Michael Cho's sketchbook

Fall is almost over.

2011-11-15T15:40:00.003-05:00

I painted this little overcast scene the other day, from reference I shot a while ago. I'm still settling into my new studio, and this was the first piece done at the new house.

Done in watercolour, ink and gouache on paper.

Two More Commissions

2011-10-25T15:07:00.003-04:00

Since I'm no longer accepting any more requests for commissioned sketches, I thought I'd share the last two I did before shutting it all down. I'm now going to be concentrating mostly on freelance assignments and my own personal projects for a while, but if you're in the mood for a custom sketch, you can still find me at conventions and get a sketch there.

Both of these were painted in gouache and ink on board, and are about 12" x 17" in size.

Black Canary and Hawkeye

2011-10-04T01:03:00.004-04:00

Here's a couple of paintings I completed recently, featuring Black Canary and Hawkeye. I think these are first times I've ever drawn those characters, even though they're favourites of mine.

Both were painted in gouache and ink and are about 12" x 17" in size. While the final art is done in traditional media, I drew the pencil sketches for them digitally, in Sketchbook Pro, and you can check them out below.

A Game of Thrones

2011-09-01T11:47:00.003-04:00

So I was watching that HBO series "Game of Thrones", and I decided to do some quick digital sketches of some of the characters. I was actually inspired to do so after seeing ultra-talented illustrator Sam Bosma's drawings of the characters from the books. Now, I've only started reading the 1st book, so my drawings are based on the TV series, not the literary source, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway.

While working on these drawings, I tried to imagine them as interior illustrations from an old paperback from the 1950's. They were drawn entirely digitally, in Sketchbook Pro on my mac.

First up: Jon Snow, the "bastard of Winterfell":

Jamie Lannister: "the Kingslayer":

Catlyn Stark (formerly Catlyn Tulley):

And finally, that creepy mom and the 10 year old breast-feeding kid. These two seriously creeped me out:

A Few More Fan Expo Superheroes

2011-08-24T11:34:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple more painted sketches of superheroes that I'll be taking for sale to Fan Expo this weekend. I'm looking forward to the show. Look for me with my TX Comics pals at Booth 112.

These were painted in gouache and ink on board, and are approximately 12" x 17" in size.

Thor is Pretty Metal

2011-07-26T02:21:00.004-04:00

This one was a fun one. It's actually a collaboration between Andy B (as in Andy Belanger of Kill Shakespeare comic fame). We've wanted to work on a jam piece for a while now, and Thor was a good pick as subject. Andy knocked out an incredibly detailed and kick-ass drawing (see below) which, since this was to be a colaboration, he graciously let me do whatever I wanted to. I changed up the background and lighting and re-cropped for effect before painting. The final art was painted in gouache and ink and it's another piece I'll be taking with me to Fan Expo.

I want to thank Andy B for doing such a bang up job on the drawing, and for being such a fun guy to work with. I should also add that to get in the mood of working with Andy, I listened to a lot of metal while painting this one.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

2011-07-05T03:24:00.004-04:00

This one was a fun painting I did recently. It's one of a batch of new paintings I'm working on to take to Fan Expo, the big comic con coming up in August here in Toronto. I've always been a fan of Daredevil, especially during the classic Miller/Janson and Miller/Mazzucchelli run of comics, so I've posted drawings of him a few times other times before. This one was painted in gouache and ink, and is about 12" x 19" in size.

For those interested, you can check out the pencil sketch of the piece below.

A Family Portrait

2011-06-23T01:15:00.004-04:00

It's been a long delay between posts, I know, and deadlines are to blame. To make up for it, here's a recent portrait of our happy little family that I painted in gouache. As a change of pace from the previous post, I kept the emphasis on two-dimensional design while working on this one. I like playing with various approaches to image making and adjusting the style here and there to fit the subject matter. And yes, my daughter is indeed wearing a home-made bunny costume while riding on my shoulders.

Our Lady of the Flowers

2011-05-09T15:46:00.009-04:00

This is a one page comic essay I recently wrote and drew for Openbooktoronto.com. They're having a month long comic and graphic novel spotlight, in conjunction with the recent Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I was asked by the organizer if I wanted to write and draw a comic page about a book that I considered important or was a favourite of mine and I immediately knew which book I wanted to pick.

Our Lady of the Flowers, by Jean Genet has been a favourite book of mine for a long while now, and I was thrilled to finally be able to write a short comic about it's importance to me. I'd like to thank Openbooktoronto.com and editor Ian Daffern for giving me the opportunity and the freedom to do the piece the way I saw fit. It was posted online here.

You can read the one page comic above, or look below to see the original thumbnail drawing that lead to the final art. I painted both in gouache and ink, and you can compare the two and see the changes made along the way to the final. Please note that my comic, like the book itself, is for mature readers.

Madman and the Atomics

2011-04-25T22:40:00.004-04:00

I painted this one about a little while ago, as a pin-up for the recent Madman Giant Sized Super Ginchy Special. I've been a fan of Mike Allred's for decades, so I was awfully flattered when he asked me to contribute something for the special issue. I tried to fit in as many of the characters as I could, and had a lot of fun painting my favourite member of the Atomics, Adam Balm.

The printed version was in red, but I thought I'd post it here in the original blue-tone that I painted it in. As usual, this was done in gouache and ink. You can check out my preliminary pencil rough for it below.

Madman Giant Sized Super Ginchy Special went on sale a few weeks ago, so you should still be able to find it at your local comic shop. Buy a copy today and join in the fun!

Wonder Woman

2011-04-11T00:33:00.005-04:00

Why is it whenever I see the name "Wonder Woman", I hear the theme song from the old 70's TV show in my head? This is a recent painting I did to take with me to the Toronto Comicon that took place over the weekend. I actually painted this in just blue and black, but changed it up to a blue and red colour scheme after scanning it in. I think I was subconsciously trying to evoke a bit of the feel of those classic red and blue WPA posters of the 30's and 40's.

My thanks to everyone who stopped by at the convention. It was a nice way to start off the run of Toronto comic shows for the year (TCAF is just a month away!). Unfortunately, I could only stay for a half day on Sunday, so my apologies to anyone who was put out by my early departure.

Toronto Back Alleys 2011, Again

2011-03-29T15:01:00.003-04:00

Another one in the series of back alley drawings. I think I've posted almost 20 of them on this blog over the years. This one was done a little while ago, and took a bit longer than usual. I actually completed it in 2 sittings, mainly due to the amount of detail. Like the others, it was painted in gouache and ink on board.

Koyama Press

2011-03-02T19:54:00.004-05:00

Koyama Press is an wonderful local indie comics publisher, run by the one and only Anne Koyama, who is affectionately referred to by some folks as a patron saint of comics. They've put out some excellent and daring comics and have supported or launched the careers of many young cartoonists. As a friend of mine likes to say, "If there was an Anne Koyama in every city, indie comics would be unstoppable."

A little while back, Anne asked me to contribute to her art project of having various artists do their own takes on her "Kick Ass Annie" logo. So this one was painted as my contribution. It's a small painting, done in gouache and ink on 9" x 12" paper. And if you like this one, you should check out the other artwork that she's collected from contributors.

Toronto Back Alleys 2011

2011-02-01T05:20:00.004-05:00

I've been working on several more paintings of the back alleys and streets of Toronto, some of which I've shared via twitter, so I thought I'd post one here. As with many of the others in the series, this one was painted in gouache and ink, and the colour choice was meant to evoke a feeling of early fall.

And for those who are interested, yes a book is still in the works. I am furiously painting away, completing more pictures for it.

Rajon Rondo

2011-01-17T22:34:00.007-05:00

This one is a recent painting of Rajon Rondo, point guard for the Boston Celtics. I think that makes 3 NBA related posts out of the last 4 now. I love watching the Celtics, and Rondo is one the reasons - he's got such a unique game.

Like many other personal pieces I've done in the last year, I took the opportunity to experiment here. Unlike most of my work, this one was created almost completely digitally. I drew a proper pencil sketch, but the final art was painted in photoshop.

Crime Fiction

2011-01-03T02:00:00.004-05:00

This was a recent cover that I painted for Quill and Quire magazine, for their January 2011 issue. The theme was on the rise in popularity of crime fiction. I worked out a bunch of different rough concepts, but in the end went with the idea of just putting a strong iconic image on the cover. The masthead is meant to cover the top of the image, obscuring the head of the figure.

The final art was painted in gouache and ink, with some slight tweaking in photoshop.

I Go Ron Artest...

2010-12-08T03:01:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts, folks. Fall is usually a busy season for me, so I haven't had as much time to update this blog. I've got a some new illustrations that I'll be posting in the next few weeks, but in the meantime here's something hot off my drawing table -- a portrait sketch of NBA basketball player Ron Artest.

Now don't get me mistaken, I actually hate the Los Angeles Lakers (Ron's team), but I'm working on some new paintings for a Ron Artest themed art show here in Toronto later this month. I thought it'd be fun to do a loose and drybrush ink sketch, so I drew this with a nice fat #10 brush. And, like the Ray Allen piece below, the image was referenced from an old photo.

Ray Allen

2010-10-25T15:20:00.004-04:00

The NBA season officially tips off tomorrow, so I thought I'd post a quick painting of my favourite player -- Ray Allen aka Jesus Shuttlesworth. Like a gazillion other people around the world, I can't wait to see the opening game of the Boston Celtics vs. the Miami Heat. What a great way to start the season.

This one was painted a while ago, in drybrush gouache and ink on board, and obviously referenced from an old photo of Ray.

Batman

2010-09-28T01:43:00.005-04:00

In the past, I've never really enjoyed drawing Batman. Prior to this year, I can count the amount of Batman doodles I've drawn in my life on one hand. Even at conventions, when I get a request for Batman, I try to ask them to pick something else. Lately however, I've started to enjoy trying to do my take on the guy. So here's a quick Batman painting I completed about a week ago. Like all of my recent work, it was painted in gouache and ink on a 12" x 17" piece of board.

The Uncanny X-men

2010-09-14T14:43:00.005-04:00

This one is a large painting in gouache and ink I did a little while ago. I've actually painted the original X-men team once before, but not in an action shot or in costume. While I grew up in the 80's and read the Claremont/Byrne comics of the team as a kid, the original lineup of mutants is my favourite. You can check out my various roughs that lead to the final art below:

Originally, I drew up this rough composition, but I hated it since it had so much dead space between figures:

So after some failed tinkering, I sat down and drew up a newer thumbnail which I liked much better. It's hard to read, I know, but it was enough to point me in the right direction:

That thumbnail lead to this new rough, which I used as the basis of the painting:

While the final art is done traditionally in goauche and ink, the roughs and the pencils were done digitally in Alias Sketchbook Pro -- a fun little drawing program I sometimes use for the novelty of drawing on my computer.

Son of Fan Expo Superheroes!

2010-08-23T01:39:00.005-04:00

Two more paintings from the recent batch I've been working on for Fan Expo. The bottom one is of Lara Croft (of Tomb Raider videogaming fame), while the top one is of everyone's favourite fin-headed spaceman, Adam Strange.

This is actually only the 2nd time I've ever drawn Lara Croft, even though I was a fan of the games back in the original playstation days. Of course, back then I actually had time to play epic, 40 hour adventure games -- something I no longer have. Looking at it now, I prefer my pencil sketch to the final painting, something that happens from time to time. You can check out the sketch for it here on my twitter feed.

As for Adam Strange, he's always been a personal favourite of mine. I even have a few Adam Strange stories that I've plotted, sitting in a folder somewhere. I think his appeal is that he's less of an action hero than a romantic lead -- all the classic stories of him feature Adam at the end, staring up at the stars, longing for his girlfriend Alanna who is billions of miles away. When I sat down come up with a composition for this piece, that's the image that came to mind most vividly.

As always, these were painted in gouache and ink, and are fairly large; about 12"x17" approximately. I'll be bringing these to Fan Expo, so if you're at the show, you can check out the original art there.

Fan Expo Superheroes

2010-08-16T12:41:00.002-04:00

These are two more paintings I completed recently to take to Fan Expo. They were done large, in gouache and ink on 12" x 17" paper. Mister Miracle is a character I draw rarely, but have always wanted to paint at one point or another, while the Flash is a super-hero I seem to draw only as quick con-sketches. I enjoyed the opportunity to do a finished, polished painting this time around.

I'll be working on a few more super-hero paintings in the next week or so to bring to Fan Expo.

Captain America vs. Hydra!

2010-07-28T02:29:00.004-04:00

In between editorial illustration assignments, I like to take a break and draw some superheroes. I find it's a great way to loosen up and work out aggression. I painted this one of Captain America in action against those nasty baddies from Hydra (google them if you don't know who they are) the other night for fun. I always seem to enjoy drawing Cap. This is also one of several new paintings I'll be taking with me to sell at the Fan Expo comic-con in Toronto in about a month.

This one was painted fairly large, about 11" x 16", in gouache and ink on watercolour paper. Since it was done in gouache, it needed no pshop cleanup. If you're interested, you can check out my pencil sketch for it below:

The Adventures of Superboy

2010-07-15T13:10:00.005-04:00

This is a cover image I painted for a hard-cover collection of 1940's Superboy stories published by DC, which should be out on comic shop shelves very soon. It was a fun assignment, and gave me the opportunity to draw a light-hearted super hero image. I even got to put in a puppy.

The final painting was done in gouache and ink on water-colour paper. You can check out the original thumbnail drawing for it below, as well as a sheet of warm-up doodles I did while getting accustomed to the character.

The Clash

2010-06-21T20:57:00.005-04:00

I spent a few days during the last week painting up some quick portraits of the members of the Clash. I got the idea to do these after watching Don Letts' excellent documentary, The Clash: Westway to the World and these drawings were all referenced from the interviews he conducted with the group around 2000. I loved seeing how the guys had aged, and comparing them to the photos and footage of them as young punks.

These painted sketches were all done fairly quickly, and I was just aiming to experiment with new approaches and techniques. The first two, of Paul Simonon and Mick Jones, were painted in gouache on paper. The ones of Joe Strummer and Topper Headon were done as ink drawings, mostly in drybrush, with tones added digitally.

The Clash were my favourite group as a kid, and I still think of them fondly. I can't think of any other rock group that can evoke in me the same feeling of hope and possibility like they do. For a little while, it really felt like they could change the world. I still miss Joe Strummer and listen to their early records often.

PEN Canada: Dawit Isaak

2010-06-15T00:46:00.018-04:00

PEN Canada recently asked me to draw a portrait of imprisoned writer Dawit Isaak, and I was happy to accept. For those unfamiliar with PEN, it's an organization which assists and publicizes the case of writers in many countries who are "persecuted for the peaceful expression of their ideas". I urge you to read more about Dawit Isaak online.

If you'd like to read a little bit more about the process, then you can continue below for a short process post.

I was grateful to art director Gary Beelik for giving me free reign with what I drew, pending approval of course. So to start with, I just researched everything I could about Dawit Issak and his case. There was a lot to read, and some of it was mis-information, which made this part very interesting.

Near the start, I asked my friend Tim Davin, one of the favourite art directors, for his help in throwing ideas back and forth. I always appreciate Tim's input, especially on the more challenging assignments. He was gracious with his time and we had a great couple of meetings at local cafes while we drew quick thumbnails on a coaster and discussed issues surrounding Dawit Issak's case.

Among the things we weened out during those meetings were initial ideas like this one:

Sometimes, you just gotta put your big first idea on paper to see that it's not gonna work. It's something I've had to do often in my career.

After some discussion, we agreed that I should just do a straight-up portrait, with little overt editorial. I also thought it should be something with a graphic approach, but still contemplative.

Next I drew up a portrait of Dawit Isaak in pencil (below left), and followed that up with a gouache painting at about 50% final size (below right). It was painted with two colours, mostly in drybrush:

From that painting, I cropped and tweaked an image in photoshop which made the final cut as the rough I submitted. It had something of the quality I was looking for:

After that rough was approved, I set about panting the final. Again, it was painted in gouache and ink on paper, using mostly dry brush. The main differences were a tighter under-drawing and a much larger size - 120% of final size:

Neither painting required much photoshop colour cleanup because they were painted in gouache. Both the rough and the final were painted in a graphic palette suited for posters. The final is a closer likeness, but the strokes are more subdued.

Toronto Streets

2010-06-08T02:37:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was on a walk in the west end of downtown when I saw this street. I was struck by way it looked, so I came back a couple times to take notes and shoot pictures. Then I finished this painting back at my studio, working in gouache and ink on watercolour paper.

Editorial all day long

2010-05-31T16:11:00.004-04:00

Just to show you that my time isn't spent doodling super-heroes all day long, here's a batch of editorial illustrations I've done recently.

The first is for Maisonneuve Magazine, illustrating an article on interesting villains in literature. I chose to go with an illo of my personal pick for most interesting villain: Satan, from Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost:

Next, and in keeping with the biblical theme, is a small spot for the New York Times Book Review, accompanying a write-up on the book "Jesus Boy":

Finally, shifting the focus from religion to money, here's a spot for Briefings Magazine, accompanying an article about Chinese market manipulation of american currency:

A Night at the Opera Pt. 2

2010-05-18T15:19:00.005-04:00

These are the other seven illustrations I did for "Les Adventures de Madame Merveille", a comic-themed opera performed earlier this month in Montreal. There were ten illustrations in all, and you can check a previous post of mine for the other three paintings, as well as more details on the production.

The colour choices for these drawings were a bit more saturated than I would normally use, but that was because the drawings were to be projected and I knew they might lose some intensity along the way.

The Marvel Superhero Hour Pt. 2

2010-05-11T12:50:00.006-04:00

As I was mentioning in a previous entry (see 2 posts down), I took some time recently to do some new super-hero paintings to take to TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. Here' the rest of the batch, for your viewing pleasure. Most of them sold pretty quickly, so I think I might do the same thing for the Fan Expo show later this year, and bring some new artwork created specifically for the show. And yes, that's another Iron Man drawing -- I actually ended up drawing 3 of them for the show.

I'd like to thank all the people who came to TCAF and visited my table. It's been 2 days and I'm still not fully recovered from the show, but I was very happy to meet and chat with the people that came by. I hope you all had a great time at the show.

And here's another painting I did recently, this time of Superboy. It was my contribution to the Doug Wright Awards fundraiser auction -- if you're quick, you can still bid on the art on ebay!

Best American Comics 2010

2010-05-03T04:21:00.008-04:00

This was a fun assignment, and a real honour. I was asked by Houghton Mifflin and series editors Matt Madden and Jessica Abel to design and illustrate the cover for the 2010 edition of their annual Best American Comics anthology. They gave me free reign to draw what I wanted, so over the course of a couple of weeks early in January, I sat down and worked out this image. Like most of my favourite cover assignments, the concept for this one came together pretty intuitively and I had an idea of what kind of response the image should provoke. This deluxe hardcover collection of excellent comic stories ships in the fall.

This year's guest editor, Neil Gaiman, also chose to include my 14 page story "Trinity" (a non-fiction comic about the creation of the atomic bomb) as part of the collection. Again, a real honour.

the Marvel Superhero Hour

2010-04-26T14:25:00.007-04:00

Lately, during the week, I've been trying to take a couple hours at the end of the night to paint up some small super-hero sketches. Some are done as commissions while others are done for fun. Here's a few from that batch, all of which were painted in gouache and ink on board. I've been doing most of my work in gouache lately, instead of using markers, and really enjoying having a painted final product that needs little pshop cleanup.

Please note, I'm not taking any new commission requests right now. Sorry if this looks like a tease -- I'm just too busy with other projects at the moment.

Village Voice

2010-04-13T14:10:00.004-04:00

This is a cover for the Village Voice Spring Arts Guide I drew a few weeks ago. Obviously, its a tie in to the new Kick Ass movie that's coming out soon. I also drew a small spot featuring the same character for the interior article. I don't really know much about the movie, but it was fun to draw an action scene for a magazine cover.

Cartoon City

2010-04-06T12:24:00.003-04:00

This is a new painting I completed earlier this week for an exhibition called Cartoon City, which opens at Harbourfront Center on April 9th. The show features a great line-up of Toronto area comic artists, each contributing a piece about their neighbourhoods. In my case, I did my best to capture a section of College Street, a few blocks from my studio. If you're in the Toronto area during April to June, feel free to check out the exhibition. And if you're in on April 9th, come by and attend the opening which will be from 6pm to 10pm.

This is probably one of the biggest and most complicated paintings I've attempted in years. It's about 30" x 10" in size, and was painted in gouache and ink. Usually, I complete most works in one or two sittings, but this one took about four nights to finish. As detailed as it seems, I painted it fairly loosely because of its size and I really enjoyed the opportunity to use larger brushes. Everything on this was hit with a #5 brush and up. While working on it, I also discovered I enjoyed utilizing a few techniques I rarely use: 1) scraping out white lines with an x-acto blade and 2) using low-tack painter's tape to lift off ink and create texture.

A Night at the Opera

2010-03-10T21:26:00.007-05:00

Here are three illustrations from a fun project I completed last month. They're for a new modern opera, "Les Adventures de Madame Merveille" which will be opening this summer in Montreal. Commissioned by ECM+, the libretto is written by award winning comic writer Cecil Castellucci, and features 4 different comic-themed sequences, each illustrated by a different artist. The other artists involved in the project are Scott Hepburn, Cameron Stewart and Pascal Girard -- excellent illustrators all.

My segment is the romance part of the story, and the drawings above are three of ten illustrations that will be projected onstage during the performance. All the illustrations were painted in ink and goauche, and were a lot of fun to work on. I've been having great luck lately in the variety of different assignments to try my hand in and I have to thank Cecil for bringing me aboard for this project.

Crossroads

2010-02-16T03:01:00.004-05:00

This is a little painting about Robert Johnson that I completed recently. Come On In My Kitchen is one of the songs that I listen to all the time while drawing. I've probably worked on at least a couple dozen paintings while listening to his music.

Like most of my recent work, this one was also painted in gouache and ink on bristol, and is about 10" x 10" in size. And if you're interested, you can check out the pencil sketch for it below. I also did a half-size colour thumbnail for it, working out the values, which I shared with people on my twitter feed.

Pablo Picasso

2010-02-09T23:59:00.005-05:00

This is a small painting of Pablo Picasso I did for a charity art-show and auction, to raise funds for Haiti. They asked for a head-shot of any kind and, after half an hour of wracking my brains for what to draw, I decided to ask for some suggestions via twitter. My thanks to B. Clay Moore for suggesting this. This was painted in gouache and ink on bristol and is about 7" x 9" in size.

Incidentally, Picasso's Les Damoiselles D'Avignon is one of my favourite paintings of all time. It might even be my favourite, actually.

Darkseid - Lord of Apokolips

2010-01-24T20:49:00.012-05:00

This one was a lot of fun to work on. I was asked to draw an image of Darkseid (a great comic book villain created by Jack Kirby) for a commissioned painting, and I decided to go for a big wide-angle close-up. After I thumbnailed it, I decided to paint the final for it really big, on a 22 inch piece of board so that I could get loose and have fun with the backgrounds. It was a delight to paint larger again, after months of working on smaller pieces and the whole process was quick and highly enjoyable. The painting was so big it wouldn't even fit on my large-format scanner, so I had to scan it in pieces and patch it back together to post here.

Incidentally, drawing the background for this piece reminded me of growing up in Hamilton, Ontario in the 80's. Back then Hamilton had 2 giant steel companies working full time, so I was used to seeing raging fires light up the night sky. It was always an awesome sight.

The final art was painted in gouache and ink, so it needed no photoshop cleanup. If you're interested in seeing the prep sketches for it, you can check them out below:

Here's my quick 10 minute colour thumbnail, which gave me the idea to paint it up nice and wide:

This is the pencil sketch for the piece, drawn at about 60% of painted size. I kept the background buildings and flying figures as just simple outlines, since I wanted to stay loose and do most of the "real" drawing in ink:

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T14:36:00.002-05:00

Now that it's 2010, I thought it was time to post some new artwork. Unfortunately, I can't share much of the work I've been doing lately due to contractual obligations so, with that in mind, here's a quick watercolour portrait of my wife, my baby girl and I, which I did over the holidays. I've never been very comfortable working in water-colour, so I prefer only using them to mess around with on quick sketches, and not on final work for clients.

Here's hoping that you all had a nice time during your holidays and are enjoying a wonderful start to 2010.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

2009-12-21T12:40:00.003-05:00

Here's my holiday card for all of you who've dropped by to check out my blog this year. May you all have a wonderful season, and a bright start to 2010. And if you're a freelancer like me, I sincerely wish you some extended time off with no last minute deadlines over the break.

And yes, my holiday card has a drawing of Darkseid on it. I wonder how many other holiday images he's been in?

In time for Christmas: Penguin does Posters!

2009-12-14T14:26:00.004-05:00

A week ago, I got in the mail a nice package from Penguin Publishing with some excellent posters they'd made of my cover artwork for Don DeLillo's "White Noise". I did a blog entry a few months ago about the creation of that jacket illustration, but I didn't know at the time that they were planning to make posters from it -- a nice surprise.

Anyway, mine isn't the only artwork that Penguin decided on. They also printed up a great poster from Tony Millionaire's remarkable "Moby Dick" cover.

They're both available for purchase from the Penguin website, and would make terrific stocking stuffers for book and comic fans. Check out the links below to get your copy today:

Order the "White Noise" poster
Order the "Moby Dick" poster

The Mighty Avengers!

2009-11-12T03:16:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the long delay in between posts, folks. To make up for it, here's a drawing of that old-school Marvel super-team, the Avengers. I think this particular lineup only existed for a couple of issues (Hulk was never much of a team player), but it remains a personal favourite. You really can't go wrong with any group that includes the "fin-head" Iron Man.

This drawing is actually a companion piece to a drawing I did years ago, of a group of DC heroes. I pencilled it months ago, but didn't have time to finish it up until recently. The final art was painted in markers and ink, and you can check out the original pencil sketch for it below:

Bill Russell - the greatest Celtic of all time

2009-10-15T00:02:00.003-04:00

As some of you may know, I'm a basketball nut. I'm the kind of fan that follows NBA teams even during the off-season: reading about trades, personnel changes, summer league games and obsessive things like that. So, with the new season almost about to jump off, here's a recent portrait I did of Bill Russell - the anchor of some of the greatest Boston Celtic teams of all time.

I drew this one up as a commission - one I was glad to do. It was painted in markers and ink, with a few white highlights painted in gouache. The image was referenced from a photograph of a young Russ from the Sports Illustrated archives.

The Amazing Absorbing Boy - Book Cover Art

2009-10-05T16:20:00.010-04:00

Above is the final artwork for a recent book cover assignment for Random House Canada. I was contacted by art director Jennifer Lum to illustrate the cover and 20 small interior illustrations for The Amazing Absorbing Boy, a new novel by Rabindranath Maharaj. I enjoyed this assignment very much, and working with Jennifer was a real joy. Like my last post, I thought I'd share here some of the process and roughs that led to the final art.

The book focuses on the culture shock experienced by a teenage boy as he immigrates from Trinidad to Canada, specifically to the Regent Park area of Toronto. With that idea in mind, I drew up 2 initial cover concepts, in colour like I usually do. Both the drawings below were drawn quickly and featured Regent Park, a distinctive area of Toronto, as a specific location:

While I liked the first concept, I hated the 2nd one. But I sent them both to Jennifer, to get her suggestions. After talking with her and getting the proper final dimensions for the artwork, I drew up another round of cover concepts: some were slight tweaks to previous ideas, while others took the cover concept in different directions:

After sending these to Jennifer, I was told that concept 6 was approved. She also sent back a rough mockup of the cover with all the copy in place:

That mockup formed the basis for the final cover illustration, which is at the top of this post.

I also drew 20 black and white interior illustrations, to be printed very small, as chapter openings. You can see a sampling of some of them below:

All in all, this was another highly enjoyable project to work on. Jennifer Lum gave me a lot of freedom on this, especially with the interior art, and was a great collaborator to work with.

For more information The Amazing Absorbing Boy, you can check out the the listing on Random House Canada's website.

Penguin Classics - Don DeLillo's White Noise Book Jacket Art

2009-09-15T22:01:00.011-04:00

This is a bit of a long blog post. But that's because it's about a dream assignment that I recently completed. A few months ago, I got an email from Paul Buckley, the wonderful art director at Penguin Classics, who asked if I wanted to illustrate a book cover for him. Naturally, I was thrilled, but I was even more thrilled when I read what book he had in mind: Don DeLillo's award winning White Noise. When I got to that part in the email, my jaw hit the floor.

Now, to explain a bit, I should tell you that White Noise is a favourite book of mine. I read it in my late teens, and it has a place in my top 10 books of all time. So I was more than thrilled, I was humbled.

After talking to Paul a bit more about the assignment, I was actually awestruck. Basically, he gave me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted -- something I rarely ever get as an illustrator. And not just on the art, but also on the design. I mean, I was allowed to put whatever copy I wanted, in whatever way I wanted, pull quotes as I saw fit, and even draw on the flaps if I wanted to. The only restrictions I had were to make sure that the Penguin logos were on the front, spine and back and to leave room for a UPC box. Honestly, I'd never experienced that kind of freedom with a book jacket assignment before. Usually, at least marketing factors partially determine how a book jacket will be illustrated, but in this case, I was asked to just follow my muse. Amazing.

Now, I thought I'd spend a few paragraphs here detailing my process for coming up with the jacket art. The first thing I did, of course, was read the book again. It had been over 10 years since I last read it, so I needed to re-familiarize myself with it. After reading it though this time, I skimmed it again but with an eye toward the major concepts and images. Then I sat down over a few nights and thought about what the book meant to me.

Once that was clear, it was easy to come up with some jacket concepts. The first thing I wanted to do was use multiple images, similar to comic panels, or layers of competing media. After working out what those images should be, I drew a quick pencil thumbnail:

You'll notice that the main image on the cover is missing in the above thumbnail. That's because I already knew what was going to go there, but I didn't have the heart to sit and draw such a complicated scene in a thumbnail. I'd already drawn something like it in a comic I wrote a while back, so I decided to just lift that and use it as a temporary placeholder.

After that pencil thumbnail, I went to work and drew up a colour rough in markers. I usually send in colour roughs to art directors, since my pencil roughs can be a bit misleading. I also wanted to work out and present a colour scheme. Normally, my colour roughs are just that - roughs. But in this case, I was inspired to add a bit more polish to them. I also roughed in by hand where the copy should go, with some placeholders for the various pull quotes I had in mind. Below is my first colour rough:

The turquoise images on the left and right are obviously the flap artwork and the crop marks indicate the trim area.

Having drawn that first rough, I thought it was a bit busy, so I eliminated one of the back cover images and came up with what I thought was a much better design. I liked this one better, and showed it to Penguin:

They were happy with the rough, but wanted to run it by Don DeLillo to get his thoughts. After some back and forth, a few images were swapped out on the flaps, and the likenesses of the main characters on the cover were tweaked. I then arrived at this new rough, incorporating the changes in pencil:

Finally, everything was approved, and then it was time for me to paint up all the images in gouache and ink and then composite them together to make the final art. While a lot of people think I work digitally, I actually paint my artwork the old fashioned way -- with brushes, paint and ink. After a week of painting, this was the final jacket art I submitted:

I left it to Paul Buckley to do what he felt best with the copy and title treatment. Originally, He suggested I that could hand-letter the type if I wanted, but I felt that White Noise was too "cool" a book for such a "hot" approach as hand-lettered type.

Overall, I have to say, this was one of my favourite jobs in recent years. I was humbled to be able to illustrate a book jacket for an author like Don DeLillo, especially a book that is a favourite of mine. And I was grateful to Paul Buckley and Penguin Classics for giving me the freedom just follow my inspiration.

If you want to see a final hi-res version of the book jacket, with all the type in place, you can check it out on Paul Buckley's flickr.

One Last Fan Expo sketch

2009-09-09T04:52:00.003-04:00

Here's one last pre-fan-expo commission I drew. This one was a quickie of Zorro (duh). I actually left this till really late, mainly because its pretty daunting to try and draw a drawing of Zorro -- the late Alex Toth pretty much set the bar on drawing that character, and it was a very high bar indeed.

I enjoyed Fan Expo very much, and was very gratified to meet and chat with all the people who came by my table to buy a print or get a quick sketch. My thanks to everyone who stopped by. I think I drew about 20 "head shots" over the weekend, and enjoyed them all since I didn't feel as rushed as last year. I even found some time to wander the tables and see the show a bit. Goes to show what a little pre-show planning can do.

More Commissioned sketches

2009-08-25T01:37:00.003-04:00

These are three more quick sketches I did, as pre-fan-expo commissions. Like the others (see a couple posts below), they were done on 9" x 12" bristol, in gouache and ink. I'm sure you can recognize 2 of the super-heroes depicted, but the fellow with the plunger on his head might be a bit obscure. Apparently, his name is Herbie the Fat Fury -- a character from a comic I was completely unfamiliar with. Needless to say, I needed some reference to draw that one.

illo Magazine Issue #2

2009-08-14T03:17:00.004-04:00

Illo is a gorgeous, high-quality magazine about contemporary illustration, produced by Daniel Zimmer. Discerning art connoisseurs might already be familiar with his other wonderful publication, Illustration, which focuses on the history of the art form.

The second issue of Illo is now on the stands, featuring interviews with and lots of gorgeous art by such great illustrators as James Gurney, Nancy Stahl and Zina Saunders. In a stroke of crazy good luck, I also happen to be featured in the issue. There's a very long and exhaustive interview with me and a lot of my artwork.

I got my copies in the post this week, and I have to say, I was utterly humbled to be included in such a beautiful publication and in the company of such incredible artists. They even put me on the cover, which will probably make my mom extremely happy.

You can find Illo #2 on newstands and bookstores now, but you can also check out images of the entire magazine on its website here.

Ryerson Journalism Review

2009-08-09T22:31:00.006-04:00

As a change of pace from all the super-hero commission drawings I've posted lately, here is a full page illo I did for the Ryerson Journalism Review in the spring. The subject of the story was about John McFarlane, who took over as editor of the well-respected magazine, The Walrus here in Canada. The assigning art director, Fernanda Pisani, thought a "pulp detective" feel to the drawing would suit the copy, which was written in a similar hard-boiled style.

Above is the final art, painted in gouache and ink. Below is my pencil sketch.

Galactus vs. Iron Fist

2009-07-28T15:55:00.002-04:00

Continuing on with my theme of pre-Fan Expo comissions, here's two more. This time it's of Galactus (eater of worlds) and Iron Fist (that blonde and blue eyed kung fu hero). I've doodled Iron Fist a few times in the past in my sketchbook, but I always avoided drawing Galactus -- that armour of his is really complicated and hard to draw. Don't get me wrong, the Kirby's design is great, and he makes a hell of a silhouette, but getting all those details right took a lot more time than I expected!

Like the other sketches in this series these were done on 9" x 12" bristol, in gouache and ink.

Captain Marvel vs. The Punisher

2009-07-21T01:52:00.004-04:00

These are another couple of quick pre-convention sketches, which I painted in gouache. Like the last two, these were drawn for pick-up at the Fan Expo show, coming to Toronto in late August (see sidebar for more details). I've been enjoying drawing these, as they give me an opportunity to geek out and paint some images of super-heroes after I've finished a day of freelance illustration work.

Both of these were painted in ink and gouache on 9" x 12" paper, and then scanned and colour corrected in pshop. I did things a bit differently this time out, and drew the rough sketches digitally, using Alias Sketchbook before painting the final art in traditional media. You can check out the roughs for them below:

Pre-Convention Sketches

2009-07-14T18:17:00.003-04:00

I'll be appearing at the upcoming Fan Expo comic convention in Toronto, at the end of august (see the sidebar for more details) this year, and this will be my second time at that particular show. Last year was my first, and I was surprised at how big and busy it was. The crowds were huge, and I was actually a bit overwhelmed by the sketch requests from collectors. I was sketching so much, I barely had any time to leave my table at all see the show itself, and I was sad to have to turn away people because I just couldn't add more drawings to my list.

In order to prevent that this time around, I thought I'd take some pre-show orders for drawings to be picked up at the event this year. I put up a little announcement here on my blog's sidebar a week or so ago, and since then I've had several emails from people who wanted to take up that offer. So, I've been taking an hour or two each night to try work on those drawings. Here's a couple of completed drawings from that pile.

These were both drawn in gouache and ink, on bristol, at about 9" x 12" size. They were both actually painted in blue gouache, but then I scanned them into photoshop and colour corrected them.

The originals are a bit more loose and not quite as flat coloured, but I thought I'd clean them up a bit before posting them here on my blog.

The Dark Knight Returns

2009-07-08T03:29:00.005-04:00

Here's a commissioned painting of Batman and Robin that I finished recently. The more astute comic fans among you might recognize that it's actually a painting of the senior-citizen old Batman and teen-girl Robin from "the Dark Knight Returns" -- a seminal Batman mini-series from the mid 1980's. When I was a teen, that book was probably my favourite super-hero comic, and it still holds up pretty well. I have an old paperback collection of all 4 issues, and when I went to reference it for this painting, I had a chuckle at how dog-eared it had become from multiple readings.

Anyway, I had some fun working on this piece. I've mentioned in the past how uncomfortable I am in drawing Batman, so I used this painting as an opportunity to try and get over that hump. Drawing the Joker, however, is always fun.

The completed painting was done in gouache and ink, and colour corrected in photoshop. You can see the preliminary sketches I did for it below, and compare how I tweaked a few small details the road to the final art. The only major change is that I made Batman beefier and more wide-shouldered than in the pencil sketch -- something that was suggested to me by my pal Steve Manale. When I showed him the drawing, his first reaction was:

"Dude, its Batman - his shoulders should be HUGE!"

Iron Man - again!

2009-06-23T02:50:00.003-04:00

Here's a quick drawing of Iron Man I finished a few nights ago. I drew it up in ink markers, but scanned it into photoshop and added a bit of paper texture. As some of you might know, I doodle Iron Man quite a bit, though not as much lately. But I felt like drawing him again, so I took an old sketch from my sketchbook and inked it up to share on this blog.

Incidentally, I do keep another blog of all Iron Man sketches (you can see a link to it on my sidebar), but sadly, I haven't had any time to devote to it, so I'm thinking of closing it up. For those of you who sent me Iron Man drawings over the last few months to post, I'm very sorry for not getting around to it. The demands of freelance work and family life just haven't left me much time to spare lately. I'll try and post all the ones sent to me before I close it up for good.

An Offensive Rip off

2009-06-20T19:16:00.012-04:00

Ty Buttars, comic enthusiast and all around nice guy, sent me this photo he took today saying that he knew I "wouldn't like this". He's right. The photo above is of a fellow he ran into at Heroes con in Charlotte, who was wearing a t-shirt featuring a rip off of my artwork. According to Ty, this guy said he "found it at a goodwill", which may or may not be true.

Either way, let me just say a few things about this. Firstly, I don't like people ripping off my artwork to put on t-shirts. Even if they print only one, for themselves. My work is clearly copyrighted by, and owned by me. It says so at the bottom of this blog. If a company ripped off my work to reproduce in mass quantities for profit, I'd be really pissed. If its just an individual doing one for themselves, I'm not pissed but still offended. Especially if, as is clear here, that person has removed my signature from the art. And please note, this isn't a "re-draw" or a "re-creation" or a drawing similar to mine, - this is just a straight grab of my artwork, as is, minus the signature.

Secondly, I am particularly offended by this specific drawing being reproduced on a t-shirt. Why? Because its a drawing of Jack Kirby: a creator whom I have immense respect for, and who was also routinely and unfairly exploited during his lifetime. I did this drawing as a tribute to him, to post here on this blog, and have had several comments from people suggesting that I make it into a shirt for sale. Unfortunately, I'd never want to do that. The reason for that is obvious: I don't want to make money off of his memory or likeness. Kirby has a fine estate, and unless they authorized the work, I would never ever want to violate his memory by exploiting him one more time.

In that same spirit, I've inked several pages of Kirby artwork for fun over the years, yet I'll never offer them for sale for that very same reason. Its just a personal decision of mine.

So, I'm posting this blog entry to make it clear that this t-shirt was never authorized or approved by me, and to ask a favour. If you're the guy who printed this shirt and you did it just for yourself, please be kind and stop wearing it. You're probably a Kirby fan like me, but please understand that you're not only ripping off my artwork, but that you're using it in a way that is upsetting to me. I don't want anyone to see the shirt and assume that I was responsible for it, especially anyone connected to Jack Kirby's estate. If you like, I'll send you a blank shirt or any of my other t-shirts I've designed over the years to make up for it. Contact me via email, and I promise to honour that pledge with no hard feelings. However, If you're a company and you printed this shirt for profit, stop being a douchebag and desist right away. I will do everything in my power to stop you if you don't.

I am also asking a favour to anyone who sees someone wearing this shirt. If you could be so kind as to tell the person wearing this that the artwork was ripped off and that he should stop, I'd appreciate it very much. I realize that's a big favour to ask, and I wouldn't ask for most other rip-offs of my work, but this particular case really bothers me. And if any of you know any more information about this rip off, especially if it's by a company producing mass quantities, please contact me. I'll make it worth your while.

For those who read my blog regularly and were hoping to see an art-post here today instead of this rant, my apologies. I'll get back to posting art again here soon, but I really needed to bring this problem to attention.

Thanks for your patience.

Billboard Magazine

2009-06-17T23:33:00.005-04:00

Here's a recent 1/2 page illustration I did for Billboard magazine, concerning the decline in British music retail. Above is the final art, and below, you can check out my colour rough.

I usually hand in colour roughs to most clients, as I find that it gives a much better idea of what the final will look like than a pencil rough. Since I usually pencil in "clear line" without indicating where the tones will be placed, it can be a bit misleading -- especially since I tend to drop out most outlines in my final artwork and only use the pencil as a guide for "painting" in tone.

Astro-girl 2009

2009-05-19T17:07:00.002-04:00

Just a quick sketch I drew up in gouache and ink today. I added some textures and fiddled with the colour a bit in pshop before posting. Drawing girls in space-suits seems to be a common theme with me...and a zillion other illustrators.

TCAF and Spider-man

2009-05-13T12:47:00.004-04:00

Well, its 3 days later, and I'm pretty much recovered from the madness that was TCAF this year. It was a great show, and much busier than other shows. I got to meet some truly exceptional comic creators and chat with fans, and I have to say, as much as I like super-hero stuff, indie comics are where the real energy is at. Highlights included meeting for the first time Joe Ollman (whose work has been an inspiration to me for years), Matt Kindt (who created the wonderful graphic novel "Super Spy") and Maurice Vellekoop (who needs no introduction). All of them were charming and gracious and a pleasure to finally meet.

I picked up a lot of great mini-comics and zines from people, but I didn't get to leave my table and wander around as much as I'd hoped. The crowds this year were just so big that there wasn't much free time to check out all the cool stuff on display. Thanks to everyone who came by my table to chat or buy a print - its always a joy to talk to comic fans, especially at TCAF.

Even though I wasn't sketching at this show (I never sketch at TCAF), I did bring by a bunch of original art and sketches for sale including this Spider-man drawing which was snapped up pretty quickly. I had a bunch of other never-before-seen sketches at the show, but sadly, no scans of them.

...and a Quick Zatanna

2009-05-04T16:21:00.003-04:00

This is the 2nd quick sketch I did this week, for a friend who wanted a drawing of Zatanna. For those who don't know, Zatanna is a DC Comics super-heroine, who happens to be a magician (The top hat and tux kinda gives that away, I think). I'd never drawn her before, so I was pleasantly surprised at how simple she was to sketch.

Like the Batman I posted earlier, this one was also done very quickly, in gouache and ink, with a little pshop cleanup after scanning. For those who might be interested, you can check out my pencil sketch for this drawing below.

A Quick Batman

2009-04-29T23:40:00.005-04:00

I was laid out pretty badly the last couple weeks with a nasty flu, so I haven't had much new stuff to post on my blog, but here's a quick Batman sketch I drew up tonight. I painted this really fast in gouache and ink, and did some corrections in photoshop to even out the tones before posting. For those who are interested, you can compare it against the uncorrected scan below.

Keep in mind that I am lousy at drawing Batman, so if you see me at a convention, please don't ask me to draw him. You'll only make me sad.

Canon Street

2009-04-12T22:49:00.003-04:00

This is a quick sketch I painted up one night while battling writer's block. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that I painted it while procrastinating from some writing. It was painted in gouache and ink, and the background was inspired by my memories of growing up in Hamilton, Ontario. This sketch is also a companion piece to an older sketch I posted ages ago.

My Favourite Cartoonists Part 4: Wally Wood

2009-04-06T15:39:00.006-04:00

My appreciation for Wally Wood is complex and contradictory, much like the man himself. He was one of the greatest inkers ever, with a virtuoso ability to render images in black and white. Yet his inking almost completely obliterated the penciller's work. He could draw beautiful and fluid cartoon figures, full of energy, life and charm, yet his more illustrative work often looks stiff and stilted. His work is marked by an attention to detail and obsessive craftsmanship, yet his thoughts on his art are often filled with cynicism and a "just get it done" mentality. He was nothing if not complex.

Wood was, in many ways, a tragic figure. His tale is a cautionary one, and several books and articles have been written about this aspect of his legacy. But for all the darkness that surrounded his personal life, I'll always remember and treasure the great cartooning he left behind: Superduperman and the Mad magazine parodies, the endless stream of inventive sci-fi imagery that poured out of him, the big-foot cartooning that looked so solid and believable with his application of light and shadow and, of course, the gorgeous women that only he could draw. And I'll always remember the sheer joy of looking at the art of a virtuoso cartoonist working with total confidence and a with a staggering command of his tools.

For samples of Wood's art, you can check out this very nice blog dedicated to his work. Thanks to Rich Dannys for the link.

Girl With A Red Scarf

2009-03-29T16:47:00.006-04:00

Lately, I've been so busy with assignments and deadlines that I haven't been able to draw anything for myself. However, I finally got an opportunity last night to break out the gouache and ink and work on a quick sketch.

I drew this one up for Ramon Perez's excellent Pin-up blog, She's My Kind of Girl, which features girlie drawings by a lot of us Canadian artists. For what its worth, this one came to me in a dream, during an evening nap (I've been so busy lately that I've needed naps to recharge for some all-nighters). I pretty much took what I saw in my dream and tried to copy it as best I could onto paper. But like most pin-ups I do, by the time I finished it, it ended up looking more like a drawing of my lovely wife.

This is REALLY old...

2009-03-11T06:11:00.005-04:00

...but I thought I'd post it anyway. I've been a bit swamped with deadlines lately, so I haven't had much time to devote to posting new work here. So forgive me if I pull out an image from my files to share now.

This one is a really old drawing, I think it was drawn back in 2005 or 2006, and it was drawn as collaboration with a friend, Darwyn Cooke, who needs no introduction. During that time, Cooke was living in Toronto, so we'd hang out each week as part of our regular "Superman club" lunch group of local comic artists. Of course, after he left for the east coast, we've since taken to referring our Wednesday meetups as "the Jimmy Olsen club", but I digress.

I think during one of those lunches we were all talking about our love of Kirby's Inhumans (particularly my favourite, the big-headed Karnak), and Darwyn suggested we collaborate on a drawing of them. So here it is -- I pencilled this one night after work, and Cooke was gracious enough to ink it.

And just to give you an idea of how much I dig the Inhumans, you can check out another old drawing of them here. And I always put Karnak at the front.

Marvelman (or Miracleman)

2009-02-15T14:04:00.003-05:00

This one's a quick painting I did as a commission request, and its a portrait of Marvelman (or Miracleman as copyright demands he be called here in North America). I was a fan of the character in the late 80's when a friend lent me all 15 (or so) issues of Alan Moore's superb take on the character. Seriously, I read all those issues in like, 1 night because I just couldn't stop. Anyway, I hadn't really read or heard much about Marvelman since that one time, but I still kept a fondness for the character based on Moore's writing. So when I got a request to draw him, it was fun to spend a day revisiting him. I also liked the opportunity to draw a superhero that fit a more contemplative composition, as opposed to the usual "Wham! Cominatcha!" type of shot.

The final painting was done in gouache and ink, about 10"x15" in size. Usually, I draw a pencil sketch first, but for this one I thought I'd experiment and draw a rough digitally in software, which you can check out below. It was a novel thing for me to draw the sketch on my computer, but it actually took longer than a pencil drawing would. And I kept thinking throughout the sketch "here I am, using a $100 piece of software, and a $1000 tablet...to replace my $1 pencil."

I think I'll just stick to using the tablet for touchups and revisions.

Abraham Lincoln x 2

2009-02-09T14:52:00.007-05:00

Here's an illustration of Abraham Lincoln I did for this week's New York Times Book Review (AD: Nicholas Blechman). I actually enjoyed this assignment so much that I did 2 different drawings of Abe for the art director to choose from. They ran the more iconic "bearded Abe" above, but you can also see the younger, "clean and fresh" Lincoln below.

One thing I learned drawing these: Abraham Lincoln had great hair.

My Favourite Cartoonists Part 3: Jack Kirby

2009-02-06T03:26:00.003-05:00

Today is February 6th, 2009 -- the 15th anniversary of the passing of Jack Kirby. Most people who know me well know how much I love his work, and how much respect I have for his accomplishments.

Unlike the other cartoonist-influences I've blogged about in the past (see here, and here), I don't think Jack Kirby needs much of a write-up or introduction. There's plenty of other great sources of information on Kirby and his art, so all I'll say here is that he was one of the greatest comic creators ever, and certainly the very best super-hero cartoonist of all time. His work was infused with compassion, innovation and heroism, and he left a legacy that will span the ages. Every cartoonist I admire also admires Kirby, and in the centuries to come they'll talk about him the way we talk about Giotto or Picasso. He was that good -- that's why they called him King.

A few notes about Inking

2009-02-03T16:46:00.009-05:00

Late last year, my buddy Ramon Perez invited me to fill in for him at a class he teaches on inking comics. Specifically, he asked me to come in and give a talk to the students about how I approach lighting and "spotting blacks" (a comic term for figuring out where to put the large areas of black ink on a panel or page). Ramon's an excellent artist and inker himself, with a lot more experience in comics than me, so I really didn't know what else I could add to what he was teaching, but I agreed to give a short demonstration.

Anyway, since it was a first-year/beginner's class, I thought it would be best if I covered some fundamentals. So I prepared a 3 page hand-out for the students, with some notes regarding basic concepts in inking.

Now, I don't presume to try and teach anyone reading this blog, and there are far better inkers out there than me, but I thought it might be fun to share and post those notes here. Hopefully, some of you might enjoy reading it.

Toronto Back Alleys Pt. 18

2009-01-19T01:09:00.003-05:00

Its been freezing cold here in Toronto, so here's another winter-time alleyway sketch. A nice thing about this one was that it needed no pshop cleanup. Done in gouache and ink.

More Marvey Superheroes

2009-01-13T17:36:00.004-05:00

Here's a couple of quick test sketches of the Hulk & Peter Parker (aka. the amazing Spider-man) that I did while breaking in some fancy new brush-pens. Done in ink and gouache, with a little photoshop cleanup for good measure.

Digital Test Part 2

2009-01-07T19:28:00.003-05:00

Here's another image from my week of test-driving the cintiq 12wx. As I mentioned in a previous post, I found the cintiq very handy for doing digital corrections and patches to existing artwork. In this case, I had an old drawing that I had created years ago which I wanted to revise a bit before it was published in print. I never liked the copy I had written for the original, since I had pretty much swiped it from an existing ad. So, in this case, I re-wrote and lettered some snappy new copy by hand (not on the cintiq) and inserted it into the drawing.

However, I also wanted to do some quick paste-ups to the artwork, swapping out 3 or 4 of the smaller images in the fake ad, which I was never very satisfied with. Normally, I'd draw the paste-ups by hand and then composite it in photoshop, but in this case, I drew the new images in a separate layer in pshop and then merged it in. The process was pretty seamless, and in the final product, I think it's hard to differentiate what was drawn by hand and what was patched on the cintiq.

For those who want to compare this piece to the original I posted years ago on my blog, you can check out this link.

I also have to thank Paul Conrad here for his advice on creating the paper-texture on this piece, though in the end I did the bare minimum of work in that department. Thanks for the help, Paul: I wish I had more time to follow your tips!

Digital Test

2009-01-03T10:48:00.008-05:00

As you might know, I'm an old-school guy when it comes to art and illustrations. I prefer to work on paper, using brushes and inks, and don't really dig the slick-photoshop look of some of the art being produced today. That doesn't mean I hate computers, of course, despite what I may have posted in the past. I still like to experiment with how to incorporate digital techniques into my process, trying to find ways to save time and enhance creativity. Essentially, I view computers as just another tool in my toolbox, not as a replacement for anything.

With that in mind, I was test-driving a cintiq 12wx digital tablet over the holidays. For those who don't know, the cintiq is kinda like a souped-up touchscreen for artists. Because you can draw right on the display surface, it more closely mimics the feel of drawing on paper than a mouse or a regular drawing tablet. I was curious to see how my style would translate to working digitally, as I've seen friends of mine work exclusively with the cintiq with excellent results. However, their drawing styles were obviously different from mine, and I wondered if I could get that same fluidity of line I like while working on the cintiq.

My results, I have to say, were a bit mixed. The cintiq does an adequate job of imitating a brushline, but some of the dry-brush and thick-to-thin feathering I do were quite difficult to replicate while using it. For example, drawing foliage the way I do is much faster and more precise using real brushes. However, the cintiq is great for doing patch-ups or corrections to existing artwork. And it's about as close to drawing on paper as you can get with the current generation of digital hardware. The best moment for me was when I was able to slap a ruler on top of the surface and drag the stylus across it for a nice-hand drawn thick-and-thin ruler-line. That was cool. The other cool part of the design was that the cintiq can be laid flat on my drawing table, so I can rotate it around like I would a piece of paper while drawing on it. That clearly showed that it was designed with artists in mind.

One great drawback to the cintiq though is all the cables and cords that it needs. You'd think that having a touchscreen to draw on would mean you could just lay back on your couch and doodle away, but the amount of cables attached to it limits its portability. Also, you really need a keyboard nearby, since all software is going to require you to hit keys or type in filenames at some point. Maybe in a couple of generations, they'll make this thing wireless and then it'll really take off.

In the meantime, I still haven't decided whether I'd want to purchase one for my own use. I doubt it would ever replace drawing on paper for me. The cintiq offers some nice advantages, but it also comes with some limitations -- just like any other tool in my toolbox.

To give you an idea of some of the drawings I did while testing out the cintiq, check out the quick portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer above. I drew it completely in software, in about 15 minutes. I think it would have taken about 30 minutes using ink and guoache.

Edit: Because I am a bit obsessive, I thought the original sketch was a bit 'flat' looking. So I did some additional work on it and added some textures, which I think make it look a bit more complete. You can see the results below. Which do you prefer?

Toronto Back Alleys pt. 17

2008-11-30T19:02:00.004-05:00

A break from the night time drawings of alleyways I've posted lately. This one's a winter one, which I did as a card for the holiday season. Like many of the others, this one was also done in ink markers, with a little drybrush thrown in for texture.

U Go Girl

2008-11-23T17:47:00.007-05:00

Here's two drawings of U Go Girl -- a superheroine I drew for a commission. I had actually never heard of this character before, so the client even had to send me some reference, since I knew nothing about the comics she appeared in (even though they were created by the fabulously talented Mike Allred).

Anyway, because of my lack of any connection to the character, I had a bit of a tough time coming up with a drawing. I tried to think up an action pose but not knowing much about her made that difficult. I knew her super-power was teleportation, but what was that like? Did she just pop in and out of space? Did she disappear in a blue cloud and a "bamf!" sound effect? After a bit of thinking, I settled on trying to create a quiet drawing of her, in a contemplative mode (as had been shown in a couple of the reference samples). For what its worth, I'll outline a bit of my process in coming up with the final drawings below.

First, I did a quick colour thumbnail in marker, which I thought was alright, but pretty dull:

But the thumbnail did get me thinking about one of my favourite paintings, "the Voice" by Edvard Munch:

I've loved that painting since I was a teen -- the quiet serenity of that piece is so evocative to me. So, inspired by that memory, I sat down and did these two pencil sketches:

I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I decided to ink and tone-up both of them and let the client pick which one he preferred. The client eventually went with the blue one on the left, so I still have the other one, and I'll probably keep it to sell at a convention or show some time in the future.

Incidentally, this isn't the first time I've been inspired by Edvard Munch's paintings. I often do subtle riffs on his work, as you can see in this previous post.

Everybody Dies: an Interactive Fiction Game

2008-11-17T05:05:00.008-05:00

Nerd Confession Time: ever since I was a teen, I've been a huge fan of text-adventure games, or interactive fiction (to use the high-brow term). Those who were computer geeks like me in the 80's will know what I'm talking about and might even remember games like Zork, Planetfall or the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy (all made by that classic interactive fiction company, Infocom).

Anyway, I still play those kinds of games today and when my buddy Jim Munroe asked me to draw some illustrations as part of his new text-adventure game, Everybody Dies, I was thrilled. My schedule at the time was jam packed, but there was no way I was going to miss out on the opportunity to get my name in the credits of something like that!

Originally, I was asked to draw 3 small illustrations, but that quickly morphed into 16 full drawings, which is a pretty sizable amount. But after I played through a rough beta version of the game, I was totally stoked and wanted to deliver the best job possible. Jim is a professional writer of some repute, and he crafted a game that was refreshingly original and hilarious.

After the game was completed, it was entered in the annual Interactive Fiction Competition (a cool nerdy event all on its own) and we were delighted to find out that it won 3rd place. The credit really goes to Jim, since he had the hard task of writing and programming it, but I was very happy to contribute.

So all this is preamble to me explaining where the illustrations at the top of this post are from, since they are 2 of the 16 drawings I created for the game. These two feature two of the characters from the game, Graham and Lisa. You can check below to see the pencil roughs for those illos.

The best part though is that if you want to play Everybody Dies and check it out for yourself, its completely free. You can play it online at this link (using Javascript), or download various Mac or Windows versions to play offline. Give it a try, if you've got the time -- Jim's writing is a real treat.

P.S. for the record, my favourite Interactive Fiction games of all time are Sorcerer, The Lurking Horror and Infidel, all by Infocom. I even played them again just a couple of years ago. There -- taste my nerdiness.

Toronto Back Alleys pt. 16

2008-11-09T21:05:00.003-05:00

Another night time sketch of an back alley in my neighbourhood. I'm still experimenting, but getting a bit closer to the look I'm aiming for. Like the last one, this was also done small, in ink and thinned-out gouache.

Toronto Back Alleys pt. 15

2008-11-02T03:10:00.003-05:00

This one's more of a quick test sketch, trying to capture that summer night, orange streetlamp glow. It was drawn smaller than the others, in ink and thinned gouache.

I'm Voting for...

2008-10-23T17:06:00.011-04:00

My wife and I came up with this bumper sticker idea, combining our two ideal candidates for the upcoming US elections. It's just a bit of fun, really, but I get a real kick out of imagining what a Conan/Swamp Thing administration would be like. I figure national security wouldn't be a problem (who'd wanna mess with an axe wielding barbarian?) and environmental issues would definitely take center stage. Hell, even the current financial mess in the US would probably benefit -- you could imagine President Conan meeting with Wall Street heads and scowling, "Crom! You're all thieves! You should all be strung up by your fat necks!".

If you like these candidates, I suggest you download the image and print it up on your own sticker paper to paste on a car nearest you. It beats supporting the Nader/Thulsa Doom ticket!

Special thanks to my wife, Claudia, for her great type treatment on this one.

Now in all seriousness, I won't insult your intelligence by asking you not to write these fictional characters in on your ballot. I will suggest though, that if you don't want another 4 years of divisive politics, pointless wars or hateful muslim-bating and fear mongering -- then go out and vote for Obama/Biden on November 4th.

This is why I don't do caricatures

2008-10-20T17:43:00.005-04:00

I admit it -- I'm lousy at drawing caricatures. Like, epic fail lousy. In the old days, when I'd get illustration assignments to draw someone famous, I'd immediately break into a sweat. Especially if it was someone who wasn't that easy to draw in the first place. Most conventionally good-looking hollywood types fit that category -- they're so bland they're impossible for someone like me to draw. I remember a terrible likeness of Britney Spears I drew once, where she looked more like Madonna than Britney. God forbid that someone should ever ask me to draw Charlize Theron, you know?

Anyway, these days, I usually turn down assignments where I'm asked to caricaturize someone. I leave that for the pros. But to give you an idea how bad I am, take a look at a couple of old illustrations I did for Canadian Business Magazine. These two were drawn several years ago, but I still cringe when I see them.

First up is Bill Gates as a tupperware saleslady (don't ask, just buy it). Honestly, this one's so bad I had to put a frikkin nametag on him just to sell the likeness!

Next is that lovable cutie-pie, Alan Greenspan -- the big financial muckity-muck. I think this one's a bit better, but its still pretty stiff.

Age of the Sentry Issue #2

2008-10-16T04:52:00.004-04:00

I posted earlier about a 10 page story I drew for Marvel's Age of the Sentry comic, and now that it's on the stands, I thought I'd post a couple pages of artwork from it. So here it is in good old black and white, free of word balloons or colour! If you're stopping by your local comic shop this week (they still have comic shops, right?) go check it out on the racks for yourself. It features a ton of guest stars from the glorious silver age of Marvel Comics, including many of my all-time favourite superheroes. And if you buy it, I recommend reading it while munching on some vintage hostess cupcakes...er...actually, maybe not. Those cakes are probably like, really moldy by now.

X-men First Class!

2008-09-29T01:31:00.007-04:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting, folks. I've just been very tied up with work and family lately and my poor blog is getting neglected (geez, I say that so often its getting to be a broken record). Anyway, one of my recent fun assignments was a 5 page story I drew for Marvel's X-men First Class comic. It's for their upcoming Halloween Special, which should come out in (duh) October. The writer of XFC, jazzy Jeff Parker, was gracious enough to let me draw something for his book and even let me draw it in my regular two-tone style, which was a real treat. Aside from being a fun sci-fi-homage-based script, the story was also special to me as it was an opportunity to draw Cyclops -- my all time favourite X-man (I'm not kidding, as you can see here).

I've drawn the original X-men before, as a poster, but you can check out page 1 of this story above and let me know what you think.

Fan Expo 2008...is over

2008-08-25T20:08:00.005-04:00

Yep, Fan Expo 2008 is over...and now I'm both buzzed and exhausted. As I mentioned, it was my first time at this event, and it was a great time. I arrived at my table at artists alley on Friday afternoon, and was really surprised at how many people immediately hit me up for sketches. I didn't even have time to set up properly before I had a half-dozen sketch requests. By end of Friday, my list was way too long, and I had to stop taking any more requests -- or else I'd have to get some kind of cybernetic drawing arm (hmm...bet I could have found one at the con). Needless to say, I spent the rest of the weekend getting through them all, so I didn't really get a chance to walk the floor or check out the con much until late Sunday afternoon! For most of the con, all I saw was my table, the washroom, and the coffee stall. Luckily, the coffee was good and strong.

As well, it was great seeing and meeting some other artists who's work I know, but have never met, or with whom I've shared emails, but never had a chance to hang out with face to face. Like Eric Talbot, who is one supremely talented guy, and who was really great to chat with for the few minutes that we both got a chance to leave our tables. Same for Michael Choi -- who was really sweet to meet. We often get mistaken for each other at these things (or Frank Cho, or Brandon Choi), so I think it'd be great if one day all of us Korean comic artists could share a table together -- and cause some kind of matter/anti-matter explosion! And as is usual at these local cons, my tablemates like Scott Hepburn, Ramon Perez and Ray Fawkes made the experience as enjoyable as possible.

Anyway, my thanks to everyone who stopped by to buy a print, or some artwork or just to chat. Meeting and shooting the breeze with comic fans is always a highlight of any con I attend, and this one was no different. Comic fans come diverse, and there's a huge range of interests, which I enjoy hearing about. For the folks who drove in for hours from out of town -- I'm really flattered you stopped by the table for a bit. And of course, my apologies to anyone who's sketch requests I had to turn away -- honestly, I just can't draw any faster! I hope you'll look me up at a smaller event around town so I can make it up to you.

And luckily this time around, I had an opportunity to scan a few sketches before I gave them to the owners, so here's a small sampling of the 20 or so drawings did over the weekend:

I drew this Captain America one for a fellow who never picked it up. Even though those "secret invasion" covers are murder to draw on (they're glossy so they make my markers streak and take a while to dry), I kinda like the sketch, so maybe I'll keep it or sell it at another con in the future:

Same for this Wonder Woman one -- though the person who wanted this one paid me in advance. If you're the person who asked for this one, please email me and we'll work out some kind of delivery:

Fan Expo 2008

2008-08-21T21:59:00.007-04:00

I'll be appearing this weekend (August 22 - 24th) at Fan Expo, here in sunny Toronto. It's actually my first time at this convention, so I'm really not sure what to expect. I keep hearing though that its the biggest comic-con in Canada, so in my mind I'm picturing a smaller, kinder and gentler version of the San Diego comic-con . I'll be seated with the rest of the Transmission-x gang, selling prints and doing sketches for any attendees who want to purchase one.

When I first started attending cons like this a couple of years ago, I used to be petrified of doing sketches on the spot. After all, I'm used to working in the privacy and comfort of my studio, listening to my itunes or a with a TV playing in the background. I thought sketching at cons would be a horrible experience, but I quickly found out the reverse was true. I enjoy talking and goofing around with comic fans, and I quickly realized I had an innate ability to carry on a conversation while drawing a picture of Wolverine fighting Iron Man (trust me, its a totally necessary skill). I've also found it really pleasant to see some fans over and over again, and catch up with what they're doing in their lives. All in all, my con sketching experience has been pretty positive and I'm very thankful about that.

Now, if you're wondering what kind of sketches I do at events, you can check below for a sampling of drawings I've done for people over the last year or two. Bear in mind though that there's one cardinal rule about con sketches: the very best ones never make it online, and the worst ones always get the most exposure. So the cool Joker or Creeper drawing I did that I was really proud of will probably never be seen, while the horrible Captain America I busted out for free at the end of the night will get viewed by everyone. That's just the way it rolls in sketchland!

Special thanks to everyone who's sketches are posted here. Sorry I didn't contact you first for permission -- I really really hope you won't mind.

The Sentry

2008-07-24T22:48:00.005-04:00

Here's a few sketches from a fun comic project I'm working on that I'm pretty excited about. Its for a new mini-series featuring the Marvel Super-hero, the Sentry! I was asked to ink the cover to issue #1, which was drawn by dashing Dave Bullock, and that lead to me drawing a 10 page story for issue #2. When I got the script by the talented Paul Tobin, I almost flipped out, as it featured pretty much everything and everyone I'd ever wanted to draw in a super-hero story! I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say that I'm drawing it right now, and I'm really jazzed about working on it.

Above are a few of my warm-up sketches of the Sentry, and below is the inked cover to issue #1, penciled by Dave Bullock and inked by yours truely.

T.S. Eliot

2008-07-18T15:23:00.004-04:00

This one's a commission request I did last weekend during the Paradise Comic Con. The owner of this piece is Steven Gettis, who has amassed an amazing collection of drawings of literary figures by illustrators. He also owns another piece by me, from my very very early years so its hilarious to see the evolution of my artwork.

His collection really is incredible, and you can see why being given the freedom to draw whatever author or character the illustrator wanted inspired the very best work from the artists. I know it was a pleasure for me to draw my piece.

Papercut: "Waiting." (part 5)

2008-07-16T15:23:00.003-04:00

Wow...long time between posts! Sorry about the delays in updating my blog, folks. All I can say is the usual -- deadlines, deadlines, deadlines, blah blah blah. I know its summer, but dang if I ain't retardedly busy lately. Its kinda sad, really -- every summer I tell myself "this is the year I'm finally gonna try and work less in the summer and get out more", and every summer I end up parked behind my drawing table, working feverishly away and watching the beautiful weather pass by in front of my window.

Since my last post, I've been busy with a lot of illustration assignments and events. I attended the 2008 National Magazine Awards, where my short comic "Stars" won the silver medal in the "words and pictures" category. The event was held at the swanky Carlu in Toronto, and was a swell time for me and my wife. I also made an appearance at the Paradise Toronto Comiccon last weekend, where I got to meet up with a lot of great comic fans and did a bunch of sketches too.

Apart from that, I've also finished up the conclusion of my latest comic story for my webcomic, Papercut. It's a 29 pager in total, and you can read it online from the beginning here. The page at the top of this post is from the conclusion of the story.

Now I've got to get back to the drawing board, but I'll be back soon to post more stuff on here -- honest!

Doctor Fate meets Doctor Strange

2008-05-29T02:34:00.006-04:00

Ok, I drew this for a commission that was really, really late. I was asked to draw Doctor Fate, and threw in Doctor Strange as well, 'cause I thought they'd make a cool combo. I grew up reading those Ditko Dr Strange comics (and need I say I loved them?), but I never really read anything with Doctor Fate until about a year ago when my buddy, Steve Manale, pointed out the original golden age stories featuring the bell-headed guy. Steve is rarely wrong about his comic recommendations and he was certainly on the money in this case. The original Doctor Fate stories from the 1940's by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman are pure gold.

Fox was apparently just a teen when he wrote them, and hadn't yet descended into the lower circles of demented hackery he'd hit by the time he got to the silver age DC heroes in the 1960's (I swear, that man's later work is unreadable). He filled those early stories with a kind of schoolboy-meets-lovecraft vibe that's really charming in its primitivism. And Howard Sherman's art was my kind of crazy -- bizarre and yet possessing a strange logic and accidental beauty all its own. The stuff just crackles with the raw energy found in the best golden-age comics.

Anyway, for those interested, you can check out the Doctor Fate Archives hardcover collection from DC and see for yourself. And if you want to check out my rough pencil sketch for this drawing, you can do so by pointing your eyes just a little lower.

The Last Son of Krypton

2008-05-20T23:45:00.005-04:00

Here's another superhero themed drawing, this one of the first (and most famous) superhero: Superman!

I drew this one up as my contribution to the upcoming "Visions of an Icon" art exhibition, which will feature tons of drawings of Kal-El (that's his Kryptonian name -- I know this because I'm geeky) by canadian illustrators and comic artists. All the drawings in the show, including mine, will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the Shuster Awards -- the canadian comic creator awards named after Superman co-creator Joe Shuster.

I have to admit this one was pretty quick and fun to draw -- I drew the thumbnail sketch shown below really quickly, like in 20 minutes or so, and did only the most minor tweaks to it on the way to the final art. The biggest change was that I went with green as my tone-colour -- mainly because my wife noted that green fit the krypton/kryptonite connection.

Mind you, I do have a tendency to go with green anyway...

Incidentally, I got the inspiration for the composition of this drawing from a non-superman related source. There's a very famous Will Eisner Spirit story called, I think, "the Visitor" or something like that, with a great splash page featuring a portrait of the Spirit framed inside a planet. I remember seeing that page when I was about 14 or 15 years old and staring at it for a long time, just absorbed in the beauty and mood of that piece. I was thinking again of that splash page and the kind of atmosphere it evoked when I came up with the thumbnail.

Papercut: "Waiting." (part 3)

2008-05-15T00:30:00.004-04:00

Part 3 of my story "waiting" is now online at my webcomic Papercut. As frequent visitors to my blog might know, Papercut is part of the Transmission-X group of webcomics, all created and owned by a talented group of Toronto based cartoonists. Well, except Karl Kershl's Abominable Charles Christopher -- Karl moved away to Montreal a few months back, and we sorely miss him.

Anyway, I hope you'll check out the site and read the story for yourselves. For those interested, and in keeping with my regular posting trend, you can examine the process from thumbnail to finished art for the page below:

The Incredible Hulk (and Rick Jones)

2008-05-08T15:16:00.009-04:00

I drew this up for a toronto comic-con, and the assigned theme was (duh!) the Incredible Hulk. A few of us Toronto comic artists were doing Hulk images for it, kinda like a "Hulk thru the years" thing, and I chose to draw original Jack Kirby designed Hulk. The final artwork is meant to fit on a badge, so it'll be printed really really small, like 2" x 2" or so. And of course, my usual green-toned drawing style was a natural fit for the subject.

Now, for something that's so small, I actually went through a bit of a process coming up with the final art. A failed thumbnail, a couple of revisions and a helpful critique from fellow artist Ron Salas were all part of the journey to the finished piece. But even though it might look like it was labour intensive, the whole thing took probably about 3 or 4 hours in total. If you're interested in the process, you can check out my various sketches below:

Taddle Creek magazine cover

2008-05-04T19:00:00.006-04:00

Taddle Creek is a local literary magazine which was kind enough to run one of my comics years ago as their very first comic feature. Since then, I've drawn a few other comics for them, and have always enjoyed the experience. A couple of months ago the editor, Conan Tobias, approached me with the idea of having me do a cover for them which was very flattering. I always like the freedom Conan gives me to do whatever I want, and this case was no different. So, of course, I had a great time working on this image.

The concept was easy enough, and came to me in an inspired moment, and I knocked out a sketch and colour rough over the course of a couple hours. The final itself also came together nicely, without any real problems. I usually prefer to work on drawings with this kind of vibe really late at night, while listening to music on my headphones. I like it when my whole downtown neighbourhood is quiet and I can just lose track of time while drawing.

For those who are interested, you can check out some steps of my process toward the final below. I actually did a really quick marker drawing before the thumbnail pencil, but it was so dodgy I decided to not even scan it. The colour rough was what made the whole thing work for me. Once I drew that one, I knew the final piece would work out fine.

Papercut: "Waiting." (part 2)

2008-04-21T16:10:00.005-04:00

My latest installment of my webcomic Papercut is now online at Transmission-x. It's the second part of "Waiting", a 30 page story, which I'm serializing over the course of a few months. I was actually quite late with this update, as I meant to post it last month, but due to illness and deadlines, I was very delayed and it had to wait until just a few days ago. Hopefully, some of you will visit the site and check it out.

And, of course, if you're interested, you can check out the process from rough thumbnail to final art for the page below.

Also, in related news, Papercut has been nominated for a Shuster Award (the award for Canadian comics creators). It's been nominated under the "outstanding webcomic" category, along with fellow Transmission-X creators Cameron Stewart (for Sin Titulo), Karl Kershl (for the Abominable Charles Christopher), Ramon Perez (for both Kukuburi and Butternut Squash co-written by Rob Coughler) and Scott Hepburn (for The Port). The other nominees in the category are Gisele Lagace (for Penny and Aggie), Scott Ransoomer (for Vg Cats) and Ryan Shomer and Lar De Souza (for Least I Could Do).

All of those are great comics, but I find it particularly flattering that of the 8 nominees, 5 of them are from our own Transmission-X collective!

Illustration Work: Karnhuset (part 5)

2008-03-27T01:51:00.003-04:00

Here's another in a series of portraits I drew for the swedish agency, Karnhuset. Like the others, this one is a portrait of one of their employees, and I was again asked to try and draw the person engaged in a favourite hobby. In this case, it was (duh) golfing. I enjoyed the opportunity to try and capture some motion and life in the pose, and it was a fun assignment (much like the other ones). You can also check out my preliminary pencil and colour rough below, drawn before I had a good grasp of the likeness needed for the portrait.

If you're interested in my other illustrations drawn for Karnhuset. you can check them out here, here, here and here.

Justice League: the New Frontier Special

2008-03-21T02:32:00.004-04:00

Here's a couple of pages of from an inking job I did for the Justice League: New Frontier Special comic that came out recently. They're from a 7 page backup story starring Robin and Kid Flash (two of my fav original Teen Titans). The entire comic was written by the maestro of the New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke, and this particular story was pencilled by none other than the director of the recently released animated feature film version of the New Frontier, "Dashing" Dave Bullock. Darwyn also drew the main story for the comic, while fellow Torontian J. Bone did the art chores on another fabulous backup story, featuring Wonder Woman (J. was BORN to draw Wonder Woman, I swear).

The entire comic is a treat to read but, honestly, my part in it is, like, infintesimal. I was after all, only the inker on a short 7 pager. However, it was an absolute joy to work with all the above mentioned talents. Darwyn, J. and I have known each other for a while now, but I only met Dave last year at the San Diego Comic Con (the biggest frikkin comic con thing you will ever see in your lifetime) . Meeting and hanging out with him was one of the highlights of that event -- apart from being incredibly talented, Dave is just a cool guy. The fact that he bears a passing resemblance to Jack Kirby made it all extra perfect, and I was hoping we'd get the chance to work together someday when we met.

Dave's art for this story was beautiful, and really made my job very easy to do. I don't get the chance to ink other people's work much, but when I do, my philosophy is to try and ink it "as if the penciller inked it himself" -- that is, I try not to put much of my own style into the art. Hence, I feel like I can only ink people who are in the same kind of artistic headspace as me. So, for this job, all the credit has to go to Dave for the art, since he provided such great pencils that made it very clear what I should do on each page.

Watching movies and drawing...

2008-03-14T13:39:00.004-04:00

...is actually one of my favourite artistic exercises. I'm the kind of guy who gets fidgety if I just sit and watch a movie, so I like to doodle sometimes while a movie is on. Especially if its an old black and white one from the 1930's to the 1950's. I really enjoy studying films from that era, especially the noir ones, for their incredible staging and lighting design. Because the films were black and white, the cinematographers and lighting designers really had to plan their shots for maximum effectiveness and emotional impact. Hence, when I watch certain films from that period, I'm often very impressed with how they balance blacks and problem solve things like a white dress against a white wall. Studying that stuff really helps me out with my own artistic process.

Anyway, the doodles above were drawn while watching a certain film from that period. I drew them really quickly, usually just straight up in ink and often not even bothering to pause the movie, so there was no attempt at capturing likenesses or such. I really just wanted to jot down the lighting and shot ideas that I thought were interesting as quickly as pssible.

CONTEST ALERT:
Now, to make it all very interesting, I'm going to turn this into a little contest. The first person who can guess what film these drawings are from, will win an original drawing and a goody-pack of comics and anthology books from me. Just post your guess in the comments section and the first one to get it right, I'll declare as the winner. In case of a tie or something weird, I'll do drawings for all the winners...or work out something else to everyone's satisfaction. Honest. The only clue I'll offer here here is that the film is pretty damn famous -- and justifiably so -- the lighting design is just the best I've ever seen in black and white.

Geez, I really hope someone doesn't guess it correctly in the first post or something... guess we'll have to see how this goes!

No, really, I'm on the mend!

2008-03-10T00:59:00.004-04:00

My sincerest thanks to everyone for all the nice comments and well-wishes. I'm really feeling a whole lot better since I was released from the hospital, and getting back to my old self. I didn't eat or do much except sleep and writhe in pain for the 3 weeks or so I was sick, so I'm a bit weak and trying to ease into my daily routine, but one of the things I wanted to do right away was try and get back to drawing.

After such a long layoff, I was quite rusty when I got back to the studio, so I spent some time over the last few days doodling and getting my chops back. I always find that I lose the finer control I need for inking clean lines or drawing things like curves after a few days away from the board. And after such an extended layoff like this one, it took a few hours of doodling and doing some practice inking to get the kinks out. As an excerise, I drew the doodle above, which pretty much sums up my feelings about my hospital stay. Hope you like it -- and I sincerely hope you never go through such an illness!

BTW, for an example of the kind of 'practice inking' I do to get the barnacles off my drawing hand, you can check out the sheet below. Its kind of like doing drills or noodling with the guitar. I usually do something like it, with the initial lines looking sloppy and rough. But by the time I fill up the page, I usually have all my fine control back. I did this one while watching a basketball game this afternoon and believe me, when I started I was cursing myself for how shaky my hand was. Luckily it all worked out by the end, and my team even won the game. Hurrays!

What I've been up to lately...

2008-03-06T17:35:00.003-05:00

...is being sick and at the hospital! So for those who've dropped by this blog and have been all "WTF? Man, Cho is slow with the updates!", I apologize and have a good excuse -- complete with a note from the doctors. I've spent the last 2 to 3 weeks being sick with a bad intestinal infection that required a couple of trips to the emergency ward and a week and a half stay at the hospital. It was an illness that was so painful at times it brought to mind the title of that Sho Kasugi classic, Pray for Death.

Anyway, I've since been discharged to complete the rest of my recovery at home, and I gotta say I'm feeling a whole lot better. I haven't done a line of drawing in the last 3 weeks, but I'm hoping to get back into the studio and ease into some artwork over the next few days. So more updates on this blog will be up shortly, but for now I hope you'll understand why there weren't any replies to emails or posts in the last little while.

In the meantime however, here's an illustration I did shortly before I was incapacitated -- this one was done for the fine Canadian Business magazine. The subject of the article was about an investment instructor who taught students using anecdotes from chinese philosophy. Esoteric, I know.. but it lent itself to a fun assignment to draw!

Papercut: "Waiting."

2008-02-15T22:44:00.005-05:00

My new story for my webcomic, Papercut, is now online. It's the first part of a 29 page story called 'Waiting.", and it'll be serialized over the next few months on the site. I posted the first page of it here on this blog before, but now you can read 7 pages from it on transmission-x (the home of Papercut and other fine webcomics). The sketch to the left is of the protagonist of the story, David Rhee, and I drew it a while ago while trying to figure out the character design. Hopefully, some of you will visit the site to read the story and give me your feedback.

And for those who are interested in my process, you can check out the progression from thumbnail to final art of another page of the story below.

Pen and Ink Portraits - NBA Basketball Players

2008-01-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

Here's another one in my series of portraits of NBA basketball players, again drawn in my old-school pen and ink mode. Since the last few were of NBA big-men, I thought I'd take a stab at a cool "little guy" so I chose Chris Paul, the ultra-talented point guard for the New Orleans Hornets (I always want to call them the Charlotte Hornets, but that just shows my age). I've dug his game since he first came into the league and he's playing better than ever these days.

I started this one with the idea I'd get it done fairly quickly, during an evening off, but then it all got away from me. The pencil study/underdrawing was easy enough, and I drew that up in a half-hour or so, but then when I went to render it out with my pens, I ran into a bunch of problems and actually ended up drawing it three times! First, I was half-way through an attempt when my trusty Hunt 108 pen-nib started acting up on me (they just don't make pens like they used to!) and getting all clogged up. It ended up scraping paper and putting down very 'globby' lines, so I had to scrap that drawing and start over. Then, on my second attempt with a new nib, the nib actually split on me leaving a huge ink blob right in the centre of the drawing. Now, unfortunately, pen and ink is a medium where you get no room for error, so I had to throw that drawing away and start over again. I was so upset I had to take a break and play some videogames -- the kind where you shoot people with very large guns. The third time was the charm though, and I was able to finally finish the portrait.

Like all the other NBA basketball portraits I've done, this one was also referenced from an issue of Slam! magazine, and you can check out my pencil study for it below. If you want to see my other pen and ink portraits of ball players that I've posted on my blog, you can see them here, here, here and here.

make with the funny!

2008-01-18T05:24:00.000-05:00

In between a busy schedule of illustration assignments, I've been drawing some webcomics lately, which I thought I'd share a bit of info about here. The first is for my regular monthly webcomic, Papercut, featured on Transmission-x. I thought I'd take a break from drawing 'serious' stories this time and present another installment of The Lonely Monkey. It's a strip I draw as a comedic interlude every few months, and I try to draw up a special intro for each installment .This month I thought it'd be fun to do a photo-comic (or fumetti, if you want to get all technical) -- which you can check out below. And if you like it, you can check out the rest of the strip on Papercut.

Also, my good buddy Ramon Perez asked me to draw a guest-strip for his insanely popular webcomic, Butternut Squash, which I was more than happy to do (Ramon is a classy guy as well as being ridiculously talented). It's online right now, but you can also see the strip below. Many of the other guest-artists who know Ramon drew some hilarious strips taking their shots at him and co-creator Rob Coughler, but as it was pointed out by another friend, my strip seems more a parody of my own comics than of Ramon and Rob.

Finally, I thought it'd be interesting to post this little-seen pin-up of Ramon and Rob for the collected edition of their strips that came out a couple of years ago. And since this is my sketchblog, you can check out my pencil rough for the pinup below as well!