New Year.... New Works... New Possibilities....

Well, its a whole new year.  A chance to do things over, to renew the spirit.....  and most importantly....  to DRAW weird and freaky new things! 

So, late in 2011 I revived some drawings from a few years back and began "renewing" them.  I began with a creature that I like to call Malach.  His name comes from the ancient Hebrew and means simply "messenger" or, another translation that I found, "my messenger."  Other cultures and languages have featured a very similar word, with a similar context, pronunciation and spelling, going back thousands upon thousands of years.  But the Hebrew version fit my character best.  I actually found an interesting character mentioned in the Hebrew Bible who's name was "Malach HaMavet" which translates as "The Angel of Death."  Pretty freaky huh?  Well, freaky is what we do best here in the shop!

But that is not even the freakiest part.  Another piece of mythology that I was able to pick up, while doing some research on fallen angels, was the concept of the "Tetramorph."  I know, I know, this sounds mind bending!  But, I assure you its not!  Catholics probably heard about this growing up in catholic schools.  The Tetramorph is an angelic being with four faces or heads.  The courageous and proud lion (always located on the right), the strength and honor of the ox (always located on the left), and the wisdom and vision of the eagle.  In many of the depictions, these three characters always surround the face or head of Christ (Christ is the center of all things).  These creatures are also highly featured in St. John's Revelations and Ezekiel's nightmarish visions of the Apocalypse as God's messengers of doom...... 

As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10.

Malach is one of the bad guys from my Liddieville Story.  There are many others.  He is one of many in an army of fallen angels lead by none other than Satan himself!  But I have given away too much!  So I will say no more on that subject.  Hopefully, as I develop some characters and rework some of the story, I will be able to make it unfold in its proper context on this website....

In the mean time, I plan on showing some of my sketches and drawings as they progress through production.  Malach is the first of many to come...

Malch in Pen and Pencils, still under construction....

A quick rendering to see how things are working visually...

The latest version as of 02/2012.  Still have a little more work to do on him, but he's getting there..

The latest version as of 02/24/2012.  Getting him ready for a super hero design competition!

HERE HE IS!!!  FINALLY FINISHED!  This fella will be my entry into a design contest for super hero comics sponsored by one of the software packages that I used to draw him.  Further posts to come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL... AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT.... AND A GOOD NEW YEAR!

I am truly sad...  Here I sit wishing that I was at home with my wife and boy.  Two days have now passed since Christmas day, and what a Christmas it was this year!  My boy, all of eighteen months old, summed it up very nicely, in one word...  "WOW!"  That is what he said when he woke up Christmas morning and we went to check out the tree and see what Santa Claus (a.k.a. Ho Ho, in the McCaffrey household) had brought him.  That was a pivotal moment in my life, made simply by my little boy uttering that one little word...  "WOW!"  Wow indeed is all I can say.  I will let the pictures do the talking from here on out.  All I can say is, what a day! 

Please visit the Link located to the right, or click here to visit our Christmas Page....

A Face You Can Fall in Love with...

Now this is the face of an angel...  Kudos to Kim for coming up with the poetic wording...

Halloween Fun During Christmas???!!!

I know what your thinking.... Halloween pictures in the middle of December??!!  Well, sadly, I'm just getting around to posting these....  and the video below...  I hate that I missed his Halloween this year...  The boy looks like he had a ball!



Updates to the Site!

This week I have really been trying to get back on this blog and add some new stuff.  Today I loaded up a new link to Planet Photoshop.  This site offers Photoshop tutorials that are free and require minimum bandwidth to run.  Basically this guy, Corey Barker, runs you through a series of "how to's" on creating neat special effects, text, 3-D applications, lighting..... YOU NAME IT!  The tutorials are simple screen capture recordings of him actually running through the artwork on his computer.  I also like how he makes the lessons user friendly for Mac or PC users.  This guy is the guru of Photoshop as far as I am concerned and I have learned a lot.  Check out the link at the bottom of the site or go here.  www.planetphotoshop.com

If you look closely, you will also notice that i loaded up some new links to some of my favorite bands and their Youtube Channels.  Ironically, I owe the artwork for the banners to some of Corey's lessons on Planet Photoshop.  By pulling images and logos off of the web, I was able to piece together the concepts that are shown on the site, manipulate them, add some fancy text and effects and..... well scroll down and you will see the results.  Oh, and check out the bands while your down that way...

A Father and Son kinda Weekend!

I had the best weekend with my boy!  It was our first father and son weekend alone, just the two of us.  We sure did miss Mommy, but we had a blast.  And I think that Mommy had a blast during her weekend off.  Noah was a good boy too.  He minded me very well for the most part, even when he was a sleepy boy.  He is such a good boy.  Kim and I are so lucky.... No, not lucky so much as "blessed."  This boy is a blessing.  I never thought that I could love or feel this way about another human being.  It is an amazing feeling to walk in his room at night to make sure he is tucked in and just watch him.  (I wish I could sleep that well, without a care in the world except my next ba ba, my next poo, or who is going to change that poo.. Ha Ha!)  I think my favorite part of the day is in the morning, when you first hear him rustling around in his room, and then, all of a sudden you hear, "Ma............ma! Ma........ma!  MA...MA!" Slowly progressing quicker and louder.  Then, sometimes you will hear, "Day.....day!  Day...day!  DAY..DAY!" in the same progression.  I just love that!  Its the best way to start the day.  Christmas is coming soon, and this boy, as far as I'm concerned, is a good boy and is gonna be tops on Santa's list!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL... BLESS YOUR FAMILIES... BLESS YOUR CHILDREN.... BLESS YOU..

My Favorite Family Pics...

My Purty (wife to all of you who don't know who or what that is) is my bestfriend.  She makes me happy beyond belief.  She has given me the most wonderful son and I adore them both.  We have a blast together.  When my boy is up it is time to play, play, play, and play some more!  The whole family gets in on the action, even old Pokie, our happy and loving dog.  Anyway, I wanted to share some of my favorite pics and tell my family that I love them very much...

So many pictures....  So little time... Wish I could put em all on here...