LIFE DRAWING PART 10

Life drawing sometimes feels like eating or cleaning- it's a never ending process. There is no such thing as finishing one class or reading one book and being done with it. In order to keep my skills sharp, I like to go back to drawing anatomy as well as drawing from a live model as much as I can. I can do this whenever I have an opportunity usually in between projects.

One of my favorite figure drawing/anatomy books is a series by George Bridgeman. Here are some recent drawings I've worked on:

In addition to this, I've been going to live figure drawing sessions on the weekend at the Palette And Chisel Academy Of Fine Arts Chicago. The sessions are "quick sketches" going from one minute to 60 minute drawings.

5 minutes

5 minutes

10 minutes, 15 minutes,                 25 minutes

25 minutes

25 minutes

It is essential for any artist that draws human beings to go back and do live figure drawing and anatomical studies from time top time. It is the only way to, not only remain sharp, but to also improve skills.

HAVING WORK FINISHED PART ONE-INKING

One of the things I've been very lucky with in my career as a comic book illustrator is the inkers I've worked with. With the exception of a couple of small stories I've been fortunate enough to work with true professionals who have not only added to, but also changed the way I approach my work.

For anyone who doesn't know, inking is the act of refining comic book pencil art by adding permanent ink linework and blacks to the art over the pencils. There have been projects that are not inked but instead are finished worth super tight pencils, like the recent work I've done with Zenescope and Bluewater. I have also  sometimes been required to ink my own work like the third Stormy Tempest story I did for AC Comics a year ago:

As fun as these things are, I actually think that it can be more fun to see how someone else interprets my work and adds their own flair to it. The first time I experienced this was with Jeff Austin, my inker on the AC Comics work I did. I think that Jeff has an Alfredo Alcala style that really added to an enhanced my work. I realized, after seeing his work over mine, that I really needed to step up my game.

I was absolutely thrilled when I saw the work that Paul Fricke did on a recent story I just penciled. Paul is the co-creator of Trollords, author and illustrator of Night Of The Bedbugs, and inked Mike Parobeck on DC Comics/Impact series The Fly.  Paul's inking, which was done digitally was of a simpler style than I drew the pages. It reflected my originals but also was very much his work. I love how this came out:

The last image is the cover of Bluewater's Victoria's Secret Service #1, which is due out this June. Originally, the covers were going to be colored from my pencils, but my friend Andrew Pepoy expressed interest in inking them. Andrew has worked on everything ( and I mean EVERYTHING)- from stories published by Marvel, DC, Darkhorse, and Archie Comics to designing a new look for Little Orphan Annie and creating a tap dancing superhero musical play. It has been a real honor to have him ink my work.

While I've been happy with this part of the process of comics creating, there are others which can seriously affect how someone's work looks. More on that next time...

ON SALE NOW AND COMING SOON

Here are a couple of projects that I've worked on which are both out now or will be shortly:

Neverland: Hook Issue #2

I penciled pages 12-24 of this issue.

As Belle hovers near death, Cross continues his search for the monster that attacked her. It’s a search that leads him back to the place where his childhood nightmares still live… Neverland. Cross will soon learn that the monsters he’s faced in the past are nothing compared to the horrors that live there now. 

This book is published by Zenescope and is in stores NOW. If your local comic shop does not have it, you can ask them to order it, or get a copy HERE

FEMFORCE #158

This issue features the final 10 page story of the  Stormy Tempest saga, written by Len Strazewski and penciled by me.

Trapped at submicroscopic size inside Synn's body, Nightveil, Stardust and Ms. Victory defeat a foe of unimaginable menace, as She-Cat finds a face out of her past. Then, no sooner is one evil opponent dispatched, when a new villainess appears - from the ranks of the undead! Behind the spectacular digital cover painting by long-time Dark Horse Star Wars artist John Nadeau, Femfans will finally learn the source of Synn's vacillations, and the terrible price that must be paid to end them!

This issue is being shipped to Diamond distributers on January 20th and will be out soon after. The best way to get a copy is to order it from your local comic book shop or online. 

2011 - LOOKING BACK

2011 was a pretty busy year for me. Besides starting this blog, I worked with 4 different publishers. I penciled 8 stories consisting of 142 pages total. In addition to that i also inked 10 pages, bringing the total workload up to 152. This is about 90 pages more than the 60 pages done in 2010. Along the way I got to draw 1930's detectives, fairy tale pirates, girl super heroes, girl spies, and people who kill themselves... stupidly.

The year started with the third installment of the Len Strazewski written Stormy Tempest serial for AC Comics. 

This story featured a cameo by Kat Hill, the Action Flick Chick, who very nicely promoted the issue on her Website.

Once I had finished the pencils, I was asked to ink the story as well. I'm generally not much of an inker, but used the opportunity to experiment with zip-a-tone, which had a great effect on the pages.

This story was printed in Femforce #155

The next story, also for AC was written by David Watkins, took place in the 1940's and featured the character of Miss Masque. This was one of the best written stories that I've ever had the privilege to draw, and one of the most fun.

This story was printed in Miss Masque Strikes Back #1

Following that, I was contacted by Moonstone Books to pencil the licensed character The Saint. I drew about 45 pages total for this in a 6 week time period. I learned a lot from working on this story.

The Saint will be printed in 2012.

I also was approached by Zenescope to work on their adaptation of the Spike TV series 1000 Ways To Die. I drew 2 stories for them.

The Wedding Swinger:

Fried D'oh:

Zenescope has provided me with colored copies of these stories and they look fantastic. I can't wait for it to come out.

1000 Ways To Die will be printed in 2012.

I returned to AC Comics once more to work on the final installment of the Strazewski Story Tempest saga. This story was extra special because not only was it the last one, but also because Len created a character based on comic journalist Jill Pantozzi, The Nerdy Bird who I met at the comic convention C2E2 in March.

Our  last Stormy Tempest story will be published in 2012, but she can still be seen, written by her creator Bill Black, regularly in the pages of Femforce.

In October, I was again contacted by Zenescope and asked to draw the second half of  Neverland: Hook #2. This story features Cross returning to Neverland.

Hook #2 will be published SOON ( it may even be out now!).

Len Strazewski and I also worked on an  independent project together.

This story has been incredibly thrilling to me because it's inked by Paul Fricke. I admired Paul's work since he inked Mike Parobeck on The Fly back in the early 1990's and in was cool to see what his work looked like with mine. Paul gave the art an Alex Toth style which absolutely amazed me.

Finally, I've been rounding out the year working on Bluewater's Victoria's Secret Service series. This is the first time that I could see the layouts of the pages in my head as I read the script . I've been extremely pleased with how the work is proceeding and look forward to seeing it in print.

Victoria's Secret Service is a four issue limited series and will be published to 2012.

Whew! That made for a busy year. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog. I hope that I will continue to have interesting things to write about. I wish you all a Happy New Year, and the best of luck in 2012. .

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Since 2007 I've been creating my own Christmas cards to mail out.  Here's the artwork from them:

2007

Gouache paint on watercolor paper

2008

Gouache paint on watercolor paper

2009

This is a photograph of my Grandpa Larson from the 1920's

2010

Gouache paint on watercolor paper

2011

Ink on bristol board colored digitally

Have a wonderful holiday!

DRAWING VICTORIA'S SECRET SERVICE

For the past few weeks, I've been working for Bluewater Productions on a mini-series called Victoria's Secret Service. There series features a "Charlie's Angels" type foursome who go out on secret missions. A description of the previous series featuring these characters can be found HERE.

With this, as with most projects, I've used a model, my friend Scottie Caldwell. Below are some photos of Scottie and the drawings that were done from them:

Victoria's Secret Service is a 4 issue mini series which will be out soon. Scottie Caldwell is an associate of Sideshow Theatre Company. More information about them can be found HERE