I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got six new comics.
Check them all out here:
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got six new comics.
Check them all out here:
Back in 2010 when I got back into working with magic markers for the first time since the mid-1990s I started out by buying some cheap markers. I bought a variety of colors of Sharpie markers. I had fun with them but I was really interested in developing a finished art marker technique and the Sharpies weren’t versatile enough for that. I started looking at the various “Art markers” (lead by Copic markers) that had popped up since I stopped buying markers in the 1990s and I wanted to try some of them.
“Art markers” are fairly expensive. They run from about six to eight dollars a marker with the marker sets easily running into the hundreds of dollars. I was not anxious to drop a lot of money chasing a technique that I might never find. Then I was lucky enough to run across a clearance sale at Dick Blick’s website. They were selling ShinHan Touch markers (a competitor of Copic markers) for two dollars a piece. I decided to get some of those.
Working in color is a tricky thing. You either have to have a lot of colors to work with or know how to mix a lot of colors from the ones you do have. With makers you can’t mix colors very much. So I’d need a lot of colors. But since I still had not developed my marker technique yet I was reluctant to buy a lot of colors. Instead what I did was I bought a lot of one color. Blue. I think I bought them in at least two batches over the space of a couple of months but I ended up with 24 different blue markers.
I then spent some time working on what I consider a “Finished” marker technique. When I worked with markers in the 1990s it was all about sketching. I used markers as part of my process to eventually end up with a finished painting or drawing. But the marker part wasn’t a finished piece on its own. That’s what I was looking for. A marker piece that was finished on its own.
Eventually I found my technique. Having only blue markers helped me too. I didn’t have to worry about color and could concentrate on how I applied the marker to the paper. I figured out how to make a finished marker drawing and then went out and got even more markers. I eventually switched to Copic markers because they sell refills for them that makes them considerably cheaper.
The first thing I did and still do when I get a new marker or a new marker set is to swatch them. I get a piece of the same type of paper that I’ll be drawing on (Bristol board), draw small squares on the paper, draw in the square with a marker, and then write the marker name underneath the square. That way I don’t have to guess what a color will look like. If I grab a grass green marker then there is a swatch of the color right in front of me. I also write the date on the piece of paper with the swatches on it.
As I was contemplating coloring one of my faux comic book covers, “Beyond the Beyond,” I got the idea in my head to use my old ShinHan Touch blues for the large face in the front of the drawing. I hadn’t used them in years but I though they would work here. Plus it would give me something a little bit different to work with. I’m used to the Copic brush tips but the ShinHan markers had a bullet point. I felt like mixing it up.
The first thing I did was to dig out my old color swatches. They’re in a folder so they were easy to find. As I looked at the swatches I couldn’t help but notice that a few of them had faded to nothing. Almost all of the blues were as blue as ever but some of the colors had faded to nothing. Their swatch boxes were nearly empty. And they were all light blue/green colors. I even checked the markers themselves and thy no longer drew in any colors.
When you draw with marker and after a few years that drawing fades away that’s called a “Fugitive” color or pigment. It runs away. All markers used to be like that. Markers were all cheap and disposable writing tools that weren’t meant to had lang term art made out of them. In the 1990s they started to make archival black markers and eventually they started to make “Art markers” that weren’t supposed to fade after a few years. I guess ShinHan blue/green markers didn’t quite get that notice.
I was still in good shape with my ShinHan markers though. I had about 20 different blues to choose from. I don’t think I have that many of any one color in any of my other markers sets so It was fun to work with them all. I think I did a nice job with it. The variety of hues in the large face on the left is more that I usually have in my marker drawings so it stands out. As color theory goes usually blue/cool colors recede and red/hot colors move forward but I worked opposite of that here. I put the blue face ink front and then used hot reds and oranges on the figure behind him. Sometimes it’s good to do the opposite of what’s expected.
In the background I went with some neutral browns for the structures and kept the spiral sky lively with purples and violets. I even dropped some light green into the logo. Each layer has a distinct color pallete. It’s very well separated out which is rare for me. Usually I like to mix up the color of various layers to keep the eye moving. This drawing seems little more serene. Sometimes serene is what I need.
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got four new comics.
Check them all out here:
As an artist I’m not big on sitting around and waiting for inspiration. I believe you have to develop work habits that keep you making art even when you have no inspiration. You’ll get into whatever you are making as you work on it but if you never start you’ll never get into it. So just start drawing. But you also have to find ways to inspire yourself. I did that just the other day.
I post my art on Instagram. My handle is “ArtByOsborn. I don’t have many followers and I am not an influencer but still I persist. I usually post my street photos which I make specifically for Instagram or I look through some of my paintings and drawings that I have scanned into my computer and post one of them. With the street photos I look through the vast number of street photos I have taken over the years until I find one I want to work with. Then I use my iPad to crop, color correct, or maybe even add some special effects to it before I post the photo. That’s pretty straight forward.
For my artwork one of the folders I look through is my folder of raw scans. There are working drawings and finished pieces in there. I scroll through the folder until something catches my eye and I post it. But as I was scrolling through the last time I came across a series of drawings that I forgot about. They’re from back in the summer of 2015. They’re ink drawing but they were made in a way different than my usual ink drawings. Usually when I make an ink drawing I take the time to figure out the drawing in pencil first. Or sometimes, for smaller drawings, I do no pencil work and go right to ink to make a spontaneous ink drawing. These drawings were not done either of those usual ways.
First off these ink drawings were done of 6×9 inch paper. My usual ones are on 2.5×3.5, 5×7, 9×12, or 11×17 inch pieces of paper. I often do pencil drawings on the 6×9 inch paper (I cut 9×12 inch paper in half) but hardly ever ink drawings. That’s because I was making these ink drawings as if they were my pencil drawings.
When I make a pencil drawing I often look through my sketchbooks (that I draw ink) to find an image I want to work with. Then I blow up that image and print it out (in blue line) on a 6×9 inch piece of paper. After that I draw over the blue line sketch and make a more refined pencil drawing. In the case of these ink drawings I didn’t pencil anything and inked over the blue line sketch to make a refined ink drawing.
One of the things I like about working in ink is the immediacy. You make a line and it’s finished. There is no erasing or covering it up. It’s dark black on white paper. So I have to think about what I’m going to do but after I start putting lines down it can move quickly. I can make a lot of images with this method and as an artist I’m a huge fan of making images.
Oddly I had a hard time getting started. The first step was easy enough as I pulled out last year’s sketch book and found about eight little drawings that I liked. I printed them out in blue line only 6×9 inch pieces of paper and was ready to go. Then I couldn’t get started. I can generally concentrate well and not get distracted by stuff but that morning I was distracted for over an hour. Every time I tried to get going I couldn’t.
I wanted to see if I could get all eight drawings done in a single day but because of my slow start I couldn’t. Each drawing ended up taking at least an hour and so I ended up doing six of them that day. At about 7PM I wanted to get started and finish the last two but I stopped myself. I had been working on them since 8AM and it was already a long day. If I was to keep going I’d probably just mess them up.
I’m a morning person. I do my best thinking and get my best work done in the morning. I never work past 9PM and these days rarely ever work that late. A couple of Sundays ago I was working on one of my masked photos and I wasn’t yet done with it. It was about 8PM and I was feeling energetic so I decided to draw the mask then and there instead of waiting until the morning. It only took me about half an hour. The next day as I was working on the photo I was having a tough time finishing it. That turned out to be because the mask I drew was terrible. I redrew it and finished the photo. I shouldn’t have bothered trying to draw it the night before because it was really too late for me to start something. You have to know your strengths and weaknesses.
I had forgotten that these ink drawings were a good way to work up a lot of images. That was my inspiration. I thought to myself that I could get a lot of these done and then I could use them to make more stuff. I’ve wanted to do more of my large 22×30 inch ink drawings but haven’t gotten started on any of them in a while. I can use these smaller ones to work out the bigger ones.
So far I’ve done two female figures, one male figure, a couple of androgynous ones, and a monster. I keep flipping through them to see which one I want to make bigger and it might be a masked androgynous one or a monster. Or maybe I’ll keep going and make some more. I’ve got inspiration and habit going for me now.
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got four new comics.
Check them all out here:
I think I’ll sit down and write as I watch an episode of “Friends.” This time it’s “The One With the Breast Milk.” That’s Season Two and episode two. It was originally broadcast on September 28, 1995. I watched it as it originally aired way back then. From my calendar I can see that I worked down in Manhattan at Marvel Comics that day. I also checked my photo archive and can see that I spent a night that month (exact date unknown ) hanging out with my friends at Ace Bar down on 5th Street in Manhattan. That place is still open. Enough of what I was doing. Let’s see what’s going on in this one.
It starts out with an establishing shot of the corner of Bedford and Grove Streets in NYC. Somehow I’ve managed to never pay attention to the street that the Friends lived on. Isn’t that weird? If I hadn’t paused the show at the beginning of this episode I might have continued not to pay attention to it. Maybe it’s because I know the show wasn’t filmed in NYC so I haven’t payed attention to those landmarks. They don’t really have any connection to the show since it was filmed out in California.
That’s right Ross and Carol had their baby. Everyone is gathered in the apartment to ogle the child. Look. Tiny sneakers. Phoebe is such a weirdo. I dig her. Uh-oh, the boys are uncomfortable with breast feeding. Nothing too funny here but Joey’s balloon joke is good. And here comes the theme song. Not a lot of great theme songs left on TV. This was one of them from days gone by.
Now a scene with Rachel at work in Central Perk. Ross’s new girlfriend Julie is there. I liked Julie. I liked her better than Rachel. This whole scene is about how Rachel is jealous of Julie and neither Ross or Julie even know. The whole gang is at Central Perk and it’s a pretty good scene. Lots of banter. Ross is so happy and Rachel just has to ruin it.
Next scene is Joey at one of his many temp jobs. He’s dressed in a tux and hustling perfume at a department store. I was never envious of any of Joey’s temp jobs but at least he got to socialize with the pretty women of the store in this one. Here comes another perfume hustler. The Hombre hombre. I always like this bit. Someone the chicks dig more than Joey shows up and it makes him insecure. The guy who plays the hombre does an excellent job of it. One of my favorite never-to-be-seen-again characters.
Back to Central Perk. Monica has to hide that she was out shopping with Julie from Rachel or Rachel will get jealous. Never my favorite plot. Phoebe is not good at lying and messes it all up. She can lie just fine when she wants to though.
We cut back to Joey and the girl he was chatting up (Annabelle) tells him that she can’t grab a bite to eat because she’s going out with the hombre. Jealousy seems to be a theme in this episode as both Joey and Rachel are drinking from the jealousy bottle.
More baby jokes at the apartment. Monica makes some off color jokes to try to keep Rachel from being jealous. That was a quick scene. Now we get to the title of the episode as first Phoebe and then Joey try some of the baby’s bottle that’s filled with breast milk. Everybody else is grossed out. This is a pretty fast moving episode.
Now Monica and Rachel get their own scene in the apartment. Rachel finds out about Monica and Julie having lunch despite Monica lying about it. Rachel is not happy. This is a goofy fun scene. They’re playing it like Monica is cheating on Rachel. Lot’s of double entendres in this dialogue.
Next scene. More Monica stuff and then we get more baby stuff. Here we go with the breast milk jokes. Ross is digging himself a hole with his ex-wife as her girlfriend/partner Susan watches. Amusing. “This should be fun” is a good line from Susan. Chandler with the joke. Now Ross is jealous of Susan. I’ve always liked the Ross and Susan dynamic.
Joey comes into his apartment dressed in a white cowboy outfit. The Hombre from before was dressed in all black. Joey continues his envy and Chandler serves him a drink and imitates a bartender from an old western movie. Joey is doubting his cologne selling chops. Fun silliness.
Rachel is the most annoying of the friends. She’s got her and Monica crying. They cry/talk to each other for a while but Phoebe steals the scene. Phoebe is a good scene stealer. A breath of fresh air in the unfunny drama parts.
Back to the department store and it’s an hombre vs.hombre showdown. The black and white outfits remind me of Mad Magazine’s “Spy vs. Spy.” Turns out the hombre’s name is really Todd and his tough cowboy facade gets broken down and Joey rides off into the sunset with Annabelle. I’ll miss that hombre.
Now we get a resolution scene with Rachel and Julie. It’s an uncomfortable scene but at least Rachel is trying. As annoying as she is she usually redeems herself. But then she throws it all away with a funny line. Hey, if you’re going to throw it all away you may as well be fully about it.
The after credits scene is Ross with a bottle of breast milk and cookies. Can he do it? Will he drink the milk? Chandler and Joey are there too and are impatient. He does it. Drinks and quickly jams cookies in his mouth.
After watching the episode I went and did my usual thing. I watch the old DVD versions of the shows because they are the extended editions. The HD ones that run on TV and Netflix are missing stuff. Sometimes really good stuff. This episode only had one sentence cut from it so it’s not missing much. I could have watched the HD version and not even have noticed anything missing.
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got ten new comics.
Check them all out here:
I hadn’t been to my local library in a long time. I found my old library card and it had a date on the back: 1991. I don’t think I even used that library card so it was before that was the last time I was there. My local library is even in a different building these days. But after seeing people on YouTube mention that they borrowed graphic novels and collected editions of comics from their local libraries I decided to check some out of mine. Why not? There was plenty of comics I’d like to read, or at least look at closely, that I don’t want to buy.
I took a drive over to my local library and asked for a new library card. I even brought the old one to show them. That actually made things a little bit easier. I filled out a card with my name, phone number, e-mail, and address and gave it to them.
As an aside about how I can get distracted by grammar there was a place on the card for “Parent’s Name.” It was for kids to fill out so I didn’t have to but the apostrophe “S” distracted me. Was it right? It didn’t look right. Should it be the plural possessive “S” apostrophe? “Parents’ Name.” No, it can’t be that. That’s wrong too. That would be “Parents’ Names.” They only want one name. It wasn’t until the ride home that I realized that it should be “A parent’s name.” That’s how it’s usually said. Since it was a short form they left off the A. But that’s the only way the grammar makes sense.
After getting my new card I asked where the graphic novel section was and they brought me over to it. It was pretty darn small. Only about thirty book. I was told there were more in the children’s section downstairs but I still haven’t checked that section out yet. Instead I picked a book called “Boxer” by Gene Leun Yang. It was a good choice.
“Boxer” is the story of the Boxer Rebellion in China back around the year 1900. The Chinese peasants were rebelling against the foreigners (especially the English) who were running their country mostly through Chinese rulers who had to bow down to the foreigners. It takes place in the years leading up to the rebellion and tells the story of one of the leaders of the rebellion who starts as a small boy and slowly is shaped by the circumstances he lives in.
I liked the book a lot. I’m a fan of history so it was right up my alley. The art was clear and concise and the storytelling excellent. Most of the story doesn’t have to do with war but has to do with the lead character growing up. His life is punctuated by injustices mostly to do with the foreigners ruling the land. But he also has mentors, friendships, and romantic interests. Religion is also depicted as influencing our lead character and it’s depicted as literal. He talks to the long dead first Emperor of China to get advice and when he and his men go into battle they are drawn as if the gods are literally inhabiting their bodies. It let’s us know how real their religion is to them.
There is a companion book to this one called “Saints” that tells the story from the POV of the English. It was on the shelf too but somehow it didn’t occur to me to take that one out as well. I’m going to have to go back for it because this one was good. “Boxers” has about twice the page count as “Saints” though. I wonder why.
Despite my local library having a very small graphic novel section they do have a website. On that website I can order books from other libraries in the network and they send them to my local library. I jumped on the site when I got home to see what I can find. They have a search engine but sometimes it finds too much. That and I had no idea what I was looking for. In the end I decided I wanted to order the new collected edition of “Clyde Fans.”
I’ve been reading “Clyde Fans” by Seth since it first started to be serialized in Seth’s comic “Palookaville” back in 1997. It took over twenty years to finish the 475 page story and over the years I’ve read the entire thing but I’ve never read it all together. Eventually I’m going to buy this book but since I have all the parts of it in “Palookavile” I decided I was in no hurry to buy it and would instead take it out of the library. And so I did.
“Clyde Fans” is one of my favorite comics of all time. Five stars brilliant. I love the art and storytelling. Seth has a simple but lush style of drawing that I find very appealing. He uses few lines to define people and places but he always chooses the right lines. Often his characters are just talking to the reader as they go about everyday tasks and the clarity of them doing those tasks is amazing. His cityscape environments are equally as beautiful. He draws buildings and sidewalks in loving detail with simple lines. Great stuff.
The story of “Clyde Fans” is the story of two brothers looking back at their lives working at the family fan business and wondering what it all means. It starts in 1997 and flashes back to the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. A funny thing is that having read it over a twenty years in parts that came out years apart I didn’t remember that the 1997 stuff was mostly one brother and the flashback stuff was mostly the other brother. In my memory it was all about the one brother with the other being mentioned a lot. It was a different book than in my memory. It is a great book both currently and in my memory.
The second book I had them order for me is “The Daniel Clowes Reader.” I didn’t even know this one existed but it came out in 2012. It collects a bunch of Clowes’s work, including “Ghost World,” and a bunch of essays about his work. Its’ pretty cool. I’m only about halfway through it right now but I like it.
It’s funny but this book made me pull out my hardcover copy of “Ghost World” off my shelf. My copy is larger than this book so when I came to the point in the “Reader” where “Ghost World” was to be read I pulled up my copy because I like the big size better.
“Ghost World” is only about 80 pages but it’s also a five star brilliant comic. It’s the story of a couple of teenage girls who have recently graduated high school. They’re living their lives, trying to figure themselves out, trying to find their futures, and maybe drifting apart.
Clowes’s art is precise and pretty. He works hard to get the exact line and shape that he wants. He draws ugly especially well but he also gets pretty. His storytelling is straightforward and clear in a nine panel grid kind of way. I’ve always liked how his drawings can stare out at the audience as much as we stare at them. It’s a trait my art has in common with his.
After I finish reading “The Daniel Clowes Reader” I’m going to have to find more stuff in the search engine to read. Plus I have to check out the comics in the kid’s section. I bet they’ve got the superhero stuff down there.
I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got twelve new comics.
Check them all out here:
What comics have I been reading lately? Well, I recently made a list of all the comics I have on my pull list. Lets’s go over the list shall we?
The Savage Dragon – I’ve been buying this one regularly since about issue #70 and now it’s approaching #250 in a few months. It’s written and drawn by Erik Larsen and it takes place in real time so a lot of the characters have grown old. It’s good superhero stuff. Larsen keeps it interesting.
Criminal – Sean Phillips and Ed Brubaker return to their stories about criminals and their world. I buy everything these two team up to make and this is another good one. It’s got done-in-ones and multi-part stories. If you want to read about bad people check it out.
Reaver – One of a few fantasy comics that have made it onto my pull list in recent months. This one is like the movie “The Dirty Dozen” crossed with Dungeon and Dragons. We get a crew of criminals in this fantasy world who are offered a chance at redemption if they go on a mission in the middle of a war. Will they succeed or will they fail? Time will tell.
Monstress – I’ve been buying this fantasy comic for a few years now. I think its up over issue 20 and it’s full of lush art and a story of war, politics, and betrayal. Plus there are a lot of people who are part animal. Fox people, cat people, and all other sorts of people. Oh, and there are giant monsters too.
Usagi Yojimbo – I’ve been buying this comic regularly since 1986 and it just got a relaunch by IDW and it’s now in color. Usuagi has been a black and white comic for decades but no more. Usuagi in an anthropomorphic rabbit in ancient Japan. All the characters are animals but besides that it’s a straight forward adventure comic about a ronin. A masterless samurai. Usage wanders Japan and helps people out.
The Beauty – This one has been going on for a while. I think it’s also up over issue twenty. It’s a crime comic, it’s a police comic, it’s a slice of life comic, and it’s a little bit of a medical comic. “The Beauty” is an STD that makes people beautiful. It changes society and things get funky.
Cerebus in Hell – A series of four panel comic strips about, what else, Cerebus in Hell. I generally find it clever and amusing if not exciting. It’s annoying that each issue is a new number one but that’s the only way he can sell it these days.
The Goon – This is the first time I’m buying the Goon from issue to issue. I missed out on it years ago and bought collected editions. I’m enjoying it. It’s the story of a good hearted tough guy in a sort of 1930’s type world trying to do right by his town. He fights mobsters, monsters , and supernatural creatures. All wonderfully drawn.
East of West – This one has been around for a while. I just read issue number 43. I think it’s starting to wind down. Most of these Image comics series have a definite end to them and a lot of them seem to end around issue 48. A big shooting war has finally started in this book and I think it’s the war to end the series. At least the whole story has been building to this.
Birthright – This fantasy comic hit issue 40 and is still going strong. Maybe it’ll end soon and maybe it won’t. I have no idea. I’ve been enjoying the magical war between earth and Terranos but things just changed for the worst for Earth. Fun stuff.
Resonant – A horror comic that I believe is supposed to be a five issue mini-series. The problem is that I just read issue four and I have no idea how they’re going to wrap this up in one issue. They can keep going for more issues as far as I’m concerned.
Sera and the Royal Stars – Another fantasy comic and another five issue series that’s about to wrap up. A young woman on a magical quest to save her kingdom. Nothing revolutionary but I’ve been enjoying it.
Kaijumax – This comic about giant monsters in a prison is back for it’s fifth mini-series. Each series has six issues in it so that’s a solid number. I find it one of the most human and relatable comics despite the fact that it’s about giant monsters.
Snotgirl – The comic that I never would have believed I’d like. What is Snotgirl about? I’m not even sure. She’s a fashion blogger living in Los Angeles and things happen to her. I like the art, I like the writing, and I like comic in general but I’m not even sure what the plot is. It’s weird.
The Necromancer’s Map – Here comes another fantasy comic. How have I managed to find so many good ones? This is the second mini-series about a young woman who can magically raise the dead in this magical world. She’s on a quest for something that I can’t quite remember. I misses the first series but that hasn’t mattered one bit. I still like this one.
Five Years – Terry Moore continues the story from the last “Strangers In paradise” series and our huge cast of characters has five years to stop the world from ending. It’s high adventure in the Terryverse.
Outcast – Only a few issues left before this series ands with number 48. The story has sped up here at the but it’s as fun as ever. Things are either going to get very bad or maybe out good guys can win.
Uber: Invasion – I think this one is still going on. It’s on a break and I haven’t seen an issue in a few months. Hopefully it’ll be back soon. And it’s about superheroes being invented during World War Two.
Trees: Three Trees – Here comes a mini-series to wrap up the story from “Trees.” So far it doesn’t seem to have a lot in common with the first series but we’ll see. I’m with it until it finishes.
Ragnarok: The Breaking of Helheim – The second Ragnarok series from Walt Simonson continues the story of Thor after Ragnarok has happened and all the other gods are dead. I enjoyed the first series and I’m liking this one too. Some great art.
Love and Rockets: Volume 4 – They’re back to publishing Love and Rockets in it’s original magazine form. An issue comes out once in a blue moon and I’ll buy it.
Grendel Prime – Matt Wagner is back with another Grendel mini-series except this time is the future version of Grendel called Grendel Prime. I’m down for six issues.
So there you go. What comics are you reading?