69 - Goodbye 2025

Thinking of you…

End of Year Sketchbook dump!

Some from reference, some from my head.

O, ANTIPHONS

A church in Virginia commissioned me to illustrate the 7 Antiphons, which are commonly adapted in the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Here is the first one. I’ll share the rest next year after they have been published.

MURAL

My church commissioned me to paint a mural on our front windows again. Here is the design and a time-lapse of me applying the front half.

DRINK AND DRAW

I went to a local Drink and Draw with a buddy of mine, Jake, you can check out his work here. It was a lot of fun; we got to chat, drink, and draw live cosplay models.

CAPTAIN ABSOLUTELY

Cranking away at this series, I have finished January and February, and I am halfway done with March’s spread. The panels have a lot of text so the art pages end up with this lovely negative space.

Subscribe to the Magazine here!

CLB

I still have new pages being posted weekly on Fridays you can read it all here.

Next year Cyber League Baseball will debut in print, keep your eyes glued to this newsletter for updates.

GALLERY SHOW

I am collaborating with a local artist in Atlanta to make a gallery show in May 2026. The loose theme is organic forms. Here is a test that I did in my sketchbook.

I so often draw figurative and narrative works that I want to explore more static compositions. My goal is to create some pieces that you would want to hang over your mantle.

WATCH: Heist (2001)

I watched this with my wife. Good movie, very dated which is funny to say about a movie made post 2000. I love a good heist movie and this delivers. there is a great shoot out scene that feels very real with a bunch of guys awkwardly shooting their guns in all directions, kinda made me laugh out loud.

LISTEN: Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

This is a podcast about Satanic Panic of the 70’s-80’s in america. the show is exceptionally well produced but it can be a bit long winded. It takes a solid 3-4 episodes to set the stage before they really start to dive in. Also pretty harrowing, lots of murder, cults, and abuse so listener’s be advised.

READ: The Human Target Volume 1

Just pure gold. Greg Smallwood kills with his 50’s style artwork in this classic murder mystery. The color palettes are exquisite and the compositions are unmatched. I would like to do a deep dive once I finish volume 2

PLAY: Trivia

My wife and I made a Narnia trivia game for our family over Thanksgiving. It went well, and it made me think about what my best category would be in regular trivia. I’m definitely the Zoology dude. I’ve got animal facts for $1000 easy.

Last year, a certain company put out an AI ad. And I made a point to talk about how terrible that was but refrained from saying the brand because I don’t want the bad press to benefit them. Welp, they did it again. It really made me sad to see another AI Slop ad for a product I would generally enjoy.

I’m still not going to give them press, but I am going to showcase a different ad that I really like this season.

What is great about this ad is that they don’t show you what the gift for mom was. because that isn’t the point. The point is that it came from one human to another, and another, and another, to its destination.

Sure, you can ask Chat GPT that question or prompt. But dont deprive yourself of deeper meaning via self reflection and careful thought.

“It’s the thought that counts”

This is often thrown around to excuse poor actions or lack there of. But I would argue that it is also a charge for our current age where we actively choose to let something else think for us.

I don’t like doom-mongering about AI without action points, so here is a simple thing that you can do to fight for humanity in an increasingly digital world

The next time that you have a question that you want to ask Chat GPT, like, How many fish are there in the ocean? Instead, I want you to pause and think of someone you know who might have the answer. Then, either call, text, or wait till you see them again and ask them to their face. They might not know the answer, but you will definitely have formed a human connection. That person will feel empowered by you and you don’t know what growth might come from it for either of you.

I mean, heck, this IS friendship. asking people random questions and learning from each other’s knowledge through fun civil chats about the pisces population of this petulant planet.

Merry Christmas, see ya next year.

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