Smithee number two updates

Last week I got together with Billy (known as Garvin Lee in this world) to take pictures for the were-wolf story.
I bought a stuffed dog a a prop for him to hold. He wore this military jacket he bought off somebody cheap for the medals and insignias. He had never tried it on before. It fit like it was made for him! I took some shots using a timer of ten seconds. He is always a fun person to work with and he goofed around for 9 of those seconds, then do the pose on 10 every time. I love to work with him cause he is an excellent actor and gives me expressions I could never make up in my imagination.
I have been doing my Plutonium cartoons in Corel. I started this one in Corel, but it just wasn't feeling like what I wanted to do. So I got out typing paper and sketched and inked these. It was more fun this way. Can't say I'm that great at hand drawn cartoons yet. I'm more of a life drawing or illustration kinda artist. I work better from real life. Cartooning is a whole nuther skill. But I won't learn it unless I do it. So, here I share the result to be done with it already!

Plutonium Has Moved!

Rather than make you go through all my blog to find plutonium, I moved it to it's own brand spanking new home
at PlutoniumCasserole. Infact, if you go there now, you'll see the strip I did about the inner struggles of writing comics!
I'm hoping to get some assistance from my comic buddy tonight on Smithee #2, but he is about as easy to nail down as Jello to a tree! But, he is a good guy and it's worth the wait!

                        

Sample smithee 2 panel and THE GRIND

I spent the past couple days doing some test drawings for Smithee #2. I tried vector art, but while it was clean, it didn't convey the expressiveness I want. So I went back to doing a freehand pencil, then a sharpie inking. After recovering from the Sharpie fumes, I like it. Here is a sample - straight from the sketch book with some basic photoshop coloring.

In other news, I went to a meeting of the local art guild monday. I'm thinking of joining. See, I like comics and sketching, but also fine art. Fine arts is a different world though. There is just a different feel. Hard to put my finger on.
People can bring a piece of their work to the meetings and put it up on easels to share with everyone else. There was an oil of a lion's face, a ghostly pastel on black paper of a bulldog, some pencil sketches artistically taped to a piece of plan ol box cardboard, making a statement about homeless children, and other art of the like. I tagged along with a gentlemen who is a chef and goes to art classes. He presented an abstract colored pencil sketch that was nice.

I talked with the chef. I pointed out us artists that have good jobs have an advantage in that we don't have to have money stress take away from our art. When I was unemployed, it took ALOT to let go of the basic need for survival and do art. But at the same time, I did some meaningful drawings at the time. Such as this etching I did expressing
 my sense of how the grind of a monotonous 40 hr week job can feel like a grind that chews up your heart and soul.This was back in 2010 after 3 months of unemployment. I must say having an interesting life after work makes work less of a grind since your soul has other avenues to express itself without total dependency on your 'day job'.
Anway, I want to join the guild, but finances are tight this month, so I'm postponing till next month. They say members get display space in gallery's. It would be a thrill to show at a gallery, almost as much as having my own table at and an APE or Mocca convention!

Smithee number two mitten selling warewolf progress

well, I'm on the last page of the rough draft for the warewolf story. I began with a script, but upon doing the rough draft with crude drawings, more came to mind. Like the mitten selling wolfy guy has a deep dark secret that Smithee uncovers, prompting him to face the full wrath of the ware-wolf!

The next challenge is to decide on an art style for the final book.

I'm really glad I got the KuPen. It fits my needs quite nicely. I made up this Christmas card I put up on my etsy site.

Plutonium holiday

Well, so much for making a fast comic! The following still took a couple hours. But, they are different.

 

 

I need to take a break from Plutonium to work on my Smithee Zombie Hunter #2 Werewolf story. I just can't manage two endeavors at once right now. Maybe I'm lazy.
That is what these panels are about. I don't know what you were thinking, sicko!

Smithee number two mitten selling warewolf preview

Here are the VERY rough story outline sketches for Smithee Zombie Hunter #2 about a mitten selling ware-wolf. It's like a preview of my progress. I wrote out a script to work out the plot and what happens. Now I draw out quickie sketches for pacing, expressions and poses in pencil. If you can't read my handwriting - the way this goes is I finish a mitten and toss it into the cage I had Billy stay in overnight while I discerned if he was going to go wolf or not. He doesn't think it's funny and when I begin to close it, he points a gun at me and tells me he will kill me if I ever do that again! Then Smithee says "see if I ever knit for you again! Or kill blood thirsty , longhaired, bad smelling, mitten selling warewolf things while keeping you caged up so you don't turn warewolf during the full moon when warewolves power up and kill their room-mates!". I'll probably edit that line down in the final. Enjoy

Now I'm A Deviant!

That's right. After realizing Andy Bohn and Michael Stewart and other established artists are on Deviant art, I thought it might be nice to join so I can connect with other artists. Here is my address:
http://smitheezombiehunter.deviantart.com/
There are some Terrific artists there, let me tell ya! I've gotten some positive feedback on my stuff. and I made a home for Plutonium Casserole there and been accepted by the autobio comics group. I still plan on doing plutonium weekly, so the Deviant site has a few to be posted to catch it up to date. Gives me more time to take way to much time on new ones.
I'm still figuring out what goes where. Maybe make this more personal blog and Deviant more final product.
Not an easy holiday weekend for me. It brings out all that sadness and gloom stored inside along with a mighty dose of self pity. Most of my family has died and those that are still around I am not in contact with. But this year my sadness was more about a friend of 15 years I had to part ways with awhile back. I had finally gotten healthy enough to take care of myself and decide the friendship wasn't good for either of us and said goodbye. But still, I miss him alot. He kinda got me out in the world doing things I wouldn't otherwise.

Digital Pen

The Black Friday bug bit me indeed. I ordered a digital pen called a Kupen Air.
The way it is supposed to work is it tracks what you draw on paper and stores it for later download to computer, or if attached live to the computer - acts like a tablet. It uses infrared and ultrasound in a receiver that is clipped to the paper you draw on. Let you all know how it works. I  borrowed this cartoon from the current plutonium I am working on.

Werewolfs in mittens

I am working on Smithee Zombie Hunter zine #2. It's about a ware-wolf that sells mittens and how Smithee saves the day while keeping the bitten-Billy locked up in a cage! Will Billy turn ware-wolf and kill everyone in sight or at the least become a VERY noisy neighbor?
So, I've been drawing werewolves to get a feel for what I want it to look like. This is one from my note book - not at all meant to be serious. Hope you like it anyway.
It isn't easy writing a comic, but it sure gives me something to smile about when I wake up in the morning - feeling like - finally, I'm doing something I really love to do with my life!
Mittens alludes to learning how to make yarn from dog (or wolf) fur.Billy is complaining about the cold and wants some mittens.And there is this ware-wolf that attacked him in the process....

Andy Bohn sketch

This is the sketch Andy Bohn did. I like the style.

Caffeine and Zombies

Plutonium Casserole #2  - Click to enlarge

I found out that a big soda won't cure the Monday Zombie effect, Darnit!

Meeting some very cool comic artists etc.

I didn't even know it, but my comic guru buddy calls me up and tells me there is a bunch of comic artists and writers at the comic store - do I want to go? So, I grabbed my sketch book that doubles as an autograph book and went. I'm glad I did. Now I and pretty new to the comic book scene and don't follow it as much as my buddy does, so these were all new names to me. And unlike most comic signings, it wasn't crowded, so I had an chance to have A conversation with them. The first person was Michael Stewart. He is about to self publish his own comic.He has some mindblowing full size pencils of his new characters to show off. He is one heck of a penciler. I told him he makes is easy on the inkers since all the detail is there! He was very nice and did a sketch of a lady in my book, even inking it. It as fascinating to watch it go from pencil to ink. He was more than willing to talk art, and even dared to look at my really beginner art in my sketch book. My sketch book is very personal and where I experiment and do my not the greatest stuff. It's kinda like having someone look in your underwear drawer. I wouldn't call my sketch book my portfolio by any means. But I am flattered they were interested. http://www.michaelstewartart.com/  
The next artist I talked to was Andy Bohn. He has put out a couple self published books and was happy to share the ins and outs of the print service he used. He was very cool to talk to. He has a Manga/Anime blended style of art. http://elvatron.deviantart.com/ I didn't have the money for one of his nicer comics, so I borrowed some money from my buddy and got the Zine he had. Since I have a Zine too, I thought might be more meaningfull. He did a sweet manga type character in my sketch book. Very nice. I also helped out his grandparents by taking pictures of them using their camera. They seemed like a easy to get along with family. I was feeling unusually personable tonight and probably made some of them uncomfortable offering to use their cameras to take pics for them.I think it not being crowded help me relax.

Anyway, thanks Andy And Michael. I am always eager to connect with fellow artists, even those way ahead of me! I gave them my contact information and thought I would give them a shout out thru this blog.

Plutonium Cassarole

I took my time and "inked" this in Corel Draw. It's a little wordy and the humor kinda geared towards computer geeks, but here it is. This is more a diary comic than anything else.

Zee Bug

This is an etching I did recently I particularly liked. I did from a new perspective I read about, and that is to not do art out of ambition, itleast not in the final stage.
"Focus on the enjoyment of the act, and try to see your ambitions as something that interrupts your pleasure (of doing the art) in the present". So when I did this, I wasn't concerned with the result, just enjoying the process, and that freed me to relax and explore. I didn't originally plan on the blue, but I looked at it a couple days later and just thought it needed it. And you know what? This is one of my favorite etchings now. Letting myself go from the restrictions of ambition let me try stuff I wouldn't have otherwise.
Oh, this was a car at an informal father's day car show at church.

Distractions!

I am someone easily distracted. Such was last week. They had the movie dogtown on TV that I watched, then I had to dig up the documentary. That got me to searching for the perfect skateboarder picture to etch. etc. etc.

Never did find that perfect image. Perfectionism and art tend to be enemies sometimes.
But, I'm going back towards drawing again, making a comic character I can use that I like. Sometimes I can draw something I like, sometimes alot of nothing I like. But alot of nothing is necessary before alot of something is possible.
I read some people's opinions on doing webcomics and such, they make the good point there is alot of really bad webcomics out there, and they advise waiting till you can actually do it decently. Could be discouraging.
So I've been asking myself what I really want to do and find that difficult balance between too difficult and too awfull. I read about a guy who has been doing  webcomics over 10 years and is just NOW being recognized.
And he posts his REALLY early works that are barely better than a kids drawing. But I don't think he cared what anyone thought, and he knew he was just experimenting. and you can see him get better and better and develop repeatable characters. Now he does it for a living!
Anyway, I'm still here and still moving forward.
Is anybody out there???????

Back from the dead!

Getting a job was more difficult than being without one, let me tell ya!When I finally started to get back on my feet and facing life, I also had to  face the BILLS!!! Big bad snarling stinky bills I shoved to the back until I could summon the courage to face their menacing threats! And when I did, one had gotten more vicious whilst it hid in the dark. Bills do that, they get more deadly when they are ignored.

I was able to draw while unemployed, and even after getting employed ( a little), but what knocked the wind out of my sails was one bill in particular. It took a week of fretting and early morning phone calls to put it to rest. And I kind lost my heart for art for awhile. Now I'm trying to climb out of that dark hole and back into art.

I'm toying with the idea of a diary comic, once a week posting. I'll see if I want to stick with that kind of commitment. If I do, here they will be.

Worm aloft

 This was a totally unplanned drawing. I just sat down infront of a blank piece of paper and drew a big zig-zaggy line and let my subconscious come up with the rest. It turned out to be good picture of my life these days. Not knowing how it is going to turn out, or what is going to happen the next day, or where I will end up. But I have found it is critical to operate from a standpoint of believing it will work out. I mean you have to choose your mindset. I can spend energy living from gloom and doom, or from hope and faith. I believe you go where your looking, so if I am looking for the worst, for what is just settling for survival, that is what I will get.

I hate Zombies!!

I took a couple hours and made a new user icon.
In order to get the proportions right, I put on the gas mask myself. First time I ever wore one. More comfortable than I expected. And it was snug.
I did the art in Corel Draw, line by line, striving to give it the etched look.
When I did the original pictures, I relied on subtle facial expression to convey my adversarial feelings, but it wasn't enough, so I added my fist - which does the trick, don't ya think?

ARGH!!

Argh!

The last 2 weeks have been very distracting art-wise.
Intense days sitting infront of the computer, hunting, hunting, hunting!
Where is my next source of food coming from?
The neighborhood decided they'd rather hire a better Zombie Hunter.
One who can kill food quicker and without any input from them. A mind
reader. I am a lousy mind reader. I didn't get that particular ZAP from the radiation. I think they were enamoured for someone with bigger muscles, probably cheaper too. In the end they wanted me to just KNOW what they wanted me to hunt without any direction from them.
But, I  know there are people who will appreciate the skills I really do have. Just gotta keep hunting, hunting, hunting!

Smile!

Here is my adoring dog as an etching.
It was a rough day, and I needed to draw something I care about. Her smile brings cheer to my gloom.
This is an etching done on a plastic plate - and then hand printed onto paper using classic etch printing techniques with my hand made press and water based ink.
She looks so nice, but you 'ought to see her chase them Zombies! She doesn't know which she likes to harass better, an unsuspecting cat, or a Zombie hopping walk on one leg, or even better, a Zombie Cat missing a leg!

Look out - he has a cook book!

There ya go. My first full page panel! I had absolutely no idea what it was going to be about before I did it. It kinda has to do with the fact I have been baking cookies on my car dashboard for the fun of it. Chocolate chip. I use a black ceramic bowl covered with saran wrap. It cooks about 8.5 hours. They are cooked all the way. But don't leave them too long after they cool. They get very hard. Otherwise, they are great!

Pure Zombie Hunter

OK. So here is the deal. I want attention!
Here I am out there hunting zombies all daylong, I have this blog, and all I put up is my doodles. You read the blog title and think zombie hunting comic. So where are the comics already?
Let's be honest, I have a real tough time drawing from imagination. So did Norman Rockwell. But, if I am realistic and patient with myself, maybe I can improve. So, Ill give it a shot and see if I can draw anything comprehensible. I do far better drawing from life. Cartooning might look simple, but it tougher than you think! Simplicity can be one of the greatest expressions of real skill.
My journey thru art has been rough. I don't know what is realistic to expect of myself. I had a mother who could draw PERFECT characters from imagination, and still thought she had no talent at all. It's humbling to have to work at it so hard when it was effortless for her. But it is also a journey thru myself as it reveals what I'm made of, my limitations and insecurities.
It is tough finding my own voice. My own place. And figuring out if my work means anything. I figure if anything I'll have a nice 'body of work' to leave my family who doesn't talk to me. It sure would be nice to find people in the here and now who get something from what I do.
I tried sharing my talent today when I got a baby shower card to sign for someone. I took a chance and did a cartoon baby saying "mom. enjoy your baby shower!" I don't think God gave me my talents to keep all to myself and not share with others. So, why not? Though it makes me squirm to think how it makes me stand out from the other folks who signed with the regular trite greeting card lines.

Oh, the pain! Anybody got some truth!?

It pains me to see the lies and distortions
concerning the looming US gov "default" &
the blatent power grabs and greed behind it.
You can get a gleaming of the truth here:
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/fundmastery/2011/07/12/the-u-s-treasury-will-not-default/
It's all just bullying tactics in my opinion.
an effort to scare everyone so we will glady
let them have all the money they wants!

Feeding on The Word

I was in a pen & ink mood today and drew this for fun. My desk at work. I have a pocket bible by the monitor. Hence the title.
A good cross hatch piece of art has a feel to it unlike any other. But I am finding a good drawing it more challenging than I thought. It takes thought and precision. Those two words generally don't describe me. I'm more random and global in my thoughts.
Comics are interesting and all, by my deeper appreciations is for fine art. Illustrative art. Comics are more interesting in their story telling ability. But artistically, illustrative art appeals to me more.
Didn't post over the weekend. I dusted off a solar panel I've had in storage and put it up again. It took alot of work. And it led to some melancholy remembrances of people that didn't work out.
You can have a relationship to a friend, and it might consume you and make you miserable, but when they are gone, man, there is a HUGE hole in the heart!
These are the things I turn to - to stay sane and get perspective, loose myself in art, and the Word of God.

Manga Men

Practicing manga style characters. And then some mouths.
The fact they are facing each other is just cause I had space on the left. But makes it interesting anyway

Pink Pearl and Pepper

Nothing like a cold glass or Dr. Pepper
with my trusty Pink Pearl for drawing it.
I read an excellent blog article about a student of Howard Pyle named Elizabeth Keeler Gurney.
It reminded me of some fundamental stuff about art that I have forgotten. The sheer intimacy that happens with the artist and the subject of their art. My best drawings come from really getting to know the thing I draw. Be it a mug of pop, a shirt laying over a chair, or face. To truely capture the thing, you have to know the thing, make it a part of you. and if you do, when later you view the art, that piece of it in your heart recalls the thing intensely.
The best quote from the article is this "The artist may have spent weeks upon the painting, yet it has little interest. We turn away, saying, ‘Very clever, but in heaven’s name why did he paint it?’”

Batman Sketch

I thought I would try my hand at Batman.
I didn't auto-leval it in order to leave it looking like a pencil sketch.

Ka-Zar Printed atlast!

Here is the finished print of my fan re-creation of the Ka-Zar panel. All of it etched & printed by hand. I even went so far as to prick each dot individually to make sure it came out right. I only used the wheel on the blue dots in the background. This is how I spent my fourth of July weekend. See older posts to see what the real panel looks like.I also spent the fourth trying to let my dog know the world wasn't ending in spite of the scary noises!

Happy Puppy

She looks so happy, doesn't she? A dog's unconditional love is a joy to be around!

Lifeguard & Ben Day

Here is this morning's practice sketch done in pencil.

Progress with Ka-zar:
In my quest for the perfect dots for my ka-zar challenge, I happened upon a little history about those little dots that fascinate me.
"Ben Day also ben·day or Ben·day (b n-d ). n. A method of adding a tone to a printed image by imposing a transparent sheet of dots or other patterns on the ..."
"Invented in 1879 by Ben Day for introduction of shading effects in line drawing and reproduction therefrom."
Currently, I am focusing on a grid of straight sewing pins through a plastic latch hook "canvas". One of the challenges is the pins aren't precisely all the same length. And the latch hook canvas is half the resolution I want (25 dpi).
According to the information I unearthed, comics back in the day had a very limited pallete which used only 25, 50 & 75 dot screens. So that is what I am limiting myself to.

In for a review!

I mailed my zine to http://smallpressnewsroom.blogspot.com/ for a review.
When it's up, I'll post a link.

pencil sketch & pin wheel

Today's drawing. a pencil sketch. Good practice.



Also, I made this device for making half tone dots. In the old way of doing things totally by hand, it would be called a roullete. They were wheels used to lay down even lines or dots in mezzotint or etching. My wheel is from an inkjet printer screwed to a popsicle stick. The trickey part is laying down evenly spaced rows of dots.
Larry -who runs a great shop on etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/larryvienneau
told me about roullete's. He does great etchings!

New Ink System

Since I'm printing my own zines, I acquired an ink tank system for my printer.It should cut my print costs alot. But I must say, it is a finicky system indeed. I hafta print photo quality on every page or it bands. And it had to align the heads. And for heaven's sake, don't raise the tanks while printing or you get big blotches of ink, and then you have to run the head cleaner again.
It feeds a cartraige you put in thru surgical tubing. It has to be tough tubing cause it gets quite a work out. It wasn't easy to install. But if you kiss it and treat it like royalty, it works.
Chow

Zine From Sam Spina

Sam was cool enough to do a trade with me and he sent me this one. " The Burning". It is mini-comic size with a full color laser printed cover which gives it class.
The book is flip book about two friends different recollections of the same indecent when they were kids.
" A potential arson case" as Sam puts it. I won't spoil it for you. Jon uses ink wash backgrounds, and Sam uses the same style as in his blog.
It gives a little background on their growing up the neighborhood they lived in. Jon recollects how in kindergarten they became buddy's through commonalities like potty humor and drawing.
Now they are both grown up with respective art careers of their own. Sam even personalized the envelope and autographed the book. Thanks, Sam!
Myself, I didn't go to art school. Infact, I really never had any professional aspirations in art. How I got into doing graphic arts for a living for a little over a decade was my boss (who was like a father to me) noticed me drawing during lunch and when an opening in graphics came along, let me into the graphics dept. Then unemployment in 2006 led me to re-evaluate my future when I discovered that computer related jobs pay a whole lot better & graphics once again became a personal hobby. And I am very glad!
So, aside from some great books, I am a self-taught artist.

Ka-Zar Art Challenge

I was reading an old Ka-Zar and got inspired! Having been in graphic arts back when they still did camera shots, I am intrigued by the simple use of half-tones (a bunch of little dots that make up a tone in the old comics) and the mechanical means by which they produced these books of art on cheap paper for only 25 cents. And I have wanted to do my own mechanically printed art just like the old comics. So, I am challenging myself with this panel to recreate, dots and all, using only itaglio etching on plastic plates. The only use of the computer being printing the picture out to use as reference. All the rest being done mechanically by hand. Yes, that's alot of dots, but I have practicing and want to put it to use in a project. So, time to get out my etching needle and start scratching! Should I actually complete this self-dare, I'll post a print.

Ugh!

Do you other artists
ever just sit down with pen and paper with nothing more in mind that the first stroke of the pen? That is how this fellow Ugh! Came to be. I just started drawing curved lines, which became hair. Added simple lines to make a face.
And lo, it becomes this brutish looking fellow named Ugh!
Drawing with no plan can bring the most interesting results.
Try it!

THIS IS ALL SAM'S FAULT!

Last month my buddy and fellow Zombie hunter(as seen on right) went to the Phoenix Comi-Con. I'm really new to the whole comic scene, so I didn't go. But, in the remote hopes of scoring something from an up and coming comic artist, I gave him $25 and told him to get me some books from artist alley. One of them was a diary comic by Sam Spina called Spindoodles. Now I really didn't have in mind a diary comic, but after reading it awhile, it grows on you. I wrote him for advice and he suggested doing a blog. So here I am, and it's all his fault! You can check out his blog from the links on the side.
Now I don't think I can come up with the wit and creativity he can about daily life. What I like to do daily is draw. Just draw. But one thing a diary comic will do is help you to appreciate just daily living.

daily sketch

Last night's sketch. Took like 4 minutes. Just trying to cartoonize a face. Done in pen. No turning back with Pen!

Hello and welcome fellow Zombie enthusiasts! This is the home of my innane ramblings and superficial attempts at meaning. As well as share my twisting odessy into comic publishing, and some of my free spirited attempts at sketching just for the pleasure of it.
It began with those plentyfull Christmastime full color flyers with all kinds of pretty people.
well, it goes further back, about 2 years back.

I have B&W survallence cameras and wondered to myself if I was in a survival world, or say back in the 1800's, could I make color pictures? Kind of like Doc made ice in the wild west in one of the back to the future movies. So I reasoned it out, did some research, and took some pictures with 3d glasses for filters and took the pics into photoshop and messed around. and to my amazement, color pictures from B&W!! Then I took my fantasy further and wondered if I could publish without a real press, with just crude tools? Instantly it came to mind the kind of pictures I have always loved in told books.
You know, before half-tones came to be where tonality was done thru lines. That always captivated me. But how did they do that? Can I do that?
They did it by taking a needle and etching lines in copper plates and printing them. Hmmm.
what about plastic plates?
Well, I came upon a large supply of cheaply framed posters thrown away with plastic sheets covering them, and the quest was on! It was quite a struggle to get it to work. I very nearly gave it up. I decided one last attempt and took a chance and got some Akua color itaglio ink and hesitantly tried it. And lo, it worked!
Over the next year I did etching after etching. I soon made my own press from a metal rollar and a clipboard along with some padding - since that's all an intaglio press it. And it has worked nicely and I have shaved down a clipboard in the process and had to get another.
I eventually moved to doing 4 and 5 colors. But after a year, I was looking for something different. Then the Christmas flyers started coming out, and I was intrigued to try drawing some people. So after doing a bikini lady, I got the idea it might be fun to do a bunch of etchings and make a comic!
With the help of some supportive friends, I arrived at the Zombie hunting theme.
I created a couple characters and layed out a couple comics. But I wanted to get my feet wet and just put out a Zine incorporating the characters and my methods for making color pics from B&W. I have them for sale on Etsy for a mere $2.00!
http://www.etsy.com/people/CalvinTheEtcher.
So far those who have read it have liked it. It is also in the Las Vegas Zine Library.
Feel free to stop by my store and tell me what you think!