Threefer

Happy Holidays,
Sam

A few more . . .

Oops, skipped a day. 

sorry 'bout that. 

Here's a few more to make up for it . . . 

above's an old ad from the first Sketchbook. 

Here's a baby girl . . . and baby martian.

Panel from an aborted project that was never published. 

Happy ending from Mars Attacks. 

                                                       and . . Harley . . . obviously. 

Sometimes one Panel a Day, sometimes more . . .

back to business . . .

something old,

something new.


and best of all?

their both free.




Have a stress free Monday.

- Sam

Cover for my pal Edmund.

An old pal of mine Edmund McMillen, asked me to work on a cover for his new video game, the Binding of Isaac.

His Super Meat Boy game shows his quirky world view, but Isaac seems a whole lot darker and complex, in a good way.

Plus he created a whole slew of monsters for the Game, so that helped a lot.  Monsters, creatures, the usual weirdness is safe ground for me.

And he's a Maxx too, so he knew my style and just seemed to click.

It's kinda cool working with someone from another medium.  I gotta confess i'm not a big gamer, but Edmund was totally cool with giving me as much freedom as possible and he totally put me at ease.

We batted around some ideas for the right angle for the cover. Here's the cover rough in the corner.

I did two version of Isaac, to run past him too.

Even tried the logo in a couple different colors..

Even down to Isaac's tears, which are a big part of the story too. By this time, since Edmund's an artists himself, I handed over the files, as each Monster had it's own layer.

This gave him a chance to tweak any colors or textures. I tried to do Isaac slick, like he is in the game, but once again, Edmund encouraged me to play around with a rougher organic texture, like i did the monsters textures.

Below's my latest stab, but it seems like it keeps evolving, luckily Edmund has enough options/layers to adjust in any way he see's fit. Plus he gave me tens times more freedom than i usually have on most cover's i've done before.

The whole thing was very satisfying for me, and i'm honored to help his own Universe come to life in whatever way i can!

Okay - Until i go another larger process post - it's back to your daily dose.

Thanks,
Sam

Joker on the line.

.

One big ass Joker panel...


. . . and three small inset panels.

Guess Arkham prisoners are stuck with the old dinosaur land lines.

Either that, or that's the only kind of phone the artists knows how to draw.

Redoubling my efforts.

hey gang, creative blocks giving me trouble with that longer post,

so here's a couple of daily ones to make up for it.

Above is a logo i was trying out some years ago, just for fun.

Next is a 'Mom' from Mars... ( Attacks )...

And another one of my ' sam kieth' style Tree from the Hollows....


okay - whew ..... thanks for not giving up on me.

: )

- Sam

Maxx color proof

Here's page 1 from Maxx 15.

Sorta of like a 'panel'.  Splash page, really. Thought I'd post this today for a couple of reasons: one is it's been wonderfully colored by the phenomenal Ronda Pattison.  Course Steve Oliff's colors were amazing too.

Check out Julie's original dialogue written along the top.   Somehow her line changed from what's written ... into ..  'how could you?' instead.  I had to think back as to why I originally wrote that, then why at the last minute i did change it.

I seem to remember thinking the first line was too bitchy or sarcastic, even given Julie's 'hedonistic' (tongue in cheek) post-Maxx break-up romp.  'How could you?' is also more emotional, more vulnerable.  Maxx replying "your one to talk" seems a little snarky a think to reply, even for Maxx.

Course none of this matters much either way. But kinda interesting seeing how things morph..i tend to write a lot of notes to myself along  the sides/tops of pages i draw, which some writer/artists tend to do.

I know i promised a longer post.. will get to that this week hopefully.  Meanwhile wanted to throw up something *new* to check out..

- Sam 

90's Crap.

okay.

. . . so this not really a 'panel'.

It's a poster, during the Marvel Presents days, obviously.

His arm anatomy is totally made up and kinda goofy fun . .  in a totally ridiculous way that only 90's super hero comics only could be.

Same kinda applies to the Maxx too, doesn't it?  Crazy stylized.

Curley Phone Cords and such, i mean.


- Sam

Octo Mom?

Here's a left over panel from an canceled project... may find a home in some other story,

. .  provided i write a panel for an octopus.

And here's another panel of Mom, from the Nola book.

So, Octopus and Mom.

I know, nothing to do with each other, but maybe you can make your own story out of it.

I'll post a process post this weekend, as thanks for you all enduring all this little ones.


- Sam


Also, Hero Comics 2014 is NOW out, featuring a short story with Julie the purple guy: 

https://twitter.com/heroinitiative/status/533300955253465089

Things that Resurface.

Arkham Asylum ,

. . . reflected . . .

. . in a sad woman's eye.

Btw, plans are under way to do a collection of bunch of my Batman stuff in a nice Art Book.

I'm surprised how much unpublished bat-crap stuff i have lying around too.  Sometimes the best stuff gets lost on the cutting room floor ( or in my case, studio floor ). So instead of getting thrown away, gives this unseen crap a chance to float back up to the surface  after all these years.

Don't worry, we'll skip over all the bad panels. ; )

On the other hand, the 'bad' panels (aka: rough, crude, cartoony) . . .  are part of my style too, aren't they?

quirkiness. diversity. weirdness. all that.

thanks to all my fans,

for helping me

accept that.

- Sam

How not to ink a page.

Twisted Tales comic i did many years ago, ( before lettering was added. )

Still struggling with brush lines than tended to 'cluster together' at this point.  Though my brush line was timid, my inking was still stronger than my penciling. This problem was a mixed blessing, and type cast me as an inker for several years.

But i learned a lot too, namely how best to *not* to ink a page.

Looking at this page,  brings it all back.

- Sam

Three Entities standing on some 'shrooms.

Nola has three Spirit Helpers:

 Raven, Bison, and Camera.

They're not 'Spirit Animals', because one's actually an inanimate object.

Why a camera?

Well . . . given all the goofy crap i dream up . .

. . . a spirit camera isn't all *that* weird, it it?

: )

Thanks for checking in. This week: big-ass LONG post coming up.


Fer' sure.


Really.



- Sam

Urp likes toes. . . and Cap America.

A Hollows page my old pal Chris Ryall. This one's raw, so Minus any washes i usually add in photoshop.

What is it with me drawing toes? Maxx clipping Julie's toes.  Urp slurping away. I guess it's okay if an Urp is doing it though, since he's a pet and all.

Below is a this goofy old relic, a cartoony Cap. America doodle for a comic club news letter, obviously before i broke in.  Underground comic influence.  Plus retro 'zip-a-tone', added by hand.

Just throwing up these little ones to stay on everyone's radar. Don't worry - gearing up for a loooonger  post this week, so stay tuned.

Sam

Couple of Vintage Pics from 'The Big Big of Twout'.

Couple of images from the big Book of Twout.

Constable Mcloudin in ireland was one of the early witness of the Magic Twout.

From 1932, rare photo of one of the early Magic Boxes, constructed of vintage typewriter parts. I tried to build one of these in my garage but it got mold damage.

I was partly inspired to put the Twout History in a book by Guitarist John Fahey absurdist and funny album notes. Sufian Stevens is another favorite who's songs dig into history and create a world of their own.

- Late Sunday.   Snuck just in under the wire today, didn't i? : )

Sam