Monday, June 30, 2008

Case Closed on Cheerleader Cop



When I started this blog two years back, I mentioned Cheerleader Cop, one of many quick-sketch ideas I started on years back and never finished up.





This week I wrapped it up in one page so I can check it off in my brain --- completed! All three pages!



Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Are Comics A Waste?

Any illustrator knows the frustration of labouring over a design and having it tossed to the junk pile. For cartoonists / comic illustrators it's the same -- we pour our sweat and creativity into work that sometimes gets shelved, postponed, lost, or displayed in some remote location where the intended audience will never be able to appreciate it.

Are such comics a waste?
Well...if you had fun drawing them, of course not! And hopefully you can re-use the concepts or layouts in other work. With that being said, today's art is a mascot for a store in some town that sells something that has nothing to do with what I drew....




Thursday, June 12, 2008

BACKSLIDE: The Backstory!!!




Everyone has throwaway stories, concepts and characters that never get used. One of mine is BACKSLIDE. Stephen and I hijacked the Halloween party theme in our company's production department and made it Comic-book Characters. So we both went to work and did pretty much EVERYTHING --- the cityscape cut outs, word balloons, outrageous props, newspaper scraps that had outrageous headlines on them, and Stephen made these carnival type posing stands. I drew up templates for people to make up their own heroes and add them to the list I had on a board called the Hall of Heroes or the Vault of Villains. Not too many people signed up...oh, well....at least we got a few brave souls to wear costumes. My costume was BACKSLIDE - a minor villain with the uncanny ability to backslide into time up to 15 minutes!











I had planned to disrupt Stephen's story continuity in THUGS by having BACKSLIDE show up from a side alley and alter events past. I never got around to drawing more than one illo about it. And now your know the backstory.



Sunday, June 01, 2008

Covers For All Occasions

I have said before that I'm more of a cartoonist that a bonafide comic book illustrator. Stories I tell are basically extended jokes with the punchline somewhere in the pages, not necessarily at the conclusion. I will build a story around the punchline or wacky situation I have in mind. Every detail is secondary to making that one panel, that one scene where tension, paradox, and incredulity is at it's peak.

That's why comic book covers are great! You can do it all without even telling the story. The covers I like to make are just one-panel gags. Sometimes at a day job a wacky idea hits me and I just sketch it up. Usually when there's nothing to do anyway and I have plenty of time to think up goofy stuff.

So here's a set of gag-covers I whipped up a couple years back, before my company played a gag and sold all the designers down the river.[Can you tell I'm pissed?]



Apocalyptic Anthology -- I love stories about the end. I love that there is no hope here, but the chick is already thinking about a tryst with a bug-eyed-monster. Bigger, better, deal, you go, girl!

PAC-MAD -- This is a direct rip-off of an old Guardians of the Galaxy cover.





GIJOE Testifies -- Amazing how our foreign policy is based on a ludicrous cartoon from the 80's!!

Zombie Physics -- We know how zombie physics works, but what if you were tested on it?




Drive-Thru Divorce -- Yeah, it's weak.

Pin Pro vs. The Devil -- Got to be one of the weirdest ideas I ever had. I just wanted to see this bowling dude kick the devil's ass without breaking a sweat. He's like Job of the bowling alley -- unflappable like he doesn't even know the stakes. Damn!




Unfathomable Fish Tales -- People vs. fish is always great drama or great comedy!