Draw Heat

Being Human

2012-02-02T23:12:00.000-08:00

Addicted to this show. Drawn during Thursday sketch night.

Right-click-view to embiggen.

THING I DID ON FACEBOOK'S TIMELINE

2012-01-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

A bit of trial and error.

MOSES! MOSES! MOSES!

2011-08-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Click to embiggen.

Thor

2011-05-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Sketch Night Gal

2011-04-08T08:03:00.001-07:00

You poor, ignored blog. Here...have a sketch.

Buy My Shirt!

2010-10-17T23:23:00.001-07:00

On sale today at midnight and for 24 hours only...just 10 bucks!

Fanboy Confidential Interview

2010-08-22T11:52:00.001-07:00

I was interviewed by Maurice at Fanboy Confidential a couple of months ago. Here's the link.

ME TALKING

I talk fairly in-depth about my early career in visual effects, particularly on Power Rangers.

Hulk and Wolverine

2010-08-20T11:46:00.001-07:00

Sketched last night at Priscilla's Coffee.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

2010-08-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

Unused sketch from a current illustration job.

Bizarro

2010-04-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

For a Bizarro-themed thread on The Drawing Board.

Profiled

2010-03-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Some guy with great taste profiled my hip hop-themed artwork. :)

Thanks, Craig.

READ ON

Biggie

2010-03-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

The Notorious B.I.G. died 13 years ago today.

HEAR ME TALK - INTERVIEW

2010-02-25T19:03:00.001-08:00

My friend Carrie Carnevale has a new-ish podcast called Biz Behind the Biz all about us non-famous people in the film industry and I was her guest live last night. Listen to the entire interview here:

http://bizbehindthebiz.blogspot.com/

And leave a comment on her blog. Carrie's good people.

Demons and Diving Suits

2009-12-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

Done for this year's Hellboy.com Holiday Art Exchange.

DETAIL:

Coffee Doodles

2009-08-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

Sketch night!

Post-It Wednesday 2

2009-08-13T09:51:00.001-07:00

A little late.

Post-It Wednesday 1

2009-08-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Let's try this then.

Guy Who Sold Stuff and Yelled A Lot

2009-07-14T13:10:00.001-07:00

Jury Duty

2009-07-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Misery loves company. Impromptu life drawing session while I sat for nearly 8 hours in a jury pool downtown.

Machete

2009-06-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Rogues

2009-06-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

I like to draw these characters every now and then.

Son of Bulljive STILL AVAILABLE!

2009-06-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

I have copies of last year's semi-epic sketchbook, Son of Bulljive, still available via me. If you want a copy, send me US 12 dollars/15 outside US (shipping included) via PayPal to rick at rickcortes dot com. If you don't use PayPal, email me for other payment options.

Son of Bulljive comes in a convention sketchbook size and contains nearly 40 pages of sketches from 2008. Each sketchbook comes with a sketch!

Click the image below for a preview.

Order NOW!

Neck

2009-06-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

Favorite person to draw, ever.

You can see the reference and other great faces of hers here.

Welcome to L.A.

2009-06-02T18:52:00.001-07:00

Uni-Bush

2009-05-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah...I don't know either. Sometimes, you're drawing with your friends, conversations go this way and that, and suddenly, you have a drawing of an ex-president as a unicorn.

Angry Zen Fellow

2009-04-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

What?

This was all I could muster at the cafe last night.

My girl

2009-04-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Lemur

2009-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

You heard me.

Bears and whatnot

2009-03-13T15:28:00.001-07:00

No Cure

2009-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

Aliens are as hopeful about their baldness as humans are.

Happy New Year

2009-01-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

Ghosts of 2007.

more skully

2008-11-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Sketch done while at work.

October

2008-10-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello, loyal fan.

I'm in Cactus Gallery's newest group show.

I got in on it late so I missed the postcard, but I have a piece in it, for real. Unfortunately, I won't be making the artist reception since I have plans for that evening already. You can still attend and yell "Buy this!" while pointing at my work.

Also, here's a little Abe Sapien ink piece for fun.

Son of BULLJIVE!

2008-07-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

The semi-sequel to my sold out sketchbook Bulljive!

ICONS, LEGENDS and NOTORIOUS FIGURES @ Cactus Gallery

2008-07-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

I'm in a show! Check out the flyer for details...

Come on out for either night!

Kids and a Tree

2008-06-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Drew this for my wife for the preschool where she teaches. It's for their graduation program. (The school is part of a YMCA, hence the shirt logo.)

COMING THIS SUMMER!

2008-05-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

A sneak preview of...

(This cover is in progress.)

SMASH!

2008-05-06T16:17:00.001-07:00

This drawing is based on a rough sketch by Cheeks.

It's always fun to try and figure out another artist's process by drawing over their sketches.

Website update!

2008-04-14T19:28:00.001-07:00

And the updates keep a-comin'! I added some new features including a Design section featuring some character designs I've done and will soon have production designs as well. Included is this cutie pie.

I drew this for an independent film project I was involved in a few years ago. I'm not sure this was ever in contention for actually being made in any fashion, but I always liked the drawing.

Awesomeness

2008-04-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

I won't post many photos here, if at all. But I'll make an exception to pay homage to the moustache I had last week. (It's gone because Lindsey hated it! Everyone else loved it, but she's the only one I sleep with.)

It's a handlebar moustache. Not a Fu Manchu. Just because I'm Asian, doesn't automatically make it a Fu Manchu.

Normally I'd be smiling but I thought I'd offset the yellow shirt with the words Butterfly Gardens on it with a scowl.

EDIT: Super-friend Jon McNally has put in the leg work and let me know that I'm actually rocking a horseshoe in this photo. Thanks, Jon! A million dollar check is on its way to you. (Don't try to cash it. The bank will laugh at you.)

Fierce

2008-03-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I watch Project Runway. Fuck you.

I watch Top Chef, too. Let's fight!

Creep

2008-03-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

While going through a stack of drawings for the big website update (oh yeah, I've been updating the website...click the link on the right), I found this creep. I probably drew it at Priscilla's coffee shop and it might have been inspired by The Hills Have Eyes. I have no idea, but here he is.

Monster at work

2008-03-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

No, it's not a monster working. It's a drawing of Frankenstein's monster I drew while I was at work. Don'tcha just wanna hug him?

ball point pen and Sharpie

Coffy!

2008-02-25T22:09:00.000-08:00

I watched the Pam Grier classic Coffy today and it occurred to me that so many of the characters in it are like Dick Tracy villains. I could have spent the whole day drawing them. Here are two of them.

Lovely Cadaver

2008-02-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

This blog will now encompass all the stuff I draw and not just hip hop stuff. So, to inaugurate the new whatever, here's a version of my friend Jon McNally's character, Lovely Cadaver.

Col-erase pencil and Photoshop.

The D-O Double G

2007-11-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

Sketched this up for the new Caricature thread I started on the Drawing Board.

Check out the thread for other takes on The Doggfather.

Also, I'm in the process of turning this blog into an all-inclusive art blog that will showcase all the stuff I do, not just hip hop stuff. My other blog is lost in limbo so we'll just have to take the party over here. Chucch.

The Abstract

2007-10-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

"Back in the days when I was a teenager
Before I had status and before I had a pager
You could find the Abstract listening to hip hop.
My Pops used to say it reminded him of be-bop."

I saw Q-Tip on VH-1's Hip Hop Honors and was inspired.

The Corner

2007-08-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

Go download Common's I Used To Love H.E.R. and fall in love with hip hop again.

I used some interesting photographs I took in San Luis Obispo on my honeymoon. (Yes, I got married. To a gorgeous girl who thinks Common's cute.)

Right-click-view the image to see the whole thing (or whatever the Mac equivalent of that is.)

The Beautiful Struggle

2007-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

I don't remember when or how ended up buying Mos Def and Talib Kweli's Black Star album, but it was definitely altered what I was listening to. At first, Kweli seemed like a capable emcee whom I had to sit through in order to hear Mos Def rap. But soon, I grew to appreciate the content of his rhymes and his skill on the mic.

These days, I'm listening to Kweli more than I am to Mos Def (until Mos gets all that sub-par rock music out of his system).

So here's Talib Kweli, in a bit of a simpler style than usual.

I actually drew this twice. The first time, just as I was putting down the finishing touches, the power went out in my apartment. Four minutes later, it was on again. But the piece I had been working on was gone forever. There's something to be said about good ol' pencil and paper.

The Prince

2007-07-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Prince Paul was basically a member of De La Soul for the first few albums and was responsible for their groundbreaking sound and album structure. Just when hip hop was
taking itself a little too seriously, the instant classic 3 Feet High And Rising exploded on an unsuspecting hip hop public with innovative samples, the first instances of "skits" in between songs (now a rap album staple), humor, and lyrics that favored flowers over guns.

I sketched this drawing a few years ago, probably while compositing something for some bad tv sitcom. I think the image was from the cover of Paul's Politics of the Business. Anyway, here's the sketch:

...which I decided to revisit in Photoshop:

I'm looking forward to Paul's Baby Elephant project.

Have a good weekend, kids. I'll be on the set of Ugly Betty today, pointing and sounding important. Wish me luck.

The 18th Letter

2007-07-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

Arguably the greatest emcee of all time and certainly the most influential. Rakim.

Based on that somewhat bizarre Sean John ad. (Hell, I don't know if it's bizarre. Rakim needs his fish.)

The Doctor

2007-07-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Doctor Dre, architect of west coast gangsta-funk.

Maybe Detox will actually come out some time in the next decade.

The Predator

2007-07-15T16:38:00.001-07:00

I know that his recent output hasn't exactly been classic, but he remains my all-time favorite emcee. His late 80s/early 90s song catalog is still as fresh as it was when it first came out. So to inaugurate this thing I'm hoping to update more than once a month, I give you Ice Cube. Based on the ubiquitous photo that everyone has seen.

I hope to represent the gamut of hip hop music that I enjoy, from the most mainstream to the obscure. (I'm lookin' at you, MC Paul Barman!) Enjoy.