Monthly Archives: November 2009

Updates

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There will probably be no artwork to post for most, if not all, of the rest of the month. Nizzibet and I are moving from our overstuffed apartment to a larger one across town. We’re expecting the new place to be just stuffed rather than crammed. But to get to that stage we’ve first got to put everything here into boxes and bags and schlep it there. And then, for Christmas, we’ll get to unwrap our old stuff! Yay!

Of course that means another couple of commissions showed up in email today. One is a new RPG book for Sixtystone Press. Cover and interior illustrations. The other is work I’ve already done, years ago, that looks like it may see print in an Oz related publication. The art has been packed away since the last time we moved so it’s going to stay packed until we get to the new place.

All of this needs to be fit around the work I’m doing on Oz Squad. Uh. Yeah. Seems like I’m destined to do that series. I’ve no idea when it will see print. I’ve got 12 out of 48 pages of the first issue finished. Assuming that it sees publication as a print comic. But maybe it will end up on the web first. Or we’ll collect the first story arc in a trade paper back. But that all happens when the art is done.

I hope you’ll all having fun. Feel free to drop by now and then. Just because I don’t expect to have anything to show off doesn’t mean I won’t end up surprising myself.

Whosever Knows Fear …

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… Burns at the Man-Thing’s Touch!

That’s such a great tagline.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m fond of the Man-Thing. He’s got a great design. He’s big and shaggy and mossy and he has a face that looks like no other creature out there. One of the reasons I’ll probably never get around to seeing the movie is that they changed his look. (The general consensus that the movie is lousy wouldn’t stop me if the design had been correct.) It’s unsettling more than terrifying. You don’t worry that he’ll eat you. He hasn’t got a mouth. How could he? But if he’s not going to eat you what the hell will he do?

Man-Thing is one of those Marvel comics characters that has never managed to sustain his own series for very long. The reason is pretty obvious. He has no personality. He’s mindless. While he was originally a human being that human is so far gone as to be superfluous. Man-Thing doesn’t change back to his original human form. And as the Man-Thing he doesn’t think or plan or hunger. He doesn’t want anything, not even to be left alone. That would be too abstract of a thought. He’s an empathic creature and reacts to strong emotions. Some emotions rile him up. Rage and anger cause him pain and he’ll strike out. And fear? He really doesn’t like fear.

Bad Logo

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A good example of why logos shouldn’t be done freehand. Fortunately I didn’t plan to use this for anything. I’ve got an Oz Squad logo I’m quite happy with.

Tusks and Teeth

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Another marker drawing. This time with a black base drawing done before I moved on to color. Sometimes the black improves a drawing, defining and making parts of it pop out better. I don’t know that it made much difference here.

A Modern Deucalion

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This is my attempt at representing Deucalion, Victor Frankenstein’s first creation, from Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein trilogy. Deucalion has named himself after the son of the mythical titan, Prometheus. Koontz’s story isn’t a sequel to any specific version of Frankenstein; neither the original novel nor any of the multitude of plays and films that have been inspired by it. Deucalion, rather than being hideous at his awakening as in the novel (and most of the movies), was apparently very handsome. His facial scars are the result of Frankenstein’s attempt to destroy him after he rebelled against his creator. A Buddhist monk added the tattoos to distract from the scars.

Behold, the Toxic Avenger!

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Since my first marker sketch made me think of the Toxic Avenger I thought I’d go ahead and try to draw the fellow. I still haven’t seen one of his movies so I can’t say whether or not I’ve succeeded. I did have fun doing the drawing so I don’t mind.