The Twighlight Zone

I was watching NOVA a couple weeks ago and they had an episode about parallel universes. But, some times I think parallel universes exist within the same universe. For example, I have empiric evidence that for every illustrator there is a musician with exact same name. Look at these examples:

David Ball vs David Ball
Chuck Pyle vs Chuck Pyle
Jonathan Colton vs Jonathan Coulton
Jeff Carter vs Jeff Carter
Ed Davenport vs Ed Davenport
Scott Franson vs Scott Franson
Mark Schultz vs Mark Schultz

Can there be any rationale explanation for this? Does your name determine your destiny? Are people with certain names driven towards creative endeavors? And why does it have to be country music of all things?!

Dino Sketch!

So, I've got this great idea for a new comic I want to create, and I think to myself "this sounds like a lot of fun" so I want to write, pencil and ink the book myself. Problem is, it's about dinosaurs and it occurs to me that I don't draw a lot of dinosaurs. As a matter of fact, I've never drawn a dinosaur. Seems weird to me that you can go to art school and graduate with a diploma without having ever drawn a single dinosaur. Sure, I've got sketchbooks of figure drawings from the floor to my shoulders, but not one dino drawing to be found.

So, what's a guy to do? I turn to my heroes. In this case it's Mark Schultz and Mitch Byrd, both are great illustrators, but more importantly they know their way around dinosaurs. So, I find a couple of drawings I like and copy them. These sketch studies took about 10 minutes each. Now my blood is pumped and ready to draw more dinos. My next stop is trying to find a good book for dinosaur reference. Any ideas?

The only dino illustrators I really know are from comics - Mark Schultz, Mitch Byrd, Frank Cho, and William Stout. Am I leaving anybody out? After that I'm probably headed to the Academy of Sciences to see what sort of dinosaur stuff, I can did up there. Also, any other good natural history museums in the Bay Area.

I have to add, dinosaurs are built much like humans. It's just a question of knowing your way around the bones - and then using your knowledge of "stretch and squeeze". I guess art school was good for something after all.

Capitano Maximum!

A hero is only as good as his villain. I guess that makes Italian Spiderman one of the best heroes ever! There can be little doubt that in 2008 one villain emerged as the new bad ass on the block. Sure, there are others to be sure- the Red Skull, Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor, and of course the Joker. But, Capitano Maximum is now included in this top villains list, not only is he menacing and evil, but he even looks evil while surfing in a speedo! I'd like to see Dr. Doom try that.

Capitano Maximum

How embarassing, I almost forgot to post this thing (and after I'd done a poll and everything). Anyways, I sent it off to get colorized by the talented Alex Sollazzo. I'll post the colored version as soon as I get it in.



Click on image for larger version.

A Horse of a different color

I'm trying to decide on a color scheme for a new character for a new series I'm working on and am having a tough time making up my mind. The drawing is by the ever talented Kevin Shriver. If anyone has any thoughts feel free to leave a comment or email me directly. Thanks, you guys are the best.



Just let me know which one you like best, as always click on the image for a larger version.

New Projekt Werwolf Page!

Another update for PW. Yeah! You can also check out this page at the Komikwerks website as well as Drunkduck. As always click on the image for the larger version, and yes the colors were once again done by the genius Alex Sollazzo with the pencils and inks done by Kevin Shriver.

New Page!

I know, I know it's been forever and a day. But, I finally have a new page of Projekt Werwolf up. I've been looking for a new colorist and along the way I found the amazing Alex Sollazzo. You can check out more of his beautiful work at www.alexsollazzo.com, in the meantime enjoy his colors over Kevin Shriver's art.

Battle of the Badges

I probably should have blogged about this before the event instead of after, but whatever. This is a drawing I did for an event in San Jose called "The Battle of the Badges". It was a cop vs cop fight night in everything from boxing and kickboxing to mixed martial arts. Departments from all over the Bay Area came to participate.

This was the design I did for the flyer and the t-shirt (of which many were sold), the proceeds from this event went to the California Narcotic Officers Association. I was thinking of this as kind of an homage to one of my idols (Frank Miller) and originally had done the whole thing in black and white, with the only color being red on one of the boxers gloves. But, the powers that be decided they needed more color in order to sell the t-shirts, so more color was added. The design was well received, the t-shirt popular and a good time had by all. What more could anyone ask for?

Italian Spidermania

CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION

1. Capitano Maximum


2. Italian Spiderman contro Hench-Goons


3. Italian Spiderman contro Gino!


4. Giganti


5. Respetti Le Donne


6. Zombie Italian Spiderman


7. Italian Spiderman contro tutti quanti


8. Italian Spiderman nello spazio


9. Vs Robo-Italian Spiderma


10. Piccolo Italian Spiderman



I have to give a big thanks to Mr. Will Spartalis for linking to my fan art, and for the huge increase in traffic to my blog. It's just another random super power that Italian Spiderman has, ti ringrazio Italian Spiderman! Well, the increased traffic has led to someone commissioning me to do a Italian Spiderman cover for them. Problem is, they told me to do what ever I want. Which is akin to letting a starving dog into the butcher shop.

I have more cover ideas than I know what to do with. To be honest I have about a dozen more cover concepts that are still at the thumbnail stage, but I had to stop at some point. Here are some of my cover concept sketches, and I'm leaving it up to the masses on the internet to decide for me. You can make your suggestions in the comments section or vote in the poll.

The price of reclaiming your childhood

This is a pic of yours truly and a poster I recently purchased on Ebay. Needless to say it is out of print, expensive and very collectible. I'm sure it's a better value by the inch as it is 50 x 50 inches. I will not disclose how much it cost me, but it was very expensive (into the hundreds).

Nevertheless, I just HAD to have it. This poster was a way of reclaiming my childhood so to speak. When I was about 12 years old, my cousin and Anthony and I put together this very image in the form of a 5000 piece puzzle. I think it took us all summer. I wasn't into comic books back then but putting together that puzzle and seeing all the characters and costumes got me intrigued. It was long after that I was a full fledged "Marvelite" and "True Believer" to coin a Stan Lee phrase. It was after this puzzle I started buying comic books on a weekly basis with $10 allowance which allowed me to get about 13 comic books. Those were the days.

So naturally when I saw this on EBAY, I had to have it. Getting it framed was an ordeal though, as the frame had be custome ordered the plastic that fits in the frame also had to be custom order (from a different store). So after getting the winning bid, having the plastic made at the plastic store, and the frame put together at the frame shop - I finally show up to get the poster and take it home. One problem though, it doesn't fit in my car. It doesn't fit in my trunk, it just plain doesn't fit. So, I call up a friend who has a mini-van. One problem though, his wife has the mini van for the day and he shows up in his jeep. So, we put the framed poster on top of the jeep and we each reach an arm out the window onto the roof to keep it from blowing away. Problem solved, now it is in it's proper home, and I couldn't be happier.

BTW- I will give a special prize to anyone who can tell me the names of every character on this poster.

Back in the top 50!

This awesome cover provided by my amazingly talented friend Robert Rivera!

As some of you may know, I've once again entered the Comic Book Challenge sponsored by Platinum Studios. I'm happy to announce, that once again I made the top 50. I read that there were 900 entries in last years contest, and even a greater number this year, so it is truly an honor.

To check out the "Gemini Effect" book that I am pitching as well as some other amazing talents with crazy ideas please visit www.comicbookchallenge.com

Wish me luck! I'm going to need it.

Italian Spiderman Strikes Again!

You ever get an itch that just needed to be scratched? Well, I get them all the time, my latest was this tribute to the 3rd episode of Italian Spiderman which had me LOL. It's also a tribute to who I consider one of the most under rated comic artists of all time (at least by my generation) Mr. George Tuska. Nothing better than scratching two itches at once.

And if you haven't already you can watch all the episodes of Italian Spiderman at the Alrugo Blog.

UPDATE: Now you can own the original art to this 11 x 17 pen and ink drawing!

The Ghoul Squad

The hardest part about making comic books is making comic books. It's a lot more work than most illustrators could ever imagine- until they try and do one. The production schedule is long and laborious, but it's a lot of fun too. Especially when you are working on an idea you are very fond of.

As is bound to happen in this great big world, sometimes folks will have the same idea or something kinda similar. Some people believe in the collective conscious of humanity, others call it zeitgeist. But, people seem to be having the same ideas all the time- like the movies Armageddon and Deep Impact - or Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. Or I remember hearing on the radio once that Ridley Scott had just finished writing his screenplay about the life of Howard Hughes on the same day that Variety announced that Martin Scorsese was going to begin work on the Aviator. Sometimes, all you can do is accept it, shrug and try to console yourself with the cliche that "great minds think alike". Which is what I had to do after visiting my favorite comic news site www.newsarama.com this morning.

Ultimately quality wins out. Tombstone was certainly bigger than Wyatt Earp, and this is coming from someone who is a huge fan of Lawrence Kasdan.

So, without further ado, here is MY pitch for "The Ghoul Squad" and three pages of art showing the look and feel of the book. Oh, and if there are any editors out there interested in see this in print, by all means please contact me.

The art (pencils and inks) is by the amazing Kevin Shriver, and the coloring is done by the amazing Kathryn.

The Ghoul Squad is a tale of what happens when monsters try to become super-heroes. It begins with Dracula getting upset over his negative coverage in the press, and just his image in general. Dracula hires a public relations adviser. His PR rep tells him that if he wants to be seen as good he should be seen doing something good.

So, Dracula tries the usual stuff - contributing to charities, posing with orphans, basically having his picture taken all around town. One problem though, he doesn't photograph. So, every time they do a story on him it is always an "artist's depiction" of what he looks like, and they draw him as a scary looking monster. His PR rep tells him he's going to need to kick it up a notch.

They decide the best thing for him to do is to form his own super hero team. But, he doesn't know any super heroes. So he calls some of his buddies to put a team together. Each brings their own special abilities:

Dracula – Invulnerability, can fly (when a bat), hypnotism
Wolf Guy- Super smell, stamina, healing, and claws
Frank N. Stein- Super strength
Sea Creature- Swims, breathes under water and talks to sea animals
Mummy- Martial arts, shoots beams from his eyes

Each has their own gripes about the way they are portrayed in the media and feels misunderstood and mischaracterized. Dracula feels that the whole Mina Harker thing was a big mistake. He simply made an awkward attempt at getting a girlfriend that didn’t go as well as he’d hoped. The Wolf Guy feels like a victim of his lycanthropy, it’s certainly something he didn’t ask for. Frank N. Stein didn’t ask to be brought back to life, and never meant to hurt anyone. He simply had a misunderstanding with a bunch of ignorant villagers. Sea Creature wishes to use the publicity from hero activities as a platform for her environmental causes, while the Mummy wishes to bring attention to the crimes of grave robbing and the stealing of ancient artifacts.

Together they make up the Ghoul Squad and bring justice to criminals throughout the city. It is a very awkward beginning. Most of the people that these new heroes try to help run screaming in the opposite direction. But, luckily, so do the criminals.

Eventually, they become a successful crime fighting team. And, as society comes to embrace these new heroes despite their outward appearance, the heroes start to see something better inside themselves as well.

Not everyone is happy with their newfound success. Major Hero who used to be the most popular super hero is insulted that the focus in now on these ugly looking freaks. He believes the media attention should be on his heroics and good looks, just where it used to be. The ultimate insult comes when the Ghoul Squad rescues Major Hero from destruction at the hands of a super-villain. That is the last straw.

Major Hero has been embarrassed, insulted and demands satisfaction. He develops a plan to bring down the Ghoul Squad and expose them for the freaks that they are. His plan has one tragic flaw: the Ghoul Squad have indeed become heroes inside and out, and his plot only serves to expose them both. It reveals The Squad as the monsters turned hero, and himself as the hero turned monster.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGE VERSION

HULK SMASH!

Another sketch that my buddy Kevin Shriver sent me this week, good stuff! This time it's everybody's favorite green goliath - the Incredible Hulk. The movie comes out this week, and I must admit to being pretty excited. All the reviews thus far have been extremely positive, pretty much everyone has said is up there with Iron Man in terms of quality. Which blows my mind, because Iron Man is the best movie of 2008 so far. So, I am really looking forward to seeing this one.

What I am not looking forward to is all the crappy, punny article headlines that are bound to happen, stuff like:

HULK SMASHES BOX OFFICE!
HULK IS GREEN MONSTER!
HULK PULLS INCREDIBLE NUMBERS!
HULK BRINGS IN THE GREEN!
NEW HULK MOVIE IS INCREDIBLE!

Etc. Etc. Couldn't all the media just reach an agreement to only use titles like - New Hulk movie is terrific! No, I guess that doesn't sound exciting enough, oh well.

More Projekt Werwolf previews

Here are some character sketches that Kevin Shriver sent me recently. They look pretty good. These are the characters that will be focused on issues 2-6. I like the way these drawings turned out. I know it's been a while (a long while) since we've update with a page on Komikwerks.com, but believe me they are coming. It's just that my colorist has been very busy with our baby lately. In the mean time please enjoy this preview.

Projekt Werwolf - new page preview

Thought I'd drop this preview for you, it's the next page of "Projekt Werwolf". You can't really tell what's going on until all the word balloons are added, but believe me once you see the dialogue- this might be the most important page so far. Again, this page was penciled and inked by my good buddy Kevin Shriver.

He said he kind of modeled after the Norman Rockwell piece on gossip. I can see the similarities. I think it's an excellent demonstration on how to do a conversation scene. He uses good acting and facial expression, as well as varying the angle and giving the characters something else to do while talking. Enjoy.

Italian Spiderman Movie - Episode 1

UPDATE: ALRUGO productions, found my sketch on this site! They had this to say about it:

here's a toe-jammingly spectacular comicesque incarnation of our good friend and confidant, Italian Spiderman, created by a sheer genius over at Level Six Studios. Assumedly his name is Jon Colton. His work is top-notch. Seriously good work man.

Well Alrugo, flattery will get you everywhere! This definitely makes me want to throw together another Italian Spiderman illustration. It's going to happen soon. Stay tuned!

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I had previously posted the trailer for Italian Spiderman on this blog and when I saw this I had to put it up. I've encluded one of the sketches of Italian Spiderman I did when I first discovered the trailer. Having seen the first episode my regret is that I didn't include a shotgun, but that has often been my regret. Oh well, something tells me this is hardly my last drawing of I.S., I can include the shotgun next time, and the cigar, and the motorcycle and the hot babe. Hey sounds like fun!

New Sketches

I know it's been a while since I've update with some sketches. It's very hard to put anything up because most of the things that I'm working on are all hush-hush, top-secret stuff. Although, I will most certainly be posting some of my recent work after the deadline for the Comic Book Challenge has passed. At any rate, thank goodness Kevin can't just work on one project at a time. Aside the Projekt Werwolf stuff he's been doing lately he sent me some Batman stuff he's been doodling with in his sketch book. He described it as a mesh of Jim Aparo, Alex Ross and Mort Drucker, which made me chuckle. Fact is it's 100% Kevin Shriver.

Click on the images to see larger versions. Great stuff!

Venture Bros Season 3 Preview

First episode comes out June 1st. I'm actually looking forward to this a lot more than I was my junior prom. Sad, but true. Actually, not so sad. I really like the Venture Bros.

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c39219a9e9370119aa6e075a0006

X-Files: I Want To Believe Trailer - high quality

Gotta say, this looks pretty good. One of the few tv series to make a decent transition to films. Looks like an edge of your seat type of flick and that's never a bad thing.

IRON MAN VS. THE DARK KNIGHT

This was pretty cool. Little do they know the battle royal is coming!

The Incredible Hulk Trailer 2

The new Hulk trailer just came out and now it's official. Marvel is going to make a cajillion dollars this year. And a lot that is going to come from my own pocket! Iron Man looks like a home-run and the Hulk looks like at least a triple at this point, if not a home-run also.

Projekt Werwolf Preview Page

Kevin Shriver just finished page 16 of PW, and it looks great. Thought I'd throw out this preview for everybody sans colors or letters. He really nailed it! Can't wait to see what the colored page looks like.



Click on the image for larger version

I'd also like to announce that we are now doing weekly subscriptions for Projekt Werwolf. To subscribe just send an email to - projektwerwolf@yahoo.com with "subscribe" in the message title. Thanks!

The Omega Man Theatre Trailer

RIP Mr. Heston. You are unreplaceable and unforgettable.

The Incredible Hulk Trailer 2008

Too cool. Way too cool! Ed Norton should have had this part in the first place. Not that Eric Bana isn't a great actor - he is, but he is just not Dr. Banner.

The Marvel Universe

I grew up a Marvelite that is for sure, and was never big on DC comics. I don't know why, it just happened that way. This might be one of the reasons, I recently stumbled across one of childhood memories. Below is a puzzle that my cousin Anthony and I put together one summer long ago. I was maybe in 6th or 7th grade when we did this and I wasn't into comics at the time. I think it must have taken us several visits to put this puzzle together, it was 4 x 4 feet big and crazy impossible to figure out. There have been lots of depictions of a bunch of characters from the Marvel Universe together, but nothing still touches this monster by Ed Hannigan and Joe Rubinstein still takes the cake. I can only imagine trying to compose something like this and it would be a headache!



CLICK on the image for larger version.

Electric Company Spider-Man

Stumbled across this on youtube, one of my favorite child hood memories. I believe Morgan Freeman does the voice -over. Enjoy.

Su-27 Family Knaapo - Su-30MK

Don't know how many of you are familiar with the Russian SU-30. But, it is pretty much the sexiest jet in existence. Have grown up in the Air Force I've always had an appreciation for this type of stuff (war porn) but this is off the hook. There are lots of youtube videos on the SU-30, but this one actually shows some of it's firing capabilities.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer 1

Projekt Werwolf - CONTEST!

This was announced kind of spontaneously at ComicMonsters.com But, we are having our first contest, and it's pretty cool. To enter all you have to do is post your favorite werewolf artwork, it can be a sketch, a painting, a movie still anything wolf related. You can do it here at this blog or at the comicmonsters.com website. We will keep track of both. The deadline is January 30th, and the winner will get a piece of original artwork- a fully inked page from Projekt Werwolf.

Sounds cool? Then enter! It's as easy as posting a JPEG. I have got a couple of emails about original art entries, and that may very well be a contest a couple of months down the road, but for now it's all about your faves. Thought, I'd start things of with a few of my own.



This is a sketch by Jon Totlben that I scanned from Rough Stuff magazine- and it is gorgeous. If you aren't reading Rough Stuff, you are really missing out on the best comic art magazine today- possibly ever!



I really don't know if this is a werewolf or not, but the drawing is by Claire Wendling, the best thing to come out of France since their kiss. She is really a sensational illustrator, the more of her artwork I see, the more I like it. If anyone knows the background behind this feel free to fill me in.



This one is by local legend Art Adams. I love what he did with the pen work and the cross hatch to get the wolves fur going so much I tried it with PW on page 11 and it really DIDN'T work for me. I have no idea how he did it. It's a technique, I will have to try again. In the meantime, I'm sticking with my brush.

That's all for now, looking forward to your entries.