Original Art Sundays, No. 13: so benull...

Well, it was a slow week, art-wise. But I did manage to get some sketching done while my student (!) was taking his exam.
The sad part for me is that while I can do such interesting work with just scrap Bristol from the cutting table and a rather fluid Jetsream brand black pen, so much of the line quality is lost in the scan unless you want a mountain of artifacts. I used to hate that sketchy stuff. Now it fascinates me.
Couple of my favorite experimental things here- the form defined by shadow (beginning of the first tier) and the mood piece drawing on the old saw of doing a continuous line (end of the second tier).
Also, a potential new character sprung out of nowhere- the French skeleton in Tier 1. You can tell he's French by the mustache. I'm sure I've seen something similar somewhere along the way, so I suspect he'll be a spear carrier in a future story.
The alien lovers reaching across space are part of my Poe pastiche. Another one that's been in the works for years.
Finally, a couple pop ins from the happy fish, Maggie's mule, and a VERY loose sketch of The Surrealist Cowgirls holding hands and ready for action!
Eager for 24 hour challenge this coming weekend. This week promises to be quite hectic!

The masochist says "hurt me". The sadist says "no".

So here I am all crispy from 2 days of very little sleep.
What do I do?
Sign up for the 2009 24 Hour Comics Challenge!
I hope to do 24 pages AND A COVER in the 24 hours. Going to try working a little smaller this time. I think I was the only one working at 11" x 17" at MCAD last year!
And my dilemma over going to MCAD or Open Book was solved, as MCAD students are joining the fun at Open Book this year!
Here's another shot Barb Shultz took of me at the '08 event....

Original Art Sundays, No. 12: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 11

So ends another Surrealists Cowgirls adventure!
So many things to fix on this page: I left out their vests! Rather crude drawing in Photoshop to throw them on. Drawing with a mouse is like doing fine detail work wearing boxing gloves. it can theoretically be done, but it's not a very good idea most of the time. It worked out OK here.
Also reworked a couple word balloons, along with digitizing most of the text. Dropped a holding line for the support text at the top of panel 2. The flow is much better without it.
Overall, rushed and flawed though it is, I like this story. There's a charm to the characters, even Sparth!
Next: who knows, Highlander? Sorry, segued into a bad movie reference.
I'll either post some recent sketchbook pages next week, or begin a new story. I have a couple things in the hopper, but with 24 Hour Challenge 2 weeks away, I might stall until I have something bigger to post again.

She's leaving on a jet plane...

We lost Mary Travers to leukemia.
So sad.
I always like Peter Paul & Mary. I like the protests, I like the harmonies, and I liked the way they seemed to really throw themselves deep into the music.
And for some reason, the idea of a powerful voiced big woman with a square jaw really appealed to me!
Go figure...
Anyway, here she is with Joni Mitchell and Mama Cass singing Dylan's I Shall Be Released.

Original Art Sundays, No. 11: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 10

Boy, the work gets loosey goosey at about 2:45 AM!
Big energy page, very loose, crawling with errors. I fixed a few in Photoshop but was more interested in preserving the energy and attitude of the page.
Addendum: somehow there was all kinds of gunk on the page when it was posted. I've cleaned it up and reposted it, for your reading pleasure!

It begins anew....

My Digital Photo student didn't make it in today, ostensibly due to a job interview, so I am well caught up on grading and such. Having a minute, I contemplated the future of my darlings, The Surrealist Cowgirls.

In my musings, I checked and discovered that the next 24 hour comic challenge is a mere 3 weeks hence!

As I will have just finished posting the current story at the point, perchance I'll participate again. Let's not kid ourselves, of course I'll jump in.

Since I'm not teaching there this semester, I don't know if it would be appropriate for me to attend the MCAD shindig. But I'll go again, and I'll get another odd little story out of it. The Cowgirls, maybe a Speedy Ricuverri story, maybe the Flameheads (no Flameheads stories have been told since 8th grade- yikes!).... There are so many other stories to tell!


Here's a shot the impressively smart and talented Barb Schultz took of me at last year's MCAD event!

Original Art Sundays, No. 10: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 9

The Bugs Bunny moment. "Of course you know this means war!"
Fixed a few late night errors on this one- corrected some funny-shaped word balloons, popped vest textures into the last panel.
This one uses one of my favorite visual devices, the Holding Arc of Darkness, a spot black that spans multiple panels on a single tier. I don't know if it's his creation, but I first became aware of it in Terry Moore's Strangers In Paradise.

Marvel-ous Disney?

I would be a bad toad if I neglected to comment on the purchase of Marvel by Disney.
Well, I'm not too sure what to say.
Truth is, the jury's still out on the impact (if any) this will have on creative output from Marvel. I do hope it improves the visual quality of Marvel animation!
But I can't help but reminisce about past similar deals.
DC acquired Captain Marvel decades after suing to prevent publication of the character. And DC became a subsidiary of Time-Warner, allowing for the flawed but interesting Bugs Bunny/Superman teamup of a while back.
Now Disney controls over 5000 Marvel characters, including Howard the Duck, a character over whom Disney once threatened suit. This resulted in numerous alterations to Howard's appearance, some of which were ludicrous. I mean really. Disney cornering the market on round-eyed, ill-tempered ducks is every bit as silly as Harley-Davidson attempting to patent the sound of its choppers, or Donald Trump attempting to trademark the phrase "you're fired", or the greatest irony of all, Fox News attempting to trademark the phrase "fair and balanced."
Well, now Howard is a Disney Duck. It remains to be seen whether he will be welcomed to the fold, or tolerated with embarrassed silence.
However, one can take hope in the crossover of so many copyrighted characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This remains the only time a Warner Brothers toon (Daffy) appears on screen with a Disney toon (Donald).
Of course, that's now also a DC- Marvel crossover! Well, after a fashion.
The bind moggles.
Special thanks to the immensely talented Amanda Zima for permission to repost her wonderful Aurora/Black Cat image!