Swamp Thing

I did this drawing for an old friend who has been pestering me about it on and off for three years. I was recently re-reading the Moore/Bissette/Totleben comics (the stories are still very creepy and very relevant) and I gave it a shot. Even dismembered I can't make Arcane look as creepy as those guys did, and after drawing all those leaves I know why those guys took several months off here and there.

I usually don't go for internet memes, but this one seemed really interesting. it's like a fun cliff notes version of the autobiography parts of a thesis. I was a little surprised at how much I was influenced by certain things while others were kinda no-brainers.

I almost left out Robert Williams for no really good reason. I have been accused of ripping him off on several occasions, mostly for work I did before I knew he existed. He is very skilled at offering intellectual and a relevant defense of making pictures. He's pretty unapologetic about his work and was hacking it out like a real man before "lowbrow" became an obnoxious buzzword. Anyone who is interested in that type of work and "isn't really into Robert Williams" or at the very least has an understanding and respect for his importance is to be avoided at all costs. Teh same goes for the guys who are "really into comics" and don't like Jack Kirby. Morons to be avoided at all costs.

Unbeatable Heat

We all have artist whose work we idolize and appreciate, and since I'm too insecure to post much work in progress, I'm gonna take up space and talk about work that is relevant to me and hopefully to you as well.

Jack Kirby



All around bad-ass and one of the most prolific, yet disrespected artist of the twentieth century. I could go out on a limb and say at least 50% of the ideas in science fiction, fantasy, and action movies being produced are still just some watered down version of his work and ideas. He was a leading advocate of creator's rights in the face of corporate tyranny back in the day when it was actually a serious issue and not a celebrity cause of rich pampered rock stars. Unlike most artists his work actually evolved and changed to match to concerns of the content. It didn't seem to be empty stylistic change but something necessary to match the ideas that seemed to be always pouring out of him.



This was one of my favorites growing up and he came up with the entire concept and several issues worth of material waiting for a hamburger at a restaurant. His older, more restrained work was my favorite for a while:





And this cover is worth more than the past twenty years worth of contemporary fine art:



He was ridiculously prolific, and much like Picasso, some of his more hurried later work could get pretty crappy, but when he was on no one was better. It's accepted fact by most people the the public generally doesn't appreciate stuff that's ahead of it's time and that was the sad fate of the New Gods. It was canceled to early and we can only imagine what face melting brilliance was coming down the pipe.









There is a Jack Kirby Museum and Research center that you can check out here.The thing I love most about the guy is that no matter how crummy things are or how lousy I feel, rereading his comics with their amazing imagination and furious optimism actually makes me feel better. One of the most valuable lessons you can learn about art, I learned from him : If it's got no guts or feeling then it doesn't matter, throw it out and start again.

Cocaine Napalm Beach Party

Nothing like a serene picture of a pleasant party on the beach to shake you out of the winter blahs. I tired to fix a lot of the drawing mistakes with this painting but it's far from perfect. This whole painting/monoprint schtick started in a really weird roundabout way. I was trying to do some ultra slick genre stuff by ripping off Frank Quitely. Who is one of the best storytelling artists around:




Some of that stuff is archived on here and you can see that my mimicry was a miserable failure. I typically work on way too many things at once so it got shoved to the back burner when I started working on other sutff. A friend of mine told me it was some of the best stuff he'd seen me do, so I tried to do some Fine ART with it. I made some line drawings and screen printed them on etching paper. I started watercoloring them which wasn't really satisfying on it's own, even with the Old Holland brand paints which are a bit thicker and have better pigments than the other brands. I started spray varnishing them to seal it so I could glaze more colors over the surface. I start with a couple of layers of acrylic and then move onto some heavy enamel oil glazes. It's a real roundabout way of doing things but It's seems to be a good way form me to keep the thin cartooning lines that I'm enamored with and still layer on the color and contrast with the glazing. I've ended up starting a lot of these things The same way Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac did, by treating the paper with lifting preparation solution and applying a base color. A nice trick to give the painting an overall color temperature/mood.




First two are Dulac and the third is Rackham. Probably not very bright of me to include those pictures along with mine as I will suffer greatly by comparison. They used line to "lock" the registration of the colors when they were printed, I like it aesthetically, but I wonder if they only used it out of necessity or if they would have abandoned it if the printing technology was better.

I've got at least 7 to ten things started and halfway finished. It seeming like lately as soon as I get the idea roughed out I have a hard time staying interested in finishing it after I am forced away form it by important things like returning work e-mails and other boring madness. If you made it all the way through this odd rambling, contact me and I will send you a prize.

Beating a Dead Horse

The galkyd glazing I use for the final layers of darkness make an accurate scan almost impossible. It has a slightly more yellow tint to it and the nuggets of enamel and pigment make little white dots but, aside from all that it turned out okay. Last time with this image I promise.

Magical Apparition (etching)

Here's a new one. I'm not especially pleased with it but it's a war of attrition at this point and it's probably not getting any better.

Sexy Slaughterhouse Photohoot

Part 2

The first attempt was a disaster which I fully apologize for. the painting was crap, and the lighting was bad, etc. I fixed most of that stuff and redrew the image. I decided to make My Misery Engine comic black and white like this, instead of the full color. It's the only way it could ever be finished in a reasonable amount of time. I'll have two to three of the pages following this one by the end of the month.

Odds and Ends

It's pretty typical of my working process that I start to many things at once so here are some drawings for various projects. I also have three paintings started, two comics, and about four etchings. Not organized in the slightest. The batgirl/deer is and idea that I "borrowed" from Ms. Sarah Jackson, she is a wonderful person and probably won't stab me for it.