Art by Committee -- "A Long, Long Way from Home"

I'm really enjoying the Art by Committee challenge at James Gurney's blog. Click here to see some of the imaginative entries from last week's challenge Stone's Bark. This week's assignment is to draw a scene that illustrates this line of text:

"a third had blotched skin of black and white, like a goat's, a fourth had four pair of arms, and the three others were of such an aspect they were actually indescribable.

For this entry, I used as a starting point my last comic strip and wondered, how did the Mighty Andar get to this place? Maybe future entries will help me fill in the gaps. It's an interesting way to make a comic, jumping back and forth from different points in the story.

Cover Redo #2

Here's another image that I've "recovered".

100 Themes

I like the idea of "comics improv". You might also call them word association comics. We've all seen "Who's Line is it Anyway" when someone yells out a word and the comedians do the best they can with it, on the spot. I like drawing comic strips that way, responding to challenges, giving myself a time limit, and doing the best I can with it.

One of the challenges floating around now is called 100 Themes. The challenge is to draw one panel or illustration for each. Here is Part 1 of my take on these themes. Here is the complete list of themes.

The Themes:

1. Introduction 2. Love 3. Light 4. Dark 5. Seeking Solace 6. Break Away 7. Heaven 8. Innocence 9. Drive 10. Breathe Again 11. Memory 12. Insanity 13. Misfortune 14. Smile 15. Silence 16. Questioning 17. Blood 18. Rainbow 19. Gray 20. Fortitude 21. Vacation 22. Mother Nature 23. Cat 24. No Time 25. Trouble Lurking

26. Tears 27. Foreign 28. Sorrow 29. Happiness 30. Under the Rain 31. Flowers 32. Night 33. Expectations 34. Stars 35. Hold My Hand 36. Precious Treasure 37. Eyes 38. Abandoned 39. Dreams 40. Rated 41. Teamwork 42. Standing Still 43. Dying 44. Two Roads 45. Illusion 46. Family 47. Creation 48. Childhood 49. Stripes 50. Breaking the Rules

51. Sport 52. Deep in Thought 53. Keeping a Secret 54. Tower 55. Waiting 56. Danger Ahead 57. Sacrifice 58. Kick in the Head 59. No Way Out 60. Rejection 61. Fairy Tale 62. Magic 63. Do Not Disturb 64. Multitasking 65. Horror 66. Traps 67. Playing the Melody 68. Hero 69. Annoyance 70. 67% 71. Obsession 72. Mischief Managed 73. I Can't 74. Are You Challenging Me? 75. Mirror

76. Broken Pieces 77. Test 78. Drink 79. Starvation 80. Words 81. Pen and Paper 82. Can You Hear Me? 83. Heal 84. Out Cold 85. Spiral 86. Seeing Red 87. Food 88. Pain 89. Through the Fire 90. Triangle 91. Drowning 92. All That I Have 93. Give Up 94. Last Hope 95. Advertisement 96. In the Storm 97. Safety First 98. Puzzle 99. Solitude 100. Relaxation

Hulk vs. Batman in the "Birthday Boy Bash"

This Saturday was Nathan's 2nd birthday party. It was quite exciting. The Hulk and Batman showed up.

Studies after the Masters

This is a very special sketchbook. Twenty-one years ago, it was a gift to me from my cooperating teacher, Dana Twigg. He illustrated the frontispiece with cartoon drawings of me. Then he had the students and teachers in the school sign it and write any words of wisdom they had for me. It was a large format hardcover sketchbook -- the nicest I'd ever had.

What would I put in it? I have a bad habit of starting sketchbooks and ripping pages out of it for whatever reason. I didn't want to do that with this one. Then I recalled some advice from one of my professors, Dale Witherow. My rendering was okay, but my compositions were weak. He suggested keeping a sketchbook of studies from the masters to analyze how they put pictures together. That's what I decided to do. I've worked in it on and off since then.
I also enjoy collecting quotes of artists. Usually, on the same page as a study I'll include something the artist said.

The Mighty Andar -- Stranger in a Strange Land

One of my favorite artist blogs is the Gurney Journey, by artist James Gurney. He's currently holding a challenge he calls Art by Committee. He posts a random selection of a science fiction novel and asks any willing artists to interpret it visually.

This week's challenge is to illustrate this scene.

"Stone emitted a kind of bark -- ha! -- and showed his teeth again."

We have no idea what novel it came from or anything else about the story. Here's my submission:
I guess this is my take on Planet Hulk or Prisonbreak. I don't know. This could be the beginning of a story though. That's why I like these types of challenges. They suggest new directions to go with my comics I wouldn't have considered.

It's Hammer Time! -- Comic Covers Do-Overs

I'm starting a new series of drawings that, until I can think of a better name, I call Comic Covers Do-Overs. Basically, what I do is take a comic cover that inspires me and that I find striking in some way. As I copy it I analyze the composition and the conventions of the genre, hoping I can absorb them into my subconscious and use them some day. I redraw the cover in my own goofy style.

I like comics of all types, but I miss something that comics had when I was a kid. Yes, they were hokey and over the top, but many of the artists and writers were willing to not take themselves too seriously and wrote and drew with their tongue firmly in cheek. I'm having a good time drawing these and I'm finding that it helps me get out of a rut when it's tough to get started on a new project.