As with last year's Hulk 100 Project, I am involved with the new Wolverine 100. Marvel printed a variant Hero Initiative edition of Wolverine: Weapon X #1 with a blank card stock cover. The Hero Initiative asked 100 artists to provide original drawings of Wolverine on these comics, which will be auctioned. The images will eventually be collected in a trade edition. All proceeds will go to the Hero Initiative which helps comics creators in times of medical and financial need.

The deadline was June 8, but, with my workload, I did not think I could get to it until after the SD Con. However, here it is. I used pencil, pen & ink, ink wash, and red Prismacolor pencil. The card stock has a slight gloss on it, which made it difficult to work with wet mediums. That's why I used a monochromatic wash, which is a lot more forgiving than watercolors.

The part I like best is the signature logo.

Here's a link for a look at some other covers:

http://www.heroinitiative.org/NewsDetail.asp?NewsId=190

After Yokai, I just had three weeks to complete the 24 page story for Usagi Yojimbo 122, and I did it! It usually take me 5 weeks to finish an issue. Also in those three weeks I lettered 4 weeks of Spider-Man Sundays and an issue of Groo the Wanderer, drew the cover for UY 125, and did a watercolor drawing. Issue 121 comes out this week, so you see how close we're cutting it.

Now I've got to get into con-mode and prepare for San Diego, while drawing issue 123.

I declined three international trips and a bunch of US ones this year, a lot because traveling is just not as fun anymore. Ryanair gives me another reason to cut down down on flying. These economy airlines are getting a bit too economical.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/05/ryanair-toilet-charge

I've never flown Ryanair, but I have flown with their rival, easyJet (which is a great airline).

This is the last one of these I'll be posting for Yokai, the watercolored Usagi graphic novel scheduled for November. All the art is finished, and is in production at Dark Horse.



( Click here for a step-by-step look at the painting of this page. )

The National Cartoonists Society 63rd Annual Reuben Awards
Los Angeles May 22-24, 2009

The headquarters for the Reuben Weekend was at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel at Hollywood and Highland, next to the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards are held. There is a Metro stop there, so I Metro-ed over Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and registered with the NCS. The goodie bag this year was a computer bag-like art satchel filled with cartoon books. The t-shirt was drawn by Mad magazine's Tom Richmond, and the cover of the souvenir book was by Sergio Aragones and featured cartoon characters on a Hollywood sound set. The interior featured pictures of members photoshopped with famous stars.

( click here to read more )

Happy Memorial Day! Today is also my birthday. I had a great weekend. Sharon and I were at the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award weekend. The last time we attended one of these during my birthday weekend, I won the NCS Comic Book Division Award.

This year, it was in nearby Hollywood, but we still chose to stay at the hotel and we're glad we did. It is always a black tie event so I had to dust off my tux, and it still fit (though a bit snugger).


Hopefully, I'll have time to post a more detailed report later. I've got to finish Yokai this week.

This was the first page(s) that I colored for Yokai. Back in early April, Dark Horse needed a page for solicitation, so I drew and colored this double-page spread from the middle of the story. It's a nice action scene, and I'm a sucker for killer tentacles.



( click here for a step-by-step look at the coloring )

Here are a couple of pages from UY: Yokai, the original painted graphic novel I'm working on. I worked on 5-ply strathmore 500 series bristol, using Badger Black Opaque ink, and Windsor Newton watercolors. Years ago I did a story using just watercolors, but I have just two and a half months to write, draw, and paint a 56 page story and using the inked outline method speeds up the process a lot.

I photographed the art on a cloudy day, and some of the color (particularly blue) and details seem to be washed out.

I'll post a couple of step-by-step look at another page later.

I returned from the Massachusetts Library Association conference in Springfield yesterday, and had a wonderful time. I especially enjoyed hanging out with Chris Schweizer. We did a midnight interview with each other for the Comics Journal. They wanted a conversation of a hot, young up-and-coming star (Chris) with an embittered old has-been in his twilight years (me).

Anyway, going to a librarian conference is very different from a comic con. For one thing, not one librarian was dressed in cosplay--not even as Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow. I take that back--someone did dress in a kimono for a manga panel. The dealers room, one of the main attractions at a comic book convention, would completely empty out during panels and presentations. Also, the dealers room had food. Free food. A continental breakfast buffet with all sorts of goodies, including choices from a half a dozen kinds of drinks (I stuck with cranberry juice). Also, there were no noisy post con parties (they are librarians, after all. "Shhhh!")

My trip started off interesting enough. I flew out of Bob Hope/Burbank Airport with a connection in Dallas. However, when I checked in, I found my arrival time to Dallas had changed by an hour so I would arrive AFTER my connecting flight departed. The Burbank departure time had not changed, though. The gate attendant told me the plane had to refuel at Ontario Airport (about a 10 minute flight away). There was nothing I could do, so I resigned myself to catching a later flight in Dallas and arriving at Hartford later than planned.

However, when everyone had boarded, the pilot came on the intercom to say, "There is a nice tailwind, and I THINK we have enough fuel to make it to Dallas so we're going straight on through." I had mixed feelings about that announcement. But we did make it, I did catch my connection, and I did have a great time.

I also got work done on this trip. I thumbnailed the story for UY 123 on the way to Dallas, wrote the story for 124 and outlined 125 (they are a 2-part story) on the way to Hartford. I penciled the cover for UY 124 in Springfield, and thumbnailed that same issue on the way back to Burbank.

I wish I had more time to spend in Springfield. For one thing, I would have liked to see the Mirage Studios guys a little up north, but, besides the Basketball Hall of Fame, I found out there is a Dr Seuss Sculpture Park in Springfield.

I'm flying east very early tomorrow, a speaker at the Massachusetts Library Association conference in Springfield. Friday is Graphic Novel Day and they invited a bunch of comic book people, including Chris Schweizer, Lynda Barry, Peter Gutierrez, Gail Simone, Raina Telgemeier, and Dave Roman.

Here is the link:
http://www.masslib.org/conference/2009Conference/index.htm

It will be a very short trip for me because of my workload. I wish I had a few days to visit the Mirage Studios folks up the road.

Speaking of my workload, most of my time right now is coloring Yokai, an original fully painted Usagi Yojimbo graphic novel. It will be hardcover, scheduled for a November release, and will retail for $14.95. I'm coloring it in watercolors.


Here's the cover. I'll post a few pages when I have the time.