Added bonus from the vaults

You heard me talk about the strip I continued Unbound in...Well, turns out I still have two of them, though the rubber cement for the dialog gave way on the last one. One thing I remember about Strip 3 was that it was late. Real late. The editor called me up that night and said I need it first thing in the morning. This was at 10 o'clock or so that night. So I cheated. I drew one image and broke it into four panels. I'm sure I didn't create that particular cheat, but I sure as poop reveled in it that night.


Talk about a stylistic change, eh? (Also note the illustrious copyright symbol.) It always stung me that I was just hitting my stride with this strip. I just felt the characters and their definition only to be cut down by the section's demise and my own graduation. While I didn't see this being a comic story anymore I definitely saw a strip as its perfect medium. Times have changed now and revisiting this old tale has certainly rekindled a spark to once again bring the story to life. I may not be Penny Arcade or PvP, but I just may start another blog dedicated to Unbound. Yeas or Nays will be counted.

Let's get this over with...

Page 7 is a vertical nightmare. A shadowy bald guy with some skin problems, a woman with a mop on her head and a big-footed freak jumping around. I'm pretty sure wood shatters like glass when you punch it, too.

No wonder Baldy and Mop-Top can't run away with those tiny little legs and is Baldy wearing a glove on his hand? And look what their genes did to their son. He's got teeny-tiny chicken legs. I'm surprised he can even stand up.

What's going on inside this guys mouth? And do his eyes expand when crying? Does he have a computer brain, too? 'Cuz his pupil sure looks like a Mac booting up.
Panel 2 is obviously an homage to Frank Miller. Makes me weepy just looking at it.
Panel 3 just lets you know that good times are gonna keeping on rolling. Thankfully they didn't.

Well, there you have it folks—Unbound. Nine pages of artistic glory smothered in literary gravy. Humble beginnings from a very humbled me.

Now back to our regular program

Lovely Page 5 is where we first get a glimpse of Ritual's castle. Awe-inspiring isn't it? Just makes a shiver run down your spine, doesn't it? Not bloody likely. We also get to see the horrible transformation from man to hunter. Lon Chaney wept with envy after seeing this. Note the tortured border on that panel, too. Very old school Image.

Horrible hair, bocce balls and some weird eye tattoo thing pretty much sums up Ritual. Anyone else notice that our protagonist looks just like Hobgoblin, but with a tail? He also likes crapping on rooftops as seen in panel 3.

A Kubert Interlude

Received assignment two comments yesterday. Not as bad as I thought they'd be, but still it's a little disheartening how easy they make it look with their comments. Kinda have a "Doh!" moment at what I could've (should've) done. Enough of my belly-aching. Enjoy.

Two more pages

Okay here's Page 3 inked by James Terry and probably the best looking page because of that fact. I really love the fourth panel. It was rare that I drew an establishing shot kind of panel back then and James really made it shine.

Page 4 was inked by Ninos Aghakhan and it's all my fault on the hair. I still have problems drawing the stuff. Probably why I went with a bald character in 'The Requital.' How many characters could I cram in that second panel? George Perez I'm not.

You asked for it...

Here are the first two pages of UNBOUND. These are scans of a photocopy, so they look even worse. (If that's possible.) Yes, that's my crappy handwriting as this was well before the days of cheap scanners and printers. An old girlfriend helped with the inks on page one. Just what she did I can't remember, but I'm sure it was minimal enough that I thought I should give her credit back in the day. I'll post more in the coming days. Shortly thereafter I hope to post new versions of them as to redeem myself.

I almost want to give these pages the MST3K treatment...

Happy Heart Day

Decided to steal a page from Heywood's book and post some old art as I haven't done anything creative in a couple days (save draw Angie a Valentine's card, but that's kinda personal to post). This is a pin-up I did of an old comic (Unbound) of mine for the back of a new comic (Requital) of mine. Two other friends and I put together three anthology-type comics in college. I switched stories with the second issue for some unknown reason, but I did keep Unbound going as a strip in the school paper. (I think it ran in four editions before we graduated.) It was a fantasy story that dealt with an evil sorceress and her minions, who turned the wrong peasant into a killing machine. Our protagonist regained his past memories on a assassination mission and then decided to take the fight back to the sorceress. (I'll look up her name later, but I think it's something lame like Ritual.) Anyway, here he is in all his nasty glory. Inked with a 102 crowquill and then splattered with a toothbrush. I don't think I could draw like this again if I tried, but you never know, I might.

10 minute exercise

Nothing fancy here. A quick exercise done with a 513 and brush in Joe's loose pencil style. Gonna do another that's more refined brushwork tomorrow.

That sure ain't Clifford

Here's the colored version of our favorite prehistoric Kirby creation. Nothing fancy, but the colors really help the drawing "pop." As I'm at work, I have to wait until tonight to drop in the title and old Marvel header-type stuff. I'll repost when it's complete.

UPDATE: Okay, here's the final cover treatment. Thought about adding a caption, but didn't want to muddle the piece up anymore.

Speaking of Devil...picked up Devil May Cry 4 the other day. Haven't played much so far as I've had social obligations, but I'm enjoying it more than its previous incarnations. I'll review it a little more thoroughly after its completion.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Coin-Op(era)

As I've been dragging my heels the past couple days artistically (guess I'm recharging) I decided to throw in a movie last night. I'd first heard about THE KING OF KONG last year and was intrigued. I love goofy/strange documentaries (AMERICAN MOVIE, CRUMB, etc.) and this one seemed right up my gamer alley. This is the tale of Steve Wiebe and his quest to become the world record holder at DONKEY KONG. This record has been unchanged since it was set back in '82 by Billy Mitchell. Now I'm a big fan of hockey hair, but Billy's luxuriant mane is truly something to behold. He looks like the kinda guy that still has a big bird decal on the hood of his automobile. (Sadly, he doesn't. He drives a mini-van.)

I digress.

Billy still plays competitively and even sponsors other coin-op gamers. (The 82 year-old Q*bert playing woman is boss.) The sad thing is that Billy comes off as a complete arrogant turd. Five minutes into the movie and you're already rooting for Steve to knock this clown off his lofty hotwing-sauce-making perch. I won't spoil the ending, but it's just fascinating the underground and following these type of gamers have. The recordkeeping Twin Galaxies site that has their refs watching hundreds of VHS tapes a day checking out high scores sent in from around the world. Kinda makes me wanna get an old coin-op machine and grow a mullet. (I don't think it'll fly with Angie though. Maybe once we're in the new house...)

That said, if you're looking for a pleasant way to spend an hour and 20 minutes and you're a gamer, this might be up your alley. David vs. Goliath and his "system" at its best.

Devil Inks

For some reason I decided to ink this piece with a brush only. (Border not included in that statement.) Turned out okay I think. Colors to follow hopefully tonight...

Quick Kubert exercise

Nothing fancy, just a quick twenty minute exercise to get in the Kubert frame of mind. There's several others in the Lesson Three plan, so I'll post 'em as I go through them. Basically it's just inking over Mr. Kubert's pencils in the workbook, but it's still fun. I mean, c'mon, it's Joe Effing Kubert. All the line work is done with a 513 quill, which I just picked up yesterday since Plaza only had two 512s in stock. Thinking I might actually have found my new favorite quill. Holds a tighter line than the 512 and carries more ink, so I don't have to dip as much. Brushwork for all the solid areas.

In other news...as there's nothing on TV tonight I called Mafus to see if he wanted to come over around six tonight for a DOLEMITE/MANOS double-feature. Surprisingly, I haven't heard back from the man. Guess he's got something better to watch...

ADDED BONUS:
Decided to do a little more art today as Angie's out house-hunting and Lilah is still napping. Plus, there's a major sporting event today that I forgot about: Rangers vs. Canadiens on NBC. I've dragged my heels on the latest Velocity contest, which is draw anything Kirby created. DEVIL DINO has always held a soft spot in my heart, so I whipped a quick sketch up of 'em and his cohort, Moonboy. All I used was an old brush marker to ink. I'll try to refine and color before Wednesday. (Not holding me breath though.)

EVEN MORE BONUS:
Upon actually reading the DEVIL DINO OMNIBUS last night (as there wasn't anything on TV) I couldn't help but notice that there are several glaring errors with my sketch. DEVIL doesn't have flared nostrils such as I gave him and he also has a thumb, which I seemed to have forgotten. I'll see if I can make him look a little more like his regular self tonight.