Drama, Drama #4 artwork

 

This is the finished cover artwork for Drama, Drama #4. I'll let you all know when the book is available.

Cover pencils Drama, Drama #4

 

This is the pencils for the cover of Drama, Drama #4. Coming in early 2012. A big tip of the hat goes out to Will Meugniot for helping me with the layout.

Meltdown page 7 finished

 

One more page to go. I'll post to let everyone know where they can see the finished story.

Meltdown! page 7 pencils

Had fun with this page. One more to go.

Meltdown! page 6 finished

 

Page six complete. Things are heating up!

Meltdown! page 5 finished

 

Here is the finished page 5. Page six is ready to go as soon as I add the copy. When the 8 page story is complete it will be included in the 4th issue of Drama, Drama along with the conclusion of the Code Name:Pearl story.

Meltdown! pencils page 6

 

Here is page 6. Two more to go. Will our hero save the day or is he a zero?

Meltdown! page 5 pencils

I'm slowly working on Meltdown! Here's the pencils for page 5. The story is about a CIA agent near the end of his career and he's onto some dangerous developments, or is he.

Happy Birthday Jim Steranko

 

Haven't done one of these in awhile but I'd be remiss if I didn't say happy birthday to Jim Steranko. Born on this day in 1938 in Reading, Pennsylvania where he still lives, Steranko became a sensation (and probably my all-time favorite) in the 1960s drawing Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD for Marvel Comics. In a relatively short period building on past influences such as  Krigstein, Wood and Eisner and adding some film techniques he overturned many comic book conventions while creating a pop art classic. His entire bio would fill a whole book but you can read more here. Happy Birthday Steranko/:

Meltdown! page 6 rough

Here's the rough layout of page 6. Hopefully will get to it soon.

Code Name:Pearl video

Busy, Busy Busy these days with other projects but if you haven't visited my website yet here is a flash video I made for Code Name:Pearl

http://www.steveleblanc.ca/portfolio/flash/cnp_video.swf

Meltdown! page 4 finished

Slowly getting Meltdown! down. Here's page 4.

Meltdown! page 3 inked

I've been busy with some commercial work but slowly getting Meltdown! finished. Here's page 3 inked.

Meltdown! pg1 Finished

 

A little busy these days with some commercial work but here is page one. Pearl and I are the tourists in the background.

Meltdown! Page 2 finished

Here is page two of Meltdown! Having just finished the Code Name: Pearl color story it's a bit of a liberation going back to black and white.

Meltdown! Page 4 pencils

Writing is a mysterious process for me. It always begins with an idea that springs from nowhere and then when I have a cast of characters they speak to me. I still write with a pencil and can't keep up with the dialog I hear. A lot of times they take me to places I didn't want to go and I have to go back and edit later but it's always fascinating hearing their voices.

R. G. (Rick) Taylor

The story "Meltdown!" I'm working on was originally written a few years ago for R. G. Taylor but he decided to do the above story instead. The story was printed in Negative Burn #21 and collected with some other great stories in a trade paperback collection called Growing Up With Comics. Rick is best known in comics for illustrating "Wordsmith" written by Dave Darrigo and "Silencers" with Mark Askwith but these days he's doing some fantastic landscape and streetscape paintings that can be viewed here. Check it out. It's well worth the trip.

Meltdown! Page 3 pencils

This is a story about a CIA spy who has run into an old adversary or has he. Is there a plot being hatched or is it all in his imagination. Stay tuned. There's a few drawing mistakes but these can be fixed in the inking or not. Sometimes I leave them in if they're not too outrageous because I think it helps "animate" the illustration.

Meltdown! Doodles

As I've mentioned before one of my favorite parts of drawing is doing roughs and doodles. I get to work on ideas and solve problems. They don't always pan out or get used but the process is like exercise. Gotta keep the muscle memory in shape.

Meltdown! Page Two Pencils

Here are the pencils for page two of "Meltdown!" Makes me wish I was back in Venice right now!

Raccoon Sketch Update

This is a partially finished page from a project I'm working on called "Where Is My Hat?" I'll post more drawings from time to time as I try to squeeze this in between everything else.

Meltdown! rough

Here's a rough for the first page of Meltdown! It's an eight espionage story set in one of my favorite places, Venice.

Code Name:Pearl chapter 8 NOW ONLINE

The eighth and final chapter of "Code Name:Pearl - Red Star Conspiracy" is now online. You can see how it all turns out or read the entire sixty-four page story here. I have a few projects to get to but Pearl will return soon in a new adventure entitled "What's All The Hullabaloo?"

Code Name:Pearl page 62, finished

I'll be a way for a bit but I need to do just one more page (64 is done) to finish the story. I'll post when I have the last chapter online.

Code Name:Pearl page 62, pencils

Pearl finally delivers the coup de grace to Colonel V but now does she escape the imminent destruction of the rocket? Stay tuned.

Code Name:Pearl, Two page spread, finished

Finally finished the two page spread. Three more pages to go. How is Pearl getting out of this mess?

Chains

I've been busy with a project drawing chains. Will update the Code Name; Pearl story soon.

Code Name:Pearl, Two page spread, pencils

Here's the pencils for the double page spread (pages 60&61 if you're keeping track). Will update once it's either inked and or colored.

Code Name:Pearl, Two page spread

 

Here is a rough for pages 60 and 61, a two page spread. Looks like Pearl is in trouble again and only three more pages to go. I always loved the spreads Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko did and this is the third one for this story. If you want to see the other two go here and check chapters 2 and 5.

Code Name:Pearl page 59, inked

 

This is page 59 of Code Name: Pearl, inked. If you like you can check my earlier post Storytelling 101 to see the rough layout to this page.

Turista Menu

 

Although it's the only thing I've done so far that doesn't qualify as a graphic novel, "Turista Menu" has somehow become the most successful book I've printed. It contains four short stories and some sketches all set in Italy. I have a couple of more stories upcoming that take place in Italy or have an Italian theme but they will appear in Drama, Drama.

Storytelling 101

There's a lot of great drawing in comics but not always great storytelling. Sometime things get downright confusing. I try to keep things straightforward when laying out a page. Here I'm showing the rough layout of page 59 of Code Name: Pearl to illustrate how I try to keep things clear and get your eyes to follow the action from top to bottom and onto the next page.

Cogs, Cogs, Everywhere, Cogs

I did this interior of the GEMS Headquarters back in chapter two in 08. I put the cogs in as a visual pun about the wheels of time and organization and got a few chuckles about it. Now, I'm not saying I'm the first to do this but it's kind of funny that this summer two movies, Cars 2 and Spy Kids 4 (both spy movies) use cogs. Cars 2 in the opening logo and Spy Kids 4 with the bad guy this time being The Timekeeper. Welcome aboard, guys.

Page 58 pencils

Here's the pencils to page 58. Looks like Pearl has a trick, not up her sleeve but in her scabbard. Stay tuned.

Alex Toth

Today would have been Alex Toth's 83rd birthday. He was born on June 25th, 1928 in New York City and died May 22, 2006. His talent was evident very early and he began his professional career while still in his teens but never achieved a wide following in fandom despite being a favorite of many of his peers. As well as drawing comics he also worked in advertising and animation doing storyboards and designing characters such as Space Ghost. His strong drawing skills and clear and clever storytelling abilities gave him the reputation as an artist's artist but this may have rankled him somewhat as he developed a reputation for being cantankerous as he watched lesser but flashier illustrators get more recognition for their work. I myself passed over him when I was younger but as I matured, sought out his work wherever I could find it before finally getting to meet him and purchase the page you see above.

Superman

June marks the month Superman made his debut back in 1938 in Action Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and Toronto born artist Joe Shuster, Superman became the template that helped launch an entire industry. He's gone through numerous changes over the years and now comes word that DC Comics is once again starting over the series starting at Number One.

Code Name:Pearl page 57

This page took entirely too long but that happens sometimes. It all started with not knowing exactly what I was going to do with the layout. The rest of the chapter is a lot clearer.

Drama, Drama #3

Drama, Drama #3 is now available. It collects chapters five and six of Code Name:Pearl and the final two chapters of Honey. Sixteen pages color and sixteen pages black and white. A bargain at $4.50.

Hugo Pratt's 84th

Today would have been Hugo Pratt's 84th birthday. He was born June 15th 1927 in Rimini, Italy and died August 20, 1995. An early follower of the Milton Caniff school of comic book art he eventually established his own style and in turn influenced others such as American Frank Miller. He was always drawn to stories with a historical background and his most popular creation was the seafaring Corto Maltese, a long running series that took place in the early 20th century.
Above is a page from his book "Aveno Un Appuntamento", a reminiscence of his travels to the Pacific using text, maps and illustrations. (Copyright 1994 Edizioni Socrates)

Happy Birthday Neal Adams

June is a big month for birthdays and we start with Neal Adams. Born June 12, 1941 in New York City, Neal is arguably the most influential artist to come out of the Silver Age of comics. With his background in advertising and a four year stint on the Ben Casey newspaper strip, (the above is from May 4th 1966) he brought a high level of realism and dynamic emotion to DC Comics in the sixties. He soon became the go to guy for cover art and his re-imagining of Batman was universally lauded.
In the seventies he became a driving force in championing artist rights and eventually created his own short-lived line of books in the 80s. Since the 1990s his work has appeared sporadically as he concentrated on commercial work but last year he returned to Batman for a short run and this September will be working on The New Avengers for Marvel. Happy 70th Neal.

Concept Illustration

This is a concept drawing for a proposed animated TV show I did for a company in New Jersey. I'll let you know if I hear it's been successful or not.

Page 57 roughs Part 3

Ok, here's the finished layout for page 57. Just have to finish penciling, inking and coloring it and it'll be done. Stay tuned to see if Pearl can deal with the crazy Colonel and get out of the volcano before her GEM Squad friends blow up the rocket.

Page 57 roughs Part 2

Buried somewhere in the rough layout from the last posting was the genesis of this image. I ran into a problem though when I got carried away trying to make it exciting and ended up making Colonel V in the foreground about seven feet tall. She's only supposed to be about 5'3". I'll update soon with the rest of the page layout.

Page 57 roughs

Sometimes a layout for a page is fully formed in the mind and it is just a matter of executing it. Other times not so much. This is one of those times. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out.

Chapter 7 Now Online

Chapter 7 of Code Name:Pearl - Red Star Conspiracy is now online. You can see how it all turned out or read the entire story so far here.

Raccoon sketches

This is something I'm working on for the kids. This was done using a Wacom tablet and I plan to finish everything digitally. Will update as it comes along.

Character Sketches

These are some character designs for a short story I want to get to work on when I finish the Code Name:Pearl story.

Page 56 Finished Inks

Here's the page 56, inked. I usually use three different markers. Fine, Medium and a Medium Brush. They are versatile tools and I can take them anywhere. Just have to color it now and bring it into InDesign and it's done.

Page 56 rough

One of may favorite things about storytelling is doing the "roughs". At this stage I'm not so much interested in getting things right as I am about getting the feel or emotion of a scene. This rough is for the final panel of Chapter Seven of "Red Star Conspiracy" where I'm trying to catch a perfect "To Be Continued" moment. I'll update how it's coming along soon.

The First Car?

 

I have always been fascinated by older machinery. This is a sketch of what is considered the first self-propelled road vehicle, dating all they way back to 1769. Powered by steam and having three wheels it was commissioned by the French military and built by Nicolas Cugnot and while not really a car, trials were run on the streets of Paris. The experiment came to an end though when it also became the first self-propelled vehicle to get into an accident, crashing into a wall. (it was later re-sold through Auto Trader by a curb-sider who claimed to only use it on weekends).