Had a thought on the train this morning. Lester is not a fan of the typical ghoulish fare and I wanted to show that in an image. At one point he will be chided by his family for his lack of values and so this scene came to mind. This will show up in the paintings at some point. Likely directly after the current seated painting.

I had actually started this one at the same time I started the zombie painting I had done for The Talking Dead podcast. For a while there I was switching back and forth between the two but decided I would rather focus on getting one done over the other. This painting, as opposed to the first one, will be a part of the book. It is a page from the story. The first painting was more of a character piece. It was about me getting to know Lester as a fully rendered ghoul. Now we are getting to the meat of the matter.

Ahh the initial painting is done! I am very excited about this.

He Lives! I think I have established Lester in his world as an un-living, un-breathing figure and it is terribly exciting for me. The truth of the matter is that I need to find more time for this project if I am going to get it done before my eventual demise. The plan is to use this as either the introductory page or as part of the cover.

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In a bizarre twist of fate, Son of Renerd decided he wanted to do some arts & crafts down in the studio which gives me some canvas time. I was able to wash over the general skin tone and I think I am ready to start adding the detail now. This will include the family in the background and final tints and shades to make him pop.

This is turning out to be a very therapeutic process for me. The big question now is to decided which format will work best for my needs. Should it be landscape or should it be portrait? I am leaning towards landscape as far as how I picture the book.

Dang I should have taken a picture. I’ll do that and then post it in here later tonight.

Ciao all!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and become a “fan” on Facebook.

Good Monday morning all. I appreciate you all becoming fans on the Facebook page and I heartily encourage you to invite all your friends to hope on the tiny little wagon that is Lester The Ghoul. As promised in the previous episode, I chat about the sketches that I have been producing.

I would like to thank you in advance for your patience as I learn the ins and outs of podcasting. I had mentioned the entire process will be transparent and I wasn’t even joking a little bit. I am working things out as I go. Episode 2 had some microphone issues but this one seems to work much better. Cuz the microphone is, y’know, ON.

As always please feel free to leave me your comments and criticisms as you see fit.

You can join the Lester The Ghoul Fan Page on Facebook here.

Please subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.

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And so here we are with Episode 2. I do realise it has been a very long time since I have made a post / podcast. One thing I think I may do is not create a podcast for every post, but perhaps post photos as progress then when I have a good segment, record the podcast and talk about those photos. I have mentioned it before this is a very organic, and transparent process for me. I am just making stuff up as I go and inviting the world to bear witness to my procrastinatory desires, my successes, and my failures.

As always, do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts whether you love me or hate me, and please subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.

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Well I was finally able to put something workable together. I think there is a fair bit that I still can master, however I do appreciate you bearing with me as I grind through the process. Hopefully after a few episodes I will be somewhere among the lines of comfortable and organised. I would like to thank my son for the wonderful intro, and the massively talented Danny Michel for allowing the use of his song “The Invisible Man” from the album “Tales From The Invisible Man” (available via MapleMusic.com).

I look forward to working through this process with any of you who are willing to stick through it with me. If you are just visiting, then by all means feel free to drop me a line.

Please feel free to subscribe via iTunes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (8.0MB)

Hi all and welcome to the Lester The Ghoul website. Those of you familiar with Renerd.com may have seen the link on the side of the site and clicked through to see a couple of rough sketches and that’s about it. I admit it has taken me quite some time. I am the sort of guy who just gets busy and procrastinates like hell. Well, being on parental leave has given me an opportunity to take a couple of hours a day (most times) to do with what I like and “Lester The Ghoul” is certainly something I like.

I have been working towards this for quite some time now.

“Lester The Ghoul” is to be a not-quite-a-children’s story about a zombie who would much rather munch on things other than brains and is chastised for it by his family and friends. Of course, the details will change over the course of this project and I really have NO idea just how long the entire project will take. I will use this site, however to document the process as I continue to work through each of the paintings. At it’s core, the “Lester” project will be a series of paintings. From there, I hope to turn the paintings into a book and who knows where I will take it from there. I really wanted to get this site started though as I want the process to be as transparent as possible. That means you have the opportunity to see just how terrible a writer I am, as well as how proficient at procrastination I have become, much to the continued frustration of BWE (Best Wife Ever).

Please keep in mind at any time that I am open to any constructive criticism and additional thoughts on the process or the results of the process so please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know how you feel about what I am working on.

As I blog about “Lester” I will also be posting podcasts where I will discuss many of the ideas that are floating around my massive noggin. These podcasts won’t be terribly long podcast and I certainly cannot guarantee that they will be interesting but it is another layer that I feel adds to the aforementioned transparency.

So a big ole thanks from me to you for stopping by and checking out the site and please feel free to favourite/bookmark it and come back often.