Jun 27 2010

‘Sea Witch’ Tribute: Colored and Done

So here’s the finished deal:

I’m no Frazetta for sure, but hey that’s the point of doing something like this: to learn a little bit about what makes another artist’s work so good. I’m not particularly happy with the watercolor here, but I’ve already spent too much time on this project (which really just started out as a sketchbook doodle).   If I had more time on my hands, I’d probably go back in with some gouache and start adding some areas of more intense color.  There’s only so much color intensity you can get with watercolor paint–particularly when you’re using one of those $5.00 plastic trays of little paint “wafers” like I use.

Since I did the original drawing in my sketchbook on pretty flimsy paper that wouldn’t hold up to watercolor (and had all sorts of colored pencil underdrawing that wouldn’t erase) I had to transfer the image to more suitable paper.  I wound up scanning the drawing, Thresholding it in Photoshop, and then printing it out on 2-ply Strathmore Bristol board, which is the thickest paper I can get to go through my ancient HP deskjet printer.  I then taped that page down and applied the watercolor to it.

I found, though, that the watercolor “sat” on top of the printed blacks in a way that it wouldn’t do if I had been working on an original done with India ink:

The image above is the actual painted Bristol board and you can see the watercolor pigment hazing over the blacks.  What I did, though, was to drop in the original all-black Thresholded image as a top layer in Photoshop so that it effectively took the place of the black on the printout.

Frazetta’s Sea Witch has always been my favorite painting of his largely because the WTF factor is so high: Is the witch part of that sea creature?  Or is she calling it forth?  If the latter, is it copping a feel up under her dress?  Or is she maybe stuck on the end of there like a puppet? Why are all of the tentacles a little bit different–some have suckers, some don’t? And most of all, why is there a goddamn IGUANA in this scene!?

The original art for this is for sale here.

Jun 26 2010

I’m Back from the Union County Mini-Con

I just walked back in the door from the Union County library Mini-Con in Monroe, NC and I had a blast.  As you can imagine in a library that has my books in its collection, the name of the game here wasn’t sellin’ stuff, (damn you, “Comrade” Obama and your socialized book stores–or, as you call them, “libraries.”) but rather, meeting local folks who are interested in comics and of course, hanging out with the other guests at the con.  I carpooled to and from with Dan Johnson who’s in nearby (to me, not Monroe) Archdale, NC.  Dan’s a writer and a lot of his recent work has been adapting classic literature for the India-based publisher Campfire Books.  As you can imagine with my interest in doing a GN adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, we spent a lot of the drive “talking shop” about comics adaptations of classic lit.  (And of course, as is always the case when two comics folk are in direct contact for more than 30 minutes, we discussed Roger Corman’s film version of The Fantastic Four.)

Once at the show, I spent most of the day just chatting with folks who were visiting the con to find out about folks who make comics.  I saw a few old friends that I see mainly at conventions–like Brandon Padgett of Big Dog Studio–but also got to hang out with Al Bigley whose work I’ve known for a while, but who I’ve never met in person (nor had any idea he lived in NC).   Al’s collection of superhero ephemera is legendary, and Dan and I had been graciously invited to stop by his house on the way home to check it out in person but, alas we wound up hanging out at the library yacking and had to get back on the road directly.

In the midst of all this, I did manage to draw a few superhero sketches in preparation for whatever con I happen to next be at.  Here they are:

The Red Tornado

Valkyrie

Night Owl

Jun 25 2010

Tomorrow (Sat. June 26th) Union County Mini-Con

If you happen to be anywhere in the vicinity of Monroe, NC tomorrow, be sure to stop in to the Mini-Con being held there.  It’s part of Union West Regional Library’s program to get kids into the library and interested in reading–comics and otherwise.    Event organizer John Thompson talks about the event here over at ComicsReporter.  It’s a two-day event starting today, but I’ll just be able to attend on Saturday. Saturday’s portion of the event will be held at the Monroe branch.  Guests include Charlotte-area faves Marcus Hamilton, Dustin Harbin and many more.  I’ll of course be selling copies of Amelia and my other books.  Hope to see you there.

Jun 23 2010

‘Sea Witch’ Frazetta Tribute Illustration Update

So, despite keeping pretty busy chasing my daughter around while she’s out of school for the summer, doing freelance work, and even a little work on Oyster War, I finally got back to this Sea Witch thing.    Here’s the inked and cleaned up version.  If my printer can handle it, I’m going to try to print this out on bristol board and maybe do some watercolor on it.

sea_witch

Jun 17 2010

Interview at ALA’s Good Comics for Kids Blog

amelia_jacket

Among the many great folks I had a chance to hang out with a few weeks back at Heroes Con 2010 was Snow Wildsmith, a regional librarian (Mooresville, NC) and blogger for the American Library Association’s Good Comics for Kids site.  She did an interview with me on the show floor about all-ages GNs and various other things comics-related, and that interview is now up here. (She also interviewed Chris Schweizer who was sitting next to me, so keep an eye out for that as well.)