IRENE

Irene NYC from Buffalo Picture House on Vimeo.

Oxford Commas, and just getting the hell on with things

I've just had my very own Vampire Weekend having put my contribution to House of Mystery #42 to bed (this means into the hands of DC Production and Vertigo Editorial) at dawn today. What I have now is a sense of completion, "Oxford Comma" as an earworm, and one side of my butt won't stop making a fist (Thank you, Dean Venture). Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges co-wrote this issue and Shelly Bond called me in to ride rough (?#) over a five-page segment, pencils and inks...and let me say it was a complete delight.
The issue has been solicited so keep an eye out for it in shops. I'm completely serious about the fun I had with this, and when I say "fun" I mean deliberate action in the mind of discovery new aspects of the creative self...not to get all fuzzy on the topic. I've spent the vast majority of my comic book lives (both of them) looking at my work through the interpretation of others. So it's a treat to get to do my own inking. Also, I've become much more attached to my trusty, vintage (20 years, maybe) Windsor Newton Series 7 Sable, or whatever the hell it is..the labeling has worn off.
How would I ever replace this as I've heard Windsor Newton is in the shitter when it comes to producing Sable brushes now (I'm glaring at you hippies and vegans; I get it, I do, but there has to be some give and take...you start saving all the animals and you wind up with shitty or digital art. Our Culture, our choice) Any ways... I can tell you my inking myself will continue, schedule allowing, and the schedule is getting full I'm happy to say. After 'Jack of Fables' ended in March, it's been a Summer of travel, idleness, nudging 'Dread: The Westchaple Horror' along, and general provocateuring (!?). Suddenly you look up and you've been so engrossed in what you're doing (or not doing) that you've wandered clear of the sidewalk you were just following. Constellations are different, the sky has deepened, it's cooler and you're in the middle of the North American Plains, surrounded by American Bison, and about to make your DCU debut ;~D (more on THAT awesome news later).
Shelly was very complimentary and happy with the deviations I took with the story. I've become adverse to exposition, drawing exactly what the writer has plainly written( "Jack went to the store" and I draw some asshole walking into a store, bleh).
So with this story segment, "The Birth of Spiders" I decided to pad out the writing with some extending panels not asked for in the script. Mind you, Willingham/Sturges scripts are ALWAYS terrific and tight, but sometimes an artist can feel a bit like a rider caught in the stirrups and dragged during a steeplechase. It's nice to take the wheel a little more deliberately.
h.e.

Damn You Facehook!

Look at my poor neglected blog! Well, I'm putting my foot down...look for new postings appearing here and at my website www.drawtonydraw.com.

That is all.

The StatiCCREEP Exhibition Promo

href="http://vimeo.com/18028651">StatiCCreep from href="http://vimeo.com/user5505852">Mieke Zuiderweg on href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo.

Beta-tease for DREAD:TWH

“Time blunts the keenest memory and histories will ignore what cannot be reconciled.
This is how we have come to forget that the first arrival of the Werewolf in the Americas was more an invasion than the affliction that took centuries to creep across the Old World.
The collection of horrors making up this invasion, and those who stood to gain in its success, went largely unnoticed by a native society already deeply pre-occupied and violently divided by a crisis that was literally erupting across their doorsteps and into their homes -the American Civil War.”
“And, as though suffering through the already great privations and predation, the guns, the shelling and the disease weren’t enough to stagger anyone misfortunate enough to be caught in the paths of two great armies bent to mutual destruction, we have to take into account that hard, and I mean very hard on the heels of all the death and of all the ruin…rode the fiend, Jeremy Dyre.”

-Diogenes Wilkens, 1881 Kyoto, Japan

I want to thank all the "beta-readers" that are taking time read the first issue of 'Dread:The Westchapel Horror'. Know that I've picked you because of your Nerd Quotient, your keen sense of story and your unflagging contempt of all convention. Round two will come in short order and then, there comes a calling down of Thunder.
Tony Akins

Bad Movie

Uhg..I Netflix'd "The Messenger". Couldn't even finish it. But the revelation sequence featuring the young Jeanne D'arc had some interesting images in it...This wasn't one of them- but for some reason my mind wanted to see this happen. Here's a prelim.

Fables TV ad for BBC America

Captain America For Mark Beatty

What- a year? Then the year was punctuated by the cruel taunting over the C2E2 weekend as I toted the art around, flirting it within Marks eye/earshot while two rows of conventioneers separated us...
Well, it's scanned now. I'm taking it to him right after I post this. This is still raw because I haven't cleaned up the inks. This is my first Cap. I'll hand the file to Paul Mounts to be colored and Mark has agreed to put a HUGE banner of this in his window as my payment. I'll swap out the Swastika for a red skull as it will be in the view of the general public.

For Your Consideration...

Julie, George...welcome to my humble blog. Please feel free to trove the older post to find various examples of my work; sketches, concepts and such...
Enjoy!
Tony

Western Wizard

There's Jonah Hex artwork in my files from twenty years ago...Way back, a few writers wanted to resurrect the character and I made samples for the trials. Just a few pages, mind you...but I come across them from time to time. Old friends.
So I was surprised by the face I was confronted with when I did a new sample when Jimmy Palmiotti recently asked for one. The peaked hat is more like that of a wizard's and the leer seems to be where I like it.

Bigby&Company

One of the pluses with being on the Fables/Jack of Fables Team is the community of fans gathered around both titles. Cindy McShane was generous enough to commission pieces related to the titles. Here's the first one delivered. Michelle Ho was there (at C2E2 in Chicago this past week) and taped the exchange. Bill Willingham, the recipient, was pleased I think. The piece revisits Bigby Wolf's two-part recounting of his experiences behind enemy lines in WW2. I can't recall the exact issue numbers. More to come!

Paulina

Paulina, originally uploaded by Tony Akins.

The old station. It's no more. Damn you, Godzilla!

Matt Baker

Sometimes I make a bit of noise about being a second-gen comic artist, apples do make some noise when they hit the ground, after all. If my father is considered a "pioneer" of color in comics, then I guess that makes Matt Baker the first established African-American comic book artist. I'm totally cool with that. Andrew Pepoy, who possesses a wealth of knowledge, first told me about Baker some months ago, "Consummate Good-girl artist...". This was no lie.
So as I move into this next phase of my professional life in comics, it will be with the added sense of something kindred, in addition to what my father shaped in me. The title to this entry is linked to a short article about Baker, who died young less than two years before my birth.



...you slick Devil!

Dedication

I recently took time to take a gander at the Fables Crossover TPB and noticed my dedication; "For the debaser, the harbinger and the killer-of-clones. For the meta-wizard, for the statiCCreep and all the shifters of the shapes within and around us... and to the page ever being turned."

I realize now that this is less a dedication and more an incantation in the truest sense.
And so be it. There's never a guarantee of getting far by following in an other's footsteps, you'll simply remain always behind, following. Lost men have discovered amazing things!

Things That Might Have Been...

Offers roll across my desk, sure. Sometimes my initial reaction to an idea tossed my way is, "Really?"...Generally this reaction is because I'd never in a million years think that I would be a fit for certain things. Other times it's because I may not feel that the title merits any serious consideration. The times I relish are when I'm surprised by an offer and think I'd be able to contribute to a line title, not "change" or "improve", but contribute.
Alas, a recent opportunity to expand my contribution to comics won't happen, despite the ardent advocacy of Jimmy Palmiotti. Oh well. This doesn't mean I'm leaving Jack of Fables. What I'm doing is starting a studio, several artists producing work for hire with yours truly in the lead. This should triple the pages I work on while maintaining quality. Basically it's just fucking time to change my studio dynamic.




At present there are no less than FOUR projects that I'm being considered for...wow.
All seem to be a pretty good fit. A couple are things I'm REALLY excited about, but I have to maintain an even strain and no, you can't ask me about them... I'm looking forward to working with other professional artists, whoever they may be...I'll begin the recruiting process once I find out what lands on my desk over the next few weeks.

This is that "new page" that needs to be turned ever so often in Life. At any rate, I've kept my productivity far too low for the last 10 years and now I'm looking forward to a new period of generating. Cheers to that!

Dance of the Demented!

Our fiendish friends at Chicago's Wildclaw Theater are having a benefit on Saturday February 20th at the Viaduct Theater. Alex Wald, Dave Dorman and myself will be among the grip of artists on site doing live sketches of burlesque babes from Michelle L'Amours Chicago Starlets in horror-inspired accoutremente. These pieces (the art, not the babes..that I know of) will be up for auction during the frightivities to support the upcoming run of William Peter Blatty's "LEGION", Wildclaw's new production. Follow the linked title of this blog entry for all the details, then SHOW UP! I swear these people know how to throw a good time (and viscera) for the sake of entertainment. I'm thinking about donning a pair of blood-splattered coveralls for effect, no?

Chicago Comics Signing!

OK, so the file image must be CMYK, or else my retinas are fried. At any rate, Caitlin know the PROPER way to promote me from the wording in the flier. I'm making an appearance and oh by the way, I draw comics.
I'd love to see you there as these things are always more fun with familiars about.
Maybe I can even talk about what's happening in the world of politics.

Where Have You Been?

Look, the posting has fallen off just a little (ha!). But I'll make up for it shortly. I've been too distracted by that pesky Facebook trend and the amount of work on my desk to effectively blog with notes. But please feel free to explore the excellent links to the right and below. I still go to them myself (I'm not a total asshole).
The Great Fables Crossover is over for me, so I'm presently penciling AND inking Jack of Fables #36. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was penciling Jack #1 and you knew NOTHING about the title!
Fuck those days!
Live in the Now!
Live in the Now and Shut up and DRAW!
h.e.

Jack of Fables#29, Pencils

Wow...here it is February of 2010 and I'm taking time away from Facebook to update my blog..Shameful. These are pencils from the Book of War arc of Jack of Fables...no breaks apparently. Sorry. Enjoy this fossil record and thanks for you interest!
(Drafts for subsequent issues are poised for publishing)

Pencils and Stuff for Jack of Fables#28!

Brian Bolland's terrific cover for Jack of Fables #28. I love those boxers! I'm sure I've worn boxers just like that. Seriously; shirt, tie, jacket, boxers.
UNIFORM DESIGN FOR THE TOWER GUARDS
seeing all the designations and rankings of the Golden Bough Librarians in this arc prompted me to finally make an attempt to design distinct looks for different units.


I know, I KNOW! There's an entire Western that hasn't been posted.
Also, House of Mystery #10 happened. (Have I posted that?)


Hey, All! Happy Holidays and Welcome to the Blogger.com commentary for JACK OF FABLES Issue Number Twenty-eight,"The Book of Leadership: The Books of War, Volume One".
The Writers, of course, are Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham...Jose' Marzan, late of Y The Last Man, did a beautiful job on the inks. This is his first time inking me as Andrew, my regular inker ...I won't say "normal" inker since there's nothing "normal" about him, Andrew Pepoy is off inking Bucky on FABLES.

I read in the Chicago Tribune last week, FABLES is being looked at as a television series on a major network. That's pretty cool.

I always saw FABLES as a cable show myself, like Dexter or Weeds, considering the mature content of the series.
Masterful Todd "The Kerning Fiend" Klein busted out the letters, Danny Vozzo was in charge of colors, the Freakin' Awesome Brian Bolland wowed us with that cover (we've got to get that up here) and Angela "DO IT LIVE!" Rufino kept us all from losing our collective heads.

Here's the break for Page 1.


So, as I understand it, shit goes all Bosnian in this arc. Which is all well and fine considering the topography around the GB Camp; Serbs(Bookburner's hoards) high, besieged townsfolk (Fablekind)low in the valley catching hell. The Serbs were high, right? The Serbs seem to be the high ones...
I clearly have a sense of the camp being nestled in a valley. Bill suggested that way back and who am I to argue?
Russ sort of established a flat plain on the approach to the camp.
But I think the sloping ground, which helps impede any speedy rush past the perimeter fences and the guard towers, also serves as a tricky and dramatic place to have an epic battle.

An epic battle in 3 feet of snow. Saved me from having to draw a lot of feet and legs below the knees for teeming combatants. Plus I find corpse-garnishing more evocative and poignant in snow, "Is...is that a...pancreas?"


I've said it before, nothing beats being the artist on this series. There's a squirrel in pants on the trunk of that tree!
A shirt would have not been as funny.
Just the pants, though? That's hilarious. They're "high-water" pants, too. Because the shit the inmates find themselves in gets really deep!



This is a very "REDS" scene; Revise addressing the gathered forces as they prepare to repel Bookburners' attack.
I kept thinking as I drew this,"I'm gonna kill my inker."
Turns out he was stronger than I thought.
Next time...
Note that the people you see standing next to Revise on the steps of the Main Library are actually established characters.
Those are the other Senior Librarians. We see the Page sisters all the time, but these are the "paper-hangers" that do the boring shit. Important shit, but still boring. I'm sure they love it.
Remember that chart Sam made way back in the Escape arc? That's where we see these guys for the only other time before now. Bill and Matt named them and everything.
I think Walter Chang and Bethany Brown are kickin' it on the side.
I love Jerry Amsterdam, the big guy in the expensive and impractical outdoor gear.
He's going moose-milking...He tracks a bull moose and then presents himself in full view; the moose takes one look and shoots milk from it's nose.

Man, Todd was able to really compress all that dialogue into a neat column on page two. I had expected that the balloon spread would run to horizontal across the two pages and t-bone into the title/credit box. But even that's been put on page two.

You can see the Bookburner's army emerging from the treeline.
They sure are finding a lot of stuff to burn out there. This spread made me anxious; all the Librarians. There's some special-ops guys (Hey, Oppy!) and then some plain old grunt types, like Ted who we see in that winter poncho. Gertrude next to him with a Bagman satchel for deployment.
Fablekind lurking to the back of the crowd to keep from appearing too willing to buy what Revise is laying down...



Here we see where the Editors checked my bad (yet, oh so very good)intentions to have too similar a layout over two sequential pages; Pages 4 and 5 have the large vertical panel with a triple tier to the immediate right. I simply liked the similar rhythm of the layout and the efficacy of the panel sizes. Little neat sizes. Sometimes there's an action written in a panel, and if there's only four panels on the page I feel like I'm wasting space. So I take it upon myself as "the Director" of this paper movie to pad out the scene by adding an extra panel. That's not the case here...I'm flapping my lips. The wider shot, requested by Editorial, at the top of Page 4 came out nice.

Pick your battles, is what I'm saying. Editors who do their job well will ask you for changes and Angela and Shelly ask for a shitload of changes! I'm joking, of course. They rarely ask me for changes.




Pick your battles, seriously...




Bill and Matt, in Panel 2 of Page 6, wanted to have everything come to life as Gary loses it at Revise...Considering that it was just a single panel on a five panel page and I had already drawn 500 or so personnel prior and was about to draw another 500,000 or more for the issue in related battle scenes, I went very, VERY wide for the shot in panel 2.



Here's another change in panel 5 of page 6; I was asked to pull out wider on Jack to give him more of a heroic shot. The whole action where Revise tosses Jack from the top of the stairs was something I added for comic effect. I thought that maybe having the reader see Jack in the act of picking himself up from the pavement as Gary spoke so highly of Jack's exploits to the crowd and having Jack finally come back into shot as the crowd went apeshit...and he being clueless to the applause being for him...we'll change that in the trades.




I'm really regretting the blacks indicated for the shadows of the Guard Towers and fences. Something more in the line of a grey-blue40% would have been better. The weight of the shadows is beating the shit out of the page.
Akins, you're fired!


God I hate that camel. Could there be a more difficult animal to anthropomorph and clothe? OK, a crab maybe. I always feel like I'm drawing Joe Camel and forcing children to smoke. Maybe because as far as I can go back in my previous life as an advertising artist I refused to accept or execute work for tobacco clients. That camel is saying 'tobacco' to me!

Here comes Paul Bunyan's big ax...
...and there it goes!
If film is the medium of compromise, as the Warshawski Brothers put it, that would make comics the medium of casual omission: where do we think the back pockets and signature bandana went on Paul?
Bill is waving at me frantically, "You're not supposed to call attention to the things you screw up! So we can fix it in the trades before anyone notices you're a complete idiot!"

Too late my friend, aha, ha ha...too, too late.

Chicken Little's nurse uniform is indeed PVC. Jealous?
Late in the game is usually when the requests for little changes come in. Panel 4 of Page 11 needed to have Robin in shot just a wee bit more so she could say something...


... I use these opportunities to practice my inking. Which needs a lot of practice.
I think I should really follow through more on color notes. I'm always surprised at Hillary's hair. The two-tone thing is finally getting through, but I see her with green bangs and a bleached head of hair frosted at the tips in hot pink. Really.
The model for Hillary is real. I was on the Brown Line headed to the studio one day and 'boom' Hillary gets on the car I'm riding in. No lie.




Yeah! Here we go! CRIME!
Matt and Bill had Pris slugging the guy in the boxers and gently easing him down on the sofa. Space and time necessitated me having her dropping his ass to the carpet.


Panel 2 on Page 14 was tricky because of the shot and tightness that Angela wanted on Kevin's face plus seeing the danged box and pen...plus, Priscilla simply has a huge rack. I had to cheat her bosom way down. That's nothing sexist, that's just how I built her character.



Love the last panel on Page 15.


I can't believe I got away with this!





Costume change makes everything more interesting, no? I think Gary breaks a record in this issue.



Jack is doing his best George C.Scott doing his best George S. Patton.
I have little extenders on his medal panel, thought maybe those would look a little more like roadside Kiwanis Club medallions than they did.



The guys HAD to have a goat here.






I love Gary clutching Jack's waist here.


More art? Of course there's more art. But you won't see it here in this entry.
There's sketches and concept for crap all sorts of extry! But I'm tired. So look for more when I post for #29.
Thanks for reading the blog and for your comments!
Spread the word!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hail, Fabledom!
h.e.