More POTTER'S FIELD!

Here's an interview with the illustrious creators of POTTER'S FIELD.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=10961

And, so the post's not too boring, I slapped together the three covers I did for the series. I scanned and colored them all seperately so they don't fit perfectly but you get the idea. It wasn't my fault I swear.

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Update!

Still recovering from the Philly show this past weekend but here's what's new. JOHN DOE is finally solicited but under a new name (I guess JOHN DOE was too common) POTTER'S FIELD. So that means the first issue should hit in August and Mark and I are starting to beat the drums. Heres a newsarama article that went up recently.

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=116264


Next is BPRD.... Well Im well into #2 and it's just getting more fun by the page. Can't wait to get to #3 because theres some crazy stuff coming up.


Lastly, I did a pin-up for a friend. Rafael Albuquerque is hot young artist whose work you might know from BLUE BEETLE (published by DC). I've met him a couple of times now and he's really one of the nicest people I've had the pleasure to talk to at a convention. His creator owned book is called CRIMELAND and it's really stunning. I knew I wasn't the only one doing a pin-up and since it was a crime book, I was sure everyone would do some cool nior pieces. So I decided to try something different and out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty happy with it and it was fun to do.

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----edit----
Just saw this new review for POTTER'S FIELD. check it out!
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33067#1

Almost final cover

Here's the colored version. I still have some tweaks but I'm leaving it like this for the solicitation. I figure I'll get a bit of distance from it and hopefully improve it later. Sorry no steps but my "process" was such a meddled mess that I wasn't sure how best to show it. Suffice it to say that it was alot of layers, channel play, hue messin', saturation fixing, and all around craziness to get this. I have to get into coloring more so it won't be so trial and error.

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The Process...

Here's a cover I've worked up for JOHN DOE. It's actually cover one of three and the all connect. A throw back to the Jim Lee days of crazy covers. Actually, I just wanted to do collage type covers and I figured why not take it a step further and do one big collage. This here is the thumbnail idea. I kept it vague with just the main elements I wanted prominent. They'll be dense but I'm gonna color it myself so I can knock out linework and fade things back and all that fun stuff.

Here's the rough of the first cover with a bit of ink. AS you can see it's not tight at all as I'm always impatient to get to the inking.

Next is the main elements fleshed out. The rest is really detailed "clutter" so I was focusing on getting these three figures finished first.

And here is the final inks. as you can see it's a bit dense but that'll be fixed in the coloring. I didn't want to do things on different layers because I wanted to have the whole three part piece stand on it's own. Some of the elements will spill over onto the next cover (buildings and names) but the main thing is the map. As you can see from the thumbnail I wanted the main unifying thing to be a map of the area this all takes place with the island taking a more upfront spot on the final cover. Hopefully this will turn out at least semi cool and I don't ruin the the whole thing with my lousy colors.

I'll post the color steps and the final soon. BACK TO WORK!

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My "office"

I've seen other people post a "Whats on my desk today" and lacking all originality I decided to do the same. So here it is. On my desk is a mish-mash of my current projects... layouts, penciled pages, a favor for a friend, and lots of character sketches for BPRD.

Also on my desk... Remnants of Lasagna. Sometimes I'm lucky I remember to eat. I'll post cooler things soon I promise.

***** Fixed first pic. Now it's clickable!

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Busy Busy Busy

Since I started working professionally I never seem to have just one project going at a time. That's pretty much the norm in the comic industry but I always make a point to have at least a couple of things going at once. Being able to jump back and forth from different stories really helps me keep my excitement (not that BPRD needs any help in that department) going from day to day.

Here are some select panels from both books I'm working on now. Both of them are horror books so I get to really amp up the darkness of it all. I really can't wait till I get further along in these books because, as any horror-lover knows, it only gets darker, creepier, and more fun as the story unfolds. The ending to both the stories are so great (in different ways too) that I almost wish I could skip to the end now. I'll try to be patient.

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Fun sketch

I did this today as a break from penciling. I really think inking is the most fun part in making comics. At least for me it is. I do most of the work in that stage and it's always fun to be messy when you are creating. Sometimes I miss it while I get the next batch of pencils ready to go.

I chose a samurai because eventually I really want to do something set in Feudal Japan (maybe a Iron Fist one shot... Marvel? Are you listening?) Let's face it Samurai are awesome and everyone likes a good sword fight. I also want to do other period pieces sometime down the line. Maybe I'll just do a series of them or something.... Food for thought.

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Fun with the Harbinger of DOOM!

Here's the only shot of Hellboy I actually got to draw so far. The book Im doing is actually focused on Prof. Broome and Hellboy isn't but 2 years old or so. Actually none of the regular cast is in it really... I dont mind though because it actually saves me the trouble of pitting my versions of the crew against Mignola's. So I hope to get a scene with more hellboy later but he's pretty much not in the book. Im almost done with the first issue and I wish I could post more but I dont want to spoil anything (trust me its worth it).

Fun with characters!

I know I posted about "making characters unique" before and how I'm always trying to push that as much as possible. One of my favorite things about Alex Toth is how he would have such exaggerated characters without crossing the line into "cartoon". They always held up to realism even when he pushed things. I'm always trying to find that middle ground. Here are some soldier characters from BPRD. I tried to give each one a distinct look and hopefully a distinct personality when it comes to the pages. Also heres a Prof. Bruttenholm with a hat. I've never seen Mignola draw him with a hat but I think it fits him and Im gonna throw it in where I can (Yes.. these are the silly things that I occupy my mind with).

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Knee Deep!

Been busy with BPRD (not a bad thing to fiil up my days with) and haven't had much to post because I don't want to give too much away too soon with this. Im also starting work on THE PACK with Mike Raicht. That one will be going slowly on the side but hopefully I'll get done with that later this year. I already did the preview for it which I posted about before and when I get those colors back maybe I'll post a page or two of that. I've never had the luxury of planning my year out as I am doing this year so I'm crossing my fingers it all works out. After I get through these two I'm also doing something with Mark Sable again which I think will kind of suprise people as it's not at all like the last book we did together. Can't wait for that. Anyway, here's a pencil to ink panel from BPRD 1946. As you can see I definitely do more in the inks (I even added some crosses in the back to make it feel a bit more HELLBOY). Talk to you soon!

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Post- NYCC

The convention was a blast this weekend and I'm loving that NY finally has a big con. Basically because I don't have to travel and the city is a great place to hang. Here's a couple of sketches that I did over the weekend (and I did a bunch too). Thanks to the guys who are posting them on comicartfans.com or messageboards so I can save a jpeg and have a copy. Sometimes I like the way some sketches work out at cons and it kinda sucks only to have a foggy memory of it. So thanks again

ALSO... Scott Allie over at Darkhorse mentioned my new project so I figured it was time to mention it here. I'm just getting my teeth into a new BPRD miniseries that really is like the history of the BPRD. Hellboy and Mike Mignola are at the top of my list when it comes to comics so it's a dream project for me. Hopefully I'll do it justice and won't disappoint any Hellboy fans out there. I'm hoping to make this the best thing I've ever drawn. I can't leave without mentioning Joshua Dysart. He's co-writing the book with Mignola (much like John Arcudi is in the other BPRD series) and he's doing an awesome job of it. I'm not lying when I say I was on the edge of my seat just reading the breakdown/synopsis of the series. It's gonna be a blast! Here's that "mysterious" sketch I posted a while back. It's actually my first crack at a young Prof. Bruttenholm. Don't worry I'll post some other cool stuff soon. Thanks!

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NYCON HERE I COME!

This weekend is the Con and I'm hoping its as big as last year. I'll be at my table in artist alley (Table A139 for you savvy map checkers) with Mark Sable selling some GROUNDED trades. I'll be doing commission sketches as well as FREE sketches for anyone who buys a GROUNDED trade. You heard right! FREE sketches for those wonderful people who pick up some GROUNDED goodness. I'll be there all weekend and I hope to see you there!

Also here's a fun pages from JOHN DOE 3. Mark left the layout up to me (I believe the script said "shovel-fu" and that's it) and I really wanted to play with silhouettes. I like the page and spent too much time actually figuring out how the fight would realistically play out. Anyway, enjoy!

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Baby steps...

With my art I always try to outdo what I've done. I feel like I have so much to learn and my tiny brain can only grasp so much at one time. With JOHN DOE I hope it will be better then anything I've put out so far and so far I think I've succeeded. Of course it helps that you have the talented youngster Nick Filardi on the book covering up my mistakes with his colors. I never thought much about coloring before I saw my first work in print and ever since then I've become very anal about it. Colors can really bring out the best in a drawing or destroy it(I wont post examples but we all know them). Luckily Nick has been around and never punches me in the face even when I nit-pick all his wonderful work. So here's a JOHN DOE page fully colored and ready for lettering.

That's him. Mr. John Doe himself. I really can't wait for this to be put out but I'll be busy with my new project anyway. If all goes well I'll have lots of good stuff this year!

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A new year

It's been a little crazy since this new year started. Projects collidin and problems around. But I can't say I'm not having fun. I wwent to Dominican Republic for the Holidays and brought along some paper and pens. Here are some straight pen sketchs I did while hanging around the tropics.






My main goal was to just relax. I didnt care about making them pretty or even spending much time on them (probably 7 or 8 minutes at the most). Just relax and draw. If only I could bring some of that looseness to my actual work....

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