Turnaround Tuesday!

Welcome back to my new-and-improved (or at least consistently updated) blog. Tuesdays are going to be a day for turnarounds. During my last year at the School of Visual Arts, in preparation for a Wolverine/ Fantastic Four sample story I was doing, my teacher had me execute a turnaround for Wolverine, and a duel sketch shot of Human Torch and Thing.

Turnarounds are a great way to get a feel for a character and to see if you can get a handle on their look and personality, even more than a pin-up. I remember standing on the A train with above teacher and talking about how some of the most memorable images of characters have been from character handbooks (like Marvel "Deluxe Handbook to the Marvel Universe" or DC's "Who's Who" or the first couple Marvel 90's trading card series do it for me); images so realized that you have a connection to a character without really even having read a story. I feel like I knew, or wanted to know, characters like Phoenix, Sersi, Captain Marvel, Thanos and Black Manta... just from one image. It's a testament to the strength of the craft involved and the power of art to convey a story. Picture, thousand words, yadda yadda...

That's all a long-winded way of saying every week I'm gonna do a turnaround. This week...

Wolverine.

I'm leading off with my Wolverine turnaround that I talked about above. I still like the thing; I think it was executed well, and conveys the character nicely. (The Human Torch and Thing dual pin-up can be found at my Deviant Art page ) I'll have a new one next week!

Manic Monday!

Welcome to the new and improved blog of yours truly. Today marks the beginning of a rededication to blogging daily, well at least during the week. I've been doing a good amount of work lately, professional and commercial, but most if not all of it is stuff I can't show until publication. I've missed the back and forth of a dialogue that a blog entails, as well as being able to show everyone the stuff that I'm drawing or interested in or feeling inspired by.

Mondays will be a clearinghouse day, for all the stuff I've seen lately, or drawn, or thought about. Along with a pretty, pretty picture of course. I'll save the syllabus and just let the rest of the week unfold as it comes around.

- This past weekend me and the family went to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit currently at the San Diego Museum of Art. I realized quickly that Toulouse-Lautrec is one of those artists with whom I had a fairly deep recall of two or three pieces and then... not much else. His poster work for the Moulin Rouge is famous, justifiably so, and was amazing to see. The real revelation however was his sketches and preliminary drawings. Having very much what can be identified as a 'Parisian line' (confident but soft, delicate but detailed), his technical proficiency was surprising. It was a well-organized exhibition also, and well worth a visit. It's ongoing for another month, I believe.

- You picked up Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette's "Batman, Inc" yet? I was initially skeptical on Morrison's run (which started back in 2006(?)) and even despite enjoying some arcs (particularly "Club Of Heroes" with JH Williams III) I wasn't following it consistently until Batman RIP. Since then it's been incredibly exciting and fun to follow. The pacing and various art teams have made the book(s) a bit less consistent than I'd like, but if you're looking for something new to pick up you can do a lot worse than Morrison most recent Batworks, especially this weeks release, focusing on a ...er, refocused Batman, guest starring Catwoman, taking place in Japan, introducing an old Japanese Batvilain to the DC Universe proper and taking the piss out of a couple comic cliches/ tropes. Great stuff. (I have some more, specific, thoughts on Yanick Paquette's art, but I'll save that for another time)

- Prince is a genius. Not much more than that. I've lately been digging his "Camille" stuff. The aborted "Camille" was going to be an album in which Prince affected a female personae and recorded the album under that personae, complete with modified voice and themes. A lot of the work found its way onto other albums, but it'd be awesome to get it all in one place. Can you have an anniversary re-release for an album that never came out to begin with? Check out "Good Love" and "Shockadelica" to hear 'Camille' in action.

- And here's your inaugural Manic Monday sketch. Prince, with some Toulouse-Lautrec accoutrement thrown in. (Interestingly, I feel like the prelim sketch was very TL, and saved it to compare)






And here's the original, pencil prelim too:

Ms. Jackson if you're Nasty

Above is a (rather blurry, sorry) photo of a Janet Jackson commission I'm working on. Or rather a fragment of the piece, which is gonna be about 14x20 when finished. It's an interesting concept and a nice artistic challenge. I'll hold off on any more, and save the surprises for when I finish and post the full piece here.

Couple of older pages here, from a tryout I did for Moonstone last summer. Eegads, I don't like looking at old art! Ah well...


That's page one, and here's page two (Yes, that's Sherlock Holmes)

Bull Tattoo Sketch

So, it's been a year and half since I've posted something substantial here?!? Man...

Anyways, this is a tattoo design that I just wrapped up. (No, not for me. It's for a friend) I did it all in brush, to keep myself from getting lost in too much 'noodling'. Only moderately successful on that front!

Almost Ten Months!?!?

It's been forever since I've updated my blog, but life has settled down a bit and I going to be making this a bit more of a 'regular feature' in my life. Stay tuned.

Random Comic Fact

Scott Williams was Whilce Portacio's inker before he was Jim Lee's.

(Scott Williams is of course none as almost exclusively Lee's inker nowadays)