RED SONJA

so yah, this was a commision for a myspace aquaintance, a red sonja request. been chillin' the past two days and boy does it feel good to have a work load off your chest. been catching up on this huge mutherfucken stack of comics i keep on buying and not looking at because i had deadlines i had to do...so, i jumped into a bunch of back issues of STEAMPUNK i just picked up, the latest IRON MAN, done by a swell friend, mr. ERIC CANETE....who was amazingly kind and gave me a ton of his work and saved me the trouble of searching and buying old back issues on ebay and my local shop...so THANK YOU ERIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! his work is a huge fucking inspiration to me!

also, trades of THE GOON, HELLBOY and various cool art books and fashion magazines i've been hoarding. NYLON rocks and FRENCH VOGUE has the coolest editorials ever...so yah, that's been my two days. decided i should go out and wake up my leg muscles from their 2 week hybernation...went jogging...it kicked my ass...i know i'll feel it tomorrow...the fun thing about being a comic artist is the out of shape part. you forget to oil the machine that is the body....but it's important and i need to go outside more often than i do...yes...a mid to end years resolution: some sort of workout regime besides my thumb push-ups to get the blood recirculating in my fingers after 6 hours at the drawing table. hahahah!

ARCHAIC issue 12 cover

happy with everything but the face on this one...i think i let my frustration get the best of me....

finally done

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! after a late late nite until i couldn't draw a straight line, i've officially completed three full issues of pencils and inks for ARCHAIC, issues 10-12. i took a lil break yesterday and hit the comic shop to buy old backissues of STEAMPUNK, as it's something i've been meaning to buy and always forgot to. I really need to start bringing lists into the comic shop/convention because as soon as i walk through that door, i go blank and end up with $40 worth of cool stuff i didn't mean to buy.

on saturday i went to an awesome art show down in LA to promote a new artbook FUSION JUNCTION 2. My BF wanted to check out LeSEAN THOMAS's new stuff and i was there to see ERIC CANETES cool cool art! It was a lot of fun, in little china, which, although living so damn close to LA, I've never been to. It smelled like udon noodles and eggrolls as soon as we got off the freeway...very cool...

I've been mad busy the last month and so that's the reason for the lack of posting...i did comic con in july which was utterly awesome and utterly exhausting. I was fortunate enough to meet and greet GABRIEL BA, FABIO MOON, GERARD WAY, SCOTT ALLIE, RANDY STRADLEY, CHEEKS, ERIC CANETE, JASON CRAIG, PETER PALMOITTI, and a ton more that i cant remember their names....It was really awesome to put a face to a name and talk comics.

It was also really awesome seeing all of the hardcore ARCHAIC fans. This was only my second time sitting with JAMES ABRAMS and BRETT MARTING in support of ARCHAIC. They have some absolutely amazing fans and i really hope my run on their series does this amazing *effing book justice.

Yesterday, when i was at the comic shop....i meekly checked out the PREVIEWs mag they had on the counter to see the issue 11 ARCHAIC solictation...it was so cool. i remember in high school buying PREVIEWS just to check out all the cover art and stuff....i dont think back then i would have imagined seeing my stuff in it, but there it was...and it's pretty surreal.

today, i think im going to chill. My thumb has this massive calluse on it and it hurts pretty bad. But no pain, no gain, as they say....and drawing til it hurts is the life i live.

I've been catching up on news and crap through my favorite podcast AROUND COMICS. I must say i really was touched by their tribute to MIKE WIERINGO, and although i have never read a TELOS book...the care and closeness of the comics industry really stood out, despite this tragedy. It's really a close industry as i am coming to see, most people know everyone else, and the admiration, cohesiveness and compassion in the industry is really shown when they experience loss of their comrads. There's something there, kindled, in the hearts and minds of comics artists that joins them all and, in comparing it to other industries, it's really something that brings a warm fuzzy feeling to yah...and i cant quite put it into words. Perhaps it's all of us frantically trying to put out creative juices out there in the threat of our own mortality, perhaps it's because we are sensitive to responding to our environments...im not sure...but it's fucking admirable beyond anything, and i couldn't be happier being a tiny part of it all....

So, as far as art goes, issue 10 of ARCHAIC hits next month. I think maybe i'll hole myself into my room until the storm is over...which wont be until december. Issue 11 and 12 i believe are NOV and DEC...It's funny the emotions one goes through with doing comics...first it's excitement, because your working on an awesome book...then the wave of overwhelming work hits and it really seems quite impossible to do the amount of work that is in a single issue. I'm looking back now and i cant fucking believe that i actually drew over 60 fucking pages....it's nuts and makes me a lil queezy. and everytime i finish a book i get this wonderful sense of relief, accomplishment, and happiness....then as the thought of it hitting the market comes into my head, im both excited as hell and nervous as fuck!
"yes, i have a book coming out!"
"fuck, what if they dont like it and are like 'what is this shit?!?'"
"damn, i fucking rocked that panel!"
"fuck....there's so many fucking amazing artists out there that are so much better..."

the whole constant happy/sad/happy/insecure/happy thing goes through your head, that i almost think it's best not to think about it and just move on the the next thing...

and we'll just see what that is, eh? ha!

comic con 2007 sketches

wow, it's been one hell of a month. i promise mid september, im going to get these puppies up and running and posted on a regular basis. i've been mad busy...and let me tell you that revisions, although made for the greater good, are very time consuming lil' buggers and have made me a wee bit stressed. im posting a bunch of sketch images i did for wonderfully suppportive people i was fortunate enough to finally meet in person at comic con this year. so many folks i know through myspace and those lil avatars....and it's really neat meeting people face to face, if not a little nerve racking as im a bit of a shy person...

so here we go. i hope you enjoy, and you'll be seeing a lot more coming later this month as i finish up my run with ARCHAIC and jump right into the creation of a 6 page original introduction for WAR OF THE INDEPENDANTS....and perhaps some other neat stuff ;)

oh yah...i went to a classsic car show today which was fucking awesome. i really wish i had the time and knowledge on how to fix up cars, especially old ones! *DROOL*

and also, i recently did a pin-up for a book called 'the misadvenures of clark and jefferson' and it's going to be the back cover to issue 3 of the series, if i remember rightly....the colorist has a blog here too : www.ryangenovese.blogspot.com

comic con sketches

back from the con...i was totally zonked out the past two days but im getting back my energy and getting back to work...here are some of those delirious con doodles i did...enjoy:

it's where the parties at!

so im swimming in inks and pencils and pinups and empty red-bull cans and instant noodles....this is a post. sort of. see you there!

There are many ways of getting around ignorant folk

i had this posted on my myspace page, and wouldn't you know it, some asshole got their panties in a bunch over the fact the character aint wearing a bra. well, sucks to you, whoever you are. deal with it. some people dont like wearing tops. men get to go around shirtless, so why not women. Well, myspace deleted the pic. obviously this image just bugged someone that much that they had to go and do something about it rather than having the balls to message me and express their disgust in my carefully covered pencil-rendered tits. i dont get pissed easily, but here's a big ole FUCK YOU!