NIBKILLER IS BACK!!!!

Run for your lives, puny little nibs! RUN!
RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!!

Work in progress

Or - working process. I suppose some of you might like to know the process from blank board and a script to finished page. I've been feeding you bits and pieces for a long time now, so it's only fair to show something useful, maybe. For all of you young (or not so young) aspiring artists out there, a note that this isn't any law or Bible about how it has to be done. This is just the way I like best and it's the same if I'm working for the big publishers or something on my own (read; Darko's). Except that in second case we're mostly skipping the whole checking and approving part.
In most cases, I get the script for the whole issue. I hate getting the script in pieces. I read it and make small doodles on the page, just to set the size and format of the panels. First ideas about composition. These are just for me, hardly readable to anybody else. You'll pardon me for bluring the letters, but script's not mine, so it's not for me to show it in public.
Then I draw the layouts. They're A5 format (15x21 cm) , not very elaborate but enough for the writer and editor to see (following the script) what I'm planning to draw.

After their eventual notes or my questions, I start working on pencils. Quite often layout of the actual page is different from first thumbnails. Sometimes it's because of a suggestion from writer or editor, but mostly it's because I've changed my mind and come up with better solution. As you can see, it's just a clean line without blacks. Most of the time, I know what I'll black out in ink and even more often it's a texture I can get only with brush, so no point in using pencil for that. It's a luxury you can afford when you're inking your own stuff. : )
I scan the pages and send them the to the writer and editor again. This is the crucial part where they can see if I got everything right.

Then comes my favorite part - inking! : )
First, Winsor and Newton brush, series 7, size 3 for the blacks, then Conte nib and Faber-Castell PITT artist pen for the lines. I scan those pages as greyscale, not bitmap, to preserve all the shades I get with dry brush. I send those scans to editor and writer again, but more as a proof that I'm done then for checking out. Any request for changes at this stage are very, very rare.

Then - THE MAGIC!
Matt Hollingsworth's wonderful colors! : )

Clem Robins will do the last part - lettering. Balloons with dialogues and writings above the store and on the postcard. But you'll have to buy this book to see that!
And read it, of course! : )

Old and blue

No, not me! : )
Just the drawing I've found today. This should be from 1990. or 1991. I've found some layouts for this story I was working on then. I'll scan them and post later.

Rant

I always said that you can recognize a truly gifted artist by looking at how he draws small figures. Me, I never liked to draw them because I'd end up frustrated, not being able to catch these three, four stokres that are essential for the posture or character of the figure. Yet, after twenty years of doing it, from time to time I score some nice little drawings. It could be better, of course. It could be simpler, bolder and stronger, but at least I'm getting somewhere. Hope I'll learn in another twenty years ... : )

Black Death

Not everybody can have fun. Someone has to work ...

Surf! Sun! Fun!

OK, no surf, but still ... whattafuck is JC doing here?
Having fun? Enjoying the sun?

Y: THE LAST PARTY !!!!

MySpace Comic Books, the comics community of the world's most popular social network, and Meltdown Comics, the renowned Los Angeles-based comic book shop, today announced a first-of-its-kind event for the comic book industry: Y: THE LAST PARTY.

Taking place on February 8th at Meltdown, the party is a celebrates the conclusion of the internationally acclaimed comic book series Y: The Last Man and is a benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Joss Whedon will appear in person to toast Y: The Last Man co-creators Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. All proceeds from this once-in-a-lifetime event will benefit the First Amendment work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Y: THE LAST PARTY is made possible by the generous support of sponsors from across the comic book industry: Y: The Last Man publisher Vertigo Comics; Dark Horse Comics; Image Comics; and Top Cow Productions.

I've been asked to contribute, too. Spent couple of hours trying to draw a pin-up of 355 and got completely frustrated how lame it turned out! So I decided to pick one of the original pages from the small bunch I kept for myself. It wasn't an easy choice, but I finally decided to go with the one that could raise more money then the others ... : )