"Bear Under a Tree" (Process)

Here is another Storify story using tweets to show a process of doing an illustration.

Free Comic Book Day 2012

It was that day, it comes round every year in May, when you can honestly say, It's Free Comic Book Day!  In case you've been living under a rock (or I suppose if you do not or have never collected comic books), Free Comic Book Day has been around for 10 years.  It's a day when comic book stores all over the country give away free comic books.  It's a chance for big and small publishers alike to give out free samples in the hopes of attracting new readers and collectors.  I have to say that if better prepared and motivated, I would have liked to have given away comics of my own producing, but alas it did not occur.  Perhaps I will try for next year.

Over the years there have been interesting give-aways, some cooler than others, and this year was no different.  The one book that caught my attention was Archaia's giveaway of a small hardback comic (yes I said hardback!).  Of course, if the hardback was filled with crap, that would be one thing, but this little hardback had one of Archaia's biggest hits in the form of Mouse Guard, and a cool new teaser of the latest in the line of Archaia's treatment of Jim Henson properties, this time it's a prequel to the movie Labyrinth.

I wound up going to three comic book stores on Saturday in search of finding two copies of the Mouse Guard hardback, one for me and one for the girlfriend.  I was a bit disappointed (and suspicious) when one of my usual haunts had no copies (or at least that I saw).  I feel like this special edition hardback has been in the news and on the blogs for months.  I am not sure why any comic shop wouldn't want to order at least a couple copies.  But my persistence paid off when I hit comic shop number 2 (The Comic Station in Haddon Heights, NJ), and even more so when I visited Frankenstein Comics in Woodbury.

If you are in the South Jersey area and you want a nice, shiny, clean comic experience, with friendly staff and cool new comics, check out The Comic Station.  If you like a more old-school, slightly grungy comic experience, go to Frankenstein Comics.  Bill, who runs Frankenstein Comics is clearly in love with comics.  He is very knowledgeable about the industry and the history of comic shops in the region, and he is a nice guy, willing to share is time and stories.  I was persistent enough to look through all his $1 books and come up with a stack of Garth Ennis and Warren Ellis written Hellblazer books.  Did I mention Bill has a slightly unorthodox way of pricing his comics?  Yup, he's got cool, more expensive books for $25, hardback and softback collected trade papers for $10 and $5 and lots of $1 individual issues.  He even puts together set of 5 and sometimes 10 books that ran together as a story-line as a collected super pack.  These are very tempting, because you don't have to run around looking for fill-in-the-blank copies.  An entire contained storyline, bagged, boarded, and taped together for your convenience.  Very cool.  If you don't mind rooting through boxes and avoiding precariously perched stacks of comics, make the trip to Frankenstein Comics.  A special shout-out also goes to Captain Blue Hen Comics (whose logo and link you can follow on the right sidebar of this blog).  They always have cool sales, superheroes and special guest characters in costume, sketch artists and more for their events.  Worth a drive to Newark, DE.

Thank to all the shops that participated for this year's Free Comic Book Day.  See you next year!

The Madd Potters' Studio in Cape May, NJ

On a recent trip to Cape May, NJ, the girlfriend and I wound up visiting a newly installed potters' studio in the shops at The Merry Widow.  This was quite a treat.  You walk in and you are surrounded by hand-made treasures, from elegant yet functional dishes and mugs, to more specialized pieces like salt pigs and yarn bowls.  Throw in some Christmas ornaments and jewelry, and you should be able to find something for everyone in your family.

We met with Amanda Leipert, one of the primary potters of the store that day, and she was not only extremely nice, but she was also willing to answer any and all questions we had about the pottery and other pieces in the shop.  Mine were largely questions like "What the hell is a salt pig?" but my girlfriend, an experienced ceramist herself, had more intelligent discussions about glazes and the temperature of the kiln.  

You could literally spend hours looking at, admiring, and wondering at the works in this shop.  It was a bit overwhelming, but that didn't stop us from finding pieces to buy.

In the end, I bought a hand-crafted "Cape May" magnet, another magnet, and a beautiful tripod mug.  I am not sure if my mug will be used as a mug, a pen/brush holder, or remain simply an objet d'art.

It is always awesome to look at and purchase beautiful hand-crafted pottery, but it also pretty great getting to meet and talk with the artists responsible for making them.  I don't have too much more to say.  I figure the photographs will speak for themselves.  Needless to say, if you visit Cape May, NJ, be sure to stop by the Madd Potters' Studio.  If you are impressed already (as you should be), they do commissioned works like entire place settings for wedding presents.  You can contact them at themaddpottersstudio@gmail.com.

Duke and O'Roark and The Sea Monster

More Duke McMahon and more sea monsters?  I first showed a pencil sketch of Duke and O'Roark and a giant octopus/squid months ago on my Tumblr site http://sketches.inkpuddle.com.  And apparently, my mind still wanders to sea monsters, as I revealed in my recent sea monster color print (you can see an additional sea monster at my Tumblr site [see link above] ).  Well, I dug up the drawing and got to work inking it.  I added some digital colors, but this leads me to believe that I am bad at coloring and probably need to buy a digital table like an Intuos for me to do it well.  The funny thing is, I forget what I had the characters (and the walkie-talkie) saying in this 1-panel comic.  I tried looking for the scrap of paper I wrote the dialog on, but to no avail.

Here are the progressive images.

Half inked

Fully inked

Colored in Paint Shop Pro (quickly)

Illustrating Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (Video)

Another lazy post?  I don't think so.  I enjoy posting cool videos on this blog, and I hope you enjoy watching them, too.  This one I found through my Google Alerts, which sent me a Washington Post blog (here is their link Hemingway’s novel gets stop-motion treatment http://wapo.st/HQyRDM), but I don't see why you wouldn't want to watch it here.

Drawing by Hagen Reiling / Camera/Animation by Marcel Schindler / Music by Awolnation, "Sail"

"Duke Is Deck" (Guest Artist: Jim Webner)

You have heard me talk about Duke McMahon before on this blog, and you've recently seen one of my own interpretations of the Duke McMahon character.  Well, here is an original Duke McMahon strip from the creator himself, Jim Webner.

Click the pic to see the slick (version)

Want to see more of Duke? Leave a comment demanding more!

New Evidence in Da Vinci's Last Supper

One of the most famous works of art in the history of the world, Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper has been the focus of much debate.  Whether it is about da Vinci's technique, the need to for extensive restoration, or its evidence of the existence of a secret church sect intent on keeping Christianity a misogynistic patriarchy, scholars and artists thought they had figured out at least one thing: the identity of Judas, but now that is in question.

Art historians for years believed that Judas Iscariot was pictured on the left hand side of the table, to Jesus' right side, depicted as the man who is sharing the same food bowl with Jesus.  For Jesus did say, "And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me."

Betrayal of Jesus highlighted in yellow

So, identity solved, right?  Not so fast.  Recent advances in chromospectronomy, Q-tips, and Formula 409 (recognized by the Louvre as the only way to gets stains off of paintings) have led to more conservation and restoration of the da Vinci's famous fresco.  Below you see the unrestored image of a man to Jesus' left.

Before restoration

For years, this figure, pointing upwards or perhaps signalling the number one for "one more bottle of wine for the table", has been known as "Mr. Pointy" or "Bob Ross."  But after extensive cleaning and restoration, we are finally revealed the true image made by the Renaissance master.

After restoration (the bird-flipping highlighted in yellow)

And you can now clearly see, that this figure is neither pointing to the ceiling or signalling for one more bottle of wine.  Clearly, he is flipping Jesus the bird, his middle finger extended in derision, presaging his betrayal of Jesus.  It is still unclear as to whether Judas insulted Jesus, feigned that he was not heard and then offered to "turn the volume up," or if he fished around his robes pockets, telling Jesus he had something for him, only to take his hand out of his robe pocket with his middle finger extended, or if just flipped off Jesus, shouting, "Screw, you, J, I'm outta here.  I needs to get me some silver up in this joint."  Obviously, historians, art specialists, and Bible scholars will have to get back to us on the details of potentially lost or hidden Bible verses that would explain the insult.  Ink Puddle Art Blog will keep you informed and up to date on further developments.

Happy Birthday, Vincent van Gogh!

Today is the  birthday of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.  This is pretty exciting, because although I have been reading the latest biography on van Gogh, his birthday, like many people's birthdays, slip my mind.  And, I am going to the van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art tomorrow. Very exciting.  So, here is some biographical information on the man himself, as well as a link to "My Gallery" of van Gogh works through the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, ^[1][2] he died at the age of 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).^{[3][note 2]} His work was then known to only a handful of people and appreciated by fewer still (from Wikipedia).

Dan Clowes Video

Compliments of The NY Times.

Sea Monster Print Now Available

In my continuing effort to produce finished products of art and illustration, I decided to take my "C" shaped Sea Monster and turn it into a print.  Signed and matted for your convenience.  Check it out.  Click on the pic to see it at the Etsy shop.

The Red Monastery (Video from The Met)

Thanks again to The Met for having great art videos you can embed.

From The Met Website:"In conjunction with the exhibition Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (on view March 14 through July 8, 2012), art historian Elizabeth Bolman introduces the Red Monastery project."

My Sea ("C") Monster, Because Monsters are Cool!

If you haven't heard, monsters are all the rage.  If you are like me and grew up watching Jim Henson shows, you've always known that monsters are pretty awesome.  In recent times, I am not sure what has sparked the regained interest.  Is it Guillermo del Toro's monstrous creations in his movies?

Great Monsters in History

Is the the leaps and bounds that CGI has made with regards to bringing monsters to life? Regardless, I have jumped on the monster train.  Holy shit!  Movie idea: "Monster Train."  That will have to be another post.  Anyway, my girlfriend has also knitted monsters to give as gifts. They have monster hats, monster stuffed animals, monster shirts, monsters everywhere.

My girlfriend's knitted monster

As for me, I decided to go back to my pen and ink roots with my monster.  Below is my sketchbook sketch.  Clearly inspired by the hammerhead shark, but different.  I put a huge mouth on this guy, gave him glow head antennae thingys like those deap sea crazy monster fish, and a ray-like barbed tail.  I also wanted to stick to my artistic basics, namely establishing some perspective.  When you draw someone or something in three-quarter view, whatever is in the background, even slightly in the background, will be slightly smaller than what is in the foreground, so the eye, the socket, that side of the fish body all have to be slightly smaller.  I also wanted one of the eye-lamp stalks to pass in front of the dorsal fin to further establish some depth to this deep-sea dweller.  Here is my original thumbnail drawing.

Now here is the pencils and light ink wash to simulate the ocean.

Here is the same piece with some black inks.

Here is draft 3.

Here is the piece completely done.

Click the pic to larger / better version

I have to say that finishing a piece like this is a shot to the ego.  Not really "tooting my own horn," rather its more like knowing that if I set my mind to something, I can have it come out just like I want it.  I have never really used multiple colors or ink wash plush marker and pen to make a finished piece.  The water looks like I wanted it look, the sea monster looks like I wanted it to look.  In my mind it is a finished piece and came out looking exactly as I pictured it.  And I finished it in one night, which is important, too.  It this piece languished over days, it would end up taking me weeks to really finish it.  Be on the look-out for this piece to be a print available online, and I would like to sell the original art if anyone wants it.  And below are the tools I used.  And "mad props" go to Justin Stewart @Justin3000 who recommended the Uni-Ball double sided pocket brush pen, made Mitsubishi, available through JetPens.  I test any brush pen I can get my hands on, and this one has great resistance and push to it.  I like it.

Happy Birthday Juan Gris!

Opening up my web browser to Google I find that today is the birthday of Juan Gris.  Don't know who he is?  Well, he was one of the prominent artists of the Cubism movement (who was not Pablo Picasso).  Yes!  Picasso was not the only Cubist artist!  Surprised?  You should get to more art museums.

Here is a little bit about Juan Gris from Wikipedia:

José Victoriano (Carmelo Carlos) González-Pérez (March 23, 1887 – May 11, 1927), better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life. His works, which are closely connected to the emergence of an innovative artistic genre—Cubism—are among the movement's most distinctive. [READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE]

I have put together the works of Juan Gris from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and their "My Gallery" feature.  Only a handful of these works are on display at the museum, but you can also see some awesome examples of the Cubist movement and maybe stick around or the van Gogh exhibit. Click on the image below to visit "My Gallery" of Juan Gris works.

Happy Birthday, Juan!

Furry Fantasy

No, No, No!  This post is not about furry fetish people in plush costumes, I swear!  This is my first foray into using Storify to show the process of how I stumbled upon a cool artist.  Once Upon a Time....There was this thing called Twitter...


And here are the videos:



Want to learn more about Jerome Jacinto? Check out his Deviant Art page [http://chichapie.deviantart.com/] and his YouTube Channel [http://www.youtube.com/user/sinto]

Poetry in Clay

I feel kind of spoiled by The Met.  They place some pretty darn interesting videos of lectures and introductions on their websites, and they allow for embedding on other websites, which is great.  Below is one on Japanese ceramics.

From The Met website: In conjunction with the exhibition Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (on view April 7–August 14, 2011), exhibition curator Soyoung Lee explores the history of buncheong ceramics and explains how buncheong idioms impacted Edo-period Japanese ceramics and why this art form is still relevant today.  Recorded on April 15, 2011