The Grandmaster Peanut Butter Sandwich

White Elephant gift exchange at work. This time, we had to make some sort of art as a gift.

This character is something I created during my misspent youth.

CTN EXPO 2012

I will be at table T-91 with my buddies Kris Pearn and Craig Berry fri-sat. Stop by and say hello at the CTN EXPO 2012. Besides my books, I will also have a limited run of Linocut prints available.

Alternative Press Expo this weekend

I'll be at @APExpo this weekend with my buddies Craig Berry and Kris Pearn. Table 107, come on by and say hello. We'll have books and stuff.

Painting WIP

I took some photos while working on my latest painting.

Vancouver 2012

I have a tradition of drawing a thank you comic for my Aunt and Uncle in Vancouver after I visit them. My wife and I were up there briefly in early September and had a great time.

As with most of my comics, it is full of inside jokes, but my family will get them.

Mugs

http://t.co/6ImhSJ6x

Back to NUN WITH TWO GUNS.

I'm about half way through very rough layouts in the second and final book.

Some sort of skater dude

PARANORMAN!

Back in 2010, I worked at LAIKA ENTERTAINMENT as a Story Artist on a little film called PARANORMAN. Well, 2 years later, that film is finally in theatres! Or at least, it will be starting this Friday, August 17th!

Paranorman was written by Chris Butler and co-directed by Butler and Sam Fell. I was so lucky to get to work on this project and, am INCREDIBLY proud to have been a part of it.

I saw a screening on Saturday and it turned out FANTASTIC! Chris Butler is an animation director to watch, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

Check out some of the great trailers and promotional videos that have been done...

I also worked with an amazing and talented story crew. I learned a lot on this project. You should check out the work of...

Graham Annable
Vera Brosgol
Brian Ormiston
Julian Narino
Michael Schlingmann
Ovi Nedelcu
Emanuela Cozzi

Go see it this weekend. I want to see more movies from LAIKA.

Sketchbook spread

Hello neglected blog. How are you?

Sketchbook spread

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I'll try and post more regularly.

RIP Jean Giraud AKA Moebius

Last weekend, we lost a true legend.

If you look at my drawings, you'd probably be hard pressed to see how much influence Moebius has had on my work.

Unless you see me draw the desert. When I draw the desert, I draw Moebius' desert.

His influence is there in other little ways too, but his biggest impact for me, is inspiration. I look at his work a lot.

No, A LOT.

Seriously.

No other artist INSTANTLY inspires me to start drawing like seeing a Moebius drawing or painting does.

It's like inspiration hard lined right into my veins. Euphoria, a rush of adrenaline, and the intense desire to find a drawing implement.

The first time I discovered his work, I didn't know it. In the pre-internet era, we looked at a magazine called STARLOG to get our Sci-Fi movie scoops. They were talking about a feature film version of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, and there was a little sketch of what the movie He-Man would look like. I wasn't that interested in the movie. He-Man was a little past my time, it was 1987, and I was in Junior High. I was too busy being rejected by cute girls to play with futuristic muscle man toys.

That drawing though. I stared at it. And stared at it. I had no idea who drew it, but I knew I liked it.

Fast forward to High School. I was lucky enough to have ANOTHER DIMENSION, a local comic shop right across the street. One day I saw a Hardcover Graphic Novel of a Stan Lee Silver Surfer story. Leafing through it, I was blown away by the art. Mainly by things that young, aspiring artists are blown away by, use of perspective, rendering, and he seemed to draw without a ruler! How was this possible? The colour was different than what was on the stands as well.

What's a Moebius, and how does it draw so amazingly well?

A long talk with my buddy Imran (an awesome comic artist in his own right at the time) in Art Class, and I learned all about who Moebius was.

I saved up for a few weeks and went back and bought that Silver Surfer book. I remember there being some roughs and rejected/redrawn pages in the back. I couldn't believe the pages that he thought weren't good enough.

I was hooked. A week later I went back and bought MOEBIUS 3: THE AIRTIGHT GARAGE, one of those big albums that  epic released in the late 80's or early 90's, and I have been a fan ever since.

I will miss seeing new work from the man, but he left a wealth of inspiration for us all.

His ability to morph into different styles I have always admired, but it is his loose, confident drawing that I admire most. He is one of those artists at a level that I hope to some day attain myself.

In truth though, he was a genius, and has a skill that few can attain, but if you're gonna take aim, you might as well aim high.

Thanks for the inspiration Moebius, I hope where you are is even weirder than you imagined.

NW2G #2

NW2G #2

NW2G #2

Starting work on NW2G #2

B-Day comic...

I drew a dumb 2 page comic for my Uncle's birthday today. The jokes will only be funny to family, or maybe if you watch Fringe...

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1st mug of 2012