Is THAT what she said?!?
Posted by admin | Filed under Photos
Took the Sunday off to recharge my batteries and chill with the boys. Things were getting a bit tight in that studio after about two straight weeks of comic work. What’s funny is I chose drawing as a way to relax from… drawing.
Suede Monkey Rey :: :: :: Seuss-whore Lloyd :: :: :: Viking Alex
That’s no moon…
Yes, my hand really does blur like that. True Story.
Tags: sketches
Tres Komikeros 04
Posted by admin | Filed under Work
In this episode, EJ, Alex, and I review:
We also have a round of War of Thumbs discussing the recent influx of TV-show comics, political content in comic books, and the censorship of All-Star Batman #10. To cap it off, we crossfired points about the difference between comics and graphic novels… assuming of course that there really is one. You can also download the episode here.
Tags: All-Star Batman, Back to Brooklyn, Batman, censorship, comic, Fantastic Four, graphic novels, Superman
The Tape is Now the Music
Posted by admin | Filed under Rants
It’s pretty damn easy to be deemed a workaholic when you have a habit of juggling anywhere between four to five illustration projects at a time. Whether or not I can deliver on all of them is yet to be seen. I’ve kept most people happy so far, so let’s see how long I can keep that up. Big smiles make food happen, after all. I think it was Remender who said on Twitter that you shouldn’t worry when projects don’t push through, that is after all why we overcommit. He went on to say that it’s when projects all push through that you should start sweating bullets. I didn’t know how true those words were until this past week.
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Random oblique strategy card says: “The tape is now the music.”
Hnn.
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Skyped with a coupla artist buddies last week about finding focus in their respective arts and how to avoid the demons of distraction. You wanna get into animation? Great. You wanna do game design? Do that. Just fucking make sure you actually do the work. And no matter how hard it gets, don’t let it be about the money. Because the fact of the matter is, if you don’t quite love what you’ve made your artlife out to be, the money will never be enough.
Let it be about the work. It’s not just lead on bright fibers, it’s your soul on a medium. You can’t put a price on that.
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Fuck you, Counter-Strike.
Fuck you, Call of Duty 4.
Fuck you, Quake III Arena.
“I can’t quit you.”
Aaaaaaaaand… back to work.
Tags: Art, comics, focus, work ethic
Horror Classics: The Fallen Prince
Posted by admin | Filed under Art
Beer night at the Amor residence. Literally just got done drinking with a coupla siblings and their spouses. S’weird how much faster I work when I’ve got a buzz going. Skype’s a bit quiet tonight, and my ping ain’t good enough for me to play Counter-Strike. Here’s what I did instead after wrapping up my pages for the day.
Print available in my DA store. I’ve been meaning to do a theatrically-lit piece for some time now. Dracula just lent himself to the mood perfectly, so this piece was a ton of fun.
I’m really happy with it.
But I’ve been drinking.
So I’ll probably hate it in the morning.
Here’s a closer look at some of the detail though, just so I can remind myself that it’s okay to be happy about this piece and move on.
Tags: art prints, creature design, Dracula, Vampire, Vlad Tepes
Tres Komikeros 03
Posted by admin | Filed under Work
In this episode…
We also discuss Fraction’s Filipino Superhero Team, the Triumph Division, who made their debut (and demise) in the pages of Invincible Iron Man. You can download the episode here.
Tags: All-star Superman, Matt Fraction, Triumph Division, Uncanny X-men, Walking Dead
Tres Komikeros 02
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This time around, in addition to doing a buncha reviews, we refined our quick shots and tried a little something called War of Thumbs. Pretty much a judgment fest.
Alex is gay for Nick Fury.
Y’all can also download the episode here.
Tags: All-Star Batman, DC, Magneto Testament, Marvel, Podcast, reviews, secret invasion
Overthrow! Page 3
Posted by admin | Filed under Art, Work
Pretty much the first time we get a look at the hero of this series written by Justin Jordan. I made a conscious decision not to show the main character’s face. I’m just weird like that.
I still don’t love inking. But there’s definitely something to be said about a high-contrast image.
Seedling of Wisdom for the Day: Wu-Tang is for the children.
Tags: comics, Justin Jordan
Week One
Posted by admin | Filed under Work
So I’m alive… after my first week of working on my first actual books. It’s funny doing this instead of an actual day job coz you realize how terrible a manager you’d end up being. Essentially been picking up the pencils right after lunch and working non-stop till about three in the morning the following day. Then sleep till about lunchtime, and the cycle begins anew. The schedule is actually not as bad as it sounds, but sometimes I just roll back over and go back to sleep, wishing I was Travis Charest. That being said though, I finished five pages and a cover this past week. So yeah. Not terrible.
It’s interesting having two books to work on that are so different from each other. And I don’t even mean story-wise either. See, MASK of MANOLO is fully intended to be a black and white book, whereas OVERTHROW! is going to be colored. And as I’m working on these pages throughout the week and alternating which books to work on and when… I realize that it’s a different set of artistic muscles that gets exercised every time.
When I know that a book is going to be black and white, I’m very generous with my hatching. There are lines literally all over the place. Even if I know that I’m going to apply tones to every single page later on, I still apply my hatch lines. That might very well be a waste of time, but it just helps me put it in a different place, y’know, mentally as well as visually.
OVERTHROW! is going to be colored, and I’m helping Justin scout for a colorist. I think I’ve already spotted one, but I’ll let you guys know when it’s solid. I’m not very hatchy when working on this book. My blacks are quite a bit more solid and defined, and I leave a lot of space for a colorist to interpret slight tonal shifts. For instance, while I would apply hatching to a slightly darker (read: midtoned) side of a rock in a black and white book… I would leave it untouched in a colored book and leave it to the colorist to give it a shaded hue. Color me noobish, but I feel like overdoing hatch lines muddles the colors quite a bit. But when used right and just suggestive enough, it can be a powerful unifier for when a colorist does his magic.
I don’t know if I’m doing it right yet though, but the colorist candidate guy says I’m on the right track, which is encouraging. Go me.
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Eno’s Oblique Strategy Card says: Cluster Analysis
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For those of you who missed it, a coupla friends and myself have decided to kill what little free time we have left to do a comics review show. It’s in the journal entry right before this ‘un. Tres Komikeros is/was/will be a podcast hosted both here and on The Independent Comic Site. ICS has pretty much identified itself as Newsarama’s evil twin, which I think is a really fresh take on comics journalism. Matt Brady meets Maddox. I have great respect for Dominik, the EIC, and I just know that site’s just waiting to explode. I can feel it in my amateur podcaster loins.
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I’m not allowed to show anyone any MANOLO stuff till November, but Justin’s been posting some previews of OVERTHROW! at his work blog. Go check ‘em out. Laterz!
Tags: comic art, hatching, Independent Comics Site, Mask of Manolo, Overthrow, podcasting
Tres Komikeros 01
Posted by admin | Filed under Work
EJ, Alex, and myself were a bit bored, so we decided to put together a podcast about comics. It’s essentially a comic review show. Hope you guys enjoy it.
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If we sound all chipmunky, I advise you to use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. In any case, here’s the download link for the first episode.
And thanks, Clint and Jaan, for providing the great track.
Tags: comics, secret invasion, secret six, titans
