A Golden Moment of Truth!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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.

Beyoncé Bounce!

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!

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!

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!

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

j.

It's a New Year!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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