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Shop talk

02.14.10

A History Of Rose Madder Part 2: Rising Stars Of Manga Art, Comics, Oh my wacky job, Rose Madder, Shop talk, Theory for free | (0)
The series is a coming-of-age story of people in their early twenties, that twilight zone between the teen years and adulthood. It's a time where hard decisions are made and responsibilities are shouldered...whether you're ready or not. It's about the bubble of carefree, teenage self-absorption suddenly bursting and coming to terms with harsh reality and the closing of windows of opportunities. It's a teen drama about the end of the teen drama. As such, it will appeal to older teens and young adults, and may be of special interest to readers who have been following shoujo manga over the years and are looking for stories reflecting their ...
12.27.09

A History of Rose Madder, Part 1: A Love-Gone-Wrong-Song Art, Breaking my arm patting myself on the back, Color!!!, Comics, Rose Madder, Shop talk, Theory for free | (0)
OUTLINE-ROSE MADDER-"Is That All There Is" ACT I 1) New York City-The Present a) Open on the white, wintery sky. We hear "Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vendellas. Pan down to reveal the city in snowy splendor. b) More of the city. Visible holiday decorations and displays. End on the apartment window of Rose Madder. The alarm clock is buzzing. 1) Rose is a woman in her mid-twenties; out of school, overeducated, unemployed and somewhat adrift. c) Inside her bedroom. Rose is face down on the bed, asleep. Rose's calico cat ...
10.30.09

Blast From The Past: Woman With A Really Big Gun (plus: bonus Leela!) Art, Blast from the past, Clearly I'm pandering, Oh my wacky job, Shop talk | (0)
I was rummaging through my old portfolios recently and I came across this old thing, drawn with marker on bristol board. Lessee, big gun? Check. Pouches? Check. Inexplicable leg and arm straps? Check. Big clunky space boots? Check. Impossible female anatomy? Check. It must be the '90s! 1997, to be exact. Let's hear it for a slightly more than half-assed attempt to draw in the "Image style". No wonder my comics career never took off. Look at that big gun, the perspective's all messed up on it. And never mind that her left arm is horrifically short (or, rather, just not properly ...
10.25.09

Blast From The Past: Tatters Art, Blankety-blank WordPress, Blast from the past, Breaking my arm patting myself on the back, Comics, Shop talk | (0)
From around 1995, Tatters was a one-shot written by Steven Jones and drawn by me, published by Caliber Press. Tatters was kind of an odd duck of a comic, part gothic superhero book, part government conspiracy story, with some sci-fi elements and a dystopian future thrown in for good measure. But the book will always be known to me as (as far as I know) the first comic to model a character after Samuel L. Jackson. Pulp Fiction was hot at the time, and so I drew in Jackson's and Travolta's characters from the movie as the comic's hard-luck hitmen ...
09.28.09

Sit Down Shut Up: “Hurricane Willard” Oh my wacky job, Sales pitch, Shop talk, Theory for free | (0)
Hulu put this up a day late, which probably means it'll be gone in 16 instead of 17 days. I did the opening "Miracle on a bike" sequence, which actually took about a week to storyboard, given the layers of background kids that had to be drawn. Funny that a week's worth of labor ends up being about 15 seconds on the screen. Personally, I would have allowed the entire sequence a little more time to breathe, but it was the style of the show not to linger on anything. Besides, throughout my storyboarding career I've rarely seen an animated ...
09.13.09

Sit Down Shut Up: “H.S. Confidential” Oh my wacky job, Sales pitch, Shop talk | (0)
Hilariously labeled at Hulu as Season 2, Episode 1. Don't be fooled, Fox is just burning off the remaining 9 episodes that didn't air from the initial 13-episode order. It's still cancelled. And since these episodes will only be up at Hulu for 17 days after their inital air date, enjoy while you can. If you're prone to enjoying Sit Down Shut Up, that is. (Edited 9/30/09 to remove dead Hulu link.)
08.30.09

Blast From The Past: Tales From The Heart #11 Art, Blast from the past, Color!!!, Comics, Shop talk | (2)
This was my cover to Slave Labor's Tales From The Heart #11, from 1994, painted in Dr. Martin's watercolor dyes, with probably a little bit of guache, if I remember right. I was grateful to publisher Dan Vado for allowing me to do the cover to the final issue, following earlier covers by the likes of Brent Anderson and Charles Vess. It really was an honor. Tales was the true-life adventures of a college-aged woman's stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic, written by Cindy Goff and Rafael Nieves. A little ahead of its time, the series ...
08.05.09

Cartoon Characters Compromised-Superman loses his keys Art, Cartoon characters compromised, Color!!!, Shop talk, Spandex fetish | (0)
I recently upgraded to Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro 2010--so good it's from the future! Updated with a few much-needed features (thanks for the ruler, Autodesk), still the best drawing software around, now better. Color from Photoshop.
06.15.09

Mugshots #4: Loosey Goosey Art, Color!!!, Mugshots, Shop talk | (0)
An attempt at caricature here. I tried to be a little less concerned with photorealism and anatomical structure in favor of expression. I also took a looser, more painterly approach to color. Drawn with Sketchbook, painted in Photoshop.
05.02.09

Secret Identites Pin-Up: Color Final Art, Color!!!, Comics, Shop talk, Spandex fetish | (0)
And now, the candy-colored conclusion, painted in Dr. Martin's watercolors. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice that the linework on this drawing isn't the same as the previous posts. That's because I had to redraw the picture every time I repainted. This final version of the pin-up took about three tries before I ended up with something I was halfway satisfied with. This is why I prefer working digitally, because those extra steps can be avoided due to digital's non-destructive nature. If I were a better painter it wouldn't be a problem to begin with, but, like Clint Eastwood ...

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