Free Comic Book Day 2009

I will also have copies of Fata Obstant & The Hurricane Kids with me, so stop on by.

Samson

click for full size.

This is a new character I created for an upcoming short story. If you follow my stuff then you may be able to pick up what it's for. I had a lot of fun researching his uniform and creating his back-story and I look forward to drawing him in action.

Best laid plans...

Last night I was trying to work up a "Where the Wild Things are" sketch for the always awesome Artjumble blog that I have not been contributing to lately and this is the end result. Nothing spectacular, but a keen insight into how my brain works sometimes.


click for full size.

Mysterious Adventure Magazine

Cover to MA#1 by Scott Godlewski & Matt Kaufenberg

Mysterious Adventure Magazine is a great little project run by a couple great guys, Matt and Scott. It focuses on fun adventure and pulp comics and the first issue came out in January, with a summer issue planned for June. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute the back cover for it. I should also have a new Fata Obstant story in the fall issue as well as I think it's a story that fits well in quarterly like Mysterious Adventure. Do yourself a favor and pick up the first issue, you won't be sorry. Flying aces, nazis, selkies and a demon detective are just a few of the goodies found within.


click for biggie.

*Bonus! Jump over to the Sketchjam! to see a cool inking experiment I did as well as a Panthro (Thundercats!) sketch.

Review of My Popgun 3 story.

With my work on Villains, all of the reviews were almost universally positive and glowing and much of that had to do with the story. Most who commented on the art sounded a lot like this , serviceable and nice and serves the story. I am happy with my art serving the story, that's my job after all. Here is the first and possibly only review of my Popgun 3 story, which only encompasses 8 pages out of almost 500, so I don't know how many more will be coming.

"King’s Hollow: The Trade"
Review by Corwin Crowl

Writer/Artists: Ryan Cody
Colorist: Anthony Nixon
Letterer: Fonografiks
Page 453

I am going to take a guess that this story is part of a larger story. There is not any kind of explanation of who the characters are or the overarching purpose of their mission. A girl named Nissa is sent out to make a trade with a some kind of giant, however she was never given anything to trade with. Ryan Cody created a simple and quick story with simple yet serviceable pencils and color. His style is also unique and works for the type of story he is telling. There are varying degrees of interesting characters and a lot can be inferred from their conversations. The story takes place in 1943 with a war going on but magic and fairies are also real. While interesting the story does not have any real feel of payoff. It is more like a tease for what is to come next.

Rating: 5 out of 10 (Average)

A couple thoughts as I generally enjoy all reviews and this is neither a great one or a bad one and actually sums up my feelings on the story as well. The story is part of a much larger whole, but I wanted it to be accessible but also encourage people who liked it to seek out future stories with these characters (or the past short story, which is still available thru www.super75comics.com). The characters weren't introduced or explained due to space constraints, although I think it reads fine, of all the stories in Popgun, 99% featured unknown characters or ones that were new to the reader. This story was never made to be an epic in 8 pages, so it's fair to say it is simple, as is the art. I do like that the reviewer gained some knowledge of the characters through their conversation as I was hoping people would be able to form a rough idea of the their dynamics. The fact that it ends as a bit of a tease is what I wanted, again hoping it would garner interest in this world I'm creating. I think that review is actually dead-on for the most part. I wish my foray into Popgun was a bit stronger, but I'm satisfied with it and I hope others are as well. One thing that bugged me though was this, "The story takes place in 1943 with a war going on". The story is set in England in 1943 (via a caption on page 1), and the mention of humans at war is made on page 2, so I thought it would be easily identified as happening during WWII. Setting these fantasy stories in real time and in the real world is one thing I really wanted to accomplish.

And as for those intersting character? Look for Cara de Fantasma (the Ghostface character) to show up again in Popgun 4 or 5 later down the line.

Best Video Ever.

Rachel Maddow is the shit. Please watch this.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ink Experiment1

If you don't follow the Sketchjam blog and are not on deviantArt following me, then hop over to this post to check out an idea I had late last night. I'm not saying it's a good idea......

Emerald City Report

Emerald city was a fun time, if not a successful money making con, although I really am happy to make any money when I don't really have trades to sell and nobody has heard of me. Most people are saving their money to get sketches from the other amazing artists in attendance, and I can't blame them. I did however get to meet a handful of great fans and supporters and I did a smattering of sketches over the two days, mostly on Saturday. The con itself was great, lots of traffic and nice people. I spent much of my time talking inking with the very selfless and endearing Stefano Gaudiano whom I was seated next to. He and I have very similar ideas about inking and very similar methods of how we work. His inks are bold and loose, yet each line seems to serve a purpose and he inks some of Marvel's biggest books, so I'm not the only one who thinks so.

I'm not going to be dropping names or anything, but the con was very successful for me in that I got to meet and get face time with some publishers and editors, and I have a renewed hope for my creator owned work as well as some future freelance gigs as well. I enjoyed hanging out with my friend D, and his lovely wife who kept me fed pretty well. Thanks to Robbi Rodriguez, Brian Meredith and all the fine folks at Emerald City and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Also today I received my comp of POPGUN Vol.3 from Image Comics. Other than a pin-up or two, this is my first published work at Image and is something I have been looking forward to for a long time. It is also my published debut as a writer (other than self-published books), so I'm happy about that as well. Please pick up a copy if it's within your budget.

More con pics here.

Emerald City, here I come!

I am super excited about heading up to Seattle this weekend for the Emerald City Comicon. I'll be sitting at table H. I will have copies of the Hurricane Kids Color Special, Fata Obstant (my 24 hour day comic), and also very limited quantities of the Villains: Thick as Thieves trade (only $7) as well as The Sketchjam Vol.1 sketchbook. I'll be doing con-sketches and taking commissions as well, email or leave a message if you are interested in getting on the list early. The HERO Initiative will also be selling a very limited edition ECC sketchbook that I contributed to, with a color cover by Time Sale.

For more information on ordering The Hurricane Kids or Fata Obstant, please visit Super75comics.

I'll also be able to see one of my best friends in the world and hopefully eat some good Japanese food. I'll be sure to post a con report afterwards and possibly squeeze some art in before I leave, if possible

Time well spent.

My kids go to a wonderful school that teaches in an alternative way with great, but sometimes non-traditional results, overall I think they are getting a much better education than in most city run schools, especially the schools in the neighborhoods they live in. They are taught to be free-thinkers and immersed in the arts, but if I have one problem with the school is that it often feels as though they do not take the parent's schedule into account on any decisions they make. On any given month, the school will have 2 to 3 events taking place a week, either on the weekend or on one of the weeknights (and many times during the school day) that I feel bad if I can't attend. They are a public charter school, yet rely heavily on lots of fund raising and direct money from the parents to keep going, both are hard for me to do currently. They also tend to take multiple days off for minor holidays (2 days off for President's Day for example), and have a half day once a week which greatly affects my work schedule on a weekly basis. I just think that they sometimes forget that most parents have to work full-time and cannot alter their schedules so frequently.

I bring that up because my oldest son is in Little League this year for the first time and has been having practice twice a week, at 2-hours a clip. This week it's been upped to 3 times at 2.5 hours each. So 7.5 hours on baseball practice this week. Maybe it's just me, but that seems excessive. It's fun for him I'm sure, but I also have two other kids with me and that's 7.5 hours that affect their lives as well. Maybe it will return to something normal when the season actually starts, and maybe I just don't know enough about Little League.

Sorry for the rant, it's manageable, I'm just noticing a trend over the last several years where everyone believes if it's "for the kids" then it should be plausible and expected that the parents drop everything else and devote all their time to those events, which in reality and in today's economy, is not always possible or practical. Here is some art, as always, click to go big.

Project Development

An image for a project I am developing with Scott Godlewski, not much to talk about right now, but I think this turned out really well so I wanted to post it since most of the stuff I have been doing lately has been coloring his linework and it's stuff I don't want to post yet. So far it's been an excellent experience and a ton of fun. Pencils by Scott, Inks and Colors by me. Click the image for full size.

Blast from the past

Someone who I feel is the best artist working right now, Eric Canete, has the pin-up he did for my book Villains for sale. Go buy it if you have the jack, it's amazing.

Emerald City Con + Hero Initiative

click for larger version.

This is my contribution to the Hero Initiative's Emerald City Con Sketchbook. It'll be very limited, featuring amazing artists, and has a knockout cover by Tim Sale. Obviously it will go on sale at the con, and I suppose online if there are any remaining copies. This was a fun little pin-up to do and it is of Lola Lilly, the lead character from my Fata Obstant book. I'll probably include this image in the pitch packet when I get around to pitching this series as well. As always I love helping out HERO and they have been very good to me and given me great exposure, all while helping a great cause.

More Potter!

click to make big.

Probably my favorite character from the books, although I'm not sure why, is Remus Lupin. So here he is against his nemesis Fenrir Greyback. I honestly really like this one, I think I may turn it into a print for the Emerald City Con. Also a Voldemort sketch.

Oh! Hop over to the SKETCHJAM! to see a pencils/inks/colors process shot of the Lupin piece.

Harry Potter month continues.

While the lack of paying commissions and paying work continues, I will continue sketching Harry Potter characters and I don't care how many odd glances other grown adults give me. Here is Sirius Black and Kingsley Shacklebolt who, along with Moody and Remus Lupin, are the coolest of the Order of the Phoenix.

click for full size.

I originally pencilled in Lupin in place of Sirius, the pencils for this piece can be found on The Sketchjam! You can see how I made some changes in the inking stage. If you guys want me to stop, all you have to do is pay me to draw something else.....

Popgun Vol.3

Huh? What? Two posts in one day? You guys are special, and you deserve it. Coming in March Popgun Vol.3 comes out from Image Comics. I will have a short story in it called King's Hollow. It's a follow up to my self published one-shot Hollow from last year. It's written with black and white artwork by me and color art by my pal Anthony Nixon. I found Anthony through Deviantart and he agreed to do the long-delayed and still in limbo Villains Vol.2. I love his stuff and was really glad he agreed to color this for me. So run out and have your comic shop pre-order it for you. It's not cheap, but should be around 400 pages, full color and check out this list of creators!

Alison Acton
Joshua Agerstrand
Laura Allred
Anjin Anhut
Kris Anka
Amanda Becker
Peter Bergting
Patricio Betteo
Danilo Beyruth
Sam Bosma
Dan Brereton
Olaf Brill
Dennis Brown
Antonio Campo
Dominique Carrier
Jim Charalampidis
Bobby Clark
Ryan Cody
Dave Collinson
Dave Curd
Mike Dawson
Ben DeRosa
Michael Dialynas
JEIK Dion
Juan Doe
Becky Dreistadt
Nathan Edmondson
Ulises Farinas
Ray Fawkes
Gary Fields
Fonografiks
Frank Gibson
Vassilis Gogtzilas
Zac Gorman
George Gousis
Paul Grist
Scott Hallett
Jason Hanley
David Hopkins
Jason Ibarra
Joelle Jones
Janet Kim
Huseyin Celal Koc (a.k.a. Celor)
D.J. Kirkbride
Nic Klein
Adam P. Knave
Peter Krause
Edward Kwong
Erik Larsen
Robbie Lawrence
Johann "Ullcer" Leroux
Maximo V. Lorenzo
Thomas Mauer
Derek McCulloch
Sam McKenzie
Tara McPherson
Alberto Mielgo
Robb Mommaerts
Paul Montgomery
Chris Moreno
Matt Moylan
Ralph Niese (aka, Donald Hello)
Anthony Nixon
Josh Parpan
Jeff Powell
Isam Prado
Justin Randall
Stephen Reedy
Jamie S. Rich
Rachelle Rosenberg
David Rubin
Matteo Scalera
Douglas E. Sherwood
Guillaume Singelin
Eric Skillman
Mark Andrew Smith
Eric Stephenson
Alisa Stern
Amy Stern
Chris Stevens
Frank Stockton
Andre Szymanowicz
Gregory Titus
Ron Turner
Christian Ward
Daniel Warner
Connor Willumsen
Brian Winkeler
Michael Woods
Derek Yu
K.I. Zachopoulos
Tonci Zonji
Jim Zubkavich

edited by
MARK ANDREW SMITH
D.J. KIRKBRIDE

cover by
TARA MCPHERSON

Crazy, I know. Go do it. Love it.

Sketchdump

More Harry Potter stuff that I have done over the last week and a quick little Lucius from BONE. All drawn and colored in Photoshop and inked traditionally with the Pentel brush pen and assorted technical pens. Click on them to go big.

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Make your own fake band cover. Saw this on Brent Schoonover's blog which is some thing going around on Facebook apparently but I try to avoid those things. This did look like fun though, so here is my version. Do it yourself following these easy to follow directions. (Oh yeah, my quote is by Walt Disney and I love it.)

1 - Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Post it to FB with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in. (you can untag yourself if you don’t want this photo up)

Harry Potter

click for full size. The pencils and inks for this are available at the sketchjam!

I've mentioned in the past what a big Harry Potter fan I am. I know some of the writing in the books is geared toward the younger reader and it can be a bit derivative, but I am hooked on them like crack. I've probably read the first five books three times each, the other two only once and now I am making my way through all seven audio-books as I work at night. I will probably go through a whole series of characters over the next few weeks. One of my dream projects would be to work on a comic or cartoon based on the mythology of a group of Aurors. I would call the book The Marauders and it would feature some of the more adult characters from the book.

Going back to my previous post about my lack of geek, well here is where I totally geek out. I caught the last movie on a midnight showing and I'll probably do the same for the Half-Blood Prince.

Modern TV and Geekery

I had an epiphany earlier tonight regarding modern television and my thoughts on geek culture. I've missed the last 3 episodes of LOST and I missed 2 episodes of HEROES over the last few weeks. I could have watched them as they were recorded to DVR, but then I thought, "why bother?" My girlfriend and her brother do not understand why I don't want to go back and catch up and I realized tonight, I really don't care. Out of the dozens of characters across both shows, I honestly do not care about any of the characters or find them the least bit intriguing. Despite everything that goes on in Lost, none of the characters make it worthwhile, and they keep adding new characters instead of developing the old ones. My friend Javi won an Emmy for writing on Lost, and I did enjoy it in the past, but it doesn't hold any sway anymore. Heroes is just silly and pointless to me and rips off comics for the mass market and makes me cringe. I'll watch it, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. In contrast to that, I am only 8 episodes into the first season of Deadwood, and there is not a character on that entire show that I am not involved with and interested in watching their stories unfold.

This takes me to another point about how much of "geek" culture I am not interested in. I don't care about Star Trek and have no desire to watch Battlestar or Dr. Who. I want story and character development, not just nonsense and mystery and confusion. I'm not saying those shows don't offer that, I just have no compelling need to watch them.

My current "watch" list, other than sports, is really just Life on Mars, Batman: Brave and the Bold (which is just flat out fun) and catching up on Deadwood and The Wire. I just don't have time for the commitment of modern television.