Xmas Galactus

Hey remember that Christmas when the earth was almost eaten by Galactus and Santa and the Fantastic Four had to team up to save all of us? Yeah me neither. Merry Christmas!

PAC IT IN?!

I'm not sure where this story came from. My parents thought that video games would rot your brain. I never really got to play video games until my teens and by then everyone had grown up devolving their gaming skills so I was left in dust. I'm still pretty bad at them to this day. I think after I saw the trailer for Battleship I figure Hollywood has just stopped trying for an original idea so why not realistic version of Pac-Man.

Late Night Lettering Fun.

By far the most boring and least artistic part of making comics. It's actually really hard to get right. It's gotten a lot easier since I got Manga Studio, still feels like forever though.

The Shell

This is a new super hero that's been bouncing around in my head. I had this idea for a guy who's powers are based on his emotions. His skin gets tougher when he's in danger or feels nervous. I just want to do a book with big dynamic poses. This was drawn really fast with a Bic pen then just tightened up with some markers and watercolor. Hope I get a chance to use him. Thanks for reading. Click to enlarge and see the whole thing. For some reason blogger keeps cutting off the left side of my pictures. Thanks. - Jim

New Project

The First page for a one shot that I'm working on with my friend Kevin Johnson. Kind of a Blade Runner/Godfather vibe to it. I still have that funny three page I warped up last week coming. Just need to find time to letter it. Let me know what you think.

Not so old school.

I have a funny little 3 pager I've been hanging on to for months. I did the layout in my pocket sketch book and decided what that hell, I'll do it on paper instead of the computer. I sort of miss ink. I just want to draw stuff I enjoy from now on and not care about if it's good enough. I'm just going to make comics I want to read.

Just put on the Glasses!!!

Just couldn't let Halloween go just yet. I've been in an artistic slump for the past few days so I'm just happy that this piece is finished. Io9.com had a great tutorial on making your own They Live alien mask and I just had to draw it. I forgot how cool they looked. Happy Halloween.

Doctor Who Crash of the Elysium

Okay, I’ve been sitting on this one for a while. I’ve been waiting for the project to be finished and photos to prove it. So, my friend Blair is a very talented set designer in New York, working with this theater company called Punch Drunk. I went to experience one of their productions on my last visit called Sleep No More. It was this amazingly weird interactive silent retelling of Macbeth with a noir Hitchcock twist. All of the scenes are preformed in different rooms in this old warehouse, and they did a fantastic job.
Punch Drunk Company is from England, and they were chosen to do something interactive with the BBC for children at the Manchester Festival. Since nothing says children and the BBC like Doctor Who, it was the natural choice. And the company had the good sense to ask Blair to be a part of it. He was given the opportunity to design a crashed maze of a spaceship that the children had to get through in order to save the Doctor. The kids are instructed at the beginning by a video of the Doctor (Matt Smith) to get to the TARDIS to save him. Jump back a few months to my wedding. Blair tells me he’s a bit over worked and was wondering if I’d be interested in giving him a hand. Knowing that this was for something Doctor Who, I immediately put the hack saw to my wrist…Luckily Blair stopped me, and said he just wanted me to draw some stuff. Oh, and that something turned out to be fan favorite - Moffat monsters the Weeping Angels! It felt great to help out on something that was going to be seen by hundreds of people, especially something exciting for kids. The fact that it was for Doctor Who was a dream come true. Then, when I found out I got paid for it, was just icing on a big old happy cake.


Here are my Weeping Angel designs.






Matt Smith's little intro as the Doctor.

Blair's spaceship design. I wish I could have seen this up close.



To save on time and money, they came up with the idea of having some of the Angels morphing through the walls of the ship.


This is what it looks like from the outside.

My wonderful friend Martha with the TARDIS.

Here is a link to a Review.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14015417

Nuke Squid

Pen and ink on Bristol board with marker.

21

Hello long time no post (big shock there) sorry sorry sorry…so sorry. My computer has whatever the computer virus equivalent of herpes is. Which in addition to not being able to post and scan, I’ve also had to go back to drawn on PAPER!!! With PENS!!! I know what is this the dark ages? So here’s Good old 21 from the Venture Brothers. Drawn on this wonderful Paris paper with pens colored in Photoshop.

The Girl Who Waited.

I bought a pack of these sketch cards to try last year. There basically just Bristol board cut to the size of a baseball card. I wanted to try one out with some paint while I was thinking of Dr.Who...Everything makes me think of Dr.Who. Done without any reference which is surprising since you cant turn your head in my house without seeing something Who related.


A bit of process. I wanted to save the pencils they flowed so nice and delicate.

A Small Act of Kindness.

These where penciled as part of an exercise for the Boston Comics Roundtable. A group of wonderful creative people that I have had the pleasure of hanging out with almost every Thursday night for the past few months. The project is called the working method. One of the writers comes up with a three page script then all the artists draw from it. The idea is to see how many different artists approach the same script. It’s a really fun experience and great for building my portfolio. This script was written by Troy Minkowsky and is about a mob boss being dragged off to his death while he’s tripping thanks to a drug his favorite call girl slipped him. I’d love to post a lettered version one of these days.

River Song

This was done just to experiment with halftone(zip-atone)patterns in Photoshop. I have been falling in love with her in this season of Doctor Who though.

WEDDING BLISS!

I hate that I go for so long without updating this damn thing. This time I have an excuse for not posting. I got married three weeks ago. This is the mini comic that was my wedding program. The interior story pages where a last minute add I wish I had decided to do as a mini comic sooner I just figured on the cover as a follow up to our save the date cards. I’m not happy with the quality but they served their purpose and where a big hit with my friends and family. Other really good things are happening right now art wise. I don’t want to say too much right now. I want to spread the good around and make it last. (How about for the rest of my life?) More to follow soon (really).

True Story

Dagona Color

Dagona

This piece is for an upcoming challenge over at the Ten Ton Studios forum. The challenge was for a Superhero based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft and I thought I’d show a bit of process. This is the first time I’ve gone from finished “real” pencils to all digital inks. I’m really happy with the way it came out. I think this will be the way I’m going to do it from here on out. Inks where done entirely in Manga Studio EX. Color coming soon.

Color!!!!!!!

Warning: Fun Bits!!!

Just a few sketches from some figure drawing sessions I've attended. The most fun one being Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School. Check it out at truthserum.org

Insane in the Bane Brain.

If you haven't heard yet, Bane is going to be played by Tom Hardy in the next Batman film along with Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I was kind of shocked that out of all the great villains Batman has they went with Bane. Not really well known to non-comic fans. He seemed to be just another bad 90's marketing gimmick. I really hope Nolan plays up the criminal genius part and doesn't make him a hulking mindless brute like in Batman & Robin. This started as a doodle with a ball point pen. I was waiting for a friend to pick me up and I started playing with markers then colored pencils then paint an hour later I wound up with this. I don't think I've ever drawn him before. I like it. It kind of feels like I channeled my inner Simon Bisley.