Egyptian Thursday!

Welcom back! It's Thursday and that means it's time to get in some Egyptian Art! A little while back I did a pretty well done drawing of Heket; I thought it was about time I went back and did another anthropomorphic female deity.

Cuz you know, there's just so many of them.

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Taweret is the Ancient Egyptian goddess of birth and fertility. She's a pretty fearsome looking god, with the head and body of a hippopotamus, the back of a crocodile and the paws of a lion. Taweret basically combines fierce, protective animals into one being. She also sometimes is shown with seven stars running the length of her back, in connection with her identification with the constellation the Big Dipper.

There's a lot there for an artist to play with. Let's see what we can come up with.

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Not a lot to go on...yet. Gonna work on this a bit more on the weekend. See what I can get it to. Pretty fun, this hippo-woman-lion thing...

The Missing Ink

It's the Missing Ink! Yeah, it's been -ahem- missing for a bit. But it's back! For the last few weeks I've been posting updates abut a small comic I was doing for the ACLU. Fun stuff. Much different than what I usually do, but that's the fun of something like this.

Anyways, it's all done now and I thought I'd go ahead and post it in its 'raw' state; raw of course meaning that the logos aren't in place nor a band of graphics runnning along the background of the upper right quadrant.

I really enjoyed the inking. Knowing it needed to be easily read meant I needed to not get to fussy with it. Kept me honest.

Anyways, here it is.

See you tomorrow!
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Manic Monday! (Okay, Tuesday)

Hope everybody out there had a good Fourth of July. It was rockin' around the Nunez house: neighborhood parade early in the morning, small group of friends over for BBQ and beer in the afternoon and then a night of Trivia, hosted by my team. (We rocked it, I gotta say)

Now? Back to the grindstone and all that.

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A couple new posts are up at Giant Fire Breathing Robot by yours truly. One is an opinion piece about comics and movies and the funny dance they do with each other. The other is the first in a continuing series I'm doing about Uncollected Classics; comic book gems that haven't been re-released since their publication. There's a lot of great stuff out there that still goes unrecognized. I'm hoping to spotlight as many of them as I can. First up, a Gene Colan drawn issue of Secret Origins.

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I love a handful of pizza places here in San Diego, but I always end up missing New York City pies. Damn you NYC and your impossibly high standards.

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The same can be said of bagels, but multiplied by... a bajillion, we'll say.

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I can't think of a more "fun" series in the 1980's than DC's "DC Comics Presents", a team-up book that paired Superman with various other heroes. It generally had a high level of talent, on average. Totally worth looking for in a quarter bin at your local store or comic convention. I'm writing about one of my favorite issues of the run for my next installment of "Uncollected Classics". I'll keep you posted.

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Here's a sample of a caricature I'm working on at the moment. This is a rough, but at this point it's important to start getting the likenesses down and to make sure the composition is suited to the project.

See ya tomorrow!

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...