The Art of Short Story: Part I

A whole discussion can be had about how the policies of reprinting individual issues in TPB collections have changed how the stories are structured in each 22-24 page book. Thinking about that I started remembering certain short stories that I love, but I believe would not find a place in the current publishing environment...they just would not fit into any particular TPB.

Lets see how many of these sound familiar and I would love to hear your favorites (as long as they are 12 pages or less). By the way, I am not listing them in any sort of order of significance, they are all lovely in their own ways AND I feel that each one uses the comic medium to a perfection. So here I go:

"Beguiling" by Barry Windsor-Smith from Epic Illustrated

When I saw this, a bomb went off in my head. At that time I have heard about Barry Smith and the guy who worked at the comic shop seemed excited about Barry Smith's "return to comics", but I did not expect this. Reading this story is like having a vivid dream...and the art is fantastic.


"---Zounds O' Silence" by Larry Hama and Michael Golden from Marvel's Holiday Special

Unlike "Beguiling", this story was published without any fanfare. Just a short story in a silly holiday special that was PENCILED and INKED and COLORED by MICHAEL GOLDEN. Totally "silent" (except for the sound effects) it is an artistic feast with a cute ending to it.

Dark Crystal Sketches: Aughra

Here are a couple of images from my sketchbook. As I am working on the Dark Crystal pages, I am continuing to do test in my sketchbook trying to figure out better ways to draw the characters.

Doctor Strange: The Oath

I just finished reading "Doctor Strange: The Oath" by Brian Vaughan and Marcos Martin. This is the collection of their 5 issue mini series from 2007 and I can't believe I did not give it a try earlier. The story has a number of subplots, one of them being: "What if Doctor Strange could cure cancer through magic?". I found that particular thought fascinating, and I really enjoyed how the story did not take any easy "outs". It asked tough questions and gave answers that were believable and sounded true to the characters.

Wonderful interactions between everyone involved in the story were highlighted by very expressionistic art of Marcos Martin. He sort of has a cool style that is a cross between Steve Ditko and Paul Pope...and it really works great here!

To sum it up, this was the best Doctor Strange story I ever read.

In the mean time still working on "Dark Crystal". Got the script and the layouts done up to page 48...17 more pages and it's off to the printers.

Now it's really official.....

Surprise at Amazon

Death of Captain Marvel

I am a big Jim Starlin fan and I read a lot of his work, but I never read THE graphic novel. I am not sure why...I do remember when it came out, or at least hearing about it coming out. It sold out pretty quick and a friend of mine (who was even a bigger Jim Starlin fan) got his sister's boy friend to drive him around San Jose until he found a copy. I remember being taken back when he told me that he bought a copy for himself but did not pick me up a copy...in any case I never got to spend my $6 to buy a copy.

Back than, comics did not get reprinted (unless a Conan story published in Savage Sword of Conan got colored and printed as a fill in the Conan The Barbarian comic), so I thought I pretty much missed my chance of getting it. But things were changing. The first Marvel graphic novel got a second (and a third and a fourth) printing pretty quickly but I never got around to buy them. Mostly because I started hearing that The Death of Captain Marvel was “not as good” as “his Warlock and Captain Marvel stuff”. Later I heard the same opinions about Jim Starlin’s “Dreadstar” and “Breed”. Just recently I hear that same opinion about “Death of the New Gods”…but I enjoyed all of those above mentioned books, so last week while shopping at Hijinx I took the plunge and got a copy of the reprint that was available in their stock.

This is a reprint of Captain Marvel 34, Marvel Spotlight 1 &2, and “The Death of Captain Marvel” graphic novel. The reprint is comic sized, so the pages have been shank down from the original magazine sized book and the reproduction is horrible. It looks like someone has scanned the printed pages of the graphic novel and there are all sorts of problems with zip-a-tone and color dropping out in certain spots. It’s a shame.

I read it.

I loved it.

The writing was wonderful, the storytelling was great, art was mature and well thought out. It was a great story. A true graphic novel.

This is Old School, baby!

I was reading the blog post by Alex Alice, the French writer/artist of comics. In the latest post he talks about doing the colors on his latest volume...and he is still doing it by hand! He feels that there is certain richness that goes missing if the same process is done digitally. Don't hear that sort of a thing too often, so it's kind of cool, check it out at: Alex Alice

Dark Crystal page 3...I guess it's OK to post

The colored version was posted by Stephen Christy on his twitter account, so I figure I can post the original.

I have been working on the first Dark Crystal graphic novel (of three that are planned) since mid April. I got about 30 pages done, so I feel we are making progress. The hope is to get the script approved and have me finish the art in September....then we wait and see what the reaction might be.

What language is this?

I got a link to another review of the Dark Crystal FCBD giveaway (thank you Todd!)...but I have no idea what language it is in. I think it's Finnish....it's definitely not German or Dutch....
Dark Crystal in ?

Dark Crystal FCBD: German review

I got this cool link from Kevin (thank you!). I can't read German, but I trust it says some nice things about my short story for the FCBD give-away:
Dark Crystal in German

Sketchbook review at Parkablogs.com!

I have been a frequent visitor to Parka's blog to find out about new art books for a number of years. I got some very cool art books based on his recommendations and reviews and that makes it extra cool to see a sweet review of my sketchbook on his site! Check it out at: Parka Blogs
Thank you!

Thank you :)

A shout out to everyone who stopped by to say "Hi" and hang out at Hijinx this weekend! It was a pleasure to spend some time promoting comics' medium in the company of Hijinx's owner Neil Ferris and Flesk Publications publisher John Fleskes.

Neil welcomed everybody into his store and had everything from free comics to special discounts on his inventory. John was able to bring out some of his books and engaged folks in conversation about fine art and different artists. I got to hang out and talk about the upcoming Dark Crystal book. It was fun!

You guys can check out Flesk Publications at:
Flesk Publications

And if you decide you want to stop by at Hijinx, check it out at:
Hijinx

And a special shout out to Blue_Jay and Tom (you guys know who you are!) for making the special trip to hang out. Much appreciated gentlemen!

May 7th, 2011 Free Comic Book Day @ Hijinx

I will be signing Archaia books and showing artwork from the upcoming Dark Crystal graphic novel (and of course selling sketchbooks and originals), so come one and come all :)

WonderCon...one more time

My timing turned out to be bad (again). A few hours after I finished writing about my presence at WonderCon I received an e-mail with the signing schedule at the Archaia booth. So for those that are interested I can be found at the Archaia booth:

Friday 1-3 pm and 5-6:30 pm
Saturday 3-4:30 pm
Sunday 12:30-3:30 pm

I'll bring some original artwork to look at :)

WonderCon and beyond

I am planning on attending WonderCon this coming weekend. I tried getting a table in the artist alley, but by the time I contacted the convention all the spaces were sold out. My plan is to show up and see if any spaces opened up and if not, I'll just walk around and buy some comics :)

I will probably spend a few hours at the Archaia booth signing their copies of Robotika, but I am not sure what the sighing schedule will be. If you do spot by Archaia's booth and I am not around, ask them to see the colored version of the Dark Crystal short that will be out next month. It turned out pretty sweet.

I am planning on having real table space at the San Jose convention in May and also at APE later on in October, so if we don't run into each other at WonderCon, I hope to catch-up later on in the year :)

I might even have this all done:

Does the world need more Batman....

...surely it does :)

NY Times best seller list

David Petersen's "Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard" collection (to which I contributed "Oleg The Wise" short story) is on the NY Times best seller list...and has been for a couple of weeks. Check it out: NY List

Dark Crystal and More

Today I got to see the finished colored pages from the Dark Crystal 8 page story that will appear on the Free Comic Book Day in May. The colorist, Lizzy John, did a wonderful job completing the story and giving it a lot of "mood". I am pretty excited about seeing it in print.

I am also starting to work on the cover and interior chapter illustrations for Matthew Maxwell's "Strangeways: The Thirsty". It's an original graphic novel that is a sequel to his "Strangeways: Murder Moon". I have talked about Matthew and his work in my earlier posts. He and I shared convention tables at APE and WonderCon in the past, and apart from being a very creative guy, he is also a gentlemen and a true fan of storytelling. To read more about Matthew and his work, you can visit him at Highway 62

In the meantime, here is another page from WWII:

Dark Crystal Preview

Here is a preview of some of my Dark Crystal pages (together with some Mouse Guard pages from David Petersen). The pages shown are full pencils, but they will also be fully digitally painted by a very talented artist. So enjoy the sneak peak: Preview

Page 10 Battlefield

I am almost done with the Dark Crystal story for Free Comic Book Day. So far, the editors at Archaia (the publisher) and the art directors at Hanson Productions, have been very supportive of the pages as I turn them in. I look forward to seeing how the story is going to look in color.

While I can't post any of the Dark Crystal material (yet), I am posting another page of pencils from my WWII crime noir story. Here is "Bronski" page 10:

Transmetropolitan

The folks who created "Transmetropolitan" for Vertigo are doing a charity book for the The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and they invited me (along with a lot of other artists) to create illustrations based on their characters. Here is the preview of my page in black and white, it will be fully painted in the published edition:

To learn more about this project, visit: ComicBookResources.Com

A recent Shadow Lass commission

Warlock and Dark Crystal on E-Bay

I am listing two original drawings and an older self published portfolio on E-Bay...if anyone is interested :)
Here is the ebay link : HERE

And here is the second ebay link : HERE

Here is the ebay link for the portfolio: HERE

Death and Dream commission

A recent commission-

Wood Nymph

Something a bit different--

Dark Crystal and I

In the past few months I have posted a number of images based on a movie called Dark Crystal. The drawings were samples that I did as try outs for doing a licensed Dark Crystal comic book. I can now announce that I will be doing an 8 page story for the Free Comic Book Day and after that....

Read the full story here:FREE COMIC BOOK DAY ARTICLE

Conan The Barbarian

At the start of a new year I am putting up a few of my original drawings for sale. This time it is the savage barbarian and the splash from "Oleg The Wise" story that I did for David Petersen's Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard.
Ebay listing HERE

Ebay listing HERE

For the Motherland....

From pencils to inks: Dr. Strange and Clea

Batman / Bruce Wayne

I like how you can't see the face of either one.....

Page 6...The Gulag

Page 4 ... a knock knock joke

The Human Hourglass by Charles Yoakum.

Here is the inked version of the Captain Marvel pin-up:




Together with the inked pin-up, I got a copy of Charles' "Carnival: The Human Hourglass". Charles still has a few copies available after APE and he is selling them through his BLOG.

The coolest thing is that for just a few dollars you get the ashcan AND Charles does an original sketch (knowing my love of the 70's cosmic Marvel universe, Charles did a Captain Marvel for me). "The Human Hourglass" is a great crime noir story, well told, and drawn with care. I enjoyed it and I recommend it...a lot :)

Jim Starlin Captain Marvel (Old School, Baby!)

Bronski page 2 pencils

Love, love, love...but wait.....

A start of a new project: "Bronski"

In the next few weeks I will be sharing pages from the new story that I am working on and studies from a Transmetropolitan project that I have been invited to participate. I'll be only contributing one page, but I ended-up with a bunch of ideas for it :)

So the first penciled Bronski page: Soviet Union 1938 "The Dawn of Communism".....

A Strange Ebay Auction

I have inked one of the Dr. Strange drawings and have put it up for sale on Ebay...I think it's a fun drawing that goes along with Strange's mystic. Pass it on to all collectors of original art that you know :)

Here is the ebay link : HERE

Amazon review

I got an e-mail that someone has put up a review of "Robotika: For A few Rubles More" up on amazon.

Of course I was curious and I went over to read it...ouch, a bit of a disappointment, got only 2 stars.

It would be too bad if that was the only review up there, so I would like to call on the whole "Robotika Nation" to come over to Amazon and write down your thoughts about the book. Good or bad, it will be all appreciated :)

To get to the Robotika amazon page, just click HERE

Hamlet illustrated by John Austen

I don't know much about John Austin, but a long time ago I saw a 1922 edition of Hamlet that he illustrated...it was $150adn it was awesome. He was just as decorative as Harry Clarke but not as busy, his drawing had just as much style as the work of Aubrey Beardley, but his figures were not as weird and his sense of design (I thought) was better. I could not afford the book, but I enjoyed looking at it for a while.

The cool news is that there is a new reprint edition that just got released that contains all of his original illustrations!


And the really cool news is that at amazon it is only $17...oh yeah.

IN celebration of Guy Davis and The Marquis!

For some reason, this makes me think of Al Williamson ...

Dr. Stran"G"e

I want to thank everyone who stopped by at APE to see me and Charles at our table.



Simple, but elegant....for those that are paying attention, the letter "G" is done in the style of the "old school" Michael Golden signature. Why? Because Doctor Strange #55 was great!

Table #655 at APE October 16-17

I will be sharing a table with Charles Yoakum (artist on Batman:Outlaws, The Grackle, Wardancer...and more) at APE this weekend. Come on by table #655 and say "Hi". I'll have sketchbooks, Robotika collections, originals, and new unpublished pages to show off...and of course Dr. Strange doodles :)

Can you find...Doctor Strange?

Can you find the good doctor?

Jim Starlin's Warlock/Magus

Fun!

Buddha

Slurp....

Dr. Strange (with inks!)

I have not been inking for the last few weeks, so this is kind of differnet...

One last Dark Crystal...for the time being :)

Full page Dark Crystal illustration

Inked Dark Crystal try out

Bat Cave

Doctor Strange ... Flight

Doctor Strange and Clea

The Doctor's shape will be inked black, except for the hands.

Dr. Strange pencils (take 2)

How many doctors can one draw?