MY GYM PARTNER IS A MONKEY AND MY DAD WAS A GYM TEACHER

First off, I wanted to thank everyone who's been checking out my posts.

I didn't know it's already been solicited, but yeah--I did issue #1 of the BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD comic, based on the upcoming ANIMATED show. Hopefully I'll do more, if my schedule permits. I'll post some stuff as it gets closer down the line. My favorite part of it was that I made it all look like an old Hostess Fruit Pie ad!!!

So thanks for all the kind, generous comments, especially coming from such a diverse, talented group. I've been backed up with deadlines, but I can't wait to see what's new on your respective blog(s)!

Onto today's post...

It's been awhile since I've posted anything GYM PARTNER related. In the past few months, I've had an opportunity to do five more CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY comics (beyond the previous two already posted). They've been a BLAST to work on, especially working with writers like TOM SHEPPARD and the shows creators, TIM AND JULIE CAHILL themselves. I also wanted to give a shout out to the illustrious DAN DAVIS, who's been inking the pages. More of Dan's work can be seen on his site HERE.

Here are some PENCILS TO PRINTED PAGE...

From CN BLOCK PARTY #46:
Page 1 "raw"...and as printed.
Page 5. I had fun trying to work with spotting blacks as well as creating cool "Predator's R Us" icons.



From CN BLOCK PARTY #47:
Page 1

Page 4

Page 6 and 7





And #48:
Pages 1-3

CHARLATAN BALL #4 IN STORES TOMORROW!!!

Hot off the presses, ISSUE #4 in stores THIS Wednesday, October 15th! Go buy a couple! Go! Go Now!

WATCH UNDERFIST, YO!

THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12th @ 7pm ON CARTOON NETWORK!

This will be the only broadcast in WIDESCREEN, it'll melt your face!
This is it! THE GRIM ADVENTURES OF BILLY AND MANDY "SPINOFF"!!! It's a feature length movie featuring B-character's turned action stars from series creator MAXWELL ATOMS. It's as if the A-Team were comprised of Lenny and Squiggy, and they fought hordes of hades and legions of undead lollipops. It's AWESOME to say the least!

What an amazing gig this was! Being able to work alongside my good friend, "America's Favorite Uncle" PHIL RYNDA , at some points, piggybacking designs: going over his original roughs, then him going back over mine, and then I in turn going over those, and so forth. So. Much. Fun. True, most of these characters existed in some form previously, bought Adam, er, Maxwell Atoms gave us free reign to push these designs and allowed and insisted we create these new forms as if this were their debut. I love nothing more than making shapes work into comedy/action hybrids. Maxwell Atoms was probably my favorite creator to work for (and YES, James Silverman--you were great too!). I hope he gets another job...and hope that he hires me.





Doing "character layouts" like above are some of my favorite things to do. It really gives the folks animating overseas the proper template and map of a scene.




I even snuck "Kirby Dots" into some designs...

FEELIN' KINDA GREEN...

INKS TO COLOR 2: "NOW WITH IN-BETWEENS"

As requested...by "Fireboy", whomever you really are. Oh wait, did I meet you and your friends @ SDCC? (w/the bootleg Clone Wars art?) In any event, you asked to see more of mine and Marc's process. It should be noted that for the 1st issue, I had done MARKER COMPS, trying to lay some ground rules, build a template so Marc and I could form a dialogue and thus try to arrive at the some place. Or at least same country. For those faithful readers of the updates, you'll recall these posts here, here and here. If not, you should check them out, as they are filled with wide eyed hope and unfiltered marker goodness.

Here's a back and forth from CHARLATAN BALL #4 (out in stores end of the month!) , this happens to be PAGE 8...
My raw B&W.
Marc's 1st pass and my subsequent notes: I had been experimenting and trying to grow with laying blacks down and utilizing it to help weigh the page down. With that in mind, I asked to have all those self-colored "Kirby dots" (big, open panel 3) changed back to black. I also thought this would help push the lightning out better. Sometimes doing nothing is better.
...and sometimes it's not. Marc then added a nice glow to the cloud in panel 2.
Almost there (and Marc wishing it was done)...
Caesar's missing teeth!
...and the finished page!

PAGE 13...

I wanted to break up the panels a little using color...
Can YOU spot the differences? Read "Highlights"!



And then some steps from BOOK #5, PAGE 11, that I didn't show in the previous post below...
Below is an example I sent Marc of what I was thinking for this crazy Game Show HOST-like character that literally "pops" up...
1st pass...
My follow up: I wanted this scene to be as if it were The Second Coming...askewing all of the colors in an eerily pink glow.
Then seeing it in actuality, I felt like it just sort of washed everything away so no one thing was special.
...and then Marc's follow-up. I nice compromise and slight vindication as far as Marc's original instincts. Sometimes I need to see how bad my notes actually look to realize it was right the first time. This happens quite a bit.
Well, there you have it. Hope you've enjoyed my displays of trials and errors.