Boxburning

I'm on Facebook

2011-10-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make a quick posting to announce that I've now joined FB. Hopefully I'll keep it updated a few times a week with what's going on in my life. You can find it at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jim-Lawson-Illustration/155495057879245?sk=wall

Colin Panetta, my website guy, pushed me to do this and it seems like something that I should have been participating in all along anyawys. It's all part of my website getting ready to go live and needing an interactive web presence to go along with that. I'm still getting the hang of Facebook, but I'm having fun.

Thanks- Jim

Regarding Paleo

2011-06-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Back in the time when I was actively updating this blog, I talked a lot the progress (or lack thereof) of a comic that I was working on called LONER. It was a continuation of the dinosaur-based series that I'd previously done known as PALEO, and was intended to be a graphic novel that would obviously get published at some point...

My last work done here at the studio, was finishing up the art on Loner. That was a year ago.

Occasionally, I get an email asking me whatever happened to that project. Since that time (a year ago) Loner has sat on a shelf. This week I made the decision to start up a new blog dedicated to releasing that work as a sort of web-publishing type thing.

I hope to post a few pages a week, until the comic is presented on its blog in its entirety.

It can be found at: http://paleo-loner.blogspot.com/

Thanks- Jim

I'm Done

2010-05-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

I mean, I really am done. A week ago today, I inked the final page of Paleo: Loner. This means for me that there is no more here to do, other than the production work of the Paleo book. This includes getting printing quotes and scanning all the art and all the preparation and design work that will make the book print ready. This part I don't get paid for so I'll try to get it knocked off in little bits between now and when the orders come in.
So- I'll collect the unemployment for awhile and see what happens. I've agreed to teach some summer classes for 2 places in town that offer programs for kids, so there is that. It's been unusual being at home, but I'm getting some long delayed chores done. I'm not expecting that I'm going to blog anymore- if something of an artworthy nature pops up then I most likely will want to talk about it but it seems like my life is going to go in a different direction, at least for now.

For this last post, I wanted to put up the colored cover for Loner.

Thanks everybody.

Tales 70 Sneak Peak

2010-05-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

I finally got to see the finished art for Tales 70 this week. Eric did an awesome job on the inks and it was with some emotion that I flipped through the pages yesterday. They're really cool. Talbot's gritty, edgy inks really fit the story and I have to admit that his talent with the halftones is nothing short of stunning. After discussing it with him it was cool to hear him talk about the book and just what it meant- the strive to try to capture the old Mirage art feel along with the amount of physical work that went along with us deciding to work on a larger size paper.

In keeping with the old Mirage way, it's even a week late to the printer.

Color Turts

2010-05-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

This was a cool job. It's a commission- and this individual (I never know if people want themselves indentified) asked for the 4 Turtles to be done separately. This person I know has requested and gotten similar group pieces from Dan and Mike. I don't know how they are to be displayed once turned over to the owner but I thought it was kind of a nifty idea.

RTNY Raph

2010-05-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a couple of commissions the last few weeks and this is the most recent one.

Loner Cover

2010-04-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I commented about my ever-changing mind with regards to covers. In the case of this Paleo book I'm working on, my desire to find a cover image kept going back to this one panel that's in the comic. The POV is behind the main character and is looking up and back towards the head. Something about it I liked. That panel is the first image. Second is one of my earlier attempts. It came out ok, but something about the head in particular bothered me. The lower jaw seemed too long and maybe the head was just too square. Also the inking seemed a little rough. I tried sketching some more actiony- comic book type layouts, but once again was pulled back to the lone dino scene.

The last image is the one that I'm going to go with. I think. The similarity to the earlier image is undeniable, but it just is a better piece, as in, I'm happier with it. This will be the first Paleo wraparound cover.

Where I've Been...

2010-04-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been here. I must admit that since the beginning of the new year, I've been ignoring the blog. I'm not really sure why- I think that part of it was with the official ending of my employment here at Mirage, some of me felt like the Turtle thing was over, and what would the point be of posting anymore. Silly I suppose, but I was feeling a weird sorta melancholiness about things. The result of that obviously was that the blog went dormant.

So- I'm still here occupying my studio. The TMNT work for me ended with the completion of the pencils on Tales 70 (other than the occasional commission job). That was probably 6 weeks ago, maybe. Eric's had the art and from what I hear from Dan, the inks are due this week. I haven't seen any of the final pages for that book yet, but I've talked to Talbot a few times since, and he seems pretty happy and excited about the way it's coming out. I'm psyched.

Paleo has been my focus since. I have about 10 more pages to ink and the Loner story will be finished. Yesterday I pencilled and inked up a cover for that book. I do this weird thing where I obsess about covers, and the image that I decide I want to use... often I will draw up a cover only to do up another...and another. It's gotten to the point where it's sorta a Mirage joke. I think I've done 3 or 4 for Loner, in various stages of completion but it's my contention that this is the one I'm going to go with. Heh. I think I'll post that image tomorrow.

My schedule has been somewhat more relaxed lately. I bought an old motorcycle a couple of months back and I've spent some time working on that. It's proven to be a work in progress. I also just got back from a trip where I took a week off and rode my motorcycle down to Alabama to check out the Barber Museum. They advertise themselves as the largest MC collection in the world and it's a claim that's easy to believe. It's a geeky biker thing but the museum was really cool. Posted along with this text I'll include a sunset pic that I took on the ferry from Oracoke Island, North Carolina, back to the mainland.

I guess that's pretty much it. I'm trying hard to think of what comes next and Pete and I have talked about a few things and ideas but I'm sorta takin' it day by day. I have no plans for any shows this year unless something really wacky happens. Thanks for all the nice comments and bithday wishes, I appreciate it.

Tales 70/Page 1

2010-01-29T07:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if the title is going to stick but for now I'm calling this "Return To New York Story". Different for this book is that it's being drawn on tone paper and I'm doing it a bigger size than what is normal for me (10x15).
Page 1 apes a panel right from the old Eastman and Laird RTNY series- issue 19, page 27 to be specific. I did this I suppose, to establish the connection between the two books- however, no where else did I take panels from the old book. Well, one other spot (the end of the fight scene in the barn is dramatically the same). I tried to make this retelling different and in a few spots I had to seriously compress time.
I'll try to post more soon.

Michelangelo

2010-01-29T06:53:00.000-08:00

Compared to most of the commissions that I've been doing lately, this is a pretty simple one. There's something about it however, that I really like.
Dane Shobe contacted me and asked if I and some of the other studio dudes would want to work on a jam-type drawing, with him included. As with all J-D requests, enthusiasm for something like this was low to non-existent. When I told him this, he was bummed out but we compromised by him having me do this Mikey on a sheet and leaving him room to do a Turtle of his own underneath it. I hope I get to see the final version.

Turtles and Casey Groupshot

2010-01-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

This piece is so fresh that I'm not even sure that the tones are dry but I wanted to post it before I went home tonight. This groupshot was asked from me by a fan named Ben and will go out tomorrow to it's new home in Lancashire, England.

Pimiko vs Lady Shredder

2010-01-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

Andrew, I believe, is a big fan of the Image Turtle series and has hit me up for a couple of commissions. An earlier one of his was the Cyber Don/BSR drawing and this, of course, is his most recent. It's funny- I actually had to have him send me reference for these 2 characters as I'm not wicked familiar with that series of comics. Nothing against them, they're just sorta outside my sphere.

Return to Blog

2010-01-21T06:16:00.000-08:00

I took a break from the blog-- I think it was a combination of the official "end" of Mirage, combined perhaps with my natural hibernatory urges that occur at this time of year. Anyways, I'm still here and continuing to chip away at the ever smaller block of Turtle work that I have left to finish.

Today, I should complete the Jake Black Tales issue (68). So, with that in mind I thought that I'd post a page from that book. This is page 23, which features the guys getting it on with some nasty cancer cells. It's been a fun issue to work on- with some surreal, almost alien-like environments. Also, fun for me is that Dan asked if I couldn't come up with a little 2 page back up story that's to appear in that same issue--- tomorrow I'll try to at least to get that pencilled. I think the publishing schedule is a little off these days, but this book is due to be released in March, I believe.

Then that leaves Tales 70- my last Turtle book. I approach that issue with a really odd feeling. I'm sure once I start drawing, that it will seem normal, just like any other comic-- but it really is way more than that. It makes very tangible, the finality of this relationship that I've had with these characters. Don't really know if that makes sense but my brain has been very much in wander mode lately...

Hope you like the page.

Cyber Don and the BSR

2009-12-31T06:24:00.000-08:00

This was sort of an interesting one. The buyer of this commission piece wanted the Baxter Stockman Robot as he appearred in the Donatello mini-series hanging out and trading glances with the Donatello from the Image comic books.
It's definitely different and makes for kind of a neat piece, if you ask me.

Rat King

2009-12-29T06:58:00.000-08:00

Talk about good timing- I just happened to have a Rat King commission waiting in the wings.

Some Random Commissions

2009-12-28T06:38:00.000-08:00

Sunset Groupshot

2009-12-18T06:09:00.000-08:00

Sergio's second commission. As I stated in the preceding post, a peaceful, sort of sentimental sunset scene is repeated.

Reflective Mike

2009-12-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is one of 2 commissions that I did for Sergio. I'll post the second tomorrow, which is a groupshot- but for this one, Sergio wanted Mike, kind of in repose, with a skateboard and a notebook watching the sunset.
The sunset is a recurrent theme in this and the following drawing, and I can only assume that it symbolizes the ending of the Mirage era.

Mutant Don Raffle

2009-12-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

tOkKa emailed me yesterday with an announcement/request that I could let folks know that he is raffling off a genuine tOkKa-ized MIB Mutated Don figure to help promote and celebrate the 10th anniversary of his website. If you want your mind blown, definitely check out the website and I'm sure details of the raffle are available there.
Following is tOkKa's email to me.

-->> W.I.P. .. not just a figure .. a One-of-a kind art piece by tOkKa to be auctioned off in the first quarter of 2010.

Mutated Donatello ( sometimes known as GAMERA-DON ) is based on the hyper-Mutated TMNT designed by Jim Lawson for the TMNT comics and the 2003 cartoon series.

The card is signed and authorized by Jim Lawson and when completed will be signed by tOkKa.

Please stay tuned for details, i'll post them when the piece is completed.

This item will be given away in a traditional RAFFLE-style contest to celebrate Tokka's terrible2z.com - 10th anniversary !! !!

Future Don and Raph

2009-12-08T05:31:00.000-08:00

As of this writing, this drawing is heading it's way to Japan. As I was addressing the envelope, I was wondering, how does something like this get delivered? I mean, if a package was addressed to me in Japanese, who translates it so that the delivery can be made? Wacky.
Thanks Kat, for asking for the commission.

Turtles vs. Mousers

2009-12-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

Another commission drawing, this time for Pedro Lajud.

Ninja Faceoff

2009-11-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hey. I got away for the Thanksgiving holiday last week- to Florida to be exact. My family and I went to visit some relatives and do some tourist-type stuff. Highlights have to include feeding manatees at the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota and drinking margaritas on the beach at Honeymoon Key as the sun set...
All that's fine but I've got work to do. This is a commission drawing for Bobby Verdin- who wanted a drawing of Casey and Raph facing off against a group of ninjas.

Interview

2009-11-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've been asked to do a couple of email interviews. This is the first one that I've done and the longer of the two but I thought that I'd post it here. The interviewer is a guy named Elliot, and it occurs to me now that I never asked him just what this was for. Pretty typical for me.

Interview with Jim Lawson.
Questions:

Recently, on your blog, you addressed the issue of the TMNT purchase from Nickelodeon, and briefly mentioned some of your possible future plans. Have you further thought about your options since then?
>>Not really. It’s been kind of overwhelming emotionally since the announcement of the sale—I think only now that the dust is beginning to settle and I can start thinking about the future. As I sit here right now, I can’t honestly say just what it is that I want to do.

Do the possibilities still remain to finish up the Paleo TPB and even release more Paleo comics?
>>Yeah, definitely. Paleo was published under the Zeromayo partnership between Peter (Laird) and myself. Whether Pete still wants a relationship and involvement in that, that’s unclear to me. However, I don’t see that there would be anything preventing me from finishing the TPB myself.

You also mentioned that the thought of doing a children’s book has been in your head for awhile, do you have any ideas that you might want to share about what this would involve? Dinosaur themes or something similar to your work from on the Turtles Comics?
>>The children’s book idea is something that’s always appealed to me- and now that I’m playing around with colors, even more so now. Nothing concrete, storywise- but you’re correct, dinosaurs are absolutely a direction that I would like to go.

How did Peter Laird break the news about the deal to the writers and artists, or how did you find out about the deal?
>>I think that it was October 13—Gary (Richardson) called us all into a staff meeting here at Mirage. Everyone was there including Pete. It was then that we were told that a deal to sell the Turtles was nearly complete. Some details of the sale were talked about and Pete discussed his situation and reasons for my he felt he had to make this decision. Contracts were given us to review and sign. It was pretty emotional.

You explained your personal account of what it was like for you to walk around the Mirage office after hearing about the deal (as a zombie), were everyone else’s reactions similar to yours?
>>I think so. Everyone seemed sorta paralyzed by the news. But conversely, I think that we all knew in the back of our minds that this day was coming.
I’m happy for Pete—it’s been tough watching him struggle for the past few years with regards to his loss of enthusiasm for the comics. I hope this unburdens him and he can rediscover the creative person that he once was.

I’ve always enjoyed how stylistically and minimalist your artwork has been especially in depicting action, how did you develop this style that has almost become synonymous with the TMNT?
>>Lots and lots of drawing. I’m asked occasionally why my style changed so dramatically over the run of the TMNTs. I can’t say that it was my intention to draw the way I do now-it just naturally happened. I really like that it’s such an evolving thing- it’s very exciting for me as an artist.

I’ve noticed that the pacing and beats in all of the miniseries that you have both written and drawn have had a lot of downtime, scenic, mood-setting moments (most recently in the Donatello miniseries) which is quite impactful stylistically. What’s some of the inspiration behind these moments?
>>That’s an interesting question. In response to that, all I can say is that I try for a sense of realism in my stories. I very much want to try to convey a character’s mood or emotion- I want to really get in their head and to know what an individual’s thoughts are. It’s during my own quiet times when I’m introspective and reflecting so I think that that’s what I try to bring into my writing.

What is your creative process like? Do the writers leave you plenty of room for your own interpretation?
>>It changes from writer to writer, but for the most part, yeah- in my experience the writers that I’ve dealt with have allowed me a lot of freedom. Perhaps it’s because Mirage was what I consider a small-time publisher- everyone pretty much knew each other so I think there was this sense of familiarity and trust.
As for my creative process, there’s no trick to it really. I’ll usually have some germ of an idea and write it out more or less in outline form. Often, certain scenes that I want to highlight I’ll try to dialogue at that early stage. Occasionally, I’ll even have ideas about how I want to end the story and I’ll have to backward engineer events leading up to that.

Do you have any special pencils or pens that you like to work with, and what is your view on digital pen tablets?
>>Yeah, every artist has their favorites. The pencil that I like right now is something called a Black Warrior. My favorite paper is Strathmore Bristol. With pens, I’ve been using some Japanese brush pens for the past few years- my favorite is the Zebra FD-301. More recently, I’ve taken to using the Pentel Pocket Brush—it features a waterproof ink that is required for use with watercolors.
I have no view on digital pen tablets, as I’ve never used one.

For the younger generation of Comic readers today, you were a participant at the Creator’s Bill of Rights drafting, could you explain your influence in the couple day event?
>>In all honesty, I don’t think that I had much of an impact on the Creator’s Bill of Rights. Peter and Kevin were the influential ones- myself and the other Mirage artists wre more secondary characters, in my opinion.

How was it like working with Tristan Jones for the first time on Tales #64 (out now)?
>>Awesome. Tristan’s a hell of a nice guy, as well as being a very talented writer. His enthusiasm for the Turtles is infectious. I’m gonna miss him a lot.

Can you hint at anything that might catch our eye in the second two pieces to the Donatello miniseries?
>>Not really. In the Don mini, my intent was to give a view of the character that might be a little different than what most people might think. The darker side of Donatello, if you will.

Currently, you’re working on quite possibly the last comic of the TMNT at least for a decent amount of time with Tales #70. You stated that the story is set in Return to New York and that you’re replicating the process and feel of those comics back in the 80s. Are there any other exciting things that this issue may contain?
>>The story will feature Raph, almost exclusively. Eric and I have in mind a fight scene that will be unlike anything that I’ve ever done, so I’m looking forward to how I’m going to choreograph that in the pencils. The book will also be done on the old school Duoshade paper so that should give it a classic RTNY feel, I hope.

Over the last 20 years you have drawn plenty of frames in comics, are there any that stand out to you as a favorite? Or any issue that you had a lot of fun on?
>>A standout most certainly has to be the Leonardo mini-series, Blind Sight. Much of that book was done in white silhouette, and that gave it definitely a different look. As well, it was a real challenge to my drawing and design sense, as far as actually creating the art. Unquestionably the most memorable book that I’ve done.

You often post commissions on your blog, will you continue to do commissions and how would someone go about getting one? What is the average cost?
>>I’ll continue to do commissions until I leave Mirage, most likely. When that day is though, I’m not entirely sure. That said, folks who want a commission need only to contact me at my email: jmlawsn@aol.com. Prices vary with the number of figures and complexity of the drawing. As far as a range, commissions are generally from $50.00 to $250.00. Most are in the $100-$150 neighborhood.

Despite having your job as a TMNT writer and artist for the last 20 years, are you excited for the break to try something new?
>>Absolutely, and I think that’s why I’m uncertain about the whole comics thing—part of me is really hungering for a new adventure, something totally different. It’s hard to imagine a future without drawing as being my bread and butter, but that certainly is a strong possibility.

Just for some general questions that you may have fun at:

What’s your favorite music/band/musician?
>>No question, REM is my favorite band.

What type of Motorcycle do you ride?
>>Right now, I have 4 motorcycles—they are:
2005 Yamaha FJR 1300
2007 Moto Guzzi Griso
2009 BMW F800 GS
1979 Honda Ratwing

What are you currently reading?
>>I very recently finished “Endless Horizons” by Dan Walsh. Walsh is a sometimes columnist for several motorcycle magazines and this is his travelogue about a journey that he took to South America.

What is/are your favorite film(s)?
>>Films that feature some kind of adventure, I guess. But within that, everything from Hildago to The Road Warrior to Up to Kun Fu Hustle to Army of Darkness.

What is the comic that continues to inspire you?
>> Usagi Yojimbo amazes me. How Stan (Sakai) can continue to generate stories that are of a consistently high quality after all these issues- it’s stunning. I just bought the little hardcover/color comic that he just published, Yokai. It’s absolutely beautiful.

Thanks so much for doing the interview, and I hope to get a commission from you soon (thinking Leonardo… I really need more artwork in my apartment).

RTNY Fightscene

2009-11-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

This has to win the most characters in a fight scene award. This was a commission piece for Daniel Schwarz- who I'm assuming is a fan of the Return to New York series.

Mike on Bike

2009-11-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

Yow- it seems like it's been awhile since my last post. Neglectfulness aside, I'm still here and continue to crank out comics. Right now, I'm nearing the end of inking the fourth issue of the Don mini-series. In addition to that, there's a short list of commissions to do and this is one of those. This, I think, is going to be a Christmas present so I hope I'm not spoiling anything by posting it but I can't help myself - it features 2 of my favorite things- Ninja Turtles and motorcycles.

Raph

2009-11-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

This is a commission for Rutger, from the Netherlands.

Tales 68/ Page 13

2009-11-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

The TMNTs get ready to do battle against Robyn's cancer as Glurin looks on.

Tales 68/Page 9

2009-10-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

In this scene the Turtle Nanobots ( I hope they're everyone's favorite characters- I know they're mine) get ready to go into battle as April and Robyn's doctor look on.

The Sale of the TMNTs

2009-10-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

In the comment section of my last posting people were starting to write with some of their thoughts regarding the sale of the Turtles. Along with that, I've been getting emails about that same subject. Those emails- the ones that I've answered today, I've included a little form type letter, which goes as follows:
It's all true. As of now, Mirage no longer owns the Turtles. Peter though, has retained the rights to publish up to 18 issues a year of the TMNT.
For me personally, I guess that I'm no longer a Turtle artist. There was a buyout with the artists- so I walk away from here with a bit of money. What I'm going to do now, I'm not really sure. It's all too new, and my head is still spinning. Pete is going to allow us to continue to use our studio spaces, should we choose. Maybe I'll work on some non-Turtle project with Pete, if he wants- or I've thought about trying to do a children's book. Or maybe get a real job like at Barnes and Noble. I don't know....
For the immediate future, I've still got 2 comics that need to be finished and beyond that I hope to wrap up the Paleo TPB that is now, only half done. I'm excited about the changes but somewhat nervous at the same time.
---
With that said, right now I'm walking around the studio in a semi zombie-like state. I'm having difficulty processing the enormity of it all. The thought that I might not ever do another show seems odd. I was looking at my drawing table though. It's pretty much beat to shit. The legs are all wobbly from me rubbing up against it and resting my feet on it. The drawing surface has a huge spot ground into it where, it's my best guess, thousands of pages of comic art has passed by. Kneaded eraser residue has formed a disgusting slime, just off to the side of there. And I'm thinking, yeah- perhaps it IS time.
I don't know really where I'll be a year from now. I guess I'll just wrap this up by thanking everyone who has contacted me, or who has visited this blog. I believe the Turtles, and their fans are really something special and I've been very lucky to have been a part of that.

Jungle Groupshot/Color

2009-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

As promised, this is the final art for Elias.

Jungle Groupshot

2009-10-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

This commission measures 14.5 x 17 inches, making it among one of the largest groupshots that I've ever done. Our local Turtle fan and collector- Elias, stopped by the studio last week and asked me to do him a color drawing of all the Turtles together. Elias didn't actually ask that the drawing be this big, but I started sketching on a vast piece of paper and this is what came out. With the coloring too, I'm noticing that I'm more comfortable when the art is of a size that allows me a little more room to play.

I don't know when I'll actually get into the coloring- most likely not until next week but I'll post the final art when that happens.

Mike and Klunk

2009-10-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

This is a commission sketch for Jennifer, who contacted me all the way from Belgium.

Tales 68 Cover

2009-10-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

This is for the Jake Black written story-"Heroes In A Half Cell". The multi-talented Steve Lavigne will be handling the colors.

Color Groupshot

2009-10-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why the colors appear so washed out but this is the finished commission groupshot that I posted the B&W version of last week.

My Weekend Pre-Birthday Party

2009-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it's actually a little over 4 months away- my birthday, that is. That being said, my wife threw me a 50th birthday party. It was combined with a friend of mine's, who turned 50 last week. Hey, it felt a little weird but it was an excuse to get together with some good friends and hoist a few beers so there. Plus, I get to do it all again in February.
The Mirage crew was invited but most of them (let's put it kindly) were unable to attend. Admittedly, Dan was going to join us, but got lost trying to find the place. Steve Lavigne came down from Maine with his lovely wife Denise and Dooney was there, displaying his awesome dance moves. Lastly, former Mirage employee, Yurix Peralta joined us with her husband, Myrt.
We all had a great time, I think. I danced a lot (yikes) and even sang a couple of karaoke tunes (urp). We forced the DJ to stay til the bitter end and got home in the wee hours.

Mike took this photo. From L to R- it's Steve, Denise and me.

Groupshot

2009-10-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

This groupshot pretty much apes one that I did a few weeks back. That one- the earlier one, was done on tone paper and this one shown here is going to be done in color. The drawing here went a little quicker than I thought- I'm sure basing it on a previous piece of art allowed me to go at it without a lot of positioning of characters and composition concerns.
It's occurring to me that, once colored, this might make a nice piece to turn into a print to sell at shows next year. When finished, I'll post the color version.

Raphael On Rooftop

2009-09-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

I'm nearly done pencilling Tales 66- I should be able to wrap that up this week, hopefully. In the meantime, I've only got a few commissions left to go on my list and this is one of them.
This is for Michael.

Canadian Waterfall

2009-09-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

This photo is from my recent trip to Quebec. I wish I could remember just exactly where the heck this was. To the best of my recollection, it was just south of a town called Mattasini. Or was it Mattagami? Anyways, after getting lunch there, we hopped on the bikes for a short distance and stopped. The sound of flowing water filled the air and just beyond the parking lot was this incredible vista. I have to admit, it took my breath away.
So yesterday, I took Pete's little panorama maker thingie and loaded the photos that I took. I was a little confused about how to get the program to work but after some messing around the result is, I think, pretty incredible.

Don on Rooftop

2009-09-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

This is a commission sketch done for Melinda. She asked for a Don, and it seemed that she wanted him in something other than your normal fighting pose- she pretty much left it up to me. This is my first real "scene" painting, and I was a little nervous about having to cover a large piece of blank background. Hopefully it came out ok.

Casey Jones/Boba Fett

2009-09-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

Since my return, I've been trying to give some attention to the short list of commission sketches that I have to do. This is one of those and it was a fun one- Casey Jones in Boba Fett's armor.

I'm Back...

2009-09-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

...from my little bike trip/vacation. I had a great time- no one fell down and I've got a few stories to tell but for now I thought that I would post a few choice photos and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Random Duoshade Drawings

2009-09-10T06:08:00.000-07:00

The combination of having at my disposal both Duoshade paper and my new Pocket Pen, is proving irresistable to me. These are a few of the drawings that I've managed to bang out over the last few days.

As a side note- this will be my last post for awhile.

Super Secret New SaiNW Cover Revealed

2009-09-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

Back in the Spring I think it was, Arseniy Dubakov emailed me and asked if I would create a cover for his fan fiction TMNT-sourced comic SaiNW. Arseniy has been a great and helpful friend to me and I'm thinking in particular of his Russian translations of my PALEO series. This he has done for no financial gain- just as a service to myself and the Russian fans that he thought would enjoy reading the comics.
Anyways, back to the cover. Arseniy told me what he wanted and with a little art direction from him, this is the piece that I delivered. It features a despondent Leo, kneeling before Splinter's grave. This, as I understand it, is reflective of a scene taken from the 4Kids cartoon. Like I've said before, this comic is a very edgy take on the Turtles and I'm a huge fan. Find out more about it here.

Raph

2009-09-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

This is the second of the 2 commissions that I got done yesterday. Becky asked me to do her a Raphael in color.

Don and Klunk

2009-09-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is a short week for me. Today's a holiday, and although I'm here, I'm gonna blast out early. Friday, I leave on my Great Canadian Adventure- a 9 day motorcycle ride into the remote regions of Northern Quebec. I must be psyched for the ride, as the bike is sitting in the garage, practically already packed.
Anyways, especially since the Toronto show, I've gotten a few commission requests. To all of these people, I've told them that I couldn't really find the time to work on any drawings until I get back. However I did, find some time that is. So I got a couple done and this is the first. It's for Marie, and she asked if I would do her a Klunk and Don in color. To Marie, I hope you like it and I'll send it out soon.

New Brush

2009-09-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

When I was in Toronto, I got a new brush. It's called a Pocket Brush, and it's made by Pentel- I thought that it might be ideal to use with the watercolors as it uses a permanent ink. I played around with it a little bit at the show, and found it to be a little tricky. It's point is long and tapered to a fine tip (good) but it is so soft and juicy that it takes a very delicate hand to get the best out of it (bad).
Combined with this new inking weapon, when I got back to the studio on Monday there was a big box of Duo-Shade paper waiting. Duo-Shade is the stuff that Kevin and Pete used to use on the original TMNT comic. It's really very cool to work on and it's neatness was kind of resurrected in my brain after the recent job that Eric and I did for Ubisoft (the cutscenes from the Turtle Smash-Up game). Anyways, I wanted to play around with both so just for fun, I cranked out this Turtle Groupshot.

The Bromance

2009-09-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Becky was nice enough to send me this picture and I just had to post it. It's from FanExpo- Sunday night specifically, and it's me and Dooney gettin' it on.

I wasn't drunk, really.

FanExpo

2009-09-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

Mike Dooney and I flew back from Toronto yesterday. It was a pretty uneventful day, other than we both got to stand in line for customs with Bruce Campbell. Mike even got up the nerve to compliment him for his role on BURN NOTICE. In acknowledgement of that, Mike recieved a small smile and slight nod from the mega star. Nice.
Back to the show. The crowds were big- but not crazy big, and there were lots of costumed characters in attendance (which this show seems particularly good for). Many fans came by- some of whom we hadn't seen in a year, and some that we hadn't seen in only a few weeks. Dooney and I were squeezed a little bit- as we had in the booth space what amounted to one Artist's Alley table, but we made out ok. It really was a good show.
The panel on Sunday went fine. I'm not really comfortable in that type situation, but Mairead and Lea said that it (the panel), they thought was better than the one we did in New York, so good there. At the panel, 4Kids showed a preview of the TURTLES FOREVER animation. It was great seeing the movie again, even in this highly-edited form. And- speaking of previews, the TMNT documentary guys showed an early cut of some of FROM MIRAGE TO REALITY. It really was cool to see this early look at what the documentary is going to be like and there's some obscure nuggets of Mirage history there. Scary.

Speaking of scary, a scary hot April came by the booth. Her name is Carol Zara, and if you like what you see, more of her can be found at DigitallyBlonde.com. She really is a very nice person, and she seemed genuinely happy to meet us. Business at the booth seemed to increase somewhat while she was there...I can't understand why.

This is a commission for Coral. It's Mikey and Coral's character, who as I understand it, have some sort of thing going on. I kept it PG for the kids.

Me and Coral and her drawing.

Lastly, this is (from L to R)- Mairead, Lea, Coral and Becky. I think I speak for Dooney too, when I say that it was great getting to hang out with this group. Miss you guys already. Thanks to everyone who came by the booth and yes, I got my wake up call.

Lea's Leo

2009-08-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is it- Dooney and I leave for Toronto tomorrow and final preparations are being made. I'm dreading somewhat the panel on Sunday but maybe I'll just let Mike do all the talking.
Anyways, I wanted to make one last post before we leave. This is one of the advance commissions that I got. It's from Lea, and she asked me to do her a Leo meditating. My first thought was to just do a single figure of Leo, seated in a lotus position type thing- but thinking a little more it seemed that a nice scene might be better. This is the result.

Color TMNT Groupshot

2009-08-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Since last week, I've been real antsy about wanting to play with the paints some more- so, over this past weekend I inked up a Turtle groupshot with the idea that I would color it and take it with me to Toronto. Even though there's probably other things that I should be doing, yesterday afternoon I went downstairs to the official Mirage Studios lunchroom ( I needed a big space) and spent a few hours with my watercolors.

Tales 66 Cover

2009-08-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

Right now, I'm going slightly crazy, what with getting ready for the Toronto show. The fourth issue of the Don mini is nearly pencilled and I've been extra busy with advance orders for commissions for that event (FanExpo). It's good though, I really like doing it this way- it's better for me as I can draw without any distractions, and I think that the person getting the sketch gets a better quality drawing.
In the midst of this, I've been forgetting that Dan needs the cover for Tales 66 for solicitation purposes. This morning, after getting to work, I reread his script and this image sorta came to me. I think what I like best about it, is that it's a little different than most Turtle covers and that it's the first Tales/Turtle cover that has no TMNT imagery on it.

Mike for Rosemary

2009-08-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

When we were in San Diego, Roseangelo asked me to do her a commission sketch. The thing about this sketch was that she wanted it in color. Now, I have to admit that I'm having difficulty remembering the last time that I colored anything, but I agreed to it.
It was fun. I got out my ancient and somewhat dried out set of watercolors and went at it.
So thanks Rose, for pushing me to do something that I probably ordinarily wouldn't have. Your sketch is on it's way.

The scanner's down here- so I took a photo of the finished sketch.

Casey and Raph

2009-08-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Becky sent me an email last week with a request. FanExpo is next week and I will be seeing her there, but she asked me if I couldn't set aside some pages for her that she wanted and along with those, if I could do her a commission of Casey and Raph together. This is that drawing.

Paleo In Russian

2009-08-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

I've been corresponding with a fan named Arseniy Dubakov for a few years now. I think that I'm correct in saying that he is really into the Turtles and even self-publishes his own Turtle comic. This comic, I don't know if you'd call it a alternate take of the Turts or just a re-imagining of the Turtle universe but it's a very gritty/sexy world his version of the Mirage characters operate in. His comic is called SaiNW and issue number 3 is due out September 9. Arseniy's work has been featured here on Boxburning before- he sent me a birthday card that I posted here last February. Very cool stuff.
Arseniy approached me and asked if I wouldn't mind if he could translate and post issues from my old Paleo series, and naturally this is the cover from the first one. It just looked so cool, and he did such a nice job that I had to give him credit here for all his hard work. The comic (Paleo #1) is on Rapidshare and available for download here.

The Brain Thief 4/Page 6

2009-08-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

San Diego is now a dimming memory and I feel that I'm getting back into my regular schedule. Tristan's Tales issue (64) has been pencilled and put aside briefly as I begin to concentrate on pencilling the last of the Don mini books. Eric is inking on this series, and has told me on several occasions that he's really diggin' the way that they're coming out but I personally, have yet to see any final art.
I hope that I'm not giving anything away by posting sneak peaks of the art, but I thought that this page pretty much apes the cover image, which has been revealed here before.

In other news, I was originally going to go to the Toronto show, then after San Diego I changed my mind and decided that I was going to pass on it. Since then, Mirage has sort of made it clear that they want the artists to go... so with a little bit of arm-twisting I'm back on board.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2009-08-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hey- I was away last week. My family and I broke out of our normal lives and got up to Maine with the goal of logging in some beach time and doing some of the normal tourist-type activities that vacationers do. With that in mind, one day we drove up to Old Orchard Beach. It was mid-morning when I took this picture, however you can see that the haze off the ocean was pretty intense. OOB was just mobbed with people, of every shape and size, and it was all right there put out on display. Delightfully tacky.

Steve Lavigne lives in the same town that we rented the house we stayed at. I rode my motorcycle up with the idea that he and I would get out for a ride on one of the vacation days. He picked me up on Wednesday morning and with the promise that we would return in a few hours, we went for an all day ride. We rode through the town where he grew up (Westbrook) and stopped to see his dad, then got pizza and then went to this crazy cool biker bar called Bentley's. That is where I took this photo of Steve trying to explain why it is we were gone all day. Nice.

This dinner kicked ass.

SDCC Commission sketches

2009-07-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

San Diego

2009-07-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

A week ago today, the Mirage Gang was on it's way to San Diego for the 40th SD Comic Con. After a 17 year absence we once again had a presence at this country's premiere comic book event.
To put it all in perspective though, the actual comic book aspect of the show seems to be waning. Now it appears that the event is more of a pop culture and multimedia showcase. There's crossover, most notably the multitude of comic book based movies that are having a lot of popularity now and to a lesser extent video games that feature the Turtles and Batman and their ilk. The sheer size of the show itself is almost overwhelming and we were very grateful that the little corner that was Artist Alley seemed to be somewhat immune to the throngs of crowds.
Lots of folks stopped by the tables to say hi or to express their thanks to the Turtles. Many of them had personal stories about what the Turtles meant to them, or how the Turtles were their introduction to the world of comics. We don't venture out to the West Coast often, so many of these people were new faces to me but many as well, were familiar and it's particularly touching to me that these fans make the effort to want to be where we are. I mean, I'm sure that we're not the only reason, but I truly get a sense that there's some kind of closeness that people feel towards the Turts. It's cool.
I had to include this picture of Tokka, who honored me on the second day of the con by showing up dressed as Rat King- the costume made complete with the inclusion of a Moto Guzzi belt buckle. Lastly, I just want to thank everyone who showed up at the Mirage tables- you guys are the best.

Gyrfalcon

2009-07-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

I've got this buddy, Todd, who partakes in more activities than any other human I know. But- without a doubt, the coolest thing that he does, is he's a falconer. He has trained several Red-Tailed Hawks and currently has a Harris Hawk. I've accompanied him a few times on hunts- where we are basically whacking the bushes and trees with ski poles while the bird follows us through the woods. In the times I've been with him, we've never actually had the bird take or try to take a squirrel or bunny but there is something definitely cool about being in the woods working with a hawk.
This drawing is for Todd's mentor. A falconer has to be trained by someone in order to become licensed, and Todd's teacher is retiring. Todd already has a falcon drawing of mine, and asked me if I would do his teacher one as well. This particular fellow, the teacher, raises Gyrfalcons and I know that Todd someday, hopes to get one for himself.

TMNT 32 Cover/Inks

2009-07-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

TMNT 32 Cover/Pencils

2009-07-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

I've been real busy lately. Pete sorta took me by surprise when he asked me how long before I thought I could get TMNT 32 pencilled. I originally was under the impression that I could push it off until later this year and that there was no real rush on it. Gladly though, Pete seems to be enjoying a burst of energy and it seems he was real eager for me to get it started, so for the past couple of weeks I've been getting 32 done and to Eric.
Yesterday and the day before, I've turned my attention to getting the layouts and thumbnails for Tristan's book done- which they are now and as well yesterday, I got to rough-pencil 32's cover. I came in this morning and tightened up the drawing a bit as well as adding the background.
Here's the cover ready for inking.

Turtle at Bat

2009-06-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing that I did at the request of my friend, Donna. It's going to be used for a benefit in the memory of her son, Tyler- all part of a weekend of family camping and a giant softball tournament coming up in July. Stuff will be raffled as well, and this drawing of a Red Sox Turtle will be one of the raffle items.

Tales 64 Cover/Inked

2009-06-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

Done and off to Lavigne for coloring.

Tales 64 Cover

2009-06-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is the pencil version of the cover to the November issue of Tales. Tristan Jones is the writer.

Ride With Lavigne

2009-06-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday the rain stopped long enough for a motorcycle ride. The occasion was that Steve Lavigne had come down from Maine to take possession Pete's old Honda Rune. Steve and I were a little bleary-eyed from the night before's activities so the original plan to ride to Rhinebeck, NY was scrapped in favor of a much less demanding route that kept us somewhat closer to home. In attendance were me, Pete, Eric and Steve. I think that this was Eric's first ride of any considerable distance.
Anyhow, we had a terrific ride- saw a bigfoot (see Pete's blog) which along with Eric's special diarrhoea joke were probably the highlights of the trip.
Here we are parked up atop Southern Vermont's Hogback Mountain.

Got Away

2009-06-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I wrapped up the pencilling of Dan's Tales issue (63) which is the sequel to the Leatherhead/Marlin story that was Tales 50. As well, Pete had given me the script for TMNT 32 about a month ago and had asked me recently when I thought I might be able to get started on it, so I used the pause in my schedule to do the layouts on that book.

These things finished, a little time away really appealed to me. I took Thursday and Friday off, and rode the Yamaha up to Lake George, NY- where there was a big motorcycle rally going on. Americade attracts bikers on a national scale and many thousands show up to enjoy the great roads and scenery of the Adirondacks region of New York. From there I rode north and spent the night in Ticonderoga.
Day 2, I had the great idea to ride to New Hampshire and the White Mountains. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would, I think just because there is no really good direct route. Still, I got to see tons of rural Vermont and NH and the weather was superb so I can't really complain too much. 2 pm got me into Lincoln, on the Western end of the Kancamagus. This highway runs up through the mountains and is just a spectacular ride. After that, my goal achieved, I headed home.
My ass screaming for mercy, I pulled into my driveway at 8 that night. Total mileage, about 630.

TMNT 30 Sketches

2009-05-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

Utrom Commission

2009-05-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Leo Stoned?

2009-05-19T06:18:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe- and it's not from some of Splinter's special tea. I'll explain.

I have this friend, Lynne. This Leo drawing is for her, or more accurately, her sister Marianne. As I understand it, Marianne's son is a Turtle fan and works at a place- I'm not sure if it's a quarry or a company that creates the actual monuments but anyways, at this place, I guess they have some kind of machine that can take images and can transfer them onto the surface of the headstone. This Leo was done expressly for that purpose- to be transferred on and etched into a marble tile. I'll let you know how it turns out.

As a note: Last year, I had a notion to try to do some etchings on marble. Lynne was great in hooking me up with two little 6 by 6 black marble tiles, and after locating a pencil that could actually draw on these things, I was in business. And that was as far as I got. A few weeks ago, I actually couldn't even remember where I stashed the tiles but I stumbled across them recently in the garage. Maybe now that I've blogged about it, that will be the incentive to actually get it done.

VJMC

2009-05-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, despite the weather being overcast and cold, I ventured out on my "79 Honda Ratwing to check out a ride-in sponsored by the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club. It was held at Look Park, a local recreational facility, and was only probably a 15 minute ride from my house. Not bad.

I parked up and strolled the line-up of bikes. Happily, Pete had just arrived as well and we spent perhaps an hour admiring the machines and chatting up a few folks. I guess maybe you have to be a geek like me, but I love these little bike events.

The Ratwing did good. Old bikes seem to require a little faith to ride. After doing an all day rip the week before last, passing state inspection this past week and continuing to start when I ask it to, my confidence is building in the old beast.

I took this pic of what I thought was one of the cooler bikes at the show. I don't know exactly what it was, an old 60's Honda Dream, or Superdream or Superhawk but whatever, it was very nifty.

Kathleen's Mikey

2009-05-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Well, it's approaching Thursday evening as I write this. the big licensing job that i took on a few weeks back is finally just now done- at least that is if there are no alterations or re-draws to the art. It's a fantastic feeling- I've really been logging in some extended hours getting this thing done. I have a new appreciation for Mike Dooney and what he must go through on a regular basis. I'll be able to reveal what it was hopefully soon. I've just been penciller on this gig, but from what little I've seen of the finished product it looks pretty damn cool and has kind of a nice old school feel.

So everything else has been put on hold, including the blog. The first thing I did this afternoon was to get to a sketch that Kathleen has been very patiently waiting for. Kathleen's purpose for this, as I understand it, is to assemble drawings of all the Turtles and make them into quilt blocks, obviously for a quilt. I've seen the trial quilt block that she sent to Dooney and it was pretty impressive. And that was the practice one. In the few emails we've exchanged, she's been exceedingly polite and understanding. So Kathleen, thanks.

Who The Hell Is Guzzi Lemans??

2009-05-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

Guzzi's first appearance was in the Turtle comic, nearly 20 years ago now, I think. She appeared twice, if my memory serves- both as back up stories. I tried looking back through my old Turtle comics to find out exactly when, but those 2 stories predate the individual copies of the comics that I have.

However, if you check Issue 51 of the original series- page 13, there she is, along with what appears to be Eric Talbot and Steve Lavigne in the lower left corner of that page's main panel.

Since those early days, I've used her on and off a bunch of times. Antarctic Press even published a 2 Issue mini-series featuring her and that was when she began to transition into her current status as a character who resides in the world of post-society. Most recently, "Guzzi Lemans- Biker Chick of the Post-Apocalypse" ran as a full page comic for a New York City motorcycle themed monthly called City Cycle Motorcycle News. That particular comic ran for about 3 years, from 2000 to 2003. Problems getting paid led me to give it up, and shortly thereafter, CCMN went under. In the last episode of that comic, the Biker God, angry at how the outlaw biker style had been co-opted and marketed (by shows like American Chopper) to the point where it now had become mainstream, decides to take action. His retribution was to destroy all of motorcycling with a "God Grenade". Guzzi throws herself on the grenade, seemingly killing herself. Still, it's comics, and we know no one really ever dies.

I would like to use her again, and I do have a story dedicated just to that purpose.

Digest Comics

2009-04-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

I had kind of a cool surprise when I got into work today. On my drawing table there was a couple of nifty little digest-sized TMNT reprints. They both featured material from the Tales series and are printed under the title "TMNT: Chroniques Des Tortues Ninja".

I've seen French reprints of the Turtles before, although I don't think anything of my stuff. I would love to see, and it's been brought up to Pete, to try to possibly do some American reprinting of the old Turtle comics in this type of format. Something about them- I've always been attracted to digest comics and from what I can tell, the art doesn't seem to suffer under the reduced size.

TMNT: Chroniques Des Tortues Ninja is published by Wetta Worldwide and Dagon Editions. Thanks go to whoever left them on my desk.

Riding Towards Normalcy

2009-04-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy time here. This past Monday, I finally finished the last few bits of art for my big secret project that I alluded to last week. I guess I can say that it was for Ubisoft. Now the material is in the hands of the inker and I'm anxious to see the final art before it gets sent off. It should look pretty neat.

Yesterday I finished inking the last couple of pages for Dan's Nobody issue (Tales 60). It seems like I've been working on that job for awhile and it felt good to finally put that one to bed.

Also yesterday, I did my little piece for the Jake Black benefit artwork. If you don't know, the Mirage dudes all contributed a character to a jam style drawing featuring the Turtles and Casey. My guy was Michelangelo. It's my understanding that the art will be auctioned up on Ebay, with the proceeds to go to Jake, who is now battling cancer. As we were eating lunch yesterday, there was some talk about the possibility of making it into a print to try to sell at some shows, however I'm sure this is very preliminary st this point, and I probably shouldn't even say it without a real decision being made. What I can say is that the drawing so far, even in it's unfinished state, looks really cool. Look for that soon.

I continue to slowly plow through Paleo. Just a couple pages last week and this but enthusiasm remains high. I think I'll try to post some pages soon.

Speaking of posting- I've been somewhat neglectful of the blog lately. Hopefully with the return of a normal schedule, I'll be better about making regular entries. I always like when I go to one of the blogs I like to check out, and that there's new content. Pete's good at this, as he posts almost daily. I can't do that but I'm shooting for at least twice a week.

I haven't checked out Pete's blog yet today, but he told us yesterday that he was going to announce that the new TMNT movie is a go. That's pretty exciting news and I know that everyone, including myself, is highly jazzed about it.

Lastly, Talbot continues to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I know his schedule is very full, but he comes in or calls me and tells me about sneaking out for a little ride around his neighborhood. It's cool for me, to see how enthusiastic he is about the whole thing and we've already begun to talk about taking a big trip next year. I think we're both a little awestruck and jealous from watching Ewan McGregor's Long Way Round Series. It's so easy to put things off or to tell yourself you don't have time or can't afford it. I'm doing it right now- I took a pass on a 10 day motorcycle trip to Kentucky with a friend because I was too busy.

Searching...

2009-04-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

...no, not for a rotting dinosaur carcass- for something to post.
It's not like I haven't been busy- it's just that what I'm working on right now I can't really reveal. I got a job from a Mirage licensee last week and they made me sign a non-disclosure agreement so I'm not even sure that I can say who their name is. I normally don't get licensing work- I think that my art is a little too...funky not in a good way- for product work. However, after these guys asked Dooney, and he passed, I guess they were desperate enough to give me a shot.
Besides that, I finished an art piece that I've been working on and off for a long time. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out and got to see the final color version late last week. As before though, I'm sworn to secrecy about this too.
The panel above I did last night. I was hoping to get an entire Paleo page done, but I got totally hung up on the panel that follows this one. It's just the main character dino in a coming-at-you pose, but I wasn't really happy with it and I must have redrawn that figure 15 times before packing it in. Sometimes ya gotta walk away.

Tom's Casey

2009-04-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Just finished today, this is the latest in a string of Caseys that have been commission drawings.
Thanks Tom- look for it in the mail soon.

I Inked Tokka

2009-03-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's taken me many, many weeks to get this done but last night I finally managed to finish the Tokka sketch. HUZZAH!

Casey and the Invisible Arm Flurry

2009-03-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm working on inking Dan's Tales issue and there's this scene where Casey and Raph are sorta getting into it. Then there's this panel in particular- where a wildly swinging Casey is being held back by Raph. Dan wanted Casey's arms "to be just a blur". It's not really a tall order, but I had a hard time drawing this. First, I just drew a Casey with 2 arms in a swinging position. Naturally, it didn't really seem to convey what I think Dan had in mind. Then I drew a whole bunch of fists coming from Casey and taking up the space between him and Raph. That just looked a mess. Blurry arms-- it really stumped me.
At least for me, the Manga/Anime guys had the best solution. I don't know how great the final result looks, but I crack up everytime I see this panel.

Dustin's Casey

2009-03-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Got another commission to do a Casey sketch. After seeing other Caseys that I've posted on the blog, Dustin chose the classic version.

Maddi Update

2009-03-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

If you follow my blog, you might remember Maddi. Maddi is sort of my student, as I am helping her make a comic book for a school project. Right now, she is doing the layouts and breakdowns for her book. I've only seen a few thus far- but she's doing a great job and I'm really liking her anime twist on the Turtles.
This letter was sent to her this morning, with answers to some questions that she had--

Hey Maddi-
I guess as far as what you want to use for paper and inking tools are totally up to you- I probably would reccomend whatever you feel most comfortable with. For me, I use Strathmore 300 series paper, with a smooth surface. The ink flows nice on this paper, and the line does not run, or give a furry look. As for ink, I've been using disposable Japanese brush pens, however these have proven very hard to find. The closest thing that I have found that seems to be more widely available is a pen made by Faber-Castell. It's called a PITT artist's pen. It has a flexible tip that mimics a brush. It gives a nice variable line but takes some practice to get the hang of. Line weight and variation gives a more interesting look to your art. For example, if you use a certain pen to do the art in the comic, try using a thicker pen for your panel borders. Use a different weight pen for your lettering. Sometimes when I see amateur comics, like when someone shows me their portfolio at a show, they have inked the entire thing with the same pen. This, in my opinion, gives the art a kind of flatness.

My question to you about printing, means at the end of this project when your comic is done, I'm assuming that you will hand in an actual comic book. Running them off on a photocopier is probably the best way to accomplish this. In my experience, these comics are known as ashcans. If this is what you want to do, take a 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of copier paper, and fold it in half. This will be the finished size of your comic. You can do the actual art bigger, and reduce it to fit on this page ( which I reccomend) but you will need to keep it proportional to this size. What I do is draw a line from the lower left corner up through the upper right corner and beyond... make a new vertical OR horizontal measurement, take that measurement to the new upper right hand corner and then simply add then the missing line. I don't know how clear I'm being- write back if you're confused. Anyway, once the pages are done, we can reduce them to fit, then depending how many pages there are, there is a certain way to arrange them on copy paper (in order that we get printed pages on both sides of the paper) and we can run them off on any old photocopier. I'll explain this better when we get there.

Lastly, yes, I am going to San Diego. Yeah, sorry- I've heard the tickets are pretty pricey but from what I've heard it's extravagant and enormous and hopefully, worth it.

Write back if you have any questions, BTW- when is the deadline for this book? This is me, but I always get nervous about when things are due.

Later- Jim

Paleo: Loner, Page 23

2009-03-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Drawing things in heavy shadow or low light is a tricky thing. Thinking about the other guys in the studio (Berger, Dooney, Talbot) they all seem to have a better grasp of it than I do. It's such a beautiful thing when it's done well. I'm noticing in my drawing lately, and it's totally intentional, that I'm trying to incorporate more blacks, although they seem to have a certain characteristically abstract quality. Sometimes it works better than other times.

I hope this piece reflects the dark mood I was going for.

Recent Random Paleo Panel

2009-03-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling kinda guilty that I haven't blogged in so long- so I thought that perhaps I would just look around at some of the stuff I've been working on recently and post some random panels. Pencilling on Berger's Nobody issue is done and I actually inked the first page and a half today. However, this panel was done a couple of days ago as part of 3 Paleo pages that I managed to ink in between working on Dan's story.

NDIB- Page 24

2009-03-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much to blog about lately- I'm still pencilling away on Dan's Tales issue, NOBODY DOES IT BETTER. I just finished page 24 this morning so I'm getting near the end and should be able to finish it this week.
I always hesitate posting pencils for issues that are upcoming as I feel like I'm revealing something that I shouldn't. On my own stuff, I don't mind so much but on other people's stories I don't know if it bugs them that I might be giving some critical part of the plot away. Hopefully not.

On another matter, I posted new, better art for the PALEO color trials that Steve and I did (see previous post). Stupidly, I didn't realize that all I needed to do to post the color pages after converting them from CMYK to RGB in Photoshop.

More Paleo Color 2

2009-03-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

2 more versions of 1 more page to show you. Steve sent these to me this morning and at my request, he did a quick recolor of the main character from green to red.

More Paleo Color

2009-03-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

First off, I have to apologize to Steve- I made yesterday's post as I was rushing out the door and as I viewed the blog, I saw that the colors were very much altered from Steve's page. I'm not sure why the file didn't translate- Dooney thinks it's because it was created in CMYK(color for printing). Lavigne called me this morning and he was wondering what was up with the post and why I changed the coloring. We were pretty much laughing about how funky it came out however we still got some good feedback from folks.
Anyways, this morning I took a digital photo of the printout of Steve's page as I recieved it. I don't know how good it came out but here ya go.

Loner Color Proposal

2009-03-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

I hope Lavigne doesn't mind me posting this. As most people who follow my blog know, I'm currently working on a new PALEO book, called LONER. In talking with Steve Lavigne, we both discussed that it might be cool to actually do the book in color, and pitching it to Pete. In preparation for that, Steve asked me to provide him with 2 pages that he might do up as a sort of proposal.
This, obviously, is one of those pages. Steve sent it to me last week, and Pete has seen it. I thought that I would post it, because it's kind of a neat behind-the-scene thing, and hopefully maybe get some feedback from the folks that visit my blog.

First Ride

2009-02-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

This winter's been a tough one here in Western Mass- with lots of snow and brutally cold temps. Today is overcast, and rain is threatening for this afternoon but I did it- I dragged the bike out of the garage.
It was a damp ride in- the roads were wet and a heavy fog hung in the air. Still, I was just laughing in my helmet at the thrill of being out on this new year's first ride.

NDIB-Pencil Page 8

2009-02-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

Gamera Raph tries to comfort a sullen Casey in the Dan Berger-written story "Nobody Does It Better". NDIB will be Tales of the TMNT 60, due out in July.

First Fire of the Year

2009-02-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

I'm busy pencilling Tales 60 right now and needed something to blog about. This past weekend my family and I went to this new year's first fire. More during the nicer weather, I have a small group of close friends and we all sorta seem to take turns hosting little fire-gathering events. This one, the annual winter party, took place this past weekend at my friends Bill and Rochelle's house. It featured ice fishing and beef stew, mac and cheese, chili and 16 bean soup along with the obligatory hamburgs and hot dogs.
Yeah, it was cold but it heralds the warmer weather that's hopefully on it's way.

Birthday Card

2009-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Yeah, today's my birthday. I was kinda hoping not to acknowledge it but I got this card and it kicked ass so bad that I just had to post it.
Thanks Arseniy-

Thumbnails

2009-02-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

This is kinda a follow-up to the post that I made earlier this week, where I talked about scripts. Thumbnails/breakdowns are the step that follows the scripting stage. The timing is good, as my student Maddi and I are at this point now. Her script is in a near finished state and I emailed her yesterday with a brief explanation about how I do my thumbnails and included the example that I am using for this post. These 2 pages are from the upcoming Don mini. In a very rough form, they show the panels and within them the placement of characters. Also, at this time I try to include some idea about what I want the dialogue to be. Once the book is laid out, we can see what each page will look like and make changes to the story or visuals if we decide it's needed.

Two Caseys

2009-02-17T11:02:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted about how I was asked if the studio guys and myself would like to do a Casey jam drawing. Dan and I were the only ones to agree to sign on although I'm still working on Pete. I knew Berger would do a totally kick-ass job and he definitely did not disappoint. Here it is so far-

Scripts

2009-02-16T07:13:00.000-08:00

Daniel had a suggestion that folks might be interested in seeing what it looks like, when a comic is written. So, for this post, I've scanned 2 examples of scripts that have been given to me.
Pete's is the first. In my experience, what he has always done is he has type-written 3 or 4 pages of story, and from that I'll go ahead and do my thumbnails. As you can see at this point, I know very little about what the actual dialogue will be. The scenes that I draw are more or less situational, rather than knowing what the actual exchange between characters is.

Murph is somewhat different. He will give me the actual panel count per page and often tells me what he wants shown in each panel, sometimes even with a little thumbnail of his own. Dialogue has been written to a finished, or near finished state. The book that I'm starting to pencil today is written by Berger and he writes in a form very similar to Murphy. This form of writing would be considered more industry standard, I'm figuring.
Either way, from here I'll proceed and go to breakdowns/thumbnails.

Paleo: Loner, Page 8

2009-02-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

This past week, I've been in between books. I took this time to work on my Paleo project, and have now gotten the first 13 pages finished.

Versions of Casey

2009-02-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Got this done today. Yeah, it's another Casey but actually this one has a twist. On a horizontally formatted 14 by 22 sheet of paper, this guy wants Caseys drawn by all the different studio guys. "Jam" drawings aren't too popular around here so only Dan and I so far have agreed to participate but I'll try to post the finished piece, even if it's drawn by only us two.

Leo with Norton

2009-02-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

This is also a commission sketch. It took me awhile- I probably have a little over 4 hours into it but I just couldn't resist the subject matter.

Tokka

2009-02-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

tOkKa and I emailed back and forth a little bit the last 2 days about a commission that he wanted me to do. I guess I wasn't really thinking when I asked him what character it was he wanted me to draw. Silly.
Anyways, I did the pencils for it last night and it might be a little while before I get to the inking phase so I thought I'd post the pencils as is.

New York Comic Con

2009-02-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

The 2009 New York Comic Con is now in the can. The show itself was great- although I have to say that it was very likely the busiest show I've ever done. I want to thank all the people who stopped by the tables and took time to talk to us and hang out. I saw many new faces but what always makes a show for me are the familiar "core" fans that always seem to make the effort to be there for us.
I was hoping to have some tales of after hours misadventure but we were all mysteriously well-behaved. I didn't embarrass myself at all, I don't think. Maybe we're just getting old.
Anyways, thought I'd post a few examples of commission sketches that were done over the weekend.

Letter to Maddi

2009-02-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

A little background first. Maddi is a young woman who I met last year, along with her family. A little while after that meeting, she contacted me and asked if I would mentor her- for a senior project regarding a career that she would like to pursue. I agreed to help her with this and together we are going to produce a comic book.
While she works on the story, she sent me an email yesterday which included some questions that she needed answers for as part of the project. I thought that folks might be interested in my reply.
Here is my email back to her.

Glad to hear from you and look forward to reading the updates for your story. Hope you found my suggestions useful- I feel kind of funny being in the position of giving input into someone's work but it might be good practice for you if you decide to pursue this whole comic book thing.
Let's answer some of your questions.

1. Education or training requirements?
I have a Bachelor Degree in Illustration from the Paier College of Art in Hamden, Connecticut. I'm one of the few artists here at Mirage to actually have a degree- so I can't really call it a requirement-however, I do think that it was time and money well spent. What it did do was provide me with a foundation- exposure to different arts and art mediums along with a familiarity with art history. Maddi, you're a hell of a lot younger than I am, so I might advise someone up and coming in the art field these days to get training with some of the graphics programs ( Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign). Web skills would be a good thing too.
2. Personal characteristic requirements?
You need a thick skin. If you ever achieve any degree of success, you will need to be able to accept criticism, and some of it can be very mean. Particularly what with the internet, which allows many anonymous people access to your work. You must be able to accept that some people will not like you, and you must not let this make you bitter, or cause you to doubt yourself.
You must be a hard worker, and love what you do. That is the gift and reward of being an artist. Sometimes I think artists are a little underappreciated- I believe perhaps that many people see our skills as common, or effortless. What you believe your stuff is worth and what others might think could vary greatly. The value that you get in your art is in it's creation itself. It's an amazing feeling when you draw something and you're pleased with it. You must not lose that.
3. Are there many opportunities for advancement in this job? What do you need to advance?
This is a tough one, Maddi. I've been at Mirage for 20+ years now. I've never had a raise. I don't take vacations, other than a day or two here and there. What I have had is a life of drawing, which is pretty damn good. However, I will never advance here. Please keep in mind that I am only speaking about my unique situation- I know it's not like this everywhere.
4. Is there a future demand for this job?
This is another tough one. The easy answer is that I think there is. You gotta have the skills, but beyond that, you need luck, timing and all the intangibles that need to come together to make a connection. The thing is, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people out there just like you and me, and they are all wanting the same thing. Me- I have a job, I'm lucky.
Having said all this, your work will speak for you. Draw all you can, as much as you can. You will not help but grow. Don't be afraid to show it- if you can go to comic book shows with your portfolio then do it. Listen to what people tell you- use what is useful and discard the rest.
As for comics, you must proceed with no expectations that you will ever get rich. There will always be comics and a demand for artists, and there are opportunities and some will achieve success but those situations are rare.
I don't want to dissuade you from pursuing a life in comics. I'm sitting here typing this and as I look to my left, there is a half-inked page where a mother T-rex is attacking a pair of dinosaurs and, I'm really liking the way it's coming out. I never get over the feeling of appreciation that I have for what I honestly think is a gift.
I love what I do, and that's the totality and emormity of it.
Jim

Maybe if some of you are like Maddi, you can take something from this letter.

The Brain Thief 4/Cover

2009-02-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back, I posted a pencil sketch for this cover. Completed this morning, this is the final inked version.