Crimestopper!

I had no idea that Law Enforcement officers had computer technology back in 1971! I clipped the ad shown below from a LIFE Magazine and it looks similar to a modern Police cruiser. You could retrieve and send info to a database, but no email. I wonder, did all the cops have this?

I'll see you in Court!

I did my duty and sat in the jurors pool. There was a lot of waiting and a few annoying people, but it was pleasent enough. The best part was a short pep talk from a Judge. He spoke about the constitution and trial by jury and why it's important to serve. I agree. I was not selected for a trial, but maybe one day. I mean serve on jury, not as a defendant on trial!

My Back Pages

Anyone who has seen original comic art, may notice more original art behind the front page! I love discovering the unseen sketches. I'm posting some work found on the back of originals. One is by Bret Blevins and he gives a shout out to one of the MARVEL production guys. I don't remember the year, maybe '92 or so. The other is some sketches by John Heebink!

Early Work

Every artist has a really bad early job. This page is one of mine! An 8 page KULL Back-up story in The Savage Sword of Conan. It was normal for Editors back then to pair bad pencilers with excellent inkers and my job was inked by E.R. Cruz. He helped my anatomy and gave depth to my backgronds. I don't have any copies of my pencils, but I think my storytelling holds up well. I hate looking at my old stuff. I keep wanting to re-draw everything.


One more thing, When I started doing BGs for layton he promised that he would ink my first penciling jobs. He never did. The closest he got was this face. I think he got a hold of the story, and for whatever reason, returned it. I guess that's another story.

Tokyopop Rocks

I am posting 3 photos! One has Mike Wellman and myself. Mike wrote a story for Star Trek Manga and I drew a separate story for the book. I'm looking forward to the book signing tour in September! You can see that the convention was hot and I'm a bit sweaty.
I look better with Tricia Hale as I hold her book 'Grand Theft Galaxy'! I should also say that Steve Buccellato has his book out, 'Battle of the Bands'! So many talented people work for Tokypop!

Warm colors!

I found another example of a night scene done in warm colors! It's a photograph but I can see it being reproduced in photoshop. I am trying to color my own work(I haven't gotten past black and white tones yet), but I am keeping an open mind. What do you think?
EDIT_--I should have added this link to an earlier blog posting in April, where I talked about comicbook coloring. color!

Cat Sketch Fever

I am working on a project that involves Cats, Cats and More Cats! This is just a sample.

I can't resist a pretty face!

This is Laura Vandervoort! She will play Supergirl on the next season of 'Smallville'. I don't watch the show because I can't stand seeing Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen and all the other characters they crowbar on the show. Didn't Green Arrow and Aquaman appear on the show? Is Superman even in costume? Will this new Supergirl show up in costume before Clark Kent? Can't stand it!

The Rock is Burning!

I just noticed that movie star and former Pro Wrestler The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), is showing up at media events with burning people. Why are people setting themselves on fire just to meet him?

Westerns are BIG...On Cable TV

I love Westerns! I am still working on the sequel to my GunpowderGirl and the Outlaw Squaw, so I'm aware of the new western movies out there. A film called 3:10 to Yuma will be out in theatres soon. It stars Christian Bale and Russell Crowe and I can't wait to see it! But if I want to catch a new Western movie, all I have to do turn to the nearest Cable station.

Nice blog

I have been digging this blog lately! Check it!

My Favorite Splash

I have done my fair share of splash pages and there have been many artists I admire. This splash page from Web of Spider-Man #94 is a page I can't get over. Penciled by Alex Saviuk, It shows Mary Jane Parker alone in bed and almost falling out of her evening wear. You can see the old-fashioned lettering ON the artwork.

Every time I see Alex, I remember this page. He is the man!

Fan Convention or Job Fair?

Allen Gladfelter posted a comment on yesterday's blog. He wondered if anyone ever actually gets any work after attending a convention. I have a story about that. Archie Goodwin went to a convention, I think it was around Baltimore, and saw some pencil samples that really impressed him. He could not use him, but he recommended the artist to another Editor Carl Potts. The artist was Jim Lee and I remember inking the backgrounds on his first job on Alpha Fight.

My point is that someone with gigantic talent will get noticed, but it's like a lightning strike. These days, there are established pros hitting up the various editors and the newcomers may not get noticed at all. That's why I believe in drawing your own books and becoming a success independently.

I know that conventions are the only way for most people to have any face to face time with an editor. The only place to get a professional review of their art. But the first con was not a job fair. A bunch of geeky comicbook readers got together in the early 70s in a hotel lobby somewhere and talked about comics and sell some back issues. Maybe some invited guests like an artist or actor would show up.

I bring some samples everytime I show up at a convention because I don't have the face time with the editors that I used to have. Do I hope to get more work? Sure. I don't expect lightning to strike.

Final Notes

I hope that you've enjoyed the videos, but I do have a few quick observations on The San Diego Comic Con.

I went to a few panels and noted that the females who indentified themselves as Librarians, had pink hair!

The most popular items at the Con was the enormous, fake Jabba the Hutt Statue and the Yoda Backpack.

Is anyone hiring pencilers? Inkers? Even with all the money soaking up the place, I'm not sure.

My Final Report from Comic-Con!

It's me and the Stormtroopers! They are corrupt and I confront them!

More from San Diego!

I spoke with Simon Furman, the much-in-demand writer of the Transformers Comic! I cornered him on Friday morning!

My Report from Comic-Con!

I am sure you will read many reports from the convention in San Diego this week, but none have the same hard-hitting investigative style that you will find here! I blow the lid off Comic-Con!

Spectacle

In the film Ben-Hur, There's the chariot scene with a cast of thousands. Comic-Con reminds me of that scene.

My Conan Idea

A few years ago, when Dark Horse Comics started printing Conan, I had an idea for a story that I wanted to pitch on spec. I wanted to do it in Gouache and watercolor! I called my friend Vince, an excellent painter! We have collaborated before on a similar project and I wrote a few sample pages. It didn't work out. I sketched a few pages but then I got distracted by another job. I think it would have been fun.

Sketch of the day!

And what is the sketch of the day?

Shorthand for hands

I worked in animation for a few years and I learned a lot. This scan of hand positions was a cool learning tool. It's like a shorthand to drawing hands!

My little Garden

I have a little garden that I am proud of. it's more like a few pots on a fence. My friend Cat gave me a Strawberry plant that I was able to nurture, and now it's bearing fruit! I love watching things grow.

The Secret Defenders and Me

I came across a blog that talked about Tom Grindberg and his work on an issue of The Secret Defenders. That book was about Dr.Strange and his efforts to gather different heroes to combat evil. It was an early 90's attempt to bring back the old Defenders group, but with a twist! It was a good idea. I was there at the beginning.

Mike Rockwitz was Editor of the book. I was the regular inker of another book he was editing, Nick Fury, Agent of Shield and he wanted me to jump to SD. I was all for doing it, but I wanted to ink the final issue of Shield. I felt that I could do both jobs, but I wasn't given a choice.

When I got the first issue of The Secret Defenders, I was disappointed with the pencils. The penciler was just starting out and I could see that he was using a lot of 'swipe' shots insted of doing the hard work. The figures looked awkward and if you take a look at the 7th issue of the book, you will see some strange Michael Golden swipes. I'm no snob, I believe in photo reference and research and doing as little work as possible. I also believe in quality control.

So anyway, The Secret Defenders sold well in the beginning. But things went south and the penciler fell out of favor. Tom Grindbergs' art had been floating around the office for a little while. I had inked an 8 page Beta Ray Bill story that Tom drew in a "Magnola-esqe" style. He put in some powerful lines and it was different! I inked Tom on a few books. Daredevil, Spidey 2099 and a great looking story about MORG, a herald for Galactus. I remember him changing his art style constantly!
My opinion is he would change to whatever style that would get him work. Not a bad thing per se, but you would see a difference every two issues. From a Neal Adams style to a Mignola style to a mix of both. I think I was able to keep up and I wound up working with him for a while.

My favorite SD story was issue 14. It was the last of a 3 issue story arc that featured 4 villains deceived by Thanos. They were sent to steal a powerful item, then Thanos strands them to take the blame. Nice story by Ron Marz.

The book changed editors. New direction and all that. The new editor wanted me to stay on, but there were other jobs to do. I helped ink half of issue 18, but it was over another new penciller. I did my best to help out. Take a look at the pencils next to the inks.

Check out the above link to read the discussion about The Secret Defenders #9. Someone made a comment about my inking and I thought it was unfair. That guy has no idea.

Changing City

I picked up an old Life magazine and I saw this photo essay on crime in the city. The mag was from November 1971 and the writer spent some time with people living on East 78th in Manhattan. Crime was so bad back then, the residents were afraid to leave the apartment. Things would only get worse.

I remember playing softball in Central Park in the early 90s. The team would head to the eastside around 86th st. to hang out and get an after game bite. I never felt like the city was on lock down at all. It seems like the city was as grey as the photos in LIFE shows. If there were any bad people on 78th street, I hope the high rents got rid of them.

Harry Potter

Today was a good day. I bought a set of new tires for the car, had a nice brunch in Santa Monica complete with people watching and I saw the latest Harry Potter film. I enjoyed it! No spoilers here, but I will say that it's darker than the previous films. As for darker I noticed something about the actor Daniel Radcliffe.

As he grows up, I see fewer photos of him with the rest of the cast. No more shots of him with a stupid owl. For example, here are two magazine covers. The Entertainment Weekly has Radcliffe in his movie outfit, but with a menacing kind of light above and behind him. The Details Magazine has brighter light, but that facial hair says no good brother-in-law that won't get a job.

I guess Warner Bros. is trying to sell a movie about wizards again. It worked with me!

iTunes

There was a TV show about Les Paul, the Jazz guitarist. After the show I bought some of his music from iTunes. Buying music online is a little too easy.

Underdog Bites

I got something in the mail from Disney. It's just a postcard advertising their latest movie playing at the El Capitan Theatre. It's a great place to see a film for sure, but I have no interest in seeing the next film opening in August.

Underdog opens Aug. 3rd. It's a live action film based on the cartoon series from the 1960s. The cartoon was kinda funny, why they need to make a movie about it, who knows. The hero would fly and fight crime and everything else, but when he would get in a bind or lose his power, he would open a compartment in his ring and pop a special pill to restore his strength!

Pop a pill to restore his strength? It would happen in every show and that's probably why you can find it on TV anymore. It was not so strange for that era in animation when The Flintstones sold cigarettes and Racial stereotypes on Saturday Morning shows were normal.

My beef with the movie is that there won't be any ring on the dogs hand. That's bogus! You would think Disney would show a few cartoons before the movie. Instead, they have some woman and her stunt dog.

Come on Disney!

Online Shopping

I have been buying a lot of stuff online lately. It started with Banana Republic. Once I got used to my slacks arriving 3 days later than promised, it was a cinch. Then it was ITunes. Looking for 'Jeff Becks 'Bolero'? It's only 99 cents! It was easy to buy 'Battle of the Bands' on Amazon. Now I hold in my hands another Amazon purchase. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin!

I must have been a kid when I first saw this flick on a Saturday. Before Cable TV, the local NY station would play Kung-Fu movies all day. When I found out about the restored movie on sale, I had to get it. I won't ruin the ending, but I'll tell you that the good guys win!

Lucky Day

I thought that I might be off of work these last few days. No such luck. I think it's the awkward wednesday holiday. I flirted with the idea of going to Las Vegas this weekend because of the once in a century day this Sat.

7-7-7! Can you believe it? How can anyone not make a bet today? I know that the streets will be clogged with wedding processions, so maybe it's best to stay out of Vegas. Oh boy...I gotta get lucky today!

Burbank Kwik E Mart

Today I visited a Burbank 7-Eleven store that was transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart for the day! I love the power that advertising wields, so I waited 10 minutes to enter. They offered Simpsons inspired products like Buzz Cola and Squishee Drinks at a 7-Eleven price! It was a great idea to promote The Simpsons movie and I bought into it! I don't know if there are any such Kwik-E-Mart stores near you, but if you see one, stop in.

Membership

it's been a while since I've worked in Animation. I prefer the creative freedom of drawing comics, but every now and again I'll check the Animation Guild Blog.

Heroes are in Fashion!

These photos are from Paris Fashion Week. The designer, Felipe Olievira Baptista, has been influenced by comics. My question is for the ladies; would you wear this on the street? Am I missing the point to Haute Couture?

Pink Taco

There is a new place to hang out in LA. I remember going to the Pink Taco restaurant in Las Vegas. I caught a quick bite in the Hard Rock Casino inbetween Blackjack games. Now there is a new Pink Taco, located in Century City! It just opened, so I'll visit soon.

I found the concept drawing in a magazine and it's close to the finished bar. Except the finished bar has a lot more pink.

Back to Greenpoint!

When I visited NYC earlier this year, I made a point to go back to Greenpoint. I shared a place with two other guys and it was cool. One of the roomies like to make films and he got a bunch of his friends, including me, to act in his photoplays. If you are not familiar with Greenpoint, Brooklyn, it's an old neighborhood on the East River. It had a harbor that once built ships for the Union Army in the Civil War. So, as an old port, it has a lot of old buildings. Those old buildings made some great scenery for movie making!

Like I said, I was an actor in my roomates 'movie'. It was on VHS, so I don't think you will see it in Cannes anytime soon. It was fun and I was so impressed by this location, I returned a few days later to shoot a sepia snapshot of the corner. It's the corner of West st. and Oak st. in 1989.

Twelve years later, I go back to the scene of the crime and I find out that one of the warehouses in the old photo was burned down. Some thieves used fire to help strip the copper wire from the building. I read that the fire was pretty big. I'm sorry I missed it.

Like I said, My friend got some good shots of the location. Maybe one day he'll transfer the tapes to DVD.

Time to hang out

Now that the story is done, I can hang out with my homies on the bridge.

Actually this is a photo from a party at Paramount studios at Stage 14.

Star Trek Art

This is a sample of the work I'm doing for the Star Trek Manga. The final BW tone is being done by The Bucce and I look forward to seeing the final art!

A Job...well it's Done

I am no stranger to a job taking longer than expected. There was a job I did for Jazzercise that put me over the edge...that's a long story as well. But this job I'm working on for TokyoPop is finished! Good thing too, because I was starting to lose weight worrying about the deadline.

Now that I have handed over the pages, I can start a to-do list. There was no such list for the last month or so because I was consumed with the job. Now that I have more time, this is what's on the agenda.

San Diego Con. So much to prepare for San Diego!

Still Wondering.

Another photo from the Daytime Emmy Awards. I guess Lisa Renna is a Soap-Opera star and Elmo is a star from his toys and Children's programming. It makes sense that they would be seen on the red carpet together. I only hope they are not dating.

Pretty Face

It's been along day Inking Star Trek Manga. I have just enough energy to post a photo of Marcy Rylan. A Soap Opera actress. She was at the 34th Annual Daytime EMMY Awards in LA recently.

Raising a Family

My Friend Jose Marzan just sent me photos of his newborn baby boy. It's been a stressful day, but that email link to his photo gallery perked me up. I've known Jose since High School and he started Inking Backgrounds as a senior. I was so jealous! Now he and his wife have a beautiful baby. Now I'm so happy for him.

UPDATE...This is a photo of Jose back when he lived in NYC. He moved to FLA a while ago. I think that Florida is a great place to raise a family; except when it's hurricane season.

Where are these Cougars?

I read an article about Cougars at NYTimes.com. There seems to be an increase of TV shows with sexier, single older women. Older Actresses portraying professional women on the prowl! Only on TV! Where are these prowling Cougars? Do they only date younger men?

I'm looking for a 40 year old professional female to date. Do I have to take an acting class? I'm just sayin...

I read The Onion

The Onion 'Newspaper' has an article about "5 wonderfully weird moments from Fantastic Four comics". I saw the headline and thought that it was some snarky, sarcastic humor piece. How could they insult my favorite Super Team? Then I read it and realized that they were right. Now you read it! Onion.com

Iron Man

I caught this snapshot in a magazine. This photo in addition to the great casting I hear about. It makes me want to see the film in 2008!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.

Unseen Alan Weiss

As you may know, I am a big fan of the work of Alan Weiss. He puts a lot into every page he pencils and it shows. I don't remember when I came across the art I've posted here. I do know that it was drawn by A. Weiss after his stint on The Avengers in the mid-Eighties.

Weiss draws the Sub-Mariner entering a colorful, swabby bar and I guess the locals pick a fight. He lays out the storytelling in notes on the bottom of the page. This stuff looks like so much fun to ink, and I think I might have lightboxed a page to ink for practice a few years ago.

He did not finish the story. Only 5 pages were done and the fifth page is incomplete. He could have handed over the pages to the Editor of the book at the time, and they sat around the Marvel office. That's how I saw them. These are some beautiful pages and i wish I knew the whole story. If someone can shed some light, let me know!

Old fashioned

I am inking my Star Trek story and I find myself using a variety of pen points. I even went to the old Esterbrooks. For those unfamiliar with this type of nib, It's a steel pen point that you dip in your choice of black ink. It's a pen and ink point used by all kinds of old school inkers. If memory serves me, I bought 2 boxes from J. Rubinstein a long time ago. There were so many in the boxes, I wondered if I would ever use them all! Now I am so glad I made the investment.

R. Esterbrook 600-School, steel pen points. Maybe the same type Frank Giacoia used! They don't make them like that anymore.

Star Trek Art

For my 300th post, I will post a page from the Star Trek Manga I am working on!

Let's have some laughs

Comic Conventions used to be a lot of fun! Mark Gruenwald used to enlist a bunch of MARVEl regulars in his Convention skits way back when. These shots were printed in Marvel Age Magazine in 1992. Can you believe that I was Capt. America?

Hey! That was 15 years ago!

Let's draw Jeannie

It might have been 6 or 7 years ago when I did a few tryout sketches for an 'I Dream of Jeannie' Comic Book. I forget what company published it, but they didn't go for my version of what it could look like. Oh well.

Pretty Horse

As I fan of Western comics, I can appreciate a good horse.

Robots

This month, Mass Appeal magazine is all about the history of TRANSFORMERS! The toys, the fans of the toys and of course, the comics. There are interviews with the comicbook Editor Bob Budiansky and Writer Simon Furman, but no interview with Editor Rob Tokar! I hope that Rob is not missing out on the TRANSFORMER bandwagon. This movie coming out might rain a few bucks on anyone associated with it.

Do not fear PUFNSTUF

A friend said recently that he had gotten the HR Pufnstuf Complete Series on DVD. The Sid and Marty Krofft TV show from the 70s known for it's freaky characters. My friend mentioned that although he's had it for a while, he could not bring himself to watch it. That the show scared him! What's that? Frightened by a Saturday morning kids show? I remember watching reruns of the show but I could not understand what might have affected him so.

I asked if I could borrow the DVD set. I know the show was freaky, but maybe I could figure out what was so frightening.
Yep. I figured it out.

The opening credits show the beautiful young boy Jimmy running around and playing with his flute. A magic flute he calls Freddy. A boat appears on the shore, the boy and his flute climb aboard and the the seas get rough. The boat was really a trap! It seems like there's a witch interested in Jimmy's flute. Witchiepoo is working herself into a frenzy and can wait to put her hands around Freddy! The pair escape the evil boat and are rescued by HR Pufnstuf. HR Pufnstuf is the Mayor of Living Island, A freaky fellow with a strange accent and bags under his eyes.

After jimmy dries his clothes while in Pufnstufs' home, Freddy the Flute cries out, "Jimmy, squeeze the water out of me or I'll go rusty!" The dripping flute is a suggestive visual. Knowing that need help against the aggressive, dramatic Witchiepoo, the threesome head to Doctor Blinky for some protection. At one point in the second episode, there is a shot of the Magic Flute sticking out of Jimmys' pants. Don't you all get the hint?

I'm sure that the Krofft brothers were only trying to create some groovy, early seventies entertainment. But when you look at the subtext of the show, it's scary. Witchiepoo is the only Woman on Living Island. An Island filled with strange Male creatures. The creatures want to befriend Jimmy and his incredible flute, The Crazy old Witchiepoo wants to grab his Freddy and this underage boy only wants to escape this strange Island with his flute in his pants.

If you are a kid watching this show for the first time, you could enjoy the lame jokes and wacky makeup. But if you are an adult you may see the show for what it really is. You could be frightened for poor Jimmy and his Magic Flute.