Progression!

I've recently finished up my short for Atomic Robo that will run later this year I think in an issue, so be on the lookout! I was super honored that Brian and Scott asked me to do a piece for them! Here's a non spoiler panel from it!

It's been fun lately to look back at old pages I did when I was 18 and realized how incredibly bad I was! Jeez, they are horrible but I keep them because it's nice to see where I've come since then. It's not only humbling but reassuring that I'm always getting closer to what I want to be!

Even from a couple years ago, I've been able to progress more than I thought I would! Here's a page from the Return of King Doug and then one from this year!

I bring this up because I can't wait to see what's gonna come next! I can't wait to keep moving forward and progress further and closer to where I want to be.

I was glancing around at one of my favorites Takeshi Obata. He's made a pretty huge progression as well within his body of work. I liked Death Note and have been enjoying Bakuman, but I also am fond of his other work in Cybory Grandpa G. It's kinda nuts to see the progress he's made not only technically, but also in the way he approaches page layouts and how he puts more energy into his characters. It's also nice to see that he doesn't corner himself into one type of story, and can do a bunch of different types of stories, be it serious or comedic. 

Here's a page from each of the mentioned works of his in order of when they came out. 

Cyborg Grandpa G (1989)

Death Note (2003)

Bakuman (2011)

I feel like everyone is growing and improving and I can't wait to see what the future holds for comics. I know I'm gonna bring my A-Game! and I hope y'all do too! 

Have a great weekend!

Spring is coming!

Spring is definitely close! At least I hope so! It's been pretty nice here in Portland the last week with sunshine! It's getting me pumped to return to Atlanta next month after ECCC and get greeted by the warm weather of the South!

Here's an illustration I did for fun. I dunno what it's for but yeah!

I started getting back on the late nite schedule which means work is getting done! I dunno why, but I seem to get SOOOO MUCH more work done when everyone else is asleep. 

Also, some sad news was that Moebius (Jean Giraud) passed away this weekend! Damn he's gonna be missed. Watched the Fifth Element again this weekend and that movie so good!

Here are a couple great write ups about Moebius. 

Comics Alliance

ParkaBlogs

The Comics Reporter

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

PS. Been listening to some Kpop more than usual lately. :P Here's my current guilty pleasure/pump up jam! Catchy as hell, and what's cooler than a black pyramid! 

Not moving from my table!

So I've finally gotten back into the groove of working from home! It was tough at the start of this week getting into a good flow, since I was so used to having the luxury with the internship of separating where I work from where I sleep.

That said, I'm in a good headspace now and plowing through stuff! It's always nice when you get pumped back up again with something you're working on! I was thinking about trying to finish up another mini comic for ECCC, but hell, I'd rather just work on my books! Sorry if that bums you out, but I'll still have stuff to show!

Here's some in progress pages!

Again, I'm using Manga Studio, and love that program! I can't believe how well it works and fast things can get done in it! I'm still using photoshop for little things, but overall I think this is the best working method for me!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Free Sketchbook Download! Woot!

Hey y'all well I think the title for this post is pretty self explanatory but yeah! I've compiled some stuff from my 2011 sketchbooks if you want to have a free download of it! It's a pretty good size file. (about 5-6 MB) So it might take a sec! Fair warning to some people, there are some nude life drawing sketches so it might NOT be safe for work or children. Nothing naughty, but just life drawing.

Here's the link! ENJOY! :D

I got the proof for my Faces mini, they look pretty okay. And I'll have them for the cheap at ECCC! Probably $3. And I'll do a free sketch on the back for you!

Have a great week!

End of my Internship!

They other day Jesse Hamm let me borrow Al Hirschfeld the Line King! It was so good and I'm such a huge fan of Hirschfeld's work! Here's an animated head at my attempt to get a little bit of that magical feel!

And here's an small bit on Youtube from the movie!

Another thing has been making it's way around the internet lately and is probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

It's from the artist of one of my favorite manga, Eyeshield 21, Yusuke Murata! Click on the link to check out his crazy way he's been doing a fun experimental comic while working also on his next series!

Also the Masters of Comic Art Vid has been uploaded to Youtube! Go watch it!

And as of today, my internship at Periscope studio is officially over.  I never thought I'd be able to have such a great time! Everyone in the studio was open and great to me! I have nothing bad to pull from my experience and fully encourage if you are interested in seeing what it is like in a studio full of professional full time cartoonists and writers working in the industry, apply for an internship at Periscope.

Though my internship is over, I am not done out here yet. I am staying in Portland until Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle at the end of March, where I'll be tabling with the Periscope folk! So please come by and get to meet all these great people!

The only thing I can say to the studio members is thanks again for making my experience wonderful! It was short but super sweet! :D

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

The Dream is almost over

So this is my last week at Periscope Studio interning! I can't believe it's gone by so quickly! :O Speaking of studio spaces and work environments, a friend linked me to these two sites that show artists' spaces and studios. I dunno about you, but I always find it super fun to see where and within what kind of area people, not just cartoonists, get their work done.

Where They Draw!
Work.Place

Here's a layout I'm currently working on for the summer!

And a rough sketch from my sketchbook for another environment. Trying to stay looser with my work! 

And I've been having a lot of fun lately with inks for one project. I can't decide which of these has been my favorites to draw over the last week! You tell me! :D

Also a Few things to watch for!

1. John Carter! I'm a super fan of anything about Mars, and cannot wait for this movie to come out! I seriously hope it's good!

2. Hunger Games! I read this book trilogy over the summer and loved it! Again I hope this movie is good and they continue to make the other books into movies as well if this first one is received well.

3. Also three books that I/you/everyone should own this month are Natalie Nourigat's Between Gears, Emi Lenox's Emitown Volume 2, and Brandon Graham's King City Trade! All are great books coming from great people! Go support!

Have a great week y'all!

I wanna be the very best...

Hey here's a Pokemon pinup done in Manga studio! I'll color it soon!

So, I'm also prepping for the convention season since I start with Emerald City Comic con at the end of March in Seattle! Here's what I'm working on so far for the setup. I found this cardboard laying around Periscope studio, so I cut it up and started penciling in some ideas. It might be rough to see.

To clarify, I'm gonna paint the cardboard and set it up like a trifold, similar to a science fair board and present my comics and minis for the shows this year with this! Here's a sketched out idea of what I'm hoping the setup might look like so y'all can know which table is mine!

And I forgot to write on here, but that face in the middle will have a cutout hole so you can reach in and grab some free comics! They'll be little comics for anyone and everyone! :D

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Super secret stuff!

Here's a WIP page I'm inking in Manga Studio right now!

Also I guess it's cool to talk about it now, but I'm finishing up a short for Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener's series Atomic Robo! I got a chance to meet them at Heroes Con last year, and they were both super great people! I feel honored that they're letting me draw a story for them! I dunno when it comes out, but more details soon! If you dunno what Atomic Robo is, you should go check it out! Like right now!

Here's a sneak peak panel of that! 

And here's a secret panel from something else I'm working on for the summer! 

Gah! So much I want to tell, but must hold back from excitement! :D Hope y'all had a great weekend! 

Yep, Thursday.

First off, some more stuff that I'm working on digitally!

I went to comic shop yesterday and picked up a few gems! First is Glory by Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell! It's part of the new Extreme revamp from Image. Crazy good stuff, so get get dat! Also I picked up the new BPRD Hell on Earth mini with James Harren on the art, and he blew it out of the water! Damn. Probably one of the prettiest comics I've seen in a while!

Also here's a badass video of Moebius and Hugo Pratt showing how they can lay it down on giant paper and not lose anything by working huge.

Wish I had more to say for today, but at least I'm staying busy with stuff! Hope y'all have a great weekend!

And if you are in the Portland Area go check out the Adam Warrock show tomorrow at Mt. Tabor! And buy his new album on Bandcamp! 

Keep on keeping on!

Here's some sneak peek panel roughs of stuff I'm working on! No spoilers!

Hey y'all also here's an animated head drawings!

Also, I wanted to talk about something I got to go to last Thursday at Floating World Comics. They are an amazing shop in Portland, and one of the few shops I've been to in person that does it right! Anyways, they put on a demo and talk by Frank Santoro. I was familiar with some of his work and enjoyed his lessons I had seen online over at the TCJ blog, but hearing him in person was another thing.

It's always nice to hear someone who is deeply interested and involved in the comics medium. The hour or so talk he gave was amazing! He explained layouts and how they corresponded to sacred geometry, which I had heard of before but not really known about. He gave a handout, which is now on my wall, that broke down one of Herge's Tintin pages and how it lined up with certain graphically designed elements that enhanced the story. This made me feel better about comics with all the other crazy stuff going on elsewhere in the industry! Argh! If you get a chance to see a Frank Santoro talk in your town, then GO! It's a definite pick me up and will get you pumped about comics as a medium!

I also heard about Ryan Cecil Smith and his Supplementary File comics! He utilized the Sacred geometry and applied it to his work! Go check it out, he's great!

Also other news is I'm all registered, confirmed and ready to set course full steam for Fluke in Athens, Georgia on April 21st, and Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina from June 22-24! If y'all are in any of those areas come on out!

Also I'll be at Free Comic Book Day 2012 at Criminal Records in Atlanta again this year on May 5th, 2012. So if you aren't going to TCAF, and live down south, come swing on by and get some free comics, and I'll have free stuff to hand out too! :D

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and hope y'all have a great Valentine's Day tomorrow!