Redundant Ladybug For Thing Which is Over

I drew Ladybug foot-flingin' snowballs for Comic Creators For Freedom -- without looking at all of the website, which would have informed me that the jam poster I drew this for was completed and printed ages ago. I'm a stupid baby.



I still fully support CCFF even though they mildly inconvenienced me through no fault of their own.

Tutorial Follow-Up

The print edition of the The Line will include a special exclusive digital inking tutorial by yours truly. At one point in there I mention the instructional drawing books by Giovanni Civardi, which I really like. Civardi's art is way more pleasant to look at than the scribbly fare in most books like this -- crystal clear and useful.



Here are some links you can use to buy some of them, along with some other worthwhile art books (and also provide me with spare change through the Amazon Affiliate program, which I just signed up for and was anxious to try out).

For something more comics-centric, try these books by Tom Nguyen. Again, Nguyen is the rare how-to guy who really knows his stuff, his art is fun to look at and he lays everything out in a simple, practical way. His guide to cartooning the musculature of the back is the best I've come across.



And finally, three classics by the great Andrew Loomis.

Carmen Sandiego

I drew Carmen Sandiego for some reason.

The Line Volume 1 Cover

The Line print collection will be purchasable soon. Here is the cover, which was "pencilled" in pen on a napkin and inked digitally. Pretty neat, huh?

The Gutters

I was asked to draw today's installment of The Gutters, a popular webcomic that lampoons the comic book industry.



(Colors by Ed Ryzowski, letters by Rus Wooton.)

"This town needs an enema!"

Inked Highlighter Sketches

Yesterday I decided to try some "real" inking again, since I've been banging out The Line with Microns and even a Sharpie pen lately -- no brush or brush pen usage for months, and my few attempts to use one again had been horrendous and frustrating. I felt like I forgot everything.

I eventually got my hand to get its shit together and used a PITT brush marker to ink some sketches done in orange highlighter. The images below are scans with the underdrawing bleached out -- you can see the unclean versions with orange peeking through on my Twitter page (@headzo).



Dick Tracy got a retweet by the esteemed Chris Samnee and snagged me some awesome new followers (OMG Andy Kuhn!) -- not bad for ten minutes' work!



And here's The Shadow looking weirdly like Paul from The Line, though I didn't realize that until well after I'd finished it.

Ladybug

Drew this at work.



EDIT:

"Looks awesome!" -- Ross Campbell

Ladybug has exactly one fan, but he happens to be one of the kick-assest comic book drawers on the planet.

Thanks Ross!

"I have a name -- Oswald Cobblepot!"

Matt Smith for Charity Auction

Color version of a Matt Smith Doctor Who I drew for a charity auction you can read about here.



I'll update this when the auction goes live.

Dick Tracy

Been watching 60s Dick Tracy cartoons on Netflix. I remembered liking them as a kid and still dig the stylized reinterpretations of the Gould villains, so I decided to draw them.



The show is seen asunacceptable today because of stereotype characters like Joe Jitsu up there. Back then I'd have rather seen Tracy fight the villains himself than send one of his comic relief sidekicks, but the Joe Jitsu shorts were the least disappointing to ten-year-old me. Eventually I started to like and look forward to Joe, I assume 'cause he was a polite little guy in glasses who could beat anyone up.

EDIT: Here's a color version. I used a 64-color old time comics palette for this, . I'd link to it and credit who made it -- pretty sure it was a webcomics person -- but I don't remember who it was. EDIT: It came from CO2 Comics via Ed Piskor.

She-Hulk Cover for Marvel Too

My latest contribution to the DC Fifty-Too project -- they're doin' Marvel now! Lots of great entries, check it out!

Self Portrait

Did this as a warmup today. Tablet trace of napkin doodle pic. Yezz.

Living With Insanity Retrospective

I drew three hundred installments of a webcomic called Living With Insanity. The last strip drawn by me went up a couple weeks ago.

The series will continue with a new artist, Fer Galicia, and I'm glad because it's fun to check in and see a different take on the characters.

I went through the entire archive today and picked out the strips I liked the most. Was surprised to see early ones that hold together somehow despite my haste and inexperience. I'm more confident in my ability to reach a worthwhile end result now, but I recall the fear and frustration, the sense that I'd forgotten everything I'd ever learned about comics-making whenever I sat down to do one of these.

Anyway. Enjoy. I did. And if you do, check out The Line, where I am currently the presiding art monkey.

Turtles

Drawn at the behest of Mr. Ross Campbell.

Diner Napkin

Typical of what I draw in a restaurant.

Jimmy Olsen Cover!

This went up today at DC Fifty-TOO!

The hot-shit colors were graciously provided by my internet pal and fellow Agreeable Comics contributor Sandra Lanz.



Thanks to Mr. Jon Morris for inviting me to participate!

Bizarro

Here's a sneak peek at something I'm not supposed to show anyone yet. Aren't the colors nice? It's 'cause I didn't do them.

Gigi

Photoshop inks over ballpoint scribble.

Dr. Zasio

Ladybug Inks

Whipped out my art shit at grandma's and drew this for a friend yesterday. I hadn't drawn anything "for real," let alone used a brush, in ages.

Superman Napkin Art

It's Friday night, so I figured I'd sit here in the dark and tart up this napkin doodle.



I feel like I'm getting the hang of inking digitally, partly just from doing it a lot (see The Line) but also because I stumbled on a way to greatly improve "tip control"!:

I'd been drawing with a sheet of printer paper taped to my tablet. One night I ripped it and didn't have another piece handy. I found a pack of something called PhotoWorks Matte Photo Paper, which I figured would be too thick but turned out to be perfect -- folded in half, it gives you a nice, cushiony no-slip surface you can really bear down on.

So making lines is getting easier, though with my current single-screen setup I can't ink and see the entire drawing at the same time, so keeping things in proportion and compositionally sound can be an issue.

Someone's diversifying . . .

Times are tough all over.

Napkin Magic

Lately I've been doing tiny napkin scribbles like the one on the right, e-mailing myself cell phone pics of them and finishing them off in Photoshop. Tryin' to get a feel for the tablet, see.

Guest-Strippin' for Happy Hour

Happy Hour is a webcomic by Jim Kohl and Phil Kriser. Jim has been a delightful source of unexpected positivity in my life, supportive and enthusiastic about my creative endeavors, so I was only too happy to pitch in with a guest comic.

Jim created a kickass logo for Polarboy, archenemy of Solarboy, so I owed him for that too.