Page 4 by Denny Fincke

Jun18
by on 18 June, 2012 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Season 1 Hiatus: 2012

This week’s installment, ladies and germs, is brought to you courtesy of the incomparable Denny Fincke, who, when he agreed to do this project, literally made me jump out of my seat.  Denny is not only an accomplished comic artist, illustrator and animator, with credits under his belt that include The Venture Brothers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he’s also a webcomic artist, and draws Twit Troo of the Moon, a comic that is a daily go-to of mine, and which is not only beautifully rendered, but is also genuinely and consistently funny, an increasing rarity in webcomics today.  He is also, let me tell you from great experience, a total class act.  To anyone who doubts the value of a comic convention for anything other than commercial gain, let me say that it was at NYCC that I first met Denny, and the next year, he offered to let me share his table for a few hours, so I mean, if that doesn’t make someone a great guy, what does?!

So there we are.  On my side of the bargain, I’ve put up this week’s progress for all to see.  And let me tell you that I’ve discovered that it is the pages that only seem to need minor revision that can be the hardest to do!  This one was a real bear for some reason.  Man it is just a total slog at this point.  I even admit to having occasional doubts as to whether it’s worth it to be doing this.  But I’m kind of committed now…

Anyhow.  Here’s to the next one, and all the best!  See you next week, folks!

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Page 3 by Anthony Bourne

Jun10
by on 10 June, 2012 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Season 1 Hiatus: 2012

Yet another beautiful guest page, this time by Anthony Bourne, the creator and illustrator of Gen-Eg, and one of the most superb military artists I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.  He and I spoke (albeit briefly, and without recognition) at NYCC, and he, like everyone else who’s chipped into this project, is a total class act.  I strongly urge you to check out his other illustration work – it has a loose and really stylish sensibility that belies the heavy subjects he takes on, and he accomplishes more with black and white than many full-color photorealistic painters I know.

As for me, I’m making a change of pace this week, mainly because I’m in a bit of editing where the changes are so modest as to be, to my mind, uninteresting for anyone to look at but me, until they get a little farther along.  Instead, if you vote this week you’ll see a piece I did as a submission to an impromptu call for artwork for the new 6th Edition of Ogre.  Normally, I don’t do these kinds of things, since specs and competitions generally require heavy output for minimal return.  But Ogre being so important a spiritual antecedent to 6-Commando, I made an exception, and a scene came to me on Friday night (when the call was announced) and formed whole, as it were, in my mind.  So here’s one for all the Ogre fans of the world.

And so there you go!  Until next week, folks!

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Page 2 by Andres Rodriguez

Jun04
by on 4 June, 2012 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Season 1 Hiatus: 2012

Well, I spent this whole week positively poring over the excruciating minutiae of cast and stamped metal products.  Yes.  My mind is a total blank.

Thank God for Andres “Drezz” Rodriguez, because he drew this spectacular page.  I saw it, and I was completely blown away.  But I probably should have suspected as much, since Drezz writes and draws a comic called El Cuervo, which routinely meets and exceeds this in quality.  It’s quite simply spectacular work he does.  El Cuervo is a very hard-edged crime drama about a contract killer named Eddie “El Cuervo” Vargas who’s on the outs with his employers – and be prepared, Drezz doesn’t pull any punches.

So there it is, folks!  Another amazing guest page!  This is really awesome.

And again I almost forgot – Vote To See What I Drew This Week!

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Page 1 by Emily Weber

May28
by on 28 May, 2012 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Season 1 Hiatus: 2012

Well, we’re well and truly underway, with this gorgeous piece by Emily Weber to lead the way!  Emily draws a graphic novel called May The Rain Come, the story of a veteran who comes home to find his town in the grip of a long drought, and his own mind seized by memories of the war he’s just left.  It’s a far more sophisticated comic than I’ve ever seen with anthropomorphic characters, and is truly a beautifully-crafted and amazingly constructed piece of comic art.  You can follow on her deviantart page – it’s truly excellent, and in a different but kindred way deals with a lot of the same things as 6-Commando does.  I urge you all to give it a good read – it’s excellent work!  And it’s totally fitting that her work be the way this guest story kicks off, and on Memorial Day, as well, when Americans stop to remember the nearly two and a half million of their fellow citizens who have been killed or wounded in the cause of the Revolution since the nation’s founding in 1775 to the present day.  It’s all well and good to be patriotic, but these are still men and women like any of us, and their pain and suffering is just as real as any of ours might be. We owe them all a great debt for that.

By the way, I might add that I’ve gone and applied for Artist’s Alley for a third year at NYCC.  Third time is supposed to be the charm, but who knows?  We’ll just have to wait and see.  I will, of course, keep you posted as things develop.

Revisions moved very slowly this week – I was overwhelmed at work, and the spread I’ve been working on has become insanely complicated.  But if you’re going to do something, do it right, and I’m not letting myself get overwhelmed – this will be the best I can make it, one way or the other!  I’ve done quantity, and now I’m shooting for quality, and it’s actually kind of a thrill to be allowing myself to add in all that detail I’ve always wanted to do.

So that’s all for this week, folks!  Enjoy, and see you next week for the next installment!

Oh, and I almost forgot:

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No Good Deed

May21
by on 21 May, 2012 at 1:00 am
Posted In: Season 1 Hiatus: 2012

Well, here we go.  Almost.

Yes, this is the long-awaited guest story, written by Chris Wrann, and drawn by the fabulous people you see listed above.  This is my “title card,” which I did by way of introducing this fabulous event.  I’ve hyped this so much that there’s really nothing more to say but “Here it goes, everyone!”

Seriously though, this is so totally awesome I don’t know what to say.  All these terrific artists and writers have really done me a huge service by doing this, and I’ve just been blown away.  I know I’m not anywhere approaching being a “pro,” but these guys all gave me their time and effort to back me up while I took my chances on getting this book together, and I seriously can’t possibly thank them all enough.  This week was particularly tough for me, with a lot of moments that really dragged me down emotionally and shook my confidence in my own work and abilities, and it was this huge outpouring of support that I got from all of you, and from these really talented artists, that kept me going.

And speaking of that, I wanted to show you all THIS, which came to me from someone on the Ogre/GEV forums at Steve Jackson Games:

Yes, that’s right, it’s a custom counter and game statistics for Mike-One-Echo, so you can now take him into battle against the Combine and Paneurope!  That was just so totally cool I couldn’t contain myself.  And between this, and 6-Commando making its rounds on forums across the interwebs, from SJGames to Dream Pod Nine to Boardgamegeek, and even Kickstarter, word of mouth is spreading, and boy did that all just give me a lift right when I needed it the most!

So really, that’s just enough out of me.  Enjoy the show, everyone!  And as always, you can vote to see what progress I made this week!

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