"Zephyr"

"Zephyr" / 11 x 17" / acrylic & ink on bristol board

At long last, we have reached the conclusion of Series 4. I'm ending this run with a westerly wind & an eerie seaside confrontation.

I'm not sure if those floating, black goo-headed swordsmen mean to do harm to our one-handed man. But from the looks of things, this isn't exactly the prelude to a friendly stroll on the beach. It only felt appropriate to close out with a snippet from an untold story that's been floating around in my head. This entire series has been made up of imaginary snapshots.

I've had an absolute blast creating all 26 illustrations in this series. To everyone who's followed the blog these past 5-and-a-half weeks, thanks so much for joining me on my little black & white tour de force. Please stay tuned for news, regarding my future plans for Alphabet Attack!, including the next series, a book collecting the art, and more.

Again, thanks for tuning in & giving me an extra incentive to go hog wild with a handful of pens, half a dozen brushes, and several gallons of ink!

- Dave C.

"Yonder"

"Yonder" / 9 x 12" / acrylic & ink on paper

Happy Monday, all! I recently watched a documentary, examining strategies for & against the bombing of civilian populations during wartime. It was very intriguing, but I couldn't keep my imagination from wandering. Over and over, I thought about how terrifying it must be to be bombed from the air. To hear the roar of those big airplane engines getting closer... to feel the thud of military grade explosives detonating nearby... knowing you'll probably have less neighbors when all that noise subsides... that is, if you don't become a casualty, yourself.

It's just so eerie to think that this is a pretty regular aspect of life, in some countries. We worry about our lattes and car payments, while other folks are worried about getting vaporized in their own homes.

- Dave C.

"Xylon"

"Xylon" / 9 x 12" / acrylic & ink on paper

I'm closing out this week's illustrations with a hanging gone terribly wrong. At least, it's gone wrong for the executioners. Apparently, the evil our five heroes have captured and hanged is far from dead.

Have an excellent weekend, and tune in next week for the final two drawings of Alphabet Attack! Series 4. I can hardly believe how close we are to the end!

- Dave C.

"Whip"

"Whip" / 9 x 12" / acrylic & ink on paper

Well, four series into Alphabet Attack! and it seems like I've finally embraced my erotic art urges. This image popped into my head, before I even knew which word I was going to illustrate. Lucky me, this particular fantasy happened to involve a nice little whip (particularly, a crop) for me to draw the title from.

I should also mention that I couldn't get the song "Let It Whip" by The Dazz Band out of my head, the whole time I was working on this. "Let's whip it, baby! Let's whip it right! Let's whip it, baby! Whip it all night!"

- Dave C.

"Velocity"

"Velocity" / 8.5 x 11" / acrylic & ink on paper

I recently saw a photo of someone skydiving and thought to myself, "Hmm... I wonder if I'll ever try that, someday."

I'm not afraid of heights. In fact, I find heights to be quite exhilarating. Whenever I travel to a city, I'll always do my best to find a rooftop or penthouse view, to check things out from. And I love going on flights, from jumbo jets to propeller-driven puddle jumpers. So it chances to follow that I'd enjoy skydiving.

Of course, standing on the roof of a tall building or sitting comfortably in coach are both VERY different from free-falling at 117 to 125 mph!

- Dave C.

"Tracker"

"Tracker" / 9 x 12" / acrylic & ink on paper

I'm closing out this week's drawings with a Dangerous Woman & Creepy Monster combo piece! As I've said before, I'm an absolute sucker for drawing a well-armed woman, stalking through the woods after some ungodly creature. Of course, who's to say that the beast is stalking her, and not the other way around?

Have a great weekend, everyone. And join me on Monday for the start of the last full week of Alphabet Attack! Series 4.

- Dave C.

"Sensei"

"Sensei" / 8.5 x 11" / acrylic & ink on paper

Who doesn't appreciate a mild-mannered, buff, old guy who can disarm & subdue an enemy using only his pinkie?! Maybe there was too much Karate Kid in my childhood diet. But the mysteriously dangerous teacher character gets me EVERY time!

Today's drawing literally grew outward, from the central figure. I drew out the martial arts master in mid-kata, without any of the surrounding elements... no background or anything! Of course, I couldn't skimp on creating a scene/telling a story. Hence, the bewildered students in the background and magical butterflies were born!

- Dave c.

"Rampage"

"Rampage" / 5.5 x 8.5" / acrylic & ink on paper

And, just like that, I'm back to drawing monsters! This one was a lot of fun to create. It's actually a rough sketch, seen through to completion (hence the smaller size of the drawing).

Once I realized how much movement & gesture I'd already captured in the loose sketch stage, I didn't want to waste time trying to redraw it on a whole new sheet of paper. Some days, you could draw for hours, and still never recapture the raw energy that you stumbled upon in a 30 second sketch.

- Dave C.

"Quickie"

"Quickie" / 9 x 12" / acrylic & ink on paper

I decided to take a turn away from the beastly, today -- in exchange for the carnal! As many of you may have noticed, summer is already in full swing. And with it, comes an undeniable, sweat-tinged flow of pheromones and animal attraction. How appropriate that it's the hot season that gets our blood boiling.

- Dave C.

"Prostration"

"Prostration" / 8.5 x 11" / acrylic & ink on paper

Nothing says, "Monday," quite like a drawing of a lone warrior being attacked by a portal-hopping demon!

As bad as I feel for our frightfully exhausted (and now shield-less) hero, they may still make it out of this. Who knows what the scent of death-from-another-dimension will inspire them to do?

- Dave C.

"Liftoff"

"Liftoff" / 8.5 x 11" / acrylic & ink on paper

Today's drawing is another stream of consciousness piece. Something sprung to mind and brought with it images of children taking flight and transforming into strange birds.

But who is this horn-headed stranger, stepping out of the water. Is he dangerous? Or a benevolent creature, encouraging -- or even causing -- the children's metamorphosis. I suppose that remains to be seen....

- Dave C.

"Incantation"

"Incantation" / 9 x 12" / ink on paper

How appropriate that on the 13th day of June, I throw some witchcraft into the mix! What surrealistic spell is this young woman casting? What's that maw-faced, knife-wielding creature lurking behind her? And is that silhouetted man in the foreground approaching for good or for ill??

This piece was created purely by stream of consciousness. It's fun to do that, sometimes... letting go so the image can draw itself... so it can tell its own story.

Dave C.

"Gridiron"

"Gridiron" / 11 x 17" / acrylic & ink on paper

Believe it or not, I've been a football fan since childhood. I was raised in a football household, in a football neighborhood, in a football town. I even played for a season in high school. That is, if you consider sitting on the bench for all but one play at the end of a blow-out game "playing."

So it's no surprise that my love of American "Gridiron" Football has found further expression in my illustrations. I've had a lot of fun with this subject matter. Especially during the 2011-2012 NFL season, which found me doing color drawings & rough sketches in friends' homes & sports bars around the Greater Los Angeles area. With today's piece, I wanted to delve back into that world... to sink the viewers into the mud & torn up turf, the noise & spectacle... the relative calm before the storm of 22 men in pads stomping the living snot out of each other, all in an attempt to get 15oz of inflated leather across their opponent's goal line.

- Dave C.

"Fang"

"Fang" / 14 x 17" / acrylic & ink on bristol board

This week's set of drawings kicks off with one of my Dangerous Women and her savage beastie friend. I may never tire of drawing and painting these deadly darlings. Nothing gives me quite the same kick that I get from scribbling out this kind of subject matter.

Today's illustration actually began as a super rough sketch -- done with a highlighter, of all things. But something about it captured my imagination, instantly bringing the word "fang" to mind. One light table session and several ounces of ink later, the above image was complete, dry & ready for the scanner!

- Dave C.

"Eclipsed"

"Eclipsed" / 12 x 17" / acrylic & ink on bristol board 

Today's piece includes several of my favorite subjects to draw -- strange travelers, wild nature & a harbinger of doom! And what says "doom" quite like a tentacled, smoke-spewing behemoth, that's big enough to block out the sun?!

At the start of this one, I was taken by the idea of two voyagers meeting on the coast. One, somewhat human. The other, monstrous & otherworldly. Something about this drawing harkens back to "Wayfarer" for me (from the previous series). But who knows? Maybe the human traveler in this illustration is here to stop this gigantic evil. I guess we'll just have to wait and see....

This marks the end of the first week of Series 4. I hope you've enjoyed the art I've posted so far. Have a fantastic weekend, wherever you are. And be sure to tune in Monday for the next installment of Alphabet Attack!

- Dave C.

"Yorick"

 "Yorick" / 9 x 12" / ink on paper 

Today's illustration was inspired by the fictional character, Yorick, from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Although, my version of the deceased court jester is obviously of the non-human variety. I just can't help myself, when it comes to my penchant for monsters.

Low and behold, I've only got one more illustration left to go. Tune in next week for the dramatic conclusion of Series 3, as well as news of Alphabet Attack yet to come.

"I'm not saying what I did was alright,

Trying to break out of the ghetto was a day-to-day fight."

- David C.

"Coral Carnivore" Step One

The Letter C stands for "Coral Carnivore." This one popped into my head at random, and immediately brought Sea Monsters to mind. Specifically, those devilish creatures known as "sirens!"

For the concept drawing above, I just jumped right in with a dark black pencil. I quickly drew a light gesture, in about 3 minutes max. Then I began to finesse the darker, fine lines out of the piece.


Here, we have an aquatic siren who, like mermaids, is notorious for leading many a sailor to a watery grave. Siren lore I'm familiar with sometimes describes these fathom phantoms as lures... attractive bait attached to a toothy behemoth ambush predator that's lurking just below the sea. Hence the bruiser tucked underneath our scaly lady.

I do like the concept of the sexy siren who -- though beautiful and alluring above the ocean's surface -- is a gruesome killer below the water. You may notice that the hand she's dipping into the tide is sharper and more monstrous than her other hands. In the final piece, I want to convey the idea that she looks completely different when viewed underwater... as if her strange beauty up above is just a trick of the light.


And of course, her having four arms is a creepy cherry atop the spooky sundae.

Tune in tomorrow, as I dig into the full-blown illustration!

"This is the sound of what you don't know killing you. This is the sound of what you don't believe -- still true."
- Dave

"Bigot Brutality" Step Two

Going from sketch to final for "Bigot Brutality" was a straightforward affair. Rather than using the collage method I employed with "Almost Anonymous," I drew directly onto the canvas. This time around, I chose to work on a gessoed piece of matte board (14 x 22").


Working very quickly with a combination of dark pencils, I tore into the drawing. Large shapes were knocked out with the quickness. Then, I start filling in the details.



Again, these are very fast hits in pencil. The steps above came together in a short bundle of minutes. There's an energy and simple (yet powerful) geometry in gestures that I long to preserve, all the way through a piece. It helps that I listen to loud and obnoxious music while I work, to keep me pumped. I'll bop and dance while drawing and take steps back from the piece for a broader view. The more physical I can make my work experience, the better!


You may also notice that this first pass on the drawing features a mean ol' police dog gnawing at our victim's arm. While I dug the dog, I didn't appreciate what it did to the composition. In the end, I traded the toothy brute for a nice plot of negative space.


The mid-level details were laid in with general ease and speed. Again, the music was a big help in smoothing out the typical kinks one can encounter, working on a finalized drawing.


The background police dog became the stand-alone canine. So I enhanced him a bit, making him larger and giving him an even bigger maw of jagged teeth.



The central policeman came together with particular ferocity. The smoldering from his eyes was drawn from some of my illustration works from 2009 and 2010, and signifies some inhuman evil that's bubbling out of him.


Next, I focused on bringing together the man being brutalized. His face & torso were tightened up. I scribbled in the details of his limbs, and got a cool idea for the painting stage, involving the tattered sleeve of his left arm.




You can see that the big foreground dog has been erased. He's still visible, but at least he's out of the way for bolder lines.


The final stage of the drawing came to a raucous conclusion. I think I was somewhere between Saul Williams and The Doors for these last steps and finer details, which meant lots of writhing and stomping while I drew.


The policeman & dog in the background were tight as could be, with their darks filled in and everything. And I used paint to white-out the remnants of the larger dog drawing. It's almost like he was never there!



The fine lines and darks were filled in on both the cop and the victim. And like that, I was done!

Tune in tomorrow afternoon for the completion of "Bigot Brutality!"

"Stole my sneakers but your feet just never fit in. Serves you right for trying to walk a mile outside your limits."
- King Gum Crosland