For Truth, Justice and The American Way!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Fourth is Coming!
Sunday is the Fourth of July, time to start some flag waving and posting some of my patriotic artwork.
Olive for Sale
Recent ad put out by King Features Syndicate (owners of Popeye, Olive Oyl and their pals) showing how Olive can be an effective selling tool for various products.
I like it's Art Deco influenced design.
Popeye Funnies
Some recent Popeye gags in the Funny Papers:
1) Strange Brew by John Deering
2) Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler
Monday, June 21, 2010
New art, new technique
Above and below are samples of a new technique I'm experimenting with. Using the Scanner Wizard on the computer, I'm darkening my pencils instead of inking them. Since I like to do full pencil drawings and adding weight to the lines, I'd thought I'd give it a try.
Above is a sketch of Goofy and his nephew Gilbert. Below, trying to capture the style of Carl Barks, is his great character Uncle Scrooge.
I'd like to know what you folks think.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Happy Birthday Stan Laurel
Today, June 16 is the 120th birthday of the great movie comedian Stan Laurel. He of course is one half of the the great comedy team with Oliver Hardy and if you didn't know was the creative force behind their classic films.Stan wrote and directed many of their great comedies and with Ollie made movie history.
In honor of this milestone, I drew a new sketch of Stan and Ollie just for the occasion.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STAN!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Al Williamson R.I.P.
Sad news today as it has been reported that master illustrator Al Williamson has passed away at age 79.
Williamson was a brilliant artist who had a photo-realistic style that brought aliens and their worlds to life. Williamson started in the 1950's and quickly made a mark on the comic book industry. He was hired by Bill Gaines of EC Comics to work on their science fiction titles (mostly) and made a reputation for himself working in this genre. Williamson has been compared to artist Alex Raymond (creator of "Flash Gordon") one of his heroes and in the 60's he worked the Gordon comic book for King Comics.
He went on to work for other comic book publishers and in the 1960's started working on newspaper strips. He took over Secret Agent X-9 and Secret Agent Corrigan, two strips started by Raymond, once again following his heroes work.
In the 1970's Williamson adapted the first "Star Wars" sequel "The Empire Strikes Back" for Marvel Comics and because of this took over the "Star Wars" newspaper strip shortly afterward. It has been reported that "Star Wars" creator George Lucas was a big fan of Williamson's sci-fi work and wanted him to begin the strip but couldn't due to prior commitments.
It was through his work on "Star Wars" that I first encountered the art of Al Williamson. I love his illustrated style and his commitment to detail. Hearing of his death deeply saddens me. It's a dirty shame that we will never see him draw another action shot of Flash or a ship or creature that belongs in the Star Wars universe.
We lost a great one today. May he Rest in Peace.
Below are the original strips that Williamson drew as an audition for the "Star Wars" strip. As you can see it adapts the original film.
