March 28: Sketch Dump

Ok so here's how lazy I am. I was this close (thiis close) to doing a video sketch blog in which I would have just talked and held up my sketchbook in front of the webcam. But after doing several takes I noticed 1) that's pretty boring, and 2) I hate talking into a camera (It just feels weird). So I decided to fire up the scanner and do this the old fashioned way. I might do a video blog at some point, but it will actually be something half entertaining when I do it (or if my site is down like over at nataliedee.com or marriedtothesea.com and I need to show you my stuff in video form), and not just a copout for not wanting to scan something.

But anyway here's a bunch of stuff. Hope you like.

Sketch 1: Faces



Sketch 2: More Faces



Yeah, you're right...frats are pretty cool, after all
I don't know why, but I felt like drawing someone vomiting. The whole frat dudes angle just seemed to fit.



An interesting PS to this sketch. A couple days after I drew this I asked my dad what frat he was in when he was in school. Turns out it was, you guessed it, Sigma Chi!. So I don't think my dad was a loser frat guy or anything like that, the name just sounded extra "fratty" (I just made that word up, and I like it) so that's why I used it.

Futurama-rama



"See What I Did There?" Sketches
The doodle that started it all, with a tiny little layout thumbnail to boot.



"Last Resort" Ezra sketch
This is a character you haven't seen yet, but he's another main character from the graphic novel I'm working on (His name is Ezra, if you didn't catch that). Sometimes when I draw him he looks like me, and other times he looks like Chuck Klosterman (especially in this sketch). Neither resemblance is ever intended, just so that you don't think the story is based of mine or Klosterman's life or something like that. I guess I need to work on that more.



Okay, so that's all for now. But I've given you a good bit of stuff to look at. I hope you liked, please feel free to leave comments (positive or otherwise).

Page 3 of the comic should be up soon. Later!

March 22: Mid-week update and something weird that happened

No new stuff up yet, but here's a Spider-Man doodle I did not too long ago. Hope it tides you over a few days:



Anyway, some news, and a funny story:

I'm smack-dab in the middle of page three of "Last Resort" at the moment, so I don't have anything new to show (hence the spider-man), but in case you're wondering how the comic is going, let me just tell you: it's going, man, it's going. Momentum's pretty good, I've got it to about a page a week now, which should get me done in, I dunno, a while from now. But it's one page at a time, and that's how I'm trying to think about it.

Anyway, here's something really kinda strange that happened to me today, and it's related to my comic. I was sitting outside during my lunch break, doing some reading, when I smell the hint of cigarette smoke in the air. This caught my attention, so I looked up to see who was smoking (don't ask me why I looked up or why I care who in my vicinity was smoking; I was just curious), and I notice that it's a guy about 40 feet away from me. At first I didn't really pay attention, but then I kept staring at the guy: kinda big, beard, cigarette. Hmm, I thought, if it weren't for the longish hair he'd be a pretty dead-on real-world version of one of the main characters of my comic book (the character in my story smokes as well, by the way). Then I look at the other guy; A little taller, skinnier, glasses, t-shirt. I know you haven't seen him in any of the pages here (you will in the third page, though), but he looked exactly like the second main character of the story.

I didn't really know what to make of it at first. It was almost like an augur or an omen of some sort, like the characters in my head suddenly materialized in flesh and blood. And the entire time they were there I just stared at them, looking at how they interacted. I even took a few notes and sketches in my sketchbook that I had handy, just to get down any nonverbal characteristics that might work well in the comic. And it definitely helped, I think; it gave me a few good ideas for some of the visuals as I get further into the story.

It was a pretty strange occurrence, and I still don't quite know what to make of it, but I'm going to go ahead and write it off as a sign from the Heavens that this comic is supposed to happen. Either that or I'm an idiot who could probably find a "sign" in anything because he reads into stuff too much. Go figure.

March 18: Last Resort - Page 2. Check it.

Page 2 is done. Check it out below. Turns out it took a little less time than I thought it would. Anyway, here it is, hope you like. Please comment; I don't care if what you say is good or bad, but saying anything is fine by me.



Well, there it is. I'll probably start page 3 tomorrow or Tuesday, after doing something drawing-wise to clear my head before the next page starts. Oh, and page 3 will be the last full page I upload here before I actually release the comic in print. I'll keep you updated on the progress, with little bits every now and then, but if you want the whole thing you'll just have to pay. You see, I'm a little like a drug dealer. The first taste is free, but after that you gotsta pay.

That's all for now. Hope you liked. Later!

March 16: Updates to come...

Okay, so I'm in the thick of page 2 right now, but I'm going to find some time this weekend and put up some more sketches to give you something else to look at until then. Thanks for all the comments on page 1, by the way; glad to see that you all enjoyed it (I take this to mean that maybe you'll, I dunno, buy it when it comes out?)

But anyway that's what's going on with the drawing. I'm trying to get sketching time in, but the comic saps a lot of that time up and I like to stay focused on what needs to be done on each page before I start doing other stuff. But I have tons of backup sketches to post up, which should be up soon. Thanks for reading!

PS As a little aside note, I'd just like to say that I'm pumped as all get out because of the way March Madness has been going so far. I'm around 91% right so far in the first round, which I'm ecstatic about. I love March.

March 11: Don't ask

Before I get into the absurdity that follows, let me preface by saying this: it's for a friend. It's actually a birthday present that he requested me to do for him, and it involves fighting a shark in a panda costume. Don't ask me about the shark part, because I don't know, but the panda thing goes way back to an inside joke that we've had between us since high school. I could go into specifics, but it's too complicated and honestly won't be that funny if you weren't there. But he asked me to do it (whether he was serious or not I can't say, really) so here it is. Happy birthday, dude.

March 10, 2007: Last Resort, page 1

Just a hair under six months since I finished the script, here is page one of the graphic novel I'm doing, tentatively titled Last Resort. I'm really excited about how this is looking so far, and this has been the big first push into the process of drawing this comic. I hope you guys like it, and please, PLEASE comment; I'm very interested in what you have to say about it: likes, dislikes, whatever. But anyway, here it is:

click for full-size image



Not every page I do will go up here (because I do sort of intend on selling this at some point), but in the future I'll post little bits and pieces from the comic for you guys to look at. And, as always, I'll have more stuff from work and the sketchbooks.

Later!

You too can lift boxes and prevent shoplifting!

Here's some more stuff from work. The first is a memo we got about how to prevent shoplifing and other stuff like that. The second drawing is from a corporate instructional flyer about proper lifting procedure.



On this next one I basically only added speech bubbles. And about 13 extra boxes to that stack. But I think it's kinda funny, hope you do too.



Well, that's it for now, but I wanted to give you guys something to look at while I'm finishing page 1 of the graphic novel I'm working on. As soon as that's done it's going up here, so stay tuned for that, I'm really excited about how it's looking. And to those who I work with who've seen all these before, my apologies; more original stuff is coming.

Later!

Stuff to come...

No, those two posts the other day are not the entirety of things to be posted. I keep forgetting, but I'm going to scan and post up some more stuff that I drew at work (I hope to remember tomorrow)- so that's at least one update. But I'm actually in the process of doing some art on a graphic novel I wrote up last fall; and when page 1 is done (soon, I hope) that will go up here, just because I'll be too excited about finishing one page that I won't be able to keep it to myself. So that's what to expect, keep checking back because there's a lot more on the way.

Oh god I'm so tired. Later.

2nd Post of the day: March 5, 2007

Content, content, content! That's the name of the game 'round these parts, baby! Ok, here's another strip I threw together today. Hope you like:

Introduction: March 5, 2007

Hi everyone and welcome to my sketch blog. This is the place where I’ll post some of the better sketches that make it into my sketchbooks, onto business memos, or onto post-it notes as the case may be. I hope you like what you see, and I eagerly await and encourage any comments or criticisms.

Sketches here will come from either two places: business or personal. I work at a bookstore at one of the big universities in Atlanta, and I do a lot of drawing at work during dead time. That's "business": drawings will either be on Post-It Notes, memos, or other pieces of work-related drawing materials I've grifted. I also draw a lot in my sketchbook, the other place from which drawings will come; that's "personal."

Anyway I thought I'd start out with some drawings from work. Some of these are just random doodles, but most are based on real customers or customer types.

Images are scaled down to save space. Click on the images for full-size versions.







If you can't read the small print at the bottom, it reads: "Question marks used to preserve tone and inflection." Because the guy didn't ask the questions, it's like he just stated them.


Artist's Note: "Lenox" refers to one of the big malls in Atlanta, and one known for an inordinate number of hipster-types.

These next two are related:





These are both sketches of real customers, but both are believed to be actually the same person from two different times coexisting in the present. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but all I can guess is that drug use, broken hearts, and Christian glam metal are to blame.


Most of these would only make sense to the other people I work with, but I've thrown it up here for everyone else.

I dont' understand how trends develop among any group, but especially among female twentysomethings. This comic centers around these trends, and includes a funny story about the creation of this drawing.



Okay, so that's the extent of the post-its at this point. Later in the week I'll put up some other stuff I did at work. Switching gears, here's some stuff from my sketchbook.

Transformers kick:





This is how much of a nerd I am. I drew my car as a transformer. I kinda had to, though; I think it's basically a fantasy of just about any male that grew up in the 1980s.

Dr. Doom
This is based off a John Bryne (I think) rendition of Doom



"Benson & Henson and Friends: The Love EP" Cover
This is a cover for an album some friends of mine made. In fact, check out their pages here or here.



Heavy Metal
Like it says, this was drawn while I was listening to Sabbath's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" album and Van Halen's first two albums.



Random Comics
Here are some comics I did a while back. I used stock photos and ComicLife to make them; just thought I'd throw them in as a bonus.

Hikers - part 1


Hikers - part 2




Whoo. That was a lot to post, but then again that's an accumulation of a month or so. But I hope you all liked it. I'll be posting more drawings and comics as I do them. Keep checking back for more updates.

Later!