Gettin' Ready for The NEW DCU!

Here are sketches from the past few days, which I hadn't gotten around to scanning and posting until now. I'm still thinking about what I want to do Saturday at the Comic Book Ink DCU/Chalking extravaganza! But here's a contender, aside for the "Boys of Young Justice" that I've been drawing--Swamp Thing! He was green before it was popular, and now he's back, with his own Number One issue in the new DC line-up.

He was also co-created by one of my heroes--Bernie Wrightson, the Master of the Macabre! (He's a really nice guy too--he hugged me at a con once. Yes, I was hugged by the Master of the Macabre!)

So this one's for you, Bernie!

SuperEmo!

I'm gearing up my head for the Comic Book Ink chalking event that's going to happen on September 3rd which will be celebrating the debut of the DC Reboot! Consequently, my blog entries for the next couple of weeks will be DC Universe orientated.

So we're kicking things off with Superboy. I love the black tee and cropped hair and jeans and attitude! He's a little PO'd because Supes doesn't acknowledge him, he was basically created to be used as a weapon and still he gets no respect. But at least he's a stud.

Something for Andrea

These are sketches done on the backs of Magic: The Gathering cards. they have blank backs because they are rare artist's proofs that they send to the artists when the cards are published. The card shown above each sketch shows which card I drew the sketch on the back of. I usually try to relate the sketch to the design on the front of the card.

Anyway, these were done for a Magic fan from Italy! She has waited overly long for them because I lost the package she sent me. Thanks for being patient, Andrea!!

Red Hot Shootin' Irons!

So, last night I had the opportunity to meet my friend (and fellow CLAW member) Michael Shaudis and his dad at the Bullseye Shooting Range to see and even fire some authentic, Old West-style handguns! Michael brought several really impressive pieces to our get-together including a Colt Navy pistol (which I'm posing with) and this wild looking thing called a LeMat, which has an extra barrel for a shotgun shell for when you run out of regular bullets! We didn't fire these two, but they were just BEAUTIFUL to look at! What I DID get to fire was a 22 caliber, frontier style Colt pistol and a 38 caliber Police Special. (If I a, getting any of this info wrong Michael will probably comment and correct me. He is basically an expert on these guns!) I also got to fire an authentic antique British Army Webley, cira 1895! It was an exceptionally cool piece of ordinance!

All in all, it was a lot of fun and very educational. Now, the way this connects to my sketch blog is that I did a few quick drawings and used them to make mock-up "Wanted" posters to shoot at! And here are the posters that I did, plus a couple of them scanned with the actual bullet holes I put into them! I circled the 22 bullet holes which are more difficult to see than the 38s. I also shot other targets--I shot more than a few holes in these two, but these are the ones that relate here! The characters in these sketches will hopefully end up being used in my "Dogwood Tales" comics. If it bothers you that I was shooting at cute dogs...trust me, they're BAD dogs!




BTW--I did all three of these drawings in about 45 minutes during lunch, and then popped them into an Illustrator layout I had ready. I was really bookin' but the results were pretty good! All in all, I got a few good sketches done, I had a great time and learned a lot about handling Old West artillery and I actually hit the targets, so it was a pretty successful venture! Thanks again for inviting me along, Michael! (And Michael's dad too!)

Dr. Zaius in the house!

Today's sketch is a tribute to everybody's favorite simian ginger, the redoubtable Dr. Zaius! He told Chuck Heston, "Don't look for it, Taylor! You might not like what you find." And danged if he wasn't right.

I just saw the new movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" over the weekend and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I was concerned that it would just be a tacky, run-of-the-mill, scientists-playing-God, cheesy, preachy, doomsday horror flick. But in fact, I wouldn't call it a 'horror' film at all. It was a good story, beautifully filmed; it was enjoyable to watch AND it didn't go overboard with mayhem and cruelty--as it so easily could have. It was a REALLY excellent movie and I highly recommend it! What's more, I'm looking forward to a sequel! If they can maintain this quality, I think they could very easily build a whole new franchise! I'd love to see a new "Planet of the Apes" movie where the astronauts land and find a fairly advanced ape civilization like the one apparently described in the original novel. Apes in helicopters, that sort of thing, rather than the cost-cutting version with a primitive Ape City that they did for the original movie!

One thing I also enjoyed about the new movie was its little tributes to the classic original, like the orangutan named Maurice. So, this sketch is for you Maurice, old and new.

Cowboys & Dinosaurs Part 2: The Process

I decided I'd post the progress pics I took while doing the chalk design at the big TAM event yesterday. It was great fun and very tiring at the time--but BOY, am I sore today!! I do most of my art sitting at a computer desk or a drawing table, so I was workin' muscle I had forgotten I even HAD!

Anyway, so Step one: The basic under drawing...really just a VERY loose sketch.



Step two, the most time consuming part (especially since I overambitiously made the thing so big) was filling in the color. I tried to give it a bit of dimension, although the limited palette of not very intense pastel colors I had available made that difficult. I went through a LOT of chalk trying to fill that tryke in too!



Step three was the key to the whole business, and it was thanks to Mark Monlux that I was able to do it! A black outline done with charcoal briquettes! Mark brought a whole bag of them and let me use some. Since the colors I had were very soft, the outline really made them pop--and I admit, I relied heavily on the outline to make this image work. In future, not only will I work smaller, but I will also try and secure some more intense colors than I had, plus some actual dark colors. I'll also try and bring my own charcoal too! Also, although I had the forethought to borrow knee-pads (thanks Edmund!), I didn't know that rubbing the chalk in a bit to secure the lines was needed. So I literally wore through the skin of a couple of my fingers! Gloves will be another neccesary item to add to the arsenol!



And finally, step four--signing the finished product of a few hours of pretty rough work! Rough for a chubby old koala like ME, anyway!





Again, the theme was "Identity". I chose to take advantage of my so called FURSONA that I developed for furry-orientated stuff. He doesn't get out much, so it was good to have an excuse to trot him out. I don't role play or anything and I don't have a fursuit. This is just how I picture myself in "furry" parlens...a chubby little koala bear with a big fluffy snow leopard tail, representing my delusions of granduer. Dressed as a sheriff and riding a dino to represent some of my other interests. All that's missing is a flying saucer shooting at him from above! Maybe next time!

^0^

Cowboys & Dinosaurs?

My first chalking event! Being a member of The CLAW, which was started by a group of guys who met at a weekly chalking gathering, it is amazing and unusual for me to have never done a chalking project before. But this weekend I have finally managed to get to a chalking extravaganza (hosted by the Tacoma Art Museum, btw) and this is the image I managed to create over about 3 hours.

It was a bit overly ambitious--I really should have started smaller, but it worked out OK in the end. And special thanks to fellow CLAW Talon, Mark Monlux for showing the ropes and giving me a ride to the event--and especially for the loan of the charcoal that made the piece pop!

Also, sorry I've been abscent so long from blogging--family stuff and just life got in the way for a bit--but I'm back! Another note--this is probably the largest thing I have ever drawn. I usually work very small.