Science comic.

Well this update will be short and not very sweet. At least not sweet to me. You see in receiving a salary, sometimes when the deadline falls you must obey! So this weekend I am putting the finishing touches on this science comic for work. Big Sigh! I should be doing another commission that I have to go, and working on some stuff for the upcoming Number 13, and most of all working on Captain Spectre!
But alas, I am here working on the last two panels of this science comic. I know there will be a couple more additions and changes so not going to get too worked up.
One thing to notice here is the richer colors of these pages. They are for digital release and not for print. So I thought richer colors would be better. Also these are just dark pencils and not inks. The powers that be discovered Arkham Asylum and wanted something like that.
I should also mow today as it has been awhile. So if it doesn't rain later today then that will be on the daily plan.

Sorry for the odd update. Hopefully this will be the last time for stuff like this.

ERB's Number One

Well here is a stab at the most drawn scene from Edgar Rice Burroughs 'the Monster Men'. Bill Stout, Mark Schultz, Frank Frazetta, St. John have all done this scene. So I figured I would give it a try. I didn't even know Mark had done a version until this wednesday when I finally got a copy of his great sketchbook Vol. 5. I got it home and opened it up and bang there was a drawing of Number 13 and Number 1 fighting, which was something not done yet with it. Then a commission piece of this scene. I had previously drawn a version but when I saw Mark's I just tore mine up and threw it away. The pose was almost exactly the same. 

So anyway here are the pencils. I am pretty sure it won't be the cover but it might be a splash page or something if I am lucky.

Here are the inks as they stand Sunday evening.....it is a very slow process right now. My hand is giving me fits lately. So anyway enjoy Loyal Legionnaires, and I promise more Captain Spectre very soon. I still have a couple of commissions to knock out from my friends fund drive I was working on. But Captain Spectre pages are boiling on my workbench to be done. And in my mind. Thanks for tuning in.

Oh, I also added a blog roll over on the right side, down a bit....blogs I follow as they update will be at the top. As I installed this gadget there were 128 blogs I follow on my list...sheesh. But as they post they will drift up. So enjoy that small addition too. It's all about the links and traffic, Legionnaires.

Captain Spectre new store opening with new shirt with more coming

Captain Spectre Rocket shirt by CaptainSpectre
Browse other Captain T-Shirts

Fathers Day...

I had an idea for a WW2 era Captain America and Bucky drawing. I loved those Kirby issues where the acrobatics were part of their character. They worked as a team facing all obstructions. I also tried my hand at inking in solid bold strokes kind of like Chic Stone. His inking was so solid that Jacks figures just leapt off the page. I did this drawing on spec. Maybe someone will buy it, as I still have until the end of the month to hand over the money to my friend in need. Anyway it is inked, on 11x17 plate finish strathmore board. 

This is a version of the above colored with the limited palette of the old comics industry. I have been playing with different ways to color my images in prep for deciding which way I want to color 'Solo Flight' when I get it all done. 

I did this Creature on spec to start off the commissions, and it sold....thanks David....I had never drawn a creature before, except when I was a kid I tried it a few times after seeing the movies. My favorite Universal monster as when I was a kid I was a big fan of scuba diving. Loved all the shows like Sea Hunt, Aquanauts, and the movies like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I ended up getting my aqua lung license and doing some diving in some off time in the service. Last real dive I made was in the East China Sea many years ago. Couldn't do any of it now a days, but I do fondly remember it. Deep sea adventures and space stuff were high on my list of kid dreams.

This was a commission I knocked out this past week also, from a friend who used to game with a small group I was part of a few years ago. He was rereading the first Burroughs' Mars books and wanted a shot of John Carter. When I was a kid I was always a bigger fan of the Tarzan stuff than the Mars stuff. And that has kind of carried over. I tend to not draw John Carter but this was one of the first I had ever done, and finished to this stage. I guess access as a kid is a big thing...there were the great Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller, comic books, and the novels. I always enjoyed the mars books, just preferred the jungle adventures. I would think in todays world, off world adventures is the next frontier. When I was a kid Africa was still mysterious, not that it still isn't...just we have taken some of it away. 

So on this father's day I would like to salute my dad. We had our differences for sure. But I never really got to know him. He died when I was young. But that made him more of a legend in my eyes than ever. He was a mystery to me, but he was my dad. I spent a good deal of my life as a diesel mechanic because of his ghost. I wanted to be as good a mechanic as him. Hell I wanted to be able to anything as good as he could. But I never made it. I was a good mechanic, but I was never a builder like him. I felt he could do anything. He built a swing set for me and my brother when we were kids, and that swing set still stands today. I imagine that when the world is finally blown apart in some horrific event that a chunk of earth will float off into the cosmos with that damned swing set still intact. So happy Father's Day to you dad...and happy father's day to my sons who are fathers and doing a better job at it than I ever did. 

The Mucker commission

Sorry for the late of updates lately....just busy as can be with things. Here is a very long overdue ERB commission that I finished up finally. I am sure the owner of the book will be glad to have it back. I am sure he thinks I ran off with it never to return it. ha. It's tough to draw right in a book, as I kid I never drew in books, or even dog eared the pages. So actually trying to draw in one it a tough mental thing to get over. Plus usually the paper is terrible for marker art at a con. So was glad to bring this one home and work with ink and brush on this one. Anyway will box it up tomorrow and send it on it's way.

Also I usually don't do any commissions or anything, just don't have the time with all that goes on. But I am opening up some time to do some commissions this coming week. I have a friend in need. He needs some money fast, like by the end of the month.
So I have some Spider art I could sell from the prose Moonstone Spider book. Or I could do original things, which I would prefer to do. Anyway you guys know my range of things. Adventure, pulp, early sci fi types of things. Please don't ask me to do 'odd' stuff, if you know what I mean. Anyway I am just going to give the money to my friend to help him out. I am trying to get my good karma built up I guess. Just seemed like the only thing I can do to help him out. I don't have savings or anything to pull from, just freeing up some time to do some drawing. So if you can help and get some art you like let me know, Legionnaires.

Prices start at $200 for:
11x17 original of your choice, within reason,
black and white
brush inked,
unframed piece.
includes shipping

Prices start at $35 for:
11x17 original head and shoulders
black and white
brush inked
unframed
includes shipping

Email me and let me know...we will talk about it.

Have a good Memorial Day....and remember....

Have a good Memorial Day Loyal Legionnaires....but don't forget to remember our fallen, fallen in the fight to maintain our freedom.

I take World War 2 very seriously, but even at that I like the fantasy elements of it. I can imagine. To me the finest job in the world would be for me to draw a WW2 Captain America and Bucky story, and maybe even have a part time job with the plot or plots. I would be in earthly heaven to do such a job. Of course it would be without those stupid ammo pouches the insist on drawing on him now. It seems after all these years he doesn't look real enough....well Marvel, give him to me and he would be real. Anyway I won't rant on that.
I just wanted to help out on Memorial day with this drawing. I had another one but can't find it so thought this piece would do that I did for a charity auction in Iowa I believe.

And believe me I take it very seriously. I have always said, give a war and a Floyd will show up.
My dad was in the 93rd Seabees in the pacific in WW2. My brother in the Army Security Agency in the early days of Viet Nam. I was in the 101 airborne and the 9th Infantry as an combat and depot engineer. My youngest son was part of Operation IronHorse in Iraq. My mother's father even worked in the Navy ammunition depot in Nebraska because he was a career railroader. My mother worked in a 105 shell factory during WW2 waiting for my dad to come home. We all made it home from our conflicts in body. Of course our souls is another matter. So this Memorial Day remember the fallen, and keep your families and friends close.

Tarzan, and Memorial Day...

One of the small projects I acquired at the DumDum last year was to do a small Tarzan image for a stamp cancellation postcard for when the Edgar Rice Burroughs stamp comes out. They are hoping, the Burroughs Society that is, that a ERB stamp will be done for the 100th anniversary of Tarzan coming up very soon. So the other day I started with some ideas of what to do for it. They seemed to like the one with Nkima, more than the one of the Tarzan yell. So I went with the Nkima one and started playing around with the design of it.

Next I pencilled and inked one. At the time I kind of liked it, but then started to sketch some more and decided I didn't like it very much. So I pencilled out another arrangement of the same subject.

I liked this one alot better. I focused a bit more on Tarzan by hiding Nkima behind him and brought his hand up with his knife in it. So I decided to ink it. I like inking, just sometimes the finished inks don't have the power or emotion of the pencilled piece. But I did the best I could.

I kind of think it held it's own with the finished inks. So I can consider this side project finished. I think it survived my inks.

Anyway Happy Memorial Day to all my Loyal Legionnaires. But that seems an odd thing to say a happy memorial day just doesn't seem right. So anyway just enjoy the day off if you have one coming. I know I will enjoy any day off I have from the day job. But tonight I am working on Captain Spectre, and hopefully tomorrow too, inbetween mowing and other duties around the secret HQ.

Now for a bit of news. I have accepted a project that will help things out. Let me explain a bit. The project will take me away from some time on Captain Spectre. Which isn't a good thing for me because I want this first issue out. But this new project is created by Sequential Pulp comics to be published by Dark Horse comics. So for one thing that means it is a high profile project published by a powerful comics company. It will be a full graphic novel, done in one type of story. So it will be alot of work for me as I will be handling all the art, letters and colors. But I hope with the added exposure from this project that will bring more attention to me and too Captain Spectre. The story is an Edgar Rice Burroughs one shot novel called 'the Monster Men'. The original title to the story was 'Number 13'. It has a bit of everything. It is kind of a frankenstein story mixed with pirates, a bit of jungle adventure, and some monsters....all with a burroughs twist. The official release hasn't been posted yet but should very soon. So it is going to be a tough year coming up for me trying to work on it and Captain Spectre. But I am hoping the combination of high profile and a great story will help out my other work. So I hope all you Loyal Legionnaires understand that I am trying to help out each project as best I can. So stay tuned to this blog for all the action and updates coming on both projects, as always.

New Captain Spectre page!

Well Loyal Legionnaires, here is another page from 'Solo Flight' - my first comic novella in the works. This page follows the last one posted as I am working thru the story on a linear basis. I am too narrow focused of a person to try and do it any other way. And once again I hope posting this progress isn't going to affect the millions of sales I plan on having.......hahaha. Just joking you 'all.  But you can see one of the bad guys going for a bit of a ride via Captain Spectre airlines, but oops that poor gal seems to be having a bit of trouble in the back of the truck. Maybe it's just a 1939 version of a bad hair day.
As before it takes me quite a while to plan out a page and get it all down. If you notice the pencils are somewhat less refined on this page. I started figuring since I was going to ink them, I didn't need to spend too much time worrying about totally finished pencils. I like doing tight pencils so I am trying to loosen up some on that area to help speed things up a little.

And speaking of speeding things up, I have actually agreed to do a project for a fresh starting company to be published thru Dark Horse Comics....and will have more news as it is released by the company. But I will throw out a tease for now......

finished pencils for page 6 of Solo Flight

That panel from last week was just the top of this page. Here are the finished pencils for the whole page. On this page we see some of the fates of two criminals in our story. 'Solo Flight' is kind of a story about what happens to different breeds of criminals. Again I don't like giving away too much of a spoiler, but again I will say this book is pretty much all I am working on lately - other than the day job stuff, and that isn't any fun. 

I wanted to make sure I got this post up and running, even if it is a bit early on the weekend. I have a few outside chores to tackle and with a chance of rain tomorrow I figured I better finish this up this morning and post it. Then after chores hopefully I will have time for some more pencils. 

This is kind of an in and out page....Captain Spectre rockets into the page in the first panel and flies out in the last panel, of course with an added payload. And I am sure all you Loyal Legionnaires can tell what is going to happen to the passenger in the last panel. He is going for a bit of a high altitude sight-seeing tour. 

Enjoy all you Loyal Legionnaires!

A tough one....

As the title says, a tough one...this panel gave me a ton of trouble as far as the layout is concerned and also it proved my arthritis is getting to me more than I thought. This is the top panel of a page. And I just tried and tried but couldn't get the layout started right. So other than wearing out a piece of board, or comic paper, I drew the pieces one at a time, then lightboxed them together onto a new page. I discovered I don't have any control over my hand movements, well limited control when my arm is extended to the top of a page. In other words the more I reach the less control I have. This is making things tougher to work. But there are work arounds like the lightbox and other things. Getting old is not fun kids. Ha. 

Also I hope viewers of any of the Commando Cody/Rocketman films don't think I am just ripping off one of the cool scenes in the movies. As most of you know I am heavily influenced by those great Republic cliffhangers. This scene is a tip of the hat to the first serial with Tris Coffin as Rocketman. But after alot of thought, there truly isn't alot of ways to land on a moving truck with your jetpack. So it actually helped using the lightbox. I drew the truck and all, then drew Captain Spectre at this angle, then lightboxed the truck and then placed Captain Spectre and lightboxed him. (The lightbox is a small box with frosted plexiglass as a drawing surface with a light source underneath. That way you can place a drawing on it and transfer, or trace the drawing onto a clean piece of paper.) 

Isn't the internet a wonder. A place of unlimited reference for artists. I can't count how many times I use it to look up what something looks like. Especially like drawing the Captain Spectre strip. If I need a 1936 police cruiser, then I just type it in and wham there it is. Amazing to this day. And it sure saves alot of time in research and reference. It also yields great gems, like this photo of Kong on the mountain. Being a poor man's collector, I don't have many film books or things like that. I mostly buy comic collection books and things like artist collections, so I had never seen this photo before. And being a King Kong film fan, as I still consider it the greatest adventure movie made, when I saw this photo I just had to reach for the DVD and view it again. I can honestly say that I don't know how many times I have viewed this film. Hundreds for sure. It never fails to make me feel like a kid again. 

Then of course the big news, and this is what I think one of the better cartoons of the event. Most had political sides taken but this one was more American so I liked it better. Of course it is copyright by the artist, I am just reposting because I liked it. As some of you know I have a personal stake. One of my sons served in the War on Terror in Iraq for almost two years, and made it back home from the frontlines.

Also some things stay the same as in enemies can only hide so long, either from Seal Team Six or Captain Spectre. As shown in one of the first Captain Spectre shirt designs I did when the strip started.

I wanted to get this update posted as I will be spending some time with the northern branch of the Floyd family today. They are coming out to the secret HQ for a cookout. So happy Mothers day to all the mothers out there. And to my mom, long gone, Thanks Mom.