What I'm Reading

I generally don't read a lot of Manga but I will from time to time pick up something based on a recommendation. Such was the case with Death Note. This book is fantastic--it's a cat-and-mouse supernatural thriller but at it's heart there are some very big morality questions. Without ruining the story I can tell you it's about a Shinigami (Japanese death god) that intentionally leaves his Death Note (a notebook) in the mortal world. This notebook is found by a highly intelligent and motivated teen (Light Yagami) who with the help of the Shinigami learns of the book's power to kill anyone whose name he writes in it while picturing that persons face(all of this happens in the first 20 pages or so). Over the course of this comic Light experiments and learns the extent of the power the book possesses. In the process he also innovates new ways to use the book. It's all very clever, really.
Death Note is put out by Viz and there are currently 3 volumes available.

Idea #09

Now, this isn't brand new, but I wanted to share it with you just the same. It's a compilation of sketches centered around a concept of mine called "The Betweener". I did these sketches for my con sketchbook from last summer. The story is something that I've been playing around with off and on for a few years now. Without going into great detail it's a story centered around a rogue agent from a gov't intel agency that specializes in the psychic phenomenon and the paranormal--in this guy's case it's remote viewing/astral projection. It's a fun idea and a story I keep coming back to--I really do hope to develop it someday...along with at least a dozen others... right after I watch ER of course. And maybe take a nap.

Bad guys are more fun to draw

My apologies for my absence. It's been a topsy-turvy couple of weeks. I've done almost no sketching lately as everything has been geared toward work and it's all stuff I can't share with you all yet. But these images I can. This pencil sketch and inked image are from a pitch I'm putting together with my good friend Matt Kindt. It's called "The Transplants" and it's a sort of ensemble, time-travel, survivalist story...with robots and hallucinations. A little Twin Peaks with some Philip K. Dick thrown in. So yeah, it's a little weird. But it's that good kind of weird. Anyway, this image is the "rogues gallery" from the pitch. Hopefully, I'll have some more in the upcoming days that I can show you. Enjoy!

A Friendly Reminder

Help keep me employed--go out and pick up Hard Time:Season Two #2!! Out today! Buy five extra copies and give them to five different people. Each of those people will have to give it to five new people. If the chain is broken then Jesus stops loving you!!

I'll have some pencils from issue #2 to share with you in the next day or two.

Sorry I haven't put much up lately. I've been slowed down by a cold and I'm dragging my feet across the finish line for issue 6 of Hard Time. This ish is a doozy!

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!