Jinx the Monkey gets an update

A few nights ago I was looking at my website and all of a sudden I realized how old my landing page was—almost 6-years-old. I've made changes and tweaks to Jinx the Monkey over the years, but the image of the gramophone on the flat blue landscape had remained intact.


It's an old drawing, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it feels incredibly dated to me now. It's a quality I can't help but attribute to it, even though I still like the drawing. My gramophone character actually takes center stage in the most recent comic I did for ARGH! (issue #6 should be out shortly in Spain). Here is the first panel.


(I posted another teaser panel earlier this year)

He's basically the same character, but I draw him a little differently now. Anyway, I'm not ready to do a major overhaul of my website, and it didn't feel right to replace the gramophone as the host, so I essentially lifted the drawing from the ARGH! comic (redrawing it in Flash) and created this new landing page.


While the original landing page (which you can still view here) was meant to serve as a "splash page" before you entered the Flash site, the new one provides jumping off points to my website, my comics page (which is also in dire need of a redesign), and my blog. At some point I envision adding animation—so you could crank up the gramophone and wake him before entering the website. But the static image works for now.

Have a look --> Jinx the Monkey.com

Before I sign off, here is another illustration of the gramophone that you may remember from a previous "What the Doodle?" The word that week was VINYL.


I think he looks good in blue (in case you didn't notice already...)

Extinguishable

This week's "What the Doodle?" was a longish word: Extinguishable. I admit I kind of went off on a tangent to create a pretty bizarre looking creature. The candle has already been extinguished, so what remains that might be extinguishable....hmmm?


Here's my original pencil sketch. And below is the inked version (I did this one in Flash).


As always, be sure to hop on over to Creative Juices to see what everyone at FableVision came up with.

Interview on Ink Mountain

A little over a week ago I was contacted by illustrator and cartoonist Phil McAndrew to do an interview for his fantastic new group blog, Ink Mountain.

--> Read the interview here

I talk about my work, my infleunces, my job at FableVision, and issues concerning Nick Mag. I'm biased, but I think it came out great. And it features a bunch of my artwork. It's a bit more personal than the more process-focused Q&A recently featured on The Tools Artists Use (also a fun interview if you haven't seen it yet). Phil did a great job presenting me with thoughtful questions, and I did my best to give interesting answers.

Also, I would encourage you to check out the blog itself. The current list of contributors includes Phil, Britt Wilson, Graham Kahler, Kate Beaton, and Vicki Nerino. They're doing a great job digging up inspirational work so far, with a special focus on individual artists.

Water

More sketchbook pages...







The other day my car was towed because I parked on the wrong side of the block for street cleaning (it swaps every other week). I went to the closest tow lot, only to find out it wasn't there and likely at another lot a 20 to 30 minute walk away. But it still wasn't positive. Add on a pair of jeans, a backpack, and a sweltering 93 degree day, and I found myself in the shoes of one of my many tortured characters (namely, the dehydrated ones).

It gave me a little more empathy for them, but not much.

What is it with my characters either leaking fluids or needing water?

Stubble

The What the Doodle? gods were shining down on me this week. Somehow (and I didn't pick it) the random word generator spit out the word STUBBLE. That's right, stubble. I decided not to go with the obvious (draw a hideously gross face, add a pinch of nose warts and a dash of chin stubble), so I came up with this scene. It's actually kind of cute for stubble, I think.

Be sure to stop over at Creative Juices to see what everyone else came up with.

Oh, and just because it was that easy to find in my sketchbook, here's that "obvious" approach. Consider it a WTD? bonus.

Interview on The Tools Artists Use

Bill Turner of The Tools Artists Use recently asked me if I'd be interested in participating in a Q&A for his blog. Here's a link to the interview.


The website features a bunch of talents artists who share insight into the methods they use to create their artwork. It's a wonderful resource for anyone interested in process. You should also check out Comic Tools, a blog I also frequent where Matt Bernier and "MK" delve into the tools involved in making comics.

New Sketchbook

I bought a new sketchbook last week and broke it in tonight. I've been trying to play loose with the brush pen—taking some time away from doodling in Flash (where I'm more apt to work tight).


It's fun...I just glide along.
If I goof up a line, no undo—no problem.


Here I kind of mangled his foot, but oh well.
He doesn't need to walk.


And here's a happy fella I doodled on copier paper. WOOF!

"Dark Day" Teaser for Inbound

I was invited to create a historical comic for the upcoming issue of Inbound, a comics anthology put out by the Boston Comics Roundtable. This is an inked panel from the 2-pager I'm working on. We were all tasked to delve into local history. In my digging, I discovered an event called New England's "Dark Day" of 1780 (a few sources 1, 2). Mid-day the sky turned pitch black and everyone thought the world was coming to an end. I rendered it in a style more realistic than I normally do, but I picked it so I could draw tormented characters (go figure). It's also my first attempt at inking a full comic using a brush pen instead of nibs (though I used them for detail work). The anthology is in black and white, so I'm laying in a bunch of dark grays to make it ominous and frightening. I'll post the full comic after Inbound #4 comes out, so stay tuned.

UPDATE: I finished adding the grays, so here's the final panel.

Creative Juices is on Facebook

We recently passed our 200th post on Creative Juices! Not bad since we started the blog almost 2 years ago. (We're at 208 on Drip!—forgot to celebrate) If you haven't ventured over there yet, it's a group blog run by a bunch of us over at FableVision. We started it as a way to share interesting links with each other, but everyone can tap into the pool of creativity and inspiration. Also, every few weeks we publish the latest WTD? (What The Doodle?)—samples from which you've probably seen here periodically.

There's been some activity going on behind the scenes as we recently launched a Fan Page on Facebook.

If you frequent Facebook--> Join here!

You'll get Creative Juices updates in your news feed and you can leave comments on our wall. This was on a suggestion from CJ contributor Naomi (thanks!).

We're also working on a new branding. Here's a little guy I conjured up.


And some possible logotype treatments.


Stay tuned for more.

In other FableVision-related fun and widgetry, check out this bunny car Keith came up with--> here. Just click around and he'll zoom back and forth. This will soon be part of our huge FV Studio website update.

A Box of ARGH! arrives!

Oh happy day! I picked up the box Félix and Jorge sent me this morning from the post office—a box of ARGH! comics. From Spain! The 4 latest issues! I've been planning my assault on Boston for the past month, so I can't wait to get these into Boston comics shops. If you're a local, look from them in a comics hideaway near you soon.

Last I checked, Comicopia in Kemore still had issues stocked. I'll be visiting Hub Comics in Union Sq, and Million Year Picnic in Harvard Sq. over the next week.


For other posts pertaining to ARGH!, click here.
And be sure to visit ARGH! Comic for more info.