The winner was chosen by a thoroughly random process: writing the names on pieces of paper that folded to about 1cm x 1cm, placing those pieces in my special studio-only coffee mug, shaking the mug, handing the mug to Sweet Enemy and having her shake the mug, then having SE dump the pieces onto my desk, closing her eyes, picking one piece out and holding it up for me to take.
The winner is:
Mike (who has no blog).
As soon as Mike gets in contact with me, we'll get the ball rolling.
In other art news, I spent nearly all of Saturday pencilling this year's Twenty-Four Hour Comics Day poster. It's awesome so far, if I do say so myself (and I do). It's all hand-lettered, too. Though, I just noticed that I lettered COMIC DAY rather than COMICS DAY. Well, it's not inked, yet!
There will be two versions, an inked version and a color version where I'll ink the type and SE will do the rest fully-painted. The full-color one will be raffled off with the proceeds benefiting the local food shelf. I'll post images as they are available.
The only art I've done is the poster, but here's some OLLLLLLLLLD art for you. I don't know my age, but I'm guessing about seven or eight. The original is 14" x 17" and I'll leave it to you to guess what it depicts.
Back this winter, I offered free ink commissions for the first five people to comment and ask. Four of five were taken. One went to Snab, one went to a Famous Artist Whom I Admire, one went to an old art school buddy King Ben (which I still have to deliver, btw), and one went to Rambler.
Snab's commission was the hardest and took the longest, Famous' was the most daunting, King Ben's was the most specific and Rambler's request was the most vague:
"...how about something involving tea, yoga, and either a carnival mask, an avocado tree, or a camp/bonfire? Extra points if you can fit in a veiled reference to LotR
How about that?
Well, Rambler's kindly lent the piece back to me to scan for all of you:
I only got the tea, yoga and the campfire, and the LotR refrences aren't in the least veiled, there are two of them.
Also, the Page One Hundred Contest is still going on. Did I mention that shipping is free? What do I have to do to get some comments, post art nearly every single day this past week?
of course, I could post a Green Lantern-A-Day like Rawls (go back and look at his Hulk Month, too)
listening to while posting: "Waking up is hard to do" by +/- (good band, bad name for search engines)
I've been working on the "The Dharma Bums" Page One Hundred... page and this song came up on iTunes.
It's a ska version of Rush's "The Spirit of Radio" that I was working on a few years ago. I got stuck on the bridge and it has languished. I wrangled Sweet Enemy into singing on it; she's got a pretty good voice when she wants to use it, which is almost never. (Since I have a horrible singing voice, I think it's like having a Porsche 911 and leaving it in the garage). The classic slightly-bored, slightly-annoyed indie-girl sound isn't an affectation, she really didn't want to do this. She's probably pretty happy that I haven't gotten the bridge worked out yet (the problem is that the bridge is, itself, in a ska/reggae sound and I'm trying to figure out how to make it into a different sound. It's proving elusive.
Here's the unfinished version. It was created in Garage Band. Bass and guitars are by me. The drums were hand-sequenced in Garage Band by me. The voice is Sweet Enemy, of course. Since this is unfinished, the mixing is spotty at best, so don't judge it too harshly.
Also, The Dharma Bums is moving slowly. I've decided to try to emulate one of my favorite artists, Michael Cho. His style is so singular, I had to see if I can think like he does. Look at his work. He is able to think and visualize both positively and negatively at the same time. It's not just about line, or color, or shape, but all at once. He's awesome and I totally acknowledge that I'm copying his style just to see if I can.
One sticking point is that I haven't touched gouache in about a decade, but I'm working hard to remember how to use it. Another is that I discovered (the hard way) that the ink I'm using is not waterproof and bleeds when thinned gouache touches it. Lovely.. What do you guys think?
Panel Two:
Panel Four:
And remember, the Great Page One Hundred Giveaway. Leave a comment on that page or mention 'Page One Hundred Giveaway" on these comments for a chance to win.
Listening to while posting: "Tank!" by Yokko Kano ('Tank' is better known as the 'Cowboy Bebop' theme)
I just can't wait and give them away too soon. I'm selfish that way.
This is a small side project I was sketching out while taking a break from the next Page One Hundred: "The Dharma Bums". Which is finished, pencilled and waiting to be lettered before inking.
In these days when cheesy 80's sci-fi becomes re-imagined, often with harder, more naturalistic edges, I got the wild hair to suggest another re-imagining. It's going to be a full-color fake comic cover when I'm done. I was going to wait to post until it was all colored, but I liked the sketch so much that I wanted to post it before I wrecked it inking.
I thought about using this as the contest for the original Page One Hundred art give-away. But that would have been too easy for people of a certain age so, I'll just use it as part.
The contest is simply to leave a comment. After one week, I'll print out the names, throw them in a hat and pick one at random. The winner will receive their choice of one of the previously completed Page One Hundred pieces or a new one from the book of their choice. If that person can guess the name of the show I'm re-imagining, along with the names of the characters, they get a free smaller crappy drawing of my choice to go with the main prize.
Yay.
(click to enlarge. It looks better bigger)
Lee Sargent asked about my lettering of the previous Page One Hundred. I used the ever old-school Ames Lettering Guide. It's pretty easy to use basically, but hard to use for real. The included directions are cryptic and while there are some videos on YouTube, but they amateur at best. However, even basically, it's easier than measuring and lining with a ruler.
Listening to while posting: "Width of the Circle" by David Bowie
This weekend was an art weekend. Man. Turned off the computer, cranked the tunes and drew. I finished my last two commissions; one for Rambler and one for Snab. However, looking at Snab's today, I realize it's just not good enough, so I'm doing it over.
That's just how I roll, baby.
The one for King Ben is done. I'm just waiting on something else I want to send to make an appearance (so I can send both at the same time). The fourth was for a Famous Artist Whose Work I Really Like. There was, of course no pressure involved in that one.
I also finished a piece for a contest called Bearfight!. I heard of it from BT Livermore's blog. There's no money, but if I get accepted, I get into a book and get a free book. I hold very little hope of being accepted, but it would be really awesome. The deadline is March 10th, so I bumped it up to bust it out. Yo.
I'll be working on Snab's commission tonight. I promise! Then, onto Death of a Friend pages 18 and 19.
Listening to while posting: "Ronnie's Racing School" By Glitter Mini Nine
