character sketches

some of the cast

the old devil-on-the-shoulder trick

brothers

These are recent sketches of characters from my current work in progress.  I'll probably regret putting this up, as the final artwork is still a long way off, and by the time I draw them for real, the characters will probably  look somewhat different.  Oh well.

how to make comics and influence people

Books -- sometimes they are big.  And red.

A little while back I bought this enormous tome about one of my biggest influences, Jaime Hernandez.  From the introduction (by Alison Bechdel): "The Locas stories may have been, in part, a masturbation fantasy -- the women are certainly beautiful, and drawn with an unmistakable sexual vitality.  But that same vitality -- voluptuous, palpable, acutely observed -- infused everything in Jaime's stories, from the telephone poles, to the exhaled plumes of cigarette smoke, to the folds in a sleeve, to the precisely calibrated tension in the ropes of a wrestling ring.  This drawn world had a pulse."  Yes.  I think this is why I sometimes get hung up on doing backgrounds; I want everything in the panels to seem like part of a living world.  I know I'm not quite there yet, but I'm trying.

In conclusion, I am aware that tons of people have said that J Hernandez inspired them to do comics, but I'm just gonna get in line with the rest of them.

recent random

This doesn't come off quite as well when you can't see the physical edge of the page, but oh well.

Baroque-esque pattern design, revisiting an old theme, and a Little Shop of Horrors vibe.

20th century men

Based on the cover of some book about doctors from 1964 (hence the date), though I did not draw his stethoscope.

Muddy Waters, from the photo inside some collection cd.

I drew the good doctor just last night.  Muddy I drew about a year ago -- how time does fly.

two sets of twins

I'm not going to try to explain this, except to say that the bats started out as being a completely separate thought from the girls, and then they ended up looking like part of the same (somewhat goth-ish) scene.

Everybody loves cave babies.

Apparently I've had a thing about twins lately.  Your guess is as good as mine.

back to haunt you

A little while back, somebody laughed out loud at this sketch (admittedly, this was after a couple of beers), but anyway, I figured that was a sign that I should post it here.

yelling dog

 

I drew this just now, while I was supposed to be working on the rough draft for my graphic novel.