A Bucce of Power!

Just Foolin' Around...

2011-11-16T09:59:00.001-08:00

...with my new Cintiq.

I'm actually surprised at how much pleasure I'm getting from this new digital drawing tablet. I've been using it to create some nice, finished work for different freelance jobs, but it has also been a great tool just for sketching out quick ideas and concepts. Never underestimate the power of the "undo" function!

Here are a couple rough sketches just for fun...

Yeah, I've been watching all of Breaking Bad lately. Awesome show...

Above, are some VERY rough ideas for a character I'm creating for a future story (tease!). The beauty of the Cintiq is that I probably spent all of two minutes roughing this out, and decided that it was worth saving as a JPEG for further development. Easy peasy, lemon squeezie. Or whatever.

And lastly, this is basically a "phone doodle" that I messed around with while talking to someone about something completely unrelated! This was after reading Mike Mignola's terrific illustrated horror novel, Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, which I really enjoyed, BTW. Worth reading!

I'll share some more finished stuff soon!

Time Flies...

2011-11-10T10:13:00.001-08:00

Yeesh! Imagine my shock when I pulled up my blog this morning, and realized that I have not posted in over 2 months! (Sorry 'bout that) I'm still in full-on busy mode, and that's a good thing. No complaints. Keep it coming, I say.

I have a few items that I can share today. First, some basic design work that I did a couple of months ago...

Nothing earth-shattering here; just some basic package design for some DVDs that are currently on sale from Kino Lorber. I haven't done a lot of these before, but they're kind of fun! I think key art is interesting to me simply because of the subject matter; I love film.

Here are a couple of unused designs I worked on for another client earlier this year...

These were an interesting challenge for a few reasons. There are 2 packages, each with a different number of films/discs included. The designs here are for 2 covers (each), split down the middles. The idea is that you could line up the two packages side-by-side and they would create one cohesive design. There were several of us working up comps for this project, and I think the client (WB) went in a completely different direction. On this project, I really enjoyed creating the different type treatments for Tim Burton's name.

I've also been doing some commercial storyboard work and sketch art for the entertainment biz. Here's an example of a sketch that was used for a photo shoot...

Here's the photo, from the website of the new Disney TV show, Jessie...

Interestingly, when I drew the sketch, the show was not yet cast, except for the lead, Debbie Ryan. The rest of the kids were just described to us by "type." This was my first time doing this kin of "sketch art" for entertainment marketing. I think it's cool how similar the photo ended up being to my sketch. For fun, here are a couple of alternative sketches, they didn't use...

I've done some sketch art for a few other projects,lately. It's been educational. I also recently met a guy who does this regularly, named Jesse Vital. He does all of his sketch art digitally, and he talked me into buying a Cintiq, so I could do the same. I got mine in early September, and it has truly changed the way I work in a profound way. It's an awesome tool, and I'll need to devote a blog post just about how great it is. Since I got the Cintiq, I have finished several illustration projects (including some comics stuff), without touching a oiece of paper.

Here's an example of a comic book page, drawn (or "painted") completely digitally, for LION magazine...

And a nifty "background" that I used for the same job...

I'll tell you more about that particular project next month.

Lastly, I'll share this:

It's a page from the second issue of Firestorm from DC Comics. I'm doing the digital coloring on this series (yes, using the Cintiq!) over line-art drawn by the talented Yildiray Cinar. The comic is a great part of DC's "New 52" relaunch and worth checking out. Unfortunately, issue #2 had some printing problems, and the actual comic doesn't look this great. Very sad, but I hear that the digital version available on Comixology looks terrific, and that they will try to fix the glitches in the collected trade paperback.

That's all for now. I'll leave you with this blurry phone pic of me working on my new toy...

M.I.A.

2011-09-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. yes, I am still alive. Can you believe it's September??? Haven't been posting the the old blog lately, because I've been crazy-busy this summer...which is a good thing! Normally, I like to share images from my projects here, but lately I have been working on a lot of things that I'm not (yet) permitted to share. Besides the usual comics stuff, this summer I've been working on video game projects, advertising sketch art & storyboards and a bit of graphic design. It's made for an interesting change of pace that I'm enjoying a lot. Here's a little sample; mostly heavily cropped and out of context...

The obvious bits are the comics stuff. The Kitty Pryde piece is for a Marvel magazine that, alas isn't published here in the U.S. (line art by Scott Koblish), and the Firestorm piece is from the new series debuting this month as part of DC's "New 52." I'll be the regular colorist on the book, working over the line-art of Yildiray Cinar.I have a bunch of other cool stuff that hopefully I will share with you soon.'til then...

Old Glories

2011-07-19T23:54:00.000-07:00

While digging around the disaster that is my office, I recently found some of my early work for Marvel. This 8-page story featuring Captain America appeared in the Marvel Comics Presents anthology, back in 1990. It's one of the first published comic book stories I ever drew, when I was but a wee lad!

The story was written by Len Wein, pencilled by Yours Truly, inked by Gerry Talaoc, lettered by Janice Chiang. I colored the story, as well. Obviously, this was from the pre-digital era, hence the hand-painted photocopies with the mysterious codes written all over. Definitely old school.

Naturally, a big part of me is horrified to look at my old artwork, and I fully admit that I am reluctant to share it in a public forum. Especially here where I have my current portfolio galleries; I wouldn't want prospective clients to think these are examples of my recent work!

Still, looking at these color guides after all these years, I can't help but be fascinated and amused by them. It's like an archeological dig into the depths of my own career and artistic education. These pages are drawn in a classic storytelling style that completely went out the window, right about the time this comic was published. No splashy "pin-up" panels or "decompressed storytelling" here. None of the action is drawn out or cinematic; cause and effect all happens within each single panel. Entire conversations elapse in the time it takes for Cap to throw his shield.

It's interesting to look at these pages through the lens of today's visual storytelling sensibilities. Those conventions that I used back then were the norm, built on decades of tradition. The classic text, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way was the Bible. I was just a kid at the time, so I don't think I ever intellectualized it, but I learned to tell a story this way.

And then, I suppose I "unlearned" it. Or, I built upon those lessons with a more modern sensibility, having the same influences as my contemporaries who were coming into their own at the same time (Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Mike Mignola, etc.), and, in turn, being influenced by them, as well. I've often wished that I'd spent more of that time honing my drawing skills, rather that taking a detour into comic book coloring.

People say that modern audiences are more sophisticated. I'd agree, as a gross generalization! But looking back at this particular work, I have to admit that I miss the simplicity inherent in these old stories. They were designed to be a jumping-on point for any reader, sophisticated or not. The problem with my generation of comic book creators is that we were overly-fascinated and influenced by the game-changing "Mature" superhero books of the time (Dark Knight, Watchmen, Elektra, Etc.) With every new knock-off, narratives became more convoluted and storytelling more obtuse.

Looking at these old pages, I must admit that the art is pretty weak, but at least it's clear.

Ahhhh, I must be getting old!

In other news: this week is Comic-Con! What better way is there to make me feel like a kid again?! The crowds alone are enough to make one feel small as a toddler! Seriously, though, The crowds are pretty unbearable these days, but I'm really looking forward to making the rounds and being inspired by the fantastic work that the "kids" are producing today.

That, and I can't wait to see the new Captain America movie! I think the trailers are awesome!

I'll see you in San Diego!

"Yikes!" Magazine Illustration

2011-06-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

More sophisticated humor for the teen gossip crowd...

Crime

2011-05-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended a very entertaining Writersbloc event featuring the hot new Scandinavian Crime writer, Jo Nesbø, interviewed by the incomparable James Ellroy. Nesbø has been something like the literary flavor of the month around my house, thanks to my in-laws, who have hooked my wife on Nesbø's crime novels, and my son on his little-known children's books. Actually, I have not read Nesbø's work yet, but his novel Redbreast is officially on my massive "To Read" pile, and the description of his work sounds right up my alley.

Furthermore, this article from CNN last Sunday lists some of Nesbø's influences as Jim Thompson, Knut Hamsun, Henrik Ibsen, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Bukowski, and Frank Miller. Sounds good to me!

Of course, I'm a huge James Ellroy fan, so this event was something of a surprising treat for me (for some reason, I didn't realize that Ellroy was part of the program). As a public speaker, Ellroy is larger than life; his speech is deliberate, eloquent, unapologetic, and peppered with "colorful" expletives (they don't call him "Demon Dog" for nothing!). He asked Nesbø about 8 (excellent) questions about his background, writing process, the recent spotlight on Scandinavian Crime Fiction, and the genre in general. Both men were impressive in their thoughtfulness and candor.

Nesbø did not approach writing as a serious pursuit until he was 38, after successful careers as a musician, stock broker and economist. But his family life was always rooted in storytelling, and understands that there is something intrinsically human about the act; storytelling is in our blood.

Some highlights:

Ellroy proclaimed that the entire genre of crime fiction is complete bullshit, and nothing like any of the typical investigations we read about has EVER happened in real life. Yet, it's an agreement between the writer & reader. We're all in on it; everyone knows it's bullshit--but it's OUR bullshit. And we love it, with all the trappings.

He also disparaged all other types of fiction, saying that crime fiction is "The Real Shit."

Love that.

Nesbø admitted he was not an expert at any of the many disciplines that he evidently writes so eloquently about, but writes how he believes things could or should be, in those worlds. Afterwards, he turns to experts in those fields tell him if he's way off. Imagination is more important than accuracy.

He said that his writing is a "reaction to reading," humbly stating that he stands on the shoulders of tradition. That is, all he has read, by many masters of this and other genres.

"The punch line is NOT the story."

Regarding research, and extrapolating from it: "You lie better if you know you are lying."

All in all, a very entertaining, lively and enlightening conversation between two master storytellers. I'm looking forward to getting sucked in to Jo Nesbø's stories, and Ellroy's new memoir, The Hilliker Curse. His earlier autobiographical work, My Dark Places is among the very best books I've ever read.

LA Arthritis Walk

2011-05-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Today is my birthday!

Another one of those pesky milestones when we can look back and ahead, and reevaluate the progress of our lives. Tuesday isn't such a great day for a birthday, but I had some very nice times celebrating with friends & family last week. I feel very lucky, indeed.

Today I'm thinking about someone who isn't so fortunate, yet who has a wonderfully positive attitude. Our family friend's daughter Sophia was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at the age of two. This is a debilitating disease that has devastated her young life, as well as the lives of 300,000 kids in the U.S. alone.

This June, my wife and I are participating in the LA Arthritis Walk, to support Sophia , her family, and all the others. If you'd like to help, please consider a tax-deductible donation to the Arthritis Foundation by following this link. Your support would be great gift to Sophia...and to me, on my birthday! :)

Below, you can see Sophia, herself...

THANK YOU!

More Samples

2011-05-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

In my continued effort to diversify my portfolio with design samples, I've put together this game package. Nobody has given me any feedback on this yet, so I hope I'm not posting this prematurely! Anyway, consider it a work-in-progress, and let me know what you think!

The logo is actually a type treatment for a webcomic side-project of mine, that I'll tell you about sometime when it's more "real." I decided to repurpose the logo for this fictitious western-style video game. The image on front is a composite of photos "found" on the internet, and the back cover images are (obviously) from the video game Red Dead Redemption. I haven't played that game (yet) but it looks super-cool. Rockstar Games published Red Dead, so I used their logo here...my apologies!

Enjoy...

Revised DVD Cover Design

2011-05-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a revised version of the To Live and Die in LA DVD cover that I posted last week. Just to be clear, this isn't a "real" job, but something I've been doing on my own to build up and diversify my portfolio. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to get some very good feedback on my original comp, by some generous people who do this stuff for a living (including one legendary designer who I met last weekend--more on that later!)

Take a look, and please leave me any feedback of your own, if you have the two cents to spare!

Klaus

2011-05-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

I just read this article about my good friend and mentor Klaus Janson, and thought I'd share it here.

I've worked with Klaus several times in my career, most notably on Batman: Death and the Maidens and Batman: Gothic for DC, and on the Daredevil Visionary books for Marvel, which collected his legendary collaboration with Frank Miller. I first met Klaus when I was just a teenager at Marvel, and was always impressed with how personable and supportive he would be toward me and my fellow interns. I believe that's a terrific way to judge a person's character; to see how they treat people they don't need anything from. Sadly, not all of my teenage heroes lived up to that particular test.

Later, when I was editing the Shadowline Saga titles for Epic, I had the pleasure of really getting to know Klaus, as worked with us on St. George. Shortly there after, when I decided to go freelance, Klaus was very supportive, and took me under his wing. I worked alongside him in his studio on Gothic, and I can confidently say that every important thing I know about coloring comics, I learned from Klaus. I can even give him some of the credit for getting me into digital coloring, as my first digital project was Batman/Spawn, which he illustrated. It was largely due to Klaus's support that DC gave me a shot to color this high-profile book, using my fairly untested Photoshop skills!

Klaus is a great guy, and I'm proud to have him as a friend! He's been there for me many times, including when he flew out to LA for my wedding. Congratulations on his induction to the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! (Even though he once put me and my family out in the snow during a blizzard...Now, that's a story...)
:)

Gallery Links

2011-04-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I just put together some new portfolio galleries at Carbonmade.com. I like their simple UI design a lot more than the Picassa galleries I've been using for my online portfolios. Check 'em out & let me know what you think.

More Photoshop Phoolery...

2011-04-23T00:48:00.000-07:00

I'm just fooling around, burning the midnight oil, and working up some sample design comps for my portfolio. This one's a DVD cover (obviously) for one of my favorite films. The real DVD cover is kind of a tough act to follow, because it re-uses the awesome original movie poster from the 1985 film. No great points for originality, but it looks great. I think my version is pretty cool, but it's hard for me to judge.

I could use some constructive criticism, if you feel like throwing some my way...

This was fun to put together. What do you think about it?

EDIT 05/05/2011: I've just posted a revised version of this cover here if you want to see how this thing has evolved!

Meanwhile...

2011-04-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'd like to direct you to some interesting writing going over on Jim Shooter's new blog. He is currently posting a series of edited transcriptions from a 1994 seminar he presented on storytelling.

This is a subject I've been thinking about a lot lately, in regards to my own work and a new project that has been percolating in the back of my mind. Jim's thoughts on storytelling are valuable, succinctly stated and well worth reading.

Jim has certainly been a controversial, and often polarizing figure in comics. He was the Editor-in-Chief at Marvel back when I started as a high school intern. In the time that followed, there was a period of legendary, well-publicized bad blood between Jim and his editorial team. Personally, I must say that I have never had any unpleasant interactions with him, and I certainly respect his reverence for creators like my old boss, Archie Goodwin.

In any case, that was long time ago. Today, Jim's contributions to comics are undeniable, and it's interesting to read his thoughts and shared knowlwdge with the perspective of time.

Interview

2011-04-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I'm falling behind on my posts here; I have some interesting stuff to write about when I can sit down & do it! Meanwhile, check out this interview that I did for the Design Department at UCLA Extension.

Come back here after and let me know what you think.

Fooling Around with Photoshop...

2011-04-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

Using Photoshop strictly for comics work has been driving me batty lately, so I've been trying to "stretch" my photo manipulation skills a bit. I put together this fake movie poster, just for fun.

It's made up of a bunch of photos found on the internet, so the original is pretty low resolution. Below are some of my "raw materials" and quick sketch that I used as a guide...

I think overall it turned out pretty well for my first attempt at something like this. Adding Martin Freeman's face was tricky. Not sure I buy it completely (but I think he's going to be a great Bilbo Baggins!). What do you think? Feedback is always welcome here on this blog! Don't be shy!

Comics Symposium / WonderCon 2011

2011-03-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

In two weeks, comic book fans will invade San Francisco once more, for Wondercon 2011. It has been a few years since I've attended this convention, but I'm looking forward to going this year, at least briefly.

My main reason for traveling up to SF that week is because I will be taking part in a Comics Symposium at the Academy of Art University. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before in this blog, but I am currently working with AAU to develop a course in comic book coloring for their Online Academy. The class is scheduled to be offered in their fall semester, and I'll post more details when it gets closer to the date & available in their catalog.

The Symposium should be a fun event. I'll be appearing with several other comics pros on a panel discussing digital comics. Some details are below--check out the attached flyer for more. If you happen to be an AAU student, prospective student, or grad, you should check it out. See you there...and at WonderCon!

AAU COMIC SYMPOSIUM 2011

Thursday, March 31st
7-9 PM
New Montgomery Theater
Academy of Art University, San Francisco

Speaking of Storytelling...

2011-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Check out this TED Talk by Kiva.org founder, Jessica Jackley. She speaks about the power of stories to dramatically improve people's lives and, frankly, her own story is quite inspiring...

Pretty good, eh? (here's a link in case the embedded video doesn't work for you)

If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area on March 30th, you can have the opportunity to hear Ms. Jackley (and other people with great ideas) speak live at an after-work event called IdeaMenschLA. Follow the link for more details and bookmark the IdeaMensch website which is a platform for interviews with inspiring people. I plan to be there.

Process & Storytelling

2011-03-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

One of the cool things about my gallery show in Rome was that the people at the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica were very interested in showing my artistic process. While preparing for the trip, I hoped this would be the case, so in addition to packing the original finished art from my Rotarian stories, I also grabbed up as much of the layouts and sketches as I could find.

Generally speaking, I consider most of these preliminary sketches as garbage, and more often than not, that's where they end up; in the trash. The funny thing is, that usually it is the first, rough thumbnail sketches that I like the most! They are deliberately drawn on bits of xerox paper or flimsy tracing paper. To me, the fact that they are disposable provides freedom to be creative. I don't...CAN'T get attached to my drawings at this stage, and as a result, these comps often have a liveliness that can be difficult to maintain in the tighter, finished drawings.

The truth is, that the initial solving of the problems of storytelling, page design and layout, are the parts of the process that are most interesting (and fun) for me. They also comes most naturally.

It was a real pleasure to be able to share some of that process during the exhibition, and I realized that I don't often show that kind of work here on my blog! I think that artists are used to only showing completed work for a couple of reasons. First, we are taught to show only our "best" work in our portfolios. Usually that means finished work, since half-finished work doesn't exactly inspire confidence that you can complete jobs! Secondly, we only promote the finished work because because that's the end product; the final version intended for public viewing. The preliminary and exploratory work is just process, usually for the artist's (and client's) eye's only.

But, what if the "process" is some of your best work? Or, at least, some of your favorite work? The work you may be best at?

I am very proud of my work on the Rotarian stories. The Paul Harris biography, in particular. There were many, many challenges, and I think the end product reads and looks awesome. What could be a very dry, boring subject turned out to be emotional, entertaining, thoughtful and visually rich (if I do say so, myself!). It is certainly some of my finest work to-date.

That said, most of the real challenges were solved in the initial thumbnail stage of my process. It was while working on the thumbnails that I submerged myself in all the interesting research, looking for authentic photo reference from the time periods that spanned Mr. Harris's long life. It was in the thumbnail stage that I had to work out the details of the visual storytelling; how to design the page layouts, how to draw the readers' eyes through the story, where to place the copy, et cetera.

I think this part of comic book creation is the most interesting because STORYTELLING is what comics are all about. I know many amazing artists who draw comic books, who are actually lacking in these fundamental skills. Some can draw about a zillion times better than I can, but they treat each comic book frame as a stand-alone illustration. Beautiful illustrations, to be sure, but their focus is to be admired as single images rather than to serve a larger vision--STORY.

I may never be able to craft my illustrations to be as gorgeous and refined as masters like Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Robert McGinnis, Leyendecker, Frazetta or Drew Struzan. These true masters of illustration could tell entire stories--epics--with single images. Guys like that provide me with an endless well of inspiration.

I do believe that I am an excellent storyteller, though...

An open question: Does story trump imagery?

For me, the answer is contextual. A single, powerful image can beat almost anything, in most media, for quick impact. But if we're talking about engaging an audience and making connections, whether it's in a comic book, film, or an advertisement, then I put my money on story for a lasting impression and deeper involvement.

What do you think?

And now, here's some of my process! Below are a few pages from my Rotarian story. First, are my comps; those rough thumbnails thAt I enjoy so much. Then you can see the pencil, ink & color stages...those individual steps that many comic book fans may already be familiar with...

This spread is my favorite of the story. I loved drawing Victorian-era Chicago, the people and all the details.

This next spread--like most of my work--is all about using diagonals to draw the reader's eye across the page. Another favorite of mine. The last panel makes me grin...

Next is a favorite of most people familiar with the story--the "map" spread.

This was a fun storytelling device that crammed a lot of information into a small space. Much of the detail was added digitally...

While we're "behind the scenes" here, I'll also share this; I am extremely picky about where the narrative captions, word balloons and other type is placed on my artwork. Very often, these decisions are made by the editorial & production teams, or by the letterer or designer. Luckily, with this story, my editor Deborah Lawrence indulged my nit-picking, citing me as the "expert!" Sometimes my decisions have to do with simple clarity, sometimes they are purely aesthetic, but mostly I'm concerned with the flow of the storytelling, and using shapes in the artwork and the captions themselves to direct the reader's eye. Below are two examples of where I asked for editorial changes to the balloon & caption placements...

Does that just look crazy to you? Anyway, I know what I want!

Lastly, I'll share some of my process for the magazine cover art, including an unused pencil sketch (I don't have my rough comps for this, anymore)...

Well, I hope that was interesting to you! In my next post, I will reflect a little on my experiences in Rome. Maybe I can find some video from when I was interviewed for Italian TV...

To Be Continued...

2011-03-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogosphere,

Last week I promised a full report on my trip to Rome, but I've been a bit bogged down, catching up with everything. I'm still under the gun, so I will just tease you with a few images, and promise to get back to you soon...

(all photos were taken by my lovely wife, btw)

On the subject of travel, let me recommend two other blogs from friends of mine: Marie Javins, globetrotter and comic book editor is at it again, spending the next 10 months hopping around the planet just to entertain YOU. Meanwhile, my family friend (and Fulbright Scholar!), Hilda Poulson reports from Venezuela, where she is studying community development. Whatever that is! Great reads!

Loss

2011-02-27T20:04:00.001-08:00

Today my family and I just returned from Rome, where I had the honor to have my artwork displayed at the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica in association with Rotary International’s End Polio Now campaign. It was a wonderful and meaningful week, and I will write more on the subject tomorrow.

Right now, I need to express the shock I felt on our arrival home, when I learned that a colleague of mine died while I was away. Dwayne McDuffie started working on staff at Marvel not long after I did. While I can’t say that he and I were close friends, I knew him well enough to appreciate his humor, warmth and overall kindness. Dwayne was very well loved and respected by his peers, he was a talented writer and an extremely funny man. Waaaay back in 1990 I had the pleasure of drawing an issue of Power Pack that was written by Dwayne (and inked by the late, great Dan Spiegle). The story featured ghosts living in toilets. In retrospect, I believe this project foretold my successful foray into toilet & vomit illustrations that kept me busy for a few years on J-14 Magazine!

Last summer, Dwayne kindly reached out to me when I was looking for freelance work, hoping to collaborate on a graphic novel concept of his. While it didn’t work out, I really appreciated that he’d considered me. Today, I wonder about this missed opportunity to get to know Dwayne more intimately.

The comics and animation industries have lost another special creative talent this week. He was too young to be taken so soon. My condolences to his family and friends.

One year ago, my own father passed away. Something I have thought a lot about while racing around the many churches in Rome. As a Catholic--and an Italian!--I feel he would have been proud of my latest adventure, and I’m sorry that he isn’t around for me to share it with. I miss him.

Of course it’s not the same, but tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts with all of you who care to read it. Arrivederchi!

For more thoughts on Dwayne, here are some links...
New York Times obit
R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie, from The Beat
Why We Needed Dwayne McDuffie, from The Beat

Story

2011-02-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

While preparing for Rome, where my Rotarian artwork will be displayed at the Palazzo Poli, I’ve been thinking about what a powerful means of communication storytelling is. Graphic storytelling, in particular.

The power of Pictorial imagery is not bound to specific cultures by spoken language or the written word. Indeed, this kind of communicating can be universal; visual representations of shared human experience.

Legends, myths, fables, folk tales, epics, novels, newspapers, biography and history. The most basic level of human discourse is story. We use it to understand the universe. Its symbols and archetypes are hardwired into our collective unconscious.

Story remind us who we are and inspires us to become something greater.

Graphic storytelling has given us insight into the past.

Put into this perspective, the old saw that a “picture is worth a thousand words” is an incredible understatement. Images that have lasted for millennia allow us to communicate with the dead (albeit, it is a one-sided conversation!).

Today, it is understood that images are the easiest way to present information in a way that everyone can understand it.

So, I guess I should not be surprised that my own work for Rotary International has taken on a life of its own. Champions of Rotary’s charitable causes keep finding creative uses for my artwork as a way to educate and reach new supporters worldwide. It’s very exciting.

And if you still doubt the power of a comic book to communicate important messages with history-making results, I guess you have not heard about the comic book that helped inspire the revolutionaries in Egypt!

Considering Egyptians’ long history of graphic storytelling, I, for one, am not surprised at all!

While we’re on the subject, if you happen to be in the New York area on March 1st, you should head down to the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art (MOCCA), where master storyteller Larry Hama will be teaching a class on the Principals of Graphic Storytelling for Comics. Larry is a cool guy who has written a bunch of great stuff for comics, TV and film. It ought to be very interesting, and if I were back east I’d definitely check it out.

I love a good story. Who doesn’t? I'll have more to say on this subject soon...

PRINCIPLES OF GRAPHIC STORYTELLING FOR COMICS
Instructor: LARRY HAMA
Tuesday March 1 7:00-9:00 PM
Admission $40 | $35 for MoCCA Members

facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150180015038646

Trevi

2011-02-02T00:53:00.000-08:00

In preparation for my upcoming gallery show in Rome, this week I had to draw a couple of pieces of promotional art. My contact asked for a view of the Trevi Fountain, lit up with Rotary International's End polio Now logo. This is kind of a sneak peek of the actual projection that will be presented at the event on Rotary Day.

I thought it would be cool to share the process. First, these were my rough sketches I provided...

The bottom one is pretty much what they asked for, a typical view of the fountain. I wanted to try something a bit more graphic, so I also sent the top version, unsure if it would fly with the client. Yes, you can't read the End Polio Now logo, and the view of the fountain is fragmented, but I really liked it. It's more challenging for the viewer, I think.

Anyway, We decided to do BOTH! Below is my full-sized layout. I usually work like this; on cheap tracing paper, using pencil & marker, I work out the broad strokes and nail down how the image(s) will be composed on the page...

After that, I usually lightbox my layout onto bristol board, and create a nice, clean pencil drawing to ink. Here's where I tighten things up and try to get the perspective & details down. Unfortunately, I don't have a scan of the pencils to show you. So here are my finished inks...

At this point, I scan the inked artwork--and usually do some clean-up in Photoshop before coloring. Finally, here is the finished color work. I'm fairly pleased with the results. What do you think?.

There you have it. I am very curious to see what they do with them. I will let you know!

Rome!

2011-01-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

As promised here and on Facebook, today I will reveal some exciting news! (Drumroll, please...)

Next month my artwork will be on display at the National Institute for Graphic Arts at the Palazzo Poli in Rome!

In recent months, the stories I drew for the Rotarian magazine have been taking on a life of their own. First there was that enthusiastic bloke in the UK, then yesterday's Folio Award announcement, and now this. Evidently, people respond favorably to the use of graphic storytelling! Who knew?

Of course that's a joke. As a comic book artist, I've always known that comics (or "graphic novels," if you prefer) can be a powerful medium for communicating ideas. My editor at the Rotarian, Deborah Lawrence, knew thew this too, and campaigned for a long time before she was able to go ahead and produce our series of stories. The first, if you're playing catch-up, was Amazing Stories of Polio, a history of the disease and the battle to eradicate it. This ties in with Rotary's End Polio Now effort. Next, we told the story of Rotary's founder, Paul Harris, in the illustrated biography, The Remarkable Mr. Harris.

February 23rd is Rotary Day, when members of Rotary Clubs around the world celebrate the international organization's birthday. As shown in The Remarkable Mr. Harris, the historic first club meeting took place in Chicago on that date in 1905. Today, it is a day of celebration, used to expand awareness of Rotary and its charitable works. It's a big deal...

You can see from this photo from Rotary Day 2009 that the Roman Rotarians take the job pretty seriously!

This year, they have their sights set on the Trevi Fountain, which will be lit up in a similar way. The Building behind the famous fountain is the Palazzo Poli, where the original art from both of my stories will be on display. The organizer, Alberto Cecchini, has arranged for me to be present at the event, which will also be attended by Rome's mayor and many public dignitaries. Needless to say, I am thrilled.

This week, I'm working up some promotional art for the event. Here are a couple of rough sketches...

I'll post the finished work, when it's completed. Now I'd better get back to work. And I'd better brush up on my Italian. And you know what else? I think I ought to join the Rotary Club!

Folio Award Winner!

2011-01-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

This just in: Folio Magazine's 2010 Eddie and Ozzie Awards were presented today in New York, where The Remarkable Mr. Harris won a Silver Award in the Association/Non‐Profit, Circulation 6 or more times a year, Single Article category!

The Remarkable Mr. Harris is a graphic biography of Rotary International's founder, Paul Harris, which appeared in the December 2009 issue of the Rotarian, drawn by Yours Truly. This is some of my best work. I'm very proud of it, and I'm thrilled to hear that a "comic book" story has had such an impact (more on this later...).

Congratulations to my editor, Deborah Lawrence and the writer of The Remarkable Mr. Harris, Diana Schoberg!

I have some other, excellent, Rotary story-related news, that I will share with you tomorrow!

Something to Do in L.A. Tonight!

2011-01-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Come on by and say hello!

AD 2010
Thursday, January 6th, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
1010 Westwood Blvd. 4th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90024
facebook page

Gallery Show!

2010-12-22T23:26:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays, everyone! It's been busy lately, juggling freelance work, school and the usual end-of-year holiday rigmarole. 2010 has decidedly not been one of my favorite years, I'm sorry to say, but I have high hopes for 2011.

I'm pleased to report that the Design Department at UCLA Extension has decided to show off the work from the Advertising Design class that I just completed. We're putting together a gallery show featuring the work of nine artists (including me), from our three major projects: campaigns for The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Coda Automotive, and a series of personal initiatives.

The show begins on January 6th, and is open to the public. For more info about our opening party, see below, and check out our facebook event page.

AD 2010 Gallery Show
Thursday, January 6, 2011 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
010 Westwood Blvd. 4th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90024

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180365738656756

Have a safe & happy new year!

Advanced Typography Assignment: Part 3

2010-11-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

Well, my Advanced Typography class at UCLA Extension is almost at an end. I just got back from my second-to-last class, where I handed in my revised "Echo Park" magazine spreads, as well as a first-draft of a new assignment. I figure I'm overdue for sharing this stuff on the ol' blog...

First, we have the Echo Park designs. I first posted about this back in October. Basically, we all chose neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area and created expressive type-treatments that incorporated characteristics of the neighborhood, as well as infusing our own personal opinions. Next, we took our finished designs and put them into a magazine spread, further exploring creative uses of type while handling the text and other page matter.

I chose the historic Echo Park neighborhood, and you saw my first attempts with the magazine spreads (I'll post them again here, below). I tried three very different approaches. The feedback from the instructor was to push them all much further; rely less on images and shapes, focus on the typography and not to be afraid of challenging the "readability." The latter was very difficult for me (and some of the others in the class, too), as readability seems pretty important for a magazine spread!

However, the point of these exercises is that an artist can always dial back, and make a design more conservative. But it is liberating for designers to push themselves past their comfort zone and explore ideas that would never even occur to them, sticking to safe design choices. Clearly, school is the place to work on this, since there will never be as much freedom on a paying job, and I'm making the most of it.

Here's design one, before...

...and after...

Design two was supposed to look like a slick architecture magazine, like Dwell. Here's the first go...

..and here it is after a couple of revised versions...

The last version is a huge newspaper section. Before...

...and, after...

This was fun and extremely challenging. To be honest, I'm not convinced that they are truly resolved. I could go on tweaking individual type elements on these pages forever, and I don't know if they'd ever look "finished." That said, this is just a school project, and regardless of what I may think of the finished product, I learned a hell of a lot while working on them.

Today, I handed in the first-draft of my last project for this class. The assignment is to choose a musical group, and a charitable organization, and design an invitation to a fund-raising event where the band will be appearing. The idea is to bring the individual characters & styles of both into a design appropriate for the event. I chose the group Metric, and the Alzheimers Association for my charity. Here's what I have come up with, so far...

I presented these in class today, along with my "mood board" that shows what I'm using as inspiration; work by David Carson, Neville Brody and a bunch or other stuff. My designs went over pretty well, I'm happy to report. In previous assignments I believe that I relied too strongly on images and illustrative elements. Not really a shocker, since I'm an illustrator. As this is a typography class, I've been working hard to get away from my own comfort zone and solve design problems using only type and letter forms. I think I finally achieved that here.

I did receive some good suggestions for my revisions, due next week. I'll be sure to post my progress again here. Of course, I'd be happy to hear any feedback from you, as well, if you have any to share.

Folio Magazine Award Finalist

2010-11-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

Excellent news today! I just learned that the Paul Harris biography that I illustrated for The Rotarian magazine is a finalist for Folio Magazine's 2010 Eddie and Ozzie Awards!

The annual Folio awards recognize the very best in editorial and design in the magazine industry. Isn't it cool for a comics-related project to be included in the running? They announce the winners on January 13, 2011, so wish us luck!

(written for Rotary International by Diana Schoberg and masterminded by our editor, Deborah Lawrence)

New Website

2010-11-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Been very busy this week with work & school, but I wanted to mention that I've just built a new "hub" website that has my all my pertinent info, and links to this blog, art galleries, et cetera. Please check it out and bookmark it:

www.stevebuccellato.com

It includes a feed to this blog, so please be aware that THIS page will still be where I actively (or occasionally) post stuff.

Now, I gotta get back to work. I will try to post again next week. Have a great weekend, and thank you to all of our Veterans, for your service!

Advanced Typography Assignment: Part 2

2010-10-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

Just got home from my class with a lot of food for thought (and, happily, a lot of yummy food waiting for me, because I was starving!)

In general, my "Echo Park" designs went over pretty well with the other students. But, as I expected, my type treatments were far too conservative for my teacher. He really wants us to push the limits of our creativity—and the piece's readability.

So be it!

For this week's homework, we're taking the three designs to the next level. In the spirit of the class, I'm going to throw caution to the wind and totally deconstruct them. It ain't gonna be pretty! I'll post my progress later in the week...

Advanced Typography Assignment

2010-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

So, here's the latest from my Advanced Typography class. We've been working on designing a logo for a Los Angeles neighborhood, using whatever combinations of fonts & letterforms best express the area's individual character. The instructor has been really pushing us to experiment and move beyond typical, conservative designs. I suppose it's easier to reign yourself in than it is to push yourself to the limits. There have been some really interesting results from everyone in class.

For my neighborhood, I chose Echo Park, which is an historic area close to Downtown LA, near Dodger Stadium. After fooling around with many different concepts, this week we were tasked with taking our logos and incorporating them into a magazine spread of some kind. I tried three different versions, going for very different looks & feels...

This one would be in an edgy local paper like the LA Weekly or Village Voice

This one is more of a slick, glossy magazine deal. Like Dwell or similar.

This one is a big, ol' newspaper section.

These were fun. I wonder if they're too conservative for my teacher. Guess I'll find out tomorrow night & let you know what revisions I'll be doing for round two!

More Pizza

2010-10-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason, in the past year I've been approached by three separate and completely unrelated people, to work on Pizza-related logos. Since I've never worked on anything pizza-related before, I find this to be a bizarre coincidence. In a previous post, I showed off drawings for a TV show logo, today I present another fun design. Behold, The Pizza Daddy...

On this one, I only drew the pizza chef character. The typography is by John Roshell at Comicraft/Active Images. Pizza Daddy is a new restaurant that will be opening soon in Brooklyn, NY.

The third pizza job didn't advance past the sketches stage. It was for a restaurant in my neighborhood called The Good Pizza. A nice joint with very good food, run by some awesome guys (here's a shout-out to Nando and Carlos). They make an excellent spaghetti sauce, BTW (now serving breakfast!).

While we're on the subject, I just want to mention two places in LA to find the most delicious pizza. As a New Yorker, born & bred, I know what I'm talking about. First, if you want an upscale gastronomic EVENT, you must try Mozza on Highland. It is the pizzarific love-child of celebrity chefs Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. UNBELIEVABLE FOOD. This placed opened in 2007 and it's still nearly impossible to get a reservation! (Just show up early and get on the waiting list; it's fun to sit at the bar and watch them make pizza) Try the Marinated Baby Peppers with Tuna for an appetizer. Trust me.

For more of a "regular" slice that will make you think you're back east, go to Tomato Pie in Silver Lake . By my reckoning, it's the BEST slice in Los Angeles (there's one on Melrose, too, but I haven't been there). These guys are from Trenton, so I may sound like a traitor to my fellow New Yorkers. Not for nothing, but I gotta say, Trenton is much closer to New York than CPK. Try it out. It's so good you will WEEP.

Advertising Design Class

2010-10-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Regular readers of this blog know that I've recently been taking courses at UCLA Extension, working toward my certificate in Advanced Print & Graphic Communication.

(Regulars will also notice that I've just redesigned the look of my blog. This current iteration is just an experiment; I'm just playing around with the design. This one probably wont last very long, so don't get used to it! I would appreciate some feedback, though, if anyone cares to comment)

Anyway, one of my current UCLA courses is Advertising Design, and I thought I'd share some of my schoolwork with you.

This class has been a lot of fun. We just finished a campaign for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), as our first project. Basically, the assignment was to design a marketing strategy to attract a new, younger demographic to the museum, using a new "Street Art" exhibition as a draw.

The first couple of weeks was all research. We interviewed people from the group(s) we wanted to attract, learning their feelings about museums, art generally, and contemporary art in particular. We gathered information about their lifestyles, interests and desires.

Using the collected data, we decided on five archetypes for our demographic groups, and then created detailed "personas" to whom we would target our campaigns. After a (short) bit of in-class brainstorming, we students were given a mere week to develop a comprehensive campaign that we had to present (with a visual slideshow) at our next meeting. It was a huge amount of work, considering that this isn't our full-time job!

I LOVED IT.

The whole process was fascinating. My presentation included 10 slides (later expanded to 14), that outlined the goals and challenges of the campaign, the results of my research, and then several slides detailing my marketing ideas, which included some changes to MOCA's programming and in-museum experience. Fortunately, we didn't need to address any particular budget for our campaigns, so we could propose anything we wanted.

Here a few highlights from my slideshow...

I really enjoyed putting together the presentation. Less fun for me was actually getting up in front of the class and presenting it; let's just say I'm not the greatest public speaker! One thing that helped was that I'd written a script to go along with the slideshow, that allowed me to go greater into depth about my ideas, letting the slides simply act as interesting visuals and bullet-points.

In "real life," my experience in the world of advertising is limited, but I must say that I find the whole process to be thrilling. I'm looking forward to the next project in school, and keeping an eye out for any "real world" opportunities that may present themselves.

DC Super Heroes Pop-Up Book!

2010-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, check this out! Almost a year ago I worked on this unusual project; an elaborate pop-up book featuring all the major DC Comics characters. The book is by Matt Reinhart, who is the author of several extremely cool books that have redefined the modern pop-up book. If you've seen his Star Wars book, you know what I mean. It's amazing what Matt and his studio do with folded paper. Take a peek...

I colored all the images in the book. No small feat, if I may say so. It involved coloring many versions of the same drawing, all chopped up into pieces that had to fit back together after printing and cutting. The whole process must be a printer's nightmare!

Anyway, I worked on this thing last winter, but just learned that is hit the book stores today. I haven't seen the finished product yet, and I can't wait to see how it turned out. If it's anything like the one test spread that I saw, the book will be awesome. And a wonderful holiday gift for the Super Hero enthusiast in your family!

Look for it--and If you happen to see the book; let me know what you think!

I think it's about time for me to redesign this blog...

2010-10-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

...What do you think?

More Class!

2010-10-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post. I guess things have been busy around here since the new school year started for my son, and for me.

This semester I'm taking two courses toward the completion of my Certificate in Advanced Print & Graphic Communication: Advanced Typography and Advertising Design. So far, I am happy to report that both classes are exceptional.

My last class (Publication Design ) was kind of a mixed bag. Since I work in publishing, much of the material was familiar. In addition, this particular course was taught online, and lacked the creative interaction and collaborative energy that has been so stimulating for me since I started taking these courses. I've heard many complaints from other students about the online classes at UCLA Extension. They really need to work on making the experience more interactive. By coincidence, I am currently building an online class for the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. They appear to have a much better grasp on how to replicate the classroom environment online. In some ways, my UCLA class was a valuable lesson on what not to do in that regard!

That said, the best part of Publication Design was working on the homework assignments. I enjoyed stretching my creative legs, working on the kinds of projects that don't normally cross my desk as freelance assignments. I'm really getting into the whole graphic design "thing," and would like to do more of it on the future.

In my last post, I showed off a book cover design I was working on. Since then, I received some feedback from my instructor, and I tweaked it a bit. She admonished me for stretching the type on the logo (rightly so!), and felt the gun was an unnecessary element. Below is my new version. I'm not entirely sold on it, but admit that it is easier to look at than my first attempt...

My two new courses have been very interesting, and I'm happy to be back in the physical classroom, interacting with other humans! I may have said it before, but I think I've been freelance too long! Both classes are very conceptual, and we're digging deeply into the creative processes of typography and the world of advertising. For the past two weeks in Advanced Typography, we have been playing with letter forms to give different meanings to old adages. This was a lot of fun, actually. For the first week, we had to physically cut & paste pieces of type onto paper (like making a ransom note), experimenting with shapes, sizes and space. Later, we scanned the letters and continued the process digitally, creating many versions with different meanings. Here are a couple of mine that I like...

Fun stuff. The instructor is great. He gets so excited about type that he is exactly the guy you want to teach you this class. He's really trying to push us all out of our comfort zones, encouraging us to go "out there" with our designs. I'm already learning a lot.

Tonight I have my advertising class--also great fun. We've been doing research as we build a whole campaign for an art museum. Very interesting work, I'll have to tell you all more about it later. In fact, I need to buckle down and finish my homework assignment right now, so it's time to sign off. Excuse me while I get my Donald Draper on!

Book Cover Design

2010-09-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Just finished my latest homework for my Publication Design class, and thought I'd share it with you all on the blogosphere. The assignment was simple; choose any existing book and redesign the cover. This one was fun--and pretty fast & easy, too!

I chose the book Red Harvest, by the great Dashiell Hammett. It's probably my favorite of his novels and if you are not familiar with it, and you claim to be a fan of hard boiled crime fiction, I suggest you buy a copy NOW! (shame on you!) This book was first published in 1929, and has had many printings with different looks. Including these:

For my version, I wanted something modern looking, but still "pulpy." Here's what I came up with...

What do you think? I kinda like it!

Speaking of Polio...

2010-09-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, you got me. I wasn’t speaking about polio. Not too many people I know speak or even think about polio these days. The reason is obvious; the crippling (and deadly) disease has been largely eradicated from our planet.

Older generations remember all too well the common sight of the polio stricken; walking with crutches, wearing those clunky exoskeletal braces on their legs, and the horror of those forced to live within the tomb of an iron lung. Less than 60 years ago, 59,000 Americans alone were crippled or killed by a polio epidemic. Thanks to the vaccines developed by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin during the 1950s, we’ve been blessed with a nearly polio free existence since.

However, there are a few places left in the world that still struggle with the virus, and the people of Rotary International are among the few who continue to talk about polio, spreading awareness and actively raising money to finally destroy the disease completely. Their effort is straightforwardly called End Polio Now.

As some of you know, in late 2008, Rotary International contracted me to draw the first in a series of educational comic book stories. “Amazing Stories of Polio” depicts the history of the poliovirus and the fight to eliminate it. The story appeared first within the pages of the February ’09 issue of the Rotarian magazine, and soon after was printed as a stand-alone comic that has been widely distributed, and admired by Rotary Club members worldwide.

One such person is Steve Root of Canterbury, UK. Steve is a member of the Rotary Club of Canterbury Sunrise , a group of about 30 men and women of different backgrounds sharing a strong community spirit. A year ago, Steve contacted me with an interesting idea. He wanted to take my comic book pages, enlarge them, and display them in a storefront’s window in Canterbury. His idea was to draw attention to Rotary’s End Polio Now program and share the story with as many passers-by as possible.

I forwarded his request to my Rotarian contacts (who commissioned me) and after many months of discussions, and more time finding an appropriate venue, Steve has finally made his idea into a reality...

Here on the corner of Butchery Lane and Burgate, a busy UK high street and tourist destination (right by Canterbury Cathedral), the Rotarians have conspired to transform this storefront into one giant comic book...

Steve Root and his amazing giant comic book!

Putting up the second panel

Steve Root and fellow club member, Jim Gascoyne

Ta daaaa...!

Why did Steve Root spend a year on this project? In his own words...

“Polio has been eradicated from the UK for a long time. Many people now don't know the effect polio has on a person, having never seen it for themselves. I'm one of those people. I'm in my early thirties and, until reading your comic, I really didn't have the first clue about what the disease does. I have vague recollections of a sugar cube vaccination in primary school, but no first hand knowledge. Using the comic as a piece of artwork educates passers-by who stop to read it.”

In addition, the campaign will increase local awareness about Rotary in general, and their local club in particular. They also plan to try to raise some money by selling the comics in an adjacent shop and collecting donations.

How long will this display be up? “Until the next tenant arrives. That could be
tomorrow, or a couple of months, we don't know for certain.”

From my point of view, one thing is certain: this is extremely cool! It’s like having my own gallery opening in the UK! “Amazing Stories of Polio,” was a very gratifying story to work on as an illustrator. It’s not often that I get to work on projects connected to a really good cause, and I am very pleased to see my work appearing again and again in different creative ways. (Thanks, Steve!)

P.S. If you happen to be in Canterbury, Kent and see this thing in person, drop me a note here--and send me a photo of yourself, if at all possible! Wish I could be there myself!

Expanding Horizons

2010-09-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

Back in May, I mentioned that I'm currently attending a program at UCLA Extension (for a certificate in Advanced Print and Graphic Communication). It's been great to stretch the old creative muscles, reacquainting myself with design principals I've forgotten, and learning many new tricks, as well as the latest trends & technologies. It has been especially fun to work outside my comfort zone, applying my art & design skills to areas that I have little or no practical experience in--this was certainly the case in the Spring semester, with my Production Design for Film & TV course.

In that class, I had to design fake websites, stage settings, show logos, title sequences and even fake products and advertisements. The instructor, Geoffrey Mandel has an impressive resume of movies and shows to his credit, including his current enviable position in the Art Department of Mad Men (love that show). Before taking his class, I had no concept of what, exactly, a "Hollywood" Graphic Designer's job entails. I must admit that I was quickly taken with the idea! His job looks pretty damned fun--especially on a show like Mad Men.

For that class, we had many interesting homework assignments. I've posted some already, but here are a couple other pieces. First, is a fake, 1960's style magazine ad...

It's okay, I guess. The shampoo looks a bit like dish soap, in retrospect. Below is a another 1960's influenced design for a floor polish bottle...

That was fun. Perhaps even more fun than creating these designs was doing the research beforehand.

While I was taking this class, by coincidence, I had the opportunity to actually do some freelance design work for a TV show in development. This is the show logo for a cooking show that will hopefully be coming to a major network soon...

It's funny. At the same time I was working on this Pizza Quest logo, I also had two other completely separate "pizza" related freelance projects come my way. I've never worked in the pizza business before, so I have no idea why they all came to me at the same time.

Anyway, that was a great class. Interacting with so many talented creative people was so stimulating that I find myself really wanting to get back into that kind of work environment. Freelancing has many wonderful benefits, but I think I'm ready for a day job!

Meanwhile, this summer I've been taking a class in Publication Design. Unlike the last class, here I'm in familiar territory. My whole career has been involved in publishing, starting on staff in the editorial & production offices at Marvel Comics in New York. There I was lucky enough to work in their Epic Comics division, where we had to package a huge variety of books & periodicals in all sorts of formats. Years later, I took those skills, as well as all I'd learned as a freelancer and as the head of a couple digital art studios, to publish my own magazine. Comiculture magazine was such a small operation that I had my hands in everything; including much of the graphic design.

I may not be learning a vast ammount of new information about publishing in this current class, but I have been challenged to apply my knowledge to create designs outside of my usual area; comics & graphic novels. So far, my assignments have included more "respectable" work, like magazine & brochure designs. I'll share a bit here, though I consider these a bit rough. Think of them more as "sketches" than finished work. or, as "works in progress..."

First (and this is really rough!) is a concept for a magazine spread, based solely one the word "paranoia." My idea is that this is an article about terrorists living among us, as represented by the Red Man. He'd appear throughout the article, if it were for real...

Next, I had to grab a bunch of images & text and create book or magazine designs with them. The timing of this coincided with my family vacation to Bonaire, so I used that as an inspiration. Most of the photos are were taken by my wife, my In-laws, or me. This was a fun and meaningful assignment because I got to relive my trip while doing my homework! Here are a couple of the spreads...

Below was another fast & dirty assignment. The instructor provided a bunch of random images, words & phrases. The task was to design a magazine spread using one of the pieces of text as a headline, and whatever art worked thematically with it. The results from the class at large were pretty varied. For mine, I took the phrase "Sky High" and the picture of a ballerina on a blank background, and took off from there. So to speak...

That was a quickie, but I'm pretty pleased with the it, though it could use some finessing.

My latest assignment was difficult. I had to take the content from my "Bonaire" project, and re-purpose it into three tri-fold brochures. The limitations were 2-color printing only, and no more than 3 font families. Here's what I came up with. Still waiting on feedback from the teacher & class, but I know this needs work!

Being in the classroom has been a blast. So much so, that I've signed up for TWO classes in the fall. In a couple of weeks I'll be starting courses in Advertising Design and Advanced Typography. I'm really looking forward to them both. I'll let you know how they go. Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment on any of this. Especially if you want to offer any constructive criticism--the whole point of my taking these classes is to improve myself, after all!

The Con Game

2010-07-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hey all you wonderful people! It's that time of year again, and my love/hate relationship with the San Diego Comic-Con continues! Actually, there's no "hate," per se. Just mixed feelings; I've attended Comic-Con so many times, I often wonder what the point is. My problem is that if I don't go, I always feel like I'm missing something! It's a genuine dilemma! Personally, I find that the 'Con is best when I have a clear agenda; like a new book to promote.

This year, my appearance will be brief. I'm heading down tomorrow, so I'll be there all day Wednesday (for "Preview Night") and about half of Thursday. I have no exciting new projects to promote, nor do I have an Artist's Alley table this year. Therefore, I won't be hanging around any one particular place--so don't look for me! I'm mainly going to look around, see some old friends, and scout out any possible opportunities for work.

Sadly, such a brief trip means I won't see some fellow creators who won't be down until the weekend. I'll also miss some of the fun, like my friend Joanne's party which is tonight, and Thursday night's Drink & Draw party. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing as many friends & colleagues as I can, in the time I have.

Maybe next year I'll be ready for the full week of madness again! See you there!!!
:)

More Coloring...

2010-06-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hello there. Is it summer already??? I've been pretty busy the past few weeks, but things are settling down now. Here's a peek at some comic book stuff I've been coloring...

From X-Men Origins: Deadpool #1, art by Leo fernandez

From Valentine: Plan B for Blonde, line art by Dan Cooney.

These 2 jobs were kind of fun because I got to play around with the color styles a bit. The Deadpool story is very moody and cinematic, jumping around between a lot of different locations and scenarios. I really pushed myself to come up with different & interesting color schemes for each scene jump to help tell the story. For the Valentine story, Dan wanted a simple rendering style on the figures, with more painterly backgrounds. I used Luc Jacamon's excellent work on The Killer as an inspiration.

Today, I'm finishing up some commercial storyboard work. Here's a simple frame...

The line art is by my pal, Don Hudson. This commercial is supposed to emulate a music video or something.

That's all for now! And hey--who's going to Comic-Con???

Author Fair Aftermath

2010-06-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Last week's 10th Annual Author Fair in El Segundo went well. Don Hudson and I improvised a demonstration on drawing comics that was pretty amusing. It evolved into a format where I took general questions from the audience, while Don drew requests on a large sketch pad. Ultimately, we came up with an impromptu 6-panel comic story about a polar bear.

photo by Shawna James

Afterwards we separated, Don remaining in the Children's section of the library, so he could talk about his work on the Warriors series with the kids. My printed work was deemed more "mature," so they sat me upstairs in the main library, along with my pal Tricia Riley Hale, author of Grand Theft Galaxy. We spent a pleasant hour or so, chatting with library patrons, and all went out for beer afterwards.

Good times. Thanks to all of you who came by to see us!

Author Fair This Weekend

2010-06-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

If you're in West LA this Sunday, June 6th, drop by the El Segundo Public Library, and say hello! I'll be participating in their 10th Annual El Segundo Author Fair. The event goes from 12:45 PM to 4:30 PM and includes appearances by about 35 authors who will be signing their books. There will also be discussion panels, poetry readings, children’s activities, and music.

I will be doing a “Comic Book Artist Demonstration” from 1:30 to 2:00, along with my good pal Don Hudson, artist of TOKYOPOP'S Warriors mangas, Gunpowder Girl and the Outlaw Squaw and Forever Amber. I'm not exactly sure what we'll be demonstrating, but I know it will be great! After that, I'll be doing a book signing from 2:15 PM to 3:25 PM. You can also meet the lovely & talented Tricia Riley Hale, writer of TOKYOPOP's Grand Theft Galaxy!

You know you want to!

El Segundo Public Library
111 W. Mariposa Avenue
El Segundo, CA 90245

View Larger Map

See you there! (I'll be there from 1:30-3:30)

Fake Website

2010-05-24T09:29:00.001-07:00

This week's homework assignment for my class in Graphic Design for Film & TV was to design a fake website. Something that would appear in a film or TV show on a background computer monitor, or one that an actor might interact with. I decided to do the homepage of a corporate website. The corporation in question? Omni Consumer Products from the movie Robocop...

The large image is actually a slideshow of different OCP projects, like "Delta City," and "Ed-209." Another fun assignment. Now, back to my "real" work...

Coloring

2010-05-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

Doing some coloring lately...

Class

2010-05-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I'm currently taking a class at UCLA Extension, as part of a certificate program in Advanced Print and Graphic Communication. This semester, the class I'm taking is Graphic Design for Film & Television, taught by Geoffrey Mandel who is the designer on popular shows like Mad Men and Parks and Recreation, as well as films like Surrogates, MI3, Solaris, and Spider-Man 2. He also worked on several of the Star Trek shows & movies, so he has plenty of credits that are impressive to a comic book guy like myself.

The job description of Graphic Designer on a film or TV show is pretty interesting — and one I've never given any thought to before. Basically, he works with the Art Department to create anything that needs graphic design. That could be a show logo, title sequence, set dressings, signage or props. It also includes images that might be played back on a TV or computer monitor within a scene (such as all the monitors on a starship, or a TV news report that a character might be watching, or a website he might be browsing). On show such as Mad Men it is a crucial role, since it is a period drama, where everything must be recreated.

The homework assignments have been fun and varied. One of the tools we've used is the free 3D software application, Google SketchUp. It's fun, free and easy to learn. I'm usually baffled by 3D programs, so I was happy to find that all the demos on their website are easy to follow. For my first try at SketchUp, our assignment was to recreate an existing set from a TV show or movie. I picked the warehouse from Reservoir Dogs.

Here are some screen shots of my model...

Structurally, this building is completely unsound! I was learning on the fly here, so as I built this scene, I became aware of many mistakes that I could easily avoid if I were to build it again from scratch.

In case you're wondering, I did NOT build the car, or the crates, or the table, props and figures. These items were imported into the scene from the handy Google 3D Warehouse. It's full of objects that other people have designed and shared to the SketchUp community. It's one of the things that makes SketchUp fun to work with.

That was fun, but thanks to the learning curve it took forever! In the end, it is nowhere near complete, but I learned a lot about SketchUp.

My second crack at SketchUP was more successful. For this assignment, I had to design the "look" of a fictitious daytime TV interview show called "Barbara." My attempt included a model of the actual set, with logo graphics, as well as an example of on-screen text that might appear. This was also fun...

Above is the backdrop, below you can see the beach scene placed on a curved background on my set. The "Barbara" logo floats in front...

Before modeling the scene, I sketched out a few ideas, including the overused city view that you'd see on Letterman or Leno. I was waiting on the checkout line at the grocery store, when I became inspired by a magazine cover showing an inviting veranda scene...

I liked the columns, shuttered doors and tropical motif, so I kept that in mind while building the set...

Finally, I imported some of these views in to Photoshop and added some figures and graphics (apologies to Barbara Walters & Michael Ironside!)

I have a few more images with graphics that I submitted, but you get the drift. We've also done some other excellent projects in this class, but I promised not to show them at this time. The bottom line is that I'm having a great time. Time spent in the classroom and working on these assignments has been very stimulating and inspirational.

More on what I've been up to lately soon...

Life

2010-05-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Blogosphere.

I haven't posted recently, except for the random image, and that's mostly because I haven't been feeling very talkative lately. Or "blogative." Whatever you want to call it. The fact is, so far, it has been a lousy year for me.

Unlike many bloggers, I usually don't like to get too personal in this forum. I'm mostly a private guy, but I use my blog to share images and anecdotes about the projects I'm working on, as well as general observations about the comics biz. Today, I'm going to bend that rule a little, while I share this little piece of Photoshop art with you all...

This is a drawing of my father, James Buccellato. He passed away a couple of months ago, and that has made for a very difficult year. To put it mildly.

In the weeks since the funeral, I've reflected on everything I know about my father, and on my own relationship with him. In the final analysis, I can't say that we were extremely close, but I did love my father very much. This piece of art was an interesting challenge for me. It's really the first time I've used Photoshop in this manner; creating a digital painting from scratch. I didn't use any Photoshop trickery (it isn't a doctored photo) just drawing on my Wacom tablet, looking at photo reference, and using digital paint (whatever that is!)

I enjoyed the painting process, and I savored the time it took to complete it. It was uninterrupted time spent thinking about my dad. My only regret is that it's just pixels and doesn't truly exist like a "real" painting. I did get it printed onto canvas to see what it looks like, and I like the results, but it isn't the same. Maybe I will use it as a study for an actual oil painting in the future.

Meanwhile, I've been just trying to keep busy. A challenge unto itself. I've spent much of this year investigating job prospects and career moves. I want to change things up—abandon the freelance lifestyle and find a more collaborative environment to work in. I've also started taking courses at UCLA with the goal of getting a certificate in Advanced Graphic Design & Communications. This has been a lot of fun — very stimulating. I will tell you about it and share some of my school work in future posts.

I'm starting to feel as though things are looking up. Lately, I have been busy with work and I have some interesting job prospects. Last week was my birthday. Milestones like birthdays provide a good excuse to reevaluate and rededicate oneself. I'm staying positive and moving forward! Keep an eye on this blog, my friends, because I'll be posting some interesting news and cool artwork soon!

Thanks for reading. This was a difficult post to write, but I wanted to share the picture of my dad, and that necessitated an explanation of sorts. Next time, I'll be all business. ;)

—S

Hippo-Man in a Tank

2010-03-12T10:53:00.001-08:00

A page from an upcoming issue of Elephantmen from Image Comics!

Kid Art

2010-02-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

One in a series of drawings I'm currently working on; fun character sketches of kids. There are a few more that I can post later.
Enjoy!

Storyboard Job from '08

2010-01-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

Below are some drawings from a job I drew in late 2008. The client was an Entertainment entrepreneur from Kuwait who was involved in producing all kinds of media. This particular project was for a proposed animated music video. The story line follows two characters called Tarek & Elaine who meet in the ocean and fall in love while flying around the heavens and creating a floating island paradise (pre- "Avatar," btw!).

I posted a couple of these images back when I first drew them, but now that the job has long past, I think it's safe to share a bit more, just for fun. In total, I drew about 60 boards. Here, I present a third of them...

For Any Rotarians Out There...

2010-01-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

The "Illustrated Biography" (AKA: comic book) of Rotary International founder, Paul Harris, made it's debut within the pages of the Rotarian magazine in December. Now available as a stand-alone comic at their website.

It's an interesting story, even for those of us who are not active Rotary Club members. I am very proud of how my artwork turned out, and it has piqued my interest in exploring more ways to use comic book art to reach different audiences. The world of "graphic nonfiction" has really seemed to take off since I worked on the Ronald Reagan graphic novel back in 2006. The glut of last year's Obama related titles and comics like the Female Force series from Bluewater Productions seem to back that up.

I have some definite ideas about what works and what doesn't with these books. What do you think, my friends?

Heroes 4 Haiti: Auctions End

2010-01-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday those three pieces of art I auctioned to benefit the Haitian earthquake victims sold for a combined $163. Not a vast sum, but not too bad for a couple of drawings that were doing nothing but taking up space in my office. My thanks to those people who bid on them. The money will go to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

It has been several years since I've sold my artwork on ebay. More than a decade ago, I used to sell my old color guides , but stopped when there was a glut. Maybe it is time to revisit the idea. I know that some artists draw images specifically to sell on ebay, or solicit commissions there. Anybody out there have any experience with that? Maybe it would be worthwhile to offer sketch commissions right here off my blog.

Something to consider...

Heroes 4 Haiti: Art Auctions

2010-01-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

In a small effort to help the victims of the disastrous Haitian earthquake, I've been inspired by the grassroots movement Heroes 4 Haiti to place some of my original comic book art up for auction on ebay. Right now, I have 3 pieces up on short 3-day auctions ending this Sunday. If you're interested in original comic art, this is a great way to do your part for a worthy cause and come away with a cool & collectible keepsake. 100% of the auction profits go to benefit Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

If these 3 pages sell, I may add some more next week. Please take a look and spread the word.

Here's the first piece. You may recognize it as the line art for the "Happy New Year" image I posted the other day...

It's basically Catwoman "fan art," created by me for self-promotional purposes. You can see it in color here if you're interested. CLICK HERE to view and bid on the item on ebay.

The second and third pieces are pages from my 2007 manga Battle of the Bands, published by Tokyopop. This is one of the title pages (from Chapter Nine)...

CLICK HERE to view and bid on the item on ebay.

This is story page 177. The sexy nurse offering a sponge bath and "Doctors Without Borders" are a natural pair-up, don't you think? ;)

CLICK HERE to view and bid on the item on ebay.

I will autograph these for the auction winners, BTW. Thanks for your support!

Best Wishes!

2010-01-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

Season's Greetings!

2009-12-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy holidays to you all!

Jigsaw Puzzle!

2009-12-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Like that robot & dinosaur image on the top of my blog? Well, it's for sale as a print and a groovy 252 piece Jigsaw Puzzle at Deviant Art!

Now, wouldn't that make a fine holiday gift for your loved ones? :)

Only $19.95. What a bargain!

Random Panels

2009-11-25T00:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some random panel details from the last couple of Fun Club Komiks episodes...

Enjoy!

The Rotarian

2009-10-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

It's been quiet here on the ol' blog, mainly because I've had a surge of much-needed work this Autumn. In September, I started working on my second comic book story for Rotary International's The Rotarian magazine. Readers of this blog may recall that last year I drew a 16-page feature about the history of polio and the fight to eradicate the crippling disease.

The new story, which will be featured in the December issue of The Rotarian, is a biography of the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris. Like the polio story, this is a 16-page story appearing in the magazine, that will also be appearing as a stand-alone pamphlet sometime next year. And even cooler: I drew the image for the magazine's front cover this time...

I am very psyched about this story, for several reasons. Most of the story takes place around the years 1890-1910, and I loved drawing the period. I enjoy doing the research and trying to give an air of authenticity to the drawings. The first part of the story is pretty moody and atmospheric, and I used a lot of heavy shadows and a monochromatic color scheme to convey that.

I'm not sure how much I can show here on my blog, but here are a couple of teaser images. I'll probably post more in December when the issue is published...

The folks at Rotary International have been great to work with, and they are very excited about using the comic book storytelling form as a means to reach more people with their messages and causes. I'm looking forward to participating in their NEXT foray into "Graphic Journalism," as they like to call it.

But right now, I have a POP-UP book to color! More on that later...

Busy!

2009-09-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty slow year for me and, for that, I'll just go ahead and blame the economy! But things are getting busier as we speed towards autumn, and there's even some positive "buzz" surrounding the recent Marvel/Disney news. I've got a full plate for the next six weeks, so I probably won't be blogging much, but I'll try to post images when I get a chance.

Here are some panel details from the latest "Komiks!" In this issue, Poziomka is disgusted by how miseraable the world is, and decides to become a superhero: Rooster Girl!

Villains, beware!

Werkin'

2009-07-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today I'm working on my latest comic for Fun Club magazine. Here's another panel from last month's extravaganza...

New Art

2009-07-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

This is a new piece I drew for a big, corporate client that wishes to remain nameless for now. The image the characters are looking at was provided for me to drop in to the space. I like how the characters' reflections turned out.

Zombies!

2009-06-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

A detail from my latest comic for the Polish Teen magazine, Fun Club. Everyone loves zombies, I guess. Even in Eastern Europe! Who knew?

Foolin' Around

2009-06-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Just a sketch I did today, messing around with a new fountain pen that my wife bought me for my birthday...

More on that reunion stuff soon. :)

Interlude...

2009-06-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

I interrupt my "Reunion Reminiscences" to provide some related links. Fellow Ex-Marvelite Gary Barnum wrote a nice piece about the event on his blog. I like what he had to say a lot, and he did it all in one, clear post (unlike yours truly)!

While you're at it, check out Don Hudson's pics on his blog. Unlike me, Don remembered to bring his camera!

More of my ramblings in a day or two!

Reunion Reminiscences 3

2009-06-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Part Three: AV Squad

(click here to read chapter two, or here for chapter one)

While preparing for the Marvel Reunion / Mark Gruenwald Tribute, many of us dug through our old photographs and videos from the era. D.G. Chichester (my former boss at Epic) was compiling a photo slideshow to run on the venue’s TV Monitors for the first two hours of the evening. At 9:00 PM, Mike Carlin’s Tribute would begin, and at 10:00, we planned to show some of our videos.

I’m sure that each of us that contributed to the slideshow had fun looking through our old albums, marveling at how young we all were, cringing at those late 80s fashions! Who had the best mullet? Hard to say...

Dan Chichester?

Greg Wright had my favorite mullet, but Hector Collazo

and Marcus McLaurin also had great 80s styles

And Mark Chiarello's coiffure was the envy of millions...

I had some choice shots taken at the Holiday Party from January 1991, when a few of us decided it would be “cool” to rent cheap tuxedos. Marie wore her trademarked spiral dress, an old favorite...

Mike Rockwitz, Mike Heisler & me. Bonds, James Bonds all.

And then there were some of my pics from the video I shot in 1989. It was called The Freelancer...

The Freelancer was one of the videos scheduled to be shown during the last hour of the Reunion. The others were Marie Javins’ A Day in the Life of the Assistant Editor and the hilarious Marvel Mania skit that was performed at a New York Comic Convention called Tuff Talk. The Freelancer was, in some ways, a follow up to Marie’s “Assistant” story that we made the year before. It is a comedic story of a freelance comic book letterer, played by freelance comic book letterer, Mike Heisler. In the story, he gets into trouble with his landlord (Played by Don Hudson), his editor (Dan Chichester), Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief (Tom DeFalco), his car is repossessed (by Marc Siry), and he breaks down in a Vietnam Flashback before going out and getting completely trashed in a dozen bars. The video also features David Wohl, Mark Gruenwald, Bob Harras and a bunch of other Marvel bullpenners.

It was an incredibly stupid, offensive...and hilarious story, clocking in at 34 minutes long. Since this is the 20th anniversary of The Freelancer, I set upon the task of creating a newly edited, digital version with all-new special effects (it was originally shot on VHS). I started working on the new “directors cut” early this year, but the screening at the Reunion gave me an actual deadline to finish it by.

The Freelancer may have been a bunch of stupid in-jokes and sophomoric humor, but 20 years later, it is also an amazing time-capsule, showing Marvel Comics as it has not existed in a long time. All the videos we assembled had that in common. It’s an interesting quality about video that is different from still photography. When you watch old video (or film) you can hear people’s voices and see how they moved, and you move about in space to see details that might be cropped from a photo. It brings you back into a moment and sparks your memories in a unique way. I notice the same thing when I watch video of my son as a toddler--his little walk, the way he pronounced “tractor,” that wonderful sweater we bought in Paris... For this reason alone, reediting The Freelancer is a worthy project. Sifting through the raw footage took me back, and mentally prepared me for seeing all my old colleagues. And...it was fun.

To be continued!

Reunion Reminiscences 2

2009-06-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Part Two: Party Planning

(click here to read chapter one)

One detail I forgot to mention in my first post, was that I not only attended the Marvel Reunion on June 6th, but I was also the principal organizer of the event.

The idea of a reunion wasn’t my idea, but it was one that I instantly responded to when I heard about it. I’m not sure how long people had been tossing around ideas for a reunion, but I first heard about it around February of this year. There were mentions of it on Facebook groups like “Friends of Old Marvel,” in December 2008. At some point, I saw a link to a post on Bob Camp’s blog, where he basically put out the call to see who was interested.

Early on, this idea became tied with another; friends of Mark Gruenwald (like Eliot Brown) expressed a desire to organize a tribute in Mark’s honor. As dates and possible venues started to be discussed on Facebook, and Bob Camp’s blog, it became clear that it would be a combined Marvel Reunion / Mark Gruenwald Tribute. Many of us who were following the threads became very excited by the idea.

There was a problem, though. While many people expressed opinions, there wasn’t anybody volunteering to take charge, make decisions and force the concept into reality. Dates and venues would be suggested, but not decided on. April seemed like a possibility, but it came and nothing concrete was happening. Personally, I was becoming frustrated, and at first I wasn’t sure why.

It goes back to what I said in my first post; this would be my college reunion! I wanted my college reunion!!!

So, after discussing it with my wife, on April 13th I sent a proposal out to the groups discussing the reunion / tribute. I offered to help shepherd the planning process and set up a dedicated group to facilitate action. It seemed silly, in a way. Here I was, 3000 miles away from New York, and not half as well connected as the other people involved. What could I do? Well, at least I could set up the Facebook group to discuss things.

At first, I thought I’d just get the ball rolling and that someone on the East Coast would take over. However, it soon became clear that I would have to head the project--if only to guide and focus the discussions so that actual decisions could be made. The first order of business, after organizing an administrative body of about 16 volunteers, was to pick a date. June 6th was chosen, coincidentally coinciding with the MoCCA show. We thought the timing might work in our favor, if some people were coming in to the city anyway for that event (unfortunately, it also created some conflicts with some Marvel Alumni that had MoCCA obligations).

There were many bumps in the road, as we raced to plan the huge event, but finally a venue was chosen, a price agreed upon, and we sketched out a basic plan for the night’s programming. On April 24th, our group started to send out formal invitations by email, a mere 6 weeks before the big date. This in itself was a difficult task. In the week or so prior, we collected a list of people who were interested using Facebook as well as our personal address books, spreading the word as best we could. We chose the venue based on a rough estimate of how many people committed to come, as well as by price. I’m sure there were several people who were never found and invited, but I think we did a great job, considering.

Deciding who to invite was another issue. Since this was to be a Tribute to Mark Gruenwald, the Marvel era of the 1980s and early 90s was chosen: The “Gru Era.” This meant a lot of overlap of different groups of employees and freelancers, including a handful who still work at Marvel today (and a bunch of people who currently work at DC!). There was potential for conflicts and bad blood, but we put out the call, awaited RSVPs, and hoped for the best. In the end, five weeks later, I had collected admission for 152 people. Not too shabby...

To be Continued

(click here for chapter three!)

Reunion Reminiscences

2009-06-11T23:58:00.000-07:00

Part One: Ancient History

A packed crowd, reunited! June 6, 2009

(photo by Howard Mackie)

Last weekend I flew to New York for a reunion of people who worked for Marvel Comics during the 1980s and 1990s. The party was attended by more than 150 former staff members and freelancers, many of whom had not seen each other in twenty years or more. Among the crowd were some legendary comic book artists and writers, erstwhile denizens of the famed “Marvel Bullpen,” and other staff members who may or may not have survived the multiple downsizings and reorganizations that plagued Marvel’s “bankruptcy years.” In the weeks preceding, expectations were uncertain. Some people were nervous. One former staffer (Marvel Historian, Peter Sanderson) worried that his memories of the late 80s and early 90s were a “nostalgic fantasy,” and he wasn’t alone.

It was, for all intents and purposes, my college reunion. And it was an enormous success.

(photo by Howard Mackie)

You see, I never made it to college. I’d planned to. I was accepted to Parsons School of Design, my first choice of schools, when I graduated from New York’s High School of Art & Design in 1986. But, it wasn’t in the cards. I had trouble getting the financial aid that I sorely needed, so I deferred my enrollment at Parsons, and accepted a full-time job at Marvel’s Epic Comics division. Luckily, I had been working there already, starting with a high school internship in early 1985, as a 15 year-old junior.

Marvel truly was my university. The other young Assistant Editors, Bullpenners and “Romitas Raiders” were my fellow students. Our professors and mentors were an amazingly gifted group of artists, writers and editors. I was lucky to be there at that time, when so many of the “old guard” were still around, and when many of today’s top talents were just breaking in. I had the distinct pleasure of working directly for the illustrious John Romita that first summer after I left high school, and then for Archie Goodwin and his small staff at Epic. For someone in the comics industry, it was an education to be reckoned with. I stayed on staff until 1989, when I decided go freelance and concentrate on my artistic career.

me in my Epic office around 1988

Those years on staff from 1985 to 1989, and continuing until 1993 when I moved to Los Angeles, were so very formative to me and many of our “graduating class.” It was a special, special time to be in and around the Marvel offices. There was a palpable sense of camaraderie and fun. The place was teeming with creativity and wackiness! While preparing for the reunion I, along with fellow “alumni,” dug up tons of old photographs and video from the era. Looking back, I truly can’t believe the stuff we used to get away with!

If one person could epitomize the spirit of that particular stage of Marvel Comics history, it was, without question, the late Mark Gruenwald. It has been said countless times that when Mark unexpectedly died in 1996, it was the death of Marvel’s heart & soul. I don’t wish to disparage those who have worked there since then, but as someone who “grew up” in the Gruenwald era, I believe it’s an irrefutable fact. Comics haven’t been the same since.

Mark Gruenwald

And so, it was extremely appropriate that this first reunion of “Old Marvelites” was also a tribute to Mark. He not only led us all in crazy antics, but he challenged everyone to go out and do likewise. His spirit set the very tone of the office.

Personally, I was not close with Mark. I am a shy person today, and was 100 times more shy back then. Because I worked in the “Epic” department, I did not have to attend his “Assistant Editor School,” and I regret it. Several of my good friends, former Marvel Assistants, still use the lessons they learned in Mark’s classes today, though they work in different fields. Even so, Mark’s influence was felt by everyone on the 10th floor of 387 Park Avenue South. To younger staff members like me, he was like the favorite school teacher! I was undoubtably influenced by him, or I never would have transformed my editor, Dan Chichester’s office into the bridge of the Enterprise while he was out of town!

Just the kind of prank Mark would have done...or so I’d like to believe!

Around the time I went freelance in 1989, I was getting into playing with video as a hobby. On occasion, Mark would recruit me to video Marvel antics at conventions or office parties. I was much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, so the front-row seat to the “Mark Gruenwald Show” suited me fine. When I shot some videos of my own, Mark happily acted in two of them.

Mark appearing in the video, The Freelancer (1989)

One of my first regular monthly freelance jobs was coloring Captain America, which was written by Mark. For me, this meant more time in his sphere, but as a quiet observer and admirer. I wish I’d been more outgoing, and I wish I’d known him better.

When Mark died in 1996, I was living in Los Angeles. I was overwhelmed by the news. I flew out to New York, though I was not permitted to attend the funeral for whatever reason. Instead, I stuck to the sidelines, spending time with my friends, quietly mourning a man that profoundly affected my life, whom I hardly knew at all.

This Saturday past, at the Reunion / Tribute, former Marvel Editor (and current DC Editor), Mike Carlin presented a montage of video and still images of his old pal Mark. For a short while, we were transfixed, and taken back in time. There’s Mark--up to his old tricks again! In this litigious era of political correctness, there’s absolutely no way he could do half that stuff today! Staring at the video screens, shaking our heads, one giant, bittersweet smile stretched across the entire venue. Mike’s narration was just the right combination of admiration, reverence, wry wit and goofball fanfare that Mark would have loved. I was proud to be in the room.

Mike Carlin remembers his old friend

(photos by Francine Burke)

D.G. Chichester, Marie Javins, me, Marc Siry & Evan Skolnick

To be continued

(click here for part 2)

More of These Guys

2009-04-23T10:46:00.001-07:00

Another "Fun Club Komiks" Strip Finished!

2009-02-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

And here's a sample panel.

I think these are getting better each month. The characters are becoming more consistent and cuter.

A Real American Hero

2009-02-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Last week I busted out another First Allied Man ad. This one is the best...

I'm especially proud of my use of the term "stimulus package."

Confused? Read this older post for an explanation. Sort of.

Elephantmen #15: First Review

2009-01-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Woke up to find this link in my email today: evidently, Ryan at Newsarama thinks the issue is excellent! He has sonly nice things to say about my back-up story. Check out the review, and please buy Elephantmen issue #15! Heck, buy them all!

Polio in the News

2009-01-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about the latest efforts to eradicate polio. A reported $635 million has been pledged by the governments of the UK and Germany, along with several charities, including $100 million by Rotary International. It seems that the Amazing Stories of Polio feature that I drew for the February issue of The Rotarian is well timed. For a sneak peek, check out this link and learn more about this worthy cause.

Comiculture.com: New Blog

2009-01-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

If you are personally acquainted with me, or have been following this blog for a while, you are most likely familiar with Comiculture. In not, I will sum it up briefly: Comiculture was a full-color magazine that I self-published back in 2002-2003, along with my pals at Mad Science Media. It was primarily an anthology of comic book stories of all different genres (crime, horror, romance, humor, western, etc.) The fan and critic reaction too the magazine was overwhelmingly positive, but the fact was that the project was far too expensive to continue, and we were forced to cancel it after two issues. In 1995, Comiculture briefly returned as a graphic novel anthology (sill available!) and it was our intention to develop new projects under the imprint, Comiculture Books. So far, we haven't been able to fund such a project, and we have been quite busy working on projects for other clients and publishers, but the will is still there, so who knows what the future will bring.

Our website, www.comiculture.com has been active since the publication of the first magazine, back in 2002, and still draws traffic even though it has not been updated in ages. Right now, it acts mostly as a "porthole," guiding viewers toward individual creator blogs, like this one.

We are currently working on a complete re-design of our studio's website, www.madsciencemedia.com, which has also been long overdue. In connection with that, I have revamped and simplified the Comiculture website into a blog format. It will be missing many of the features of the old website, but those are largely obsolete at this point. The new site will still point towards our individual blogs, and also provide news about our new projects, home-grown or developed for our clients.

Please visit & bookmark our studio's new blog. Meanwhile, I'll still be doing my best to keep this page fresh with new art and wit!

Elephantmen #15

2009-01-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

On sale next week: Elephantmen #15, from Image Comics. This issue features an 8-page backup story that I drew about a year ago (more or less), telling the origin of Hip Flask's inscrutable sidekick, Vanity Case! It's also got a nifty alternative "flip-book" cover (above) by Heroes artist extraordinaire, Tim Sale!For more info, check with your local comic book retailer and please visit the Elephantmen website. They have some groovy desktop postcards and stuff. The kind folks at Active Images spare no expense to entertain you.

Amazing Stories of Polio!

2008-12-10T10:03:00.001-08:00

The February '09 issue of Rotary International's Rotarian magazine will feature a 16-page comic book story (graphic non-fiction?) about the history of Polio eradication, drawn by Yours Truly.

The subject matter isn't sexy or action-packed, but this was a very interesting job that further demonstrates just how flexible the medium of "sequential storytelling" can be. The enlightened editors at the Rotarian knew that the history of Polio and the scientists and humanitarians who continue to fight it, could be an easily-overlooked feature in their magazine...or something new and different. Telling the story as a narrative with images makes an old subject interesting and accessible. I think the end result works very well.

The story, of course, begins and ends with Jonas Salk, who created the first vaccine to prevent the spread of Polio, while refusing to patent it. A true humanitarian, whose achievement & selflessness made him a household name.

The narrative then goes back to describe the history of the disease, how the virus works & spreads, and its effect on the world.

Rotary International is on the brink of eradicating Polio from the last few places it exists on earth today. In an ever-shrinking world, as long as polio threatens even one child anywhere, children everywhere remain at risk.

I'm very pleased to have been able to work on this project, and contribute to a worthy cause. For more information about End Polio Now, please visit their website and learn how you can help, too.

Fun Club Komiks

2008-12-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

This week I am starting my tenth episode of Fun Club Komiks which is featured in the Polish magazine for teens, Fun Club. In the comments of a previous post, Michal asked if I'd received any of the printed magazines in the mail. They took a while to arrive, but I did recently get a package with my first three issues (the covers are in the image above). It's always cool to see one's work in print, but what struck me, looking back at those first few comics, is how my art has evolved over the past 10 months. In a way, I think I'm just now getting the hang of this, and I'm finally becoming comfortable with these characters, and making them my own.

"Michal" is, in fact, Michal Zacharzewski, the writer of Fun Club Komiks, and my main contact for the publisher in Poland. He's made this job very easy for me, considering the problems of language and time zone differences. I'm very glad to be working with him (and I'd better get busy, sending him some sketches!)

Here's a preliminary character sketch for a supporting character in this month's assignment...

I'm not 100% happy with this sketch. The design works pretty well for what I need, but he looks a little too generic & "manga" for my tastes. I will have to think of some ways to make him look a little bit more unique.

Here are a couple of my favorite panels from the past ten month's worth of "Fun..."

Back in May, I posted a step-by-step look at my process for drawing this comic, you can look at it here if you're interested. When I get a chance, I'll post something from the new strip too, so you can compare it with the one from May.

Coloring Book

2008-12-05T18:19:00.001-08:00

One of the several jobs that has been keeping me busy, and very "quiet" here on the blog, is a coloring book that I'm drawing for a certain, unnamed publisher based in Kuwait. This is part of the cover art. You may recognize these characters. Then again, maybe you won't!

School Library Journal

2008-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Cool! As reported by The Beat, The Ronald Reagan biography that I worked on with Andy Helfer and Joe Staton has made the list of the School Library Journal's Best Adult Books for High School Students 2008!

Congrats to my fellow collaborators!

Some New, Random Drawings

2008-11-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

I've been very unblogful lately because I've been crazy busy. Here's a little glimpse of some of the random things I've been working on this week...

Happy Thankgiving!

Graffiti

2008-10-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this wacky facebook application called Graffiti. It lets you draw a picture with your mouse (or stylus) to send to your facebook friends. The cool part is it becomes a little movie that, when re-played, shows how the image was drawn. Like this...

Unfortunately, the imbedded window doesn't really fit here on my blog page. It's cropped, but it still works. Check it out.
What will they think of next?

Watchin' Jazz

2008-10-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the 10-disc documentary series Jazz, directed by Ken Burns. It's a truly magnificent historical narrative that I can't recommend highly enough. It's a massive 19+ hours long, but you'll be tapping your feet, if not dancing around the room, the entire time. Watch it. I dare you.

You can also Netflix it. That's what I did, but I'd like to watch it again, so I feel it's worth owning.

Some New Art For Ya

2008-10-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

An Interesting Ad Campaign

2008-09-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

In recent months, I've been doing some fun work for a company called First Allied, drawing some ads featuring an intentionally corny superhero called First Allied Man. These ads have taken many shapes, including pin-up images as well as multi-paneled comic strips that tell of the exploits of a hero helping real estate brokers to lease shopping centers in troubled economic times! Here are some panels from a strip introducing a terrifying villain...
...Widening Spreads!!!

The latest batch of ads are geared to outside brokers who can earn an unusually large 6% commission for leasing First Allied properties...

It's a strange idea to have a superhero flying around delivering commission checks, but maybe in a time of housing foreclosures, stock market terrors and failing banks, that's exactly what we need!

Wonder Woman Again

2008-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hmm. I kinda like it better in grey. What do you think?
:)

Wonder Woman Day Art

2008-09-18T14:37:00.001-07:00

This is a drawing I'm contributing to this year's Wonder Woman Day in Portland, Oregon on October 26th. It will be one of many fine pieces of art that will be auctioned to raise money for Domestic Violence Shelters and a Women's Crisis Line. Check out their website--it's a good cause, after all!

For this drawing, I pulled the old "Doc Martin's" transparent watercolors out of the closet. Haven't used them in ages (back in the old "color guides" era). Fun!

By the way, you should also check out Simon's nearly identical post on his blog. Identical, except that his art is better than mine! :)

Recent Random Unrelated Drawings

2008-09-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Perfect

2008-09-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know what else to say, except that if you haven't seen this from start to finish, you are truly missing out.

Back From New York & DC

2008-09-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

But I'm too swamped to write anything right now, and my Dad's coming to visit for his 75th birthday tomorrow!

Let's catch up soon! Have a great weekend!

:)

Art by Others

2008-08-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a cowboy that my son drew today...

I really like it. Sort of reminds me of one of those ink drawings by Picasso...um...only, more detailed...

Kinda like this:

That's right, Picasso drew comics, too.

Below is a portrait of me, at my Artist's Alley table at Comic-Con...
This masterpiece is by my old pal, Kristine Phoenix-Artinian. I appreciate the effort, but she's at least thirty years older than my son, so I can't help feeling she could have done better. Then again, Picasso was eighty when he drew the bullfighting sketch above, so perhaps age is irrelevant.

Regardless, my kid is clearly a prodigy! :)

Random Things I've Been Drawing Lately

2008-08-06T13:26:00.001-07:00

Some Random Things You Should See

2008-08-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this already, here's another viewpoint on the San Diego Comic-Con, courtesy of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog:

Then, there's this, for Robot Enthusiasts:

Pentagon's Unmanned Spokesdrone Completes First Press Conference Mission

Lastly, please read this probing Interview With Santa Claus.

Have a great day!

Steve's Comic-Con Contemplation: Part Four

2008-08-05T08:53:00.001-07:00

First some links, in case you missed the first few parts of this masterpiece of reporting…
To read Part Three of my Comic-Con report, click here.
To go back to Part Two of my Comic-Con report, click here.
And, to see where I began with this, try starting at Part One, by clicking here.

Previously, I’ve written some observations about how the San Diego Comic-Con has changed over the years, and I wrote about some parties I didn’t get into this year! So, what, pray tell, did I do at this year’s Comic-Con?

Well, Friday night, after we were ejected from the Saloon at the Hard Rock Hotel, Don and I head over to a small party happening at a Persian Restaurant on 4th Street -- an annual get-together hosted by Los Angeles artist, Aman Chaudhary. A very cool way to start off the evening, for those of us not invited to the William Morris Party! Here’s a pic of Don and I, that I just swiped from Aman’s blog…

Afterwards, we met up with Monica & Dean Kubina, and made our way to the Hyatt bar.

The Hyatt bar. Where everyone always ends up. I swear, we arrived pretty early, all things considered, and the place was packed. Soon it was almost unbearably packed. This, in spite of the online controversy and threat of boycott that raged in the weeks leading up to the Con.

To be honest, I am SO over the Hyatt bar. I have been for a while. There were a few years (back when the meeting pace was at the “Top” of the Hyatt) that I honestly felt like I was in a strange time-warp. Listening to the same conversations over and over again. Wasn’t Jeph Loeb sitting in the exact same place last year, holding court? It was getting surreal. But what are you going to do? The Hyatt is literally where everyone ends up, so if you want to do some valuable schmoozing & hooking up with old friends, you have no choice but to end up there also.

That said, on Friday I had a great time catching up with people like Mike Marts form DC, and a bunch of others. I only wish that Andy Kubert had come down from his room after Mike sent him an obnoxious text message at my encouragement. One of my fondest convention experiences was a drunken, pool-playing romp with Andy and his brother during Wizard World Chicago in 2003. Actually, I’m lucky they didn’t beat me up! I was out of control!

Saturday night also ended at the Hyatt, but started with some drinks at the Hard Rock. This time we didn’t get kicked out, though they almost didn’t let Kyle Baker in due to their dress-code! (he was wearing shorts) Thankfully, Alex Zamm convinced the guy at the door that Kyle was the World’s Greatest Cartoonist (who just won an award!), so they let him in. I had a great time with Alex, Kyle, Don and his lady-friend Shawna, Mike Wellman, Luis Reyes and the Kubinas. The bar made a pretty good mojito, too.

In the end, that’s what I like best about Comic-Con. It’s a chance to hang out with pals, see old friends and business contacts, and meet new ones. I guess that's why I keep going back!

I will end now, with some random pics from this year's Comic-Con, and from Comic-Cons past. I wish I had more!

Comic-Con '08: Richard Starkings, Carl Potts & Me

Comic-Con '03: Don is assaulted by our booth!

Comic-Con '02: Don, Rob Tokar & I selling Comiculture!

Comic-Con '02: posing with Marc Siry

Steve's Comic-Con Contemplation: Part Three

2008-08-04T12:41:00.001-07:00

To read Part Two of my Comic-Con report, click here.
To go back to Part One, click here.

Like most comics professionals, I have mixed feelings about the San Diego Comic-Con. I feel inexorably drawn to it each summer, as though to not go would be a huge blunder. As if I might miss out on that golden schmoozing opportunity that will propel my career to the next level.

On one hand, it seems like every year is exactly the same, and I wonder what the point is. On the other hand, the Con (and the city of San Diego, itself) just keeps growing and becoming more stimulating.

It is simultaneously irritating and exciting how comics have become more of an accepted part of the mainstream entertainment media. Irritating because it really feels like Hollywood and the toy companies have taken over Comic-Con completely (where are the comics?!?), exciting for the possibilities all that implies. Somebody is spending money on this stuff.

This year, Don and I stayed at the brand-new Hard Rock Hotel, right across from the convention center.

It’s a very cool hotel, with a hip, modern décor, and they give you your choice of music to be played in your room upon arrival. They also have some nice restaurants & clubs to hang out in. This is my segue into a mini-rant:

Part of the “Hollywoodization” of Comic-Con is that now San Diego is flooded with “industry” types and even some movie stars. That means that there are cooler, more exclusive parties going on. As it happened, on Friday night there were a couple such parties happening at the Hard Rock. The William Morris Agency took over the bar by the pool, and someone else took over the “Sweetwater Saloon” downstairs after 6PM. That meant that we were kicked out before that and were then, unable to use any of the facilities. Now, I think this is kind of outrageous, seeing as Don and I were paying guests of the hotel. I feel bad for any guests who happened to be there who were not affiliated with Comic-Con at all. They must have been pissed.

I probably wouldn’t have minded—if only I’d been invited to the William Morris party! End of rant.

The first year I attended Comic-Con was in 1987. Boy, have things changed. Back then, there was no giant convention center, the con was held at the little ol’ Civic Center. There were almost none of the high-rise buildings over the skyline. Downtown was full of pawnshops, bail bonds offices & tattoo parlors. The Gas Lamp District was a slum.

Today there is a lot more to do: better nightlife, better restaurants. And the streets are safer. But, there were things about the old Comic-Con that I miss. Especially the expense account dinners! Back in the 80s and early 90s, the Marvel & DC editors were pretty liberal with their expense accounts. Probably why Marvel had to file for bankruptcy! Yes, those were the days! It was easy for me to find a good, free meal! It happens rarely now. There were fewer parties back then also, so it was easier to find out where you were “supposed” to be each night!

We also used to go en-masse to the beaches at Coronado or La Jolla, or go Jet-Skiing with Jim Lee. That was fun. Or a bunch of us would take the trolley down to Tijuana for cheap beer. I don’t really feel like doing that anymore, but it was a cool diversion when I was an under-aged 19 or 20!

Yes, that's me.

Marcus McLaurin, Me (with the hair), Tom Morgan

Klaus Janson (washboard abs, anyone?)

Sara (Tuchinsky) Kocher

Sorry, no pictures of TJ. Today, it’s all more difficult, more expensive and more confusing. That is, unless you are Jim Lee. Then, you probably still get your meals comped and know where all the cool parties are.

You see? advantages & disadvantages.

In recent years, I’ve attended smaller conventions to promote my comics, and I’m reminded how the Comic-Con once was (only without the expense account dinners!). In some ways, these little conventions feel like a huge step backwards. But, it must be said that the fans in the smaller conventions are more enthusiastic about the comics. And when the convention is held in a city farther away from New York & LA, the fans are more appreciative that you’ve made the effort to show up. In San Diego there’s too much other stuff to draw people’s attention. If people are lining up for the Heroes panel for hours, or to get free Star Trek posters, then they aren’t browsing the comics. There is something to be said for the smaller conventions.

Of course, at the smaller cons, you won’t get to see this…

Katee Sackhoff

…Then again, neither did I! I didn’t even attempt to get in to the Battlestar Galactica panel. Luckily, you can see the whole thing online here. It’s pretty cool. I just wish Kevin Smith would realize that it’s unnecessary to drop an “f-bomb” every other sentence. Hey Kev, do the words “family entertainment” mean anything to you at all, or are you just 12 years old?

By the way, that reminds me, if you’ve been attending Comic-Con for a while, have you noticed that there are fewer porn stars exhibiting lately? That’s a relief. I always thought that if those porn-industry people want to exhibit at Comic-Con, they should set up a whole “Red Light District,” that only adults would be allowed to enter. Ghettoizing the so-called “adult” exhibitors needn’t be a negative thing. They could really play it up with red lights, stripper-poles, dry ice & stuff. They could include all the guys who sell leather bondage crap & “mature” art. You know, make it something really special! Most importantly, keep it segregated from the kids and let Comic-Con be family-friendly, as it ought to be. If only I was King of the Universe...

I’m all over the place, so this is a good time to stop and say: To be Concluded!

For Part Four of my Comic-Con report, click here

Steve's Comic-Con Contemplation: Part Two

2008-08-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

To read part one of my Comic-Con report, click here.

So, Artist’s Alley was pretty cool. One of the people who came by looking for me was Anne T. Murphy, the widow of my old boss, Archie Goodwin. I don’t remember the last time I saw Anne. Probably before Archie died in 1998. She and her son flew out to accept the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. It was nice to catch up with her.

Archie Goodwin

I first met Archie Goodwin while I was a high school intern at Marvel Comics in 1985, and worked for him at Epic Comics after I graduated, from autumn 1986 until early 1989. I was just a kid then and, as might be expected, I was somewhat awed by him. I never told him this but, even though we were not “close,” Archie was kind of a paternal figure for me. The fact that he shared a birthday with my own father (though 4 years younger) helped, as well as the fact that I want to high school with Archie’s daughter, Jennifer. My years working at Epic were the working equivalent of my college education, the diverse projects, setting the groundwork for my career in comics & publishing.

When I decided to leave staff at Marvel/Epic, I used Archie’s departure as a good excuse for the timing. In Early 1989, the higher-ups at Marvel decided to massively restructure the Epic department, which they had, until then, pretty much left alone. In short, they decided to stop focusing on the “Creator Owned” titles that Epic was formed to develop, and use Epic as more of a “specialty” imprint, creating more “mature” versions of Marvel’s characters, like Havok/Wolverine and Typhoid. It was a depressing time for us. Archie decided it was time to leave, and I felt it would be a good time to pursue my freelance career. I left only a couple of weeks before Archie’s last day.

After that, Archie moved over to DC Comics, and I didn’t see as much of him. When I did get up to the offices, I always dropped by for a visit and usually showed Archie my latest work. I actively sought his approval, and he was always very encouraging.

I moved to Los Angeles in 1993, and saw Archie a lot less. I was not very good at keeping in touch with many of my New York friends, and this is something I regret. Not long after I moved, Archie was diagnosed with cancer. After several years of fighting, he died in 1998. I can’t believe it’s been ten years. I saw Archie only a few times in the years before he died, and it was very difficult for me. I think my response was to ignore and avoid. Only after it was too late did I even understand this, to my shame.

In retrospect, I look back and treasure my relationship with Archie Goodwin. He taught me more that I ever realized at the time. Some of his gifts to me include my love & fascination with European comics, a true understanding of the benefits & pitfalls of “creator ownership,” and an open mind toward the endless possibilities inherent in the art of comic book art & storytelling. I owe him a lot.

My thanks to Anne Murphy, for her visit, and for dredging up in me these thoughts & feelings. I’ve enjoyed remembering & writing about them. I hope we will keep in touch.

To be continued...(on with the con!)

For Part Three of my Comic-Con report, click here.