I Had A Half-finished Pencil Test Or A HELLBOY Rotation That I Worked On, In 2000. Last Night, I Added

Today’s mail was pretty exciting for me, because I finally scored a copy of “FREE SHIT”, which I was able to purchase via eBay France! I’m a huge Charles Burns fan and have met him a number of times over the years. I’d read that he'd often produce these small 8-page ‘zines called “FREE SHIT” and give them to his fans at signings? Despite this fact, he never seemed to have any copies, whenever I’d ask.. Pretty disappointing.

The book was produced by ‘Le Dernier Cri’ as a limited-edition (1000 copies) in September 2016. So, they’re rather hard to find in North America. And often, very expensive! They’re certainly never Free!! Anyways, this small book collects the first 22 issues of his ‘zine. And is a real insight into Burns’ process and how his creative brain works. Highly recommended!

'HELLBOY' illo that I did for a charity auction, back in 2004.. Parts of it look wonky to me now. But I liked how the coloring came out. Especially, the swamp scum details..

Been a long while, but I’m finally back with an update.. I was digging thru some old work files on my HD, and thought I’d put together a brief post..

Back in 2015, I worked at Nelvana on Nick Jr.’s  “Fresh Beat Band of Spies” cartoon series. A lot of the front-end creative work was directed by ‘6 Point Harness’ in L.A., including some of the Design work; usually establishing the look and style of: characters, props, and locations. Full turnarounds and additional views of those designs though, were done at Nelvana in Toronto.

Early in the production, I spent most of my time creating rotations and additional views of Props. I didn’t have any real experience drawing directly with vector lines. So, I was allowed to draw them in Photoshop on a cintiq, using very clean bitmap lines. I'm guessing another artist may have converted my finished work, later on?..

One of my favorite episodes to work on was: “Band Of Pirates” (ep.14).. There were a lot of very nice design elements in that one. Plus, a fun storyline that featured “Captain Arrrgh” stealing half of a Treasure Map. He does so, using a flying robot and a Steampunk-inspired JetSki. For which, I drew some of the additional views..

The Fresh Beat crew makes a quick pursuit using their elaborate Tour Bus, which could conveniently transform into a kind of hydrofoil speedboat! The Bus was  based loosely on the handful of Art Deco “Futurliner” trucks that GM produced in the 40′s. And I felt like the speedboat itself, also gave off a bit of “Thunderbirds 2″ vibe? Creating the fuller rotation, was something of a drawing challenge, as I had to make hard decisions about the overall dimensionality and how each of the surfaces and corners attached to each other..

About halfway thru the production, I took over the Layout Supervision from my friend: Terry Lenko. This may be the only show that I’ve ever worked on, where my End Credit designation changes across the episodes arc?! Again, I have zero experience (or interest) in vector-based art. So thankfully, all I had to do was “direct” a very talented Layout crew, rather than contribute to the production art directly..

But there were always Layout issues with the storyboard animatics, that would require attention. And Terry taught me the valuable lesson of creating quick Layout thumbnails for each entire episode. Not only did these drawings allow me to identify where the Master and Reuse BGs existed.. But I could also spot and correct all of the continuity, cutting, and staging problems, too!

Enjoy.

15 years ago, I was commissioned by artist Leigh Young to draw a Pinup featuring one of her ‘LUCHABABES’ characters.. i chose to draw “Ambarina”. Shown here, facing off against “The Blue Demon”. I’d just come off working on "THE RIPPING FRIENDS” cartoon series, which (I think) may have informed the way I handled the overwrought anatomy of the Villain, here..

An old Sketchbook page from 2004.. Can't remember if these were studies from a specific story, or simply an attempt to re-create some 'Golden Age' stuff? I do recall wanting the Bedouin dude to resemble a 7-foot tall "Rondo Hatton" -type, though!

JOE DUDLEY -- Courageous Candy Store Owner!

Sketchbook study of an old comic-book panel found in a “CRIME DOES NOT PAY” reprint volume.. The original artist was Dan Barry, I believe. I like the idea of doing a small ‘zine with isolated panels like this one. And I’m hoping to use this image in the future, for something along those lines..

A Julie Newmar-esque "CAT GIRL" illo inked by my friend Rodney Dunn, back in '97.. A talented artist, who (sadly) ended his own life in June 2005. "Dynamite" was the nickname he gave me.. I still miss him.

I was fortunate this past weekend, to win a couple of nice items at Heritage Auctions.. Here’s one of them: a large mixed media painting, by Daniel Torres - the great Spanish illustrator/comic-book artist! This illustration was published in the December ‘89 issue of PLAYBOY Magazine, to accompany excerpts of “The Killing Man”; Mickey Spillane’s 12th MIKE HAMMER novel!

This is a logo design that I did for a family friend living out in Strathmore, Alberta.. I was asked to try and incorporate a Warthog (their club mascot) into the artwork.. So I thought the project would be a perfect opportunity for creating a kind-of Hank Porter -esque emblem, along the lines of his amazing WW2 Squadron insignia? I'm still not entirely sure about all of my color choices. But I'm pretty happy with the overall result..

“Scarilyn” chills on a Neitherworld beach.. A 29 year-old layout from the 12th episode in Season One of “Beetlejuice”, entitled: "Quit While You're a Head".. This was my first real Animation job, back in 1989.