Half-toned

After hanging out with CB, I've been inspired to produce my own comic this summer. This is the look I am going for, kind of an old school zip-a-tone effect.


The drawing was done with some pens I bought in NYC last week in my sketchbook. The zip-a-tone was done by a secret method I've developed.

Talking to CB was very inspiring, like I said, he urged me to produce a comic. I am planning on doing Iron Tiger, an old school kung-fu comic. The look is going to be similar to this drawing, but not quite as loose.

Right now the plan is to draw the entire comic in my sketchbook, so if you see me in San Diego and ask nicely, you should ba able to read my entire comic in my sketchbook.

I'm not 100% sure how many pages Iron tiger is going to be, but right now it looks like it'll be 32.

Me and CB

One of the fun bits of our trip to New York was I got to spend an evening with Marvel Comics talent scout, C. B. Cebulski.

The details are too sorted to go into here, but the evening started with us meeting at the "Marvel Bar", there was a terrifying high speed cab ride through central park in the pouring rain (at one point CB leaned out the window giving another cab the finger!) and ended with us at an illegal basment bar owned by a superstar comicbook artist!

Needless to say, I had a ball!

(Just for the record, I do not drink, the strongest thing I drank all night was a sprite.)

I wanted to get a photo of the evening for the blog, but it took three attempts!

First try: Steve the bartender manged to hold my phone backwards, taking his own picture!

Second Attempt: A little dark, but at least it's the right direction!

Final Shot: Steve truned on the lights, but it's still a little fuzzy. Given the time, I went with this attempt!

NYC

We're leaving for NYC this weekend and I am so excited!

The Thing

As an experiment, I drew this Thing page in one of those 11 x 14 black hardcoversketchbooks. My goal was to be able to draw comic pages in a form that I could carry around with me-kind of a mobile studio.

I've messed with this before with mixed results.

I thought this page came out okay, but I didn't like the paper in the book. The paper is too rough, soft and thick. I prefer dawing on paper harder and thinner.

I like drawing with a 2H and that tears up the soft paper.

Still I liked drawing in the book and a Starthmore has really good paper. I have a big summer project coming up and i liked drawing in the hardback book, so I guess I need to pick up a new book!

The Bodyguard

Figures

Figures

Figure sketches

Despite the lousy weather, DL Nelson and I drove to the Kansas City Planet Comicicon this weekend. I am glad we did, it was awesome. I got to talk to some pretty cool artists and several looked at my portfolio and gave me advice.

The general idea behind most of the advice: Work on the structure under the figures.

It’s not like I don’t know this, I just need to practice it until it becomes second nature. So that’s where this page comes in. I spent about an hour doing these sketches and there will be more coming.

Inking Practice

Inking practice

11/08

Nash

Adobe Illustrator

10/08

Grand Central

Adobe Illustrator

10/08

Adobe Photoshop

10/08

Batman vs Zombies!

Sketchbook

Dallas/11/08

Curse of the Bug

Character sketch for a project that died!

Anatomy drawing

I am posting more work from my sketchbook and I thought I'd share this. Not because it's really great or anything, but because the bulk of my sketchbook is this sort of thing. Practice, doodles scribbles, basically me experimenting.

Food

Around Christmas I got really sick. I got a fever of 103.8 and lost my appetite. Everything I ate tasted 'wrong'.

Toast tasted like fish!

For some reason, while I was recovering, when I started drawing again, i decided to do some ink drawings of food.

Funny thing is I never draw straight in ink or draw food!

Generic Muscle car from my sketchbook.

Cadillac Sketches

Here are some sketches I did of a '69 Caddy in preperation for a finished piece.

Haircut!

(before)

(after)

Well, I let my hair get pretty long in '08, but right after Christmas my wife talked me into getting it "cleaned up". Finally the other day I decided I was tired of it looking messy and so I went in and got it buzzed. Of course, I think it's too short, but I figure it'll grow out!

Mourning for San Diego

This is my desk top for my computer and for my cell phone. I love that photo! If you haven't clicked on it and looked at the big version you should, it's really cool.

And every time I look at it I get really sad.

In case you don't recognize it, that is the San Diego Convention center. It is the home for the largest comic convention in the United Stated, The San Diego Comicon (or as they call it now, Comic-Con International.)

I started going to SDCC in 2000. That wasn't that long ago, but it seems forever to me, like I can't imagine a time when I didn't got to San Diego. And it seemed so, magical. It was awesome.

Hotel rooms were super easy to get. One year, we didn't decide to go until late and we still got a room for under $100 right across from the convention center. And there were a ton of restaurants and some of them were very affordable. There were crowds at the con, but if you got your ticket early, you avoided the only real bad line, the ticket line.

If you wanted to get your portfolio looked at by one of the big companies, it was mostly a matter of just waiting in line or getting there early to get on the list. Which was easy to do.

Like I said, it kind of felt special. Like Disney World for comicbook fans.

But something changed.

The first thing I noticed was the hotel rooms. The prices kept getting higher every year, but even worse, harder to get. In '08, we ended up staying in Point Loma. It wasn't too bad, but you know what it's not the same as it was. And just getting back and forth was a hassle.

I also noticed the restaurants have gotten worse. One thing I noticed was several had a special 'convention' menu with comic book style graphics. My friend thought it was cool until I pointed out to him that I'm sure the prices where higher in that menu then the normal one!

However really the last straw for me was the crowds. In '06, it was so crowded, it was impossible to move around on the dealers floor. But it wasn't the volume of crowds, but their attitude. The con has changed to more of a celebrity thing and the locals come out in waves. And they are terrible.

I saw a father encourage a child to throw a glowstick into a crowd at the costume contest. The manger of the hotel in Point Loma told us how he bought on pass and used it to sneak in his buddies. My friend's cellphone got stolen. I almost got into an altercation with a guy who claimed I ran over his toe in a crowd (Who wears flip-flop in a crowd of 100k+? Oh yeah, a MORON!)

I'm not sure what they could do to fix the con. More hotels would be nice, but the locals will still see us as cash cows and jerks will sneak in. And thieves and morons looking for a toe-stomping.

I'm afraid my beef with the con may have to do more with the changing nature of California in general.

Maybe one day, it will all be fixed, but until then I'll just look at my photos, think about my memories and weep for what's been lost.

Death of Iron Tiger

Originally this had a home, but now it seems to be an orphan. maybe it'll end up being a sample.

What I am reading.

I finished Pattern Recognition the other day. I really enjoyed it. It's been awhile since I read any Gibson, but I think he has matured as a writer.

Or maybe I've matured as a reader.

I read some discussion online about if this book was science fiction or not. I don't think it is. It's clearly set in the present, in fact some of the computer model and such are a few years outdated.
I would say the book is set in 'hyper-reality', that is, it is set in our reality, but the gadgets and such are of a high end above the day to day reality of most people. World class designers jet set around with ex-Russian mafia types with high end clothing and toys most of us can only read about.

I would compare it to The Ian Fleming James Bond novel. Fleming was from the "upper crust" and one way he added a touch of the exotic to the Bond novels was by using high end brands. Bond didn't just shave, but he used such and such shaving cream, with a special razor.

Gibson does the same sort of thing and paints Cayce Pollard as a world class developer of trademarks and trends. Her obsession with an online film footage leads her from London to Tokyo to Russia. Believe me, I'm not doing it justice.

Next up:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

This is the book the movie Bladerunner is 'based' on. I read this once in the early '80s, but I don't remember much of it.

Dick is know for his paranoid, 'what is going on' storylines. His characters comonly question who (and what) they are. things are never what they seem. I read some of his work when I was a kid, but I'm hoping to experience his work through a new perspective.

NYC!

Our friend Sherrie sent us this photo she took of us in New York City this spring. I can see in this photo how much weight I've lost, but the picture was too good not to post!

What I'm Reading.

One of my New Years Resolutions (I made about 40) is to read more fiction. Somewhere along the way I slipped out of the reading habit. Oh, I read pleanty of comics or art books and maybe even some historical books, but I'm wanting to read more fiction in '09.

When I was a kid I read tons of Science Fiction, but I think somewhere I stopped. So a few days ago I looked through my bookshelves for something I had never read that looked good and I came up with this:

Doc Sidhe by Aaron Allston

Okay, maybe it's not Moby Dick, but it's pretty good. It's kind of a pulp hero novel remixxed in a fantasy world. Allston is a name in role-playing game circles and this seems like it could be the basis for a good RPG. It's a good solid action story and so far I'm really enjoying it.

Next up:

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

I read a few pages of this at the library (you didn't think I'm buying all these books?) and was impressed by how readable Gibson has become. I read some of his cyberpunk stuff back when that was hot, but it always seemed dense reading to me. We'll see how this goes, I have high hopes for it.

Already, I've read about the main charcter de-branding all her clothes. A woman after my own heart; after I finish this I am going to de-brand my new backpack!

What I'm Listening to.

The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

This popped onto my radar after seeing the lead singer at the Eisners this summer. I picked up The Umbrella Academy trade during the holidays and figured why not check out the album.

I really like it. For some reason, it kind of reminds me of Queen, but that's kind of misleading. I think that it has a sonic range that reminds me of some of the older bands like Queen or Rush, but you can definitely tell this is a post-alternative, speed metal influenced band.

( I've been listening to some '80s heavy metal and it's amazing to me how slow that stuff sounds. A co-worker claims Nirvana changed music forever. I would argue Metallica has.)

Anyway, I'm digging The Black Parade and it's in heavy rotation on the Walkman!

Sick!

I'm pretty good about not getting sick. Usually, I might catch a cold about once a winter and since we've started taking regular vitamins it's been even less then that. If I start to feel bad, I'll start taking Zinc tablets and that usually knocks it out.

About 2 weeks ago I started feeling bad. I was really tired and had a pain in my lower abdomen. I thought it was just lack of sleep, but finally a few thursdays ago I gave in and called in sick. I figured a day of sleep would fix me up.

But the next day I got up and felt worse. So I went to the doctor and he looked me over but couldn't really find anything. So he gave me something for my stomach and told me to call him if I didn't feel better on Monday.

Over the weekend I developed a fever that shot up to 103.8! So I called my doctor and he decided I had an infection and to come in Monday unless I felt better.

So Monday I went in and he pushed around until he found the exact spot where I hurt and he decided I had some sort of infection. So he put me on antibiotics and told me to come in last tuesday.

It seems this infection is a particularly nasty one and he's worried it'll come back. So he put me on another round of antibiotics.

However, Weds at work I noticed I had the sniffles!

Now I have a full blown cold, except I cannot take vitamin-C or Zinc tablets because of the antibiotics!

So, it's the day after Christmas, I'm off work, the weather is awesome and i feel like crap!

What I'm thankful for...

A few years ago at my in-laws during Thanksgiving, before we could dive head first into the turkey, my brother in law (it was at his house) went around and had all the men say what they were thankful for.

I hate that crap!

Don't get me wrong, everyday I thank God for the multitude of blessings I enjoy everyday. And I think that's what bugs me about having to list what I'm thankful for. How do I narrow that down to a mere list uttered while all the relatives' stomaches are growling?

I try and embrace everyday for what it brings, to enjoy every thing that comes my way. Bad things happen, but I know I've got it good!

Case in point:

Recently I was at Wizard World Texas. Now, normally cons can be really stressful, trying to get samples done, facing rejection, standing in line, that sort of thing.

But WWT didn't have any publishers there so I didn't really bother. Instead, I took my sketchbook and just enjoyed drawing.

Early one morning I was sitting in the lobby drawing, drinking coffe, with my walkman on. As I sat there, Jump blasting in my ears, two ladies walked up and sat down. One lady was upset and the other was talking to her.

I had no idea what they were talking about, Van Halen made sure of that, but it was obvious something 'bad' was going on.

As I sat there drawing, I began to think about my life. While I wish I had a better job, I really don't have a worry in the world. This lady next to me is upset about something, so upset she's crying in front of a stranger in a hotel lobby. And I'm sitting there drawing Batman fighting a horde of zombies, without a care in the world.

Maybe it's my simplistic outlook or maybe it's my lowered expectations, but I consider myself very blessed!

What I'm listening to.

VAN HALEN!!

I spend most of my time at work drawing on my computer with itunes cranked up and my headphones on. I have a theory that '80s heavy metal is getting ready to come back big.

I don't know if my subconcious was tapped into the zeigiest of the emerging wave or maybe I'm just crazy, but today's audio flavor of the day was Van Halen's 1984!

1984 was the last salvo from the fire-breathing band that was the True-Van Halen. For those of you who may be too young to realize what this means, this was the last Van Halen outting with 'Diamond' David Lee Roth.

Nowadays, the Roth attitude seems a little worn thin, but at the time he was the coolest thing around. His hyper-manic delivery and Devil-may-care antics were the kind of thing every jr high boy wished they could pull off. And his machine gun delivery was the closed thing to rap this white boy had heard at the time.

And we loved it!

(My buddy DL Nelson told me he thought Sarah Palin should be in a Van Halen video. She could whip off her glasses and start dancing on the desks. If only, it might have turned the election!)

Too be honest, 1984 is really a pretty thin album. This was in the days of vinyl and it wasn't uncommon for an album to only have 8 - 10 songs on it. And really the best songs are Jump, Panama and Hot for Teacher.

(When David Lee Roth released his first solo album it only had 6 songs on it, because he said, 'Most albums only have a couple of good songs and the rest is filler. I just cut out the filler." Or something like that.

Early on in this post I mentioned I think early Heavy Metal is poised for a comeback. One reason: For awhile I had "Jump" as my ringtone. Everytime those opening chords would fire off, somebody would point at me and holler VAN HALEN!

Not exactly court admissable evidence, but I think the times are changing!

More sketches.

Here's a few more sketches from my sketchbook. I pulled something in my back so I've been spending more time on the couch instead of at my drawing table.

I read one time George Perez had back problems and had a board he held in his lap while he drew on his couch.

My back problems are very minor and I'm already better, but the freedome to work away from a dafting table would be really cool.

Chicken and Cheese

My friends Mario & Mike's animated video. Some profanity, but pretty funny, especially if you know the guys.

More inking practice

Since I am planning on inking my new project I decided I need to get a little more inking practice in.

This weekend I didn't feel good so I spent most of the weekend drawing in my sketchbook instead of drawing pages at my desk.

Chicago!

I made a quick trip to Chicago last weekend. Michelle was on a business trip where she had to fly into Detroit and drive around to do Energy Star Certification tests. I noticed she had a free day on Sunday and it was going to be in Chicago.

Some calls were made and a plan was conceived. I would fly into Chicago on Friday, hung out with Michelle for a few days and we'd fly out together on Tuesday.

It was blast! We saw Frank Lloyd Wright's home & studio, The Magnificent Mile, Wrigley field, The Museum of Science & Industry, the Millieum Park, a few comic shops and lots of bookstores.

By far thought, the best part of the trip was seeing our friends Kevin and Melanie and their kids Burke and Bailey.

I've known Kevin since grade school (his son told me 'now I know why my Dad is so weird!')

Burke also told me the other day he asked his Dad how long ago they invented elevators. Kevin told him three years ago.

I told him that's wrong, it was actually four!

Kev & Mel moved several years ago and ever since then D.L. Nelson and I have been looking for the "New Kevin".

(We nominated CB Cebulski, but he lives too far away and he's too popular to hang with us. But if he ever moves to Oklahoma City he may get the position. Unless somebody blackballs him.)

The low point was when we all had to leave and Bailey cried ("I don't want Miss Michelle to leave.) putting into words what we all felt.