Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Saturday, March 12, 2011

A Good Idea Anytime


This one page "gag" is from the current run of the "Looney Tunes" comic book #89. It was published around the time in the aftermath of the attacks on 9-11-01.
But giving blood is a good idea anytime so let's follow Bugs' advice and donate today!

Monday, March 7, 2011

When there is trouble...


...he is not slow! It's hip, hip, hip and away he goes!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Will Eisner Google Tribute


Today is the Anniversary of the birth of one of Comics greatest innovators, Will Eisner. Eisner was there at the dawn of Comics Books and helped shape it into the medium that it is today.
Not only did he create one of comics most enduring characters The Spirit, the debut came in a special comic book section that was in Sunday newspapers.
Eisner was one of the first to experiment with the layout of the comic page using it to effectively to tell his stories. He was also a master of mood and lighting and the use of shadow play that few have ever been able to duplicate.
And his slash pages had few equals. Every new Spirit story started with the hero's name used for the background or buildings, wind blown papers, puddles of water and blood and so many, many more uses of stylized lettering.
Eisner is also credited with creating the Graphic Novel, a complete novel told in comic book form or the phrase he coined, "sequential art".
He was also a scholar of the medium, helping people learn the full use and potential of telling a story with sequential art.


Today Google is honoring Mr. Eisner with it's logo done like Eisner did with the aforementioned Spirit splash page.

Nicely done.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Experiments with Color


These two sketches are something new I'm trying with a color outline. As much as I like a good, thick black outline with some proper weight to it, I also like to switch it up once in a while. Of course achieving this means drawing the darker color outline first, then adding the lighter shades of hues.
Now working with markers (Berol-Prismacolor, old Design Markers and Sharpies) when you do this the light colors are going to run and bleed from the darker outline, even if using marker paper.
From working with xerox copies of my artwork when coloring them, I know that mostly the black ink will not run...most times. So I got the idea of coloring the outline using the appropriate colors, then making a copy of it, then finish the copy with the lighter hues.



For my first experiments with this method I used an old sketch of Muttley I did a copy years ago and a Harvey Eisenberg inspired drawing of Huckleberry Hound.
Here are the end results. I would love to hear what you think.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Tazmania Part I


Recently I found a box full of artwork from the early 90's. During that time I did a lot of drawings featuring the Looney Tunes characters. Some of the art in the box was preliminary sketches for commission pieces.
The character that I got the most requests for was the Tasmanian Devil. During this time Taz was very popular, having the animated series and a big merchandising push.
This is the first of a group of drawings I did of Taz for t-shirts, paintings, tattoos, etc.