Finale

OK... here's the final panel of the story...
It looks much more effective at full print size, but post constraints only allow for so much enlargement.

There will be a bit more detail behind the figures in the form of firelight casting and licking flame elements in the background... but most of that will probably be done in the color stages.
There will also be a decent amount of text accompanying the image... small scattered dialogue boxes to bookend the story elements... but there should be enough room in the negative space of the page to avoid any image overlap... at least I hope so.

Now I just have to come up with an apropos title page image...

"Fireworks"

Another bit of progress...
I'm working on the title page now and trying to decide if I should go a multiple panel route as opposed to my usual full-page image featuring the title logo. I think I've got the text semi-realized now so I'm wondering if I should deviate from the obvious intro style that I've always favored in the past...

We'll have to see...

"The End is nigh..."

Yup... it's finished, folks (the main story proper anyway...)!

I still need a frontspiece for the title page, but I'm actually thinking of doing a small painting for that while I'm waiting for Rick to catch up on the Inks. It'll keep me busy during the off-time when I'm not working on my new teaching resumes.

I'm fairly pleased with the last full-page image... it's kinda a pin-up at this point... but I figure that it can't hurt.
I'll be posting more of the transition panels before slapping up the final page...

Here's the final sequence from flashback to initial set-up...

Enjoy...

"Running to stand still..."

I'm almost done now with the new transitional page I had to add before moving to the final image... and I'm quite relieved with the results. I'll try to post a few of the panels in the next day or so and see what sort of feedback it garners... if any.

I'm not really sure why I even bother... I suppose that I am a bit starved for reaction from my peers. Lately, I've isolated myself a bit from those whom I once shared an artistic exchange... for many reasons... none of them particularly weighty or significant.
For lack of a better venue, I guess that this place is as good a spot as any to pick up random criticism...

I want to start attending the SVA Alumni Life Drawing classes being offered at my alma mater... but I just feel that I have to at least completely finish the pencils of the story proper before engaging in another potentially distracting aesthetic venture.
At least that's what I keep telling myself...

My God... I'll be 40 in February...

"A slight setback..."

AArgh!
A good friend of mine was kind enough to point out a certain visual oversight to me in the final panels of the tale yesterday... resulting in the horrifying realization that I might actually have to go ahead and extend the story one more page for it to have the necessary final impact I desire.

Sure, it's a pain in the ass... and it kinda takes a bit of the steam out of my drive to pound out this "last" page... but in the long run, it will make the story smoother and it's conclusion more dramatic (I hope).

So... now it's 2 more pages again...

Crap.

Tri-Phase

Quick update...
I'm in the final stretch now... the last page is under construction as I write this...

Sure... there are a few adjustments to make in previous pages and a frontspiece to worry about... but I am finally closing in on the last vital images of the story! What a relief...

I'll have prior page progress posted in the next day or so... but until then, enjoy this bit of madness...




This triptych is an assemblage of three 15 minute oil sketches I did of a nude lit in a sequence according to differing phases of the moon. This piece is to be featured in an upcoming volume of "Eye Candy from Strangers", a collection of sexy gal art to be put out by Brandstudio sometime in the near future (hopefully). I don't really know why they chose it in the first place... but regardless of how sexy I feel it to be... it made the cut... and I am grateful for it.

More soon...

"Hold on... just a bit longer..."

Work on the penultimate page is progressing at a fairly good click now that other "distractions" have been removed from the fore...
Sure,.. I'm unhappy about the way things worked out... but I suppose that it is for the best. No one wants to be anyone's "mistake", that's for sure...

I hope to post more panel progress soon...
I just need to more fully realize a few of the visual passages before I feel confident putting them up here for relatively public consumption. A couple of the images have turned out rather well and I'm anxious for some further feedback from those of you out there that still actually give a shit whether I finish this or not (even if it's only out of a sense of pity).
The pages are getting rather cramped as I try to fit it all in within the constraints of the format I've set for myself...

Who knows... maybe another page wouldn't kill me after all...

I am such an idiot....

"Consummatus"

OK... here we go...
My question for the peanut gallery is this:

Does it bother anyone that you can't see a sliver of the girl's face through her hair as she presses herself into the chest of the Golem? Theoretically... the encompassing darkness of the giant's body would probably obscure her profile in the first place... but does the image of the embrace communicate clearly enough without showing the girl's likeness pressed to his chest?

I used the inset to make her desperate relief apparent to the reader... do I really have to make what's happening in the prior panel more clear for it to read visually?

I ask this question to you... o' unwashed masses of comic book geek-dom... (and any other various and sundry types of artistic folk that care to weigh in on this bit of worthless minutia...)
Don't let me down now...

In all seriousness though, this image marks the consummation of the relationship between the two main characters of the full story arc. Here we see the lynchpin moment that sets our true protagonist upon her fateful new path... and some brief insight into the true nature of the tale's title character.

The next page will be a doozy... I have to bring the story back full circle (I started the narrative at it's climax) and seal the deal in a satisfying fashion that has both good closure and implied continuity...

I am so boned...

"Exit main antagonist..."

Progress again... nothing to write home about, but forward momentum nonetheless.
Tomorrow I will post a panel that I'm quite pleased with... but have some reservations about.
I suppose that I'll just pose the question to anyone interested in responding then...

Here's hoping that the next page turns out as well...
I'm deternimed to make these last two pages ones that I am proud of... regardless of how pressured and anxious I am about their execution....

"Hand-off"...

Just a bit more progress from the last page... I'll be putting up another image tomorrow as well to keep me motivated and actively updating this site. I've been far too lax in my posts lately... letting all the verbage build up dangerously inside me instead of purging myself of it's polluting influence through this helpful forum.
I always feel a bit better after venting a bit here after a tough few days or so....

Not much has changed in my tumultuous life... things are still unbearably complicated, and the lack of resolution in my private life has somewhat stymied my creative output. Still... I'm doing my best to keep a positive mindset about me so that I can continue plugging away at the story. I just need to get this project finished and out of my life before I can truly concentrate on the next stage before me...

2 more pages now in the story proper...
Only 2 more....

These are a few transitional panels before the big money panel below that illustrates the lynchpin moment when the two main characters effectively become one.

Just a little more to go now....

"Hmmm... that gun looks familiar..."

Another progress post...

It's the last week of Summer Lifeguard duty, and I'm certainly going to miss the friends I've made at the pool...
Hopefully, I'll be able to maintain some contact through my weekly visits to the pool (if they don't close it for renovations) as a civilian swimmer once my tour ends.

I'm also looking forward to getting back to drawing again full-time to build my portfolio and keep the content current.
I hope to land some sort of university teaching gig in the near future to try and keep a consistant income coming in through the pipe... (put my Master's degree to work for me)

This whole freelance grind is getting a bit tiresome and I'd appreciate it a great deal if I could pick the jobs I want to accept more readily because I have some financial stability to back my choices.
Here's hoping that I can manage to land something sooner than later...
The classes at the Museum are now coming fewer and further between... not to mention the budget cuts... so a new strategy must be devised.

Wish me luck...

"A Bird in the Hand"... and a little fishy...

Just a short post today... I'm not exactly feeling my best.
A lot has been going on in my life lately, and while it certainly has provided a great deal of fuel for future imagery... it hasn't exactly made me very happy.

Let me just say that this whole ordeal has made me even more grateful for the few close friends I have to confide in... and it is quite comforting to know that although I haven't the swelling cadre of companions I once drew to my side at my beck and call, the loyal few I have managed to retain are of such sublime quality... that their number becomes meaningless.

For this I give thanks... you know who you are...

2 1/2 more pages to go in the story proper... recent distractions have hindered production a bit, but soon I'll have an entire month or two to get the thing drawn, colored, and lettered for delivery.

Here's hoping that in completion I can find some small measure of satisfaction.
I can hardly remember how excited I was when I first started this anymore... I suppose that I've just got to get back to that place again...

Oh... and "Little Fin's" name is Tomo...
Hard to believe, eh?
It's been a long time coming...

"A bough in the shade of your laurels..."

The last few weeks have been an utter whirlwind for me...
From frantic last minute page renderings, to the maelstrom of convention-floor madness,... I've had my hands fairly full.

Things are just starting to settle down now, so I will now attempt to properly update this site with the appropriate content that was previously absent before my trip. This might take a bit of time with all the catch-up freelance crap I have to contend with... but I will endeavor to make the transition brief if I can.

In the meantime, here is a little 3 hour oil study I threw together before my trip to prove to myself that if I were ever again pushed into a corner by a demented Art Director,... I could still come up with a fairly representational figure painting on a crackpot deadline. Making the image file size small enough to read on the web totally killed the piece's luminosity and vibrancy as far as color goes... but the overall visual is still fairly represented...
What think you?

(For the mythologically challenged... it's a slight visual variation on the Greek legend of Daphne and Apollo...)

More to come soon...

"Out of the frying pan..."

Rumbling along nicely now... another page in the can.
Just 4 more to go before I can start thinking about the "extras"...

Here are some transitional panels leading up to the final pages... I thought it might be nice to show some of the panels within their layout positions to give a better impression of what the finished pages might look like.

My private life has taken a sudden turn for the best recently... but I'm much too suspicious of my good fortune to speak of it at any length yet for fear that I will jinx myself...
How sad that I've been reduced to such a cynical curmudgeon by my past missteps... afraid to wholeheartedly embrace a possible opportunity for fear of failure....

Just keep your nose to the grindstone, old man...

"STOMPYCAT!"

Moving along now at a fairly regular pace now...
This sequence ends page 32 and I'm already nearly finished with 33 as I type this (I will post panels from the new page in the days to follow).

This little "headstomp" POV passage brings up another one of those decisions regarding gratuitous violence for the sake of drama in the story...
I have a panel prepared along the top of the following page that will either simply remain solid black with blood spatter... or it will brutally depict the Director's head shattering like an overripe melon beneath the Pugilist's boot. So far, I'm opting for the more subtle approach... even though that bastard certainly deserves to suffer such visual indignity for what he's done...
Then again, I was sure to show the crippling agony leading up to his ultimate demise... so perhaps that will have to suffice.

Getting closer all the time now... and I'm really beginning to feel the pressure...

Wish me luck...

"It's all in the hands..."

This set includes the sister panel to the earlier June 13th 2006 entry image depicting the Director stashing the film canister in his asian-inspired cloth body armor. I hope that the procuring shot is clear enough to be read properly...

Moving along now... at a fairly consistant click.
Had some unexpected Calligraphy work pop up this weekend so I had a bit of a set-back progress-wise.
Nonetheless, the page is nearing completion...

Met an interesting person recently... someone who came completely out of right field and fairly knocked my socks off.
I'd almost forgotten what it felt like...

I feel galvanized into artistic action once again.
Just a bit more to go...

Borderless...

Here's a bit of transitional progress that I think came out fairly well...
Maybe I'm just pleased that it opens up the narrative sequence on this page with it's unframed imagery.
Just a spot for the eye to rest among all those crammed intense panels...

Still chugging along...

On a side note... I have finally passed my Life-guard training course! All that's left is to get myself registered, fingerprinted, and
officially certified. I can't wait to get my bright orange day-glo swim trunks and my trusty whistle!!!

I'm so proud...

Oh... and sore... I'm goddamned sore as well.

"And capping off this year's new Olympic Track and Field events,... the Cripple Jump!"

The panels rumble on...
Here are a couple of transition shots that set up the mini "chase scene" I have planned for our two protagonists...
The gal's path leads her straight into the final confrontation and the eventual wind-down. I've just got to get her and our burly hero into proper position for the final scenes with the other arriving characters.

Gotta love those Raggedy-Ann stockings...!!!

The Pugilist pulls a "Little Jack Horner"...

Poor fella...
All he ever really wanted was a bit of co-dependant affection... and a daily supply of pre-pubescent teenage girls to crush manually...

Well,... they say that "what goes around, comes around"... and I'd venture to say that no one will be losing any sleep over this brute's fate (even in MY creepy comic book world)!

Exactly 6 more pages to go in the main story proper (barring any unforseen accidents) and perhaps a pin-up or two before I'm finally finished with this installment. I just want the pencils done or close to finished before the July Convention in San Diego... but my expectations are becoming more and more realistic as the pages clunk along.

The ending of this story is a bit complex, so the pencils are starting to crawl as I labor carefully to fit every detail in each successive panel. I'm beginning to hate myself for starting this tale "in medias res" now... it takes careful pacing to connect the flashbacks to the present storyline, and I now think that the story would have flowed just as well had I simply told it in a straight sequential fashion.

Feh...

"Is THAT all you've got..?"

Just a bit more progress to report...
Kinda a fun little sequence that takes place after the hirsute giant's last-ditch effort to finish off our hero.
He looks up from the floor where he is slumped from injury and exhaustion, hoping to see the protagonist reeling into unconsciousness... only to catch a glimpse of his downcast grin!

Just two more panels to go on this page... and the last one is the grisly end of the Eisenvater... AT LAST!