Hello I'm Mike Manley, welcome to my studio Blog. I am veteran comic and animation artist and I created and edit Draw! Magazine. This blog is a chronicle of what's happening in my studio. Follow my process and path as an painter, cartoonist and teacher and find out how they inform and enrich each other!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Super Saturday
Here are a few more pages of my pencils from the latest issue of Superman 660 which hit the street last wednesday. I also included one of the pages I inked for comparison.
Thanks guys, it was a real rush job, I was really pushing it to do up to 3 pages a day. Luckily my pal Blev was able to jump on the inks which made it easier.
Mike... this is the first time I visit your blog, I actually remember you from Batman but the I lost sight of your work, though I do remember you from the credits of the JLU.
I wasn't aware that you drew this last issue of Superman, I haven't been following the character for some time, but I was wondering if it was actually a good idea to complete this assigment with such a short notice. I just read comics, and i'm not familiar with the industry from the inside, but I couldn't help but to think that producing 3 pages a day might hurt the quality of your work (wich seems very good anyway, even with the rush that you did the job), and that might hurt future assignments.
Thanks for the scans, I really enjoy when I have the opportunity to look at the artwork of a comic-book at the different stages of production.... I'll keep reading the ld posts.
Estaban, Thanks for the nice comments. Yes, 3 pages a day can hurt :-)
The editors and the writer, Kurt Busiek asked me to jump on to help them because I am pretty fast. i had just done a rush job on Aquaman and they liked it and were impressed, so they said "help" :-)
It was a deadline doom as they call it, so it was a race. Sure, better 1 page a day instead of 3, but that's the way it goes sometimes and the book was really far off schedule. I just sat and drew, 18 hour days for 2 weeks.
What this does is force one to try and work better, more organized and to really just put in long hours. Frankly I don't understand why some books are so late, why some artists can't do more work. I think it's bad priorities, video games, goofing off, what-have-you.
All the artists I grew up admiring (and still do) did fantastic work, or even solid, good comic work and met the deadlines. the current generation of artists isn't as good nor as professional.
Besides the fact that I can't draw, I know my back couldn't take it. Did you work with full script or you also had to plan the breakdowns for the whole comic?
In that perspective it's truly inexplicable that some people can't finish a book a month, but I guess that if they get paid very well they may not have any incentive to finish more pages a month :D I don't necessarily associate lateness with poor quality, but it does has something to do with professionalism.
Well thanks for taking the time to answer me, and I believe aI made a mistake wen I said I remember you from the JLU credits, I believe now that the one who appears on those credits is you friend Bret Blevins, sorry :)
oh, one more thing, my name is "Esteban", nor "estaban". "Estaban" is the past tense for the werb "to be" in spanish; "Esteban" is the equivalent of "Stephen" or "Steven" in spanish.
Esteban, sorry for the misspelling. It was a plot on Superman, but it was very specific, lots going on.
Yes, Bret worked on JLA, I stopped working at WB on Batman Beyond, though I just boarded a sequence on The New Frontier driect to DVD cartoon. And yes, 18 hours is rough on the back, stretching is a must as is hitting the gym after the deadline is over.
I loved that comic, in fact I just received the Absolute Edition.
I seem to remember that all of the Direct to DVD films that DC is launching have some kind of mandatory time limit of about 75 to 90 minutes, and I don't really know how on earth you are going to pull that off, but I'm going to but that film for sure :D
Who said that animation is just for kids?
And don't worry about the mispelling :) I forgive you :D lol
10 comments:
You get to draw Superman for a living. Lets soak that up for a minute shall we???
Awesome.
nice work great blog
What was the last issue of Batman you rendered Batman #500 ?
I haven't bought Batman since Key Kelly was doing covers and interiors.
Thanks guys, it was a real rush job, I was really pushing it to do up to 3 pages a day. Luckily my pal Blev was able to jump on the inks which made it easier.
Seems like every job is a rush job these days.
Cory, the last issue I drew of batman was 0 in the Zero hour cross-over bs.
Mike... this is the first time I visit your blog, I actually remember you from Batman but the I lost sight of your work, though I do remember you from the credits of the JLU.
I wasn't aware that you drew this last issue of Superman, I haven't been following the character for some time, but I was wondering if it was actually a good idea to complete this assigment with such a short notice. I just read comics, and i'm not familiar with the industry from the inside, but I couldn't help but to think that producing 3 pages a day might hurt the quality of your work (wich seems very good anyway, even with the rush that you did the job), and that might hurt future assignments.
Thanks for the scans, I really enjoy when I have the opportunity to look at the artwork of a comic-book at the different stages of production.... I'll keep reading the ld posts.
Esteban Pedreros
Estaban, Thanks for the nice comments. Yes, 3 pages a day can hurt :-)
The editors and the writer, Kurt Busiek asked me to jump on to help them because I am pretty fast. i had just done a rush job on Aquaman and they liked it and were impressed, so they said "help" :-)
It was a deadline doom as they call it, so it was a race. Sure, better 1 page a day instead of 3, but that's the way it goes sometimes and the book was really far off schedule. I just sat and drew, 18 hour days for 2 weeks.
What this does is force one to try and work better, more organized and to really just put in long hours. Frankly I don't understand why some books are so late, why some artists can't do more work. I think it's bad priorities, video games, goofing off, what-have-you.
All the artists I grew up admiring (and still do) did fantastic work, or even solid, good comic work and met the deadlines. the current generation of artists isn't as good nor as professional.
18 hours a day for 2 weeks?!
wow!
Besides the fact that I can't draw, I know my back couldn't take it.
Did you work with full script or you also had to plan the breakdowns for the whole comic?
In that perspective it's truly inexplicable that some people can't finish a book a month, but I guess that if they get paid very well they may not have any incentive to finish more pages a month :D
I don't necessarily associate lateness with poor quality, but it does has something to do with professionalism.
Well thanks for taking the time to answer me, and I believe aI made a mistake wen I said I remember you from the JLU credits, I believe now that the one who appears on those credits is you friend Bret Blevins, sorry :)
oh, one more thing, my name is "Esteban", nor "estaban". "Estaban" is the past tense for the werb "to be" in spanish; "Esteban" is the equivalent of "Stephen" or "Steven" in spanish.
http://ociocronico.blogspot.com
Esteban Pedreros - Chile
Esteban, sorry for the misspelling. It was a plot on Superman, but it was very specific, lots going on.
Yes, Bret worked on JLA, I stopped working at WB on Batman Beyond, though I just boarded a sequence on The New Frontier driect to DVD cartoon. And yes, 18 hours is rough on the back, stretching is a must as is hitting the gym after the deadline is over.
The New Frontier!!!
I loved that comic, in fact I just received the Absolute Edition.
I seem to remember that all of the Direct to DVD films that DC is launching have some kind of mandatory time limit of about 75 to 90 minutes, and I don't really know how on earth you are going to pull that off, but I'm going to but that film for sure :D
Who said that animation is just for kids?
And don't worry about the mispelling :) I forgive you :D lol
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