Kirby Cap

Yeah, it's a simple halftone filter, but seemed to work pretty well with this Kirby style image I did a ways back...

no feet!

Not trying to pull a Liefeld here, this was just a sketch in my book I decided to ink and, well, just ran out of page when I was penciling...Yes I could go into PS and fix that but I'm a lazy bastard..:)

Lil' Wolvie

Conan!

I'm pretty sure he's thinking about crushing his enemies, seeing them driven before him, and hearing the lamentations of their women!

Batgirl colored

Really need to get better at this stuff...but it's still pretty fun to play around with these older sketches...

HULK!!

Couple of more colorin' sketches...

Black Canary

Coloring some images today...

Hawkeye

This was a sketch I had in the sketchbook...finally got around to doing something with it..1 down, 3,447 to go.....

stuff

random sketches....

Joker

Actually had a free weekend to NOT work on work related stuff....so naturally I squandered my time by watching TV and slacking...I did manage a little bit o drawing Sunday night possibly out of guilt...

sketch dump

random sketchbook crap...a lot of work lately and sadly can't post any of it....

Hawkeye

Found a Hawkeye pic I did a little ways back...

sketches

Lazy Saturday, spent an hour looking around at other blogs, so many damn talented people out there..

Anyway, scanned some stuff from the book, this years posts have been way below projections. Productivity is lower in the sketchbook area mainly because work has been keeping me busy and then I spend time looking at other people's stuff, which then can either lead to motivation or hopelessness depending on mood...

New Halloween invite image

Man, can't believe it's already this time of year again...( I probably said that last year as well...)

more sketchbook crap...

stuff

Some pages from the ol' sketchbook. The first is obviously influenced by Frazetta, thought it'd be nice to see the man take a backseat to the ...chick with sword!!

I've seen that more Frazetta paintings have been auctioned and that totally sucks. The Frazetta museum will probably never re-open adding another thing to the list of regrets I have, seeing as how I never made it out there....

The barbarian/space guy was drawn while listening to The Sword's new album, Warp Riders. That CD totally kicks ass!! Not the most sophisticated review, I know, but it does.

Influences

So I've seen a few of these around and thought I'd give it a go. Once you start thinking about influences it can get a bit crazy; Do I include writers, music, movies, etc.? I decided to just stick with art and kept it wide spanning. If I put guys that currently are influences the list would have some different names like Canete, Murphy, Dave Johnson, Jason Pearson, and so on...

So I went with a more all time list of just the big guns and even that was difficult. So I looked at what was on my bookshelves and these people are very prominent.

1. Frazetta. Please, I shouldn't have to say one word why he's up there, move on to no.2.

2.John Buscema. The guy is a beast! He drew more Conan issues than anyone ever and if that wasn't enough just look at his stuff in Savage Sword inked by guys like Nubres and Acala. It's beautiful and his draftsmanship was always incredible.

3. Bruce Timm. I dig his style, and I dig the animated series' his style influenced. From Batman to Beyond to JLU, he showed that simple can be brilliant. The guy can draw a mean comic as well. I also would like to put Shane Glines and Darwyn Cooke in this, both great artists in their own rights and still possessing a bit of Timms' "house style".

4. Mike Mignola. A stylistic approach so different yet effective. Add in the cool horror/quirkiness and the great storytelling of Hellboy and it's all win.

5. Ashley Wood. Zombies. Robots. Amazons......good enough for me....

6. Jack Kirby. OK, I admit; as a kid I'd much rather look at "prettier' styles like Byrne or Perez, but I just get more impressed by him the older I get. Crazy imagination with powerful shots that jumped off the pages.

7.Frank Miller. Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns, Born Again, Year One, Sin City....

8.Derek Riggs. I saw Eddie on shirts and posters before I ever heard a Maiden tune. And once I became a fan I was drawing Eddie on everything everywhere I could. I couldn't have this list and not mention him.

9. Claire Wendling. Like Frazetta, I'm pretty sure there's nothing she can't do and not be amazing at it. Conceptual, finished, colors, design, everything she does is amazing. I don't know what they put in the water in France, I'm pretty sure they're handing conte' crayons to babies right out of the womb.

10. John Romita JR. The guy has been cranking books out consistently for decades. He has amazing storytelling and I like the blocky simplified style he's adapted over the years.

Whew! Ok, so there's the most ass kissing I've ever done on this blog, but these people deserve it. The only negative I have is that with such an impressive list of influences, I should really be a lot better at this stuff...

sketch dump...

Just watched KickAss again, pretty damn enjoyable. Also saw Scott Pilgrim and really enjoyed it, very quirky and fun, the video game crowd should love it.

THOR!

Another cool comics moment; Odin Loki and Thor facing off against Surtur. I actually missed this when it first came out, wasn't reading comics at the time. It wasn't till years later a buddy told me about this run. It's pretty damn epic. Walt Simonson was artist and writer and many believe this to be the best run on this book ever.

The second image is also from that run, Skurge's last stand at the bridge in Hel. I actually got goosebumps reading this, as he holds the bridge so Thor and the other Asgardians can escape. This was truly a F&%# Yeah! moment.

Sooperdooper dude!

...from my book of sketches...

........uh....I got nothin'....

sketchbook stuff...

a zombie and a dinosaur....yep, the well runs very deep....

sketchbooky stuff

Been busy with work, little time for sketchin', but here's a page from not too long ago.

Back from vacation

One of the stops on what was a great vacation. It had the recipe for disaster; two parents driving 5 kids from AZ. to the east coast. Luckily, I never even had to say,"Do I have to pull this car over?!"
We stopped in Alabama to visit relatives and lo and behold there was a Star Wars exhibit at the Space Museum. Yes, I geeked out....

I'm pretty sure that kid could out eat a wookie.

Al Williamson RIP

Wow, the masters are all leaving... This is a Flash Gordon piece he did from way back and it holds up to anything anybody's doing today.

Now for something a little different....

When our son was about 1 and 1/2 my wife and I noticed a change; something had happened. While always a happy baby, he seemed more distant, like he was somewhere far away, like something had come in the night and taken a piece of what was him. I would see him in the back yard putting dirt in his mouth and he seemed to have different reactions to tactile surfaces and textures. My wife took him to see the pediatrician and after a few visits we were told he was autistic.

We were told that's why he didn't speak and we may have to think about sign language and speech therapy. We were also told he probably would have to go to special schools where he could learn skills to someday join the workforce and hopefully be able to live on his own. I remember it was all very scary and as a parent I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

So my wife, being who she is, quickly got him enrolled into as many programs as she could, she got him a speech therapist (Jennifer Ross, yes I'm calling you out :) She would come to our house during the week and work with him, basically training him , forcing his brain to re wire itself. It wasn't easy. And we as parents had to be very strict with what he was allowed to do and eat. He soon learned some sign language; when he was hungry or eating he would put his little hands together to tell us ,"more".

Did I say it was hard work? Oh yeah. I'm one of those guys that doesn't like a scene and there was many a time when he didn't give a damn, he'd lose his shit in the mall, in a grocery store, it didn't matter. He once tried to kick a waiter for taking his cheese crisp and if you were in Disneyland in 2003 by It's a Small World you probably remember the kid having a total mental meltdown. Yep. Good times.

Well, this was years ago and I'm glad to say he just got "promoted" from 8th grade and will be attending regular high school when summer is over. He's attended public schools most of his life, and has gotten good grades consistently. I'm not sure where I'm going with all this, but at a mark like this I can't help looking back at how I was worried he'd never have friends or be labeled the "weird guy" and yeah, he's not perfect, he throws a fit when he has to do chores, doesn't like changes in his routine too much, and can get a bit overwhelmed around big crowds. And sometimes he's just a spazz (yeah I said it) but that's most 14 year old's , right?

So, I guess I just wanted to say thanks (in writing) to the family, teachers, and friends that have helped him to overcome so much and enjoy life as a "regular" kid. You had to work so much harder than most of the kids in your class Seth, and you continue to suprise and overachieve.

To Jennifer Ross I say thank you and to my wife, Cammie, I say thanks most of all. Without you I fear what would have become of that little kid putting dirt in his mouth so many years ago.

Baron Blood, Union Jack, and some other guy...

A classic story by Roger Stern and John Byrne which re-introduced Union Jack and the Nazi vampire Baron Blood(now that's a villain, he's a Nazi AND a vampire?) This was a great story and it's reprinted with the rest of their run in "War and Remembrance".

My dad bought this issue for me at a gas station on our trip from Va. to AZ. I read it over and over and it ended with a great cliff hanger! I checked every gas station the rest of the way just hoping to find the next issue. It wasn't until we arrived in Phoenix did I find a copy at a Circle K. I totally spazzed and my aunt gave me the $.63 (with tax) to buy the copy and I couldn't WAIT to get to their house so I could see what happened .That was 1981 (yeah, I'm old).

I still have those issues, they are all beat to hell and only worth the memory of that trip and what it was like to be a kid and get so excited over a story with pictures. In other words, they are priceless.

Ronnie James Dio RIP

Wow, what a shitty week. First Frazetta, now Dio. The image is from a high school folder, looks like a concert date I'd written under his name. I saw many a Dio show and even recently saw him with his ol' Sabbath mates.

Frank Frazetta RIP

Goodbye, Mr. Frazetta, and thank you.

sketch page

From a sketch page I have sitting at my desk, been busy so this about all I've done... the gladiator is inspired by Spartacus the series. It's over the top on the blood, but I can't deny that I've watched every episode. I'm pretty sure the pitch for that show went like this;

"What do people like?"

"Sex and violence.......lot's of it."

"..........We can do that."

Better late than never...?

So there was an AJ topic two weeks ago calling for a cover recreation. Since I was already drawing these lil' super types I thought I'd try to cover the classic Secret Wars cover. Unfortunately, I've been slammed with work and was not able to work on ANYTHING but that. So, two weeks later, here it is. It's got some problems (tangents) but I'm moving on. This took more time than it should.

Frank Miller's Daredevil

Another favorite from the 80's. A really great run.

Spidey_Juggernaut

Another old school story, it was a two parter in Amazing that had Spidey getting his butt kicked...but never gave up, really good stuff

Iron Man and DOOOOM!

A quickie for AJ. I want to say it was issue 150 from early 80's , these two battle in the age of Camelot, cool stuff.

Black Canary

Recent pen and ink.

Cap sketch

Wow, Feb. was pretty busy, hope to post more this month...

Mr. Ecko

Big fan of this show, nice characterization and half the fun is trying to guess what everything means and how's it all going to end.