More Coloring...

Hello there. Is it summer already??? I've been pretty busy the past few weeks, but things are settling down now. Here's a peek at some comic book stuff I've been coloring...

From X-Men Origins: Deadpool #1, art by Leo fernandez

From Valentine: Plan B for Blonde, line art by Dan Cooney.

These 2 jobs were kind of fun because I got to play around with the color styles a bit. The Deadpool story is very moody and cinematic, jumping around between a lot of different locations and scenarios. I really pushed myself to come up with different & interesting color schemes for each scene jump to help tell the story. For the Valentine story, Dan wanted a simple rendering style on the figures, with more painterly backgrounds. I used Luc Jacamon's excellent work on The Killer as an inspiration.

Today, I'm finishing up some commercial storyboard work. Here's a simple frame...


The line art is by my pal, Don Hudson. This commercial is supposed to emulate a music video or something.

That's all for now! And hey--who's going to Comic-Con???

Author Fair Aftermath

Last week's 10th Annual Author Fair in El Segundo went well. Don Hudson and I improvised a demonstration on drawing comics that was pretty amusing. It evolved into a format where I took general questions from the audience, while Don drew requests on a large sketch pad. Ultimately, we came up with an impromptu 6-panel comic story about a polar bear.

photo by Shawna James

Afterwards we separated, Don remaining in the Children's section of the library, so he could talk about his work on the Warriors series with the kids. My printed work was deemed more "mature," so they sat me upstairs in the main library, along with my pal Tricia Riley Hale, author of Grand Theft Galaxy. We spent a pleasant hour or so, chatting with library patrons, and all went out for beer afterwards.

Good times. Thanks to all of you who came by to see us!

Author Fair This Weekend

If you're in West LA this Sunday, June 6th, drop by the El Segundo Public Library, and say hello! I'll be participating in their 10th Annual El Segundo Author Fair. The event goes from 12:45 PM to 4:30 PM and includes appearances by about 35 authors who will be signing their books. There will also be discussion panels, poetry readings, children’s activities, and music.

I will be doing a “Comic Book Artist Demonstration” from 1:30 to 2:00, along with my good pal Don Hudson, artist of TOKYOPOP'S Warriors mangas, Gunpowder Girl and the Outlaw Squaw and Forever Amber. I'm not exactly sure what we'll be demonstrating, but I know it will be great! After that, I'll be doing a book signing from 2:15 PM to 3:25 PM. You can also meet the lovely & talented Tricia Riley Hale, writer of TOKYOPOP's Grand Theft Galaxy!

You know you want to!

El Segundo Public Library
111 W. Mariposa Avenue
El Segundo, CA 90245


View Larger Map

See you there! (I'll be there from 1:30-3:30)

Fake Website

This week's homework assignment for my class in Graphic Design for Film & TV was to design a fake website. Something that would appear in a film or TV show on a background computer monitor, or one that an actor might interact with. I decided to do the homepage of a corporate website. The corporation in question? Omni Consumer Products from the movie Robocop...


The large image is actually a slideshow of different OCP projects, like "Delta City," and "Ed-209." Another fun assignment. Now, back to my "real" work...

Coloring

Doing some coloring lately...

Class

In my last post, I mentioned that I'm currently taking a class at UCLA Extension, as part of a certificate program in Advanced Print and Graphic Communication. This semester, the class I'm taking is Graphic Design for Film & Television, taught by Geoffrey Mandel who is the designer on popular shows like Mad Men and Parks and Recreation, as well as films like Surrogates, MI3, Solaris, and Spider-Man 2. He also worked on several of the Star Trek shows & movies, so he has plenty of credits that are impressive to a comic book guy like myself.

The job description of Graphic Designer on a film or TV show is pretty interesting — and one I've never given any thought to before. Basically, he works with the Art Department to create anything that needs graphic design. That could be a show logo, title sequence, set dressings, signage or props. It also includes images that might be played back on a TV or computer monitor within a scene (such as all the monitors on a starship, or a TV news report that a character might be watching, or a website he might be browsing). On show such as Mad Men it is a crucial role, since it is a period drama, where everything must be recreated.

The homework assignments have been fun and varied. One of the tools we've used is the free 3D software application, Google SketchUp. It's fun, free and easy to learn. I'm usually baffled by 3D programs, so I was happy to find that all the demos on their website are easy to follow. For my first try at SketchUp, our assignment was to recreate an existing set from a TV show or movie. I picked the warehouse from Reservoir Dogs.


Here are some screen shots of my model...



Structurally, this building is completely unsound! I was learning on the fly here, so as I built this scene, I became aware of many mistakes that I could easily avoid if I were to build it again from scratch.


In case you're wondering, I did NOT build the car, or the crates, or the table, props and figures. These items were imported into the scene from the handy Google 3D Warehouse. It's full of objects that other people have designed and shared to the SketchUp community. It's one of the things that makes SketchUp fun to work with.


That was fun, but thanks to the learning curve it took forever! In the end, it is nowhere near complete, but I learned a lot about SketchUp.

My second crack at SketchUP was more successful. For this assignment, I had to design the "look" of a fictitious daytime TV interview show called "Barbara." My attempt included a model of the actual set, with logo graphics, as well as an example of on-screen text that might appear. This was also fun...


Above is the backdrop, below you can see the beach scene placed on a curved background on my set. The "Barbara" logo floats in front...




Before modeling the scene, I sketched out a few ideas, including the overused city view that you'd see on Letterman or Leno. I was waiting on the checkout line at the grocery store, when I became inspired by a magazine cover showing an inviting veranda scene...


I liked the columns, shuttered doors and tropical motif, so I kept that in mind while building the set...




Finally, I imported some of these views in to Photoshop and added some figures and graphics (apologies to Barbara Walters & Michael Ironside!)


I have a few more images with graphics that I submitted, but you get the drift. We've also done some other excellent projects in this class, but I promised not to show them at this time. The bottom line is that I'm having a great time. Time spent in the classroom and working on these assignments has been very stimulating and inspirational.

More on what I've been up to lately soon...

Life

Hey Blogosphere.

I haven't posted recently, except for the random image, and that's mostly because I haven't been feeling very talkative lately. Or "blogative." Whatever you want to call it. The fact is, so far, it has been a lousy year for me.

Unlike many bloggers, I usually don't like to get too personal in this forum. I'm mostly a private guy, but I use my blog to share images and anecdotes about the projects I'm working on, as well as general observations about the comics biz. Today, I'm going to bend that rule a little, while I share this little piece of Photoshop art with you all...



This is a drawing of my father, James Buccellato. He passed away a couple of months ago, and that has made for a very difficult year. To put it mildly.

In the weeks since the funeral, I've reflected on everything I know about my father, and on my own relationship with him. In the final analysis, I can't say that we were extremely close, but I did love my father very much. This piece of art was an interesting challenge for me. It's really the first time I've used Photoshop in this manner; creating a digital painting from scratch. I didn't use any Photoshop trickery (it isn't a doctored photo) just drawing on my Wacom tablet, looking at photo reference, and using digital paint (whatever that is!)

I enjoyed the painting process, and I savored the time it took to complete it. It was uninterrupted time spent thinking about my dad. My only regret is that it's just pixels and doesn't truly exist like a "real" painting. I did get it printed onto canvas to see what it looks like, and I like the results, but it isn't the same. Maybe I will use it as a study for an actual oil painting in the future.

Meanwhile, I've been just trying to keep busy. A challenge unto itself. I've spent much of this year investigating job prospects and career moves. I want to change things up—abandon the freelance lifestyle and find a more collaborative environment to work in. I've also started taking courses at UCLA with the goal of getting a certificate in Advanced Graphic Design & Communications. This has been a lot of fun — very stimulating. I will tell you about it and share some of my school work in future posts.

I'm starting to feel as though things are looking up. Lately, I have been busy with work and I have some interesting job prospects. Last week was my birthday. Milestones like birthdays provide a good excuse to reevaluate and rededicate oneself. I'm staying positive and moving forward! Keep an eye on this blog, my friends, because I'll be posting some interesting news and cool artwork soon!

Thanks for reading. This was a difficult post to write, but I wanted to share the picture of my dad, and that necessitated an explanation of sorts. Next time, I'll be all business. ;)

—S

Hippo-Man in a Tank

A page from an upcoming issue of Elephantmen from Image Comics!

Kid Art

One in a series of drawings I'm currently working on; fun character sketches of kids. There are a few more that I can post later.
Enjoy!

Storyboard Job from '08

Below are some drawings from a job I drew in late 2008. The client was an Entertainment entrepreneur from Kuwait who was involved in producing all kinds of media. This particular project was for a proposed animated music video. The story line follows two characters called Tarek & Elaine who meet in the ocean and fall in love while flying around the heavens and creating a floating island paradise (pre- "Avatar," btw!).

I posted a couple of these images back when I first drew them, but now that the job has long past, I think it's safe to share a bit more, just for fun. In total, I drew about 60 boards. Here, I present a third of them...

For Any Rotarians Out There...

The "Illustrated Biography" (AKA: comic book) of Rotary International founder, Paul Harris, made it's debut within the pages of the Rotarian magazine in December. Now available as a stand-alone comic at their website.

It's an interesting story, even for those of us who are not active Rotary Club members. I am very proud of how my artwork turned out, and it has piqued my interest in exploring more ways to use comic book art to reach different audiences. The world of "graphic nonfiction" has really seemed to take off since I worked on the Ronald Reagan graphic novel back in 2006. The glut of last year's Obama related titles and comics like the Female Force series from Bluewater Productions seem to back that up.

I have some definite ideas about what works and what doesn't with these books. What do you think, my friends?

Heroes 4 Haiti: Auctions End

Yesterday those three pieces of art I auctioned to benefit the Haitian earthquake victims sold for a combined $163. Not a vast sum, but not too bad for a couple of drawings that were doing nothing but taking up space in my office. My thanks to those people who bid on them. The money will go to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

It has been several years since I've sold my artwork on ebay. More than a decade ago, I used to sell my old color guides , but stopped when there was a glut. Maybe it is time to revisit the idea. I know that some artists draw images specifically to sell on ebay, or solicit commissions there. Anybody out there have any experience with that? Maybe it would be worthwhile to offer sketch commissions right here off my blog.

Something to consider...

Heroes 4 Haiti: Art Auctions

In a small effort to help the victims of the disastrous Haitian earthquake, I've been inspired by the grassroots movement Heroes 4 Haiti to place some of my original comic book art up for auction on ebay. Right now, I have 3 pieces up on short 3-day auctions ending this Sunday. If you're interested in original comic art, this is a great way to do your part for a worthy cause and come away with a cool & collectible keepsake. 100% of the auction profits go to benefit Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

If these 3 pages sell, I may add some more next week. Please take a look and spread the word.

Here's the first piece. You may recognize it as the line art for the "Happy New Year" image I posted the other day...

It's basically Catwoman "fan art," created by me for self-promotional purposes. You can see it in color here if you're interested. CLICK HERE to view and bid on the item on ebay.

The second and third pieces are pages from my 2007 manga Battle of the Bands, published by Tokyopop. This is one of the title pages (from Chapter Nine)...

CLICK HERE to view and bid on the item on ebay.

This is story page 177. The sexy nurse offering a sponge bath and "Doctors Without Borders" are a natural pair-up, don't you think? ;)

CLICK HERE to view and bid on the item on ebay.

I will autograph these for the auction winners, BTW. Thanks for your support!

Best Wishes!