Christmas Gifts

Christmas is silly.  It is a great time to make something new for someone.

I try to take advantage of the opportunity!

This thing was huge.  I had a little help with the curtains, and my wife painted the tan into brown.

This was for my niece Angil, as the A at the rooftop indicates.  The dog is her dog, the one on the backboard that is.  I discovered a few buttons which made sounds in this thing, so it got some fresh batteries, and the address above the door is one which she knows so that's a thing too.

I picked up a lot of little things to add, like the tv on the roof, the tea set, the trees, and the *ahem* machine gun emplacement.  (She has a rad brother too!)

The best dollhouse ever made.  It was fun.

- J.

30 Characters 2013

It's that time of the year again, the November 30 Characters Challenge is over for me.  The concept is simple, the execution can be tiresome though... in 30 days, create 30 characters (preferably one per day) and post it on the official online competition blog.



You can click on the flier to the right to go directly to the final characters from me for this year, as well as the two previous years as well.  That's nearly 100 sketches of character ideas, and...



...well, when you're looking at my figures, you really need to read between the lines (so to speak) because each individual figure tends to be a fairly oblique reference to something else, whether clever or foul.





Here are a few of my favorites from this year.  I may post more here in the coming days.

- J.

Working Pages Maize

Here is the first penciled pages from the second issue of Maize. 

The first issue is still going up online as I work on the second.  Since most of my printed comic work tends to be rushed to get ready for cons, I am determined to take more time on these pages... although I'm still coming in at a very reasonable period of time.  My hand is fast even when I'm not on deadline.

- J.

CO Springs Con Part Two

One of my table neighbors this time was Jay Sternitzky who runs Paper Dream Productions.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paper-Dream-Productions/157842487574638

You should check out his work, he has written and his brother Drew Sternitzky has done the art for their story Short Stack.

I totally need two tables for every show.  This was awesome.  I got a lot more done with this set up.

Here is another commission, Deadpool.  Like the Joker, I wanted to see the bones beneath the skin before finishing the art, but that was a lot simpler with this joker than that joker.

I love that his belt buckle is a giant picture of his face.  I need a belt buckle which is a giant picture of MY face.

- J.

CO Springs Con Part One

This was a new show for me.  It was one of the better shows as far as the numbers go, so that was cool.  Here is a commission I made for a gentleman at the show who was really cool.  He had all his young kids with him but they seemed to all be enjoying themselves.

It was a pretty quick piece.  I told him to give me two hours since I only had 11x17 board with me that day, and I went over by probably a half hour more, but I don't think I really had more than an hour and a half total to work on it in between conversations, taking short walking breaks, and selling.

This is some guy named the Joker.  It may be the first time I've ever drawn him, but I really wanted him to look a little like the 70's version with the pin stripes and the purple vest.  That icky scarred look has been taken so far (especially recently with the whole "face off" look) to make some reactionary classic flavors a little more necessary.

- J.

Maize Online Announcement

Last month in Portland I presented the preview version of my new comic Maize and sold quite a few also.  It went over well and people generally seemed to enjoy it.

This morning I will be presenting the first full, finished print edition for it at the 2013 Colorado Springs Toy and Comic Con, and I'm excited for it.

Now, here's the deal.  It's also going online to read for free, just like all my other work in the past.

This time however, I am putting the horse in front of the cart and designing it first for the web, and then following it up with the print version later.  That'll be a first for me.

Here is the beginning... my intention is to place new panels of the story at least weekly.  That's a pretty quiet pace and I'm actually farther ahead than I would need to be.  This is my full art commitment until it is finished, so please take a look, drop me a line, and let me know what you think!

- J.

Read Maize online now!

 

Rose City Comic Con 2013 Part One

This year saw the second annual Rose City Comic Con.  The convention has moved into the convention center from it's original location at the Doubletree banquet room, and suffered much the same way from the new location's drawbacks as did Stumptown when it moved.

I debuted a preview print copy of Maize during the event, and took a very long, rough train to get there.  Never try inking with a quill pen on a train!

 

One commission I had was a Hawkeye, for a young lady who was working for a comic company there.  She had a thick sketchbook of only Hawkeye sketches, and I noticed that the page before mine was a sketch by my old friend Levi Skeen who I still see at shows a few times a year.  He was actually the first artist who ever inked my work, which was a good learning experience for me... oh man that would have been in 2000 or 2001 maybe.  I still have some of those pages around here...

Good show, exhausting though.  A lot of the very big pros gave me quite a bit of their time, so a big thank you to everyone who reviewed my work and suggested improvements!

- J.