An Eddie's Week page in progress.

Trying to follow Alex Toth's rule about the 50/50 balance of black and white when inking a comic. A lot of this story takes place in a poorly lit apartment and at night time, so I have my work cut out for me.

Eddie's Week needs to be inked.

So, I've finished writing and penciling "Eddie's Week". It clocks in at 190 pages. Trying to wrap this comic up so I can start inking it is one of the reasons I've sat out Inktober. Hoping to get this thing inked before summer, so I can have an ashcan to show off at HeroesCon. Hell, maybe someone might even publish it. Stranger things have happened.

Eddie's end approaches.

I am almost finished penciling "Eddie's Week". Then all I have to do is ink it, scan it, and then run some copies off for people to read and pitch it to publishers. Am I almost to the halfway point? Yes. Am I close to having it all done so I can start on my next project (a western)? 

Batman's 8 Parts of Speech.

When I was in junior high, my English class was given the assignment to write about the eight parts of speech. In order to avoid having to write a bunch of words on paper, I asked my teacher if I could do the assignment in the form of a comic book. I think she told me if I could pull it off there's no reason I couldn't do it. Naturally I did what most kids in 1989 would have done; draw Batman talking to the reader about the eight parts of speech. 

I'm almost certain I waited until the last minute to do this because it's obvious I didn't pencil it before drawing it. Most of the word balloons are littered with scribbled out typos and halfway through I stopped coloring it, except for the panels that were based on the Tim Burton directed Batman movie. Those absolutely had to be in color, even if it was due the next day. 

The teacher gave me an A on this project. Not a high A, but maybe something right on the edge of a B. Felt like I got off easy. I don't know why junior high me would think it was funny to insert myself into the comic; I was full of self loathing and couldn't stand looking in the mirror for longer than it took to brush my teeth. The comic is full of corny jokes, most of which I still make today. Anyway. I hope you enjoy reading this embarrassing artifact of 1989. 

Eddie's Week is coming along, I guess.

I think I'm past the halfway point. In any case, I've finally established that Tragoston is a city full of monsters. You didn't think I was going to draw a 200+ page comic and not draw some creatures of the night in it, did you?

No HeroesCon for me this year, sadly.

I won't be able to make it to HeroesCon this year. It's my favorite comic show to attend, but there's too much going on for me to attend. Still, Robert Newsome will have back issues of the FLUKE anthologies and Rich Tommaso will have his line of Recoil book, including Cold Crew. I hope to make it back next year.

Another Droom panel.

Droom begins.

A panel from “Droom”, a comic I’m currently working on. 

Forgotten Dreams.

I know something good happened in my dreams last night, but for the life of me I can't recall a second of it. There was a theme of something positive taking place with unrecognizable friends in the setting of someone's old house, but it's all a blur. 

Me, early May, 2015.

Saturday self portrait. 
(I’m growing my hair out for the first time since 1998 for some damned reason)

SC Comicon round-up.

I had a ton of fun this past weekend at Greenville’s SC Comicon. Here’s a few photos of some commissions, warm-up drawings, and people. Pfft, I never take enough photos.

ROCK ALL NIGHT!

Attending the SC Comicon, y'all!

I will be a guest at the SC Comicon on March 21st and 22nd, 2015 at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, South Carolina. I'll have a table there, so if anyone would like to request any commissions in advance, email me and I can have it ready in time for the show. I charge $10 for a 7x10" inked drawing with a single color wash, or I can draw right in your own sketchbook the day of the show. 

Here's some examples from last year's HeroesCon below. 

I will also have original drawings from my various Tumblrs, like Mos Eisely My Favorite, Half Assed Cosplay Ideas, and Underwhelming Lovecraft Monsters. 

Missing a book in my life, I guess.

A few nights ago a friend came over and we wound up talking until 2:30 in the morning. I finally got settled and drifted off to sleep sometime after 3:00, but still had to be up at 6:15 to see my kids off to school. Since I still felt like hell after they went to school, I went back to bed at 8:00am and dozed off in a restless dream filled hour of sleep.

In that hour of sleep, one thing really stuck with me for the rest of the day; a book I was apparently in love with. In the dream I held this well read oversized paperback with a blue cover feating this simple white and warm colored illustration of a couple embracing. I can't recall the title, but I really liked this book and I had just bought it on a whim at a thrift store and wound up being obsessed with it. I'd stare at the cover thinking about all of these really well written parts that I enjoyed reading over and over. There were even parts of the book where the pages would fall open to since it had been read so many times. The only specific part of the book I can recall is a chapter that opens with the protagonist writing a letter to a woman who used to be cruel towards him, but was now halfheartedly asking him out. He was politely writing her back saying it was a bad idea, and he seemed to be pleased with himself for spurring her advances, and one paragraph ended with "He smiled to himself, like he had won something". I woke up really wanting to read this nonexistent book. I'll keep my eyes peeled next time I'm at a thrift store. 

Pets on a date.

Here's an illustration I did for an article in this week's Flagpole Magazine.

Envelope drawing for a saint.

Envelope doodle to a kind soul who helped pay for my kid's dentist's bill. Nothing bank breaking, but even a routine check-up and cleaning is expensive.

Discussing 2014 and 2015 at Robot 6

I spoke to Tim O’Shea at Comic Book Resource’s Robot 6 about my favorite comic of 2014, what I’m looking forward to in 2015, and what I’m working on as the New Year creeps in. Check it out!

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2015/01/creators-weigh-in-on-2014-and-2015-part-4/2/