Hank Williams

Just thought I'd post a quick drawing of Hank Williams I did recently. I drew this one for fun, mainly because I've listened to his music while drawing for years now. Lost Highway is probably one of my favourite recordings of all time.

Transmission-X!

Well, TCAF has come and gone, which is kinda sad, because its still my favourite show and I had a great time there. I met a lot of wonderful people and shared a display room with a lot of my local cartoonist buddies. My thanks to everyone who took the time to come out, buy a print or a sketchbook, or just hang out at our exhibit.



A highlight of the show was the panel we did introducing Transmission-X, the webcomic site that I'm contributing to. All of the features are very strong, so its a real thrill to be associated with the group. My feature for Transmission-X is called Papercut, and will feature a new short comic story from me each month. The first one is already online so you can check it out for yourself instead of reading about me blabbing on about it. But just for the benefit of those who want to see a bit of artwork first, you can see the page 1 of the 4 page story below:

TCAF is coming!

Its almost time for my favourite comics related show -- the Toronto Comic Arts Festival! TCAF, as its affectionately known, is a free event and takes place this weekend, August 18th and 19th. You can check out their website for all the details you need. I've always loved this show, especially since it was the first comic-con/event I ever attended as a professional. I really dig the focus of it, which is more geared toward the indie and alternative side of comics than the mainstream fare. Its an opportunity to see the sheer diversity of approaches that comics have to offer.

I'll be exhibiting again at this year's event, in a special room with the fine cartoonists and illustrators from R.A.I.D. and Transmission X where I'll be displaying and selling some new giclee prints I've had made for the occasion. I'll also be debuting a brand new sketchbook featuring a lot of the drawings, paintings and sketches I've done over the last year or so. It's almost 40 pages of black, white and grey goodness and I'll have it for sale starting this Saturday. Those of you who've visted my blog frequently will recognize some of the images in it, but there'll also be lots of previously unseen material, including pencil drawings and roughs. And since its got a bit of a super-hero theme this time around, I've posted a sample below of some of the pencil art you'll find between the covers!

What I've Been Working on Lately

I've been away from my blog lately, attending the latest San Diego Comic Con, so I've been a bit lax in posting new art. Now that I'm more or less recovered from the insanity of SDCC, I thought I'd share some info on the new projects I've been working on lately.

Firstly, I'm still hard at work on my 'dream-project' -- a graphic novel of short stories told in comic book format. All the stories are what would be described as 'contemporary fiction' -- meaning they're really just straight fiction without zombies or dinosaurs or rocketships (not that I don't like all those things!). I've been working on it on and off for the last few months, and its been a great experience. The book is projected to be about 150 pages long, comprised of 5 short stories written and drawn by me, each about 30 pages in length. I've never worked on anything this big before, so its been a bit daunting working on something where I can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel. In the past, most of my comic stuff has been 2-6 pages in length per story, so working on even a 30 pager seems really long to me. Still, since I'm getting the chance to write it myself, I'm really enjoying the opportunity to tell my own stories. The page shown here is from the book, and its the first page of one of the stories. Once I get 2 or 3 stories completed for it, I'm hoping to shop it around and find a publisher for the book.

Secondly, I've been asked to join the fine cartoonists at Transmission X and contribute a strip for their web-comics project. To make it easier for me, they've allowed me to post a new self-contained 4 page story each month, instead doing it weekly like the rest of the gang. I've already completed my first story for it, and will debut it at the upcoming Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) on August 18th. After working on a lot of longer stories lately, I'm really enjoying the opportunity to write short 4 pagers. For those who haven't checked out the excellent work being done by the Transmission X guys, I urge you to visit the site and check it for yourself.

Finally, I'm still working on a lot of my regular editorial illustration assignments, and trying to get caught up after taking a week away to go to San Diego. So, with all that on my plate, I've been slow in updating this blog, and for that...well, my apologies once again!

That's it for me for now -- hopefully, I'll have some other work to show on a more regular basis!