Portrait of a Mantid Lady

The counterpart painting that I recently finished for the Little Green Men exhibit at Wootini that opens tomorrow evening, April 15th.  If you're in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, come on by from 7-11 pm.

They make a cute couple, don't you think?

Acrylic on Canvas- 11x14"

Portrait of a Mantid Gentleman

Painting I recently finished for the Little Green Men exhibit at Wootini that opens tomorrow evening, April 15th.  If you're in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, come on by from 7-11 pm.

Acrylic on Canvas- 11x14"

Bull-Spec 5 cover

Cover of Bull-Spec No. 5, a local speculative fiction magazine for the Bull City, Durham.  Tried to work a couple local touches in there, including the Sun Trust building downtown, and gave a nod to Richard Dansky, for introducing me to Samuel Montogomery-Blinn, editor extraordinaire. The piece is an illustration for Rebecca Gomez Farrell's short story, "Bother".  My first published cover with digital inks! 

Victorian Mantid study

Study for a painting- WiP.  Working in acrylics for the first time in years, will post pics soon!

Delirium a la Ariel

While not my original intention for this commissioned sketch, this one kind of developed into a strange sort of homage to The Little Mermaid's Ariel.  I think it started when the fish on Delirium's string started reminding me of Flounder...  I don't know.

Also of note- this was done in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, and I loved the feel and texture of the paper.  Note to self- get me one of those!

DP 63 Cover

Cover to Doom Patrol No. 63, Grant Morrison's final issue, as well as Crazy Jane and Rebis's.  One of my personal favorite issues.  From 1992, nearly 20 years now.

Looking back on these reminds me how much building of texture I was really into exploring in my inking work then.  Drybrush, litho crayons, spatter and liquid frisket to preserve the white of the paper are all on display here.

Doom Patrol-Who's Who!

Posting my latest DP piece got me all nostalgic to look over some of the old work, some of which I still have in its original state.  Thought that it would be interesting to post some of the old stuff while working on more new stuff so that this site didn't sit quite so empty this year like it did this past year.

So, this is the piece I did back in 1991 for Who's Who in the DCU #15.  This issue turned out to be the "Vertigo" issue of Who's Who, before there was a separate Vertigo imprint.  It featured characters from books like Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade the Changing Man, Swamp Thing, Animal Man and Doom Patrol, that went on later to become the core monthlies that at the time were branded as the "darker" mature titles at DC.  Within a year or two the Vertigo imprint was created.

Anyway, I finished this piece just before Heroes Con that year, and knowing that editor Michael Eury was going to attend, brought it along to give him to take back to New York with him.  As I handed it to him he thought about the idea of using it for the cover of the issue as well, and sure enough, it was the image that was used.

PS- Can anyone name all of the characters in this shot?

New Doom Patrol commission

Recently finished Doom Patrol commission featuring Cliff, Jane, Rebis and The Chief.  Pen & Ink and Watercolor, 11x17"

Heroes Con

Heading down to Heroes Con in the AM.  Haven't missed a show since 1989, and looks to be a great show this year, a number of first time guests including Brian Bolland and J. Scott Campbell.  Hope to see some of you all there! 

Here's a Phantom Girl commission I did before the show.  Love that 70's Legion!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

Birthday pic for my nephew Nicholas, combining two of his favorites... Spidey and Dinosaurs... Hey, it's happened... Whenever Spidey visits the Savage Land, he takes time to pal around with his favorite prehistoric beasts.  Happy birthday, buddy!

Library of Curiosities

Haven't posted in way too long, so figured I'd put this sketch I did last year sometime up, with the caveat that I may finally do finishes on it someday...

A 'Case' of Mistaken Identity

It's been an interesting week. Checking my messages on Monday I notice I'd received some comments on my blog. Always nice to see what people are thinking is my thought as I then read some scathing rant about putting down 6 year-olds named Forrest, along with a lot of name-calling. I'm completely dumb-founded as to what this all about, and it comes from a few different sources, so I'm really confused. I try to ignore it, thinking people will just say weird things about my art when given the chance.

Cut to Wednesday, and I get a letter from someone who shows me the link to a letter from a father posted on a forum on CBR, about how I was at a show the previous weekend, and made fun of a six-year old kid. I was floored! Worse, since it'd been up for a few days, a number of people had gotten on the hatin' band-wagon, and my name was being thrown threw the wringer. I immediately wrote to the forum and told my side of the story... First, I hadn't been to any show any time recently. Secondly, I've never even met the other artists named in the letter. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, I would never do the things that were described by this father in his letter.

Shortly thereafter, I started seeing apologies from some of the other posters on the forum. Someone was even able to track down that the event probably happened at a show in Canada, outside of Toronto. One person's blog even said I was at this show. Soon though, it becomes clear that it was Richard PACE that was at the show, not me. By the next day the headline read that I did NOT mock a six-year old, I'd received a letter from Richard explaining his side of what happened at the show, and also received a letter of apology from the owner of the store sponsoring the show for the misunderstanding, which was very kind indeed.

To date, however, I have NOT received a letter of apology from the father, who instigated the whole thing to begin with.

I do find it very disturbing though, to see now first-hand, how quickly one's reputation can be so quickly and wrongly tarnished on the internet. Stories and rumours can be started and passed along so quickly these days, unsubstantiated, that it can make mind blur. In a matter of hours my name was being trashed through at least 2 (that I know of) sites, and I was receiving hate mail, all the while having no clue whatsoever as to what was going on.

So, be careful out there, surfers of the web. Don't believe everything you read, (tempting I know!) and don't be too quick to judge.

Now, time to get off my soapbox, and next time I'll get back to the business of what this blog is supposed to be about: posting sketches.

PS- I do want to thank the number of people that WERE supportive of me through this odd little experience. Definitely made it easier to take!

On the anniversary of a friend's passing

Somehow I missed the anniversary of Mike's passing today. Usually I'm pretty good at remembering dates of significant events, but it just didn't occur to me today. Even this morning when walking around the downtown Hillsborough area where we had our studio and created funny books for all those years- I was thinking of him, but it never dawned on me that today was THAT day.

Of course, since Mike was so beloved in the comics community, there are plenty of reminders out there today, and of course I stumbled across the news. I'm glad and grateful that he's still remembered so fondly, and for a second I worried that, like "how could I have possibly forgotten?" It doesn't mean that I miss my friend any less, I've decided, but rather that I just think more about his life than his death now, these two years later.


Miss ya, mang!

Her Visitor

Just a sketch that started to grow a narrative around it... Stuff I sometimes draw just to get warmed up take on a life of their own.

Wham!

Recently finished pin-up for my buddy Sandy Jarrell. Thought this one only really came together in coloring it, and adding the outer glow to the energy pattern... was looking incomplete without it.

Thanks for letting me play with your characters, Sandy!

Gala illustration

Illustration I did for a Holiday Gala for my kid's school back in 2000. One of the few originals of my work that I have hanging in the house. I remember I was drawing Tim Hunter's adventures in "The Names of Magic" at the time I did this piece, and I think the woman here reminds me of Iolanthe from that series.

More adventures of Cliff and Jane

Been forever since a new post, so I thought I'd add a more recent sketch I did of Cliff and Jane from Doom Patrol. Both partial inks and finals.

I've always loved looking at other artists partially inked drawings. They're a great insight into the process of creating an image. I've meant to scan more of my own, but often don't even think of it while part way through, and before I know it, I've finished inking it! Anyway, hope to be a better blogger again...

Cedars of January

It's been a pretty busy January but I did manage some sketching time to work up this tree study. I've always loved the way cedar branches twist and break off, especially when coupled with vines of ivy... and in the winter there's not a lot of those pesky leaves to hide the skeletal structure.

Construction of a Dream

Long overdue posting time! Here's a few steps in the creation of a recently completed commission of Dream... Pencils, inks, color rough in photoshop and completed watercolor. I'll be honest, I'm still kind of partial to the rough I did digitally. Was fairly happy with the natural media look that I was able to get with some of the new brushes I've been trying out, and I didn't have to breathe any fumes while sealing it like with the finished painting. What do others think?

Nuala-CBLDF fundraiser

Been a bad blogger of late, very negligent of posting anything new for a while. To get back on track, im announcing that the Nuala piece that I did for the Sandman 20th anniversary poster a few months ago is now available as part of a fundraiser for the CBLDF, along with some of the other originals donated by other illustrators of the series and poster, and even some sketches by Neil Gaiman himself teaming with other artists. The auction is here.

For those who haven't seen the poster available, its also reproduced in the last volume of Absolute Sandman, Vol. 4, just recently released from Vertigo. This is the volume that reproduces the "Kindly Ones" storyline that I contributed inks to, along with "The Wake". Its a beautiful volume, leatherbound with a sturdy slipcover, and nice to see the pages reproduced at such a large size. It also has a lot of the promo art that Marc Hempel did for the Kindly Ones storyline that I hadn't seen in a long time, not to mention some of his layouts and scripts from Neil. Great production. At $99.99 its a hefty price, but its a hefty volume of goodness, and worth every penny.