Where I've Been...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.