Inking: Before and After

I am taking a break from actual comic work for a bit to prepare for my wedding later this year. So in the mean time I will continue to post some works from the past and present as I fish them up from the depths of my hard drive. I always show my final inks for the work that I have been done and almost never show the original piece I started from. Here are the originals to these great covers by some great guys. Ryan Kincaid, Joel Gomez and Daniel Campos did a great job on these covers and it was a blast to do these. These can also show you how much an inker can really push on a piece. Some of these I stayed very true to the originals and some show where I was encouraged to go farther from my editor. Perhaps after this break that I have taken I will get back into inking more samples and covers.

Into The White.......

Here are the pages from the Pixies inspired comic book Break The Walls. I was very fortunate to get a chance to work with my best friend and long time collaborator Gerrad McConnell. I do not usually illustrate the stories myself but rather tend to ink as I have fun adding my abilities to far better story tellers. But in this case I illustrated the entire story. There will always be parts where I can feel it need further work, but in general I am happy with the final outcome. It has the large cinematic feel I was going for. I also liked how we kept the main characters face unseen so that the reader can better embody themselves into the experience. Also this helps to to illustrate the idea that this person has been unnoticed and ignored most of his life so who would notice if he slipped from existence all together. At least that is what we were going for. You the reader would have to tell us if we did our jobs right. Pick up a copy and let us know what YOU think.

Been a long time, been a long time, been along time...

Well it has been far too long since I have posted. I thought I would take a second and post some of the covers for Zombies vs Cheerleaders #7 plus a cover for last years ECC exclusive. I was pleased to get to work with Matt Hebb, Ryan Kincaid, and Pasquale Qualano. It is always a lot of fun inking over new artists on these covers. For me the best part is seeing the finished result. I love working in comics because it is a team effort to come up with the best final product we can. I just hope the other artists think so too.

Zombies vs Cheerleaders #6 inks

Cover A

Cover E

ZvC #6 is on the shelves and I can clearly show the inks I did for this issue. I had two covers again that I inked for this issue. Cover A is drawn by Daniel Campos and marks the third time we have been paired up on a cover and I love it every time! Daniel has an amazing way of getting the right feel out of his characters and zombies. I really get excited when I get a chance to ink over his work because I know it will be a strong illustration.
The second cover is Cover E by Kate Ferguson. This was a fun challenge as Kate has a super clean line to her work which can be intimidating. But I never shy away from a challenge and I am really happy with the results. The style is very reminiscent of the simple solid illustrations from the 70's mixed with the great acting of the romance comics I love.
All in all these were great projects to work on and I am pleased to contribute to another issue of ZvC.

Triple Threat!

Cover C

Cover D

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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.
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.

UPDATE! I do take commissions for sketch covers. You can contact me trough my Deviant Art page if you are interested.

Phoenic ComiCon

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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...