Z-Brushin' It

One of my new favourite playthings is Z-brush - a very intuitive 3d sculpting/modeling program. For my first two forays into the program, I decided to attempt at modeling some of the creatures I designed for Prophet. Above are models of the Mold People of the Jell city - termite-like aliens who live in a caste-based hive society and see via smell with their antenna. The following was a concept sketch to nail down the castes of their society.


The following is a work in progress of an alien from a project I was working on last year.

A little creature drawing:



And last, but not least, the cover for the next issue of prophet, drawn by myself and again colored by Jason Wordie!

Homeward Bound

And, in other news, a short story of mine is up at the new Study Group 12 website - an online version of the print anthology! Some nice, light post-apocalyptic reading...

PROPHET 21!!!!

Oh lord, I am a neglectful blogger. But no longer! Yesterday, the first issue of the relaunched "Prophet" - and the first issue of my three-issue story arc - was released in North America! It's chock full of strange and interesting creatures engaged in all manners of circle-of-life-type activities (sex, murder, cannibalism) and features amazing colors by my friend Richard Ballermann. It was a blast to draw, and has been getting great reviews so far. Not only that, but it's sold out at the distributor level and MUST BE REPRINTED!

Also, here's the cover for an upcoming issue, drawn and inkwashed by me and colored by my pal Jason Wordie.

(plus the non-colored one)

More soon! I'll be a better bloggist!

Tiger Lung Returns

I'm slowly building up material for my paleolithic shaman adventure comic, "Dead Lands" (the previous iteration of which can be read here).
Pictured above is the cover for a self-contained 20-pager I'm putting together right now - and below, a test page from inside the story!


And lastly, an early-ish development drawing for the main character, Tiger Lung.

Oh, the stories we tell

These are two pieces from my storytelling class this semester, a class which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite. Above is a brief retelling of Little Red Riding Hood - below is a simple sequence of narrative images showing a character go from hero to villain.

The Death of Adulthood

A conceptual illustration for class. I've been listening to/watching/reading a lot of Joseph Campbell lately, which lead to this illustration: the various myths and rituals that our culture(s) have had to demarcate between childhood and adulthood have gone the way of the dodo in our society, with the few cultural milestones of this transition being largely optional. What does it mean, then, to be an adult in a post-industrial society that seeks to keep you a mindless, consuming adolescent?

What I was doing this summer

"Prophet" Cover by Marian Churchland

On "Prophet," you've got Brandon Graham writing and Simon Roy on art. What stood out for you in their pitch?

"I was a fan of Brandon Graham and his work on "King City," and his outline for "Prophet" was fantastic. "Prophet" from the outset will appear to be the biggest departure from the original look and feel of the "Prophet" that myself and Stephen Platt made popular, but it's no less amazing. The storytelling of Graham and Simon Roy is staggering. You can read the book without any word balloons and follow the story effortlessly. The look of the book is reminiscent of Moebius and Geoff Darrow -- it's a gorgeous, European-style graphic novel. Don't sleep on this book. In the original "Prophet" series, John Prophet was awakened from cryo-sleep in a sarcophagus and had to deal with the reality of a brave new world. This new series finds John Prophet awakened from cryo-sleep in a brave new world where he has to deal with a much harsher reality than anything he faced in the original series. "

- Rob Liefeld on the upcoming book that Brandon Graham, Richard Ballermann and myself have been working on this summer. And I can finally talk about it!

Basmachi Fighter, Soviet Conqueror

The final of the Protagonist - the basmachi fighter, looking back over the last chunk of free Central Asia.


The counterpoint to the Basmachi Fighter - his soviet antagonist riding past the ruins of Samarkand.

I tried to make sure the two portraits were connected by similar compositions and approaches to lighting.

The Giant-Hunter's Daughter

This semester, I've got a really stunning class on character and storytelling with Kevin Kurytnik instructing us - an awesome dude who does tons of amazing animation stuff. Some of our first assignments so far:

Design Three Characters



...and then further refine them and help define their characters and the story you want to tell with a sentence for each character. Very fun so far...




Plus, a little rotoscope test...

A Busy Week

Well, this semester feels like it's gonna be really busy. Already, I'm doing so much work!

Here's some life drawings...




AND BEST OF ALL: A really fun animation chronicling British Politics from 1970-79! I love the cut-paper stop-motion!

BASMACHI FIGHTER! (studies)

One of my first projects this semester involves developing portraits portraying a protagonist and an antagonist from SOME story, element of history, etc. For the protagonist character, I decided to illustrate the somewhat tragic figure of a Basmachi fighter - the muslim rebels, backed by the western powers, that fought to keep Central Asia free from Soviet 'liberation' between 1917 and 1931.
(The soviet conquest of central Asia is especially interesting from a cinematic perspective as it birthed the 'eastern' genre some thirty years later - a russian variation on the western, using many of the same tropes as the western, only with Soviet soldiers and muslim rebels replacing the cowboys, bandits, mexicans, indians, etc,)

Here are a few studies for said portrait.





Next week - the final.

The last year begins.

Well, after a crazy busy summer of work and play (the fruits of the former which will be in print sometime next year, I believe), school is BACK ON. To celebrate, here are a couple pages of a short-lived experiment that I was working on back in April.

Check 'em out.