He knows my name!

Let's jump right into this...

DREAMWORKS:

Three posts back, I mentioned that one of my publishers, Ape Entertainment, will be putting out a magazine focusing on Dreamworks Animation characters. I'd been asked to submit some sketches for Dreamworks to consider. Three weeks later, I got the thumbs up from both Dreamworks and my publisher, and it looks like I'll be doing sketches that will run along the magazine's margins, similar to what Sergio Aragones does for Mad Magazine. Plus, I've been encouraged to draw these characters in my own style, which sounds like a lot of fun. Not sure when this will start, but I look forward to drawing these characters, especially those from "How To Train Your Dragon", my favorite Dreamworks' film. You can see my Dreamworks samples below:

DINO DUCK:

Also awhile ago, I talked about "Dino Duck", the latest book I did for Ape. It's a concept that the publishers of Ape came up with, then passed off to me to design, write and draw. It's set in prehistoric times and sees a tribe of cave ducks at war with a tribe of monkeys. Dino Duck is the one brain among his dim-witted flock, and his crazy inventions are constantly misused by his tribe to battle their enemies, usually with failed and comical results. You can see the character sheet below (click it to enlarge):

 This past week, Ape posted a 15 page preview online, which you can read here. The book is coming out on June 12th, and I encourage you to order it through your local comic shop rather than online. I'm a huge proponent of bookstores, and every purchase prolongs their existence that much longer.

SKETCH CARDS:

In late 2011, I was given my third assignment for trading card company Rittenhouse Archives, and my third shot at drawing the Marvel Comics superheroes. This latest set is called "Marvel Greatest Heroes", and it's comprised of characters who have either been members of The Avengers, or had a connection to the team. This series was a blast to work on, and I've just gotten the okay to show everyone my cards. I've posted a small sample of the cards I drew below. You can view the rest on my Deviant Art page via this link. Once there, just hit the "previous" arrow in the upper left corner of the page to scroll through all the cards.

I'm also going to be working on a set of cards for 5finity, based on the work of my friend and fellow cartoonist Katie Cook. I look forward to playing in the cute and kitten-riddled realm of Katie's design aesthetic!

COMMISSIONS:

I just completed a big stack of commissions this week, and they were a lot of fun to create. Here's a small sampling of what I drew:

 This first one is Marvel's villain The Enchantress magically inflating GI Joe villain The Baroness like a balloon.

This one is just a simple sketch of Kermit and Piggy. My love for the Muppets will never diminish.

This was a request for me to draw a teenage Dead Duck asking the Greek goddess Artemis on a date.

And this last one is a little dark and weird, and should probably be scrolled past by anyone who prefers it when I draw cute, harmless stuff...

I was asked to draw my own version of the sins Lust and Greed. This is what I came up with. In my head, this was going to be a lot more comical. But on paper, it took a kinda dark, Clive Barker turn. I guess it's good that I'm stretching my reach as an artist. Right?

HERO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Something really special happened this week. I received an update from Twitter, telling me I had a new person following my Tweets. It was from "JLNelson". The name didn't strike a chord, but the profile pic brought it home. Jerry Nelson. Semi-retired Muppeteer. Original performer of The Count, Herry Monster, Floyd, Robin, Crazy Harry, Uncle Deadly, Pops the Doorman, Gobo Fraggle, Pa Gorg, The Trash Heap, The High Priest Skeksis, Skred, and countless other characters from Jim Henson's puppet universe. He decided to follow me on Twitter. This means everything to me. You people know me, and must know that I am a lifelong fanatic of The Muppets. And having Jerry, one of my heroes since childhood, follow me on Twitter of his own choosing, I mean...jeez...that's as good as Jim Henson himself following me!

That's it for this post. Have a great week, my friends!

--Jay