Tammy's Sketchbook

Drawn for another friend at work, in her Unicorn and candy sketchbook.

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Tommy's Sketchbook

I did this for a friend at work, in his sketchbook.

Ghost Rider Collaboration

Here's another Ghost Rider drawing that I penciled and my buddy Jesse Hernandez did an awesome job of inking.

Gorilla Grodd

Did this in a copy of my book,  for my friend and co-worker, Craig Parrillo.

Check out some of his cool art at his blog:

Pencil Mayhem

Another Monster

Here's another drawing I did during the New York Comic Con..I started it at home and worked on it off and on at the convention. Drawn on a cut down sheet of 8 1/2" X 14" bristol paper.

MTV Geek Launch Party

After the Comic Con, on Saturday, my buddy Brad hosted a party at a pub a few blocks from the Javits Center, to launch his new site MTV Geek.  There was food, an open bar, Paul Pope spinning records and live art being created by awesome talents such as Dave DeVries, Jim Mahfood, Dave Crossland, Molly Crabapple, Sanford Greene and Ben Templesmith.  My buddy Carlos and I were also in the mix, as well as a bunch of other artists that I never got the names of.

All the art being done is ultimately going to be auctioned off this week for the CBLDF (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund).  I'll update this post with a link when I get one.  In the meantime, here are the three pieces I did for the auction. Unfortunately, I heard that after I took off, a drunk patron knocked over some beer, ruining a bunch of pieces, one of mine included. Which one, I'm not sure yet.

You can also see some pics from the night over at the MTV Geek website, here:

MTV GEEK Launch Party pics

***UPDATE**

As it turns out, the Monster drawing in the middle above was the one that got some beer spilled on  it.

Thankfully it wasn't too bad, and most of the drawing survived intact. All the art from the night has now been posted on MTV GEEK (the actual auction will follow soon) and it can be seen here:

MTV GEEK - LIVE ART for Auction

NYCC sketches

Even though NYCC wasn't exactly the most financially rewarding venture, it was still a lot of fun and I got to meet some old friends, as well as make some new. I did move a decent number of buttons (maybe 1/2 a table of just buttons next year??),  but those are only a buck, so the return isn't great.  Still, I managed to do a fair number of sketches over the weekend. I don't have scans of anything, just pics I took before I handed them off.

The first sketch of the weekend was this Biolante (as in Godzilla Vs. Biolante) for a guy starting off a Kaiju sketchbook.

I also did a few sketches inside copies of my 'Graphic Art' book and 'Monsters' book.

New York Comic Con

I'll be sharing a table with my good friend, caricaturist Dan Springer, at this years New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center, this weekend, October 8-10.  We'll be at table N-14, in Artist Alley.

I'll have prints, buttons, stickers and copies of my new book 'The Graphic Art of Justin Leiter,' for sale...I'll also have freshly printed copies of my last sketchbook, 'The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Monsters,'...I've just got a few copies left of the first, limited run. And I'll take commission requests, including sketches inside the books!  Come by and say 'hi'.

Here's the cover to the new book.

MORE EK SUCCESS SKETCHCARDS!

BlOoRp!

EK SUCCESS SKETCHCARDS

Initiated by one of the Art Directors at work, some of the graphic artists are drawing sketchcards and then trading them amongst ourselves.   Here are a few of the ones I did.

It was Twenty Years Ago today...

In the midst of putting together my second art book, for this years upcoming New York Comic Con, I found some old sketches, circa 1990...these won't be in the book, just thought it might be fun to post them for what it's worth.

Behold ... Charles Munro

Last week I came across the shocking and upsetting news that my friend Charles Munro had passed away.  I first met Charles when we worked together at Kleiner't's, in 1999.  He was also a graphic artist,  doing kids clothing like myself.  After he left and worked elsewhere, we saw each other a few times, and then lost contact for a number of years before reconnecting on Facebook, last November.  We spoke on the phone once and then kept up through e-mail. Charles was getting involved in electronic keyboard music, creating really cool, atmospheric pieces on his computer.  In his last e-mail to me, on July 9th, he mentioned how he was entering an online music contest. 

That was also his last post on his Facebook page.  Not hearing from him for a bit, I went over to his page to discover the terrible news that he had passed away in his sleep and that a wake had been held for him on July 12th. I was numb and saddened.  Charles was a sweet guy, a talented artist and an emerging electronic musician.  

Charles used to have a saying at work -  ' Behold'...it didn't really mean anything...or did it?  It was just a cool emphatic message...sort of an Asgardian, mythical word.  One day, while our boss was out sick, I pencilled a quick nonsense comic based around the word.  In memory of Charles, today I sat down and inked it.   R.I.P. Charles.

Charles' music can be found at:

Charles Munro Music

I Float, Therefore I Am.

Looking through some old files, I found these two guys, and a few more, in semi-completed form. I colored them and added the backgrounds, using some drawings I had done for Hot Wheels.

And another monster sketchpage...

A Monster Sketchpage

This page dates back a year or so..there's a date of 4-20-08 in the bottom left, but I think that was just for the red pencil demon dude in the middle of the page (later inked)...the rest of the blue pencil drawings are more recent.

Sharks and Dinos

Some recent designs for Target boys swimwear.

Merry Bloody Christmas!

Maybe this should have waited 'til the appropriate time to post, but what the hell..came across it while looking for some cupcake illos in an old folder from my days at Saramax. This was done sometime in 2008 (even though it's got a 2009 date on it).  I was really just doing regular cute gingerbread girls, but felt like tweaking it a bit.

Keeping Busy

Hey folks - I know it's been some time since I've updated  the blog. I hope to get back into the swing of things and keep it a bit more current. Not too much this time, just a couple of recent sketches done inside the Mosnters sketchbook.

I've been doing a lot of drawing lately at a job out in Clifton, New Jersey, doing pencil sketches of icons that will eventually be turned into dimensional stickers. I was never told not to, and I never signed anything, but I'm going to refrain from posting those sketches for the time being. I've done everything from cowboy stuff, to motorcycles, baby themes and camping.  If all goes according to plan, there should be around 120 different 'sku's (sheets of icon stickers), with each sku containing anywhere from 8-12 icons, so it's a lot of drawings. It's been a lot of fun and I've been putting pencil to paper seven hours a day, so I think it's helping my drawing skills, at least for realistic stuff. Hopefully not too far down the line, I'll post some of it.  At the moment someone else is doing the vector art from my sketches, but I'll also be doing some of the vectors myself.

In other news, I'll be returning to the convention circuit (lol), as I'll have a table with my buddy Dan 'The Caricature King' Springer  at the New York Comic Con in October. I'll have copies of my last sketchbook, some posters, maybe t-shirts and some new art. Hope to see you there!

Comics For Cures Sketchcards

Here are a few sketchcards I did this month for Blueline Pro's Comics For Cures cancer research exhibition and auction. The art from the auction will go up on Ebay the week of May 17th, and culminate with an exhibition of the original art from the auction to be held at Comics 2 Games, 8470 US 42 Florence, Kentucky on May 22nd.

All proceeds from the sale of the cards will go to the American Cancer Society.

ELEMENTS!

Presented here are a bunch of the element drawings that make up some of the prints I've done over the years...I just selected a random bunch of illustrations, along with swatches of a few prints....This page contains art done for both boys and girls prints...I've got so many of these individual element type drawings I could put together another twenty of these pages and not run out of art to use.

More Monsters Sketchbook sketches...and more

Some of the recent drawings I've done inside my Mosnters sketchbook, along with a few other sketches from recent days. The ape in the Mets hat (that was Rob's request...to draw a monster in a Mets cap) at the top is saying 'The Mets are my favorite team to eat!'. Baron Karza, from The Micronauts, for James, is under the Stormtrooper for John.

Monsters Sketchbook Now Available!

I've still got copies of my sketchbook for sale, so get 'em before they're all gone!! The sketchbooks are $20 each, postage paid, and come with an original inked sketch on the inside front cover; the sketches are the size of a sketchcard. Plus, as an added bonus (whoo-hoo!) I'll include three free postcards with each order. The postcards are of Darth Vader, Robot ND-23 and Surfer Shark, all images previously posted on this blog. The sketchbook itself contains 32 pages and measures 8.5"x 5.5". I can draw a random monster for you or you can ask for a special request. E-mail me at jleiter1@verizon.net for ordering info. Here are a few examples of the sort of sketches you can expect.