Sooooo much drawing...

I'm neck deep in work, as usual. I've got three caricaturing gigs in the coming week, deadlines looming for three different comic books and a magazine, a unopened box of blank sketch cards that I haven't even begun working on yet, and a stack of commissions to do, some with less than a week away deadlines. So life is good.

I'll be working on some of these commissions on my Live Sketch Show tonight at 7 pm eastern time if anyone wants to tune in. Just click on the link. And if you'd like to chat with me during my show, you can reach me via Ustream's chat window. You need to log in to Ustream to use the window, but registering is easy. It only takes a username and an email address. Once you've entered that info, you can chat with me while I draw. I hope to see some of you online!

And here's another reminder to keep following my Dead Duck comic online. Like I told a fan yesterday, there's a finite amount of these stories to post, and once they've run their course, I can't say when I'll be doing them again. So please, enjoy these while you have 'em around, folks.

Lastly, I've been given the okay to post some more of my sketch cards from Rittenhouse's MARVEL: BRONZE AGE series. These aren't all of them that I drew, but along with the Spider-Ham cards I showed you last week, I consider these the best of the bunch.

That does it for this installment. Have a great rest of your week, and catch me here next Wednesday!

--Jay

Comics on Thanksgiving? Get stuffed!

It's a little later in the day than I typically prefer to post my blog, but hey, it's still Wednesday, so I haven't broken my blog posting stride yet!

First up, my Live Sketch Show is happening tonight at 8 pm Eastern Time. I'm thinking of doing a Thanksgiving/Bodie Troll mash up, so be here to see it unfold!  And if you'd like to chat with me during my show, you can reach me via Ustream's chat window. You need to log in to Ustream to use the window, but registering is easy. It only takes a username and an email address. Once you've entered that info, you can chat with me while I draw. I hope to see some of you online!

Rittenhouse Archives is a sketch card company I've done work for over the past three years, and they're close to releasing the latest Marvel Comics-themed set that I've contributed to--MARVEL: BRONZE AGE, featuring characters appearing in Marvel comics from the early 70's to the mid 80's. Seeing as how they posted a sampling of my work on Facebook, I figure it's cool if I do the same here. These characters all appeared as back up features in "Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham" (my favorite comic when I was a kid), a funny animal reinvention of Marvel's superheroes. Howard the Duck, however, appeared in the early 70's in a more adult-themed book of his own (another of my childhood favorites).

The Dead Duck web comic is still maintaining a twice weekly schedule (Monday and Thursday), so be sure to follow along to catch the re-printed adventures of my afterlife creation.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a couple sample panels from issue #1 of "Bodie Troll" (as always, click to enlarge). I'm having a lot of fun playing with depth of field, which is hopefully apparent in these panels.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate, and a happy rest of your week to everyone else!

--Jay 

SHORT AND SUH-WEEEEEEET

Work has been bountiful, but it's left me busy as all get out. As such, there will be no Live Sketch Show this week. I hope to bring it back next Wednesday, and hope to piece together an audience from the few folks  who'll either be near a computer as they prepare for Thanksgiving, or those who live in other parts of the world and don't celebrate. I'd like to think my show is a good alternative to Turkey consumption.

I can report that Red 5's very popular Eisner Award-nominated comic book, "Atomic Robo", will release its next issue in December--and will include an ad for the 2013 release of "Bodie Troll". As this will be the first time that Red 5 has made its plans to publish "Bodie" public, this is a big deal to me, in a "This [poop] just got real" sense. Not to mention that having "Bodie" promoted in a wildly popular book like "Atomic Robo" ain't the worse thing to happen. Quite the opposite, actually.

I can also report that I recently visited my friend and fellow artist Guy Davis, who showed me some sketches he worked up for his "Bodie Troll" pin-up. Not surprisingly, they were a real slice of fried gold. Guy is as skilled at cartoon art as he is illustrative, and I'm beyond thrilled to have him contribute art to "Bodie Troll". If you know Guy's work, then you should be excited, too.

I'll wrap this up by encouraging you folks to check out my "Dead Duck" web comic. The current posted episode is "A Tale of Udder Importance", which drops Dead Duck and Zombie Chick into the world of Norse mythology. At two pages, it's my shortest "Dead Duck" story yet. But like all my "Dead Duck" material, it's long on humor. Catch it at the link above.

'Til next week, friends--

Jay

BODIE TROLL? I'VE GOT IT COVERED!

In the course of creating "Bodie Troll", the one thing I'd been sweating the most was creating the cover. It's probably the most important image associated with a comic, particularly its first issue, where you need to encapsulate everything about that book in one image, with as little clutter and as much clarity to potential readers as possible. No small feat. After many starts and stops and a whole lot of doubt and do-overs, here's what I came up with for issue #1 of "Bodie Troll" (as always, click on the image to enlarge)...

I'm very happy with this. It was worth the pile of rough sketches and re-dos that led up to it!

I also wanted to show you some of the recently colored interior art. Weeks ago, I showed you the uncolored line art of the panel which shows us The Drunken Pumpkin for the first time. I finally got to color that page, and you can see the evolution below...

I'm very proud of my coloring on "Bodie", and I credit the influence of my pal and fellow artist Evan Shaner, who colored the first four pages of "Bodie" and gave me a coloring style to aspire to.

For those of you who missed my Live Sketch Show last Wednesday (and who can blame you? it was Halloween!), it's back on tonight, and in its old 8:00 pm eastern time slot. Catch it at the link above and watch me draw and blab about all things cartoon. And if you'd like to chat with me during my show, you can reach me via Ustream's chat window. You need to log in to Ustream to use the window, but registering is easy. It only takes a username and an email address. Once you've entered that info, you can chat with me while I draw. I hope to see some of you online!

That wraps it up for this post. Have a great rest of your week!

--Jay