Cold Summer Days!

 We're in the middle of another heat wave here in Toronto...all the more reason to draw some frosty snow queens to cool things down. I drew these ladies in Photoshop on my Wacom - all digital. I've been messing around with digital art now, just a little. I still love inking traditionally but I can play with color more when I work on the computer.

Hope you're all having a good summer, or winter if you're on the other side of the World!
best,
j.bone

The Amazing Rocketman!

I drew this after finally catching up on all my Rocketeer Adventures comics by IDW! What a fun character that you can do so much with! For some reason I feel like the movie didn't get a good rap, but I think it served the original Dave Stevens comic well! In fact the casting was spot on! Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly? Hot!

TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) was this past weekend. Next post I'll write about the wicked comics I picked up.

j.

Go, Go, GOBUKAN!

Hello! I have multiple pieces of GOBUKAN related updates to relate. One is that the first complete long form adventure of GOBUKAN is now...complete. And you can read it all HERE. And also read even more comics at Saturday Morning Webtoons

Two - I've started a GOBUKAN CafePress shop with t-shirts and a journal (aka A Diary). I write all kinds of secrets in my diary.  I'll be adding more images and items as I build the shop. Let me know if there are any of my non-licensed images you'd like to see on a shirt, mousepad, coffee mug, or keychain.

Third - If you're in Toronto May 5th and 6th I'll be at TCAF, though not officially set up at any one table, with postcards available. I'll be on a Saturday Morning Webtoons panel which is tentatively scheduled for Saturday at noon. We tried for a morning time slot but everyone one was still eating cereal in their pjs and reading Saturday Morning Webtoons.

And now, before I annoy you with all my GOBUKAN excitement (too late) I bid you adieu and have a pleasant day.
J.Bone

Super Best Friends Forever!

Does Batgirl want her own Super Best Friends Forever comic book series?
I LOVE the new Super Best Friends Forever (aka SBFF) DC Nation shorts. Of course, I don't have television so I have to watch the shorts on YouTube (and so can you). They're so adorable! I wasn't familiar with Lauren Faust before (although I knew her designs...I just didn't know who she was). Check out her brilliant Galaxy Girls designs!

I've been sketching the girls, Batgirl mostly, in between drawing jobs. I really want to draw the DC comic book that really, really should be made for the SBFF!

j.

John Carter of Awesome!

I finally got out to see John Carter (of Mars) and boy did I ever love it! If you haven't seen it yet, or haven't seen it because the trailers looked stupid, I encourage you to go. When I left the theater I immediately wanted a) a Tars Tarkas action figure b) to see the movie again and c) to draw! It fired up my imagination in a way that no movie has for quite a while (probably the last time I wanted to draw right after seeing a movie was when I saw the Incredibles).

I mean, I always want to draw...but I wanted to draw stuff from this movie. It's a way of having the movie continue outside of the theater.

I wish John Carter (of Mars) had done better in theaters so that we'd get a sequel.

j.

Batman: Full of Bats!

"It can be truly said that I have a bat in my belfry!"So, September of last year I did a little joke drawing of Batman. The idea was to put as many bats on him as the new Wonder Woman costume had "WWs" (Five). Though I forgot to scallop his gloves with bat ears and wings, I managed to do it. I thought I was being all clever and stuff and then the Earth 2 Batman costume design by Jim Lee was released. Jim outdid himself on this one. It's got SIX bats that I can see (7 if you count his cowl). Mine only has five. I would have had seven if I'd done his gloves, dammit.

Maybe I'll see what I can do with Martian Manhunter and his Mars logo.

j.

Gaga for Girls!

A few drawings of Lady Gaga from her TELEPHONE music video and sketches of the gorgeous Katherine Piro. I've added costuming and details to the drawings of Katherine -- as it was pointed out to me that she would never wear a heart print bikini :)

j.

New Web-Comic!

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!

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.