Johnny Craig and some bits O' sketching

Finally working on some new stuff after two and a half months full of moving and work nonsense. This is going to be part of another composition, and from a completely different perspective angle, but I needed to do some stuff to knock the rust off. This is what it looked like the first time:

It's kinda funny, but also just looks wrong for what I intend to do, so I redrew the face:

When this one is done it will probably be one of those things where Chad Woody and I laugh maniacally and everyone else is filled with horror and revulsion.

Meanwhile. . .

Johnny Craig was one of the best artists of the EC Comics of the fifties. Compositionally he was without peer, unfortunately those skills also led to the near downfall of an entire industry.

They may be in bad taste but they are also fucking great. You can read more about the whole sordid 1950's "War on Comics" here or in The Ten Cent Plague. It's been covered far and wide so I'll not reiterate. He was a good, verging on great draftsman. You can lose yourself in his work pretty easily but it doesn't have the same visual flourish of say Wally Wood or Alex Raymond. I'll stop talking and just let you peruse what is regarded as one of his masterworks, The Sewer.

Good stuff. I apologize to all the hipsters who accidentally got this page searching for that douche twat of a singer.

"Fan Art" and computer art

One day the discussion in class turned to fan art. One of my students was happy that a fan sent him a sketch of the characters in his online comic strip (which you can see here) One of his classmates, a young lady named Alex, turned and demanded that I do some fan art for her. I asked, "Am I a fan of you, or your work?" She cockily replied, "Um, Both" At which point, I invented an entire mythology based around the assumption that she was a hermaphrodite that I grew in a test tube and then unleashed on an unsuspecting public (to this day I still try to convince strangers she is half-man).

I'm kind of in love with old 50's horror and science fiction comics. The draftsmanship of those comics dwarfs most comics today (with the exception of Europe). I thought I would do a homage to those old covers and practice some Photoshop painting. The biggest obstacle to this kind of work (for me) is always the mental aspect. You're painting, but not painting and you have to let go and realize that no matter how you approach it, digital will always look digital so exploit it for what it's worth. It was fun, but I'm not trading in traditional methods anytime soon. doing digital under-paintings and then glazing and painting over the top seems like an interesting idea I'm gonna play with in the future.

I've found many interesting websites in the weeks that I have been trapped doing committee work so I thought I would lay 'em out for you:

The Horrors of it All- Painstakingly scanned old-time horror comics.

Pappy's Golden Age Blogzine- He likes Bill Everett and Bob Powell as much as I do.

Jack Kirby double page spreads- Unbeatable quality

Golden Age Comic Book Stories- Old Illustrators and comics

Airtight Garage- big online collection of Moebius work, very nice because with a few exceptions, very little of this stuff is available in English

Enjoy

Another Chance to Make the Same Mistakes

"Sixteen tons and whaddya get?. . . .'

Escalation of Hostility

When the time comes and the brains behind the muscle get what they fucking deserve.

Seven Deadly Dwarves

I originally drew this as a submission for a now defunct web imprint for Time/Warner. needless to say they were less than thrilled with the comedy stylings of myself and Mr. Chad Woody (the writer and letterer). Most people find it completely horrifying and I still think its pretty damn funny, but keep in mind we are the men who laughed uncontrollably while watching the Human Centipede.

What America means to me. . .

In the words of David Fuentes, "America is the best worst place in the world. It's like living in Candyland, but you have diabetes.

Babies

At the Request of Chad Woody:

I hear and obey, puppetmaster.