I’m posting a couple of sketches today. The first is a BLACK CAT sketch (I’ve got a two-day BC theme going, it seems…) I originally did to auction off on eBay. Then I was contacted by A.C.T.O.R. about doing something for one of their auctions to raise money for retired comic book folks (or ones in need/out of work and in dire straits)– and I thought it would make a nice piece to do a finished/inked version for their auction. Unfortunately, I didn’t make a nice scan of the finished/inked piece, but I DID make a scan of the original sketch. So, here’s the BLACK CAT pencil sketch to start with:

The second sketch is something I did for a thread over on the THE DRAWING BOARD that was a “fan art” thread dedicated to the wonderful Enrico Casarosa’s character MIA. Enrico’s work has a wonderful Hayao Miyazaki and Mobius crossed influence to it. And his MIA comics are incredibly well drawn, designed and are charming as hell. In fact, there a terrific interview with him over at NEWSARAMA. It’s got artwork from his MIA books, as well as links to his website, and to MONKEYSUIT.COM, who published some MIA shorts originally, and a link to a new web comic he’s doing called HAIKU 5-7-5. You’ve got to check out this phenomenal talent’s wares. You’ll be happy you did.

There’s also a great interview with NICK BRADSHAW at NEWSARAMA about his work in the ARMY OF DARKNESS comic book being published by– I think– DYNAMIC FORCES… the article isn’t specific. But it’s got a bunch of art from the book in the article, and it’s mindblowingly awesome. Nick is a HUGE EVIL DEAD fan, and it shows in ever page. I also first saw Nick’s work, like Enrico’s, on the DRAWING BOARD run by Shane Glines (I TOLD you it was populated by some incredible artists, didn’t I…?)– and I’m thrilled that I’ll be able to have some Bradshaw goodness to hold in my sweaty little hands.

In another demonstration of the wonders of modern technology, Parker over at MYSTIFYING ORACLE promises to upload audio files of stuff happening at the COMICON INTERNATIONAL in San Diego this weekend. He missed his flight last night, but he’s heading out on another this morning. I’m looking forward to hearing the madness he’ll be giving us a little glimpse into at the show.

OK– another day down.

More tomorrow.

Mike

Unlike Parker, I haven’t yet made a habit of asking folks I do commissions for to send me scans of them for my records. Heck– it’s mostly because I always FORGET to do it in the chaos and noise of most big comics shows, so I don’t have much to show by way of convention commiissions like he does. But recently, I happened to stumble on an eBay auction that Doug Resnik was having, and it was a piece that I did for him at WIZARD WORLD PHILADELPHIA 2003, where I was sketching to raise money for A.C.T.O.R. at their booth. Doug has a massive collection of SPIDER-MAN related sketches/commissions, and he’s always combing through them and selling various pieces to help finance other, more ambitious ones. Anyway, I had really liked the way this one came out, so I emailed him and asked him to send me a scan– and he was nice enough to do so. So– here it is.

The COMICON INTERNATIONAL in San Diego starts tomorrow– so I expect that there will be very little traffic going on in the “comics cyberspace” during that time– but I’m not going to be there *choke*… (I’m probably one of only a HANDFULL of comics pros not going… I think the entire FANTASTIC FOUR creative and editorial team will be there but ME) and I’ll still be here posting sketches and blathering on for anyone who is left that actually checks this page out.

So– see you next time.

Mike

A couple of years ago, I spent some time doing these little blue and graphite pencil sketches and selling them on eBay to make a few extra bucks. It was fun to draw characters that I’d never had the opportunity to work with before– and to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do. It didn’t really matter whether they sold or not, I was just having fun with them. This BLACK CANARY piece is one of the sketches I did to sell– and I made a scan of it to keep for “posterity” (or my own ego, I guess. Actually, with the wonders of modern technology, I can now keep nice clean scans of all my work and save them digitally to remember them by long after the original artwork is gone. I love our modern times).

I have a friend named John Cogan who lives in California, who when he saw this piece on eBay asked me to do a fuly realized, inked re-creation of it. John had sent me some amazing pencil copies of a David Williams LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT story that will most likely never see print, as well as a GEN 13 cover (original art…!) that is just stunning. I’ve always been a huge fan of David’s work, and John knows this. So, he asked for the BLACK CANARY re-creation in exchange. I’m still going to do it, John…. I promise. It’s just hard to get to side stuff when I’m so caught up with my monthly “chores”.

But I’ll get it done….!

Mike

I have, I think, a metric ton of layouts, sketches and character designs in my filing cabinets in my studio. Lately, I’ve been going through them to find some old stuff that maybe no one’s ever seen. I’ve actually been finding more stuff than I thought I would– more stuff than I remember doing until I come across some obscure sketch that refreshes my memory. Today’s sketch is one such animal.

A few years back, I was contacted by someone in Spain (I don’t remember the person’s name) about a BONE tribute book that they were putting together for a visit that Jeff Smith was making to a comic festival over there. They were asking for contributions to the book from various artists– and frankly, I was honored that they asked me, since I’ve been a HUGE BONE fan from way back. So, I worked up a piece and mailed it off to the address I was told to send it to. Unfortunately, I never heard whether the piece ever got there– nor, needless to say, did I recieve a copy of the tribute book. Oh, well– it was fun to do anyway. So, here’s the sketch/layout I did for the piece.

Jeff Smith just ended his marvelous BONE saga with issue #55 recently. It was really a sad day for me personally. I have been reading BONE faithfully since I first stumbled on the book (issue #4, I think) over a decade ago– and it’s always been a book that I look forward to. I never lost my love for the characters, even when Smith got distracted by Hollywood and fell behind, or hurt his hand and fell behind…. or any of the things that caused delays in his publication schedule. BONE was the kind of comic I would have waited any amount of time for– I just loved it….. well, still do. That’s the beauty of comic books– you can always go back and read them again, reliving all the great moments.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Smith does on SHAZAM (the REAL CAPTAIN MARVEL).

Mike

Some time ago, there was a thread on THE DRAWING BOARD— a wonderful community of pro and novice artists hosted by the uber-talented SHANE GLINES– that focused on Jack Kirby characters. I drew this HIGHFATHER sketch from Kirby’s wonderful FOURTH WORLD series as my contribution, but for some reason, I never posted it to the board. I’ve been in a Kirby frame of mind recently, so I thought I’d post it here and now… so here goes.

Of course, it doesn’t come anywhere NEAR the majesty and sense of power that Jack Kirby infused all his work with, but then there’s really very few artists out there that will ever come close to THE KING in ANY catagory… so we can all only try our best and awkwardly fumble with the wonderful characters he created in our vain little strained attempts to brush up against just a bit of the glory he left us with.

I was THRILLED to see that there’s a JACK KIRBY APPRECIATION THREAD over at Joe Quesada’s message board. It’s full of wonderful scans of just an IOTA of the incredible body of work that Kirby produced in his career– but it’s some great stuff. It’s heartwarming to see that in a time when so much of the present comics readership doesn’t even know who Jack Kiry IS that there are still some who appreciate what he contributed to the comics industry. Hell– there wouldn’t even BE a Marvel Comics without Kirby.

Do yourself a favor go to the JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR section of TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING and see the wonderful selection of issues and Collected Editions of the JKC they have offered. They’re all there– and between each amazing cover is a look into the history of Jack Kirby, his life, his work– and literally TONS of pages of classic, rare, and never before seen drawings by the King. I’ve been buying the Collected Editions as they’ve been available, and it’s thrilling to have them and to be able to pull them from my bookshelf any time I want to look at this man’s amazing legacy (which is quite often). You really get a sense of how prolific Kirby was from this magazine. I’m stunned at just how much material he produced and just how many fantastic concepts he created in his time. There will never be another creator like Jack Kirby.

I’m just so glad he gave us the wonders he did.

Mike