Miller Time!

Well, I was certainly serious about my resolutions but nobody told the folks I work for. Holy crap, last week was nuts. The previous week, I got in quite a bit of writing and lots of time at the gym. But this week...No time for writing or drawing. Certainly no time for reading or TV. I didn’t get anything done on the website and it was only by sheer will power and determination that I got in my three workouts. Suzanne and I had our first 10K training session on Saturday morning in 5-degree temperatures. I had no idea how out of shape I was and couldn’t even run a mile without stopping to catch my breath, which felt like ice cold razors in my throat. Three days later, I think I’ve caught a cold. Man, I hate this time of year.

Since I haven’t had any time to do anything, I thought I’d resort to my old stand-by of posting old artwork. The piece above is one of three drawings I did a couple years ago for some students at the Ad Center (Now called the Brand Center) which is part of VCU. It’s a highly-regarded post-graduate school for people interested in working in advertising. These students wanted to do a series of print ads using drawings with a “Frank Miller” vibe to them. They’d become enamored with the SIN CITY movie and had gotten hooked on Miller’s drawing style.

That’s one of the things that drives me crazy about doing freelance illustration. I’m always asked to draw like someone else. Sometimes it’s fun (as in this case) but most of the time it’s just irritating and the results are never satisfying. I was asked last week to do some storyboard illustration and, despite my crazy schedule, I was about to agree to it. Then the words, “...we’d like you to match this guy’s style...?” entered the conversation and I ran away, screaming.

This one, though, was kind of an interesting challenge and I was excited about the project. Unfortunately, though the clients were thrilled, this was the only piece out of the three that I was happy with. So I gave them a break on the price. I learned a lot about using negative space to define shpaes with this series and I was very happy to have done it. This assignment also has the distinction of being the first freelance work I was actually paid for doing. I’ve been stiffed more times than I can count and it was very satisfying to have someone happily and willingly hand over money for something I drew.

Okay, that’s it. Back to work. Hopefully, I’ll have something more interesting to post later this week.

Happy Inauguration Day, everybody! Good times lay ahead.

Resolutions

I'm not usually big on New Year's resolutions. Most people resolve to lose weight or save money on January 1st, probably because the new calendar makes them feel like they're getting a fresh start. But January 1 has always been just another day off for me. And I've been on one diet or another my entire adult life so that one would be pointless for me. But I have a few things I've been letting slide lately so I've decided to take the plunge and commit to a whopping three resolutions this year. I hearby resolve to:

1. Get in shape. This doesn't really mean lose weight though I hope that will be a side-effect. When Mike died, I lost my focus and though I was, at the time, in the best shape I'd been in since high school, I quickly backslid and my weight has slowly crept up to a place I'm uncomfortable with. Worse, I stopped going to the gym and lost any strength I'd built up. That has to change. But I feel pretty good about this one because I didn't wait for the new year to get started and I'm almost a month into my new commitment to getting in shape. The gym has been practically deserted and it's been great. Unfortunately, the "resolvers" will be back in force for at least a few months to come and I'll have to start waiting my turn on the weights again. Sigh. I already feel a lot stronger, though, and I'm starting to see a bit of a difference in my overall shape. Not much but enough to encourage me. With our 10 K training starting in less than a month, the weight should start to take care of itself soon.

2. Promote Mike's scholarship fund. I'm a little ashamed of myself for this one. Suze and I busted our butts getting it set up and did a couple of conventions but I've been coasting since then. An email conversation with PJ has my enthusiasm up again, though, and my short-term goals for the fund are now getting a dedicated website (including an online store) up and running this year along with putting together some sort of book with Mike's blog sketches and entries that we can sell to raise money for the fund. There are a lot of legalities to work out but PJ has me psyched so cross your fingers.

3. Start serious work on my book. This one's tougher and the first two on my list aren't going to make it any easier. Nor have the multitude of other obligations, distractions and just plain laziness that everyone on the planet deals with every day. But I have been "working" on the book in my head and have developed some supporting characters that have me very excited in a way that none of my other pet projects ever has before. All my other unfinished stories have been plot driven. This is more of a character piece. I have my "angle". I have my MacGuffin. I have my cast of characters and their interrelationships and motivations. I almost have an ending. All I have to do it write the damn thing out. So that's what I'm going to do.

I haven't aspired to a career in comics in many years but I do want to have something that's mine out there for people to read. Just once. For years and years I've "dabbled" with my stories because I thought I had all the time in the world to do something with it. But now, with Mike's passing, I feel like I'm living on borrowed time and that time is quickly running out. That's a fairly stupid attitude because I've had a complete physical and I'm supposedly fine. But I can't shake it and so now I'm in a hurry to do...something.

The plan is to put in at least one-to-three hours a week writing this story out in script form. Since I plan on drawing it myself, it doesn't have to be too formal. Hopefully, in a few months, I can have the entire miniseries written out and can see about drawing it. This will probably put a crimp in my time here (and on the xBox, sorry Leaf.) But it's very important to me. Let's see how I do.

Getting it published...that's a hurdle for another day.

Gone, gone the form of man...

I hope everybody had a good Christmas. I sure did. To be honest, the whole season leading up to it was exhausting and I felt the Scrooge in me bubbling back to the surface but hanging out with Suze, her awesome family and the cats brought me back around. I had a great time. But four days of overeating, overdrinking (eggnog!) and delivering presents has me ready to get back to my routine.

We got back to town late Saturday and had our own little Christmas, just two (four?) of us. Thanks to Suzanne spoiling me rotten, I got pretty much everything I was hoping for along with some really big surprises like the PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES DVD. (POTZ has a special place in my heart for reasons I’ll go into some other day.) My favorite gift, though, has to be the complete INCREDIBLE HULK TV Series on DVD. I’m really enjoying it and it’s so neat to finally see these episodes in color on our HDTV. When the show was on the air originally, I saw them on a tiny black and white TV set and I never noticed things like Lou’s makeup coming off on people’s clothes or his pink plumber’s crack peeking out when he’d squat down to pick something up. That just adds to the fun, though, and I’m really glad they didn’t go in and fix that stuff digitally. Thanks honey!

My sister-in-law and her husband got me an Amazon gift card which is really coming in handy. I’ve already ordered myself the JACK KIRBY’S DEMON OMNIBUS (along with a book about the SKYWALD HORROR-MOOD.) I was very glad to see DC putting out Kirby’s stuff in hardcover. (Unlike many, I LOVE the “cheap” paper because it makes the books lighter and easier to hold while I’m reading.) It’s been long overdue. I never got the chance to read the stuff when I was a kid because Dad had to pick up his books at the PX on his Army base and sometimes issues would come in and sometimes they wouldn’t. So there were huge gaps in his collection and I just couldn’t get into it. THE DEMON looked interesting but I would get frustrated reading non-consecutive issues and wondering if I’d missed something important and decided to pass. So, when DC announced the FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS series, Mike and I both got really excited. Mike, because he was a bigger Kirby fan than even me and, me, because I could foresee the opportunity for many Christmas gifts for Mike to come. He was impossible to buy for because I just didn’t know what he had. Or liked. His tastes were more sophisticated than mine. But here was something I knew he wanted and I couldn’t wait to give them to him. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

This year, I would have given him the DEMON OMNIBUS. I don’t remember if he posted it on his blog or told me personally but I remember him being very excited about getting the entire set of THE DEMON’s original print run on eBay. Mike didn’t buy a lot of back issues at that point but this was something he really wanted. (I remember thinking he’d have been a great choice for drawing a Demon revival.) He would have been very happy to have the series in a nice hardcover collection. As will I. I just really wish it had come out sooner.

Anyway, that brings me to this post’s sketch. I didn’t have high hopes for it because I’d never so much as doodled the Demon before and don’t have a feel for him. But I wanted to play around with some dry brush technique using some old nearly empty pens and mess around a bit more with my whiteout pen. It was fun but I think it looks rushed. Because it was. I think Etrigan’s noggin is a little small. But I learned a lot by drawing it so I’m happy. I had fun coloring it and that was what I really wanted to concentrate on. I think I got a little over-ambitious though, with the multiple light sources and things might have gotten confusing. I usually can’t tell about these things until I’ve spent some time away from it. I hope you like it and have a great and happy New Year.

Santa Claws

Though I’d had this new banner in mind for some time, I never seemed to have the chance to actually draw it. As it turns out, I had to slap it together really fast. I didn’t care much for the drawing (at first) because I barely penciled it before rushing the inks and I was using a brush pen that had seen much better days. It ran out of ink before I was done and I had to move on to another one. I tried to freehand the straight lines and ended up with some weird wobbly stuff. Let me tell you, it may LOOK like Darwyn Cooke just slings the ink and that it magically falls onto the paper in just the perfect spot but every line he puts down is deliberate. If I can master that, I will be a happy dood.

Strangely, though, once I finished the banner, I was really happy with how it came out. I think it has the exact mood I was going for and I love how the kid came out. I had to laugh though. When I was looking at it afterward, I noticed that, for you to be able to see the moon outside the window, the stairs would have to go into nothingness. Whoops. Oh well, maybe there’s a landing about five steps up and then the staircase turns right. Yeah, that’s it.

Have a great Christmas, or whatever you celebrate this time of year. I’m a non-denominational kind of guy so whatever the reason you spend tons of money on presents for other people is fine with me. I hope you all get lots and lots of goodies. Just make sure you put out plenty of dog biscuits for Santa...just in case!

Oh, and PJ, this banner was for you!

Oh, no you di'n't!!

Yeah.

Yeah, I did.

I got about halfway through this before I realized I'd have to have balls of steel to post a drawing of the Flash on my blog. I had so much fun with the Hulk drawing and post that I decided to do another post about a fondly-remembered TV superhero show. It didn't even occur to me until I was well into it that Mike was so closely associated with DC's FLASH comic that I was inviting a lot of comparisons I'd rather not face. I thought about it long and hard and two facts made my mind up for me. One, the Flash was my favorite DC character long before Mike got the assignment. (Imagine how excited I was when he did...then double it.) Two, this drawing is not of DC's version but of the character in the TV show.

The Flash TV adaptation was announced around the time I graduated from college. Mike was on the five-year plan so he was still in school. I was bunking with some college friends in the same apartment complex Mike was living in. Right across the parking lot, in fact. I'd gotten a terrible job working in the office of a catering company on the VCU campus and spent most nights over at Mike's and his roomie Ron's place. (They were using my TV so if I wanted to watch something I'd have to do it over there.)

It was a miserable time in my life. I'd just been unexpectedly and unceremoniously dumped by my longtime girlfriend who'd then moved into the same apartment complex (maybe to torture me?) I had a job I hated. And I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I'd studied film in college mostly as a way to create an identity separate from Mike (Iong story) and after graduation, I realized I had no talent for it and didn't like the lifestyle. Besides, I had no idea how to get started. So, having next to nothing going for me, having no self-esteem and spending my days dodging an office full of horny women hellbent on grabbing my ass at every opportunity*, THE FLASH came along at just the right time.

I was very excited and Mike and I both looked forward to it with great anticipation. It was hot on the heels of Tim Burton's BATMAN film, which I was obsessed with at the time. Judging by the character design, lighting and theme music (by Danny Elfman), the producers were trying to capitalize on BATMAN's success. CBS made the unwise decision to put the show on opposite FOX's SIMPSONS and NBC's THE COSBY SHOW. I guess they were hoping it would be their tentpole show. Unfortunately, those two ultra-popular shows pretty much crushed THE FLASH right out of the gate and, despite a promising two-hour pilot movie, the show ended up being preempted most of the time and finally cancelled.

I think part of the downfall of the show (besides lousy scheduling) was the fact that the producers decided to go at least partially campy with it. That's too bad because the show really had a lot going for it. John Wesley Shipp was excellent as Barry Allen/The Flash and really looked the part. The guy was built like a tank which makes the Flash costume design so baffling. They added all these weird padded muscles that were completely unnecessary considering Shipp's impressive physique. And it was made of an odd foamy-textured material that looked almost like red felt and had an inconsistent color to it. Still, most of the time Shipp looked pretty cool in the suit anyway. The supporting cast was also excellent. Amanda Pays as Tina McGee and the baby-faced Alex Desert as Barry's lab assistant Julio were a lot of fun. And Mark Hamill turned in a memorable if campy performance as the Trickster. Unfortunately, after a few episodes, it seemed the writers weren't quite sure what to do with the character and the expectations set by the pilot movie started to drop. The show was dropped by CBS with completed episodes still unaired. You can find the complete series on DVD. I got mine the minute it hit the shelves.

Around the time THE FLASH was heading toward cancellation, I quit my job at the catering office and got a job working for VCU and it was there that I met Suzanne. So all was not lost!



I don't know if it was the significance of the character dawning on me or all the memories of what was going on in my life around the time the show was airing or if it was just because I was busy and didn't have a lot of time to focus on the drawing. But I'm really disappointed in how it came out. I liked the Hulk drawing so much, I was hoping I was on a roll but I ended up rushing the inks. I tried to cover up the bad quality by coloring it but that didn't work so I've posted both versions in the interest of full disclosure. I think this drawing also showcases my lack of anatomical knowledge. VCU used to have a weekly life-model drawing session for anyone who was interested, but I've lost my contact there and haven't been in years. I desperately need it. Anyway, that's all for now.

Later!

__________________

* I'm not kidding or exaggerating. I've never exactly been what you'd call a chick magnet and I was very young at the time so I'll admit the first few days it was very flattering. But after a few weeks, it got downright annoying. I don't believe sexual harassment is the quite the same thing when it's reversed as it was in my case but it's still a problem and I probably should have done something about it. But, as I say, I was young, naive, missing my girlfriend and so, unfortunately, I guess I was grateful for the attention.

The Incredible Hulk!

Are there any shows on for kids anymore? I don’t watch as much TV as I used to but it seems to me that most, if not all, of primetime television shows are geared toward older teens and adults. I certainly wouldn’t want my kids (if I had any) watching my favorite shows like LOST, PRISON BREAK, HOUSE or THE SARAH CONNER CHRONICLES until they were in, say, high school. Even Saturday morning cartoons are going the way of the VCR and dial telephone. The FOX network has plans to do away with their kids programming block in favor of paid programming (infomercials.)

What the hell happened?

When I was a kid, there was a wealth of programming suitable for my age group that also played well with adults. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN was probably my favorite. (I remember “running” around the yard in slo-mo, picking up empty cardboard boxes and throwing them, making the obligatory “nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh” sound.) But there was also PLANET OF THE APES, STAR TREK, DUKES OF HAZZARD...and THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

I remember how excited I was when I saw the first promo for the pilot movie. Even then, I knew how difficult it could be for Hollywood to adapt a character like the Hulk as a live-action show. But, judging by the previews, they’d pulled it off. And once I saw the movie (Mom let me stay up late, as she often did when something “special” was on.) I wasn’t disappointed. Obviously, they’d made some changes. I was baffled as to why he didn’t talk and why bullets actually hurt him. But I was mesmerized by the huge green guy with the white irises. Lou Ferrigno instantly became my idol. I wasn’t stupid. I knew there was Hollywood trickery afoot but for that one hour each Friday night (once the series was picked up) I completely bought into the idea that he and Bill Bixby were the same guy and that Ferrigno was actually seven feet tall and green. Ferrigno is about 6’ 5” tall so, with some creative camera work, this wasn’t hard to pull off. And, at the time, we didn’t have a color tv (just a 13” black and white) so I couldn’t really see the seams in the makeup. Or the spots where it would come off on whatever he picked up. Usually, a damsel in distress.

Mike’s friend Carlton wasn’t as appreciative of the character design as I was. He hated the eyes, the large nose they gave him (as did Ferrigno, I’ve heard) and described the wig as looking like something they found dead on the side of the road, dyed green and perched on his head. Looking back, he was right. Over the five seasons the show was airing, the makeup was slowly refined and improved but they never quite got the wig right.

But the show was really very good. The writing was good for it’s time and Bixby took the show seriously, grounding the show with his heartfelt, earnest performance. Obviously, it’s a little dated now. For budgetary reasons, the writers had to follow a strict formula of two “hulk-outs” per episode (at :25-after and :10-till) that never lasted more than a few minutes. The one time I can remember them breaking this formula was in one of the best episodes produced: “Married.” (SPOILERS!!) This featured one of the most heart-breaking scenes in the series in which Banner has to chase his new (and terminally ill) bride through a hurricane and becomes the Hulk from the stress. The creature finally tracks her down and she dies in his arms. When he changes back, she’s gone and he never got to say good bye. It was an incredible (n.p.i.) moment and, if I’m not mistaken, that episode won an emmy.

When I was a kid, I waited impatiently for each hulk-out to see Lou in all his glory, smashing walls and bending pipes. But I’ve been watching a few of the episodes on Hulu.com and now I can see that Bixby really was the star of the show.

Also slightly dated but really, surprisingly good is the music by the late Joe Harnell. Everybody knows the music played over the end credits called “The Lonely Man Theme” (referred to by Stewie Griffin as “the sad, walking away music from THE INCREDIBLE HULK...” but Harnell provided quite a few wonderful cues for the series. Each character, even the annoying but noble reporter Jack McGee had one. Harnell really doesn’t get enough credit for the work he did on the series. Since most of the Hulk’s scenes were shot in slow motion, really slowing the pacing, he used his music to add an element of excitement to the proceedings. I loved how, as Lou would emerge from wherever he’d just “changed”, Harnell’s familiar Hulk theme (bum...bum...BUMMMM...bummmm) announced the creature’s arrival. And, as he was chasing down frightened bad guys and pitching them into stacks of empty cardboard boxes or gingerly picking up Papier-mâché rocks with his fingertips (so as not to smear his makeup), this would be playing.

I could go on and on about how much I loved that show as a kid and how Lou Ferrigno (as the Hulk) inspired me in part to drop all the extra pounds in high school so I could play football and blah blah blah. But this post is getting long and I haven’t even mentioned my sketch at the top. I kind of like how it turned out, though I screwed up on part of the torso. That’s what I get for trying to ink in the dark. (Damn, the sun is going down early, isn’t it?) It reminds me of something but I can’t put my finger on it.

Anyway, if you haven’t checked out HULK show lately, do yourself a favor and head on over to the awesome Hulu site and watch an episode. Try to watch it with the era it was made in mind. Obviously, Lou Ferrigno in makeup can’t compete with a 12-foot tall CG creature but he sure did his best. And it was a heck of a lot of fun watching him do it.

If you’re interested in picking up some of Joe Harnell’s music, check out his memorial website and buy one of his CD’s. This site, incidentally, is where I got the music clips.

Later!

Super Human Resources in Color

Proving, once again, that Dave Stewart is safe, here is the color version of my SUPER HUMAN RESOURCES pinup. I haven't gotten permission from Ken Marcus to post it but I don't think he'll mind. Still, I'm posting it in lo-res, just in case. I tried to stick to the books palette of bright but not overly saturated colors. The crazy thing is it took me quite a bit longer to color this than it did to draw it. I have a real respect for guys like Stewart and Paul Mounts. Coloring is effing hard, man! My light source ended up all over the place.

When I drew this, I only had fuzzy black and white lasers handy so I made some errors in the costumes of the heroes Stalwart and Ironclad. I was able to correct a couple in Photoshop so it wouldn't be too obvious. Also, I had some trouble interpreting some of the designs because Justin Bleep has a really cool, unique style. I couldn't tell if the shape of Ironclad's head was supposed to be angular or if that was just a stylistic interpretation on Justin's part. I took the chance that his helmet was round and went for it. Ken seems to like the pinup so I guess I'm okay.

I was surprised at how fast I drew this. I penciled and inked it in one day, starting at noon and finishing around 11:30 p.m. And that was with frequent stops for meals and hanging out with Suzanne. It doesn't quite have the polish I was hoping for but I think that's because I was under the gun and didn't take the time to thumbnail it. When I'm at ease drawing something, as I was with this for some reason, I can see Mike's influence peeking out. This is particularly evident, to me anyway, in the Stalwart character. I often try very hard not to draw like Mike to avoid comparisons that would frankly hurt my feelings. But after spending years as a kid doing the exact opposite, I can be forgiven. Sometimes I just let go and have fun with it. And it wouldn't be the first time someone told me I'm no 'Ringo.

Again, SUPER HUMAN RESOURCES is in this month's Previews, so be sure to tell your retailer to order you a copy. This pinup appears in the fourth issue so hang in there!

__________________________________

If you haven't already, check out Christian's blog for his mash-up of Man-Thing and The Thing he drew for the art contest at the comic shop where he gets his books. For some reason, this one really makes me smile. Obviously, I'm a fan of Christian's anyway, but I love this pic. C-biscuit's sense of humor is really evident here. Check out the blue peepers.

Okay, that's all I got. Have a great weekend.