The worm has turned

Still in the slow, arduous process of unpacking. Think I'd be a lot better off if I didn't own so many books. Cripes. Angie bought me five new bookcases and they're all almost full and I'm only up to "J" in alphabetization. Ugh.

Had a few minutes though yesterday while Lilah was napping and Angie was over cleaning up at the old place, so I plopped down and sketched this nematodic ruffian. Turm as he's affectionately known is second in the food chain under Markul. In fact he's the boogeyman of the children in The Hollow. Sure he looks weak and unassuming, but when his arms start burrowing through you you might change your mind.

I think the drawing also influenced my reading choice last night. Started rereading 'Earthworm Gods' by Brian Keene. (Released as 'The Conqueror Worm' in paperback for some reason.) Probably my favorite of his books so far. His 'Dead' series was fun at the beginning with 'The Rising', but started becoming too formulaic as they progressed ('City of the Dead' and 'Dead Sea').

Moving sure is a howl

As I'll be MIA for a while with the move and all figured I'd drop one more bit of lycanthropy on everyone. Found this while packing. The first werewolf I did after starting Nowere. Inked entirely with a 102 crowquill. Crazy, kinetic stuff.

See everyone is bit. Take care in the meantime.

One more before the move...

As we close on our house Thursday, work is crazy, Lilah, the Stanley Cup playoffs and life in general blowing up all around us it's been tough to get something down on paper. This charming gentlemen is Markul. He's got a little overbite to deal with along with being a wolfman of sorts. He was sketched during the first two periods of the Flyers/Caps game tonight and Lilah is crying out in her sleep, so I'm cutting this short.

Okay, morning now. Lilah was just having night terrors, which are somewhat normal for kids her age. She's home sick though along with Angie, who was doing her best Exorcist impersonation this morning. Two sick ladies the day before we close on our house and start moving. "Joy," as Stimpy would say.

Well as I started saying last night this hairy gent is the main thorn in our protagonists side in my new story. Not the nicest of people as Elsa will find out. Luckily, she'll have Argus and couple others in her corner when the fur starts to fly.

Friday Ink Teaser

Mafus has the whole inks, which he'll probably post one of these days, but just so's youse know I haven't been totally slack.

Brain dead

Watched the remake of Day of the Dead last night with Mafus. Our hopes and expectations were not high as all the reviews we've read pretty much tore it a new one, plugged said new one back up only to tear it out again. Vegetarian zombies, C.S.I. bullshit and the Power of Grayskull were the highlights of this direct-to-video gem. I think that Michael Flatley did the choreography, too. I've never seen so many zombie leaping through the air with such grace. There was even a Spider-Zombie crawling on ceiling tiles. I crap you not. The one plus to take away from this movie is that if zombies ever start to rise, they are very flammable. Like kindling almost, which is surprising considering they're leaking fluids from every orifice and open wound on their bodies. We threw in some Venture Brothers to cleanse our palettes immediately after.

Speaking of the dead...On a whim at my LCS I picked up Everybody's Dead. Mainly, 'cuz I love me some zombies, but also because the comic's drawn by David Crosland. I've only bought one book with his art in it, but was thoroughly impressed with his cartoony style. I've started to drift away from the realistic stuff as you well know and Crosland's style is another push in that direction. The story isn't anything to sneeze at either. A nice cast of clichés with goofy dialogue and violence. It may not be for everyone, especially since it carries a $3.99 price tag as most IDW comics do. But give it a thumb through if you see it on the racks. Issue 2 came out last week, so we're halfway through I believe.

Back in slight action

Been busy with packing and whatnot. (10 days until we close on the new house. Yoinks!) Haven't had (or made) much time to draw, but accepted an illustration job which kinda lit the fire under my tush. Here's a couple thumbnail sketches that were approved and I've got to blow up and out. Should be fun.

I've watched a couple stinker horror movies and read a few excellent comics, but work is off the hook today and I'll have to elaborate later.

Argus

Opted not to ink Elsa and continue on with sketching out some of the other characters. Decided on Argus here as it's been a while since I've drawn a dog. Argus is actually more than a dog, but I won't spoil anything incase I do actually get off me arse and do this story. Gotta work on those eyes though. A little too Hummel with those peepers.

And speaking of story...had an ephiphany last night about the story. I've had the first issue written for a year or so now, but it just wasn't meshing enough for me. It needed something more that was eluding me. Well not anymore. Looking forward to rewriting the story and getting it told. Stay tuned.

Elsa refined

'Cuz those doodles I posted this morning were bugging me.

New story sketches

Decided to drop my story 'Nowere' for a while as werewolves seem to be making a comeback like zombies recently. Going with a fantasy/horror type story that's actually probably not that scary, especially since I'm going to draw it in a cartoony style. Been reading a lot of Doug TenNapel's stuff this weekend and the first Scott Pilgrim book and they've helped me come to this conclusion: since I started as a cartoony guy and tried to go realistic I think it's time to go back to cartoony. (More evidence was the recent drawing of Choopie, which was fun and a breeze. I then tried Molly and had to give up as I kept trying to draw her realistic. Decided to draw Big and it went fine.) Obviously I've got a ways to go, but it's a lot more fun without that "draw realistic stick" up my bum. Anyway, this is Elsa Brook and the story is called 'The Vale.' More sketches to be posted as they progress. (I don't know what's up with that top left head sketch. Guess she turned into a zombie on that one.) I would've liked to gotten a few more refined sketches done, but I was dealing with two sick little ladies yesterday. Luckily, they're both feeling better today and are at work and daycare.

Top o' the mornin' to ye

I posted this on the 'Haps forums, but figured I'd be a repeat offender on me blog. Crank up the Dropkick Murphys and imbibe a few, everyone.

UPDATE:
As it was pointed out—not everyone is a boy, so that certain someone gets a version of their own.

St. Patty's Prelim

Nothing fancy today. Had brunch at the brewpub and everyone else is napping, so I whipped up a quick Big sketch before I rock some free Dropkick Murphy downloads for Guitar Hero III to get in the spirit of tomorrow. Got an idea to draw Choopie as a leprechaun, which I just might do...

Another Choop

Tried my hand at a full body shot of Choopie. Didn't turn out too bad all things considered and it was fun to use the brush marker for a change. Still adapting to the smaller size sketchbook (for some reason I bought a 5.5 x 8.5 instead of the normal 9 x 12), but I think it'll help with my pages and panels later on.

1st drawing in a new sketchbook

As mentioned in a recent comment: here's a quick little sketch of Choopie. A rather fun character study, if you will. I'll try to do a full figure one tomorrow. Always nice to get a decent sketch down as the first in a fresh sketchbook, too.

Slow Day At Work Bonus:

'Haps inks

Here's an example of how not to ink your friend's work. Completely lost my mojo with this pinup and Mafus'll be posting the pencils (colors, too!) shortly so you can see how bad I mucked it up. (No, I'm not fishing for compliments either.) I started with the old school tools and eventually broke down and went to markers. Just lost my confidence I guess. I dunno. It doesn't suck, but I wanted to do better I guess is what I'm trying to get at.

Rally around the Shamrock

I know it's been awhile and I will have something fancy to post later, but wanted to get the word out on Proposition 3-17. As most anyone who knows me knows I drink Guinness and by drink I mean inhale. This campaign amuses and the way they've presented, from a design standpoint, is excellent. You can sign your name with an e-pen and give your reason for signing. Heck, you can even upload a pic of yourself consuming a pint of the nectar. Here's the link:
http://www.proposition317.com/stpats.html

And here's my reason:

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.