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!