Steppin' In A Slide Zone

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I'm just stepping out the door to catch my flight to Minneapolis! FallCon 2008, here I come! Here's a panel from the Perhapanauts backup story I'm working on. Inking of said story should commence when I get back from the convention!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Lorelei

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James Powell, editor of Braids of The Gorgon, has just written about how he got involved Braids and where we are, in terms of progress in the project. He even shared a couple of my character sketches I've recently done (different drawings from the one I'm sharing!). He's a valued member of the BotG team and a great guy. Go check out his site by clicking here.

I'll be out in Minnesota this weekend for FallCon 2008! Looking forward to hanging with good friends, talking to comic fans and making flight connections in Chicago (well, not that last one)! I'll have my brand new convention sketchbook, Marks On Paper, for sale so please drop by and give it a looky. Talk too you soon!

Word On A Wing

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Got word that Postcards lost to Popgun Vol.1 for the "Best Anthology" Harvey, this weekend. Shame. Still great to be nominated, though. Here's the last page of "Send Louis His Underwear", mine and writer Matt Dembicki's contribution to that Eisner and Harvey nominated book, Postcards.

Here Comes The War

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Here's another page from my convention sketchbook, Marks On Paper. This was a character concept sketch for a book I'll (hopefully) get around to doing sooner than later. Ink drawing with markers for the gray tones. I don't use the markers very often as they are very stinky.

Heart Of Lothian: Wide Boy/Curtain Call

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Here's a page from my new convention sketchbook, Marks On Paper. These are a few panels from a short story that Josh Fialkov and I did for a anthology that never materialized. On the left are the panels in their pencilled form, and on the right are the same panels in their final inked form. I like pages like this, as they help show my process, sort of a peek behind the curtain.

The sketchbook will be making its debut at Fallcon, which happens in a few weeks! The books have already been shipped and they will be waiting for me in Minnesota upon my arrival.

Under Cover of the Night

I'm just putting the final touches on my very first "convention sketchbook". I'm pretty happy with the drawings that are going into it. I've been talking about making a sketchbook of my various work drawings for quite some time, but now that FallCon is so close, I figured I should get off my ass and actually do it.

Special thanks go out to my wife, Jackie, for helping me sift through the mountains of loose drawings and sketches that litter my work area and organize them. We managed to come up with a good selection of drawings that show a nice range of styles and content. There is even a space on the opening page for me to do a personalized sketch! I'll let you all know when I get some of these bad boys printed up. If you're interested, they will be for sale... just let me know how I should sketch in it. Here's a look at the cover for the sketchbook. It's not finalized, but it's real close.

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(Which reminds me, I will be in Minnesota for FallCon 2008 this coming October 4 & 5! Looks to be another great show with tons of cool creators. Let's just hope the weather is cooler than last year. )

Looking For Clues

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd have more Perhapanauts news to share today, and boy, do I! Maybe this will be a good clue to what I'm about to share...

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Yep, I'm doing the art for a Perhapanauts backup story! Penned by Perhapanauts co-creator and writer, Todd Dezago! It runs for 7 pages and it tells the story about when Big goes... oops... I can't tell you about that! You'll just have to read it when it comes out.

It's Gonna Be (Alright)

Whoa, Baby! A few weeks ago, I got a sweet little email from Perhapanauts artist Craig Rousseau which happened to have this file attached to it...

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That's right! My Perhapanauts pinup, graced with the outstanding coloring skills of Rico Renzi! I spoke with the book's most excellent writer, Todd Dezago, and he did indeed confirm that this little scribble will be in the fourth issue of The Perhapanauts (on sale Sept 24)!

Look, Mom! I'm going to be in an Image comic book!

Oh, and I have more Perhapanauts involvement type news coming on Friday!

I Don't Think You Know Me

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Here's page 7 of the 24 hour comic I didn't finish during last year's 24 Hour Comic Challenge. Page 8 will be here soon... as soon as I scan it... and some cool news as to what I've got going on!

Shamemaker

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Here's the next page of that abandoned 24 hour comic. I really should scan the whole thing in and posted it in all. After looking at what I ended up with, I wish I had pushed on and finished it. Shame...

The God That Failed

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This a page from my failed 24 Hour comic attempt of 2007. I'm thinking of giving the 24 Hour Comics Day another go. It's on October 18th this year. So I have enough time to make sure I'm well rested for it!

Cold Wind To Valhalla

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For the past week or so I've been working on character sketches for Braids of the Gorgon, the Greek mythology book writer Ken Faggio and I are doing. Amongst the hours spent doing those, I took a bit of time to work on drawing one of my other mythological interests, Thor. Marvel's Daredevil and Thor are the only "Big 2" comic book characters I'd have much enthusiasm doing long term. I think I'd do alright if I was given a stint on Thor.

New Jack Hustler

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This a character sheet for Jack Dressen, from the Kill All Monsters! pitch. He's a new character that has been thrown into the mix. He pilots the mech that we have jokenly dubbed "Skullinator". I don't know if that name is going to stick but it helps us identify it from the other mechs.

Seaside Rendezvous

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Started working on character sketches for Braids of the Gorgon. Seems like I've got to relearn how to draw attractive women. I guess drawing giant robots and giant monsters for a few months has deadened my eye for the ladies, artistically speaking. More soon.

Scream Like A Baby

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As my time on the Kill All Monsters! pitch is coming to a close, I'm starting to work out some bugs in the new style I hope to utilize on the next project, Braids of the Gorgon. It's going to be messier, for sure. But just how much more messier.... that's what I have to figure out. Here's a drawing that is just me trying to find that level of messiness.

Remember When (Side A)

Remember when I said we weren't showing any finished pages from the Kill All Monsters! book? Well, it seems like that sneaky KAM! co-creator Michael May* went ahead and posted a page on his blog today!

Fine! I will, too! Behold page 1 of the new and improved Kill All Monsters!!

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* Michael isn't really that sneaky
** tip of the hat to my grammar editor, Jackie Copland!

Show Me

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The Kill All Monsters! pages are complete. And, they rock, indeed. There is a 2 page spread in there that is probably my finest work. Ever. But, I can't show it. I can, however, post this quick ink sketch of a giant robot fighting a giant monster!

Your Gold Teeth

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Another inked panel from the Kill All Monsters! pitch pages. My part of the pitch work is almost done. Michael May and I are looking to get the pages coloured and lettered and then the publisher search will be on.

When The Lights Go Out

No, I'll not be making my way down to San Diego for Comic Con International. I opted to spend my convention going money on my trip to Heroes Con, this year. SDCC is not a great con to go to if you're not promoting a recent/upcoming book, as far as I can tell. I will miss getting the chance to sit and chat with some of my comic book creating brethren, though. I *may* go next year but I'll have to make sure I've got a book coming out around SDCC time. And on that note, here's a look at the inked version of the panel from the previous Kill All Monsters! post.

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With My Own Bare Hands

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Here's a penciled panel from the Kill All Monsters! pitch. This is going to be soooo good.

Comin' Under Fire

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Part of a rough drawing for one of the panels in the Kill All Monsters! pages I'm currently working on.

Exactly Where I'm At

Heroes Con was excellent! I got to meet a bunch of people face-to-face that I've only known through the Worldwide Web. The internet is an amazing thing, but getting a chance to talk to fellow comic creators in person is soooo much better.

I had a great time talking to Perhapanauts creators Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau. I'm a huge fan of the 'Nauts, so it was very cool to get a chance to hang with them. Todd has offered me a chance to do a little something for a backup feature for an upcoming issue, which I jumped at in a heartbeat! As a warm up to whatever that something will be, I did a Perhapanauts pin-up (below). I took it down to Heroes and gave it to Todd. He seemed to like it and even thinks it should appear in the 4th issue of the book! Sweet!

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Being a HUGE Guy Davis fan, it was an amazing few minutes when I got the chance to talk shop with him while he drew a very cool Marquis sketch for me... for free! Thanks, Guy!

I also got the chance to talk to some comic creator friends like Kevin Mellon, Dennis Hopeless, Kody Chamberlain, Josh Elder, Dwight L. MacPherson and Charlie Kirchoff (and his lovely wife, Elbonie). All in all, Heroes Con was excellent and I'm very close to saying I'll be back there again next year.

Meanwhile... back at home...
Things are moving on the Kill All Monsters! pitch pages. I had a few days off from drawing, after my trip to Heroes Con, but now I'm all about the giant robots kickin' giant monster butt action!

More soon!

Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)

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I'm working hard on the new Kill All Monsters! pitch pages. Michael and I have decided to hold off on showing any substantial images for the book while we work our way through it. But, for the sake of having something to look at (as this is an artist's blog), I'm posting this look at my process for working out a particular panel. That last image is pretty much ready to ink, although I think I may put something in the foreground to help give the reader a sense of the monster's scale.

Achilles' Last Stand

I've been doing tons of character sketches and designs for a couple of projects that are currently undergoing some script tweaks. Most of them I'm going to keep out of the public spotlight, for now. But, I'm willing to share one or two... from time to time.

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This one is a character from a "new" project called, Braids of the Gorgon. Actually, this book has been in the making for many years, about 8 years to be more accurate. Writer Ken Faggio and I started working on Braids way back in 2000 and we managed to get 2 full issues done before it was put on hold. Truthfully, it was all my fault that it got "put on hold". I was offered a short story in A. David Lewis's Mortal Coils book. That then turned into another which then turned into 5 years of continuous projects with various writers, all of which kept me from being able to go back to Braids. The project was never far from my thoughts, though.

Recently, when I found I had a gap in my schedule, I went about contacting Ken and seeing if he was still game to work on Braids. Luckily, he was! We called in editor James Powell and we're in the process of knocking off the rust and getting Braids up and going. So, while Ken and James do their magic, I'm sharping up my Greek Mythology art game.

Lil' Devil

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Some ink drawings fresh off my table. Daredevil, Thor and...I don't know who the flying dude is... I just made him up.

All Stripped Down 2

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Here's a couple more strips of warm up drawings. The second one has kind of a skateboard thing goin' on in it.

Midnight Creeper

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As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of Digital Webbing, a.k.a. the House That Ed Built. So, when I saw that Mr Dukeshire was looking for people to advertise in the back pages of one of DW's flagship books, Fist Of Justice, I decided to throw away my usual inability to promote myself and whipped up a decidedly creepy ad(above) for this very blog that you are currently reading! The ad will run in the second and third issues of Fist of Justice, so head out to your local retailer (or online retailer) and order up a copy!

It's guaranteed to be a collector's item!

Ain't It Fun

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Doing a small 2 pager for a fellow Canadian, a writer named Dino Caruso. Here is a page of sketches that I did to work out a few of the panels. It's a fun little tale that is set in a pizzeria.

Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?

Here's a panel from page 6 of the Raven the Trickster story I'm illustrating. Tricksters' editor/headhoncho has posted the entire colored page 6 up on the TRICKSTER BLOG. Please head over and have a look.

Pretty please.... ?

All Stripped Down

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I've been doing some warm up sketching on long, thin strips of scrap paper and I kind of think they look cool. Some of the figures were done looking at references but most of the drawing on the strips is from imagination.

Here are 3 of them side by side in one image.

Danger Bird

My Trickster art is getting very near being finished. I've inked all the pages and I'm knee deep in the colouring of them now. I'm not going to post any colour work from it just yet. I want to make sure everything is how I want it.... but, in the meantime, here's a panel from page 2.

Sketches Of Winkle

Just doing some random sketches... and then throwing some rough colour over top... for kicks.

Jesus Is Just Alright

I haven't been doing much drawing in the past week or so. I've been focusing on finishing up the colouring on a few projects that are due very soon.

This panel is from a story called "Whatever It Takes", which I wrote and drew... and now coloured!

Moby Dick

The inking of my Trickster pages continues and I'm pretty darn happy with the results, thus far. This is a panel from page 6.

Once the inking is done (and approved), I'm going to be attempting to colour the story myself. I was going to try and do it in watercolors but I've opted to give computer coloring a go.

I'd Rather Go Blind

There are probably only 2 or 3 superhero characters that I would ever see myself drawing for any prolonged amount of time. Daredevil is definitely one of those 2 or 3.

Give It Away

Clicking through my hard drive I discovered this image. This was a rs153 giveaway drawing I did for Michael May, way way back. I gave him the black and white original but I threw some gray tones over my scan of it for kicks.

I've started thinking seriously about what I want to do next, in terms of a long term project, and rs153 is definitely a possibility. Once Michael and I do up our new and improved Kill All Monsters! pitch, I find myself in the strange position of having nothing waiting in the wings. No projects committed to. The road is wide open....

Where to go... where to go...

(You're a) Strange Animal

More monster sketches to take up even more space on the internet!

Maneater

As work on my Trickster pages continues, I sometimes manage to find time to do some fun drawing, too. Here are a few more monster designs I've done... some of which may find their way into the Kill All Monsters! redo.

Just Between You and Me

Kill All Monsters! might be going to go back to the drawing board, literally. So, I've begun to so some more drawings in hopes that I can come up with better monster designs. Here are a few that I've done over the past couple of days.

Ready Steady Go

The Kill All Monsters! pitches are primed and ready to go! I did up a few new character shots for the pitch. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites...

The pitches go out this week. With some luck, we'll see some interest in the book from the quality publishers Michael and I targeted.

Kick Out The Jams

Here's a warm up drawing I did for a new short story I'll be illustrating for an anthology called Trickster. I'm not sure if I can talk about it yet but it's going to be a really interesting book.

More info coming soon!

Do Not Stand In The Shadows

Peek-a-boo
I see Hulk.

Dead On Arrival

Well, here's a sketch I did while I was manning my table at FallCon. I drew tons of stuff in between chatting sessions with friends and comic fans. This is one such scribble. I thought, with Halloween coming up soon, this would be a good time to post it.

Say It Isn't So

I tried. I really did. But, sadly, I only managed to do 12 hours of my 24 Hour comic challenge attempt this weekend before I decided to throw in the towel. There were a few factors that lead me to that conclusion, the biggest one being that my story sucked ass. Writing is hard enough but having serious time constraints heaped on as well makes the job of creating a fulfilling story extremely difficult. I did manage to get a few cool pages out of the time I put in at the drawing table, however. The image above is page 1 (Click on it to see it bigger). Very Sienkiewiczesque, no?

I may scan them and put the rest of the pages on the web if I get the time/urge....

Voices Inside My Head

Yep. My union (CUPE 391) is still on strike. So the sketchbook is still being filled with faces, robots, monsters and whatever else my subconscious compels me to draw. The above images are 3 pages from my picket line sketchbook.

I Want a New Drug

Last week was a wash for any sketching on the picket line. So, instead, I've been doing a bit of warmup drawing at home.

Warmup drawing? For exactly what, I don't know. But I am finishing up the inks for my latest project, which means I'm going to be starting something new in the next little while. I might as well get ready for it....

Just Another Day

The strike continues...as does the sketching. Here is another page from the picketline.

Do The Brown Nose

While Michael May and I have been getting the final Kill All Monsters! pitch together, I've been working on a few drawings to keep me in the "robot vs. monster" mode of thinking. One such drawing is the one above, which I've put together as a "thank you for your support" giveaway. It started out as a sketch but turned into something a little more... involved. Hopefully the recipent will dig it!

UPDATED: I added the image of the pencil drawing as it looked before i inked it. As you can see i added some things and deleted some things while inking it.

Kodachrome

The strike continues. It's almost entered its 5th week and there isn't much light at the end of the tunnel, right now.

Say cheese!