http://www.threadless.com/ Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:32:22 -0500 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:15:45 -0600
I'm trying to figure out how to make black and white comics. This was me messing around with black and white (ink and some gesso).

If anyone would like the original, it looks like the one on the left and is on regular computer paper. $15 + shipping? Any takers?
(edit) This was already sold, thanks!]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:56:02 -0500
I decided to try painting a sketch I drew today. In some ways I love how it turned out, and in other ways I think it's just weird.

And thanks to Melanie Matthews for sending me some brushes to try out and suggesting one of the photoshop default ones.]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:07:20 -0500
I plan on dressing up as Spock for Halloween so I've been thinking a little about Vulcans. I usually draw with a lead holder using non-photo blue "lead". I do this because I draw really hard and so I can ink or pencil over it and remove the blue in photoshop. Today I decided to use a darker blue pencil I have sitting around. I kind of liked it. Also, this guy might be related to Mic Jagger.]]> Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:41:25 -0500
Well a while back I did a Madman Commission for Simon Miller. (Click his name for his Original Comic Art Shop website). He is connected with everyone involved in creating Madman and offered to send them a copy of the commission I did. I thought that was cool but forgot about it. It turns out that my commission is one of the pin-ups printed in the back of issue #17!


(I look scuzzy in the pic because I need a shave and a haircut, but I'm happy)!
Looking at my artwork printed next to some amazing artists, not to mention Mike Allred, has shown me how I can improve on my inking and details. I'm especially into the pin-ups by Rafael Grampá and Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá.

In other Mike Laughead news. I have a Twitter account now. You can follow me under the username mikelaughead. Very original!

I recently visited Iowa for a friend's baptism. While there I got to meet Phil Hester who is an awesome guy. If you ever see him at a convention, say hi and talk to him about being from the midwest.

While I was in Iowa, my nephew Bob showed me this abstract art pen drawing he did. Bob just started middle school and is on his way to becoming a great artist.


I haven't been doing much artwork that I can post on my blog recently, but I'm posting a sneak peek of my current big project. It's a children's book about a little hippo girl that goes with her mom to buy her first pair of shoes. I'll post more when it's further along.



Finally, here is a poster I just finished yesterday. This is the art minus the type that will be used to promote GamingForCause.com. I was so happy to just mess around on this as a break from working on kid's books. The colors seem to have the "growth" feel that I was going for.

Thanks for reading, or just looking at the images like I sometimes do.


]]> Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:30:31 -0500 Butterfly Star!," to help it get printed on Threadless!


]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:37:01 -0500
I finally fixed the bugs and added this animated header to my website. Check it out: MikeLaughead.com]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:49:08 -0600
I was asked to do a sample for a children's book. The basic premise is a skeleton cat that likes to play the drums. Well, I went a little overboard with it. But the back and forth with the editors and art directors was really great. They had some great insights and advice. This is a progression of the ideas from first to last. There are things I like about all of them. I'm not sure if I like the 3rd or the last one best. But there are some great things going on in the first one as well.


I did this a while back as a t-shirt design. I really like inking with a brush, but my illustration style has veered away from it. This was an experiment.



This is from an old job. I had to do some building "caricatures". I'm posting a couple of my favorites.


My wife requested that I design a wallet she would actually like to own. This is the result. I think the tinymeat folks are pretty busy with their new store so I haven't heard back from them about it.


I did some spots recently and these were my favorite ones.]]> Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:36:13 -0500
Due to my recent interview linking to Jeff Smith's website, Jeff Smith himself took a notice of my artwork and the few comics I've done. As if that weren't awesome enough, he then decided to write a little blog entry about me!

Now, as I said in my interview, Jeff Smith is one of my favorite comic book creators and frankly one of my favorite artists as well. I first discovered Jeff's amazing comic 'Bone', when I bought issue #13 at the comic shop when I was in high school. It immediately was appealing in every way. The story was fun, intriguing and well told. The black and white art was full of life with tons of amazing brushstrokes. I went on to buy many other issues and eventually all of the graphic novel collections. Later on, in order to improve my inking skills, I copied a panel from the comic. Please, please, please check out Bone and give it a read. Here are some ways to buy it:

1. Directly from Jeff Smith. The one volume addition is the best money you will spend this year.

2. You can also buy from Amazon.com

It also might be at your local library. Either in the black and white version or the new color versions printed by Scholastic. Start with the collection "Out From Boneville".

I need to check out Jeff's other comic stuff, Shazam! and RASL. Both look awesome and the storylines sound great.

Jeff, thanks for checking out my artwork. You are really one of the best.]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:01:51 -0500 Taco Bell's Meximelt!

Read the interview here:
http://stickersanddonuts.com/2008/09/26/poster-party-day-8-mike-laughead/]]> Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:48:49 -0500