Original Art Sundays No. 160: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 17

Another page on schedule! What's the world coming to?
Well, maybe it's coming to me.
I think I'll rework the second panel before taking this to press. For now, it tells the story just fine.

Lots of elements here I like. The layout is simple yet interesting, it moves the story along nicely, and the morph in the last panel is very compelling. I love working with swirling, flowing lines and patterns.
The "bad Bodhisattva" is a reference to a song by one of the bands of Greg Merdick, a friend trough Kim Matthews. The song is a fun ditty called "Bad Buddha."
I'll put up an extra post of non-Cowgirls stuff this week.
I'm teaching on Monday nights for the next month, a course on comic book writing, so I hope to complete the next page today so I can scan while I'm at work tomorrow. But the story will continue next week either way!

Original Art Sundays No. 159: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 16

As promised, the next page of the story, long overdue!
I've talked in the past about the challenges of self-imposed deadlines. The truth of it, which I sometimes bypass, is that if it's important to you, you make time for it.
There are sometimes circumstances that interfere with this, especially those related to survival. We're talking Maslow's Heiracrhy of Needs here. While even Maslow acknowledged that his theory has flaws, at its core it's solid. One cannot learn as efficiently on an empty stomach, just as it's more difficult to produce creative work when one's resources vary widely and survival is sometimes an issue.
However, difficult is not impossible. J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book on the London subway going back and forth to work. Not the most efficient way to work, but the results cannot be disputed.
As Reed Waller once told me, if your work is good, it will be recognized. That doesn't mean you'll get rich, or even that you will necessarily make a living, but the work will be recognized.
It's been 23 years since I first seriously pursued creativity as a profession. 23 years of fits and starts, mostly as a result of my self-doubt, but ultimately 23 years well spent.
To this date I have no idea if my work is any good or not. I just know when I'm doing doing work I like, and I like this story.
The next page is already 3/4 completed.
While we look forward to next week, enjoy the current page of our story.

Original Art Sundays No. 158: Jury sketches

I'm pleased to report that the next page of The Surrealist Cowgirls is completed, and will be scanned this week for posting next Sunday.
For this week's offering, here are some sketches from the jury box of the trial on which I recently served. I will make a separate post later this week discussing the case itself, with some accompanying comics!
These were all done in ballpoint pen on yellow legal tablets.
There are still occasional illustration jobs doing courtroom sketches. There are some courts (like this one) where cameras are not allowed, and newspapers and magazines still occasionally hire courtroom artists, though the practice is dying out.
I did about 70 sketches during the trial. I may organize them into a comic of the trial at some point down the road. But now, here are the most interesting of them.

Prosecutor, opening remarks

Judge Kyle

Key witness, day six

Same prosecutor

Prosecution Witness, Day Three
(nowhere near as mean as this sketch makes him look!)

Diagram of Ponzi scheme, Day three

Key witness, Day three

Key witness, day three

Key witness, Day five

Cross-examination by defense, day six

Defense witness, day seven

Witness from SEC, day six

Defense attorney

Defense team, day one

Prosecution witness, day two

Prosecution witness, day two

Defense Attorney

Defense witness, June 4

Defense witness, June 4

Defense witness, June 4

Key defense witness Frank Vennes

Defense witness, June 5

Defense witness, June 4
(this was the sweetest guy, just did a bit of accounting work for the defendant,
got no cross-examination, for which the entire jury was grateful!)

Prosecution closing remarks

Defendant during closing remarks

Original Art Sundays No. 157: Sketchbook: Swipe Files

My jury duty has finally ended and I will be posting about it soon.
The next page of Surrealist Cowgirls is closer, closer, closer to completion and scanning.
Meanwhile, here is another batch of themed sketchbook images.
These are from the same sketchbook as the preceding batch, but the uniting theme here is different. These are all works drawn from reference.
I have not shared these with anyone until now.
Again, this was a very fertile period for me. While my personal life was in shambles, my confidence in, and skill in, my art was growing by leaps and bounds. This may have been a posture of defiance (the one thing that could not taken from me at the time). Or it could have been just a way to keep my mind off my situation.
Whatever the reason, while these have their flaws, there is something to recommend each of them. As cases in point, the Pyle study is in large part an experiment in single direction hatch, and the Spike Lee piece is an attempt to draw in pure shadow- as few lines as possible.
Here they are for your perusal and enjoyment.

Fortune's Friends by Colleen Doran, composition inspired by cover, #4 pencil

Figure study from Burne Hogarth, #4 pencil

Study from Burne Hogarth, #4 pencil

Face study from Kaluta/Russ Heath Shadow book,
#4 pencil and marker

Accidental color version of Kaluta/Heath piece.
The marker chemicals embedded on the page
facing the original sketch,
and created purple and yellow tones on their own!

J. Noel Paton copy, #4 pencil

Howard Pyle copy, graphite stick and green ballpoint pen.
Pyle has been a personal favorite since childhood!

Spike Lee, #4 pencil sketch off TV, probably from The Actor's Studio

Next week: either jury sketches or the Cowgirls page.

Original Art Sundays No. 156: Sketchbook: SF scenes

Jury duty and reduced scanner access continue to hamper the conclusion of the Surrealist Cowgirls story (I anticipate 3 -5 pages for completion of the current story). However, it appears that my commitment to the jury will end this week (though there's no way of knowing for sure).
In the interim, here are some more sketchbook pieces. These are from the same volume as last week's Omaha work, again circa 1992.
Inspired by the recent and largely ignored demise of SF great Jack Vance, whose adaptation of his story The Moon Moth made my Best Comics of 2012 list, these are SF themed sketches. I stubbornly refuse to use the term "sci-fi", though I know it's a losing, if not lost, battle.
In doing these, I was influenced by Kelly Freas and James Pitre (the latter for emotional content more than style- for the sleek stuff I don't mind Vallejo, but prefer Julie Bell). I don't pretend to be in the same league as these folks, but that's where my inspirations lie.
Next week: either more sketches or the next page: the jury is out (literally) on which!

Alien Landscape 1, #4 pencil, marker
and metallic marker

Klingon, #4 pencil and metallic marker

Vulcan Romance, critter looking on,
#4 pencil

Alien Kitty, #4 pencil

Original Art Sundays No. 155: Sketchbooks: Omaha the Cat Dancer, 1993

Next page of Surrealist Cowgirls is still evolving. I may take a day and finish it next weekend.
Always wrestling with the fine line between taking my time to do it right and just dinking around!
Meanwhile, some older sketchbook stuff.
In 1992-1993, I was living with a man who was, ahem, less than pleasant much of the time. I've talked about this in the past and will not rehash, other than to provide context here.
During this time, I found solace in healthy eating and in exercise (I lost over 30 pounds, and when I next saw Reed, he said I was too thin- something nobody else has ever said to me, before or since!) and in my art. I couldn't tell the stories I wanted to tell, since my actions were being closely scrutinized and obsessively criticized, but I filled several sketchbooks. He didn't seem to mind what I sketched too much.
These are all from one sketchbook from that period.
Though these clearly have their flaws, there are many things about them I find pleasing. The anatomy is still lacking in many places, but there's an energy and attitude to them I like to this day.
These were random in the sketchbook. I tried many things artistically during this time, some of which I may post later.
But given that Reed and James Vance recently completed the Omaha storyline, and that Reed may be attending San Diego this year to promote the final volume, this seems as good a time as any to post these.
I'll post a review and final thoughts on Omaha at year's end.
Enjoy!

Marker sketch

Marker and #4 pencil

Metallic marker

Marker and #4 pencil

Marker

Marker (no tail!)

Pencil & marker w/notes

Original Art Sundays no. 154: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 17

Here we are again after numerous delays!
I'm very excited by this page.
When we left our hapless troupe, they had found their intended witch doctor at the bottom of the onyx ziggurat.
Still having no idea that they are being followed by a mystery man and his snail, they face their potential savior.

I like a great many things about this page. It's dramatic, uses grays nicely and has greater drama in the figure poses than some others in this story.
I also really like Master Pah's pose and attitude, the latter of which will figure prominently in the next few pages.
The next page has been giving me some layout frustrations, but I think I've arrived at a viable solution. 
I anticipate this story seeing completion within eight pages. Very excited to see it resolve!
Between jury duty (I'll post more on that later) and reduced Service Bureau hours at work, my scanner access is limited for the next few weeks, so the next Original Art Sundays will again be inventory work.
Thanks for reading and keep the faith (as Stan Lee used to say)!

Original Art Sundays No. 153: placeholder: A Micmac Legend (gouache, collage)

Well, I'm rethinking figure positions on the next Cowgirls page, so either later this week or up for next Sunday's entry.
Meanwhile, here's another unused editorial piece.
This one incorporates illustration as a border element.
There are aspects of this that I really like, but in retrospect, I would have handled the type differently- nothing really wrong with it, but it doesn't have much character.

The illustration is just detailed enough. The layout is intended to draw the reader right into the text. The costuming of the lower figure is authentic, at least according to my research.
As indicated above, this was done at 100% size in gouache with elements (leaves, photos of earth) collaged into it. I'm hardly a huge fan of collage, but in this case it works.
Very hectic week at work coming up, but I hope to make time to complete that page. The top half is already wonderful; I just must make the bottom half follow suit!

Original Art Sundays no. 152: oddment: atsa my girl!

Next Surrealist Cowgirls page is on the boards, roughed out and half penciled.
Meanwhile, here's a VERY old airbrush piece. Yeah, that's right, traditional airbrush.
This piece was inspired by my fascination with that most surreal of bands, The Residents.

I always liked this one, even though it was not without its flaws. I could have popped more highlights to round the eyeballs, and some veins, and another layer to the cityscape would have increased the piece's depth.
The grays ran to the red in the scan, but I was able to fix a lot of it.
Still, a fun, fairly successful piece.
Next week, back to the Cowgirls.
Here's a Residents video to round things out:

Original Art Sundays No. 151: Surrealist Cowgirls, p. 16

I'm going to have to go back and go over the numbering when the story is a bit closer to done.
After midnight so technically not Sunday any more. But I've written almost 3000 words today, and have 4750 to complete tomorrow for a TIGHT deadline, so I don't care right now. Just glad I have something to post!
Here's the next page:

Quite pleased with this one. The center tier/panel could have a bit more weight, so perhaps before going to press I'll pop in an arc of black or some such. For right now, it more than serves.
The Zen Squirrel is not what he seems.
Next week, either the next page or a Blast From the Past.
Thanks for sticking with me!