Back From The Dead? :)

Hey Guys!

It's been ages since my last post. I was hospitalized for a long time while undergoing some major surgery. My appendix ruptured, causing major infection in my body. According to the surgeon, showing up to the ER a day or two later would have resulted in death - Not the most comforting thing to hear after you come out of surgery :)

Additionally, according to the surgeon, I was walking around with this busted organ for weeks, maybe months?! He was puzzled that I was even alive at that point. Luckily, the man was one of VA's best surgeons and he saved my life.

Now, I have to get through the recovery period. It will take several months before I am back to 100% but my body is healing super fast - thank you veganism and Ameenah!! :)

As a result, all current projects were either put on hold or cancelled. However, I want to thank all my clients for their kind support and kind words through such a tough time and for being so understanding.

Bellow is a partial collection of things finished right before surgery and things left unfinished after the incident.

This was a series of Illustrations for Playboy Magazine.

It was for a fiction story consisting of three intertwining chapters focusing on hillbilly gangsters and underage prostitutes. Check out the new issue for the full story.

And here are all the initial sketches for the above illustrations.

I was hired by Newsweek to do a cover of the Somalian sea pirates that were plundering the news for weeks. It was a quick turnaround assignment (only two days) and the project was cancelled and changed to a different story before going to print. Below are my submissions for the cover. 

The next Illustration was for ESPN Fantasy Football Magazine 2011. It's an action shot of the wide receiver of the Houston Texans, Andre Johnson.

The next few images were for an advertising campaign for CPNB. This job had to be cancelled due to my hospitalization, but here are the few sketches that I managed to complete before surgery. 

Here is a personal piece of Solid Snake of Metal Gear Solid. I'm hoping to have this colored sometime soon. It's also inked traditionally, which is something I have not done in a while. :)

A portrait of my step grandfather:

A birthday gift for my future father in law (and yes, that is supposed to be John Wayne on the left) :

And this....was my first quick sketch (from a photo) after being released from the hospital. I felt like I had not drawn in years, hence the clunkiness. Time to get back into this drawing business. hehehe :)

Thanks for stopping by guys, 

-Tin