I work several different ways or have several different approaches to a final product. I also have a few different styles, somewhat depending on the approach, the deadline, subject matter and of course what is desired. I can work in line only, line and tone, with pencil, ink and digitally.

I prefer to work from home, with in-person meetings on a fairly regular basis to keep things coordinated. I work best at home, in my own space; with all the supplies I may need right at hand. Quick in person meetings from time to time have proven to be a good way to go.

Pretty much all samples on this site are actual working samples from real jobs, with real (tight) deadlines.

For breakneck (breakhand) speeds I just draw direct- direct drawing. This is done without any rough sketches, no blue-lines, tracing paper or overlays of any kind. One go, one drawing and on to the next one. This is by far the fastest and most productive way to go about it. The final drawings really are glorified roughs and as far as quantity of images per day or week this is the most economical. The drawings tend to be rougher and more loose, they lean more toward gestural and while they can lack the detail that other, more labored over drawings may have, they do retain this motion or liveliness that tends to be lost when a drawing is revisited a time or two over. This method works best when the director and I already know each other and have a good feeling for what to expect. When there isn't time to knit pick everything and you trust and understand how I think- this "just go for it" approach comes in very handy. In just over the time it takes to do a set of rough sketches, you have completed boards, not as fancy, but they tell the story just fine. Any that are not correct can just be deleted and replaced. Any frames that are missing can be added. The very same process is involved in producing roughs that are to be cleaned up- the only difference is that the time is cut nearly in half.

Most of the time clients will want to see what you are starting with before you go too far, this is probably the most common thing and is where roughs come in super handy. I do either pencils, scan and send for approval or blue-lines for my rough sketches. Blue-lines are what I use most often.

Once approved I simply draw over them in black, scan, the blue doesn't show up and a clean drawing is left- which can be Photoshopped or otherwise further worked up or not.

I can do super Photoshoppy looking finals; with all the super smooth airbrushing (where everyone and everything looks like it’s make out of oiled up plastic) which is a popular look with many artists and art directors these days, but I prefer not to. I personally like a more classical finished look, where not every line necessarily connects, not every thing is perfect from corner to corner. Let the thing breathe a little, man!

As far as “how many frames can you do in a day?”- that famous question- this is a very tricky one to comfortably answer. Subject matter is the key part of the equation that's missing. Naturally, wide crowd scenes with tons of people and cars for example, would take considerably longer than a simple close up of a single person. While a quick extreme close up of a finger pushing an elevator button may only take a minute of two- the panning shot of the guy running thru traffic, sliding over cars, while being chased by 30 SWAT officers will take a bit longer- you understand.

I prefer and am more naturally comfortable realistic but can do "cartoony" if that is what's desired. My styles range from a classical look to a comic book style. I'm pretty comfortable working with tone, light and dark, shadow, drama and suspense. I can draw minimally, like I have a gun to my head, putting down only the most needed information, just enough to tell the story; or I can get more into it, getting a bit of a performance out of the characters and sense of the lighting, more of an over all theatrical feel.

Delivery of the job: Most of the time I can just email jobs directly. For larger quantities- I've moved into FTPing the client's work to a secured location on my site. To access the work a user name and password are required. The present client will be provided a fresh user name and password tailored to them and their project along with a link to the location. The contents remain on the site for them, or anyone else involved on the project that is also given access to it, to access for the duration of my time on the job. Before I take it down in the end, I give the client a last chance to get anything they may need. This is the best way for me to give clients access to large quantities of files, at a good resolution, with security and easy access.

I’ve been pretty liberal with what I’ve decided to put into my portfolio. I look at other artists’ sites often either to learn and admire or just to see what else is out there and for the most part, I’ve noticed that most of what I’ve seen seems to be the very best stuff they have. I, of course, have put up my more finished work, “portfolio pieces” I guess you could say, but, I have also put in some rather embarrassing work as well. When deadlines, revisions, script changes and many other factors are put in to the equation, more times than not, the artist is not able to really get portfolio quality work done in every drawing. Just trying to be as honest as I can- want to show what is possible and what can be expected under different working conditions. Again, by far the far majority of the work I’m displaying on this site is from actual jobs, and all their glorious pressure. One thing I’ve learned in working on film especially is that when it really comes down to it, speed and storytelling is far more important than beautiful, finished artwork. Doing what’s utterly needed and managing to make it look as good as possible is the realistic goal.

See the videos and portfolio sections for more examples of the above described approaches and styles.