(Sep 01, 2010)
This week the AMATEURS website went live. The comic isn’t ready to go up yet (Jeremy and I are still working on creating a buffer of pages), but we made a short teaser for the project, which is what occupies the space at the moment. Part of me has wondered if making a preview for a comic is too much of a vanity project, though I will say it’s given me a chance to get comfortable drawing the characters and experiment with toning pages. It’s also gave me a chance to butt my head against ComicPress, which will be powering the site.
However, it is exhilarating to be able to show something for this project that Jeremy and I have been working on for a while now. It’s also a bit terrifying, because we’ve thrown our hats in the ring, and now it’s time to make sure the work gets done. If all goes well, we should start serializing pages in the next couple months.
Again, that address is http://www.amateursthecomic.com. Okay, that’s enough of that shill-talk.
Something else I’ve been working on in the last week is a new strip for the Viet Nam Literature Project. I’ll post the whole thing once it goes up on the VNLP’s website. This one was a doozy to work on, though I’ll save my commentary for when I post the full strip.
I just want to acknowledge that it’s been ONE FREAKIN’ YEAR since we decided to keep a regular brownpaperbag blog. I know “regular” is open for debate, but whether we delivered each week or not, that target has always been there in the back of my mind.
On one hand it’s encouraged me to be more productive — to have something to post on Wednesdays — though sometimes that productivity has been channeled specifically to this blog. Instead of sharing art I was already making, that sharing being an extension of my art, writing for this site feels more and more like a separate creative act. For example, when I’m in the middle of a project, whatever half-finished bit I have at the moment may not make an interesting post by itself. So instead I may post it and talk about my process, or I might create something else to post instead.
I’m not saying this is good or bad, only noting that what started as one thing seems to have turned into something else that was unexpected. Hopefully all of this isn’t sounding too pretentious. In reflecting over the past year of this website, these are the thoughts that come to mind. Also, I speak only for myself when writing this and not my fellow art-mates.
MAN, IS HE DONE YET?
Just one more thing before I sign off: This week, Jonathan left for a two-week trip to Vietnam. It doesn’t look like he has any pre-written posts, so time willing, I’ll try to update these next two Fridays as well. Time to roll up my sleeves and bang on some keys!
(Aug 20, 2010)
First off, I just wanted to say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ to everyone that bid on pieces from my last minute art auction! I will be invoicing you today and mailing the works out next week. Expect postcards from Vietnam in the next week or two as well!
Anyhow, things are still pretty bananas getting ready for our trip as I still have some other work to be doing before I leave. This week was spent wrapping up some commitments to other people. The most time consuming of which has been these illustration for the Spokane Inlander for their back to school college guide pull out section.
The idea is that there are a group of heroes and a group of villains that help or hinder you when you’re in college. The copy was really, really hokey, but I have to admit I had fun drawing them.
And then I got to do the cover of the pull out section, which was just a big fight scene between the two groups. This was fun to draw, but a pain in the ass to color because there is so much going on.
All right. See you next week! And thanks again to Naveen, Teresa, Jeffrey, & Cathy!
(Aug 18, 2010)
Still busy with semi-secret artstuff, but I’ve managed to wring out a couple of postable things for this week.
IT’S OVER…
… RAMBO MONTH that is. Jonathan and I have been watching one Rambo movie a week for the last month, finishing up with the last film this past Sunday.
The reasons for this marathon were silly… Neither of us had seen these movies, and I had happened upon FIRST BLOOD and RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II in a dvd bargain bin. And given our love of ridiculous action movies, why not?
The ridiculous action itch was most thoroughly scratched. I felt I had a certain idea of what to expect from the RAMBO series based on pop culture references and parodies, and it was fun to have those assumptions confirmed or subverted as time we viewed each moment. So it goes when watching a cultural juggernaut for the first time I guess. I don’t want to go on and on too much about this, so I’ll just sum up the main thing I learned from watching these movies…
I kind of want to do something to commemorate these films beyond this post or these few goofy pictures (Though the above drawing is actually a work-in-progress. But still…). Whatever shape it takes, I’m sure you’ll see it here eventually
IT’S NEVER OVER!
…Not until Friday that is. What am I talking about? Jonathan’s Art Auction of course! If you haven’t heard, our boy is auctioning off gems from his old art pile to help fund his upcoming trip to Vietnam (where he will totally recreate the events of the second Rambo movie. Totally!).
If you’re unsure of how owning an original Jonathan Hill masterpiece can improve your life, may I suggest observing the examples below:
To see what’s available, gently scroll down to the following blog post. Bid soon, and bid high! Explosive-tip arrows ain’t gonna buy themselves, folks!
(Aug 13, 2010)
So this might seem a little bit last minute, but I’m going to be heading to Vietnam at the end of the month and in hopes of raising some extra money and cleaning out my art shelves in the process, I’m going to be holding an auction here on the blog for some original art of mine.
Here’s how it’s going to work: Listed below are 20 pieces of original art ranging from published freelance stuff to fan art that you might’ve seen on the blog. Each piece is numbered and has a minimum bid next to the title. If you are interested in a piece, please just post a comment with the number of the piece you’re bidding on with the amount of your bid [bids have to be equal than or greater to the minimum bid listed]. At the end of the auction, I’ll check all the comments and see what the highest bid for each piece is and contact that person with an invoice to be paid via Paypal.
Shipping & handling for the pieces will be $7.00 each, which will include secure shipping [If you win more than one piece, I will combine the shipping & if you live in Portland, I will just hand deliver the piece].
For an additional $5.00, I will offer to matte the piece to fit the closest convenient frame size [in most cases this will be 14 x 17].
Auction ends the 20th! If the winning bidders want their pieces shipped before I leave for Vietnam, the money needs to be Paypaled to me by the 24th.
Without further adieu, here at the art works to be auctioned off [in no particular order]:
Note: Dimensions listed are for the size of the board, not the actual active area of art.
1.] Wolverine! – 11 x 8 – minimum bid: $10
2.] The Death of Boromir – 11 x 14 – minimum bid: $30
3.] Hobo Town – 11x 17- minimun bid: $20
4.] This Time Tomorrow – 11x 15 – minimum bid: $30
5.] Eowyn defeats the Witch-King – 11 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
6.] Video Game box art [Cube] – 17 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
7.] Video Game box art [Forest] – 17 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
8.] Video Game box art [Players] – 17 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
9.] Video Game box art [Ocean] – 17 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
10.] Video Game box art [Space] – 17 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
11.] Video Game box art [Clouds] – 17 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
12.] Boatful of Hindus- 14 x 17 – minimum bid: $15
13.] Portland Farmer’s Market – 11 x 17 – minimum bid: $30
14.] The Sad Wrestler – 11 x 14 – minimum bid: $10
15.] The Dead Marshes – 11 x 14 – minimum bid: $20
16.] The-Ne’er-Do-Well – 14 x 11 – minimum bid: $20
17.] Apocalypse – 14 x 17 – minimum bid: $20
18.] Portland Transportation – 12 x14 – minimum bid: $30
19.] Strip Tease – 11 x9.5 – minimum bid: $15
20.] The Eye of the Night – 11 x 15 – minimum bid: $30
As an added bonus, I’ll send anyone with a winning bid a postcard from Vietnam!
Thanks for looking! Please help spread the word to anyone that you think might be interested! I’d really appreciate it. If you have any questions, please contact me at jonathan [at] bpb-art.com.
(Aug 06, 2010)
Nothing too fancy this week, just some miscellaneous Willamette Week illustrations that I’ve done that I haven’t posted already for whatever reason.
Oops. I think I just accidentally outed myself as a hack – notice how the first three illustration recycle my stock image for ‘generic textured background’. Ha!
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And don’t forget to check out SaveApathea.com! We went live this week! New pages every week on Mondays, Wednesays, and Fridays! I’m posting on Wednesdays. Be there!
(Aug 04, 2010)
Just posting some sketchbook stuff this week. More polished work next time…? We shall see…
Some more random work: (a) Some character designs of nerds… for the COMIC NRRDS VS THE BIBLE strips I posted a couple of weeks ago. (b) A dubiously agile T-Rex. I’ve been inking sketches I like with the ole’ brushpen lately. (c) Drawn straight to brushpen… Rubbery face! (d) Donatello, posing with his bo staff. And if you’re asking why his bandanna isn’t purple… Sorry. You’ve lost the game.
Drawing Donny got me in the mood to do more Ninja Turtle sketches. I made a few bad ones attempting bad ass ninja poses, when I decided to just draw them skateboarding. I always liked that the Turtles had a hobby outside of punching ninja and aliens, so why not celebrate that.
However, that ended up becoming a bunch of quick sketches of Turtles wiping out:
Nothing against any skaters reading this, but when I watch people skateboard, I see a lot of spills.
I liked the sketch in the bottom corner of one turtle nursing his knee and showing off his still bloody tooth-gap, so I tried making a more finished version:
This was just a quickly drawn ink sketch. Some of the poses are a little screwy, but it might be fun to rework into a full color piece. Actually, Turtles taking spills off skateboards would be a fun series of drawing… if I can ever find the free time that is.
(Jul 29, 2010)
As I mentioned before, I haven’t really been posting here the last couple of weeks because I’ve been getting SaveApathea.com, the website for Americus, ready. We plan on going live next Monday, jumping right into it with all of chapter 1 up and with chapter 2 starting then. We’ll be posting new pages every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday up until right before our publication date in Fall of 2011.
MK and I will be blogging along with the pages and we’ll also have guest bloggers swinging in to post as well. I’ll be in charge of blogging on Wednesdays, so mark your calendars.
I’m a little nervous about the blogging aspect because I’m afraid I’m going to either a.] be at a loss of things to talk about, and b.] keep talking about the same old thing and bore the hell out if people. If you have ideas of topics or aspects of the process that you might want to hear about, please let me know.
The concept we went with for the website design was that it was created by the main character, Neil. If you check out the website, you’ll see that we have a big splash page that directs you to the main blog, with Neil working on the website, while being surrounded by some of the drawings he’s created for the website.
Similar to how I do major corrections, I just did a normal ink drawing of Neil, and then took some tracing paper and drew ‘his’ drawings over it.
I then scanned in both images, layered them into one, and then went ahead and colored the illustration. Here’s the final piece:
All right, even with the blogging duties starting over at Save Apathea, I’m gonna try to be posting here regularly again.
(Jul 21, 2010)
Last week, I heard that the Westboro Baptist Church was planning to hold a protest at the San Diego Comic Con. Apparently reading comics is synonymous with “idol worship” to these wackos (and their history of wacko-ness runs long and deep. Just look at their wikipedia page).
This line from their announcement caught my attention:
“If these people would spend even some of the energy that they spend on these comic books, reading the Bible…”
My first thought is that they would nitpick and argue about the Bible the same way they do about comics. Who wrote the best Gospel, which apostle could beat up which apostle in a fight… that sort of thing. This line of thinking lead to a few of ideas for comics in this vein. Below are the couple that I was able to get done. Behold, the horror of the nerd brain…
I’m now sort of bummed that I’ll be missing Comic-Con this year. I’m hoping the WBC will arrive at the convention and end up facing a counter protest made up of convention-goers. Can anyone seriously espouse that “God Hates Comic-Con!” when confronted by a horde of people dressed as elves and Stormtroopers?
(Jul 10, 2010)
So for the decor of the Americus website, we’re treating it as if it was created by the main character, Neil Barton. The tricky thing about this is trying to draw like I’m thirteen years old. After doing some drawings, I realized that it’s easier to draw like you’re five than you’re thirteen. I think this is because when you’re much younger, you don’t really understand a lot of proper ‘rules’ or drawing, you just kind of go for it and are generally happy with whatever you do.
As you get older you start to pay attention to things like perspective and proportions or what not. You know some of the rules, but you’re not aware of all of them. So when trying to draw like a thirteen year old, I found it hard to forget or ignore some of the rules ad techniques that I’ve spent my whole life trying to learn and master.
It made me think of a book I read recently, Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It is coming of age story about an kid who decides he wants to go to the white school across town instead of on the reservation. The main character, Junior, is a cartoonist and throughout the book Ellen Forney did the illustrations and cartoons that Junior has ‘drawn’. She did a really good job of getting into the mind and skill level of a thirteen year old. Here’s an example:
And here’s a collage of images I did for the background of the site. I think mine look a little less convincing, but they work in the sense that you understand that someone younger and less refined has drawn them. What do you think?
Anyhow, besides doing little illustrations like this, I’ve been busy doing menial work like reformatting pages and relettering the first chapter. It’s coming along. We were going to try to have things up in a couple of weeks, but now we’re shooting for early August so it doesn’t get lost in the Comic Con media blitzkrieg.
Hopefully once we get this all done, I can post some personal illustrations or drawing [like finishing A Date in Time and Space!].
(Jul 07, 2010)
I wanted to do a quick piece this week, since I don’t want to show off anything I’ve been working on yet. However, most of my ideas have been some sort of fan art or AMATEURS-related, of which I feel I’ve been posting too much lately. As Jonathan put it, I wanted to think “outside of the dork-box”.
So today’s image is inspired by an old photograph of a family friend. The details in the photo aren’t very clear (one of the reasons I’m not including it in this post), so there was a lot of room for invention when drawing branches and details. I also had a chance to play around with inking… I think the final result is a little labored-over, but I feel I got the “essence” of the image down well enough.
