The Holy Grail
This is one of my earliest drawings, done when I was in school. I sold it when I was about 16-17 years old, and the only copy I had of it was a bad slide (this was in the days before you could get good quality black and white photocopies). Years later it was discovered in very bad condition at an estate auction.
The original is a black and white drawing, and the color was added digitally.
And for the webcomic artist who threw a fit that I am spending all my time on A DISTANT SOIL not drawing the comic but instead wasting effort doing “ceremonial costume” pictures, none of these pinups and sketches are recent. Some are decades old. And I am working on other projects right now. Because unlike you, I have over $100,000 in restoration and printing costs to pay, and I earn my money by producing work for major publishers.
Have a nice day.
10 Comments
Stewart Vernon
Not that you need me (or anyone) to say it… but that’s a lot of good detail work in there! I’m always drawn (pun intended) to detail work.
Stampers Saverem
I love the detail you put into depicting clothes, making them both a part of the person wearing them as well as part of the overall design of the work!
Colleen
The school of thought for some marginally able cartoonists these days is to hack it. They are welcome to do so, but not joining in, thanks.
I really don’t think there needs to be only one school of cartooning, and I don’t think the art form is improved by telling Hal Foster, who did but one page a week, he would have been better to do stick figures and gag strips.
Stampers Saverem
Everyone has their own speed, and it doesn’t always have to be ‘FAST”….
Colleen
I can be very VERY fast. I am working ridiculously fast on one project right now. A DISTANT SOIL isn’t one of those projects. The style and standard I set for the work makes it one of the most technically challenging projects I’ve ever done.
The hardest: the recent Alan Moore project I just finished. It took me almost an entire day just to do the thumbnails for each page.
One of the easiest: The Stan Lee graphic novel. Drawn in a much cartoonier style than I normally use. I’m almost afraid to let my editors know how fast I can really work, or they will always expect it!
Stewart Vernon
I felt like we were missing something there in your earlier comment… It kind of read like it was a response to someone taking a jab at you or something. I wondered if I had blinked and missed something!
Annesofie
Honestly, while the part of me that wants to know the rest of the story RIGHT NOW, can be loud and obnoxious…..The rest of me is honored and very pleased to be able to sort of…look into your miscellaneous pile.
And ALL of me is happy that someone as talented as you bother to put out FREE GODDAMN COMICS!
(sorry, i also get tired of people wanting things better/faster/more for free).
Colleen Doran
Most of the delay is financial. I had a major (and I mean MAJOR) project fall through, and that was a real blow. The entirety of that money was to be set aside for A DISTANT SOIL.
And while I do have other jobs to cover it, they are not quite as lucrative and they are having to be produced in a much smaller time-space. It’s been very frustrating.
I will have more chapters of back issues of A DISTANT SOIL up in June, but only have a month to finish a current project, and it is a big one.
Sarah Beach
I’ve always been impressed by this piece, and I like the colored background you’ve added. The detail and composition are very satisfying.
Twerps who don’t understand your work-load should not get under your skin. (Though I know some days they are hard to dismiss.) For myself, I’m looking forward to seeing more of your work in new projects (and eventually the end of your own epic story).
Stewart Vernon
Without knowing the details… it sounds like at least part of your comments were related to your not wanting to sacrifice quality for quantity… basically having a good work ethic and standards. If I’m reading that right, I have an old story that might relate.
Not the same caliber of work, but the same principle… my first job was in 1986 when I was 16, the summer before my senior year of high school. I was an usher/projectionist at a newly built movie theater. We all had specific responsibilities, but some chores were rotates night-to-night.
When it was my turn to clean the popcorn popper, I was meticulous about it. So much so that my fellow employees were picking at me for being slow… and then the manager jumped in… asking me why I took so long and declaring how he could do it faster.
I had seen the popper after other people cleaned it… not exactly clean… so I responded to my manager essentially the following: Well, I’ve seen how other people clean this, and it isn’t clean when they’re done. I guarantee it will be clean when I’m done. IF you can show me a way to get it as clean as I’ll do it but faster, then please help me improve… otherwise, leave me alone OR don’t ask me to clean it. I’m not going to half-ass it just to do it quicker.
Unfortunately, the solution was that they never asked me to clean it again… I also never ate the popcorn there again!