Matt Hackmann

With only two more blog posts to go and only having missed one day, I'm digging into cheap content to fill this space. Perhaps it'd be more challenging to actually create new content for an entire month, but I'm too lazy for that.

Instead, you get random scraps of things I started and never completed from my sketch books. So, yeah. Enjoy that. Or have a beer. Or have a beer and then enjoy that.

This was the first thing I drew with the complimentary box of Crayons I got from Crayola. I was not in the least bit bitter.Read More

After some four months of various levels of procrastination, I finally finished that picture some deviantArt guy requested. I will never do another one of these doll things again.

A few months back, my two youngest bros and myself had a little art battle which I summarily won quite handily. This weekend, as I was visiting my folks, we held another one. Same premise: each person chooses a picture, all three must draw said picture to the best of their ability. All laying around my iPad, the battle began.

I would've figured Joe would have this in the bag as he draws Wind Waker Link A LOT and without reference, even. But, such was not to be. As can be seen, I got a little bored waiting for everybody to finish.

Now, I will go on record and say I didn't like the chosen picture much, but there it is. I'd actually call this a three way tie because we all hit and miss aspects of the picture (there's something going on with the eyes on mine).

Joe decided to sit this one out for whatever reason pretty much leaving me the winner by default. Both Steve and I quit prematurely because we were getting bored with the whole thing. I'm just happy mine doesn't look "lumpy" and even Chris agreed.

So, there it is. Our second art battle with me, yet again, taking away the trophy. I think next time we should try not copying a source image and just toss out a subject to draw. It could very well level the playing field. All in good fun, though.

Some time ago I put up my list of New Year's resolutions. On the whole, I'm not doing terrible. I'm exercising more, I've gotten an apartment and I promptly gave up in Final Fantasy X-2, a decision we all agree is better for my sanity. On the art front, however, things are less than stellar; I can probably count on two hands the amount of times I've set pencil to paper to do anything. I blame it all on this one piece I've bee "working on" since February.

After I completed that one commission, I got another one similar only it involved multiple characters from a source I'm not familiar with. But, in the spirit of ganbare, I gave it a shot. And now, four months later, it's stuck in development hell somewhere between the coloring and shading phase:

These are the first and last of what is supposed to be four panels. I like the last one there, not so keen on the first and am less so of the one's in between (which is why they've not been colored yet.

All this said, I hereby change my New Year's resolution of draw more to "finish this goddamn piece before the end of the year."

Even I am unsure of whether I can keep it...

I'm moving in mid-May, apartment has been procured and packing has begun. Now that all that's out of the way, let's focus on more important things.

Through various happenings and goings on, two of my brothers and I challenged each other to a drawing contest of sorts. We would each choose a picture to draw and all three of us would have to draw said pictures. Over the course of three hours this afternoon we engaged in the most passive aggressive combat of all time.

Before I leap into the pictures themselves, a quick overview of who my challengers were. First was my 14-year-old brother Steve and second was my 11-year-old brother Joe. Was this a fair fight with me being 24? No, no it was not. Onward!Read More