Marathon Full Page Color Test

So here's the first fully inked, colored and lettered page of Marathon! The book will be black with one color throughout and for this test I used a warm ochre. I'm currently leaning toward this area of the spectrum but until I'm coloring the book in earnest, that decision is still not final. Thanks for visiting and stay tooned for more previews and process posts!

Loony Sharpie Doodle MEGAPOST!

MEGAPOST! I'm including a number of these now so I can start to chart an evolution here. These few doodles get to a place just before they take a big leap visually. It's important to bear in mind that these drawings are revelatory for me. They really are doodles done without the impediment of a controlling or censoring voice so when I look at them later, the results can be surprising. I'll comment on each after the cut…

This one's a maximalist approach where I just keep adding to the drawing. Of note here is that I'm starting to ad elements from diagrams, anatomical drawings and even writing (in this case a letter 'R'). Besides the obvious drawings of hands, you'll also find an ape portrait, a tree trunk, some teeth and a design for an impossible finger puppet.

This drawing is probably a reaction to the last since it's less congested. I might have felt that the last one went too far and so jumped off this one a little early. Perhaps the most interesting element is the double ended foot and the cloud cookies. Besides that, this one's pretty conservative.

Formally this drawing is interesting because I'm filling in areas with color. In general these drawings tend to be latticeworks of line drawings but this one seems to be introducing color patterns and shapes. This one has a lighter, a smoking toe, a toe that appears to be squishing someone, duck feet, shackles hands, peacock feathers and an Egyptian pyramid. With enough imaginative effort, I'm sure I can start to weave a narrative through these elements.

This drawing is important because I'm starting to incorporate words into the pictures. In this case something about 'best' meant that I should include it. It might have been something Jason was saying that inspired this.

I feel that this is a fairly successful drawing. It has many of the new elements that I've added to these and it seems to do it in a pleasing arrangement. What does it all mean? Your guess is as good as mine but I can appreciate it for its formal qualities.

I've saved the best for last! This is my favorite of this run of drawings. This drawing started with a light green portrait inspired by Jason talking about 'Burritoman'. I think I added the sports jersey with the number 12 to indicate that Burritoman was part of a team (probably with 12 members). From there some randomness ensues with the tentacles, the club arm, the mouth and bacon strips. Our conversation must have come to Doc Savage at one point because he's given mention as is the quote, "Hot Foamy Flouride Bullets". I'm sure that was a actually spoken.

 

Even More Loony Sharpie Doodles!

Well, what the heck have we got here!? Your guess is as good as mine but I suspect that's some sort of giant eyeball looking at a handheld mirror held by a disembodied arm connected to a mitochondrial skyline supported by a prone, headless body. Oh yeah, there also a guy with a giant crab claw for an arm! Of course! Thank Cod, the next one is a little easier to 'digest'. Click "more" to see for yourself.

More Loony Sharpie Doodles!

Here's another couple Loony Sharpie Doodles for your amusement. Above you'll find a lobster cow skull, a little blue bird, an ice cream cone (with two scoops!) and some broccoli, of course! Below the cut you'll find an open mouth spewing green foam that expands into an array of strange flowers creating a bizarre arrangement topped with what looks like veiny jingle bells! Your guess is as good as mine!

Furever by Amy Finkel!

My good friend, Amy Finkel, has created a short film to raise funds for a proposed documentary about freeze drying pets. She's set up a Kickstarter campaign (it's already reached its objective but continues to draw interest) and as part of her incentives, she's enlisted the help of her comicker friends to create original art! The film's thoughtful exploration of our love of our furry friends and our relationship with their/our mortality has none of the irreverence and gallows humor of my piece. It's challenging and resonant and worth further development and exposure. I hope you will consider donating to this project either for its amazing array of incentives or simply to do your part in helping to make art come to fruition. To see the film's trailer, learn more about its creator and become a backer, please visit the project's Kickstarter page.

Whenever Warmup Sketch: Baby Monkey Chimera

I'm posting this a little late but yesterday's theme at Drawbridge was, 'Chimera'. I knew this was a setup for a tie-in with a certain infectious Youtube clip because the day before George O'Connor kept singing the video's earworm jingle. It near drove me insane. The above drawing is the result. Here's the clip in question. Warning: If you watch this it's almost guaranteed you will lose hours of your day humming or singing the melody.

[pro-player width='530' height='253' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_sfnQDr1-o[/pro-player]