Best Comic Book I Wasn't Reading till today.....

I really don't know how these things slip under my radar, but I got this email from a friend today pointing me towards Kevin Nowlan's blog. And the pages that he has just done for Batman Confidential with penciler Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. Now if one of these guys is working on a book there's a good chance it's going on the buy list. If they are working on something together it's a must have!

So what's a guy to do? Naturally, I drove out to the comic shop right after getting the email, grabbed the appropriate issues and enjoyed. I also added Nowlan's blog to my list and plan on checking it regularly.

Thanks Steven!

Chimps - I did say, I'll draw anything.

Here is the chimp sketch that was asked for. I guess a did a couple more than I needed to, but drawing chimps is fun. I could have a whole sketchbook filled with nothing but chimp drawings.... say that IS a great idea! Anybody else craving bananas right now?

In Memory Of.....

It's a question geeks and nerds will be asking each other for the next 20 or so odd years. Where were you when you heard Twenty Four died? For most the answer will be - on my couch. I was watching it unfold live myself. It still came as a great shock. He will be remembered.

Kevin Shriver gave me this sketch for Christmas and it's a beaut. One day we will probably take a bunch of his color sketches and make something we can give out to people at a convention. In the meantime enjoy, remember and reflect.

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.