Thursday, February 15, 2007

Z is for...


















Late, night before last, I grabbed the little cheap notebook that I had bought on a recent trip. I had already scrawled a "Z" on the first page days before and remained at a loss for what would follow. It's about 2:40 in the morning; I'm alone...Let's say "Z" is for Zombie!
Grabbed a brush pen and slapped ink around for a few minutes. Yes, I creeped myself out. Which was part of the fun of it.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Jof#7; The Grunt Work

Here's the breakdowns for Jack of Fables #7. If there was something that best describe this process of drawing a comic, I would say that it's very similar to that part of a dream were you're running in slow-motion. Plus it makes my brain hurt. But fortunately both Bill and Matt are seasoned writers (Mmm, Nutmeg?) and know how to write for the medium. I have to do VERY little when it comes to laying out what's written. Bill, alone, is one of the most polished writers in the business; his first drafts take very little tweaking for final approval. Combined, Bill and Matt are terrific to work with. It's so cool that I have CO-Writers! They should smoke pipes and shit. Yes, sometimes I'll fore go the thumbnail sketch for the "promissory note"(see page 24). If I could only get the readers to go for that...











Monday, February 05, 2007

Pencils, Jack of Fables#...um, 7

I swear to God that I have to draw more Crack than anybody else at Vertigo. What's up widdat?
And WHO decided that this issue had to be TWENTY-FOUR pages instead of twenty-two? I look like Kiefer Sutherland?

See, this takes LOTS of practice. Lots.




Panel Three? Yes. I'm a long-time ATHF fan. Chill out Boston!




Matt and Bill requested a certain "type" for the gambler in this scene. But knowing the fate he was about to suffer I had to make him look like someone I know and have the need to torment even if it's only on paper. Cheers!


Do I LOOK like Mike Mignola?


OK, so panel six?..that was a complete "Rainman" moment for me.

Me bruhva were in plasteeks, 'ad to give i'up coz i'gives 'im th'rashies

"Ain't never gonna do it without my fez on!"


This is actually the SECOND version of this page. Everybody said I totally phucked-up trying to float this turd up the channel.

So I put a ribbon on it...What about this? No? O.K.

The final version; solved with a patch. If I had been a horse, they would have had to shoot me.


Iffen it's a bone in it?... we'll bust it up real good, yessir.


Note Jack breaking the "fourth wall" in panel 4. He's getting cheekier.

I want to add more sinew-pulling, I-beam crunching grimaces to the story, but all the Sturginghams ever sling my way are these subtle mugs,"Gary has a look like he's just tasted an Appletini when he was expecting a Lemondrop, you know what I mean"...Bang Zoom!

A lot of people really like this page. I was surprised at how it turned out as I'm so anxious about "montage" style narrative. But what I love about this page is Hollys look at the altar; god, she is so drunk and happy. Matt Sturges has dibs on this page so don't even try.



Here, in the original version of the page, the central female character was based on my friend Lena (see,"Besos It Goodbye" entry). But Editorial gave me the heads-up that Bill and Matt had an older woman in mind.


In order to make this demi-decapitation look convincing I had to perform one.