I'm still not feeling very confident with my colors regarding the Wellkeeper. I'm experimenting with less direct colors and going with more abstract and emotional palates, but I'm still somewhat unsure as to how I feel about the results. Any feedback from you all out there in internet land is much appreciated. :)

The road to the Wellkeeper premiering late this year is a long one, but filled with unique and fun opportunities like THIS one. The art above was produced for the FX INTERNATIONAL comics and toy show here in Orlando, Florida for an upcoming poker tournament.

What makes this tournament different is that the deck of cards will feature over 52 original pieces of art made by the artists in attendance myself included. The card I was assigned is the 7 of hearts, so once I finish coloring this illustration of Zoe & Sebastian it will be in a beck with dozens of masterpieces by some of comics' best talent. It's a fun opportunity and the original art is going to be auctioned off for charity, so it's win/win.

I'm pretty darned happy with how this came out, so I may end up making a print of this to sell at the show too.

The FX International comic and toy show is April 17th thru April 19th at the Orange County Convention center. See you there!

Keep it simple, stupid!



While at the Orlando Megacon, I received a lot of praise for the pages on display for The Wellkeeper and it really felt great to hear that folks are looking forward to the first issue. I also worked up the nerve to drop off copies of the sketchbook with a few PROS who I respect TREMENDOUSLY! Among them are the brilliant comic artists, Phil Noto, Brandon Peterson and Amanda Conner.

While they all had nice things to say about the book, it was Amanda Conner that offered up the constructive criticism that has inspired this post. To summarize her lesson to me: "Keep it simple, stupid!"

Now, I'VE added the "Stupid" here. Amanda was totally classy and very constructive in her critique, but the message was that I was obscuring good structure drawing with excessive crosshatching on Zoe's face and that I should pull back on the over-rendering for her. Now, this isn't the FIRST time that I've heard this, but t was the time when It finally sunk in.

I've attached an example above of the simplified detail on Zoe's face, and I couldn't believe how right Amanda Conner was. WOW, did her expressions and acting just pop off the page without the clutter of a zillion lines criss crossing her worried brow.(Thanks to the magic of Photoshop for allowing me to easily clean up her face) I have to admit that I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to really deliver with "The Wellkeeper", and I think that under that self-imposed pressure, I have overdone some things in the early stages of production, such as the rendering on character faces.

I DO think that this change has greatly improved the opening few pages and I hope to take this lesson to heart on the successive pages from here on out.

Thanks, Amanda!

MEGACON 2009

I premiered the all new "WELLKEEPER" sketch book this past weekend at the Orlando Megacon Comic Convention and I'm pleased to say that it went over VERY well. Folks really stopped and seemed to enjoy this VERY early sneak peak at the new comic and are looking forward to it's premier. I'll have a few more pics from the show soon, but for now here are two shots. One of me at the table, and another of a sketch of the Thrall... the possessed dog creature controlled by the book's nemesis, The Oddman.