Baron Von Shock

Been a while. But first, above is a quick digital sketch that I decided to color a few days ago. I've been completely immersed in World War II books, documentaries and memoirs for the past few months, and also had been recently following the World Cup (my teams were the U.S.A., New Zealand and Germany). So this cartoon popped into my head. It was a lot of fun to do and I really dug working in this particular rough style. I'm trying to do more digital sketching these days.

Anyway, seeing as though the subject of this post mentions Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock?, the new Rob Zombie comic I'm editing, I figured I'd finally say that I'm currently drawing backup stories for this series, starting with issue #3. It's been a ton of fun to do and it's cool working with Rob as an artist and not just an editor for a change!

I'm working in an overly cartoony style for this one, kind of similar to my recent work on Casper and the Spectrals #3. It was fun cartoonizing Rob's characters and going to town on these scripts. And you might be seeing more of this sort of thing from me in the future...

Speaking of Casper, I've been getting a peek at the colors Kieran Oats did on my pencils for issue #3, and they look sweet! I can't wait to see this thing in print!

So, other than all of the above, Rod and I are gearing up for the Baltimore Comic Con next month where we hope to see all of our pals! We'll have a Blue Milk Special table this year, so be sure to check us out!

Moving on...

Been a while since I last updated this blog, so I figured I'd get a post in to mention a few things before I reveal what I'm working on at the moment (which will be in a follow up post!).

Firstly, I finished up issue #3 of Casper and the Spectrals for Ardden Entertainment, which was a complete blast. I really had fun with it and ended up making it my own by the end of the issue... which I guess could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. But this issue gave me a chance to brush up on storytelling and layouts, and I really had a great time drawing Casper and the gang. Todd Dezago wrote a brilliant and fun script and I hope I managed to do it justice. Thanks for all the encouragement, Todd!

Secondly, Pulverized, the educational comic I finished work on a few months ago, is now available online for sale at Ka-Blam. Check it out!

Thirdly, I was really bummed to miss Heroes Con this year. I heard it was yet another great show, and Rod and I missed hooking up with our pals. Craig, Matt and Suzanne, Rich, Bryan and Judy, etc., etc. You guys know who you are. But, we are happy to say that we will definitely be at Baltimore Comic Con in August and the New York Comic Con in October. Can't wait!

Fourthly, I'm not in my 20s anymore. I celebrated my big 3-0 on Thursday, and it was a little depressing. But Rod made it special and got me a huge, custom-made cake with the Cool Whip-ish icing I love. He's the bestest! Only downside is that I've gorged myself on cake for the past three days. Double-edged sword, that one.

And finally, my cat Ban is awesome. Check him out showing off one of his tricks:

Casper!

So since I'm allowed to say what I'm currently working on, here we are. I'm penciling issue #3 of Casper and the Spectrals, written by one of my favorite writers ever, Todd Dezago. (And yeah, Todd, I'm going to gush.)

Years ago when I was reading comics and drawing my own shabby ones on pieces of 8.5" x 11" typing paper I'd steal from my mom's printer, my absolute favorite writer/artist team was Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo. Absolutely fantastic combination of great, fun storytelling and characters, and out-of-this-world art. That's what I wanted to do, I told myself.

I've come a long way since then, and it's thanks to guys like these that I'm where I am today.

So over the past couple years I've gotten to know Todd, and he's an awesome guy (and very, very nice and friendly, and approached me at a con when I was too shy to talk to him-- I will never live that down). I knew he'd been working on Ardden Entertainment's new Casper series, and I was psyched to read it because it looked like a lot of fun.

It's been great working on this project, and Todd's script has been fantastic. It's awesome to be drawing fun comics with great characters and working with a writer I've admired for years and years.

And I'm fortunate that J.M. DeMatteis and Brendan Deneen gave me great encouragement during this whole thing, and it only helps fuel my drive and enthusiasm for this project and comics in general.

Can't wait to see this thing colored and in stores!

Pulverized

For the past few months I'd been working on an educational comic book for science students. This is something I've always wanted to do-- educate and get kids excited in school subjects though comics. Rod and I even discussed and had done preliminary sketches for an idea of our own a while back.

So when I was approached by science teacher Jim McCarter to create an original comic book for kids, I was psyched. Jim created a great, fun script and let me go to town on it. He gave me a great group of kids (based on some of his own students) to work with, and I ended up having a blast on the project.



This was also the first time I've done everything on a comic, art-wise -- pencils, inks and colors. It was a challenge and great fun.

Jim Calafiore graciously did a cover for us based on my designs (which in itself was a total thrill!), and Rod lettered the issue to finish things off.

Hopefully this will be out there for sale soon either at conventions and/or in schools!

Spoon!

I guess I might as well post this now.

This is one of the sketches I did for the folks at New England Comics a few months back, along with some sample Tick pages. We met at the Baltimore Comic Con in October and they were interested in my work, and I was pretty stoked when we talked about possibly doing a new Tick story together.

But alas, it doesn't look like this particular story is going to pan out right now. I'm kind of bummed, but I thought I'd post this sketch anyway.

I actually have some other possible things coming up, which I will announce soon-ish...

Buh-Bye, Idol!

Quick cartoon, because Simon deserves it after today.



Suck it, Idol! Bring on American X Factor! (Even Rod said he'd watch it with me!)

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Years. We spent ours in New Zealand, 18 hours ahead of everyone on the East Coast of the U.S. And it was warm and sunny the entire time-- we went to the beach three times! Of course, as soon as we landed in D.C. the weather made us pay for it with 20-degree temps and crazy strong (and COLD) winds. Ahh, winter.

Here's to a great 2010!

Flash! Ahhhh...

Just a quick post for today. I drew these two Flash Gordon pieces based on Ardden Entertainment's new comic series. They were looking for a new artist a while back, so I submitted a few things to show them.



I didn't end up getting the gig, but it was still fun. I need to do sketches like these more often.

This may be my last blog post before the holidays-- Rod and I are leaving for New Zealand on Friday to spend Christmas and New Years with his family. I'm really looking forward to it, because I haven't been back since 2003. I'm bringing my iPhone with me (thanks to a handy international data package via AT&T), so I'll be updating my Twitter and taking photos and such.

So if I don't get another chance to say it, Happy Holidays, everyone!