Hello..

Although I've been blogging for a while over at Live Journal I'm new here at Blogger. Below I've added a few of my latest Live Journal posts. The main reason I'm duplicating things is so I have access to the blogs of my friends who use Blogger as well as the Mercury Studio blog. 99% of the posts here will be duplicates of the Live Journal posts. Every once in a while I might add some exclusive content to one or the other for the most part there's no need to switch back and forth. Stick to what you like and I hope to hear from you!

War of the Worlds

Rebecca and I went to see War of the Worlds last night- so I'll follow the blogging tradition and do a little review here.

The basic spoiler free part...

First- They showed the King Kong trailer. I must qualify my review of the trailer by stating that I absolutely despise giant monster movies--

Oh man, I am so there. Peter Jackson does it again. King Kong looks incredible.

Okay-- War of the Worlds.

Anybody who knows me well will know that I grew up with the Mercury Theater version of the story. I have a deep love for WOTW- it's like an old friend and I have enjoyed every version made thus far. The upshot of this is that I was a bit nervous going into the theater after having experienced the last few Speilberg disasters.

This is one intense movie. Yes, it kept us scared. I can't remember the last time I had such a primal reaction to a movie. It was almost enough for us to overlook the gaping hole in the logic of the movie. If you want to be scared, If you want to see the world totally and convincingly destroyed, if you want to see man turning on man in panic well- this movie delivers better than any disaster movie I've ever seen. It also honors all the interpretations that came before it very well (as well as strip-mining them for lines and imagery).

The spoilers...

Although this movie was a blast and kept you generally terrified there's a few bits that your logical mind simply rejects and one of those is the basic premise of the film. These aliens (the movie never claimed they were Martians) arrived on Earth at some point before humans had established civilization on the planet and buried their giant tripod machines so they could invade us later. Why go through the fuss? Why not take over the damn planet when you got here the first time- before there's a civilization to invade? It's that one gap in logic (and it's a pretty big one) that kept me from really getting into the film.

There are also a lot of nit-picking bits...

If everything electrical is rendered useless when the aliens arrive how is it someone is out there filming with a camcorder? And why draw attention to the gaffe by doing the matrix through-the-screen shot that has become so overdone?

The minivan they use in the film has the best gas mileage of any car I have ever seen. It must have been manufactured by the same company that developed the revolvers that can fire ten to twenty rounds that they used in old westerns. Actually, now that I think of it one of those guns makes an appearance in this film, too. Eight rounds (I counted).

Steven, if you're gonna kill the son don't rob the audience by bringing him back safe and sound at the end.

Another appearance by the shape shifter archetype from Minority Report (the eye doctor in that flick). This time played by Tim Robbins- who is completely under-used. He felt as wedged into this movie as he did in MR.

If these aliens are so advanced how is it a mirror fools them. And do you mean to tell me that they haven't discovered thermal imaging?

If the aliens are gonna spray blood all over their crops, why not just grind the people up rather that pull them out of the basket they're in- take them into the tripod- take them out of the tripod again- drop them to the ground- stick a needle in them- pump their blood back up into the tripod- and then spray?

All the nit-picking aside it was an enjoyable movie and I'll be adding it to my WOTW collection.

The Secret

A lot of the people coming to a pro for a review are looking for the secret. That magic process, paper, tool, or gimmick that will get them in. The truth is that the only "magic process" that's going to get you in is hard work. Hard work, patience and realism. Sure, there's always going to be one or two superstars who made it by having that magical combination of luck and style. If you're banking on that for yourself-- well, I'll be seeing you at McDonalds. Those people that do make it by "magic" are usually flash in the pan artists who rise fast and disappear just as fast. The guys that stick around- Jim Lee, the Kubert Bros., David Finch, Frank Quitely, etc.- those guys worked hard for years on obscure books before they made it big. Nobody points to Jim's Alpha Flight or Punisher runs as being classics in the history of comics- but that's where he cut his teeth, where he learned his trade. (I use Jim as an example because his is the work I'm most familiar with.)

If you're that young hopeful artist who's trying to break in, the only real trick I can tell you are to learn to separate your ego from your art as much as you can. Be honest with yourself. Is the work you're producing something you'd buy yourself? It's a difficult perspective to get, but it will serve you well. As you become more experienced your perspective on your own work gets better. When I was twenty-two I had it all figured out- now that I'm thirty-three I see I have a lifetime of work ahead of me before I get anywhere near "good." I've heard stories of artists such as Robert McGinnis keeping stacks of his old paintings in his garage because he saw no value in them. Jim would come out of his office with pages that would make the rest of us dumb with awe and yet he would be able to point out stuff he wasn't happy with.

"Style" will get you nowhere. If you tell us you are trying to develop your style you're fooling no one but yourself. People who are concentrating on style are actually trying to cover up their own deficiencies. I don't care what you may think, a strong foundation in the basic principles of drawing is the ONLY thing that will get you work. If you have strong foundation in perspective, anatomy, basic rendering, and story telling your style will naturally develop out of that. Stop looking at other artists styles and get out the basic drawing books.

It took me two years drawing nearly eight hours a day before I got the call to intern at Wildstorm. I must have gotten about thirty rejection letters in that time. Honestly I was about ready to give up. Every pro I know has a similar story. Keep at it, concentrate on the basics, do the best you can, and you'll make it.

Baby Pictures

Aww... isn't that cute.

What we've got here is one of those things that mean nothing to anyone but the parents. And yet we feel compelled to share with the world.
Feel my parental joy.

8 weeks

What I do with my time

Well, Catwoman 44 comes out in a few hours. Here's hoping it's well recieved. I got my preview copies last week and they look pretty good. There was an error with coloring, so in the first issue the higher quality paper doesn't seem that great because black levels were dropped really low. We'll have it fixed by next issue though.

I made some Catwoman wallpaper to celebrate the occasion and put it up on our Velvet Tiki site.
Here's what it looks like:


If you're into that sort of thing click here

Also, Will Pfieffer and I have interviews coming out at The Pulse. Jen Contino asked some interesting questions. I think the interview comes out on the 22nd, but I'm not sure. Check it out if you're interested in that sort of thing.

While I'm at it check out Will's Blog for even more fun and excitment.

Enjoy! (I hope)

Shameless self promotion

More work... Along with the regular Catwoman stuff I've been penciling two issues of another book. Can't tell you what it is yet, but I do have a couple of preview images for you.







It's fun, but there's just no time for a life right now.

Our colorist on Catwoman, Brad Anderson, has turnied in some phenomenal stuff for the first issue (#44). I pilfered a couple and am posting some samples from the issue.







Pretty bad-ass, huh? Brad is a genius and I'm just too lucky to be working with him.

For those who haven't noticed it in my icon- I finally decided to relieve myself of the burdens of hair. I scared some guy at the Seven-Eleven. I like it tho' and so does Rebecca. Celeste is still not sure...

Personality Issues

This is what happens when you have too much work and too little sleep...



more as soon as we get this resolved.