Prairie Warehouse & Curio Emporium

2012-01-04T11:34:00.000-05:00

Yeah this is from a Barbara Bradley drawing book, which I then used for warmup inking - In retrospect, this looked pretty OK for something just bashed out -

stuff:
I'm still on some kind of crazy Disney film kick - I recently watched:
Bambi - I never realized how amazing Bambi is - so artsy - just amazing shots - it has recently been placed on the America Film Registry.
Pinocchio - Pinocchio is OK - the surreal decadent boy town is the coolest part -
Dumbo - Disney does good cute, obviously - and Dumbo has to be the cutest character ever - the surreal drunken scene is the coolest -
Fantasia - Fantasia is amazing - it's still ahead of its time - I forgot how prominent Stokowski was in this film - he's a great conductor great music - this is one crazy cool movie.

All of these films are a little short on story - the endings happen real quick - it's amazing how they used to improvise things as they go along - OK let's go ahead with this - it costs 6 million - do you have a script? No, just some cool designs. OK.

More power of puppetry

2011-12-17T13:44:00.001-05:00

Hey, that's right - I have a blog - need to give some love to me blog - it's been a good year, though - I have been posting an acceptable quota - yay!

Movie review:
I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Great movie - directed by George Roy Hill. He's my favorite post-war American film director - just perfect directing - creative, dynamic, efficient shots - textbook stuff

Bongo style

2011-11-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

2011-11-08T14:35:00.000-05:00

This done is a slightly more serious style - notice the seriousness of the brush strokes...

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-26T14:57:00.001-04:00

Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it

Love is all around, no need to fake it.
You can have the town, why don't you take it.
You're gonna make it after all

How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big
And girl this time your all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving

Love is all around, no need to fake it.
You can have the town, why don't you take it.
You're gonna make it after all,
You're gonna make it after all

The power of puppetry

2011-09-23T16:04:00.000-04:00

We at the Prairie Warehouse are all about art - any form of art - please enjoy these fine examples of puppet designs for an ancient greek play - Aristophanes, I think.

Riley inks other people

2011-09-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

OK folks - just to keep things hoppin', here's another exciting new feature - me trying to ink other people's pencils (I try to pick artists that I'm sympatico with, in order to avoid a too radical style clash)

Here's some pencils from the great Rene Follet - This was actually done for William Vance for Marshall Blueberry (Vance, of course, can afford to hire great artists to jazz up his own stuff) - these were a little loose, so it was tricky - I've couldn"t find tight Follet pencils on the interwebs, does he do tight pencils? I suspect that he doesn't, considering his busy inking style.... more pencillers to come...

2011-09-16T11:59:00.001-04:00

Don’t eat no mashed potatoes,
Don’t eat no buttered scones
Stay away from carbohydrates
You’re gonna look like skin and bone.

2011-09-14T09:06:00.001-04:00

Here's a Frank Thorne swipe that I'm posting because it's a great pin-up shot and the inking came off with no need for erasing or touch-ups. Thorne is one of the greats - please take note. I would be posting this in honour of the forthcoming Red Sonja movie, but since Conan tanked, that probably won't happen.

You know, the original REH stories, Queen of the Black Coast and A Witch Shall be Born are classics (as are the stellar Thomas/ Buscema adaptations) and would make brillant movies in the epic genre. All you have to do is adapt those faithfully and you have a hit. Trust me Hollywood.

Before I saw the Buscema's layouts on Queen of the Black Coast (Conan #100), I thought I knew what storytelling was - what did I know? Nothing... it made me realize that I knew jack about storytelling... that job blasted my fragile little mind...

The importance of good penmanship

2011-09-11T11:53:00.000-04:00

I'm not good with the pen, but I try to keep my hand in it - so here we are....

RIP - Dylan Williams http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/09/10/rip-dylan-williams/
He was a great guy, we corresponded about old school stuff since before he started publishing - an excellent cartoonist, amazing collector, a great Sickles and Toth fan, he championed people like Jorge Zaffino and Mort Meskin, to his great credit- it's people like him who keep the history of comics alive - a sad loss...

2011-09-08T16:44:00.000-04:00

Just so you don't think the lion is the only animal in my repertoire, I present the horse. My animal repertoire consists of lions, horses, squirrels, wolves, and the Black-Necked Stilt.

2011-09-06T14:33:00.001-04:00

This is Tomboy - a cool superhero from the 50s, created by Mort Meskin.

Movie review:
Watched Disney`s Cinderella - It was pretty cool- great animation - I would have preferred more characterization and plot development for the lead characters and main plot. All that comedy business was cool, pretty crazy stuff - overall great, but, more story...

Wood double lighting swipes

2011-09-04T13:54:00.000-04:00

This if from that Doctor Doom Marvel story he did - one of his last great superhero jobs ... full of cool, gothic lighting effects, as usual...

Pre-kiss

2011-09-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

Easier to draw than the actual full-on lip locking phase... and more suspensful too, what happens next? we'll never know...

2011-08-31T09:41:00.001-04:00

Lions, brush & ink...

Film review:
I watched Disney's The Jungle Book - cool movie - great animation - fun stuff - with all these beatnick hepcat characters - like far out daddy-o!

2011-08-29T17:19:00.002-04:00

Some more shots from Kingdom of Heaven, plus a surprise guest appearance from Errol Flynn... Marker and brush pen...

Film review -
I watched Dinsey's The Black Cauldron, the legenday train wreck that almost killed Disney. Some say that it is an underrated, movie with a cool edginess. I thought it was a' ight. I don't know. Disney used to improvise the plots, which is really cool, but things can get out of hand, and I think the movie does have a 'make something up as you go along' feel. This was the last Disney movie to work like that. Too bad. It is quite dark - the token cute character is named Gurky. That's edgy. Gurky. The amazing Mike Ploog worked on this, and you can see his design style quite a bit, although not enough, IMO.

2011-08-25T10:58:00.003-04:00

Movie Review:

I watched Disney's Peter Pan - hadn't seen it in ages - Pretty awesome - great stuff - I only wish it was a little longer, a little more characterization... I definitely feel disinclined to grow up after watching this...

Herbert Morton Stoops

2011-08-22T13:35:00.001-04:00

A tribute to H .M. Stoops - me favorite illustrator - special brush effects courtesy of Prairie Warehouse Light and Magic...

Film Review:
I watched Disney's Sleeping Beauty - awesome movie - one of my favorite's, most def - that work by Eyvind Earle is just stunning - story-wise, it's basic, whatever, visually amazing...

John Buscema week ends

2011-08-20T12:19:00.000-04:00

This one didn't quite turn out right - he's not easy to copy - a simple panel, but hard to get the fluid expressiveness and emotion...

John Buscema week

2011-08-19T10:45:00.001-04:00

Since the Thor movie was released recently, here's a John Buscema shot of Thor - so I guess we have a weekly theme going on now - (a fairly accurate copy, Buscema inks) and another shot of America's favorite barbarian - (a very vague, interpretative copy, both done with brush).

John Buscema nerd stuff

2011-08-17T13:42:00.001-04:00

Since that new Conan movie is coming out, I thought it would be a good time to celebrate the awesomeness of John Buscema. He's me favorite - even though now I'm more into the Caniff approach and less into the illustrative bag - he just draws so darn good, plus he does good storytelling, composition, dramatisation, energy, dynamics, mood, expression, just real well-rounded - the two faces are fairly tight, verbatim copies - the Conan is more interprative...

2011-08-15T12:55:00.001-04:00

Brush pen...

ouch!

2011-08-12T10:23:00.000-04:00

Pen and brush - That's gotta hurt, though, seriously...

2011-08-10T12:34:00.000-04:00

calligraphy marker - from "Kingdom of Heaven", Ridley Scott - (I thought it was a decent movie, although I feel that the beginning could have been shortened, but only because it seemed contrived to me, normally I prefer movies that stretch out...)

2011-08-08T13:34:00.003-04:00

Brush Pen.

2011-08-06T12:24:00.002-04:00

Brush. This is a screen grab from "Kingdom of Heaven"

Be Prepared!

2011-08-03T16:19:00.001-04:00

You never know when one might be called upon to do a story where after the adventure, the superhero flies off into the sunset. Well I'm ready for it! They also serve, those who stand and wait...

More Meskin

2011-08-01T14:33:00.002-04:00

I just thought this was a neat panel - that's all - from a Meskin/Robinson reprint book that I copied - marker & brush pen

stuff:
I picked up a Philip K. Dick paperback at a garage sale - The Unteleported Man (currently published as LIES, Inc.) - it's very weird, even by PKD standards - structurally, the thing does not hold together well, but it works as a sheer genius freaky mix of satire, social commentary, psychology, thriller, surrealism, melodrama, cyberpunk, and post-modernism.

2011-07-30T12:55:00.000-04:00

A brush pen jobby...

White-collar conservatives flashing down the street
Pointing their plastic finger at me.
They're hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high . . . HIGH!

Tribute: Jeff Jones

2011-07-28T13:28:00.003-04:00

I always sort of considered Jones to be in a class by himself - just brillant, brillant art - I took this Barbara Bradley sketch that I did that seemed Jones-ish and spent a few hours with that big Idyl book and tried to sort of paraphrase his amazing lines in that incredible book - it was very difficult, but I did the best I could...

A Duck Family...

2011-07-20T14:55:00.001-04:00

Restaurant Review - Schwartz's

2011-07-19T12:53:00.003-04:00

In our constant effort to give you top value for your entertainment dollar, we present another exciting new feature - restaurant reviews - Basically Schwartz's specializes in smoked meat sandwiches - now the thing is, this place is a Montreal legend, it epitomizes Montreal, it has a mythical aura to it - and I had never actually been there before -

So basically it's a classic diner decor and has not substantially changed since, I don't know, 1964? And that's the cool thing about it - and killer smoked meat, most def. They take smoked meat to a whole new level...

Almost Tinker Bell

2011-07-16T13:15:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Never-Never Land, where everything is beautiful and everyone's your best friend...

stuff:
What I'm currently reading - I got this bigass Uncle Scrooge book at a garage sale, in French - it's just this big binding of the Picsou magazine - loaded with Barks stories - you can never go wrong - great artwork, writing, and storytelling , he's a triple threat - all on nice big glossy pages, with nice colors - they reprint 'The Philosopher's Stone' & 'The Land of the Pygmie Indians', plus Donald & Daisy shorts, etc... Sweet!

Tinker Bell week continues...

2011-07-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

Come to think of it, the purple drawing was done with color pencil, the first time I did something not with black ink in many moons - I thought that that was worth pointing out... for once I don't have to clean my fingernails...

Miss Bell

2011-07-13T13:51:00.000-04:00

Well I guess there is going to be a specific,consistent theme this week...

Probably Tinkerbell

2011-07-12T14:36:00.002-04:00

Noodling with some drawings of the lovely Miss Bell. Based on the Disney version, but somehow, it got funnelled through my brain and my hands and turned out the way it turned out. A little spunkier. I actually caught up on a few Disney flics recently. Mulan - great movie - I really liked the visuals on that one. Beauty and the Beast - Awesome ballroom scene - somehow I don't like the visuals as much - but the characterization & story is better than most - nice character development...

Shadows and light

2011-07-09T13:08:00.001-04:00

Noodling some lighting effects...

PS - This post to celebrate the end of smelly ink - quite a while back, I bought a huge bottle of very cheap india ink - I thought it was a good deal- however the smell was horrendous - it blew my mind - it took forever to finish the bottle - and it is finally over... hurrah! What did they put in that ink? I don't think I want to know...

Happy Easter!

2011-07-08T12:03:00.000-04:00

Since Easter is just around the corner, here's a cool Easter Bunny Illustration - This is where art and cool chocolate stuff come together to make sense of my world - this is a package of chocolate carrots - or rather carrot-shaped chocolates wrapped in orange and green foil - I like the logic - Rabbits eat carrots, so the Easter Bunny should have chocolate carrots - it actually makes more sense than chocolate eggs - nice illustration work - I dig the brush work on this...

Quick Doodles

2011-07-06T13:24:00.000-04:00

Those amazing animals

2011-06-30T10:24:00.003-04:00

This inked with a weird, modified german sable brush - you can only get choppy, chunky lines, but I like the effect for certain things - next week - the mystery topic - the theme of secret...????
Near the village, the peaceful village
The lion sleeps tonight
Near the village, the peaceful village
The lion sleeps tonight

Ingonyama ilele

Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling
The lion sleeps tonight
Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling
The lion sleeps tonight

stuff:
Since we're on the subject of cats, check out the legendary classic first appearance of Hellcat - with amazing inks by Wallace Wood:

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-you-blinked-you-missed-beware-claws.html

Animal Odyssey

2011-06-29T14:34:00.000-04:00

This not from Ken Hultgren book

Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh
Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh

Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh
Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh

In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle, the quiet jungle
The lion sleeps tonight

Animal Week continues

2011-06-28T17:05:00.000-04:00

More of same...

Woke up and for the first time the animals were gone
Our clocks are ticking now so before our time is gone
We could get a house and some boxes on the lawn
We could make babies and accidental songs

stuff
RIP Gene Colan
http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/24/gene-colan-comic-book-artist-dead-at-84/#/0

Animal Week

2011-06-27T10:24:00.001-04:00

These are from The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren. He worked with Disney and drew funny animal comics. Inked in my own style.

Woke up and for the first time the animals were gone
It's left this house empty now, not sure if I belong
Yesterday you asked me to write you a pleasant song
I'll do my best now, but you've been gone for so long

Greek Mythology, the week thereof

2011-06-23T13:23:00.001-04:00

This is Zeus - not based on any ancient image.

Next week: animals!

Zen baby/lightning strikes
the same heart/but never twice
Zen baby/we’ve got to fight
what’s real and what becomes the night

Greek Mythology week (continued)

2011-06-22T16:28:00.001-04:00

Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses, how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.
The tiny purple fishes run lauging through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

stuff:
Yes! Finally, a book on Harry Lucey -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600109934/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0C586A9XGNAVNDARK34R&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Greek Mythology Week

2011-06-21T13:13:00.001-04:00

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,

But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.
And the colours of the sea bind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses,

Greek Mythology week

2011-06-20T15:39:00.001-04:00

Greek Mythology week has finally arrived! This is taken from one of those Greek Mythology handbooks, it's some ancient image -

And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.
And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

Saturn Girl

2011-06-18T15:58:00.000-04:00

and so ends superhero week - you may have noticed that there was no superhero design from later than 1972 - so we're a little out of date - no plans to update, mind you - next week - have I mentioned the planned greek mythology theme? you may want to check it out...

Rebelling against society,
Such a tiny speculating whether to be a hip or
Skip along quite merrily.
Through all levels you've been changing
Elevator in the brain hotel
Broken down a-just as well-a
Looking through crystal spectacles,
Ah, I can see I had your fun.

Hercules

2011-06-17T13:02:00.000-04:00

THis is Hercules, the Marvel Comics version, sort of, and a good segue for next week's Greek mythology theme - stay tuned!

Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be,
Way down below the ocean where I wanna be she may be.

Almost Tinkerbell

2011-06-16T08:49:00.002-04:00

I had a go at Tinkerbell - although not necessarily the Disney version - not necessarily a superhero per se, but she does wear the same outfit all the time, and she flies, and has been known to mess up some pirates now and then...

Electrical banana

Is gonna be a sudden craze
Electrical banana
Is bound to be the very next phase

They call it mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

The Phantom

2011-06-15T09:16:00.000-04:00

The lock upon my garden gate's a snail, that's what it is
The lock upon my garden gate's a snail, that's what it is

First there is a phantom then there is no phantom , then there is
First there is a phantom then there is no phantom , then there is

Caterpillar sheds his skin to find the butterfly within
Caterpillar sheds his skin to find the butterfly within

Saturn Girl

2011-06-14T12:09:00.001-04:00

I'm just mad about Saturn,
A-Saturn's mad about me.
I'm just mad about Saturn,
She's just mad about me.

They call me mellow yellow.

Born high forever to fly,
Wind-a velocity nil.
Born high forever to fly,
If you want your cup I will fill.

They call me mellow yellow.

Superhero Week-Thor

2011-06-13T11:11:00.001-04:00

Superman or Green Lantern ain't got a-nothin' on me
I can make like a turtle and dive for your pearls in the sea, yeah!
A you-you-you can just sit there a-thinking on your velvet throne
'bout all the rainbows a-you can a-have for your own
When you've made your mind up forever to be mine
I'll pick up your hand and slowly blow your little mind
When you've made your mind up forever to be mine

dd vs hc

2011-06-11T16:27:00.002-04:00

This is the clash of titans - the two superheroes that I draw most often finally come together in an epic battle royale. But it's all a misunderstanding - they begin by mixing it up, but then they come to respect each other and realize that it's better to become friends, so they can team up on adventures and stuff - it's a kind of a superhero bonding thing.... also, notice the Kirby kinetic energy lines, for dramatic effect...

Superhero week : Dynamo

2011-06-10T10:38:00.001-04:00

Here's Dynamo - I'm a Wallace Wood fan - good to see the Thunder Agents back in action - it was a pretty decent concept IMO- it deserves to finally get a proper revival...

Wondy

2011-06-09T09:51:00.001-04:00

Now we're REALLY getting serious - today's post features the stunning amazonian physique of Linda Carter as Wonder Woman. Next week will be a Greek Mythology theme - stay tuned!

Tintin

2011-06-08T13:59:00.000-04:00

OK, technically not a superhero - but a cartoon hero, almost the same, for example, he always wears the same outfit - I do too many superoes, I need to do other cartoon characters...

Superhero Week : Golden Lad!

2011-06-07T14:10:00.001-04:00

Now we're getting serious - digging deep into the superhero repository - like Tomboy, this is a Mort Meskin-created superhero - from Golden Lad #2 - 1945 - great stuff - Meskin was at the top of his superhero game with this - of all the super lads, Golden Lad was the most golden of the Golden Age, next to Golden Girl, of course, who appeared in issue#5, the final issue. Solid Gold!

Speak of the devil...

2011-06-06T14:06:00.000-04:00

This inking inspired by inking genius Frank Springer -

Tomboy

2011-06-03T11:58:00.005-04:00

Tomboy! The first superheroine of the silver age - she rocks!

batman.bull.gargoyle

2011-06-02T13:51:00.002-04:00

Mr. Mojo rising... rising....rising....got to keep on rising....
stuff:

Jeff Jones - RIP - My favorite illustrator...

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32407

http://io9.com/5803835/rip-jeffrey-catherine-jones-one-of-fantasys-greatest-artists/gallery/

http://georgepratt.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/jeff-jones-1944-2011/

Enter... the Scarlet Witch

2011-06-01T19:52:00.001-04:00

It's the magnificent Scarlet Witch! Don't mess with her, she'll put a hex on you!

It's strange, sure it's strange.

You've got to pick up every stitch,
You've got to pick up every stitch,
The rabbits running in the ditch,
Oh no, must be the season of the witch,
Must be the season of the witch, yeah,
Must be the season of the witch.

too much coffee...

2011-05-31T13:47:00.000-04:00

Here's an exciting new 'guide to healthy living' feature - Before giving positive examples, why not start with examples of what not to do - as illustrated above, it's probably not a good idea to drink so much coffee. I'm actually thinking of switching to tea and herbal teas. Also, using paper cups is not very ecological - I promise that these cups will be put in the recycling bin - What's more, keeping a nice, clean, tidy drawing space is a really good thing - which is something I will do - not like the example above...

Super Hero Week

2011-05-27T17:33:00.000-04:00

Since Hellcat made an appearance, might as well do a whole week on super heroes. How do you spell superhero? One word or two? Hyar be DD - he's the official default super hero for this blog. Next Week: Greek Mythology theme!

quick doodles

2011-05-18T16:04:00.000-04:00

not much to write about here - Hellcat is known for making surprise random appearances on this blog - and this is one of them - she is the official default superheroine of this blog -

more of same

2011-05-05T16:34:00.004-04:00

these are real slice of life sketches - just trying to capture people in the spontaneous moment... just keeping in the now...

stuff-
This blog has had 33,000 visits - Thanks! To me that seems a lot - but I guess by today's standards, that's not very impressive - but that's cool - I think that it's safe to say that this blog is underground - way, deep underground - I think it's nice to have obscure, out of the way, unknown stuff - less crowded - I even cheat a little - a lot of hits are for the other artists I feature such as Bruno Premiani, - ironically, one of the most popular posts is a shot I did of Kronos and Rhea, probably because there weren't a lot of images of them at one point, it used to be the most popular image for those keywords on google image search - hoo hah!
http://skylark-.blogspot.com/2007/10/kronos-and-rhea.html

New old art

2011-04-19T14:40:00.004-04:00

So yeah, these were done last summer - this is what I did on my summer vaction, I guess...

PS- these were done with a mars 3000 duo brush pen - I had previously ranted about how this pen was mysteriously disontinued in all Montreal art stores... and now I would like to announce that the crisis is over... I found a store that still carries it - it's this real funky old store called 'British Blue Print' - why they call it that is hard to figure - it's actually been there in the heart of downtown for decades - the same dude's been running the place for years - and it hasn't noticeably changed since who knows when - it's a pretty cluttered, unkept envrionement - really cool - ya gotta love those old, independant, maverick, mom & pop businesses - thank you for blocking the embargo conspiracy - way to stick it to the man, BBP!

stuff-
Here's a review of that killer Meskin book - a lot more elaborate than the one I did - it really does justice to it- but the book really looks great - they really dug up some stunning stuff -
http://thepanelists.org/2011/04/from-shadow-to-light/

summer in the city

2011-03-29T18:54:00.001-04:00

Gee whiz, I shouldn't neglect my blog so much. So here's some observational sketches - observed last summer.

stuff-

A while back I ranted about how little bw artwork of Herbert Morton Stoops was on the web - then I ranted about how little color H M Stoops artwork was on the web - I rant no more - there has been a major corrective measure in this criminal lack in the latest Ilustration Magazine #32 - awesome cover feature on Stoops - a serious good thing until they finally do a major color art book on him - it's the art event of the year - mosdef

http://www.illustration-magazine.com/latest32.html

Happy New Year!

2011-01-14T15:56:00.001-05:00

OK, so I'm a bit tardy with my annual holiday illustration. This year I decided to exercize my photographic skills. Meet Rusty the squirrel. Squirrels are members of the forager family. Please do not call them scavengers; they get very offended. Rusty lives on my balcony. The reason for that being that I decided to clean up my balcony and improve their living conditions by installing a large cardboard box with two floors and padded walls for winter conditions. It's quite the spiffy digs, if I do say so myself, what with windows and various insulation pieces and various special customizations that the squirrels did.

All the best for 2011!

PS. - You may notice that Rusty is missing some fur on his back - I don't know what kind of trouble he got himself into, but one day, he came out with all the fur on his back missing. He's OK, though - it's all grown back now.

Holiday fun -I watched Fanny et Alexandre by Ingmar Bergman over the holidays - the five-hour cut! It was great, I prefer longer movies - it`s totally an artist`s movie - life seen through the eyes of an artists - brillant cool, strange and beautiful...

I read - all the Barks Magica de Spell stories in one book. Sweet! Barks actually modelled her after Morticia Addams - it just doesn`t get any cooler than that. There`s this crazy take on Little Bo Peep, an Ancient Greece thing, and a freaky magic carpet adventure - those are my favorites - she`s so evil!

Meskin tribute continues...

2010-12-30T16:36:00.000-05:00

OK - I put a little more work into this one - not the usual 'do what I feel' spontaneous approach - this is part of a larger project that is highly confidential and am not at liberty to discuss -actually, please forget that you even read that last part - it's a take on a Meskin panel from late 50's, early 60's - a really cool story set in the middle east from one of those DC Mystery titles, Adventure into Danger or something - it's very similar to the original, I just tweaked stuff- I actually simplified it - the original was really detailed!

Tomboy!

2010-12-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

So yeah, Meskin trimester continues after a little pause... here we have Tomboy. These are copies from Meskin - but I copy stuff so badly that they don't really resemble the originals - not nearly as good - I guess you could say that they are 'inspired by Meskin'

Tomboy of course is one of the greatest superheroes evah! Did you know that she was the very first Silver Age supehero? Without Meskin and his Tomboy there would probably be no Flash, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Hulk, the FF, they owe it all to Tomboy who was basically some 12-year old girl who liked to dress up and beat up on gangsters... she's pretty cool

More on the amazing Tomboy:
http://junglefrolics.blogspot.com/2010/07/before-there-was-hit-girlthere-was.html

Meskin Week Continues...

2010-11-03T15:36:00.002-04:00

This is Meskin panel from the 50s - great panel...

stuff:
Hey check out the awesome Simon & Kirby run on Bullseye:
http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/category/periods/mainline/bullseye

This is actually me favorite Kirby artwork evah - probably many people will be scratching their heads wondering how I can put this above his fantastical, mighty super explosive, techno fabulous work from the swingin' sixties - sorry to say that that stuff jars me a little, and it can get a little too blocky for my tastes - I apologize.

Mort Meskin Week

2010-11-01T12:28:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Halloween - and so I figured that now is the ideal time to launch a special tribute week to that master of the dark, that virtuoso of shadows - the great Mort Meskin - this is to celebrate the new book on him that has re-written comic art history by giving Meskin his proper due - before comic art history was a distorted, innacurate, unsound fabrication - now the secrets and lies are over - the importance of Meskin has been revealed - it is a whole new era in comic art history-

So we have Johnny Quick on the right, a Meskin character from DC - and on this aftermath of Halloween, the Black Terror - a quintessential Meskin character - along with his boy sidekick... I'm not sure what his name is - he has the exact same costume as BT - Terror Boy? The Little Terror? Black Terror Junior? Anyhoo, stay tuned for more Meskin inspired drawings all this week...

a post called horse

2010-10-29T17:33:00.001-04:00

these are various old sketches that were finished up recently done with various pens, brushes and markers...

sketches with brushpen

2010-10-23T16:15:00.005-04:00

the ones on the right are from photos - the dude is actually Keenan Ivory Wayans - I've been meaning to have him guest on this blog for some time now, so we're pretty happy about this post, something of a milestone, really - most of these are actually red, because as I've said those long blue brush pens are out of stock here, so only a few obscure colors of that model remain, no black. too bad, because I was starting to figure those darn things out, gettin' brushy wid' it, is what I'm saying, yo

skwrlzz

2010-10-15T17:01:00.000-04:00

I think these were done with a brush pen, the long blue one - At one point I went on this long rant about how brush pens were fundamentally invalid - but I've changed my mind, I like them now - Ironically, they're no longer availible in Montreal art stores - I've tried others, but they're not as good - I like them because they're portable - whereas with a regular brush, you sort have to be stationed in one consistant spot, what with the ink pot and the water and the overall messiness... please disregard my previous rant...

Tribute: Barbara Bradley

2010-10-13T15:40:00.001-04:00

OK - So I finished copying most of the pictures in Barbara Bradley's book 'Draw

ing People' - But I added me own inks on top - plus the kid with the black hair is not from the book - it looks like a Wally Wood type kid. It's an amazing book - she's a kickass artist and there are tons of amazing pratical tips - Even though I still haven't learned to draw properly, it's not the book's fault - it's a killer book - Sadly, Mrs. Bradley was killed in a car accident in 2008.

http://eddiecampbell.blogspot.com/2008/02/barbara-bradley.html

http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/2008/05/goodbye-barbara-bradley.html

more sad news:
Solomon Burke has passed away - http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/news-and-views/features/Solomon-Burke-1940-2010-104953814.html

He recently released a cd done with Al Green's production team - it's pretty wicked - no computers - just old school cats playing what they feel - old school meat and potatoes sweetness!

Jack Davis - The Rawhide Kid period - addenda

2010-10-12T19:42:00.002-04:00

A while back,we did a Jack Davis extravanganza special, spotlighting his more obscure western work. Alas, my collection at the time was not complete. As a true nerd, I now present some pages of the missing story not previously featured. It's in b&w due to a temporary colour shortage. Notice the total lack of backgrounds. I think a cartoonist's greatness is inversely proportional to the amount of backgrounds they use. Some cartoonists can get away with re-using a series of abstract patterns in lieu of background, but Jack Davis is so brillant, that he can get away with dispensing with backgrounds altogether! Enjoy!

Postscript: Why not see the whole thing here:
http://westerncomix.blogspot.com/2010/06/tall-tales-and-short-story-rawhide-kid.html

Hoohah!

2010-10-10T16:36:00.001-04:00

superheroz! Here we got ol' supes, then an old S & K character, the blue guardian, and I believe the next one is probably the first super villain I've ever drawn... None other than the nefarious Victor Von D. Where would superheroes be without those amazing supervillains? Helping people cross the street? Cleaning up oil spills? And then there's Thor... a result of going my periodic John Buscema reading binge... Watch out for a special tribute to Mort Meskin.

Dethparke - the psycho scary park from hell

2010-09-02T18:45:00.004-04:00

WARNING - THIS POST CONTAINS POTENTIALLY DISTURBING CONTENT - VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Ok so there's this really freaky park in my neighborhood - it's very creepy - I think that there is some kind of supernatural freaky stuff going on there - take a look for yourself and beware!

A very nice horse-shaped thing - but not designed for humans! You would seriously twist your body if you tried to climb onto this somehow...

The insidious spider thing! It looks creepy and again, not designed for humans - you climb the steps and then what? Dangerous!

This is a fairly common playgorund thing, except... it is unusually long and the horse head is strangely detailed and realistic... weird!

The slide of the wide! I thought the slide concept implied a narrow, focused slope - but not on this one - you get on this and slide all over the place -

The psycho orb of death - What is this for? OK I guess you can climb this - but it's five feet high - you fall and you're toast!

This amusement has mysteriously disappeared! What happened? No one can explain...

Deth bunnye! Notice the red spray paint - or is it ...blood?! and Deth ducke - orange and green - scary color scheme!

Here's the whole park in all it's horror - maybe the photo doesn't look scary - but consider this - kids never play there (although I did see some recently, but their parents were with them) - lots of cats seem to hang out there - and it looks like it hasn't been repainted in twenty years - anyhoo, this would make a great X-Files episode... what is going on with that park? Scary.

stufff -
Rare Bruno Premiani -
http://chiquirritipis.blogspot.com/search/label/PREMIANI%20-Bruno

More - doodles - male

2010-08-29T13:56:00.001-04:00

Ok, more dudes - mainly of the nekkid variety.

stuff -
Frank Thorne interview -
http://carnalcomics.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/in-the-gutter-frank-thorne-interview/

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090320/NEWS/903200311/Frank-Thorne-has-been-drawing-racy-material-for-decades

http://tencentdreams.blogspot.com/2010/01/frank-thorne-flash-forward-sorcery-week.html

Visit the Prairie Warehouse Studio - Meet the staff

2010-08-24T12:44:00.000-04:00

Ok - so here's a picture of the Prairie Warehouse office, where all the hard work that goes into the difficult work of blog production gets done. We have a great staff of energetic (although sometimes unfocused) squirrels who do all the administrative and production work.

This is actually a picture of my balcony (I live on the 6th floor.) One fine spring day, I was surprised to find a squirrel hanging out on my balcony. Upon closer inspection, I was stunned to find that a group of 3 squirrels had very laboriously built a kind of mini appartment complex out of the boxes that I had left on my balcony (which I had neglected to dispense with after moving in last September), and had spent the entire winter living there.

Ironically, after they had moved out in the summer, I recently discovered that after cleaning up the refurbished box complex, that the chewed up cardboard confetti was re-used for a bee-hive - the circle of life.....

stuff -
Currently on the stands - "Les Tresors de Picsou #11" - a thick 244 special on Flintheart Glomgold - including the 3 original Barks Uncle Scrooge stories - which are awesome - and due to the complexities of international finance - it's all for the price of a regular American comic book - life is good again...

Doodles - male

2010-08-20T15:41:00.001-04:00

So here's a medieval dude, a tennis player, an indian, and an action hero - the action hero sort of looks like Liberace - that was a mistake - gestalt art tip #1 - when designing action heroes, do not pattern the character after Liberace - better to use Paul Newman or Steve McQueen or someone.... Liberace was a wicked piano player, mind you...

stuff

The great Victor de la Fuente - RIP
http://auadpublishing.wordpress.com/2010/07/

check the cool Feist Sesame Street gig -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ9WiuJPnNA

m.i.a. has a new video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfbQ5mHWkOs&feature=av2n

Again more doodles - female - again + horse

2010-08-12T15:45:00.003-04:00

I guess you can say that these are like convention sketches - minus the convention - unconventional sketches, as it were - just done on the fly in five minutes - there's Saturn Girl shootin' off her Saturn power - I'm thinking of redesigning her belt - the one she has now is so five minutes ago...

stuff-

There's an article in Newsweek about Lily Renee - who's a great golden age 'glamour' artist -

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/30/a-real-life-comic-book-superhero.html

Check Spongebob Nazi Zombiepants -

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2010/08/number-784-science-fiction-week-three.html

and an EPIC Abott & Costello story -

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2009/04/number-500-abbott-and-costello-meet.html

Senorita Rio

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24823163@N05/2376572142/in/photostream

methinks she had it going on herself in the glamour department -

http://sexualityinart.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/renee/

More doodles - female - again

2010-08-05T14:30:00.003-04:00

More random made-up women with random made-up clothing... I guess you can call this a series - a pattern has emerged... I'm just making things up as I go along...

stuff - Fiona Apple's new song - it rocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QNu3OaWolE

Doodles - female - again

2010-07-30T15:20:00.002-04:00

Pretty much the same type of thing as the previous post here - just random women with random made-up clothing - when applicable - stay tuned for more women - wearing even more clothing... time to do clothed people now...that's where it's happening for me right now...

doodles - female

2010-07-26T19:53:00.002-04:00

There are no specific characters here - but there will be - eventually.... maybe....

Sports -
Andre 'The Hawk' Dawson gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was my favorite player back in the day. Nice to see him make it. He's a good guy -

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2010/07/26/for_dawson_his_induction_into_hall_is_ice_on_the_cake/

Frazetta Tribute

2010-07-19T12:34:00.000-04:00

This is a more formal Frazetta tribute - based on Galadriel from his wicked Lord of the Rings portfolio - done mainly in pen - I reckon' I'll be doing a Williamson tribute as well - I was messing around with some John Carter designs a while back - and since he is a favorite of his, I hope to be able to pull off some sort of fitting tribute to Williamson.

Riley inks Kirby

2010-07-16T14:09:00.000-04:00

Yeah so I'm into the whole Kirby thing y'know? Especially Simon & Kirby - Simon's a genius inker on Kirby - it's scary - his lines don't even make sense...

facial sketches

2010-07-06T20:36:00.005-04:00

just some quick doodles - a girl I know - then there's Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando and Henry David Thoreau - not really - but that's kind of who they look like..

This is a centaur

2010-06-30T12:33:00.002-04:00

Who says I can't do fantasy stuff? I think this is the first centaur I ever drew, so go easy on me...

Quick sketches (super)

2010-06-22T11:19:00.002-04:00

Just some quick warmup doodles - Of course there's 2 Hellcat sketches because she's twice as awesome as all the other supeheroes - then you have Aquaman's evil twin brother, Aquanam, he's angry, he's always angry - then there's Thor and the cap'n, he makes things hap'n.

R.I.P. Al Williamson - 1931-2010

2010-06-18T10:55:00.004-04:00

Another Fleagle Gang member has passed away. I first discovered Al Williamson at a Boy Scout Jamboree - some guy had the pocket book version of the Empire Strikes Back comic - and everybody was passing that book around going - 'wow - good art ' - He was my favorite artist for the longest time - In retrospect, I caught him at a good time - he was doing some of his best work - (although of course, he also had some real amazing periods in the 50s, 60s, & 70s) real kickass stuff - the Blade Runner adaptation, the stuff they reprinted in that Al Williamson's Adventures book, with the Frank Cho introduction, I was getting my Williamson fix hot off the stands - sigh - good times... Amazing artist...

The battle rages on....

2010-06-17T11:40:00.002-04:00

This is just random improvised sequential panels - just to warm up - unplanned - just draw a panel and try to make the next one fit in - it took me about 3 hours to do, albeit over a 3 year period (better late than never) - It's kind of like working in one those golden age comic book sweat shops, which actually sounds like great fun for learning the ropes - decidedly, I was born fifty years too late...

RIP Frank Frazetta 1928-2010

2010-05-11T09:43:00.004-04:00

Frazetta is amazing - rest in peace - This piece is kind of a tribute - I coincidently pulled out a four-year-old Frazetta-influenced photo swipe and started inking it - and a lot of dormant Frazettaisms came out - the result of copying way too many of his Canaveral illustrations. A spontaneous Frazetta tribute, done on the day he passed away, as I later discovered.

Montreal is Watertown

2010-03-07T17:05:00.002-05:00

So yeah, the euro Waterhouse exhibit came to Montreal! A dream come true.... I can't even begin to say how amazing it was - about 50 pieces, mostly well-known - there were only missing about a dozen classic pieces.... [insert gushing, drooling, rambling, babbling, whooping noises]

I did my usual crazy thing and did quicky sketches of almost every single piece instead of 2 or 3 really nice finished drawings. I posted a mermaid because you can never have enough Mermaids...

Gift store display

Ginormous banner!

Hugo Pratt tribute/plagiarism

2010-01-10T16:06:00.003-05:00

This here be a memory swipe from Hugo Pratt - I think it's from this 1962 feature called "Billy James" - sort of a prelude to his Fort Wheeling saga - I sort of re-read Corto Maltese in Siberia recently - it's great. As a rule, I tend to only be influenced by artwork from 1955 to 1959 - so I'm almost 4 years out of line here - I'm out of control!

So this is part of an exciting project I'm endeavoring to complete - it'll be a sketchbook. with a theme. that theme will be : reinterpretations of panels from my 30 favorite cartoonists, mainly western settings. I've only got 3 more to go (Rene Follet, Denis Bodart, and Jordi Bernet are the 3 final victims of my tributes).

And I reckon that I should try to get that 75-page graphic novel I did published - even if it means printing up four copies on post-it paper from my computer and selling them at a lemonade stand. For the family honour, don't you know.

Roughing it

2009-11-14T14:12:00.002-05:00

I supplied the pun work on the title - and it's up to you, dear blog reader, to pretend that there's witty and clever body text.

This is a clever and funny title

2009-11-08T19:57:00.004-05:00

These is fairly recent, post retirement like - this blog purports to have clever and witty banter - the only problem is that I'm not all that clever or witty - so just pretend that this blog is clever and witty.... done in brush pen - the long blue one with two ends - they had no black left, so these are actually fluoresecent dark orange...

Roughly speaking...

2009-11-04T16:39:00.001-05:00

These are all photos swipes, except for the jack Kirby character and the Indian. These are tolerably recent.