A Page I Bought Directly From Mignola, At The 2001 SDCC.. I Had A Few Others, But Hadda Sell 'em On EBay

An illustration I did for the 2011 edition of the 'SDCC Souvenir Program' book, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Marvel Comics' 'FANTASTIC FOUR'..

Two years ago today, we lost a local legend.. RIP Darwyn Cooke.

My most recent addition to my OA Collection.. A nice finished pen-and-ink drawing of the Irv Novice/Neal Adams -version of The BATMAN, by the uber-talented Kevin Nowlan! 

A much more recent Sketchbook page.. These were Frazetta studies (from his 'JOHNNY COMET' strip), analyzing how he handled seated women. But about halfway thru, I decided I wanted to convert them into poses for a snake charmer.. A fun exercise, indeed!   

When I published my sketchbook in 2003, I was invited to table at a few local Toronto comic-book conventions. I had a standing offer that if a customer paid a bit extra, he/she could get a finished drawing from me. Chris C of Hamilton took up the offer and asked for "Hannah Dundee" after I told him that I'd worked on the Nelvana cartoon.. Last night, I fixed a copy of his drawing in Photoshop and added some digital color. The hair is clearly over-done, but overall I still like the drawing!

Last month, we held a “Post-Its Art Show” at work.. All the artists in the studio were invited to participate. The organizer asked me to do a series of promotional ones, to help get things started.. Sharp-eyed comic nerds will recognize my riffs on the art styles of: Dan Clowes, Jack Davis, and Wally Wood?.. These were a lot of fun to do, and the show turned out really great!

One more BEETLEJUICE for the pile.. BJ shreds on a Tuesday Afternoon!

A 16 year-old pinup drawing that served as my entry into this week’s 'Illustration Friday' contest, themed around the word: “DOG”.. The initial layout sketch was provided by my good friend and fellow Layout buddy: David Pietila. “Soopermutt” was a character featured in issues of the “Animal Adventures” comic-book, published in the 1950′s by ‘Timor Publications’..

Been a long while, but I’m finally back with an update.. I was digging thru some old work files on my HD, and thought I’d put together a brief post..

Back in 2015, I worked at Nelvana on Nick Jr.’s  “Fresh Beat Band of Spies” cartoon series. A lot of the front-end creative work was directed by ‘6 Point Harness’ in L.A., including some of the Design work; usually establishing the look and style of: characters, props, and locations. Full turnarounds and additional views of those designs though, were done at Nelvana in Toronto.

Early in the production, I spent most of my time creating rotations and additional views of Props. I didn’t have any real experience drawing directly with vector lines. So, I was allowed to draw them in Photoshop on a cintiq, using very clean bitmap lines. I'm guessing another artist may have converted my finished work, later on?..

One of my favorite episodes to work on was: “Band Of Pirates” (ep.14).. There were a lot of very nice design elements in that one. Plus, a fun storyline that featured “Captain Arrrgh” stealing half of a Treasure Map. He does so, using a flying robot and a Steampunk-inspired JetSki. For which, I drew some of the additional views..

The Fresh Beat crew makes a quick pursuit using their elaborate Tour Bus, which could conveniently transform into a kind of hydrofoil speedboat! The Bus was  based loosely on the handful of Art Deco “Futurliner” trucks that GM produced in the 40′s. And I felt like the speedboat itself, also gave off a bit of “Thunderbirds 2″ vibe? Creating the fuller rotation, was something of a drawing challenge, as I had to make hard decisions about the overall dimensionality and how each of the surfaces and corners attached to each other..

About halfway thru the production, I took over the Layout Supervision from my friend: Terry Lenko. This may be the only show that I’ve ever worked on, where my End Credit designation changes across the episodes arc?! Again, I have zero experience (or interest) in vector-based art. So thankfully, all I had to do was “direct” a very talented Layout crew, rather than contribute to the production art directly..

But there were always Layout issues with the storyboard animatics, that would require attention. And Terry taught me the valuable lesson of creating quick Layout thumbnails for each entire episode. Not only did these drawings allow me to identify where the Master and Reuse BGs existed.. But I could also spot and correct all of the continuity, cutting, and staging problems, too!

Enjoy.

Sorry,-- this is another pen and ink illo that I did from a few years ago.. While browsing my Tumblr dash, I stumbled across the photo reference I'd based this (see sidebar) on.. Kinda surprised me! hah  It was an "illustration friday" based on the word: "Launch", if I recall..