Midnight Men

My blog is falling behind compared to my deviantart page. Too many sites to keep up with. Here's a couple of two page bio stories done for The Midnight Men. Their blog: http://midnightmen.blogspot.com/ and their website, newly up and running: http://www.themidnightmen.net./

Fun characters to work with; would love to do more.

America's Army

Well I'm finally getting around to posting some of the pages from the comic book project I'm working on for the US ARMY.

Time to kill? Bored? Can't sleep? Well boy do I have a time waster for you! Follow the link below to the America's Army website and have a read. The cost? A few minutes of your time. Once you're to the page, click the "read now" button in the upper left corner to get started. Some find the controls a snap. Others want to beat doorknobs with baseball bats after about sixty seconds of trying to figure them out. I hope you're of the first variety. Unless you don't like me, in which case I wouldn't feel too bad if you're in the later category. Said controls are not of my design. Just keep that in mind.

http://www.americasarmy.com/graphicnovel/

Yes, it DOES come across as a sales piece for the Army. At times. The Army pays (as in, you know, like, they're the client) so it gets what it wants. Zack Sherman (the writer) and I think there is still plenty to like. We're both veterans - he was a Jarhead and I was in the Army, and yes, we poke fun at each other constantly over it. We've got special forces operatives verifying the accuracy of our work. Put it all together and what you'll get is a military story that is very accurate in the details. Maybe not Tom Clancy accurate, but maybe so.

Thanks to anyone who reads it. If we are considered a success it is because of you. Issue 2 is in production (I'll share a little from that soon) and 3 looks like it's close to approval (everything with the Army is about approval - it's all part of the process). 12 issues is the current goal, so basically I need to shut up and get back to work.

If it is to your liking, enjoy.

SANDYeggo comicon 2009 report: FROM THE FRONT LINES...

So, the show is bigger than ever. It's more hollywood than ever. It's more crowded than ever. Is it more awesome than ever? Well let me tell you...


I don't know because I didn't go. Missed it. It just slipped by. Passed me right up. Stayed as far away from me as it possibly could. I thought about it, tried to wave to it, but I got nothin'. No love. Maybe next year... Or the year after that. Or sometime after that.

Looking for Spring

I think the cats have finally found it, and it's right outside their window! The paper clippy thing was a cheap tactic to get them up in the window, har har, and it worked like a charm.

It's February already!!

Zoiks! 2008 involved a lot of thumb twiddling. 2009? Looking better. During the thumb twiddling I managed to work on a few things, so here are a few of the few.


Yeah, it's a bird. Riveting, I know.


This one? A little more fun. Far from perfect but good practice.


More fun. I started coloring this one and got busy, so colors at some later date.

I snagged a fun gig doing a comic book for the US Army (yes, that's fun for me. Go figure), so I'll share some of that soon.

To be published or not to be...

Finally got the chance to do a comic book series. Got halfway through issue 2 and the series was suddenly put on hold. Indefinitely. Business issues. Hey, who's NOT having business issues in this economy? They still want to do it, which is good, but people have to make a living, me being people, so who knows if our schedules will match up again. Anyway, they released a Zero issue, previewing the first eight pages of issue 1, so I'm sharing the black and white pages here. Hopefully you'll see the whole thing someday: The CORPS!, published by Devil's Due and written by Rick Remender.

Happy drawing.

Work and fun

Wow, time does like to fly doesn't it? It doesn't seem like my last post was so long ago. I suppose I've been a little busy.

First up: a piece that I had started but haven't gotten around to finishing yet. I've got way too many stories like that. Subject matter is a Naboo fighter pilot. Gotta finish the background then to color the whole thing... someday.


Next: a few frames from some recent work. Not the most exciting subject matter on earth, but I enjoy the coloring process. Learning to use color theory well is a challenge for me but I love it. I try to minimize my line art and let the colors do the bulk of the work, informing the image with form, depth, and mood.

More Progression Fun

OK, not really, but this is another pose that I came up with while doing the last set of drawings. I didn't feel that it fit in at the time, but I liked it a lot so I found a little time this past weekend to give it a go.

Progression

Sitting everyday and staring at your own drawings, it can be difficult at times to feel as though you're making any progression as an artist. I know a lot of artists are like myself: always looking for the faults in their own work. We tend to be our own worst critic. Shuffling through some old stuff recently I came across a drawing I had done around five to six years ago. It was horrible and I couldn't understand how I could have drawn it without noticing all of the problems with it, so I decided then and there to give it another try. Had I had managed to get any better between then and now? I had drawn the first one from my head, so I would do the new one the same way. I guess it was my way of regulating the 'test'.


Starting from the beginning, here's the horrid piece of graphic flinging that started the whole thing:


Next up is the first of the new sketches, just trying to lay everything into place. It's better, but it's not great.


Clean it up and it starts to look acceptable. I am, of course, still not happy with it.


I happen to be a tall person who used to be quite skinny, so I think that a lot of the people I draw turn out that way, including the above sketch, so I redid it, shooting for a slightly shorter person, or at least a more robust person (whatever the heck 'robust' is supposed to mean).


Again I think it's a little better but the pose in general is quite stiff and there's no sex appeal whatsoever, so that's when you have to bite the bullet, trash the pose that's not working, and start over.


Now I finally like what I'm seeing. I cleaned this one up and inked the final version.


Personally I think I like the sketch version of this better, but it was still a good exercise and proved that I have managed to grow at least a tiny little bit in the last five plus years. I hope that three or four years from now I will again look at this last piece, see it for the horror that it is, and be able to do it that much better yet again.

What a Week!!!

Well, there's distractions and there's disTRACTions. So last Tuesday I was awoken by pain in my left knee at like 5:30 in the morning. It was swollen and just feeling something awful, so Elena took me to the doctor's office who in turn sent me to a knee specialist. The knee specialist took one look at it and took out a syringe.

What? You don't like where this is going? Heh, me neither.

One syringe of bloody puss later and I'm off to the hospital for minor surgery the next day. Talk about sneaking up on a guy. The culprit? Staff infection in my knee, specifically the bursa sack that lies on top of the kneecap. How did it happen? No clue. Doctors don't have a clue either, so it's just one of those things. What can I say? "Cleanliness is next to godliness", that's one thing I could say. Or have heard said. I think I'm starting to believe it.

As of today, six days after surgery, I'm walking on my own again, which is good because crutches get old really fast. No art today, but I could post a photo of my knee if you want...

Oh, and have you ever heard of a PICC line? That's an IV type line that they stick into a major vein in your upper arm. The catheter goes up your arm, around the shoulder and into the chest, stopping right next to your heart. Sticking out of your arm you've got 4 inches or so of line that you attach things to, like syringes with medicines in them. I've got one of those. I have to take mondo-powerful antibiotics (in liquid form) every day through that line. If all goes well that should come out this Friday or Saturday, at which time I get downgraded to antibiotic pills.

If you wind up in a place where you have to go through this, I recommend having a loving spouse and a good pain-killing prescription by your side. I'm not really into drugs or any such vices, but there's a time and place for everything. I am, however, really really into the loving spouse thing. I think 'always' is the time and place for that one. :-) I know, I know, lovey-mushy stuff is gross, but I could go back to talking in detail about the knee, the bloody puss, and the two and a half inch slit down the front of my knee...

Grinding it Out

Sometimes there's just not any room left for those fun little side projects that help to satisfy the soul. Those times can be stressful and can take their toll on any 'commercial' artist, but that's the way life works and when you arrive at one of those places you've just got to hunker down and weather them. I try to find something in each job I do for me to enjoy. It's not always easy, but I do what I can. And if it's too hard? And I get all stressed out? And start acting like a moron? That's where my wife steps in and lets me know just how moronic, stressed out, and difficult I'm being. Then she scratches my back and makes me a snack and the world is set right again. I'm probably overdue to buy her some flowers...



So here's some of the current non-soul-satisfying-but-pays-the-bills work that I'm zinging through with grace and ease (hahaha!)

Neither Man Nor Hat (I gotta move on to a new subject line)

More hollywood likenesses. Oh joy. This first one is another oldie but not quite goldie. I want to color it at some point but have no idea when I might possibly find the time. I'm such a spazzoid attention deficit junkie when it comes to art - I give my total focus to one thing for a day or three, then suddenly switch to some other thing for a few days, then another and another. It's tiresome. I've got like fifty thousand things that are "in progress". What the hay!? It keeps life from getting boring I suppose...



The second two images are from another of my spazzoid brain's projects. I have wanted to do my own version of a Rocketeer movie poster for a long time now, say 10 years or more. It would make a good portfolio piece for me - if I ever finish it. So for anyone familiar with the Rocketeer, I give you Cliff Secord and Neville Sinclair. These were done utilizing some of my more recent tricks (all of which I shall keep in my magic hat for now - not that it's too hard to figure out). Happy drawing!

Man, No Hat

I wanted to do a whole slew of Indy drawings but time, as usual, demands I do the work that pays the bills first. I'd say I need to win the lottery, but I never play so it wouldn't do me much good.

Several months ago me and the wife were packing up a ton of stuff/junk/crap/stuff in an attempt to try and eventually put our house on the market. I know, who cares, but in the process I came across some old drawings I did that were going to be used for a mock Star Wars book cover. Oh the things I've wanted/meant to draw over the years... Anyway, I wouldn't use them now, but I figured why not post them here, so even though it's not Indy, It's Han, and that's close enough for today.

I think these likenesses are close at best. The way I used to get good reference was to pause my VHS copy of a film, take a picture of the TV with a camera on a tripod, then use the resulting print. This really isn't a great way to do things, let me tell you. Old television sets have a curved screen, so right off the bat your image is going to be warped. The quality of any VHS sourced image is questionable at best; that's strike two. Factor in the reality that the camera can never be perfectly straight in front of the tube and you've got yourself even more warpage. Strike three. And as if three strikes weren't enough, using an artograph to project the photo print onto a table, which I'm sure are never aligned perfectly either, really does you in. So to get any kind of resemblance out of that process is a mild achievement. I've got much better tricks now and someday I'll get my ADHD brain around to producing those covers. Maybe...

More More Hat

This one is older and has been on my website for years, but I've been a little busy so until I get more sketches done, this'll do.

More Hat

Saw a new trailer for Indy 4 on Friday and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I was there to help add to the box office total for Iron Man, which I've been waiting for as a movie since I was about 8 I think. Thumbs up.

The Man in the Hat!

Yup, the man in the hat is almost back. Is it strange, all these icons from childhood and adolescent times, making their way back onto the silver screen?

That depends. Are you talking about franchises in television or film? If it's TV then hell yes! Seriously, what's next? A Hogan's Heroes movie!? Don't get me wrong: I loved Hogan's Heroes, but somehow I don't think it would really fit into our current military situation. A bunch of American pilots held prisoner in an Iraqi prison, escaping into the desert to do what exactly? Help the locals rebuild their homes? Or maybe turn it around: have a bunch of Iraqi prisioners in Guantanamo Bay, escaping at night to help the local Cubans smuggle their cigars onto US bound ships.

Or maybe the Beverly Hillbillies! It would be great except for every self-proclaimed hillbilly in the country suing the film for defamation of character. Now Gilligan's Island... I'm still holding my breath for that film. It's sure to be undergoing a treatment any day now. Maybe Jonny Depp will play Gilligan...

As for Spielberg and Lucas, not so strange. It's just the same guys doing what they've always done. Are they different now than when they were younger? Of course, but not so different as they are the same. Might the new Indy flick waft into your consciousness with a big ol' nose-holding stinkola? Sure, but probably not. I assume it'll be a lot like most adventure flicks these days: some corny stuff, some eye-rolling moments, and a lot of funny, way cool looking, over-the-top fun. It's a ride, that's all, and I plan on tapping into my childhood and enjoying said ride for all it's worth. Color me a sucker, but I'll leave my cynicism at the door.

Guess Who's Back?

Golf

The time: ancient history. Me? A kid. Opinion of golf: silly; certainly not a sport. Jump forward to my early 20's. I get to play a few times with a couple of friends. Maybe all of three times, and never more than 9 holes. The experience was fun but you'd have to jump forward another eight or nine years before I would grip a club again. Never watched it on television during that time. Nor before. Maybe my dad would fall asleep on the couch while entertaining the idea of watching it. Maybe I would catch glimpses of it as I passed through with friends. Or girls. Or both. Or neither. Then, my bachelor party. A few friends and I gathered for a full 18 holes. We had a couple of carts and luckily Johnny Knoxville had yet to show just how much fun you can really have with one of those things. So we were only mildly annoying out on the course. We let plenty of people play though, had a ton of laughs, especially when one of my friends got frustrated. We were merciless. Still I had no intentions of ever really getting into the game.

Then Dan Panosian, the Urban Barbarian, got involved with a comic strip for Sports Illustrated through Marvel Comics (written by Chris Eliopoulos). Dan the muscle bound destroyer-of-worlds made it look easy:



Golf still wouldn't have shown up on my radar except that Dan had to bow out (obviously too popular and in demand in other arenas) and he graciously suggested handing over the drawing duties to me. Luckily the fine folks at Marvel said OK, so I wasted no time into making a mess of things (colors by Chris Sotomayer, edits by Nick Lowe):




Suddenly I'm drawing people playing golf, which leads to me watching it regularly on the ol' boob tube. I gotta wrap my mind around what I'm doing, right? I gotta know who these people are that I'm drawing and what in god's name they're really doing. The strip only lasts for a year and a half, but as if the enjoyment of drawing it weren't enough, I got hooked on the game.

Birthday money last year: spent on a cheap starter set of golf clubs. Got some balls from a used Sporting Goods store (that's where I get all my balls; it's the place to go for affordable balls). Buy "Golf For Dummies" by Gary McCord (former pro who you'll find on CBS nowadays). Springtime arrives and I start frequenting the driving range. Any ball that actually goes more than 25 feet usually careens way off into the nets on the right side of the range. I get a couple of chances to play 9 holes. Ugly. Fun, but ugly. Then winter hits. I live in the Chicago area, so winter means no golf. I grew up in the south where that's not necessarily the case. Now, Chicago. I love the windy city but man o man do I hate the winters. No need to elaborate.

Finally. Finally! FINALLY!! Spring 2008 decides to show it's little head. I've got tons of work to be doing (which I'm plenty thankful for), but find it difficult to remain indoors. I'll be working late hours now to pay for my lack of discipline, but it's completely worth it. I head out today for the driving ranges. Only been once so far this spring. The course, however, is practically empty. Now why would I just go to the driving range when there's an entire course calling out to be used? I gave into temptation, ponied up for 9 holes, and after playing golf less than 10 times in my whole life I get my first birdie. I could die happy. Yes, I know it's completely silly, but it's truth. And no lessons other than that book, which I'm still only a quarter of the way through. I haven't even finished reading about how to swing the damned club yet, but I cannot wait.

The point of all this? No point. Just me obsessing. It must be the weather. Oh, Gary McCord? Great book! I would definitely recommend it. If only I had known as a kid that I would end up loving the game so much. Drawing? Yeah, it's a true passion for me, but I watch TV and I think those golf people get paid better. Somehow I don't think Bob Ross and Tiger Woods live in the same neighborhood. Oh well, I still love what I do, but I'll dream of golf while sitting here drawing...