"38 up, 10 Down..."

And another page in the can...

I'm embarrassed that it took so long to get this one up, but I've been a bit occupied lately with other interfering influences.
I'll be able to speak more freely about them once they are behind me for good.

This was a challenging page, to be sure... but I'm fairly pleased with the outcome.
Barring a sudden change of heart, this is how the page will basically look (albeit more saturated) in it's final form.


The bottom panel marks where the special lighting of the old coot's office area intersects with the rest of the outside world... a sort of transition between two differing zones.

"In 2001, Greg would do almost anything for cash..."

Here's an old blast from the past...

This was to be a cover illustration for a certain New York Gaming Magazine to illustrate the featured editorial exposing the exploitation of women in the video gaming industry. Needless to say, while they LOVED the piece once it was finished and approved the progress through all the editorial stages, when it came time to go to press... they hadn't the testicular fortitude to follow through with the idea and ran a tame photo instead.

As a sort of lame compensational gesture, the magazine owner offered to buy the original artwork after the whole debacle (he gushed about the piece as soon as he saw the thing)... but the price he offered for the original painting was so insulting I actually burst into spontaneous laughter in his office! I told him that even if he offered double that price, I wouldn't have sold it to him on principal...

What an utter douchebag...

Anyway, here it is in it's lackluster glory... enjoy.

"Peek-a-boo"

Ok... I'm almost on schedule now... kinda.
With page 10 in the works now and nearly 30 more to go, it might seem that I am screwed beyond imagining if I want to finish the colors before July or so... but I am going much faster now and soon most of the pages will have only a single color scheme working within them (aiding selection time), so I should make up a bit of time.
Again... maybe...

Whatever...

If I can get around half of the thing done, I might just try to get it published in two installations...

We shall see....

"Going up..."

Another page bites the dust...

I still might try and put a shadow above the Pugilist's head to imply how tall he is and that he barely fits into the elevator compartment... we'll see.

As I'm learning new special effects and lighting techniques, it's really hard not to use them willy-nilly on the newer pages...
Still, I'm trying to keep the simple look of the color and the integrity of the prior page's mood.
Wish me luck...

Onward...

"Filed away..."

Another page in the can and work presses ever onward...

I'm getting excited that the pages are moving more fluidly than before and that each successive panel is taking less and less time to complete, effects and all.

It isn't easy to learn Photoshop on the fly... but at least I'm slowly carving away at the thing and coming up with my own shortcuts. I'll definitely benefit from the lessons learned the hard way... as agonizing as they might seem at the time.

On to 8 now... I'm eager to start getting into the "action" portion of the story as well...

Sketchdump...

Here are some more sketch samples from my life drawing classes...
All are 3 to 15 minute drawings in charcoal or conte' crayon.

Also posted is a rescan or two of a previously posted drawing that I felt needed to be represented... don't ask me why;)

"Pressing matters..."

Number 6 is now in the can, as they say... with 7 on the chopping block.
I'm slowly becoming more comfortable with the Photoshop tools with each successive page (and I mean "successive" in only the progressive sense, believe me)...

The next page is super dense with a lot of fancy panel work but I hope to have it finished in a few weeks.
I just wish that I could devote whole days to the endeavor, but for now I must fit in coloring sessions between the scarce freelance gigs.

Ok... back to work...

"Not forgotten..."

This is a small tribute post... nothing too fancy or overblown... but just the sort of thing that this particular individual
might find some strange satisfaction in.

It's not much... but it's the best I have to offer him.
In some ways though,.. it is the smallest things that make the biggest difference... so I'm just putting this out there now in the hopes that I can come up with something better in the future.

Anyway,.. he will certainly be missed.


Hey buddy... you were always my favorite.

You know who you are ;)

GREG

Interiors

On to page 6 now with number 5 basically in it's final stages of color...
This one was a tough nut to crack as I continue to learn Photoshop on the fly as I move from panel to panel.

I'm especially happy with the light sourcing on this page... it really helps to have some sort of coloristic surprise when showing successive "talking heads" panels.

Again, colors are much more vivid in the actual files... but hopefully you can get some idea of what the finished page will look like.

Onward...

"GOLEMITE!"

Just a brief teaser to give an idea of what this years Halloween show looked like...
A pretty ambitious production this time,.. full of big sets, pyrotechnics, and multiple props and lighting rigs...
We even had a sound-guy to cue up effects and theme music for the on-stage antics!

I'll post the full video compilation once we have a properly edited cut on You-tube in a week or so...

Page 5 is also almost finished and is only a few texture effects from being posted here as well.
Got to stay on target...

"Sweatbox- Part Deux"

Ok... here is the new fourth page.
It's still a bit raw, color-wise... but aside from minor tweaks, this image is finished.
Hopefully, progress will continue steadily as it has for the last few days. Between freelance illustration and calligraphy gigs, it's hard to really sink any large block of time into the color chores... but the rent has to get paid somehow.

More reddish-brown pages to follow as we zoom into the penthouse office of that building in the last panel...

In a stall...

OK... a recent influx of freelance work has currently delayed progress on my graphic novel coloring chores... but rest assured that work will continue as soon as I've swept this obligatory crap under the carpet where it belongs.

As an apology for being lax on the comic updates... here is a recent 10 minute study from the last SVA alumni drawing class I attended. A brand new season has begun... and I can hardly wait to get my hand moving again in a more classical vein.

Perhaps there are even a few paintings waiting to be inspired by the work...

Who knows?

"It's all about the gravy..."

Here's an image of an old LP cover that just screamed at me to post it for the world to see...
Enjoy!


A relevant post with some new imagery is on the way...

Recoup achieved....

OK...

I am now roughly at the spot where I previously stood when I lost all my hard drive data.
This is a major landmark for me and I just felt that it warranted at least a small post.

A few more hours of work and it will be all new territory for me... and let me tell you, that's a good feeling.
The pages look even better than before and I have some new ideas regarding execution that I'd have never conceived of if not for this sort of forced "retrospect"...

Wish me luck...

"Paging Dr. Dobberful..."

Hey Jim...

You out there?

I lost all your contact info when my hard drive went out awhile back...
Please come in, sir...

"Tapestry"

If you could have only seen how sublimely elegant this model was in the flesh...

This is one of my more successful renditions of this languidly sensual model... just wait until I can get a proper scan of the thing!
It looks SO much more restrained in execution on the coarse paper. Somehow... the scanner inherently pushes the contrast and saturation levels too severely in every scan... and then there's the blur...

Oh well... I can only hope that when the classes begin again, this gal makes another appearance...
I actually challenge anyone to get a bad sketch out of her...

Interim...

I've seen a lot of life drawing work on my friend's blogs recently... and because I've posted so rarely these last few weeks, I figured that I would jump on the bandwagon as well!

These are a few drawings from the symposium I attended at SVA a few months back for school alumni.
Keep in mind, these are awful, blurry scans from a dying piece of hardware without the proper flatbed space for full-size newsprint pad images...

These are all 5 to 15 minutes drawings... with the exception of the last head shot ( I squeezed in another few minutes afterwards on that one to make it an 18 minute drawing).

I hope to replace these images once I get a proper scanner...

"Retread"

This is the re-do of the third page...
A bit fancier than the last go... but basically the same animal with a few touch-ups.

At this point, I just want to get the accursed thing finished...

Again, the color is much more vivid and striking in the actual full res scan... I just wish that I could post those suckers here.
What a difference a few 100 degrees of DPI makes!

"Mustn't ... give... up..."

OK... I'm on my way back, folks!

Pages 1 and 2 are completely finished (sans final tweaks) and page 3 is already 3/4 completed as well...
It's been an ugly journey so far, but at least I've managed to crawl my way back into the saddle once again. Once page 3 is squared away and I'm immersed in page 4, I'll be ALMOST back where I was before the big crash...

To be honest, the new colors look even a bit better than before... most noticeably on the third page. I'll be sure to post it once I finally get it squared away.

I'm just hoping that my new sense of urgency continues onward through the new work... wish me luck!

I'll have more artsy stuff posted soon... just gotta keep my nose to the grindstone right now...
Thanks to all of you that commiserated.

Seriously...

DISASTER...

Yup... it's all gone.

My hard drive crashed as I was trying to transfer files to a DVD a week or so back... and now I'm faced with the horrific prospect of starting over on my coloring chores from scratch.

Unbelievable.

I lost 4 years worth of work, files, and personal items...
I was trying to burn it all off to DVDs, but I guess I just wasn't fast enough... or fortunate enough to have more leeway.
Even with all that I have lost, it's the lost color work that stings the most... the final panel of page 4 had over 30 full figures in it (and even more partial background figures) and was perhaps the best color comic book panel I had ever produced to this point. Agonizing...

All that is left are the super-condensed files I posted here for feedback...
I can't even use them to re-create the original colors because of their bleached out tonality and severely pixelated textures.

No one could save the drive... and I even sent it to Drive Savers in California who are supposedly the best at that sort of thing.
I'm completely heartbroken and discouraged... maybe this is just a sign that this story was simply never meant to be... I've met setback after setback at EVERY stage of this book.

Perhaps someone is trying to tell me something...



Well...

FUCK whoever it is... I restart the color work this week anyway. This book gets done by the end of this year or I take a header off the Brooklyn Bridge...

PS: Eric gets all my DVDS... maybe I'll leave the Godzilla stuff to Justin. With the cash he'll get from selling it all off, he might even be able to commission a proper Kamen Rider Amazon Custom motorbike;)