You'll be Happy to Know ...

... that while i'm waiting for my comic to be printed i'm using spare time wisely ... by sitting around and watching old anime.

and I do mean OLD.  right now i'm watching early works from toei studio, including a selection of their theatrical features, their first animated television series wolf boy ken, and their second animated series shonen ninja kaze no fujimaru.

it's very unfortunate that ken and fujimaru were never released in the usa.  ken is the less serious of the two series, and I decided to post some highlights of the series for fans (and would be fans) of the show.

and I even figured out how to link them up here (will wonders never cease?).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh, but ...

... it is.

the wait is over.

now the tale may be told.

as you may know, things in my personal and professional life have been preventing me from working on my comic ... one project in particular.

i recently painted myself into a proverbial corner with this problem causing project, and had stop, rethink things, start in a new direction,  and wait for some new items for the project.

because this waiting was going on i found myself with some free time, and i decided to use this time to do some work on the comic.

once i started working on the comic i realized that i was a lot further on it than i thought, and that if i concentrated my efforts on the comic i could have it completed by month's end.

perhaps more important was that i found out that if the comic was completed before month's end i had the possibility of having it printed and in my hands to distribute in time to honor my collaborator Bill White on the one year anniversary of his passing.

so i put my nose to the grindstone, and my shoulder to the wheel.  there are some things that i wish i could have done better or done over, but i persevered and did what had to be done.  it would have been nice to have a person to proof the completed work, but unfortunately life has not afforded me such an extreme decadent luxury.

about an hour ago i received word from the printer.  he said my files' size/format/etc are correct, and everything is a go.

it's finally ...

-30-

I Can't Believe ...

... it's been over a week.

how much longer?

I've Been Having Trouble ...

... finding time to work on my comic, but this week and the week before i managed to devote a few minutes to it.  i'm presently working on an orphan panel, and doing some incidental art needed for overlays and such.

i just finished some inking and scanning, and here's a censored image of the orphan panel on which i am working.

ps - much thanks to the person who encouraged me to continue work on this project.

You Can't Imagine ...

... how surprised i was to find this piece of advertising art for sale online.  this is an advertisement for an anthology comic titled "comico illustrated".  the original premise was that the comic was to be a spotlight for up and coming comic book creators (though that changed as production on the book progressed).

my artwork on the ad is the silhouetted skeleton (though my memory says that the image was much smaller and much less prominently placed on the version of the ad that i saw).  my name (which i censored here with a gray bar) is relegated to the bottom of the list.

once upon a time, during the great black and white comics explosion (ignited by the teenage mutant ninja turtles), comico was a small comic book company that was rising in stature.  its rise to fame was due mostly to a book they published titled "grendel".  this led to other successes (such as a one shot "gumby" comic illustrated by arthur adams) and a partnership with DC comics (the superman/batman people).

"comico illustrated" was getting press and attention  because of comico's growing success and this being the premiere issue of the comic.  after a lot of hard work and a lot of struggling doors were finally opening for me.  "comico illustrated" was going to be my first step on the ladder to a career in cartooning.

sadly, three months before "comico illustrated" was to be published comico filed for bankruptcy.  the company had overextended itself financially on a full color comic book adaptation of hanna barbera's "jonny quest".

"comico illustrated"  was never published.  it's cancellation profoundly affected my life.

I was recently asked ...

... to create a gag gift for a person's retirement celebration.  it was requested that i create a pair of rocket powered roller skates and create a custom package for them that would bring to mind the acme packages that wile e. coyote received in the roadrunner cartoons.

a lot of time and effort went into producing this gift, which will receive a few polite forced laughs, and (if i'm lucky) the recipient will have the courtesy to wait until he gets home to throw it in the trash.

i don't have a camera, so i can't take a picture of the finished product, but i can post a digital image of the cartoon i made for the package.

my lack of ...

... blog posts correspond to my lack of time behind my drawing board.  things have been keeping me from both, but recently i managed to spend a little time working on my comic.

it was my hope that the work i am doing would be a "last sweep", and that i'd be ready to send the pages to the printer.  as i started working i discovered that was not the case.  the "sweep" that i'm currently doing on these pages is still prep work. that last sweep seems forever from my grasp.

i have so much done.  if i had about 2 weeks to devote full time i could easily complete this project.  sadly, time is in short supply.

here's a sample of what i've been working on.  it's getting harder and harder to find samples to post here, as i don't want to give too much away.

                                                   

I Felt Like ...

... posting something.  Here's a WIP from the collaboration on which Bill White and I were working.  This is a replacement panel; the original drawing wasn't good enough.  Note Bill White's beautiful inks over my  over my pencils.

rest in peace, Bill White.

Bill White, world renowned comic book and animation artist has died.

he and i developed an online friendship that led to us collaborating on a comic book project, and to my contributing the plot to a collection of “Kaptain Keen” comics on which he was working.

unfortunately, Bill was only able to contribute to the first 6 pages of the comic, and never completed work on his “Kaptain Keen” collection. 

Bill and i shared many interests and had much in common.  i have been a fan of his work since i first saw his “Kaptain Keen” back in the 1980’s.  working with him was beyond a dream come true ... it was something that i never could have imagined happening.

i wish we could have done much more work together, but most of all i wish he was still here with us.

i know that i should have written much more, and put in clever and heartfelt comments, but this is the best i can manage.  Bill was not only a great artist, but also a great person.  this is a tremendous loss, and difficult to take.

i’m posting a splash panel from our collaboration.  i penciled and he inked.  if you’re familiar with his work i think his contribution should be evident.

Misfortune ...

... has kept me from my drawing board for several weeks.  today i managed to steal a few minutes and get some artwork done.

what i specifically did was complete initial digital cleanup on the comic on which i am working.  this might sound the completion of one of my "goals" that i mentioned in a previous post, but i don't see it as significant enough to call it one.  it was a minor goal, or a subgoal at best.

the hard work is still ahead of me ... redrawing unacceptable panels, drawing art for overlays, adding colors and tones.

sadly, i don't think i'll get back to my art any time soon.  i hope i can be done by year's end, but it's hard to say if that's going to happen.

anyway, here's a panel i worked on today.  it's from one of my favorite scenes in the comic.  that's all i'm going to say, as i feel i've been giving far too much away.

His Question ...

... is most appropriate, but i'd rather not answer.  one would think he would know better than to ask such things.

of all the characters i've created o'er the years -and believe me, i've created quite a few- this guy is my very favorite.  it's been several years since i've gotten to work with him, and i don't know if i'll ever again get to work with him.

I'm a ...

... goal oriented person.

my ultimate goal for the project i am working on is for it to be completed (of course), but as i work towards this goal i set smaller goals for myself to help me accomplish this task.  today i completed one of these smaller goals.

i have finished inking the comic i am presently working on, and have also scanned all the comic's pages into my computer.

you may be thinking something like, "wow!  that's great!  the comic must be practically finished!".  unfortunately, it is not.  over 1/2 the comic has been scanned, digitally cleaned up, and has had colors and tones added to it.  the pages i scanned today must also be digitally cleaned up and have tones added.

after this each page must be proofed.  many pages need additional art drawn and "shooped".  the comic is 23 pages long.  i would say that 13 pages are 80% complete, and the 10 pages i scanned in today are 50% complete.  average that and you get 65% complete.  still a very long way to go.

ne'er the less, i promised myself that when i reached this point i would post something special here.  so here is the very first panel of the comic on which i am working.  this is 100% complete, so what you see is what you'll get when the comic is finished.

BTW ...

1) i have more info on the 10 pages i just scanned, but i'm too tired to write about it.
2) no, this is NOT from any of the 10 pages i just scanned
3) no, i am NOT Bill White.  i'm the other guy.

My Liege ...

... is a man named Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

Ed Roth (1932-2001) was a counterculture, multimedia artist.  he created unique custom designed and built automobiles, and also designed outrageous cartoon monsters who drove in bizarre cartoon cars.  the best known of these was a monster named Rat Fink,  a bizarre variation of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse.

Big Daddy’s creations appeared on t-shirts, in comic books, on decals, and were made into a variety of toys - the most important of which was a series of models produced by the revell model company.

Generations of artists, car enthusiasts, and counterculture individuals have been inspired by this man’s work, and I am among them.  Many times you find yourself forced to separate a man from his work (a man can produce great art, but he may also be a terrible person).  Fortunately this was not the case with Big Daddy, he not only created lasting works of art, but he was also a wonderful man who had many good and admirable qualities (though he wasn’t perfect, mind you).

After I read Big Daddy’s autobiography I was especially excited about his works.  I learned that he employed many artists over the years, and I wondered if he might have use for me.  So I made a model sheet of one of his characters (Gunther, Rat Fink’s son), and mailed off a copy of it to him along with a letter asking if he would be interested in employing me.  I wish I could find the letter he sent me in reply; it had an original sketch of Rat Fink on it.  In it Big Daddy complimented me on my work, but explained that he was now retired.  As you might imagine, I was greatly disappointed, but also enthused by the supportive things he said about my work.

The 3 most important things I learned from my Liege:

1) big mess = big success

2) asymmetry rules

3) the #1 key to success is “the wife” (“the wife meaning a person in your life who will give you 100% unconditional support)

I’ve been able to apply #1 and #2 to my work; unfortunately i was never able to find #3.

(update) Here's a photo of the actual Mysterion, to help clear up some confusion.

Here is Another ...

... model sheet from the abandoned project.  this is the story's antagonist, and we see him as an adult and as a child.  

i was going to snitch this design and use it for a character in another of my projects.  i can't remember which project, and i can't remember why i decided not to do so.

those who are familiar with my work will notice that i DID snitch this character's name, and use a slightly altered version for another character.

This is Ancient.

i recently rescued it, and 2 others like it.

i’ll guess i made this around ‘99.  it’s a model sheet (reference art to help draw characters consistently), and there are several others i made for the project.  a project that i abandoned.

please forgive the quick and dirty cleanup i did on this.  i didn’t have the heart to touch it.

i remember being very excited about the character on the bottom.  i wanted her to look like a flower.  i remember that when i tried to draw arms and hands on her it spoiled the flow of her design.  i didn’t know what to do, and then i realized that she didn’t need arms and hands.  just because humans have them, why must she?  as an artist, i took a step forward.

anyway.  these were incidental/supporting characters for a series that i had created and was quite excited about.  it started out as a one page filler; worked its way up to 3 pages, and was poised to debut as a main attraction.  i’m not sure what went wrong.  i remember being unhappy with the story... thinking it was a bit too cliché.  i also remember being unhappy when a certain artist turned down my offer to collaborate on it.  there were other factors, but i think they best stay forgotten.

the little ghost made a tiny cameo in another of my comics.

the series that these were made for is supposed to have a x-over in the comic i am currently working on.  will it happen?  we shall see.

WIP

i wanted to scan some old art and post it here, but my schedule won't let me.

so here's a panel from the comic on which i am currently working. as you can see, it has yet to be inked.

i  was pretty happy with this panel.  i hope i like it as much once it is completed.

In my last post ...

... i mentioned a spinoff comic that i worked on, and how a person's critique of that comic made me decide not to distribute it.

the person went on a wild an viscous rant about how the comic was terribly racist.  he summed up his feelings by saying that the comic should be handed out to children at a kkk rally.

it was actually only one page of the comic that generated all his anger and hatred.

well, actually only two panels on the one page.

well, actually only two of the word balloons in those two panels.

so i thought i'd post the panel that he found most offensive.  please brace yourself before looking at this panel.  it is not for the genteel and enlightened persons of the 21st century, and definitely nsfw.

While we're on the subject ...

... of my friends' comic, a few years back i did a spinoff of their comic.  it was a full-size full-color comic, and i was quite excited about it.

i had high hopes for the book (not BIG hopes, but high hopes), but a certain person's cruel comments brought those high hopes crashing back to earth and i never attempted to distribute the comic to its intended audience.

here's one of my favorite panels from the comic.

I was recently ...

... asked to make a one page filler cartoon for my friends' comic book.

i wasn't thrilled with my work; i feel that i crammed too much story and art into too little space.

the only thing i liked was the protagonist's hands in one of the panels.

since that's all i liked, that's all you get to see.

PS- these aren't my characters.  i was "playing in someone else's sandbox", to paraphrase a great man.

Here's another picture ...

... in need of a home.

i made this for an o/l group of Harvey comic fans.

the group members had no interest in the picture.  it got no comments.  i'm not certain why, as it's one of my favorite pictures.