The Trying

Continuing on my usual journey...

nothing special, just some facial studies of a some grandma, could be anyones..

plus a few scattered surreal doodles along the borders..

Figure drawing, (or as close as i get to it) is always slippery slope. I'm both surprised when i pull of a relatively realistic looking face, but also impatient with it.

Thousands of artists before me have drawn or painted millions of faces, technically far beyond anything i 'll ever pull off, so what's the point? I also get impatient with these kinds of existential sophomoric arguments i have with myself about realism vs. surreal/conceptual/post-modern art.

Yet, my pathetic brain gnaws it to death, like everything else my mind tears apart.

Which is a fancy way of saying... i think too WAY much.

Some might say 'draw' too much too. : )

It IS interesting to see pieces of a single page in photos, like puzzle pieces almost...

....then finally see how they all fit together, isn't it?

Sorta as if .... every single illustration is almost like a story in itself? My mind can't help but make a story of things i draw.

Is that just me, or is it true for you guys too?

Like, i never noticed till just now... how it looks like this older woman is sniffing the purple color coming off this guys nose. Never noticed it even while i was drawing it. Just pure luck.  

I probably should have finished the main grandma in the center more. Or painted her.  But instead i got 'lost in doodles' along the way... maybe the old lady's she's better off from my quitting her when i did? Someone once said the key to a great drawing is knowing when to quit. 

Yeah, 'knowing when to quit'? This from a guy who's always trying to rise past my OWN anal 'rendering for rendering's sake' habit.  Focus on 'detail' or realism at the expense of gesture of abstraction... can be a trap. It was for me.  Still is. Hell, who wants to be the same artists i was 5 or ten years ago?  Trying, (regardless of if the drawing fails or not)... 

....just *trying*something new, in of itself... 

...that's HAS good thing, right? 

NEW CRAP to look at, ....and lots OF it!!!

Thanks for everyone's comments! Remember when you don't get any new post from me, it's good news: Means i'm working my tail off playing catch up on a buncha NEW crap.

( remember i use 'crap' with affection) ........ so speaking of crap..

.. i'm finishing the first issue of Hollows for IDW, (above) - which i'm pleased is sort of a cross between a hand colored book and a black and white one... so expect something a little different on this sucker..

And the OTHER job i'm busy with? ( see above) Knee-deep in the last eight page installment of Aliens for Dark Horse Presents.  - Yikes - Both Hollows and Aliens are ... due..  (of course) ..at the same time.

Again I am obviously more taken with drawing 'quasi-gibson-girl-hair-styled ladies and teddy bears rather than the Aliens, ( though i did enjoy painting this swell little Giger-esk cave) and it shows.

There's also lush drawings of women showing up in the Hollows panels above too.  But Hollows has much more big-assed-oversized-bonsai-Trees... rather than Teddy bears. Aliens: Teddy Bears. Hollows. Bonsai Trees.

I still can't *believe* got away with 20 Century Fox and Dark Horse approving an Aliens story with a friggin' Teddy bear, how messed up is that?  Pretty cool. And thanks to John Layman script, it actually makes *sense* there's a teddy bear in there now too... rather than just randomly thrown in like it would of be i had written it.

Plus I totally forgot I'd promised the HEROS charity folks to do a Fantastic Four cover...

And, well by a mistake, i accidentally discovered two extra FF covers lying around in packages i lost track of... (crap) ....

...so now, (because of my own stupidity in losing track)... have THREE  blank FF covers due today.

..hope they Heros folks aren't pissed i'm hogging three covers.  Promise i'll sit out any future FF cover gigs to make up for it.

Okay, i'm calling this FF cover (above) finished! pronouncing it D.O.A. -

i may get back to coloring it, or maybe it's cooler to just heave it in blue-ish half tone?

Now, onto the next FF cover..

Good news is these three covers don't ALL have to be in color.. so far... this one looks terrible. I may have to color just to save it from it's current horrible state..

Better.  But better work on the hulk some more...

hopefully i can pump a little life into them in the next  hour...

....on this crazy busy sunday afternoon.

Okay, a little goofy looking, buy at least there's some life in it now. the Hulks teeth look like a circle or shot glasses on a round tray, don't they? Whatever.

Then the Heros guys also passed along me a couple sandman trade to add a quickie doodle in. I usually don't sign comics unless i'm a a con, but these are so late may as well throw them in with the FF covers package too, eh? Best i can do in one minute.

It's not a race, but i think any more i add may make this sandman look WORSE.. .so better quit while were ahead.

Now let's dive into the third and *last* FF Cover... this one is way goofy, just look at the things lower lip.

I'm pleasing myself here, no one else.

...and hopefully pleasing who-ever who buys it, because they'll have to be as screwed up in their taste as i am to appreciate it, right?

Sorry, this one came out too fast for me to get in any process pics, just zoned out while drawing it..

What else? Oh yeah, those the commissions, haven't forgotten about those too.

And Kim and I have promised each other to have the Potbelly toy FINISHED by next years San Diego comic con( actually it's me who fell behind getting him sketches, but he's re-inspired me to get back on top of that too. - thanks buddy!)

Let alone chickens. Here's proof i'm Jon and I are back on top of that too.

Hopefully this will make up for the lull of posts last week.

Bet you got sick of looking at that woman's face at the top the last post, eh? Me too.

Not that it's a bad face, just time for something NEW again..



- Sam

A little Something for Everyone?

This doesn't look like something i'd usually do does it? or maybe it does...

These quick sketches in markers were just yet another attempt to try to hammer my way into something NEW... some style that looks nothing like my usual stuff...

I mean, what ever my style even IS... it's all over the place... even on a good day, isn't it?

These may technically fall under the category of 'fashion', but that's a stretch. Here's a little rough brush work..

These are all rather rough... I was going for something between a design and a rough 'gesture drawing'... trying to avoid being too perfect.

I have to be careful photographing the backs of the maxx posters i keep working on as they are very reflective to a flash.

but i love the slick surface, it is great for using a xacto-knife or razor to 'etch' tiny white lines over india ink.. i didn't get into that here though yet..

theres are just an experiment - i noticed the dark blue version of her face was drifting off to the left, so i re-drew another one in golden brown brush pen under it.

the two faces overlapped may give the reader a headache to look at now... ( hopefully not.)  ..but refuse to judge this one yet.

Okay - here's another one... this drawing has the face at the top of this post..

i started with a few random free-floating faces and worked my way down..

.. and across.. here we are.. two studies of more or less the same face. One obviously pretty rough ad the other maybe a little *too* tight.

on both of them, i tried to stay light and not overwork them too much.

Here's the third face, again trying to reach outside of my comfort zone, and to do it i will stray into ugly, bad or poorly drawn face territory,

but it's worth it to try to sneak out from under my usual crap.

only you guys can tell me if it's working or not. opinions will vary, but i still welcome them all. don't be afraid to be specific about what you think works... or doesn't work.

or why.

here's that eye again in the lower left.. again i keep fumbling outside into the dark trying to shake myself up. I doubt any of these will make it into the art books, it's cool to have a little of both, web vs. art books. I mean, some stuff has to be pushed out of the art books.

I think the plan is... for NOW... we stick to these three 'World of Sam" books, (the first one seems to have it's own shape now, a smattering of everything in it.. mostly newer stuff and painted stuff. )

Next we can do some Collected Maxx stuff for those fans who just are into that stuff, (after 35 issues, there's too much stuff and it demands it's own series of specialty books. )

We can still get out the old classic MCP stuff for those who love the brush and ink lines sam, which is mostly the work for hire stuff in the Art of Sam book. So we'll let everyone get THAT out of their system.

Thus, way no one is stuck with a 'period' or style my work they might detest.  Maxx-heads can stick to Maxx. Classic fans morn for the old days and can get their fix there. And for everyone else, for an overview of painted stuff, boxes, mixed media stuff like i do on the blog, we do Worlds.


then later, after the dust settles, if there's still interest... once we are all old and gray.. THEN maybe we do a longer Chronological collected series of sketch books .. so you can track my.. changes, growth, year by year.... from old pre-sketchbooks, to maxx days sketches, zero girl, scratch, ojo, bimbo, up to these oversized newer sketchbooks i do.

Like this piece here... that starts with slick black shapes up top and degenerates to swell graffiti like scribbles at he bottom!

....and if everyone gets sick of all this crap BEFORE we reach that, then i promise we'll take the hint and stop publishing these suckers. For reals. kay?  ; )

Thanks for all the post comments, i need to catch up on those. I had a LOT to say about the MOTHer post so will follow up with some comments on post that tomorrow too.