Belgium, Eat Your Heart Out!!!

The above drawing is the first of three collaborative pieces that will be posted up this week. This particular piece is a collaboration between myself and my roommate and fellow comic artist TJ Nasti.

TJ gave me what you see on the left and I proceeded to finish it in ink.

TJ has a really unique inking style and like myself, he really only uses one tool when embellishing his pencil lines. Where I choose to use a brush, TJ chooses to use a .005 pen and he gets some CRAZY lines/detail/and texture into his work.

When TJ handed me his pencils, I couldn't WAIT to put my unique spin on things and I think the results are pretty successful.

For those not in the know, this is Boba Fett in the belly of the Sarlacc that he falls into at the end of Return of the Jedi. In books that followed the movie, Boba Fett escapes the Sarlacc and lives to fight another day.

Some may bemoan the lack of hard black and there's a reason for that. I'm going to begin finishing this in color today and I'll have the final thing posted up tomorrow with any luck.

If not, I'll either have my drawing (as inked by Young Soap aka the Scrubbler aka Schuyler Huber) or Schuyler's drawing as inked by TJ posted up.

Stay tuned!!!

Collaboration (The name of the game)

So!

After a few mis-fires this past week, I'm BACK (for real) on the drawing tip again and I've got a few things lined up.

Until further notice, this blog is going to exclusively feature collaborative works.

I live with two dudes who do comics and illustration right now and we've agreed that once a week, we'll all do a drawing and pass it on the next guy to finish in ink. In addition, I'll be coloring the drawing that I ink and then also inking and color my own drawing (if time permits).

This week the theme is Boba Fett. I recently watched the old Star Wars trilogy for the first time in many years and it brought back a lot of fond memories. Funny thing is, I don't ever remember drawing Boba Fett as a kid.

My other two collaborators are hopefully getting their pieces finished today. If I don't have one of their drawings to ink, I'll get to work on ink and color on this one and post up what I've got tomorrow.

I hope everyone's week is off to a nice start!

Studying a CRAFT monster

Hey folks!

So... it's getting to be ABOUT THAT TIME.

That is... it's about time to start drawing my new comic!!!

It seems that if history has taught me anything, it's that shortly before tackling any sort of substantial work, I have a tendency to study an artist or two at great length and attempt to absorb some of their stylistic tendencies and also a greater understanding of the art of drawing.

This time around, the artist who I'm REALLY going to be taking a look at is Mr. Bill Sienkiewicz.

Bill Sienkiewicz is one of those guys who...

Well, he can just draw better than you.

He can draw better than your friend too, and better than your friend's friend, and all three of your favorite artists.

Jokes aside, this is a dude who along with Charles Burns, Kevin Nowlan, Jaime Hernandez, and maybe Chester Brown can be placed in the "Craft Monster" category... he's got the game standing still and progress is made when he says progress is going to be made.

What attracts me to his work is two things. The first is that he uses a tool that I really have no great love for (that would be the pen) to create some PAINFULLY beautiful art. He also has a tremendous sense of urgency about his work... you can feel the energy jumping off the pages even in the quieter moments and while that's not always the best from a storytelling stand-point, it sure as hell makes for some great comic art.

On top of that, dude can draw girls.

As that's the case, I've decided to zero in on that in particular as drawing woman with a pen is REALLY DIFFICULT.

These are all observational copies from his first issue on New Mutants, (type in his name and then Demon Bear on Google and... YEAH) I'll have these inked in time for my next post as well as a new batch that will hopefully be inked too!

Stay tuned!

Sip That TUSSSSSSSSSSSS

My friend, Christopher Santoso, is curating a gallery show in Minneapolis this Friday called MEOW, MEOW, LOL and this is the piece I've created for it.

I've become fascinated with the late Big Moe recently and... well, something about a cat with this particular expression in front of the ingredients to make sizzurp amused me.

If you're in Minneapolis, be sure to make it down to the show. It runs from 6pm-midnight and will have a bar, a dj, and lotso, lotso, wonderful work.

Cya there!

Website Up!!!

Well, it took long enough but my website is FINALLY up!!!

Click on through folks, I hope you enjoy it!!!

Just Moved!!!

Hey all,

I apologize to those who check this with any regularity, I got back from vacation late last week and then had to get ready to move. I've settled into my new place but I don't have internet and I'm not sure if I'm going to get it.

I feel as though I've been getting distracted and slacking lately and having the internet at my fingertips is probably not going to help me get back on top of things.

For the time being, I've decided that I'll be popping into the local coffee shop (Caffetto!) Monday,Wednesday, and Friday morning and that's when this blog will be updated.

I've got a LOT of ideas running around the ol' dome here and you'll see them realized in ink very soon!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week, cya Friday.

George