Back So Soon?

Wow, I must be setting some new posting records... well, for me, anyway. Three posts in the same month!

In an attempt to post on a more regular, if not consistent basis, here's a piece I previously posted as a greyscale image: Originally, I created this piece for the charity book Drawing Strength, which John Gallagher and I produced to help in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina (incidentally, that book is still available here). As noted in the posts previous to this one, John and I recently published the first chapter of our Roboy Red graphic novel for Free Comic Book Day in Buzzboy/Roboy: The Buzz And The 'Bot, and I wanted to rework the illustration in color, to use in that book. For a larger version, please click the picture.

Also, here is the cover for the retail edition of the book, scheduled to be in stores this summer, if you missed the FCBD edition:

Pencils by Drew Johnson, Inks by me, and colors by John Gallagher (over my flatting). You can click the image for a larger version.

That's it for now, but I'll be back soon with more art!

Best,

Rich

FCBD 2007 - Seeing is believing

I would have liked to have written this up just after Saturday, but due to the quick onset of a bad cold, I'm doing what I can now. So, here's the wrap:

Free Comic Book Day at Captain Blue Hen Comics was a booming success! Joe Murray, the owner of the store, reported that attendance was up by 500 people, for a total of about 1500 people walking through the door between noon and 5pm on Saturday! As far as I could tell, it was mostly families, and especially kids! As an all ages creator, nothing could be better, as far as I'm concerned. I walked into CBH at exactly noon, sat down at my table, and began sketching, along with my cohorts, Jamar Nicholas, Mike Manley, Scott Neely, and Neil Vokes. The next time I looked up, or rather stood up, it was 5pm, and I had drawn approximately 75 to 100 head shots of various characters! I can't believe how quickly the time went, and I never took a break! Frankly, I was completely unaware of the passage of so much time. As a result, I never had a chance to take any pictures of the crowds, but for a good glimpse of that madness, check out the pictures on the CBH MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/captainbluehen

Of all of the sketches, I believe every one except one was for a little kid. I actually had a line that stretched from the front of the store, where I was seated, to the very back... I looked up at one point, and estimated that there were 30 kids on my line! Of course, I gathered that there were so many people on my line because I was drawing so slowly... ;-) My fellow artists all reported similar amounts of people lining up for them, so obviously a lot of kids were walking away happy.

Here are some shots of a small sampling of the free sketches I did:

Of course, Buzzboy was my most-requested (closely followed by Roboy Red, although I have no pics of the Roboy sketches). This was only appropriate, as our Buzzboy/Roboy - The Buzz and the 'Bot #0 was (thankfully) a pretty popular book at the counter. I signed quite a large number of these.

Above is one of my favorite sketches of the day, Zoomer, Buzzboy's super-fast buddy.

Speaking of super-fast, above is one of the first sketches requested of the day, and also, one of my all-time favorite characters, the Golden Age Flash.

Of course, Bone is always popular with the kids, and although I had never drawn the characters before, I did this one of Smiley, liberally swiping from the Jeff Smith reference provided.

I received a lot of requests for Star Wars characters. I drew this Scout Trooper in about 5- 10 minutes... actually, when looking at all of these, please bear in mind that I took no more than that for any of the sketches. It was a terrific exercise, from an artist's perspective. I kept telling people what a great challenge it was!

Appropriately, for the day, above is Captain Blue Hen, a character we created to use in Buzzboy, and obviously named for one of our favorite comic book stores!

Here's my buddy, Mike Manley, towards the end of the day... still sketching! For Mike's take on the day, along with a lot of great photos, check out the report on his blog:

http://drawman.blogspot.com/2007/05/free-comic-book-day.html

And this is my good friend, Jamar, who is obviously delirious after completing a sketch for another happy young fan.

This one is my favorite picture of the day. These are my pals Ben and Chris, dressed as their "favorite characters, Buzzboy and Roboy Red" (their words, not mine), respectively! What a thrill it was to see characters I helped create come to life, particularly with such enthusiasm. This, my friends is why I do what I do!

All in all, it was a great day. Joe and Danielle Murray, and their crew at Captain Blue Hen, couldn't be nicer or more supportive. They really made this event an incredible experience (as always!), and I want to publicly thank them for their friendship and support! I'll be back next year!

Thanks for reading, and I'll post again soon(-ish).

Best,

Rich

Free Comic Book Day 2007

It's been a while since I last posted, so obviously, things haven't changed. Work has been extremely steady, and family life has been taking the rest of my time. So, I'll be keeing this one brief.

In support of Buzzboy/Roboy: The Buzz And The 'Bot (mentioned in the last post, below), I'll be appearing at Captain Blue Hen Comics, in Newark, Delaware, this Saturday, May 5th, for Free Comic Book Day. I've been there for the last few FCBD events, and it's been a great experience every time. Captain Blue Hen always has a terrific turnout, with lots of enthusiastic kids (not to mention the incredible support team of Joe and Danielle Murray and crew!). I'll be appearing alongside my friends, Jamar Nicholas, Mike Manley, and Scott Neely. For details on this year's event, check this link:

http://www.captainbluehen.com/

For a free preview of the book, with a really cool page flipping feature, go to:

http://ettitudemedia.com/fcbd1/comics.php?BookName=Skydog

I hope I'll see you Saturday in Delaware!

Best,

Rich

New York Comic-Con/News Release

I'll be exhibiting at the New York Comic-Con from February 23rd-25th, at the Kids Love comics/Sky-Dog booth. Please feel free to come by, and check out the cool new stuff John and I have. Here's one example, a card that's part of a set (see news release below for details):





Both Buzzboy and Roboy Red will be featured prominently at our booth. Here's a News Release we put out to promote the appearance with all the info you need to know:

News Release: It's Valentine's Day, and Kids Love Comics... Cards! All-Ages Comics Creators launch national tour at NYC Comic-Con!

Kids Love Comics, a collection of all-ages creators and publishers promoting literacy through graphic novels, is gearing up for next week's New York Comic-Con, the first stop in a year of spreading the word on the power and magic of the comic art form. And just in time for Valentine's Day, many of the creators' sites house hidden Kids Love Comics collectors cards, which can be traded in for a signed and limited print at the New York Comic-Con. Appearing at Booth 939 (KLC/Sky-Dog Booth) at NYCC will be:

• Jimmy Gownley, award-winning creator of Amelia Rules, offering up his newly reprinted color Amelia Graphic novels, featuring the super cool kid with an attitude, Amelia Mc Bride. (www.ameliarules.com)

• Mark McKenna, an artistic inking force in the world of comics, will be unveiling his first all-ages character, Banana Tail, about a monkey who loves bananas so much, he starts to turn into one! Mark will have FREE Banana Tail coloring books for the first 50 attendees. (http://www.bananatail.com)

• John Gallagher, creator of Buzzboy, the "World's Coolest Super Sidekick!" Gallagher will be handing out FREE Frank CHO Buzzboy poster, depicting the cover to the upcoming Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule! #3 (www.skydogcomics.Com)

• Jane Fisher, writer/creator of WJHC, the tale of a teen-run radio station and the fun hi-jinks that ensue. A native Long Islander, Fisher will be offering up both WJHC graphic novels at the show. (www.WJHC.Com)

• Rich Faber, another mainstream comics inker (and also a native Long Islander) joins the all-ages creators with the Roboy Red sketchbook, featuring a behind the scenes look at the upcoming Roboy GN. (www.RoboyRed.Com)

Each of these creators' websites (as well as the www.kidslovecomics.com site) feature printable KLC character cards-- anyone collecting and handing in at least four of the cards will receive a limited edition, signable print featuring all 6 KLC cards. All creators will be on hand to sign comics show off sneak peeks, and meet the ever growing all-ages fans, including parents, librarians, and educators! See you there!



Below is the poster we'll be giving away at the show:





Pencils and design layout by Gallagher, inks and colors by me. Click on the image for a LARGE version!

Hope to see you in New York!

Best,
Rich

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... sort of...

So, it's been nearly a month yet again, but I'm back posting. I've had a lot of work lately, which is good for a freelancer. The downside though, is that I get very little free time, and what little I have, I spend with my family. So, that means less posting, unfortunately.

However, I do have something to show for the time away at least. On that note, thanks to Patrick Kendall, for all the nice words in the comments section. Since you mentioned it, Patrick, finally, here are a few of the Turtles pages I wrote about last time:

To see larger versions of the art, please click on the pictures.

The "sort of" in the title of this post is because I didn't actually ink any Turtles on this job, but as you can see, I was able to do a nice sequence featuring Casey Jones. Incidentally, the pencils were done by a guy named Andres Ponce. You can see some pencils from the previous sequence of this issue on Andres' blog. It was a lot of fun to work on this stuff, and I'd like to thank my pal Sean Parsons (a very talented fellow in his own right), for bringing me in on this.

I'm hoping to have some new work to post soon, as time allows. As always, please bear with me, and hopefully, you'll be reading and seeing more soon!

Best,

Rich

Happy holidays!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two months since I last posted... well, actually, yes I can. Aside from having a three month old, work has been particularly hectic lately. Typically, November and December are my slowest work months, but not this year. Hmmm, actually, last year was kind of busy too, come to think of it. That's when I was working on Minoriteam...Well, anyway, I've had a lot on my plate lately, some of which I'll share soon. One thing I've done in the past week or two is inking some pages of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Mirage. I'd never worked on that property before, and it was pretty cool. I'll post some of that work soon.

In the meantime, I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish anyone out there reading this a very happy holiday season. The above is the holiday card I created last year. The concept is based on a question my sister asked when she was about 6 years old or so... roughly 30 years ago. She asked, "If the Christian people have Santa Claus, does that mean we have Hana Claus?" We always kidded about that, and it took thirty years, but last year, I finally designed the character. You can click on the picture for a slightly larger version. In our blended family, we celebrate both holidays, so it only seems appropriate to have an icon representing each!

I hope everyone out there has a very happy, healthy holiday season, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year!

Best,
Rich

Happy Halloween

In honor of the occasion, here are a couple of "scary" illustrations I've done:

This one's not so scary, but Dali could definitely be macabre:

For the kids, here's the Roboy Red Halloween story John Gallagher and I did last year (click on the images for larger sizes):

And for more monster fun, you can also order the all ages graphic novel, Buzzboy: Monsters, Dreams & Milkshakes, that I worked on with John a couple of years ago. Just go to www.skydogcomics.com!

Happy Halloween!

Best,

Rich

Ben for my Birthday

Ok, well, it's been over a month since I last posted, and since that time, my life has changed immensely, for the better! As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and I were expecting our first child, and on September 19th, our son was born. It's been incredibly busy since then, as I'm sure anyone who has had kids can imagine. Work has been mostly pushed aside, but I have managed to get some of it finished. Since today is my birthday, I thought this might be a good time to catch up, and post some new art.

The below is a detail taken from a larger illustration I did for a client. I'll post the finished work soon, but I thought it might be interesting to give a sneak peek at part of it.

And just to tie up everything, here are couple of quotes from Franklin, regarding age:

"All would live long, but none would be old."

and

"At 20 years of age the will reigns, at 30 the wit, at 40 the judgment."

Benjamin Franklin - US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

One hint: I'm closer to having more judgment than will. ;-)

Best,

Rich

Titans, GO!... to Baltimore Comic-Con!

I haven't had much time to post here lately, due to both work, and the upcoming (as in within a week or so!) birth of our first kid.

Also as a result of that happy event, I'll be missing my FAVORITE comic convention, the Baltimore Comic-Con, for the first time since I began exhibiting there a few years ago. Marc Nathan, the con organizer, runs the best show I've attended. His cons are well-organized, family friendly, and just plain fun! Marc's one of the best in the business!

In my absence, my good buddy and frequent collaborator, John Gallagher, will be pushing our new Buzzboy miniseries "Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule!", as well as the previous trade paperbacks. He'll also have all of our cool Roboy Red merchandise, including the Roboy Red Sketchbook, "Greetings From RoboyLand" and Roboy T-shirts. (was that enough hyperlinks for one paragraph...? ) =)

If you have a free weekend on September 9th and 10th, please consider attending the Baltimore Comic-Con. If you stop by the Sky-Dog Comics booth, John will be sure to fill you in on all the latest Buzzboy and Roboy news, and I'm sure he'll also have some cool free goodies to hand out too!

Last year, John and I produced these cool Teen Titans bookmarks to help promote both the Comic-Con, as well as Graphic Novels in libraries:

Above are John's pencils.

Here are my inks.

And my colors.

And finally, here are the actual bookmarks, front and back. Click on any image for a larger size.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you'll go enjoy the Baltimore Comic-Con! I'll try to post again soon!

Best,

Rich

Working With Women

Since my last post, it's been nonstop action here in my studio. Work has kept me very busy since I returned from Comic-Con, not to mention some cleanup from some storm damage while I was away. So, getting back into the swing, below is the illustration gig I finished up before leaving for San Diego.

One of the cool things about working on comics work with my buddy John Gallagher is that a lot of times we get to work on non-comics stuff together too, as well as on Buzzboy and Roboy Red. The great part about that is that it pays better... ok, actually, it just PAYS, period! Although it makes staying on our comics deadlines difficult sometimes, in reality, this is the type of work that allows us to do our comics in the first place. I've found that this is typical in the world of self-publishing.

As for the work, in this case, John brought us this client. The assignment was to create a series of female characters who were considering having children. So, John had to design a few different character types. He did the designs and rough layouts, and I did the finishing art and the colors. The coloring was a particular challenge, as I had to match a style of art provided by the client, and convert the black line art to color, where I would normally just fill in the blocks of color within the black line art. I really like the look of this though, and may explore doing more work like this on my own.

So here they are (click the pictures for a larger view):

That last one is my favorite. I had to do the most work on the coloring for this one, but I was very happy with the results. I was pleased with the combination of colors. This was the one that convinced me that I should do more work in this vein.

That's it for this week. Hopefully, I can continue to post more frequently, but if not, you'll know where to find me... eventually!

Best,

Rich

San Diego Comic-Con

As you might have guessed from the subject line, I'll be exhibiting at Comic-Con International, from Wednesday July 19th, until Sunday July 23rd. I'll be set up with my Roboy Red partner, John Gallagher, at the Amelia Rules/Buzzboy/WJHC booth, #1637. John and I will be promoting his Buzzboy books, which I ink, and have previously written about here and here. We'll have both of the Buzzboy trade paperbacks, as well as issue #1 of Buzzboy: Sidekicks Rule! in its Comic-con premiere!

As I mentioned above, Gallagher and I also work on another creator owned character called Roboy Red. We'll have plenty of Roboy Red merchandise as well, particularly the development Sketchbook, "Welcome To Roboyland!" Here's a preview of some of the art:

We'll also have this cool new Roboy T-shirt:

In addition to all of the above cool stuff, I'll have my original comic book art, including new Buzzboy pages! If you're planning to attend Comic-Con, I hope you'll stop by and say hi!

Best,

Rich

Educational art

To round out the brain theme I've had going for a couple of weeks, here's another medical illustration:

This depiction has something to do with the way the neurons in the brain work, but I'm not exactly sure of the science behind it. The client was happy with the drawings, so I guess I did a decent job. ;-)

And since the topic is educational art, I thought I'd post this Roboy Red drawing tutorial I did last year for last year's Buzzboy/Roboy Red Free comic book Day book (click the picture for a link to something you can actually read!):

Below is the link to an animation I did to demo the tutorial online (click on Roboy Red). Roboy Red is an all ages character I created with my pal John Gallagher, and both of these will eventually be on our Roboy Red website (www.roboyred.com)

Best,

Rich

Same client, different brain...

So, I got a call today from the client that had me do the "Brainguy," in yesterday's post, and asked if I could do a realistic brain also. Of course, she knew I do photorealistic work too. This isn't quite photoreal, but it is my first medical illustration ever.

I did the pencil work on a piece of tan mat board, figuring it would give me a nice base tone to work from. The colors and lettering were added digitally. This was another quick turnaround, and I did it in about 4 hours, start to finish.

Best,

Rich

Brainguy

I did this goofy little illustration for a corporate/pharmaceutical client yesterday. I was directed to make it quick and quirky, so it was a fun little job. It has something to do with how the brain receives auditory signals from the ears.

More art soon!

Best,

Rich

Weird Verification!

For the weekend, I'll leave with this strange little bit... In the previous post, I responded to some nice folks who were kind enough to visit and comment on my little endeavor here. When I signed in to post my response comment, here's the form I found. Keeping in mind my last name, check out the word verification "word":


Random or conspiracy...? Hmmm...

Have a nice weekend!

Best,
Rich