Moe!

This is Moe Prigoff, from "Storage Wars: Texas". My wife and I started watching it the other night, and now we're hooked. The regular Storage Wars is pretty good, but the Texas version has more interesting characters.  I don't do many caricatures, but this Moe is such a character.. makes it easy.

Jimi in stars

The boy's getting taller again.
And the poop..  wow. Serious poop since we started giving him solid food. Lets just say it's opened my eyes.

Dwarf magic!

Every good RPG has magic. Most of the dwarf king's magic will be channeled through his mighty pick-axe, but he will learn spells from others. These will use different methodology; like tossing balls in the air.

Dwarf Steed

The Dwarf King emerges from a tunnel atop his noble steed. It's sort of a giant hog-dog with horns and a pair of rocky stoney tongues it uses for burrowing! 

Cat hath feasted

It's a big fat cat, chasing a toy on a string. I find it calming to draw fat cats.

King's Pick

The Dwarf King needs a weapon. Many cultures develop weapons from tools that are important to their everyday lives. What's more important to a Dwarf than the tool they use to gather shiney objects?
The King's pick is golden (in color, but not actually  made of gold since gold is far too soft to do any serious mining with) with an aqua haft. He uses it to obliterate stone and enemies alike, stirring up some earth magics along the way.

Broccoli

Momma's been making food for Jimi recently. She started by making rice porridge, which is the traditional way of starting babies on solids in Japan.
This week, we moved on to broccoli. Maybe he doesn't like it, or maybe it's just harder to eat, but for whatever reason, he always spits it out all over the place. The rice porridge, on the other hand, he gobbles up quite neatly. 

Vamporc!

So I been playing Skyrim for a pretty short amount of time, and I'm already a got dang Vampire. I just wanted to hone some friggin daggers, and now I have to feed on blood to keep the ol' tum-tum in check.
I felt that this faux-chibi style artwork best described my petulance.

Sittin Pretty

Thas my boy. He likes to lean back and let his sausage appendages just dangle, droolin like the dickens he is.
Oh my but he is a dickens!

Secret Conversations

The Dwarf King wanders into a cave full of stone elementals. They are deciding what to do with the little monarch.

Utako Fashion!

Utako looking cute in her fall fashion. Wind blows the leaves from the trees these days, it feels like fall in Los Angeles.

Chinnel

Quick sketch of Darwin in a tunnel..  I never get tired of drawing that little squirt.

Ofuro!

In Japan, the bathroom usually has a good sized tub. It's a priority to have a nice tub to soak in after cleaning up.
Jimi really liked this. The first time Utako took him in for his regular bath, he went bonkers. Arms and legs flying everywhere, I think he was ready to start swimming. Maybe once he gets older we'll put him swim class.

Choosin

Just bought Skyrim today! I want to play a hand to hand combat kind of a character, and I was a bit conflicted about whether to go play as an orc or a kajiit (cat person).
The cats are pretty awesome, but if you are gonna tear shit up face to face, I think it's better to be a nasty ol' orc. Then you can get up nice and close with the funky ol' orc breath. Instant KO.

Among the hills and befreshened by breezes

Our hero the Dwarf King finds himself atop a mountain. The inside of this mountain is the only home he's ever known. He's stricken with Agoraphobia!

So this is what I imagine the game will look like, more or less. Isometric angle, blocky shapes, bright colors with an emphasis on teal and a round, bearded guy running around stirring shit up. It's rough, of course, color study/ framework kind of thing. Needs more texture and depth and characters. 

Back from Japan!

During our trip to Japan, there was a sumo tournament under way. I watched some, sketched some, and discovered I really like drawing Sumo wrestlers.

Now, Japan is full of delicious foods, and we enjoyed most all of them: pork tempura, pork nabe, pork ramen (a lot of delicious greasy meat. So good!). After a week, Momma's milk had carried enough of it to little Jimi that he began to resemble a sumo himself.

We had a fantastic trip. My deepest thanks to my in-laws for their warm hospitality.

Break

Takin a little break. Daily posts return on the 23rd!

Leggy

Jimi is really starting to use his legs! It's like an overnight difference. All of a sudden he's using his feet for everything: reaching for toys, wrapping them around my arm, kicking faces. This is a big step in his journey to become independently mobile. It's really exciting for us.
I hope it's also another hint that he's a dancer.

Dropping in!

Runnin around through the caves, you might end up dropping into an underground lake.
Now me, I hate water levels in games. Something about the tension of having to find the next breath. I'm gonna think on it and find a good excuse why he can breath underwater.
(It'll probably be some cheap excuse like a magic amulet or something.)

Dark Sun on the horizon.

My favorite part of the Dark Sun campaign setting has always been the Dragon of Tyr. That is one badass dragon. He can fry you with his brain, or flay your hide with hot sand breath, or cast wicked spells all over you so complex Voldemort couldn't even recognize what was happening. He doesn't sit on a horde of treasure, he wanders around collecting sacrifices by the thousands and just whaling on entire nations. You hide when you hear his name, that is the deal with this guy.
So our new campaign is set on Athas, the most hard core extreme setting yet. It's like Mad Max and Gladiator and The Road had a baby. It is not pretty. The best part, though, is that when the entire party is so close to death, it tends to bring out the teamwork in players. I just have to remember not to hold back with the punishment.
But I promise to only use this guy as a last resort.

Jimi on Pointe

This morning, after my lovely wife finished changing Jimi's diaper, she stood him up. As she did so, he achieved the most graceful ballet 4th position. It came so naturally, I wonder if he'll enjoy dance like his parents do?
That would be fun. 

Breakin out!

The Dwarf King breaks out of his kingdom into the caverns beyond, searching for a cure. Goblins lie in wait, but they will find that he is no easy prey!

Taking a little walk.

We needed bread the other morning, so before work Jimi and I took a little walk to get some from the market. Daddy got the wrong kind of bread, but Jimi got to sit in my armpit for a good half-hour and collect coos from the ladies at the market.
All in all a good time.

A King and his peoples

So let's just say there was a dwarf kingdom deep deep deep under the mountain. Let us further suppose that they had few enemies, and lived in peace, mining their precious gems and metals.
One day, the entire kingdom might turn to stone, save the King, who would then be sure  to rush out into the caverns beyond, searching for a reason and a cure for his people.
This is my idea for a video game. I've done a lot of D&D posts here recently, but I want a new subject matter to throw into the mix,  so I'll be designing characters and locations and levels and such here on the blog.
Hope you like it!

Jimi Soft Paint

Just did a soft paint trying to capture his ever changing 'cute look'. The look he uses when he wants to cuddle.
Most of the time, though, it's the 'I want to find something more interesting than your face, can you help me with that?' look.
Paintings of that look to follow.

Peggy and the Spike Pit

Peggy fell into a pit of spikes, piercing her arm! Severely wounded, she healed a nearby ally and together they escaped by climbing a rope offered by friends. 

I’m experimenting with coloring techniques. It’s messy, but I like the blown-out look.

Zero

It turns out our little Jimi has learned some new sign language.
"What number is Jimi?"
He smiles and puts his hands together.
"What number is Mommy?"
Looks at Mom lovingly and wiggles his fingers.
"What number is Daddy?"
Jimi holds up his fingers as illustrated.
'Zero'.
He did this over and over again.

We'll see where Daddy places once he discovers Daddy is his Lego connection.

Peggy and the Cave Fisher

This is my Human Paladin, Peggy, ripping the barb of a Cave Fisher from her neck. She don't even care!
Peggy's actual name is Poid du Bois, which I got from translating 'wooden leg' into French very roughly. She lost a leg at a young age, but it doesn't slow her down. She still has a 6 move!

Bubbles!

Just recently, Jimi has been bubbling over with drool. It drenches his bib, which is gross, but the champagne look is pretty funny, so it all works out.

Big Red!

Another Illustration from our Lunchtime D&D campaigns. Same team, but this is a friend's Dwarf Battlemind facing off against some Carrion Crawlers in a disgustulous sewer!
It was a pretty impressive round, he downed one and immobilized another. I had to draw the showdown.
So here's the sketch at the table on the post-it note and the photoshopped version. Hope you like it!

Baby gone crazy!

Jimi has a pretty good amount of energy throughout the day. He's very curious and wants to be entertained. Who could blame him?
But lets just say that around 10 hours into his curiosity and entertainment needs, mom is in need of some help. Hopefully dad gets home in time before the last of her energy is spent, but not every day.

Bush Monk!

This is the character I play in my friend's campaign.
Walden is a humanoid bush. He's quick as can be, dumb as rocks and incredibly obnoxious. He uses a big live-wood hoop as his kung-fu weapon of choice. Here's a scene of what that looks like:
http://youtu.be/L13JhkI1_vY
Starting at 4:20, totally nuts!

I did this illustration in the upper corner of my character sheet, then did a colored version in photoshop. It looks like he's bursting out of a hedge.
Exciting!

Almost rolling!

Not quite rolling, but he's about halfway these days. Little Jimi, as we like to call him, is making splendid progress. Just splendid!

Elevator.

Today, my wife and son were trapped in a department store elevator. All told, they were there for about a half an hour. 

At first, he cried and cried from being trapped in such a hot, small, boring space. In any other situation he would need to be walked around in his stroller to keep from crying. But, as the fear of being trapped began to set in for my wife, his demeanor changed. As she nursed him to keep him hydrated, he reached out his little hand and held hers. He never let go until help arrived and they were safe. 

Only 4 months old and he was so strong for his mama. I'm so proud of our big little boy.

Doodle

Abstract doodle I whipped up. Kinda makes me think of a Tesla coil.

Baby Paladin

Baby Paladin shields himself from the fiery breath of a red dragon. Can he reach his sword? If he does, can he swing it?
At least he found armor and clothes that fit..  That baby must be richer than hell, gettin' himself all tailored-up like.

Bath Time

Boy does our boy like his bath time! Even though he's hungry and tired and fed up, he still gets the giggles for bath time.
In this respect, especially, he is his Momma's son.
Dad prefers to be stinky. 

Diggin

Happiest Moment of the Day

This is the happiest moment of my day. Almost every day, at a certain time, my wife gets our son and waits in front of our building for me to come home.
The moment I see them, I feel so happy words can't express.

Sweet Pea!

Nowadays, our baby boy likes to kick a lot. At night, this means he kicks his blankets off, which is no good.
The solution is the Sweet Pea, the cutest piece of clothing in his arsenal. He can't kick it off, and he looks like an adorable worm.
Everybody wins.

Mesmer Baby

This is a recently developed talent. He learned it, somehow, at Disneyland. 

The Shocking Continuance!

Looks like Squirrely struck oil! So to speak.

Unreleased Comics!

Oh dear lord I forgot I made this. There's another one, but just the two of em. Never released it on account of I wanted to build up a bunch before I set em loose in the wild.
Hope you like it!

The Magnetic Gentlemen, pt. 3 A!

Could it be? Who is that daring fellow, elegantly slaying a charging dragon, single-handedly?

It couldn't be the diminutive Pipikio. A slight halfling with a wide grin, he's dangerous to be sure. But an adult red all by himself?

We'll have to take a closer look!

Thri Kreen!

Thri-Kreen. Mantis people of the desert! Next on the docket for D&D is a Dark Sun campaign, and the Thri-Kreen are easily the sweetest playable race. Getting pumped!

The Magnetic Gentlemen, pt. 2

Introducing the second of the Magnetic Gentlemen, Gurgahl, the Eladrin wizard!
He is stealing something important from the ravenous beholder, but I don't know what.
I sure hope it's worth the trouble!

Droolies.