Daily Sketch #61

Die Hard David

Here's a quick sketch of David from Dead Inspector channeling some John McClane from Die Hard (no, I haven't seen the new one yet). I did this one entirely in ink really quickly without any real under-drawing in pencil.
D and I finished 4400 Season 3 last night and it was AWESOME. Seriously this series keep getting better and better with every season. Part of me is thinking that the other shoe has to drop at some point and they're going to jump the shark like every other serial TV series I've watched. I can't wait to start Season 4 though, we thought ahead and started Tivoing it a month or so back. Woot!

I'm off to NYC for a quick visit to Barnes and Noble today and then back tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to upload a sketch tomorrow upon my return. Then a short weekend and I'm off to LA and San Diego. Whew... I've determined I'd love traveling a lot more if I could teleport places. That would be sweet. Although I have to admit I enjoy being on a plane for 5 hours and not having anyone able to reach me. There's a certain freedom in that isolation.

Daily Sketch #60

Page in Progress

Here's a look at a page currently in progress for Dead Inspector with a couple of panels going from my sketch stage to tight pencils.

Daily Sketch #59

Why You Do This?

David from Dead Inspector wants to know. Another panel from a final page from Dead Inspector.

Next week I'll be in San Diego all week for Comic-Con International: San Diego. It's going to be a whirlwind endurance test, it is every year. Tons of fun, but a ridiculous amount of work for me as well. If you are at the con, stop by and say hello to me at booth 2329. I'm going to attempt to get sketches done in advance which would allow me to post new sketches every day on the road. Not making any promises, but it's part of the plan.

Daily Sketch #58

Steve Scopes Out a Very Important File

A bit of a cheat today folks. This is a panel from the upcoming Dead Inspector rather than a daily sketch. I'm going to try and break out an extra page or two before San Diego on this project so JC and I have more to shop around. So you may get some of these sneak peeks rather than daily sketches.

In other news, definitely check out my buddy Larry Young's Black Diamond series over at Ait/PlanetLar. The first two issues are out now with issues #3 and #4 available soon. I admit I'm a bit baised, my first written and drawn short story will appear as a back up in issue #4.

Get Fed!

Howdy!
I decided to make viewing my blog a little easier by signing up with Feedburner to allow anyone who would like it, to get my updates via their favorite feed reader or in your email. It'll save you looking on this site on a regular basis and ensure that you see the new daily sketches when you want. Enjoy!

Daily Sketch #57

David is Stunned

I'm not sure why he is but he is. Just a quick warmup sketch of our hero from Dead Inspector. Happy Friday.
p.s. Does anyone know how to slow time down? I sure could use more of it!

Daily Sketch #56

This is a Monkey

I know, he looks like a cat but he is in fact a monkey. Do not be fooled by his innocent look sleeping on top of a box of thank you notes.

Daily Sketch #55

Rough Day at the Office

Here's a sketch of Steve from Dead Inspector unwinding after a rough day at the office. And for my new friend Justin, he's wearing his sunglasses at night. Maybe I'll add David tomorrow.

As a confessional bloggy side note, I don't have that many rough days at the office anymore. Few days where I end the day thinking "what's the point?" In fact, I'm happy to say that after almost a year at the new job, I'm still loving it. I get pretty psyched about what I'm doing every week and get fired up when something works out the way I envision. I feel like I have an impact in my place of work and like my employer values me and my overall happiness. That being said, the job can get intense, so there are days when I find myself craving a beer to unwind like Steve. End confessional bloggy side note.

Daily Sketch #54

Image Comics & Making Good

Sorry for the lack of posts on Friday and Monday. I was up in Saratoga Springs for a wedding this weekend and my lack of planning ahead precluded my posting on those days. I should start planning ahead and delivering instead of apologizing.

Over the weekend I read quite a bit of George Khoury's book from TwoMorrows' Image Comics: The Road to Independence. It's a really good read and interesting for me as someone who's comic youth was during the big 90s boom and now as someone who works for Top Cow. Reading the founders' interviews along with other people who were in the thick of it during the heyday is pretty fascinating. And the main thing Khoury does incredibly well is get across that good or bad results, the Image days were a revolutionary and pretty magical time. Yes, these guys made some mistakes but they certainly aren't to blame for the "downfall" of the industry. They made widespread creator independence a reality and their legacy will be felt for years to come. Inspired by this I did a quicky sketch of Ripclaw channeling the new look Tony Moore and Jason Aaron have developed for the new Pilot Season issue.

And a bonus "make good" or "I'm sorry" sketch of Bill from Dead Inspector. I think he might be in a coffee shop, writing and enjoying a hot cup of java.

Daily Sketch #53

Happy Fourth of July (belated)!

Sorry I missed posting yesterday, but it was a day full of cooking out and hanging out with friends to celebrate the birth of our nation. My beautiful grill performed admirably in its first full cookout effort and everyone had a grand old time. We ended up skipping on fireworks because of the on and off again rain, but D and I closed out our night by rocking out to some Guitar Hero II.

Oh, and David from Dead Inspector wants to hand you a very important file. Very important.

My Girl's Birthday!

My lady Danielle is celebrating her birthday today. It's a very special day. Be sure to wish her a happy birthday today.

(Plus my younger brother and dad stopped by last night to stay over because he has an interview at John Hopkins this morning, so no daily sketch this morning. Maybe I'll get one up later in the day)

But more importantly...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY!

Daily Sketch #52

The Darkness video game


I had a chance to finally play The Darkness video game (the first game with my name in the credits) this weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. The story is compelling and Starbreeze did an awesome job establishing mood and setting. I'm not terribly far into it yet, but I'm enjoying it. One of the cooler little tidbits in the game is when you utilize your "creeping dark" ability to scout ahead, you can actually turn back and look at Jackie (you play most of the game in first person mode). When he's using this power, Jackie kneels over and is shadowed with Darkness tentacles coming out of his trenchcoat. It's an incredibly cool visual. I tried to capture the basic gesture in today's sketch.

I watched two movies this weekend - Pulse and The Devil Wears Prada. The Pulse turned out to actually be a pretty decent concept and theme - that the technology we use to make communication easier actually pulls us further apart. Pretty ironic from a guy posting on a blog. The Devil Wears Prada was a D pick, but I have to say I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It was funny and interesting and Meryl Streep was great.
And check out my buddy Jim Demonakos' blog for his recap of his trip to Washington, DC which includes my drawing of him (his drawing of me is posted a few posts back).