Whiteboard Sketches

Self-portraiture is like looking in a mirror covered in grease. It can be hard to make out anything clearly.

Here's a few of my sketches of a cross-section of the people from the old neighborhood.

Two blocks down from where I lived I used to sit and read outside this run down little laundry-mat. There were always bums demanding smokes and packs of screaming kids running in and out of there. Kafka and Tide packets were a welcome distraction.

Sometimes you find old friends in new places. Justin was one of them.

My friend Justin is a real fixture in the neighborhood. He is something of an urban legend in his own right for surviving being a chauffeur for blues and rock acts for 20 years - he is also known to wield a mean punchline.

Clearly intractably adorable. I have no idea why she gave me the time of day.

Above, Girl #1 that I was sick deep infatuated with. She reminded me of an Elliot Smith song from New Moon. "You're so pretty and smart, So why do you feel that you have to hold your toungue?"

Trouble comes in all varieties and shapes. This woman had seen her share of it.

Girl #2 that I was also very sick deep infatuated with. I never got more than her name out of her but she was always pretty close to where I was seeing a show at - for like 5 years. I couldn't decide if she was a New Face in Hell or just stalking me. All I really knew was that she was beautiful.

The best thing about being an artist is also the worst. Inspiration is like being drunk.

Like I said, Girl #2 would show up in the neighborhood a lot. This is a good example of something stupid that us guys think about chicks that give us ragers - she is purchasing a bagel and I am busy trying not to picture what her legs look like. However, this was not really meant to be. She ended up meaning something to me anyhow.

Also, neither one of these intensely sexy, unique women ever took it upon themselves to camp out in front of my building or testify that I was about to murder them. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Never, ever, argue with a man who has just told you he is Harry Houdini.

This guy was the craziest bum in OTR - speaking in tongues, Manson arms, the whole 9 yards. He has my lighter in his hand in this drawing. We were outside Kaldi's, when that was open in 2008, arguing about the odds of me getting my lighter back.


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Puppets Comic Series

The cover for the first edition of Puppets by Schmitt and Edwards. Puppets is a graphic novel that revolves around a strange 9-year-old girl named Miette and the vengeance she seeks in the form of a giant concrete monster named Cement. As for production, the final art style itself is getting sorted out, pages inked and six chapters of story are completed. The plan is to animate this book project after the book is released. I'm currently planning the audio elements for the animation as I complete art for the book. This is going more smoothly thanks to the writer on book, Mr. Derek Edwards, of White Rabbit Books . Derek has re-written the book into 6 chapters that will have readers following Miette and her fractured childhood. Cement is surprised by another monster, the massive Blob. The Blob busily dissolves people and buildings then is confronted by the ARC equipped military forces. It/they are smashed up into smaller parts by Cement. The scene features Cement, Miette and AR

Blob v. Downtown

The Blob, merrily eating it's way through Midtown Central City. Cement is surprised by another monster, the massive Blob. The Blob busily dissolves people and buildings then is confronted by the ARC equipped military forces. It/they are smashed up into smaller parts by Cement. The scene features Cement, Miette and ARC troopers and the Blob. There's two principles (Miette, Cement) plus 1 Kaiju (Blob) plus misc. ARC soldiers (7-12 of them firing ARC's) and tanks (3-4) to animate here. That's a total of like 14-19 plates spinning around at once, minus the flames and smoke! In the script, the Blob bellows when hit by small arms fire or by Cement - like a heavy bass meant to rock small film fest theaters. Each time one of the blobs are hit they sound off as a herd with the bass's pitch and volume relative to the size of each blob. The "central" and largest "main" blob would always be the deepest sounding bass with the smaller blobs sounding dif

Cement and Miette

Early production art from Puppets with Cement and Miette. Early production art for Puppets blocking out the basics of form, grayscale tone and scale. Cement is 6 stories/65 feet tall and Miette is barely 4 feet tall so getting them into the same shot/frame was one of the first challenges. Reviewing Godzilla, King Kong and Gamera movies (which I somehow have all of which on VHS and VCD) saved me a great deal of time. Looking at the composition of the screaming crowds or Faye Wray and Naomi Watts has helped me structure my shots and lay out. On the Mittman Street Bridge Cement faces off against Ratso and his horde. Looking at my own unlikely combination of very large and very small characters make me feel like there is a unique "middle ground" created by this combination as if the two would be radically different w/out each other's company. Miette alone would be an vague, indie Ghost World rip-off. Cement alone would be a Concrete/Godzilla clone. Together they ar

Puppets: A Graphic Novel

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