In the interim...

As I've been busy with page four and other sundry drawings I figured I'd post this as I don't really have anything else to really show. Kinda like the exclamation point Matt and I received. Page four has been fun so far. Using more quills than marker this time 'round for a more old school look and feel.

Also, played through Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. A fun game, but the camera was a little wonky and it didn't really rate a replay. The Force powers are a blast at first, but get very repetitious along with the button combos for taking out mini-bosses and whatnot. If you're a Gamefly member, it's worth a rental, but I can't see dropping $60. (My mistake is your gain.) You could always wait for it do drop in price or try to find the copy I traded in.

Page 2 inks

This has been done since Wednesday (Page 3, too!), but I caught a nasty chest cold/sore throat combination right after that hampered my posting. I think I'll have Matt rescan it as I have to piecemeal the page together and my scanner isn't the greatest to begin with. After that some clean up and we'll be passing it along to Craig and Todd.

Assignment 3 Critique

Joe Kubert makes it look so darn easy. Almost hurts my feelings. Well, maybe it does hurt my feeling just a little bit. He pulls no punches, but that's why I'm taking the course. He's a fount of knowledge and I'd do well to listen to what he has to say. So listen up, people, Uncle Joe is speaking.

Also,I sent a copy of 'Haps #1 with this assignment, hence Mr. Kubert's first comment on the page.

Also also, thanks to everyone on Renfield. Your words were very much appreciated.

Renfield

Today our sick, little kitteh enters the clearing at the end of the path. That's all I got. (Except that's a very young Lilah doing her best Popeye impersonation while drooling on Angie's shoulder.)

Uno inks

Busy at work, so I'll write something later. In the meantime here's the inks for Matt's first page of our 'Haps story.

"It's like, how much more black could this be?"

"And the answer is none. None more black."

I now return to the 'Haps.

First post of August...

And it only took me three weeks in to do it. A lot going on in the world of the Leafs. Most good, a little bad and some down right rotten. (The rotten being a very sick Renfield, one of our cats.) We're keeping our spirits up and enjoying every day.

Read my horde from the comic shop and couldn't sleep. I blame Doug TenNapel for being such an inspiration. Bought EARTHBOY JACOBUS today and couldn't put it down once I started. I know I've gone on about his work before, but Crom can that man tell a tale. Great stuff as usual and wholly inspiring. Kinda bummed that the glue holding the cover gave out though. Anyway, I messed around a little with this page earlier tonight, but wasn't feeling it and I really wanted to finish it. Mainly to loosen up my drawing hand and arm for some inking. After reading EARTHBOY I just had to finish, so here's the latest assignment for the Kubert course. You've seen the top left and right panel before and I put a little ink of them testing a new brush awhile ago. The middle-top and bottom panel are the newy new stuff. Gonna sling some ink on it tomorrow night and get the ball rolling. Okay, it's late and I'm starting to finally cool off. Peace out!

Tooth, Ink.

Wanted to get something creative done before the dreaded root canal on Wednesday. Ol' Thing from QuickDraw was a nice little exercise. Kinda wish the flower turned out better, but I can't complain. It was fun slinging with the brush only tonight. Maybe I'll get a chance to color him tomorrow, if it's slow at work or on my day off Wednesday though I kinda doubt I'll really want to do anything after the dentist. Okay, time for Bourdain and Vicodin. Though I don't need one to enjoy the other, if you get my drift. Until next time....

Another Slow Work Day Bonus:

34

Today is my 34th birthday as the title would imply. Kinda hoping to get something drawn/inked/posted, but as I had to go back to the dentist yesterday for intense pain, found out I need a root canal, which will confirm their theory that the tooth is "condemned," ground down my temporary crown to alleviate some of the pressure and then gave me a prescription for Vicodin...I'm not too sure I'll get anything creative accomplished today. Aside from opening cards and presents that is. Lilah's screeching and Angie's repeating "NO!" so I think I'll sign off for now.

Without further ado...

I present Tom all inked and dapper from his QuickDraw adventure. Had some fun with him and pretty much stuck with a brush the whole way. Some of the spiky lines are about all I did with a quill. I'd've liked to have had this finished and posted earlier, but my littlest brother and his girlfriend were in town this weekend. Hadn't seen him since I got hitched and that's going on almost three years. Showed 'em some of the sites and we bought and played through Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in an afternoon and evening. Lilah had a grand ol' time with her other uncle, too, which was good 'cuz Angie was at the beach with her posse.

Slow Day At Work Bonus:

Hot Copic

Oh what a weekend. Angie's birthday was the 4th, but the partying started on the 3rd and didn't really stop until yesterday. In between then we had 1/4" splinters in palms, twisted ankles, the return of Lumpy, and plenty of Justice League. Then to top it all off I just had a filling replaced this morning. Need another weekend to recuperate, but that's not happening as Angie's off to the beach this coming weekend with some peeps and I'm home with Lilah. My youngest brother will be arriving Saturday with his girlfriend, so I won't totally be solo all weekend, but it won't be a restful one regardless.

Enough belly-aching. Been playing around with the Copic markers I picked up at Heroes Con. Still learning obviously, but I think I'm getting a little better with 'em. Marked up this prelim sketch for my Thing Quickdraw with some decent results.

HeroesCon '08 - Photos

As I haven’t gotten around to inking my Quickdraws figured I’d post a few pics that Squeeze was kind enough to take (especially since I forgot our camera). I try to stay out of pics, but when I do get captured I try to make ‘em memorable.


Craig and I mug it up at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find. A broken and dislocated thumb makes for a great photo-op.


The Man Hisownself, Mr. Nick Cardy. I think he had just finished telling me about latrines. Looking forward to seeing him again next year.


Dinner at Cosmos with Sharon, Todd and Trish. I blame the jambalaya.


Giving Todd a very serious look later at the hotel bar. This was before some dude thought we were laughing at him and Todd had to defuse the situation with his superior friendly nature.

HeroesCon '08 - Day Three

Sunday started with little fanfare. No breakfast, though I did drink coffee, which is a rarity for me. Read SHANNA, worked on another sketch and waited for that magic hour of 11am when the convention opened. While in line I recognized a face in front of me - none other than Chris Sims of The Invincible Superblog. I stammered through a greeting and asked if he was drawing Batman yet. (He wasn’t.) I then asked him what W.E.I.R.D. was and before I could blink Jay Potts, his penciller, had placed a HARD ONES ashcan in my grubby little mitts. Nice work and a very nice guy that Jay. We continued to talk as the line moved and eventually parted ways as we hit the floor. I did a quick run over to the ‘Ringo booth for hellos before I had to head up for the inking panel at 11:30.

Not knowing what to expect from the panel, though I was hoping we’d be doing some inking exercises, I got a decent seat and proceeded to work on my Quickdraw idea. Thought I really had a chance today with the QD as I overheard the judges were looking for a drawing that told a story, so instead of humor I was going with a macabre theme today. But those thoughts had to wait as Roy Richardson began the panel. A very soft spoken man it was rather hard to hear him at times. The panel didn’t really teach me much more than I already know through the Kubert book and DVD, but it was good way of spending two hours and not any money. After the panel I headed back down for another quick visit with the gang before hitting Fuel Pizza again for a couple more slices.

I scarfed down my slices in the room and did some more sketching to keep the drawing fresh in my mind and hand. I decided to hunt down Evan Dorkin after talking to him the previous night. He had a small crowd around him, so I waited and picked up a copy of HECTIC PLANET and he was kind enough to do a quick drawing in the book for me. It's always nice to meet someone who's work you've respected and enjoyed and you find that they're good people, too. Makes the world seem a little better.

The hour of the QuickDraw had drawn nigh, so I headed over to try my luck one last time. Hopefully, the fear of an elder god would claim me some sembalance of victory. I present you with Cthulhu:


Hands smeared with pencil lead I headed back down to the floor to check in on the family. Everyone was around except Mafus, so Squeeze gave him a call. He said he’d found something for me and he was waiting in the 300 aisle. I refrained from yelling, “This is Sparta!” and headed over. Seems Mafus had found the volume of JLA ELITE that I was missing, so I snatched it up. Having broken the seal, so to say, I bought a few more items before listening to the list of QuickDraw winners without my name on it. Defeated again, we packed up shop and called it a con.

A quick change and we headed out to the after party at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find, Shelton Drum's store. Now I love me some Velocity Comics. They keep a mean store, but HAHTF is a flagship store if there ever was one. I could spend days and thousands of dollars in that place. Yowza. Beverages and food were provided, but the BBQ disappeared with a quickness, so we had to go elsewhere if we wanted vittles. Luckily there was a cajun place two blocks down. We hoofed it with a storm threatening and ordered up. The dinner was excellent, though they ran out of bread before we got there (I'm looking at you, Kirkman!), so the meal might have even been better with some baked goodness. We swapped stories and laughs before heading back in the rain.

As we had acquired Uncle Boom (Mark Waid) at dinner (thanks for dinner again, too!) we were even more cramped in the Squeeze-Mobile than before. Mafus and I ended up in the back and I had water running into my arse. Later at the hotel bar I'm sure the wet circle over my rectum raised many an eyebrow, but I didn't let me phase me as I was "assing" people many questions. Todd was handing out Choopie Butt Cards like crazy. It was rather amusing. (He even gave one to Darwyn Cooke.) A few drinks and we all called it a night as everyone was leaving in the morning. No sketching, just a little reading and then lights out.

DAY THREE LOOT:
ESSENTIAL HULK Vol. 1
HECTIC PLANET Vol. 1
INDIE ISLAND T-SHIRT (DORKIN)
JLA ELITE Vol. 2

HeroesCon '08 - Day Two

You may notice a lack of pictures with these stories. Mainly because I forgot my camera. Mafus and Squeeze took plenty and hopefully they’ll be posting them in the coming days.

The second day started with breakfast at the hotel with a small gathering of Mike's friends and family. Todd held court and told us some of Nick Cardy's greatest hits involving latrines, MPs banging on their doors and other things not safe for children. Fortified with our $23 breakfast bar (if I had known it was that much I would've eaten more!) the group dispersed as the pros went to set up and us normal schlubs waited for the gates to let us in.

As I had spent more than I wanted to that first day I tried to curtail my spending, which didn't really work out as I bee-lined to David Crosland and Jim Mahfood's set-up. Jim wasn't there, but David was, so I expounded on his latest series EVERYBODY IS DEAD and picked up an anthology from him, which he was kind enough to do a sketch in. After that I hung out a little at the 'Ringo booth and chatted with my family. Also asked Mr. Cardy about the stories Todd had told at breakfast and ended up hearing about all the latrines he had seen during the war complete with sketches of them and how they worked. Unfortunately, he erased the drawings before I could ask him for them. Would've been a nice conversation piece and keepsake. Since I missed out on that opportunity I decided to not let another pass by so I hunted down the TEEN TITANS SHOWCASE and got Mr. Cardy to sign it for me. He then told me to hunt down a BRAVE AND THE BOLD SHOWCASE that had three issues drawn by him in it, which struck me as odd because 3 issues versus a whole book seemed a little weird, but Nick said, "It's my best work, those three issues."

More Fuel pizza for lunch and a quick stop back to the room to work on today's QuickDraw sketch. Thought I'd mix it up a bit and try a little comedy on the judges today and pay a little homage to Mike as he drew one of the best Ben Grimms around. Here's Momma Grimm's ever-loving, blue-eyed boy:


Of course, I didn't place, but I think the drawing turned out fine and dandy for only having 20 minutes.

My ego slightly bruised I did a little retail therapy and met back with the gang in time for closing and dinner plans. There was a car show going on Saturday and there was this constant bass line that reverberated the entire convention center, but just as we were getting ready to leave the sounds of thunder were heard. A maelstrom had moved in just as the con was ending for the day and we were carrying back portfolios of art. After waiting five-ten minutes Mafus and I decided to make a break for it. He stuffed a portfolio under his shirt, we waited for the light to change and booked. Drenched, but home, I dropped off the art at their room and got ready for dinner at Cosmos.

Side story: While waiting for everybody down in the lobby, Evan Dorkin came up to me and thanked me for wearing my MILK & CHEESE bowling shirt. I've had the thing for years and haven't seen another-ever. Evan clued me that there are probably only a dozen of them left, due to production costs and yadda-yadda. He said he knows everyone with one by name, so I guess I've been added to the list.

The meal was excellent and the company even better (though Squeeze sat at the other table). I had the jambalaya and a couple pints of Skipjack and Bare Knuckle. Was hoping to find Sweetwater 420 down there, but I guess we weren’t close enough to Atlanta for a distributor. We then headed over to see the last two items from the Heroes Auction being sold. Mafus had a commission to work on, so we all headed back for Rum-n-Ginger at the ‘Ringo Room. A couple of drinks, some half-hearted sketch attempts and I crashed with some more DOOM PATROL. Lights outs.

DAY TWO LOOT:
COPIC GREYSCALE MARKERS
DELAYED REPLAYS (for Angie)
EARTHWORMS (CD for Angie)
I WAS A TEENAGE COMIC NERD (for Angie)
POE: An Ugly Doll (for Lilah)
PUNISHER: Man Of Stone
PUNISHER: Slavers
SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL
SLOP: Analecta
TEEN TITANS SHOWCASE

HeroesCon '08 - Day One

The trip down to Charlotte didn't seem to take that long at all. I think it helped that I crashed at Matt and Squeeze's the night before, so we could just get up and roll. Our first stop in Charlotte was, of course, Fuel Pizza. Wolfed down a couple slices and then headed back to the Squeeze-Mobile for unloading. Let me tell you a little secret, those art portfolios may look like they don't weigh much, but when they're full of sweet, sweet 'Ringo art they weigh a ton. We got the booth set up, said hello to our extended family of Todd and Craig, proceeded to hunt down some trade deals and snagged a couple copies of the 'Ringo Tribute book. I then hit the Quickdraw Contest and whipped up a quick Tom from TELLOS.


Of course, I didn't place in the contest, but I did get a free sheet of bristol out of it and art for a blog post. (Expect two more drawings.) After that the show pretty much shut down, we picked up Nick Cardy from the Hilton and headed over to Fuel for the Tribute Book art auction. Todd started us off with some humorous stories of Mike followed by Mark Waid and Mr. Cardy. I ordered some 'za and the auction started. After about 15-20 minutes security came and tried to shut us down. Matt's face went white when sirens started wailing around us, but the situation resolved itself as we weren't actually exchanging money on the property, which was their major bone of contention. The auction wrapped up a few pieces later and I escorted Mr. Cardy back to his hotel. Meeting and getting to know Mr. Cardy was one of the real pleasures of this year's HeroesCon. Funny, genuine and still drawing his rear off, Nick Cardy is always quick with a smile and a story. I'll elaborate more on him as I go through the other two days of the con. Though I will say this...it took us twice as long to walk the block and a half back to his hotel because every ten steps we were stopped by someone wanting to talk to Mr. Cardy. He'd oblige them for a few minutes before saying he was tired and needed to go to bed. Another ten steps and, "Hey, Mr. Cardy!" As the day drew to a close I curled up with some DOOM PATROL and a bottle of water. Halfway through I started kicking myself for not reading these books earlier. Good, crazy stuff and Richard Case can draw his arse off. Lights out until tomorrow.

DAY ONE LOOT:
DOOM PATROL: Musclebound
DOOM PATROL: Magic Bus
THE HOOD
PERHAPANAUTS - Pages 2 & 3 (1st Issue Image)
PUNISHER: Up Is Down and Black Is White
WHAT IF? A Tribute To Mike Wieringo
WONDER WOMAN: Who Is Wonder Woman?

A few days shy of a month.

As Mafus pointed out to me yesterday, "Dude, you gonna post something or what? It's been almost a month." That statement took me back a bit as I like to think I'm somewhat regular about posting. Guess life's been flashing by too darn much as of late. So without further ado...here's a vampiric Hawk-Girl drawn by Uncle Byrnie and inked by yours truly. I still haven't found my original inking gear and was forced to buy a new brush and quills. I tried to ink most of this with a brush mainly because I'm stubborn, but luckily reason took over and I threw some quill work up in it. As with all my stuff I like sections and hate others, but it's been too long since I actually inked I can't complain too hard.

Very much looking forward to Heroes Con this weekend. Not looking forward to the drive though. While it won't be the same I still think a good time will be had by all. Plenty of friends, announcements and celebrations to keep away the gloomy feelings. If you're attending make sure to stop by Mafus' booth and pick up Mike's WHAT IF? tribute book. Then head all the way over (one booth actually) to Craig and Todd's place and spend like crazy.

In other news...if you haven't seen HULK yet, you need to do so. No spoilers, just trust me.

Two out of three ain't bad

Finally dragged myself away from GTA4 and started on the third assignment from Kubert. Some spelunkers in a cave checking out an unusual formation of crystals. (That's the middle panel, which isn't quite done yet.) The lady sees something she doesn't like. But what is it? Not even I know at this point, but it'll be showing its ugly mug before too long. Stay tuned, true believers.

An important man

I'm sure most of you know, but for those who don't, Gene "The Dean" Colan has taken severely ill with liver failure. There's a wealth of happenings and action you can take to help out the Colan family over at Cliff Meth's site. Please stop by and see what you can do to help.

An important book

Some of the best money you'll ever spend is on this here book. Had the wife saying, "Wow." even when I showed her a spread from Kirby's later years when his eyes were starting to fail him. Just incredible. An excellent history of one of the industry's true great.

Mark VIII, Dude

Mafus, Squeeze and I took in Shellhead's flick last night. I'm won't spoil anything, so no worries there. I will say the movie was excellent. Sure there was a scene or two that were, "Huh?" but that's probably just my nit-picky way. Downey, Jr. was perfect as Stark Paltrow was a decent Pepper and Bridges was the Dude. (Well, not really, but in my heart he was.) So go see it, people. Just make sure you stay until the end credits finish.