DCARTOONS

Paranormal

2012-01-16T18:48:00.009+01:00

2012 is off to a great start.

I’m very happy to announce that Paranormal, my noir/superhero graphic novel trilogy that was published here in France by Carabas éditions between September 2004 and May 2009, has found a new home with American publisher Evileye Books.

Ever since I began drawing Paranormal, I had hoped to see the series published in English one day, and am thrilled to have found a new home for the series at Evileye Books, a publisher who is clearly as committed to the series as I am. I don’t have specifics on the exact release dates yet, but we plan on remastering the first three volumes, and a series of new, original graphic novels set in the Paranormal universe are scheduled to follow as well. I’m really excited about coming back to these characters and working on new stories, and hope you enjoy them as much as I have writing and drawing them.
In the meantime, feel free to check out Evileye’s website (Evileyebooks.com) for further details on the project. News to follow!

Batman

2011-12-13T15:12:00.004+01:00

Colored version is here.

Pencils Vs. Inks: Round One

2011-11-29T11:20:00.007+01:00

Here's a little preview of a penciled/inked panel I just finished for the book Jamie S. Rich and I are working on for Oni Press. I'll let you decide which version you like better...

Teaser Alert: Scutella Editions

2011-10-28T10:12:00.039+02:00

A few drawings and sketches from the graphic novel project I'm working on for French publisher Scutella éditions:

As with my project for Oni Press, I'm about a third of the way done with this book. I'm trying to finish as quickly as possible, but working on two projects at the same time isn't as easy as I thought it would be. The book is scheduled for a late 2012 release, so I seriously need to figure out a way to make better use of my time (like giving up sleep or something) if I want to meet my deadline.

Teaser Alert: Oni Press

2011-10-20T22:59:00.008+02:00

Here are a few teaser panels and sketches from the graphic novel project I’m currently working on with Jamie S. Rich for Oni Press.

As of this writing, I’m over a third of the way done, and things are coming along pretty well. The story is amazing, and a real pleasure to draw. I just wish I was faster so you could see it sooner...

Check out Jamie’s blog right here for more info on the project (and to see some more drawings, too)!

Marvel Universe Too- What If?

2011-10-19T08:50:00.028+02:00

As any of the artists who participated in DC Fifty-Too! (see previous post) can probably tell you, the project was so much fun that we couldn’t just stop after the first cover. Jon Morris invited us all to create another one—this time, of a Marvel comic book—that we would like to draw, if Marvel ever gave us the chance.

Iron Fist has been one of my favorite characters since I was a little kid, so he was my first pick when Jon told me about Marvel Universe Too - What If?

I started off by drawing several pages of thumbnail sketches, and it quickly became clear to me that I was shooting for an old-fashioned, 70’s-style, action-packed cover. Once I figured that out, I started thinking about which villains I wanted Iron Fist to fight. Each one had to be tough enough to give him a run for his money in a one-on-one confrontation, and I wanted there to be a whole bunch of them on the cover--at least four. I finally settled on Mr. Hyde, The Cobra, Sabretooth and the Constrictor.

At first, I was going to have Iron Fist use some kind of obscure Shaolin Kung Fu technique against the bad guys, but in remembrance of those long-gone days when I actually had time to play video games, I decided to have Iron Fist use one of those Sagat-style “uppercut + jumping knee to the face” combos I’d try to master in Street Fighter II until my thumbs hurt.

For some reason, though, I had a really hard time with the colors of this piece; I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it. After several failed attempts at trying to use warmer, brighter 70’s-style colors, I finally went back to a more muted palette, which is what I’m more comfortable with.

Also, in honor of the Cornered blog, I threw in an Iron Fist corner just for fun. I was planning on using the original Iron Fist drawing I had done a few years ago for my Superhero Alphabet, but when I looked at the drawing again, I saw there were a couple of things that really bugged me. So I fixed them and gave Iron Fist some bandaged hands (like Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker and David Aja did in the excellent Immortal Iron Fist reboot back in 2009) and some baggy kung fu pants.

Like DC Fifty-Too!, this was a great project to work on. Thanks to Jon for inviting me to participate.

I gotta get back to work, but I’ll post some updates and teaser panels from my graphic novel projects for Oni Press and Scutella Editions in a couple of days.

DC Fifty-Too!

2011-08-19T21:11:00.027+02:00

In early June, my friend Jon Morris asked a whole bunch of cartoonists, doodlers and comic book artists to participate in a cool comic book cover project he was putting together, in response to DC Comics' massive relaunch of their entire comic book line (scheduled for September 2011).

We were all asked to create a cover of a comic book we would have liked to see, and I immediately called dibs on Detective Comics, featuring one of my favorite DC Comics characters ever, The Crimson Avenger.

Well, the DC Fifty-Too! website went live just a couple of days ago and some seriously amazing covers have already hit the web. If you like comic books, DC Comics characters, or even good drawings, do your eyeballs a favor and go check it out.

Here's mine:

I drew my cover a few weeks ago while visiting family in Arizona, and used my dad's computer and extra-fancy version of Photoshop to color it. Now that I'm back home, though, the colors look a lot darker than what I'm usually comfortable with. I dunno, maybe it's my monitor, but I'm thinking I should have put the Photoshop palette file I usually work with on my pen drive before hopping on that plane to Arizona.

Anyway, just for fun, here are a couple of drafts of the cover that didn't make the final cut, as well as some older Crimson Avenger sketches I posted on my old blog a few years ago. I'll let you choose the ones you like best.

Now seriously, get out of here and go check out DC Fifty-Too!

Good News (2)

2011-06-21T16:17:00.025+02:00

As anyone who knew me as a kid can tell you, I was never very good at sports. Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball… I tried them all, and failed pretty miserably every time. I was kind of like the twelve-year-old equivalent of this guy:

So, not counting those few months when I took a Tae Kwon Do class ( which was tragically cut short when my teacher skipped town to go make it big in Hollywood; he later went on to portray such memorable characters as “Angry Biker #2” in an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger), I spent my childhood hating sports. Until I discovered fencing.

When I was sixteen, my Dad took the family for a hike in Sabino Canyon, and on our way back, we stopped at this small frozen yogurt shop. While we were there, I came across an article in a newspaper about a fencing club that had just opened up in Tucson, and managed to convince my parents to let me give fencing a try. From the first time I picked up a foil and put on a mask, I was hooked. I’ve been fencing ever since. Now I’m not saying I’m an expert fencer or anything, I’ve never won an international tournament (or even a local one) but I’m a hell of a lot better at fencing than I am at baseball, and I’m pretty sure I could beat any of the actors who played Jedi knights or Sith lords in any of the Star Wars movies (except for Ray Park/Darth Maul, because that guy really does know how to fight), so there ya go.

So, yeah, I love fencing, and for the past few years, I’ve been writing and drawing a film noir-inspired fencing story. In late 2009, I finally felt the story was ready to see print, and pitched it to several French publishers. After spending most of 2010 alphabetizing all of my numerous rejection letters, I finally knocked on the right door last December. I was fortunate enough to meet publisher Soline Scutella, who was interested in the story I had to tell, and who wanted to publish it.

I’m very pleased to announce I will be writing, drawing, lettering and coloring a 140-page graphic novel for French publisher Scutella Editions. So now I’m working on two graphic novels simultaneously, which to be honest is kind of stressful, but I’d rather have too much to do than not enough. More news to follow!

CORNERED: The Green Hornet

2011-05-24T16:20:00.019+02:00

A new drawing just went up on Jon Morris’ Cornered blog today. Here’s The Green Hornet, from The Green Hornet Fights Crime #40 :

I’ve probably said this before, but I’m a big fan of pulp magazines and “golden age of radio” programs, and one of my favorite characters has always been the Green Hornet.

My favorite version of the character is from the 1941 black and white Green Hornet Strikes Again! Cliffhanger serial, but that 60’s tv show with Bruce Lee and Van Williams was fun, too. Unlike a lot of people, I also really liked the new Green Hornet movie that came out a few months ago, despite my profound loathing of 3D.

Aaand speaking of GH movies and stuff, French filmmaker Aurelien Poitrimoult did this short Green Hornet film a few years ago (2003, I think) that is worth a look. It was shot in French with English voice-overs, which gives it kind of a funky Saturday Morning Kung Fu Theatre vibe to it, but it’s pretty cool just the same.

Good News (1)

2011-04-22T13:31:00.021+02:00

Well, it’s official : contracts have been signed and I’ve finished the first two chapters, so I’m very pleased to announce that I will be drawing & lettering a 148-page noir graphic novel for Oni Press, written by talented novelist, comic book writer and film critic Jamie S. Rich. I’m not at liberty to announce the title of the book just yet, but keep an eye out here and on the Oni Press website in the months to come and you’ll be among the first to know.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be working on this project. Jamie’s story is excellent, the characters are interesting and complex (one of them even wears a domino mask! Score!)and the dialogue is sharp and subtle, worthy of the finest films noirs of the 1930’s and 40’s. In short, it’s a real pleasure to draw.

I’ve been a fan of Oni Press since a friend introduced me to their comics back when I was attending art school in Angoulême, so finally having a chance to work with them on this book is something of a dream come true for me as well.

Here are a few sketches from the project :

I have some more good news to announce, but those contracts haven’t been signed--yet--so I’m waiting until they are before I jump the gun and announce stuff.

Stay tuned !

CORNERED: The X-Men!

2011-01-28T17:27:00.020+01:00

Here is my latest (and last--at least for awhile) drawing on CORNERED, inspired by the cover of X-Men #36. I've said this before*, but I sure do dig the original X-Men (and issue #36 in particular). I could draw these guys all day.

In other news, I'm going to be closing my Etsy shop at the end of the month, so if you'd like a drawing and/or signed-with-a-sketch comic book from the shop, now is the time.

*In one of my Superhero Alphabet posts

CORNERED: The Nocturnals!

2011-01-21T20:19:00.012+01:00

Yet another drawing on CORNERED, inspired by the cover of The Nocturnals #4.

This didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, which just goes to prove a theory I've had for a long time: nobody draws The Nocturnals as well as their creator, Dan Brereton. Go check out his website if you want to see some cool drawings of these guys.

CORNERED: The Badger!

2011-01-14T17:39:00.027+01:00

A new drawing on CORNERED, inspired by the cover of The Badger #68 (my favorite issue ever, drawn by the excellent George Freeman).

Mike Baron's Badger is my favorite martial-arts superhero of them all. Instead of endless soap-opera intrigues, soul-searching and whiny angst, Badger comics were all about beating up rednecks, demons, and evil karate masters, which to me was a refreshing change. Many great artists worked on the different incarnations of the character, like George Freeman, Jill Thompson, Steve Rude, Mike Oeming, Mitch O’Connell, and the Pander Brothers (just to name a few), and the genre-spanning stories ranged from Bruce Lee-style martial arts tournaments to cameos in Mike Baron’s Nexus comics, with the occasional H.P Lovecraft/Cthulhu parody thrown in for good measure (again, see issue #68). Just goes to show all the fun things one can do with a mentally-disturbed Vietnam vet with multiple personalities who masters “obscure, esoteric, arcane (not to mention abstruse) martial arts”.*

To my knowledge, the last Badger series came out in the late 90's, but the character always seems to come back, so maybe--just maybe--one of these days I'll get a chance to draw an issue. Hey, a guy can dream.

*Excerpt from The Badger’s character description from the inside cover of every issue.

CORNERED: Alpha Flight!

2011-01-07T17:35:00.011+01:00

A new drawing on CORNERED, inspired by the cover of Alpha Flight #4.

CORNERED: The Black Panther!

2011-01-05T17:36:00.027+01:00

Here's a Black Panther drawing that just went up today on the CORNERED art blog, based on the cover of Black Panther #12:

And a couple of sketches thrown in just for fun:

I dunno about you, but I really dig the old school Black Panther. I haven't read any BP comics in years, but I'm really looking forward to the new Marvel series, drawn by the talented Francesco Francavilla. From what I've seen online, the book is going to be amazing.

Champions Villains vol.3

2010-12-31T15:00:00.013+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that Hero Games' & Cryptic Studios' Champions Villains vol.3 has been released and is available as a PDF download in the Hero Games' online store (the printed version is scheduled for release in early 2011). Here are four of the twelve illustrations I drew for this volume:

Thanks to everyone out there who stops by the blog. I wish you all a safe & happy New Year, and hope that 2011 treats you right.

See you soon... with some great news!

CORNERED: Iron Man!

2010-12-24T14:51:00.012+01:00

A few weeks ago Calamity Jon Morris and his talented cohorts in the elite Seattle-based cartoonists' club The Bureau of Drawers decided to create a blog dedicated to the small character illustrations found on the covers of cool comic books of the 1960's-1980's. Jon invited me to contribute a drawing or two to CORNERED, so here is IRON MAN, inspired by the cover of Iron Man #128. (My apologies to all you die-hard Iron Man fans out there)

I will have some really good news to report soon, but in the meantime, have a happy & safe holiday season! Merry Christmas!

Etsy store (updated)

2010-10-28T19:37:00.005+02:00

I’ve just added some new items for sale on my Etsy store, including Red Hands, my first published graphic novel (it's in French), as well as some recent drawings from the blog. I will also be accepting a limited number of commissions over the next few weeks, so if you are looking for an original drawing, please send me an e-mail to inquire about prices and availability. All drawings are done on A4 bristol board and are shipped flat. Thanks for looking!

Eagle

2010-10-25T16:44:00.041+02:00

A few days ago, Neil Vokes, one of my favorite comic book artists, asked me to draw a pin-up for the soon-to-be-released first volume of the trade paperback series, Eagle: The Original Adventures, which will be reprinting the first 6 issues of the now-legendary black and white comic book series from the late 1980's. One of the (many) things I loved about the original Eagle series was the guest artist pin-up that was featured at the back of each issue, (like Matt Wagner, Marc Hempel, Adam Hughes and many others) so it should come as no surprise that he didn't have to ask twice. Here’s what I came up with:

Rough thumbnail sketch (original size:8cm x 10cm) & first draft on tracing paper

Finished, light-boxed final pencils (drawn in blue pencil) and inks

And the final greyscaled version

Moonstone Books will be publishing the series of trade paperbacks, the first of which is scheduled to hit stores soon. Even though I already own all 23 issues, you can bet I'll be buying the new trades as well.

Thanks to Neil for giving me a chance to draw Eagle; it was a real honor (and a lot of fun).

P.S. For anyone interested in seeing how I draw comics, from sketch to finished page (and just in case you missed it the first time), feel free to click right here.

Champions Villains vol.1

2010-10-21T15:23:00.020+02:00

Hey, it's official: Hero Games & Cryptic Studios' Champions Villains vol.1, has been released and is in stores now.

The Archer & The Giant on manolosanctis.com

2010-10-05T10:51:00.007+02:00

Here is The Archer and the Giant, the second of two stories that appeared in my comic book Duels, published by Treize étrange back in 2000. It's a wordless fable about, well... an archer and a, um... giant. Yeah, I know... coming up with innovative, original titles has always been one of my strong points.

Read this story for free on manolosanctis

The $100,000 Uppercut on manolosanctis.com

2010-10-03T00:13:00.008+02:00

For the curious and/or bored, I just uploaded my $100,000 Uppercut short story onto the French comic book website manolosanctis.com. The Uppercut was the first of two stories that appeared in my comic book Duels, published by Treize étrange back in 2000. I'm hoping to add more stories onto the website when I can, so feel free to swing by the next time you can't sleep or the boss isn't looking. And for anyone who would like a printed copy of the story (in English) there are still a couple copies left in my Etsy store.

Read this story for free on manolosanctis

No News Is Good News (Continued)

2010-09-27T11:04:00.012+02:00

Here are a few sample pages from the projects I've been pitching to comic book publishers over the past few months:

In the meantime, I’ve been hard at work on a series of illustrations for Hero Games'
Champions Villains vol.3. As usual, I'll be sure to post updates here as soon as I hear back from publishers (which I'm hoping will be SOON).

Moon Knight

2010-08-13T19:01:00.014+02:00

Just finished some illustrations for Champions Villains Vol.1 (to be published by Hero Games & Cryptic Studios) so I thought I’d take a quick break to post some sketchbook drawings before getting back to work. Two of the three projects I’ve pitched are still, uh, being reviewed (read: I haven’t heard back from the publishers yet), but a couple of French publishers have recently expressed an interest in my fencing project, so it may not be an orphan for long. As soon as I have some news, good or bad, I’ll be sure to pass it on.

In the meantime, here are some drawings of Moon Knight, a character I first discovered in the pages of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man back when I was a kid*.

One of my friends introduced me to the character when we were in third grade and I’ve been a fan ever since, although I haven’t picked up a Moon Knight comic book since Bill Sienkiewicz and Kevin Nowlan drew him back in the 80’s. My favorite versions of the character are still Mike Zeck’s and Don Perlin’s, and I hope that shows in the above drawings.

Talk atcha soon (hopefully with some good news)!

*on the second page, there is a drawing I did of the character back when I was 9. As you can see, even back then well-written dialogue and detailed backgrounds were my strong points :)

Hero System Bestiary

2010-07-13T00:35:00.014+02:00

The Hero System Bestiary, published by Hero Games, just hit stores about a week ago. I had the pleasure of drawing twelve illustrations for the book, including the following three characters (inspired by the Beast-Men from H.G. Wells' novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau). As always, copies of the book can be purchased in the Hero Games online store (just follow the above links) or in any fine hobby & game stores.

No News Is Good News (?)

2010-06-25T15:15:00.008+02:00

I've never been very good at waiting patiently for publishers to get back to me, so I've already started working on a new project... something along the lines of my Paranormal stories. Here are a couple quick character sketches I did this morning with my new Kuretake brush pen:

New project...

2010-05-28T13:42:00.010+02:00

Here are a few pages of sketches from the new book I've been working on. I just sent it off to a potential publisher a few hours ago... now comes the fun part: waiting. Keep those fingers crossed!

Green Lantern!

2010-05-15T23:54:00.019+02:00

Geez, willya look at all the dust around here…

To the untrained eye, one might think that the guy who runs this blog has been wasting his time playing video games or watching TV, but believe me, it just isn’t so. April and May have been really busy for me, and I’ve been working on several different projects that have kept me from posting any new drawings.

I recently finished a dozen illustrations for the Hero System Bestiary source book from Hero Games, which is on its way to the printers as I write this. I’ve also been working on drawing some pages for a book I’m aiming to pitch to an American comic-book publisher in the next week or so. As soon as the Bestiary book hits stores and I hear back from the publisher, I'll be sure to post some art.

As for the big fencing project that I’ve been talking about over the past year or so, I’m sorry to say that I still haven’t managed to find a home for it. I’ve pitched it around to nearly a dozen publishers, both in France and the United States, but have found no takers so far. I haven’t given up yet, though, and will keep you posted on how things turn out.

In the meantime, though, here's a quick sketch of Green Lantern, one of my favorite Silver Age characters...

Art Auction

2010-04-29T22:30:00.015+02:00

My friend Charlie Harris, owner of Eisner-nominated Charlie's Comic Books, is hosting an art auction whose proceeds will be donated to EMERGE, Tucson, Arizona's leader in services for those whose lives have been affected by domestic violence. The auction will be held in-store as well as online on Saturday, May 1st. For anyone out there interested in bidding on art for a worthy cause, a couple of my drawings (including Tigra and Zatanna from my Superhero Alphabet, as well as the Domino Lady) will be available. Also, for anyone living near Tucson, feel free to swing by Charlie's on May 1st for Free Comic Book Day!

Charlie's Comic Books
5445 E. 22nd Street
Tucson, AZ. 85712
520 320 0279

I apologize for the lack of updates around here lately, I've been busy putting together a new project and working on a series of illustrations for an upcoming Hero Games book... news and art to follow soon.

Batman!

2010-03-31T18:30:00.011+02:00

Just thought I'd sneak in a quick Batman sketch before the month was over:

Hero System Martial Arts

2010-03-10T21:59:00.008+01:00

A few illustrations from Hero System Martial Arts, a book I had the pleasure of working on a few months ago for Hero Games:

If you're interested, copies of the book may be purchased directly from Hero Games in their online store, or in all finer game & hobby shops...

Rpg Characters

2010-03-07T21:22:00.010+01:00

I have to admit, drawing medieval fantasy-type characters is pretty new to me… I’ve only played Dungeons & Dragons once, never tried World of Warcraft, and I haven’t opened a fantasy novel in over fourteen years. Even The Lord of the Rings* never interested me that much when I was a kid.

However, for the past few days, in-between drawing pages of my fencing story, I’ve been putting together some art submissions to send to a few American role-playing game publishers, and since the majority of them publish fantasy-related books and games, I thought I’d add a couple fantasy illustrations to my portfolio.

Like I said, I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to fantasy art and characters, so a hooded swordsman or a big panther-man with dreadlocks may not be particularly original. They sure were fun to draw, though.

*although I did play the Middle-Earth Role-Playing game based on J.R.R.Tolkien’s books… especially for Angus McBride’s covers and Liz Danforth’s interior illustrations.

Rat Face x2 (by Bruno Duhamel and Lamisseb)

2010-03-06T19:02:00.016+01:00

You may already know this, but it’s a tradition here in France for the mailman and other public service folks to sell calendars at the end of the year. Well, I gotta say… my mailman must want me to buy a whole box of calendars off him next December, because he keeps bringing me some really cool stuff. Stuff like this:

The above drawing of Rat Face, from my friend and fellow writer-artist Bruno Duhamel, really made my day. A few months ago we'd agreed to swap drawings, and I chose to draw Bruno’s ruthless bounty hunter Patrick William Mullighan, from his two-volume western series, Kochka:

I attended art school with Bruno in Angoulême, France from 1996-1998, and he was one of those artists whose presence at the school I never really understood. Why was he there? His rough sketches were better than my finished pages, and he knew more about perspective, anatomy, composition and cartooning in general before he arrived than I did when I graduated. He has gone on to make a name for himself over here, and has co-authored and drawn several bandes dessinées, including Kochka, Butch Cassidy, La Comédie Humaine, Sillage, and Harlem, among others. Even if you don’t read French, I highly recommend tracking down his books….and if you can’t find them where you live, go check out his site, you’ll see why I hold his work in such high esteem.

And since good things almost always come in pairs, I thought I’d share this drawing young French cartoonist Lamisseb sent me the other day. He writes and draws the darkly humorous weekly webcomic Et Pis Taf!! Although he is just starting out, he has some good ideas and works hard, so go give him some support and feedback!

Merci beaucoup Bruno et Seb!

I’ll be back tomorrow with something you’ve most definitely never seen around here before. Stay tuned!

The Domino Lady

2010-02-22T12:40:00.019+01:00

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone that I am a big fan of pulp novels from the 1930’s and ’40’s. Although I do enjoy the occasional Lovecraftian pulp horror story, the detective pulps, with their mysterious masked avengers The Spider, The Shadow and The Phantom Detective, have always been—by far—my favorites.

One of the lesser-known pulp heroes… or heroines, I should say… was the lovely Ellen Patrick, also known as The Domino Lady. When her father, incorruptible California politician Owen Patrick was assassinated by the corrupt political machine who had failed to bribe him, young Ellen donned the black silk mask, cape and form-fitting gown of the Domino Lady in order to avenge him.

The Domino Lady’s adventures were more light-hearted than most of the other detective pulps. While The Shadow and The Spider fought demented scientists, cold-blooded criminal masterminds and unstoppable zombie hordes, the Domino Lady’s foes were mainly low-level jewel thieves, blackmailers, gangsters and people who looked like this. She was an expert shot with a pistol, but would only use her weapon to wound or fend off attackers; unlike her male counterparts, she wasn’t a killer. In fact, the Domino Lady spent more time undressing, taking baths and lounging around in skimpy nightgowns than she did actually fighting crime, which very well may explain the success of the stories among male readers.

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to stumble across a copy of Vanguard Productions’ The Domino Lady: The Complete Collection with cover art and chapter illustrations by the great Jim Steranko. If you’re a pulp fan, I can’t encourage you enough to track down a copy.

Anyway, here are a few drawings of The Domino Lady and her “kissable shoulders” (as author Lars Anderson often described them)…

Werewolves (3)

2010-02-21T23:27:00.008+01:00

Here's one last werewolf sketch for the road:

Stay tuned, I've got something a little different planned for tomorrow...

Etsy store (now open)!

2010-02-19T02:12:00.005+01:00

Just a quick note to let you know my Etsy store is officially up and running, for those of you who are interested in buying original drawings and stuff. To purchase anything in the store you'll need to create an Etsy account first, but it's a fast, painless operation. Honest.

Feel free to check the store out from time to time, as I'll be adding new items (comics, limited edition prints, drawings from the blog and other illustrations) regularly. Thanks for looking!

Paranormal (by Jon Morris)

2010-02-17T13:28:00.012+01:00

The other day the mailman brought me this amazing drawing :

The above illustration was drawn by talented Seattle-based cartoonist and friend Calamity Jon Morris, whose art has already graced this blog. Those of you who have read my Paranormal comic book trilogy will recognize The Ogre, Rat Face, The Silencer, The Snake and Agent Olivares, among others. It’s always really fun for me to see how another artist interprets my characters, and Jon’s versions are among my favorites. Go do your eyeballs a favor and go check out his work here.

As soon as I can find a worthy frame, this baby is going on my wall. Thanks Jon !

In other news, if anyone out there is interested in purchasing original art from me, I’ll be opening an Etsy store later this week. There you’ll find most of the art that has appeared on this blog, including the drawings from the Superhero Alphabet series that I did last summer. I’ll let you know as soon as it goes online.

Werewolves (2)

2010-02-13T09:59:00.008+01:00

A few more werewolf sketches :

Professor Remus Lupin (my favorite character from the Harry Potter novels)

Werewolves (1)

2010-02-11T23:42:00.012+01:00

I went to go see The Wolfman movie yesterday, and came home with an itch to draw me some werewolves:

I’m a sucker for a good werewolf story, and have been fortunate to come across quite a few of them over the years. For anyone who cares, here are a few of my favorites : There Shall Be No Darkness (James Blish), The Wolf (Guy de Maupassant), Gabriel-Ernest (Saki), The Were-Wolf (Clemence Housman) and It’s Only The End of the World Again (Neil Gaiman & Troy Nixey). Guy Endore’s The Werewolf of Paris and Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf (the version with all the Bernie Wrightson paintings) were a fun read, too.

I haven’t drawn any werewolf stories since I finished Red Hands, my first comic book, but I sure am itching to now…

Sketches, etc.

2010-02-06T14:09:00.010+01:00

No official news to report in regards to my fencing/noir story, but I did have a really productive and busy week. In addition to drawing thumbnails/layouts for chapter three, I finished inks on a page that was giving me some trouble, and even found some time to fill up a few pages in my new sketchbook. Here are some sketches:

Also, the week ended on a high note, as I discovered two cool websites that feature links to my blog.

The first is Tim Miner’s excellent and irreverent Marvel Smartass! site, where he single-handedly (well, okay, sometimes he has help) Mercilessly Mocks Marvel… coMics. (sorry, couldn’t find a synonym for “comics” that started with the letter “M”) Tim has a great fondness for (and vast knowledge of) Marvel comics and it shows. Go check it out!

The second is writer Chris Roberson's site. Chris is the talented author of several novels, including End of the Century and Iron Jaw & Hummingbird, as well as the Vertigo comics I, Zombie and Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love. More information can be found on his blog.

Thanks to both Tim and Chris for supporting my work & adding links to my blog, and I encourage alla youse to stop by and take a look at theirs!

Happy New Year

2010-01-12T15:19:00.007+01:00

I'd like to take a minute to say thanks to everyone out there who stops by the blog. I hope you all had a safe & happy holiday season, and that 2010 is off to a good start.

Despite the apparent lack of activity around here, I’ve actually been really busy. In addition to working on my fencing project, in early December I finished several illustrations for a soon-to-be-released martial arts book by Hero Games, and will post some of the art as soon as the book hits stores.

My big fencing/noir book hasn’t found a publisher yet, but I've been hard at work on the project and am aiming to finish it by the end of the year. I have several more projects on deck, including a series of one-shots in the Paranormal universe, that pulp story I started a little over a year ago, and some other stories I’m hoping to collaborate on with some really talented creators IF I can manage to squeeze any more projects into my schedule. There should be some good things going on around here in the months to come, so please feel free to stop by.

The Green Ghost

2009-11-19T10:08:00.018+01:00

Here is one of the commissions I mentioned in my last post, a gift from Bill Murphy (co-creator of The MidnightMen comic book) for talented cartoonist and fellow Arizonan Scott Godlewski. This is my take on his pulp character The Green Ghost, from preliminary sketch to finished, two-tone color illustration.

For those of you out there who dig excellent, pulp-influenced comics and are interested in reading The Green Ghost’s adventures, you can order his first book, The Vodyanoy, online from IndyPlanet. Scott has also worked on the very cool Mysterious Adventure Magazine and The MidnightMen (we both drew two-page stories for the project) comics, so gowan and check out Scott's work there as well. You’ll be glad you did.

Also, thanks to Bill for the chance to work on this. GG was a lot of fun to draw.

Inking and waiting

2009-11-09T15:57:00.005+01:00

Lately I’ve been having trouble concentrating on my own comic book pages (like I mentioned before, I'm not very patient, and waiting for publishers’ responses is killing me), so I thought I’d take a quick break and take a shot at inking someone else’s work. Like comic book superstar Mike Hawthorne’s pencils of 2000 A.D.’s Judge Dredd. The original pencils can be found HERE.

I’ve also recently had the opportunity of drawing a couple commissions of comic book characters I really like, but since both drawings are gifts, I can’t show them here… yet. Be patient (like me, *cough cough*) , I’ll post them in a week or so. And hopefully I’ll have some news on my fencing story, too. Stay tuned !

Patience is a virtue (that I don't have)

2009-10-23T18:27:00.011+02:00

Well, I just got back from the post office, and I’m happy to finally be able to say that my fencing/noir story is officially on its way to a handful of French comic book publishers. Now comes the fun part… waiting, worrying ("Did the package make it there okay ?" "What if they don’t like the art?" etc. etc.) and waiting some more. I submitted the book to five of my favorite publishers over here and I hope at least one of them will be interested in the story I have to tell.

Here are a couple of the sample pages I sent(some of you folks out there may recognize them, as I posted the b&w versions here a few months ago), my first attempt at coloring in the two-tone style made famous by Seth, Mike Cho and Darwyn Cooke, all artists whose work I really admire.

The Ogre (by Jon Morris)

2009-09-18T17:37:00.016+02:00

Had to share this great drawing my pal and cartoonist extraordinaire Calamity Jon Morris sent me this afternoon. For those of you out there who don't recognize this little guy, it's The Ogre, the main character from my Paranormal comic book trilogy.

Thanks to Jon for sending this along, it totally made my day. It's always fun to see how other artists draw your characters.

To see more of Jon's work, you can go check out his website right here.

Interview

2009-09-13T23:13:00.006+02:00

An interview I did last week with the excellent French comic book website Klare Lijn International just went online today.

Feel free to check it out right here.

Drawing comics (according to me)

2009-09-07T22:55:00.015+02:00

I was asked the other day to show how I draw comics, from sketch to finished page, so here goes :

I usually work from very small, very rough thumbnail sketches, which I then scan and enlarge to the size of my originals (for the curious, I usually work at or around 10 x 15-inch format or A3 format, but on my current project I'm using the smaller A4 format, which is pretty much the same size as a sheet of 8.5 x 11-inch paper).

I then print out the page on a sheet of typing paper and pencil over the rough sketches, making quite a few changes as I go. Then I lightbox the finalized drawings onto a sheet of smooth-surface, 250-grain bristol paper using a non-photo blue Col-erase pencil (although you can’t tell that by the following image, since I greyscaled it for better readability. Sorry...guess you’ll have to use your imagination if you want to see blue pencil linework this time around). Once the pencils are finished, I ink the panel borders and do the lettering (not shown) with an Ames lettering guide and Staedtler Marsmatic technical pens.

Now comes the fun part: inking. By far the part of drawing comics that I love the most. I ink my pages with a no.4 sable hair brush and Pébéo india ink, a relatively inexpensive ink that scans very well.

Once I’ve finished inking, I scan the page again, clean it up, do any tweaking that my brush or white-out didn’t catch, then color or greyscale the page. I should mention that the above page is far from finished, though, as I’ve just noticed about a half-dozen things that bother me, and which, in hindsight, looked better in the penciled version... so I need to go back and fix them. Soon.

But anyway, there you have it : the Cliff’s Notes version on how I draw comics!

Fencing sketches

2009-08-22T22:12:00.006+02:00

I’ve kinda had my fill of superhero drawings for a little while, so I thought I’d get back to work on my fencing/noir story. Generally speaking, most comic book publishers ask to see about five sequential pages when you pitch a book to them, but I’m planning on sending at least twenty (the prologue and first chapter) so that the editors who read my submission will want to find out what happens next. At least, that’s the idea. I’ve finished about a dozen pages already and am hoping to finish the art and two-tone colors/greyscale (I haven’t decided yet which would serve the story best) on the first twenty pages by mid-september. But in the meantime, here are some character drawings taken from my sketchbook.

Z is for Zatanna

2009-08-13T14:17:00.014+02:00

I have only read one comic book starring Zatanna my entire life, a Justice League of America comic where she was sent to capture a brainwashed Wonder Woman (she lost). Zatanna is a lot of fun to draw, though, so I thought I’d end this little "Superhero Alphabet" theme with her.

I’m going to take a little break but will back soon with some new pages from my upcoming projects. Thanks for stopping by.

Y is for Yellowjacket

2009-08-07T17:54:00.012+02:00

Am I a huge Yellowjacket fan ? Eh, not really. But there aren’t a lot of superheroes whose names begin with "Y", so he was pretty much my first pick. I remember this great story in Avengers #217 where Yellowjacket, who had been kicked off the team and was down on his luck, was tricked by a super-villain into fighting his former teammates in order to save a young girl. Written by Jim Shooter with art by Bob Hall, it was a really good comic. Also, points go to Yellowjacket for being the superhero formerly known as Giant-Man, another favorite of mine. There ya go.

X is for X-Men

2009-08-06T18:53:00.006+02:00

Uncanny X-Men #36 was one of the best Christmas presents I ever received. I was eleven and I must have read the comic at least twenty times that day. Created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the original X-Men (Beast, Angel, Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Iceman) quickly became my favorite super-hero team of all time.

W is for Wildcat

2009-08-05T18:20:00.013+02:00

A couple of years ago my pal Jon Morris gave me a copy of DC Comics Rarities Archives vol.1, and in it there was a cool Wildcat story—one of the only ones I’ve ever read, to tell you the truth—entitled Wildcat meets the Kidder, drawn by Joe Gallagher. I thought the story and character were so cool that I decided to add him to the list. Wildcat is a former boxer-turned masked adventurer, so I thought I’d draw the modern, bandaged-fist version of the character.

V is for Vortex

2009-08-04T19:07:00.005+02:00

The Elementals, written and drawn by Bill Willingham (long before he began working on Coventry and Fables), told the story of four people who died under unexplained circumstances and who were brought back possessing powers of the four elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water) to fight an evil sorceror by the name of Saker. With a name like Vortex, I’m pretty sure you can guess which element he controlled. In any event, he was one of my favorite characters in the book. The Elementals, who had its origins in the role-playing game Villains and Vigilantes (in the modules Death Duel with the Destroyers and The Island of Dr. Apocalype, both of which were also written and drawn by Mr. Willingham) was a well-written, well-drawn comic book series with interesting characters and exciting storylines. Another book I miss terribly.

U is for Umbra Sprite

2009-08-03T21:57:00.006+02:00

Some of you out there may not know who this guy is… his name is the Umbra Sprite and he was the mysterious enchanter and arch-enemy of Kevin Matchstick (see "K") from the great Mage comic book. The Umbra Sprite, whose face was always seen in shadow (sort of like The Octopus, see "O"), was the owner of the Styx Casino and father of the five hideous Grackleflint brothers, Emil, Lazlo, Stanis, Piet and Radu. He also had a growing dependancy on the leaves of a magical plant that he would smoke in order to "focus his powers". By far the coolest pot-smoking, no-faced bad guy I’ve ever seen.

T is for Tigra

2009-08-01T18:37:00.005+02:00

Yes… Tigra. The only Avenger to ever get away with wearing a string bikini as a costume. And unsurprisingly, also the Avenger that all the other male Avengers wanted to "team up with" on missions. Kind of the superheroine equivalent of Scooby-Doo’s Daphne.

S is for Spider-man

2009-07-31T00:20:00.005+02:00

I’m pretty sure that I’ve read more comic books starring Spider-man than all other comic books combined. As a kid I remember buying Spider-man comics with my brothers at the local 7-11, checking out Spider-man books at the library and reading Spider-man comics on the floor of our living room with my friends. I’d have to say he’s the comic book character I’m the fondest of. The last time I drew him was when I was about nine years old, though, so please don’t judge the above drawing too harshly...

R is for Roachmill

2009-07-28T17:27:00.011+02:00

I have a small confession to make on this one… as much as I like today's character, he wasn’t my first choice for « R ». I actually wanted to use Rorschach from The Watchmen, but I thought that would be kind of redundant, seeing as how Alan Moore patterned him after the Question, the previous post. So… on to Roachmill !

The deadly, four-armed mercenary exterminator Roachmill, created by Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney, has got to be one of the most off-the-wall, original comic book characters to ever see print. Irreverent, cartoony, yet also kind of spooky and dark at the same time, the world of Roachmill was a strange mix of Blade Runner and Looney Tunes, with some Road Warrior thrown in for good measure. It was one of my favorite black and white comics, with energetic, exaggerated art by the talented Tom McWeeney, who used Zip-A-Tone and solid blacks better than just about any cartoonist out there. I miss that book.

Q is for The Question

2009-07-26T19:35:00.006+02:00

In 1967 Steve Ditko created the character of Vic Sage, the strange, faceless crime-fighter known as The Question, for Charlton Comics. That version of the character I unfortunately never knew, but DC’s "updated" version, written by Dennis O’Neill and drawn by Denys Cowan in the late 1980’s, was pretty cool. The end of that first issue was remarkable in that the Question got the crap kicked out of him, was shot in the back of the head and left to rot in the harbor by criminals who had gotten the best of him. Bet you’d never see that happen to Batman. Well, the Question got better, but from what I hear, they killed him off again a few years ago—at least, the Vic Sage version of the character. Here’s hoping they bring him back soon…

P is for Puma

2009-07-23T17:38:00.005+02:00

Not much to say this time, besides that I’m a fan of The Puma, one of the coolest bad guys in Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery (he was an American Indian were-puma hitman). I never followed the character much after his first few appearances in Amazing Spider-Man, and from what I hear Marvel has changed him quite a bit, but those early issues were a lot of fun.

O is for Octopus

2009-07-21T17:49:00.012+02:00

Today’s character is the Octopus, one of the most brilliant creations of the late, great Will Eisner. The Octopus, elusive criminal mastermind, first appeared in the pages of the Spirit comics, and quickly became one of the hero’s most deadly enemies.

One of the things I liked the most about the character was that the reader never saw his face. Only recognizable when wearing his trademark gloves, the Octopus could have been virtually anybody. I always kind of wondered what he looked like.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that the answer to my question was "just like Samuel L. Jackson." Didn’t see that one coming…

N is for Nightcrawler

2009-07-19T16:59:00.006+02:00

The first time I ever saw the X-Men was on a Slurpee cup at the local 7-11 when I was about five years old. Like just about every kid who ever opened a comic book, I went through my X-Men fanboy period, where I’d buy Uncanny X-Men every month, as well as every X-Men-related crossover that Marvel saw fit to print. But unlike most kids, I was never much of a Wolverine fan. Nightcrawler was the character I liked the most, and those two issues* where he and the other X-Men go down into the New York sewers to save Angel from the Morlocks rank up there with my favorite X-Men stories ever.

*issues #169 and 170, just in case you were wondering...

M is for Mister X

2009-07-18T00:58:00.002+02:00

I think I mentioned this on my old WordPress blog, but The Return of Mister X, drawn by Jaime Hernandez and written by Dean Motter, was one the comics that had the biggest influence on me back when I seriously started thinking about drawing comic books. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s The Watchmen were great, but didn’t have the same effect on me as the adventures of Radiant City’s insomniac anti-hero did. Plus, it’s been called to my attention that Mister X and I look alike. I guess I know who I’m going to dress up as this year for Halloween.

L is for Liz Sherman

2009-07-11T08:20:00.004+02:00

Here is Liz Sherman, yet another great character from Mike Mignola’s B.P.R.D. comic book series. To tell you the truth, the book is just full of them… Ben Daimyo, Johann Krauss, Kate Corrigan… oh, yeah, and that Hellboy guy ;)

K is for Kevin Matchstick

2009-07-09T09:56:00.004+02:00

Here’s a sketch of Kevin Matchstick, the hero from Mage, Matt Wagner’s semi-autobiographical fantasy/superhero comic book. Wish I could have included some of the excellent supporting cast (Mirth, Sean Knight and Edsel) in the picture, but that would have been cheating. (One character or team per letter, that’s the rule)

J is for Jason Blood

2009-07-07T08:29:00.009+02:00

Created by Jack Kirby in 1972 in the pages of The Demon, Jason Blood was the reluctant alter ego of the demon Etrigan. Those first Kirby issues and the ones written & drawn by Matt Wagner back in the 1980’s are great, and seeing Jason Blood/Etrigan in the Batman cartoon a few years ago was a lot of fun, too.

I is for Iron Fist

2009-07-05T08:33:00.013+02:00

Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker and David Aja, the writers and artist of Immortal Iron Fist, did a fantastic job on modernizing the character, as well as giving him a badly-needed makeover. Iron Fist, arguably the toughest martial artist in the Marvel Comics universe, now has a practical (and cool) costume that no longer provokes uncomfortable, embarrassed laughter from his enemies. Now, instead of having to say "aw, come on guys, quit laughing at my slippers!" all the time, he can get back to punching them out, which was what he was meant to do since the day he put on his mask.

H is for Human Target

2009-07-03T09:45:00.008+02:00

I first discovered the adventures of Christopher Chance, master of disguise and professional assassin decoy, in the pages of Peter Milligan and Javier Pulido’s Human Target trade paperbacks, The Final Cut and Strike Zones. Peter Milligan crafts an excellent story, with complex, believable characters, and Javier Pulido is one of my favorite artists working in comics today. I was disappointed when the series was cancelled a few years ago, but those Human Target stories are still some of my favorite comics ever.

G is for Grendel

2009-07-01T09:20:00.009+02:00

There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe how much Matt Wagner’s comics—and in particular, his Grendel stories—mean to me. They have had a huge influence on my own work and the way I write and draw comics. I was about 16 when I stumbled across a copy of his Grendel: Devil By The Deed graphic novel at my local comic shop in Tucson, Arizona, and I was immediately hooked. At the time my interest for comics had begun to wane, and I was looking for something different… something that didn’t involve people in capes knocking over a bunch of buildings while fighting other people in capes. Grendel, the story of the cunning assassin Hunter Rose and his vicious werewolf nemesis Argent the Wolf, instantly, single-handedly rekindled my interest in comics.
Rose, the protagonist (and villain) of the story, is a popular high society novelist by day and ruthless leader of the New York underworld by night. Feared by police and criminals alike, the black-clothed assassin Grendel pits his incomparable intellect and unique trademark weapon, a double-bladed spear he refers to as his forks, against the raging claws of the ageless, cursed wolf-man Argent.
After I finished reading that first Grendel story, I had to have more… I even managed to get my hands on the first three black and white issues of Grendel, as well as the character's first appearance in Comico Primer. I also discovered Matt's work on Mage, The Demon, Batman and Sandman Mystery Theatre. But that's a story for another time... Stay tuned!

F is for Fantastic Four

2009-06-29T09:37:00.008+02:00

To me, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four stories rank up there as some of the best adventure/superhero stories to ever see print. Stan and Jack created something amazing and unique, and with such a great cast of main characters and villains (including Dr Doom, Galactus, Mole Man and the Skrulls), it’s no wonder some folks call The Fantastic Four the “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine”…

E is for Eagle

2009-06-27T10:38:00.009+02:00

As any comic book readers out there probably already know, black and white comics were the big thing back in the early-to-mid 1980s. Following the unexpected success of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the American comic book market was flooded overnight with black and white titles of varying quality. One of the better black and white books published at the time—and still one of my favorites today—was Eagle, by Neil Vokes and Rich Rankin.

The main character, mysterious supernatural investigator and martial artist Richard Eagle, crossed swords with deadly assassin cults and supernatural threats in a futuristic city. He was helped in his investigations by a mystical (and kinda evil) orb of almost unlimited power, which he controlled—barely—using his vast knowledge of magic. The stories were like nothing I’d ever seen before, and Neil Vokes sure knew how to draw a fight scene.

Plus, there were lots of ninjas.

The original comics are pretty tough to find these days, but if you’re interested, you can order the collected version right here.

D is for Dr. Strange

2009-06-25T09:34:00.006+02:00

I can’t say that I’m a hardcore Dr. Strange fan or anything, but I do remember thinking he was pretty cool when I first read his origin story at the local library. I was only about seven at the time, so I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch about 99% of the psychedelic stuff Steve Ditko and Stan Lee threw into that first issue, but that’s okay by me. It was a fun read anyway.

To tell you the truth, I really came to appreciate the character only after reading Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s brilliant mini-series Dr. Strange: The Oath. I’m a huge fan of Marcos Martin’s artwork, and Brian Vaughan is an excellent storyteller, so even if you aren’t familiar with Dr. Stephen Strange, I highly recommend the book.

C is for Captain America

2009-06-23T11:01:00.009+02:00

When I was about five years old, I was at the local grocery store with my Mom and I begged her to buy me this comic book… it was, if I remember right, a copy of Captain America no. 193 drawn by Jack Kirby, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Oddly enough, I didn’t read very many Captain America comics after that (with the exception of Mike Zeck's memorable work on the title back in the early 1980’s), but Cap will always hold a special place in my heart, because he was the hero of the first comic book I ever read.

The above illustration is a commission I did last fall, inspired by Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko’s unforgettable action scenes when Cap would wipe the floor with a room full of heavily-armed HYDRA agents without breaking a sweat.

B is for Batman

2009-06-21T10:12:00.009+02:00

I’ve been a Batman fan for as long as I can remember, even though I only started reading the actual comics when I was in junior high. My first exposure to the character came from the Super Friends cartoon, the Batman TV show and various books I’d get at the library.
Everyone seems to have their favorite version(s) of the character, and mine are without a doubt Matt Wagner’s (from the Faces graphic novel), David Mazzuchelli’s (Batman: Year One ) and Paul Pope’s (see Batman Black & White : Broken Nose or Batman: Year 100).

A is for Abe Sapien

2009-06-19T09:49:00.016+02:00

Here's a sketch of Abraham "Abe" Sapien, one of my favorite B.P.R.D characters.

B.P.R.D (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense), published by Dark Horse Comics, is one of my favorite comics these days. It tells the story of an elite federal agency whose mission is to protect the world from supernatural menaces. The book is co-written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, drawn by Guy Davis and colored by Dave Stewart, all of whom are top-notch creators, and who consistently deliver fantastic work month after month. Once I start reading a new issue of B.P.R.D., I usually can’t put it down until I finish it, and then I want to kick myself for not taking the time to read it s-l-o-w-l-y, because waiting for the next book to come out is torture (The Universal Machine, Killing Ground and The Warning are my favorite books in the series, but all of them are great).

Superhero Alphabet

2009-06-18T09:49:00.006+02:00

The other day I was drawing in my sketchbook and, as usual, I got sidetracked & started churning out sketches of comic book characters whose adventures I’ve enjoyed reading since I was a little kid. After awhile I started thinking, “I bet I could draw a favorite comic book character for each letter of the alphabet”, so I gave it a try. Some of the sketches actually turned out pretty well, so I thought I’d clean them up a bit, add some color and post them as an ongoing theme here on my blog over the next few weeks...

So starting tomorrow, and every other day after that, I’m going to do my best to post a sketch, in alphabetical order, of my all-time favorite comic-book characters.

Stay tuned, here comes the Superhero Alphabet!

Golden Age Shoot-out (Round 9!)

2009-06-02T11:28:00.009+02:00

As promised, here is my latest drawing for the Golden Age Shoot-Out.

This round’s challenge was to re-draw an existing Golden Age comic book cover, using a different character than the one depicted on the original cover.

Jon asked me to draw the cover of Captain Marvel Adventures #3:

And the different character I was to use was the Spy Smasher, sworn enemy of, well... spies. (He would smash them.) Anyway, here’s my take on the cover, along with a rough sketch:

If anyone wants to see a cartoon of Spy Smasher in action (taken from the Justice League Unlimited cartoon), here’s a video:

Jon will be posting his drawing soon, so gowan, do your eyes a favor and check out his blog!

Golden Age Shoot-out (recap)

2009-06-01T17:38:00.010+02:00

Over the past few years, talented writer-cartoonist Jon Morris and I have been involved in a friendly, occasional cartooning joust, where we challenge each other to drawing different comic book characters, panels and/or covers from the 1930’s -1950’s, the period commonly referred to by comics fans as “The Golden Age”.

I finished my drawing for Round 9 and will be posting it tomorrow, but before I do that I thought I’d post the earlier entries, for those of you who didn’t catch them the first time around on my old WordPress blog:

Round 1: The Hourman

Round 2: The Atom

Round 3: The fully functional Hawkgirl paper doll, with two costume changes

Round 4: Batman (circa 1939)

Round 5: A bust of Mr. Terrific

Round 6: Golden Age Green Lantern (pencils and color by me, inks by Jon)

Round 7: The Vigilante

Round 8: Re-draw a splash page of All-Star Comics #33

The original:

See you tomorrow!

Bad News

2009-05-22T00:18:00.006+02:00

A few months ago I pitched a pulp graphic novel project to one of my favorite indy publishers back in the USA, and just heard back from them this morning... unfortunately, their answer was “no thanks.”

I’m kinda bummed, to say the least. But hey, that's how it goes. Here are some pages from the submission, just in case anyone out there was wondering what it looked like:

I’m going to do some necessary fine-tuning on the book and will pitch it to some other publishers soon, but right now my main priority is getting my noir/fencing graphic novel pitch ready and in the mail to a few of my favorite publishers over here in France. News to follow...

Newsflash

2009-05-13T13:31:00.010+02:00

Just a quick note to let you know that Paranormal vol.3 is officially in stores now. I encourage you to support your local comic book shop, but if they don’t carry the book (which is more than likely if you live in the United States or England) then you can always order copies from fnac.com or chapitre.com.

Good luck, and happy reading!

Wolverine

2009-05-04T00:18:00.006+02:00

I’m not the world’s biggest Wolverine fan, and I haven’t followed his adventures on a regular basis since Paul Smith’s art graced the pages of Uncanny X-Men (I was 9 at the time) but I’m pretty sure I’m going to go see the Wolverine movie anyway, seeing as how I’m a sucker for comic book movies and all…

Here are a couple of fast Wolverine drawings: a sketch from my sketchbook and the finished version, inked with a pentel brush-pen on tracing paper.

Fencing/noir story update

2009-04-30T16:21:00.010+02:00

Been really busy working on my fencing/noir story and haven’t had time to post anything lately, but I thought I’d share a couple pages from the project real quick-like before April is over.

An April Fools Day That Doesn’t Suck

2009-04-01T13:32:00.013+02:00

When most people think of April fool’s Day, they think of lame jokes, tasteless pranks and other foolishness.

Normally I do, too, but THIS April fool’s Day is turning out to be one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Well, since last Saturday, at least. (My oldest son came down with a pretty mean case of stomach flu at about 2 AM Saturday night and… well, I’ll spare you the gory details, but let me just say that it’s a mighty good thing our washing machine works)

For starters, the mailman rang the bell and delivered this amazing Golden Age Sandman drawing I was lucky enough to buy from the very talented Chris Samnee, along with a bonus sketch of my own character, The Ogre, from my Paranormal trilogy. Thanks a million, Chris!

And then, while I was admiring the drawings, the doorbell rings again. This time it’s the UPS guy, bringing me my artists’ copies of… and no, this isn't a joke...Paranormal vol.3!! It’s finally here! And it looks great, too! Valérie Bigel at Carabas and the printers did a knockout job putting it together, so for anyone out there interested in the book, go run over to your local* comic shop, fnac.com or amazon.fr and get yourself a copy.

Anyway… my day is off to a great start. No kidding.

Hope yours is, too!

*local if you live in France, that is...

The Watchmen

2009-03-11T12:06:00.008+01:00

Yeah, so I finally got around to seeing The Watchmen movie the other day. Everything worth saying about the film has already been said elsewhere, in both magazines and on the internet, so I’ll spare you my soapbox analysis. All I can say is “I liked it.”

I liked the cast, which I thought was dead-on, especially The Comedian, Rorschach (where did they find that guy, anyway? He was perfect for the part) and both Silk Spectres. I liked the opening scene with the Comedian, the retro-flashback opening credits and seeing how they did the black spots on Rorschach’s mask. I liked seeing how the director interpreted the different scenes from the book, and since I’d re-read my dog-eared copy of the graphic novel before going to see the movie, it was fun hearing dialogue and plot elements that were still fresh in my memory. In short, I thought it was a good show. It can't--and never will--replace the graphic novel, but it was definitely fun to watch.

Here are a couple character sketches. If you don’t know who these guys (and gal) are, I can’t encourage you enough to go buy the graphic novel and find out. Preferably BEFORE you go see the movie!

Paranormal update (again)

2009-03-04T11:25:00.026+01:00

Yesterday Carabas sent me some PDF files for review and last-minute corrections, and I have to say that Paranormal vol.3 looks really sharp. They did a great job putting the book together and it leaves for the printers tomorrow. Here are the final versions of the cover and title page:

If all goes as planned, Paranormal should be in stores sometime in April. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see it...

Paranormal update

2009-02-06T18:37:00.013+01:00

Well, it’s official: the third and final volume of my Paranormal trilogy is scheduled to hit shelves in April. I finished it in late August of last year and since then, I’ve been dying to see it in print. Here's the back cover illustration:

In other news, my noir/fencing story is coming along nicely, and I should have some pages to show in the next few weeks if all goes well.
Here are some fast sketches I did the other day (with my spanking new sable brush):

Urban Fantasy Hero

2009-01-30T22:27:00.012+01:00

Here are four of the twelve illustrations I did for Hero games’ Urban Fantasy Hero sourcebook, which should be in stores right about …now!

UFH is a role-playing game set in modern, everyday times, where magic, vampires and dragons actually exist (for a more coherent description of the urban fantasy genre click here). The illustrations ranged from werewolves to Harry Dresden-like wizards whose mere presence screws up technology, and everything in-between. Loads of fun to draw and overall, I’m pretty happy with how the art came out.

So if you’re interested, either click here or head on over to your local rpg shop and go grab yourself a copy while they last.

Vampires & the women who love them

2009-01-19T12:51:00.011+01:00

Just got back from giving some blood at the local hospital* and since I’m feeling too woozy to get back to work right away, I thought I’d take a minute to post a fast (and I mean fast) sketch of Bella and Edward, two of the characters from Steph Meyers’ (I can get away with calling her “Steph” because, y’know, we’re so close) Twilight series.

A lot of folks I know (my wife in particular) dearly love the books, which are apparently very well-written, but I haven’t given them a try yet because my idea of vampires is radically different from Steph’s. To me, once a character becomes a vampire, he can no longer be considered a protagonist; he is a monster. An undead, bloodsucking monster that kills people. Admittedly, there have been some great vampire characters of note who have shown brief glimpses of humanity and heroism, like Don Simon Ysidro from Barb (we’re also very close) Hambly’s masterpiece Those Who Hunt the Night, Eben Olemaun from 30 Days of Night, and Louis from Interview With A Vampire, but a vampire, by definition, is a predator, driven by his/her lust for blood, and will succumb to it sooner or later. Even if, like Twilight's vampire protagonist Edward Cullen, he’s mysterious, sensitive and (insert girlish squeal here) “soooo hot.”

But hey, that’s just me. Maybe I'll give the books a try one of these days, just to see what all the buzz is about. Or maybe I should stop posting stuff right after giving blood...

*the nurses gave me free orange juice and pastries--as in, MORE THAN ONE--right after. Score!

Super tomfoolery

2009-01-18T23:19:00.006+01:00

Here’s a couple of old super-hero sketches I stumbled across tonight…

Shameless Plug

2009-01-13T14:07:00.026+01:00

The mailman just brought me my artist's copies of Scourges of the Galaxy and Shades of Black from Hero games and boy, do they look sharp. So sharp, in fact, that I took a picture of them:

If you are into role-playing games, have ever wondered what a role-playing game book looks like, are looking for an original, attractive decoration for your coffee table, or even if you just want to see the drawings I did in these two books, click right here to order yourself a copy or two from Hero games’ webstore. And if you don’t want to pay shipping, you can always hop on your bike and roll on over to the nearest game shop. You shouldn’t have any problems finding them there.

And for those of you who don't know what to do with that bag of nickels your grandma gave you for Christmas, I also happen to have a couple copies of The $100,000 Uppercut and Other Stories left:

The $100,000 Uppercut is a 46-page, b&w comic book of short stories I wrote and drew for different French indy companies (Treize étrange, Café Creed) between 1998 and 2000. If you’re interested in buying a copy, just e-mail me and let me know. The book is in English and goes for $6*(France) and $9*(everywhere else).

Here are a few pages:

Back soon with some more drawings !

*price includes shipping

The Gotham Saint

2009-01-05T13:44:00.009+01:00

I know, I know, it’s been almost two months since I posted anything… I've been pretty busy. I have a lot to post as soon as I get the green light, so hopefully that will be soon. But for now, here are a couple panels from The Gotham Saint, a two-page story I recently drew for Bill Murphy and Sean Rourke’s online comic, The Midnightmen:

The MM official website should be up and running soon, so you’ll be able to read this story and many others in the next couple of months.

I hope everyone out there had a safe & pleasant holiday season. Here’s hoping 2009 is a good year for one and all.

Shades of Black

2008-11-18T18:21:00.016+01:00

Here are two illustrations I did for Hero games' Shades of Black resource book, which just shipped today and should be in stores real soon.
Also, I found out today that Dead Flowers, the third book in my Paranormal trilogy, is tentatively scheduled for release in February or March 2009. I'm told there's a slim chance it might be published in time for the Angoulême comic book festival in January, but I kinda doubt it. News to follow as I hear more about the official release date.

Golden Age Sandman

2008-11-14T12:36:00.017+01:00

A few hours ago I put the final touches on an illustration project I’ve been working on over the past month for Hero Games, so now I’m enjoying that dead tired-yet-satisfied feeling that comes from turning work in on time. I’ll post some of the illustrations from the book, Urban Fantasy Hero, once it hits stores, but for now I thought I’d share a quick Golden Age Sandman drawing I did for this month’s jam over at the Drawing Board.

I love drawing Golden Age characters, and pulp-influenced characters in particular, so the Sandman was my first choice when I saw that the November drawing jam was about characters from the 1930’s. The only problem was that I couldn’t decide which version I preferred— b&w or color—so I posted ‘em both.
On a related note, Jon Morris and I will be starting up our friendly cartooning joust, The Golden Age Shoot-out soon, where we challenge each other to drawing different comic book characters, panels and/or covers from the 1930’s-1950’s. If you’re interested in seeing some of the earlier entries, feel free to scroll on down the page and click on the link in the image gallery section.
And in other news, for alla youse who read French, there's an article about me in the French online magazine Expressions, written by cool journalist Philippe Guerry. There's also a page from Paranormal vol.3 in the article, just in case you're interested.(click on the "Expressions en pdf" link under the picture of the magazine) Happy reading!

Fencers

2008-10-19T00:05:00.010+02:00

For those of you who were familiar with my old blog, you’ve most likely already seen the following sketches. I was going to put them in one of the image galleries (like I did with a lot of other drawings from the old site) but since they are an important part of my next project, I thought I’d post them here (again). Sorry for the "déjà vu"…

Generally speaking, I'm pretty superstitious about talking about projects until things have been finalized and contracts have been signed, so until that happens (early next year, I'm hoping) I can't really go into much detail. But stay tuned, there'll be more info (and sketches) to come.

Scourges of the Galaxy

2008-10-17T00:37:00.005+02:00

Here are a few of the illustrations I did a couple of months ago for Hero games' role-playing resource book, Scourges of the Galaxy*. As the title suggests, it’s a science-fiction book, and although I’ve never been much of a sci-fi fan (with the exception of Star Wars lightsaber fights and the first Star Trek series) I really enjoyed working on the project. Drawing aliens and space commandos is actually a lot of fun...

*in stores now!

Film noir sketches

2008-10-15T09:18:00.012+02:00

I'm in the last stages of preparation for my next project, a noir crime tale that takes place in 1940's Hollywood. I've done all my book research but wanted to watch (and re-watch) as many 1940's-era film noir movies as possible, in an attempt to really familiarize myself with the clothing, hairstyles, decor and automobiles of the period.

Here are some of the sketches I came up with while watching such great DVDs as Out of the Past(my favorite), The Big Sleep, Gilda, Kiss Me Deadly, Phantom Lady, The Killers and The Maltese Falcon:
I suppose I should warn you, though… I’m not very good at drawing likenesses, so don’t even bother guessing who is supposed to be Robert Mitchum, or Rita Hayworth, or Ella Raines, etc., it’s no use...

Watching the movies has been informative and helped me recognize a lot of recurring themes in the film noir genre. One of the things I noticed while watching all these shows is that if you are a character in a noir movie, and you either double-crossed your boss, ran away with his girl, betrayed your gang (or all of the above)—and if you want to stay alive—DO NOT GET A JOB AT A ROADSIDE GAS STATION IN A SMALL TOWN. Just ask Robert Mitchum ( Out of the Past) or Burt Lancaster ( The Killers), they'll tell ya. Instead, try getting a job in the archives of the local library. You won’t find too many gangsters there…

Away we go

2008-10-14T10:49:00.001+02:00

Welcome to my new blog (which looks a lot like the old one, but with less spam). In the days and weeks to come, you’ll find illustrations, sketches, comic book pages and information on my current projects and upcoming books. There are also links to some very talented illustrators and cartoonists’ websites, as well as some image galleries with art from my old blog. Enjoy your visit !

Talk to you soon

Dan