Pretentious Euro-tour 2010

Once again, on my merry way for a pretentious Euro-tour.

I am fortunate that:
1) I work at a place that gives a lot of vacation time;
2) I can sell books when I travel (therefore can afford to go).

This year, I am stopping in Lisbon for my first taste of "warm Europe" then on to France for a healthy dose of BD (comics). I will be posting sketches at some point, hopefully when I get to Lyon. In the meantime, go buy NATION X #2!!!

NOTE: the image here is a photo of my rare 1941 globe. You can see Europe's vastly different from today.

VINTAGE ART: Legion of Super-Heroes

After the outpouring of requests to see old artwork, I have decided to put you out of your misery—or add to it. Late 1979, I started reading random issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, just prior to the series splitting into two books. I was so taken with it, I devoted some indoor recess time in the bitterly cold winter of 1980 to this 12"x 20" pencil and magic marker masterpiece. Bad layout, or latent homosexual tendancies surface as we see Ultra-Boy wacking Mon-El off, Sun Boy wacking himself off, Brainiac 5 wacking Superboy off. Nothing risque for the gals though...but they sure do look angry! Except Light Lass who has her eyes closed...blinking for the camera so to speak.
Flash forward to 1985, I was inspired to redraw the piece the week between Christmas and New Year's 1985. A bit better this time around, as I used marker and colored pencil. Overall better layout, and nice effect on the dead Legionnaires hovering above. The boys look package-y, but for that matter, so do the gals.

Last time to recraw the image was 1990, for the sake of monitoring my progress. Back to marker coloring, and I was picking and choosing my favorite look and feel of the characters. I chose Element Lad's 70s outfit, and Star Boy's deep V neck version of his uniform. Cosmic Boy playfully tilts his bum while all the gals have significantly been de-sluttified.

Maybe I will redraw this again in 2010.

Happy Holidays

From OMAC—One Man Army Corps (and me)!

I have a list of things to do quite long to prepare for upcoming events. Yet, I suddenly got inspired to color this drawing of OMAC I had done some time ago.

Perhaps not the most festive of holiday greetings, but there it is.

PC cleaning #5: lost love letter

Some time ago I started sketching out a love letter to Liz Phair. It's the type of project I'll probably never get to do with all my other projects going on. So for now, I publically declare my adoration with this sketch.

PC cleaning #4: another monster

If you read Something Fishy This Way Comes, you know I enjoy drawing well-dressed heinous women enjoying a drink. Here's another monster in a cocktail dress I did while practicing with my brush pen. I love the thick-thin effect on the arm fat.

UPDATE 9/22: This sketch now serves as my visual inspiration for the lead villainess in my mini comic I am working on with Greg Lockard. Saphrid was described as "Jabba the Hut in Princess Leia slave garb." So here we go, imagine this lovely lady in slinky/skanky clothes.

PC cleaning #3: The Doctor

I was visiting my grandmother perhaps early fall, and was mindlessly drawing in my sketchbook. This image of Doctor Who was the result. It's not great or anything, but she was amazed. While she's seen my published art, I don't think she's seen me draw since I was 11. A year or two ago, she gave me a huge stack of drawings I did at her house over the course of my childhood. Perhaps I will scan some for you.

PC cleaning #2: the couple

OR, what should we wear today? En route to Toronto for TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Frestival) this spring, I spotted a most intriguing duo getting on my flight at Boston's Logan International Airport. Matching dye jobs framed their faces; one slightly man-ish, the other slightly girlish. Their body shapes were concealed by matching outfits: tie dye shirts, leather jackets, jeans, freedom ring necklaces and rainbow accessories. I had convinced myself they were women until they spoke, and I was confused afresh. I concluded whether they were men, women, FTMs, MTFs, Is, or any combination, they were unmistakably a couple. Again, I had intended to color this nicely. Instead, you get a simple color job to illustrate their well-planned look.