Gene Colan and Al Williamson

This morning, I received this page in the mail, from the early '90's Marvel mini-series, "The Harrowers". This page of original art, from issue #4, Page #9, is pencilled by Gene Colan, inked by Al Williamson.  I bought it, bid on it, actually, from Heritage Auctions. I won with a $24.00 bid. It was an acceptable price to pay, as it's not stellar work by either artist.

The page has many good things about it, however. I like Colan's staging; clear and concise. I like Williamson's freshness and spontinaiety of  his ink line, and the way he renders half-tones, especially on the man's face in panel 5. It's not nearly as uptight and precise as his "Secret Agent Corrigan" work, but the seeming messiness is actually quite under control.
Actually, I've never seen any "Corrigan" originals; it could be that, under close examination, his inks are as free and spontaneous on those as well. I had a similar surprise when I made a careful study of Tom Palmer's inks on Gene Colan and Neal Adams.

Ernest Borgnine as Marty

I occasionally enjoy sketching from my laser disc collection. I prefer it to DVD because it has excellent step forward and reverse with the toggle knob on the remote. My DVD player has okay frame forward but poor frame reverse, so it's difficult hitting the perfect frames.

This is the first time I've sketched Mr B. I fell in love with him as the character Marty, in the movie of the same name, when I saw it on TV in college. When he says, "We ain't such dogs as we thinks we is", I wanted to shout at him, "Shut up! You're beautiful!" I thought is was ridiculous miscasting, like when Michelle Pfeiffer was cast as the homely waitress in "Frankie and Johnny". I have been assured that I am incorrect, that Ernest Borgnine IS homely.
Interestingly, "Marty" (1955)  was released 2 years after "From Here to Eternity" (1953). I saw the latter movie for the first time last summer. I was struck how he actually WAS ugly in that movie. It wasn't makeup; it was the way he spoke and moved. It was at this point that I became impressed with him as an actor.

Catwoman Vs Huntress

I drew this as a commission sketch at a comicbook convention a few years back. I ran across it while web surfing on this guy's (Mike Bromberg) blog. He gave me permission to post the sketch on MY blog. Here's the original, alongside Mike's color version.
Design by Mike

Castle on a Rock

I was inspired to do this drawing by a "Spirit" splash page from an early 40's installment. I did the drawing from memory, and later checked to see how close I got. I don't own the book it was published in, so I can't share it with you. I did the drawings at a CAPS meeting. Tom  Riggin, a fellow "Bob's Burgers" storyboard artist, owns the book with the relevant Spirit section. If you want to see it, bother him.

Cave of Mysteries

This is where you can go to find all the "cave drawings" I've been posting recently. It's also where you can go to commune with the Vagina Goddess, as seen in my graphic novel, "Harry & Dickless Tom". I tend to do a lot of phallic imagery; it's good to mix things up once and a while.

Nude Cave Drawing #2

I did this drawing immediately after the first. My friend, Bill, asked me which side was up. I think it works either way

Nude Cave Drawing #1

This is the first drawing I did in my watercolor paper sketchbooks, with the charcoal pencils I bought at San Francisco MOMA. In fact, I drew this in San Francisco, at the Best Western Hotel, on Market and Mission, on the afternoon of the day I visited MOMA. I was kind of inspired.

Planet Bizarre

I did this drawing as a favor to Paul Grimshaw, publisher of Art of Fiction press. It was supposed to be a pastiche of a 30's Sci Fi pulp cover. I was supposed to fully paint it. However, it would have taken me a couple months (if I was lucky) and Paul wanted it in January. So I gave him this drawing and he handed it to Tony Fleecs, the designer of my recent book "The Art of Rader" to paint and design as he saw fit.http://www.artoffiction.com/ArtOfFiction/books.html

Fred Astair

This drawing is done on the watercolor paper, only using Prismacolor and Tombo brush pen. It is a drawing of Fred Astair. I think it is a good likeness, but I don't think the Prismacolor flesh tone is successful. I like the simplicity; it's almost like Peter Arno, but not as abstract, and the lines are too thin. Actually, the drawing isn't simple enough.

En Point

This is another charcoal drawing in my hand-made watercolor paper sketchbook. Again, I am totally digging the enforced simplicity.

Cave Painting

Last year, I bought a really cool sketchbook-- the pages are hand-made watercolor paper. I set it aside for later. Later came on a November '11 visit to the San Francisco MOMA museum. Therein was an exhibit of Richard Serra drawings. I'm a fan of Mr. Serra's monolithic sculptures, was unaware of his "drawings", many of which took up entire museum walls. His sketchbooks were inspirational as well. Mostly large shapes done in charcoal, or small sketches of abstract lines. The museum bookstore sold kits of charcoal sticks next to the Richard Serra artbooks, implying that these were the materials he used himself. Naturally, I bought one of the kits and immediately went to work in my watercolor-paper sketchbook with my new charcoal toys.

I love it. The heavily textured paper forces simplicity, has a very sensual feel. I may never use watercolor on the watercolor paper, or I may go back in later.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Mr. Fischoeder

Mr. Calvin Fischoeder is the landlord for Bob's Burgers.  Mr. F also owns and runs "Wonder Warf" and most of the rest of the town the Belchers live in. He is of questionable moral integrity. His character is voiced by Kevin Kline.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Ron

Ron is also a health inspector. Unlike Hugo, he is a nice guy, and tries to rein Hugo in as much as possible without alienating his senior partner.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Hugo

Hugo is Linda's ex-fiancee'; she broke up with him to marry a "hot-shot restauranteur" that  turned out to be Bob Belcher. Hugo happens to be a health inspector who does everything in his power to vindictively torture Bob.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2;Samantha

This is Samantha, Mort the Mortician's girl friend, at least in one episode last season.  She is a fellow mortician with extreme hygiene ("Hi, Gene") issues. I hope it works out for them. Thus far I haven't seen her in Season 2 yet, so I have my doubts. Her character is voiced by Amy Sedaris

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Jimmy Pesto

This is Bob Belcher's nemesis, Jimmy Pesto, who runs the rival restaurant across the street. Jimmy is actively trying to drive Bob's Burgers out of business.   Bob's daughter, Tina, has a crush on Jimmy's son, Jimmy Jr. Bob's other kids, Gene and Louise, are playmates with Jimmy's other 2 kids, the inseparable identical twins, Ollie and Andy.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2;Teddy

Teddy is a close friend of the Belcher family, eats lunch every day in the restaurant, invariably sitting next to Mort. (I can relate; I get into food ruts myself.) He is divorced, probably never gets laid (awww...). He seems like a nice guy.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2;Mort

This is Mort, the Mortician, who runs the mortuary next door to the Belcher family restaurant. He's a nice guy, wears a wig.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; "Harsh Realities"

One of my inspirations for the series of "Real" Bob's Burgers portraits appeared in "National Lampoon: The Very Large Book of Comical Funnies- A Never Before Published History of the Comics" (1975). It is an article entitled "Harsh Realities", written by P.J. O'Rourke and illustrated by Wayne McGloughlin. This is a classic of mid-Seventies comics. I totally recommend checking it out if you can find it. The 160 page, square bound volume also includes: "The Fall of the House of Bau", by P.J. O'Rourke and Neal Adams, "Il Showdown a Rio Jawbone", by Tony Hendra and Russ Heath", and "The Lost E.C. Comics, by Chris Miller, Walt Simonson, Russ Heath, Berni Wrightson and Howard Chaykin, among many other worthy scholarly articles.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Louise

Here's my "real" version of Louise. Doesn't she look innocent? Awww....

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Gene

Here's my version of Gene.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Tina

Here's my "real" version of Tina.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Linda

Here's my "real" version of Linda Belcher.

Bob's Burgers, Season 2; Bob

Bob's Burgers is gearing up for Season Two, which debuts Sunday, March 11, at 8:30 PM. I am story boarding on Season 2, as I did on Season 1. If you haven't watched the show, you should, even if you hate Fox TV. It's one of the best written series I've worked on in my 29 year career in the biz.
Anyway, I did a series of drawings of the BB cast during some Season 1 down time. These drawing are my take on what the characters looked like if they were "real"... sort of like what Spielberg did with the Herge characters in the recent "Tintin" cgi feature.

Here's my version of Bob.