Snow Camels and Frog Pirates

In my last post I said I'd post more of these drawings that revolve around this "all ages" story of mine. The following two pages were cobbled together sketches that I had put into a last minute con sketchbook to take with me to Chicago last summer.
Do be sure to click on the image so you can see it a little better.

The title of the post indicates two of my more favorite sketches/ideas on these two pages. I love the idea of a snow white camel trudging across an arctic landscape with it's breath steaming up (upper left corner). A friend suggested that it have hot chocolate in it's hump instead of water. I'd had the same idea but, unfortunately, I think it's too unrealistic for this world I'm building. Frog pirates, on the other hand, make perfect sense. The frog pirate seems to be a favorite of a lot of people. He's part of a larger crew of enchanted pirates that also include a gerbil and a mouse. It all makes perfect sense in the story, of course. I had imagined the gorilla walking the halls of a castle, possibly as a guard. Then, I was recently at the comic store looking at Tintin books when I ran across the same image. I think it was in The Black Island--curses on you Herge! Whenever I think of this story I imagine it being presented in the classic European album style like the Tintin or Asterix books, for example. Ah, to dream...
You can be sure to see more of this style from me in the future. Of course, until I can find someone willing to pay me to draw like this you'll just have to keep coming back here to see it.

Tree Fort

This sketch is of some kids I have in mind for a story that I'll some day get around to doing. It's sort of a Narnia meets Goonies thing that's been floating around in the back of my brain for a year or so now. I included some sketches along these lines in my 2005 Convention Sketchbook. I think I'll probably post those pages later this week. I knew they had a cool tree house but this is the first time I've gone about drawing it. I'm sure it'll see many variations over time. The labeled items (kind of a Richard Scarry homage) are different things you'd find in a kids bag if he were packing for an adventure. I used to pack a twelve foot length of rope--just in case I needed to swing back and forth under a low branch. I decided not to include that. Because these kids are dorky I probably should've packed their D&D Monster Manual.

Q&C #29: Cover Process

I recently did a cover for the Oni comic Queen & Country #29(with which I have a history). I was real gung-ho to do this project. I'm a big fan of the series and I was really excited about the opportunity to draw Tara Chace again and to do it in full color. I started out with four thumbnails (I apologize for not showing them here--I can't find them anywhere) and then the editor and I narrowed it down to two images. I then did tighter pen sketches of those two images (see above). (Note: those sketches were about 5"x7.5" and done using the fabulous Uniball Vision pens). At the same time I sent those in I sent in color treatments on both so they could see where I was planning on going with them.

I was really on the fence about which of the two covers I preferred. I really liked the surreal, spooky ambiance of the jogging image but at the same time I liked the iconic portrait shot of Tara. It was decided that the portrait worked better as a cover image and I think I agree with that.I went ahead with the final and as you can see it's really no more than a cleaner, slicker version of the pen sketch.


It's not usual for so little teaking between a sketch and a final. I even pretty much kept the exact same color scheme. I did send along an alternate monochromatic red version of the same image but it was decided that we'd stick with the original color scheme.

I had a blast doing this for many fanboy reasons but the most significant reason was that this was the first time I've ever seen a piece from start to finish. For good or bad, it was the first time I've ever been able to color a piece the way I wanted to see it. As far as I know I'm supposed to be doing all the covers for this story arc (3 or 4 more issues, I believe) and I'm twitching with anticipation. Twitching, I say!

What's Black + White and Red All Over?

Here's a commission of the big red guy I did a little while back that I wanted to share with you. In my original sketch I had decided to have Hellboy fighting a crowd of Nosferatu-like vamps(the color image). I ran this by the guy who commissioned it and he really liked the drawing but he asked if I could substitute zombies for vamps. Viola! Hellboy meets Walking Dead! This was a lot of fun to draw. Both because it was my first large scale commission (the final was around 11"x17") and because it was Hellboy, dammit!

Colossus

I've had X-Men on the brain lately. I recently saw that X-Men 3 trailer (fastball special!), I just read the second trade of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men, and I'm in the middle of revsiting my childhood through Uncanny X-Men Essentials--the volume that covers the Mutant Massacre era. Hence the Colossus sketch.
Plus, Colossus is just awesome.

Pen Sketch

Below is just a random sketch I did last night to unwind.

It's been a real bummer of a week for me. A couple days before Halloween I had woke up with a stress fracture in my foot. It was intensely painful and just as intensely annoying. I had to move in with my folks for a couple weeks because living alone in a third floor walk-up and driving a manual transmission are not compatible with getting around on crutches. Simple things like carrying a coffee or a plate of food from the kitchen become impossible. Anyway, several weeks later and I was doing much, much better. I was walking and driving and driving again with no other aid than a slip-on brace for my foot. Then, deja vu, I woke up Wednesday morning in intense pain. It seems I've refractured my foot while sleeping again. Cruel, cruel world.
Just wanted to vent a bit...and maybe elicit some sympathy. I love sympathy.

The Boy Who Survived

I'm a big Harry Potter nut. Unapologetically so. I've read all the books--the first four I've read twice. And who knows how many times I've seen the movies. The new movie is fantastic , by the way. I still might like the Prisoner of Azkhaban better but it's pretty close. Anyway, just wanted to share this quick sketch I did. I have a lot of fun drawing in this slightly simpler more cartoony way. I'll have to post some other sketches in this style in the near future.