Memories found on a dusty CD

Dusty CD? Get it? I'll be here all week!

So I've been setting up my arkansasillustrator.com Web site and adding all of the comics I drew in college on there. In a way, it's been theraputic for me. It's been so long since I looked at them that I found myself reading them like they were new to me. It's funny how a comic called "The Anarchist," (I named it after what ended up being a minor character in the strip) ended up being like a diary of my college experience. Sure, most of the things in the comic never happened, but things that happened in college did inspire the jokes. I've had a big ole' dose of nostalgia lately. I quit drawing The Anarchist after my Senior year; I'd been drawing since the beginning of my Freshman year and it just seemed appropriate, and I think I might've felt burned out. A lot of things had happened over those four years. I lost touch with a lot of friends, some of them big inspirations, and one of the girls who inspired a key character even died! But looking back those strips say so much about my life, about how I developed during that period, as an artist and writer as well as a person. It's strange how one reflects on things like that. And now, a few years older I'm wondering about those characters again. What happened to them? Are they still going through the same old goofy routines? Does Donger still love zombie movies?

The answer?

Yes... you never stop loving zombie movies.

Maybe I should check in on these guys more often...

Knight of the living dead update

So here's some pages from one of my latests projects. I'm experimenting with the color, and some of the colors that appear here may change in the final version, but I've been telling a lot of people about the project and wanted to throw something up there so they could view it. In case you're wondering, these pages are not in sequential order.

It's a zombie story obviously, and it's adapted from a short story written by Ron Wolfe, which unfortunately makes it an odd size for a stand alone comic. If anyone has any suggestions for "graphic zombie compilations" let me know!

Carlotta

Messing around with painting on the tablet earlier. Thought I'd post this slightly different approach to the Carlotta character from Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer.

Last day for contest

Just a reminder to the handful of people who check out the blog. Van and I are giving away signed copies of the book to three creative people who can come up with the funniest/creativeist (I know, not a word) lie Pinocchio might tell to make his vampire slaying nose grow. The best lie will win not only a signed copy of the book, but also an original page from the book. The deadline is Thursday, Oct. 15, which is in all likelihood the day you're reading this (unless you don't check this blog often, and then you're probably too late. Sorry.).

You can submit your lie to pinocchiovampireslayer@gmail.com or go to our facebook page and post it on the discussion board, but do it quickly. Time's almost up.

Disclaimer: The creators of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer are not liable if a submitted lie appears in the current or any future Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer book. Dozens of lies appear in the book, and any submitted lies matching one in the book is purely coincedental.

Have you preordered?

Although it was pushed back a couple of weeks, Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer should be coming out at the end of this month. Van will be at the Baltimore Comic-Con and for those who come by the booth, there will be original art available, as well as a 3-foot tall wooden puppet, I advise anyone dressed up as a character from Twilight to keep their distance... just in case.

The puppet really hates vampires.

Pinocchio ZOMBIE slayer

Okay, just kidding about the Pinocchio. Seriously, Pinocchio? Zombies? That's ridiculous! These are some sketches for a new project I'm working on. It'll actually be a comic book adaptation of a short story passed along to me (hasn't been published yet, but I'm sure it will be). Granted, anything with zombies will likely capture my attention, but I really liked... well, everything about this story. And the story flows so effortlessly... it's my kinda zombie story. Right now it's slated as a personal project... but who knows, maybe some lucky publisher will want to publish it for the masses. If not I'll probably be tempted (with the original author's permission of course) to post it here anyway. At the very least I'll show off some pages sans the type.

And in case you're wondering, I definitely like the second piece better. I added a texture layer over the image and that seems to have made a big difference. Both of the pieces were drawn with the tablet though, and I'll likely be using a real brush to do the actual pages. I actually just bought a new brush and am eager to try it out.

I'm impatient

Okay, so I'm still knee deep, actually more like neck deep, in the Liberty script (among other projects) but, I don't know, I was feeling inspired. This could very well be page 1. I might mess with the rain texture more. I'm still not sure I'm happy with, but the art came together a lot better than I expected considering the amount of time I put into it (about 2 1/2 hours). Of course it's also a relatively simple layout. I got the inspiratoin for the ruined stone building from one of my favorite paintings "Cloister Graveyard in the Snow," by Casper David Friedrich. It was completely a last second thing. I may yet change the composition, on second thought I might try to frame both figures in the doorway, still going back and forth on that.