SUPERMAN 660

Here I am uploading some pencils from the issue of Superman I just penciled which was inked by my buddy Bret Blevins. It hit the comic racks this week. This was a one shot story featuring the Prankster and was done in a huge rush because the book was behind schedule. I was working at maximum pencil vilocity, doing up to 3 fully penciled pages a day and then FTP'ing them the Blev as the deadline got closer. Then he'd print them out in blue, on DC board and ink. I was literally penciling the next page as Bret was inking the prevoius page. As soon as he was done he'd FTP them to DC.

I'll post some more pencils later on as well as some inks. Things are better here this week, now I'm working on X-9. I still feel sad about Buster and really miss him, the house is really a lot more quite without his energy around and Shazam, my other pup is really sad and down. I hope she feels better soon. Thanks for all the kind words about Buster.

BUSTER R.I.P.

My best buddy passed away today in my arms suddenly. 11 1/2. I don't know why....and no reason would matter anyway.

Such an awesome dog, awesome personality..such a pleasure to have him and share his life.

First Friday Figure Drawing

A selection of sketches I did from tonight's session run by Echo in Studio 6 in the Academy.

March first Figure

This is a drawing I did tonight at the Academy in the Thursday Night Figure drawing session. The session cost $1....can't beat that!

Charcoal on newsprint.

School Daze

Yesterday I delivered my portfolio, paper work and artists statement to The Academy for the March 1st deadline, which puts me in the pool for a possible merrit scholarship. Man, I was mentally and psyhically beat...I felt the tension actually seep out of my fingers as I handed my application fee over. The last few weeks have been a huge push. Between doing the rush, rush fill-in issue of Superman 660, and then hopping off the commercial horse and into my own world of drawing and painting for my portfolio I feel like I've done two marathons back-to-back. To top it off the FAFSA shit isn't easy to fill out either. I think the people at school can help me straighten the bugs out though.

Now I can return to the normal routine of comic deadlines for the next few weeks as I finish up the X-9 story for King features and ink the last few papges of my Turtles issue and finish up Draw! 14.

My CE anatomy class will continue for another 6 weeks or so and I'm really enjoying it, I may try and take another CE class over the summer for credit as well. With all of this heavy drawing I can feel my work is also moving in new directions, which is great.
But I could use about 24 hours of straight sleep.

Final Frog

Here is the final Frog still life. I won't say it's done, but I've stopped on it. I feel I can stop here for fear of going too far in tickling it up and them over doing it, throwing it out of balance.
I may try one more painting for the portfolio for PAFA, I don't know if I'll have time or not, or even if I use Liquin, if it will dry in time.

Froggie Round 2

Here is my second pass on the painting, I may go at it again tonight, or wait till the morning.

Frog Bottle Stil Life

Here is the first round on the next still life I am working on, this time on panel, which is really different than working on canvas. The color is off here, it seems more yellow....

Confrontation

I continue to work on drawings and paintings for my PAFA portfolio this
weekend. I decided to bag the NYC con and spend the time on my work. I
kinda' kick myself for being down so close to the wire on this, but
that's always the way with commercial work, it eats up just about all
your time.

This drawing is from a photo I took when I went to
get my Jeep back in Jan when it was stolen. My brother Dave drove us up
into the north part of Philly, which is colorful and dicey in spots, a
mix of urban blight, new immigrant population and poor inner city neighborhoods. As we drove along I snapped pics, I saw so many people I thought it would be fascinating to paint and draw. At a stoplight this guy was pacing back and forth
with a really anxious, angry look on his face, he saw I had a camera
and I had him in the shot and tried to get him unawares by angling the
flip out screen 90 degrees to him, but he noticed I was snapping him
and got mad. There was that Philly tension. I snapped two shots before he walked off. the expression
on his face was like" What, what the F**K, Mother *&^^$#! Maybe he
was wanted for a crime, maybe he was hiding out, maybe he just didn't
like taking his picture.

Anyway, it would have been great to
draw him from life, but I don't think he would have been a cooperative
model. I've been looking and studying lot at drawings by various
American artists like both Andrew and Jamie Wyeth as well as Sargent,
hopper, and Dega. 8B pencil on Charcoal paper.

Friday Figures

Here are a bunch of drawings from tonight's Free Figure Drawing that Echo runs at PAFA in the cast hall of the Historic landmark building and my Monday Anatomy class. She thought it would be fun to get students to show up and draw each other instead of always using the models, it also was a chance to draw the clothed figure since most figure drawing is the nude modle. So far the attendance has been so-so, seems some people are not into drawing the clothed figure. The first two drawings are foreshortning/perspective exercises in class where the model was laying on a table in a steep perspective. There are also some 10 second getsure drawings done at my Anatomy CE class on Mondays. Joe, my teacher has really been pushing me to loosen up and all the drawings this week are much, much looser.

All the poses posted are 5 minute, 10 second and the last 10 minutes. I'm pushing making different types of lines,, lost edges and deciding what to leave out. The complete opposite of comic drawing where the thing is to include it all....

AQUAMAN 49

These are my pencil/layouts for the next issue of Aquaman which either hit stores last Wednesday, or this Wednesday. I already got my comps from DC!

This issue was inked by my pal Ricardo Villagran and is the second part of the story he drew the first issue of. I'll post more soon.

Apples Final

Here is the final painting, I stopped before I messed it up....
now onto something else. I think i learned a lot on this one about laying in more subtle values.

Apples Still Life Pass 2

Here is the second pass at the Apples still life I'm doing as part of my PAFA portfolio. I think The green apple is kicking my ass! I tickled up the BG a bit more to help with the values. I have one more pass at it, I'll do that in another day or so as I have crushing Kryptonian deadlines this week. Since it is a snow day here I figured I'd pick at it again this AM.

This is a little out of focus and has some glare too, I'll post the finish.

More drawings of Dudes and Dogs

While eating snacks and watching 24 I sketched buster laying on his doggie bed.


15 minute sketch done in charcoal in my PAFA anatomy class.


First stage of a still life I am painting for my PAFA portfolio, I'll post the finish. I have been doing a lot of comic stuff but I can't post the pencils till tne books are out.

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

While digging through the Manley Archives (my attic) I came across this copy of the Michigan Cinema Guide I did way, way long ago. I did this I think in the late summer or fall of 1984, I was just 23 years old. I remember having a fit with my airbrush which i used on parts of my background and also scrambleing to ge ref for the Golden Gate Bridge as this was somewhat of a rush job, and there was no internet then. If I remember there was a new Dirty harry movie coming out at the time. I was paid a whopping $300 bucks, which was a lot to me back then, the drag was they kept my original.I was pretty darn excited to do it at the time tough.

PAFA Week 3

Both of these are about 15-20 second gesture drawings done as warm-ups.


The last pose which I redrew since the first version was just so stiff.

To help me lossen up on my drawings this week the teacher Joe had me draw with an improvised drawing untensil, a piece of vine charcoal tapped to the end of a pencil, essentially giving me a charcoal wand. This was to enforce me being loose and drawing out of my comfort zone. It worked, and while proportions got a bit funky, I definitely go looser. I was bebating not going this week as i am so swamped with work, but I am glad I did.

I Got My Car Back

Yesterday when I returned home after a very, very long day of teaching at DCAD, hanging the Student Show and shuttling back into the city to grab Echo from PAFA, I had a message on my answering machine from the Upper Darby Police saying that my jeep had been recovered
in Philly and giving me the contact numbers to the Philly police and
the towing yard where the jeep was. It was too late to do anything
about it then, so I hit the sack. I was bone tired from a heavy day and
as I drifted off to sleep I wondered if the car would be totally
trashed, even drivable, how deep thedicking I might get would be to my wallet.






The
Police recovery unit is way up in a very old part of the city, this
old, mostly abandoned industrial part of the city would really get my
pal BillWray all hot under the collar to paint. the neighborhoods are
rough with a real mixture of old city people and new immigrants, you
see Arab,Portorican ,chinese, black, Dominican business all right next to each other.
This area of the city really declined, even depopulated in the early part of the last
century as the industries moved away of went out of the country or business. Lots of great old buildings here. I love seeing the weird murals and the hand lettered signs!


This
morning I pulled my sack of potatoes body out of bed and called the
police as I brewed some strong coffee. They said the car was drivable
but that the ignition was damaged as well as the drivers seat. They
told me where I had to go and the steps to get the jeep back. I have
never had a car stolen before, and not having one for over a week was
really ahassle,
it really made me think about how dependant we are on our cars, how
spread out our lives can become because of this. Echo goes to school in
Philly, she could catch the El down to 15th and walk a few blocks over to school. It would be a huge hassle as she has wet canvases to carry and tackle boxes
, portfolios etc. She's look like a pack animal and it would just end
up with something getting busted. The trip home through West Phillyin the evening would not be that safe. I teach in Wilmington, 30+ miles away. I could catch the El to 30Th
street and then Amtrak to Wilmington and walk the 6-8 blocks to school.
It would be expensive and take 2hours or at least 90 minutes each way.
manypeople routinely do this or even worse commutes every day adding to the horrible rush hours and stressed lives.

The
other thing you have to deal with is the fact that when your car is
stolen the recovery is part of this huge bureaucracy, you have two
police departments, towing companies etc. A lot of things to
potentially dick you hard! Now the car was found on Monday, but I go
the call Tuesday. The place you have to go to get the police to give
you a release for the car is way up in the northern part of the city,
the towtard is way way down in the southwest part of the city. Of course they are! You have to take proof of insurence and your drivers liscense to the police, then they give you the release and give you driving directions to Delaware valley towing. Luckily my brother dave
could shuttle me around today or I would have been paying 70 buck I bet
in cab fares. The towing company also only takes cash! Of course they
neglected to say this on the phone...





So I get the release and drive back into and through Philly to Passyunk
Ave where the towing company is. the thing that sucks about getting yer
car stolen is it gets towed which costs you $100, then $11 a day for
storage. So I spent $134 dollars to get my car back. The ignition was
punched out, so that will have to be replaced, I suppose I got off
easy. The towing place being cash only and having 5-6 guys there
smelled like a way to do a lot of under the table dealings. I felt like
it was a place that tonySopranno would be sitting behind the office
door. One of the guys there showed me how to use the screwdriver to
start my car, so now I know what to do if I need to steal a car myself.
He said his jeep had also been stolen numerous times.

The best
news is that Echo's sketchbooks and school stuff was still in the car,
guess the thief wasn't an art fan. Luckily a check book I left in the
glove box also wasn't taken or used. Maybe the lazy SOB just wanted to
drive home, not take the bus. I don't know how much it will cost to fix
the ignition but I'm sure i will not escape this whole thing for less
than 300-400 bucks, cheaper than getting a new car, but still...

I
now have my club on my steering wheel as the jeeps parked in the
driveway and now I guess I'll have to really consider getting full
coverage now in case the same Fuckhead decides to take it again.

L'Ecorché

As those of you who follow my blog know, I have been taking an anatomy class for credit at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I plan on attending this fall to finish my BFA. The class, run by the knowledgeable and affable Joe Kaplan is fun as well as informative, and I have to say, it's great to be taught instead of teach. I know my anatomy pretty well, but I am learning it in specifics even better. Now most of my students complain about homework, but I requested Joe to give me homework,as I really want to get good critiques, take advantage of the great resources at PAFA, so L'Ecorché was the first assignment. They have a life size repro of a famouse french L'Ecorché in the Cast hall, so I rode in early this morning with Echo and drew this before the class. Joe wanted me to draw the back view since this is what we have been studying in class. It's in charcoal on newsprint. On our break Joe critiqued my drawing and was spot on, it's very illustrative, not a fine art drawing, which I guess I did on purpose, as a result he wants me to take another crack at it next week and try this time to not be so literal.

What a week!

Boy, some weeks start with a lumpy Monday and build to the crescendo of Friday, and this week I am looking forward to Friday! Monday started good actually, I had my first class at the Academy and it was great! It turns out my teacher, Joe Kaplan is actually a nieghbor of mine, living just down the block on the next street--and infact I saw him taking out a portfolio and art bin from his car which was parked in front of my house last fall and thinking, "Hey, I bet that guy's an artist". But he seemed in a rush so I didn't step out to ask. When we were talking after class and leaving I mentioned I lived in Upper Darby and he said he did too and then--POP! we recognized each other. He said "You're the guy who gives out comics evey Halloween!" And I said " I saw you taking your gear out of you car last fall."
How funny is that? Echo was in school at the same time so that was fun too.




These were all 20 second poses! Joe had us cooking! After these he gave his lecture, this time on the spine and shoulder, then we did another drawing session of 20 minutes, the drawing below was what I got down in about 15-20 minutes.


We stopped on the way home at the market to grab some food and stuff and got home, ate and chilled infront of the tube for a bit. When Echo went back out to get a back from School she left in my car it was ...GONE!

Yep, my 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee was "Gone in 60 seconds." Or within 2 hours of us getting home. Now I am pissed, sure, but pissed off more because I've just spent about $900 with new tires, inspection and having a short in the electrical system fixed! I also come to find that those 94-96 jeeps are easy to steal. A teacher at DCAD told me her's was stolen 3 times from her house. So now I wait, either the police will find it, or it may have been cut-up in some illegal Chop-Shop in Philly already. I will wait a week or two and then I'll have to get a new car. I have been eyeing a Honda Element.

So what a mixed week so far and we are just at Hump Day. Work continues to be really heavy, and will be for the next month or so, then? Probably just a sbusy after. On the board this week Turtles, Superman and X-9. I'll try and post some stuff latyer on.

Free Comic Book Day

The page above is for the Free Comic book day comic that Twomorrows is putting out this year, and Draw! will have a section on figure drawing by Bret Blevins and a chapter on storytelling by me. Bret and I also did the cover which I'll post a little later on,

Three Gallery Friday

Tonight was a busy night for me in Center City Philly. After busting hump all day in the studio I hopped the EL down to The Academy and met up with Echo as she was finishing her Cast Drawing Class, and I got my student ID for the school so I can start Monday with my CE Anatomy Class.

Next we attended the Student show opening in the Student Gallery which was pretty good. As usual it's a mixed bag, some really good strong peices and some that make you scratch your head. Then we hopped in the car, drove a few blocks over and parked and walked over to the Hewman Gallery on Walnut and 17th, but it was closed, dang it! I went there because I heard they had a few Dean Cornwell pieces, since were closed I'll have to go back.

Then we walked around the block to the Gross McCleaf gallery to see a new show which featured work by some of the teachers at the Academy, and one artist in particular who's work I've admired for a few years, Scott Noel, who just happens to be one of Echo's teachers. She introduced us and we chatted in the back of the gallery as he pulled out some paintings that were not hanging in the show and we talked a while about "north light", lead white vs titanium white and he explained about how he approached and worked on some of his paintings. It was great for me as I came across Noel's work a year or so back via some web searches I did on Philly area painters. I was immediately taken with his work and hoped to be able to take classes from him somehow. It looks like that will happen now as I plan on attending school at the Accademy where he teaches next September.

Next we were off to see my pal Chuck van Zyl's show of his evocative photos at Among Cenopaths and Angels at the AXD Gallery

Chuck is mostly known world wide for his electronic music as well as being the host of Stars End, the oldest electronic music show in the wolrd which runs Saturday nights on WXPN. Chuck's show of graveyards and statuary taken with infra-red film are haunty, evocative and very inviting at the same time. Echo said the picture made her feel like she wanted to be in them so she could see what everything in heaven might look like. Then we hooked up with my pal Steve and headed over to his cousin Effi's greek resturant on Pine and 12th for some awesome food. Echo and I had the lamd---mmmm-m. We were all done in from the walking all over the city, the excitement of meeting the artists and seeing such cool art--and my feet were dog tired,but it was fun despite the blustery cold wind. Seeing good art and meeting nice people always leaves one charged up.

2007 BLAST OFF!

Here are some layouts as well my final penciled page for the Turtles issue I am working on. This is how tightly I have to pencil for myself to ink.


It's been a few weeks since I have posted anything here, with the holidays I took a bit of a break to spend with family, friends and to reflect on the last year as well as the new one, but I also have been quite busy with work, much of I can't post here for editorial reasons. I just finished doing breakdowns on an issue of Aquaman, #49 to be exact. My pal Ricardo Villagran will be doing finishes just like he did so often on my work back in the day at Marvel. Ric also penciled and inked the previous issue #48 all by himself. The script by Kurt Busiek was a lot of fun to work on, one of the best scripts I've had the pleasure of illustrating in my career. The good spin out of this is that Kurt as well as DC was so happy with my work on Aquaman that they have offered me an issue of Superman to pencil. I'll be starting on that ASAP, I don't know exactly when it will be scheduled though.

Between my comic jobs and my Draw! mag projects (working on 14,15 now) plus my DVD project and figure drawing book, plus I start teaching next week again at DCAD as well as attending a class at the Pennsylvania Accademy of Fine Art, where I plan to attend full time next fall to finish my BFA in Painting. I'll be busier I think this year than I have maybe ever been, but that's good, I see 2007 a building year both personally and artistically. My fiance Echo is already attending PAFA and really enjoying it, I have to say I'm kinda' jealous, wishing I was enrolled there now myself, but August will be here soon enough, hell, we're already halfway through January!

I think this year will be a bigger return for me to drawing comics, a recommitment to myself as an artist, to push myself even harder there to meet the personal goals I have. I have to say I'm more excited about that than I have been in years.
I have a book planned with greg thompson I plan to start on next month. We don't have a publisher yet, we might approach Image or even Dark Horse, that is to be decided once the first issue is to bed.

With all the bullshit in the world you have to try some days to stay positive, thank god the dems won and kicked the conservatives and bush in the nutsacks! I just hope we can spin the ball more positive overall in 2007.