Sketch of the day

And what is the sketch of the day?

Time to drink!

My local comic shop does not carry CRACKED Magazine. It does not mean that it has stopped publishing! Look at the aggressive AD Promotion going on in the bars! They are looking for the over 21 demographic, and I have taken notice.

My Weekend

I planned a trip to NYC to spend some time with a friend, D.K. I didn't call any other friends to hang out, so I apologize to anyone I did not see over the weekend. It was a coincidence that there was all kinds of Comic book related action going on during my visit! I can't recap the entire weekend, so here are a few high points!

I went to the Illustration House early Friday with D.K. I found out that they were offering some Michael Golden art for sale, and I wanted to see if any of it was in my price range. I was out of luck. The Golden cover on the flyer was listed at $6,500 and the beautiful Alex Ross paintings in the photo were listed at $115,000. Wow.

The New York Convention took place at the Jacob Javits center starting Friday. D.K. does not work in Comics, but she was into seeing what went on at such a place. We stopped by the Con and It was a lot cooler than what I expected. It was a mess last year, but very nice this year. There were so many people that I haven't seen in years! D.K. was impressed by my old school Marvel background and she even bought a bunch of books!

I had some excellent meals and travelled around the changing city. There's a place in Tribeca called Dylan Prime that serves a nice steak. D.K. and I also ate some Korean Fried chicken on 35th Street!

On Saturday, I returned to the Con and hung out with my friend Rob. He had a booth with Tokyo Pop but we walked around the show. The original art prices are just as ridiculous.

NYC was cold and windy. My trip there was fun and relaxing!

Revisions!

I am working on my Western book and I'm taking time to streamline a few pages. The top panel shows our hero Anuteh in an old West kitchen. It's a messy place with a lot of activity going on. The top panel was the original and the bottom is the revision. I made the change for a few rew reasons.

I wanted to show that Anuteh is covered in blood and grease from working in the kitchen. The top panel has her in a patterned dress that is just too busy. Plus the BG has too much going on. Anuteh is in the center, but she gets lost within the details of the room.

In the lower panel I wanted to show how she would have become so messy. Skinning rabbits or cleaning game. The kitchen staff back then got dirty. Also, I left out the Bg wallpaper pattern and put the focus on Anuteh. The lamp in the upper left gives the colorist something to work with.

So I will keep working! I hope to be finished with the entire story and have it out this year.

My new Ipod!

I have had an ipod mini for a long time now. I bought a bunch for Christmas gifts a few years ago. I kept one for myself, But I never considered using it until recently. The blathering at work made listening to my own music a lot more appealing, so I took time out to download some tunes.

I love my Ipod mini! It's easy to use and I was able to upload some songs and get rid of old CDs. But some guys at work told me not to throw out the CDs in case my computer crashes. That's the reason for using ITunes and my Ipod! Less CDs! I am happy to get rid of the discs with one good song and ten crappy ones.

Yesterday, the cassette tapes went, now the CDs are on the chopping block.

Ebay

So I blogged about the Kotzky daily page on Ebay. I guess I wasn't the only guy watching it. I did not get it. The final bid was $130.00. That's a reasonable price.
Maybe next time!

Original art

I am brousing the EBAY original art listings and I am saddened by the high prices! The was one guy listing a blank page for $200 Dollars. Has the Original comic art market gone crazy? I understand if you have a nice piece and you want to make a profit, but some of that stuff is ridiculous! By contrast, I found some excellent Newspaper Comic strip art, that could be bought for 50 bucks or less. The drawing above is from an Apt. 3G daily strip. Drawn by Alex Kotzky. Excellent work and within my budget!

What bomb scare?

I must admit, I am pleased to hear that a Cartoon Network VP was fired over the marketing stunt gone wrong. When I read the first report on Friday, I thought that someone has taken the mistake in marketing seriously.

I know that the report said 'resignation' but when you leave at 5:00 on Friday, I say 'Firing'. My point is the removal shows that the corporation that owns Cartoon Network is taking responsibilty for the mistake.

I think I would be a mean boss.

New from TESHKEEL!

Have you bought the latest issue of The 99? If you have not, this is what you should look for. I recently did some work for TESHKEEL Comics and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Reference part 3

Let's say you are drawing a story, and the main character has to carry the unconscious love interest to safety. So now you have to draw some guy lifting a girl. Do you look for a couple to pose for you while you sketch it out? No! Go to you Reference File! Love love my magazines and over the years, I have been able to clip some useful shots.

Need a hotel room?

It's that time of year! I tried getting a hotel room in San Diego for the Comic-Con and guess what happened? I got a room. It was harder than ever to do, but I did it. I started the speed dialing at 8:59 and I got the booking agency at 9:44! I stayed on hold until 10:02. I booked my acommodations at 10:15. Thank goodness I took the day off from work. I talked about the lack of hotel rooms last year on this blog and I hoped that more hotels would be available. It seems like just enough rooms were available.

Reference part 2

Yesterday I talked about reference and how to use it. In this post, I show it in practical use. In the Kolchack book, I had to draw the character in a plane going home. The tough thing about drawing the inside of a airplane are the seats! The shape of the seats are kind of odd. I was lucky to find the right ref for the interior of a jet. This really isn't some kind of industry secret. Every artist should know how to look for and use background and location reference.

Reference and how to use it

Allen Gladfelter has a neat post on hisblog about drawing locations. If you've never lived in NYC, a place like Grays' Papaya or Central Park can seem as exotic as the Valley of the Kings in Egypt ( I should say that I've never been to the Valley of the Kings!).
Allen really got his locations right on the money using the right reference. His script said New York and he did his homework.

I recently drew an issue of Kolchak, The Night-Stalker where the writer put a scene in a Motel room. He described it as an older place, Clean but with furnishings from the Carter Administration. Sounds simple enough, but If you fake it, people notice. I am a big fan of reading Magazines and I was able to dig up some excellent reference. Everybody should have a reference file and having it made my job easier.

Bad day

I had the most tiresome day dealing with the most tiresome person. I had to do some Storyboard work to day and the lady I dealt with could not figure her way out of a unlocked room if she had a map and a guide dog. I'm just tired and venting. The upside is tommorrow is the Big Game! Footballs' season ending show in FLA!

Brenda Starr by Joe Kubert

Brook Shields starred in the movie adaption of the newspaper strip Brenda Starr! It was part of a wave of comicbook movies that came out in the 80s. Films like Popeye, Supergirl and The Conan movies. Some were excellent and some were never seen again. The Brenda Starr film disappeared but this piece of artwork remains. It looks like the plot of the film in 12 panels. Drawn by J. Kubert, he does a great Brenda Starr!