Trout-a-verse

Daily Thoughts as i Work...

2012-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

Sorta had some... creative indigestion the last week and a half - butt looks like the ice is thawing. Thanks for everyone's patience.

Instead of the usual talking about what and how I paint, i though today I'd what thoughts pop into my head during my usual daily routine.

MORNING:

3:30 am ~ wake up, look at clock, still not 4 yet. Getting up earlier than 3 usually makes me feel like i was up all night. Why so early? Had insomnia for years, the two low budget movies I made cured it. Hauling my butt up at 4am, almost ALWAYS means my heat hits the pillow like a baby that night.

I dreamed something about a roof shingle.

3:46: Still not 4 yet. Try not to check my clock. Think of other stuff. Various deadlines, juggled in my head. Some late. Some not. Remember a painting i wanted to start this morning, using a roof shingle I found while walking our dog yesterday. It's lying i my studio. Visualize what i might be able to look forward to today, and what i'm dreading finishing. Feel guilty about not posting on the blog.

3:54:am: ~ Lie in bed, watching the clock for the next six minutes, waiting for 4am so i can officially get up. Stupid because i'm awake anyway. Decide not to beat myself up about being late on the blog.

4:00 am ~ Okay - NOW... i can get up! Tip tow down the hall past the dog so i don't wake him up, slip into my studio and flips on the lights, since 'it's dark outside still. Love working mornings, no distractions and there's a peaceful quiet, perfect for whatever floats to the surface.

4:03 am ~ always save any really creative ideas for this time of day, later it goes, the less creative it usually gets. It took me three minutes to muse over this trivial idea. I see the Shingle in my studio, lying on the floor. Inspired. Determined to post on the blog today, with a new painting.

4:05 am ~ Breaking out the pens and brushes now. I like the grainy texture on the shingle, decide to use it in a painting, see if i can match the colors/textures with paint and sand and pumice.

4:10 am ~ Several other jobs call to me, but i figure if i can get this Nola painting done in an hour, won't feel too guilty. I decide the back of the shingle has this soft feathery texture, and it's MORE interesting than the shingle's top side. So i glue that front down to the canvas.

430 am ~ I mix up a combo of Acrylic, glue and detergent in a cup.. have to work fast before the glue dries.. kinda pointless because acrylic is like glue and hardens too, but i love the weird surreal textures glue makes, (esp. with bits of other debris trapped in it.)

4:45 am ~ Am having fun now. decide to add a few different nola faces on this page, very random and raw looking, the dirtier the better.

5:01 am ~ More faces. Their all over the place now. I cut out and down a bit of bristol board now, and ink and color Nola's face right over the back of the shingle. My hand starts to itch a little, must be tired.

5:25 am ~ going past my deadline now to finish in an hour.. hand feels like splinters. - then it DAWNS on me what this weird texture on the back of the shingle is, it's Fiberglass!!!!! Holly crap. I rolled around in some of that as a kid, took forever to get the hundreds of glass splinters out of my skin - Yikes!

5:30 am ~ I quietly ( so as not to awake wife and dog) wash, soak actually, my hand on warm water, trying to work out the splinters on the kitchen sink, cursing my idiocy for not realizing it was fiberglass!

5:43 am ~ amazingly, my hand didn't get too many stickers on it, just the palm side. Back to the studio. Now what do i do? rip it out of the backboard i glued it on? I actually glued it onto the cover of one of my big brown sketchbooks, so it'll get all over my table every time i open it. Double crap!

5:50 am ~ Sneak the sketchbook out into the shed and use a hack saw (as QUIETLY as possible) to cut the sketchbook cover off the book itself. Lucky it comes off pretty easily. I think of what a weird funny little story this might make for the blog, but right now, it doesn't seem so funny.

6:00 am ~ already lost an hour on the fiberglas-hacksaw fiasco, I decide Screw IT, i'll just KEEP the shingle in the panting. Won't scan it for fear the glass fibers might scratch the scanner surface. Just snap a photo of it, that'll do.

6:00 am, editors at DC are getting into work now by 9, or checking their emails/text. I get a few, one editor is happy with a short 5 pager I did. Still have not looked at the printed Batman Hatter book DC sent me a comp copy of. I cringe at any printed work i do. So there it sits.

I have an hour till my wife gets up at 7 and we start breakfast, get the dog up. Meanwhile, from 6-7 i get some pages done for various companies.. I think back on how many fans I inspire or disappoint, or both? Maybe both at the same time? This idea cracks me up. I start a painting of nola's mother and father, Nola's mother's tummy pregnant with Nola.

Seems a nice gentle thing to draw between vampires, super heros and zombies. Which are cool too. Both side of my brain enjoy feminine softy fuzzies, and little boy gross-out, power fantasy stuff.

I get four more pages done, finish the nola painting, pencil Nola's parents, and start a...

Tree painting for an upcoming IDW project. It's almost 7:00 am.

My wife opens the studio door and our little dog jumps on my lap. Thus ends my morning... and time for breakfast. After that i'll dig into these post comments and see what's up!

Plugging myself and crap lying on my studio floor.

2012-02-01T18:20:00.005-08:00

Anna Breslaw wrote an insightful and cool article about my stuff HERE, so thought I'd pass that along if you haven't seen it ~ thanks Anna!

Also, (and it's a little cheezy plugging myself), but i got word from DC the Batman Hater book popped on on the New York Times top ten list. I am just vain enough to say: yay. Course, being Bruce Jones WROTE it, and Batman being IN it, i''m sure all of that that didn't hurt either.

Here's a peak at the type which i cut and pasted into this very blog.. in dramatic RED highlights.. (subtle huh?)

HARDCOVER

1 X-MEN: SCHISM, by Jason Aaron and others. (Marvel Entertainment, $24.99.) Cyclops and Wolverine are at odds over the future of the X-Men.

2 BATMAN: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, by Bruce Jones and Sam Keith. (DC Comics, $22.99.) This original graphic novel tells the tale of the first meeting between the Dark Knight and the villainous Mad Hatter.

3 THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, VOL. 1, by Hergé. (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99.) Three adventures, one graphic novel: "Tintin in America," "Cigars of the Pharaohs" and "The Blue Lotus."

Okay, enough sam shamelessly plugging himself crap.. here's some ART - cool stuff i grabbed off the studio floor because i'm LATE on a bunch of comic stuff..

Above is the original (un-photoshoped) Secrets cover i'm sure you'll recognize... (since this is sort a 'batty' post.)

.. also un-used poster for the comic book legal defense fund.. with a bunch of characters from the trout-a-verse all tied in together... (note the skinner Dana, before i added a little meat to her bones!)

..and lastly, a panel from the Nola graphic novel I'm still monkeying with.

Just wanted to add... without all your guys reading me over the years, stuff like the the Bat book, or Anna's article, or YOU guys continued patience, comments, jokes and never-ending SUPPORT on this friggin' Blog, you guys are the reason i keep cranking this stuff out!

I'd like to think we inspire each other. Judging by the amazing art work many of you are all doing too, my greatest contribution may not be any one published series of comics i did, but inspiring weird wonderful artists out there, that they are NOT alone... and weird, is good. Tolerated. Can even flourish. Hey, if a madman like me can find fellow minded weirdos, then there's hope for us all, eh? : )

Okay, THIS... will have to do (for a few days) ~ until i slay this current batch of deadline - wish me luck gang!

- Sam

Another Dana, Lobo & Another Abstract

2012-01-31T07:19:00.000-08:00

Here's the original Logo page for Batman Logo... a photo copy actually. Came across it by accident today.

I've always felt the less color on lobo's face and body, the better. Even the best colorist tend to over-color him.

The way Simon designed him in the first series... white face against black... it just as so much punch in how the contrast is, doesn't it? i just thought i'd throw it up here for fun.

Started this Dana one last week, so i'll finish it this morning.

again, trying for 'less is more' on this version of her.

Side by side..

keeping it light with the face shadows..

everything's either black colored pencils or reg. number 2 pencil. Also a watercolor brush.

a little more buffed on her arms, small boobs, tighter tummy, rounder checks on her face.

sorta apples and oranges really, isn't it? I mean you could waste all day picking parts from each one you like better.

I'm kinda surprised, i though i'd like this new one much better, and i do like it. But it's not 'better'...

just a different mood.

Much more detail in her orange tank top too. Not sure why i emphasized what i did, i think it's just organic when you redraw something, you lose some things, gain others..

Here's an abstract I started a while back, added a little more to it this morning.

It gets a little busy towards the middle, but the top swirls seem pretty interesting..

Abstracts are hard to justify really, aren't they? They barrow against everyone's patience, understandably.

But i'm still drawn to them.

with these cropped photos, you can almost get a better sense of it than all at once. It's like your attention gets focused on certain sections... it's almost like comic panels, isn't it?

I've often use abstract paints I've done as backgrounds in comics i do, just for fun.

I think i still need to blend some of the acrylic white paint with the white out pen, which is much cruder a tool..

but that's about it for this one. no process photos on this sucker, sorry. But you got some of that on the Dana one above.

The 'mom in the tub' again.. a reoccurring theme in Nola's life.

okay gang, glad your digging everything so far, have to play catch up this week, but i'll try to get something else up this week for sure!

- Sam

My REPLIES... to comments!

2012-01-26T05:35:00.000-08:00

Hey boys and girls,

Finally got around to answering everyone's comments from the last three posts i did, so you may wanna jump down to the bottom three.. see if i never answered your question.. or if you wanna hear me make dumb mummy jokes along with everyone else. : )

Oh crap - look what happened? Four more pesky followers snuck in there and blew the 400 followers limit we maxed out at, but what the hey: I'll never turn down 4 more fans, followers, lurkers.. whoever want to check all this goofy stuff out is totally cool with me!!!

Here's one you have seen,

and one you haven't.

If your bored, check out the longer post before this one.. some cool 'mommy' stuff in there. No, not Mummy... Mommy. ; )

- Sam

A Nola spread, and Dysfunctional Moms & Daughter stuff!

2012-01-25T16:39:00.000-08:00

WOW!!! - we made it to 400 followers. Not sure what the heck that means, but it looks cool up along the side, eh? YOU guys did this, so much THANKS to all of you for still checking this sucker out!

..to celebrate here's a splash page from the Nola graphic novel (still in progress) -

Why is the pic above sideways? because if i posed it to the biggest size, it'd partly be obscured behind the column on the left and we'd not see the mom's face. Course i could have reversed the pic so mom's face is visible on the left, but then the 'mommy' logo would be backwards. See the nasty complications of digital trickery?

Pssst ~ Hey GALS ( or guys too ) - this post has some 'Four Phases of Mom': which means i talk a little about dysfunctional moms & daughters for a future Nola storyline, so it's all crammed down there in the middle of this post somewhere.

okay... more crap awaits. Here's another panel for the Nola book. I'm gonna do it twice up, but i didn't have a piece of bristol wide enough, so i taped a few inches on either side..

It'll be a long skinny panel showing Nola's on the living room floor and dad in the upper left corner.

The first piece of paper i drew it on got so ragged from all the erasing that i traced it onto this bristol, which should hold watercolor much better. Hopefully the 'line' where the two pieces of bristol butt up won't show up once it's printed.

This will be fun to paint, SOMEDAY, but not today.. for now it awaits in the corner like all the rest of scraps lying around the studio.

so, what else? Finishing the arm fox holes guys...

Here's a couple of half inked panels from the the DC 5 pager. Well, my part is 5 pages, other artists are drawing the rest of the book.

It's very strange to be plunged into a story where you know none of the characters. Sorta like walking into a movie in the middle, no clue what's happening. Thankfully the editor had tons of reference. I warned him my style will just stick out like a sore thumb, but he wanted me anyways. But it's sorta cool.

okay, between inking those, i'll take a small break and finish this..

i penciled it a few weeks back... totally forgot about it, but it's a nice way to show Nola and Dana's mom in four distinct stages of her life.

Here's something interesting, i erased the dana figure on the end, because this pages goes in Nola's book, so the only evidence i even drew Dana on this page is thee two photos on the blog.

okay, i guess it's not all that interesting, but whatever.. i gotta talk about something between the pics, eh? here's i've inking the '60's Mom's' mini skirt.

Now I'm jumping to 'Earth mother' mom's flowing sun dress. Yeah, that big-add think brush stroke is brush, i just added a colored pencil to soften the edge a little.

okay, here all the warts as exposed, this is not super detailed on her dress, and since the book will be printed over-sized, it won't shrink down much, so why am i being so sloppy here?

because years of boo boos have taught me the sorry of kill one's self adding TONS of delicate ornate fine bush or pen work, only to foolishly dumping a layer of color wash over it and watch all that detail dissolve or get muddied away.

Any detail i do add will be towards the end. Amazing how crude artwork looks up close, isn't it?

It's a wonder how much less crappy it looks when your nose isn't inches from the paper. So, Earth mother mom's dress is in pretty good shape.

now we'll hop over to start in on Dana and the 60's Mom. Note the total contrast, i love how even the way Nola is painted looks so grungy, hairy eye brows, total bad ass daughter differentiating herself from the slick antiseptic looking 60's mom she grew up under the thumb of.

Now, that's plot, but it's funny how the characters act, effects not only their body language or fashion sense, but even how the artists rendered them.

Or maybe that's just me? i'm probably over-thinking it waaay to much. like everything else i do.

you might have noticed i added some white 'sheen' to the floral prints on mom's mini skirt, just to make it pop. Acrylic white really separates nicely against that recyclable brown paper.

So there's our trio so far. First came '60's Mom' in her 30s, then later Nola's mom vision of femininity matured into 'Earth-mother' mom in her 40s.

Actually i will flip this image horizontally, so that the mom's go from younger to older, left to right. As usual my tendency is to draw things right to left, even though in my mind i'm thinking of them left to right.

okay... so while i've been yammering on about the four cycles of mom, who's this red chick i'm coloring? That's the next phase, back to college and professional mom in her 40s. Older women migrating back to college like ducks to a pond. Older chicks dig 'knowing stuff' i guess. : ) Maybe they are able to absorb more of it more the second time around?

Could be wrong. Maybe it's just THIS mom.. the imaginary one in my head. This is mom at the hight of her worldly powers.. she has it all, money, fab hone, killer career, sex appeal,

yet something is still missing.

Bunny slippers and a macrame sun hat... Senior Mom, the autumn years. 60 Mom is sick of competing in the rat race. Her world isn't shrinking, she's just more.. selective where she puts her time and energy.

She's hopefully older and wiser, but knowing this family, probably not. Note Nola has a pair of scissors with blood on them. They broke in two when mom threw them into a wall during a fight with grandma. Nola names the half pair of scissors called 'Sizzy'. She pasted a dolls eye in the middle of it. Sizzy talks to her and represents her violent side.

okay, ENOUGH Nola crap for today.. these zombies just ain't gonna ink themselves, are they? They been very patience so far during all this dysfunctional mother daughter nonsense.

and what about Dana? Here i've shamelessly traced Dana's rough shape onto another piece of paper. now normally tracing is kinda taboo as you recreate the same mistakes (MY mistakes) my last drawing had.

So why did i bother to trace my flawed imperfect drawing? Not because i'm vain or think it's worth repeating. But because i want it to have almost the EXACT same proportions,

so our focus isn't the different proportions or posture of the two figures, but hopefully there will be a difference in loser more free style in this stripped down version. I'm already liking this one better...

Or maybe not? maybe i'll freeze up all over again. let's find out when i finish it up on friday morning.

Nola, Dana and Various other crap...

2012-01-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Random panels cut out and thrown onto a sketchbook. This is what I've been lying on my art table with during the flu, which is pretty much gone. The flu, not the drawings. Because i lost a week - 'course ....Everything is due at once! So.. here's a little bit of everything, jumping around from project to project.. trying to finish a.s.a.p.

Nola Book: I made the mistake of mentioning to Oni I had several hundred pages of the Nola book finished for a about a year now. So how is that news greeted? Why, they somewhat annoyingly asked, "well, ahh... why don't you, like, - SEND us some pages then sam? Grr them!

They're right. But... also not as easy as it sounds. Yes, they raw pages are.. (more of less) finished, but i often cut up panels, which i toss around the studio floor before deciding what goes onto what page. I find it's sometimes more creatively freeing than just drawing them in... or dropping them in digitally.

Above is the same background page, but with different panels dropped in over it. Looks totally different eh?

Obviously I don't just drop them on the page so it's visually pleasing.. but also TRY for each panel to have some point in the larger story. So, it's tricky, takes time. sometimes it flows, sometimes not. Meanwhile I've got a zombie v. robots story due today, a short DC story, some Aliens pages due too.

But I'm also squeezing in this Dana piece too. I'm a little picker on creator owned crap. Not that i don't TRY to do cool stuff on a work-for-hire book too. It's not like my brain holds back creativity depending on the book. The muse either comes in a gusher, or just dries up. At least for me.

But i also want room for creative surprises i might not even.. conceive of.. if i just drew regular super hero or horror books all the time, you know?

Going for something different here on this Dana one: a stylized thick outline, and a really light touch on the rendering on her face.. sorta like those Alphonse Mucha pieces?

Only mine will be a more cartoony version of that - with my usual ' Little Orphan Annie' or 'Peanuts ' eyes i always do. The danger with a piece like this is it's looks belabored and loses the life..

I've already gone too heavy, to saturated on her tank.. let's see if i can stay light on her skin. Don't worry about her folds looking so rough, i'll smooth those out a little.

Okay, quite a forehead on her, eh? I can already feel how... pinched? self conscious, the rendering on her face is getting. It's partly because i was so worried about smudges and trying not to over work it.

Crap, see it? I've already LOST some life in her face - damn. I'll do another Dana one in another style, but same pose... to show you what i mean. Odds are if i'm not so fussy over the face getting dirty i bet it'll flow much more naturally.

Okay, of COURSE now that i've a deadline on other books, these partially pages from Nola look soooo tempting, but gotta finish other stuff for now.

Here's a simple job: draw a dog, looking at someone walking up to it. Nice doggie. Course because it's a zombie vs. Robot book, you can guess what happens.

Here's a aborted version of a Zombie i decided not to finish, so i turned the page over and inked another version on the back, which i'll flip horizontally in photoshop, so he's facing the right way again.

There's that's a little better. I still think it needs more dead bodies piled up in the corner. Now, since I've already added a wash, i'll flip it back to the front and ink in some corpses on the front page again.

I'll drop these in digitally too. I don't mind these kinds of short cuts on something in order to make it look a little better.

Here's some doodles of some of the army guys in a fox hole for the same story. I often do a quick thumbnail of a character along side the script. It's just a way to peg who they are at a glance.

It's nothing that would make sense to anyone else but me, just a visual short hand. I bet tons of you guys do it too. skinny young guy, beefy guy with cigar, etc. Now here these same guys are on the second page.

Here's a rough for the 5 pager for the DC job. i scribbled it on the back of a list of chores my wife gave me. (YES, i did them! ) Note the order of the pages changed, pages 2 & 3 became pages 4 & 5. Since I'm dyslexic, i KNEW I'd visually go from page 1 to page 4, so i had to draw some little arrows down to the second row, also color code them too, so i didn't goof up.

I'm sure a' normal' person wouldn't have to go to such stupid lengths. But it's just one way my brain is crippled, but i've learned to work around it.

Okay, back to out little pooch. Doesn't look good for him so far.

I've added some washes to this story because the Editor was cool enough to indulge me by letting it be in black and white rather than colored.

okay, here it is more of less finished. Need to do a few more tweaks, then finish the DC 5 pager this morning, THEN ink up the army guys in the fox hole surrounded by zombies and robots.

Then maybe tomorrow i can take another stab at Dana's face ... throw together some Nola pages... and get back to this page here..

geez... sometimes i think juggling so much stuff... is the only thing that keeps me sane! : )

Thanks for not giving up on me guys!

- Sam

Under the weather..

2012-01-16T05:59:00.000-08:00

Apologize: a nasty dose of flu sorta kicking my ass lately. Yesterday, I felt better for the firs time, than have in weeks! So i figure one more day and i'll be back up to speed. Thanks for everyone's patience.

I know this cover's lo-rez, may have posted this already before,

...but - hey - i figure it gives you *something* to look at until tomorrow..

- sam

Floundering attempts...

2011-12-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, i fibbed. Apparently my rut wasn't quite over... or maybe i just hoped it was. over.

This was a devil of a week for me for some reason. I tried dozens of paintings since my last post and destroyed or ripped up nearly all of them in frustration.

Like is said before i was determined to.. well, if not draw something new,

Then, . . . *this* finally came out totally by surprise.. a few hours ago..

it's a relief in a way.. i was hoping for at least ONE painting...

..that was relatively 'Minimal' by comparison to my usual crap. spare. understated.

..or at least bloody SIMPLE.. not quite so .. overworked?

I think this is what the other fashion ones i did last post were trying for, but failed at.

So, i breathed a sigh of relief...

THEN, weird enough... after i left my guard down..

another one popped on the next page, almost by accident.

i was just doodling a nod to an Rene Gruau illustration i always liked. Here it is, and i inspired by how rough and impressionistic the woman's white gloves were rendered.

i wanted to do my own funky version of something that rough..

sorta like i savagely attacked the paper with a hatchet..

(...or in my case, an x-acto knife..) : )

Now these may not strike you guys as any better, or worse than the other 5 fashion ones i did before, and they may not be. But inside, something feels different here... less repetitive ... course, i know it does look like me, i give up on trying to look different than i how i look, but still.. just trying to reach for something... something ELSE... you know?

Real Life looms as usual: still have a ton of other comic book work to catch up on, but you know how it's almost a relief when your purged from being... (at the risk of seeming pretentious) ... so... creatively *blocked*????

It's not like i'm thinking what i did is so great here, it's more like passing really painful 'creative gall stone'.

just a blessed relief. anyway, sorry for the 'blockage this week. : )

try to have a stress-free weekend everybody.
sam

Drawing Out of a Rut... (or trying to!)

2011-12-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

Today i just HAD to draw something... (sometimes my only way to relax on a day off is to draw or doodle)...

i tried some roughs of some faces... but it just feels like the same old stuff i always do.

so drifted towards some fashion roughs too.. still the same.

i wanted to look different then i usually do. Cleaner. Less 'illustrative' and more 'design-y'... whatever that means.. I love a famous fashion illustrator from the 50s named Rene Gruau. He has a clean classic look, and really has impressive illustration chops.

But on the other hand, i another part of my personality loves modern 'grungy' alternative fashion illustrators like Julie Verhoeven. You may or may not dig her stuff, but i'm inspired by all sorts of non-pretty stuff, though my fashion stuff doesn't seem to show that much.

I'll never look like ether of these two, and i don't want too -just looking for some a creative jump start!

... but FIRST, i need some paper to draw on. . . .found a batch of t old maxx posters in my closet during the move - almost throw out.

now i'm glad i didn't - they backs of these posters will make a nice shiny surface to doodle on,

partly i hope the slick texture will make me think different and maybe use different tools..

secondly because drawing on the back of something, even a poster... takes the pressure off.

i can just toss these afterwords if i don't like em...

but this is already starting to look to pretty and slick,

i wanted it a LOT messier.. here's a big old brush i found somewhere.. might do the trick..

her hair's getting a little big, huh? yikes - almost 'bride of frankenstein-ish'. well, i said i didn't want it to be too prefect, didn't i ? * sigh *

here's a good example what coated surfaces can do, you can rub or scratch out paint textures with rags or razors easily... i did this on some of the Raven illustrations for the Edger Allen Poe book, with mixed success.

But i need to shake myself up, get out of this damned rut.

Okay, CRAP - - still looks pretty much... just like ME still, eh?

Damn. okay, let's try again...

The other one took too long, i think going faster may pop something out... or maybe not,

but let's try this on in about 1 minutes, just to see what blurts out.

remember the point is *against* trying to be too finished, more like a impression or gesture drawing, only in color.

her jacket or sweater is starting to be the only interesting thing about her, huh?

the spiky hair sorta gives her the Punk-ish or gothy look -

again, didn't intend it, just seeing where the brush leads us.. this is the old splatter bit every one knows.

Now... just think about this photo above... both hands busy, so how did i take this? (yeah, i have a self timer, but i forgot to USE it). so,like an idiot the only way that occurred to me was lay the camera on my desk and push the camera button with my nose. pretty pathetic eh?

the only thing that's worse is.. i am telling everybody. yeah, that's worse.

so, where were we? okay, i give UP on sucker! time to move on.

these still don't really seem as radical as i was hoping they'd be.. time for another poster.. (they made some of that julie's eye page too)...

i'm pretty surprised these colored pen-brushes don't bleed through the paper. i'm not even going to pencil this one, ( so lower your expectations) ..

i was late on the other and it took 30 seconds longer than one minute,

so let's try to see if i can whip this one out in 30 second flat - just to see if anything an adrenaline boots pumps SOMETHING different out this time!

okay, this one's done, 20 seconds is too fast. i did the face but forgot to take a pic of that, but i'll take one at the bottom do you can see her face.

ONE more... only let's take out time and do better.. say 45 seconds this time..

wow, forgot to pick up the camera this time - sorry.

it just sort of seemed to finish itself. (for better or worse..)

a while back i did a hulk and timed myself to go fast, people seemed impressed, but remember it's not a race. I obviously sacrifice detail when i fly through these... but i wanted to shake off some dust and wake myself up a little.

Grrr - OKAY- so, maybe it's NOT possible for me to to avoid looking like my usual style, but hey.. it's worth trying. push myself out of whatever comfort zone i may be wallowing in.

now it's time to rest and relax.

have a good rest of your Christmas day.
- sam

Christmas Bison..

2011-12-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

Just did this for my mom (who i'm seeing later today) - hope she likes it ~

Merry Christmas folks!

Asian Lady ~ Final Version.

2011-12-23T11:32:00.000-08:00

Btw, finally got around to answering some of a bunch of Comments in Last Few Posts.. (so skip down to hear me make bad jokes, shamelessly suck up to you for writing in, or just shoot the shit along with the everybody else.)

Okay, now (drum roll) to bring this Asian Woman painting to some sort of ... Dramatic Conclusion.

i'm starting with her face first...

.. this nose of hers always bugged me a little..

..sticks out a little too far.. so i'm moving it in slightly.

sorta hard to see at this angel, but here's a dirty low-rez photo of her nose before, then after, so you can see what i mean..

since we're not in a photoshop fairy tale~land, the only way is to paint over the nose, then rework it inside her cheek.. i

Above, if you look closely, you came see her old nose under the white acrylic paint, where it used to stickiout over her cheek..

So, a little anal... but whatever...

Meanwhile i'll try to touch up some details i want to show up in the ads themselves.

I'm tempted to just fully work some flesh color skin tones down and re-paint her face fresh, but .. once upon a time..

i a ga-zillion years ago... was TRYING to do a Non-Labrious Simple little Brush Study of her face...

..which as we all see... somehow turned into adding the Antique Trout Ads...

..then turned into Defacing said Trout ads... so their all mangled, torn and grungy looking.. (which i did like, though i missed the empty version too)...

..which that THEN turned into moving her nose..

and adding some brown pen work to her face, (which was my way of trying to still keep her face from being totally over-worked)..

and which has NOW it's turned into my feeling like the the Trout Ads are too jarring by themselves.

so now i'm recklessly adding some white Acrylic, to soften the edges where the Ads meet the white Illustration board ...

I have a feeling it could either look Really Cool..

... or look totally Sucky..

.. either way, too late to flinch now.

Now i'm sorta starting to *like* these rough textured edges the tissue gives the acrylic white makes over the Trout Ads, so i leave them rough in some places...

other places, i work Acrylic in more smoothly.. even finger painting it in too. (which is nothing new, lots of folks finger paint - just ask any kid!)

I try to work some darker Red Ochre into the Ads at the top ... so your eye doesn't get lost in all that detail.

Okay, darker on top, with sight spilling between the Trout Ads ... then the bottom getting very translucent.

so, were left with ~ what? (other than this piece of tissue paper i forgot to pick up?)

this.

and this...

.. the FINAL (quasi-bastardized) version of the original asian woman painting!

I think i'm fond of both versions... for different reasons. Glad i took a few shots of the before though, just to see how it morphed ( or mutated?) ... into whatever it finally became.

i still feel... like... *something* ... just got lost in this later Trout version.. i'll always have sympathy for the first brush version of her and all that white behind her.

but it's all moot now. Two hours later, the paint's dried - and it's all over. Each painting we do is sorta just a little snap shot of who we were when we painted it, eh?

And clearly i was waaay into excessively decorating the crap out of this sucker.

But , hey... least i had fun trying something new.

Okay...by Popular Demand!!!

2011-12-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, i didn't JUST choose this version of the dress woman's painting because all three of you liked it best,

*i* sorta liked it better too. Sometimes i actually develop an opinion of my own sometimes, just for kicks.

Course THEN i go and water down (literally) with white paint the background page... so now it's even *softer* a background than it already was...

..which may defeat the contrast of pretty vs. rough. but whatever.

Btw... it's been a while since i've replied to any comments, don't worry, i WILL... this week too.

There a lot of interesting points made and sometimes just cool jokes or interesting things people say i wanna hit reply, but get distracted...

Okay, so here we are. Cody asked if this is for a story - HELL Yeah!!! Every time you see a painting of Dana, there's a whole graphic novel it's part of... three of them actually. I just need to compile it all.

Meanwhile, i figure why not leek it out in little dribbles online, just to get some feedback in advance, eh?

There ya go folks!

Chibi DONE, but started another one...

2011-12-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

I'm too worked up, gotta dive in and finish this Chibi Dana & Nola sucker.

But first ....

here's an idea for a painting - it threatened to be just another abstract,

but let's see if i can't try something ELSE ..

this is actually the back of an old watercolor on some bristol board... i doodled this woman's face, then got uninspired and tossed it. since the woman's face seems like every OTHER sam kieth 1800s profile,

i'll cover it with something (hopefully) better.. These paint drips can be a background might help, or just go nowhere.. we'll see..

more abstract shapes..

enough already -

let's try some doodle of a women's faces on a new piece of bristol.

not sure which of the two face i like better. checking faces out upside down (or in a mirror) sometimes helps me spot how badly the eyes can float off the face,

probably just go with the one i hate the least..

in this case, the lower left.

i wanna work the teal brush color into some sort of dress she's wearing. Going for a THICK black contour line around her figure, but these grease pencil isn't bold enough.

that's better. wow. well, i did say... *thick* didn't i?

think i can make it work though.. see what i mean? about the feathery teal color looking like a 'dress' she could be wearing?

now let's try this.. hand rip the outer edge,

then cut the rest out.

Now here's a question i'll throw out to you guys... i'll paste the woman on the right over the page on the left.

So here's the two options... which looks better? Top? or Bottom?

I know, it's subjective, and sorta depends how 'subtle' ...'busy' or 'interesting' you want your background image.

i'll think about it myself too, then paste it in later this week.

***

MEANWHILE...

Let's finish off THIS bit of madness. ...

...so at least you won't have to keep staring at this sucker in so many posts!

sorry, i just CAN'T add a buncha blood to the second chibi girl's head -

don't worry, i'll come up with something else cool though... rather than brains...

i get enough gory brains shots doing on 30days - wait, those are vampires. not zombies.

sorry. i'm an idiot - always mix vampires and zombies up.

I finally popped for a new ipod. ( yay!) Music fuels art, so i CAN'T go without music..

Here's a trick i use.. letting your brush get dry then blotching the brush hairs... It makes a slightly dry 'diffused' look. i use it a lot to balance out my slick think line.

You can also use it with colored ink too.. see how the blue blur in her jeans has more motion now?

Oops, forgot this pic of what's in the 2nd Chibi's head - TA DA- plushy stuffed animals! No, nola didn't lose her jean color, my photos just got out of order..

Now here's the colored version.

I know, the splatter fluid on the ax's *supposed* to be pink bubble gum splatting. but it's printed a little dark..

so maybe it looks sorta bloody after all. * sigh *

But, hey.. the cute little plush toys spilling out of her head..

..kinda cute right?

Finishing Up (various odds n' ends)

2011-12-15T10:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a while.. had to wrap up the fourth issue of 30days which ate up last week. You wouldn't know it from my lack of posts, but gaining traction, work wise.

I think moving to a new studio, while chaotic, DID result in me rethinking a more intuitive my studio space... what to grab, and what's a waste of space.

Shelves so deep i never reach into the backs, until we started packing... . discovering old dusty paints tubes, cloth, and old brushes i totally forgot i even HAD!

The new studio SEEMS like it's my 'right brain' that's figuring my work space... but it's not really, is it? I sorta have to discover where things go unconsciously... AS i work.... you know what i mean?

Better finish of those two pieces i started last post.. Chibi Dana and maybe the Fantasy Dana one...

Okay, better use up these Cotman watercolors before they dry up. Only a handful left..

I may seem eclectic, but i fall into the same old tools, but this little tool throws down some smeared textures...

I promised myself i was going to not overpower the background here.. to something subtle looking but my it seems like my garish palate just seem to always overpower whatever i try..

i'm going for a contrast, a soft brushy-wet-in-wet wash on the left,

then have a really sharp angel almost spray painted graffiti like texture on the left... attack the paper with some rough fat brush strokes..

This is a cheap 'make up' brush my wife had lying that around i fell into using as a watercolor brush.

..these Steadtler Mars graphic 3000 'half pen, half brushes' make a frosty cool blue when you throw water over them.

Okay, now if i was RESTRAINED.... i just leave it at this. Butwhile i keep TRYING fumble towards a subtler application of color,

i catch myself keep lapsing into more extreme colors.. and speaking of crude colors.. this is partly the old dragging the razor across a surface trick,

and partly the stamp pad trick.

adding a few pen makes to mix it up.. this will get a lot messier once we're finished.

hopefully it'll make this child version of Dana pop nicely.

i guess everyone turns their paper upside down or on it's side... when drawing-paiting something.

maybe its partly a hand drawn habit?... not turning a drawing around is even needed when drawing digitally, is it?

Another watercolor brush, some colored pencils to the log...

then a regular winsor brush caps dropped in for some color up top again.. quite an ugly mess up that poor little girl has to sit under, isn't it?

Okay, let's hop back over to the right side now.. again, temped to just LEAVE it like this.

I always like to say knowing when to talk away is what can save or ruin a painting.

but i obviously don't follow my own advice do i? The pink poppette little girl still isn't popping enough is she?

...meanwhile while i over-analyze it(like i do everything), i'd better add some washes to those mushrooms.

you know what, screw it. let's set it aside and dig into the chibi one.. I was trying not to add to much white out to her eyes, but TOO late!! Oh well.

let's see if i can't keep her colors nice and light, not necessarily opaque looking..

just bright and cheery.. start with her eyes.

now... i did toy with the idea of finishing this in photoshop, but so much manga as that slick look to it.

I like that look, and a lot of other artists really pull it off much better than me, but i may as well play to my strengths.. thus, i like this flawed organic, hand drawn look.

Let's throw in some rosy cheeks.. don't wanna go too heavy here.

Kinda disturbing, isn't it? sorta looks like old 60's drunk underground comic artists mangled some manga. also the blue-gray brush i used is bleeding a little into her flesh.. yikes.. sorta looks like bruises.

Should i can go back in with with some acrylic skin tones so she's less blue?

i wonder ... or maybe i've just been staring at it too long?

- okay, back to the first one again.. i dripped some color down from the top.. sorta bold, or a reeeely big mistake. Heck, too late to sweat it now.

hey, at least i avoided dripping right over Dana and the little girls face, eh?

Sick of second guessing myself, i actually DON'T when i draw, my mind just chases in circles... far after my hands have their way with the bristol and paint. lol

hopefully it won't suck when i look this fresh in the morning. but like i always say, my fans are a better judge than me.

the artists opinions (or mine) should be limited to the picture frame.

Sunday Post! Chibi's galore and Dana, continued!

2011-12-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, i'll finish up the Potbelly Way$hack collab. and the Asian woman next week, plus some other surprises too.

Meanwhile, between deadlines i found my mind wandering... so a buncha scraps of paper on my table today... sorts scattered... like my mind is right now. I felt kinda in a rut with all these paintings. I sorta wanna do something totally pop-culture stupid..

...so i am thinking maybe Ink some of these old Chibi sketches on one of the brown sketchbooks?

..or maybe just do a new one. This ones' been lying around for a while..

Take a stab with Dana as an impossible gag-cute Manga Chibi figure. I don't know why I get into these moods.

Other than a few Miyazaki movies Leigh Dragoon turned me onto, i didn't really grow up on this stuff. Manga or Anima.

Drawing Manga figures is really more of a second language for me, i think you have to absorb tons of this stuff from comics of movies... for it to not seem forced. Which this does seem to me, but whatever. Just for fun.

I guess it's those two sides of myself, ONE is into 'plush toy cuteness' and the OTHER side, 'big-ass ugly weird monster' stuff. Oh yeah, the third is obsessed with dysfunctional mother daughter ... but that's another story.

Since this is so cute i wanna throw up I sorta *have* add something really sick into all this cuteness - so how about Dana's sister, Nola floating about her head - and taking an ax to a second cute little chibi figure?

...don't worry, when it's finished.. wont get too bloody or gross. It'll actually be sorta affectionate... once it's funneled through my warped little mind, promise! I can't believe I'm not the only one who's both attracted... yet also annoyed... by the cute over-kill of the whole Chibi cuteness stuff.

but, now that i'm drawing Dana.. maybe i should switch to this old classic Dana doodle...

i did this - what? maybe a month ago?

kinda hard to see with such light pencils. she's in her army jacket, over a mossy tree stump.

bet you did't think i'd ever get back to this sucker, did you?

Yeah. me either. My studio is littered with TONS of un-finished crap. Like most studios are i bet.

I promise i won't bail on this one... at least i'll finish inking up her body. and the tree stump too.

the weirdest stuff pops into my head when i'm inking - most everything is unpacked, yet i *STILL* can't find my friggin' Ipod!!!! grrr!

yeah, i have old spare one.. but it's so old it only has like 30 gigs of space...

but the new one is STILL missing. i'll eventually find it though.

too cheap to pop for a new ipod, because THEN i'll probably find the missing one - buried in some unopened box sooo - aggravating.

sorry, what's all this to do with a Dana drawing? nothing. my mind just wanders when i ink pages. ( i did't say it wanders to anything interesting, did i? ) : )

I enjoy inking with different colors, sorta wakes me up. Now let's add some of the army jacket shapes...

Sadly, these pen-brushes i'm using are are NOT water soluble,

so have to throw in some water colored pencils.. to blend in some color.

well, it looks a little less unfinished now, eh?

getting there...

i know, her orange shirt i just added does looks garish, but i'll tone it down so it's doesn't pop out so much later.

okay, back to 30days and will post some more next week!

sam

SATURDAY: 3rd Power Post!

2011-12-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the great feedback in the comments section! I'll get back to replies on that stuff this weekend too - Okay,

Thurs: Done -

Friday: Done -

sooo... here's Saturday post! The pic above is Wa$hack's painting he calls 'Anne', which he passed long for me to finnish a while back...

.. which is hard to finish, because it's darned near finished already! - so i had no choice but to paint OVER something... * sigh *

Oh well, i sure as heck knew i didn't wanna paint over that awesome face he did on towards the top! So the sneaker leg gets painted over..

still can't get this eye white enough... the acrylic isn't thick enough.

since I am sorta obsessed with potbelly these days, let's use some flesh tones.. some reds, browns and such..

It's pointless to texture with a tissue this early. since i'm just laying down base colors for now.

seems so sacrificial to scrawl in grease pencil over another artists paintings, let alone this ugly blotch of Acrylic. But that, or Oils.. is the only think thus surface will take.

Also Jon's drawn over with my stuff too, so i shouldn't feel guilty. It's all good...

so that's sorta the point. Covering each other up, for better or worse. It never fails to amazing me how something can 'materialize' before your eyes... it's not the same when ii pencil and ink, there's something about color that seems different for me. It has a life all it's own.

let's see... nope, a flesh base color doesn't help either. I think i just need to paste in some csolid white right into the eye, then paint over that!

There, at least that sucker is solid WHITE now.... course the body is still one hot little mess isn't it?

Try to lay in some darks... these always weight it down for me... maybe it's because i worked in B&W doing comic pages for so long.

Not sure what this is supposed to be yet... but the ink drips nicely.

how does this look so far? Too mad the ink will dry, the highlights on the wet ink look sweet. I guess i could go back in... and add white highlights to the black ink drips, couldn't i?

Maybe later. For now this Potbelly guy is looking a litter less bleak. I still am not thrilled with his skin texture... kinda goopy looking. But i can fix that next round. Time for some lunch.

Okay, Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last 'Power Post'... whatever the heck a power post is. Just some dumb thing i made up. : )

Till then,
- Sam

Asian Lady: Phase II

2011-12-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, in case you forgot.. i did a oversized (for me) painting of an Asian woman last year...

I wanted to work her into the Dana comic, so I printed out some art I painted of antique Trout Ads from the early 1900s.. these I carefully reproduced, and they will show up in the Dana stories too.

The idea is to make a collage out of them behind the Asian lady.

But just like the painting itself, i didn't want it to look too perfect. That's why i deliberately flung pant splatters on the woman's kimono.

Tedious to cut them all out. I don't think anyone's seen these ads yet, i've spent years piling them up. I'll hand paint over them once their pasted onto the canvas too.

Like wise, i wanted some of the ads to be readable... and some just bunched together in a really messy way, like dried garbage..

So i had to tear and wrinkle some up a little. This part was really pretty cathartic. Usually your pussyfooting around art to pretty it up.

Acid free glue will get the ads to stick, but first i'll add some sepia brown with stamp pads to the background, before pasting the ads in.

Careful around the face...

I spread them all out on the hood of a friends red car hood- because i was short of work space. Tried not to get glue on his hood!

burnishing down all the little ads.

In a way, it seems like a cheat i didn't hand draws these onto the canvas. Yeah, i could have. I mean, i drew the originals, so why didn't i do it on the painting too?

Because i just wanted to blend what is obviously a real printed ad image in with my hand painted work. It's *supposed* to look 'pasted in'...

The grungy old vintage ads... juxtaposed with the idolized image of the Asian woman herself.

Yeah, it looks pretty icky while it's wet, but hopefully it'll dry looking better.

So there we are. Just gotta let it all dry now. Not sure if i'll paste in more ads in the blank spots, or just leave them as is... don't have to decide right now. I bet someone might glance at the before image above, then how it is now and totally freak out - "oh NO, you ruined it!" lol

Yeah, in a way i did. Or maybe not. It depends on what you value.

Weird how it starts by hand (my drawing them), then they're scanned, printed out, defaced 9meaning i crunch them up ) then are pasted down, then ENDS by hand too with me painting over that. It's like the computer and printer are just two more tools.

Now the only bit that bugs me is I''d like to mover her nose over a little.. maybe add some more cross hatching line work to her face?... hopefully i won't OVER- work her face.

Plus i'll need to go in by hand and repaint over most of the ads.. i doubt anyone other than us will notice (or care) how much time i've foolishly lost on this sucker, but so what.

doing this goofy assed crap, makes me happy.

...re-paitng is a job for another day.

That'll be asian lady 'phase III'.

Mystery cover.. and MCP 90.

2011-12-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's not a friday post, but i had to throw this one up just for fun. I haven't a CLUE what this is a cover too...

it's not a Marvel Comics Presents cover, but i remember it was published by marvel DID publish it at some point during that time period. The girls face is a little awkward, but most of my women's faces tend towards that pinched look.

Here's the rough sketch for it too... weirdly i eve kept that. So can anyone know WHAT comic it's the cover too???????

_____

This one you may remember.. notice how the white out shows up in this first down shot?

..yup...

...yet another ubber-detailed MPC cover.

The classic 'vines' one...M.C.P. 90.

For some reason, a ton of collectors inquire about buying this one.

it's weird because the vines are the most impressive part, not wolvie or the girl. But if i drew Vines without a super hero.. it's suddenly not collectable.

I understand why, be cause i was a fan too. Still am. But it's also so puzzling once you grow up, isn't it? Our obsession with popular super hero characters being the most prized.

I guess it's whatever you grew up reading... when you look back, it suddenly seems special, eh? This and issue and MCP 86 are probably my two favorites. dunno why. It's not the detail.

I guess this one is because it seems like such an non-obvious super hero cover. peaceful almost. Can't believe i got away with it.

Okay, this is getting stupid, only so many angels i can photograph it from, eh? Enough nostalgia crap already... back to my usual weird ass paintings for the next post!

- sam

Four Power Posts: THURSDAY!

2011-12-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

I've been sooooooo behind in posting, that i decided to make it up to everyone, so here's a flurry of 4 posts: one Today, Friday Sat and Sunday, to catch us up. You guys have been awesome about waiting for me to whip my new studio into shape so here's my way of rewarding your considerable patience!

Jon Way$hak where my new 'Chickens' page was... and since I'd flaked and hadn't done one, i decided i'd better get my butt into gear and at least START one. (Never mind finishing issue 4 of 30days and a TON of other stuff - but that's another story..)

This one is kinda interesting, Jon sent me a page he did with a colored background image i could paint panels onto... plus he added that asian woman i painted onto the page too, and a little panel of a cool and creepy guys face with a smile. I'm using with some brown pens to start, (mostly because that's the only color I've unpacked so far.) ...

... now i'll skip UP to the corner of the same page... to add poppette, looking down in her pajamas.

She's basically a child hood version of Dana, who'll appear with the profile dude in this story, to try and explain the plot in a re-cap of chaotic events thus far. Now back down to profile dude again... my version of Jon's smiling guy.

Keep going back and forth.. they balance each other nicely - innocent and creepy. Add some pink pens... i may as well dig the other colors out, eh? I'll be using them eventually.

Thinking about the profile while i finish popette.. Not sure if i wanna add tons of detail on the guy, or keep it loose and rough. Hard to know until i get down there again. For now it's safe and pink up here.

We'll see. May as well add some pink moss she's sitting on too.

Okay - their keeping each other in check. Trying to find my own version of this guy... trying to make it mine, for this page anyway.

I love Jon's face, but don't wanna totally copy it.

There's Dana again, watching over us. And the asian woman too, her presence is felt. stupid how you actually THINK this way when your drawing, huh? Or i do.

Maybe says more about my depraved world-view that it does other artists. Okay, back to spooky guy. sorry about the shadows, my thumb keeps blocking the flash.

I'm trying to rough him up a bit with markers... he seems to stiff and lifeless right now. Starting to lay down some color markers flesh tones too.

Wasn't going to fill in color on dana, but may as well.. she doesn't have much punch otherwise does she?

Now she jumps out a little more, eh? Still wanna keep her soft, not too detailed, since she's the fluffy childlike plush-toy part of my brain.

Let's try to pull this fellah together once and for all. adding some water to the color pencils should help. Oops - my thumb again!

I'm starting to feel his losing his edge. Washes can add subtly but also dissolve your line work too, nothing worse than having to go back in and re-draw TONS of lost line work, buried under a color wash!

You know what's missing? Black!!! Sure, it looks ugly as sin right here, but i think i can work it in, plus i want it to seem sorta rough and blurred ... rather than all pretty and over-rendered.

Okay, still sorta blah huh? don't worry, i'll go back in with some acrylic highlights and tweak it once last time.

so much for another script. More comic scripts get used as acrylic pallets... always looking for a surface.

Okay.. now some white out pen too... yes, totally crude tool, but it can give a you pure concentrated white that acrylics white can sometimes lack.

This is pretty much it - remember it will be smaller too... the originals always look pretty crudy up close. Maybe got carried away with it... it's just one panel on the page. I could tighten it up around the eyes, but that defeats the point, huh?

Cheese cloth can blur it and add extra texture too.

Now some of the same creepy word balloons like Jon added... those help..

Back up to add some cliffs and foliage ... which again looks dodgy but remember it'll be washed out with water.

Now these are just two panels... i won't put you through the same steps for these ones i added of another shot of the asian woman in the corner... or a balloon headed guy besides her.

One more quickie shot of the profile guy... this one doesn't need so much time on it. Better?

Okay here's the pencils for the page after it, but that will have to wait for another day. Deadlines on other stuff call.

So that's about IT for now... Now all i need to do is fill in the OTHER panels, and we're finished!

okay - now off to the next post for tomorrow.

- sam

...guess who's BACK ?

2011-11-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

Landed safely in my new home/studio... more or less. Sorry a week turned into several.. Was able to get online again today for the first time in weeks - sheesh!

I know you probably already saw this Bonsai painting above in the sketchbooks, but here's the non-digitally fudged version. I think I just made it more narrow. I'm actually thinking of dumping non digital version most of he art in those two books into a future larger collected book down the road.

Okay - NEW crap: i grab a few pics I took *before* the move... so here's some overdue peeks at the Batman Mad Hater crap. I'm told the trade out right now.. which may be stupid posting these b&w pages, because you can check it out in color on the stands anyways... but what the hell..

It goes all across the board, from more noodley semi-detailed bat stuff..

To wildly simple cartoony styles, so it's all over the board, style wise. Since Bruce Jones who is a personal hero of mine, wrote the story. So, unlike my stories, this story may actually make sense! : )

But on the other end of the scale.... this one may be kinda interesting - remember that old mixed media post I did awhile back? Well, many of those close up pics were from THIS one single painting.

Here's the back of the two different pieces of bristol i used too, mostly because i ran out of room after I painted phallic looking little fellah there in the corner..

Here is it right side up. I call it Phallic Duplicity. I figured why even try to pretend it's one painting anymore? Why not try to emphasis the two different styles/sizes?

Promise i really did *try* to keep one side simple... and deliberately wanted to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the other side...

But both sides are pretty busy.

Overworked.

The above pic is pretty dark so some of the softer hues get lost - here's a netter pic of it.

Then all hell breaks lose on the left.

and ... Yeah, that IS pink fur in the upper corner.

Glad to be back! Cool of everyone for not giving up on me. - the followers even kept growing even while i was gone - spooky! : )

I'll try to make it up to you the next couple of weeks with a ton of stuff i did before the move I've been sorting through. Funny how even in the middle of a chaotic move, creative crap never slows... it just seems to always keep happening..

Especially the paintings. It's weird... like they've a mind of their own. I hate how pretentious that comes off as, but it's sorta true.

Expect things to pick up.. posting wise... this week for sure - i'll make it up to every 'bored' one of you! ; )

Slight break for a Week...

2011-11-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah. I know some of these things are pieces i did a few years back or posted before, some are new -

But this will have to do ~ afraid i'll have to skip a week of posts since i'm moving to another house this week.

Will be back online in a week or so... Meanwhile, enjoy a few of these goofy things to check out..

Thanks

- Sam

Sketchbook Stuff

2011-11-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

I'm crunched for time right now, so i thought i'd throw up a few old sketchbook pages.

These were around the time of the Broadminded story i did... note the girls belly aching to pop out a little?

Some of the 'plot points' are littering these art doodles.. sometimes i'll do them in color, one for each 20 page issue or chapter.... Obviously i lost more time on Charlie's shoulder and bicep and the Ira's girlfriends outfit that i did anything else..

above, just doodling between the of blue lines in the notebook.

I always like looking at how different artists-writers plot a story... it's always different. Some let the visuals set the pace, some write it out, or a little of both. It's telling ... what key words a writer uses to sum up a sequence. Be it either thumbnails or written sentences.

Interesting that above, Four Women was part of a group of ideas... Legs too.. 'Kalamazoo' eventually morphed the Soccer Queen story in later Maxx issues. Special Ed was something my Cousin Dave and I kicked around, then abandoned.

The 'Mother Daughter' idea went through dozens of several incarnations... which finally grew so large i split it into four parts ~ which later became the four stages of 'Dana' life. ( I know, where *is* it, right? Coming SOON, i promise!) It's hard when things seem 'alive' in my head, but before they come out of my pen of pencil, they don't exist yet for you guys, huh?

What was 'Men and War' on that list above? Don't even remember. I do know 'guy' action stories, politics or war issues never hold my attention like dysfunctional mom daughter stuff does, so i imagine any War plots... just faded away.

I sometimes did these on the backs of pages too, so some have bleed throughs that look kinda ruddy.

Lucky a few are on one side, so their less busy. I also was fiddling with those colored pencils, soft leads, a little color... but mostly just seeing where a sharpie took me.

There's always something 'revealed' about sketches, it's so personal. Flawed. It's like nothing's polished or fixed yet. It's all raw and exposed there, for better and worse.

I always thought my fashion stuff dated way back to Zerogirl, (remember the square headed mom?) But i can see some of that fashion stuff scattered even these old sketches too.

Fashion designs just never pops up much in super hero comics, do they? So it never found an out let. Just bubbled away. These are a lot like everyone else's doodles, which is the point. Just letting the our imaginations go where they go.. even if it's a dead end.

Batman Figure: with humongous 'Sam Kieth' Jaw....

2011-11-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, here's a link to a new DC Batman Figure that's been in the works for a while. Looks they've finished it up, which is cool. Below are my rough sketches for it... duh.

And some specs based on that by the DC folks.

This is always weird when I see something i drew in a figure. It shows me how not used to thinking through a 3D drawing... esp. when i face what depths a sculpture has to wade through.

There's lots to cheat when you draw on a flat surface, isn't there?

It's based on some of my goofy art, so it's obviously maga-distorted.

Here's the uncolored rough version, where i asked for the ears to go back a little bit.. we even when further back with the ears.. (as you can see on the finish figure in the first pic above).

Typical humongous 'sam kieth' jaw and all.

They done a few of these black and white figures, so i was flattered they even asked.

Also big thanks to Shawn Knapp over at DC for lobbying to get this sucker made - thanks buddy!

So that's it for now.

- sam

Moldy Regrets

2011-11-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

Epicurus was a satire on Greek Philosophers brilliantly written by my old pal Bill Loebs. The page below is probably my favorite page in in the whole series. I just like the balance in it. he fact I left the right side of the page blank.. (for a change).

At the risk of seeming immodest, don't think i could have done these kinds of free brush strokes... or negative space back in Epicurus vol 1.

Most of my fans have at least heard of Epicurus, but of course it's hardly shocking a subtle satire on greek Philosophy won't sell as well as Wolverine. It has, pound for pound, probably the more 'tiny little lines' of anything i did, along with the MCP Wolvie covers and the Nemesis stuff.

Now.... HERE'S something someone no one has seen ever before, check out the *whole* cover below.

I was too big to print this way, because i added waaaay to much line work in it...

big difference huh?

I thought it might be cool to check out how much got cropped.

Down by my immodestly HUGE signature on the left... is where some water damage from leaving it in a moldy closet.

It molded up all the way along the bottom too.

Kinda a shame, but it happened a lot back then. Mold. Damaged Originals. Poorly stored.

Here's the Frazetta 'Famouse Funnies' cover, that partly inspired me to do it.. I don't think i coped the cracks too much, do you? It was meant more as a humble wink to him. Not sure anyone would get that but me. Or maybe it's obvious.

Here's a unprinted promo piece for retailers, so few fans ever saw it. Now in this one my signature's microscopic, heck... maybe something in between next time sam? : )

At first it was fun adding all the pen and brush work into every crevice and corner in Epicurus. But something i didn't like was how the texture of everything looked sorta slick and greasy in early Epicurus stuff.

I remembered when i showed it to Dave Stevens, who was something of a hero of mine... he said it looked terrific, but he wasn't sure where else i could go with all the noodling.

He thoughtfully said, "...maybe less Hal Foster... and more Alex Raymond?" Meaning less meticulous line work (which is what Hal Foster did), and instead more fluid brush work.. (which Alex Raymond did so wonderfully).

I couldn't wrap my head around his words at the time. So I just kept on adding detail for details sake.

Here's yet another example why original art collectors loath the white out pen, esp. when the paper browns or yellows over time...

yet another angle of all the cracks in the rocks. In the one above you can really notice the white out parts.

My favorite re-print of Epicurus is a spanish edition. I read it a lot... well, not read, asI don't speak spanish. But the production on this version is just phenomenal.

Here's the three headed Cerberus I did,

Again, partly kinda inspired by the roadside diner bulldog Dave Steven's drew in his Rocketeer comic.

Below are the original art for the bulldog panels...

the spanish edition of Epicurus even gave a nice warm tint to the rough sketches I sent along for it.

So, here it is saying something about the book in spanish, of which i haven't a clue. But it sure does look nice, eh?

The first 2 Volumes or Epicurus and the follow up years later, (hopefully) showed a major shift in my growth as an artists.

I never got the chance to show Stevens the second edition of Epicurus, the one where i was finally able to loosen up with my brush strokes like below. Regardless of if you like the splash below, it was a breakthrough I was able to value a different line. Different sensibility.

Not bragging or anything.. but i was so impressed that i'd finally been able to 'get' what he was talking about. It may seem off such a detailed artists Stevens was the one who inspired me to step into a more flowing direction..

It's not like i didn't have the chance to tell him, or just say thanks either. I'd see him at comic cons back then... but was always shy about coming up. Dave was a private guy who tended to like hanging with the older pros he admired, i didn't wanna make it all about 'me'. I put it off. Plus, I knew we'd both be around. I figured... someday i'll tell him.

Then, he passed away.

So now, i humbly share this with all of you guys.

White-out boo boos i've made.

Regrets i've had.

Stuff i've discovered, both in real life, and in my art.

Thanks for listening.

- Sam

MOTHer Process Pics - Part 2

2011-10-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

New Chickens page up today ~ I've added a link to it below 'Yup I'm the comic artists..'... easier to find that way.

...okay boys and girls, where were we?

Oh yeah, .... here.. this weird vintage chick with the eyes that don't match..

Then remember this? I added a big messy glob..

.. of acrylic paint to her hair..

so now let's see about how i'm gonna work it into the rest of it.

i'm kinda feeling my way here.. looking for some texture middle ground between the pasted in pages and the brown paper itself.

The stipple brush helped. and i'm trying to stay with sepia or orange/ocher area ... color wise.

This one above is a little dark, but you get the idea.. Orange to he rescue..

drip some concentrated drops down vertically

Turn the page this way and that, guiding (hopefully) where it drips next..

Slowly... starting to come together a little more. Maybe add some more black to the edges like i did in the corner there, above?

Yeah, darker seems to be working..

I can't believe i'm saying this, given how garish some of my work is, but this seems a little gaudy looking. Getting a little busy... all over the place with color?

The eye does't know where to find a soft landing does it?

Okay, this may be a great idea... or it'll totally ruin it. But i need to focus attention somehow in such a busy chaotic mess don't i?

Maybe i went too dark here?

Probably, but too late to change it now. I mean... i *could* work back into it with lighter color.. but the paper's starting to dry and buckle now.. (thats what i get for asking to much of sketchbook paper, eh?)

Oh yeah... now i remember. i was gonna add some random writing to it..

..stream of consciousness stuff.. from the play itself..

True, i do risk making it look even more busy...

but i think.. if i place the text *between* each strip of paper..

...maybe it will pull it all together? more or less?????

gee.. not really sure on this one. At least it looks better than when i started, eh? I can't look at it anymore, it's too much of a brain freeze for me..

Meanwhile, i'll let it set it aside to dry... while i think about it. Art always seems different the next time you look at it with fresh eyes.

so there ya go.

Moms.

Moths.

Fashion.

Have a cool weekend!

Nemesis Covers & Sketchbook stuff

2011-10-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Before I could get any regular work with the big two, I landed a cover gig on some Fleetway reprints of a comic called Nemesis.

Above are some lighting doodles i did on the back of the cover.. to dope out how to ink the arm shadows...

It the time I was really proud of these... as I'd never pulled anything of like this yet. However... here's how the colored covers looked ..

I'm not trying to rag the colorists, (no idea who it was), but... ahh... I was a *little disappointed*?

So much that I'd put into them... like all these alien faces... had gotten totally lost once colored. That would happens over and over in comics.

Below some of the rough layouts for this cover... notice i was big in blue pencil back then.. I had fun dreaming up alien heads on a wall like deer or elk heads. the little dot on at the bottom was my favorite.

So these original covers.. gives you a second chance to be seen fresh.. notice i threw in one of my 1800s gals too... no one seemed to care.

Looking back, it's glaringly obvious i wanted to show off my inking skills and these suckers. Along with the Epicurus and the Mavel Presents covers, the Nemesis covers were me at my most 'anal', brush stroke and detail wise.

Even though no one noticed them.. when i look at the originals, i'm still kinda proud of them, for what they are.

Weirdly enough, during this same time I was doing the opposite of this... doing things like this little brush one here.

My cousin Dave expressed how surprised he was i did this, and that it looked 'nothing like me' at the time, it seemed so full of energy and unlabored. I always kept this 'Kata' drawing and this a change in my thinking to try something like this..

I also plunged into watercolor too... but my palate was pretty saturated and crude.

I was trying for something ... ELSE... something different than the over-rendered hyper detailed covers... but didn't know how to get there. Yes, i liked those too, but it's like i had to sustain some other part of me.

I found some old sketchbooks from around then and noticed i was starting to doodle bonsai trees even back then.. but still couldn't negotiate the fun energetic (but crude) sharpie notebook sketches with logo like super detailed covers..

also was dabbling with soft lines like this watercolor - this was exciting to me, but i didn't see any comics that looked like this, (this was before the whole painted graphic novels in the 80s and 90s flourished)

Below i tried this too in these story i did with an is in it... almost every panel done with a different style..

It wouldn't be till years later I'd find a way to navigate between all these styles somehow into a cohesive whole, and i'm happy that i still struggle with it. In a good way.

okay, back to finishing up that MOTHer drawing i started.

Short MTV Chickens Interview.

2011-10-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hey gang,

...here's that short MTV Geek interview I did with Jon for the Chickens series - check it out.

I'll also make sure i finish up that MOTHer page by friday too! I think it may come together if i can hand drawn in some type in and around the faces... might bring it all together.. we'll see.

I'll also get some replies in on the latest comments on digital vs. hand drawn stuff... wow ~ that threads grown into a life all it's own, eh? I know, it's on all our minds these days.

later
- sam

MOTHer: The Play & Process Art ~ Part 1

2011-10-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

MOTHer - a play the words 'mother' and 'moth' ~ is something I've mentioned in passing before briefly. It'll be a cross between a play and a musical. It has a few songs, but it's mostly a weird little stage play.

Some producers are already are interested do a modest budgeted version in the Bay area... and i think we could raise any remaining money on kickstart or something if needed.

For now, it's just a series of script and sketchbook pages... making a mess, littering my studio floor.

My goal was for it NOT to come out as a comic. Only as a book full of sketchbook pages, paintings and the printed stage play notes, probably later next year. Or when ever it gets finished.

But here's the idea, in brief:

An insomniac female illustrator, and mother lives in the late 1800s and works in her art studio, atop a art nouveau looking lighthouse.

Her life cycle starts each night, as she sleeps all day. Each dusk she has a half a dozen friends-assistants-helpers in the lighthouse that over see her clothes sowed and bought by the city folk below.

But the twist is: she doesn't just designs and make clothes: her body literally morphs into whatever decade she's dreamed up. Thus she's 1900s mom, then next night she becomes a 1920s mother, a 1930s.. and so on. Her body literally changes into, say, a 1940s style dress with the big shoulder pads, for example.

The idea, (weird as it sounds) is an exploration of how different periods of history and fashion not just affected women, but inhabited and transformed them. Each evening after MOTHer sheds her skin from the (1950s for example), (or clothing) for the decade...

Each decades Mother forms a moth like cocoon at dusk, then transforms hatches into her own daughter, a NEW mother for the next generation, (in this case, the 1950s). Then the daughter leaves her mother each morning, which always is a huge surprise to Mother, even though she knows from precious Moth-Memmory Generations 'this is what daughters do'. Find passion and adventure outside of the nest.

Her daughter (during each time period) is off to sea as a pirate, or in a civil war, or various other worldly adventures.. This slightly echos Puccini's Madam Butterfly and Henry David Hwang's M. Butterfly, but if you haven't seen either, it doesn't matter. Thus the image of the Cio-Cio san (Madamn Butterfly) awaiting her lovers' return by boat, in my MOTHer play ... becomes a heart broken Mother awaiting her daughter's return.

Why a moth? No idea. It just felt right. There's many moth references in Bimbo too... also in Carlos Castanedas work. There's also tons of magical and mythological stuff about moths nocturnal flights on delicate powered wings. Markings and Pupa they hatch from. Moths (in my mind anyhoo..) ties all these wildly different fragments together.. the lighthouse is where she's drawn too, for example.

So for now, here's a few rough sketches. Also i wanted to take a single page I've painted already, and show how i tried to worked it into the MOTHer sketchbook itself.

above, I start by ripping it between her nose and lips...

careful now...

now one more rip... one between the two women's faces i think..

..but first lemme add some contact paper to glue the back of the watercolor paper.

..burnish it down so it sticks on there.

Peal it up... this stuff is pretty sticky, but an gummy eraser will get rid of the sticky bits.

Okay... here's my three pieces. burnished down pretty snug.

Pretty sterile looking right now, isn't it?

At this point it'd be easy to lose confidence in the whole thing - i thought about ripping it up here, but decided to push forward and see if some added color won't help..

Yup, these guys again. I may be relying on them too much, but like everyone said in the comments, it's not the tool itself, just the freedom it creates when you use it, eh?

Brown pads help a little, but we're not out of the woods yet..

Let's try some orange now...

and a quick montage of acrylics laid down in a hurry too...

Okay, this weekend i'll finish it up. Don't worry, it may not be as strong as the woman in stripes above, but it'll look a LOT better than t does now...

Weird how all this technical art crap is carried out... all because of a bizarre little abstract idea that starts in our heads. The first idea for MOTHer was a Cronenberg type of little short film.

But i realized i wanted such a surreal story to have some heart and be 'metaphor focused'.. and not just a excuse for visual excess.

I wanted it about characters you care about, not cool freaky visuals alone.

As absurd as it is, doing on the stage, made me make it realer ... on a personal level.

Hey. Even if this sucker never gets made, or IS made and is a total flop (which most plays are) - i'll still consider it a small weird-ass personal victory to see it on staged in the bay area..

and maybe film it in high def video, so everyone who ISN'T there in person that that night... can check it out. Maybe post it on a blog or something?

The cool thing is, no one goes into into either Theater or Comics get rich.

Just because we're foolish (or lucky enough?)...

to love the process of creation itself, eh?

Nostalgia Time: Maxx & Batman 'Mixed media' covers... sorta.

2011-10-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

New Chickens update ... plus I joined Jon in posted some more process painting pics on the Chickens website... check it out... also just finished an interview with MTV Geek about it. Will pass that along when it comes out too..

BTW: I'm scanning these a little bigger, so give a second click for a slightly larger view of the pics below.

Okay, i admit it - i threw in this batman one above up front, just to catch your attention. It's from the Scratch mini series, and there's more bat-crap below.

But don't skip down just yet ( as if i could stop you?) ..

BEFORE we get t that.. here's something chalk full of nostalgia from the dusty old sam vaults.

Here's an old maxx cover.. i forget which one..

It's funny how mixed media was still sort of tentative for me back then..

This is the first time anyone's seen it out side of the printer version. Not like it's some big deal, just kinda weird i never got around to throwing this old stuff up.

Before some of you put on your rose colored glasses about this old thing, please remember a few things about this sophomore effort from me? Mixed media wise, it's kind of a cheat. The paper i used behind the cat? ... all those swirls in the background?

Not *my* doing - just a textured paper i picked up at an art store. Same goes for the multi-grain looking straw looking crap on the borders.. i had to staple it in in fact. (pre-glue days)

In fact, outside of the figures and the tree, the leaves I added in the corners are only quasi- original thing I pasted them in.

Looking back on this i can see how i struggled to pull it all this stuff together... not super successfully either. The cat is so white because it's pasted on bristol of course. Not that I hate it, it's just kinda wonkey...

But, this point *is* where I started to really explore all this really eclectic mixed media stuff I'm knee deep in now with bonsai on leather and stuff..

Now onto some Batman covers from Scratch. It's odd how tall and distended bats got here.. i must have been looking at old Jelly Jones covers, huh? : )

Speaking of folds, (and no one was... but I remember Frank P was asking about them ) ... here's a few 'zigzag' & 'half lock' folds in Bats cape. Not to get off on the subject too much...

Here's that George Bridgman page listing the folds I mentioned in last weeks comments and link to Frank showing what I mean.

..and here's some more subtle folds I did with Dana last week..

But back to bats for now...

Funny how below bat's tummy is very softish Wrightson-like brush strokes, very delicate? Which seem totally at odds with the almost violently raw looking Sienkiewcz-like pen strokes on bats shoulder. The whole spectrum of styles right there in one cover... ouch.

No wonder some fans don't 'get' my stuff sometimes - who could blame them with how i bounce around? : )

Not admiring it, just surprised how ill at ease they really are together. Or maybe doesn't. The colored comic 'makes' (persuades?) ... our mind blend the differing styles in a way, doesn't it?

This an unused splash from Batman: Secrets i threw up top.

Maybe it's a stretch to call this 'mixed media', but i remember with that series the office i worked in had a 11x 17 photo copier, so i was experimenting, pulling art in circled as the machine would copy.. (an old trick for distorting crap before digital took off. )

You can see the paste ins where i tried to blend the india ink and the photo copy here..

and here..

Again, fledgling efforts to try something NEW... not always successful , and I still fumble and flounder a lot.

It's like a have a bigger 'artistic vocabulary' now, am less intimidated by mixed media, and now I do try MORE things now that before...

But truth is I also have less 'fire' or 'drive' i did in my youth. So one of the trade off's of aging i guess.

and here's ..

2011-10-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

... the other half of my personality.

gosh, notice those smudges on the left hand side? yikes - me thinks somebody's scanner glass needs cleaning ~ !

- sam

Hulk Cover for Heros Charity

2011-10-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a mid-week speedy little one, since late on *everything* this week.. I decided to time myself to see how fast i could whip out this cover ...

Remember the deal with these is you draw on a small comic with a blank cover, so you've only got one shot (unless they throw two books in the package!)

Nothing like a blank cover to intimidate, eh?

Just jump in and don't thin bout it..

It's easier once you get rolling. Keep it lose, don't give to much to the pencils, try to throw the life into the inks and colors instead...

...that's what i'm telling myself. I tried one of those pen/brushes... but the blacks tend to fade a little. Were 30 seconds in so far.

so I'm switching to a regular brush now, a cheap-o grab bag of brushes. I used to use expensive red sables watercolor brushes, but india inks just east right through them.

I still use nice watercolors brushes for... watercolors though.

The brush is losing ink, so time to switch to black watercolor pencils to ad some washes...

Added some pen lines to his arm... but still a little rough. Those little lines'll get lose in the color anyhoo. Best save any detail till *after* it's colored.. otherwise i'll just doing it all twice.

I'm too cheap to use friskets so I use note pads for a mask on the art, i've done this before. Looks tacky as hell since my note pads are a rainbow of colors,

...but it's fast and easy.

I'd normally paint in acrylics, but they tend to buckle cover stock, water color doesn't soak in well either, so I'll use either sparingly. Right now a light tough of a stamp pad to dab down color's my best bet.

Better now, getting there.. what time is it? crap - 12 minutes in.

I gotta stop letting snapping pics slow me down. Just gotta add sine sandy marker to the olive green on his arms and knee.. add some greed around the edges too. a little hair on his back.

..few Acrylic high-lights on his lip, arm, knee.. hurry hurry...

So that's IT- 13 minutes flat - and finished. Warts and all!

The last pics the scanned image - I made it a little higher rez so if you click it again, you can make out some extra detail on it, (or what passes for detail on something so small.)

Okay, hope it helps somebody in need out, and hope you guys like it too!

- sam

Dana background & some Sneak Peeks & Links...

2011-10-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple of goodies Jon Way$hak and I are jamming on.

First is this wonderful painting he posted on his blog, called 'Anne'. This one he started, and it shows. Jon's an amazing painter and it shows. This one is currently sitting in my studio, and now it's my turn to add something to it, trouble is i'll have to paint over some parts he's already painted ... which is a bloody shame,

But hey, he had the same problem with THIS piece I started, that now Jon's was stuck with finishing ( which will soon show up in the Chickens strip were doing together )... I have to disagree with Jon here, I thought what he added was killer, really beyond what I had in mind. But we always crap on our own stuff. I guess it's a hobby with us. ; )

Also here's a peak at the first few pages of 30days 1... a few folks passed it to me, and said some kind things.

--

Dana Back Ground

Okay, here's a process one again. The tough i layed out in my sketchbook, and the finished tree next to it. Sorry i finished the tree before i grabbed my camera, when paintings comes out of me.. it's hard to pause long enough to take a pic.

Paints always go faster for me than black and white art for some reason.

This I did these two, one painting above, the tree one below, because I'll composite both in two layers in photoshop later. I also wanted to see how much i could do 'by hand' up front.

Above are those water colored pencils that are so easy to work with. I kept these trees lose because there won't me much detail in them.

Nothing against digital, but everyone knows all the photoshop tricks and plugs in these days. My only change to surprise anyone (or surprise myself) is by hand.

Now things might get interesting.. here's what'll go on the other side of the foreground tree. a big clump of brownish rocks..

So.. once again colored pencils, some japanese Tombow brush pens. These colors dissolve when waters added. Plus some Dr. Martin's dyes Golden Brown in there too.

Let's see where a bigger brush takes it now... slightly more yellowish than i wanted, but i can work some more earthy browns back in while it's still wet.

Notice how softly those nice brown brush lines are fading into the water color yellow-brown? Sadly they'll probably will get lost too once i add a rougher texture over the whole thing.

What did I say? Oh well. I guess i could have tried to keep them, but the point isn't nice brush lines here, it's a rich dark rugged foreground texture. This rough smear is stamp pad ink worked in with newspaper smeared across the bristol.

Okay, enough upside down crap, let's aggressively smear in some pastel & acrylic orange highlights on the rock crevices. Try to recapture some some of that motion on those brush lines that got lost.

Okay, still not popping, screw it, may as well go with something really high contrast, good old black oily higgins ink.

It will dry and dull a little, but the blacks should hold up if i don't add to much more on top of it. Let's see if i'm smart enough to leave those black parts alone..

Just to keep me out of trouble, i'll skip up to the other trees on top. So far this looks pretty awful right now, messily added brush again,

But the tree details aren't the point here, are they? More shape and color.

Wonder what a little water can do to soften things.

A little browns up top and that's about it.

Later i will add some white paint to simulate light shinning through the trees, but today i'm rushed so i'll throw that in in photoshop for right now, but i'll add it by hand later.

The reason I separated high contrast background vs. soft focus foreground is the moss hanging off the tree, yeah, i could have hand painted than in, and have before.. will again.

Okay - here's the finished version. ... so what is this for?

I call it "Dana's Imaginary Back Ground".

Dana has a Dream world she goes into to escape her mother's phone calls ( nothing autobiographical here, promise mom!)... anyway, I've been working on what this world would look like. I think this is still too boring and real looking, so i will add some bits of food growing off the trees like fruit, only it will be popcorn and candy.. what do you guys think?

But I got this idea AFTER i painted this, so maybe next time..

...still wet Asian & Pissed off Mommy

2011-10-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here's something I came across preparing to move, it's a painter version of the second Maxx cover. I bailed on it because I was still timid about painting back then, did it in black and white instead.

Not sure if i should finish it now, or just leave it as is? Any thoughts?

Few other random things this time too... here's a couple of sketches..

Above is a little cover painting of some tree and moss for my wife. The other's a plump version of a Frazetta woman, unsure if i've posted these before. Maybe.

Here's something NEW: ... because i finished it only one our ago.

Yet another doodle from the Big Book of Mom... (which is turning out to be less about moms and more the exploding number of fashion doodles/paintings).. but whatever...

Here's the same page, with just a woman's head.. I wasn't wild about this page when i first did it... doesn't this woman's chin seems a bit too long? Maybe it's her hair being so big in the back that just makes her face seem longer?

Anyhoo... so an hour later,

here's what it started morphed into...

The gold/white acrylic paint was too wet to scan so I had to snap a few pics for now.

I eventually was so dissatisfied with the additional faces I drew...

..that i just gave up and added , I just gave up and added the Pissed off Mommy on the next page..

The mommy one is self explanatory. I don't drink coffee, but i know lots of women who do. Not that their all like this, before hand. More an excuse to do something fast, frenetic and slightly neurotic looking.

After that, I could went back to the first page and slowly worked some gold and white into the Japanese girl in a kimono on the left.

It all started from just mixing those two colors. And being pissed off. At myself.

It's curious what can happen in an hour's time, how moods affect art, for better and worse, eh?

Here's some sketches I did of my wife's face i did for the bimbo book. Two middle panels... (one with a smile, the other slightly less so..) while technically better, don't impress me as much now.

but these later ones in the sketchbook feel less forced to me. I keep trying for a 'facial gesture' drawing, capturing the spirit of that look in her eye...

They are only a few inches large, while the painting on the far left is about 3 by 4 feet, so though gesture drawings often work better large for me,

i still feel there's something about this sketchbook pages on the brown paper than come closest... but i could be blind as a bat...

..what do you think?

And, (for those fans of 'tiny little pen lines' out there) ... here's a unused cover for Marvel Comics Presents 122. I turned it in, but the editor told me I'd miss counted and forgot there was only six parts, so i did an extra cover for nothing. It wound up being used in some comics interview magazine later. Gee.. seems like a lifetime ago.

It's funny that, it's not worth as much to art collectors, only because it wasn't technically published, though i think it stronger than some of the covers i did that were published. Weird huh? But again, the name of *that* game is tiny little lines.

Comments Stuff:

Interesting the Danman Can asked about Tamara de Lempicka. I'd seen her art many years ago but forgotten all about her deco-y cubist-y style till you mentioned her. Overall, I like it, but I've always sorta had mixed feelings about her stuff, not sure why. Think it may be my ambivalence towards Deco in general. More of a Nouveau kinda guy, not that one has to choose.

Yeah, Jennifer Kraska mentioned she likes the half tone ojo too. I always scan my stuff this way now. So cool artists can scan their own work now... and not leave it to the comic companies to fiddle with.

Flattered Joanie Koontz would even consider a bimbo tat, but I've seen a lot of my art on guys/girls bodies before, which always blows my mind. I wasn't fishing, but it does my heard good to know some folks out there, read, 'got' and enjoyed bimbo - thanks for the attaboys!

Frank P - yeah man, I agree about crumb. So many undergrounds artists opened the door, but after sex, drugs and rebellion for it's own sake, was sorta a dead end for me, at least story content wise. I found Roberta Gregory, and her bitchy bitch strips and some of the early woman comix artists stories filling that void, which later morphed into indy comics, personal stories. But art wise, Crumb was amazing.

Champloo, (from Argentina right?) - glad your liking everything, the sponges i use on most of my pencils and brushes are because my hand get so sore, the handles literally dig into my hands, which speak to A: holding the brush less tightly, and B: using soft tools to not only soften the brush/pencil, but also to *remind* me be aware of the pressure I used to draw!

Sam ( no, not me, i sorta though it was me at first too, but different sam!) asked about the a local band called the Bananas lyrics showing in my Bimbo comics? Yeah, I asked the lead singer Mike if he minded and he said it was cool. Your the first person who asked about it! Above is both the Banana Lyrics bimbo page, and non-lyric version.

Isn't it actually less busy page minus the song lyrics?

Paul O'Keefe brought up some valid reasons why the Bimbo comic is sorta underrated among the stuff i've done. Yeah, I thought of it being oversized too, sure as heck be easier to read with all that wordy type, eh? (not cause your canadian, i say that all the time!)

That's it, your finally done!

Anatomy of a Bimbo (...comic, that is. )

2011-10-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Below is a page from it My Inner Bimbo, a book most of you have heard me talk about. In this page, the bimbo transforms from a sex fantasy, into a pink seal, and finally to death itself.

But before we get into all of that heavy crap...

Here's something FUN and a piece of art I love: Farnese Hercules. It's a pretty famous greek sculpture, and the roman copy of it is even better. Interesting how different it looks in dramatic relief lighting vs flat lighting. A whole different mood, huh?

I was so impressed by this work, i decided to payed homage to it in My Inner Bimbo comic.

At the time i was pretty proud of this page. I dug the original page out today to look at again. Yeah, I know it's technically not as realistic as the sculpture, but obviously not supposed to be. You can see i also wanted to see how far i could push that arm hugging the object he's leaning against into a big circular half moon by getting rid of the muscle contour lines altogether.

This morning, since I have a ton of work-for-hire deadlines ... i of course brazenly decided to do take an hour, and pump out some more studies of it. I wondered how different it would look today? Had i changed since i drew it all of 8 years ago?

Obviously I'm knee-deep in the brown paper mixed media stuff, different colored pencils and brushes, but what i was trying to get at is different textures, sharp 'cubist ' angles vs. the more soft lush swirls i tried... which don't think i caught the first time around. What do you guys think? Too different to really compare?

Illustration isn't what i have to offer, there's tons of figure artists who can draw circles around me. So, since i consider myself mainly a cartoonist, (or as Mike Dringberg once called me, a 'stylist', which applies to me pretty well too.)

... i went back to pushing that tricep to ridiculous proportions again... * sigh * ... just cant help it!

Below is another pencil version of Lo's face... which i used in the Bimbo comic... vs. the Sketchbook cover I did a colored version of. The nose got a little bigger in the color one, i never noticed that before.

A friend of mine is plowing through the bimbo comic, and had some interesting things to say about my styles on it - Don't feel guilty if you haven't gotten to it yet, it's probably the least read book i've drawn. Another reason it was 'critically acclaimed', but sold so poorly was... I easily spent about one year drawing each issue, - so it was LATE as hell!

This spread below (the first is raw pencil work, the second has some tones and monkeying in photoshop i added)... but this splash pretty much shows a good cross section of the whole books styles ranges. Like Brian Dixon and Frank Patriot say, all different thicknesses, textures of line.

It's also a homage, nod to this amazing victorian painting by John White Alexander, called Repose. It seemed fitting since the themes in bimbo were all about stripping down the idealized view of female beauty. Plus that swooping gown and black stripe is such a killer visual! Course my modest effort pales compared to the original.

But despite nods to other artists I admire ... and many awkward artistic moments i bimbo, actually... pound for pound... art wise, it's probably the most diverse work I've done so far.

Plus it says the most about me as an artists (let alone personally) than anything i've done so far too.

Above is a page where the main character a man named Lo stays up all night, considering suicide. Thus, his Bimbo ( which is inside of him) also stays up considering the same thing, and a cat urges her on. Pretty dark stuff in real life, but this comic was my way of dealing with it, in a story. Fortunately those days are in the past now.

Here's another example: Technically, I sometimes i cringe over much of the fumbling photoshop layers above... weirdly i'm both ashamed of these, yet proud that, clumsy as the layers are... that's pretty much where i was back then.

Lost of us old farts are pretty lame with using photoshop. Myself included. It seems younger people just intuitively take to is more smoothly.

Here's a few examples of what i mean, the 'raw' page as i call it, no layers. Then a wet in wet i did by hand and dropped over the boards in photoshop, for better and worse.

If i remember right, it's supposed to be a sword wrapped in a blanket Hercules is leaning against. In the comic i played off this by giving Lo a surreal blunderbuss flint lock gun. Then later i modified the same art so the bimbo was leaning against her seal.

Ojo: Bitmap vs. Halftone.
Lastly, I forgot we bitmapped the first issue of Ojo art. Bitmapping converts all the art to sharp line blacks or white art. But my work seems to breath easier and look better in Halftone (or Grayscale, which is the example on the right.)

What do you guys think? I agree Bitmap does sharpens the blacks and line work better. But see how the brush lines on Annie's arm.. and the pillow... show up better in Grayscale?

Seems like there's an overall 'warmer' feel to Grayscale, or is that just me?

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Bonus: Answers to Comments: (these comments are 'decorated' with the last 6 pages of my Inner Bimbo comic - - i tried to juxtipose images from the book, so the focus isn't pretty pictures, but instead just snapshots of Lo's life... it'll seem a little random bit it makes since when you read the whole comic - hint hint!)

.. yeah Cody, everyone mentions my trees and plants. I should do a book of plants/trees... weird monsters... Indy girls... course that stuff sorta pops up in everything i do anyways, eh? Cool that Frank and others are always looking out for known or lesser known artists, i am too!

Without Berni Wrightson or Mark Bode I'd have never found Graham Ingels or a underground guys like Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Skip Williams, Robert Armstrong.

I'm always on the look out for inspiration anywhere. I know not everyone will be into who I like, but the imaginary line between lo and high art is at it's worst damaging and ludicrous. But Once you pass through the door of illustration, there's a ton of cool crap bouncing around what's classified as post modern or conceptual art too... at least from what little I've seen.

I don't think I could have drawn the Maxx series if it weren't for everything from Graffiti artists like Ces53, Shepard Fairy, Tod Hanson, (yeah, some of these guys came *after* the maxx, but i jumped forward in time to get inspired by them), many of whom also swallowed up Bode's style..

..or classic outsider collage dudes like Filipe Jesus Consalvos from the 1930s or Paul Klee, or a couple of new artists I've discovered like Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and one of my favorites is a painter named Ainslie Roberts who paints mostly aboriginal art.

And to close here's a animated short Tony White did about my favorite Japanese painter Hokusai. Who's famous Wave Painting I managed to work into the climax of the Bimbo book...

Yikes - enough art-talk-crap already! ...back to real life, eh?

Painting: "Blossoms, Leather and Cloth"

2011-10-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

PODCAST- Sam Kieth sketchbook - EPISODE 123

Here's a cool podcast with Jason over at 11O'Clock Comics talking about the sketchbooks i did last year ( and other things I've done too ). The whole show's not about my stuff, but there's other cool things they talk about too. But it gives a nice overview of the sketchbooks though.. Kinda worth a listen.

There's some chatter, but the stuff about me starts around 16:00 minutes in, - and if your out there reading this - thanks for the kind words guys! Sorry i missed it when it came out, but then I was pretty reclusive and hard to reach back then.

Okay, back to some goofy pictures...

Here's an interesting idea. i found an old piece of leather I bought at a yard sale for a few bucks.

I'm sorry I forgot to take more process pics of this one, i did take a quick pic before and after i 'aged' it and stained it.

Paintings usually spring out so fast if i don't have the camera plugged in and sitting there, I sometimes forget to record it. So after I stained it ochre...

Then i literally carve into the leather a little square 'vase' shape into the middle.

I added some glitter, glue and the leather took watercolor and ink stamp pads and acrylic which worked pretty well on the surface.

A matt fixative will make sure it all stays there too. These photos are a little garish, but it's much subtler in person.. i guess i could have desaturated the pics, but i try not to manipulate the process pics too much.

Friends have told me they like the raw personal feeling of photos of my art at random angles. It seems less sterile than a straight on formal angel, what do you think?

Then I pasted the leather onto one of my sketchbooks. It will be weird if somebody wants to by a piece of art in one of the sketchbooks, i guess they will have to buy the whole book, won't they? I'd hate to break it up, but i can't imagine somebody wanting everything I put in one of these books.

It glued a strip of old fabric to the left border of it, mostly because the leather was too narrow to fit on the sketchbook cover, but i think the color compliments the leather pretty nicely.

..modest aren't i?

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Here's something *new* we can try... instead of all the process photos strung together, why not show another way it happens.

Sometimes i don't finish a painting all in one sitting. In this case i started a light pencil of Dana on a tree stump yesterday, but decided to set it aside for now. Other deadlines call.

I'll come back to it, and do a little on it each day, then post it in little bits, then once it's finished i'll throw up all the process pics together (if anybody wants a reminder)...

..don't worry, it's pretty light now,

but trust me... it'll really come to life once the washes are added.