How I Work

I get ideas from all over the place. I used to write alot of them down, but over the years I came to realize that I didn't have to. The ideas that I really like keep coming back to me while the other dissolve away somehow. When I get an idea, I usually sketch it very loosely with pencil and paper, just playing with general shapes and sizes. Then I put it away and go do something else for awhile. I'll come back to it hours or even days later and it will be more apparent to me as to what should be done with it. More shadow? An indication of a background? What? It's here that I really like to improvise and doodle. Alot of times there are some nice surprises. Sketches develope that start to suggest a story or a feeling. The fun is that I don't plan it, so it's just as much a surprise to me as it is the casual viewer. The other thing I've done in the last few years is to work on drawings in a series or set. I'll take a very loose idea and then draw it 4, 6, or 10 different ways until I capture the look I was going for. The cool part is that I sometimes end up with multiple drawings that suggest a theme or even a sequence of events that I had no idea existed until I looked at the completed set of drawings !
When I pick a drawing to color I either go with gouache paints or scan it in to the p.c. and use photoshop or whatever is handy there. I came across gouache about 7 years ago doing animation backgrounds. I love it. It can be as transparent or as opaque as you want to make it. it's really rich and colorful.
Here's some past samples.