AlphaBabes Launches!

A is for Aurora

In the tradition of AlphaBots, AlphaBooks, AlphaBeasts and Animal Alphabet, I decided I wanted to do something to get myself to draw, but I wanted to pick something that I wanted to draw, so I combined my interest in drawing women and a love for comics to do AlphaBabes.

Everyone is welcome to submit anytime that they want to, but I'm starting this week with A, which is first represented by Aurora of Alpha Flight. There'll be another drawing for A because my love for drawing comic book women is large enough for two a week sometimes.

I'm trying to do all of these with grey brushpens so like this one, they'll all be shaded, just to make them a little more interesting.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I did this drawing for my lovely wife's valentine. She loves Elvis and this is actually one of my favorite Elvis songs.

Stay tuned over the course of the next couple weeks for info on Jet-Pack Jenny and the Factor of 01 printed collection and a nice little side project that follows it.

Yeah, Hanamori's Circus is dead for right now, it's just not in the cards to work right now.

A Great Two-Page Spread, Ruined In Print

I read All-New X-Men #5 yesterday and was amazed at the two-page spread that Stuart Immonen pulled off with Jean Grey. I'm including it below, so you can see it. I've been impressed with Immonen's art on this series, and his ability to make characters individual, and most of all, tell the story in a way that enhances Bendis's writing. It's fashionable now to hate on Bendis's writing, and while it has its faults, he's handled the time travel angle well enough to make an unbelievable element acceptable in a story that already has the suspension of disbelief.

Unfortunately, the great artwork in this case got ruined in the printing. The problem with two page spreads is that have to deal with the fold in the comic, and a lot of times, that means that along the center of the spread, there may be some shifting and/or misalignment that will affect how the spread is viewed. An artist that understands this will usually compensate by not placing word balloons or important information for the reader in the center area. The previous pages to this spread actually took the fold into account, so I worry that the plan was for this to be the centerfold and it ended up just after the centerfold, meaning that Marvel Girl had herself misaligned, ruining a great piece of artwork. It totally could have been the centerfold, if ads had been moved around and placed right.

Bummer, at least it's available online.

About this title, though. Bendis has a tendency to have everyone talk in the same general tone of voice, he's gotten better at differentiating characters by how they talk, which is good, given how much talking there is in a Bendis comic. Bendis doesn't use thought balloons, which I enjoy. Thought balloons are something comics do well, but are a facet that comes over from prose and comics' pulp roots. Letting the reader know what the character is thinking works really well when you have one main character, like Batman or Spider-Man, but it got overused through the years, so that we knew what every character was thinking. In a story with a telepath, it can prove useful, but when a story is written in a cinematic style, it's more effective to have the telepath say what he/she is reading or show it in visual terms, like Immonen did here. People really don't think in dialogue that much anyway, so I prefer that when showing thoughts, it's done in images. This is a visual medium after all.

Sorry it's been a while

Jet-Pack Jenny and the Factor of 01 will be going to print early in January. My daughter arriving early tied up my schedule of finishing it off and I sorely underestimated the amount of drawing time I would need to sacrifice in the first few months she's been around. I would totally make the sacrifice again.

Those of you who graciously offered to do but still owe me guest art, I'll be in touch with a refresser on dimensions. If you'd like to contribute some guest art, just e-mail me for dimensions. Meanwhile, here's the cover:

Mermaid & the Manatee

I did this drawing for Henry Eudy's birthday, and now that I've given it to him, I can share it. I really like how it came out, although I wish I were better at drawing manatees.

Shameless Bits of Commerce

I've decided to give Cafepress another try, after all, it was many, many years ago that I had my problems with their t-shirts. I still use my Cafepress mug, and the bumper sticker I got held up great over a year or more of wear on the metal case I had it on. For the next few days, I'm going to plug a new item every day, with the hopes that some of you reading this will feel inclined to drop some money on the stuff I'm putting my artwork on, thus sending a few bucks my way.

Today I'm highlighting the Oz Large Framed Print. According to Cafepress, all prints are custom manufactured using archival inks and acid-free paper. Framed prints are matted and framed in a stylish black frame with plexiglass cover. Frames include complete backing. The frame size is 19" x 15".

Ever since I completed the Oz drawing, I wanted to offer it in print format. Well, here it is. Cafepress offers prints in two sizes, and the Oz drawing is available in products ranging from greeting cards and magnets, up to the framed prints. There's even a mini poster print available for those on a budget.

To see everything Oz-related, go check out everything.

A Rant, or How To Get Free Sketches From Me

DC used the passing of someone that had a huge contribution to their great library and history of work by promoting his work in part of a current, controversial project that one could argue a great bit rides on the success of. A lot of fans and artists were appalled at DC's callous action in the passing of a man responsible for so much great comic art, and not just his own, but a legacy of former students.

Comics is a business and that has become painfully apparent lately. A handful of artists can make a living on what they get from comics alone, and they do so without the benefit of health insurance or many of the job security benefits many of us take for granted. Efforts to change the status quo have always fallen flat. Crossgen offered benefits, but folded when the losses the company made could no longer be written off on taxes. (That is an assumption, I have no information as to why Crossgen folded. ) Efforts to unionize have failed, and efforts to secure rights for creators have centered on pay and intellectual property.

It has occurred to me, after talking to a great number of artists at conventions that when we talk of comics, we sometimes mention that we have "a love affair with comics." Taking that analogy further, comics often treats us like we're in a love affair, and we're the mistress. Comics treats us all right most of the time, and when we're with him, we have fun, and when we're not with him we often think about him and how he makes us feel. We're generally happy with the relationship.

Then there are the times that comics treats us bad. We put a lot of effort in the relationship, drawing comics, putting together minis, going to shows to show comics what we have done for him. We make it obvious that all we really want is for comics to dress us up and take us out and show us off. However, we are cruelly reminded that comics doesn't really care about us. Comics cares only about making money, and it does so with any number of the other mistresses he has out there. He takes them out for his New 52 or his Beyond Watchmen. He encourages them to do fan art and yells at them when they make money and don't give him any, like a pimp. We show comics the stuff we worked so hard on and we're told way too often that it isn't good enough. Like the cliche mistress, we hold onto the relationship, convinced that if we just try harder next time, he'll be taking us out for his next big party.

Well, I'm done being walked on by comics. I'm going to do my own thing on my own terms and not worry about putting on my nice clothes and taken out to be shown off. Comics is not loyal and never will be. Even when comics pays attention to its best mistresses, he treats them badly, not caring about their well-being, not-caring that they have enough money to pay their bills, even if they spend all of their time trying to please him.

I'm doing the comics that I want and doing them when I want to do them. You'll see me at conventions, but I'm not hustling any more. I like drawing sketches for people, but I'm never going to rely on doing paid commissions to pay any of my bills. Will I collect any of my comics into print format? I might, since friends seem to enjoy them, but I'm not going to do another Kickstarter, or whatever follows it for crowdsourcing, for a while, I do believe. I reserve the right to change my mind, though.

So, after Jet-Pack Jenny gets printed, I'm working on what I want to work on at the pace I can afford to work on. It's not a career for me, it's a hobby. A career is something that you make a living at, and there's too many creators out there who call comics their career, but not making a living at it. When you don't make a living at something, it's not a career, it's a hobby.

So I'll continue to post where I've been posting, and for the most part, you'll never know that I even posted this rant or came to this decision. The actual changes that I'm making in my practices will not be immediately visible, but you will notice a shift in how I treat my comics and how I produce them.

The major change that people might notice will be at conventions my willingness to do free sketches on 3 x 5 cards. That's right, free, because I enjoy drawing for people and there's nothing more depressing than putting a sign out with prices you charge for sketches and not getting any takers for long periods of time. Whenever I've done free sketches, I've had fun.

I'm not out to convert anyone to my new position, but I do urge you to re-evaluate your own relationship to comics.