Blah, Blah, Blog!

New Web-Comic!

2012-01-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!
I've got some news I'm excited about - starting Saturday January 14th 2012 I'll be posting a weekly web-comic. The star of the comic is an old character I created way back in my college days. He's appeared a few strips here and there but I've never done any long term work with him. This year that's gonna change!
Gobukan is the blue guy. He's a monster from another dimension working on Earth as an Accountant/Superhero. The lovely blonde beside him is his secretary Sally Halliday. The comics are just going to be silly, fun little romps with monsters, robots, time travel, aliens and all kinds of stuff that I love (and grew up loving in Saturday Morning Cartoons).

Check out Saturday Morning Webtoons and my own GOBUKAN blog for updates as well as other comics by a bunch of brilliant artists!

j.

A Golden Moment of Truth!

2011-09-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

Egads...what a poetic sounding blog title :)
I have not yet read the new Wonder Woman which is part of the 52 relaunch, but I am looking forward to it. I love Cliff Chiang's art. Go check out his site which is full of his fantastic work.

j.

Guys With Pencils!

2011-09-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Have you ever been scrolling through the pages of this here blog and thought to yourself "I wonder what J.Bone sounds like? Is he monotone like a robot? Lilting and whispery like a poet? Does he yell like a wrestler and use cuss words?"
Well, wonder no more because I've recorded a podcast with the very funny, highly likable GUYS WITH PENCILS (aka Andrew Murray and Adam Hines - both artists you should check out). And, yes, I use cuss words.

Actually, this is my second podcast with Andrew and Adam. In my first we just talked about ME, and comics and movies and stuff. This new podcast deals with a weightier subject - Depression. I won't go into details because I want you to listen to the podcast, but I will say that I was very happy to discuss depression with the guys. I think Mental Health is just as important as physical health (in fact they often go hand-in-hand) and that we really need to remove the stigma attached to discussing mental health.

Please, if you're having mental health problems speak to a professional - your doctor. In the podcast I talk about Bronwyn Fox's book POWER OVER PANIC which has helped me greatly dealing with my own issue. Check out the link for more information about Panic Attacks and Anxiety.
The cartoon posted above was drawn after reading Eckhart Tolle's A NEW EARTH. I wish it was so easy to shed your "sad skin".

best,
J.Bone

Retroactive Update!

2011-09-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's a retroactive update because I like to update on Monday but it's really Tuesday so we'll just pretend it's Monday and not Tuesday.

So, this is another version of my Retroactive Wonder Woman cover drawn in my own style! I mostly liked how the original turned out -- but I really quite prefer drawing cartoony. Part of me thinks about how fun it would be to re-draw the entire script in my own way...but then I remember that I've got work to do and don't have time to draw the whole book again :)

Happy Back to School Day (for those of you with kids or who are kids or who are going to University/College, etc...)

j.

Dr. Sketchy's Toronto - Session 83

2011-08-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

Dr. Sketchy's Toronto has been delivering some top-notch models this summer! The most recent was Siren. This gal has the most amazing legs, among other stunning assets. I don't even believe I exaggerated when drawing her legs -- they are seriously twice the length of her torso!

Maybe a little exaggeration :) I drew a cleaned up version of the above sketch during one of the breaks. She's a little bit "standard J.Bone girl" and not exactly what I saw onstage.

Two of my favorite drawings of the night. The poses and those amazing boots inspired me greatly.
j.

iZombie!

2011-08-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Mmm...iZombie! Eat brains!
I'm a big fan of Mike Allred! After reading the latest issue of iZombie I sat at my drawing board and sketched up a few pin-up ideas. Gwen has to eat fresh brains in order to survive as a living Zombie. That's ghost girl Ellie grossed out by brains, and Spot. The corpse is either Mark Twain or Richard Farnsworth (God rest his soul).

Happy Hallowee -- I mean, Happy Summer!
j.

Wonder Woman Retroactive!

2011-07-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

First up, two pages from one of my favourite sequences from the Retroactive Wonder Woman book. Y'know, horses really are hard to draw!

An interview I did before Wonder Woman Retro came out is now up at Comic Book Resources. I blab on and on about Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman's costume and a bunch of other stuff Wonder Woman related! The piece includes the first page of the art from the story I drew for Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier one-shot -- Wonder Woman and Black Canary visit a famous Club for Gentlemen. I loved how that story turned out (though the reviews for my particular portion weren't well received...it did get a mention on the Playboy blog! Woo!).

A few reviews for this current story have shown up online...not all that favorable.
Starting with the comments following the interview:

"I don't recall the art of the Wonder Woman of the '70s ever being that bad. Granted, the WW art wasn't that stellar back then, but the new retro story doesn't capture that '70s flavor at all, IMO."

"I didn't mind the art, although it looked older then the 70s. I like J. Bones art normally, but this was slightly lacking. The story was terrible though, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. "

"The art is dreadful--I read JBone was instructed to draw like Sekowsky (sp?)-- but it's soooooo clunky and wrong and looks like ameture night (and I like JBone's work, normally) "

Longer reviews at Comic Utopia, Too Dangerous For a Girl, and a much more glowing review (of my art, at any rate) at Chuck's Comic of the Day.

And finally -- the Comics Alliance wrote up a post about me that makes all those negative reviews melt away! The headline reads "The Art of J.Bone is Like a Playground for the Eyes". *Sigh* Like a hug from the internet!

best,
J.Bone

Wonder Woman: Retroactive!

2011-07-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

RealaseRetroactive Wonder Woman comes out today! Obviously I, once again, fail at self-promotion as the issue that I drew is in stores even as I type and I gave you no advanced notice!
So, here for your enjoyment is the cover process: Thumbnails first. My editor chose the one on the left with the suggestion that I make Wonder Woman the main figure instead of Diana. Followed by the inks wherein I was asked to change it back to Diana as the main figure :)
And then the final color cover with all the logos and stuff (aka "trade dressing"). The lovely cover colors were done by Carrie Strachan.

Hope you're all having a groovy summer!
j.

Obskyura!

2011-07-12T08:05:00.001-07:00

Dr. Sketchy's Toronto is back in session! Last night's model was the amazing Obskyura. Here are just a few of my drawings from the night:

j.

Megamind ©Dreamworks

2011-07-04T12:05:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of sample pages I drew last year. Nothing came of it but I just noticed there's an ongoing Megamind comic book. Perhaps resubmission is in order.

j.

La Minouche!

2011-06-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

Another member of Les Coquettes, La Minouche, is the hostess of the Coquettes' shows. Though this image is from their Valentine's Day show, I recently sat front row at Les Coquettes' 80s themed extravaganza and got to hold La Minouche's gum while she parlez-ed with the audience. It was minty.

And the 80s show? Their best show yet! Je t'aime Les Coquettes!

j.

Burlesque!

2011-06-09T05:51:00.000-07:00

Recently someone introduced me to the absolutely beautiful art of Vera Brosgol and Emily Carroll through their blog Fashion From Old People! The drawings they do of old costumes are classic and yet so contemporary at the same time. I love both for their simplicity with the figure and lovely decorative elements when drawing things like lace and flowers.

After looking at their work for a few hours I took one of my Burlesque sketches and tried to finish it in a different, more simplified style. I've also been wanting to try a rough outline approach to a final drawing, like R.C. Harvey would do with his classic pin-ups.

It was a fun experiment and I'm going to try out a few more. The subject is Charlotte Webber of Les Coquettes.

j.
p.s. Lotsa links in this post :) Go! Have fun checking out all the lovely work!

Beyoncé Bounce!

2011-04-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. It's been a while. I can only say that it's been rather busy lately (check out the kind comments on the Comic Book Resources message board...whew. I blush.) I've been drawing like mad and can't wait to share what I've been working on.

In the meantime -- I saw Beyoncé's video for the new Let's Move campaign.

Encouraging kids to get up and dance is both a brilliant way to by physically active and develop healthy self-esteem. Who cares if you think you stink at dancing. Follow Beyoncé's easy instructions and everyone dance!

j.

Wonderful Woman!

2011-03-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

I don't usually blog photos -- but the costume for the in-production Wonder Woman tv pilot is making the rounds on the internet. I'll save commentary for another post (where I'll include some new drawings of Wonder Woman) But for now I wanted to post something I sketched up in Photoshop.

Jennifer Hudson's new album cover, with Amazonian bracelet, made me think so much of My fantasy Wonder Woman that I had to add the costume! Maybe it's just My fantasy but I think she'd make a stunning Amazon Princess!

j.

Les Coquettes!

2011-02-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

Salut! Valentine's weekend I had the incredibly good fortune to see Les Coquettes' Candy Hearts Valentine's Show! It. Was. Amazing! Seriously amazing. I love Toronto's burlesque scene!

My head was full of drawings by the end of the evening. I've barely begun sketching the girls (and Man-props) but I'm trying to get all the ideas down on paper. Here are just a few.
Comic book convention season is starting up soon so I've also been drawing superheroine pin-ups. I'll be at Wizard World Toronto March 18th to the 20th. I'm aiming to have quite a few drawings available for sale and will most likely be doing commissions while at my table.

j.

Valentine's Day 2011!

2011-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Spend it with your "Absolute 10!"
Happy Valentine's Day!

j.

It's a New Year!

2011-01-03T07:03:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year! I might have had too many late nights and need time to recover. I'm not one for resolutions really, but I did have some 2010 Revelations. One revelation was that I need to work harder and draw more in this new year!

Today's drawing is from a drawing session at Dr. Sketchy's with model Billie Black! Billie is amazing to draw! I want to turn every pose into a finished piece -- and I will do what I can to achieve that goal. This is the first.

Happy New Year!
j.

Twelve Days of Awesome!

2010-12-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Looking for the perfect Christmas/Holiday gift to give your comic book loving loved one? How about the gift of Artwork! Over at Darwyn Cooke's "Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog" Darwyn has just announced a charity auction he's running, along with his lovely wife Marsha, over the next twelve days. I love Darwyn's artwork, and he's told me of a few pieces (cover recreations) that I'm probably going to want to bid on myself.
All of the proceeds from the auction will be given to the Hero Initiative!

Also, if you're in a gift buying mood, now is a good time for me to mention that a collection of my Horoscope pin-ups is available from Lulu Press. It includes all 24 male and female versions of my Signs of the Zodiac pin-ups!
Click here or the link on the sidebar for a preview! I have my copy and I'm thrilled with the way the book turned out. :)

j.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

My brother asked me to design a tattoo for him -- two actually. A devil and an angel. This is the devil.

j.

Wonder Woman ReBoot!

2010-07-12T04:08:00.000-07:00

Perhaps some of you know that Wonder Woman recently got a reboot...and a new costume. I suppose I'm fine with reboots. These things sometimes have to happen to bring a character up to date, refresh a dying franchise, tie in with a movie, or simply because creators don't know what else to do with the character (which is not entirely a bad thing).
Sometimes the new take on a character comes with a new costume (or sidekick, car, gender...) In this case Wonder Woman was given new duds by comic book Superstar Jim Lee. Now, I haven't read the Adventures of Wonder Woman since the Dodsons's run on the book so I can't say much about how this makeover came about -- but anyone who reads my blog semi-regularly knows that I have a special fondness for the Amazon Princess.

When the change was announced and image released I grumped a little, sure. But then I sat down and put ink to paper and came up with a few little re-designs myself. This would be they:
First up is a re-design of an old design I did based on Tura Satana's wicked outfit in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! It's also more than a little like Donna Troy's costume from the Teen Titans run by George Perez. I wonder if he was watching a Russ Meyer movie when he designed it.
The second is what I call the Evel Knievel! I imagine it's a total leather bodysuit with new lightweight Plastex™ gauntlets. Superman and Batman both have a cape and I think it's high time ol' WW had one too!
Third in the series is basically the Darwyn Cooke Amazon Warrior design from The New Frontier! When I drew the knee-guards I thought of Thor -- which led to design #4. This is Amazon Warrior by way of Norse God(dess). The boots need some work still but otherwise I think this one is my favourite. If I were to draw a comic book with the new adventures of the NEW Wonder Woman I'd probably go with this costume.
Ask me tomorrow and it'll be something completely different :)
#5 is basically a black version of #1. It's how I initially planned to color the costume but went white (Virginal) because Wonder Woman just doesn't seem like the type of hero made cooler by putting her in black. But that's just me. I also wouldn't put her in the Black Canary's jacket but that's also just me. :)

j.

Comics are for KIDS!

2010-05-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

If you're not reading TINY TITANS by Art Baltazar and Franco, then you should be! It's FUN!

I had a dream that Jonah Hex was in the Tiny Titans. He kept saying "Aw, Hex Yeah!". The Titans' catchphrase is "Aw, Yeah Titans!" Sayin'g "Hex Yeah" is kinda like swearing. Sorta...

:)
j.

Winter in Spring!

2010-05-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Four page Huntress story by J.Torres. This is my take on the story that actually appeared in the 2009 DC Holiday Special.

Covering New/Old Ground!

2010-05-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Super Friends are kidnapped and forced to participate in a Galactic Olympics. Superman could easily win all the events, of course. But the Friends are all about teamwork. They even win the Olympics together! I can't remember why I featured Flash so prominently on this cover. I think I wanted a large foreground character. In retrospect it should have been Superman carrying the torch (but then Superman already had his feature cover on his Birthday).
One of my own favorite covers. I wanted the bunny to look like the rabbit that appeared on candy wrappers I used to love as a kid (for the life of me I can't remember the name of the company -- but the candies were like 'rockets'. Rolls of candy wrapped in cellophane twisted at either end). AND he's also fashioned after the bunny from Pixar's brilliant PRESTO short film.
I drew the interiors for this issue as well as the cover (twice). My first final (below) just had sinister looking versions of the Flash and Green Lantern. My editor, the always delightful Rachel Gluckstern, asked me to change them to Sinestro and Reverse Flash. No argument from me! Drawing those guys was incredible fun!

I love drawing these concept covers when I can. Usually the cover is more literal, though with the Super Friends anything is possible. Maybe they really do get flattened into a puzzle world which falls apart. I want to finish another of my rough sketches for this cover. I riffed on an M.C. Escher image placing the Super Friends in one of his multiple perspective/optical illusion rooms. Lot's of fun!
Oh, the chaos of a Comic Book Convention. This one is full of little Easter Eggs (of a sort). I FINALLY got to draw Batmite AND Mxyzptlk!! When Rachel told me they were the guest villains I just about burst! Awesome. I hid the other imps throughout the image, as well as myself, Rachel, and Stewart (the artist on the book). I couldn't find any photos of Dario Bruzuela (the other regular artist on the book) so, sadly, he isn't there.

j.

Alison Dares Again!

2010-04-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Alison Dare is being re-printed in two gorgeous collections by Tundra publishing. To promote the material the Tundra blog is running a fun contest for Dare fans around the WORLD!! Writer J.Torres and I get to judge the contest -- I promise not to show favoritism but I really hope those of you who read my blog will consider entering :)
I love the covers to the reprints. Sure, I did the drawings but the design, and fabulousness, is due to the gorgeous work of Jennifer Lum!

A Few of My Favourite Gals!

2010-03-25T08:11:00.001-07:00

Just a few of my favourite ladies! Dolly Parton wore an outfit very much like that in an episode from the old Porter Waggoner show. She looked like a delicious dessert -- like a Lemon/Raspberry pastry. Yum!
Below her is my equally delicious friend, Mo. I drew this for her recent birthday. I wish I'd made the chair more obviously heart shaped. The bottom doesn't quite curve around as much as I'd like it to. Anyway -- who's looking at the chair!?!

j.

Feeling Super Friendly!

2010-02-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

This week another issue of the SUPER FRIENDS hit the stands -- this is the big ol' Mad Scientist issue I mentioned previously! I've posted the sketches for and the cover to that issue already, so I thought I'd throw down some of the cover sketches that never made it to final. And to see the final covers all on one page you can check this page over at the Comic Vine
Above and below were some of my initial ideas for SF#10. The villain was Dr. Light. Not wanting to reveal him on the cover I played with light as a theme. I think it was just too gruesome to have the Super Friends as melting candles! What was I thinking?
This would have been fun to draw up with the high contrast and blast of light but was, again, deemed too serious.
DING! Man, did I ever want to draw Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk for the cover of SF#11. I toyed with floating Super Friend heads or them as Mini-Super Friends (I believe the kids call them "Chibis") In the end issue #11 was one of my favorite covers with all of the Superheroes wearing Batman-inspired costumes.
Pirate Starro was a brilliant idea dreamed up by Sholly Fisch. First out of the gate was a play on the old Justice League cover with the heroes taking down the mind-controlling starfish. Then starfish sized Starro adorably menacing with his hook and peg-leg. I think starfish are one of those creatures who can grow back limbs, no? Am I wrong?
Ah, the Super Pets. Super Friends #14 was wicked fun to draw. I did quite a few drawings of the pets just because they were so much fun. The idea here was to have Topo as the center of an super-pet merry-go-round. Some of these covers should be revisited, I think, and maybe done up as final images!
This is the actual rough for the Holiday issue from 2009 -- SF#22. Sometimes I know right away what I want to do with the cover. This was one of 'em.
The Winter Olympics are about to start up here in Canada. They take place in Vancouver but for this issue of the Super Friends, #25, the setting is Space! I wanted a montage for this cover with the torch taking center stage. Each hero demonstrates his or her own athletic strength. In the end it's not only physical ability, but brains that win the day!
Another one that came out of the brain as a near final. I'm pretty sure the rabbit is inspired by the Pixar short "Presto" -- but also by the rolls of candy I used to get for Halloween, and sometimes Easter, as a kid. I can't remember the brand of candy but there was a bunny head on the wrapper that looked a lot like this fuzzy guy.

In other Super Friendly news, myself and Stewart McKenny were interviewed by Adam Dechanel over at his Superman Homepage. Now, I've put up some of Adam's reviews of my cover and interior work on the Super Friends which was not always the most positive. I'm not opposed to negative reviews in the least. They inspire me to work harder (after I dry my tears :) The thing with Adam's reviews were that they felt to me like he'd missed the intention of the book and especially what I think is Sholly's strength on the series -- that they are accessible to children but can also be enjoyed by adults who remember those ridiculous stories from DC days gone by.
So I was very happy that Adam asked me to take part in the four day Super Friends event currently up at his site. It gave me the chance to explain my thoughts on the book and get to know Adam a little better. Frankly his was the only site I could find reviewing the Super Friends and I was grateful for any attention given to the book! (Besides, the talented Stewart McKenny always made out well and as one of my favorite guys that was nice to see).

Here's my part of the interview.

It was a busy week for gabbing and I was also interviewed by J. Caleb Mozzocco at the Newsarama Blog. I tried not to repeat myself knowing that both Q&A's were coming out at roughly the same time. I swiped Caleb's pun for the heading of this post. ;)

Sincerely yours,
j.bone

Super Friends! Super Fans!

2010-01-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

Every now and then I do a cover for the Super Friends book that just makes me really happy that I draw pictures for a living. This one, the cover to issue #24, is one of those covers. Everything came out exactly how I pictured it in my brain. Trust me that is not always the case. Sometimes it's a real struggle to get the image on the board to match the "perfect" picture I've got on the drawing board in my imagination.
This is the cover that marks my two years of work on the Super Friends so I did try just that little bit harder to get it right. Not that I shirk duties on my other covers, mind you :)
Here are the two rough sketches I gave my editor, the incredible Rachel Gluckstern. We both liked the first one so off I went! I love how the Super Friends are barely even on the cover of their own book!

Speaking of covers -- reviews are in on a few of my past covers. Read 'em all just below this!
The cover for Super Friends #21 - and here is the review from my favourite comic book reviewer and a big fan of my work:
"Cover Art - 2: A bit of a rush job this time round. I get the 'storybook theme' but the cover is nothing like the interior and thus it is marked low. I get the feeling this was done before the story..."

I wouldn't ordinarily bother, but I do want to say that Stewart McKenny did an absolutely gorgeous job on the interiors. I knew, after reading the script, that he wasn't going to get the chance to draw a literal fairy tale version of the Super Friends. I took the opportunity on the cover to draw Superman as a literal Man of STEEL (or tin if you want to get all nit-picky ;), Batman as a Dark KNIGHT, Wonder Woman as Amazon PRINCESS, Green Lantern as a man of LIGHT, Aquaman KING of the Sea, and Flash as Hermes God of SPEED!
Hence the difference between cover and interiors.

In all fairness, the same reviewer gave my Holiday cover the following rating: "Cover Art - 4: A Green Lantern powered sled, Superman as Santa, what's not to love!"

Super Friends #23 : "Cover Art - 3: Loved Wonder Woman's awe of space depicted here, but the whole 'Mystery In Space' theme they have going just isn't magnified well enough here. John looks like a robot by the by."

All reviews are ©Adam Dechanel.

best,
j.bone

Music Songs!

2010-01-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. New Years eve was four days ago, it was fantastic. Now the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work, dammit!!
One of the things I loved about last year was discovering Garfunkel & Oates. Two absolutely adorable girls who sing brilliant songs about relationships, sex, pregnant women and ducks.
The girls, Riki and Kate, have appeared in a bunch of tv shows and movies but what I love is their music. I should warn you if you decide to check out their stuff (and you absolutely should) is that the songs contain swears which some people might find offensive.

I think Kid Robot (or someone similar) needs to get making some Blythe-like dolls of Garfunkel & Oates!

best,
j.

Holiday Tradition!

2009-12-21T05:19:00.000-08:00

My annual Holiday card this year! The good thing for poor Frosty is that re-constructive surgery for him is quite inexpensive.

Have a great Holiday however you celebrate it!
j.

Covering Old Friends!

2009-12-17T08:13:00.001-08:00

Super Friends #19 - The School of Evil led by a very cool moustachioed villain, the Headmaster Mind. I wanted the Friends in a bit of distress for a cover just to show that it's not always easy being a superhero. Little heroes with a giant villain is sort of a classic type of image used on comic book covers (and movie posters, novels, etc...) for ages. In fact, it's sort of like Egyptian art where the most important person (usually the king) is represented much larger than his subjects.
Super Friends #20 - How to make a scary cover without being too scary? Hopefully I was successful here. The Friends are generally happy with only Aquaman and the Flash showing any awareness of the threatening figure looming over the group. I like toasting marshmallows so that the outside is lightly browned while the middle becomes melty and gooey. Yum!
Super Friends #21 - The Super Friends visit the land of make believe and fairy tale! I wanted to do literal versions of their literary counterparts. Thus, Superman becomes the man of steel/Tinman, Batman is a dark Knight, Wonder Woman a princess (loosely based on the Disney Snow White dress), Aquaman is Neptune: King of the Sea, Green Lantern a ghostly man of light, and the Flash is Mercury (lightning fast Roman God seen in FTD's Logo). I love playing around with the hero costumes while keeping them recognizable and using their proper colors!
Super Friends #22 - The Holiday issue! The Friends play the part of Santa. Totally something they would do in real life!
Super Friends #23 - I'm a big fan of old Science Fiction novel art. By old I mean artwork from the paperbacks printed in the 50's (mostly) with a few from the 60's and 70's. The books were usually re-prints of stories that appeared in pulp magazines with new, sometimes bizarrely abstract covers. The Super Friends head to space in this issue and I was influenced by those pulp novel covers in my drawing.

j.

Challenge of the Super Friends!

2009-11-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

Super Friends #24 marks my two year anniversary as cover artist on this most excellent book! I asked if I could draw the interiors for that reason. I also wanted to draw the guts because Sholly had, once again, written a super fun story. So many super villains, so many characters I'd never even heard of but wanted to draw. Along with the mad scientists I was drawing wolf-men, monster-men, some winged dog creatures (I can't find my script to look up what they're called...Zombgiza? Zombizi? Something like that), robots, sharks and a whole bunch of other fun stuff!

Over at Comic Book Resources the fine Jeffrey Renaud interviewed me about my work on the Super Friends. Click me!

On a semi-related note I've been watching YouTube videos of Superfriends cartoons past...the old Filmation series in particular. I only ever saw the Aquaman cartoons and had never seen the Flash or Hawkman episodes. Boy, are they ever dumb! :) In an enjoyable fashion, yes! I don't know who wrote that stuff but it is awesomely stupid! I love it!

Oh, and I've also been watching the Plastic Man cartoon on DVD! I loved that cartoon as a kid and still love it today. Again...writing ain't so great. But who cares. I love a cartoon with a laugh track. It's so perfectly absurd!

best,
j.

Mad Science and an Honorary Super Friend!

2009-11-06T04:41:00.000-08:00

First up is an older sketch, drawn last year when old man Obama won his wayinto the White House and into the hearts of Americans and Canadians alike. Now, I hear he's not doing so well. He hasn't done enough in a year, hasn't fulfilled all of his promises, etc... I won't go gettin' all political but I always figure let's give a guy a chance. I've done a lot of work by 'committee' and it is not at all easy to deal with everyone's opinions/notes/demands and all I'm doing is drawing a kid sitting in a classroom (for example)! This guy's trying to run a country!

All right - onto the mad scientists. I sketched all of these guys for an upcoming project (I'm sure you'll figure it out by the end). A lot of these characters I had never even heard of but kinda grew fond of 'em after a month of drawing them. The Sivanas - I knew them from Shazam comics. I never really noticed the overbite and squinty eyes before. Was Dr. Sivana supposed to be a caricature of an Asian stereotype? I try to be hyper-aware of cliched portrayals of race so I toned down the buck toothedness in this family as I drew them. Just in case!
Hugo Strange I knew but not Prof. Hugo! I loved drawing Prof. Hugo's gigantic head on his wee body. He shows up an awful lot in the book...er, project.
Okay, never heard of these guys but they were by far my favorite to draw! The Fox, The Shark and The Vulture! How amazing are these guys that they're mad scientists. I don't even know what they did that was so science-y but just the very fact that I got to draw talking animals was enough to make me just mad (as in "in love") with these guys!
Dr. Cyber - never heard of her. But she showed up in an episode of Justice League at some point and had, therefore, been given a Bruce Timm design. Easy enough to translate that.
Dr. T.O. Morrow - Inventor of the Red Tornado. I know him from my Super Powers Red Tornado toy packaging. A villain creating a Hero? How is that even possible?
Dr. Tyme - Old clock head! I basically just went with his original look, mixed with the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon version of the Clock King. I wonder which one came first?
Prof. Rigor Mortis, I.Q. and Louie the Lilac. First two both had a fun look I played with a little. Louie - the only reference I had for him was a photo from the old Adam West Batman tv show. Did he ever appear in a comic? I dunno! So I tried to work the actor, Milton Berle, into his look. I don't know that I was successful but I dug his ski-slope nose and spats.
Maxwell Tremaine seems more like a villainous hunter than a mad scientist. I imagine him running the island I read about in "The Most Dangerous Game". A story I first read in high school. Love the eye patch!
Hector Hammond apparently can't move. He uses his villainous mind powers to commit evil acts. Because he's immobile, and his first name rhymes with (Hannibal) Lecter, I drew him strapped to a dolly. In the actual issue he's been given a Segway...I figure that way he can get around on his own, using the power of his mind to control the personal mobile unit.
The Brain is a favorite Doom Patrol villain. He's supposed to be in a jar carried around by Monsieur Mallah (an intelligent gorilla). But, I couldn't resist sticking him in a mechanical body you might see in an episode of, oh I don't know...Dr. Who!
The gorilla brainiacs! Ultra-Humanite and Gorilla Grodd. Grodd has already appeared in an issue of the Super Friends...not that that has anything to do with my reason for drawing all of these characters. Not at all.
Moving on...the Ultra-Humanite, like Dr. Cyber, had a Bruce Timm-ed version from his appearance in the Justice League. I went with it but tried to give him something a little extra and used him often in backgrounds throughout the issue.

These guys are all scientists in the DC Universe? No wonder it's all screwed up :)

j.

Happy Hallo-Week!

2009-10-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

I had a very strange dream the other night. I was watching a Charlie Brown cartoon. Linus was waiting, as he always does, in that cold, lonely pumpkin patch but no Great Pumpkin. Then up out of te shadows rose this weird multi-limbed pumpkin headed creature who could only be the Great Pumpkin...unfortunately Linus had already long ago expired. Death from waiting! Poor Linus!
I feel like my Great Pumpkin design owes a LOT to the art of Jay Stephens (in fact I'm partially convinced I've seen him draw something very much like it and that I've subconsciuosly stolen from him). Check out Jay's amazing art at his blog, and also on tv in his popular show SECRET SATURDAYS! I've got some cool Secret Saturdays toys. I love monsters!

A little warning before you see the next cartoon...Charlie Brown swears! Sorry!
Charlie Brown would never say that word. Again, poor Linus! Halloween just isn't his holiday!

Happy Halloween, ever'body!
j.

Leslie, My Name Is Evil!

2009-09-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

So, here's something a little different from me. A slightly more realistic (though still old-fashioned), mildly gruesome, heavier subject matter with suggestions of sex (the last image is cropped because, while it's a suitable image for the movie for which it's drawn, it's a little too revealing for this blog :)

These were done for a film called "Leslie, My Name Is Evil" directed by Reg Harkema. They appear as pages from a Jack Chick-like tract detailing the seduction of the main character, Leslie, by a beatnik who gives her LSD and an unwanted pregnancy. A college buddy of mine was the Production Designer on the movie and got me the gig. I saw the Toronto Film Festival premiere of the movie and really got a kick out of seeing my artwork on he big screen.

The movie is a darkly comic look at a young girl seduced into the violent world of the Manson clan coupled with the story of a young man torn between his duty to his country and a fascination with Leslie.

j.

Batman: The Brave and the Bone!

2009-07-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Wahoo! This Wednesday the issue of Batman: Brave and the Bold drawn by me (and written by J.Torres) hits the stands. The special guest Heroes are the old/new Doom Patrol! Way back when Torres and I were working on Alison Dare we used to talk about dream characters we'd love to work on. Both of us have a strange infatuation with the Doom Patrol. Torres first worked on them in Teen Titans Go which he wrote for, like, ever single issue!

Now I finally got my shot! J. wrote us a fun story with the full team and I more or less got to design them for the B&B style! In order to keep them familiar with the old Teen Titans Go audience I kept the purple and black costumes (and also because those costumes are cool) and I just made a few little minor tweaks to make 'em my own.

I love the heck out of the Doom Patrol and hope I get to draw them again!

This is my favourite page out of the book. I don't know why...it may be the duck...but it just makes me laugh that I drew it.

best,
j.

He's Just a Baby Duck!

2009-06-16T03:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, especially when I've got a lot of work on the board, I just want to draw something for ME! A doodle that makes me laugh, or an idea I've had for awhile but just never took the time to jot down in black and white (or grey if I only have time for pencils). Baby Huey is one such drawing. I LOVE the Harvey characters! Dark Horse has been releasing collections of Harvey kids, sort of a Best OF selection (though I really wish someone would do a COMPLETE collection...at least of Hot Stuff).
I'd had an idea to draw Baby Huey lookin' a little...dumber. He's a big dumb oaf in the comics, and the cartoons, which is all part of his appeal as a character. He's a baby with the strength of an ox!
So the above is my take on Baby Huey!
Here's the Super Friends ABC News screen cap as nabbed by blog reader Javier. Thanks, Javier! That's pretty cool!
And speaking of Super Friends, I finally finished the interiors to another issue. I'll let you know when it's coming out, but I drew the interiors for Super Friends #18 guest starring the Bizarro Super Friends! Holy socks, is there ever some funny stuff from writer Sholly in this issue.

best,
j.

Super Duper SUPER FRIENDS!

2009-05-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Urgh, I should have posted this last week...the latest issue of the Super Friends, #15 on stands now, has interior art by me! Once again I had a ton of fun drawing Sholly Fisch's terrific story! This issue has a paper cut-out doll of Wally West (and the Flash) as well as a fun little stand-up cut out of Batman and Robin! This is Robin's first appearance in the series.
I also found a review for the big by one of my biggest fans and a guy who loves this series: Adam Dechanel.

Story - 2: Wait didn't we just do a birthday issue a few issues back? Struggling for ideas anyone? The story itself is solid and perhaps if this wasn't a deliberate cash in on Batman's 70th Anniversary, so very close to the Superman birthday party an issue or two back, I may have given it a higher rating.
Art - 2: J. Bone's covers have been a shining light for this series on occasion but it just seems like the whole book was rushed. Some panels look great while others seem to have been aggressively churned out.
Cover Art - 2: Just last month I'd seen an upturn in the book and suddenly to prove me wrong we're delivered this... nice homage to the Silver Age style covers but though it presents a challenge the reader must participate in it's not J. Bone's best.

And here's some genuine love from the dear, sweet Rachelle, who interviewed me and posted about my book on the day it actually hit the stands! Click her name to see what I had to say about drawing for kids and making stuff out of yarn! Thanks, Rachelle. You're a peach!

best,
j.

Goddessess!

2009-05-08T06:50:00.001-07:00

This weekend, May 9 and 10, I will be at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival! It's at the Toronto Reference Library this year. I'll be sitting with local super talents and Transmission X buddies, as well as doing a few panels throughout the weekend. I'll do my best to have original art on hand and a few prints available (I've moved recently and have yet to find all the art boxes).
I was itching to draw Storm for some reason, and the top sketch is the result of scratching that itch. I actually like that Loki is now a dame though I don't read any of the books in which she appears. She looks pretty cool, eh?

If you can make it out to the Festival stop by and say "Hi".
best,
j.

Sha-ZAM!

2009-04-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

It's out on the 'net so it's now okay to show off the cover I did for the Magic of Shazam (DC comics). I always try to err on the side of caution when it comes to covers and what projects I'm working on...it feels like I might jinx things if I announce too soon. Now, I've only done this one cover. The new team was announced on DC's website and it's a pretty spectacular gang. Franco and Art Baltazar of TINY TITANS fame and Stephen DeStefano. I can't wait to see DeStefano on art. I LOVE his stuff. I think he draws the best Mxyzptlk the DC world has ever seen!

The issue of Brave and the Bold that I'm drawing has also been solicited...so I can talke about that now, too! I'm drawing the G.D. Doom Patrol!!! Holy AWESOME! And I'm drawing them in a style that feels pretty much like my own (in fact, apologies to James Tucker and the amazing group of guys working on the Batman B&B tv show but I may have strayed off-style a little with some of my artwork...I try not to but I sometimes can't help myself).

Sha-ZAM!
j.

Coco Framboise!

2009-04-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Another drawing of the lovely and talented Coco Framboise! She appeared here first as Uhura, real name unknown...before the delightful Nicole Stamp told me who the model was. Click on Coco's name above to see a video of her Candy Apple routine! It's delicious!

j.

Challenge of the Super Pets!

2009-04-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

It's time for another Super Friends cover update! This week the Super Pets appear in issue #14 of the Super Friends. The story is written by the fabulously talented Sholly Fisch and hilariously drawn by Scott Shaw, Mike Kazaleh and Terry Beatty. Wow! Was this ever a fun cover to draw! My editor suggested I go iconic with it...and when I think I iconic I always remember Art Adams drawing covers with legions of heroes leaping out at the reader. So this is my Art Adams Super Pets Super Friends cover!
Two more covers to enjoy. The Circus issue is already out! I love the elephant on that one. Hey, does that horse only have three legs? Oops! The mystery cover is for issue #15 for which I drew the interior art. I can't show you any of that or else I'll risk spoiling the surprise. I will tell you that the cover image gives you NO CLUES for solving the RIDDLE...er, I've said too much :)

best,

p.s. Just tacking on a p.s. to say that there's an interview with J.Torres and myself at the Doom Patrol blog. We talk about, well, Doom Patrol.

Drawing Lena Love!

2009-03-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended my very first session of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School Toronto Chapter. I don't think we could have asked for a better model with miss Lena Love. She wore some incredible outfits and struck very striking poses!
I wasn't paying attention during the intro to the first contest of the night...we were to Theme our drawing and this sketches theme was to be "Video Game Character". I just drew Lena as was and therefore did not win any contest. C'est la vie!

The girl in the pony tail is the photographer for the event.

This time I incorporated the contest theme into my drawing...Lena wanted a Dark Carmen Miranda. Dead fruit and a cobweb shoulder ruffle weren't enough to rate. But who cares...I had fun. This sort of 'life drawing' is really all about the model as a personality and character. Usually the point of the exercise is anatomy and not (necessarily) likeness.

best,
j.
p.s. In case anyone missed it in the comments section...Uhura from the previous post was played by Coco Framboise! She's a local burlesque performer!

Uhura's Hoops!

2009-03-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Yet another drawing based on that very same incredibly awesome night of Classic Star Trek themery from Dr.Sketchy's Anti-Art School Blog! I love the stunning beauty who portrayed Uhura! I've been going through the blog trying to find other pictures of her and discover her name. Hopefully she's a regular so I'll get a chance to draw her at a future session.

j.

Marta! Dancing Girl Divine!

2009-03-09T08:59:00.001-07:00

I recently learned about a fun life drawing program taking place at the Cameron House, here in Toronto. It's called Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. The models for the sessions are costumed, themed or otherwise not your typical life drawing models. Star Trek was the theme for a recent "class" and I'm very pissed that I missed it. Check the link to the blog to see some fantastic photos of the event. The girl dressed as Uhura is gorgeous! I love the photo of her with the knife between her teeth. What a great pose!

On the subject of Grammar: in reading Dr. Sketchy's event title I question the placement of the word "anti". Is Dr. Sketchy against Art itself or just Art-School. If it's the latter wouldn't they be better called "Anti-School Art Class" or some variation of the same. Not that I'm an expert on language...I just read the name as Anti-Art, which is not what I think they mean.

Either way, I'm glad they didn't call the sessions "Anti-Life Drawing School". I've never enjoyed drawing the dead nor wish to die in a life drawing class.

:)
best,
j.

Madman #14!

2009-03-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

Gee whiz! I completely forgot that this was coming out this week! Madman #14 has a back-up story written by me, Drawn by Darwyn and colored by Laura Allred. I poke gentle fun at the ever-in-development Madman movie! I truly hope Mike gets to see his creation hit the big screen one day.
Y'know, when I first got into comics I used to buy just Spider-Man titles. I branched out occasionally to other titles if there was something about the art that I liked, but mainly I stayed with Marvel. Then a friend gave me an ashcan of Madman that had come in his copy of Heroes magazine (Heroes was a Wizard clone that didn't last). I loved the art. The story was kooky, so I didn't even know what to make of that...but the art and colors had me poring over that ashcan. I used to carry it around so I could flip through regularly. I was still inking with a marker back then...but I remember trying to figure out how this guy, Allred, got such thick lovely lines. With no other artists in my family I had no one to tell me that you could ink with a brush! I was not art savvy!

Anyway, years later, still collecting Madman, get published by ONI press and find out that Jamie S. Rich is good friends with the Allreds. Boy, was I ever nervous sending out that first e-mail to Mike. I think I may have even addressed it to Laura as a coloring question rather than babble on about my love of Madman and the Allreds.

I'm glad I did strike up a friendship with Mike and Laura. We teamed up back then for a Mr. Gum one-shot, I drew a Madman pin-up (which is re-printed in the back of Madman #14...and is, thankfully, relatively embarassment free art-wise) and then finally this latest issue...which I got to work on with my other great pal in the world, Darwyn.

Blah, blah, blah...enough nonsense from me. Check out the book and see if you can find the super secret hidden Scientology message. I'll give you no hints!

best,
j.
p.s. Okay, one hint: it's in the dialogue.

ICE to Meet You!

2009-01-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

Ah, the joys of ice fishing! What kid doesn't love throwing on eight layers of clothing, itchy thermal underwear, three mittens per hand, scarf, tuque and snowpants and following his father out onto the frozen lake for a ten hours of chopping through ice and waiting for the fish to bite. I know I used to LOVE it! Freezing! Running out of hot chocolate by noon! Peeing behind a snowbank and praying that your bits don't get frostbite! It was really my favourite childhood winter pastime.

The ice fisherman looks more than a little like my own father. It's not his fault I'm not built for the cold (actually, it sort of IS his fault genetically speaking :) My brother and sister didn't mind ice fishing at all.

Enjoy!
j.

Making Lemonade!

2009-01-19T02:46:00.001-08:00

"Sun! Surf! Snow! I am in a tropical paradise! I am in a tropical paradise!" My mantra for the past few weeks as Toronto's refrigerating system reaches all time lows. As promised, I am only drawing girls in bikinis until the weather grows warmer. However, I couldn't resist a little tongue in frost-bitten cheek humour...they say draw what you know! Well, it snowed here the entire weekend. I've almost forgotten what a sandy beach looks like, but I still remember how to draw a girl in a bikini.

Warmest regards,

Summer Lovin'!

2009-01-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

It is currently minus 20-something degrees celsius...which is, I think, -4 degrees farenhiet (I count on you guys to correct me if I got that all backward). Either way you slice it, it's cold. And it's snowing like a sonovagun! Yes, I've lived in Canada my whole life and I know what winter is all about. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. I find no joy in frosty fingertips and wearing layers of clothing in my own home.

Which is why I've decided to post summer images until Winter is over! I drew this Black Canary piece with the hopes of selling it at a store signing. It's been a while since I've drawn pin-up girls, I've been so busy with Super Friends and my other illustration work.

I'm going to enjoy drawing bathing beauties while outside it blizzards.

Rise the Demon, Etrigan!

2008-12-29T07:50:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! To me it feels as though 2008 flew by. Last week was February, when I went to San Francisco with the Cookes and learned how to crochet (the two are, indeed, oddly linked). A few days later was summer and I rode my bike downtown for Wednesday Comic Book (aka Superman Club, aka Jimmy Olsen Club) lunch with the guys. Yesterday was Halloween and I dressed up like the Fly from the old Vincent Price movie. Mere hours ago Christmas came and went and now we're at the dawn of a new year. Incredible!

Next year I will pay closer attention to the passage of time. I'm quite convinced that my drawing table contains some kind of worm hole. Or perhaps it's the internet that steals away the days. Whatever the culprit I will find it out and slow the passage of time. This is my New Year's Resolution.

best,

Evolution vs. Creation of a Christmas Card!

2008-12-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas is just around the corner. The first bit of snow and cold weather are a reminder to me that I haven't even started to think about my annual Christmas card yet. This year I managed to come up with an image pretty early on, sketched it out in a day and was finished by the following afternoon.

This first sketch had everything I wanted in it and would have been my card were it not for a distinct moment of clarity. I was working on another view of the same scene when a carol of bells rang loudly in my head. The bells said "BORING!" The bells were right. What a boring scene. Boring Santa. Boring kid. Boring everything.

So I started sketching up a tighter shot. One with just the kid and a bigger, fatter, beardier Santa. I thought of all the talented cartoonists I know and how embarassed I'd be if I sent them the really boring card this Christmas. I thought about Christmas specials on TV and how the best ones have a distinct look. Santa in each show has a unique appearance. You'd never mistake the Rudolph Santa, for example, with the Santa from Nightmare Before Christmas. So I imagined what Santa would look like if I made a Christmas Special.

In my Christmas Special Santa is just a little bit weary of kids bringing him gigantic lists of things they simply MUST have. He's tired of them not saying "Please" and "Thank you" when he gives them a candy cane. He's tired of dry cleaning his beard to wash out the sticky stains from their grubby little chocolate covered fingers and wearing extra padding on his knee to soak up the pee from their urine soaked trousers.

He's especially tired of not being asked what he'd like for Christmas. Is it too unreasonable that someone might bring HIM a gift for a change.

And the little tot will cry, because he doesn't understand why Santa is being mean to him. The mothers in the line would glare at Santa and "tsk tsk" his rudeness, snatching their children away from the "worst Santa they've ever seen". One of them might even call Santa a nasty name. They might suggest he find another line of work, one that doesn't involve terrorizing children. They'll file complaints with the store manager, exaggerating the experience with suggestions of "alcohol on his breath" and "he called my son a snot-trough!"

Meanwhile, Santa (who just so happens to be the REAL Santa) will take off for Africa where he'll build houses for Habitat for Humanity and the people who live in those houses will share their food with him and thank him for all of his hard work and he'll be appreciated.

In my Christmas Special Santa might just call the whole thing off and leave the parents with the job of filling up stockings and putting presents under their trees. Maybe then they'll see what it was he did for them year after year. By the time they realize their mistake it'll be too late.
So have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Feliz Navidad and a Jolly ___________! (fill in the blank with celebration of choice).

all the best,

j.bone :)

Astro Boy!

2008-12-06T06:04:00.001-08:00

This is my first time drawing Astro Boy, though I've been a fan of his since I was a kid. I used to carefully watch each weeks episode so that when Astro reported his adventure at the end I'd be able to catch his one inaccuracy. Was it right for Astro to teach kids that it's all right to lie if you're just kidding around?
I had one small problem with the above image...I wasn't sure of the short form for "Kilograms". I wasn't even sure if that was a whole lot of weight! Did I drop high school math and science too early? Perhaps. But I obviously wasn't paying enough attention anyway. I know that One Million of anything is an awful lot. So one million kg's of electo-gravitic weight ought to be impressive.
I confess that I am embarassed by my ignorance.

Here's Astro Boy being caught by surprise. Perhaps he just learned that I had to look up Metric weights on Wikipedia in order to complete the above drawing. I still use the old British system of weighing by Stone. I weigh exactly the same as one Chris Stone.
My good buddy Mike Cho pointed out that Astro looks a little like he's giving the finger. It's the way I simplified the fist with the first finger sticking out slightly. Mike's right, though. It does look a bit "bird-ish".

best,
j.bone
p.s. I have since educated myself further in matters of Metric. I am now better informed.

Reviews of Super Friends #9

2008-11-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

A nice, short review from Rachelle over at Living Between Wednesdays

J.Bone not only did the cover for this issue, he did the interiors! Yay!It's Superman's birthday and everything is adorable, from Lex Luthor being cranky about not being invited to the party, to Batman explaining pinatas to the readers

A not so good review from Adam Dechanel for the Superman Homepage

Story - 2: Quoting Myra in a script by David Odell "Jeez, they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel these days!" Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mastermind of our time is jealous of a birthday party? This is just Dora & Diego in capes isn't it? I appreciate them trying to filter the Lex/Superman dynamic down to the base level for children, but even they wouldn't buy a story like this.

Art - 3: Ugh, the constant smiling makes you think Colgate should be paying for advertising, even more than Mattel for enforcing this book's existence! It's just not fun anymore, it was nice to see the character designs for other Superman villains but everything just seems so 'cookie cutter'.

Cover Art - 4: Superman takes centre stage in this book for once!... Hey, is that ME in the bottom corner... ooh I'm famous! Joking aside it's a nice fun, family friendly cover - where the heck is my slice of that gigantic cake??

The art is "Ugh!" Really? Adam apparently doesn't like smiling or cookies. I think somebody needs a hug. Super bonus points for quoting from Supergirl, though.

Here's another review. This time by Doug Zawisza for Comic Book Resources!

This Johnny DC title does what no title in the DC Unverse proper did this year –- it wishes Superman a happy birthday. After all, it's not every day that a globally recognized, American legend turns 70. To celebrate, a Superman museum is opened in the Johnny DCU, much to the lament of the Flash.

Fisch provides a serviceable title, easily approachable for younger readers with just enough nods and winks for the older crowd that is trying to help foster comics reading for those newer comics fans. The art is simplistic, but well crafted, as it replicates the chunky feel of the toy line these heroes are based upon.
Lex Luthor, of course, shows his bald head to ruin the affairs of the day, with a mischievous plan that smacks of the types of schemes he used to cook up in the Superman stories of the 1960s.

In a time when Superman seems to be encountering a great deal of strife, a title like this does provide a nice reminder that comics were once geared towards a less stressed-out readership. The fact that it includes a recognition and celebration of Superman's birthday with his best friends and his dearest family members only adds sweeter frosting to the birthday cake.

A "less stressed-out readership"! I like that. I really do read this book every month...okay, it's my job. I read the scripts in order to work up a cover idea. But I would be reading this series anyway because I think Sholly is doing such a great job of updating the old World's Finest, Superman Family and Justice League type stories from the 60's. You know, when Batman used to smile and villains were foiled by Green Lantern wearing a rubber Superman mask! When Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite were just imps causing mischief not bizarre dwarfish demons tearing up the Universe with death-hungry powers.

Anyway, here are some more Super Friends covers! Count the smiles!

best,

Superman's Birthday Book!

2008-11-18T15:19:00.001-08:00

Wednesday the 18th of November is the day Issue #9 of the Super Friends hits the stands. This is the issue with Superman's birthday celebration, the first appearance of the Super Friends' Super Baby and the first issue where I draw the interior art (as well as the cover).
I loved drawing the interiors for this issue. Sholly Fisch wrote a super fun story and I had a super fun time with it.

One of my favourite parts was the Superman Museum and Hall of Villains because I got to draw a few of Superman's greatest Foes.

Mxyzptlk turned out to be my favourite of all the favourite parts about this story. He only appears as a statue, which is a darn shame. Maybe I'll get to draw him again for another story.

If you've got a comic shop near you, and you feel the inclination, pop in and take a gander at this issue. Let me know what you thought!

Also, the dear sweet Nicole at Pageslap blogged about me and my odd new hobby! I started a new blog dedicated to my Amigurumi! Amigurumi is a fancy Japanese word that means "crochet dolls". Yup, I crochet. And I make dolls. Superhero dolls. Check 'em out at my new blog, Skein and Bones.

best,

Craft coroner with J.Bone.

2008-10-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks I've been elbow deep in Papier-mâché...or paper mache for those who don't read Français. I'd decided on what could be a really cool costume if I could only pull it off. I really wanted to be the FLY! Specifically the version seen in the RETURN OF THE FLY!

I wanted the giant eyes and threatening mandibles, claw hand and lab coat. So I took myself back to my grade school days and crafted up a paper mache head and hand.
This is the mess I made on the dining room floor crafting my Fly helmet. You can see all the tools of the Papier-mâché craft...the thin layer of newspaper to protect the floor, bowl of flour/water mix which is your glue, the strips of paper for covering your sculpt, foam head and kid's helmet on which I originally created the tape-and-paper sculpture, bottles of alcohol for holding up hand parts for drying and the craftsman in his pajamas getting glue in his arm hair.

That's right, I didn't even bother to bathe before starting my mâché-terpiece.

This is the first version of the head almost ready for paint. Something was...bugging...me about the eyes. They weren't BUGGY enough. I tried a few different things with wads of paper before I remembered another trick learned in grade school...balloons. We would cover balloons with Papier-mâché (and once we did it with string coated in glue). When the mush is dry you simply pop the balloon, pull it out and you've got a lovely bulbous shape to work with. I cut the "balloon" in half and taped 'em to my Fly helmet.

A little extra paper for brow shapes, another few layers of Papier-mâché and you've got yourself a relatively passable fly head. You'll note I left a face area open. On dark Halloween nights you never want to cover your face or eyes. It's for safety, sure, but also because you need your mouth free for eating and drinking and eyes free for seeing all the envious looks of other Halloweeners as they eyeball your awesome costume.

Oh, and there's the hand all mashed together with crumpled mash paper as texture.

Some black spray paint, green paint and super shiny spray on lacquer and you're done. I finished this two weeks before because I had a super fun Halloween party to go to the weekend before Halloween.

The suit is from Value Village (where I do all my Halloween shopping). Lab coat was borrowed from a Doctor friend, black face make-up (also Value Village) to sorta hide my human face and the costume is complete.

Oh, and did I also have a mini version of my head on a fly's body? Yes, as a matter of fact I did. That you will see when I take some good pictures of it :)

Happy Halloween, my friends.

best,

Wonder Woman Charity Art!

2008-10-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

This here is my contribution to Wonder Woman Day! The art will be auctioned off and money will be donated to a women's shelter. I wanted to do something showing Wonder Woman's strength but also that she supports her sisters! You can check out more about the charity and Wonder Woman Day at Andy Mangel's Wonder Woman Museum.

best,
j.

Captain Hammer!

2008-09-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

"Captain Hammer's here, hair blowing in the breeze!" Seriously, Joss Whedon and gang had better do more with Dr. Horrible. I haven't been this obsessed with something since...Avenue Q! Or maybe Sky Captain before I saw the actual movie. Seeing the movie cured me of any obsession.

Penny, with her adorable little overbite, is too much fun not to draw. Like all damsels she falls quickly under Captain Hammer's spell.

For kicks I like to call him "Captain Hammer Pants".

It all goes horribly wrong!

2008-09-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

"Here lies everything. The world I wanted at my feet." Dr. Horrible loses his lady-love and thus is created a whole new kind of evil. I love the finale song. When the music amps up into that weird, eerie sound right before Dr. Horrible enters the board room and delivers his final horrible lines gives me chills.

And here's the art minus the semi-cheesy background. I don't know that he looks so awful much like Neil Patrick Harris but I hope it at least looks like my other version of Dr. Horrible.

Definitely drawing Captain Hammer-pants next.

best,

A Bright and shiny Penny!

2008-08-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

As promised, Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I felt the need to draw her at her most angelic. In life she was torn between two loves. Three loves if you count the homeless. There's the man who saved her life but who turned out to be sort of a creep...and the man she met while doing laundry who was secretly a creep with an even deeper secret...that Dr. Horrible is really kind of a nice guy.

There's a Dr. Horrible image to go with this but I haven't finished the colours yet. Captain Hammer to follow!

best,
j.

Dr. Horrible!

2008-08-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Have you all seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog? I love, love, love it! Neil Patrick Harris is absolutely perfect as the evil Dr. Horrible. The songs are stuck in my head...in a good way. I just had to sit down and doodle the characters. Naturally Dr. Horrible, the star of the show, was the first. I wanted him to be sorta goofy like a Warner Bros cartoon mad scientist. Those mad scientists always have giant craniums and big black eyebrows. Mr. Harris doesn't actually have the big black eyebrows.

j.

Wonder Woman and Friend!

2008-07-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

Oh, Wonder Woman's off to Washington eagle friend in tow. What they'll do when they arrive the world will never know.

Let's call this another pitch that didn't get accepted. Hey, these things happen all the time. Meanwhile I'm having a ball drawing the Super Friends! What a fun book. And have you guys been reading the Tiny Titans? Art Baltazar is brilliant!

j.

Happy Birthday, Superman!

2008-06-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Superman first appeared in Action Comics June 1938. I drew this for my Super Friends editor just for kicks. I really dig working on that book and drawing DC's big six in that cutesy, bulky action figure based way. This also the second birthday image I've drawn with a splatted cake.

j.

SuperLad, Devil D. and Moonboy!

2008-06-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here's something I drew up for a nice guy who sent me a fantastic gift (Hi Chris). In between work I was finally able to colour it up.

What more can I say? :)

It's almost summer, last week was hotter than lava and I love Devil Dinosaur!

Wonder Woman in Playboy!

2008-05-24T10:01:00.001-07:00

Exciting news brings me to post today. A buddy send me a link to the Playboy blog which has a little piece on Darwyn's and my Wonder Woman story in the recent New Frontier one-shot. Clicking the link will take you directly to the blog post...which is fairly safe-for-work. There is no nudity, though cleavage is abundant in the banner ads. My feeling is the article is light-hearted and the writer gets that Cooke and I were having a bit of fun.
It's pretty cool! Just so I'm not posting without putting up artwork, here are some sketches done recently just for fun. Wonder Woman is pretty much my default doodle character. Gosh but I love 'er!

best,

Savage She-Hulk!

2008-05-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ramon Perez asked a bunch of us, his artist buddies, to work up some Hulk themed images for a recent job. I like the Hulk but I've always preferred to read the adventures of She-Hulk. Blame it on John Byrne whose run on the character made me fall in love with her. I think what I liked most about her was that she wasn't on the run from anyone (or anything...or herself). With She-Hulk you have straightforward superhero adventuring un-encumbered by debilitating self-hatred or public fear (see pretty much any Hulk story).

I want to plug a few things that I hope you'll check out. First I want to point out the comic strips going on over at Transmission X. Every strip is highly reccommendable and the site itself is multiple award nominated (Shusters and Eisners).

I've finally added a link to the guy who sells my art, Albert Moy! I've recently sent Albert a bunch of pages from my work on Gotham Girls and Spider-Man: Tangled Web. He's also got my Spirit work.

And finally, if you haven't seen it yet, go check out the IRON MAN movie. Not that it needs my help to be a tremendous success...but I just loved the movie and encourage everyone to see it. It's just so nice when a comic book movie is entertaining, true to the spirit of the character, well acted, looks good and is fantastically well written. If you want to see how true Favreau and crew stuck to the Tony Stark character read (or re-read) the origin of Iron Man. The Essential Iron Man collection available at any big bookstore is the best place to find the story.

best,
j.

Wonder Tot!

2008-04-20T13:14:00.001-07:00

Spring is sprung,
The Grass is rizz,
Do you know who my
favourite Super Tot is?

Of course Wonder Tot would be my favourite of all the Super Tots. I did this just for fun when sketching the other day. I recently got the Hot Stuff The Little Devil Collection from Dark Horse so I've been doodling Harvey proportioned characters lately. I've given you the link to the Dark Horse site and encourage fans of Hot Stuff to check out some of the other stuff they've got. I love the mini-statue of Hot Stuff Giggling That's just about the most adorable thing I've seen in a while. Too bad it's sold out! Rats!

Hope you're all enjoying this lovely Spring weather we've been having...those of you who live in a country, state, or province which is currently experiencing Spring, that is!

best,
j.

Girls of an Unliving Persuasion!

2008-04-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

At first I titled this post "Dead Girls" because of the common theme...but that just seemed so morbid! It's Spring after all. A time of rebirth and renewal.
These are both images I came across while looking through old files. I can't even recall what year they were drawn. The top image was a pin-up for Eric Wight's graphic novel "My Dead Girlfriend". I love the look and style of Eric's artwork on that book. If you haven't seen it I recommend hunting down a copy and checking it out.

This image was drawn for Peter Milligan after he he fell or somehow injured himself. I was inking Mike Allred on the X-Statix at the time...either that or I was inking Darwyn on the Wolverine/Doop story that we did together. That's Dead Girl under the umbrella with Tike and Myles playing frisbee in the background. The little kid is kind of a Dennis the Menace type...I even swiped Ketcham's swirly knees and button nose sported by Dennis and his friends.

I always love drawing beach scenes.

best,

Super Friends! Sick Days!

2008-03-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

I'm late with this update. I've had a few sick days which, when you're self employed, actually cost money :) But I'm better now thanks to a lot of sleep, Neo-Citron and Extra Strength Tylenol!
Last week a new comic book hit the stands. Super Friends is aimed at a younger reader than might ordinarily be found in a comic shop and is based on the Mattel toy line...you've seen a few of my "wish list" toy designs here and here. Those are not actual toy designs for Mattel but my own dream toys which which most likely never come to pass.
I'm really enjoying drawing the covers for the Super Friends and can't wait for you all to see the JLApe cover!

While I was sick I didn't spend much time at my drawing table. But all that time lying around left me itching to draw despite my congestion...so I would sit in my sick bed with a pad of sketch paper and a mechanical pencil and draw whatever happened to be on tv or in my head. This is a collection of a few pages of some of my favourites. The little women are inspired by the brilliant Arthur De Pins a French artist who's work I think everyone should check out. Some of his drawings are a little "not safe for work". Though even his sex drawings are so adorably cute my Grandmother would love them.

best,
j.

Wonder Woman Wednesday!

2008-03-03T05:16:00.001-08:00

This wednesday (I believe) marks the release of the one shot special Justice League: The New Frontier! In it you'll find many wonderous things to behold including artwork from the animated movie, a new Batman/Superman story by Darwyn Cooke, a Robin story by Dave Bullock inked by Mike Cho and a Wonder Woman story by ME! This is my take on Darwyn's New Frontier Wonder Woman in a terrific story written by Darwyn. I've been wanting to draw Wonder Woman for print ever since I started working in comics and I'm thrilled to finally have it happen. Even more so because I got to work with Cooke! And because Cooke loaded the story with pin-up girls! What more could a guy ask for in a story?!?

This is the cover so you'll know what to look for! Please check it out! I really don't think you'll be disappointed (but then I am terribly biased about this sort of thing :)

best,

j.bone

Gladiatrixes!

2008-02-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

American Gladiators ended a few weeks ago so forgive me for only now getting around to posting my cartoon version of the ladies. I feel absolutely no shame in confessing my love for this show! I'm looking forward to another season, a toy line, animated series, and Halloween costumes.

Incidentally Hellga is my favourite!

best,
j.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T02:57:00.000-08:00

Just a simple Valentine card for you all! My mom taught me to give a Valentine to every kid in the class even if certain kids had cooties or were gross! I'm sure that none of you suffer from such debilitating afflictions so to you all I happily spread the Valentine love! :)
best,
j.bone

Gemini!

2008-02-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

Space girls are among my top favourite things to draw. If you had a time machine you could probably find something in my childhood that triggered my love of things outer spatial. Maybe it was seeing Barbarella on video at a young age. Or it could have been Star Wars, Battle Beyond the Stars or any one of the many B-grade Sci-Fi movies my dad would rent. More likely it's a mix of them all coupled with discovering my dad's Playboys (also at an early age :)

But if you had a time machine I can think of a lot more important things you could be doing besides spying on some poor kid discovering naked ladies and science fiction.

So, this is the last of the Horoscopes. Click on the tag at the bottom of this post to see them all one after the other. And now that they're all done I'll be making all of the images available as t-shirts. I'm inclined to use Cafepress just because I'm familiar with it but if anyone knows of a better online service please let me know.

j.
p.s. Wow! I'd posted Gemini, checked the Horoscope tag to see the rest of the Gals and did a count. I was still one short. I can't believe I forgot to post Scorpio! She's one of my favourites. Tough biker chick, that she is!

Aquarius!

2008-01-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Boy, this one was tough. How to draw a gal carrying two full water bottles without making her a husky body builder proved a challenge. In the end she's still husky but hopefully not unattractively so.

Only Gemini left...she's drawn but not yet coloured.

My most pressing work is this Wonder Woman story I'm doing with Cooke! Holy crap, is it ever fun. If I could just get paid to draw Wonder Woman all the time that would be cool. Although a lot of the joy is in the story that Darwyn cooked up (it's impossible not to pun on his name when you're hopelessly punny like I am). It's only six pages but we pack an awful lot of women into those six pages!!

j.

Sagittarius!

2007-12-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

Just in time for the New Year, I've finally almost finished a series I started last year!! What can I say, I've been busy :)

Sagittarius was actually roughed out ages ago but I only now had the time to polish up the drawing and turn out a final. In researching classical Greek robes for woman I found this particular cross-your-heart-bra style wrap and thought it was an awesome way to reveal bottom cleavage. I wanted the pin-up to look like the women in Steve Reeve Hercules films, or like the Goddesses in "Clash of the Titans"...a movie accurate costume.

Hope you all had a lovely Holidays! Happy New Year!

best,
j.

Seasonal Greeting Holiday Card!

2007-12-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

This here post compiles the evolutionary sketches of this year's Holiday Greeting card. I usually like to draw a pin-up girl for the card I'll hand out and e-mail. This year my gag was a pun on "fur" with a gal in a "fir" coat.

I tried a few different attitudes for the lady before resting on a wry smile and sarcastic line to her Husband. Her fella is meant to be enjoying the little joke he's played on his lady. But somethow it all just wasn't that funny a gag to me. It's not obvious enough in that "wakka wakka" or "wah wah" kinda bad punny way that I love jokes to be. I could think about it four ways to Sunday and it still wouldn't make the gag any better (and I do use the term loosely :)

So...I went back to the first drawing I did. Yes, my first approach was two female fir trees hanging out and gabbing. It's cutesy and definitely punny in just exactly the way I wanted. That'll teach me to over think these things so much.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope that however you choose to celebrate you have a wonderful week and also a Happy New Year!

best,

j.bone

Doom Patrol!

2007-12-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

The title says it all. Just look at those awesome costumes. Why aren't there Doom Patrol toys for me to buy. I'd love the ol' twelve inch G.I. Joe size for these guys. That would be swell.

j.

It's My Element, Man!

2007-11-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm posting a few pencil drawings because I don't often do that (and I haven't had time to ink any of these yet :) I hope you don't mind. As I mentioned last post I've been drawing the covers for the upcoming Super Friends comic book aimed at a younger reader. The characters are based on the new toy line by Mattel. The toys are super cute! I've got Batman already and am eagerly awaiting the release of Aquaman. In a dream world the next batch of figures would include some of my favourite characters...Metamorpho, the Doom Patrol and the Metal Men. This sketch is my take on Metamorpho if he were to be one of these toys. His accessories would be a bunch of shape changing appendages that you would snap on.

Next up are some sketches of super gals. I was reading the Black Canary archive book and sketched her up in some down time.

And, of course, you already know that I LOVE Wonder Woman. These sketches were my attempt to draw her as Diana Prince (I was also reading the Wonder Woman Showcase collection recently released by DC...boy is Steve Trevor ever a dink in those stories. He's all "Marry me, angel. Marry me. I won't be happy until you marry me, Wonder Woman." Yikes. What a bore.)

Thanks for stopping by. I'll try to have some finished art for my next post.

best,

Adventures of Solar Stella!

2007-11-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

Like a lemon meringue pie comes Solar Sella, the final installment in my Women in Space triptych. I had planned to scan in some Stella pages just to show you all exactly who this gal is...unfortunately I can't find a copy of the book in my house. There must me one somewhere. I had a box of about ten of them at one point. When I find a copy I'll make sure to upload a few pages to this very blog.

And here they all are, together for the first time (here anyway). I placed Barbarella in the fore because she's really the first one.

In work news, I'm currently inking my final issue of the Spirit. It's a little bittersweet, working on this one. I'm happy to be at the end but sad that I won't be working with my good buddy, Darwyn, anymore. Not that we won't be doing other work together in the future (quite possibly the very near future ;) but it won't be the monthly team-up I've enjoyed this past year.

I've also been drawing and colouring covers for a new Super Friends book aimed at younger readers. Just as soon as I'm allowed to I'll post a few of the covers here. I absolutely love drawing DC's finest and can't wait to show you all my work.

best,

I Heart Space Girls!

2007-09-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Long ago, back when I worked at an animation studio here in T.O., I heard that the company owned the animation rights to Barbarella! I sketched up a bunch of character ideas and tried to pitch myself as a develpment artist on the project...but alas, twas not meant to be. It was one of those projects stuck in a development black hole. Lots of art was thrown its way but nothing ever returned!

From those development drawings was born my first published comic book work, Solar Stella! I started drawing a mini-comic in my spare time using Barbarella as the jumping off point. Solar Stella was a pin-up gal lost in the farthest reaches of space. Her adventures were just meant to be good old fashioned fun with lots of cheesecake drawings. The book came out in 2000 and I'd fully intended to follow up with more Stella stories but, as it turned out, I started getting higher paying work. Stella would have to wait. And wait...and wait...
I still love the space girls and I still plan on doing more with Stella. These girls are meant to be a three piece ensemble. For some reason I had an idea to draw a trio of Space Girls with identically positioned legs. The girls are Barbarella, Dragonfly (from the movie CQ*) and eventually Solar Stella.

A little Cabaret!

2007-09-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

This is not a caricature. I recently had my caricature done by the brilliant Joe Bluhm and the equally brilliant (and adorable) Sam Gorrie. And they showed me that a caricature not only captures likeness but is also hilariously funny (if you have a sense of humour about yourself). So when I set out to do a drawing of the the talented songstress of Toronto Cabaret, Sharron Matthews, I stayed away from caricature! I'll leave caricaturing to the pros (see links to Sam and Joe). In the end I kinda think Sharron could easily be a character in an Archie comic the way I've drawn her here. The biggest problem I had with my drawing was in the colouring. I'm not 100% happy with the turquoise even though it's one of my favourite colours and one that Sharron has worn on a few occassions. But it's the best colour with her skin tone and purple background.

So just for my own pleasure I coloured up a monochromatic version. The purple makes Sharron look like a blues singer or something. I imagine she's belting out a tune originally sung by Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald. In reality she's probably singing "Jessie's Girl".

L'il Hawkman!

2007-09-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

What do I want for Christmas this year? (Is it too soon to talk about Christmas? My mom wouldn't say so...she usually does all her shopping in October!) I want the new line of Mattel's DC SUPER FRIENDS! They are just the cutest little toys and I want 'em all.
The first wave has Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Lex Luthor. I'm really hoping the toys sell well so that we'll get more Justice Leaguers like Wonder Woman, Plastic Man and Hawkman! In my dreams they'd also do Metamorpho and the original Doom Patrol...but those are only dreams...*sigh*.

I can't wait till these cute little toys are in stores!

Incidentally, I've been working on some cool stuff lately but can't spill it just yet. Soon, though.

ever yours,
j.

Back to School!

2007-08-31T06:47:00.001-07:00

An older image but one that's apropos for today...all over the neighbourhood parents are rejoicing and children are crying. Next week all the kids are back in school! Not that it means anything to me, personally. Not anymore. But when I was a kid I actually kinda liked going back to school. I was a nerd kid and getting new notebooks, pens and pencils was exciting. Once the school work started, though, the excitement quickly vanished.

So, about the drawing...it was originally done as a pitch for an Archie-like approach to the Marvel characters. I'd been drawing a teen version of Tigra for a while and used her as the main character in the pitch (which was written by Brian McLachlan of Princess Planet fame). I think the characters are pretty self-evident but I'll still leave it up to you commenters to name them all. :)
The book never happened but it sure would have been a lot of fun.

j.

Mike Wieringo 1963 - 2007

2007-08-13T18:21:00.001-07:00

Today ended on a very sad note...I learned that this past weekend the incredibly talented, incredibly nice Mike Wieringo passed away of heart failure. Mike was one of the sweetest guys I've ever met in comics and I'm unbelievably sad that he's gone. But my sadness must pale in comparison to that felt by friends and family members he's left behind. Their loss is immense.

I had the good fortune to work with Mike. The above four pages of art are from the SIDEKICKS Super Summer Fun Special put out by ONI press. My friend J.Torres put it together. I think Mike had written J. to tell him how much he liked our Alison Dare project, and from there a friendship grew. Mike graciously agreed to draw a segment in the Summer Fun book but only if I agreed to ink it. Honest, that's how the job was presented to me and who am I to argue with Mike Wieringo! :)

My brush was merely a tracer's tool on this job, I assure you. The pencils were printably tight. All I had to concentrate on was not ruining the faces on Mike's adorable girls ( at which I hope I was successful). I met Mike later that summer at a convention in Philadelphia and I was happy to find out what a great guy he was. He ended up sitting with some friends and I for the entire night, entertaining us with hilarious stories and jokes. It's the only time I've ever hung out with Mike in person but it truly did leave a lasting impression.

We kept in touch through e-mails over the years...and only now do I realize that I didn't write to him nearly enough. I wish I could send him another e-mail right now...

Rest in peace, Mike. We'll all miss you.

Sincerely,

J.Bone

Happy Birthday to Everyone!

2007-07-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

Whew! Back from San Diego and happy to be home. I love San Diego...the beaches, the weather, the food. And, of course, Comic Con! Lots of news out of con. My buddy Darwyn won THREE Eisner awards. Best Single Issue for BATMAN/ THE SPIRIT #1, Best Graphic Album reprint for ABSOLUTE DC: THE NEW FRONTIER, and Best Publication Design for ABSOLUTE DC: THE NEW FRONTIER. Though we weren't at the awards we drank a toast when we heard the news.

Now it's back to the drawing board. Deadlines loom!

Wonder Woman! I love you!

2007-07-15T06:34:00.001-07:00

Just because. I haven't drawn Wonder Woman in a while and I really missed her.

Funny Books!

2007-07-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

A while ago I drew a three page comic sequence for DC's line of Cartoon Network books. I missed the book when it originally came out but I've since received a few copies thanks to my kindly editor Rachel! For your enjoyment (and to update my blog, finally :) I've scanned the pages in full colour. Here they be:

The gags were written by the show creator Tom Warburton (who I've never met but I picture Patrick Warburton - Puddy from Seinfeld).

Have a super secret agent day!

Conventional Wisdom!

2007-06-11T11:48:00.001-07:00

This weekend there was a comic book convetion in town! For the first time I charged for sketches which meant I could take my time and do a much better job than ordinarily...not to say that I don't try to do a good job but when you're doing a drawing in ten minutes or less sometimes things get a little wonky...especially by the 30th or 40th drawing.

So here are some of the sketches I did this weekend.
The guy who asked for this Lois Lane drawing didn't show up on Sunday. Steve Zegers, if you're somehow reading this I'll have the drawing with me at TCAF in August...after that it's up for grabs. :)

And now I'm exhausted.

In the Spirit of Giving!

2007-05-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's post is partially brought to you by the fabulous Cal Johnston owner of Strange Adventures in Halifax! It's also brought to you by the letter "S". "S is for Spirit", a character I've been inking over the brilliant Darwyn Cooke (who just Google searched his name and found this post :)
If you're ever in Halifax do yourself a favour and stop by Strange Adventures...Cal runs a shop the way I wish more businesses were run let alone comic book stores. Super nice, super helpful and he knows comics! I've done a few signings out at the store and have honestly never seen such a big turn out or encountered such friendly groups of people in my whole comic book career. On the first free comic book day Cal organized the handing out of free comics at the movie theatre which was then showing the very first Spider-Man movie. Is that not awesome?! So, above is the drawing I did for Cal's birthday last year...which honestly doesn't begin to repay him for all the great things he's done for me. And below is a picture Cal sent me...a customer of his works with the UN and on a recent visit to Darfur took along a copy of the Spirit! Apparently the kids loved it so much they insisted on keeping the comic.

Doesn't this picture just make you happy? It makes me happy!

Have a happy day, ever'body!

best,

Reel 'Em In!

2007-04-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

When I posted the image for Cancer a buddy of mine mentioned he thought the gal would have freckles. She's a red head and he's right that she probably ought to have 'em. I had that in my brain when I drew Miss Pisces and yet I ended up colouring her as a brunette. She could easily have any colour of hair (God bless Photoshop) and as I come to end of the theme I really start to notice just how many brunettes I've drawn. You could very well guess the colour of my own hair by the appearance of my characters.

And speaking of appearance...it hasn't escaped me that there is a shocking lack of ethnic diversity in my Zodiacs. My day to day gig in illustration has taught me to be more wide ranging in my skin tone colour choices and I actually think it's important that I reflect diversity in my pin-up drawings. My plan is to go back over the drawings once I'm finished and create new heads for each image and recolour them. Photoshop makes that easy, too! :)

Peace out,

Cat-Fish Creek!

2007-04-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...it's been ages since I updated. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Mostly I got tied up with work. The other big reason was that I didn't want to post any drawings that weren't related to the Horoscope theme until I was done with the Horoscope theme. Unfortunately the final few Zodiac drawings kept getting pushed to the side as more paying work came in.

Enough kvetching. Here, finally, is Pisces. The earlier fish woman was believed to be Pisces but she is actually Capricorn (the fish/goat or goat/fish depending on your preferrence). I've always known Pisces was going to be gal in hip waders fishing off a riverbank. When I was a kid we used to catch crayfish in cups in a river/creek pretty similar to what you see here.

Because I've been away for so long I felt it only right that I post a second image. I recently got the Art of Shane Glines which I highly recommend checking out if you can afford it. This drawing is more than heavily influenced by the gorgeous linework on display in Shane's book. The "S" curve on the front side of Selina's money bag is my little tribute to Shane's book (actually I've been throwing that line in a lot of my drawings lately).

best,
j.

Sunny Beach!

2007-02-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

Boy, what I wouldn't give to be sitting on a beach right now! It would mean, first of all, that I'd be warm and second of all it would mean that all my work is done because I would never go on vacation with jobs left unfinished. Alas tis not to be...

So it's sorta been known for a while now that the latest batch of drawings are Signs of the Zodiac. I started with Virgo, followed by Taurus, Libra, Capricorn (not Pisces as you may have thought), Aries and finally Leo. This one is...Cancer! I'm more than half done but work has kept me from finishing the final few. I hope beyond hope that I can finish the rest soon so as not to interrupt the complete set with posts of work done in the meanwhile.

Have a lovely day!
best,
j.

Queen of the Jungle!

2007-01-31T05:16:00.000-08:00

Cue jungle soundtrack...crickets the size of your hand create a pulsing background rhythm...exotic birds cry out...k-k-kaw k-k-kaw...the bass purr of a jungle cat sends a shiver up your spine...the Queen of the Jungle perches, her leonine hair remains remarkably unfrizzy despite the humid jungle air. What product is she using to maintain such body? Does she even own a hair dryer? Or know what a hair dryer is?!?

This one turned out better than I could have wanted! Could be that it's my sign and I really wanted an image that I wouldn't mind having on my wall! :) There is one part that still bugs me...and that is that her bosom looks uneven. I probably shouldn't even point that out because maybe no one would have noticed. But just in case someone does notice I want you all to know that I know.

Incidentally, I looked up some facts on Sheena, the original Queen of the Jungle...and I found out that she was the first female comic character to get her own title. She beat Wonder Woman by three months. I also love the fact that she was co-created by Will Eisner who also created the Spirit...the book on which I am currently working!

best,
j.

Norse Goddess! Or Vi-Queen!

2007-01-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

Boy oh boy, this one was tough. I drew a male version of this one first and wanted to use the same stalwart pose for the lady. But how to make a female warrior advancing with her hefty hammer into a sexy pin-up. Forgo the sexy, really. So I focused on making her a bosomy barbarian with shapely gams and sporting just a smidge of lipstick. She kinds reminds me of Sorsha from Willow! Maybe it's the snow.

p.s. I love coincidence and in an example of sheer coincidence I was about to hit "Publish" this post when I heard on the radio an ad for a Dodge RAM! Zowie! I'd better hit post while the stars are still aligned!

Under the Sea!

2007-01-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

I suppose something should be said about the strangeness of this fish woman! Her tail is based on one of those old drawings of fish made before the invention of the camera. When sailors would come back with horrible tales of creatures beyond description which populated the seas and oceans of the world. It's the only time I've ever seen a shark drawn with whiskers. In the latin this little mermaid is known as ANTHRO POMORPHOS (or so says the book 1300 Real and Fanciful Animals from Seventeenth-Century Engravings by Matthaus Merian).

This week my good friends Chris and Angela delivered their first baby. I drew this little caricature of Junior Stone (not his real name) sight unseen. I took it upon myself to extrapolate the facial characteristics of the mother and father, merging the more prominent features into the likeness you see before you. In the end he looks nothing like this. More to the point I managed to completely forget that neither Chris nor Angela have brown eyes. Almost all babies have blue eyes at birth (or so I'm told) and only in the coming months will they learn his true eye colour. At any rate congratulations to my friends on their successful procreation.

your friend,

Roller Gal!

2007-01-17T06:40:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid my hometown still had a drive-in A&W. I loved getting food served to us in the car! I don't know why that should be so awesome but it totally was. The girls who worked at the A&W weren't on roller skates but back in the 50's it was common...it sped up service in the then new fast food industry. Check out the book CAR HOPS AND CURB SERVICE by Jim Heimann for some fun history, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

This is entry number three in the continuing theme. I badly want to pun on the phrase "working for scale" but can't really figure out what the phrase means...and if it only applies to actors.

best,

Rodeo Gal!

2007-01-10T05:39:00.000-08:00

She's an old cow hand from the Rio Grande! Next in line, still continuing last post's theme. This little filly is practical, reliable, patient and affectionate. But she's also a little bit lazy and when pushed you'll find she's one stubborn lass. Seriously jealous she'll lassoe your a** if she catches you making time with another gal!
I always love drawing cow-folk...ever since working on Mutant Texas: Tales of Sheriff Ida Red (written by Mr. Paul Dini). When I look through that book I still think it's some of my best drawing ever.

best,
j.

New Year's Eve!

2007-01-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

Shocking! Shameful! Disgraceful? Don't be silly. It's a drawing of the world's first woman, tastefully shielding her more private bits from leering eyes. Over the next few posts I'll be featuring pin-ups I drew as Christmas gifts for my family. This is Eve before the fall...I couldn't hide her nudity with leaves as did the classic painters because she is not yet ashamed. Y'see, she's still virginal here. That's an important key to the theme of this and the next few pin-ups. *wink*

best,
j.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

My Christmas card this year! I have many fond memories of waking up Christmas morning and running downstairs to see what Santasquatch left for me under the tree. His pungent odor still hung in the air as I tore into my gifts. It was always my intent to climb up to the roof and make a plaster-of-paris cast of Santasquatch's enormous footprint left in the rooftop snow...but dad wouldn't let me use the ladder. And although my image here shows cookies and milk in the foreground, Santasquatch actually prefers raw meat and birds eggs. *sigh* Oh, memories!

And here's the birth of Santasquatch. As you can see, when I originally drew him he was called Sant-Sasquatch. Drawn for Milo who also got the Puck drawing I did a few comic conventions ago.

hugs all,

Blueline Inking.

2006-12-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

Aloha, friends. Who wants some cheesecake? I'm serving up a slice disguised as a quick tutorial on inking over a blueline printout. As with the colouring tutorial this is merely one man's method and there are many ways to work. Here's mine...

The first step is a pencil drawing. After Prismacolor changed their lead to a crappier, gritty formula I switched back to drawing with regular old grade school HBs. I use a Papermate HB #2 (sometimes #3 which is a little harder lead). I draw my roughs on photo-copy paper relatively loosely. Above is a section of my actual rough artwork. I scan the grey line art on the GRAYSCALE setting. My scanning sometimes doesn't pick up really light lines and I found that if there is something solid black on the scanner with my drawing more lines are "read". My solution - a post-it note with "SCAN!" written in thick black marker. I stick it on pencil drawings and they scans perfect every time. Just remember to delete the post-it in Photoshop.

Step two-ish is to convert your grey line to blue. I used to do it in a really complicated way which I won't tell you here (so as not to confuse and also because I can't believe I used to do it any other way). The easiest way to convert your art to blue, or 100%CYAN, is as follows: With your greyscale file open SELECT ALL and COPY your image. DELETE it. That's right. DELETE it. You need a clean background for the next step (you could also have a second window open if you're nervous about losing your artwork for ever). Convert your file to CMYK. Select the CHANNELS pallette (it's in with LAYERS, HISTORY, etc...) and highlight the CYAN CHANNEL.
PASTE your artwork into the CYAN CHANNEL.

Return to your LAYERS palette. Your art probably still looks grey, which is why you now create a DUPLICATE LAYER of the background.

Did it just show up blue? Awesome. Delete the background layer and you've got a perfectly 100% Cyan image that, when inked, won't scan.My next step (step three) is to tighten the pencils. I LOVE pencilling over a blueline that won't erase or disappear no matter how much I abuse my paper. Okay, I can't spill coffee on it or call it degrading names but it's pretty near un-removable. You may not want to print out at 100%...instead you can reduce the opacity of your Cyan layer to 15-30%. It's a little easier to draw over your rough if the blueline isn't overpowering your senses.

I realize that I still erase my pencils after I've inked the image which you might think defeats the purpose of printing the blue. Well, I still have that crutch but the better artists among you can ink right over your blue art with nary an HB coming near the page. I ink all of the Spirit pages like that...Darwyn's pencils converted to blueline at about 30% opacity so I can still make out all the details. It's a beautiful way to work.

When you scan the black and white art for colouring make sure that your scanner is set on LINEART or BLACK AND WHITE (whatever your scanner setting is) and the blue will not scan.

Incidentally, the above image is not ready to be seen in full yet. But you don't need to see the whole thing for a tutorial, do you? :)

Also, I don't foresee doing an inking tutorial at any time. Instead I'm going to recommend getting Gary Martin's book THE ART OF COMIC BOOK INKING. I searched for it at Amazon and apparently only Volume 2 is available. I have never seen Volume 2 and heard it isn't nearly as good or informative as volume 1. If you have used bookstores near you I suggest starting there.

My only other suggestion is to get your hands on as many pages of pencilled comic art (online, from friends, scans from the Kirby collector, etc...) as you can and start there. Hey, you can even print out blue line copies of the art so if you muck it up make another print out and start over. Easy peasy!

Happy drawing!

Wonder Woman Pencils!

2006-11-29T06:14:00.000-08:00

This may seem awfully backwards but after last post's detailed description of colouring I thought I was asked to create an equally detailed article on inking. I won't be doing that today! :)
But what I will do is show my roughs and the final pencils.
These were drawn fairly small...about 5.5" by 4" in pencil first and then loosely inked. I had several variations on poses and composition, chose these two as my favourite and scanned them in. Finally choosing the bottom drawing as the better of the two I re-sized the image for 9"x12" paper and printed it out in blue line.
Then I just started pencilling. You can kinda make out some of the blue line under my grey pencil. This method has saved me so much drawing time in that if you make a mistake or don't like something you've done you can erase the pencil and your blue print-out is still underneath. The keen among you might notice that some of the statues changed in the inking stage and a completely new one springs up behind Wonder Woman's sword. Speaking of swords...I embiggened the Gorgon's sword before inking, as well.

Tools - I draw with a regular old HB pencil (Papermate Mirado Classic #3) on Strathmore Bristol Vellum finish.

j.

Colouring Tutorial!

2006-11-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

Here in all it's explanatory glory is a colouring tutorial and should, if I do well in my job, give away all of my secrets! I only hope I am up to the task.

Before I begin let's assume you've created a piece of black and white line art and that you are passingly familiar with all that Photoshop has to offer (I'm using Photoshop 7.0) That is, you know how to create layers, choose different brushes, and save your files regularly. I also use a lot of the key-command shortcuts but will do my best to give the menu directions. And, yes, I'm on a PC. Let's not make this a discussion about the marvelousness of Macs, shall we :)

If it lends any credibility to my colouring methodology I learned most of my techniques from the following top talents: Laura Allred (Madman, X-Statix), Darwyn Cooke (New Frontier, Catwoman), and Laura DePuy (Authority).

Step 1 - Scan your black and white lineart. Convert to Greyscale by going to IMAGE - MODE - GRAYSCALE. With default colours set on black (foreground) and white (background) go to SELECT - COLOR RANGE. A pop-up window gives you selection options. Black is automatically selected as the default sampled colour, and your FUZZINESS should be at the far right (which for me is 200).

Click OK and now you've got marching ants around all of your black areas. Without deselecting your art create a new layer by clicking the NEW LAYER icon in your LAYERS PALETTE. Fill your selection with black by going to EDIT - FILL and choosing your foreground colour (PC shortcut is Alt-Delete). Don't deselect just yet. Go back up to SELECT menu and choose MODIFY - CONTRACT. Contract your selection by one pixel, create another new layer and fill that layer selection with a colour you won't likely use in your art. I chose a medium grey. Now you've got three layers; your original background lineart, lineart in grey (or chosen colour) and top layer of black and white lineart.

Why do I create another layer? This is the layer I am going to do most of my colouring on and with lineart one pixel smaller than the black and white lineart I can select areas for easier filling (where lines are closed).

SAVE your file giving it a wonderfully creative name.

Below is a close up of my artwork by layer. The grey lineart and black and white lineart. Remember not to touch your black and white top layer...you can lock it if you're prone to layer hopping. There's a LOCK icon in your LAYER PALETTE, just click it with your lineart layer selected.

Step 2 - Convert your file to CMYK (IMAGE - MODE - CMYK). It's the colour mode you'll need to be in for printing with every printer and it's much easier to convert to RGB for Internet posting than to do a backwards conversion for colour printer output.

Now comes the fun part! COLOUR! I usually start by making my background layer a solid filled colour. I chose brown because I know I want a reddish colour as my background. There's a fire in my background art which is going to make the setting red and also I know I'm going to colour the Gorgon greenish and I want her to stand out from the background.

I coloured the fire next and suggested a few places I might highlight with light from the fire. I colour with brushes, the POLYGONAL LASSO TOOL (allowing me to create selected areas with continous clicks), MAGIC WAND tool and my shortcut fill command. All of this is done on the background layer because I like to save my grey lineart layer for characters. This way I can change my background colour art anytime without having to carefully select around my character colour art. Make sense?

SAVE as you go.

Hot Tip - I highly recommend learning all of the shortcut key commands
for your favourite tools just to save you time.

When colouring I usually try to colour what I know...ie Wonder Woman's skin tone costume. I know that the Gorgon is going to be green-blue so I colour all of her skin. I don't bother with highlights or shadows yet, just flat colour values.

I already have a colour image of Wonder Woman so I actually opened up that file and used the EYEDROP tool to choose her colours.

Hot Tip - I create shadow and highlight colours by altering the COLOR sliders in the COLOR PALETTE. Beside each slider is a number value. I change those values by adding or subtracting 20-30 to my current value. For example: Wonder Woman's skin tone in CMYK is C- 12 M- 46 Y- 62 K- 0 . For a highlight I change the number values to read C- 0 M- 16 Y- 32 K- 0 .

I was always told not to use black in your colour. It's a good rule for painting and equally good for computer colour. Black tends to dull your values and dull colour is not desireable!

Once I've got all my colour areas filled in I start highlighting or shadowing using my light source (the fire) as a guide. Using the MAGIC WAND I'll select a colour area, fill it with a more appropriate colour...say a highlight...then with my brush tool I'll cut in shapes of darker colour. My current technique is to use the solid brush as a circle and increase or decrease its size until it fits exactly the shape I want for my darker colour area.

And that's it! Honest. I usually end up adjusting colours once I'm done. The background of the final image was lightened by using the IMAGE - ADJUSTMENTS - HUE/SATURATION sliders. I use that pretty regularly when I'm not sure of a colour choice. It's a nice quick way to play around with colours without having to hit UNDO after every change.

A final Cool Tip - CTRL H hides the marching ants around a selected area. I use that a lot because I find the "ants" distracting when colouring. And here's the final image. I hope the tutorial was helpful to those of you who asked for it! Feel free to ask questions if anythings not clear or if you want further explanation. This is already a long post so I'll save the halftone screen explanation for another day.