Monday, November 28, 2011

"IF I TOOT MY OWN HORN TOO MUCH, WILL I GO BLIND??"

What some nice folks are sayin' about yours truly...


Truth is, I got some laughs out of Casey’s story of a seemingly inept doctor to all sorts of monsters and things that go bump in the night, but the main reason I think you should pick up this psychedelic spook story is for Andy Suriano’s trippy artwork. It felt like reading a Ralph Bakshi film on the page – and not one of his lesser films, like Cool World (sorry animated Kim Basinger and wooden Brad Pitt). Zombies, ghosts, man made monsters – if you like any of those, you’ll probably dig Doc Bizarre, M.D.


From a MULTIVERSITY COMICS.COM article:

Andy Suriano's art on Doc Bizarre is a sort of Silver Age blender. He's not as specific in his influence as, say, Tom Scioli's Kirby-ism in Godland -- a Kirby troll or shout here, a skewed and stilted Ditko posture there, a general ambience straight out of old pre-Code E.C., et cetera. Where a lot of retro-comix artists strive for a simplified, smoother, easier digested "retro" aura, Suriano's style is harsh and full of ragged edges. It's perfect for the craggly story Casey gives him, and it gives an uncomfortable physicality to a story that's about, uh, uncomfortable physicality.

You can read the reviews in their entirety by clicking the links.


*(some lucky recipient will get this original sketch!)

Sunday, November 27, 2011

FACES OF DOC...

Thanks to Twitter, not only do we know the inner-most workings of Justin Bieber's mind, but our collective world's are that much more connected...and thus more easily able to prod, poke and pester fellow artists into submitting pin-ups! I was fortunate enough to gather a collection of some of the most talented--and eclectic comic book artists and animators and have their work published side-by-side. I guarantee you won't find these folks together in the same book ever again. But I for one, thrive on diversity and think each artist brought their own unique vision to my character in a way I never--nor could ever think of! That's what made these so much fun and felt like Xmas every time one of my friends sent me their image. I love each and every one of their pieces.
I cropped out only their heads above for a small sampling. For a complete look at the final pin-ups, visit each respective artist's sites--as well as pick up your own copy of DOC BIZARRE MD!

Big sloppy kisses to:


*For those of you keeping score at home, that's 60 pages of story, PLUS 60 pages of bonus extras: sketches, development, page process, unused art, covers, pinups and guest pinups all wrapped in a beautiful hardcover!

"THEY'RE HEEEE-EEERE!!!"

IN STORES THIS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30th!!!

"GET YOUR FREE ORIGINAL SKETCH ON!"

Along with GOLDEN APPLE COMICS in Hollywood, CA, HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank, CA and geeky hipster online shoppers Valhalla THWIPSTER.COM-- 2 More prestigious shops have joined my "Free Original Sketch Incentive"! For those midwesterners, ALTER EGO COMICS in Marion Iowa and my favorite New York City comics shop: JIM HANLEY'S UNIVERSE!
Those are a lot of options, so this Wednesday (11/30), go pick up your DOC BIZARRE MD HC and get your free sketch on!!!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

MADMAN!

Cards on the table: Mike Allred is one of my favorite artists out there. MADMAN has been a huge influence on me and my work ever since the first issue of Grafik Muzik. So you can imagine the tingling in my testicles I got when he suggested we trade pinups in each of our respective books coming out--so here's mine for his what's sure-to-be beautiful oversized 11x17 Madman Super Spectacular 20th Anniversary Monster HC coming out at Christmas!
You can see Mike's pinup in DOC BIZARRE MD, out next week!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

"FREE SKETCHES!!"

In an effort to market myself and as part of an incentive for you good folks to purchase DOC BIZARRE MD, I took it upon myself to bust out about 50 original sketches, done on comic book backing boards--to be slipped into the inside (hard)cover. So far, GOLDEN APPLE COMICS in Hollywood, HOUSE OF SECRETS in Burbank and the online deal-givers THWIPSTER.COM are all participating!

If you don't live near any of these places, then the on-line route is for you--OR, you could alert your local comic shop and have them contact me and I would be more than happy to send them these little "treats". But they need to act fast!

Here are a couple samples. As you can see they range from floating heads to more intricate compositions....
The boys at House of Secrets asked for their sketches smaller, as to be easily slid inside books (above) and full pages (below).

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

"DOC BIZARRE AND THE SICK SPIDERS FROM SPACE !"

DOC BIZARRE MD will be out in shops on 11/30--exactly 2 weeks away. I thought I would offer up some original pages for rent and/or sale in the days leading towards the books release!
Until I set up another blog/site devoted solely to Doc Biz pages, here's a sampling of one of my pinups. Below is the original inked page, on standard comic book paper--roughly 11x17. I have 8 original pinups, unused covers and final cover. Once the book is released I will have available 50 or so original story pages for sale as well. Just in time for Christmas!
If interested, lemme know at astrobug@hotmail.com

Saturday, November 12, 2011

CHARACTER CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

Most people are familiar with my character design work on more humorous or "cartoony" (Ahh! Bad word!) projects. I recently came across a few old files of conceptual work I did in a more serious/action tone. This was a project I worked on a year or two back that shall not be named yet, but I hope it makes it's way into your boxes soon. I really loved the concept. These designs weren't even CLOSE to the final character design--so it should be safe to post. I have more, but thought it would be fun to show two designs of the SAME character--and (CLASS, PAY ATTENTION), just by adjusting proportions, you can transform the character's personality. Personally, I would LOVE to revisit the bottom character sometime. He reminds me of a Caniff character in an old adventure strip. Anyone game?

Sunday, November 06, 2011

MASTER LEGEND

While I'm paaaaaainfully waiting for the printer to complete our respectable order #'s for DOC BIZARRE MD (the latest in store date I have now is 11/30. Yeah, I know. Sigh), as well as the remaining 4 PLASTIC MAN shorts to come back from being animated at TOON CITY in the Philippines (the first 2 are back and turned out GREAT, btw)--AND I'm finishing up my storyboarding duties on MOTORCITY for Disney XD, or, more accurately Titmouse Inc. (or even MORE accurately whatever payroll company they use!), I wanted to update this blog with SOMEthing. Below is more than just something--but a few comic pages I did for the above mentioned Titmouse studios for a Live Action Documentary called SUPERHEROES, about--you guessed it: real-life superheroes. I've only seen an early cut, but from what I gathered it's an awesome documentary. Last I heard HBO picked it up and aired it. I'm not sure what work of mine made it, but was really proud of the pages I did--some of my favorites in this medium, I think. All in all, I did 10 or so--and all were done entirely digitally. I typically don't share work stuff on here (not true), but I've been sitting on these for over a year, so hopefully it's ok if I share a couple images. This was one of my favorite freelance gigs. Enjoy.
As time gets nearer, I will try and post updates about Doc Bizarre's delivery, Plastic Man and a few other things I've got cookin'. T-M-N-T anyone?

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

"THE EEL AND THE BAT"

You all will either love or hate what I've done to ol' Bats.

"IT'S A WRAP!"

My previous celebratory pat-on-the-back was slightly premature due to technical issues (again) with the coloring process. As was very well articulated to me by my former colorist: apparently... "there is more to it than just painting" nice color schemes. I've had to reopen giant files multiple times to save as a myriad of ways--at (ad?) nauseam. But it's all taken care of now, so I can just kick up my feet and wait for that sweet, sweet, funny-book roll in... (*hick*)

"STRETCHED A LITTLE THIN..."

Sure, it's a bad pun, but true nonetheless.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

THE. END.

After 2 years, a new house, a baby, a funeral and 3 colorists later...DOC BIZARRE M.D. is finished! I sure hope you check it out on October 19th.

Friday, August 05, 2011

AND NOW SOMETHING TOTALLY UNRELATED...

Wow. Not sure when the last time I just drew something "for fun"...okay. Now, back to work...

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

DOC BIZARRE MD SOLICITATION...

PREVIEWS ordering catalog came out today and within it's pages (PG 187 in the Image Comics section, to be specific) was an ad for our hardcover graphic novel (in case you didn't see my 800 previous posts!). In any event, we included a few interior pages. They were small images, so here's a better look:
If you're reading this, than you are someone with very sophisticated taste--which means you will be filling out your Diamond ordering catalog to include (but not limited to) a copy of this book!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

ORDER DOC BIZARRE!

The latest PREVIEWS catalog comes out Wednesday and within it's pages will be an ad for DOC BIZARRE MD hardcover OGN. Here's the important part: you. Yes, YOU--need to pester, demand, threaten your local comics retailer to order one for you and several for the store. Any books published by anyone other than Marvel and DC usually do garbage numbers. Original and creator owned work does even worse. That is why it's important for us to speak up and support creator owned, original ideas--especially if they are packaged in a beautifully bound, over seventy-page hardcover with plenty of "extras" in the back... ; )

Thursday, July 28, 2011

"ANATOMY OF A (DOC) BIZARRE PAGE" PART 1

After shamelessly begging for some validation via twitter, I'm posting a few images breaking down (my) process with these DOC BIZARRE M.D. pages...
First I start with a thumbnail. This time around I did all my thumbnails digitally. This cut out the scanning process (at least at this stage) and made it easier to email Joe (Casey).

After failing miserably inking the first 9 pages digitally, I did the remaining pages in traditional pencils. After buying that awesome Brother MFC-6490CW scanner, I printed each thumbnail out and lightboxed over in blue (and red) pencil.

Next up: inks! Scariest process, for sure. It's permanent, baby! Wait, why am I talking like that??

After scanning all my inked page on my fancy new scanner, I did a broad overview/color script of the entire book so I had some idea of palette, visual dialog and more importantly, a starting point as I moved to final color...

That being said, I probably will still tweak this page a little bit more--but for the most part, this is where it's headed.

I hope you've enjoyed this little trip through my head. Did I lose any of you??

Monday, July 18, 2011

*STUFF* HAPPENS IN DOC BIZARRE MD!

That's right! Stuff! Things! Something!

I edited out a key plot point for those of you looking to enjoy the printed version spoiler free.
The colors are coming along okay, but just when I'm the slightest bit pleased with my progress, I become disheartened and discouraged after seeing someone else's artwork that's exponentially more skilled. I feel like no matter what my stylistic intentions are going in to something, my animation background creeps in, for good or for bad: line weight, color, shading, "cartooniness" of character designs, etc. I'm at the point where I don't even know what my *style* is--I just hope I didn't repeat too many of my very green mistakes I made previously on CHARLATAN BALL.

I suppose I am getting better, although there is an anxiety that came with doing a book with so many pages and looming publishing deadline. Hopefully I took the time and care where needed, incorporated 'shortcuts' when prudent. I was fortunate to get (as far as I could see/google) all favorable reviews from my former collaboration with Joe. I hope this new book will warrant more keen eyes and word of mouth on it. Some folks will dig it, others will pick up other books.

Check back for more sneak peeks.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

THE (HARD) COVER!

IMAGE COMICS just released solicits for their books published in October, DOC BIZARRE MD being one of them! On the shelves OCTOBER 19th! Threaten your retailer's family, car, life to have them PREORDER this beautiful, 72+ page hardcover for a measly $12.99! That's what, the same as buying 2 or 3 shitty comics?? Do it! Do it now!!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

"ON THE ROAD AGAIN"

Actually, I'm not going anywhere. Not with the amount of work still ahead of me. Heck, I'm not even going to make it down to SDCC this year. *(Lot's of fist waving into the air!)

As it is, I can only talk about half of the projects I'm working on--and of those, can really only show one...so, hope you enjoy a few of these panels I colored!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

'WARHOL'S OTHER CAN"

This was a series of 5 prints done for the WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER-themed show at GALLERY 1988 in Venice, CA. I was unable to make the opening (or subsequent days following due to an endless onslaught of deadlines), but was told all 5 prints, including the framed one, SOLD OUT!

This great but confusing news: I did a completely digital piece for the first time because my schedule didn't allow any "proper" oil painting before the deadline (which is generally always my first choice). So it's confusing, because if I'VE crossed that digital threshold, where does that put my stance as to what's considered "fine art" and what I've always dismissed as "design" or as I was once fond to say: "the shit us animators throw away every day at our JOBS". Food for thought. This time I'm the one eating at the table...

Thursday, June 23, 2011

"AVENGER TIME!"

I'm usually savvy enough to not post freelance--for a number of reasons, but I thought these were too fun and eventually revised so much they don't appear too similar to the final products, thus hopefully legally off the hook for posting.
The job required parody's of Marvel Super Heroes. Needless to say, it was probably my most favorite job--less any work Marvel wants to throw my way....? *crickets* No? Okay, moving on...

Below, a slight twist on a classic (I think the hat was a nice touch).
The HULK parody below was probably my favorite--as I have a fondness for the sort of hillbillyness of it's design.
And these two, well...
You can see the actual short here: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/mads-marvel-superheroadventure-time-mash-up.html