Work in Progress: The Carnival #2 page 12

Working hard on finishing the second issue of The Carnival, titled Den of Thieves. It will be come apparent when you read the damn thing. Finally, finally when you can read the damn thing. Its been a long time coming, this I know.

Just to share a little bit of work in progress, here is the top half of page 12, while it was still in pencil form, about to be lettered.

Yes, I'm hand lettering these on the pages. After looking at original comic artwork for so many years, I've begun to realize how much the panels need the word balloons on the page. What moves the piece of artwork from being simply illustration and into comics, is the fusion of words and text together to form a cohesive artistic whole. Besides, their position also effects the negative/positive of the artwork, adding white into black and visa versa. so expect fully hand lettered balloons and captions on this one.

Anatomy of A Panel: Sandman #16 by Neil Gaiman & Mike Dringenberg - page 1

in the quest to know what a comic page looks like, it used to be that one had only to refer to How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. Fortunately, there were other approaches to be had, and certainly DC and Karen Berger exploited in the '80's, establishing an entirely new version of art for sequential comics.

It was an interesting time to be alive.

Here is the first page to the classic conclusion of The Doll's House storyline which, when collected, would be the trade to launch a hundred thousand fangirls into loving comics, when the industry, in every possible way, had ignored them for more than two generations.

It was an interesting time to be alive.

Mike Dringenberg was a classically trained artist who had no business putting his admirable skills into a monthly book, but he did anyway. His work, seen especially in the pencils, shows just how experimental and innovative he was off of Neil's scripts. Gaiman was not writing classic comic scripts, and the art had to reflect that. So, for likely the first time anywhere outside of the late Malcolm Jones' art table, here are the pencils to Sandman #16, as well as the recolored version printing in the Absolute Sandman #1.

As for me, I'm working away at The Carnival #2 for APE 2014 and looking forward to talking comics with everyone there. I'll have a new printing of  Carnival #1, as well as some prints of the Dick Sprang/yoakum collaboration of the 1950's Batman!

Sneak Peek: Wraparound Cover for The Carnival #2

Finished the new cover for what will be the second Carnival story, and wanted everyone to get a peak at it without trade dress and tones... just pure black and white! A wraparound cover to make things interesting.

The Carnival: New Cover Pencils

Working hard to have part 1 of my new book ready for APE 2013 in San Francisco. If you're going, please be sure to stop by table 824 and say "Hullo!" to Alex Sheikman and myself.

Here are cover pencils to the new book, and, as you can see, I started to ink before I remembered that i hadn't done the scan, so a few errant inked lines are already on the page. Let me know what you think!

Crimson Empire Cover by Dorman & Yoakum

Finished up a great piece tonight, inks over the Dave Dorman rough for a Crimson Empire cover. Oddly enough, the interior was drawn by Paul Gulacy, who I worked with many times. I should have been inking the interior on that one!

Brush, technical pen, Copic marker on bristol

In Progress: Star Wars by Dorman & Yoakum

Not sure where this piece was used, but here are inks, in process, with Copic Markers for tones.

just a li'l something for a sunday night...

Alien by Dorman & Yoakum

A new commission piece, and an interesting one to interpret, since i have no idea if the pencils that i was working off of were going to be inked, or were the basis for a painted piece. It meant that the values of the piece could have been changed significantly by having Dave separate the planes on the art by color, as opposed to line weight. I went in and did... well, what looked right to my eye, that's what. I've never drawn the Alien, even though I've seen it a million times in my nightmares.

Don't get me started on the first two films of the Alien franchise, they're both so utterly brilliant that its hard to start talking about them.

Click the image to embiggen.

G.I. Joe by Noto & Yoakum

Pen and Ink and Copic marker on 2 ply bristol, commission work...

Not being a G.I Joe fan, i had to ask, "who ARE these characters?" Now i know.

Almost Finished: Hobgoblin by Romita and Yoakum

Almost there, just have some touches to add to this piece for a collector. Its inks over a John Romita sketch, and boy, is this fun!

I'll post the finished product tomorrow....

Inks Du Jour: Supergirl and Batwoman by Noto & Yoakum

A commission to ink and tone Phil Noto's pencil work by good friend Steven Woo. He picked up the finished piece today and left me with a new, intriguing one to work on. I'll post that later when it gets finished.

In the mean time, enjoy the fully finished Noto piece. I wish that he would fill in his own work to this level. I've seen a number of his pieces that look almost done, but never seem to get there. Fortunately I get the opportunity to do the work myself sometimes...

I have an open schedule for a little bit if anyone wants commission work, contact me via the blog.

Koh-I-Noor ink, Rafael brushes, Hunt 102 nibs and Copic Markers on bristol