JJ Abrams is set to direct the next Star Wars movie. Okay but...

Gloomy Kid in a Colourful World

Here is today's Daily Sketch. Messing with colour.

Just your typical mutant worm attack. Enjoy today's daily sketch.

City dwelling monster

City dwelling monster visits his little buddy in today's Daily Sketch.

Here is today's Daily Sketch. Silhouettes are AWESOME!!

Today’s Daily Sketch is a silhouette sketch. I LOVE doing these. I find that they tend to be story driven and are great at getting your imagination involved. That’s about it for today. See you all tomorrow with a new one.

Doodled Character Designs

I am feeling a little bit ill today. So my daily sketch is incomplete. SO... this is awkward... Instead, I am submitting this set of symmetrical character design doodles that I did with Sketchbook Pro.

A scifi Scene based off of a photo I saw of dusty, sunny back lit ranger on a horse. If you know the source photo, please let me know and I'll add the info here.

I like the part in a story where there is discovery that will launch an adventure. Whether it is the secret map in Goonies, a ring in LOTR or that book in Never Ending Story. It’s great to have your imagination fly with possibilities at the start of a journey. 

So this is what I did for today’s (hey it is the third one straight!) Daily Sketch. 

What do you think?

Singing Bird

What? Two posts in two days?? Let's see how long I keep this up. :)

Here is tonight’s Daily Sketch. This is inspired by a photo I saw online. Please tell me the source if you know it…It is of a bird that seems to meet his fate like this one. I thought it would be funnier if it was a Disney-esque bird about to launch in song. 

I want to make an effort to post more stuff here. I am drawing all of the time yet can never take the few minutes to post anything. I have to work on that. Please feel free to comment/guilt me into posting more. :)

Here be robots

I haven't posted in forever. Here is a robot!

Fan Expo Wrap Up

Hello Everyone,
On August 23rd at 5AM, my family packed up our van and headed for Toronto. Part of the reason was for a short family vacation in the Big Smoke. The other reason was to attend the Fan Expo as an exhibitor in Artist Alley.  
We got there okay and I set up my booth. I got to spend a day with each of my three daughters as we manned the booth and try to get some sales. 

I am happy to announce that we made enough to cover the table, the hotel, the trip, the food and the ridiculous amount of prints that I made for the event... plus... I got to buy and trade for lots of goodies.
I finally got to meet Bobbi Chiu and Marco Bucci http://www.marcobucci.com/ in person. That was fun. I got a few Bucci prints that will be in our office at the college shortly. 

I also met Esad Ribic. His original artwork was incredible. I only wish that I could have afforded an original piece. There were no prints. :( 

I also got a chance to meet and talk to Tony Moore https://www.facebook.com/tonymooreillustration , the comic book artist behind the Walking Dead. I got to give him a copy of my book, the Art of Richtoon and my Rick Grimes Print. He gave my daughter Catherine a cool zombie patch. I was hoping to get a Zombie Jaws poster that was excellent. But they were sold out by the time I git there. I did pick up the Michonne poster though. Very happy about that one.
I also met a fantastic artist by the name of Mike Boldt . I really enjoy his prints. I picked up four plus his sketchbook. You can see his work here:  http://www.boldtmanstudios.com/ 

Probably the highlight of the night for me was when I was tidying up the booth on Sunday and I heard. "I really like your stuff, man. It's really good" I turned around to thank the gentleman only to find out it was Aaron Douglas. He is a great actor, mostly known for his work on Battlestar Galactica.  I was in shock!  I told him how much I liked his character in the show and he said that he was in Toronto shooting Hemlock Grove. I offered him one of my books. And I was on cloud nine for about two hours after that. Here is a picture!! Woo-hoo!! 

Aaron even took the time to tweet and email me about the book. What a class act!

I have renewed the table for next August!

I will have to make other posts of all of the stuff I got and the pictures we took.

Later

What do I do now?

I think that I have too many sites. That's my opinion. And to be quite honest, I no longer know how to manage it all anymore. Let's see what I got for starters"

- There is this blog of course: http://richtoon.blogspot.com I haven't posted here in over a year.

- I have a DA account. http://richtoon.deviantart.com/ This is another place that I don't post a lot either. What do I post on the blog vs the DA site?

- The place I spend most of my time is probably on Facebook.https://www.facebook.com/rich.lauzon
I post the odd image here and there.

- I also am concentrating my drawing time on my webcimic, http://SpacePestRemoval.com  I also have a Facebook Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/SpacePestRemovalcom/206455429392681
I am just getting around to posting stuff in there. Not quite sure what yet... Mostly the odd creature doodle.
I even have a page for my book, the Art of Richtoon: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-Richtoon/162976880408841 Sadly, I haven't done anything in there.

I also have a twitter feed: https://twitter.com/RichLauzon I mostly post my links to the latest comic strips from Space Pest Removal.

And I now have an Etsy store too! Not really a social network thing/issue as a not so subtle announcement. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Richtoon

How am I supposed to juggle all of this?

Any suggestions would be awesome. This will be a multi-social-network-post.

Rich

A quick look back at last year and looking ahead

Well this has been a more hectic than usual year for me- in the best possible way.

I launched a book, the art of Richtoon, I've created a webcomic, http://spacepestremoval.com/, I've created a new program for the college, Introduction to concept Art - it has so much promiss with really amazing teachers... And the other program that I teach in, Pre-Animation and Illustration had grown to 4 groups... for a max of 120 students!

The college has also hired a new full timer for the program. I'm not sure if I can officially say who it is or not, but I am rediculously pleased with who got the job!

It has been a fantastic year and there is so much more to look forward to as well.

The webcomic is an on going project. Please check it out! It is facinating because it is a never ending work in progress. And as the comic matures, it will all be done online. I am really excited to see how it will grow.

There are many new plans for Pre-Animation and Illustration. I can't talk much about it at the moment but it is all really good news!

I guess that's it. I haven't posted a lot this summer... so I thought I'd post a fan favorite:



Have a great summer everyone!

Rich

My Calgary Experience

Hey everyone,

I have been busy with my new webcomic and the Calgary Con last weekend. That is where all of my drawing time has been spent.

If you are curious about my adventures in Calgary, please check out this link:   http://spacepestremoval.com/2011/06/21/my-calgary-comic-and-entertainment-expo-experience/
It also happens to be where my webcomic is. http://spacepestremoval.com/

Expect more activity here very soon.

Art of RIchtoon Book now available in these fine stores:

Hi Gang,

Even though the books are still available via this blog, you now can buy one in the following book stores:

Books on Beechwood 35 Beechwood Ave Ottawa

Collected Works 1242 Wellington Street West, Ottawa

More announcements coming soon!

Rich

PS I will also be going to the Calgary Comicon on June 17-19th

SPACE PEST REMOVAL

I have launched as of yesterday a new webcomic called Space Pest Removal. It is about 2 aliens and their SPR ship who have the mundane job of capturing all of the bugs and pests of the universe.
I am planning to post new stips each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I hope I can pull it off! There are already 21 strips up at the website http://spacepestremoval.com/

Take a peak! Let me know what you think!

Richtoon

PinUps for Cancer

http://uldron.deviantart.com/

Please check this great concept by talented ULDRON! Help him raise $1000.

I was on TV today + Announcement

I was interviewed on a local TV show on Rogers Channel 22 called Daytime with Derick and TL. It was my first TV interview ever! The hosts were very nice and the crew was very professional. It was a great experience. I was there to promote my upcoming book, The Art of Richtoon that will be released on May 12th.


You can see the interview here:

http://www.rogerstv.com/page.aspx?lid=237&rid=4&sid=68&gid=79462

In other news...

The General Arts 8th Annual Arts Showcase is on Wednesday, April 20th from 4PM to 7PM in Salon A and Salon B of the Market Place Food Court at Algonquin College.

We are showcasing the students' portfolios and artwork from Pre-Animation and Illustration, Introduction to Concept Art, Introduction to Fine Arts, and Introduction to Music Industry Arts.

And!!! For the fourth straight year.... The Labyrinth Store will be part of the show! So if you want to get great books on Art, Illustration, Animation, Manga, Concept Art.... This is the place to be!!!

http://www.animationroadshow.blogspot.com/

Parking is free in Lots 8 and 9 after 5PM.

I hope you can make it!


Later
Rich

Coming Soon!!

Hey Everone!!

I wanted to let you know of a couple of things:

1. The General Arts Showcase is on April 20th (Wednesday) from 4PM to 7PM
Algonquin College, Salon A and Salon B of D Building's main food court, Free Parking in Lots 8 and 9.

2. The Labyrinth store will be there as early as 12 noon!! Let everyone know!!

3.  My Book Launch (Check out the picture!!) will be on May 12th from 5PM to 9PM  in the Observatory pub, A170 at Algonquin College.  Free Parking in Lots 8 and 9. Food, door prizes, you can pick up your pre-order there, and there will be plenty more to buy!

Hope to see you at these 2 events!!

Rich

Tentacles!

Creature Thing

One more for tonight.

Creature with goggle

Blue Monkey

Lost Again

Conflict

Sea creature

Random Character Design

2010 Xmas Card

I can fly!!

News on the book Art of Richtoon

I am almost 1/3 of my minimum pre-order target. It is going very well. Thank you all for the support.


I am going to try to sweeten the pot:



If you pre-order my book, The Art of Richtoon before January 1st 2011, I will add the following:



1. The book will be autographed along with a sketch.

2. You will receive a 7x5 print.

3. Your name will be part of a special acknowledgment page within the book.

4. Your name would be added to win a large print of one of my images on Book Launch Day (Tentatively May 1st).



richtoon.blogspot.com

[link]!/pages/The-Art-of-Richtoon/162976880408841



$40 Local Pickup

+ $8 Canada (S/H)

+ $15 USA (S/H)

+ $20 International (S/H)



Can't afford it because of Christmas? Ask for it as a Gift and request your name to be part of the Acknowledgment.



More info to come soon!!

Art of Richtoon Pre-Order Book Launch

I am very pleased to announce that my first self published book, The Art of Richtoon will soon become a reality.

The hardcover book contains over 800 illustrations on colour paper. It will have 152 pages in a horizontal format of 10 x 7.5.

Jessica Borutski, a fantastic artist currently working at Warner Brothers and creator of I Like Pandas and The Bunny with the Big Bad Teeth has written the forward for the book. Thank you so much Jess!

I have a few other surprises coming up.

What will you find in the book? A bunch of sketches and digital paintings of Robots, Zombies, Caricatures, Monsters, Cartoons, Life Studies and much more.

The book is anticipated to launch on May 1st but you can Pre-Order your book today. Please note the Paypal links on the right hand side.

We will have some more news regarding a book launch party in May. If you reside in Ottawa and can attend the party, you can make arrangements with me through email (richtoon@rogers.com) to save on shipping and handling.

This has been a life long dream of mine- to produce a published book of my artwork. Please help my dream come true by Pre-Ordering your Art of Richtoon today!

A moment to post

So I'm in the middle of teaching... and as usual, my blog is taking a hit! It is really difficult to find the few minutes it takes to post something. My goal is to post something at least once a month! So here are a few fun designs for you!

Teaser Image

I am going to share a little secret with you.

I've been toying with the idea of self publishing for some time now and I gave myself the goal of creating some art and getting some of my older pieces in order to... well... publish something. I figured that if I spent this past summer gathering and creating some artwork, say, at a given quota, maybe I then would have enough to publish... something. I am now at the point where I have everything picked out and need to write up a few things. But essentially, my fist goal is complete. I've posted this "teaser image" to give you a taste of what will be in there. If you know me, you'll have seen other things that I've been working on as well. Some will be from this blog as well... but in high rez for your printing pleasure.

This is partially why the blog has gone a bit silent as well as the fact that the college is back at full force. But I'll do my best to keep adding a few more things as well as keep you posted on this latest endeavour. This is a very exciting and equally frightening project. But I aim to follow through on it.

Wet Pizza Boy

It is pouring rain outside. I thought up a pour soul stuck having to deliver pizza in this wheather and having to wait at the door while his client takes his sweet time to answer the door.

Sketch Dump

I'm in the middle of my vacation and sketching up a storm! I keep forgetting to post this stuff. So for anyone that is still paying attention (hello out there!), here a few sketches. I have been experimenting with watercolor, acrylics and  toned paper. Having lots of fun.

New Introduction to Concept Art Program at Algonquin College

Hi Everyone,
I am pleased to announce that we have a brand new program at Algonquin College. Introduction to Concept Art.

This is a one year program that focuses on digital painting, colour theory and coming up with a solid portfolio for concept art.

We have some very skilled concept artist/teachers attached to this program. I want to take it!!!


If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me here:
lauzonr@algonquincollege.com

or

613-727-4723-5279

Apply here: http://www.ontariocolleges.ca/ search for Concept art... We're the only college concept art program in Ontaro!

Yet another Speed Paint

I find it very challenging to come up with something reasonably good within a certain time constraint. I am trying to do these speed paintings in one hour or less. And while these are not masterpieces, they are a gagillion times better than the ones that are not working out at all. So many false starts. I can't seem to stop myself from adding a little space ship at the end. Is that so wrong?

Contest

There is a contest in Deviant Art to get your artwork to be sold as a skin for a Sony Trik http://news.deviantart.com/article/122455/ This is one of my entries. If you do a search for Richtoon on the provided link, you will see all of my submissions. Something a bit different...Thanks for watching!

Richtoon is on YouTube?

Hey everyone,
I decided a few days ago to fiddle with Camtasia Studio and ended up with a little vid that I sort of liked. So I posted -my very first- youtube video. Here it is! I got the copyright warning for the song that I selected. I might switch it eventually if the warning becomes something more. Please comment!