Daily Sketch #110

Another Sneak Peek

Here's another look at a panel in progress from the current page of "Dead Inspector". This one is of Captain Miller who's made a bevy of appearances on the blog recently.

Also make sure you check out www.wantedmovie.com to see the first official trailer for Top Cow's Wanted film (coming out March 28, 2008). We're all pretty stoked at work about this project. You'll also be able to see it this weekend when you go to "American Gangster" starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

Daily Sketch #109

David at the Grave

Spent the morning working on an actual page from "Dead Inspector" so I thought I'd share part of it as an under-drawing.

In other news, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has an awesome-ness level of "very frickin' high". The wireless guitar controller rocks and they really amped up the graphics in this new installment. Lots of little gameplay tweaks too that make things a little bit more visually stimulating and entertaining. So far the song selection looks great and the career co-op mode means D and I can play together. Plus X-Box Live capabilities (oooohhhh). The only real downside - an increased price tag of $100 for the game and controller. Now when are they going to give us X-Box-ers the 80s edition?

Daily Sketch #108

Good Monday Morning

David from Dead Inspector makes another appearance in the Daily Sketch. He has to be the character who's most frequently appeared here, right?

In other news, I installed my brand new Sony CD player/ipod interface into my car this weekend. The good folks at Crutchfield made the entire experience easy and pleasant and in all seriousness these guys have some of the best customer service and tech support I've EVER encountered. When they missed including a dash kit in the shipment they offered to let me go down to Best Buy, pick up one, and credited my Discover card for the Best Buy retail price. Just so I wouldn't have to wait until Monday to get the missing piece. Rock on! If I ever need more electronics from the car, I'm going straight to them.

Daily Sketch #107

30 Days of Night Was Awesome

It really was. In fact it may have been the vampire equivelant of "28 Days Later". Incredibly well directed with some great performances and pathos. The selective use of gore and color was spot on and the special effects on the vampires were fantastic. Highly recommended for fans of horror.

More prepatory sketching for Dead Inspector today.

Daily Sketch #106

Long-winded Post... But Lots of Pictures!

Here are some thumbnails of a page I'm working on currently for Dead Inspector. The final panel is the first close up of Captain Miller and as you might be able to tell my initial inclination was to make him a younger Asian guy.

In related news, my good buddy and publisher at Ait/PlanetLar, Larry Young sent me an early Christmas present in the old email. He forwarded me a PDF preview of my first published work as a writer AND an artist. It's a 5 page backup in his series "Black Diamond" (well worth reading) entitled "The Curse" which will appear in issue #6, due out in December. It was a great feeling to see something I'd crafted from start to finish. My boy Nick Senior pumped out some wicked colors for the piece. Here's a sample page.
Plus I'm very happy to tease that the Forever Man project is moving along incredibly well. John (my co-writer) and I were incredibly lucky to hook up with the mad talented Thomas Nalchik. Thomas is pumping out page after amazing page and I can't wait to show it off when the project is ready to be seen. In the meantime, a small teaser image... What can I say I'm in an image happy mood this morning.

Oh and today is a Woot Off at woot.com. If you like gadgets and tech, you must know Woot.

Last but not least, Crutchfield has the best customer service of any company I've interacted with in the last year. Hands down. I ordered an ipod interface from their online store and not only did they have great pricing, free shipping, and free instructions and technical installation support but when the part turned out not to be the right one they helped me find an alternate solution and met me halfway on the price difference on the my brand new Sony in dash CD/radio/ipod interface. Chris @ Crutchfield, you sir are a scholar and a gentleman.

Daily Sketch #105

More Miller Time

Still working out some kinks in my take on Captain Miller in Dead Inspector so here's the good Captain taking some notes.

Started playing around in Google SketchUp today to see if I can utilize it to speed up some background work in Dead Inspector.

Daily Sketch #104

David on the Prowl

My buddy Joe asked me if I ever post just pencil sketches (vs the inked ones that have been going up lately). Well ask and you shall receive Joe. Ask and you shall receive.

(I'm still working on the porno sketches...)

Daily Sketch #103

She Said Yes

Big News fans of sketch blogs and general awesomeness! This weekend I popped the question to my lovely girl at her parents house in scenic New Jersey and she was kind enough to accept my questionable offer. It's probably not fair to have bribed her with a diamond, but I gotta stack the deck where I can. There was much rejoicing followed by future mother-in-law showing off the new couple to complete strangers in the restaurant. Good times had by all!

Oh, and here's another daily sketch once again experimenting with Captain Miller's look in Dead Inspector. My partner JC Vaughn was kind enough to mention me in his blog so I thought I'd return the favor. If you haven't already you should certainly check out his other fine comic offerings with artists who actually get their books done like "Zombie Proof" and "Antiques". You can find out more HERE.

Daily Sketch #102

Ninja!

Okay I'm off to test for my second degree black belt tonight so I'll be spending the day warming up and soaking in secret kung fu knowledge at the WKKA camp prior to the test. I thought in honor of the event and because I just felt like it - I'd give you a ninja today. That's right - NINJA!

Daily Sketch #101

More Miller Time

Here's another sketch of Captain Miller as I continue to develop the character for "Dead Inspector". I rather like the way he turned out in this shot.

Also, my girl is awesome. Every guy should be so lucky.

Daily Sketch #100

What You Need a Sub-Title on This One?

So I'm a bit late posting this morning. And I've had two people inquire where sketch #100 is and when I'm going to post. I didn't know I had that many people looking!

This was another possible look for the new character in Dead Inspector, Captain Miller. But JC decided he liked the take I posted for Sketch #99 so it's kind of a moot point. Still I thought it was a nice head shot so why not post it.

Daily Sketch #99

One More Too Go!

I'm one away from 100 sketches on this blog. It's a pretty cool feeling.

This one is a character design for a new character entering my Dead Inspector pages currently, Captain Miller. JC didn't give me a character profile or description so I just started tossing around ideas. This is a kind of typical supervising police officer looking guy, but instead of making him balding and/or overweight I tried to make him more of a rugged Tom Selleck archtype. Gotta love some Tom Selleck. He's a man's man.

Heroes is starting to pick up. The first few episodes were a bit uneven, but I'm found last night that they are beginning to pick up the pace and weave elements of the story together more. They even managed to find a way to make the Latino brother and sister interesting by adding Sylar to the mix. That guy is going to be awesome as Spock in the new Star Trek movie.

Also started watching Traveler last night, which was a cancelled show from the summer. D and I tivoed the whole thing (anticipating a cancellation and not wanting to be left with another unfullfilled story) and we heard they'd finished off the storyline so we thought we'd give it a shot. So far two episodes in and the set up is pretty darn good. Drop a comment if you watched the series and have thoughts on it.

Daily Sketch #98

I Have No Idea

Honestly, I have no idea what this sketch was supposed to be. Just started drawing and this is what came out. Theories on who this guy is or where he came from are welcome.

Daily Sketch #97

I am Iron Man

It's Superhero Friday. For anyone who hasn't seen the Iron Man trailer with Robert Downey Jr., you should check it out. Downey totally gets the character of Tony Stark. And the Iron Man suit (the modern one) looks awesome. Plus they included Black Sabbath at the end. Rock.

I was thinking if Tony Stark was a real person he would be Richard Branson. I could totally see Sir Richard putting on a flying metal suit.

Also check out the trailer for The Golden Compass. Fighting warrior polar bears, angry monkeys, and Sam Elliot. I'm in.

Lastly, I'm looking at getting out of my Verizon contract. Apparently new fed regulations say that if you can find someone to take over your mobile contract your wireless provider can't charge you an early termination fee. I have a year left on my Family Share plan with 2 phones, which I'll throw in for free for anyone who wants the contract. You can find out more HERE.

(yes, I want an iPhone).

Daily Sketch #96

Quick David

Just a very fast pen sketch of David from Dead Inspector. It didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to, but they can't all be winners.
I went to the Apple store and played with the iPhone yesterday. I gotta say despite Rob's warnings to not buy into it early before AT&T moves away from the Edge Network, it is a sweet sweet machine and I'm sorely tempted to pick one up. I was most surprised with how easy it was to type on the virtual keyboard. Admitedly much of that decision rests on whether or not I can get out of the existing Verizon contract.

Daily Sketch #95

Bill's Not Convinced

Another warmup pen sketch of Bill from "Dead Inspector". He seems a bit skeptical, but I'm not sure why. I like the expression I got out of this quickie and the way his hair turned out.
I checked out "The Next Iron Chef" last night on Tivo and I think it's great, campy fun. The US Chairman (portrayed with complete commitment by Mark Dacascos) was in rare form during the show.

Daily Sketch #94

Steve Introspective

Just a quick warmup sketch of Steve from Dead Inspector. This one was done straight with pen, no under drawing.

Daily Sketch #93

Ashley Isn't Happy

I'm not sure why, but she does seem to be unhappy or upset about something. Maybe David's being a jerk or maybe a new story isn't coming together.
Columbus Day today. D is off from work and downstairs working on school work for one of her post-grad classes. Me? I'm up here working. Trying to make comics better (to quote my buddy Larry).
Have a good week all!

Daily Sketch #91

Networking Woes

Computers are great... when they work. So I had Verizon Fios installed in the house this week. So far the service is great but as with any transition there have been problems. One of the biggest and the reason there was no post yesterday is it has screwed up my network file sharing. I thought I had it fixed last night... but I was wrong. So the fun continues this weekend.

Here's a quick sketch I did pretty much straight with a brush pen to play with a loose gesture.

And here's another bonus sketch since I missed yesterday. It's a piece I did for a wedding gift for my friends, Marc and Shelley who are getting married this weekend. Congrats Marc and Shelley!

Daily Sketch #91

Quick Bill

Here's a quick sketch of Bill from "Dead Inspector". I usually take way too long on my sketches, but this one's a good example of just getting the idea out on paper quickly.

In other ramblings, "Reaper" seems like it might actually be a decent show after 2 episodes. It's a bit formulaic but overall very entertaining with as they say 'a young likeable cast'. Which probably means it'll be cancelled soon.

Oh, and Verizon Fios comes to my house today. I'm very, very excited not have to deal with Comcast soon. So excited.

Daily Sketch #90

I Have No Idea...

Who this guy is or why I drew him. But sometimes with a warm up sketch your hand just starts moving and something starts to come out of a few random lines. Is he a zombie, a tough guy, or just under some weird lighting? You tell me.

Daily Sketch #89

It's October?!

Wow. The year moves way too quickly. Really, just way too fast. It seems like just the other day it was the dead of summer filled with oppressive heat and for me running from one city to another for trade shows. This morning I got up to go for a run and realized it was still pretty much pitch black outside at a time when a few weeks back the sun would be coming up.

The weekend was gorgeous though and I managed to get a bunch of yard work done on Saturday. While I really enjoyed the time spent outside in the cool Fall weather, I couldn't help but notice how quickly the weekend flies by when you basically spend a day doing chores. Welcome to being an adult I suppose.

I saw "The Kingdom" over the weekend and thought it was an enjoyable and clever movie. Sure it had some flaws, but overall it was enjoyable and thought-provoking. I also saw "Fracture" on DVD over the weekend and thought it was a pretty mediocre murder mystery. I fell asleep during the tail end of it. Take that for what you will.

Anyway enough blabbering and here's the sketch. Steve from "Dead Inspector". Have a good week, all.