Aesthetic merit of the finished page
[private]In the last few weeks I’ve been reading a lot on the craft of comic book inking. You hear a lot of pros talking about using a particular pen or brush or trying to bring clarity to the pencils and so forth, but something that I’ve gleaned from all of this is– what about the [...]
Inking Exercise
[private]I’m sure there are a lot of us out there who aren’t 100% happy with our inking technique. I always find myself wondering how certain line values and rendering styles are executed by artists I admire. So an exercise I find helpful (and I know I’m not the first to think of this) is to [...]
Sketch 8-31-08
[private]While listening to Kevin Cross’ Blogcast with Javier Hernandez, I got inspired by all the Devil Dinosaur love to try my hand at the lovable protector of the Valley of Flame. Devil is not quite as easy as he looks to capture. Kirby’s interpretation of a Tyrannosaurus’ anatomy seems to be more informed by memory [...]
Makin’ Spaceships Was Never So Easy…
[private]Several episodes ago on the Art & Story Alive show, we talked about using CG models as reference for vehicles and environments and weather or not it’s considered “cheating”. Since that episode aired I hadn’t had a chance to mess around with any modeling programs, but then my memory was jogged when I was listening [...]
Sketch 04 March, 2008
[private]Put this sketch together for my friend Dan yesterday. For those who don’t know, it’s Dark Opal from the 1980s comic Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. I referred to my old Amethyst comics to get his costume right, and I had one of those panic attacks where I realized that I can’t possibly draw this character [...]
When in (Space) Rome…
[private]In the last couple episodes Jerzy and I have talked about this piece, so I thought it was about time that I actually posted it. The hold up was actually combining the three pieces together. Unfortunately I only have a 12 x 8″ scanner, so anytime I do a splash page or cover it becomes [...]
Inspiration is everywhere…
[private]This past weekend I was over at Jerzy and his wife’s new place, going through boxes of old toys when we game across a seemingly throwaway figure: A later series G.I. Joe figure with a knife for a hand. At this point I had already passed on a few offers for duplicates of a goofy-looking [...]
Character Design and losing track
[private]Here’s an interesting anecdote in regards to Art & Story discussions. As stated in some recent episodes, Mark and I are working on a new story for Sugary Serials. The way we usually work is, Mark comes up with a lot of the costume and other visual designs, while I focus on the inner lives [...]
Sketch 07 December, 2007
[private]With the last couple weekends of conventions, it’s gotten the wheels in my brain turning a bit with the question of the format of comics. Why are we stuck in this decades-old layout of 7×10.5″? Personally, I like the aspect ratio of a rectangular page as opposed to a square, but after seeing the work [...]
Sketch 29 November, 2007
[private]Some days you’re pretty sharp, on other days you feel half dead… – George Harrison A groggy sketch today. I’m still working on my first cup of coffee, and my pencil just won’t cooperate. I went for what I thought was an easy one, a pose I cherish–the Sal Buscema cross-body punch. I’m really happy [...]
