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Drawn with Sketchbook.

Another contribution to Whitechapel’s Remake/Remodel thread–this week, the Octopus.  I’m including Jess Nevins’ description of the character here for its fun oddness:

One of the more outré of the pulp characters—and given the genre, that’s quite saying something, believe me—the Octopus was actually the villain of the piece in his single issue, The Octopus v1 #4, 1939, written by…well, it’s not exactly clear. It might be Norvel Page, or it might be Ejler and Edith Jacobsen. A rather over-the-top mad scientist, the Octopus worked from a big city hospital and plotted world conquest. His appearance might explain his desire to dominate the world; he’s sea-green, with four “suction-cupped weaving tentacles” set above “hideously malformed” legs. He wears a small mask, and behind it can be seen two enormous, luminous, purple eyes. He was the leader of the Purple Eyes, a cult bent on world domination and mass destruction. The Octopus’ chosen method was an “ultra-violet ray” which devolved men and women and turned them into deformed, life-hating monsters hungry for human flesh and glowing with “ultraviolet purple.” Against the Octopus was set Jeffrey Fairchild, a young millionaire philanthropist (he eventually stopped the Octopus, of course). He had three identities. The first was Jeffrey Fairchild, hospital administrator. The second was was kindly Dr. Skull, the old man who made a practice of helping the poor in the slums. (His good works didn’t help him when everyone thought that he was the Octopus, however) In his other identity he was the “Skull Killer,” who fought crime and left a skull-imprint, ala the Spider, on his enemies. Fairchild was assisted by Carol Endicott, Dr. Skull’s nurse.

And this is what I ended up with, created with Sketchbook and Photoshop (click on the thumbnail for full size):

Episode 4 is really my favorite among the first six episodes scheduled to air this spring. I think it’s one of the more successful scripts to capture that Arrested Development style.

[Edited 6/9/09 to remove dead Hulu link.]

To mark the release of Dynamite’s new Sherlock Holmes series, I’m posting work from 1994′s Sherlock Holmes: Adventure of the Opera Ghost mini from Caliber Press.  Written by Steven Jones, Holmes meets the Phantom of the Opera, and it was a gas to be able to draw those iconic characters.

Pencilled,  inked and lettered by me.  These scans are from the printed comic book, so apologies for the quality.  I had long ago sold all of the original art to a collector of Holmesiana.  Click on the thumbnails to see full-size scans.

The third episode of Sit Down Shut Up for those who may have missed it due to Fox switching the airtime to 7pm on Sundays, which means I wouldn’t bet the rent on renewal at this point. Still, the show begins to gain its footing despite the network’s lack of faith–next Sunday’s episode is particularly good, of the remaining three to air during this sweeps cycle.

[Edited 6/1/09 to remove dead Hulu link.]

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 once said, a man’s gotta know his limitations.

For your enjoyment, the inked page. I’ve left the background elements un-inked because I intend to paint it in, although I may add a color line for definition.

Drawn with a mechanical pencil on 11″x17″ Bristol Board.  They’re probably loose pencils by today’s standards;  I tend to do the final tightening up during the inking stage. I’ve added an extra character, Hellen Jo’s Brazen Raisin, way, waaay up there in the upper right.

Drawn with trusty Sketchbook, this is the digital rough of my “girl power” contribution to the upcoming Secret Identities  traveling art show.   Since I’m working oldschool–on actual paper!–for the exhibit, I’m going to print this up on a sheet of 11″x17″ paper, and trace it onto a bristol board page of the same size.  I’ll post scans of the art here as it progresses.

Character guide (from left to right):  Karin from Koji Steven Sakai and John Franzese’s “Meet Joe”; Candace (Tin Candy) Koh in her mecha, from Jeff Yang’s and my “A Day At CostumeCO”;  June Park from Jimmy Aquino and Erwin Haya’s “Sampler”;  Val (Valentine) Chang from “CostumeCO”; Ting Lee from Lynn Chen and Paul Wei’s “You Are What You Eat”.

On Sunday, the new animated show by Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development) premieres, on Fox at 8:30 (right after The Simpsons).  It’s what I’ve been doing for the last year or so.  Did I mention it’s by the producer of Arrested Development?  Because it is.