Cartoonist Survey by David Paccia

David Paccia recently asked me to parcipate in a Cartoonist Survey, where I answer a bunch of questions about art and cartooning. I'm entry #67, currently featured on the front page of the site. If you ever wanted to know if I'm a righty or a lefty, now's your chance.

Cartoonist Survery #67 (me)

He even managed to write up a great bio on me—I guess by scouring the corners of the internet. And he dug up this photo (I'm guessing from my FableVision bio, which could use an update). Yep, that's what I look like. I don't know who the dork in the jeans and glasses is next to me, though.

Thanks to Chris Sabatino for pointing David my way. Definitely read up on all the cartoonists who've contributed to the survey so far—lots of interesting info to dig through. And thank you, David.

Welcomed

Here's my image for today's What the Doodle? on Creative Juices. The word this week was WELCOMED. If you click on the image you'll notice I went for a "zipatone" effect using Photoshop's halftoning feature. I'd never tried this before—liking the result a lot.

SpongeBob Remainders

I was just backing up my work for Nickelodeon Magazine and figured I'd share some SpongeBob inks that didn't make it into the magazine before the final issue. So, here goes (dialogue not included)...

These inks were for a two-page comic I co-wrote that was tentatively titled "Portrait Pandemonium." I used pen nibs on this one.



Story premise: SpongeBob sets up a stand at the beach where he paints portraits that aren't exactly accurate. To remedy the situation, he rearranges everyone's faces to match his drawings. It needs the dialogue to sell it, but it ends on a gag where Patrick is happy with the drawing SpongeBob made of him (a star).

Next up: a 3-pager I drew for a story written by Sherm Cohen, called "Patty-stacking!" This was the first SpongeBob comic I inked with a brush pen.




In a nutshell: Mr. Krabs keeps taking orders for larger and larger krabby patties (for big $$$), until a treasure chest full of riches pushes him over the edge. I had a lot of fun drawing this one.

Good times, those SpongeBob comics were...

Preparation

For this week's What the Doodle? on Creative Juices--> Preparation

Inked and colored in Flash.
Be prepared.

Comic for ARGH! #6

Here's my comic for ARGH!#6, the green and magenta issue. I actually drew this way back in April of 2009, so it's good to finally share it with you. A box of comics should be arriving from Spain within weeks, so I'll be distributing them throughout Boston in due time. Be sure to hop on over to the ARGH! Comic website for more info (a great intro graphic), and previews by the other artists.

As noted, we use a duotone color process in printing; this handy grid gives you a sense of some of the available colors. Hideous, aren't they?



I posted it before, but here's the cover Félix did up for the issue.

New England's Dark Day

As promised, here is the 2-page comic I did for Inbound #4: A Comic Book History of Boston, the anthology I've been promoting put out by the Boston Comics Roundtable. The book features 144 pages of true-to-history comics created by local independent comic artists and writers. Jump over to the site for more information.

For my comic I chose an event called New England's "Dark Day" of 1780 (here are a few sources for further reading 1, 2). Basically: sky turns pitch black at noon; townsfolk think it's the end of the world. Which means I get to draw tormented characters. But this wasn't a mere eclipse—supposedly the smoke from a massive forest fire may have combined with a low pressure system to make eerily dark clouds. It would sure freak us out if it happened again today.

I should add, this was the first comic I inked with a brush pen (after switching over from nibs).

You can purchase a copy of the anthology, here. And it's currently available all around Boston—even in bookstores!

Previously:
A Comic Book History of Boston
"Dark Day" Teaser for Inbound

Tanning

I drew this chump for today's What the Doodle? over at Creative Juices. The random word this week was TANNING. I normally don't use gradients (I'm a flat color guy), but tans do have gradation in certain areas, so I went for it. Drawn and colored in Flash.

Just a trim.

First comic (gag, really) of the new year for Heeby Jeeby Comix!

I went pure candy-colors for this one.
Here's the inked version:

Brainy Christmas!

I played with the new version of ArtRage tonight. If you follow me on Twitter (@bobjinx) you may have caught me raving about it. They added a bunch of new features, including an inking pen, watercolor brush, and selection & transform tools. I only exported to Photoshop to resize and save it as a proper jpeg—the new ArtRage even has color adjustment options. The inking pen is a bit too smooth for my taste, though very impressive. So I inked the little brain dude in Flash.


I did prefer the inking pen over the paint brush for detail work—you'll see I added the drool marks and puddle after I inked in Flash. If you're curious about how I use Flash with ArtRage, I can do a tutorial at some point. Sherm Cohen has already covered the Illustrator/ArtRage combo like a pro. But essentially, all I do is export a hi-res transparent PNG from Flash and drop it on a layer in ArtRage to paint under.

Have a great holiday everyone!
...and Merry Christmas!

See you in 2010, if not sooner...

Favorite Music of 2009

Short and sweet this year folks...
(as I realize you're being bombarded with lists left and right)

TOP 10 Album Picks:

1. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. Dan Deacon: Bromst
3. Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
4. St. Vincent: Actor
5. Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
6. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
7. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love
8. Atlas Sound: Logos
9. Neon Indian: Psychic Chasms
10. Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

Great year for music.
Just ask this guy!



As always, I'm curious about what everyone is listening to.
So drop your favorites in the comments box.

(Favorite Albums of 2008, 2007, 2006)