The Future of Richard Parker

Hey there sports fans Al here the latest:

Well as time would have it I have turned in my four pieces of art (out of 8) for the 88 STRONG show. I feel that these are some of my strongest work and really shows what I can do when I'm under some pressure to get things done. I had really hoped that I would have been able to get all 8 done but with real life getting in the way (like I have talked about) I could only really bring myself to focus on 4 solid pieces.

So that show will be taking place here pretty soon within the next couple weeks so this frees me up artistically to work on a massive piece “The Undersea Kingdom of Richard Parker”.

"The Undersea Kingdom of Richard Parker" 

As Beth pointed out to me when I picked this up this should be your center piece for you show this year.

And I totally agreed. I had been urged to make some bigger pieces by my art mom, Lynn Peterson. And really Richard Parker needed a big piece especially if your dealing with an undersea kingdom.

I'm debating whether to include the Flying Dutchman in this work or the Ghost Ship of Nova Scotia.

There are the recognizable characters of R.P., Rose of the Sea (a.k.a. The Mermaid) and in the background in a spectral fashion – Lord Neptune.

But course since this dealing with Richard Parker he has to be the center piece for the whole thing.

I think that I have finally hit it right on the head! Funny it's similar to the very first Richard Parker image I had ever worked on and who knows (I don't) that I was channeling that image as well for this.

Like bookends.

With that I think that the other work (characters that surround Richard Parker) will come together in back of framing the rest of the work easily.

It will be much in the same vain as the way you used to see Jim Starlin do the Avengers/ Adam Warlock or anything from his descriptive background for the Metamorphosis Odyssey back several years ago.

And by the way if you haven't read either of those story lines you should do yourself a favor and pick them up.

Now the biggest challenge for me is not to fall into such characteristic tropes, tridents for example, that you would find with underwater adventure like you would find in Namor, the Submariner or Aquaman. There are some typical things that you can't get away from but the main character is much different in the way he comes across in my opinion. He stands robust and ready to keep his ground unlike others that have depicted deep-sea divers fighting for their lives he is fighting for the lives of others.

At least that's what I intended. The hero from another place defending someone different than himself. I love that basic concept. Everyone is about the kind of character that is grey and sometimes plays both sides of the fence. Mad Max is kinda like that but in the end of the movie (any of them) his basic decency takes hold and does the best that he can always regaining his humanity.

I'm hoping that I can make that as black and white as possible if not in story than at least in the art.

Watch here for more as time goes by.

NOW AS IT GOES BY - EUCON!

Even after the sting of the Cypticon show begins to fade and I had thought that I wouldn't do another show my old friend from Eugene OR. Royce Myers  is organizing a comic show that had been missing for years there if fact a decade. I think I was there last time while I was busy working with at the time the Eugene Comics Guild. With our very first group anthology- Guilded Edges #1. It at the time seemed like a great place to premier a new local comic book.

I hadn't really thought about this in a long while. This was back in May 1999. The book had only been proceeded by my first foray into making comic books (and self publishing though I didn't know that at the time) in 1998. But that's beside the point. Eugene my old town has finally gone done a show and right right by someone I know well.

Royce the organizer of the show I have known for over 20 some odd years. He is a very stand up kind of guy. Even helped out this kid move up to PDX. That may have been due to the serveral times I had helped him and then he and his wife around the Eugene area. I have been proud to call them my friends.

But they have gotten a good write up in the local news paper (The Eugene Weekly) and also have a Facebook page to advertise what and who is going to be at the show.

So I have HIGH hopes that this show will do well there. At least that is what I am hoping for.

And that's about it for the kid here.

And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

posted from Bloggeroid

Anger Beast! And the show (s)

Hey there sport fans Al here with the latest:

Well there are those times when you start to look at a project and say to your self "Damn, that's a good idea!"
In this case "Last Monster on EARTH!" was exactly that.
My inspriation for this was from picking up the Jack Kirby "Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth." Obvisously that's where the title comes from but there is much more than that to this story of absolute over the top outrageness.

MUSICAL MASH UPS  seemed to the all the rage with the kids these days and I thought that maybe a visual mash up would have the same kinda effect. So the image of Robby the Robot and the Robot Monster would be kinda fun to do in a a knock out drag out kinda of movie poster extravaganza. I've been going through old B-movie posters that have been posted on line as well as watching these crazy over the top bad Sci-Fi flicks for ideas.
Still to this day I still find little gems that are embedded in these movies that stick out to me a lot that I think are absolutely fantastic but the budget and the direction just couldn't  do it
 (the film) justice.
So I figured that if I were able to transpose all those ideas and put them into a comic book format where everything is looked upon equally and redered with the same attention to detail - holy shit you could have an absolutely amazing book of fan favorites all together.

,

 SO with the monster mash up in mind I started working on a rough draft for an idea that would be done in scratchboard because I know that medium can really bring forth these character to life again- equally.
It also allows me to play as well. I've had such a time making things way to serious for a long long time and this was a fun way of making my art loosen myself up.

SO I WENT ahead posted here 4 rough page layouts to show what "Last Monster on EARTH!" would look like. Now the way I have been looking at these pages is really Jack Kirby inspired.
When I have visualized in my mind I keep thinking "How would Jack have drawn it?"  It wasn't till I picked up the Kamandi Omnibus that reading was really fun again.

AND that's what I think is missing from these comics that are coming out these days. They are all to damn serious and just not fun. And of course I got swept up in all these changes starting back in the mid 80's when Alan Moore with the revision of the Swamp Thing and Frank Miller with Daredevil (and to a lesser degree Chris Claremont with the X-men and Howard Chaykin with Amreican Flagg!)  Who wouldn't when you could still collect these.

,,

At the time all these were ground breaking series because it began to introduce some realistic concepts into the comic world. Now mind you I said some, NOT ALL. Not like the comics that are coming out right now. And almost every comic I have picked up has to have something shocking about it because we need to hold the attention of the youth today if were competing with freaking Grand Theft Auto - Whatever the fuck.
Fantasy is about sparking of the imagination, to think about something in bigger in the context of the real world not how many points you can gain by slapping the shit out of a bunch whores! I know that might sound kinda preachy but when was the last time you pulled a comic off the shelf and actually really got a smile on your face saying to yourself "Wow, that was cool!" not "Hmmm meh"
Okay enough of the soap box. DO people even know what that is anymore?
Anyway....

88 STRONG ART SHOW

Well truth be known I had already agreed to this show not realizing that later on that within a week and half that my older sister would pass away from natural causes. This was, as you can imagine, a major damper on me for turning out work as real life spilled over into my creative energy flow. 

 It took the wind out of my sails as I had family obligations to attend to and all that entails. But I wasn't going to let it stop me from doing what I have loved to do- challange myself to a project and not of my own making. Fun times to be sure of.
Thanks to Gods or whatever, I needed it!

 I think that I was able to really go with some of these working titles. In years past I have had a tendency to throw shit on a panel and call it art. I think we artist do occasionally find ourselves just wanting a project over and we do exactly that just to say "I (We) did it. It may not be the best but it's done."

Out of the 88 different terms that were posted this year by Chris Habberman and Jason Brown these four title terms were the ones that stood out the most for me.

"SPAGETTIO WESTERN"
"BUNNY WITH A JET PACK"
"MR. SPOCK"
"THE EYEBROW GAME"

With these terms I usually go with my first impression of what I am envisioning with these but once in a while I change it up like SpagettiO Western.  I thought of dueling cans with can openers but it was to much over the top and so I had to rain it in. 

With Bunny with a jet pack I just kinda let that one spill out. Anthropromorphic images and I have been old friends for sometime now. This was just one that came out.

Mr. Spock was an ode to Leonard Nimoy whom had recently passed beyond the veil and of course Spock was his most famous on screen character. But since the character himself has had a younger actor to assume the mantle of Spock, Zachery Quinto, my subconsciousness I melded the two actors together form this version of  Spock.

My version of a mind meld if you will.

The Eyebrow Game came to be the one of those images that bothers people because of it's surrealistic look. Personally that was not what I was going for with this but I guess the intenstity of the eyes transscribed here made all the difference.
If this piece sells I will be absolutely surprised.

HOWEVER IN SEPTEMBER....

 Richard Parker goes forth with only two more 9"x12" pieces left to make and go. This will be making a total of 15 new images to mat and frame. And all these will go right along with my previous 16"x20" that I still have from last years show.

In the image you see up above 12 (1 being of Sasquatch) pieces that I have shown separately on line but when you see all of them together and story that I am telling with Richard Parker you really do see the scale of the story and the artwork to back it up. 

I have techinally only 2 more images left to go and one poster design for promotion. With the promotion I am thinking about doing a large scale image like what N.W.I.P.A. has done for there tap take overs over the last couple of years.

And when you see the big scale images like that in a glass window it looks preety cool!

There is ALSO talk about a comic book show taking place in my old stomping grounds. Did I mention "old"? Yeah MY  home town of Eugene.
Eucon.

UP to this point I had been thinking that the only reason I would go back would be a death in the family but since that has already happened I figured that I might bring some current art down and take a run at selling my newest work with the prints and the like. Because local boy makes good with art. So many old friends have said in the past that I would be back well guess what mother f'ers, not the way you think.
This show would be the first major comic book convention that Eugene has had. It's been nearly a decade since a show of this scale has been done there. That's kinda a big deal AND having been part of that scene it would be kinda fun to see a lot of old friends and maybe impress some new fans at the same time. I'll fill you in on more as time goes on.
Well that's about it for the kid at the moment.
And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

posted from Bloggeroid

Writing and Creating

Well there sport fans, Al here with the latest:

A representation of a crow skull for reference for Corrax the Seeker

The last couple of weeks has been a turmoil of events that no one of a earthy convention would have foreseen. I have had the misfortune of having lost a family member recently. My older sister Carla. This is the misfortune for two out of the three times I've headed up to the Crypticon show.  I've had to deal with two deaths in close proximity of each other. One was a co-worker of mine that I found out on that last day of the first show. The second was my sister a day and half before I left for the show. 

A potential cover for "Last Monster on EARTH!"

Scratchboard with Digital Color

These losses have had the negative result in my tendency to lash out at those around me who have done me no wrong. This is not really and excuse and I would never use as such I'm willing to take the heat for anything I have said or done.  I'm just saying that I wouldn't usually never consider doing this to people I don't know.
This loss do to death is one reason for not going back: it makes me think perhaps it is  not only the money factor is that would keep me from going to this show.

LAST MONSTER ON EARTH !

Page 9 of a Layout for LMOE

I have wanted to keep people aware of how the "Last Monster on EARTH!" was shaping up for the next years printing a prepping myself for Linework N.W.
After being told to make more stuff like more comics to offer and other products. So to keep you in the know here you are with a few pages to accompany the image that I already have up for you for the make shift cover. There are of course other elements that need to be added to the work such as publisher (moi) issue #, the price and the Pulse Pounding coverage on the cover of the issue.
That kinda of stuff was always so prevalent when I was picking up the old Marvel Black and White Magazines back in '75-76 before Marvel switched gears and started Epic Illustrated in 1980.

Page 10 of a Layout for LMOE

 
The general idea is a fifties monster/robot mash up! Pitting the the Robot Monster (a.k.a. Anger Beast in the story for copyright infringement) and Robby the Robot (also being changed because of the same thing) along with other monsters and robots of a more bizarre nature. It's all swirling together slowly into a slow brewing stew that is taking place until I am currently done with the 88 STRONG SHOW for this year.

"Bunny with a Jet Pack" 8"x8" scratchboard for 88 STRONG show

"Mr. Spock" 8"x8" scratchboard for the 88 STRONG show

I am only able to get 4 out of the 8 pieces I had originally said I was going to do. I know that the scratchboard is my strongest suit but I have to think about other things that are needing my attention.

But I wanted you to know how things were looking for a late year's printing on this book and how things might turn out for the Linework N.W. show.
Maybe by the time I'm done with this book and getting the other two Corpse Cop books done I might be cool enough to hangout with the popular kids. Showing them that great stuff can be local too!
But I'm not quite ready to be part of a clique though.
But of course I have never been one for joining groups all that easily for the dealing with ego. Way to many times I have had to deal with that kind of shit and it is never fun.

I'm hoping that this weekend I will be able to work a little more on this story and tighten it up. As I have looked at it the rough draft has a bunch of hole starting to come through it and I need to tighten it up so it makes more sense. And top of that I am also looking at submitting it to ONI Press as well.
Why the hell not!
I ain't loosing anything by not trying.

OF COURSE THERE IS ALSO STILL RICHARD PARKER
Richard Parker is still swriling out there in the ether that is my brain matter.  But once the artwork is complete for the 88 STRONG show the other artwork I need to work on is Richard Parker. Once those are completed then it is onto the BIG 500 (or whatever they decide to call this year's next show.)

And if you think that I am giving anything away here you would be dead wrong and I would have to send Corpse Cop after you.

And I think that you and I both know that wouldn't up well for you!

So there you have it as far as the art goes for this weekend.

Never a dull moment for this kid- which is exactly the way I like it!
And for anything else that pertains to the box check out these sites as well.
Etsy

Big Cartel 

Storenvy

And of course I still have my comics that I have worked on here at Indyplanet.

And mind you there is website
and the facebook page 

The Website also has some new stuff added for the comic books featuring Corpse Cop.

 And with that this kid is outta of here I got work to do. 

 

posted from Bloggeroid