Thursday, December 15, 2011

Simon Says #6


My comrade Matt Smith who I did Bee Sting with is doing a series called Simon Says. He's using a different artist for each issue, and utilizing the seedy photos he stole from my safe, he's blackmailing me into doing the sixth issue. The series is set in the nineties and he wanted the covers for each issue to look like movie posters from that decade. Issue one had a Clerks homage. Mine is....Well, if you can't guess the movie I didn't do a very good job so, here you go.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

A fella named Chad Lambert wrote this story called 'Bliss'. I have always wanted to do one of those process blogs. You know, how I do stuff. Well it all starts with a script. Mr. Lambert's was very clear and easy to follow. For you folks who have never seen a comic script it looks like this:

I take the script and do a really rough layout of what it's gonna look like. I always take the lettering into account. You have to have enough dead space to put the words. My layouts are REAAALLLLLY rough. Some people's are very refined. I don't really bother with them that much. Example:

Then I pencil from my rough. This to me is the most involved part of the art process. This is where you make sure all the figures are placed right, all the panels flow, nothing's confusing. I try to kind of make decisions on lighting and mood. Pencilling takes the most time out of all the steps. It makes your brain hurt sometimes, but the tighter you get it the easier the rest of the page will come. I use a simple mechanical pencil. I start off really light and refine and darken it as I go. I draw on 11x17 smooth bristol board. I usually scan the pencils in case i screw up during the inking process:

Then if everything is cool with the writer...Inking happens. I ink directly over my own pencils usually. If I ink someone else's stuff I usually roll with a light box. The ink i use is Windsor and Newton black waterproof india ink. It has a spider on the box. I use a combination of a number 2 and 3 brush, a croquill pen and of course to fill in large areas of spot black, a Q-tip. I usually do the foreground with the brushes and the background with the pens. I find this makes the foreground pop a bit more. Inking is my favorite part because if you bothered with pencils enough you don't have to think much about it...I find it very relaxing too. I'm not sure why.

Then I head over to the computer. I scan the page and open up ol' Photoshop. Photoshop is the most awesome thing that ever happened to comic book making folks. I usually mess around with the levels so my blacks are all black and my whites are as whit as the undies your mama used to bleach for you. I'm an Indie fella so usually most of the comics I do are in glorious black and white. I like throwing a flat gray tone on my pages. I'm not much on gradients or fancy stuff. i like just a flat 20% gray. I have a wacom tablet that I use to lay the gray down. It's pressure sensitive so it's a very natural and easy way to get some depth and extra shading.

Then, the final step is lettering. I do this two ways. If I'm doing something for myself, that I've written I letter by hand. You do this with an Ames Lettering guide and croquill pen. For this story I'm doing it digitally. This is certainly the more popular way to do it. I'm not sure how the pros do it but I go back to my friend photoshop. If you did your work and were anal in the layout and pencilling stage you should have plenty of room to put down your speech bubbles and boxes in a way that leads the reader's eye both through the panel and to the next panel.

That's all there is to it. You go on to the next page, finish the story then sit back and wait for the ten thousand dollar check to show up.......That last part was a lie. Honestly though none of us do this for the money. Being a doctor or lawyer would have been a better plan for that.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

FUBAR: Empire of the Rising Dead


An anthology I am in is available for pre-order through diamond. Please help us get it in as many comic stores as you can.
Talk to your local comic shops and have them ask for FUBAR Volume 2 listed under ALTERNA COMICS in October Previews order code: OCT11 0764

BEE STING FOR SALE!!!


BEE STING
is now on sale at Indy Planet. Buy it for the love of God!!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

My next graphic novel


I'm working on my next graphic novel. I want to refine my process a bit, The Deadbeat was very 'Stream of Consiousness' as far as the writing went. I was making it up as i went along. With this new one I want to lay it out over and over until I'm satisfied. In preperation I've been doing a lot of sketches i did this one with my bamboo tablet. I don't draw with it ever, this is actually the first drawing I've done that is paper free. I went green on this one. Also in the news I'll be at SPX in a few weeks with brand new copies of BEE STING hot off the presses.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Bee Sting Final Cover


I think this is it. Cool blood effect.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Bee Sting Cover


Is this too lazy?

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Free comic book day and Bee Sting




Free comic day at Comics Plus in Macon GA was a hell of an experience. We gave out a bunch of free Curse of Stranglehold/Bee Sting books and met some nice folks. After seeing my pages in the preview I decided to letter it digitally and gray it up. I think it looks drastically better.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Hachimaki



In addition to Bee Sting I have also been working on a story for FUBAR vol 2. It's an anthology of zombie stories set in WWII. The first volume covered the European theater. Volume 2 is set in the pacific. I was given a script written by Mike Isenburg and Oliver Mertz. It was fun working from a script written by someone else. I got to do research and stuff too. I'll keep everyone posted on the release date. I finished all my pages...The time is 2:43am. Hooray.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Bee Sting Art.



I'm working on a comic with Matt Smith. Bee Sting. I've talked about it before. Well, Free comic book day is coming up and I did a little preview of the book. I made a cover which will probably change when the final product is delivered. But check out that and this sample page. The whole thing is an ode to old slasher movies. The genesis of this thing happened when my wife and Matt started talking on Facebook about Friday the 13th part 5. The most hated entry in the franchise to many. My wife and I have always had a soft spot for that one because of how terrible it is. Terrible yet entertaining. Anyway....

Monday, March 21, 2011

SPACE.

I traded and sold every copy of Yonder I brought. Mostly traded, but that's cool. I sold a good few copies of The Deadbeat. Anyone who bought or traded with me there I sincerely thank you. I have a lot coming down the pike including A comic called BEE STING with writer Matt Smith, A comic in the second volume of FUBAR, more Amateurs and a new graphic novel. Can't wait to read the stuff I picked up this weekend. Thanks.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

SPACE

I will be there this weekend. Come and buy my new mini comic YONDER.
SPAAAAAACCEEEEE

Thursday, March 10, 2011

T-Shirt Design.


Ka-BLam is giving away some free stuff if you win this T-shirt design contest thingie. I'm doing this book called Bee Sting with Matt Smith, He suggested maybe we whip something together. As such here it is.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

NEW MINI COMIC!!!!



I have a new mini comic coming out. It's a collection of 3 8 page stories about folks in the Appalachian Mountains. The stories are called "Cowboys and Indians", "Caw" and "Memorial Day". The first two were in anthologies, Cowboys and Indians has been out of print for a long time so I'm stoked about that. All of them beyond location are sort of thematically linked. I'll have it for the convention season. My first stop, is SPACE! March 19th and 20th.