Old Glories

While digging around the disaster that is my office, I recently found some of my early work for Marvel. This 8-page story featuring Captain America appeared in the Marvel Comics Presents anthology, back in 1990. It's one of the first published comic book stories I ever drew, when I was but a wee lad!


The story was written by Len Wein, pencilled by Yours Truly, inked by Gerry Talaoc, lettered by Janice Chiang. I colored the story, as well. Obviously, this was from the pre-digital era, hence the hand-painted photocopies with the mysterious codes written all over. Definitely old school.


Naturally, a big part of me is horrified to look at my old artwork, and I fully admit that I am reluctant to share it in a public forum. Especially here where I have my current portfolio galleries; I wouldn't want prospective clients to think these are examples of my recent work!


Still, looking at these color guides after all these years, I can't help but be fascinated and amused by them. It's like an archeological dig into the depths of my own career and artistic education. These pages are drawn in a classic storytelling style that completely went out the window, right about the time this comic was published. No splashy "pin-up" panels or "decompressed storytelling" here. None of the action is drawn out or cinematic; cause and effect all happens within each single panel. Entire conversations elapse in the time it takes for Cap to throw his shield.


It's interesting to look at these pages through the lens of today's visual storytelling sensibilities. Those conventions that I used back then were the norm, built on decades of tradition. The classic text, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way was the Bible. I was just a kid at the time, so I don't think I ever intellectualized it, but I learned to tell a story this way.


And then, I suppose I "unlearned" it. Or, I built upon those lessons with a more modern sensibility, having the same influences as my contemporaries who were coming into their own at the same time (Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Mike Mignola, etc.), and, in turn, being influenced by them, as well. I've often wished that I'd spent more of that time honing my drawing skills, rather that taking a detour into comic book coloring.


People say that modern audiences are more sophisticated. I'd agree, as a gross generalization! But looking back at this particular work, I have to admit that I miss the simplicity inherent in these old stories. They were designed to be a jumping-on point for any reader, sophisticated or not. The problem with my generation of comic book creators is that we were overly-fascinated and influenced by the game-changing "Mature" superhero books of the time (Dark Knight, Watchmen, Elektra, Etc.) With every new knock-off, narratives became more convoluted and storytelling more obtuse.


Looking at these old pages, I must admit that the art is pretty weak, but at least it's clear.



Ahhhh, I must be getting old!

In other news: this week is Comic-Con! What better way is there to make me feel like a kid again?! The crowds alone are enough to make one feel small as a toddler! Seriously, though, The crowds are pretty unbearable these days, but I'm really looking forward to making the rounds and being inspired by the fantastic work that the "kids" are producing today.

That, and I can't wait to see the new Captain America movie! I think the trailers are awesome!


I'll see you in San Diego!

Advertising Design Class

Regular readers of this blog know that I've recently been taking courses at UCLA Extension, working toward my certificate in Advanced Print & Graphic Communication.

(Regulars will also notice that I've just redesigned the look of my blog. This current iteration is just an experiment; I'm just playing around with the design. This one probably wont last very long, so don't get used to it! I would appreciate some feedback, though, if anyone cares to comment)

Anyway, one of my current UCLA courses is Advertising Design, and I thought I'd share some of my schoolwork with you.

This class has been a lot of fun. We just finished a campaign for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), as our first project. Basically, the assignment was to design a marketing strategy to attract a new, younger demographic to the museum, using a new "Street Art" exhibition as a draw.

The first couple of weeks was all research. We interviewed people from the group(s) we wanted to attract, learning their feelings about museums, art generally, and contemporary art in particular. We gathered information about their lifestyles, interests and desires.

Using the collected data, we decided on five archetypes for our demographic groups, and then created detailed "personas" to whom we would target our campaigns. After a (short) bit of in-class brainstorming, we students were given a mere week to develop a comprehensive campaign that we had to present (with a visual slideshow) at our next meeting. It was a huge amount of work, considering that this isn't our full-time job!

I LOVED IT.

The whole process was fascinating. My presentation included 10 slides (later expanded to 14), that outlined the goals and challenges of the campaign, the results of my research, and then several slides detailing my marketing ideas, which included some changes to MOCA's programming and in-museum experience. Fortunately, we didn't need to address any particular budget for our campaigns, so we could propose anything we wanted.

Here a few highlights from my slideshow...








I really enjoyed putting together the presentation. Less fun for me was actually getting up in front of the class and presenting it; let's just say I'm not the greatest public speaker! One thing that helped was that I'd written a script to go along with the slideshow, that allowed me to go greater into depth about my ideas, letting the slides simply act as interesting visuals and bullet-points.

In "real life," my experience in the world of advertising is limited, but I must say that I find the whole process to be thrilling. I'm looking forward to the next project in school, and keeping an eye out for any "real world" opportunities that may present themselves.

Jigsaw Puzzle!

Hey there! Like that robot & dinosaur image on the top of my blog? Well, it's for sale as a print and a groovy 252 piece Jigsaw Puzzle at Deviant Art!

Now, wouldn't that make a fine holiday gift for your loved ones? :)

Only $19.95. What a bargain!

New Art

This is a new piece I drew for a big, corporate client that wishes to remain nameless for now. The image the characters are looking at was provided for me to drop in to the space. I like how the characters' reflections turned out.

Coloring Book

One of the several jobs that has been keeping me busy, and very "quiet" here on the blog, is a coloring book that I'm drawing for a certain, unnamed publisher based in Kuwait. This is part of the cover art. You may recognize these characters. Then again, maybe you won't!

Recent Random Unrelated Drawings

Speaking of Art...

...If I were rich, I'd buy lots of it! I'm what you call an "art lover," even if I'm not what you'd call an expert. That is to say, I know what I like, to use the old adage. Luckily, my wife feels the same, and even though we don't have a lot of extra money to spend on art, occasionally we can't resist.

In this episode of A Bucce of Power, I'd like to share a couple of recent purchases and a cool drawing I just dug up while cleaning the garage! First there's this...



Back in July, we took a family vacation to France with my in-laws. One night, my wife and I broke away from the group for a quick side trip to Arras, a town in the north. It was a charming place rich with history to satisfy part of my World War One kick. We stayed at an excellent B&B, owned by a wonderfully gracious host, who happened also to be exhibiting art & photography from some local artists. The painting above is by Arras artist, Alain Steux. We loved it, and decided to buy it as a joint-anniversary present to ourselves. The image is a view of some typical Arras architecture in the Flemmish style.

Next, there's this...



This is a comic book page by Simon Gane from his new Paris trade paperback. Paris was one of my favorite comics series to be published recently. I adore this guy's work and, as it happens, I "met" Simon earlier this year through our respective blogs. He actually posted this page to his blog after drawing it, and I knew I had to have it!

lastly, we have this...



One of my recent diversions has been the daunting task of cleaning out our garage. Honestly, I should take pictures of the horror show within. It must be seen to be believed. It's my ultimate goal to, one day, convert it into a studio, as my current home office is starting to overflow. Anyway, one yard sale and a few trips to goodwill later, the garage is still a mess--It's gonna be a loooonnng project.

Last weekend, while digging through boxes, I found the picture above. It's a sentimental oldie, but goodie! It dates back to around 1986 or so, and is one of the earliest (existing) drawings of my very own slacker-superhero, Weasel Guy. it was penciled by Tom Morgan and inked by Jose Marzan Jr., back when both artists worked in the Marvel Bullpen as Romita's Raiders! I was an intern at the time, and I was working on my early Weasel Guy comics that I sold in high school. Tom and Jose went on to draw many comics for Marvel & DC. People familiar with my career know that WG made a comeback years later, in a limited series published by Image Comics (he WILL return again!).

Now, speaking of art, I'd better GET TO WORK!!! Seeya!