Back in 2010 I created Influence Maps to show the various influences on my comic creating over the years. I decided it was time to update that, since new influences have come onto my radar, others have grown or faded, etc.... so here is my current Influence Map. The difference here is that these show the influences I am consciously aware of today: ( Read more... )

On FB I am Friends with a large number of cartoonists, so for a few days now my feed has been filled with tributes and remembrances of Bernie Wrightson, who passed on the weekend. Much as happened with Darwyn Cooke last year, all these folks are remarking on not just what a great comic artist the guy was, but what a wonderful person and good friend ( Read more... )

a challenging but enjoyable creative task

getting back into drawing Space Kid! pages after a hiatus of literally months!

can't decide among several so I will toss them all in!

1) long ago, Sharon taught me that, if the name of the month contains an R, it is good luck for the first word you say upon waking on the first of that month to be “rabbit”. And yesterday I learned that the Japanese consider it good luck to watch the sun rise on January 1. Today I did both, so ( Read more... )

getting comfy with a new pen


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quiet hours spent paging through works by a variety of inspirational artists

This has been one of my fave comics drawings since I first laid eyes on it 25+ years ago.

It is a panel from the March 17, 1945 installment of the Buz Sawyer newspaper strip by Roy Crane. I love its clean simplicity and, especially in Buz's face, the way it conveys so much depth and subtlety of expression, so much solid form... with so few lines, ( Read more... )

I just finished reading Meanwhile, a thick biography of comics legend Milton Caniff. (Well, finished but for the appendices, but I quibble.) In several places, Caniff was asked how he evaluated himself and his work in the Grander Scheme of Comics -- he has almost unfailingly been proclaimed one of The All-Time Greats by his audience, critics, and ( Read more... )

remaining excited about my work and my medium