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!