I'm running a little late, but I'll still be in Charlotte tonight for tomorrow's start of the awesome Heroes Con. I'll be at booth AA-642, so come by and buy, or don't be shy, just say "hi", hopefully it'll stay dry, we could get some food that you have to fry...
...okay, I'm stopping now.
Wayback Wednesday: Tylinter
I've been bad about Wayback Wednesday, I know. Hopefully I'll bank another couple of months to carry me through summer convention season. Things have been busy, and that's good, but it also gets in the way.
That said, here's today's installment. After Geauga Lake wrapped for the season, I tried freelancing for a couple of months. It didn't take. I didn't have the experience or the track record to make it work. A few years later, though, things obviously changed. But, until then, I found a job at The News-Herald, where I started off as a production artist. One of my co-workers there needed a caricature done of the owner of the Tylinter company in Mentor. (I think he was the owner. It's been a while. He may have just been a higher-up.) They were having a party, and it was to be his gift.
This is one of my first freelance assignments. I remember after the party, my friend said "His wife loved it. She said that she guessed it had cost a thousand dollars."
It hadn't. I'd charged $35. I was just starting out, didn't know what to charge, and priced what I thought was fair. I considered it a fancy amusement park caricature. Now, his wife was wrong about what I could have charged. I don't think this was a four-figure piece, but I probably could have charged more. It was a lesson in pricing. And trust me, if you want one now, it will cost you more.
But, I wasn't upset. I charged what I thought I should and got it. I was happy with that. And it was my first step on a journey that led me here to this studio. No looking back, only looking forward.
Summertime, Summertime
Summer. Lost and 24 are over for good. Most of my other shows are on summer hiatus.
But, on the upside, maximum convertible days, so I've got that going for me.
Another FCBD Review
Tony Isabella, comics pundit and my friend, is reviewing all of this year's Free Comic Book Day books in a five part series. He's gotten to my Love and Capes #13 and has some nice things to say. Yeah, he's a friend of mine, but as I've said before, my friends usually have no problem letting me know when I drop out of line. Among other things he wrote about it:
Anyone who wouldn't want to buy this comic book after reading this free issue is to be pitied and maybe feared.
Read the full review here.
My First Dr. Sketchy's
I finally went to my first Dr. Sketchy's event here in Cleveland. It was located nice and close at the Beachland Ballroom.
For those of you who aren't hip to the good Doctor, Dr. Sketchy is kind of an anti-art school live model drawing event. usually sprinkled with some music and adult beverages. I've wanted to go for a while, but this was the first one that didn't conflict with some other excitement.
It was a lot of fun. It's not all rigid and intense like some life drawing classes are. The people there are there to have fun as well as to draw. They had a contest where, on a ten minute pose, you got to work on the drawing for five minutes and then hand it to a buddy to finish. Then the assembled artists got to choose their favorite and the winner won some prizes. I'm proud to say that my finishes over my new friend Mark's drawings got us some wonderful grease pencils and much needed kneaded erasers. (Sadly, it's the one drawing I don't have from the night, as it was in Marks sketchbook, so he got to take it.)
The model was a Pittsburgh performer and jazz singer, Phat Man Dee. She's the subject of my sketches here. Obviously she's not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think of an art school model, but you have to draw people of all shapes and sizes, and everything's got its own set of drawing problems to be solved and lessons to be learned. She was no exception. She even sang for us, which was a treat.
It's interesting, too, the things you work on in life drawing. I was taken with the way her hand splayed on her hip in one pose, so I did a couple different studies of that. It's moments of focus like that which make these events so good for one's development as an artist. You can always get better, and this is how it happens.
I had a good time there, made a couple new acquaintenances, and who knows, maybe even lined up a new gig. They haven't announced the next Dr. Sketchy's event, but if I can, I'm going to be there.
And, as always, click to embiggen any of these sketches.
And He Sings in "1776"
A couple of weeks ago, the News-Herald asked me if I'd participate in their Ben Franklin Project, a user-created version of the paper. They wanted me to do an editorial cartoon for that edition, preferably something about Ben Franklin. I figured, "Hey, I like National Treasure, I could do that!"
Ben Franklin was our first Postmaster General, and I've obviously had a tight relationship with the P.O. being the son and grandson of a postal worker. I thought it would be cool to show the arc of Ben Franklin and traditional letters transitioning to our e-mail age.
I heard from a lot of people who saw it, so it seems to have made an impact.
Gibbs-smacked!
Here, on page nineteen of the first IDW issue of Love and Capes, we get to see an old lady Gibbs-smack Paul LaCroix (Darkblade.). Yep, octegenearians beating up superheroes. Comedy gold!
Gibbs-smack, for those of you not in the know, refers to Mark Harmon's trademark whack-to-the-back-of-the-head move from NCIS. Usually Michael Weatherly's character gets the brunt of them. It's one of the endearing little touches to NCIS.
At since I've brought it up, I find NCIS and Donald Bellasario shows pretty interesting. He's worked on some popular ones Quantum Leap, Magnum PI, JAG, and even on the one-season wonder Tales of the Gold Monkey. I'm pretty sure he worked with Stephen J. Cannell, who's another favorite of mine, and it's interesting how he writes television shows. Most of them start off kind of rocky in the first season. I certainly didn't care for the first season of NCIS, I just watched because Mark Harmon is so likeable and because a friend of mine was watching it, too, but in the second season, things really pulled together. I think he figures out how to write for the actors he's hired after that first season.
He also seems to lose a character in the first season (Kate from NCIS, Harm's first partner on JAG, Dom from NCIS: Los Angeles) as well as introduce a minor character who goes to regular status after the first year (Tim on NCIS, Bud on JAG). And it can't be underestimated how he finds some really good actors to carry a show. Mark Harmon's my favorite, and if I ever grow up and can't be William Shatner, Mark Harmon's a good second. He's good in almost everything. I dug Reasonable Doubts, which I'm pretty sure I was one of the ten people who watched it, and his turn on West Wing as Agent Donovan was just brilliant. His target shooting scene still sticks in my head as both engaging acting and sparkling Aaron Sorkin dialogue. "I can fire a gun without falling down, if that's what you mean." I'd cast him as Jesse Colt in Raider, if that ever became a movie.
But David James Elliot really carried JAG, and I think Chris O'Donnell's built for TV. He's one of that class of actors that I just like everytime he's on screen.
NCIS certainly isn't the greatest show ever, and NCIS: Los Angeles is still in its growing pains season. But they're consistently good and there's a lot to be said about solid bat in your lineup.
Fighting for Screen Time
I haven't been posting a lot of Love and Capes art here lately. Part of it is that I was crazy busy with getting the Captains comic done, and then all the traveling that followed. Also, I knew that I was going to be able to say, at long last, that the mysterious pages 
I was working on were from Love and Capes: Ever After #1, the first IDW-published issue of my superhero romantic comedy series. It was hard not saying anything about that.
So, I'll be more regular about it, I promise. Here's a panel from the new issue.
I wish I could tell you that the joke was completely made up. Sadly, I can't. Charlotte really does only appear in one panel in this issue. It pains me as much as it does you. In a lot of ways, Charlotte's my favorite character. But she didn't fit into the story, and there was a lot of story to tell. Don't worry, I'm not in any way writing her out. In fact, her arc will take her in a really surprising direction. Don't worry, though, you'll like it.
And don't worry, it does not, in any way involve a refrigerator. That kind of stuff doesn't happen in my books.
Yesterday was my Birthday
I posted this on Facebook, but it bears reposting here: Thank you one and all for the kind birthday wishes. I had a wonderful day… weekend, actually. Got to spend time with my friends and family, had some cake and other good food, saw some movies, and celebrated another year of being fortunate enough to wake up every day and draw silly things and tell stories…plus I had the top down every day. Here's to making next year even better with all of you along for the ride.
And, because I had a really good day and felt happy, I thought I'd share this, which also makes me feel happy: