Pages eight and nine...check!

One from page eight:

And one from page nine:

Can you guess which one was lightboxed?

Page Seven is finito

At least pencil-wise. Also started the first oil painting of the year: a landscape, which is a first for me, surprisingly. A bit rusty with the oils, so it's taking a little longer than I'd hoped. (Read: I keep mucking up and have to do damage control.) Giving the painting a few days to set, so I'll be jumping back into Page Eight this evening.

Shades of pages yet to come

A successful Drink & Draw with Mafus at Legend yesterday. Was hoping they'd still have Hopfest on tap, but had just killed the keg. Luckily, there was a firkin of Golden Ale and Brown that was dry-hopped with Cascades. Can definitely recommend a draught from the firkin over the Maibock, which I felt was wanting.

Almost finished sketching out Page 11, but decided it'd be better to head home than have another and risk incarceration. Especially with the monsoon-like weather. So without further ado here's a panel featuring The Boglin making some devil's concoction...

Page six and back on track

After a slight creative derailment (read: Killzone 3) Know-It-All is back to steadily chugging along. Starting page seven today and will be meeting Mafus at the local brewpub for a little drinking and drawing this afternoon, where I hope to thumbnail pages 11 and 12.

And that's five pages pencilled...

I believe there's trouble afoot!

Keeping things loose as most of the detail will come in the inking. Plus, it save's on erasing.

Four pages in the bank

Here's a panel from page four. (May have drawn the lads too large to accommodate copy tho. Oh well.) Haven't lost momentum yet, which is nice for a change. Still there's another 18 pages left, not to mention the cover and whatever else I plan on throwing in this mug. Daunting, but doable. Especially since I'm enjoying the challenge again.

This place looks legit

Three pages of Know-It-All have been pencilled and here's a little sample of page three. Seems like a nice place to stop, dunnit?

Hoping to get another one or two done this week. Things are progressing a lot smoother and faster than normal as I've finally come to terms with being a cartoony artist as opposed to a realistic one. Guess I got tired of fooling myself and it's been fun ever since.

Okay, back to the salt mines!

Thumbnails now more!

As it's been posted over at Todd's Perhapablog I figured it'd be safe to post the whole thing over here, too.

As I've been waylaid with some funky virus from the wee lass I haven't had much energy or drive to draw over the past couple of days. Hoping to turn that around this weekend and maybe another page or two finished for Know-It-All. I'll keep you posted.

One and half pages down

Finally got the ball rolling on KIA. Sorry for the lookalike as you may remember this panel's thumbnail from late last year. Figured I'd keep the story secret until the grand unveiling hopefully this spring or summer. At home with sick kid today, so we might get to spend some time up in the studio. Fingers crossed.

Until next time.

Know-It-All is back on track

Riding on the coattails of the 'Haps Classic Cover...another page of KIA has been thumbnailed and ready to roll. Tomorrow night is Art Night in the Leaf house, so I'll start actually laying out KIA on bristol while Lilah colors/draws/holds court in her studio space.

Watched The Last Exorcism while sketching tonight. Not a bad flick. Drew very heavily (pun fully intended) off what Blair Witch started oh-so-long-ago. Decent, yet derivative. Rated M for Meh.

Now with more 100% more color!

Inked, now onto the colors!

Stay tuned, True Believers!

The days they come, but the years they go...

Just when you thought I'd disappeared off the face of the internet—I'm back. Not much to report in the ways of high adventure, mainly because work's blowed up in the past couple of months and I haven't had the energy/drive/gumption to be creative after clocking out for the day. Not that work's slowed down much, but Todd's having a Perhapanauts Classic Cover contest over on the 'Haps blog and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to get some mojo flowing with an entry. The deadline is the end of the month and I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm only posting a small section of my entry. I'll do the same with the inks in the upcoming days.

As to the mojo I believe doing this piece did indeed start something simmering. It also helps that Lilah has been on a definite art/coloring kick as of late. May have to set her up with her own drawing table in the studio and we can push each other artistically.

First brew of the New Year will be bottled this weekend: a chipotle porter, which I hope will have just the right amount of smokey bite to it. I'll keep you posted on that as well.

Still chugging on Know-It-All

Don't want to keep posting page sketches to keep the story somewhat of a mystery, but will throw some art up in the next day or two. Goal is a page sketched out a night until completion and then I'll start in on the actual comic itself. (Gonna be hard with Fallout New Vegas dropping tonight at midnight.) Then the goal will be a page a week pencils until done (hope to increase that productivity as I get in the groove) and then 2-3 pages a week for inks. Sticking with black and white, so I should be able to letter it in a couple days after that. No set deadline, but everything should be done for Heroes next year.

In the meantime here's a snap of our young artist painting her pumpkin at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum yesterday.

Know-It-All

Finally cracking on my story Know-It-All. It's been languishing, along with several other scripts I've written, but this tale is a one shot and much more attainable in my opinion. If I can get these 22 pages done and dusted I'm hoping it'll be the impetus to start on one of my actual series and keep that beautiful creative ball rolling.

That said I've been thumbnailing the heck outta the script this week with horror or hockey on in the background. (The way the Flyers played last night it was almost a creature feature between them and The Thing.) Here's a panel from page three. Just two lads out for a midnight boat ride in the swamp. Nothing bad'll happen, right?

The word balloon sez it all

Expect a return to regular postings in the upcoming days. Thank you for your patience.

Afton Getaway

Angie and I got away to our usual B&B in Afton County for an extended weekend of wineries, hiking and breweries. Last year the weather was horrible for hiking, but great for wining and beering, so we were both elated that the weather played pretty this go 'round. As luck would also have it the owners of the B&B had just gone a hike themselves and suggested we give Humpback Ridge a go. Feeling full of ourselves we set out and were promptly humbled by the 40 minute incline hike, but once on top it was worth all that pain. Heck, I even got a bit of vertigo, which was strange for me.


On the trail we passed this creepy tree that reminded me of some poor soul who had recently visited the executioner's block.


One of the numerous scenic overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway.


Del Fossi was the last winery we hit before heading home. The terraced vineyard added a nice Tuscan feel to the place. Unfortunately, rain had moved in at this point, which imparted a more moody feel to the place. Still a beautiful vineyard despite the lack of sunshine. Excellent wine, too.

The mini-vacation was much needed, but it's also nice to be back home with the Dare Bear, who was on the verge of tears she was so happy to see us. (And the same could be said about Angie and I.)

Five years

Of wedded bliss that is! Gaze upon the happy groom when he had hair and only one—okay—maybe two chins! Love ya, honey!

Back in the pond

Hope everyone is having a lovely Labor Day weekend. Finally got back to the duck painting series and present number six for your viewing pleasure. Now I'm off to the Labor Day Sale at Velocity comics, then a Drink & Draw with Mafus at Legend.

Skullery Maid

Had an idea for a character the other day and was all set to do some sketching. Of course, Lilah wants in on that action, so I didn't get the drawing to the level I wanted, but at least Lilah had herself some fun. (As witnessed by the squiggly lines dancing throughout the sketch.)

Pretty sure the Skullery Maid her is a villainess of some kind. Assassin? Ghost? Maybe once some meddling kids and their dog take the case we'll find out more...

Other than that I've been inking some 'Haps stuff, which I can't show and doing some other freelance illustration stuff. I could probably show them, but they're not that exciting. (Though somewhat profitable!)