I posted the thumbnail for this a few weeks back, and now…it’s kind of finished. Page 5 of something, but again it kind of stands on it’s own as a one page story.
Drawings in progress
Thrilling Thursday one day late. 
Thrilling Thursday: The Second Pass
People often ask if “Adventures of the Floating Elephant” will ever be finished, and now that I can do children’s books during the day, this can be finished in the evening. Mostly it needs a big re-write and a lot of editing. This page below used to be two pages for example and I think it works better now as one. To all of you who have asked, I think I see a solution at the end of the tunnel!
Thrilling (random) Thursday (Random Thrilling Art I Like)
Didn’t write anything this week as I’m actually busy making dumplings for the Lunar New Year! So what am I doing instead? I’m posting some favorite art I own and or found on the internet:
1-Below is what I think is the incredible Kay Nielsen. I’m actually not sure though. I don’t have a book of his art. I need that.
2-This next one is a page of original art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer from “Tomb of Dracula” that I found on the internet. I remember buying this very comic as a kid and being sucked into this story unlike anything else I’d read up to that age. 
3-Artist unknown for this next one too. It’s from a Chinese comic, actually from China and thus not translated, so I don’t even know What the story is about. All the art from this book is great. I may post the whole story some time.
Short and to the point! Back to dumplings.
Happy Lunar New Year!
Thrilling Thursday and Happy New Year
No stories of knives or scars this week. Just a post to say Happy Holidays!
Thrilling Thursday and the Brooklyn Book Festival
I didn’t take any pictures of the beautiful day or any of the events I went to at the Brooklyn Book Fest, but I found this amazing book that I wanted to share! Amazing as it’s illustrated by Andre Francois, was originally published in 1949 and has been out of print for decades. I unfortunately don’t know much about Andre, but one look at Google and you can find a plethora of his material. He did cartoons, children’s books, design and much more. The inside flap of “Little Boy Brown” mentions that he even studied with Picasso, which is fairly apparent from his wonderful line work. A small publisher of children’s books called Enchanted Lion Books, operating out of Red Hook Brooklyn, are the people responsible for getting the book back into print. Get a copy if you can! I’ve scanned some of my favorite images from the book below. First the cover: 
The image below is an image of Jack Frost biting someone’s nose. Love it.
Just one more that I liked. These old books with one or two colors used that limitation to their advantage. They would never fly today which I really think is too bad.
This last image is NOT from “Boy Brown.” I found it on the internet and it’s from a book Andre did called, “The tattooed Sailor. That image forces your mind to fill in some interesting… information.
Thrilling Thursday: Now With All New Scribbles
Last week I showed those very old Superman samples I did, and this week I thought I’d show some newer work. I am just about done with my second children’s book I did this year, but I can’t show off either of those until the publication date is closer. Thus, I thought I’d show how I do thumbnails for comics (or graphic novels). These are two pages of a book I’m trying to finish in my spare time. It involves a floating elephant if you wondered. I usually draw thumbnails on typing paper with a marker. If it goes wrong I throw it away and draw it again. That’s pretty much how it works for me. Every page is sketched out at least twice, usually more so. On page two of these pages you see I left a little note of what would be said in one panel. I can’t write a “comic script” when I write the story. typing “page one, panel two etc…” breaks my concentration to such a degree it takes me out of the story that is otherwise flowing through my head. So I write it pretty much in prose first and leave some notes on the thumbnails when I draw it. The hardest part after this is stopping myself from over doing the finished art. I am always trying to capture the loose feel of the thumbnails. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. 
Thrilling Thursday, and some creative process mistakes
In the midst of writing, re-writing and re-drawing art for a children’s book, many things can go haywire. The kind of haywire that haunts you as you as you try to sleep while it’s 80 degrees and humid. Through no fault of my editors, and certainly no fault on my end, I drew a page that was incorrect on so many levels that I may have to build a funeral pyre to burn it on. But before that happens, I present it to you below. Of course, the page that will ultimately appear in the final book will have different characters and take the plot in a shockingly different direction! Actually, I may be exaggerating a bit. The new art will simply leave room for the copy write.
Not…a warm up.
Doing some illustrations for a book (That I’m
not sure if I can talk about?) and have many warm up
sketches I haven’t been posting due to a busy schedule.
Here’s a peek at a Chapter head from said upcoming book though.
NOW GO VOTE!
Army of God, the last chapter
The last chapter starts where the first did 94 pages ago.
In the Jungle. With monkeys.
I started out thinking this whole story could look like a Rockwell
Kent print. What a idiot! I did my best and found another “look”
or style to work in but I doubt I’ll do this “look” again. It hurt my
hands near the end and my brush pens wore out faster and faster.
Immersing myself in this and looking up reference also
wore on me in other ways. Endless sad images and stories
I found about death and rape. Many people recommended
I read King Leopold’s Ghost which I probably will…next year!
There will be a bit more A.o.G. in the near future, but I can’t
talk about that just now.
Thanks for reading!
