The Dark Knight Returns

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

...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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!