Sketch Society Report
My August Sketch Society Report is now up HERE for those of you interested in that sort of thing.My August Sketch Society Report is now up HERE for those of you interested in that sort of thing.Category: Art
My August Sketch Society Report is now up HERE for those of you interested in that sort of thing.Roman Thug Life
Evan Bryce is an artist to keep an eye on. His blog should be a regular rest area on your internet travels. Evan’s new sketchbook, Roman Thug Life is now available. It contains 54 pages of Evan’s work. I’m looking forward to getting a copy. Check it out and you might be too!
Sketch Society Saturday!
Our next Sketch Society get-together is this Saturday. If you like to draw and live within traveling distance to Daytona Beach, Florida, come and join us. Click HERE to learn more about the meeting!
Mignola’s Return to Hellboy [2008]
Since we have a lot of Hellboy fans here at the ZONE, I thought I should mention that Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, will be back in October with the first Hellboy comic that he’s drawn in three years! Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch is a one shot that finds Hellboy investigatating an ancient chapel where he discovers “an artist compelled by something more sinister than any muse” locked away in order to complete his “life’s work.”You can see the entire cover and read more about the issue here.
Emily Is Not Real
Emily is not real, but she’s a better actress than some I’ve seen. All kidding aside, that is some pretty amazing animation.We’re getting close to the point that I wrote about nearly two years ago when discussing that lifelike animation…
“will also usher in the next generation of all-star movie casts! Think about how cool it would be to see Sly Stallone, young Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart and Lee Marvin acting alongside each other. The possibilities are endless.So, what would your dream cast be?”
Sketch Society
My buddy, John Beatty asked me to become a moderator on his Sketch Society blog. I’ll still do reminders and updates about Sketch Society meetings here at the ZONE, but now the major reports and photo dumps will occur at the Sketch Society blog. The next sketching get-together is coming soon. You can read more about it here.
The Art of the Olympics
Did you happen to catch any of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies? As always, they were amazing. I particularly loved the giant fireworks footprints moving through the city, the figures running around the giant globe [much more impressive than it sounds] and the amazing space scene created by the spacemen “flying” around the top of the stadium.
I was surprised [although I shouldn’t have been because he always has amazing true stories] that ZONE buddy, Rafael Kayanan worked on the designs of the space suits! You can read more about it here at Raf’s blog. [While you’re there don’t forget to order your copy of Raf’s new art book!]
Click here if you want to check out some really nice photographs of the opening ceremonies.
Two Dollar Sly
You read the cartoon right. DJ Coffman will draw anything for two bucks. TWO BUCKS… twenty dimes… 200 pennies…anything… ANYTHING! Well… almost anything, that is. He had to draw the line at “R” rated content. Can you imagine some of the requests that must have been pouring in before he put into place the “R” restriction? Yuck!The way it works is you type in your e-mail request and then Paypal DJ the two bucks. He then drops your request in line and you wait your turn. It’s funny seeing not only what people request, but how DJ handles them. Some of my favorites include: Kwip Triumphant; Jurassic Park Meets Iron Man; Dr. Horrible Performing Singing in the Rain; Three Ronnie Gardockis; Dean Martin Ogling Bettie Page and Tura Satana; and A Silverfish. The most clever is Tiny URL. Yeah, I ordered one. You should too.
One bit of warning if you plan to head over and cruise through the drawings: not all are in good taste and not all are appropriate for all ages!
Isolated Incidents
My buddy, Raf, is constantly busy. If he’s not training a group of soldiers martial arts, choreographing knife fights for movies, doing conceptual drawings for films or Broadway, working on comic book pages for publication, then he’s probably drawing something for his own entertainment.
Quite often Raf will sketch while listening to music, watching tv or whatever. As the mood strikes him, he will file away a piece and begin working on another — only to return to the first piece later. Working this way has led to some pieces that are truly amazing in their detail. Just as wonderful are some of Raf’s quick sketches — you can see in just a few lines that everything is there. I’ve been fortunate over the years to watch Raf creating and the number of drawings that he’s completed is astounding.
Thankfully, Raf has decided to start publishing the best of these drawings in “Isolated Incidents: The Art of Rafael Kayanan” books. “Volume I” is available now and you can read more about it here. I ordered mine the day I saw it was available. You should too.
American Flagg Returns
Howard Chaykin says he’ll believe it when he sees it. The “it” is the release of the first hardcover collection of Chaykin’s critically acclaimed “American Flagg” series. Initially announced over four years ago [I was talking it up back in January of ’04], the series was delayed in order to make the hardcovers the best that they could possibly be.
If you’re a comics fan and you’ve never read Chaykin’s “American Flagg” here’s your chance to jump on board. If you’re already a fan, then head down to your local comic shop or click here. And if you’re still not convinced that “American Flagg” is for you, then check out this interview with Howard Chaykin and see what you think.
Crime Does Pay: Ed Brubaker Interview [2008]
It’s no secret how great Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal stories are. If you’re not reading them, you should be. If you are on board then you know what I’m talking about. Either way, you can catch up on the latest Criminal news with this Ed Brubaker interview at CBR.comGoon Optioned
I’ve been an Eric Powell fan for years. His Goon is one of my favorite comics currently published. [I’d have said that even if Eric didn’t draw one of my all-time favorite Stallone pieces!]Eric recently announced on his website that David [Se7en] Fincher has teamed with Blur Studio and optioned the rights to the Goon for a CG animated feature. Dark Horse Entertainment, the publisher of the Goon will also be involved.
This is great news for Eric and Goon fans everywhere.
Only One Cooke Needed
Darwyn Cooke is one of my favorite comic book creators. I was lucky enough to get a Stallone sketch from Darwyn at MegaCon 2007. It was the last sketch that he did on the last day of the show. Whew!
If you read this interview with Darwyn posted today at Newsarama you’ll begin to understand why he’s a fan favorite.
If you read Darwyn’s The New Frontier; Batman: Ego and Other Tales; or his take on Will Eisner’s The Spirit Volume I and 2 you’ll know why.
Heck, anyone whose favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz [my all-time second favorite movie] has got to be alright in my book!
Red Goes Green
I’ve been a Cully Hamner fan for years. In fact Cully jump started my Stallone Theme Gallery with his kick butt take on Jack Carter. Over a 100 sketches later, and Cully’s is still one of my favorites.
Longtime ZONErs may remember me HERE and HERE talking up Cully’s work with Warren Ellis on Red. Today the Hollywood Reporter announced that the movie rights to Red have been picked up by Summit Entertainment and already have writing and producing teams in place. You can read the full account HERE.
Congrats to Cully and Warren. Let’s hope that the movie is half as good as the comic.
