Hellboy Pages

Last summer, I was gearing up for Heroes Convention. I decided to bring some pages that would be fun to work on, so Hellboy it was. I pieced together a six-page story, one with a throwaway plot, and with various shots to test what I could do. I took a week off from work to work on it, and as time wound down I decided to cut it down to four pages. When you show stuff at a con, it's a good idea to be concise. 

I worked my ASS OFF to get done, but as I was puling an all-nighter the day before I would head out, I knew I wouldn't get it done in time. Crushing. I took what I had, even though I knew that taking incomplete work was pretty much instant rejection when it comes to getting work. I gave it my best, but I just wasn't fast enough to pull it off. 

I decide it would be a waste of time and money to go to the show empty-handed, so I took what I had and showed to everyone that would look. I got a very favorable response, considering that only one page was %100 complete. It was very difficult to believe anything nice that people said about the work, because my own insincerities as I praised the work of others have made me skeptical of flattery and applause. When someone asks you, to your face, if you like their art, you say yes, even if you hate it. I think the golden mean lies in how much you care what people think. I have always cared way too much.

 A few months later, giving this stuff a fresh look, I think these are the best comics pages I've done yet, so I thought I would post them. Robots, evil babies, motorcycles: fun stuff to draw. Also an evil Freddy Mercury disposable goon. 

Also, for fun, here are the thumbnails, in various stages of revision.

Welcome!

Hello!

I'm going to post some things from my sketchbook on this blog, along with my thoughts.

This is  the first page from one of the three new sketchbooks I'm working on right now. From the advice of James Gurney, I've started 3 books: one from my imagination, one from life, and one containing studies of other artists. This one is a few drawings I did from life. Most of these will be straight ink to paper. No second tries, no fidgeting, just permanent marks. I'm hoping working this way will familiarize me with inking tools to the point where I can confidently make marks without having complete pencils to work over. I really like the sketch of the old man sleeping.