Covers! Covers! Covers!

(whoooosh!) That is the sound effect of me blowing the dust of this blog.

It's been a busy last couple of months. October was mostly spent traveling and promoting Reed Gunther while working on the comic. November was a month full of drawing comics. And December has been full of Reed Gunther comics, freelance work for Boom Studios, and going back to work at Nickelodeon. (phew!) That is the sound effect of me wiping sweat from my brow.

I'm doing a bunch of covers for Boom's "Adventure Time" comic book series (I'll post some soon). It should be a lot of fun and I'm having such a fun time with these covers. As for the work at Nickelodeon, I'm back to doing storyboard revisions but I'm now working on a new show called "Robot and Monster." The show hasn't aired yet but look for it (hopefully) around the spring of 2012.

Here are some recent Reed Gunther covers. Josh Ulrich is doing the colors of these issues (and doing a gorgeous job) but I'm still coloring the covers:

(meow) That is the sound effect my cat makes.

Have a Happy New Years!

Convention Sketches

Shane and I got back into LA yesterday after a long weekend in New York for the big NYCC. Wow- what a busy con! It was a lot of fun though and we met a bunch of East coast Reed Gunther fans. What a blast. During the con, I drew a bunch of sketches and commissions. Here are some of my favorites:

(Photos from my totally high-quality camera phone)

One of the Crogan Adventure characters:


The Spirit:


Scott Pilgrim:


Reed and Sterling:


A reader's original character named, Lou:


The Juggernaut:


Hip Flask:


A caveman:


Shane and I will be at the Long Beach Comic Con as well as the Comikaze Con in the next few weeks. Other than that you can find me huddled up at my drawing desk trying to finish a bunch of Reed Gunther issues!

Reed Gunther at APE!

If you're attending APE this weekend, be sure to stop by table #647 to say hi! Both Shane and I will be behind the booth selling issues #1-5, prints, buttons/magnets, and more! I'll be drawing sketches too. We'll have lots of goodies so swing by table #647!

TruDefender Comic Strip

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to work for a company that makes high-tech instruments that can detect the exact chemicals that make up a specific material by simply pointing the instrument towards the source. Wow! That's the kind of wacky stuff you see in comic books, right?

Apparently, the marketing department for the TruDefender instrument thought the same thing and hired me to illustrate a comic strip showcasing the instrument's newest feature: text messaging. Hazmat teams often have trouble communicating the results of the chemical tests to their Incident Commander (I.C.) who is not in Hazmat gear and away from the danger zone. This frustrating communication problem must be solved by having the Hazmat officer go through the decon process, take off his suit, and physically show the results to his I.C.... until now! Now, the Hazmat officer can simply text the instrument's results to his I.C. saving time and energy.

What an exciting project to be a part of. Here is the final strip with pencils and inks below:



Pencils:


Inks:

"Harvey Hammersickle Presents" Animated Clip

Here's a short animated shot from Shane Houghton's and Justin Lazernick's Channel 101 pilot, "Harvey Hammersickle Presents!" This is my first contribution to a Channel 101 pilot and it was a blast seeing it on the big screen last Saturday at the The Downtown Independent in Downtown LA.


You can view the full 5 minute pilot here.

Goodbye Fanboy and Chum Chum!

Last Friday was my last day working on storyboards for Fanboy and Chum Chum. I came in half way through the second season and finished out the season having a great time. No word yet if the show will get a third season or not but until then, I'll be working on drawing more Reed Gunther issues for Image Comics.

I had a great little desk area in a room where Ray Morelli, Kyle Carrozza, and David Gemmill all worked. Eddie Trigueros's office was connected to our room as well which was a lot of fun. Here's a photo of my desk:



And here's the wall next to my area that was slowly covered in post-it drawings.



Post-it drawings were soon started to take over our office! Hide the kids!



I was greeted by these Fanboys each morning drawn by Eddie:



Here's a favorite of mine that hung over my desk drawn by David:



Here's a marvelous massive post-it of the character Kyle by the one and only Eddie Trigueros!



A terrifyingly cute BatChum by my crazy talented director Brandon Kruse:



Some Wonder Woman post-its by me. I've got a whole slew of post-it drawings to post in the near future.



And look- Kass and I made Fanboy and Chum Chum sugar cookies for my last day!

Reed Gunther at SDCC!

Hey everyone!



I'm a bit late to announce that Reed Gunther #2 is now out on comic book stands wherever fine series are sold! If for whatever reason your local comic shop doesn't carry Reed Gunther, no problem. Just tell them you'd like them to carry the series and most shops are happy to oblige.

Issue #3 should be out on stands August 3rd so keep yer eyes pealed for that one!



Also, this upcoming week is the big San Diego Comic-Con! Shane and I will be set up at the Image booth all weekend selling comics, new buttons and new magnets, RG sketch cards, and a brand new limited edition prints! The 11" x 14" prints are limited to 100 copies (hand numbered) and will be sold for $10 each (cheap!) Here's the artwork:



The original artwork for this print will be auctioned off at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s annual auction at San Diego Comic-Con July 23!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST! If you've spent all your money on great books like Usagi Yojimbo, Chew, or Forever Freshman and you're broke by the time you get to our booth, never fear! We'll be debuting a BRAND NEW FREE Reed Gunther mini comic! Yowza!

See ya in San Diego!

Cleopatra in Spaaace!

My buddy, Mike Maihack has another BIG issue of "Cleopatra in Spaaace!" coming out soon! It's a super-fun web comic that Mike does weekly (in full color too!). He just released the cover for his newest Cleo book and it is absolutely outstanding:

Pre-order the book here!

Mike asked me to contribute a pin-up for the book which I was very excited to do. He was nice enough to provide Shane and I with a pin-up for Reed Gunther a while back so it was cool to have the chance to return the favor.

More Work Doodles

The release of RG #1 was success! Shane and I did multiple signings and have received some really great feedback on the book. You can read more about it on the Reed Gunther blog by clicking here.

Here's some more work doodles!

Reed Gunther #1 Available Today!

Reed Gunther #1 published through Image Comics hits stands today! Shane and I couldn't be happier to see our monthly schedule starting today. The first Wednesday of each month will be the day a new Reed Gunther issue shows up on comic store stands nation-wide.

Not sure where your local comic shop is? Check out ComicShopLocator.com!

If you'd rather buy your comics online, there are also plenty of online comic shops to support as well. Here are just a few:

iFanboy.com

ForbiddenPlanet.com

ThingsFromAnotherWorld.com

PaperWindows.com

Many thanks to everyone who has been supporting us over the years as we self-published. And thanks to those who continue to support (especially those who have told us they'll buy the colored editions although they already bought the b&w versions!). Your support means the difference between indy comics surviving or dying out. Thank you!

Mojotown Ad

I recently finished up another ad illustration for Mojotown. A quick but fun job, they wanted to go with a very friendly vintage feel depicting their Mojoman in a classy 1950s gas station attendant's uniform.

Here's my initial sketch:


The clean-up vector illustration done in Adobe Illustrator.


And a rough design showing how they might be able to incorporate text (and which fonts to use) into the illustration. Ultimately, they came up with the final copy and finished with a nice ad.



Thanks Mojotown!

Update!

Hey everybody! I've been meaning to post lately because I was lucky enough to have another spot illustration in the newest issue of MAD! Check out MAD #509, it's a really fun issue.

Here's a little preview of the illustration I worked on:

Last weekend, Shane and I were at the Long Beach Comic Expo and had a great time. This weekend, we'll be at the Anaheim Comic Con starting tonight, Friday until Sunday May 1st. Stop on by and check out our table (#3219) of Reed Gunther goodies!

I've been busy with work during the day and doing comic book work at night. Although, I try to venture off to doodle and do little paintings as much as I can.

Later guys and dolls!