Tshirt Design

Alright! So this is my first design for Threadless and I am super pumped! So if you're seeing this do me a favor & click the link above. Scoot your shoes over there and vote for my design! I'll love you for life if you do!

Zak

I've been ignoring you!

Oh my poor little blog... I've been ignoring you. Mostly because I've been blogging away over on My Deviant Art Account and rattling on with other artists a lot on there post NYC.

I'll give a run down of our days at the New York City Comic Con here real quick:

Thursday Night: Met up with Sean Murphy and partied at his place with his wonderful girlfriend Colleen. We also got to meet his buddy Rob Paolucci and he's one hell of a guy! So all five of us went out to a diner, had a few beers then went 8 stories up to sit on Sean's roof. You could look right out and see The Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan. I wish I had my camera! haha.

Friday: Day one of the Con, coincidentally included the launch of my Web Comic - Tokens Only! I've had some pretty favorable reactions and we had a generally awesome time. Nick and I went out with some of the Eclectic Micks and ended up at another super fresh bar where we met a lot of cool people from Marvel. Great night - stumbled into Times Square around 330 am and had cart food. Then got a cab back to Brooklyn. FINALLY met Richard Carbonneau - and you couldn't find a better writer out there! I was super stoked to see him that night as well!

Saturday: I handed out a metric crap ton of cards and promo stuff for this site and Tokens Only. Hopefully people will be rockin' on that! Actually my Google Analytics says they have so hurrah! Anyways, it was a long day full of sketches and commissions. I talked to a lot of other colorists and swapped tips with them. All around an excellent day. Zach, Nick and I then kinda roamed around NYC - had some great Chinese food and then we ended up spending a few hours in Times Square just cause we were doing the tourist thing. That was cool. Met up with Sean and Rob and went back to Brooklyn afterwards.

Sunday: More of the same at the con. Had a great chat with Tom Fiester and we talked for a long time about my work and what I'm doing right & wrong. Working professionally and still learning - always learning! Heads up on that... keep your mind open. Sunday night? Exhausted from the con we had dinner and just hung out in Brooklyn again most of the night. Great time.

Monday, Nick, Sean and I went to Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. That was great - and we had a good time for most of the afternoon. After that I dropped Nick off at LaGuardia airport & I decided to head into Manhattan by myself. I went to the top of Rockefeller Center and had an amazing look around the city. I also met a wonderful young German woman named Caroline. So hey, Caroline if you're reading this it was a great night! Hope you're well :) So I wandered around the city for awhile after that, got rained on, spent some time at Midtown Comics and then headed back to Queens. Flew back to Denver Tuesday morning.

And here we are. Tokens Only has updated twice since then and here's two of those pieces:


Tokens Only Page 2 by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

and #3


Tokens Only Page 3 by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

The story is progressing quite well. Anyways - hopefully soon you'll be seeing more of my illustration and even more comics work. Hopefully I won't be leaving this site too unguarded! Haha - what I'll be doing is posting more DA blogs on here and so on.

Anyways, thanks and I hope everyone is doing well!
God Bless
zak

The calm before the blog.

Why hello - glad you could make it back. I barely did after my trip to New York, but I'm more talking about how bloody exhausted I am than anything else. Man I'm wiped - so much that as I tried penciling new pages of Tokens Only I just had to quit about half way through. Ridiculous, I know, but I'm absolutely wiped out. I doubt I got even 10 hours of sleep the whole weekend.

Seriously though I have a lot of sketches and art I did while I was at NYCC and I'll post those tomorrow or the next day along with some tales of my experiences. Manhattan is never a let down, and I even got to troll around there the last day all by myself. Brilliant city to be in! Anyways, I have to go back to penciling Tokens Only and try not to pass out. 

But hey, for anyone who didn't get to check out http://Tokens-Only.com here's a preview of the first page anyways!

Hope all is well & God Bless!
Zak



Tokens Only Page 1 by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

Tokens Only Launches October 8th!

Howdy y'all! All sorts of new stuffs going on! Tokens Only goes live on October 8th right in time for NYCC! I'll be at the con promoting the crap out of it and meeting all you lovely people at the con.


Hope this finds you all well, and you may notice a snazzy new header! Enjoy it!

Zak!




Tokens Only Promo by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

Coloring Work

So, a few months back I met up with Zach Howard here in Denver and since we've become fast friends. Great guy, and we've been having a lot of fun over the past few months. I'll be heading to NYC for the New York City Comic Con with him so if you're going stop by our table! We'll be the dueling Zachs whoring our work out! haha anyhoo... I've been working on improving my coloring skills and we came together to do some color work on some pieces. These first two pieces are the product of that coloring madness.

The first is for IDW's Motel Hell.


Motel Hell Cover Colors by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

Pretty f'n cool right?! This is the first piece I did for him, and he was pretty impressed with it. I'm not gonna lie, I had a ton of fun with this and it definitely pushed me to go a lot farther as an artist. I'm always happy for those challenges and I'm pretty stoked to be getting even more to do in the future!

The second one was a commission... a little Batgirl if you will!


Batgirl Commission Colors by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

What can I say, this was a hoot to work on!

So with that there will be more of these to come. I have about 10 more pieces to mess around on, and that'll lead to some more work in the coloring field. Hurrah!

Enjoy & God Bless
Zak 

Tokens Only... Finally!

So a few of you have known I've been trying to work on a webcomic. I've wanted to launch it a few times over the past year but I have had a lot of amazing opportunities with my freelance illustration and fine art gallery shows.

I also wanted to take some time to refine the story and put more of myself in it so to speak. As much as this is definitely a story that everyone can read and take something away from - I really wanted it to be for myself as well. I wanted to pour in a lot of the influences I've had in my life and that's going to be the fun part.

Tokens Only is a love letter to the 1980s arcades of yore that I grew up in. That's where it all starts, and it will go on and on beyond that. I chose the webcomics medium because I knew I could be free to express whatever the hell I wanted, and I could steer the story in the direction it's taken me. You see I'm kind of a stubborn little bastard and I really wanted to tell a story the way I wanted to tell it. And in the format I wanted to as well. Tokens isn't a strip based comic at all - it'll be in the traditional comic format because that's what I love. I mean don't get me wrong - I love the hell out of a lot of webcomics out there, but like with everything down to my facial hair, I want to stand out.

I would love to blab about it more and more but I don't want to spoil it beyond that. I also want it to speak for itself. So what I'm posting tonight is a preview of page one. I've had it in the can for a bit of time now, but I wanted to give you a little taste before I launch it in a few weeks for NYCC. When launch comes it will be in color and I'll just be starting off at a once a week posting schedule.

I have an anthology I'm working on for Jolly Rogue Studios and I'll be working on a book with my buddy Gerhard in the coming months. So pulling triple comic duty on top of a full time job is gonna be killer for me in October... but y'all will reap some dope ass rewards out of it! TRUST.

Anyhoo... I really hope you all will enjoy this and I'm in it for the long haul. The website will be launching in the next few weeks & I'll be sure to be blabbing about it long before then. So until then, enjoy the b&w preview.

-zak


Tokens Only Preview by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

Nan Desu Kan 2010

I am currently appearing at Colorado's very own Nan Desu Kan ( http://NDKdenver.org ) which is a pretty decent sized anime con. Lots of people dressed up with big ass swords and crap. Trust me on that. Anyways, I just wanted to show off my newest sort of Buck Rogers inspired anime pin up I did for the show. Simple stuff, but the bewbs do sell at this show quite a bit. So anyhoo, let me know what you think or you can just fav it on Deviant art!


NDK Print Colors by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

Barb Wire Anthology

Hello all,


Just a quick update. I will be taking part in an anthology (actually I'm already knee deep in the penciling process) and while it won't be out for a bit I thought I'd just throw it on out there. In addition to all my freelance work it's going to be a bit of a load but I'm looking forward to it!

I'll be working for Jolly Rogue Studios 

I'm pretty pumped for the opportunity and you'll be seeing more of my stuff for this book in the coming weeks!

God Bless
Zak

Postcards!

They're here and they look smashing! I'm so stoked these came out well!!






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New Title Banner

As I've been working on this blog it's more and more becoming the main hub for my work. Since they've added a few improvements I'm more than happy to use it as a website for the time being.

I'm trying to use this more often as well to show the creative process in whatever I'm working on at the time.

So here's what's going on at the mo... I'm working on a new header for this & a few other places. I'm going all evil robots on this one and I like it a lot!



In the coming days & weeks I'll be posting up progresses on an anthology I'm working on & my webcomic.

That's all for me today. Hope all is well & God Bless!
Zak

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New Postcards Are On The Way!

Good news everyone!

I hope all is well with everyone these days. In addition to working my tail off on my webcomic *finally* I made up a new image for my illustration postcards. What I do is send these out to art directors and they hit me back and we do work on a freelance basis. It works great for me, and I'm pretty stoked to see these come in the mail this week!


Power On by ~spicypeanut on deviantART

As always you can click on the link to take a look on my Deviant Art and if you want a print you can get it from there, or email me for one!


I hope all is well with everyone here!
God Bless
Zak

Back in the saddle.

The flow is starting up again! All obligations are cleared and it's time to get back to work! New illustration promo is in the works and the webcomic is coming along just fine!!

Feels good to be back on it!



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Taking a Break

Sorry to not have updated y'all in awhile - it's been a tough month for me. Nothing horrid or vastly terrible. No nothing like that, I've just been taking some time to tie up some loose ends and help my family out. Family first kids!

BUT in good news I have a sweet secret project that when I'm done with will definitely blow your minds. And all the while I've been scripting and laying out Tokens Only. While it's been pushed back a good year - I'm happy to report it's coming together in ways I never thought possible. So keep your eyes out because I'll be back to posting my illustration work here and Tokens Only will be launching shortly.

God Bless
Zak

Painting a pin.

My latest (and probably last for right now) gallery project was to paint a bowling pin for Luxe DeVil's show on first Friday of June. It's a Pins for Pups silent auction and will take place Friday June 4th at 3pm. You can find all the info at http://luxedevilsalon.com

Anyways - here's a stream of images as I prepared & painted the pin.




How it started out - scratched and scuffed all to hell!




Freshly sanded down and primed for painting.




I had a different idea in the first place but the execution wasn't quite working out for me.




And so this is the final concept. I think she came out quite well!




And another shot of her. I'm not quite sure whether or not to finish the top of the pin. I kinda like it like this.

So anyhoo if you're local come on down to Luxe DeVil and see the rest of the pins. I'm sure there'll be some other dope designs as well!

Thanks & God Bless
Zak

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Comicfest's Aftermath!

I just wanted to thank everyone that stopped by and said hello during Comicfest this year! It was a lot of fun and another great opportunity to hang out with my fellow cartoonists. It was really inspiring as well - a mad motivator to get the ball rolling on this webcomic I've been writing for the past few months. So after this next gallery show at Luxe De Vil I will be shirking off all other requests and commissions to work on my comic, Tokens Only. I've been really successful with my freelance career in illustration and fine art in galleries, but it's time to get back to rockin' the comics scene!

Again, just a great time meeting new people and hanging out with good friends. Thanks again to everyone who came out and got some commissions from me!!

Here's a few sketches:










That final one is a sketch of Utako the Knife Thrower from a previous print series. The guy liked that one so much that he wanted a sketch! Awesome!

Well, that's that! Thanks again and God Bless!

Zak

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my iPhone

ComicFest is Here!

Ahoy hoy!

So Denver's very own ComicFest is this very weekend and I will be exhibiting at the Sherman Graphics table with my boy Gerhard Kaaihue!

I'll be selling prints, and doing live art. So if you've ever wanted to get yourself immortalized as a Zombie well here's your chance to do it in person! This is my first go around at Comicfest here in Denver and I'm pretty stoked! I'd love it if you stopped by and said hi!

I have two exclusive prints that I will be selling at the Con this weekend as well. Here's a look at the two of them!





I was maaaaybe watching a little too much Madmen with that first piece. It's kind of an important one though because it's starting my revival of my proposed coffee table book of Alien satire. BAM!





And this one is my Steampunk Monochromatic Pinup Girl. I think she looks pretty fresh!

So each print will be 20 bucks at the show, but if you would like one now feel free to email me at spicypeanut[at]gmail[dot]com and I will gladly put aside one for you!

Hope to see some of you there and I'll be live blogging and tweeting from the Con! Just in case you forgot or dunno yet: http://twitter.com/Zaktastic

God Bless!
Zak

New Business Cards!

So I felt it was finally freakin' time for a new business card. The skinny ones from last year were awesome, but I got some feedback that they get a little lost. So I went back to large style and I'm pretty dang stoked to see how they came out! They should be in the mail here in just a week or so. Right in time for COMICFEST! I am so super pumped it's not even funny! Getting to be in artist's alley at a Comic book convention is so much fun. Can't wait!

Anyways, here's the image I used for my business card design! I hope you all like it!



As always you can see the full image at My Deviant Art Site
A lot of people are already loving it, and I'm sure it's gonna get some good laughs!

I also recently took on a freelance gig for a good friend of mine to help him promote his online fantasy novel Spiderfingers which you can find at that link! The first image is of Alice, and she's definitely going to be a pain in the ass for some of the book's Gods here.



and here are some of the character designs that I did for her:


And like I said, I have full images available to see at My Deviant art Site

So that's it for me tonight!
I hope you all are doing wonderful and here's to good times!
God Bless,
Zak

Cowgirl Takes on Nazi

Hey all!

Sunday The Fool's Gold Theatre will be having an auction to save up money for their trip to Ireland. I was asked to donate a piece, and I was more than happy to lend a hand to some friends!

So here's the goods! I was asked to follow an adventure theme and to me nothing speaks adventure like Indiana Jones! So I took that theme, added a little Texas love & continued on my streak of getting better with drawing women.

A Couple Of New Projects

Hi!

So "Tokens Only" is being written and I've started laying the comic out! I'm super pumped to get it out and get my story told! Hopefully it'll be the first of many!

Also keep in mind that I'll be at ComicFest in artist's alley this year in Denver. More about that here: http://starland.com/wp/?page_id=572

And I will be participating in an auction to benefit at friend's acting troupe's trip to Ireland. Here's the piece I'm working on for that:



- Cowgirl vs. Nazi Goon! Woo! Love it!

So that's what I'm on right now. Still working hard to print out this sketchbook & I am currently open for Commissions so if you want just let me know!

Peace
Zak

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Sketching Away

I have a sketchbook I'll be printing in the next couple of months! So in preperation for that I'll be posting some of those images as I go!







More to come soon!
Peace
Zak
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Location:W Las Colinas Blvd,Irving,United States

Show This Friday Night!

Hey all! Just to let you know my next gallery show will be Friday night at http://Luxedevilsalon.com

Here's a preview! Come on down!!





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Those pieces for my new show!

So I've got a double wide post today! I've finished up all the pieces for my Luxe De Vil show for February. The theme is the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and I went all out with the blood and gore! Something I'm getting increasingly good at it would seem! So with that in mind here are the new pieces:


And here's the first piece, I've just titled: Space Gore!
Link to the full piece here!


Link to the full piece here!
And as we pull out we get to see the reason for such horrific distress! BAM! Right through the guts!


Link to the full piece here!

Finally we see the cause of the catastrophe and the doofus letting it happen. No one can really hear you scream in space... in the most ironic of ways. I had the worst time thinking of fresh stuff to do for this show, and finally my inspiration hit me as I was (suprise) playing some video games. More specifically Dead Space. That game is freakin' awesome! Go get it. Anyways, so there are the new pieces!

I hope you enjoy!
Zak

Full inks for the February art show

Hi! So I've taken the weekend to work hardcore on the pieces for my February art show. I've been really sick so it's been pretty consistent for me to take time away from the drawing board to rest. Regardless I at least got to finish up my inks on these pieces and I like how they've come out!













So I'm not 100% sure on how to go about the colors but it's supposed to be bloody. So get ready for the blood on the next post!

Peace
Zak


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Location:S Federal Blvd,Littleton,United States

February Art Show

So yeah it's been a bit o' time! I do apologize for that my friends! I've been working on some kinda super secret stuff here! Anyways I will be having an art show at the Luxe De Vil salon & gallery in February. So I figured I would show off what I've been doing here!!




-




The finished ones will be up soon! Until then...

Peace
Zak

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Location:W Centennial Dr,Littleton,United States