DRAW! 31 at the Printers

DRAW! #31 (80 FULL-COLOR pages, $8.95), the professional “how-to” magazine on comics and animation, busts some new moves, Philadelphia Freedom style! It features how-to's and demos by Philly area artists JG Jones (52, Final Crisis, Wanted, Batman and Robin) and Khoi Pham (The Mighty Avengers, The Astonishing Spider-Man, The Mighty World of Marvel). Plus regular contributor Jamar Nicholas gives his reviews of art supplies, and we finish this jam-packed issue with Jerry Ordway (demonstrating the "ORD-way" or drawing) and Comic Art Bootcamp by Draw! editor Mike Manley (another local Philly resident) and Bret Blevins. Grab a side of cheese fries, and enjoy this artistic belly buster!

Draw! 27 hitting the Street!

I just got my comps of the latest issue of Draw! which means its hitting the comic shop in your neck of the woods or your mailbox ( digital or snail mail) if you are a subscriber. This issue we  cover the "Cover Guy", Dave Johnson! From 100 Bullets to Deadpool, Punisher Max and more, Johnson gives us an intensive blow-by-blow on the creative process that makes him a top cover artist for Marvel, DC, Image, and others. ALSO: Even if you don’t know his name, you've seen Stephen Silver's work as one of today's most in-demand character designers, for shows such as “Kim Possible”, “Danny Phantom”, and Kevin Smith’s animated “Clerks” series. Silver even has his own Character Design App, and will walk you through his approach to creating the look for some of the most recognizable creations in Hollywood. Silver also runs his own school, the Silver Drawing Academy in LA which just opened this year. PLUS: "The Right Way, the Wrong Way, and the ORDWAY!" with new columnist Jerry Ordway, “Crusty Critic” Jamar Nicholas reviews art supplies, and "Comic Art Bootcamp"By Bret Blevins and myself. 

You can grab a copy from TwoMorrows

PAFA MFA 2 Fall Week 10: T-Minus 5 And Counting

The could wet wind swept in this week lifting the Falls beauty from the trees as we entered the final real month of school.

                                    It seems  almost everybody I talked to was tired this week. But the fall colors have been great this wee, too bad i haven't been able to get out and paint yet, but my camera's eye is always hungry.........

 It seemed every conversation I had, from the casual ones you have in the elevators riding to a from studios and classes, to the bundled up smokers outside feeling the first licks of Old Man Winters approach complained about being "sooo tired".

 

 The Post Halloween Blues leaves many a rotting pumpkin head

At Uarts the students were also feeling the same, a few even missing class this week. The class is scrambling now to finish up the last assignment which is a commercial storyboard and then finish their animatic for their Junior Film. This will be my last semester as both student and teacher, the dual roles will finish in May when I graduate, so next year I will not have to juggle as much, which should make teaching maybe even more enjoyable.

 The crucial mix of reading, notes and coffee. 2/3 coffee and 1/3 everythig else on Friday mornings.

There seems to be a tagging war going on as the first tags up on the women's shelter across the street have now been tagged over.

So this little slide down the power bar is the The Deep Semester Drag---that's what I've come to call it. So now, like a character in an old cartoon, everybody will grab their collective stomachs, lift and  and stuff it up in their chests, pull the belt tight with a snort, and prepare to tackle the last crazy month of school--or maybe it won't be crazy, just busy, I don't feel crazed yet because in the end it's gonna be what it's gonna be, no matter what.

Crits/final reviews start in basically four more weeks and our thesis rough draft is due on the 20th. This time last year I think I was more concerned than I am this year about the fall review. I have a bunch of smaller landscape paintings I am doing and that may be all I show. I might have a figurative painting or two if I can get some model coordination going...which due to me being so busy with commercial work might be hard. Everyone seems to be reacting so well to this new round of smaller landscapes and that makes me feel I am onto something here. I don't know why. maybe using the acrylics instead of oils gives me a bolder approach. I think oil painting can have a preacious quality to it at times. So much prep time, expense, etc., and the acrylics are cheaper and less prep. basically no prep, I just sketch it out and blast.

Kurt Knoblesdorf came to talk in the Visiting Artists Program this week. Kurt graduated from the Academy in 2005, the same year the people like Rachel Constantine did. Kurt and a funny sort of weird talk about his work. I think the audience in a way didn't get it in spots. I didn't either so much. But I had a studio crit with him later and we really connected well. he's also from Detroit, went back and spent time and we both love the urban painting as a scene as a subject.

 One of the several paintings Knoblesdorf did based on an envelope he found of mugshots on the ground in south Philly.

                                                 Anderson 14 x 9 Acrylic on heavy paper

 We talked about strategies or approaches. He what I call and instinctual painter and he talked about not having a real intellectual approach to his work. He tries to basically get out of his own way when painting. I know i am more of a technician in a way. But I do try and get deep in the trance so I also get out of my own way--but I also realize that the technical is what is important to me in my process and I cannot deny that craftsmanship is vitally important to me. Craftsmanship in service of a vision. Sometimes talking to a painter who tackles similar themes or subjects but from a very unfamiliar angle helps focus back on your own approach. I know Scott Noel really wanted me to talk to him. Kurt said he was glasd to get out of school and all the voices in your head--something I so feel right now. It's not that the door is totally closed, but it's like pushing the door almost closed to stop the noisy hallway bleeding into the studio.

 Kurt was a funny guy and very nice and I think we will stay in contact, he was very positive about the work, especially the "bride series". So I guess staying out of your own way is a way to think about approaching a painting-- a new way of feeling your painting or process.

Draw! 26 also dropped this week and so far the feedback seems to be great. Its available as a dead tree addition or as a PDF from Twomorrows. I am trying to finish up issue 27 and plan 28-30 now. On the Judge Woody is finally bringing the cruise part of the wedding storyline to a finish as the cast disembarks the ship to head into  the jungle to see April's father. Woody told me that their is a new paper picking up the strip which is great! In today's world having a paper actually pick up a strip instead of dropping it is very rare, especially a old continuity strip like Judge Parker.

Draw! Magazine Nominated for an Eisner Award!

Draw! along with our sister publications has been nominated for an Eisner Award under the best comcs journalism catagory: TwoMorrows Publications: Alter Ego edited by Roy Thomas, Back Issue edited by Michael Eury, Draw edited by Mike Manley, and Jack Kirby Collector edited by John Morrow

Week 5 Underway

Many things going on this week, the 5th week of the Fall semester. I just finished up the last little bits of DRAW! 18 and it's now in the able hands of my layout man Eric, and should be in stores by mid October I hope. I am inking up the end of the first issue of martians Go Home and teaching my three storyboard classes at Uarts which is going really well this semester. I have a great bunch of students this year which makes it fun to teach, even on the days when it gets really long--I have two days, Tues and Thurs that end up being about 14 hours worth of class. But the semester is going by quick!

I also got to put in a bit more work on the figure painting I have going on at PAFA in Renee Foulks class. It's a tough one, the model really has a hard time holding this pose during the session and from week to week a lot of things really change, so I end up repainting things a lot, the arms and hands, legs change every 20 minutes---in fact I have repainted parts of this dam thing every time...it's a 6 week pose so I think we have one more week left and then we are done. Frankly I'll be glad, it's pretty frustrating--but in the end what doesn't kill me will hopefully give me something to talk away with, though I have been really tempted to put my fist through it many times. It's a grisaille and the values are really close in a lot the set-up and figure, so it's a very subtle painting that takes time to develop. am not really a picky painter, but this is making me be pretty picky.

Below is the cover for DRAW! 18 by the feature artist this issue, R M Guera the artist on Vertigo's Scalped, probably my favorite ongoing comic beside the issues of Hex drawn by Jordi Bernet.