Winds of Change

I'm bored with my website. I think I have entirely too much old crap on it. I have so many random mascots serving little or no purpose. So I'll be dumping it all and starting from scratch at some point in the near future.
I've also been blowing a lot of time time looking at random art blogs. I swear I could take a week to just be inspired by the plethora of work out there.
But not to fear, I haven't been slacking in the art department. Here's a little something I did for something I will diverge more info about at a later date.
SHAZAM!

Sandman and Seen in a waiting room...

I'm doing some warm up sketches of the Sandman for a draw-off and this is what I came up with for now. I've also grown attached to my sketchbook and take it everywhere I go, fortunately there is never a shortage of subject matter as these two fellows show. Hope everyone had a great weekend.



And as a bonus, here is one of the Lord of the ring sketch cards I revamped.

Yum

Stummbled across some ancient character design sheets through JIMHILLMEDIA.com for Disney's Long abandonded Don Quixote project, and just had to share. They need to back and do this project!

Time to take a (caricature) dump

Here are several caricatures from the past few months. Just a little reminder, that eventhough I was slaving over the comic book stuff, I was till working at the greatest job in the world.

Ice Cream

I'm a moderator at Digital Webbing.com in a draw-off section. We've been running pin-up contests where I throw out a word and folks get to design a pinup around it. For the most part it's been edible items, Bubble Gum, Champagne, Ice Cream, and now Cookies.
While I had definite ideas for each, Tragic the Clown, and Megacon were taking up most of my drawing time. I managed however to sketch something out for Ice Cream the night Megacon finished. Unfortunately, I fell asleep before completing it all the way. It's a bit risque, but it's doing well in the voting polls.

....Meeting her idol.

One of the neatest things that went down at the show, was Hailey's chance to meet her imaginary friend and schoolgirl crush, Sean Astin. Ever since she saw ENCINO MAN a few years ago, David (the character her played in the movie), or Daven, as her young developing speech would say, has been her security blanket.
She plays with him, works with him, is married to him, etc.
So for months she was looking forward to meeting him. He was at the show! So 30 bucks, and a half an hour in line later, my baby got to meet him. He was a great guy, and seemed very humble. Hailey was a bit star-struck and gooey, but could not be happier!
That in itself made MEGACON entirely worthwhile.

Megacon Day 3

Well, I missed a day so I'll double up on the photos. Megacon is now in the bag, but what a blast it was. Met a lot of great people, drew some cool pics, was inspired by the massive talents, and was able to spend a ton of bonding time with my oldest daughter. She hung with me all three days of the show! I would have liked to shop a little more, but I was too busy drawing.
I have some books left for anyone who may be interested. I'll post info here soon on pricing. In the meanwhile, here are some photos of work I did at the con.
It was a good time. Thanks also again to my pals at Ka-blam.com , I enjoyed the high quality of work, and the dinners afterward!!!!

Megacon day 1

Well day one has come and gone, and I was pretty durned happy with the set-up. Lots of talented people there, and The Books looked great! A ton of thanks to my friends at Ka-Blam.com
I took the girls along today, and eventhough my littlest had a melt down, Hailey loved every moment and stayed the whole day. She is determined to be there all day again tomorrow. Should be a busier day, and maybe she'll get to meet her crush, Sean Astin.
Here is a group shot of the set-up and the lococlan. And one of a few Princess Leias I drew.
More news tommorrow!

MEGACON

Well we are on the eve of the big show. I'm pretty jazzed and ready to go. Both Tragic the Clown, and my sketch book are al printed up and available to buy. I'll be drawing all kinds of commissions and probably spending just as much as a earn. Nonetheless, I'll try to give daily updates over the next few days. For now, I must get some sleep.
And here is the colored cover for the sketchbook, whuch will also be poster sized at the show. Mick Clausen at minwinderstudios.com did an amazing job!!

TRAGIC THE CLOWN COVER

Here is the cover to Tragic the Clown. The logo was done by Brien Roth and he did a fantastic job capturing the look and feel of the book. The official release date is Feb 14th, and it will be available at Megacon and the internet soon.

It Came from the POND!!

Well Tragic the Clown is all but printed, just waiting on a few pinups so I can ship it off to be printed. So now I am working furiously on putting together my sketchbook. Apropriately titled, "It Came from the Pond! Collected Sketches and artwork from Michael Locoduck Duron"
And here in all it's black and white glory is the cover image. I'm looking to get it pretty quickly colored as well since I have zero computer coloring skills.
I'll post a colored version as soon as it's ready.

Tragic News

Well it's not as bad as it seems. Just posting an update on my current project. This is a mock up of the cover. I have a contest to design the logo going on right now at digitalwebbing.com.
The book will be available at the Orlando Megacon Feb 16-18. Along with a sketchbook and some random other items. The good news is, it's very close to completion now. All pages have been layed out, scanned in, and are in the last stages of greyscaling. All that's will be left is the final layout of the book itself, and the lettering. More news on it soon.

Tragic New Year

Whew. The first day of the year was rough. You know I was completely gung ho about ditching the shitstorm that was 06 and jumping feet first into 07, but today was wierd. I just hope it's not a premonition of what's to come.

You know for the first time in years, I had a fantastic New Year's Eve. We spent the evening at Universal Studios. Rode a few rides, had a few drinks, watched some way cool fireworks.
But two of the coolest highlights to me were the fireworks themselves, holding my three gals close and kissing the Mrs at midnight. I don't think we'd ever been in the thick of a crowd with music and fireworks at midnight before. Some sort of magic moment I must say.
The other moment was really heart warming.
They had this dj pumping out the hits and crowds dancing. So mom hung back with Maya the bee, while Hailey and I hit the dance floor. Man did we have a blast. She is definitely a dancer like her daddy.
It was a great night.

But what's Tragic about the New Year, (aside from the televised hanging of Saddam, not that I think he didn't deserve it) is the comic book I am working on, which will debut this year at Orlando's MEGACON.

More info on it to come, but for now I give you a title, and the first image to circulate on the net, which many of you recieved on your page this season.
This, is
TRAGIC: The Clown.
And he arrives to touch your world in February.






That's all for now my friends. Happy New Year!!

Expedition Everest

So if you haven't gotten the chance to ride Disney's newest ride, you should. It's a ton of fun, and has one great big ass Yeti in it. For a drawing challenge over at the Caricature Connection board in which we had to draw a yeti, this was my contribution.

I resisted the urge to draw a cartoony Yeti with a pack of gum. Decided to go a tad more feral.

Sketch Cards

It seems to be a new trend. People are collecting Original Art sketch cards now instead of just Commissioned artwork. I learned more about it after my second round of Lord of the Rings Sketch Cards. So it looks like I'm throwing my hat into the fray. Here are my first 2.

LOTR Sketch Cards round 2

Here are the rest...

LOTR Sketch Cards

Finally have clearance to show these. 81 of the 206 that I did. Overall I am much happier with the way these came out.

THE NCN CON

Well it's right around the corner, the NCN convention. It's right up the street, and I am trying to go. Prices are pricey....in the 250 dollar range....
BUT it's the place to be for Caricature Artists like me. I'd like to try and compete this year, so I am taking donations for those of you that are interested.
If you like my art, dig the blog, and appreciate the effort, take a minute to donate a few bucks to the get LOCO to the NCN CON FUND.
Some of you lurkers have privately requested caricatures of certain celebrities, well anyone that donates and has a request will get it filled as a THANK YA.
If you'd like to help, you can paypal me a donation by clicking here....

LINK DOESNT SEEM TO BE WORKING, so if anyone wants to donate, they can by going to the paypal site and using my email LOCODUCK@LOCODUCK.COM
You can remain anonymous or let me know it was you. Either way it's appreciated.
Have a great day and thanks in advance.

With apologies to Steve Silver

Here is one I drew up the other night. Couple gave me complete freedom, but they wanted something I hadn't done before...So thanks to Keelan's links to the School of Suck, and my latest obsession with The Kim Possible cartoon....well, here ya go.
They were really pleased with it by the way...
The other young lad wanted me to draw him up as Darth Vader, so I took some liberties with him, and delivered a NON-Conformist Disney-cature, and he LOVED it.
Wish I had the time to do this Darth Vader body in the parks...

Heh, Batman baddies,

Up to no good they are....

Steve Irwin

All I can say is Tragic. I became more aware and attached to the man by association with my wife. She had a big appreciation for his dedication to animal conservation, and his enthusiasm for educating the general public on it. So for the past 8 years I've been following his career, sometimes toungue in cheek, but always with respect.
His death is a loss to not only his family, but to the animals he was looking out for. My heart and prayers lie with his eight year old daughter, three year old son, and wife. God Bless ya Croc Man.

Caricature Mania

Here are some recent Caricatures I've served up hot and fresh at work.
Some of them are more exaggerated than others. I am trying to push the limit a bit with the Disney guests. But they are usually here for the cute and cuddly cartoons.....





This one I forgot to snap a picture of the kid, but I thought the body was cute enough to share...

This family wanted to be pirates from the movie, but wanted the scene to be continuos once lined up side by side. A bit challenging, but I was satisfied with the reults....