Just finished the little thumbnails for the Samurai Jack 4pager. A lot of action, a lot of cutting of robots that I gotta say I pretty much cheated on by not showing the whole thing. Then again, Jack is supposed to be hidden till Page 4. Revel in it's scribbly glory!
The kid, who's the narrator of this tale I was thinking of making some sort of fishboy, but I'm not sure if that's really going to work. Plus, I'd have to make everyone fishpeople then. Maybe I'll make em catpeople, that'll get me in with the Furries...uh, wait. Scratch that...
San Diego has us listed in the Artist Alley at EE08 and EE09, which in the picture should be about where the red box is, I think. The PDF I took it from wasn't too clear. Cya there!
I'm currently mulling over the LSH ref pack I got for the issue I'm penciling. It looks like they changed the designs abit from the first season, so I'm not sure what we're using.
Yes, Doomsday is approaching. That pesky lil' con called SDCC, and I continue to get stuff ready for it. I put a batch of last year's Sketchbook (The Good, The Bod, and the Undies) together; just have to cut the ends off. I'll probably do another batch tomorrow.
I did finally get around to the last take-home sketch from last SDCC. Bubbles racing the Roadrunner. Sometimes I get annoyed that I just don't have the right shade of color I'm looking for, so I have to wing it and try out different things to kinda make it work. But it's done and I can get on to other things.
I'm definitely not going to get anything new done for the con. I currently have 2 stories on my desk to do: 1) a Samurai Jack 4 pager, and 2) a Legion of Super Heroes (cartoon version) issue to pencil. Yes! That's right doin' some LSH. :p Since I haven't really watched the show, it'll be interesting to see if I can turn it around in the time Harvey wants. I'm expecting some comics and reference this afternoon. All of this is due in mid-August. O_O
Well, San Diego Comic Con is coming up fast. Not sure what I'm going to be able to get done that's new for the con. A sketchbook is out of the question, so last year's will have to do. I'm thinking of bringing out alot more original art and cutting back on the comics. We'll see...
I'm actually catching up on some "take home" sketches from last SDCC. One is of a girl named Louise from Zero no Tsukaima, kind of like a Ah! My Goddess meets Harry Potter. I've never seen the show, but I was given a pic to essentially copy, just taking off her shoe and putting in the windows. Below you can see the inks and then the colors. Hopefully I can get the other late sketch done then on to maybe a new PPG print... Again, all up in the air.
Now that I got the stuff that's come out done, here's a page for an upcoming Samurai Jack story to be appearing in some CN comic, sometime. (I'll try to nail the issue and date down).
The story is called Samurai Mack, written by Jim Alexander, and it's 6 pages. Jack is rescued from a frozen death and meets a couple of scientists with a Jack of their own!
Okay, it's also been a while since I've updated what's been published. I helped out with inking duties on World of Warcraft #5 (5 pages), and #7 (9 pages) over penciller Ludo Lullabi. Nice stuff, tight, but a little sparse, 'cept when he does backgrounds, then there's some gorgeous scenery to work on. Hopefully you
won't be able to tell the difference between my work and what Sandra Hope did. :P I am actually credited for inks in WoW #6 but I didn't do anything in that issue. My apologies to the other inker.
More on the kiddie book side, Super Friends #3 is finally out with full issue inks. CN Block Party #45 has a PPG 4 pager (pencils and inks) that was supposed to have another 4 pager following that, but I was way late on the second story (sorry Rachel). Still both stories turned out well, and it's always nice to go back to the Girls once in a while.
An even more recent release (Last Week!! 0_0) is #1 of Myth-Told Tales. It's based on the book series by Robert Aspirin and inspired by the comics drawn by Phil Foglio. The artwork tends to be a bit looser than what I normally do, I was in the mood to break away from my french curves, ruler, and circle templates and do some freehand work. My friend Scott Beaderstadt (Trollords) helped me with page layout chores of which I say, "Thanks!"
Acen was way back in May, so things are a bit fuzzy now, but it was a great time as usual, thanks to the fine people that run Anime Central. Did some sketching as you can see above, alot more naughty sketches than normal, don't know how much of that I can take. :P The most interesting one for me was the Creature from the Black Lagoon commission, I normally don't draw monsters so it was a good challenge. The others are assorted CoH characters, and some naughty pics of Rune Soldier Louie, Gold Digger, and Soul Calibur 3. Naughty Pics somewhat censored, sorry.
This year the con also had a lot more Japanese artists that I've seen in previous years of late. Kenichi Sonoda made a return visit to Chicago, but he was kinda under the weather the first couple days. Also showing up was Susumu Sakurai, a former producer for the translated Raijin Manga Anthology, and big Powerpuff Girl fan. He was instrumental in flying me out to Anime 
Expo Tokyo back in 2004. Sakurai, and Hiroshi Tada (I think it was), an associate editor at Afternoon (a monthly manga anthology) bought a few PPG and other original pages from me as mementos. Jeff was lucky enough to trade sketches with Mamoru Yokota, an extraordinary artist who just sketches out pretty much anything he wants to without laying it out first. He also sat down and folded up some paper, then cut little sections out of them, unfolded it to reveal a Gundam head. Craaazy!
Mamoru also works in the hentai (adult) game industry, an inspiration to be sure ;p. To twist the knife even more, Jeff got a Yoko (Gurren Lagaan) sketch in trade, one the latests anime series I've enjoyed. Lucky guy!
After the con was over, I was invited to join some of the Japanese guests (no Sonoda) for dinner at the Rosemont Hooters, where they proceeded to eat Mass Quantities(!), sampling wings, oysters, and hamburgers. It was really a lot of food. I humbly nibbled on my chicken breast sandwich... Before we left, they got alot of photos with the waitresses and hostesses (really cute), which I thought they normally didn't allow, but you know, those wacky Japanese tourists get away with anything. ;p
We then returned to the hotel for the Dead Dog Party, a get together for the staff to unwind and get toasty. Mamoru did a bucketload of sketches that ppl just grabbed up, and even I was pressed into service, doing some PPG sketches for some of the staff and the Japanese guests. One I did for Hiroshi Tada, said was going up in the lobby of Kodansha. I hope it turned out okay, because I was kinda tipsy at the time when I did it.
So all in all, a really great time. Many thanks to Mike for inviting us. Great seeing Taka and his ukulele again. I'd have more pics of this con, Hooters and the Dead Dog Party, but I found out that my camera didn't work anymore right before the show.
Why do the loaves of bread I buy always have that one extra slice so I can't make that last sandwich to finish it off? Why??
Long Time no See! Yes, yes, I've been laxative in my duties updating even a simple blog, but here goes. I've been working on some semi secret projects of late, one of which I hope I can start posting on. Other than that, playing around too much with those pesky MMORPGs.
First up is a set of Sketch Cards done for the Midwest Comic Book Association to celebrate their 20th Anniversary. The MCBA runs the fabulous Fallcon up in Minneapolis, MN. They treat their guests well and I'm happy to do the little bit of extra work for them with these cards.
Colors came out of the scanner fine, except with some weird redish tint coming from the black Copic marker I used. The other exception is Blossom's orange hair and pink tones that got muddled. They're pretty much done now, though I don't know if I want to run out and grab a Glitter Pen to add a little Sparkle (heh, a pun :P).
Just finished the little thumbnails for the Samurai Jack 4pager. A lot of action, a lot of cutting of robots that I gotta say I pretty much cheated on by not showing the whole thing. Then again, Jack is supposed to be hidden till Page 4. Revel in it's scribbly glory!
