It's Supersnipe!

My favorite comic shop, Strange Adventures, recently opened a new shop in Dartmouth.  Not only did I visit their grand opening to grab some nifty signed and sketched books by the likes of Faith Erin Hicks and Mark Oakley, but I also took the opportunity to enter their coloring contest for a bit of fun and the chance to win a big ol' gift certificate with which to stock my library.  Line art for the coloring contest was created by Dave Howlett, who's designed some really rocking work for the shop over the years.

I'm happy to say that I was one of the winners at the professional level of that contest, meaning I'll shortly be acquiring all kinds of cool goodies to fill my reading list for the summer.  Somehow I found the time to create two entries for the contest.  The first was bit of traditional digital coloring, like so:

The inspiration and palette for this rendition was inspired by the covers of the classic Marvel giant monster comic "Where Monsters Dwell", #25.

However, as I was rendering the piece, it put me more and more in mind of a piece I had seen by Alex Ross, created for the series "Marvels":

Ross's work fascinates me, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to see if I could do anything in his style.  I took the piece I had rendered earlier and went at it from a different angle, starting off with a more painterly approach in Artweaver.

As you can see from this, I replaced the background in the original with a more photographic layer with a couple of filters aplied to it, then turned the lineart layer of the original piece into an underpainting by doing a burnt sienna color hold on it.  From there I started painting in new layers over the underpainting.

And it was right about there that Artweaver and I parted ways.  I'm sure there are some people out there who swear by Artweaver.  At first glance, it does look like a fun program to mess around with, and has the potential for a lot of nice artistic effect.  However, on my system, I found it nothing but buggy and troublesome.  To begin with, the interface is not nearly as intuitive as it should be.  I've used a lot of art programs -- Photoshop, Gimp, MS Paint, Project Dogwaffle, and many more -- but almost none of them have been as difficult to decipher as Artweaver.  Simple things like layer opacity, brush size and dynamics seem to be present, but fine tuning them is more complicated than it should be.  I'm prepared to admit that this may be a subjective thing, but then I'm hardly inexperienced with this stuff.

A more serious problem for me was the floating toolbars.  I multitask; it's inevitable for me.  As a result, I find myself using alt-tab switching on Windows quite a bit.  Doing this while using Artweaver caused the floating toolbars to either stay on top of the other windows I had switched to, or disappear completely, forcing me to restart the program to get them back.  Either way, this was an unacceptable behavior from the program, as it greatly interefered with the work in progress.  I might try the program again if this behavior gets fixed, but for now, I'll give it a pass.

So, I took the piece to my old standby, Gimp.   The Gimp has long been one of my favorite art programs; it's interface is much more natural for me, and I like its brush controls and customizable keyboard shortcuts much more than even Photoshop.  In fact, if it were not for the fact that I need to use CMYK for finished work, I would probably never use Photoshop at all.  For example, the digital paintings I recently created for the SkyClub CD were all rendered in The Gimp, and mostly just converted to CMYK for printing in Photoshop. 
The end result was the piece below.  While this was the puppy that won the blue ribbon for me, I can't say I'm entirely happy with it.  It's not bad, but it just didn't go where I wanted it to.  I think part of the problem is that I was not bold enough with the color.  Alex Ross is one of the few painters I've seen who's not afraid to paint with black.  In fact, he uses it quite liberally in his work.  When I studied art, I was told never to paint with true black and have tried to avoid it over the years.  Perhaps it is because his work is almost exclusively comic related that Ross is able to get away with breaking this "rule". 
In any case, I wanted to keep the tone of this piece light, considering the purpose and setting of the piece, so I avoided using any black or truly dark colors.  I think this took away some of the depth of the piece, so that it comes off looking kind of flat.  Also, while I avoided gradient fills wherever possible, I think the brush selection I used still makes the piece look very processed.  Like I said, it's not bad (heck, good enough to snag me a prize), but it's just not what I set out to accomplish.  Still, it was fun to work on and a real learning experience.

There were some other very nice contributions to the contest, at all skill levels.  You can see the other winners here.  It's nice to see such a selection of talent offering different interpretations of the same piece, and great fun to be able to be part of it all.

Dimension of Pain

Here's a piece I recently completed for Pete Abrams of "Sluggy Freelance".  A couple of years back, Pete ran a Saturday strip called "Meanwhile in the Dimension of Pain" written by him and drawn by Ian "Bruno the Bandit" McDonald.  I had great fun coloring up a bunch of these strips for them, and now that he's gathering the Dimension of Pain material for inclusion in the tenth Sluggy collection, he needed this last page colored, so I volunteered once again.  It was an interesting exercise, as I had to deliberately dumb down my current coloring style a bit to match the style I was using at the time.  Still, I think the end result looks OK, and it's consistent with the other pages.  Be sure to check out Sluggy Freelance, one of the best and longest running webcomics, and pick up Volume 10 if you'd like to read more of "Meanwhile in the Dimension of Pain."

Sky Club Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the Sky Club CD, Lisa of Actorz Inc.  Thanks, Lisa...I hope you enjoy the music; I think it's pretty darn good.  Thanks to all those who entered; I hope more of you decide to check out this project for yourself.  They're a pretty talented bunch of musicians and well worth a listen.

Road to R'yleh

Anyone who's read past posts or knows my reading habits knows that I'm a Lovecraft junkie.  I like a good mythos tale, whether penned by the man from Providence himself, or by one of his many worthy successors.  A good portion of my personal library of comics, books and movies is dedicated to adaptations of Lovecraft's work or works set in and around the universe he created. 
Unfortunately, really good Lovecraftian fiction on the net seems to be hard to find.  Not that there's not plenty out there, but when stacked up against mainstream writers like King, Lumley and Alan Moore, the quality's just not there.  That's why, when I find a source of mythos fiction that's worthwhile, I cherish it for the enjoyment I know it will bring me.
One of the few of these, probably the most active one at the moment, is Innsmouth Free Press.  Aside from an interesting (if somewhat too TV oriented) blog that sometimes presents itself as if it were actually reporting events in an around Arkham (a neat literary device), the owners of this site also publish a magazine of mythos fiction that's professional in both the quality of the publication itself as well as in terms of the fiction it contains.  Although the magazine itself is free, IFP is actually a paying market for writers, meaning that they are getting work that is well above the average pastiche. 
Their latest issue has just been made available for free download, and along with it, they are doing their first fundraiser.  Their goal is to raise $1500 in June to pay for production costs of their website and magazine.  I've just made a small donation, and I'd like to suggest to any readers who might be interested in quality Lovecraftian fiction or just quality fiction in general to check out their magazine and, if possible, hit up their Donate button and throw a couple of dollars their way.  It's up to us to make sure that good markets like this not only do not disappear, but continue to grow and improve. Click the banner below to visit their site and see what they're all about.

SkyClub CD Update and a Contest!

My copies of the SkyClub CD arrived in the mail today.  It's a great thrill to have my work displayed for the first time in such a format, and by all reports, the response so far has been a good one.  I always like it when I can realize another writer's vision, and it's great to know that my work is being used to help bring to life the creative talents of Mack Maloney and company. 

Of course, to be fair, I'm not the only artist on this one; there's also several images by an artist named Sherp (http://soussherpa.tripod.com); you can see some of his work at his site.  Still, I managed to present the lion's share of the work for this one, including the images used for the CD website and the cover for the CD.

The CD is available to buy right now off Amazon, or you can purchase it direct from Voiceprint Records at the link above.  You can also preview some music from the CD at that site.  Meantime, I've got one copy of the CD to give away to a lucky reader who sends me an email with "Skyclub CD" as the subject (my email address is in the links to the left).  If your name is drawn, I will contact you to get a mailing address.  Contest closes 31 May, 2010.  No information will be harvested, sold, stored or made fun of behind the school at recess time.  Good luck!

Meantime, here's another sample of the images from the CD, just to whet your appetite a bit....

If you get a chance to listen to the CD and check out all the artwork, I've enjoy reading your opinion on the whole thing.  Drop me a line!

Who's Killing All the World's Awesome?

OK, I don't want this blog to start looking like an obit column, but I've just got to comment on this.  It's starting to look like someone's draining all the awesome out of the world.  Just last Monday, I found out about Frank Frazetta, now I start this week by reading that Ronnie James Dio has died?  C'mon, guys, whattaya doing to me?!
Dio blew my mind with "Rainbow in the Dark", and I think I played the sides off my copy of "Holy Diver"; it's still a fixture in my playlist after more than 20 years.  Then I discovered Rainbow, and tracks like "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Kill the King" became burned into my mind.  Seriously, I can still (badly) sing along with all of those songs.  Then I heard "Live Evil", then "Last in Line", then "Intermission"....and on, and on.....
You know, now that I think about it, Dio was really part of my pantheon of music for a long time, right up there with Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson and a select few others.  I've done drawings and paintings based on his work, and it was always required listening in my studio when working on a piece.  I remember rocking out to one of his live videos with some good friends in those post-teenage years that I go back to in my memory when I'm feeling nostalgic. 
Fortunately, I'm not alone in this.  I think Dio carved a place in the collective memory of a couple of generations.  So, time to queue up some "Holy Diver", throw a devil horn salute to the sky, and rock out for a while.

Ronnie James Dio: An Appreciation | EW.com

"If you suddenly see

What has happened to me

You should spread the word around



And tell everyone here

That it's perfectly clear

They can sail above it all on what they've found

It cries for you

It's the best that you can do

Like a sound that's everywhere

I can hear it screaming through the air


Long live rock and roll"

ronnie james dio, holy diver

The Grey God Passes...

Pause for a moment and recognize that the best fantasy artist of the 20th Century has left the party today; Frank Frazetta is dead.

I've mentioned before how I'm saddened by the passing of a great artist because I know that now I'll never get a chance to meet them.  There is no other person alive of whom this is more true for me than Frank Frazetta.  My earliest fascination with the work of Robert E. Howard came from reading the books for which Frazetta did the covers.  My earliest obsession with fantasy art came from a collection of Frazetta's work.  I cannot count the hours I've spent copying his paintings, reading his comics, cherishing every page of every collection of his art that I've found.  Even now, more than a quarter of a decade after I first discovered his work, I still sometimes pick up a volume of his work and find myself lost for an uncounted time in contemplation of the power, the energy and the mastery of his work.

Frank Frazetta was one of the primary inspirations behind any attempt on my part to ever become an artist, but he was also an inspiration to the way I live.  In photographs of the artist I've seen, he has always appeared as a fit man who could easily be the model for any of the heroes he so often painted, but more importantly, he was always smiling.  No matter how he was photographed, he always appeared to me to be having just the best time in the world, and I always equated that with him knowing --as surely, he HAD to know -- that he was the absolute best in the world at what he did.  That impression gave me the idea early on that true happiness and satisfaction could be found through pursuing work that one loved, an idea that I live by now and try to teach to my children.
More than an enjoyment of his technique, I took from Frazetta's work what Ayn Rand called "sense of life".  There is a scale to Frazetta's paintings, even his personal work like his portrait's of his late wife Ellie, that speaks of a sense of life that is not small or petty or weighed down by monotony, but is instead large, and wide, rich with color and alive with possibility.  That sense serves me as a reminder to sort my priorities at times when things get a little murky.

I know that the work of the heroic fantasy artists like Frazetta is considered corny by many these days, but for me, there was and is a lot of value in it.  I took so much, personally, philosophically and artistically, from the work of Frazetta that it's hard to imagine what my life would have been without it.  It's sad to think that there will be no more of that, but it's great to think that the work is respected enough to be published in such volumes that guarantee that many more will have the opportunity to discover it for themselves.
I can't say I'm going to miss Frank Frazetta, because I've still got everything I learned from his work.  I suppose if anything is really sad for me, it is that I never had the chance to say "Thank you."  I guess this will have to serve as the next best thing.

Frank Frazetta 1928-2010 | The Beat

What of the world
that I leave for ever?

Phantom forms in a fading sight--

Carry me out on the ebon river

Into the Night.
-from "Lines Written in the Realization That I Must Die" by Robert E. Howard

Hal was a Green Lantern!

One person I shamefully overlooked in yesterday's post about Free Comic Book Day was local comics artist and sketch tablemate Gino Collins.  An expatriate Newfoundlander like myself, Gino had a very nice portfolio of work with him, and seemed to be having great fun meeting the challenges of the kids looking for sketches...and I know there were some real challenges in that crowd. 
Gino is also a member of the Friends of Hal Foster Society, a group dedicated to promoting the work of Nova Scotia born artist Hal Foster, the creator of Prince Valiant and the Tarzan comic strip.  "Friends..." is currently fundraising to have a statue in Hal's honor erected in Halifax, which I think is a great idea.  If you'd like to help out with this initiative, donations can be made through Strange Adventures comic shop.
I hope Gino will forgive me for posting a piece of his art from his brochure "Who Was Hal Foster?"; it's a funny piece from a cleverly done brochure.  If you'd like to see more of Gino's work, you can find it at his blog, "Draw It Like You Mean It".  Take a look.

Sketch-a-riffic!

Free Comic Book Day 2010 was a blast!  I'm pleased to say that I had a slight case of artist's cramp at the end of the day...from the moment the doors opened until the end of the day, I was drawing nearly non-stop, as were the other artists in attendance.  The hosts kept me plied with cookies and Dr. Pepper...a sure way to my heart...so I was happy to keep blasting out the sketches for any and all.  My only regret is that I didn't have time to do more.
My favorite drawing of the day was a portrait of The Tick challenging Batman...with a spoon (that's a reference you can only get if you've actually read The Tick, and you should).  That sort of thing was the real fun of the day....taking challenges from the attendees to draw things I'd never considered before....Princess Fiona from Shrek, Sonic the Hedgehog, Iron Man vs. Astro Boy; fun stuff all the way.
Of course, it was also great for me that I was in some very good company.  I had the chance to briefly meet Faith Erin Hicks, the creator of the brilliant "Zombies Calling" and "The War at Ellsmere", Tim Larade, creator of the webcomic "One of Those Days",  and several others who (I'm ashamed to say) I did not write down names, links or other identifying information (sorry, guys!).  Apparently Darwyn Cooke showed up at some point, but I must have been hip deep in a drawing at the time, as I didn't spot him.
There's some pictures of the day up at Strange Adventures website; you can see the gallery here.  I'm the one doing the drawings of Deadpool and Iron Man, among others.  As you'll see, there was quite a crowd there...I'm told some people stood in line for over half an hour just to get into the building, and nearly as long to get a sketch. 
So, thanks to all who attended and dropped by the table for a sketch.  It was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to doing more of these events.

Oh...and to the guy who I spoke to about the Green Lantern drawing....I haven't forgotten, and will deliver.  Drop me a line.

Sketchy Character

For anyone who's in the area, I'll be doing some sketching for the kids at Free Comic Book Day in Halifax this Saturday, 1 May. 
The event, as usual, is being hosted by Strange Adventures comic shop  and is being held at Saint David's Hall from noon to 4 pm.  Go here if you'd like more information, including a map to the location. 
Drop by and pick up some great comics, on the house, and maybe nab a piece of original art or two.  Judging by past years, I'm going to be in good company, artwise, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Hope to see you there!

Sky Club is Flying!

Skyclub, the new album from Mack Maloney and friends, is now available from Voiceprint Records.  I've mentioned this here before, but it's changed homes since then and has a new producer and distributor.

I was pleased to be invited to be one of the contributing artists to the booklet for this CD, a concept album based on a science fiction premise by Mack Maloney, author of the Wingman  and Spacehawks series and numerous other novels.

The cover I designed for the CD is below.  If you'll click on through to the CD's website, there's a nice Flash-based flip book there that shows the rest of the illustrations used in the booklet.  A little more than half of the illustrations are mine, as is all of the fontwork.  That's also some of my art being used for the backgrounds.

I've had the chance to preview some of the tracks on this CD, and I think it's a fine piece of work.  It features covers of some classic tunes by the likes of Pete Townsend and  Mike Rutherford, and a rockin' piece of original surf music with some great horn work by Amadee Castenell.  I think any fan of classic science fiction or progressive rock will be pleased by the total package of this CD; it's a delight for both the ear and the eye.
Be sure to head on over to the site to see how to get your hands on a copy.  Of course, I'd love to know what you think of it, especially the visuals, so feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment with your reviews.

Raven Lunatic...

Here's a thing I'm testing.  Testing this thing I am.

Here's a thing I made.  Purty, ain't it?

Madcap Update

I recently finished the art for a ten page story, "Madcap White Dancing" for the upcoming anthology, Kudzu Comics.  "Madcap..." is a semi-autobiographical / high fantasy story written by Ben Zuerlein.  The anthology is scheduled to be published soon by the Yoknapatawpha Art Council, and the art will be on display at the Powerhouse Art Gallery in Oxford, MS. 
I'd like to be able to be on hand myself, but that's a trip the budget will not support right now.  Nevertheless, if you're in the area, be sure to check out the display and feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think of the work.  Also, keep an eye on Ben's site for availability of the Kudzu anthology.  I'll make another post here when it's available, but I'm sure he'll get to it before I do.
Meantime, here's a small sample of the work I did for the story.  The final art will be colored by Victor Claudio (you can see more of the color art at his site), but this is a 1/2 page of black and white art from the finished project.  Click the image to see more detail.

FYI...

Because nobody asked....
You'd think that I'd own my own name as a domain, but I never thought to do it.  So if you go to www.mikedominic.com, it redirects you to this site.  Which is not me.  And slightly creepy, in my opinion.  But still...not me.

Modok Madness!

April showers may bring May flowers, but did you know that March brings Modok Madness?  I did, and that's why I submitted a piece to the March Modok Madness blog! 
For those who don't know, Modok is a completely mental Lee and Kirby Marvel Comics character who was a frequent foe of the Avengers and their compatriots.  Like many of Marvel's best villians, he is utterly megalomaniacal, and an utter failure, despite having a mega genius mind and the physical prowess of a Mr. Potato Head.  How could a combination like that fail to take over the world?
The good folks over at March Modok Madness have taken it upon themselves to see that this would be dictator gets his due by calling all artists to submit their interpretations of the character to be published on the blog.  There's some wonderfully creative versions over there, such as the "Obamodok" and the Simpsons Universe Modok.  Spending some time browsing the pages is not only entertaining, but also gives a good idea of how many ways a simple character can be interpreted.

My own modified Modok is a slightly askance comment on the Disney Marvel acquisition, but the image below is only a teaser...to get the image in its full glory, you're going to have to click through to March Modok Madness.  What are you waiting for?  Go!

They Can't All Be Zingers....

Almost finished with my current crop of deadlines; it'll soon be time for some downtime.  I think a lost weekend spent pursing the finer pleasures of scotch and Bioshock may be in order.  That is, unless something else comes along to keep me working.
Meantime, here's a sample of the stuff I'm currently working on.  This is part of a larger piece that I'm just finishing up.  This particular panel ended up not being used, not because it was particularly bad, just that it didn't match what the client was looking for in this shot.  Still, I think it's a nice perspective on the scene.  Click the image to see it in all it's black and white glory.
By the way...this is part of the piece that uses the texture I mentioned in my last post.

Want to be the one to keep me from getting any rest this month?  Use the email link to the left to contact me with an interesting project idea and a fistful of dollars, and I'll consider surrendering sleep, studio time and sundry other pleasures to your demands.

Credit Where Credit's Due

I use a lot of resources, both online and off, in any finished work.  It might be reference photos from an old book, inspiration taken from a particular artist's style, or custom brushes and textures taken from online sources (such as DeviantArt).  A lot of these resources are released with an attribution licence, meaning that there's no cost to use them as long as you give credit to the creator.  Unfortunately, there's not always room or opportunity to give credit to so many people in the finished work. 
So, I've decided to create a section for this blog called "Resources" that will be a link catcher to give credit to those people who have (perhaps unknowingly) contributed to the success of some of my work.  Checking the "resources" tag will lead you to a listing of sources, tools and inspiration that may benefit any other creative types in my readership.  I recommend looking up any of them and seeing what they have to offer.

First up is a thank you to Enchantedgal-Stock at DeviantArt, who's Rainbow Splatter Paint Texture is going to save me a bunch of time on a project I'm finishing off this evening.  This seems like it should be a simple thing to create on my own, but given a deadline crunch, this will be invaluable in saving time on work and cleanup.  Thanks, Enchantedgal.

Things Rank and Gross in Nature Possess it Merely...

Just for grins, I've added a widget that tracks my Alexa ranking; you can see it at the lower left.  As of this writing, I'm at 6,731,802, meaning that far from being a star of the internet, I'm ranked well below pretty much any furry message boards and sites for Star Trek slashfic. 
This is not an important number to me....I would rather a dozen important people (e.g. close friends, known associates and paying customers) read this blog on a regular basis than any million people give it three seconds worth of their attention, but I think this will be a fun little game to play, to see how low I can make that number go this year.  If anyone can make suggestions as to how to improve my ranking, please send them my way, and if they do not involve a massive outlay of cash or the sacrifice of a small animal, I'll take them into consideration.


In other news, who does NOT know about the situation in Haiti right now?  Take a country that's already been through a social, political and economic collapse, stir in the most powerful earthquake in 200 years and add a death toll to match many genocides, and you've got a recipe for disaster at its worst...and that's exactly what millions of people are living through right now.  Sometimes you've just got to set aside your political disagreements and realize that people need help. 
I'm not bragging when I say I've just made a donation to the Canadian Red Cross specifically for disaster relief in Haiti.  In lieu of actually being able to go and start cleaning up the mess myself, I can't think of a better way to help, and I strongly urge any reader to go and do the same.  You can go to the Canadian Red Cross donation page by clicking the Haitian crest below, or do a quick Google search for the Red Cross in your own country and make your donation there.  If you're like me, it's the best thing you'll do today.

2009 - A Year in Review

Yeah, that's pretty much the shape of it.  Here's hoping 2010 shapes up a little better.

Rock in a Hard Place

Just for fun, here's a monochromatic portrait of Paul Chadwick's "Concrete".  I've been reading some of these books lately and quite enjoyed them.  As usual, I'm late to the party on this stuff, but it's quality is so far undiminished for the passage of time.  Well worth a read, if you get the chance.
This piece takes a bit of artistic licence, as Concrete is not really an action figure kind of character.  This
is just the way it flowed off my pen, and it was fun
to draw, and that's all I needed.

October in December

This is just because a Picasa user named Octobriana added me to her/his favorites and reminded me that I had done this one for Whitechapel way back.  Besides, nothing says "Seasons Greetings" like a Wendy Williams clone in a leather bustier aiming pink dildos at a red sky.  Happy New Year, internet.

I'm Madcap Dancing as Fast as I Can

Check out "Behold! Petrellica", the new website of up and coming comics writer Ben Zuerlein.  At Ben's invitation, I am working on a story called "Madcap White Dancing" for submission to Kudzu Comics, an anthology put together by the Yoknapatawpha Art Council in Oxford, MS.  Ben's written a nice short story that's just as reminiscent (to me) of Jaime Hernandez as it is of Neil Gaiman, and I'm really looking forward to digging into it. 
I'll post some of the art from this story online as soon as it is available.  In the meantime, why not check out Ben's site and see what he has to offer.

First We Take Manhattan...Then We Take R'lyeh

Tor.com is doing a Lovecraft theme this month, just in time for Xmas.  I come by my love of Lovecraft by way of 70's Warren magazines, when Berni Wrightson blew my little mind with his adaptation of "Cool Air".  Later, listening to OTR adaptations of "Dunwich Horror" and seeing John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness" (not a Lovecraft tale as such, but as close as any movie ever got) cemented the relationship.  Now I can gladly say I've read the entirety of Lovecraft's fiction, seen most of the movie adaptations, listened to (I think) nearly every radio show produced from his work, and consumed as many comics adaptations as I could get my hands on.

Best of all, I've been involved in some Lovecraft based work myself.  My favorite to date has been Derek Pegritz's sadly discontinued online mythos novel "City of Pillars", for which I designed webpage banners and a set of postcards that have never been published. 
As part of it's Lovecraft month, Tor invited readers to submit their own artistic interpretations in this thread,which I was more than happy to join.  I've just added the image you see below, which is one of the aforementioned postcard designs.  I've got to say, I'm very happy with the way this piece turned out.  For more fun, go to the Tor thread and see all the other fantastic art that's being posted, both in the original post and in the comments. 

Review: Harlan County Horrors

For me, the short story format is the ideal format for horror.  The necessary brevity of the format seems to concentrate the power of fear into a gut punch.  It may have something to do with the fact that a short story can be consumed in a single sitting, and the immediacy of the experience is not lost like the drawn out process of reading a novel.

Even my favorite authors in the genre (e.g. Stephen King, Clive Barker) consistently deliver better in their shorter works (although their longer work is still way beyond the average), and the masters of the format such as Robert Bloch, Lovecraft and Karl Edward Wagner can communicate more in the space of a few hundred words than many other authors can in an entire novel.

So, if the short story is the proper meal for horror, then a collection of short stories is a feast, and an anthology is a proper banquet.  Nothing serves up quite as well, in my opinion, as a selection of dishes from a variety of authors, and in that regard, "Harlan County Horrors" truly satisfies.

"Harlan County Horrors", edited by Apex submissions editor Mari Adkins, is a recent anthology from Apex Books, with all the stories centering on events in and around the mining region of Harlan County, Kentucky, an area apparently well known for its ghost stories.  Aside from that uniting factor, the stories in the collection are on a cornucopia of subjects and themes, from demon dogs and Chinese vampires to dark science fiction and true love gone awry.  A lot of horror tropes a put to good and novel use in these stories, while cliche is generally skiilfully avoided, making each story an exploration for the reader.

The authors for this anthology are the cream of Apex's alumni, who really shine in these works.  Alethea Kontis's "Witch of Black Mountain" is a dark romance that is equally poetic and macabre, while Geoffrey Girard's "Psychomachia" is a bleak humanistic tale built on coal mining, and Ronald Kelly's "The Thing at the Side of the Road" is a fast-paced and bloody monster story worthy of Bloch.  Apex publisher Jason Sizemore even comes through with a nasty little surprise in the story "Yellow Warblers".  With these and the other authors that make up the dozen in the book, it's practically guaranteed that any fan of horror tales will find something pleasing here, although I don't think that any discerning reader will be disappointed by any of these stories.

Honestly, when I first saw this book listed on their store page, I thought it would hold little to interest me.  I didn't know anything about Harlan County, and couldn't see myself caring what these authors had to say about it.  However, given the price it was selling for on Fictionwise, and the strength of previous works I had read by some of these authors, I thought it would be at least worth a try.  I'm glad I did.  "Harlan County Horrors" is one of those books that I cherish while reading, and will recall fondly long after I'm done.

"Harlan County Horrors" is available in print version from Apex's store where you can preview the story "Yellow Warblers", or in ebook version from Fictionwise or the Amazon Kindle store.  For cost and portability, I recommend the Fictionwise version, but to each their own.  In any version, it' well worth a look.

Selling Out!

I warned you I'd be doing this....

Anyone interested in having a "No Small Minds" logo of their own to proudly display and keep the narrow-minded at bay can now purchase one at my CafePress store here.
I've started out with a coffee mug for this design for two reasons:
1) I'm an incurable coffee hound myself and will shortly be drinking my daily fix from one of these.
2) Who doesn't need something to drink out of now and again? Even better if you can make a philosophical statement while doing so!

You will note that I have not included a website link or any information other than the image itself on the mug. That's because "No Small Minds" is not advertising anything; it is not selling anything; it is not promoting anything other than free thought. If you display it, you're not pushing anything other than your own state of mind.
So if you like it, why not grab one and throw a couple of dollars my way? Any money raised, at first, will go towards making more products available through the same store.
Of course, as I said yesterday, the image is free to use, so if you don't want to send me your hard earned money, you can make one of your own. Put it on a T-shirt. Put it on a sticker. Put it on some underwear and moon a politican. It's up to you.

Edit:  Now available, plain white T-shirts.  Stylish, comfortable and ethical, what more do you want?

No Small Minds!

I posted this image here some time ago and promised to add a color version later, which took me forever to actually accomplish.  Nevertheless, here it is, my own personal logo and avatar on many a web forum, "No Small Minds".

This was originally created about 10 years ago as my version of a "Mature Readers" label for my comic book, "The Journals of Simon Pariah".   My reasoning behind this can be found here.  While the points I make in that essay are still valid, I think the usefulness of this idea extends far beyond the comic book world.  Sometimes, I think that I need this warning label on every wall or door that stands between myself and the outside world.

So, to update this a little bit, who does "No Small Minds" refer to?
-anyone who demands acceptance of an idea without proof.
-anyone who tries to create and enforce rules for everyone based on their own subjective opinion.
-anyone who flatly denies the possibility that a dissenting opinion may be correct, despite overwhelming evidence in its favor.
-anyone who tries to stifle discussion rather than engaging in dialogue.
-anyone who tries to make the limits of their understanding into the boundaries of someone else's experience.

These are the people that I, personally, do not want to speak with because I cannot reason with them.  I don't want to deal with them (if it can be avoided) because it cannot be done on a fair and equitable basis.  When it comes to my work (in any field or forum), I want them to understand that they may not like what I have to say.
I've always known that any creative person encounters small minds of one stripe or another at some point.  No matter what you say, somebody's going to take offense at it.  As an adult, which I desperately hope to be one day, I've discovered that these same minds operate in almost every aspect of life, be it politics, religion, or interpersonal communications.  Their purpose in life seems to be chiefly to make everything as unpleasant for other people as possible.
So this emblem is meant as a visual "check your premises at the door" warning.  It's for anyone who wants to tag their work as being for "mature" readers without immediately labeling it as "porn".  It's for anyone who wants to give warning that free thought is being applied, and free speech is being engaged.  It's for anyone who wants to clearly state that the exchange of ideas is encouraged, and the stifling of dissent will not be tolerated.
It's also for anyone who wants something cool and quirky to display on their website.

When I first released this on the web in 2002, it was made freely available to anyone to use in any way they wish, with the stipulation that credit be given and that I be sent a link to the work in which it is used.  As I have come to understand it, this perspective has come to be codified as the Creative Commons licence, and its under that licence that I post this here now.  Feel free to use this on your website, in your comics, on your books, or in any other creative way you can imagine.  To misquote Woody Guthrie, anybody caught usin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern.  I created it, that's all I wanted to do.
All I ask is that you give credit (preferably in the form of a link to www.paladinfreelance.com) where credit is due, and let me know where you've used it, just because I'm curious about that sort of thing.
If you take it into your head to use this logo to sell products...well, I can't stop you, because I've just given you permission to do it.  But be warned:  you'll have competition, because I'll likely be doing that myself.

Oh, and in case anyone finds it useful, here's a black and white version of the same thing.

No Small Minds by Mike Dominic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at paladinfreelance.blogspot.com.

L'Chaim!

This is a piece I did just for fun.

One of the things that gets me through a typical workday is listening to podcasts, and one of my favorite podcasts is Keith and the Girl.  It's funny, entertaining and occasionally even enlightening, and well worth a listen.

Recently, one of their listeners, Elvis, started getting KATG related tattoos and mentioned that he wanted to get a portrait of "the girl" aka Chemda.  KATG called for listeners to send in their submissions for a Chemda portrait tattoo, and this was my contribution.  I think I went a bit over the top with this, but once I started, I couldn't stop.

Click to view full-size.

Some notes on the piece:
-the portrait is based on an old photo of Chemda I found through the mighty Google.
-the border is based on a design from the border of a 19th Century Persian plate.
-the lettering below the portrait is "Chemda" in Hebrew (the girl describes herself as both Persian and Jewish), -the lettering above is "L'Chaim" in Hebrew (they open each show with a short prayer that they end with "L'Chaim").
-the biblical reference on the right side is the biblical origin of the name "Chemda" which means "desire" ("Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, At the mountain which God has desired for His abode? Surely the LORD will dwell there forever.")

It's a bit  rough in spots because I sort of rushed it, but overall I like how it turned out.  I'll be the first to admit that portrait is not my best skill, but I think I did OK this time.

Out of the Shadows...

Here's another drawing to accompany a set of books that will be going up on Ebay this evening.  I've never really been a fan of Valentino's "Shadowhawk"; the art didn't work for me, and I find the costume design impractical and difficult to draw, especially the helmet.  Still, I like the way this one turned out.

On the Auction Block...

Holy mackerel, I'm selling my comics!
I'm a comic junkie.  Have been for as long as I can remember.  There's no cure for it; the only hope is to control the disease.
I have thousands of the things; so many that they're threatening to overflow my studio space.  So, I've decided to sell most of them, if I can.  Like so many hopefuls before me, I've headed off to Ebay to see if I can generate some interest in my collection.
Click here to see all the auctions I currently have up.
I'm doing it a bit differently, though.  Seems like it would probably take forever to sell the collection one book at a time.  So, I'm selling in sets.  Each set includes not only a good selection of comics from a particular series or publisher, but also other related items from my collection.  I've got Previews catalogs going back over 15 years, promotional material from many publishers, related magazines like Comics Journal and Comics Scene, and much more, and all of this will be added to the sets of books as I find things that relate to the comics.
Here's the kicker:  also included in each set will be a piece of original art done on a comic book backing board, featuring a character related to the books I'm auctioning.  This is an opportunity to not only grab some good comics, but also to own a cool piece of original art featuring your favorite characters.  (It's also a good opportunity for me to practice my quick sketching skills and play around with other people's characters.)
Sold so far is a set including the first 25 issues of Spawn, two Spawn miniseries and the issue of Wizard in which Spawn first appeared.  I've got other sets up right now, and will be adding more as I put them together and finish the drawing.
Once again, go here to take a look at what's on auction.

Here's just a sample of the type of drawing I'll be including with the comic sets; this one is currently up for bids with the first few issued of Youngblood.

By the way...my collection is fairly extensive and eclectic, and goes back over 30 years in spots.  If there's something, a particular issue or run of issues, you've been looking for, feel free to email me (the address is to the left) and see if I have it.  If we can strike a deal, I'll give you the option of requesting a custom piece of art to go with your order.

Edit: Conclusion:  Selling comics on Ebay is more trouble than it's worth.  I managed to move a few, but had to relist each set a couple times, and barely got what I would consider a fair price.  I don't have the kind of time and energy it takes to attempt to move a collection this large in such a piecemeal fashion.  Fuhgeddaboutit.

Once More Unto the Breeches.....

Let it be known that I have shorts, and once again they have been aired.
The drunkenly funny podcast "Air Out My Shorts" starring the inestimable Preston Buttons and the inimitable Word Whore have just read my fourth short story offering to them, "The Incalculable Mrs. McGonegal".  It's a slightly skewed Mary Poppins-esque bit of fluff with which they have a lot of fun and pull off a decent reading.
Go to their site to listen or download the mp3 of the episode from this link.
While you're there, check out their other entertaining episodes and other paraphernalia at their site.  It's been one of my favorite podcasts for a few years now, and your support will help convince them to keep going.

With Friends Like These...

Here's the last of the Marshal Law drawings, and my favorite of the lot.

I'm a huge fan of Bernie Wrightson, especially his and Bruce Jones's story, "Freak Show".  I think it ranks right up with "Frankenstein" as being his best illustrated story.  Obviously, that story was very much on my mind as I did this illustration (one of the characters is actually based on Wrightson's "Jennifer" from another short story). 
I like the idea of the Marshal Law having a backup cast of freakish characters to pal around with.  I can imagine an interesting backstory for each of these.
On a side note, at least three of the characters in this drawing were based on people I knew at the time.

 Be sure to click to see the detail on this one.

Laying Down the Law

Here's two more of the Marshal Law posters I designed wayyyyy back in the 90's for the metal band of the same name in Newfoundland.  Pretty basic stuff here, mostly focused on letter design (which always has been a weak point for me).
The backstory for this character involved him being a lawman who had been lynched by outlaws, then returned from hell as a Ghost Rider-ish character to dispense justice in a bloody fashion.  Simple enough, but there's potential in there for any number of stories, and the concept was a good fit for the musical genre.  I'm sure Iron Maiden may have taken issue with this had it gone far enough, but it really wasn't intended as a ripoff of Derek Riggs's work on Eddie.  It's just that skulls and black leather are such iconic features of heavy metal music that it made sense to combine them in this way, and the name of the band suggested the form.

I've got one more piece to scan in this set.  If you like these so far, the last one should really blow your socks off!

 

He IS the Law!

Here's another blast from the past.  Back in the wild, free-rolling days of 1990, I was involved with the local music scene in St. John's, Newfoundland.  I rented an apartment with a couple of local musicians and we spent a ridiculous amount of our time either attending shows at the clubs or just hanging out with other musicians.  One of the benefits of this for me was that I occasionally got to do some design work for the bands.
Unfortunately, a lot of this work has been lost as I never bothered to keep copies of the posters I designed.  However, this one project was a favorite of mine and I still have good copies of the work I produced. 

Being a headbanger through and through, one of my favorite local bands at the time was a metal band named "Marshal Law" that did a mix of enjoyable cover tunes (from the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Megadeath) and their own, very good, original work.  (This was, by the way, completely unrelated to either the English metal band by the same name, the American country band by the same name, or the comic book by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill.)
The band never really did go anywhere, but I thought they could have if they'd bothered.  In fact, I was so taken with them, that I offered to do a series of drawings for their first CD.  I designed a (admittedly Derek Riggs inspired) character for their band, including a backstory that I was prepared to develop into a full comic book if anyone was interested in going in that direction.  Although the band liked the drawings, they broke up shortly afterwards and the work was never used.  So, technically, this is the first time some of this is seeing the light of day (although I do recall seeing a shot of the character clearly taken from my design used as tattoo in Skin & Ink magazine). 
Here are three of the ink drawings produced to pitch the character to the band.  These were not really meant to be finished pieces, but rather to serve as the basis for paintings for the CD.  I've got a few more that I'll post another time as they're scanned.  Enjoy!

Objectivism Funnies!

Who ever said that Objectivism doesn't have a sense of humour?  To put the lie to that, Ian McDonald offers a birthday card I made for him several years ago.

Click here to read about "The Philosophy That Made a Man Out of MacDonald".

Blast from the Past...

My good friend and sometime collaborator Ian McDonald is running a series of his old drawings over at Bruno the Bandit this week, and it's kind of inspired me to look back into my own archives once again and pull out a few pieces that I've never really shared.
One of my favorite older pieces is this portrait of my character DeathMask (previously seen here).  This is one of my graphic novel projects that's still in limbo, mainly because it got roundly rejected by the publishers to whom it was sent, and that really put me off my feed on  this one.  Still, I think the idea behind it is solid and might just have to blow the dust off it one of these days.  Meantime, there's images like this one to remind me of what it could have been.  By the way, this was colored the old fashioned way, using watercolors, back before I got into digital coloring.

If Disney Be My Destiny...

Naturally, the internet is abuzz today with the news that Disney has purchased Marvel (I'd take the time to look up a link for you, but just try to move on the net without tripping over one).  Also naturally, I'm hearing rumblings from Marvel fans that they're worried their favorite comics will become "Disney-fied" - clean, wholesome and otherwise unenjoyable.  One of the popular visual memes that's coming about as a result of this is the Marvel/Mickey mashup, with various Marvel characters heads shopped onto Mickey's body.

It's cute, but it got me thinking, what if it goes the other way....what if Disney instead becomes "Marvel-fied"?  One look at this thread of comments at Warren Ellis's site shows the possibilities should Mickey and friends fall into the wrong (right) hands.  Heck, look what happened when Marvel met up with Archie Comics.

So, thinking along those lines led to this, my contribution to the Mickey/Marvel mashup meme (now with bonus alliteration!).  Click to see full size.  Enjoy.

In Brightest Day....

Here's a Green Lantern portrait I did for this thread over at The Drawing Board forums. I'm mostly pleased with the final result on this digital painting, although I can see a couple of areas that could use some work. Since it's just for fun, I'm not too worried about it.

In the Words of a Mad Englishman....

Found today at Warren Ellis's column "Do Anything" over at Rich Johnson site "Bleeding Cool", reposed here entirely without as much as a "by your leave" because I think it's bloody brilliant and perfectly states any number of things I think, including the reason I enjoy reading the work of insane Brits:

“There’s That Goddamn Sun Again”

Another day down the mines of our lives. We drink ’til we stink and smoke ’til we choke because that’s how we get things done, you and me. Spending our lives making things and making things out of our lives, because anything else would be dull as hell and we’re damned if we’re going to sit at the other end of whatever years we get saying, well, what the fuck was that for?

Years of scars, lipstick and tears, and every day the dawn comes on we turn our eyes up in surprise, saying, “There’s that goddamn sun again.”

© Warren Ellis 2006

Prime Giveaway

My comp copies of Nate Kenyon's "Prime" arrived in my mail yesterday, and I feel like sharing, so it's time for another contest.
For those who don't remember, "Prime" is the novel from Apex Books for which I did the interior illustrations. It's a science fiction murder mystery reminiscent of work by William Gibson, Philip K. Dick or Neal Stephenson, and it's an enjoyable read by any standard.
The copy I have to give away is trade paperback sized and signed by the author (and if you like, I can sign it for you as well). To enter to win it, you just have to email me (see the link to the left) or leave a comment with your email address to be entered in a random draw. The deadline for the contest is next Friday, 14th August at midnight Atlantic Time.
Jump in with an entry, and you might win yourself a nice signed collectible. Of course, if you can't wait, you could alway head over to the book's page on Apex and order a copy for yourself.

Reading Recommendation...

The latest issue of Apex magazine, vol. 3, no. 2, is now available through the Apex store. What makes this one so special?
Well, they're all special, just because they contain some great fiction and editorials. However, the latest one also has a full color half page ad for this site. This is the first time I've taken out advertising in print for my art. Apex made the rate so reasonable that there was no way I could turn it down. As a bonus, I also get a month of rotating ad banner space on the Apex site, so it's good all ways around.
Apex magazine is available in epub and pdf formats through DriveThru Stuff, in Kindle format via Amazon, and in a print on demand version. You can also get previews of the content at the Apex Book Company site. I've purchased the print version of issue 1, and let me tell you, it is slick. Good paper stock and a nice crisp cover image. Well worth the cover price.

Time to Face the Change...Ch-Ch-Changes

Astute readers will notice some changes to the blog in the last day. Besides tinkering around with my template, I wanted to highlight a few sections of the blog that are or will become more important. Mainly:

-Portfolio. Obvious, really. I want to provide a quick link to my best work for prospective clients.
-Tools. I plan on doing some writing on tools I use when creating.
-Reviews. In the past, I've been asked to do reviews, and wouldn't mind doing some more of them. If you're a content producer or distributor (e.g. books, films, software, luxury ermine lined sport socks, what have you) looking for an honest (key word: Honest!) review, hit me up with a sample or a link to download your product, and I'll review it here in my own funky fresh style.
-Contact. Also obvious.

If you are a constant reader and find that my tinkering has caused all or any part of this blog to break for you, please be a dear and drop me a line to let me know.

Gamer Girl

Just for a chance of pace this week, I decided to try one of the drawing jams over the The Drawing Board. The jam of the month is to do an interpretation of photo reference of gamer girl Olivia Munn. Not being a hardcore gamer, I've never heard of her, but when I saw the photographs, it just screamed out for a Coop style interpretation, so here's the result (SFW, depending on how strict your workplace may be)....

Nerd Rage!

Sometimes...not often, fortunately...I'll fire off a piece of work and forget to follow up on it. That was the case with this one, which I sent to the publisher over a year ago, and only remembered yesterday when I was browsing through a disc of older projects.
This is a pinup page that was done for issue #3 of the comic "Pencilneck" from Paperstreet Comics, a very well done comic by Vic Carungi, Jeff Blascyk and Antonio Brandao. It's the story of a mild-mannered banker who finally gets pushed too far, giving us a look at just what people are capable of under the right (or in this case, wrong) conditions.
Not only did the page make it to issue 3, but they've also seen fit to include in their trade paperback collection of the story. If you're interested in reading it (and I do recommend it...my own copy's on the way right now), the individual issues as well as the trade paperback...along with Paperstreet's other comics...are available from their estore.

Atomic Power!

Another week, another post at Whitechapel. I'm still enjoying the hell out of this every week, but I'm starting to think that it's eating into productive time, and I may have to leave it alone for a while. At least until I get a couple of personal projects done.
Meantime, here's the latest Remake/Remodel, "Atomic Man". From the character description:

"Adam Mann is conducting experiments with the radioactive isotope Uranium-235, and is caught in a "weird chemical accident" giving him atomic powers. He uses these powers to covertly fight crime and Communism as Atomic Man. His powers include super strength, flight, and projecting energy blasts from his right hand. To control and neutralize his power, he wears a lead glove over his hand and takes it off when he wants to turn the powers on. "

I was inspired by the covers of some recent Marvel comics for this one, especially covers by artists like David Finch and Richard Isanove. I think this one turned out particularly well. Comments or criticisms?

Click the image to get a full view in glorious color.

The Winner Is....

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the draw for the free copy of Paul Jessup's "Open Your Eyes" from Apex Books is Angelia Sparrow.
Angelia was kind enough to link back to me from "The Den of Debauchery's Garden Gazebo" (now there's a blog title for ya!) and will be receiving a copy of the book by snail mail just as fast as the U.S. Postal Service can deliver it.
Thanks to Angelia and to all who entered, and be sure to check back for more contests in the (near?) future.

Meantime, if you just can't wait to get your own hands on a copy of "Open Your Eyes", it's available from the Apex Books store, and according to their blog today, is one of their top sellers for June. I've started reading it myself, and while I'm not a fan of this kind of high concept sci-fi, I find this book quite accessible and well written. Fans of "Solaris" and Danny Boyle's "Sunshine" should love this one.
Get your copy while it's hot!

Open Your Eyes to a Contest!

Apex Books has kindly sent me a couple of complimentary paperback copies of Paul Jessup's latest book, "Open Your Eyes", described as "a surrealist space opera of haunting beauty and infinite darkness." I've just started reading it, and while some of this high concept stuff tends to turn me off, I'm finding this one very accessible so far.
To give readers a chance to sample Paul Jessup's work and to check out the kind of offerings available from Apex, I'm putting up a copy of this book as a contest prize through this blog.


But you don't get it for nothing...no, no, far from it. In order to qualify, you've got to give me some link love. Here's how it works:

• if you have a blog, create a post linking back to this blog (you can use either http://paladinfreelance.blogspot.com or www.paladinfreelance.com...all roads lead to Rome). If you run a website, give me a link in your "Links" page or perhaps post a news item to your front page linking back here.
  
• Leave a comment with an email address, or better yet, send me an email with your name and a link to the site where I can see your post (my email address is just off to the left there under "Contact Me". See it? Good.).
  
• Once you do that, your name will go into a draw for the book to be held in one week, on Friday 10 July. The draw will be completely random, under the close scrutiny of an impartial panel of judges (i.e. my wife will pull a name from a hat).
  
• If you are the winner, I will contact you via email for a mailing address where I can send the book.
  

Only the winner's name will be posted on this blog, and all other personal information will be deleted once the book is sent. Scout's honor.

If this contest does well, I may have other goodies to offer in a similar fashion in the future. Good luck, and get those entries rolling in!

Of course, if you don't want to wait, you can always surf over to the book's product page at Apex Books and buy a copy either in old-fashioned paper or new-fangled ebook version.

Prime Number Two

As promised in my last post, here's a color version of that image from Nate Kenyon's "Prime". The color scheme was very much inspired by B-movies and sci-fi/horror comics of the 50's. I wanted it to look really garish to get across the power of the scene. The illustrations in the book are in black and white, so this one was done just for my own, and hopefully your, enjoyment.

07-01-09 is a PRIME Number!

July 1st marks more than Canada Day this year. It also marks the release of "Prime", the new book by Stoker award nominated author Nate Kenyon. What makes this a landmark day for me is the fact that "Prime" is illustrated by none other than yours truly.

This short novel contains four black and white illustrations produced specially for this first edition from Apex (Note: The cover's not mine, but rather the work of the clearly talented Katja Faith). I'm not just blowing smoke when I say I had a great time creating them; this book was as enjoyable to read as it was to illustrate, and that always helps fire the imagination.

"Prime" is a dark science fiction story with ideas that recall some of the better urban science fiction novels, such as Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", William Gibson's cyberpunk novels, and Neal Stephenson's "Snowcrash". It's a futuristic murder mystery that skilfully avoids most of the cliches of other genre-crossing detective fiction to take an insightful look at where our use of technology may be headed and consider some of the unexpected consequences that may be the result. It is satisfying both in terms of entertainment and intelligence and although it is a relatively quick read, it is definitely time well spent.

As for the quality of the illustrations, I'll let you judge for yourself. Below is one of the four pages produced for this book. (Quick side note: I had originally intended to upload a color version of this page, but either Windows Vista or The Gimp lost its mind while I was saving, and dumped all of my color work. I'll update with a color version as soon as I can).

Be sure to check out "Prime" at Apex Books website. It's available to order now for $13.95 US, and even if you're not a fan of my work, I think you'll find that it will be money well spent.

Many Years From Now...

This week, LiveJournal user Phil McAndrew is running a contest based around the idea of drawing yourself as you think you'll be at age 100. My own entry is below.
In short, I see myself as somewhere between Sid James and Yoda. I figure once I hit 65 all bets are off, and an orgy of hedonism unknown since the reign of Caligula will commence. Of course, it will help that I'll be rich beyond the dreams of avarice by that point, and will be able to afford a steady supply of Jack Daniels whiskey, imported cigars and Vargas girls in nurse costumes with butts just a made for slappin'.
Please note the artificial leg; I figure I'll have at least one limb replaced by a plastic polymer prosthetic (say THAT fast five times!), probably manufactured by Apple. Also note the wetwired earbud implants, inspired by Lobo, which will deliver a constant feed of Tom Waits and Danzig directly into my cerebellum...just for mood.

Also, in the future, everyone will be required to wear fuzzy Cthulhu slippers.


Yes, I know that background is crappy. I dithered over it for about an hour before finally going with what I call the "Bloom County" solution...."Just wing that mother!"

Hunting the Alien

Here's the latest from the Whitechapel Remake/Remodel thread, this time a spin on the Arthur K. Barnes character Gerry Carylyle.

The thing I love most about posting to these weekly threads is that I get to play around with a variety of styles and try out new techniques. I make it a point to make each week's submission an experiment with a different yet recognizable style.
In this case, I wanted to do something in the vein of the modern crop of kids' comics like "Alison Dare" or "Amelia Rules". In past weeks, I have done mockups of Cartoon Network DVD's, 70's mystery novels, 40's pulp novels, and recently, an homage to Moore and Gebbie's "Lost Girls".
I find that it really helps spark the creative fire to take a chance on something artistically and not have to worry about the consequences if it doesn't work out. It really brings back the fun that often gets lost in concerns of deadlines and client demands. Sometimes my postings get positive responses from the other forum members (a talented bunch; praise from them is high praise indeed), sometimes they get no comment at all. Either way, the best reward for me is the moment when the piece is complete and somewhere close to what I pictured when I started out. I know then that I've learned something valuable and had fun along the way.