Jul 30 2009

Oyster War Sample Page Pencils

While it’s true that I’ve not posted anything here for a good while, there’s a compelling reason I’ve not done so: I’ve been hard at work on the initial twelve pages of Oyster War (12 pages of art/15 pages counting flip).  I just completed pencils on the pages and am set to start inking this afternoon or tomorrow.  The pages have been taking significantly longer than with most of my previous work I think for two reasons:  First, the level of detail in backgrounds and environments is much higher than I usually do.  Second, I’m working with four–rather than three–tiers of panels since I’m wanting this book to eventually be the same size and shape of those oversize-ish TinTin books.  Here’re the pages so far, splayed out on the floor of my studio.  I’ll pick a page throughout the process–probably that spread I posted a scan of a while back–and repost it once inked, then when it’s finally colored.

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Jul 15 2009

Shade The Changing Man Pinup

Here’s a pinup of Rac Shade, the main character from Steve Ditko’s DC series Shade the Changing Man.  I did this as a “thank you” to send to the folks at Hot Sauce Productions who were kind enough to let us screen the recent Jonathan Ross documentary, In Search of Steve Ditko, at Heroes Con ’09.  Shade’s color scheme is pretty simple, so I whipped up a quick color version as well:

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At some point, I want to do an in-depth post about the whole Shade the Changing Man series, which I think is Ditko’s last great work-for-hire work.  Unfortunately, I neglected to spend any time at Heroes rummaging through the 50 cent bins looking for issues seven and eight which I still lack–so, alas my Shade post will have to wait.  I did though look through the books I have before drawing this pinup and I was really struck by issue four in particular, which contains some of Ditko’s greatest bizarre, grotesque and abstract imagery.  Some of this stuff makes his Dr. Strange work look tame by comparison.  Here’s a page from issue four, for example:

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Jul 14 2009

Amelia Picked as a Fall ’09 Junior Library Guild Offering

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A link to this PDF of forthcoming Junior Library Guild selections turned up in my Google Alerts today, so I guess it’s been made public now that Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean has been picked as a Fall 2009 offering by the Junior Library Guild.  The Junior Library Guild is, “… a literary review and selection service for children’s and young-adult books serving school and public libraries, established in 1929,and used by more than 17,000 librarians today.”  It’s great to know that right off the bat there’ll be a few thousand copies of the book hitting the shelves of libraries around the country.  It was a fun surprise to notice that fellow SCAD graduates (and total badass cartoonists) Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing‘s new book, The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook has been selected as part of the same age group’s offerings.  (Only Eleanor is listed, but I’m pretty sure Drew inked the book and–unless I’m confusing this book with something else–maybe the coloring was done by Aaron Renier? it’s colored by Joey Weiser)

Jul 13 2009

Strange Eggs Jumps the Shark – Roundup

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The latest iteration of SLG’s occasional anthology, Strange Eggs, hit the stands last Wednesday and should be available at your local comics shop.  This instalment is called Strange Eggs Jumps the Shark and features stories by folks like Roger Langridge, James Turner, Kenny Keil, Derf, Jhonen Vasquez and lots more.  My involvement in this issue was actually pretty minimal: I illustrated the two-page “setup story” (written by Chris Reilly) and did all of the book design/layout.  Here’re a few interviews and reviews of the book so far:

Review at Comics Daily

Chris Reilly interviews himself at ForcesOfGeek

Chris Reilly interviewed by Jennifer Contino at The Pulse

You can also buy the book from SLG at the upcoming Comic-Con International in San Digeo, or from them online.

Jul 07 2009

New Tag: Superhero Pinups

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Since I’ve accumulated a fair number of blog posts about my various superhero pinups, I’ve added a “Superhero Pinups” tag to the blog. You can just click on it over there in the tag could to see them all grouped in one place.