In case any of you regular readers were wondering why there haven't been any posts this week-well I was swamped. There was no school for me this week, I ended up having to take the last week off from school to do a solid, huge block of freelance work. I'm inking about half and issue of Wolverine Origins over Doug Braithwaite, (who's an excellent draughtsman) and I'm ghosting a month of the Judge Parker newspaper strip due to the artist Ed Barreto's illness, plus two other jobs I am not at liberty to discuss, except to say on is based no an early 80's hit Disney movie. I might even have to skip part of this week too, that's not certain yet. I really miss painting but I need to keep the dollars rolling into the studio, school isn't cheap!Later this week things should be back to normal...
I'm looking forward to see what you made. I am glad to hear you got so much freelance work. Too bad you have to skip so much school though. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteBest wishes on shadowing for Eduardo Barreto. I hope he is getting better. Eduardo was doing a GREAT job with it. Judge Parker needs a great realistic look, with sexy woman. Think Neal Adams. Old school, baby.
Hey, Mike...very cool you are filling in for Eduardo Barreto. Ed's been terrific on Judge Parker. As comic strips shrink to the size of postage stamps, he has managed to create within that tiny space something resembling an actual comic book. He uses panels of varying size and sometimes overlapping placement, he uses light and shadow to excellent effect in illustrating a noir type plot/story by Woody Wilson. The characters, both the stalwart guys and sexy gals look silver-screen worthy. For revamping an art form that had been allowed to run itself down, namely the soap-opera serial strip (how boring Apartment 3-G looks nowadays as compared to its heyday, when the artists had a much larger space within which to work), Ed Barreto has done a bang up job on Judge Parker! Hope he has a fast recovery and best of luck to you Mike on ghosting for him.
ReplyDeleteThanks all. It is tough making the stamp sized strips dynamic at that size. Barreto did a great job and Woody Wilson gave him good scripts and tailored them to work with his skills.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big classic strips fan, love Raymond and Robbins, Starr, Drake, etc. I think the one thing nbdy but the artists and writers can ever really know is how tough it is to d that job for year after. In comics you do wind-sprints and then you are maybe done, and in strips you can never miss a day, and civilian stuff, guys in suits and gals in dresses, all that stuff is the hardest to do.
You can just whack some crazy style on it. I'm also trying t stay close to Barreto's style on my weeks so it won't be a shock for the reader, my buddy John Heebink is as well. John's weeks are running now, mine next month.
I'll post a link when they start.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteBest wishes on the Judge Parker gig. Not to bag on John Heebink's stuff, but it isn't close to Ed's work on Judge Parker. Judge Parker needs that classic, realistic look like you said, in the style of Stan Drake or Leonard Starr or Al Williamson. Their love for using the Art-O-Graph and photo refs is what made these strips go. Barreto had brought this to Judge Parker. Graham Nolan does great with Rex Morgan, too.
Would love to see what you come up with. I am sure you will knock it out the park!
Greetings from Italy! Great works! Do you use japanese nibs like the maru pen? Do you never used the G nib type? I use this one made by Zebra.
ReplyDeleteMike...Good luck on the Judge Parker fill-in. I am sure you will do an awesome job. Barreto was indeed very,very good on JP. Eduardo Barreto draws great backgrounds and creates appropriate film noir-type settings for the detective story lines, through excellent shading and hatching. It is rare to see such attention to detail, now that the print comics have been shrunk to the size of postage stamps. It is a terrible loss that fans will no longer be able to appreciate the work of someone who obviously really cared about his craft. I hope his health is not so bad that he is unable to receive the messages of support that are being sent his way.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite JP strips he did was when he incorporated Rip Kirby into the spines of the books on the bookshelf:
http://content.comicskingdom.net/Judge_Parker/Judge_Parker.20081011.gif
Mike...Good luck on the Judge Parker fill-in. I am sure you will do an awesome job. Barreto was indeed very,very good on JP. Eduardo Barreto draws great backgrounds and creates appropriate film noir-type settings for the detective story lines, through excellent shading and hatching. It is rare to see such attention to detail, now that the print comics have been shrunk to the size of postage stamps. It is a terrible loss that fans will no longer be able to appreciate the work of someone who obviously really cared about his craft. I hope his health is not so bad that he is unable to receive the messages of support that are being sent his way.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite JP strips he did was when he incorporated Rip Kirby into the spines of the books on the bookshelf:
http://content.comicskingdom.net/Judge_Parker/Judge_Parker.20081011.gif
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI just received this note from Brendan Burford from King Features about my question about Eduardo Barreto and Judge Parker.
Congrats on becoming the new artist on Judge Parker! AWESOME!
Please pardon the delay in my responding to your question about the artwork on the JUDGE PARKER strip. Eduardo Barreto has been ill, and in his absence we’ve been running work by a temporary replacement who has done a wonderful yeoman-like job of filling in under unforeseen circumstances, and very pressing deadlines. The work of the temporary replacement will run through March 14th.
We’ve now officially gotten word from Eduardo that he will be retiring from his drawing duties on JUDGE PARKER. All of us at King Features are sad to see Eduardo go – he gave the strip a classic look with a contemporary edge, and he drew the strip with great passion and professionalism.
Beginning March 15th, Mike Manley will become the new permanent artist of the JUDGE PARKER strip. Mike’s work has great verve and panache, and we’re confident that his stunning compositions and slick line will win over the JUDGE PARKER readers. During his career in comics and animation, Mike has worked on great titles like BATMAN and SUPERMAN, and we feel fortunate that he’ll be filling the role of JUDGE PARKER artist – the readers are in for something special.
With Woody Wilson’s consistently compelling writing and Mike Manley’s attractive art, the strip will continue its known brand of excellence.
Thank you for being such a loyal reader of the JUDGE PARKER strip.