Back In The Saddle

Ahhh..... back from the holiday break. It was great to take some time off and spend it with the family. I am now looking forward to getting some solid work done between now and Christmas, both at the office and on my story. I also need to do a few Christmas drawings here and there to get into the spirit. May we all have a productive week!

Happy Thanksgiving

To everyone here in America, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving. To everyone else, I wish you a very happy Friday. This is a bit early I know, but I will be traveling back to Orlando next week to visit family and will be away from the blog/computer. It will be good to take some time off and catch up on a few things.

Thanks for reading the blog. Take care, and I will be back on Monday, December 1rst.

One Small Step

Today's drawing is a great example of "my drawing took me somewhere else." I sat down in a sleepy daze to try and scratch out a certain character idea. When that drawing started completely off the mark and horrible, I realized that I needed to give it more thought. HOWEVER... it also made me realize that I had an idea for a costume needed later in the story. Improvisation. It's what happens when you can't draw what you thought you were drawing.
These are the secrets you learn here.

PROCESS VIDEO MADNESS!!!

This Isn't An iPod!

A bit of a rough and tumble drawing this morning... but I managed to catch it on tape! Now you can see what exactly caused this to happen. If the videos are too small for you to see what the heck is going on, you can actually download the source file from Vimeo! It should be easier to watch. The link is at the bottom right of the video page if you are ever interested.

PROCESS VIDEO HOORAY!!!

We All Need Friends

In the story (so far) there is a small team formed that has to go do something awesome. What's that? What is it that they have to go do? Well, I can't tell you that. But trust me... it's pretty cool. Or at least I think it's cool. Anyway, the team will be made up of pilots from several countries. That is all I will tell you for now. More to come!

Magic Hands And Stabby Sticks

And a good Monday to you all. Today I give you even more alien scribbles. Over the weekend I was able to put a lot of work into the story. It seems like every time I sit down to write, the story gets bigger and bigger. At this point, I am pretty sure I will be drawing two full books. Nothing like jumping in with both feet!
I hope to announce the new title this week!

That's A Bit Alien

Happy Friday everybody. Today I sketched up one of the many alien concepts that you are sure to see here in the next few weeks. The story calls for characters from all parts of the galaxy, so I hope to have a little fun with the design.
Have a good weekend!

A Few Alien Chaps

This morning I did a few rough character development sketches. In the story, there will be representatives from many alien races, so I will be scribbling out a bunch of "blue-sky" ideas before I try to nail down proper character sheets. Baby steps.

Bot Helper

This morning I scribbled out a few bot shape ideas. In the story, the main hero character has a robot "helper" that goes everywhere with him. The overall design for the story is very simple, and leaning toward "retro" so I want to keep the characters (especially the robots) clean and basic. I will be doing a LOT of roughs like this, as they really do help flesh out my ideas. I am also in the process of writing the prequel story and coming up with a proper title. More to come!

It Begins Again

Hello everyone. I missed posting yesterday because I was busy thinking. Thinking about a lot of stuff... but mostly about my story "Rocket Dreams." I have decided to tackle it as a project once again. I say "again" only because I did some development work a while back and I am counting that as something. In truth, I am going to be starting over. With so much time passing since I last approached the project, I am now looking at it with a new set of eyes. A new direction and a new look.

The story of "Rocket Dreams" is big. Too big for me to tackle as a first comic project. So my plan is to do a prequel story first. Something that will show some of the back story that causes "Rocket Dreams" to happen in the first place. It will also allow me to do a story packed with action which is going to be fun for both myself and the reader (I hope.)

My friend Paul sent me this great quote. It is from Mike Mignola, and he is sharing some advice that Frank Miller shared with him.

"I CAN pass on something that Frank Miller told me when I was about to start Hellboy--It's as good advice as I've ever gotten on this subject. He said something like "just do it, do the best you can, don't drive yourself crazy, just KNOW that when you look back on it you're going to hate it. It can't be helped. The next one will be better."

So I am going to take that advice and plow forward. I can't keep waiting around until I get "perfect" because that will never happen. Each morning, I will chip away at the development... it might be writing, or character design, or page layout. I won't be posting every morning, but I think I will still get at least three posts up per week. I am excited, and nervous. This has to be good work from me.

While I won't be posting everything I do (I have to save some surprises for the actual book) I will do my best to show all of my process. Concepting. Character Design. Rough Layout. Page Roughs. Clean Up. Color. Whew.

Wish me luck...

A Better Looking Captain

I feel like this hits a lot closer to the look and feel that I was going for on this character. Yesterday's drawing was a bit off mark and I at least feel I am on a better track this morning. I hope to share more information on this particular project next week!

Happy Friday everybody.

Captain?

You Gonna Eat That?

Walk The Bleepin Plank

Hello, and Happy Voting Day. I "finished up" my PirateBot today. As you can see above, if I had some more time and interest, I could ALMOST get away with fully painting this guy out... no lines. Maybe one day I will return to this salty crust of piratey goodness... but for now.... ONWARD!

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SALTY PROCESS VIDEO!

(Oh and...get out and vote if you are able, please.)

Yarrrr Bot Cap'n

Not too much to show this morning. I started this pirate robot, but didn't get very far. He almost looks like a "Rescue Hero." I hope to finish this guy off in tomorrow morning. Yarrrr. Shiver me!