Zarjaz #11 Preview

I'm currently finishing up an A.B.C. Warriors 5 pager for the next issue (the A.B.C. Warriors Special) of Zarjaz.

It's been too long since I worked with the Futurequake crew, and its good to be back. The story is written by Richmond Clements, pencils by me, and inks by letterer extraordinaire Jim Campbell.

More sneak peeks, and the terrific cover, can be seen over here.

WASTED #7 now out !!

Wasted #7 is now out in the U.K. at newsagents everywhere. For those that dont live over there, just stop by www.badpressltd.com and they will sort you out. 64 pages of comic mayhem, including about 8 or so drawn up by me.

Previews are at my link below, and also at Alex's link .
Folks that are paying attention will notice the the final printed cover is a bit different that the preview version I shared below...the swastika is outta there!

WASTED #7 -Preview the Vampire Vixens, and Narcobitch returns!

Wasted issue 7 is locked and loaded, and set to be out in early February. This issue will feature the return of Narcobitch (remember her from issue #4?) & even more 'War on Drugs'. Along with the 'Tales of the Buddha' and other regular strips, this issue also features the debut of the 'Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht!' I've seen most of Alex Ronald's art on this one, and it's drop. Dead. GORGEOUS.

This one looks to be WASTED's strongest issue yet! Grab one when you see it on news agents after Feb 5th , as I suspect this one will sell out rather quickly.

Here's some preview art. All of it's found in Wasted #7. If its black and white it's mine, if it's colored, it's Alex's...enjoy!

Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - Inspiration?

This month's question is: "What inspires you?"

I honestly think when people ask me this they want to hear about some mystical creative secret that only a few folks know, and aren't allowed to speak about except in hushed tones. (ie: The first rule of ART CLUB is do NOT talk about ART CLUB!)

The reality? When it comes to inspiration...deadlines help.

Seriously.

As much as we like to think of comic art as true 'art', and take all the time in the world to create it -"I'm an artist dammit, it'll be done when it's done!"- the reality is when drawing for publishers you just dont have this luxury. Comic art comes with a timeline.

This means that SOMETIMES you have to crank up your own inspiration and draw when you really dont feel like it. When this happens to me, I usually flip through some comic works from my favorite artists, and surf over to deviantart. Just looking at other great artists can help get the creative juices flowing. The trick here is to not spend too much time surfing, reading, and generally 'getting ready'.

The right music always helps too. I've gotten some great band and disk suggestions from other artists, as we all seem to have a rather voracious appetite for tunes! Occupational hazard I guess. The right music can really get me ready and zoned in to draw.

If these options haven't got me going, I use my ace in the hole technique...I go to my bookshelf and grab Stephen King's ON WRITING book. I flip it open to page 151 ( hardcvover version). It's here that he writes "if you read alot , write a lot", and proceeds to tell the story of the writer Anthony Trollope. Anthony's "day job was as a clerk in the British Postal Department, and he wrote for two and a half hours each morning before leaving for work. This schedule was ironclad. If he was in mid sentance when the two and a half hours expired, he left that sentance unfinished until the next morning. And if he happened to finish one of his 600 page hevyweight novels with 15 minutes of the session remaining, he wrote THE END, set the manuscript aside and began work on the next book."


Sure he's talking about writing and not drawing, but that's not the point. For some reason, just thinking about that level of dedication to one's craft motivates the hell out of me and makes me want to get the pencil moving. So that's what inspires me. I hope that helps. Excuse me, I'm psyched now and gotta go draw something. ;-)

Previous month's 'ask an artist' articles can be found here: A3on11 !

Published work in 2010 - Round up!

2010 was a very good year.

In reflecting on 2010 and doing some fact checking, I was busier than I thought! In total I had 8 comics published this year, work in one art book, and I drew 2 pages of an online web comic. Add to that my trip to Bristol Con, a few Canadian Conventions, bunches of interviews, and that's basically what I've been up to these past 12 months.


My goal now is to make 2011 even better, and I'm working on that as we speak. I've got a number of pages 'in the can' that I'll show and talk about when the books are set to come out. (*Cough, **cough, **Undertow #2!) I'll also be WASTED a few more times this year, and that's always a treat.

A big THANK YOU to all those who have helped and supported me this year. There are too many important people to list individually, but you know who you are.

Happy 2011 everyone!

Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - books?

Welcome to ‘Ask an Artist on the 11th, or ‘A3 on 11’ as I like to call it. It's a little early this month, as I'm keen to get right to it.

This month’s question comes to me via Facebook:
“Are there any books on art techniques/comic creating that "you" personally recommend?”

This is a perfect question for me, since I’ve read a TON of art books. (yes, a metric ton, I checked!)I mean, I have a really large collection of ‘em. This is partly due to the fact that I love to learn, and also due to an early phase I suspect lots of folks go through when first starting out.

See, back in the early days I thought if I somehow bought and read JUST the right book, everything would fall into place, and I’d become a great artist. An illustration ‘short cut’ as it were…no such luck. So, let me preface this discussion by warning that books are only 20-30% of what can help you. The rest is a combination of drive, focus and talent in my opinion. And practice! Lots of practice! I heard somewhere that every artist has 1000 bad drawings in them, you just have to get them out before you can really see improvement. I don’t know if this is true, but I sure choose to believe it.

I also believe that part of what will make a book ‘good’ for you, is where you are with your art. I’ve read a few books where it soon became apparent that it was a case of ‘too much too soon’ for it to benefit me. Basically, it was ahead of my time. I’ve gone back to books like this later on and they were much more helpful. Only THEN was I ready to internalize what they were trying to tell me…know what I mean? I think this is worth keeping in the back of your mind while you read art books. Sometimes it might be the right book at the wrong time.

By now you are probably thinking, GQ just say what damn books you like already! OK, alright! There are 2 books that I continually refer to, and probably couldn’t live without.

The first is ‘Gesture Drawing for Animation’ by Walt Stanchfield. This was available out on the web as download at one point, and that’s when I first read it. My copy is well loved, and I refer to it constantly. Basically, it helped loosen up my figure drawing, and helped me make a quantum leap forward with my art. With chapter titles like “Go for the Truth”, “A Visual Vocabulary for Drawing” , “Elements of the Pose”, & “A Sense of Story - talk to your audience through drawing”, I can’t think of a better more comprehensive art book. The first page of my dog eared copy says:

”Draw ideas, not things; action, not poses; gestures, not anatomical structures”

Reading that was like a light switch going off in my head. If that quote appeals to you, try and track this book down.
It has since been collected, updated and formally released as a 2 book set called Drawn to Life (The Walt Stanchfield Lectures) I bought these books, but I still prefer my old, worn, highlighted original copy the best. ;-) All the same material is in the new releases, but they messed up the order of the lectures and it doesn’t seem to flow as well to me . Still worth a place on your shelf though!


The 2nd book that really helped me advance my comic art was- and is- 'FORCE -Dynamic life drawing for animators’ by Michael D. Mattesi. This book really helped me figure out why some art has more energy and well…force, than others. Since energy and motion are elements I really like to play with, it helped give me a few tricks and tips to use to help turn up the volume in these areas as it were. (This one goes to 11…it’s one louder!)


With chapters like “Seeing life”, “Forceful Form” and “Forceful Shape” it stays very close to what the title promises. It deals with rhythym, balance and straight vs. curved lines -how to use them to maximize the force of your art. You know, the stuff that Bruce Timm and other great cartoonists seem to do effortlessly. For some inexplicable reason the author put a section about animals as the last chapter which I skipped over. Hey, it’s his book, I guess he can do what he wants. Don’t let the livestock section fool you… I highly recommend this book .


Remember, I’ll be answering any questions you ask on the 11th of every month right here. Questions can range from very basic ones about general art creation and processes, to very technical comic creation ones. To shoot me a question, just email me (address on the right side on this blog), ask me on Facebook, or throw it in the comments section here. What I talk about just depends on what gets asked!

See you next month!



Commercial break- If you'd like to support small press, please go here and grab a copy of Undertow #1.

If you missed last month's 'A3on11', it was all about the process of creating a page of comic art from the script to the finished page...it can be found right here.

Undertow #1 and the Organ Grinder

I can FINALLY tell the story of the Organ Grinder, Undertow #1 and 7th Wave comics! This comic has been over 8 years in the making…literally. I’ve been waiting a while to talk about this one.

Back when I was first starting out ( around 2002), I hooked up with a young writer named Luke Donkersloot through Digital webbing. He sent me a great little story and concept about a one armed gunfighter with a cursed organ and a chain smoking monkey. I LOVED the story, and signed on to do it. It was, I think, my 2nd or 3rd penciling gig. Luke and I were really in sync creatively. I drew and inked the first installment, and 10 pages of the second issue before the comic was shut down before ever seeing the light of day. Slightly crushed, (OK…very crushed!) I moved on to other projects and the Organ Grinder ( O.G.) pages sat in my drawer. A great story without a home.

*Sigh*

Fast forward to about a year ago, when Luke got in touch with me again, completely out of the blue. He also contacted all the other artists whom he had commissioned work from, and said he was arranging to get the work published in Undertow #1 with 7th wave comics. www.7thwavecomics.com Great news! So I grabbed my art from the archives and………realized that it wasn’t as strong as I’d remembered. *Double Sigh* I said to Luke,
“Wait! Don’t publish THAT! You have to let me rework the pages first before you go to print!!” Being the good guy he is, he agreed. I left the art's story telling alone as it worked well, but a few art tweaks/redraws were definitely in order. what I'm trying to say is that these pages represent a very unique hybrid of my raw rookie work and my art style now, 8 years later. Have a look and see what you think.





Good story so far, eh?

PLEASE support this comic by ordering one… right here! You need this book in your life! ;-) If you are of the opinion that more folks SHOULD support small press, here is your chance. Prove it by clicking over and grabbing your own copy. Good Karma awaits.

This is the first story (and first appearance) of the O.G., and we have big things planned for him over the next few issues. Check back for more O.G. updates shortly! In the mean while go grab the UNDERTOW #1, and tell them Gibson sent ya.