Chris Carman

2009-07-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

This was a character design done a few years ago for a video game that was shelved due to financing falling through. Bit of a bummer as it was a really fun project that involved a ton of goofy celeb caricatures. oh wells...

R.I.P MJ
your special brand of creepy-cool will be missed

2009-06-30T00:35:00.000-07:00

I love coming home to new book packages, especially when there's a sketch of Andrew Robinson's "Dusty Star" on the envelope.

Picked up his Androx 2 and it's packed to the gils with tons of amazing development art, sketches, and thumbnails. Well worth the scratch and highly recommended for anyone looking to see how sequential art should be done.

http://nextexitcomics.com/buystuff_sc/index.php?productID=119

2009-06-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

some club concepts from an MMO I worked on last year.

felt the need to post SUMTHIN..

2009-03-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

This little lady started out as a design for a car decal but I was kinda diggin it so I added some more photoshop funkiness to her.

C

Ma Fly................

2009-03-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

and some geek doodles :)

WonderCon 09 wrap-up

2009-03-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

Had a blast at the show this past weekend. Big thanks to everyone that stopped by and picked up the book. Here's my "spider" .....

.......and here's some of my sketchcards (we all did a batch of em) that were included with the book for and extra few bucks.

Spider and the Fly

2009-02-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

So a few buds and I have been batting around the idea of a collaborative project for a bit and this spiffy little book is what came of those weekend brunch musings at the the good ol' Golden Coffee diner.
Al Truong,
Nicholas Stohlman,
Grant Alexander,
& myself all banded together voltron-style under the slightly pretentious moniker "Croqis de Concept" which translates to "Concept of Sketch"....we think:) So after settling on a loose theme ("the Spider and the Fly") each of us were tasked with putting together some concept sketches of whatever we desired as long as they tied into that basic theme. The results we pretty exciting as we all are wildly varied in our interests and influences.

40 pgs Full Color and we'll be hawkin em at the kick-ass Wonder Con this month at the Moscone Center South on the weekend of Feb 27-March 1st so swing by and say hey!!

FYI al will be giving out complimentary back-rubs (hawt!) for anyone that picks up the book.

who IS the MAsta!!!!!

2009-02-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

Guess the Silhouette!!!

2008-09-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

hint: it's not Albert.....or is it???????

I'll post the finish in a few.

C

SPORE!!!!

2008-09-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

So "Spore" FINALLY came out a couple of weeks ago and it looks amazing. I was lucky enough to get to work with Maxis on it for a 3-4 months last year story boarding and some misc. other stuff and had an absolute blast. Haven't had any actual time to sit down and kill 40 hours or whatever playing it and I've no idea if anything I worked on actually made it into the game but maybe in the next few weeks I can kill a weekend making creatures and conquering planets.

and thanks for the comments on the last post guys, much appreciated :)

C

2008-09-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Whoa.........6 months!!! Feels like it's only been a couple of weeks since I last posted, embarrassing........

It's been an absolute blur, I made the mistake of taking on waaaaaaaay too much and have just recently gotten to where I can get back to fun stuff like updating the blog and working on a few personal projects that i had unfortunately to put on the backburner while I crawled out of the hole I dug for myself with work.

anyhoo... my buddy at the jobby job asked me to draw a mad scientist that chops up and attaches animal parts to his human subjects so I sketched out the little guy below towards the end of the day..

then fiddled with him a little more in photoshop when I got home.

Promise to post more regularly now that I've finally got a manageable schedule again so anyone I owe work too "sorry" and thanks for the patience.

C

2008-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

Wonder-con's come and gone, we had a awesome time sketching chatting with folks over the weekend. It was great to finally meet a ton of people I'd only interacted with through this Internet thingy. Crazy-art-scientist's like Mark Behm, Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, Adam Ely and a ton of others were cool enough to swing by and pick up books. Watching Nick sell piles of his super-sweet hardbacks got me thinking I need to do a nice full color hardback edition in the coming months, maybe for the SDCC or possibly APE.

Here's a few of the sketches I did for those that picked up a copy, unfortunately I didn't get pics of most of them (Fallon can you get me a pic or scan of the Nightcrawler sketch!!)

my boo

Nicolas, booth babe, and yours truely

Thanks again to everyone that picked up copies of Nick and I's books, (especially all the cash strapped AAU students, no egg in your raman this week. I feel for ya, I too went hungry for art books when I was in school.)

C

Wonder-Con 08

2008-02-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

It's almost March already??? Geez.....times flies when your working like a dog.

The fantasmic Wonder-con is this weekend here in Sf and it's pretty much San Diego Comic-Con minus the amusement park vibe. I'll be sharing a table with my buddy Nick (nicolarts.blogspot.com) where we'll be hawkin artbooks of which my boo (jet2dresq.com) put together a pretty sweet sketchbook for me jam-packed in a color cover with 32 pages of character designs, concept art, storyboards, etc. along with pins and whatever other goodies she can whip up before the weekend.

So Stop by say hey, and listen to me ramble about how great "Lost" is again.

see ya there!!

C

2007-12-16T14:37:00.001-08:00

Hey all,

Last post of the 07 most likely, just a quick holiday piece. Cheesy I know but it's that time of the year.

Looks like the cat has been slightly let out of the bag as my buddy Skottie over at http://skottieyoung.blogspot.com/ let it slip that we've been working on a graphic novel together that will (fingers crossed) see print in the next 6-12 months. Anybody who knows me knows I've been a huge fan of his work for years (check out his recent run on "new x-men" = brilliance) and it blew my mind when he got in touch with me about the project. The books been simmering on the back burner for the last few months but thing are going to amp up after the first of the year. The story he's put together is all kinds of awesome and is going to be an absolute blast to illustrate.

And go check out Projekt Werwolf over at http://www.komikwerks.com/. It's a cool little pulp/horror story by some old school chums of mine Jon Colton and Kevin Schriver.

anyhoo..... make with merry merry everyone.

See ya in 08.

C

2007-11-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

So Joe and John got it right, it was Miss Winehouse.

Cograts goobers!!! thanks for playin...your prize is in the mail.

C

Guess the Celeb!!!!!

2007-11-05T03:31:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow Art Monkeys

this should be pretty easy............

I start everything this way, a strong silhouette's half the battle when coming up w/a a decent design. If it doesn't read at this stage it's most likely not going to work later no mater how much rendering and nifty Photoshop brush-filter-breakdancing-doohickies you put on it.

I'll post the finished drawing and color in a few......

currently twitching to:

Be Good (RAC mix) - Tokyo Police Club
Cloud - Fischerspooner
All I Need - Radiohead
Your A Wolf - Sea Wolf
Ceremony - Joy Division
Take Pills - Panda Bear
Filer is Wasted - Snowden
Your English is Good - Tokyo Police Club
Kingdom - Dave Gahan

And we're back.....

2007-08-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

whew....been crazy the last few months.

Between finishing up several jobs, Comic-con (only went sunday afternoon and it was NUTS!!), teaching a class over the summer, and a three week vacation I haven't had much time to blog it up.

Still getting things in order but here's a few pics and doodles from the vacation, put a dash of photoshop on a few of em. The Missus, myself and our buddy Jason went to Indonesia to visit a good friend of ours Anthony. Had a blast hopping around the country w/ stops in Bali, Bandung, the Bunaken Islands, and Ubud.

Freddie of "Freddie and the Cobras" fame. These guys were the house band on one of the islands we stayed at. They were awesome playing everything from Guns and Roses to Radiohead. The drummer played a drum kit made of paint cans!! it was tuned and sounded sick.

Jetty, Jason, and I lost in Jungle.....

have a bunch more sketches as well as some other stuff to post shortly.

thanks for all the comments below guys, it's always great getting feedback!!

Never too old for a piggy-back ride!!!

2007-06-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

Goofy little sketch on a goofy Father's Day card for my even goofier "old man".

and an old oil portrait of a good buddy-o-mine Matt....

2007-06-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hey all, some "villians" roughs for a pilot I've been working on for the past few months. It's set in the hair-metal days of 80's on the Sunset Strip. It was awesome to break out my old Motley Crue and Van Halen records for inspiration. Should be a cool little show when it's done. I'll post more of the designs shortly.

Congrats to my buddies who've just graduated recently.....now find a job!!!

Still here.........just been a bit busy (lazy)

2007-05-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Been buried the last few months but thanks for all the great comments guys. It's always nice to get feedback from such amazing artists.

Here's a few more "Coraline" roughs and a little color key from end of last year.

C

yar matey!!

2007-02-26T00:41:00.000-08:00

And another older oil painting.

My studio mates at the time were doing a kick-ass pirate comic called "Sea of Red" and put me in the mood to depict some high seas tomfoolery.

The only downside was that they insisted on doing the Simpson's "ship-captain-pirate-guy" impersonation while they worked on the book.

yar, it twas mighty annoying after a while........

c

2007-02-17T00:26:00.000-08:00

Keep meaning to update more often but been working like a dog since the new year and just feel lazy when I post old bits...

Here's a couple of random doodles from the ol' sketchbook. nuthin fancy, just the usual mix of mutants, musicians, and my lady.

After seeing some of my buddies sketchbooks recently (Mr. Troung!!) I'm reminded that I need to sketch alot more often. I've been feeling really stale at work and It's more than likely a result of the lack of sketching from life and just doodling for fun...... (yawn)

2007-01-26T04:11:00.000-08:00

And a little more junk from "Coraline".

This here be our heroine's dad and his creepy button-eyed double.

I'm dying to see what Henry Selik and crew do with the "Coraline" stop-motion feature that's coming out this year.

wow...it's 2007 already?

2007-01-12T00:04:00.000-08:00

a couple of super old oil paintings.

I really miss traditional painting. I would get mind-numbingly frustrated with the canvas but nothing beats holding an actual brush and getting paint everywhere and making mess of things. I spent many a morning in the garage of "Master" James Wu, pulling my hair out trying to paint the perfect cheek or fingernail only to have him walk over and lay down one or two strokes and fix everything.... then after clearly being amused by my frustration he'd cook me lunch. James is a true master (jwstudio.net) and is also one of the most humble and patient teachers around.

Fortunately, I've got a commission coming up in the next few that'll give me an excuse to dust off those old brushes.

More "Coraline"

2006-12-21T14:57:00.000-08:00

Another Coraline design, this being the lead.

had a bit of fun playing with all those cool textures in photoshop as well as some new brushes a buddy sent me.

"Fear Agent"

2006-12-18T17:12:00.000-08:00

Some designs from a 7-page back-up story I'm drawing at the moment for one of Mr. Rick Remender's books "Fear Agent". He's kind of an alcoholic version of the Doc Savage/Flash Gordon pulp hero and an absolute blast to draw.

here's a link to first trade:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582406189/sr=1-16/qid=1154721831/ref=sr_1_16/102-5481932-3597700?ie=UTF8&s=books.

The story is written by Hilary Barta who inked us on "The Last Christmas" and is inking this if I ever finish. I did the designs and layouts forever ago and just recently have had he time to start penciling the pages.

Hope to post em in a few weeks.

c

Repent, Harlequin!!

2006-12-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

A couple of character's from a vis.-dev. project based on the short story "Repent, Harlequin!! said the Ticktockman." by Harlan Ellison. It's a great little seven page story that I suspect Alan Moore may have drawn inspiration from when he was writing "V for Vendetta"

c

2006-12-11T02:02:00.000-08:00

monday mornings always get the best of me.......

2006-11-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

oh snap!! the book I spent most of the last year working on doing backgrounds. layouts, etc. for Mr. Rick Remender has made amazon's list of top ten graphic novels of 06.

pretty nifty.

http://www.amazon. com/exec/ obidos/tg/ feature/- /1000020801/ ref=amb_link_ 3907372_7/ 002-4307362- 4004844

buy that beast!!

2006-11-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

A character design from a vis. dev. assignment based on the Neil Gaiman book "Coraline". got a bunch more stuff from this that I'll post eventually

2006-11-18T12:48:00.000-08:00

master copy done in painter originaly by Mead Schaeffer

2006-11-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

very old
head
drawing...........