I'm Not A Particularly Big Life Drawing Fan.. But Awhile Back, I Was Fortunate To Be Gifted With A Bunch

Last month, we held a “Post-Its Art Show” at work.. All the artists in the studio were invited to participate. The organizer asked me to do a series of promotional ones, to help get things started.. Sharp-eyed comic nerds will recognize my riffs on the art styles of: Dan Clowes, Jack Davis, and Wally Wood?.. These were a lot of fun to do, and the show turned out really great!

I recently bought the new book on Maurice Noble: "The Noble Approach", covering his thoughts on Animation Design & Layout.. It's an excellent read! Put me in a nostalgic mood,-- so I thought I'd post up an old 'BEETLEJUICE' Layout of mine..  Back in January of '91, I did 14 scenes for the episode entitled: "Fast Food".. Can't recall too much about it. But I'm amused that I felt the need to use a half-size Field for this specific shot!

A bit of ink, before the month of October runs out.. With appropriate “Halloween” content, too! I’ve been wanting to get back to more comic-book type work. And these character studies sourced from an old Jack Cole horror comic, were just the ticket for me!

20 years ago, I self-published my sketchbook: “Wang-Dang-Doodle!” This was the drawing I used for the cover art.. Recently, I agreed to sell the drawing to a local Original Art collector/friend.. So, I thought I’d better make some decent scans of it, first. Hard for me to believe how quickly all of that time has passed!

Attended TCAF 2013 on Saturday afternoon, and felt fortunate to pick up the last copy of Basil Wolverton's 'SPACEHAWK' book from the Fantagraphics table.. Also very much enjoyed chatting with artist Jim Rugg and purchasing his 'SUPERMAG' book.. Great show!!

JUST PAST MIDNIGHT..

Another in a series of sketchbook drawings based on panels found (and messed around with) in old 50′s-era Crime comic-books.. Again, these have been inspired by Charles Burns’ recent “LOVE NEST” book. Random noir-ish images without dialogue or sound balloons..

Just saw that Lauren Bacall passed away at the age of 89.. One of the grand dames of Cinema, and a genuine favorite of mine! Back when I published my sketchbook in 2003, I included an illo featuring Ms. Bacall that was intended as an homage to Milt Caniff's late-great "MISS LACE" comic-strip.. Seeing as Lauren was a legitimate Pin-Up Queen back during WW2, it seemed completely appropriate?..

The other day, I unearthed 3 pages of Storyboard Cleanup, which I had zero memory of. Not only couldn’t I identify the series, but the time period escaped me, as well. After posting it to my Instagram, a few kind souls volunteered that it was actually from: “My Dad The Rockstar”, which aired in 2003..

The only thing I knew for sure, was that I did the Storyboard Cleanup job for my friend: Rob Walton. I’ve only ever done cleanup for him. Usually, at times of extreme deadline crisis.. I thought it’d be fun to lookup the episode online and make a few screengrabs to compare the finished broadcast shots to the initial storyboards..

The episode was entitled: “High Infidelity”, and was the 4th show of the 1st Season. I recall making the storyboard panel grid myself, and the underlying blue rough drawings were mine too, based on pencil roughs Rob provided. Looking at the finished shots, I was a bit surprised to how graphic the interpretations were.. I didn’t have any model sheets to work from. And simply did my best to glean volumes and construction of the characters, from Rob’s roughs..

This was a Nelvana cartoon series, co-produced with Gene Simmons of KISS fame. The Layout Supervisor was my late friend from Sheridan College: Kevin Klis.. I recall that some of the layout work was also farmed-out to George Elliott’s studio. But I don’t know the extent of that arrangement..

A keen eye will spot a few bad Layout tangents that managed to slip thru.. On the 2nd page of screengrabs, the first few shots almost appear to have the kid bully (“Buzz” Sawchuck) reaching into the van. Who’s arm is it?  it’s really supposed to be the arm of the bald tropical shirt dude, leaning on the van window.. On the 3rd screengrab sheet, you can see that there is a bad leveling error of that same bald dude, sandwiching the bulk of his body BEHIND the actual van seat he’s supposed to be sitting in?!.. I think the unfinished rough of the bald dude falling out of the van was simply a gag that Rob suggested, that was not even in the script..

Like I say, I can’t recall. But it was a fun job to work on. Thanks!

A page I bought directly from Mignola, at the 2001 SDCC.. I had a few others, but hadda sell 'em on eBay a few years back. This one though, I couldn't part with.. It's going to the grave with me!

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.