DONALD_90 minutes

I had a few minutes, so I'm a liar and drew/posted another image this week.

Anyway, here's Thor and his chariot pulled by rams. Hooray, Odinson!

STEVE_commission

Hello, all. This is a commission of vintage WWII Captain America done for a fan in Charlotte. It took forever to draw. I really hope the fellow liked it.

It's going to be busy week starting today. I can't promise there will be another new post until the week hereafter. But you never know - I'm a liar.

And yes - I did indeed, cross-hatched the belly of that airplane in the background. That's what took so damned long. Anyway... enjoy.

"HONEY, HONEY..."_90 minutes

"...dance with me."

"CHIPS, CHIPS, CHIPS... "_sketch

"Away, away - Come away from here,
nothing binds you to these places anymore..."

"Away, away - Not even this grey time,
so full of music and of the people that you liked..."

"It's wonderful, good luck, my baby.
It's wonderful, I dream of you..."

"Away, away, come away with me.
Enter this this dark and don't get lost,
for the world's sake..."

"Away, away - for the world's sake, don't miss
the show and spectacle of someone who's in love with you..."

"It's wonderful, good luck, my baby.
It's wonderful, I dream of you."

"Away, away - come away with me.
Enter this dark love full of people..."

"Away, away come inside and take a hot bath.
There's a blue robe nearby. It rains a cold world outside..."

It's wonderful, I miss you for four days.

KIT, CROM, CAT_commission

Another few images done as commissions at Heroes Con.

You know my problem when doing these at the shows? I don't have a 'sketch' version of my work. There's no middle-gear where I can just do someone standing or sitting on a rock. I envy all the artists at the convention who could do the minimum (well, maybe not 'minimum' - that's not the right word, but I can't think of a better term at the moment; help me out, people) and still make it look amazing.

Me? I gotta over-compensate by doing fancy-schmancy composition BS. That's why I could only take on... I can't recall... ten images total over the three days? I'm lame and should be put out of my convention sketch misery. Ugh.

A perfect example how it should be done is what my friend Stephane Roux did this weekend. Jeezus - the guy was a beast! My admiration for him and his work is tremendous. He's fast, specific, and chock full of quality. His 'sketch' list was overflowing from day one, hour/minute one - since the opening of the convention floor. And trust me on this: They were definitely NOT just sketches. I specifically remember a Big Barda image he did for a fan and I secretly thought, "France, you bastard. You grew this 6'+ tall man and you made him an infinitely better illustrator than me. Damn you. Damn you and your croissants."

I'll have my revenge, France. Revenge. Hehe.

Anyway, here's Kit Fisto slashin' some droids, Conan fightin' snakes that don't make sense but help in the overall composition and Black Cat who's being voyeur-ed on by the pervert Spiderman.

Aargh! 'Voyeur'? 'VOYEUR'?! Why can't I get away from you, France?!

Apologies for the semi-blurry images. Instead of scanner, I had to get copies via digital camera. AAARRGH! 'Via'! 'VIA'?! There is it is again! Damn you Fra - oh wait. 'Via' is Latin. Okay, I'm wrong on that one. Padonnez-moi...



Sh*t.

MR. & M(R)S., ETC._update

I'm home and I'm sick. Of course. It's the flu. Argh.

The CONVENTION was a blast. Thanks to everyone who came out and made me feel at home, and for all those who said a kind word in passing - I genuinely appreciated it. This show, above all others that I've attended this year, has reinvigorated me again in regards to going to a good comic book convention.

So right off the top I'd like to thank MR. SHELTON DRUM and MR. DUSTIN HARBIN for coordinating the show as well as for inviting and letting me participate. I am grateful beyond words and I hope my piece for the art auction helped you guys somewhat. I owe you guys (and I mean *everyone* responsible for the show - top to bottom) in a big, BIG way.

Thanks to MR. JASON SCHACHTER and to MR. STEPHANE ROUX for being such cool peoples. Jason cracked the whip while Stephane raised the bar. You guys should've seen what he was drawing over the weekend with the quality he incorporated into each and every image. Also, you should check out what Stephane did for the auction. I was really sick to my stomach by then (out of pure envy, mind you - I didn't get sick/sick until I got home in LA), but even more so when I saw what he produced. And for those of you still interested in buying my SNOW WHITE or RED RIDING HOOD prints, please contact Jason directly.

And speaking of commissions, I had the honor of sitting next to MR. ADAM HUGHES. He was just killing each and every piece he was working on that weekend. I was humbled and inspired all at once. With Adam sat the lovely MS. ALLISON SOHN, who was as charming as she was funny during the art auction on Saturday.

Across the way and within a stone's throw, was MR. BRIAN STELFREEZE, MR. CULLY HAMNER (who I did not have an opportunity to talk to as much as I would've liked), MR. KARL STORY and MR. PHIL NOTO - speaking about raising the bar, these gentlemen have been doing it for years and I was proud to get a chance to get to know them a little bit more.

Thanks to MR. MARK BROOKS for posing *the* question of the weekend. It was hilarious and really made one ponder what the human body is capable of when pitted against their views of sexual allegiance. Thanks for the gfaws, Mark.

MR. SCOTT ADSIT dropped by the table throughout the entire weekend and we shared laughs. He made me feel like I was the top contributor to his "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" themed sketchbook. I know better, though; I saw what Adam Hughes did! And if any of you out there would consider yourself up to snuff as an illustrator, the next time you see Scott, ask him to show you his 'A' collection of the LOEG books. And when you do, bring your A Game and contribute a piece of art, won't you? You'll be in some esteemed company. Thanks for letting me participate, Scott. Much obliged.

And I met all sorts of people, old and new. Here's the short order of the cool cats and kittens (but please forgive me if I've forgotten to list your name - I mean it as no disrespect, I swear): MS. CAT STAGGS, MR. KERON GRANT, MR. DEXTER VINES, MR. SANFORD GREENE, MR. DAVID PETERSEN, MR. ANDY KUHN, MR. C.B. CEBULSKI, MR. CASEY JONES, MR. TOM FEISTER, MR. RICO RENZI, MR. IVAN BRANDON, MR. PAUL AZACETA, MR. MATT WILSON, MR. FORD GILMORE... uhm... MR. DUSTIN NGUYEN and MR. DEREK FRIDOLFS, MR. SWAIN HUNT and MR. DWIGHT CLARK, MR. CLAYTON HENRY...


I know I'm forgetting people, but I'm going to cut this short. I'm sick and my brain isn't functioning properly. I'm sorry if I missed your names. Again, it isn't intentional.

I did commissions at the show and the above image of Zatanna is one of them. The second image is my little contribution to the annual art auction held on Saturday night at the adjacent hotel near the convention center. I don't know if you can tell the scale of the auction piece based on the picture, but that bad boy was a larger scale than what I'd normally work in. Both were rendered in COPIC markers. Fun stuff to draw. When I have more samples of the other images I drew and I'll post them here ASAP.

Fun weekend with friends and lots of laughs. I'd dare say it's the best show going on these days and I can't wait to go back again next year.

Oh yeah, I got to meet and shook the hand of the one and only, MR. MICHAEL JORDAN at the hotel bar. Yes. *That* Michael Jordan. Like I said, Heroes Con: best show around.

ZATANNA_commission

Last one this week.

Work, fatigue, and a convention - one of those is bound to catch up to me.

BTW, if any of you are attending the HEROES CON in Charlotte, NC this upcoming weekend, it sure would be nice to talk to you. It's my first time going, I don't know where I'm sitting, and I'm from out of town.

Please keep me company. Thanks in advance.

[*EDIT: I was just informed by Mr. Jason Schachter himself that I am seated at Table #715, conveniently next to rockstar artist STEPHANE ROUX. Awesome! Hope to see some of you there.]

MACHINE MAN_90 minutes

L.A. traffic is bonkers. It's gotten to the point now where I'm yelling at the top of my lungs, in my own car, "I WANT TO BLOW YOU UP!"

That exclamation has saved my sanity on multiple occasions. Initially, it was only intended towards the mentally deficient drivers who did everything they can to kill as many people (as well as themselves) during their daily suicidal romp on the parking lot that is the 405 Freeway. But eventually, I just started to yell it at traffic as an entity.

I really do want to blow up ALL of traffic. And the humor is in my delivery. Trust me - it's hilarious.

The saving grace is that while driving at a speed where I can practically walk faster than the cars on the road, I'm *really* able to appreciate the intricacies and subtle nuances of the other drivers and morning commuters around me. You know: the nose pickers, the hard core radio karaoke singers, the handful of individuals who are crying (*NOTE: I'm of two minds on this one. 1) "Oh, my gosh...I hope everything with her/him is okay. Ugh, I feel terrible thinking that they're already having such a miserable day this early in the morning. Or, 2) HAHAHAAH! Dooood! I can *SO* see you crying! Don't even try to wipe those tears from your face! Stop it! You look *SO* awesome! HAHAHAH!), and the masturbationists - I love them all. Well, maybe not that last fella'.



Also, I get to stare at annoying vanity license plates. Here's a hint for you, California: keep it simple. If I've gotta bust out the DaVinci Code cryptex and the aid of world-renowned symbologist ROBERT LANGDON in order to cypher out what ever ridiculous statement you wanted to make about yourself with your plates, you've fallen miserably short of the spirit of license plate personalization. As an example, and I didn't see this, but a friend of mine told me about it and my brain actually farted after he told me what it meant. Have you heard of those SPECIAL INTEREST icons that you can put on license plates these days? Sometimes it's a heart, sometimes it's a...uhm...star (?) - they all benefit specific charities, foundations and organizations I believe. Anyway, here's what my friend saw:

"(hand icon)IBLNME"

Anyone care to take I guess? I had nothing. And more importantly, I didn't care to suss it out for myself. So, here's the answer:

"STOP EYE-BALLIN' ME".

Yeah.... yeah.... seriously? Seriously. The icing on top is that the car in question is one of those new-fangled SMART CARS and it had Lakers flags sticking out the top and sides. "Stop eye-ballin' me". High five, fellow Californian.

P.S. - if you're reading this blog and this is your car, I'm not saying that you're a ridiculous person. I'm saying your license plate is ridiculous. I'm saying that your clown car, along with its seasonal bright yellow flags, cries for the attention you're trying to dissuade and almost forces those around you to gawk and stare regardless of what your windtalker message says. Don't take it personally; it's only my opinion (I've got "The Devil Wears Prada" movie on a continuous loop as I type this, so that should give you insight on the mind that's bombing on your plates and car. Take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt).



And finally: bumper stickers. "My child is an Honor Roll Student!", "Kiss me - I'm Irish!", "If you can read this, you're TOO f*cking close!" - all of them are classics. But I guess, much like license plates, there's always some guy out there wanting to think outside the box. And don't get me wrong; I applaud that wholly. But sometimes... sometimes....[sigh]



Enjoy your week, everyone. Oh, and heed the words above: the next time you are in your rocket ship and ready for blast-off, don't forget to bring your crucifix.

JOSIE, MELODIE, & VALERIE_90 minutes

Fell in love with a girl.
I fell in love once and almost completely.
She's in love with the world,
But sometimes these feelings can be so misleading.
She turns and says, "Are you alright?"
I said, "I must be fine cause my heart's still beating."
She says, "Come and kiss me by the riverside,
Sarah says it's fine she don't consider it cheating."

Red hair with a curl, mellow roll for the flavor
and the eyes for peeping.
Can't keep away from the girl. The two sides of my brain
need to have a meeting.
Can't think of anything to do, my left brain knows that
all love is fleeting.
She's just looking for something new and I said it once before
but it bears repeating.

RED RIDING HOOD_color

This is the last update this week because work beckons. But I wanted to post the second image set to be made as a print for the upcoming convention in a couple of weeks.

You know what I like best about the Little Red Riding Hood story? It's when the Wolf, at the pinnacle of his guile, he decides to kill Red's grandmother and puts on the departed's clothes in order to trick the little girl into thinking that all is well; that it's all business as usual. The suddenly *BAM!* - he pounces on her after she disrespects his eyes, nose, and teeth.

"The better to eat you with, my dear! RAAAAAR!"

Anyway, I like that part the best because the stupid girl let it get that far.

See, I have dog a named 'Chuck' and on occasion my ex used to put a sweater on him - a sweater that looked strangely like something my uncle used to wear. And in those instances I never once looked at Chuck and thought, "Geez, my uncle is over at the house a lot, just hanging out and pooping on the back yard lawn. I wonder if he's okay?" Then Chuck jumps up and kicks me in the groin. That's never happened.

That little girl deserved to be eaten, I tell you. She deserves to be eaten because that's how natural selection works. Like King Mufasa said to Simba: "Like sands through the hour glass...these are the days of our lives."

Ah, non sequitur - how I love thy color of rainy pants uncanny.

SNOW WHITE_color

Final color image for the print available at HEROES CON in Charlotte, NC. Visit the link for more information about the show.

Colored by the wonderfully talented MS. JANET KIM.

And for those of you who aren't able to make it out to the show, if you're interested in purchasing one and having mailed out to you, please contact JASON SCHACHTER. He'll tell you all the ins and outs. Thanks, Jan and Jason for all of your hard work and for letting me put you guys through hell. Hey! Did I just thank the WONDER TWINS, Jan and Jason?! Man, that's awesome!

"Wonder Twins power activate! "

"Jan: Form of - a ridiculously talented illustrator who's willing to pull Canete's B&W ass out of the fire!"

"Jason: Form of - a selfless promoter and salesman of Eric's unsellable and inviable original art!"

"Eric: Gleep! Gleep! (and other stupid noises and nonsense)"

What a team! Yeah, yeah... I *know* their names are Zan and Jayna. Calm down, friends of Super Friends. Jeez.

THE END OF THE END_cover

"Death, you bring death
and destruction to all that you touch.
Pay, you must pay...
You must pay for your crimes against the earth.
Hex, feed the hex...
Feed the hex on the country you love.
And beg, you will beg...
You will beg for their lives and their souls.
Burn, you will burn...
You will burn, you'll burn in hell for your sins."

BAS-RELIEF_commission

Who knew this type of sculpture had a specific name? BAS-RELIEF, friends - (pronounced bah-relief) from the French term meaning "low relief" - which in turn is derived from the Italian "basso rilievo".

Yes, yes... the image technically isn't bas-relief-ey, but you guys get the idea. I also wanted to sound a whole lot smarter than I really am. Which I'm not. I'm the kid in class who pronounced "hors d'oeuvres" as "horse devours" when I was in elementary school. The kids all laughed when my teacher corrected me

Well, who's laughing now, elementary school?! I got a f*ckin BLOG! Haha! Suck it! Haha, again! No one else has a blog! Only exclusive people who have tons of money and connections in the highest offi... whuzzat? Uhm... just about anyone can get a blog? Just sign up and voila!: you've got a blog? You don't even need anything important to say and you can get one of these bad boys? Sacrebleu!

Hehe. There you go, mon ami. Impressed? You shouldn't be. All the French I know I learned from the crazy-eyed French cook who was tyring to kill Sebastian in the Little Mermaid movie. That, and also because I'm an idiot. And I apologize ahead of time to the kind folks from France reading this blog. Please don't tell your people about what an absolute moron I am. I'd like to visit your country one day and I don't want to be flambe.

Wow... that last one I didn't even plan. I'm seriously an idiot.

Oh, the image is Wonder Woman breaking out of a statue and freaking the hell out of the sculptor. Enjoy.

TECHNOLOGIC_commission

For those of you who are new here or if any of you are wondering if I'm going to be this consistent/frequent about posting new work in the future, the answer is "Hell no." I'm bombarding my blog with updates now because I'm preempting the days when I'm going to disappear and not post for months. And by '...the days' I mean '...some time next week' when I get crunched with work.

It's also because I love all of you who visit. Awww... gross, yeah?

Seriously, folks... all kidding aside and just in case the rest of you missed it or if you didn't bother scrolling down to the earlier post where I mentioned it, I wanted to thank each and every one of you who is looking through this blog. I appreciate you all for coming back. Thanks for all of your patience, patronage and for waiting. I am humbled.

But this will be the last one for today as I am actually trying to get work/work done. Keyword: trying. Anyway, I hope the images below are enough visual fodder until my next update(s).

Until then...

"Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick - erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, call it, find it,
View it, code it, jam - unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, switch - update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax - rename it,
Touch it, bring it, Pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start - format it."

SO MUCH NOISE_cover

"We can't work with you because we're nervous people and you make us nervous. We need this character to look more tech-y with more details and cool shit, you know? Do that thing that everyone wants you to do. I don't understand why you changed your style. You were my favorite before but now you're not anymore. You're a 'Cool Tech' guy, right? But this new series is about ninjas so it's too bad that you can't draw cool ninjas. If only you drew more like Jim lee, and less like Peter Chung we could maybe give you work. You'll never be as good as Claire Wendling, so don't even try it. You should learn how to do 3D so you don't have to draw everything. Let me be honest with you: I don't think you know how to work with other people. I look at your work and I really think you need to dumb it down so people will understand it. How many fans do you have? I have a ton of fans because I know what I'm doing. We don't know how to use you. Your career would be so much easier if you were faster with those pages. You are definitely NOT a monthly guy and that's why we can't give you more work. Your women and females aren't pretty. People would like you more if you drew prettier women. We know what you do. We've seen your blog. But we need you to change that for this project. We don't do this here in the US. For the work you do maybe you'd be better in Europe. Why are you doing this no-name shit? Why not go for a big title like Spiderman? Please don't draw him that way; we have a brand to maintain. We don't think we should pay you because we didn't end up using your work. I thought you were just a background designer? I don't think you're meant to do storyboards. You have to know your limits. You're not supposed to draw everything. You need an inker. Your stuff doesn't make sense without a good inker. You should keep in mind that you're drawing for the lowest common denominator. That design is too simple.That design is too complicated."

"They will never let you draw Superman."

PIX.EL_color

Okay, done with colors.

Have a great week everyone.

BOY OF HELL_commission

This is an image done for a commission. I'll upload the multiple passes I did before I settled on this one. I like the other versions better in little patches, but over all I liked this one because of Abe. I mean, I like the Hellboy part of the image, but Abe sells it for me. More specifically, his rib cage. Yes... I know I'm stupid.

And speaking of stupid, has anyone recognized how absolutely overbearing my sig has become these days? It's like this huge, obvious, obnoxious, egotistical stop sign in the middle of all my art work, yeah?

"Ooooh, look at me. I'm Eric Canete and I drew this picture. Isn't my signature awesome? Isn't it smart how there's a cirlce with the first letter of my name in it? Aren't *I* full of awesome?!"

In fact, you are not awesome. You are full of douche. Congrats, Eric.

DEAD RUN_covers

These are the four alternate covers that I did for BOOM! STUDIOS' book called DEAD RUN.

The interior artist is called FRANCESCO BIAGINI, a brilliant illustrator who is 100x more capable than I am and I think I've done him a huge injustice. Click on the link above or the link to his blog to see what I mean. Also, I've seen the colors for my covers and once again I am salvaged by the color artist. I wish I could give credit to the talented individual involved in saving my inadequate ass, but I never got wind of the fellow's name. I'm sure BOOM! will do a fine job crediting him, though. Hooray, BOOM!.

Also, some of you astute individuals might notice the fourth cover's file name has 'ver02' in it. It's because keen-eyed editor MATT GAGNON (the man who had the daunting task of corralling these covers from me) caught the fact that I have no idea how to spell 'San Francisco'. I'm serious. I can't spell San Francisco - I spelled that fist 'C' with a 'S'. Apologies to my neighbors to the north. But in my defense I can't spell Los Angeles. Why is it spelled correctly now, you ask? Spell checker, suckah.

Thanks to the BOOM! and Matt for letting me draw the covers and for letting me play around. Thanks to my phantom colorist and thanks to the city of Los FranCisco.

Suck it, spell checker.

PIX.EL_90 minutes

I'll color this image later.

I wanted to draw an image of a woman who finally got some new glasses, so the world seems to be in *SO* much sharper focus - almost down to the last pixel. You almost want to tell her to stop for a moment to take a long look at what's around her, yeah?

Ah, who am I kidding? That's all bullsh*t. I just wanted to play around with the background style - something a bit out of the ordinary from what I would normally do. I wanted to play around with shapes and how I'd interpret something if it were made of...I don't know what. Point is, I wanted to have fun again.

But that previous explanation made it seem like I knew what I was doing, yeah? Maybe it made you think I was deeper than I really am, or like, "Oooh, that Canete is a real thinker. He's must truly be an artist's artist." When in reality, as I'm typing this I just burped something up that smelled seriously god-awful and laughed about how awesome it was. Hehe.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

RED RIDING HOOD_print

Another image done specifically for the Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. And once again, an image that will be colored and salvaged by Ms. Janet Kim. God/Allah/Buddha/Zeus bless her extraordinary skill and patience in helping me.

BTW, have you ever just *not* wanted to draw a wolf? I mean, have you ever just sat there and thought, "Today is not a good day to draw wolves." Yeah. It was like that.

SNOW WHITE_print

Here's a Snow White print that I'm doing for HEROES CON in Charlotte, NC this month. Please visit their website for the dates of the show as well as important details like guests, events, etc. I've never been to this show before but I've heard nothing but glowing reviews, so I figured it's as good a time as any to go.

The image is embellished and totally saved from its crappy state (read: colored/painted) by the ultra-talented and doubly-humble MS. JANET KIM. You should totally check out her work - especially THIS ONE. That's the image that made me beg her to work with me.

Anyway, I hope you like it.