Idle Hands

Triple Threat!

2012-01-30T09:05:00.004-07:00

These are two covers I did for Zombies vs Cheerleaders #5. I was lucky enough to have inked two covers on this issue PLUS we did the lead story in it as well! It was a lot of fun and a pleasure being able to ink over Ryan Kincaid and Ben Hanson. I was lucky enough to not only ink on these covers, but I was asked to draw the 5 character heads on the Kincaid cover. So I tried to pull stereotypes of the high school experience and capture them as best as I could . I am actually pleased with how the heads came out. If you see me at a convention I will most likely sign next to the one that described me in high school.
I will talk about the fun interior story we did in my next post.

A tribute and a pleasure

2012-01-28T20:34:00.003-07:00

I don't know why I haven't posted this sooner!
This was the cover of Raven Gregory Tribute book. I was super stoked that Mike Debalfo asked me to ink this for him. This was a great opportunity and I jumped on it. Since then I have been lucky enough to ink over some of Mike's sketch covers at conventions, and it is always a pleasure.
I do ink other artist sketch covers as well. So if you see me at a Convention and want to get a piece inked, let me know. We might be able to work something out. ;)

Punishing image

2011-11-09T16:33:00.003-07:00

I got this commission at a signing for Zombies vs Cheerleaders at Drawn to Comics here in Glendale, AZ. The client wanted a gruesome image of the Punisher with a baseball bat. He asked if he could pick it up at the Tucson Comic Con.
I knew I had to do the character justice and in my mind the one and only Punisher artist is Mike Zeck. Hopefully I brought out that influence in this image. It was a lot of fun and the client was more than pleased. I look forward to the next cover commission as these are always a fun challenge.

Being a Super Hero for Babies

2011-10-05T23:18:00.002-07:00

These are my cards for the Be a Super Hero for Babies art auction benefiting March of Dimes. This is a great event and I was more than happy to contribute my time and abilities to create sketch cards for the auction. These cards are currently available on ebay. If you see any that you like, please go and help out by bidding. It would mean a lot to me and possibly the world to a baby in need.

Atomic fallout

2011-09-02T23:48:00.002-07:00

So I found this one in the office the other day and just sighed. I know that many of you know about the loss of the Atomic Comics stores here in AZ. The news pretty much shook the whole comics business. But I will always think back on all the times I had there as a fan and as a pro knowing that it was a great group of people.
I don't wanna get to emotional about the loss. Life will go on, but it is great to know there are other amazing stores here to carry on the tradition of working with fans and pros to serve the comics needs for AZ. So my sincerest thanks to Mike and all the great folks who worked at Atomic Comics in the past and up to the dramatic end. I appreciate all that you did for us.
Thank you.

Student Bodies-inks

2011-07-19T08:11:00.012-07:00

So In my absense I have been working on quite a number of projects from sketch cards, to pages, and even more inks on Covers for ZVC. These were the inks for the 6 page story I did with my buddies Gerrad McConnell, Matt Hebb, and then colored by the amazing Tracy Bailey. I assume it is safe to post these as they have been on shelves for 2 months now. So I will show you just the inked pages. Gerrad came up with a fun story and Matt's panel layouts were just great. I had a so much fun inking these and hope we get another chance to contribute to the book again. Like soon...wink, wink.

Spider sense tingling!

2011-07-08T19:07:00.003-07:00

This one was done for Todd at Hero Comics here in AZ. His son is actually named Peter Parker and he is getting all these great Peter/Spidey sketches from all the artists he can. I was more than happy and honored to contribute to his collection.
I will be at Hero Comics for the Kids Need To Read event on August 13th. If your in the area there will be a ton of great and talented artist there to do sketches for just a $5 donation to this awesome charity. Come on by!

Drawn on Comics

2011-06-26T22:40:00.003-07:00

I did this sketch cover for Ken at Drawn to Comics in downtown Glendale, AZ. Ken has always been a big supporter of us local guys and when he asked me to do a sketch cover for him I jumped on the opportunity. I received a blank Amazing Spider-man cover and compelled to do my favorite version of the wall crawler, Spider-man 2099. I was pleased with the outcome of this one and so was Ken.
I always appreciate all the AZ stores for showing their support for the local artists and I'm always glad to give back whenever I can. Thanks to all you guys for helping us spread the word about our art and comics.

Real piece(s) of work!

2011-06-23T22:10:00.007-07:00

I wanted to get the word out that there are two pieces of my work available on ebay right now. They are sketch covers I did up around the time of the Phoenix ComiCon. Each one was penciled and inked by me. I usually do a lot of sketching and rarely sell them. But this time I have given them up to see how they sold.
The Uncanny X-Force cover with Deadpool can be seen here. Update: SOLD!
The Future Foundation cover with Spider-man and the Thing can be seen here.
Depending on how these do I may be tempted to do more or even take on commissions for future projects.
Take a look and let me know what you think.

Phoenic ComiCon

2011-05-26T11:04:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone. I will be at the Phoenix ComiCon from today until Sunday (5/26-5/29/2011). I'll have prints and comics for sale. I will also be doing head sketches as well. So if you happen to be in the Phoenix, or even the southwest area, come in and see all the great artist and guests at this years event. I'll be at table #469 in case you wanna drop by.
See you there.

Horror in Black and White

2011-03-28T06:51:00.003-07:00

Here are the black and white versions of the ZVC/ ROTTEN FLIPS OUT covers I inked for 5Finity. I have said it before, but these were a lot of fun to do! Having the chance to work on these covers with these two artists was such a pleasure. Joel Gomez did this image originally in a graphite and wash version. My job was to take it into a strict black and white for the colorist. I can only hope that I managed to do the image justice.
For the ROTTEN cover I was teamed up with Daniel Campos and Garry Henderson with whom I worked previously on the cover for ZVC #2. I always enjoy inking over Daniel pencils and find myself chomping at the bit to get started when I do get the chance!
Both these images were inked by brush primarily and Copic Multiliners for hard edges.

New ZVC stuff in stores soon!

2011-03-11T08:23:00.004-07:00

I can finally show what I have been working on for the past couple of months. First up is my cover to Zombies vs Cheerleaders #3. This cover is an homage to great classic romance comics such as Young Love and Young Romance. I also joined up with my felow Wonderdog inc. team mates, Matt Hebb and Tracy Bailey, to do an interior story for this issue as well. Plus I was very lucky to have my best friend Gerrad McConnell write the story! But I will post later on how it came to be. The next two are my inks over some amazing artist Joel Gomez and Daniel Campos for Moonstones ZvC/Rotten Flips out book. These guys are really great artists and you should check them out! I was very honored to ink these covers for them and hope to get more chances to do it again. These books will be out later this month for the Flips out book and in late April for the ZVC#3. To see all the covers for these books go here. Please keep a look out for them and ask for them at your local comic shops!
I think this post has more links in it than actual text!

Missing Linx!

2011-03-03T08:24:00.002-07:00

I just learned that another book I inked a while ago will be published through Viper comics! The Penciler and Writer did and interview with CBR and you can read all about it here. It is more of an all ages/kid friendly book, so it will be great for parents to give to their kids. Here is the information from Vipercomics.com

"DR. ERASMUS Q. BEDFELLOW is bent on releasing the creatures of the Fantasy Realm into our dimension, using the creatures of nightmares to rule the world. Only one thing stands in his way. An unlikely group of heroes – the result of Bedfellow’s last attempt to breach the border between realities – BIG FOOT, SASQUATCH, SKUNK APE and THE YETI."

Written by Dale Mettam, Art by Courtney Huddleston
72 Page / Color / Retail: $7.95
Diamond Order Code: FEB111188
ISBN: 978-0-9827117-9-8

Publication Date: April 2011

SomeTHING to post!

2011-03-03T08:08:00.003-07:00

Finally found the time to post another sketch! This one I did on one of the Atomic Comics sketch cards provided by the store during Free Comic Book Day last year. I always like drawing the THING so I figured that this would be a good time to post up an image. I have been working on more sketch cards with 5Finity as well as a few more inking projects with them that will be out later this year. There will be definitely be more to come on that when I am cleared to talk about it. I don't tend to post many of the sketch cards I do here. But I do post examples on my Deviantart account, which can be accessed through my link menu. You should check it out and some of the people featured there as well, they are all great artists and some are down right masters of what they do!
Well more to come really soon!

Zeck-tacular fun!

2011-01-23T23:38:00.006-07:00

Here is yet another piece of work from Mike Zeck. I love his work and can't get enough of how solid his figures look or how fun they are to ink. I have a number of things going on project wise, but every chance I get I will do up a little piece like this and learn so much from it. This stuff is a blast and it is probably the closest I will get to working on anything from Mike in my life! But if this is as good as it gets, then I can live with that.

No rest for the wretched!

2010-12-16T08:09:00.005-07:00

I have been working on some things these past couple of weeks that have been keeping me really busy. If the hustle and bustle of the holidays wasn't crazy enough, I have been working on quite a few things that probably won't even be seen for a couple of months from now. But I thought I would give you a sneak peek of just one of the things I am doing. Obviously it involves a zombie, but I don't think I should say more just yet. But all will be revealed in due time...

Try-out something ...old.

2010-12-06T08:55:00.003-07:00

This is from the Marvel Try-out book from 1983 drawn by John Romita Sr. I am always looking for new styles to try out and see what I can do. Practice makes perfect, so I tend to use a couple of pages from each artist I can. With this one I took the rough layouts provided and then would draw over them. I could have stayed truer to the pencils here, but I was trying to get a specific look. I will probably try to get a more accurate feel for Romita Sr. pencils on a few other panels. But I was pretty pleased with how this came out for a first time experiment.

ZVC # 2 released!

2010-11-26T18:35:00.005-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that Zombies vs Cheerleaders #2 was release a week ago and available to most comic book stores. If your store doesn't carry them, please ask them to. It's a great series from Moonstone comics featuring a lot of new talent and fun stories. I was able to contribute as inker to the primary cover by Daniel Campos. Check out my previous posts for the black and white ink work.

One of my Real American Heroes!

2010-11-18T23:18:00.004-07:00

I have been becoming an ever increasing fan of Mike Zeck in the past few months. I always really appreciated his Punisher stuff. In fact he did the very first graphic novel I ever picked up, Punisher: Circle of blood. I study this book almost every day. But I have also come to find out he did a large number of covers and comics I loved and cherished as a kid in the 80's. G.I.JOE was a major player in my life and I was studying his artwork on those books even before I ever picked up a pencil to draw. His work with John Beatty are some of the most impressive I have ever seen. So when I had some spare time, I had to give this piece a shot. Inking this was exciting and incredibly fun. I felt just like that 10yr old kid looking at those comics for the first time.

Getting into shadow shapes.

2010-11-14T16:26:00.004-07:00

Here is a panel from one of the many Batman books that Tony Daniel has done. I really love his gritty sense of story telling. I was a fan of his work way back when and now I really like the stuff he is doing for DC. I wanted a chance to try out the shading he uses with all the cross hatched lines and strong graphic black shapes. It has a sense of Kevin Nowlan influence to me and I like that.I will have to try more of these to really get a feel for the flow in his work. Very nice work.
I find these pencil works online and print them out to practice over. I would hope that no one has a problem with that. In the past have asked that if any of the artists do have an issue to please contact me here and I will remove said piece. But as no one has, I push onward always trying to better myself in the craft.

Pulling my Herrera out!

2010-11-11T08:20:00.007-07:00

Here is another lunch time ink experiment. This panel was drawn by Francisco Herrera and inked by me.He is an amazing artist and you should all go check him out.
I have noticed a real unfortunate trend in my works. As I get more and more work to ink now a days, I tend to want to do less practice inks. I know that this is absolutely the wrong way to go about it. I should want to perfect and challenge myself more when I have the time to "ink whatever I want". But I find that the times I do ink extra stuff are slipping away. I will have to do better and practice at least once a week on a bunch of panels from great artists. It's the only way I can learn and gain more flexibility in my inking techniques.
So much to do and so little time...I feel like the white rabbit.

Signing at Atomic Comics Nov 5th

2010-11-04T08:18:00.007-07:00

Short notice I know, but I wanted to get it out there that I will be signing at Atomic Comics Mesa On Friday Nov. 5th from 3pm to 7pm. Steven L. Frank from 5Finity and writer of Zombies vs Cheerleaders with be there along with Ben Glendenning (aka Skulljammer) and myself will be on hand to do signing and sketches of ZVC comics and cards. I even hear that there might be a few exclusive comics and cards available to those who come out and visit us. I will also be bringing the inks from my ZVC #1 and #2 cover for exhibit. So if you have time come on out and get something signed or even just point and stare, we don't mind. See you there!

Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T17:03:00.005-07:00

Happy Halloween folks!
Thanks for coming by the blog and checking things out from time to time. I know I don't keep up with this as often as I should (read: never update this thing). But I have been very happily busy as of the last couple of months. I did a few more sketch card series for 5Finity as well as finished up another comic with Matt Hebb. I will tell you more about that later when I have all the clearances to do so. Wonderdog inc. is now available to order from Amazon.com and another Zombies vs Cheerleaders will be out in November. I did the inks on this cover over the amazing Daniel Compos . This will be the standard cover for the #2 of ZVC from Moonstone comics. So please pick up an issue at your local comic shops. Along with the inks for ZVC #2 I added some of the sketch cards I did for the first ZVC release. I had an idea of doing a morbid Brady Bunch homage for these or possibly a year book like set up. I really enjoyed the characters that came out of these and may just make it a running thing for future head sketches on books and cards. But I felt they definitely added to the Halloween theme for this post. So check in more as I actually have a nice back log of sketches and ink samples to post in the coming weeks.
Have a Safe and Happy Halloween!

SDCC 2010!

2010-07-21T15:02:00.003-07:00

Hey All,
I will be heading over to the San Diego Comic Con once again. This time I will be signing at the Arcana booth (#2415) on Thursday and Saturday for the limited release of Harry Walton, Henchman for Hire and Wonderdog Inc. Come on by and pick up a copy of one or both books and get them signed. Matt Hebb and I might even be doing some tag team sketch cards for the event, if anyone is interested. Or just come over and say "Hi".

Thursday 2:30-3:30 pm.
Saturday 5:30-7 pm.

Hope to see you there!

Man on the run!

2010-06-20T01:07:00.003-07:00

So you're probably wondering where on earth have I been these last few months. Well, I have been very, very busy. My work with 5Finity has been going really well and I can't thank them enough. I have been working on various things to do with the Zombies vs Cheerleaders comic, the P'ups series, The Pro series, and still more in the works. Sketch cards are in demand and I am scrambling to meet that demand. For a while I was on everything 5Finity was doing! But with a recent comic gig showing up I have been focusing on that and pulled back from the sketch cards just a bit. I have a few more commissions to finish, then I will be focusing on the comic for the entire time. I will continue to push forward with the sketch cards, but at a slower pace. I did get nominated in 5Finties High Five Award for Favorite artist and that was amazing! Thanks to all of those who may have voted! I was also a guest on the 5Finity panel at the Phoenix ComiCon. That was a lot of fun and got to meet some great friends! I will also have a number of comic books looking to come out in the next 6 months. So I will keep you all informed on that as well. But for now it's back to the table to work. Talk to you all soon....I hope.

Fire it up!

2010-05-07T19:09:00.002-07:00

Just finished a commission for a very nice and extremely patient client named Wild Bill. Bill got a number of these Marvel Project covers and asked several artists to do sketch covers for them. Which you can see here. I was very pleased to get asked to help out. I was all gun ho to start this and managed to get the pencils and inks in. But then things started coming up and needing immediate attention, or I moved and miss placed it (sorry buddy) and I never got the colors done on it. Then as time went on I started getting nervous about the colors and didn't want to undo all my efforts. But slowly and surely I finished it and sent it on it's way. Not bad in the end. And now, on to the next one....

FCBD recap!

2010-05-03T19:45:00.010-07:00

FCBD (Free Comic Book Day) was a blast! The event went well and there was a good traffic of people the whole time. This time Atomic Comics had printed up some over sized sketch cards for us to draw on for a donation of $10 to the Hero Initiative and each location had a different card. They came out really nice and make for some great collectors pieces. Anyone who went to all four stores here in the valley and got one from each were entered into a raffle for some cool stuff. I don't know what exactly, but I know I donated a sketch of the Swamp Thing to the pile.
I was pretty worried about sketching on demand, but once the kids and everyone started coming up there was no way I could hold back. I probably spent a little too much time on each sketch, but it was worth it to get those very pleased looks when I handed back the cards. I ended up sketching a wide variety of characters. Jughead, Sonic the Hedgehog, Jason Voorhees, Zombies, just to name a few. I included the sketch of Dazzler I did for my best friend Gerrad to show you what the cards were like.
In the end I had a lot of fun and met some great people. Everything went very smoothly and I was well taken care of. If asked again, I will definitely return next year.

FCBD 2010!

2010-04-27T07:52:00.004-07:00

I will be doing sketches at Atomic Comics in the Phoenix Metro location this Saturday. I along with a long list of great guys and gals will be donating our time and sketches to help out HERO Initiative. HERO is a great charity and one my best friend Gerrad has been donating his time to on FCBD for the past three years. So when he recommended that I throw my hat in the ring I had to say yes. So if you would like you can come by one of the official "Kick Ass" locations in AZ and get a sketch by any of these great artist. There might even be incentive to get something from each store!

AE I.O.U's

2010-03-22T20:21:00.005-07:00

These are recent Sketch cards I did for 5Finity. I don't usually do a whole lot of these so I can try and improve my skill and have work I am proud of. I usually do a lot more inking, so I get a little flustered when doing these cards because I get real picky about them and want them to look good for whomever gets them. But these last two series of Voltron and Dead@17 have been really fun and I like how they came out. So here are a couple of the Artist Exclusives and I will have more cards in the next few weeks and months as well. So as soon as I can I will post those too. Thanks again for checking in.

it is, what it is...

2010-03-10T08:17:00.004-07:00

OK so the reason for a Popeye sketch is thin. Other than I have always liked the character and he has a very Zen philosophy about him that draws me in. " I am, what I am, and that's all that I am."
That's deep.
But none the less, I thought I would post this for some random goodness. Enjoy!

Time of the season for... Zombies!?

2010-02-23T20:07:00.003-07:00

So I know I haven't posted in a while but I have been kept busy with a bundle of sketch cards and up coming work. This is a cover I did for the up coming Zombies vs Cheerleaders comic by Moonstone. You may remember that I did some cards for the Moonstone sketch series by 5Finity. Now they are coming out with a comics based on another of their hit sketch card sets. I wasn't able to work on ZVC when the set came out and really hate that I missed the opportunity. However I guess I made good with being on one of four covers for the comic. Check out the Newsarama article here.
So make sure you tell your comic shop to order it. There is even a spot for sketches on the backs of the book. So a... hint, hint.

Trying to get the best out of a big #2

2009-12-29T11:43:00.003-07:00

I am trying to learn more and more about inking from the greats. This is a piece from Kevin Nowlan doing Green Lantern. I tried to really get to know my #2 Winsor & Newton series 7 brush with this one. I usually stick to the #0 or the #1 W/N as I find the control over the line is tighter and a little more to my liking. But with this one I used the #2 and really tried to get at what I wanted. Not easy with going over the amazing detail in Kevin Nowlans work. But it's all just practice in the end. Hopefully it didn't go to astray.

Moonstone to the Maximum!

2009-12-26T11:00:00.006-07:00

I recently did some sketch cards for the Moonstone Maximum series produced by 5Finity. I can't exactly tell you how many I did but it wasn't a large amount. I posted up my only two Artist Exclusive (AE) on ebay for whom ever wins them. But I am willing to add that if you buy the cards and message me about seeing this post on my blog in the payment stage. I will add in a little bonus sketch of the character. For those of you who actually read this stuff!
If your interested in the cards please leave a comment.

Just a few Things.

2009-12-23T20:06:00.002-07:00

Just an experiment on working with different textures with in the same character.I decided to do a line up of all the different forms Ben Grimm has taken on while with the FF. I love the classic "lumpy oatmeal" version. I know they were going for a type of smooth rock, but unfortunately it looks like, well, a pile of lumpy oatmeal. The second more traditional look is a staple of great looks. Very tried and true. The final "spikey" version was fun too. But he always seems, to me, to be an evil version of himself. That would be a great story, a Thing throw down!

"Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!"

2009-12-11T07:55:00.004-07:00

I have been really liking what Ransom Getty has been doing on his deviant art account. I like to keep an eye out for new or great inkers working in the biz. Mostly to glean what I can from them and to know what I can do to get better myself. So here is my practice inks over Ransoms pencil sketch of Spider-Man.

Holy Moley!

2009-12-02T21:24:00.003-07:00

I managed to get a quick head shot of Mole Man done on lunch the yesterday. Mole Man was always one of my favorite FF villains. He is angry, short, fat, repulsive, and pathetic hiding away from the world. Until the pain becomes too much and then he needs to lash out at the world above. But even though he is none too attractive, he is still charismatic enough to convince the creatures of the underworld to follow his over zealous goals. That... is character!

Being per-snikt-ety!

2009-11-04T22:28:00.003-07:00

Been really busy with ink work lately. Have a lot of irons in the fire right now and hope to see some of them come to fruition. But for the mean time I am working on the Moonstone cards and doing a little ink studying. Here is an experiment with splatter effects. I need to get the spray pattern down to a science with out getting it all over the walls. Might have to pull a Dexter and put up some trash bags....

You came and you gave without taking...

2009-10-24T12:53:00.003-07:00

Last month I was contacted by 5Finity to do some sketch cards for a few sets. The first was for Dean Yeagles Mandy character. Now I love Deans stuff and I have four of his sketchbooks that he releases every year at SDCC. So need less to say I was very excited to take a shot and doing my version of the character. I don't know how successful they were but here they are non the less. I had a good time doing these and playing with markers and color pencils was so very nice to get back to. Hopefully I didn't shame Deans work too badly. You can probably check with 5Finity on how to get one of the sketch cards from me or some of the other great artists involve. You might even get lucky and get one from the great Mr. Yeagle himself.

Cat's got my tongue!

2009-10-19T23:48:00.003-07:00

Took a some time off to work on a few things and get past a rather nasty addiction ( ahem*ebay*ahem) so that explains any lapse in posting. That's not to say I haven't been working on a few things. Cause truth be known, I have. I have several things on the table staring me in the face. A few of them are some sketch card sets, a sketchbook for a museum, and a few pages that will hopefully turn into an ongoing gig. So I have been busy. Just not much in the way of posting. But I will make amends. Just gimme a second (or fifth) chance. And I will try my best to get past that nasty habit.....sooner or later...
Oh, and the above image is of my inks over Phil Jimenez's pencil work on Beast.

"I have inside me blood of kings"

2009-08-31T07:59:00.004-07:00

This will be my last Invincible piece for a bit. I have been in an inking slump for a bit and did this panel by Ryan Ottley just to get me back up and running. August always seems to do that to be. I think it's probably the AZ is so unbearable then that it just drains the life out of me. So I will be working on different artists as well as working on a couple of contracted things. Stay tuned.

In-alien-able

2009-08-25T07:57:00.004-07:00

Another quick head study of Alan the alien from Invincible. All the characters from that book are just fun to draw. I find I can just sit down, quick sketch a head and it works. Fun character designs. Fun read. Good times!
Oh yeah. Just got another contract for a bunch of sketch cards. I'll tell you all more about it later.

Head trip

2009-08-15T11:40:00.004-07:00

I thought I would post up another head shot since it has been a while and I need the practice drawing again. The good thing about inking is that I get better and better at lines, and get to study from people who are really great at drawing and cartooning. The bad part is that I don't get to draw as much.
This one is of Invincible. Probably one of the best superhero books on the market in my own opinion. This might not have all the punch I wanted in it, as I always seen to ink myself worse than when I do other people. I guess I take my pencils for granted and just slap ink on them. I should probably do more of this so I can try and work out those kinks.

Astronomical fun!

2009-08-10T08:14:00.002-07:00

To switch up the inking styles I did this piece from Francisco Herrera's 3rd sketch book. I can't say I was ever into Astro Boy, but I do love Francisco's take on the character. I think Francisco has so much fun when he is drawing that it never looks over labored and care free. The fun he has with his drawings pores through in the drawing and comes out to the reader. Inking this one came easy and felt natural with the brush. I always worry when the drawings are smooth swooping lines that end in sharp angles that a pen might be better tool. But the brush gave me every ounce of control I wanted and still brought the sharpness to the angles. I may do more of this work as it was so much fun to do.

In the Inking maze

2009-08-07T08:11:00.002-07:00

I took a shot at inking the always amazing Claire Wendling and her minotaur from the Desk book. This was really fun to have a go at. Because she draws with so much passion and energy. Every line was fun and intimidating to do, but I think I did alright in trying to keep that energy in the piece. I have been trying my inks out on some different pencils lately and have really been flying through them. I am learning so much and having a blast trying new things. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Process no recess

2009-08-01T16:22:00.003-07:00

Well SDCC gas come and gone for this year. I can't tell you how great it was to speak to professionals and to see all my good friends all at once. This year didn't have us at a booth signing, but we did manage to shanghai a little time at a table to do some sketch cards for just a few people. I did managed to get an impromptu portfolio review with legendary inker Randy Emberlin and another with the great Sandra Hope. Randy spent a good 30-40 minutes with me and went through every single panel of my nine pages and talk to me about them all. He pointed out the good and the bad, but then went and told me exactly how to fix the bad. It was a great chance and I value every ounce of his critic, as well as the time I had with Sandra. I also did a portfolio review with a company named Stone Arch which went very nicely. But most importantly I had a great time seeing everything. Now I am back and trying to apply all that I learned and testing out new materials. Now it's back to the table and back to black fingers.

Oh, this is a sample from John Buscema and my process inking him. Planning to do even more of these, I personally get a lot out of them.

Powering up.

2009-07-11T17:29:00.003-07:00

Been spending a lot of time at work lately and have been a little short on the time to ink. Not a good thing if I am going to be ready to show samples at the con. I have 95% of the work done. It just comes down to cleaning up the pages and assembling the packets. Hope to get a lot of good feed back and some tips on better inking.

Knock, knock!

2009-07-04T11:54:00.003-07:00

Here is a little sneak peek at a panel from my samples for this years SDCC. I have really been working on my brush work and like how this panel turned out. I used straight pen work for the background and all brush work on the foreground character. Just a few weeks left and still a lot to do.

Classic and Classy

2009-06-28T10:47:00.003-07:00

Here is some practice I managed to squeeze in this week. Scanned a couple of images from the classic How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Mostly because I wanted a go at some John Buscema stuff and this was a great starter for me. I won't gush about how amazing his work is , but I will say I had a great sense of energy inking these. It was fun and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of it popping up from time to time.

Smoke'em if you got'em!

2009-06-24T22:19:00.003-07:00

Another western panel. I wasn't all that pleased with these as just inked pieces. But with the addition of the tone I think they are coming out better than I thought.
Well, back to the ink well.

Stand off...

2009-06-21T14:49:00.003-07:00

I was working on some samples for my SDCC inking portfolio and I did some pages from the book Lawless by Vertigo. I was inking over Marcelo Fusin and unfortunately I realized after I had done the four pages that it just wasn't gong to work for me as a a whole. But I do like how the work came out in small chunks. So I will be posting them up here with a little zip-a-tone to add to the story elements. The good news is that this inspired a story that my best friend and I are going to do. But more about that later.

In a masters shadows

2009-06-11T08:15:00.004-07:00

I decided to try my hand with inks over someone I greatly admire. This panel is penciled by Kevin Nowlan and inked by me. I had to see if by doing a piece over his pencils if I could learn some of his magic. I don't know if it worked or not but I had a fun time trying something new.
And at the end of the day, I guess that's all this whole blog is about.

Archie and the babes

2009-06-06T15:33:00.004-07:00

So last week I was contacted by my good friend Matt Hebb to help him out with some sketch cards he was doing for March of dimes. This was a collaboration with Archie comics and part of an ongoing charity drive to earn money to help keep babies healthy and safe. I loved the idea and the fact that I got to try my hand at some Archie characters was great too. So I did a couple of warm ups (the top image of Jughead is my first shot at it) and then started on the cards. I did 8 originally but in a failed coloring attempt I only ended up with these 7. But I had a good time doing these and hopefully I will get a chance to help again in the future. To find out more about the Archie sketch cards go here

Shady character

2009-05-28T08:37:00.003-07:00

I've been working on my inking portfolio for the SDCC again. This time I am going to try something a little different in how I set it up. But I will elaborate on that as I get closer to the show. This is a panel from one of the sample pages I have been working on. I added the zip-a-tone to give it the more finished look I had in mind when inking it. I guess in a more finished version you could easily go with color to do the same effect. But you know me and my love for the zip.

yo ho, yo ho,... a viking life for me?

2009-05-09T08:32:00.005-07:00

Another skull for fun. I decided to go with our marauding friends of the northern seas this time. Not too many differences between pirates and vikings, except the accessories. Both love beards, swords, ships, bad teeth, pillaging, and mayhem. Can't go wrong with that.

Birds of a feather

2009-05-01T07:06:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I did this falcon for a demo at work. I had a great time sitting out at a table just inking away and answering questions about what I was doing or what supplies I was using. I started this sketch with a Tombo H pencil for layouts. I then used with a Pentel brush pen for most of the ink work. Then I used a Sharpee-like marker by Steadtler to do all the fills. And to finish it off I used a ball point pen with a Copic warm gray marker for the light feathers. All in all I think this took about 3 hrs with a lot of breaks to talk with students. A great way to spend a day at work.

Creeping along

2009-03-31T07:00:00.004-07:00

I have definitely been sketching a lot lately. But with very little to report. I have been trying out some different things and seeing where that leads me. Plus it's that time of year were I get started for the SDCC. So I have been trying to get that going as well. I will do my best to keep stuff coming at least once a week. I think thats a schedule we can all live with.

Believe it or not...

2009-03-15T15:44:00.007-07:00

A lunch time sketch.
Que Bonnie Tyler

Comparing apples too.....apples

2009-03-03T23:39:00.006-07:00

First try.

Second try.

It seems like I work more in the traditional style of illustration more than my fare share lately. I have been meaning to get back to doing colors in PS. So I did these apples a couple of days apart. The first I had limited photo reference. The second I did with an actual apple for reference. I guess this proves the thought that painting from life is always better than a photo. I'll keep trying to work with PS painting for a bit and see if I can get back into doing more colorful work. But I do love black and white ink work, so we will see if I can resist the temptation.

Working out my demons

2009-02-14T13:30:00.004-07:00

I know it's been a bit since the last post, but I have been working on a few things off blog on my own and for other people. I have a few things coming up that will keep me busy for a while. But with luck it will set up SDCC for a better showing this year.
This is Etrigan the Demon from the DC universe.I am always a fan of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde types, and Etrigan is their version of that. I guess I love the duality of types in each of us. What we hope to be and what we fear we are, all in one. Makes for great character development and a fantastic story.

Power Man to the people!

2009-01-19T13:45:00.005-07:00

Here is the other half of the Heroes for Hire duo, Luke Cage aka Power Man. Luke Cage is one of the coolest cats in comics. He is continued to grow as a character since his creation. He has progressed in story line, evolved in his costumes, and developed in his personality. But I prefer his 70's Dolemite look. He just looks bad ass and feels like he would put you in your place if you give him back talk. So watch what you say about his metal headband...
Sweet Christmas!

Move like silk, strike like iron!

2009-01-12T09:58:00.006-07:00

Happy New Year all. I hope you all had a great holiday and are looking forward to the new year. I am planning on doing more sketches and getting back on track artistically. Hopefully these head shots will help me out with that. This one is of Iron Fist. Just one of the duo in Heroes for Hire that are a lot of fun. This guy has a very 70's ridiculous outfit which harkens back to the days of Karate and Kung fu action movies. The costumes color doesn't help out either, since it is green and yellow. Not very stealthy if your trying to catch the bad guys at night. But who needs to worry about that when you have to put the hammer down on some jive ass turkeys!
Solid!

RASL-Dazzle

2008-12-29T06:21:00.002-07:00

Hope you all had a great holiday and are planning a fun and safe New Year. This will most likely be my last post for this year, and I am pretty happy with the amount of work I have been able to produce for the blog in this last quarter of the year. I hope to continue on to draw and ink a lot more.
This one is a character from Jeff Smith's new series RASL. I don't know that name of this villain yet, but he has such an eerie appearance I had to give it a go. RASL is a really great book that I would recommend to anyone wanting something different in their comic library. Such a stark jump from his Bone series, but still maintains that great visual appeal.
Have a great New Year and I will see you on the front end of '09.

Sentinel-mental feelings

2008-12-20T00:39:00.003-07:00

I love combing through old comics to find the characters that just seem to pop out and cry for me to do a head shot of them. The Sentinels are the most recent to be penned to bristol. The classic "Kirby-esq" shape to their square heads and the ridiculous flower petal collar make them an easy choice for me. I always thought the Sentinels could be played up much stronger just as in the Days of Future Past run on the X-men. But sadly they were always played down.
Now that I look at them again...don't they look like that old Scooby Doo villain from the opening credits??....hmmm...

Skydrawl

2008-12-11T20:47:00.003-07:00

Looking through my collection of head shots I saw a theme that needed to be changed. All the sketches were of men! So to rectify the problem I decided to do a female character I really enjoyed. So here is Noa, from Sky Doll. I really love how this one came through. I feel sometimes I struggle with getting the image to come out on the page just as I see it. Or I only getting a hint of what I want to draw and then it seems to all fall in place when I sit down with the pencil and ink. But this one came through exactly as I had envisioned. I might even spend some time later doing a color version of this. But for now, I am happy with the ink!

Red Right Hand

2008-12-03T08:32:00.003-07:00

Still sticking to the head shots for a bit. I guess I took the month of November off. Funny thing is, I was so busy I didn't notice. Well I guess I will have to do better this month. I was looking through some collections of Helllboy and got the bug to give it a go. And it wouldn't quite be Hellboy without the red skin. Back inna bit with more.

Boning up on ink

2008-11-26T09:00:00.005-07:00

Did these real quick the other day when I was trying out a new brush and re familiarizing myself with F&W acrylic ink. I really like the way this ink works when doing line work. But when it comes to doing fills of larger areas I think I would rather stay with the W/N 951 Black India. It may be harder to clean out of my brushes, but the color is always stronger and has the finished shine I like. If any of you use ink out there let me know what types you like and I'll give them a try. Hope you like these scurvy dogs. They are a fierce lot!

Day of the Undead

2008-10-31T06:19:00.003-07:00

My friend here wanted to give his greetings on his favorite holiday. They say the freaks come out at night, and they are coming out tonight in droves. So I hope you all have a safe and very Happy Halloween!

Here today...Goon tomorrow!

2008-10-24T22:49:00.003-07:00

If your not really that familiar with Eric Powell and The Goon, you should check it out. I really like Powell's work and his sketchbooks are a great source of motivation for me. It also helps that he draws a damn fine zombie too. The ink wash he adds to the sketches are fantastic and if I had a little more time, I would try my hand at doing some of those. But for now... I'll stick with my zip-a-tone process.

It's a Mad Mad Madman world!

2008-10-18T13:46:00.004-07:00

Continuing my stream of head shots, I give you Madman. I just love the simple design and clean way that this character is done. Even when I have seen other artists take on him, the style of the character always seems to remain clean and easily identified. I guess that goes a long way in saying how well Mike Allred created him. So in that vein... I happily throw my hat into the ring.

Dead head

2008-10-14T21:51:00.004-07:00

I decided to switch gears here and do a DC character. Deadman has been on of my favorites for a while now. So I decided that if I was going to do a DC character it had to be him. I know I should go with one of the big heroes at DC, but I just have a love for the more obscure or D-list heroes. Maybe that is just me always rooting for the underdog.

Not a "nuff said".

2008-10-09T10:06:00.003-07:00

Another head shot. I did this one at the same time as the last post. I am not really a fan of Wolverine, but I figured I would give it a shot. A bit of trivia about Wolverine is that I didn't start drawing, well...anything, until I saw my older brother doing a large poster of him when I was a kid. That's when it dawned on me that people actually draw comics and that it was possible for me to do that one day. So I immediately ran to my room and got a pencil and some paper and never stopped drawing. I owe him a lot for that. Thanks Steve.

Henchmen at work

2008-10-02T20:31:00.004-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen I give you a sketch of the obscure. This is a head shot of a henchman from The Hellfire Club, villains of the X-men. I know it is completely random, but I always loved the simplistic look of these guys. They had a very BDSM look to them (no wonder if you saw what the rest of the Hellfire Club were wearing) and yet they were kind of weak and lame. I was looking through a collection of John Byrne X-men comics and they caught my eye. So in the interest of using that spark of inspiration, I did a quick sketch and inked it in. Add that zip-a-tone I have been really loving as of late and... voila!

The Mean Greens

2008-09-26T20:25:00.003-07:00

Another headshot. This time I figured I would add the reason for spidey's senses to be tingling. Not too much to say here, more with the brush and zip-a-tone on Greenies cap and cowl. Working on a couple more of these. But I think I want to get back to more figure drawing. Maybe even use my ink brush work on some of those? Hmmm...now there is an idea....

(Web)headshot

2008-09-23T07:44:00.003-07:00

I started doing a few headshots of some comic characters to practice my inking at work. I tried to use a brush pen to aid me in the transition from tech pens over to a mostly brush style. This is one of the products of those efforts. Then I added in some tone to give it a little shadow. I really miss the old zip-a-tone look in comics. I think we should bring that back, even if it's on a independant level. Eh, maybe that's just me. More to come!

Sample minded

2008-09-07T11:40:00.004-07:00

Here are the final pieces I can show of my SDCC ink samples. I had another set of samples I took of Wonderdog inc. But seeing as how that has had it's release date pushed back, I doubt (legally) I can show those interior pages. But as soon as I hear that it's a go, I will let you all know. These two covers are from Dustin Nguyen and Ed McGinnis. Again I chose them because of each of their complexity. I wanted the edgy lines in the Superman/Batman cover to contrast with the soft smooth lines of the Robin cover. The contrast of the heavy blacks in the Robin piece also contrasted with the heavy negative space of SM/BM. I don't think I will go about the next portfolio quite the same way. I will probably still try and add in a range of styles, but keep them in the same over all feel. The process of redefining and refining my inking portfolio will probably never cease. But at least I will have fun doing it. And I will learn alot along the way.

GO! Baby,GO!

2008-08-30T12:48:00.004-07:00

Here are more samples I promised to show you all. These are on the more cartoony side of my inking samples. These are from Todd Naucks run on Teen Titans Go! Like I had stated before, I wanted a range of ink samples to show my flexability. Believe it or not these almost caused more stress than the more complexed comic pages. To properly and cleanly ink cartoon work it really takes a strong concentrated effort. The lines have to add more to the characters in the absence of value and heavy blacks. I will probably continue to try and ink a wider range of samples to excercise my abilities. And when I do I will be sure to post up what I have here. But I do have even more samples that I will post up soon. Those will be more in the line of covers. Plus I have a couple of sketches waiting in the wings to post as well. Until then hope you all enoy!

SDCC ink samples '08

2008-08-17T16:06:00.004-07:00

Here are a couple of ink samples from this years portfolio. This first set is from Amazing Spiderman penciled by Mike Deodato. The other sets will follow in progression through the next couple of weeks. I tried to choose a range of pencil samples to ink for this year. I figured with a nice array of samples I could appeal to a larger list of companies, and there for might get a better response. Well I don't think it worked. But I am not too worried about it. I do have a number of projects waiting in the wings for me after I finish up this second book for Viper. So here are the first set. Hope you all like them. If there is any critiques, I would love to hear from you all.
Thanks again.

Sketch cards

2008-08-05T09:47:00.003-07:00

In the last post I showed pics of Matt and I doing sketch cards for people at SDCC. Well here is a small sampling of some of the cards. It was a lot of fun to work on these together. Although Matt could hammer out two for every one I did, it made for some great quick inking practice. Most of theses images are characters from Wonderdog inc. But the one in the bottom row is clearly the top of the Human Torch's head. Matt had a great time doing some extreme close ups of some of his favorite Marvel characters. We did have requests for a couple of DC characters, but they tended to be full head shots. Unfortunately we didn't get pics of any of those. These turned out to be a great way to promote the book and get our names out a little more. Plus the chance to meet and talk with comic book fans was incredible. I wanna make sure to say thanks to Scott for putting them together for us and getting them printed. They made our signing times alot more entertaining.

Post Con report

2008-07-31T10:27:00.009-07:00

Well, the SD Comic Con has come and gone. And boy was it great! This was my first year where I was at a booth signing my own book. Matt, Tracy, Scott and I were on hand to sign the preview editions of the book. We managed to sell out of all the copies of the book with no advertising. That means that the only people who were buying the books were fans of Viper comics. My hope is that this book will do as well with fans when it hits the shelves later this year. Matt and I were also on hand to do some sketch cards for people. This was a lot of fun to actually work right along side of Matt rather than doing it via the internet like we normally do. Matts quick wit and humor were evident with all the close ups of some of the more notable super heroes in the business.
There was also a good bit of scouting by movie and television types at the con. So who knows if something like that will take place. But all in all, the con this year was really something to remember. I look forward to getting back to work and inking up even more pages for Matt and the Viper crew. I also managed to drop off some sample ink packets with a couple of companies. Some rejections and some are still out. But no worries, I have plenty to do in the mean time. Well more to show and tell in the coming days and weeks.

Comic Con '08

2008-07-23T05:14:00.002-07:00

Well it's time to go on my yearly trip to the holy ground that is the SDCC. This year the Wonderdog bunch will be signing at the Viper comics booth. So, if you wall want to come by you could possibly score a limited edition of the graphic novel before it's late Winter release. Matt, Scott, Tracy, and I will be on hand to sign the book and do some sketches as well. Plus all the amazing stuff to see this year at the con. Looks to be pretty crazy. Well hope to see you all there!

Fun with pen and stencil!

2008-06-30T21:40:00.005-07:00

So a little while ago I got an art book of a graph artist named Banksy. If I can say anything about it I would say that you all should check it out! Now I know some of you are not into the whole graffiti culture thing. But do me a favor and look at it anyway. The unique way of how he thinks of the enviroments and how he can apply his piece in them was simply amazing. Page after page I was very impressed to say the least. So much that I wanted to do a stencil piece for myself. So, coasting on the high that is Banksy's art, I did a couple of designs. For this one I grabbed an image of Lon Chaney from London After Midnight and did a little graphic interpretation. I did this in a three fold process. I started with the sketch. Then took tracing paper and inked over that. Then took another piece of tracing paper and layed in the gray tones over that. I tried to think of it much as I would with doing an actual stencil. I had a lot of fun playing around with the shapes.
But sadly, it will probably never make it up somewhere.
Well...not by me....

On your mark...

2008-06-19T06:59:00.003-07:00

Finally got around to posting this one. I found sometime to get in another sketch and soon lost time as I am getting ready for the con. I will have more on that soon, I hope. We are trying to nail down some things for the book release. So as soon as I hear about them I will let you all know. Now lets see if I can manage to get another post some time in the next month.

32 hands of Lohan

2008-06-05T20:22:00.004-07:00

Finally we have finished the graphic novel! I am really excited to see it when it is all published. I think it will be a relief to hold a copy of the finished product in my hands. I can hardly wait! But now that it's done, I got to get back into drawing shape. I have been inking for so long it has almost escaped me how to actually put pencil to paper. So this is what all these hands are about. I have been practicing doing quick studies of my hand with a pen. One or two minute studies. This will hopefully build confidence in my line and quick decision making. I decided to do them in pen so that I can't stop and erase my lines. This way as soon as that pen tip hits the paper, I am fully commited to it. Good or bad. Sometimes very bad! I also decided to start with hands because they have really been a pain to draw lately. I will keep on doing some more studies and hopefully have a sketch to put up in the not too distant future.
But first I got to put some pencil/pen mileage in!

Sticker fun!

2008-04-24T14:24:00.002-07:00

As I said before I sketch a lot of things that you don't normally see here. Few people know I have a thing for nice vinyl stickers. The nicer the design and ink, the more I love them. To keep myself artistically busy at work I randomly come up with assignments for myself. This is just one of those. A girl I used to work with was part of the roller derby here in AZ. And I guess in my conversations with her the idea came up that doing a sticker line for the different teams would be a nice challenge. So here are just a couple of the designs I came up with when sketching. True to form my sketches tend to be more fully developed. But I always like to see exactly how it would be layed out before taking them into Illustrator.
Well, hope you enjoy.

Haven't turned my back on you.

2008-04-14T23:05:00.004-07:00

I would first like to thank all of you for coming back time and time again to this blog and checking it out. I know I don't update as often as I should. I should be able to load up ten times the work that I do here. Perhaps I should. But a lot of what I do is either not permitted (via contracts and such) or is kind of not good enough in my eyes to force on you all. But yet you still check up on me. For that I thank you so much. You all are truely great to me.
I do sketch a lot more than I post. I mean a lot more. I wonder if you want to see the random stuff I sketch. Some of it is graphic design oriented and some of it is illustrative. But I always think that because it isn't clean or good necessarily, that you don't want to see it. Would you only want to see the stuff I think is good? Or would you rather have more stuff and see a nugget of art wash up as it does sometimes? I post my doodles of characters from time to time, but I wonder if anyone wants to see those? If any of you have any feeling on this matter, please, let me know. Then I will take everything into consideration and see what I can do about all this.Thank you again for checking in.

Wonderful reveal!

2008-03-18T20:06:00.002-07:00

Well for those of you that have ben checking up on me, I have been talking about this book I have been inking with Viper Comics. Well true believers, Here it is. This is Wonderdog, inc. For those of you interested there is a preview of the book at :
http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=3893
You can download the first couple pages at Wowio.com. It's free and easy. All you have to do is sign up for Wowio (which is also free) and you get to see it. The actual graphic novel version will be released at SDCC (or Comic Con International for you newbies.) I am realy excited to finally get some ink work in print. Matt, Scott and Tracy have done an amazing job on this and I think they are great to work with. I think we will also be signing copies at the Con too. So if you were thinking of going this year, you realy should. But check out the preview first and let me know what you think.

"Smile, you son of a......"

2008-03-12T07:34:00.003-07:00

Still working on the graphic novel. I have actually done a couple of sketches that I might be able to post if I have time. But as it stands, I just have a quick minute to post a doodle from work with some colors slapped on it. This one is a little homage to my favorite movie, JAWS. It's kinda morbid to sketch out dead things and all, but it's just kind of fun to let yourself go and see where it takes you. I still have a pretty good group of these, so I might try and post one a week til I am done with the comic. Then be able to post more ink work and sketches. Hope you all don't mind too much.

El Toro Muerto!

2008-03-02T19:05:00.003-07:00

Sorry it's been while. I had a freak occurance with my Mac. It actually went down with a faulty ram. It turns out I was severely under powered in that department. So I took it in and upgraded the ram. And I have to say thank goodness for Apple care!
I also wanted to thank everyone for your feedback, You all had some really great advice. I guess I will keep on keepin' on and just see how it all goes.
I am in the last couple of months of the graphic novel I am working on. We have to be done relatively soon, so I may be very lax with posts. Possibly once a month. But I will see what I can do. And as I get closer to the end of the project I might try and get a little something out to you all as a preview. But for sure we are aiming for the SDCC as our launch date. And there may be a little something extra then too.
Well for now you can all enjoy some more doodles. This one may become my signature image......

A voice of my own

2008-02-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

The other night I was having dinner with my girlfriend and we were talking about my art. I was expressing my worries about not haveing a real "voice " in my work. It seems to me in order to get noticed in the art world you have to have a voice or style. I think I am a generally decent draftsman, but as for a unique voice I fall short. It worries me that I may not ever get past that, to become a functioning illustrator making a living at what he does. I know the feeling of inadequacies run deep with all artists. But I was wondering what you all think. I put a smal collection up here that is a sampling of all the type of stuff I play around with all the time. Does any of it work better than others? I guess what I am asking for is a complete and open dialogue. Let me have it! Good ,Bad, Constructive, or even Deconstructive. I want to know what you think are my strengths and what I can do to make it work for me. I put the ball in your court and ask you to help me out. Don't worry about hurting my feelings...I'm a big boy and I can take it.
Thanks folks.

Still slinging ink.

2008-01-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post up another SDCC ink sample for you all. This one is penciled by Leinil Yu and inked by yours truely.
The new year has me working on even more stuff. Hopefully I will have some newer stuff up for you all in the next week or so. But as it is I am going crazy keeping up with the pile on my plate. I know I haven't been in contact with all of you on a regular basis, and for that I am sorry. I get caught up in all the work. But know that I appreciate the comments and the support. You all are great friends. Thanks guys and gals. I hope to do you proud in the coming year.
Oh, and of course: This image is copyrighted by the respective owners and included solely for the purpose of scholarly review.

Haring what you have to say.

2007-12-25T22:53:00.001-07:00

Well I hope you all are having a great Holiday! I thought I would post my most recent Munny I did for my brother as a Christmas/birthday gift. I did it in marker, just to keep it in the true Haring fashion. And the heart on his chest is in red acrylic. I really like doing these. It's just that it ends up taking me a long time to do one. I simply don't have enough time to do as many as I would like to. But I do have the next one planned out already.
It might be a bit before I post again. Probably after the new year. Just so I can catch up on some work and get some more sketches done. That way it doesn't take me so long to post. Well, be safe out there kids.

Final Sequence.

2007-12-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

And the last two pages of the Campbell work I inked. I liked how clean this page was to work over. It allowed me to focus on the stroke of the line more than "correcting" anything. Not that I would, mind you. I would have been hauled off by a mob of angry fanboys had I even dared to do so. I might have a few more inked things to post in the upcoming weeks. But then all I have left are the pages I am working on for Viper. And those won't see light of day until they are printed first. Cause you know, contracts and stuff.
Images solely for the purpose of scholarly review.....and all that jargon.

Ink'n samples

2007-12-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

As I sorta promised. Here are the sequential ink samples I said I would post. These are of J.scott Campbell's Danger Girl. I had a lot of fun doing this. It is a real challenge to do as well as a great inker like Alex Garner. Hopefully I didn't mess it up too badly. I always wondered why inkers don't get the praise that the pencilers get, but then get all of the blame when it doesn't look good? Hopefully I don't get too much blame for this.
Again...blahh, blah, blah....all images here solely for the purpose of scholarly review....yadda, yadda....

Ink'n Fool

2007-12-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

So I decided to add a couple of ink samples from my last SDCC inking portfolio. I have been knee deep in stuff to ink for the last week, so it is only fitting that I share what got me there. These are two images from Terry Dodson and J. Scott Campbell. I tried to choose a range of different pencilers to ink over to show what I could do. Like I said some people liked them and some didn't. Now you get the say so. I have some sequential pages as well to put up too. But that will be later this week. Maybe next week? Hey, I do the best I can people.
Again, these images are here solely for the purpose of scholarly review. I am not the original inker at all

Classics!

2007-11-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

Thought I would add another doodle from work. This one combines what I sketch and doodle at work. One being a car, and the other being a funky little creature. I designed the little dino around a cross between Jughead and Cecil. If you all get that reference I will be surprised. Well more soon...ish

Lil' Damien

2007-11-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

Thought I would add one of my doodles from work. I tend to draw a lot of characters now a days. It's just a time for me to let go and let my sense of humor wander around in the sketchbook. There might be more of these in the future....so you have been warned.

Creepy Inky

2007-11-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the original image I wanted to post for halloween. But do to time constraints I went with the other one and colored it. I know it sounds weird that inking and coloring one image was faster then just inking another one. But it all comes down to the details. Plus the cartoony stuff I can do at work, while the illustrated stuff tends to be larger in size and more time oriented. This image goes along with my love for EC Comics which I have mentioned I the past. I miss the old horror comics. That's one thing I would like to see the return of in the comics medium. We have Hellboy, and for that I am thankful. But I think we could use some good ol' fashioned scare stories. Oh well, hope you enjoy.

Happy Hallo-were have I been?

2007-10-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

OK so I have been gone a long time. Plain and simple. But what have I been doing that has taken me away from the blog? Well that is a tough answer, but a good one. In the last episode I told you that I had gone to the SDCC and showed my ink work around to some people. Well long story short, I got a job out of it. Well to be clear, I already had the job. I just got a contract out of it. My friend Matt Hebb and I have been working on a couple of projects together and we started one with Viper comics. I can't and won't get too specific on the details, but this seems like a good thing. So I have been busting my chops to work on this book and hold down a full time job. It's crazy tough. But really cool. Not only that but I did some stuff for another company also. It was a short assignment, but it was a fun one. So with any luck, by SDCC next year I should have some stuff in print. But no promises. I don't wanna jinx it.
And that is what you ol' pal here has been doing. I would love to post more stuff as I can. But it seems the only time I have to sketch is at work when I should be eating lunch. I will see what I can do.

More ink samples?

2007-08-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

I decided to add another ink sample from this years con. This one was penciled by Joe Madureira and inked by yours truly. I had some aspirations to do a couple of original ink works for the blog, but it got pushed aside due to my current work load. The good news is that they are half finished.The bad news? I dunno when I will get back to them.
Anyway, I have to legally say that this image is included soley for the purpose of scholarly review.
Hopefully I will post again soon.....hopefully.

Post Con.

2007-08-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

Well the Comic Con has come and gone, and I have to admit I am glad the stress is over. Had a tuff time working 40hrs, doing inks for a comic and trying to get some ink samples done as well. It's like working three jobs! But I think it went well.
My sample consisted of inks over a couple of pro's like J. Scott Campbell, Terry Dodson, Leinil Yu, Joe Mad!, and Cory Walker. Plus my inks over Matt Hebb, of course. The ink sample panel here is from Cory's work in a Spiderman story.
I talked to some people at the Con and got some reviews on my work. Some good and some bad. But it all balanced out in the end. Went to the top 2 (Marvel and DC) and did the drop off there. But got no word back, no worries. Went and met up with the team from Viper. Good things a coming that way. Met with Penny-Farthing. Seemed to go pretty well. Saw Top Cow. They didn't seem interested. But again, no worries. My friend Matt sent me to Darkhorse after he had a good review. Just to show my face and show my stuff. Seemed good enough. But you never know. And finally saw a group called Blind Wolf. They do kids style comics and needed an inker for a story. So I am looking forward to good things with them too. But all in all a pretty decent Con. Bought lots of books and stuff. So I am stocked up for almost a year and looking to get back into inking and sketching. After a little rest of corse.
Oh, and a few things added to the web site.