| Con Sketches |
[May. 10th, 2008|08:44 pm] |
Ha ha -- I just did some ego-surfing and found these two convention sketches:
It's fun to encounter my convention sketches online. I can't make copies onsite, so once the original leaves my hands, I usually never see 'em again. |
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| Ah, women. |
[May. 10th, 2008|11:46 am] |
From 1961:
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| Portfolio review. |
[May. 2nd, 2008|01:13 am] |
This fella recently expressed interest in receiving crits of a recent batch of three Ms. Marvel sample pages (displayed at the linked page) which he'd sent to Marvel. I offered him several pointers here, and it occurred to me that several of the tips might be of use to any aspiring penciller, so I'm linking to the thread.
If you're planning to show your stuff to mainstream editors, do take note. My lessons were hard-earned! |
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| Yet more Kane. |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|01:33 am] |
(Still haven't gotten around to enabling my other webspace, so hopefully these geocities images will hold up. If not, please tune in again later!)
BTW, I'll be tabling at Stumptown Comics Fest both days this weekend, and appearing on the Periscope Studio panel on Sunday. Hope to see some of you there! |
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| Solomon Kane revisited |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|06:04 pm] |
A recent pin-up (sorry to hit some of you twice with this):
And another, behind the cut. ( NSFW -- gory. ) |
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| DAVE STEVENS: An Appreciation |
[Mar. 13th, 2008|07:52 am] |
Artist Dave Stevens died of cancer the other day, at the age of 52. As is often the case when we lose a great talent, his passing prompted many to consider what they value in his work. Here are a few things I value about the work of Dave Stevens. ( Read more... ) |
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[Feb. 14th, 2008|08:34 am] |
"Tell me about the rabbits again, Kermit." |
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| Nicolas Bentley: Master Cartoonist |
[Feb. 7th, 2008|03:22 am] |
Cartoonist Jeffery Meyer has generously scanned numerous illustrations by Nicolas Bentley, and posted them at his site.
Bentley was a British cartoonist who was active in the mid-20th Century. He's little-known in the States; I only discovered his work while browsing a used bookstore in the UK. Which is a shame, because for sheer drawing, I rank him among the very best. Fans of such artists as Toth, Herge, Barton, Hirschfeld, or Gluyas Williams should check him out.
http://www.goofbutton.com/2008/02/nicolas_bentley_how_to_scrape.html |
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| Your pants are not a holster. |
[Jan. 16th, 2008|07:38 am] |
This is all over the news:
"Police said the man, whom they identified as 25-year-old Derrick Kosch, grabbed the bag full of cash and fled the store.
"In-store surveillance cameras showed that Kosch shot himself as he placed the gun into the waistband of his pants, police said.
"The bullet traveled through his right testicle ... and then into the bottom part of his leg," Kokomo police Lt. Don Whitehead said.
It resembles this other story, from a couple of years ago:
"The man had just stuck the gun back into his waistband when it fired, shooting him in the left testicle. He cringed, causing the gun to fire again and strike him in the left calf."
I've always wondered, upon seeing movie heroes stick guns in their waistbands, whether that could result in severe testicular damage. Now I know! |
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| Making the American MANGA sauce, and the Ministry of secretly being in love. |
[Jan. 11th, 2008|02:37 pm] |
Positive reviews for GOOD AS LILY have continued to roll in over the past few months ("Hamm's black, white, and gray artwork is lively, witty, and full of appropriate comedy and melodrama," says Booklist), but most of them cover similar ground, so I chose not to bore you with them. However, I ran these two foreign reviews through Google Translator, and the results were charming enough to share.
From a Japanese review:
"Korean-American high school student, Grace. Prestigious university education to be decided talented woman. Drama teacher adviser to the Ministry of secretly being in love, a lovely part of it. That her 18-year-old birthday night, strange things happen. His 6-year-old and his 29-year-old and his 70-year-old appeared at the same time. Greatly embarrassed, but they also can not ignore the IKAZU, Grace is three to live with it was a….
"Romantic comedy masterpiece academy. Derek Kirk Kim's script is plenty. The tempo is lightweight. Expression is plain. Psychological portrayal of the characters is very. Each one of happiness were also seized one and Grace fadeaway oh, the beautiful ghost stories. 'Lily' figure will be revealed in KUDARI have a quiet. Precise configuration also impressive.
"Jesse Hamm expressive paintings are also very attractive. The first is 'oriental look too stressed,' I thought, but after a practiced eye to look at the people around him is certainly a way to get description, and surprised.
"This 2007 film is one of the biggest harvest I think.
From a French review:
"The publications MINX, DC last attempt to attract readers not really passionate about superheroes since its inception has given rise to publications of good quality. Under no circumstances shall an attempt to make the American MANGA sauce, these little booklets are aimed at an audience magnet GIRLY stories with a tone decidedly independent. Okay, the main characters of half the stories are usually girls, from Korea (two comics out of four) but it is the only common denominator we can find with MANGA.
"So GOOD AS LILY, this time with a girl, GRACE KWON (original Korean!) Who sees on his birthday landed three versions of itself at different ages, the girl child, women and the grandmother.( Read more behind the cut. )
"Very good again, a very good way to enjoy the independence of people who have never read.
The French reviewer was also good enough to grant us four dancing broccolis:
Finally, in the interest of posting more art, here's a recent prelim of mine for an illustration of a can of baby formula. Maybe this'll kick off a baby formula meme!
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| MISSPELLERS' PERSEVERANCE |
[Dec. 31st, 2007|08:18 am] |
Dictionaries failed.
Spell-checker, too; same reason.
You ignored them both. |
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| Blast From The Past |
[Dec. 29th, 2007|03:41 pm] |
I just noticed that there aren't "oodles of doodles" on this blog. There's barely trickles of doodles!
The sad fact is that most of the artwork I'm doing these days either can't be shown for proprietary reasons (which covers all the fun stuff!), or involves subjects that don't make for fun blogging (such as depictions of people dying of AIDS, instructions for condom usage, or women examining their menstrual cloths in latrines). I believe in this kind of work and the good it can do, but it's what you might call NSFP -- "not safe for play."
Hopefully I'll get a chance to post more recreational stuff in the coming weeks. For now, here's a piece I just ran across that I drew several years ago, for a book on extinct giants that I think was never published:
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| ROM! |
[Dec. 28th, 2007|06:19 am] |
I recently participated in an art show to benefit former comics writer Bill Mantlo.
Bill was injured in a hit and run accident 15 years ago. Severe brain injuries left him without motor functions, and he will live the rest of his life in a brain damage institute. Bill wrote a lot of Marvel comics during the '80s, including the complete run of ROM: SPACEKNIGHT, so retailer Jason Leivian organized the benefit show at his comic shop as a "thank you" to Bill for all those stories, and to help alleviate the financial burden on Bill's brother and caregiver, Mike.
Bidding for the artwork has continued online at ebay, but the auctions end today. Linked below is Jason's website, where you'll see pictures of each original piece, plus more details about the benefit. Each artist's name links to the respective ebay auction:
http://www.floatingworldcomics.com/main/
Here's my piece (click on it to reach the auction):
Making Rom look cool is surprisingly hard, but a few artists came up with some real winners. My favorites are probably Jonathan Case's and Steve Lieber's. (The fact that they're my studio-mates did nothing to sway my opinion!) |
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| Yo Ho Ho! |
[Dec. 24th, 2007|11:58 pm] |
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| Jesse Marsh |
[Nov. 6th, 2007|04:24 am] |
I was planning to feature more advice from '20s cartoonists, but demand has been low, and anyway they all pretty much recommend the same thing: practice. (I'd argue that most comic strips show practice to be overrated -- *cough* -- and that the secret of improvement lies elsewhere, but that's another post.)
So instead, I'm resurrecting some material I once wrote (at my long-defunct Jesse Marsh site) about the fairly great and fairly obscure cartoonist, Jesse Marsh. His Tarzan stories will be reprinted soon -- lushly, deservedly, and for the first time -- by Dark Horse. As a preliminary, allow me to prattle on about
JESSE MARSH'S TARZAN( Read more... ) |
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| "Tell 'Em Large Marge Sent Ya!" |
[Nov. 4th, 2007|12:14 pm] |
I used to live in California's Central Valley. Every autumn there, the tule fog -- named for the tule reeds among which it lingers -- rolls in off the delta, blanketing the region like the low-lying mists of a classic horror film. To wander in that fog felt like you were going back in time, or to some purgatory for lost souls. It was as though a soundproof bowl of solid white hovered over you, wiping out everything beyond a few yards in any direction.
Highway 99 is one of the two main throughways of the Central Valley, and I can recall the stress of driving on that highway when the fog was in. The locals, having grown used to the fog, commonly refused to slow down when visibility was nil. I'd enter the highway, discover that I could barely see beyond a few yards, and then almost be struck from behind by vehicles roaring past at 50 or 60 miles per hour. They'd rocket along as though no obstruction could possibly occupy that white wall of mist. The only solution was to let someone pass you, and follow his dim tail-lights, relying on his car for an early-warning system: if you hear a crash, you have 3 seconds more warning than he did before he plowed into the rear of a semi. Then you must squeeze past the collision before everyone behind you catches up.
The solution above isn't foolproof, as travelers discovered yesterday when a hundred vehicles smashed into each other on Hwy 99. "There was probably two-foot visibility in the fog when I got here," said a spokesman for the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "It looked like chaos. Cars were backed up on top of each other." The same article adds that the freeway was littered with "auto parts and blood."
Like most tragedies, this is what comes from many years of living dangerously. |
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| Permit me a Chuck Barris moment. |
[Oct. 15th, 2007|02:40 am] |
I envision a reality show in which 6 Canadian cartoonists collaborate on a graphic novel. Their names are:
*Lynn Johnston
*Joe Matt
*Todd McFarlane
*Seth
*John Byrne
*Dave Sim
Please, please make this happen. This is my Christmas wish. |
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| New Poster Art |
[Sep. 22nd, 2007|11:50 pm] |
A poster I just did for a show sponsored by Sufjan Stevens's label, plus the modified/lettered version that will see print:
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| Bud Fisher's Advice. |
[Sep. 21st, 2007|09:50 am] |
Bud Fisher, creator of Mutt & Jeff, is the current entry on our roster of cartooning bigwigs of the '20s who replied to Clare Briggs' questionnaire. Fisher's answers are brief, so I'll transcribe 'em below (in tandem with Briggs' questions, in blue), and follow them up with a page about Fisher's colorful life, from R.C. Harvey's entertaining and informative book, The Art of the Funnies.
1. What do you consider the greatest contributing factor to your success?
"I will have to say 'Ambition.'"
2. How much importance do you attach to an art education where the student intends to adopt cartooning as a profession?
"I will answer, 'Very little' except, 'Self-education.' I have never seen an artist educated in model-drawing much of a success in cartooning. As a professional, I am inclined to think that most people desiring to be cartoonists attach more importance to the drawing than they do to the humor."
3. What is your opinion of the average correspondence school?
"My answer is 'Nil.'"
4. How did you get your start?
"By camping on the doorsteps of all the art departments in San Francisco."
5. What general rule or advice would you give to the average beginner?
"To practice constantly and remember that humor goes further than a pretty drawing as far as cartoonists are concerned."
Now for some background about Fisher, from The Art of the Funnies:
Harvey goes on to describe Fisher buying a stable of racehorses, nightclubbing with beautiful showgirls, driving around in a Rolls Royce, marrying a countess he met on a voyage home from France (and divorcing her 4 months later), relocating whole rooms from European estates to his posh New York digs, relying on assistants to do most of his cartooning, and ending up in a lonely, squalid, Howard Hughes-like existence after alienating most of his friends and colleagues. When I think of his profligate cartoonist lifestyle, I can't help but recall this B. Kliban cartoon, which in Fisher's case was probably closer to the truth than Kliban intended:
See y'all next time! |
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| Such A Day. |
[Sep. 19th, 2007|05:41 am] |
Among the most tersely evocative paragraphs in the English language is the following, reportedly an entry in the log of the notorious Captain Blackbeard:
"Such a Day, Rum all out: — Our Company somewhat sober: — A Damn'd Confusion amongst us! — Rogues a plotting; — great Talk of Separation. — So I look'd sharp for a Prize; — such a Day, took one, with a great deal of Liquor on Board, so kept the Company hot, damn'd hot, then all Things went well again."
So begins International Talk Like A Pirate Day!
But it doesn't end with Blackbeard: the accent we've come to identify with pirates came two centuries later, in a salty performance by actor Robert Newton as the peg-legged, pop-eyed, parrot-wearing Long John Silver, in Disney's 1950 Treasure Island. Newton's performance as the film's most memorable character is distinguished by a roughened version of his native Cornish accent. The piratical "Arr, matey!" comes to us from that performance. Newton wasn't the first to link piracy with Cornwall (Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance takes place in that region, and Cornwall's position at Britain's southwest peninsula made it a likely pirate haven), but his growled Cornish brogue has become the definitive voice of piracy. Tender and villainous by turns, Newton's Silver is not only the archetypal pirate but a marvelous character study, and Treasure Island remains my favorite pirate movie. So go out'n'rent it, me hearties, and mimic such lines as:
- "So be it! But afore an hour's out, ye'll be beggin' 'elp from me. Them that die'll be the lucky ones."
- "Sit ee down at table to starboard if ye kindly will, aaaaaarrrrrrrrr."
- "Well, blow me down for an old sea carf."
- "You're a smart one, Jim, smart as paint you are."
- (to his parrot)"Ain't you the pretty one, swearin' blue fire in front of a gentleman."
- "There'll be no killin' till I gives the word."
- "When the thirst is on 'e, hahahahah, bite into a pippin (apple) real savage. Hahahahah. It staves off the desire."
- "'Try reasonin' first,' says I. I never was one to see poor seamen shot down needlesslike."
- "Truce be over! Cutlasses, you swabs! Slash 'em down!"
- "Come back 'ere, you lubberly turks. Oh, for ten toes!"
- "Avast! ... Shove me off or, by the powers, you'll get what I gave George Merry!"
- "I thinks gold dust o' this 'ere boy. I took to 'im like pitch."
- "You couldn't say more, not if you was my mother!"
- "You're a good man, Doctor. I never seen a better. And I'd 'ate t' see the likes o' you skewered on the end of a pike."
- "Poor rovin' seamen the likes o' you needs every scrap o' scripture 'e can get."
Quotes courtesy this fine Robert Newton page. Don't miss the biographical essay! Among other interesting trivia recounted there is the fact that Newton's great-grandfather co-founded the Winsor & Newton art supply company -- maker of the most popular brush used for inking comics.
It's also interesting to note that Blackbeard's log entry was recorded -- perhaps even invented -- by a biographer of pirates whom many suspect was a pseudonymous Robert Louis Stevenson -- also the author of Treasure Island.
P.S. If you've already seen your fill of Treasure Island, be sure to check out Newton as a much younger, more handsome pirate in Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn, opposite a teenaged Maureen O'Hara! |
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