Old projects...new projects

A1 Annual to be published by Titan Books this summer will feature a short story by Norman Felchle and me. The title is "Odd Ball" and is something that we completed about 3 years ago (it was first printed in black/white in my 2010 sketchbook). For the A1 book, Norman colored the whole thing and it looks awesome.

Also Outlaw Territory #3 has been announced by Image and should be out this summer with a story that I collaborated on with Ryan Sook called "Heaven Sent". Ryan not only wrote and laid out the story, but also supplied the color.

Currently I am working on a story titled "Cave Girl" written by Dan Fogler. It is a crazy homage to the sword and sorcery genre with barbarians, zombies, saber tooth tigers, and zombie dinosaurs. I am not sure if it will be a stand alone graphic novel or will be a part of "Moon Lake" volume 2 (Dan published volume 1, back in 2010 through Archaia). The story is almost 50 pages and will keep me busy into early summer.

And Michael Golden's GI Joe Portfolio is supposed to come out May 1!

50 Girls 50 and other stories by Al Williamson (Fantagraphics 2013)

I have received the new collection of Al Williamson EC stories. It has a lot of short stories that Williamson did for EC with some wonderful inking assistance from Angelo Torres, Roy Krenkel, and Frank Frazetta.

There wil be other reviewers who will do a wonderful job talking about the content of the book and the significance that each story in the content of EC, I just want to make one observation. What struck me about the artwork for all the stories (and that includes the stories that I did not enjoy much), is that unlike the current over stylized comic book approach utilized at Marvel and DC, all the artwork was very "accessible" to everyone who would pick-up the books. Currently, most of the superhero titles being published, are so dependent on the reader being versed in comic book "conventions" (in depiction of environments, anatomy, facial expressions, and storytelling) that only someone like me, who has been reading comic books for 2 decades, can decipher an issue.

The stories here are so easy to read and the artwork is very easy to relate to. Most of the artwork would be considered excellent by today's standards...which is incredible considering that it was created almost 70 years ago.

James Harren...Wow!

A while back I stopped buying monthly floppies and started waiting for collections. I like collections because I get to see all the cover (even the rare ones), sketches, and sometimes even penciled pre-inked pages....and it's easier to store collections.

Before, I would go to the comic book store on weekly basis and look through everything that came out that week to see what was interesting. I am not sure how to shop for collections. I hear about something, or amazon recommends something because I bought something else, or maybe I saw an issue somewhere that looked interesting and I look for it in some collection...The negative aspect of that, is my inability to closely follow new voices in comics. There might be artists and writers working in comics for years before I discover their work.

Recently I saw an issue of Conan from Dark Horse illustrated by James Harren. I was impressed and went to the comic store to buy the rest of his Conan issues...I did not want to wait for a collection! After that I looked him up and saw that his work is contained in 2 Hellboy collections: Abe Sapien Vol 2 and BPRD Vol 4. This week I bought both and I am so glad that I did. Mr. Harren is a fresh voice in comics and I love how he draws. His style has a great dynamic feel to it, with all the figures being very expressive and wonderfully rendered. Also excellent monster designs!

I will be looking for his work from now on (and hoping that he would someday take over Swamp Thing over at DC!).

Monstrum page 5...and Dark Crystal Vol 2!

That is the end of the fan fiction section...for now...

Dark Crystal: Creation Myths Vol 2 is out (and is recommended by Bud Plant Illustrated Books!). Epic story by Joshua Dysart, lush colors by Lizzy John, and drawing and tones by me :)

Page 4 (gypsies...of course!)

Page 3

Page 2 inspired by Marshall Rogers (among others)

The experiment in mixed media continues: blue pencil, red pencil, gray wash, water color wash, and (of course) pen/brush with india ink.

One of the great comic book artists, Marshall Rogers, when doing his best work, was able to use architecture to bring the reader into the story. I thought about that before I started working on this Marquis 5 page piece and I tried (in my own way) to follow his example.

Practice, practice, practice.....

Next few posts will be a short "fan fiction" for Guy Davis' "The Marquis". I am a big fan of the character, and thus Page 1:

The Shadow

Dejah Thoris

With the start of the new year, I started trying to loosen up a bit and focus more on drawing rather than just inking. 

First up is, Dejah Thoris with a kitty friend. Blue pencil construction, followed by lead pencil tracing picking out the lines that I liked, followed by an ink pen to beef-up the outline.

Cheap inspiration....

I have been having trouble focusing on new drawings since I finished the second Dark Crystal book. As crazy as it sounds, it was just real hard to start something if I knew that I wasn't getting paid for it. I just found all sorts of excuses: reading Robert B. Parker, watching Netflix movies, browsing amazon....

By chance, I was downtown and stopped by The Recycled Bookstore. They have a pretty big comic book (excuses me, "Graphic Novel") section. Looking through all of their stuff I found Hellboy Library Collection #3. That book reprints "Conqueror Worm", "Third Wish", and  "The Island" which are the last Hellboy mini-series that Mike Mignola did before leaving the art chores to other artists. It's a nice large format, really showcases the art and Dave Stewarts coloring, but I already have all the mini-series as individual issues so I wasn't real tempted to buy it (just like I wasn't real tempted to buy the other volumes from this Library Edition series). But never the less I pulled it off the shelf and flipped through it...and got hit by a ton of BRICKS.

In the back is a Sketchbook section that has 9 pages of Mignola's first attempt at the Island storyline. 9 fully inked pages that were scrapped and never used and after that there were 6 more penciled pages of Mignola's second attempt that was also never used. Seeing all this artwork, without color for the inked pages and with some blue pencil construction lines for the penciled pages was just great. Just to see how the pages are composed and how the structure for the figures and the backgrounds is laid out...so I bought the book. $27. I have not stopped drawing since :)

Thanos the Mad Titan

On e-bay!

The Many Faces of Batman

From a project that will not see the light of day: my model sheet for different lighting on Batman's mask.

Dark Crystal, APE, Outlaw Territory, White Wolf....

Three new projects with my artwork will be published before the end of the year.

Dark Crystal Vol 2 published by Archaia. This will be a 86 page original graphic novel written by Joshua Dysart, drawn by me, and colored by Lizzy John.

Outlaw Territory #3, will have a story written and colored by Ryan Sook, and drawn by me.

White Wolf is publishing a number of New World Order books and I just compiled 4 full page illustrations for one of the books, Conventions of New World Order. It was awesome and a lot of fun to be back in the World of Darkness.

If you are in the mood to see any of the original artwork from the above mentioned projects (and a lot of other stuff as well), come by Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco, October 13-14. I will be sharing a table #740 with the talented Charles Yoakum (check out his blog for some excellent art). Come by and say "hi"...if you print this blog post you will get a "no prize"...wait, a "yes prize..no, wait....

Hijinx, August 4 @ 11am!

Hijinx will celebrate 30 years of selling comics...wow!


I'll be there to help celebrate, show off some Dark Crystal artwork, and buy some comics! Here is the official announcement:


Hijinx Comics' 30th Anniversary Sale is this Saturday, August 4th, from 11:00am - 6:00pm.

There will be thousands of 50-cent comics on sale, storewide deals, prizes, refreshments and creator signings to boot!

Join Mick Gray (Batman & Robin, Promethea), Alex Sheikman (Dark Crystal, Robotika), John Fleskes (Flesk Publications) and the whole Hijinx crew, in celebrating 30 years of the best durn funny book proprietor-ing the south bay has seen in... well... Thirty Years.

So: take a moment to mark Hijinx Comics on your calendars, iPhones and Androids for THIS SATURDAY's Huge Summer Sale!

We look forward to seeing you all,

Your Friends at Hijinx Comics

To an aspiring writer....

I did something new, I published my first digital Kindle book. Talk about the ultimate in self-publishing!

I have been working on a story that was inspired by "The Count of Monte Cristo", except that I changed the setting to Stalinist USSR circa 1938. Just like "The Count" there is love, greed, jealousy...with forced labor camps (gulag), shtrafbat (penal battalions), and WWII. And of course it's all about revenge.

I finished the first chapter and I decided to try to publish it, but not only to share it, but also to try to find a writer who is willing to take on the challenge of scripting it. I have always heard that writers, who want to work in comics, have a hard time finding artists. Well here is an opportunity. I have a drawn story that I would like to get scripted and if all goes well I would like to get chapter two on the way as well (I am even poking for a title for this project). So if you are an aspiring writer (or if you know of an aspiring writer), give it a look:

Monte Cristo 1941

From Pencils to Inks....

A pin-up

Inked....

It got inked and I added gray tones...

Something new and undead.....