Merry Christmas from Judge Parker

Merry Christmas all!

Something Old

While cleaning up my archives ( or piles as some call them) I came across this old piece I did in highs school. This thing is almost 32 years old! I think the assignment was to illustrate a word. Each figure is draw on a separate piece of paper and then it was pasted down and the work Comix was cut out of a sheet of yellow illustration board. I kinda' remember donig it and coloring this with those old Design markers, the kid that would get you high and give you cancer because of all of the bestine in them. The were inked with rapidographs and I think a 00 brush---what I was using at the time. I think you can see all of my big main comic influences at the time from Kirby to Adams and Buscema, I even put in a Captain Canuck head as I really like the book at the time. Looking on the back I bot a B+ I think because it's hard to read the word, which is really true.

Judge Parker

As they say, the plot thickens....

Eduardo Barreto R.I.P.

I was very saddened yesterday to learn from a fellow cartoonist that Eduardo Barreto passed away from a long illness. It's a great loss to his family and to all of us who worked with him and were big fans of his work. Eduardo Barreto was the artist I took over on Judge Parker two years ago when he was also slowed by illness, and like everyone else I came to know Eduardo Barreto's work first as a fan in the 80's when he was working on books like Superman and Atari Force for DC Comics. I came to become great friends with Ricardo Villagran at the time and through him I met many cartoonist from Argentina and south America like Jeorge Zaffino.

Ricardo Villagran and Eduardo Barreto from the san Diego Con a few years back

I got to meet Eduardo only one time, at the San Diego Comic Con along with my great friend and his one-time mentor Ricardo Villagran whom he assisted when he was younger. It was a good meeting and he was a very humble man about his work for a guy who was so talented and as we talked he very complimentary about my work. As a pro I was lucky enough to get to work with Eduardo when I got the chance to ink an Elvira job he drew a few years back a,one of the highlights for me in my career. His work was beautiful and professional and a joy to ink. You really get to see how good an artist is when you ink his work--and he was great! his work was so smooth and lush, so flawless you could have just shot the pencils!

Eduardo was one of many great cartoonist in a long line who hailed from South America, from the great Salinas who drew the Cisco Kid to Garcia Lopez, Luis Domingez, the Villagran Brothers, and another of their one-time assistants turned pro, the late Jorge Zaffino. These artists like Eduardo were all top flight draughstmen and gentlemen. When through circumstance I came to take over from Eduardo on Judge Parker when he became to ill to continue, I again became a fan of his work. He really hit a home run on the strip during his time on the Judge, and he set the bar high.A high bar for me or anyone to follow as soap opera strips require a lot of tough drawing and domestic set-ups that don't initially lend themselves to the drama of superheroes which both Eduardo and I cut our teeth on. He was the type of artist who did the hard things well and the great things great, his dynamic figures and inventive layouts, sexy women, bold blacks and brushwork added a dramatic splash to the often tepid comic page and revitalized the strip, he will remain an inspiration and he will be missed.

The END--Fall Semester 2011

This lonely painting, discarded by some art student from PAFA at the trashcan near the former Occupy Philly spot at City Hall seems to pretty much sum up the fact that the semester is over and life rolls on.

The fall semester of my senior year has come to an end at PAFA, and with it also has come the end of my undergrad classes in the Certificate program at the school. I still have one more semester, Spring, which starts in January, but I will have no classes, just studio time and my three critics since I have completed all of my requirements for my drawing, painting and liberal arts classes. So in a big way "Schools out!" like the song. So from now until I graduate next May I will just be painting my arse off in the studio!

Peter checks his roster to see who has shown up for the last crit--and who's still a sleepy head somewhere-dragging ass to class.

As thr room heated up my fellow students drung themselves in, one-by-one to set uo their work done during the semester in class

My last class was last Friday in Life painting with Peter van Dyck and my last studio crit was yesterday with Celia Riesman. After my class on Friday I sat in on the last round of MFA crits at school on the 8th floor. Since I am planning on applying to the Masters Program I thought it would be good to see more of the work and the critique process and comments.

I thought there was some very nice work and frankly just some aweful work as well, but that seems to be grad school in my search around looking at schools. in fact I'd say there was 99% crap when I look at most grad schools, scribble and drips seems to pass for most when it comes to any form of drawing and painting, at least at the Academy we still have some real painters in the masters program.

You can see my line-up of paintings here to the right of Peter. I think I got two good paintings out of the class, one of which is in the current student show.

To break up the monontony of the average school final crit Peter had us pick a painting by each student and then do a sketch of it to try and analyze it and see if we could make the composition better.

Monday was the last class in the High School Art program that runs at PAFA. I have been teaching the Illustration class again this semester and we had a good crew turn out this time.I think I had the most ambitious class this time and they really worked hard doing comics and illustration. It's hard in one way since the class lasts only 2 hours but the students really came in and got to work and turned out some cool pieces. My two TA's Rob and Scott really helped too as we individually coached each student along the way. I'm impressed as some of the students had never done watercolor, or even comic before.

So with the semester done I am turning to cleaning up my house, catching up on chores and reflecting back on my time at school and I'm sure I will post many of those thoughts here, but I'll end by saying that going back to school and to PAFA changed my life in ways I could not have foreseen. I'm a much better artist and my life has been enriched by the friends and deep connections I have made there, I can't imagine my life without them and the experiences I've had, one is never too old to go back to school.

Judge Parker

The worm turns....

Fall Semester Week 16--Small Works

I've finished up my semester teaching at uarts and have one last crit in Life painting Friday and then my last studio crit Monday and the semester will be fully done. In the meantime I have been keeping busy by doing some small paintings as a way to keep the fires burning and to do some paintings of subjects I have wanted to do, so these may end up as studies for larger paintings. I guess with these tow paintings they are sort of a mini Blue Period. The sofa painting above is of the beat up blue leather sofa on the 4th floor in room 465, and I painted it the first class this year and it was in the last class painting last semester in Scott Noel's class. It's also made it into one of Scott's paintings as well as a few other students.

This painting is of a little blue house in Detroit I took a picture of when I visited last summer. It had a very forlorn character about it.When painting it I was overcome by the sense memory smell of Detroit from my childhood there. I was really working with that feeling and memory of how the city smelled when I lived there as a kid. I think this one for sure will be a larger painting.

Judge Parker

April seems very worried about the guy following Randy....

Fall Semester-Week 15 THE END

PP> Yours truly pimping in front of my painting.

Yesterday day was in many way the end of my time at PAFA for my undergrad as it was the last official instructed class I will have at school. I still have one more semester at school with my critics, but I have completed all of my required classes. So when I return in the spring I will just be painting my ass off, working toward some shows and the next and final ASE for me at PAFA. It really didn't strike me that the end was here until Thursday night as I sat working on the Judge Parker strip and burning the midnight oil. My last class was with Peter Van Dyck, but since I had already completed the painting in that class, submitted it and had it accepted to the last student show of the year,I had nothing really to do in the class. I am the monitor, so I set it up and just kinda' chilled there and also worked on coloring this week's JP strip. I am glad to be done with classes. As much as I love the school, and my teachers, I am ready to just fly on my own and do my thing--to just get on with it. It won't be long till I will be applying to grad school, but I look forward to a nice long streak of just painting. I was also very happy that this last show in 128 had all of my Dirty Palette buddies and good friends in the show as well. William, Lexi and Alina all had work in the show, which was a nice way to cap things off.

Alina and her smart looking watercolors

<{> Will and his painting featuring Alina.

Lexi and her painting.
The show also opened as the same night as the annual Student Print Show opened. Ihat show was packed and very well attended and I heard that sales were good. Yester

Now all that awaits next week is the last three crits with my critics and then the winter break begins!