Vacation!

I am finished "Archie Snow: Snakepit", the three-part series that runs from Proof #26-28. That concludes my obligations to Proof until the start of Season Two later this fall. Alex and I have planned something cool for it, can't wait to get started.

Squeak! is, at long last, finished. I delivered the last of the artwork (including cover) to our letterer/designer. Time to kick back, I think. I will be visiting New York City for the first time, but I will be gone for a week so no blog update until I return.

Until then, here's two Archie sketches I did that never saw print anywhere. They're both practice for con sketches, the type I normally do at shows. I like the first one a lot, but the second one (a blatant ape of Tim Sale's default 'dude with a sword' pose) has a short, short arm. The Sword of Ten Destinies, Archie's blade, was obviously still in the planning stage at this point.

Something to tease... Here's Ernie, Archie's guide, saying something important in "Snakepit, Part 3". It will be out in five weeks. Cheers!

Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio is one of my favorite singers, and now he's gone.

Ronnie had the thankless task of taking over the lead vocals for the greatest metal band in history, Black Sabbath, after Ozzy got fired.  Dio broke up with (and rejoined) Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler not once but twice, most recently as the black-as-pitch supergroup Heaven and Hell. Together with Sabbath (and his own band, Dio) Dio's music was my gateway drug to heavy metal, which I love with no apologies. If it weren't for Ronnie, I wouldn't have discovered Judas Priest, Motorhead, White Zombie, Slayer, and Megadeth... And without them I wouldn't know anything about Angel Witch or Dokken or Brocas Helm or Testament or Anvil or 3 Inches of Blood.

Thanks, Ronnie. Every time I throw the horns, I'm throwing them for you.

Montreal Con sketch roundup

The latest Montreal Comic Con was this past weekend, and it was one of the busiest shows I've ever had. Between this and Calgary, I'm really impressed with the groundswell of support my work is getting. Thanks, everyone.

First of all, check this kid out. He was dressed as Altair from the Ubisoft Montreal video game Assassin's Creed. His suit was awesome, and he had tiny wooden versions of all of Altair's assassin weapons. His mom took a picture of him stabbing me to death in the neck with his little arm knife, which may have been a chopstick. Fantastic!

Batgirl!

Black Cat!

Apocalypse and the Four My Little Ponies of Apocalypse!

A luchadore (whose name escapes me)!

Lastly, Two-Face.

Montreal Comic Con, birthday cards

I will not be attending the mighty TCAF in Toronto this weekend. I will, instead, be a guest of the Montreal Comic Con here in rainy Montreal. Although my name doesn't appear on the website, I have confirmed my spot and look forward to seeing old and new faces. I'll have some prints and artwork for sale, as well as a bunch of Proof and Archie Snow pages.

Should be some big news about Squeak!: Werewolf! within a couple of weeks. Until then, here are a couple of birthday cards for my friends Tim and Jackie.

Calgary Expo roundup

The Calgary Expo was this past weekend, and it was a fantastic show. I lived in Calgary for eight years, so it was a great chance to re-connect with a lot of the fans that have made Proof (and Archie Snow) so much fun to work on. I had a great time with both Proof artist Riley Rossmo and Proof colorist Dave Casey, to say nothing of the tons of other friends I got to see.

I was a contributor to the art book this year: here's my piece. I got really used to saying, "I'm on page six!"

Some commissions I finished during the show:

Donatello

The Joker

Spidey

Hellboy

Zatanna

Little Iron Man

Calgary Expo

I will be a guest of the Calgary Expo this weekend. I'm not on the website but my spies tell me that I will be at table C01. I'll be selling Proof and Archie Snow pages, as well as a couple of prints and minicomics. I'll be sketching, as well.

It was my dear friend B-Mac's birthday yesterday, so I drew him this birthday card. Happy birthday, Brian. You're one of the good ones.

Speaking of Squeak!, we're in the home stretch; only a couple more pages to complete and a cover to decide on. Feels great to be thisclose to finishing the book up.

Archie Snow

In 2007, I started my career as a cartoonist by writing and drawing an awful little mini-comic called "Archie Snow: The Gorgon". Since then, I have been publishing the further (and progressively better writter-and-drawn) adventures of Archie Snow, ninja snow leopard, in the back pages of the excellent Image Comics title Proof, by Alex Grecian and Riley Rossmo.

I decided to take a break from my regularly-scheduled freelance and spice up my Twitter page a bit, and this was the outcome. I'm proud of Archie... He's come a long way in the last three years, and I'm excited to tell more stories with the weird old man with the head of a leopard.

PROOF #26 on sale now!

*Finally!* My page count for Archie Snow has increased to four pages a month, and "Snakepit: Part 1" is the beginning. Let me know what you thought, would you kindly?

No art to post today (tomorrow, hopefully) but I wanted to link to Sean Viloria's blog. Sean is creating a Proof action figure prototype that is something to behold: ==>CLICK HERE<== to check it out. Tell him I sent you.

Be kind, everybody, and go see How To Train Your Dragon (it's amazing!).

Girl Friday

Those of you who have been hanging out with me for the last couple of weeks know exactly who this is. Those who haven't-- probably don't. Either way. It's a girl! It's Friday! It's Girl Friday!

I was going to post some new inkwashes, but deadlines have squeezed me like a grape and it's only going to get worse (better?). I will do my best to update on Wednesdays from now on, see how it goes. I may have some news to report soon, too.

Have a great weekend. It's sunny and hot in Montreal, and that means that everyone is beautiful again.

More BIOSHOCK and a birthday

More BioShock drawings. The art direction in that game, by Scott Sinclair and based so strongly in Art Deco, is easily my favorite of any game I've ever played. I've been working in black-and-white so much lately that it's quite thrilling to play with washes and put colour behind them.

Big Daddy Rosie:

Little Sister:

For more information on BioShock, would you kindly click here?

My next quest, I suppose, is to stop drawing licensed characters and start producing illustrations. I think it's time to start making statements and telling stories rather than regurgitating stories I've already digested and enjoyed. Squeak! is a big part of that next step in my career, but there's no reason not to show more of it here, I think.

My dear friend Ken's birthday was a week or two ago. Here's a card I draw for him, belated as always. Happy birthday, Ken!