Now with 100% more color!

Just wanted to post this real quick since the parents are here to vist their granddaughter. Mafus hooked me up with some excellent hues and hopefully we can score some comic loot off of our efforts. I'll keep you posted.

Damn, don't those colors just make the image breathe?

Finished...I reckon

I should've posted this yesterday, but was distracted as baby's will do to you. Not that happy with how things turned out. First thing I did was smear ink all over Wolverine's left hand and had to correct most of it. I think I relied too heavily on the brush when more pen was necessary. Oh well...live and learn.

Finished pencils

Just a quick one today. Polished off the pencils 45 minutes ago while the little lady was sleeping, but she'll be up and wanting her bottle momentarily. Inks to follow in a couple days.

Drowned sorrows and the FA Cup

Not much to report. Ended up drowning my sorrows a little too much yesterday as Liverpool was knocked out of the FA Cup. I did get the refined sketch done for the contest piece. You can tell what I did before the game and then afterwards. I'll post the finished pencils hopefully later today or tomorrow with the inks following shortly thereafter.

Brush Round 2

Since Lilah woke up hungry at 4 am and I couldn't get back to sleep I decided to knock out one more of the brush practice exercises. I think this one turned out a little bit better. There are some places where I wished I'd've done a nicer job, but that's why it's practice, right? Also, holding an almost 10 lbs. baby will throw your steadiness off a bit once you jump back into inking.

Gonna get to penciling the contest piece later using the poor man's light table aka the window, though it's raining today. Sunlight maybe at a minimum...

Another quicky

While we're still on the band poster bandwagon I figured I'd throw another illustration up. This was one of the first ones I'd done and in the vein of Big Daddy Roth. There's something enjoyable about drawing google-eyed freaks. I even use the color version on my resume.

I hope to post something a little more recent soon. I'm working on a Wolverine/Hulk piece for a contest over at Velocity Comics. (If you're in Richmond, give 'em a visit.) I've got the Hulk down, but need to flesh out Logan some more. Wanna try to polish it off this weekend if possible. My buddy Mafus will be coloring it for me as he did with the Invincible piece.

Short and squishy

Not much going on. Lilah's keeping my art time to a minimum and I've been using it to slowly work on some more Kubert practice pieces. Think I'm dragging my heels on them because it's the same image. Kinda craving something new, which is up to me, but not really since, it's up to Lilah. It's a viscious, ugly circle.

In the interim here's a Cthulhu I did for a friend's band poster.

Living up to the blog's name...

Finally getting back into the swing of things now that Lilah's getting on some sembalance of a schedule. That and Mom and I are taking turns giving each other the valuable "me" time that helps us cope with the new addition.

I sent a way for the Kubert correspondence course on inking and have begun it in earnest. These are the first two exercises I've accomplished so far. The first one is pen nib only. A Hunt 512 nib that I've never used before. I should've incorporated some Crow Quill in there (either the 102 or 107), but I wanted to give this new nib a test drive. Didn't turn out as poorly as I anticipated, but still plenty of room for improvement.

The second piece (two-paneled one) is all brush work. Again, this is the first time I've used a #2 Kolinsky to ink. (I've been using a #4 and a #00 as of late.) Gotta say that I prefer the brush over the pen nibs. I just feel more in control and you can get a finer line easier with it.

I'll be posting more as I progress in the lessons, though right now it's all practice. Until next time...

Again, it's been too long...

I've been slack, but here's a great reason why...introducing Lilah Dare, who weighed in at 8 lbs. 10.5 oz. and measured 21 inches.

Cripes

Been too long since I've posted anything. Just haven't had much of the drawing bug as of late. Kinda lost my mojo. (Not that I ever really had it to begin with, but...) Finally got off my dead ass and drew this for a contest over at Velocity Comics. Gotta turn it in either tonight or tomorrow seeing as Hallowe'en is the deadline.

As some of you can tell the assignment of the contest was to draw Robert Kirkman's Invincible. My original idea was to have it be underwater and he'd be fighting some Cthulhu-type monster. Unfortunately, somebody else already had that idea as a friend pointed out to me via a web image. My brain and drawing bug kicked in enough to eek out this simple shit just to say I drew something. Luckily, my friend Mafus hooked me up with the colors to add a little more "umph" to the piece. (Otherwise it'd be unremarkable.) So thanks again, Mafus. You bailed me out.

Gonna see if I can keep the momentum going and get some more pieces up and out. Hopefully this'll be the catalyst to get me back on the right path. But with Baby Classes, Tae Kwon Do and everything else going on it'll take discipline, which I severely lack. Until next time...

Happy trails

I'm heading off to Philly for a couple days for some work related shenanigans and wanted to post something before I bounced. Found this old pin-up I'd done for a friend's weird western many moons ago. This was when I inked entirely with a crow quill (Hunt's 102, baby) and sometimes miss the frenetic line I used to get from it. I think I finally gave up on them after ruining so many pages by either having the quill tear the paper or dot ink all over a panel. Sometimes both of those mistakes can be "happy" accidents, but after awhile I hated them as much as Klingons.

Gonna have to find a comic shop up in the Philly area. Hopefully, someone over on Jamar's board can point me in the right direction. Gotta get those new comics on Wednesday. We've got 'FEAR Agent' and 'The Last Christmas' coming out. Remender bringing the offbeat goodness. Possibly the new 'Blue Beetle' and 'Eternals.' To help pass the time away from my lovely wife I may have to score the 'Thing: Idol of Millions' trade, too.

May try to get some airport/pub sketches done while in transit. Hopefully, I'll get something worthy of posting. We'll have to wait and see.

Richmond Ink

Finished the inks this afternoon as you can very well see. Probably one of the better pages I've produced in awhile. It was inked for the most part with a #2 Sable with a little assist from the Faber Pitt Markers that Mike Manley recommends. Very good markers. The brush marker is worth the pack alone.

Getting ready to watch 'V For Vendetta' tonight. Leery, but hopeful is the best I can say. Especially after watching what was done to 'League.' More later, chaps.

A little validation

Well, I'm officially a published writer now. Illustrator, too. Lucked out seeing as they're both in the last issue of Mudrock Stories & Tales. They'll be changing names and revamping their format come January, but damn was I worried that the issue wasn't going to happen. Then lo and behold there were four issues in my mailbox. Unfortunately, I celebrated a little too much that evening at the pub and ticked the wife off a wee bit. I'm not sure if you can order the magazine at this point during the transition, so here's the illustration that went along with the tale.

Still working on inking. Had an orbital/ocular migraine the other day and went half-blind for a bit. It was a hoot. Also incurred a helluva headache along with it from the squinting. I'm hoping it was a one-time thing. Look for the finished page Monday or Sunday.

Of the comics I picked up this week Garth Ennis', 'The Boys' was the stand-out. Maybe because one of the characters is Simon Pegg. Maybe because it looks to be another good yarn of Ennis' that might help replace that void left by the end of the 'Preacher.' Also I'm liking the new 'Green Lantern Corps.' Maybe because Naru look like my wife, but mostly because the art perfectly fits the title and the storyline has been part-detective and part-adventure.

Looks like Marvel's really screwed the pooch with their delaying of 'Civil War.' It's understandable that they'd want to keep the same creative team, but to push back their biggest storyline in years because of poor planning makes them look inept. But as they say, that's comics.

Still inking...

I haven't quite finished inking the page below. Changing up the layout a bit. Not much, just losing the top panels borders to try to give the page a little more life and to get more of her hand on the page, so it looks more like the thumbnail. It's been bugging me that I lost that left hand of hers, 'cuz it looked so nice in the prelims. Look for the final inks later this week.

In the interim here's my Gamertag for all you Xbox 360ers out there. Right now I've been playing 'Dead Rising' like nobody's bidness. Still have plenty of achievements to unlock as well as the true ending, but I'll get there soon. I've been through the game once, but still discovering new things and/or places I missed the first time. There's plenty of running around and time limits that hamper some of the exploratory wandering. Now that I've run through it I'm not feeling the bite of time. I was only one meeting shy of the true ending, so's I know I can get there again easily. In the meantime I'll be running down zombies, chainsawing them, lawnmowering them and just plain smacking the hell outta 'em. Very carthartic.

How things go horribly wrong...

It's been too long, but the wife and I had to go to Illinoise so the family that couldn't come out for the wedding could meet her. I've only been doing loose marker sketches at the moment trying to brush up on my line and confidence. Nothing really worthwhile to post, hence another NOWERE page.

Figured I'd throw in the thumbnail page along with the finished to show you just how easy it is for me to muck up a good idea. Hopefully I can salvage some of it during the inking process. Gonna try to incorporate some marker and quill work instead of just letting the brush take care of all the business.

Also, if you haven't already, go pick up DUSTY STAR #1. Pruett and Robinson are finally back at it with my favorite sci-fi/western gunslingress.

El Muerto Del La Noche

My Spanish is for shite, but I hope I got the name right. Had the epiphany of an avenging skeleton today by the the name of 'The Dead of Night.' I'll have to work on it some, but the kernel of ideation is there. Look for some more of this hombre soon.

Saw 'Clerks II' today. Can I say that Rosario has jumped tenfold on the adorable scale? Wow. When she's doing the dance on the roof of Mooby to 'ABC' who didn't get weak in the knees? Luckily, the wife already has that look going for her, so I don't feel all that lecherous. Who also didnt' think that Smith's wife didn't need a fucking sammich? I know he's making some money. Why can't he feed his wife? Girl's so skinny just looking at her cut me. Eat something. Damn.

The beginning

The one good thing that I've taken away from posting art is that I kinda want the next one to always be better than the last. Hopefully, I can keep it but I'm not making any promises.

Here's the first page to the werewolf story I talked about a couple posts down. Gonna try to update a page a week of this story along with random sketches and whatnot. (That's another good thing about the blog: I make a promise, I gotta stick to it.)

Who's side are you on?

With Marvel's Civil War going on I'm sure there's plenty of saber rattling going on in Webland about who's on who's side. I didn't think I'd be taking a side per say since I only follow a few Marvel titles, but the storyline piqued my interest, so I got involved. And by involved I mean I bought the first issue. That issue sold my ass and picked my side all-in-one.

Let me preface this by saying I was never a big Captain America fan. His costume was just too obvious and the character just smacked of proto-simian male machoism that I shied away from his title. In fact the only issue of Captain America that I ever bought was the last one in the Winter Soldier arc a few months before the Civil War kicked off. Well, after the Captain beat the stockings off a squad of specially trained SHIELD operatives because he wouldn't take part in the modern day witchhunt and then commandeered a fighter jet and later took the pilot out for burgers after landing on a football field before releasing him; let's just say the Captain's stock went up in my books.

This is my first sketch of the Captain and I'm on his side.

Spider-Man by moonlight

I had to get something up to knock those bootleg sketches off the top of the blog. Ugh. Looking at them I don't know what possessed me to post them. Maybe to show how ugly my stuff can get? I don't know.

Anyway, here's a moody little drawing of everyone's favorite wall-crawler. Decided to go with a more exaggerated physique for our boy because I find that my drawings get stiff and/or lose some of their style if I get too caught up in realism. People like Mike Wieringo (if you're not familiar with his style, please use the link on the right) can pull off the happy medium of cartooon realism, but I'm still a ways off from nailing down that particular style.

Back to ye olde drawing board I suppose...

A serious lack of mojo

I finally get off my lazy arse and go see 'Superman Returns" hoping to be inspired and come back and draw my arse off, but no. For some reason my drawing, heck, my sketching mojo all up and left me. These two paltry examples are the best that I could come up with this weekend and they were a chore in themselves to finish. Ugh. I'm glad I worked through them, but I was close to breaking the HBs in half and saying screw it. I mean look at Supes "S" and is boots. Totally wrong. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of the comic and the only single issue I own is his "death" issue from moons ago. (Though I do own several trades. My fave being the 'Red Son' storyline.) Maybe next time I'll nail 'em.

Onto the movie...which I enjoyed wholeheartedly. I've heard that it sucked from some, but heard it was spot on from some of the faithful. I found the movie to be a fountain of youth at times. Who didn't feel like standing up and clapping when Superman brought that plane down in the baseball field? You're a damn liar if you say otherwise. That entire scene was everything a Superman movie should be and is. I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of Kate Bosworth as Lois, though her two different colored eyes are a plus, and I don't think she was the right choice, but she was a damn sight better than Margot. (Though I think Margot had a better ass, 'cuz Kate's is flat as an out of tune trumpet.) Hopefully there'll be enough interest (and box office take) to warrant a sequel that will deal with someone/thing more powerful than Lex. Yes, Lex is his nemesis, but wouldn't we want to see Supes take on a being his level? Tell me Bizarro wouldn't beat ass for the next installment? Or Mongul? Or ?