Back On The Horse

Its been of a break for me here on the blog for a little while now, but life or my artistic life certainly has never slowed down. Doing the two strips, Judge Parker and The Phantom keeps me busy with the boiler at full steam six sometimes seven days a week, as well as teaching my illustration class at PAFA in the After School Program.

 I enjoy working with these budding, young, talented and motivated artists! It also gives me a window into the young growing minds in the world of today, their tastes and knowledge and how they see the world of comics and art-life. Suffice to say they see the world in some ways fundamentally different than I did at their age.

Some hard working students taking their thumbnails to the first rough stage. More changes will be made from here and another round will happen before the final comp and color comp. I believe in working on tracing paper and avoiding the digital for the developing student in the beginning to work/see the piece as a whole. Working digital often means detail over unity for the developing artist

                       Some recent Phantom work, pencils and some Judge Parker strips as well

A lot of it has to do with tech, but also what they are exposed to in the run of everyday life. But one thing is the same for many--the dream of becoming an artist! This is where I come in and try to shine the light on the paths to take to get to the dream if they are willing to seriously work for it. Watching some students grow over the years is the best thing I think you can experience as a teacher.

I have also recently hired an assistant who's right now organizing my comic art and will move on through my paintings, files and eventually my comics as I organize and thin the heard here. I'm certainly if anything mid-career as they say and I just have too much stuff, it happens to every artist I know. So at a certain point it either is an asset or a burden. I saw that when I was in Al Williamson's studio--he had an amazing collection to be sure, not only of his work but the work of others, the greats and strips clipped, stats, man, you name it. But at some point it went over the top and it was at point very unorganized and a burden that he both loved but worried about. So I figure time to make this art pile organized so its an asset, especially for teaching and my own enjoyment. This also means lots of old tech is getting tossed too--old computers, scanners, printers---ugh!

I am close to setting up my painting studio at home which will be separate from my drawing or comics studio. I'm taking the bedroom that has the best light, both north and west and will make that a separate place than my drawing studio where I do comics. I will be able to control the light better and even have models in.

I have also been thinking about changing direction in what I paint and of doing a book of my pen and ink drawings. I'm thinking about doing paintings more along the line of the Inktober pieces and not pushing the landscapes as much. I sort of feel the Plien Air" thing is a bit crowded and what I want to do --the urban thing isn't so appreciated around here. Its also the allocation of time vs return. I have stacks of landscape paintings and love doing them, but maybe less of that and more of the other paintings is where I will go for a while. I entered a lot of PA shows last year and was declined by most so that money might be better spent on fixing the studio and doing new work. I am also not big on competitions and want to paint what I find interesting.

I'm maybe more conscious of time now with the strips eating up the bulk of my time in the work week as well as the changing gallery situation here in Philly. I am also planning a limited enrollment on-line class for sometime this year. Maybe 10 students or less to start, and I am not looking to teach beginners or those with a lot of basic drawing problems, that would be a separate type of class,  so I will require a portfolio submission. This way I get students strong enough to take the info and build on it. One thing I am very set on now is that advancement  in art really must be based on ability. If the students struggles with basic drawings issues, those must be tackled and proficiency achieved in order to advance. The way most schools tend to run is that unless the student really flub a class, they go to the next year. But I believe now more than ever that advancement should only come with displayed ability--otherwise the student moves toward graduation without the skills they must have to get work.

I'm begging my third story arc on The Phantom and I'm three weeks in. Its been great working with the writer Tony De Paul in the past year. The stories are not only well written and fun to draw but he's the best writer I have ever worked with as far as helping with reference. That's a big deal on an 80 year old strip--believe me! The next story is about a vision Old Man Mozz has about the Phantom--and one that isn't good. I won't say any more but it will maybe be the best story I've worked on so far and will have many long time Phantom fans on the edge of their seat.

We are also wrapping up the Sophie/Band/Kidnapping story up in Judge Parker.  The story went in a way I did not plan when I sent the original plot to the last writer Woody Wilson before he retired mid way through, and its twisted and turned a lot with the new writer Francesco Marciuliano.

In recent weeks I'm contributing more now to the active plotting than before and I am now the one with the most knowledge and history of the strip, as I enter what is now my 7th year on the strip. The weight of these continuity strips his a heavy one. For instance in this story there is a visit to the grave site of Needy's and Sophies Grandfather, Ezra, who passed in 2003 JP time. I don't even have access myself to all the strips history but can have the syndicate send me weeks of something if I need it.

Now we have never been very accurate time wise on the strips for obvious reason. All continuity strips play fast and loose with time. If Sophie was 9-10 years old in 2003 now she'd be 24 or so and Neddy 3-4 years older wold be 30. Sam and Abbey would be on SSI. But nobody ages in strips, even the Phantom would be 100 years old now if we kept time. But in order to accurately draw the strip continuity wise I can't leave off the date on Ezra's grave as it was drawn on there by Harold Ledoux. That was established and is "cannon" as they say. Thus the conundrum!

So since I figure maybe it's 2011-maybe 12 or so in the strip, Sophie can s till be 16-going on 17. This is where the strips must break with reality as stories advance time in only one way--strip time not real time. Under Wilson there was never a Christmas strip with the characters, which we have introduced now, nor a change of seasons which I have introduced as well. The strips inch along year wise and many readers who are used to the way TV and movies work want time in the strips to run just as fast---but they never have or just about all the continuity strips would either have to take place in the nursing home or the principle characters would even be dead! Peter Parker would at least be in his 70's-wallop'n Web Snappers indeed!

I think the plan on the next JP storyline is to wrap up the missing and pregnant April Bower as well as her father and that will finally rest the long outstanding plot issues from Wilson's run.

OK, back to the Skull Cave!

The Phantom, The Bat, The Kryptonian And The Minivan

This was one of the heaviest lifting weeks in the studio for a long time. On top of the two strips which keep me plenty busy, I also got a rush 10 page penciling job for DC Digital books, written by old buddy Phil Hester and inked by Comics god, Tom Palmer. I think it will show up on Comixology.

Tom and I last worked together over 20 years ago on Spirits of Vengeance.

you can see more of Tom's great work on his website tomplamerillustration.com

Its Supes and Bats vs Darkseid and DeSaad. It was a fun romp, better for an annual than a 10 pager as it was very dense and I had to get used to the DC Digital format which breaks things into two tiers for the cellphones and tablets.

The rough for page 1 on the left and the finished pencils on the right.













Still I was happy old Marvel buddy Steve Buccellato asked me to do it.  I got to draw the new costumes on Supes and Bats which made me miss the old ones--well at least on Superman.

This weeks was also a hard drawing week on The Phantom as week get Kit to his new school hidden away in the far off Himalayas. Great vistas and people, new character and street scenes, so it was a fun lush week written by Tony that called on all my drawing muscles!

 And here is last week's worth of The Phantom strips.

The band's trip back from Morrisville/Morristown continues in the Judge. This is from a plot I pitched to Woody back at the beginning of the year. Woody is scripting and adding his own flair of course. The band is on the way back and there looks to be some back seat hijinks. Oh, Oh, drama!

It was also a cleaning out week, out with more old and unwanted  comics and books into the recycle--I have acquired so much of everything it seems---so my rule is if I haven't looked at it in 5 years--it goes in the "out pile". Some stuff I will keep, but frankly its so easy to keep things you think you will look at again--then never do!! I brought crap home from my studio in school that I thought I'd want or would go through two years ago that I am just going through now--and most of the stuff I am tossing.

I think all mid career artists have to do this, out with as much as you can so what you have is good and easily found. One of the museum conservators at PAFA told me that when they get in an artist studio, all their material, sometimes after they pass, it's so daunting the family goes ,"Here you guys can have this stuff".

Then they have to go through a huge amount of junk that is basically mostly just junk to sort out the envelope with a doodle  that was some link in the artists work or process that is important, from the real junk mail. She told me to toss away as much stuff as I can along the way to avoid the huge pile of art debris she was going through. It was sound advice I should have listened too!

Judge Parker Process

Here is the process from pencils to inks on the latest Sunday strip. I was able to adjust the layout a bit on the bottom tier to get the bigger panel. The Sunday format is very restrictive as none of the upper two tiers can change panel size. I used my trusty Hunt 108 and a brush for inking, except the ruling which was done with a rapidograph.

Judge Parker Process

 Here are the pencils and inks from an upcoming Sunday strip. The more characters there are the smaller the drawing gets per panel which makes this a bit tougher---as well as drawing the horses. But I cheated by tossing them into shadow.

Judge Parker Process

A few shots of this weeks strips in process on Judge Parker. The Neddy.Hank story continues as does a budding one with Sophie and Derek, though that one is happening mostly off screen. However Sophie did change her hairstyle---so teen rocker! The Sunday is all read for the brush, and you can see below the final inked strip.

Judge Parker Process

Here is another week of dailies for Judge Parker in the process of me inking them. It was a week of mostly talking heads as the main characters of the strip are reintroduced and share info that is basically a jump on point for new readers or a way for fairly new readers to get on the train of the new story line of Neddy's Factory.

This story line has been running over a year now as you can see by the Sept, 19th strip from last year. Looking back over that year I would say less than 2 weeks have transpired in strip time, maybe only a week. The Parkers were on the Hell trailer park vacation which lasted 3-4 days strip time but easily 3/4 of a year in strips.  They have been back 2 days, released the dude and now are dealing with Sam's retirement, which was announced a few days before the vacation. Sometimes its hard even for me to stay on top all of the time issues because a year or more might happen between story points. In strip time not even a year or a change of seasons has happened since my run on the Judge started. I know this type of thing doesn't matter to 99% of the people who read the strip, but I try and keep this all in my head so I can keep continuity steady, even things like hair length on the women.

I inked a lot of this current week with the Hunt 108 nib which is great for hair, a main feature of this strip--good hair! As much as I try and draw sexy women with ample cleavage for the "readers' interested mostly in those angles, something that I carried over from the previous strip artists, a lot of this strip ends up being talking heads so drawing good hair is a big part of the sexiness or appeal.

Harley Quinn Inks

A few weeks back I chipped in to help my best buddy Bret Blevins on a crazy deadline on the Harley Quinn Road Trip issue he was working on for DC. The Deadline Doom reared its ugly head once again, so I jumped in to help. We hadn't worked together in a little while on a comic and it was great to ink his pencils, even if they were a bit loose and I had to ink them blue-line printouts instead of on the original pencils. That always make it tougher as by converting things to the non-repro blue ink you do loose some detail and subtlety of the pencil art.

Bret is certainly on the best guys to ever depict the female form in comics or animation, and its always a joy to ink his work. I even went in and added some old style Zip to the pages in photoshop for fun. I inked 8 pages out of the issue and hope to see a comp soon.

Commission: Batman Zero Hour

Here is one of my latest commissions, a new version of the cover to Batman Zero Hour. Using the toothbrush for the splatter is fun, but it make your fingers dirty like Frankenstein's Monster!

Judge Parker Process

A snapshot of me working on an upcoming week of the strip. Studying Alex Toth for some ideas on simplification.

Judge Parker Process

A little JP process from an upcoming Sunday Strip. I changed the date to 7-12 on the final as I made that mistake finishing this Sunday up in the wee hours of Thursday night. We've had a few weeks away from the Driver/Spencer road trip and been concentrating on Needy and her new business venture and a possible new romance interest--which might complicate an old romance interest. What will the outcome be? In the grand tradition of the Soap Strips tune in and see via your paper, or if you must, on Comics Kingdom. This gave me an opportunity to add some dramatic blacks to this week's strip. In July you can see it in color and read whats going down with Mark, Needy's old flame.

Justice League International Convergence 2 and Philly Wizard

The last few weeks were mad busy here at Studio Manley between finishing up the second issue of the JLI: Convergence and attending last week's Philly Wizard World and staying up with the strip.

The deadline on the second issue of the JLI was pushed right up to the last day it could ship to the printer or miss shipping. I delay in getting the second half of the script by Ron Mars because of DC needing to coordinate the zillions of books gave me little time to finish the art. I think Ron did a good job giving the fans what they want with the two versions of the Beetle working together. It was harder for me as it was working from a plot which gives me some more room layout wise, but I was pretty unfamiliar with the characters as I never read a JLI book.

 It was all hands on deck, so Joe Rubinstein chipped in on inking as well as Bret Blevins.  After penciling the last pages I hopped on the inking for the last few pages myself. I have to say the Marie Javins my editor was fantastic this whole project.

She's not only a great person but a really great editor, the kind you really don't find anymore. The last few comic projects I did for DC never went as smoothly despite having better deadlines---though in reality doing monthly comics is always a four alarm fire at some point.

Chris Sotomayor and his team at Sotocolor also did a great job coloring the two issue, maybe my favorite coloring job in comics---also with having only a few days to do the bulk of the book. So while disappointed I couldn't do the whole job myself I am pretty happy with the results of the books, and it was fun to draw some superhero action after drawing the slower soap opera of Judge Parker, now in it's 51st week on the current storyline.

One of the things about doing this big cross-over event for DC was getting asked for these mini interviews for various wed site promotions. So I'd get a lits of questions along with the writer, Ron Mars. Questions like what are your favorite JLI moments, covers, characters, etc.

I really didn't know how to answer most of those questions as I never read a JLI book. I was aware of the Giffen and Maguire run, but i don't know if I ever bought or read that run, maybe I got some in my DC bundle of books I got every month for a while. I am a fan of artists and never read books because of the writing or characters. I know that makes me very different from the average comic fan, who buys issues of Spider-man because they love the character. I only have issue where I like the art. So I have no fave moments of these characters--they are new to me. the only character I was really familiar with was Martian Manhunter--and he was the most fun to draw.

                                                                           My layout

                                                                     My inked final

I imagine since he's a shape shifter he must have to concentrate to maintain his form, thus maybe he's always slightly changing his appearance. Like a clenched muscle he must at some point get tired, Slightly changing shapes especially when angry-etc.

There is all of this back story on the JLI I was unaware of or only slightly aware of so it was a challenge from that standpoint as well as a reference nightmare. the issues I was sent for ref were so poorly drawn in the kinda' 90's Image style and the costumes were never drawn clearly or well. The Kingdom Come characters were also hard as some were never really drawn much or very small, one or two shots here or there. So that was the biggest hassle for me---but now it's on the shelf and history. I'll be announcing a new series for a new publisher that I'll be working on soon!

Thanks to my biddy Danny Fingeroth I attended the Philly Wizard World con last week. I skipped Thursday to finish the Judge and knew it would be low attendance and did Friday to Sunday. I did some sketches and a panel on the Joker with Danny. I can see how taking any art to sell isn't worth it now, this con is really about the celebrities and fans in cosplay.

 Comics is just a side show more and more. I think if i go back I'd just have prints--which it seemed everybody from Neal Adams to Micheal Golden had. Both had isle long booth filled with a zillion prints as did 99% of the other artists.

Walking Dead, Dr. Who, you name it, so man prints of these characters. I wonder how anyone makes money and the legal side of producing these unlicensed drawings and prints seems like a big issue as well.

 I also don't know if I want to go around toting a zillion prints--so this is something I have to think about as the nature of fandom continues to shift at the shows. Shows like the Baltimore Con are more my speed as they are not about the Hollywood stuff and more about comics themselves. I don't mind the cosplay but know those folks have no interest in me or my work.

More Convergence

 

I thought I'd add a few more pages to show my process for the first issue of JLI Bloodmoon. his page was a lot of designing as I had to create a hanger for Blue Beetles ship which got pretty banged up in the opening pages. This was also a sequence where Martian Manhunter and Bettle got to talk about the  group and their issues. I tried to give Ron Mars plenty of room to fit in dialogue as well as create a moody scene.

This was a big reveal page where the heroes get to see their powers coming back and it gave me a chance to draw some sexy poses. I always liked the convention in comics where the hero or heroine turns into a flaming figure and is essentially naked.

Once they return to normal of course the costume is back to normal and wasn't blasted or burned away by their powers. Now Lee and Kirby explained that by Mr. Fantastic's creation of uniforms made of unstable molecules in the Fantastic Four. I don't know what the Justice League use or in  anyone of the League is the one who makes costumes for all the others. I inked most of these pages with a Hunt 102 and Pitt Markers with some brush.