All about ink

Not so much about sketches today as about finished pieces. The first piece is again courtesy of Doug Resnick. After he saw my post about the A.C.T.O.R. sketch I did for him here on my blog, he kindly emailed me two MORE SPIDER-MAN related pieces he had acquired from me. I’m presenting one here today– it’s a straight up commission he had me pencil at a show not TOO long ago (I think it was HEROES CON), and he later had my old studio chum Richard Case ink up for him.

This second piece is artwork for an aborted lithograph. Back several years ago, when Todd Dezago and I were just getting TELLOS started, the THEN marketing guru at IMAGE COMICS (his name escapes me right now) had set up a couple of deals for us at ANOTHERUNIVERSE.COM. They were at the time doing exclusive merchandise for their company with select comic book properties– things like limited edition comics and lithos/prints. We did a TELLOS PROLOGUE with them (which turned out really nicely) and we were SET to do a limited lithograph as well. They first asked for a solo piece with the SERRA character because they felt that concentrating on the female cast member would give us the best sales for the print– so I immediately went to work and produce this (with wonderful inks by my buddy Howard Shum) piece. Just as I was finishing it, though, they came BACK to me to insist that I change it to a piece with the entire cast. Since it was just a lithograph and not an actual comic– and since (frankly) I didn’t really enjoy having ANYONE tell me what to draw for my OWN property…. I kind of let the project die. So I’m presenting the piece here– and if I may engage in a tad of hucksterism– you can find it in my section of the MOTHCOMIX.COM website for sale. There, with that out of the way….

Finally today– I wanted to highlight something that has really made my month… MAYBE my year. I recently made a comic book trade with an internet friend who lives in Austria. I’ve been obsessed with the artist DENIS BODART lately. I’ve been seeing some of his stuff at various message boards on the web, and I immediately fell in love with his work. It’s amazingly alive– Bodart’s art is bouncy and cartoony, but it fits in any genre and subject matter. The features of the characters his more serious work border on caricature– but that just brings his work even more to life in my eyes. I’ve only had jpegs to look at– so when my friend told me he was going to France and Belgium on vacation and offered to pick up some of his albums for me in exchange for some Jack Kirby comics, I LEAPED at the offer. I recently recieved two albums in the mail from my friend entitled THE GREEN MANOR. It’s, I believe, the story of a gentlemen’s club where murders are discussed and solved. Bodart’s presentation of the settings, costuming and characters from Victorian era England are amazing. The jpeg I’m presenting here just does NOT do it justice. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a wealth of material on Bodart on the web– but you can see a tiny example of some of his work by clicking on the link above. I’d buy everything this man has ever drawn if I could get my hands on it.

OK– see you back here tomorrow.

Mike

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