Warcraft Comic, Honorable Mention

I recently submitted a comic to Blizzard's World of Warcraft comic contest. I received notification that it ALMOST won the monthly prize. It still got an honorable mention, and posted on the World Of Warcraft site today.
You can find it by going to the World Of Warcraft site or you can try going directly to it (I don't know if this is going to work) here.

It's a joke on one of the new races in the game, who have these weird tendrils on their faces and heads....

Fanart

Every once in a while, I like to indulge in some fan-art.
Here's Hellboy (official site www.hellboy.com) done in my cartoon-style.
You'll probably see some more comic-heroes in the future.