My New Website

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Click the image above to be transported to Smithee's new home.

I've worked hard on that site for the past month to get it up to snuff, and I hope you will like it!

I'll put up all of issue 1 on the site as I have time.

 

This week I have been fervently working on the script for Issue #2 in the ware-wolf story.

I have tried to learn from Issue #1 what I liked and didn't like about it to make number 2 even better. Like I plan to blow away a zombie in the first few pages.

 

Graduation Day!

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I have some great news folks, Big Bad Mitten Man #1 is now in print! Check it out here.
I have also purchased Smithee his very own home at smitheezombiehunter.com and will doing
my posting from there from now on. I'm brand new to this whole professional comic site thing and it is still in process, so it will probably be changing as I go along, but I wanted you all to know what is going on.
My books will be for sale at the Comic Artist Collective booth at Comikazi-Con in San Diego Sept. 15-16th at booths 317,416,417,517(couldn't tell you which one will have mine). Also, I hope to have them at the upcoming Las Vegas Comic Expo Sept 29,30th. I will also have my very booth at the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival Nov 3rd! That's right, my very own booth! My, how things have progressed over the last 8 months.
So, from now on, please stop by my website for the latest. I plan on starting the second half of the Mitten Man story very soon. I want to make sure the story is up to snuff before I start drawing it.
Thanks for reading!!

That Special Ingrediant!

 

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Well, Billy goes ballistic. Being an ex-mercenary, you just don't lock those kind of people in a cage and expect them to be quiet about it! But Smithee has a plan. A Special Ingredient in his Home-Brew soda. Smithee is quiet, but he does what has to be done.

This very well be the concluding panel in Issue #1 of the ware-wolf story. I am going to think about it.

Now I gotta focus on getting Issue #1 to print. I tell ya what, a year ago I woulda never thought I would be dealing with comic convention deadlines, or ever dream of tabling at a comic convention. There is one principle I am beginning to see in doing comics, and that is persistence. Not giving up even though your not as good as you want to be. Just having the guts to put yourself out there in itself more of an accomplishment than you would think.
On a personal note, got a toothache, darn it! I hate going to doctors.

Billy's in the dog house now!

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And back into the story we go. The last post about the nuclear survival handbook was in keeping with part of my mission for making Smithee - that is to give real world survival information.
Well, folks, I'm getting closer to wrapping up this issue. But as I begin to think about that, a whole new bunch of issues rise up. I figured out the only way to format these comics in a book is in landscape format.Won't that be unique? Also, I have learned alot about comic writing since I began Smithee and see things I want to improve.
Like I want to insert some panels where need be, add a Zombie character in issue 1, a splash page, etc. But, it is emotionally challenging to take those extra steps. I wanted this to be easier. But, I'm just a naive newbie and I have to suck it up and do it right. Growth doesn't always feel good. It's humbling to look at what you have poured so much of yourself into for months and gasp when you now realize "I coulda done it so much better" - had I known.

brewmaster

 

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Finally, another Smithee page is done! I drew a couple of the panels this morning. Haven't had much of a chance for cartooning this week since I've been learning alot about comic script writing and doing the second draft of my script. The second draft was a major reformatting into something reasonable and script-like. I'm glad that script-writing involves multiple rounds of drafts. I can see that it takes time to whittle it down to the final mature entity your after. And I'm REALLY glad to have editors looking it over and showing me what I can't see all by myself because doing everything on my own limits how fast I can learn.

Anyway, Billy finally gets his soothing soda brew. I'm thinking Smithee added a 'special' ingredient to calm Billy down. We'll see.

Time To Die!!

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Billy can be temperamental, but this time he really might have a screw loose!
In other news, I have thought about it and I'm going to split this ware-wolf story into 2 issues so it can go to print sooner. Plus, I have signed up for a table in artists alley at the upcoming Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival on 11-3-2012,  which is held at the Clark County Library on 1401 E. Flamingo Rd. and I want to be certain to have a book ready since Garvin said he would be there if I had a new book finished. I mean you would want to meet the man who inspires the character of Billy wouldn't you? Garvin Lee is an independent film actor who is actually on IMDB. This will be my first time tabling and I'm both really excited and really intimidated. Though, I actually was behind a table once back in the 90's at a Trek Convention where a buddy was trying to sell Enterprise phones. Never sold one, but I met someone who actually was a Borg and I won the costume contest with my Borg costume. So, we didn't make a dime, but it was a blast!

NO more knitting!

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Well, here I am again posting from the Apt. complex computer center, but surprise - on a thursday! I don't think will mean another post on this weekend. Depends on if my ISP gets thier act together.
This computer is really limiting what I can do like putting in those handy PREVIOUS links. So, this will have to do.
So, here we get Smithee's reaction to having a gun put to his head. The humor is based on sarcasim, I especially like Billy's last word on the subject. The next pages will be basically chapter 2 - about how Billy ends up in a cage overnight.
Dang, I can't even put tags on this post!

Don't shoot!

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]Don't push Billy's buttons, or your liable to see his dark side. Of course Billy has good reason to be so testy, as we shall see. Everyone has thier limits you know, and Billy certainly had his pushed in the last 24 hours!
And let me introduce Rex - the dog. Rex ended up here to provide a beat between cells and balance things out. Also, Rex has to be in this comic since it is about fur- yarn-making, etc. The duo has to have a source of fur after all, don't they? Believe me, there are worse places to get your fur from...
I'm not posting from the comfort of my own home because my ISP provider is being uncooperative. Perhaps all the Solar Erruptions lately disrupted things? Speaking of which, when I can do this from home again, I'm thinking of putting up some usefull links to survivalist related info like SpaceWeather. For now, posting from the computer center of the Apt complex will have to do. But as in all survival situations, you have to remain calm and utilize what is at hand.

Ware-Wolf begins

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And our exciting introduction into the world of Smithee Zombie Hunter begins! Here we catch Billy sneaking a home-brew soda. He kills people (well, hopefully not real people - just Zombies) for a living, so upsetting Smithee's inventory is no big deal. Besides, he has had a harrowing time lately getting that one mitten he is wearing.
I enjoy doing these drawings. With each one my pen & ink style gets better and I learn a little bit more. I use a digital pen to draw with in photoshop and compose it all in CorelDraw. My plan is to update every week, probably on the weekends like today. It all depends on what's going on.
Enjoy & Survive!

Ware-Wolf Introduction

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Welcome to the online preview for my in-progress Smithee Survival Guide #2. The survival skill that is taught in this guide is how to spin your own yarn from dog fur. The plot revolves around Billy's harrowing encounter with a very hairy dude who sells mittens, and turns ware-wolf and attacks him when the sale goes awry.
I redesigned this site to be in the format of the standard webcomic site with a cleaner interface. I find enough people come to my blog that I thought I would make it more about the Smithee story line than my art musings, which will now go into my Plutonium Casserole blog. The old posts will still be here, but now I am focusing more on Smithee. Plus, since I'm doing all this work on Smithee #2, I wanted to share what I'm drawing with you.
I drew several  ware-wolfsbeore arriving at this one this ware-wolf in pencil. And by the way, I spell it ware-wolf on purpose. My ware-wolfs aren't biological creations, but technological. And what better way to talk about fur and yarn spinning while providing some danger and drama?

Blog re-design

I hope you like the cleaner re-design of my blog. I'm gearing up to devote this blog more towards the Smithee story's and putting up the first chapter of the Ware-wolf story here (updated weekly) as a teaser to the printed book. I now have links across the top to access other information that was cluttering up the main page.
The more personal stuff about me will go into the Plutonium Casserole blog - which is what it is there for.
The re-design was prompted after reading another Zombie themed webcomic and realizing what potential there is for Smithee as a webcomic.
I think the smaller top banner is less gaudy and the color theme more dark like a blog/comic about a dark world should be. Plus, it is a great chance to refine by blog design skills.
Enjoy and Survive!