Manic Monday!

Things have been piling up, but this week we get this train back on track.

It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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Lady Gaga's album has been out for over a month now and there's definitely some high spots and definitely some low spots for me. One of those high spots right now is "The Edge of Glory", which is also the third official single from the album. It's been receiving attention too because it was sadly one of the last recordings made by saxophone legend Clarence Clemons before he passed away. The video's out for the song here.

It's very stripped down, by Gaga standards, but I like it and the juxtaposition of the intimacy of the video (featuring just her and Clemons and a New York City soundstage row of brownstones) with the bombast of the song.

My favorite moment's got to be at 4:01; it's in the middle eight and Gaga bends down and kisses the sidewalk like a lover or a loved one. It completely and emotionally encapsulates the relationship between an artist and the city-as-muse, especially and personally New York City.

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The line-up for the DCnU Justice League seems to have been released; randomly it was first spotted on a cup on Facebook. I'm not sold on the character redesigns, at least in this image. I don't imagine that the intricacy of...well, everything... is going to last. It can't really. The extra lines on the Superman and Batman uniforms, the needlessly complicated boots for Superman, Batman and Flash, Cyborg (all of him!)... none of that is feasible for a wide range of artistic styles to try to keep straight.

It's a start, I guess.

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I know have more bourbon than I know what to do with. Seriously. I got a lot of bourbon for my birthday. A lot. I'm not complaining of course! I just never thought I'd have a bourbon collection going. New favorite? Maker's Mark 46. Shit's good.

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Comic legend Gene Colan recently passed. He was a true legend, and an artistic that could tackle anything. I've got a post up at Giant Fire Breathing Robot if you want to read some more.

R.I.P Mr. Colan.

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My ACLU comic is just wrapping up. Here's a finished panel from the thing. I'll see if I can post up the whole thing when it's done; I've gotta check with them on that. Till tomorrow!

Manic Monday!

It's cloudy here in Sunny San Diego. It's gotta happen at least once a year, right? There's work, work, work on the desk for today, but this weekend was fun, fun, fun. The batteries are charged and ready to go.

It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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I downloaded the original cast recording for "The Book of Mormon" this past week. (Legally of course; thank you Amazon!) It is...amazing. I generally enjoy listening to scores and soundtracks while I'm working, but this one might not be such a good idea. I was stopping every minute or so to laugh. F'ing brilliant work.

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Grant Morrison will not be leaving Batman with the reboot of the DC universe in August. Huzzah! It wasn't ever really in doubt but-...why does this sound so familiar. Oh yeah! I wrote about this in my newest article over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot. (Go!Go!Go!)

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The Graphic Novel Project at High Tech High Chula Vista has launched their newest venture. May I present... "Dino In Dino"! Check it out, more to come soon.

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I'm still in the midst of various assignments. Good thing. My ACLU comic is going smoothly. There's been a correction needed on part of it, but nothing big. Shifting and moving of various pieces. Here's a sample of where I'm starting today. I'll try to get a finished version of this live for tomorrow.

Manic Monday!

Whew! This past weekend was the Rock N'Roll Marathon here in Sunny San Diego. Yours truly took part in it (for the second year running, no pun intended). It was a lot of fun, and it's always an awesome atmosphere. There was an Elvis Impersonator running, and well; he almost beat me to the finish line. I'd passed him up around mile eight, but as I started to hit the wall he passed me around mile twenty four. "Fuck you Elvis!" became my ralying cry for that last couple miles.

And yes, I beat him.

It's Manic Monday, let's do this!

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The most awesome book of all awesome books is quite possibly "Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.". Really, it's amazing. I'd read the book in its monthly installments back in 2006-7, and I'd always look back fondly on the zaniness. I decided to get the softcover "Ultimate Edition" of the book, which collects all twelve issues, along with all the Q-and-A's and letterpages. It was impossible to put down.

It's on loan to a friend, and then to another friend after that. So...get in line. Or, get your own. Now....Read the Book!

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My new article's up over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot. It's about Grant Morrison taking over the reins of Superman, and what questions and ponderings that's inspired. Morrison's got a long and varied history with Superman, having written the most critically acclaimed Superman story of the last thirty years (All-Star Superman) as well as the most exciting pitch that never happened (the Superman 2000 Proposal, alongside Peyer, Waid and Millar).

Check out my article here.

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I am still sore. Still so very sore...

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What's everyone's favorite tracks from the Born This Way album? Lately I've been rocking the country/rock ending trifecta of "You & I", "Edge of Glory" and "Born This Way (Country Road)". Lot of punch in those eleven minutes.

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I'm in the middle of an ACLU project of the moment. Here's how it's coming along. Enjoy the week!

Wednesday Update

No 'Missing Ink' piece for today. I'm in the middle of a comic for the local branch of the ACLU and that's where my energy's going. Fun stuff. Well, I don't know that fun is the word, but it's reallky interesting to work on something, as an artist where the majority of what I'm doing is conveying information. Stuff's supposed to look "cool" of course, but that's a distant second to the necessity of the instructions, information and contacts being provided.

Here's a peak:



See you tomorrow! We'll see if I don't have something a little more 'kewl'. Haha...

Turnaround Tuesday!

(Intro if you're new: 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. The fact that you're drawing them in three fairly static poses means that the defining elements of the character have to be displayed in small, subtle ways. And they're fun!)

This week's turnaround, as I mentioned yesterday, is from the Green Lantern section of the DC universe. His name is Saint Walker, and he is more or less the diametric opposite of the last character I did one of these for, Larfleeze.

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I wanted Walker's turnaround to work in a juxtaposition with Larfleeze. Open arms holding nothing instead of a closed grasp of a power battery. A slight smile instead of a sneer. That kind of thing. I think that my version looks pretty 'on model'; the original design (I think by Ethan Van Sciver) was a little complicated, but was then streamlined by either Doug Mahnke or Ivan Reis. It's a good costume, though I wish there was a greater concentration of the blacks of the costume on his lower half instead of upper. Just a personal preference, but I feel like the blacks on bottom would help the character look a little more weightless.

Maybe. I could be wrong. Hope you like it. See you next week!

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Manic Monday!

It's the middle of the French Open, it's Memorial Day (formerly Decoration Day; who knew?) and I've got a lot on my plate (most of it art related, which is great). Let's do this!

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Speaking of the French Open, I was watching Novak Djokovic the other day and I started thinking about comics. (Know me long enough and it's bizarre combination I'll often find myself making) Novak Djokovic, for those of you that don't know (and why don't you?) has been on a tear in tennis lately. 'Tear' actually doesn't do it justice (it's been five months now) and that's not the part of it that's intriguing to me.

It's always interesting to me when athletes, musicians or artists make what seems a leap in their progression. Steps are so often incremental and invisible, much like trying to notice a child growing. Sometimes though there's a point where you go, "Man! That guy's different from last week!" Just interesting.

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Summer in San Diego is like the museums, events and art in New York. You pay for the culture in New York City (and do you!) and in San Diego you pay for the weather (sweet, glorious sunshine!) Having a kid makes me value the later in a way I haven't, ever.

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Have you been over to Giant Fire Breathing Robot yet? Awesome-ness.

What? Why yes, I am writing for them. And yes, I'm still totally impartial about their awesome-ness. Completely.

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Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" is an amazing albums. Not without its faults, of course, but a great work of art. I think I'm even going to do a full length post on it. Kinda rambling, kinda fun, kinda Jesus, kinda Madonna.

Later this week.

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I'm working on some pages with Supergirl and Batgirl right now, which I've loosely adapted from an old 70's story where they fight Cleopatra. Yeah, pretty awesome. Anyways, here's a couple pages of roughs till I get something more substantial going.

Egyptian Thursday! (Hetek)

Here's a piece that I've finally finished inking! (It wasn't that long ago that I penciled it, but it slipped down the list of priorities a bit when it came time to finish the damn thing!)

The lady's name is Heket (Ms. She Who Hastens The Birth if you're nasty) and she was the head midwife of Ancient Egypt. Interestingly, one of her titles was 'I Am The Resurrection' and this led to her being at least respected by early Christians; they often used amulets depicting that phrase and her image.

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This piece started off pretty clear in my mind. I did a little, and very rough, thumbnail in my sketchbook but I more or less knew exactly how it was going to look. I don't know if any of it's clear but heres it is.

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At this point there's kind of two options I give myself in dealing with photo reference for something like this. I can either find something close and adjust the picture and composition accordingly, or I can allow for a greater amount of time looking for a photo that looks 'just right'. I decided to go with the second option here. I'll lean towards the former in cases where I feel like my idea isn't all the way there; the improvisation of a change in my layout can be exciting. This time though the image was so solid in my mind that I decided to stick with it.

First I found a couple images and cobbled them together to get the body. The lighting in the photo on the left particularly appealed to me.



Next I needed a frog model. Haha. It did feel a bit like casting. Normal when you're using people, but a little...weird... when you're dealing with a frog.



And then of course, frogs. Lots. Of. Frogs.

Then some more.

(I'll leave those off, there's too damn many of 'em)

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I penciled, and then inked the piece. Here's what she looks like.

I'm officially over frogs! lol No, I'll end up using them (and her) again.

I'll need to to justify all the reference I dug up!