"Forward..."

Ok... here's a bit of progress on the second page...
I'm still fiddling with that half-toned center panel, but for the moment... it pleases me.

I'll post the final once I make my usual adjustments...

On to three now!

"Into the breach..."

Just a bit of sample progress on the first page...
Still needs a tiny bit of tweaking, but the basic idea is intact.
I'm still not sure about the sky yet... but it looks pretty cool. Who knows if I'll change my mind tomorrow...

Basic scene establishing shot at dusk with the the first main protagonist on display... the second main character appears in the next panel. I like how the bottom panel background recedes against the black-line layer now...
Geez... by shrinking the file down so dramatically, I've totally killed the color... but I hope it still comes across.

Accursed Photoshop!!!
Why won't it simply execute my dark, eldritch desires upon command?


What a goddamned gyp...

"On letting go..."

Florence Migatz died late yesterday evening as I was coloring the first page of my strip.

She was 89 and was planning to celebrate her 90th Birthday surrounded by her family on May the 25th of this year.
In the end, even though her doctors and my Mother were still desperately trying to save her life... she asked to be let go.
I can't begin to understand what that terrible instant was like for my Mother...

While I was present at both the deaths of my Grandparents, and nearby when the decision was made regarding my Father... I was never required to make that specific choice myself. All I could do was advise those empowered to do what I thought was in the overall interest of those concerned. Even when I disagreed with the course taken, I still tried my best to be positive and supportive.

Of course, this is quite easily done when one knows he needn't be the one to directly shoulder the responsibility for that decision.

I'm very proud of my Mother... letting go of the relative closest to her heart... a woman so beloved that her greed for even a few moments more almost clouded her judgment and set her on a ruinous course that she would have certainly regretted later.
No... she took the only path that could be humanely taken.

It's finally over... nothing left to think on now but missed opportunities...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight, I am in for the evening, sick with a terrible flu that came upon me suddenly. While this in itself is nothing of particular note,... my old Ex from Japan chose tonight to finally respond to my desperate e-mails requesting her new whereabouts (I hadn't heard from her in over 3 months, since she last visited me with her old travel agent friend and stayed in my apartment to save on Hotel fees)...
I knew something was up... but I was not prepared for what she told me.

It appears that she's finally met a brand new beau (it's true what they say about weddings)... and he is very uncomfortable with our continued friendship... even through simple e-mail posts.

Sigh... while I am honestly thrilled that she's finally found someone special to fill her life (truly, I am)... I am also heartbroken that a 5 year chapter of my life is now coming to an abrupt close. It's really just too bad... we were very good with one another. I daresay that she understood me better than any other woman in my life up to this point... it just didn't work out the way we planned in the end.

But I suppose it's for the best, really...
It's just the timing of the news that galls me a bit...


I will miss her.





I will miss them both.

Trying to keep hopeful...

The prognosis is not so good...

She's hooked up to a respirator now and will remain in that situation until she stabilizes.
She had most of her bowel removed, got an Ileostomy and is
resting quietly.
At least this way, the doctor says with time she can
have a good chance at recovering and having a normal life for whatever
time she has left.

He says it will take at least 3 months before her body heals enough to
go in and reconnect what's left of the bowel to her insides again... and even that is a hopeful assessment.

It's not a pretty picture, but it's the only one we have right now.

I keep thinking that there must be something we've done in the past as a family that warrants this sort of run of bad luck.
This could very well be the 5th major tragedy among my immediate relations within the last 3 years... both my Father's father and step-mother, his real mother, and then my Father himself...

I'm trying my level best to be positive... but it's getting to be a harder and harder sell with each successive blow.

Keep working, Greg...
Keep working...

"Cross your fingers..."

It's going to be a long night for me...

My Grandmother is under the knife as I write this.
She is undergoing surgery to remove the blockage within her colon that is keeping her from being able to defecate properly.
Although at her age (89) this sort of operation is incredibly risky, her physician has so far been unable to dislodge the blockage through conventional or standard alternative means... and something radical has to be done to prevent her waste from poisoning her system further.

I was supposed to go visit her this coming May on the 25th to celebrate her 90th birthday...

I guess that I'm just hoping that I'll still get to make that trip for that purpose.


I find myself thinking back to the last time I visited her and my Mother last year...
She was never one for sentimentality... and when I tried to tell her that I loved her one evening after dinner, she asked me to leave her apartment out of flustered embarrassment. It wasn't a mean-spirited sort of reaction... just a sort of unconscious adaptation she had developed for avoiding uncomfortable situations, I suppose. She just told me that she was suddenly tired and needed to get some sleep and hurried me out the door. It was so awkward and forced... if she really wanted to think it through, she could have told me that my Mother was surely getting impatient waiting for me in the car in the parking lot below. It didn't matter though... in our family, that sort of affection is rarely put on proper display, so she did what she had to do to pass an uncomfortable moment.

I suppose that I can only hope that in the many months since those few minutes passed between us, those simple words might give her some comfort in the hard times ahead for her...

I'm just sorry that those humble past sentiments are all I have to offer her now.

First night....

OK... so it took a secular goyim to remind me at the last minute that Hanukkah started earlier this year...
Nonetheless, the candles got lit and the blessings said...

I used the menorah that was given to me from my Grandparents upstate while I was caring for them a few years back.
They both died from cancer... 6 months apart from one another. I decided to home-hospice them myself so that they could die in the comfort of their own homes and without the prostelitizing interference of the religious vultures that often accompany the upstate chapter "Meals on Wheels" programs. I couldn't be there every day of the month, but I did the best I could given the situation... and to be frank, even with the terrible monetary ramifications that decision inflicted on me then (and still does to this day)... I don't regret a single moment of that choice.

This humble cast iron candle-holder is one of the few things I own from their estate... the legions of curiously absent relatives that miraculously showed up around the time of their funeral processions took care of most of the available swag to be had at the cabin. All I managed to snag were a few books of photos, an old wooden Don Quixote effigy, and this odd little menorah.

Again, I regret nothing...

Well... maybe one thing...

I only wish that I'd had the foresight to record my Grandfather speaking...
He had an amazingly deep baritone voice and could tell a WWII story like no one else I've ever heard...

I miss them both a great deal...

Happy Hannukah.

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...