Random Thoughts

Okay, so I thought I would just throw up a couple random thoughts on MMA, Star Trek and coloring comic pages. First off, I'm a big fan of MMA and the UFC, maybe it's just because that's what I'm most exposed too, but I wanted to talk about two upcoming fights real quick.

Machida Vs. Evans for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship (UFC98). I am a big Machida fan, some people see him as boring but from the fights I have seen him in, he fights smart and picks his opponents apart and recently finished Thiago Silva with a vicious knockout. Evans has the heavy hands and better wrestling probably and the current luck that seems to shine on all of Greg's Jackson's guys, but I'm picking Machida here. I think he will implement a better strategy and win by decision and I think he will have the better cardio in the later rounds.



Penn Vs. Florian for the UFC Lightweight Championship (UFC101). I have always been a big BJ Penn fan, even though he rubs some the wrong way and has a bad attitude. His jiu-jitsu is on another level for MMA (he and Demian Maia have the best jiu-jitsu for MMA in my opinion) and he is the most flexible fighter I have ever seen. When his heart is in it, he is an elite level champion. That said, he got HOUSED by GSP in his last fight, but for whatever reason he did not seem to be in the best shape for that fight and he was fighting in a higher weight class as well. I think BJ is still the best lightweight in the world. While I do like Kenny Florian, I think he may be in the same boat as Rich Franklin and be the second best in his weight class. I'd like to see Kenny fight Diego Sanchez again and Sean Sherk again, but I think BJ will win this scrap in a close, tough fight. Kenny has better muay thai, but I think BJ's elite jiu-jitsu puts him over the top along with better boxing and better wrestling. I only hope this doesn't go to the 4th or 5th round where BJ may gas and get overwhelmed by Florian.



Also, last night I saw Star Trek, so if you haven't seen it, stop reading here and jump over to the SKETCHJAM where I just posted a new page. SPOILERS AHEAD!



I knew I was going to like this movie going in. I really enjoyed MI:3, and the trailer and casting looked outstanding. This movie was fun, exciting and hit all the right notes. I love sci-fi when it's done right and this is at the top of that list. One concern I had going in, and one I voiced to my girlfriend was how were they going to create suspense when we already knew the future of these characters. They answered that question perfectly with a timeline, alternate reality/future aspect. They reset the franchise, with new excitement, fresh blood and vigor, but kept the characters that everyone loved in the process. This is how to reboot a franchise properly and effectively. The casting was perfect, Karl Urban hamming it up was brilliant and Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine may have been born to play these roles. Eric Bana was fantastic as well. I cannot wait for the next two sequels, and hopefully more after that.

Support Indy Retailers!

My pal Brian @ Khepri.com now has my comic FATA OBSTANT up for sale. Khepri is unique in that it is an online retailer that deals mostly in indie books and he is a great champion of the little guy. He has always supported me, even buying books off of me for his personal collection. So for all your toy and graphic novel needs, hop on over and support him. Pay it forward people. See all of his news here - http://khepricom.livejournal.com and order my books from him. Anyone who orders two or more of any of my stuff from Brian, let me know and I'll send a quick sketch your way.

Fata Obstant
Hurricane Kids
Villains

** Also, be sure to be checking out the Sketchjam!, it's been pretty active lately.

Hellboy on a plate!

This was done for the wall at S Bistro, currently hanging there are plates done by Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane and Jim Valentino.

Hop over to Ben Glendenning's site for a full, and entertaining photo strip of the FCBD events.

FCBD 2009 re-cap

Free Comic Book Day is always like a 1-day con for me and I enjoy it every year. It's not really an opportunity for me to make money since we do sketches for the HERO Initiative charity, but it's a good way to give back, and it's nice to see the local community come out year after year, and it's nice to see new faces as well. I did about 12 or sketches, not as many as others, but they were fun. Big thanks to Mike Malve at Atomic Comics for the hospitality and my fellow artists who showed up and kicked ass with me. I even drew a Hellboy sketch on a plate for a restaurants wall, how cool is that? Here are a couple sketches I did, and a shot of me drawing a Rocketeer sketch that was on on CBR for a little while.




Click for full size, more sketches later this week.

Tomorrow!

Just a reminder and always a fun time, like a 1-day con. Also I just decided that I will be giving away a free copy of the original Hurricane Kids comic from 2005 for anyone who buys a copy of the new Hurricane Kids Color Special tomorrow (while supplies last).

I will be at the Atomic Comics Paradise Valley location along with fellow deviants...

Tony Parker
Ben Glendenning
Albert Morales
Daniel Bradford
Terry Tibke

As always, we will be doing sketches for $5 donations to the HERO initiative, so come on by it's always a good time and it's for a great cause.

I will also have copies of my 24-Hour Comics Day Comic, Fata Obstant as well as copies of The Hurricane Kids Color Special (ideal for all ages) $3, and I have a few copies of Villains remaining as well for only $5 for the entire trade.

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.....