Perseverance

Still working on the inks for the first issue of a book called Kord & Harley. There is talk of a new penciler on about issue 3 or 4. The possible new penciler's name is James Kyle. He goes by JKyle74 or something like that on Digital Webbing. I got a hi-res copy of his pencils of a Swamp Thing pic done for a Draw-Off at DigitalWebbing to see what my inks might look like over his pencils. It took me way longer than I expected but here is the result.

Pencils


















Inks




















I've received a few comments and a couple of really good critiques. What it boils down to is this - you know how sometimes you get tunnel vision and all you can see is making the feathers and the lines look good? That's what I seem to have done here. I concentrated so hard on making all of the lines and feathers look good that I neglected the piece as a whole. Don't really have the time right now to re-do it but I may in the future. Maybe once I have some more experience and learning under my belt, I can do it justice and make it look correct.

Also, I went to a temporary agency yesterday and filled out all of my paperwork and am looking to return once again to the full-time work force. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it right now. If I get the job that was discussed, I'll be once again making good money and can save up. I'll be losing a lot of inking time though. I've really enjoyed the last few months of having the time to just ink and ink. I think its definitely helped me to improve. Sadly, I was starting to consider the possibility of maybe earning a meager living doing this. Oh well, the dream now takes even longer, that's all.

Dissipation

Spoke to the publisher of the small company I've been inking for tonight. Seems as if there might be some misunderstanding between this fella and the big publisher. Small publisher insists that he's had several PM and e-mail conversations with big publisher. He's slightly distressed that he's not made a bigger/better impression. Eh, I'm happy. Air feels as if it's cleared between us and I got paid for my inking invoice almost immediately. As I stated previous, all of the business aspects of this relationship have been great. Nothing looks like that's gonna change. All is back to status quo for me. I'm inking a pin-up piece by the artist set to follow the current artist on the series I'm working on for the small publisher. Said new artist is Jim Kyle (JKyle72 or something from Digital Webbing). Once that's completed, it's back to the inking board for more sequentials on the book.

I also got in touch with a solid supporter and pro named Tony 'Ugly Knuckles' Bledsoe about my inks. http://uglyknuckles.com/ Sent him some inks for critique. He gave me a thorough and very thought-provoking critique on some of my earlier work on the same book I'm working on now. Also, told me that he thinks I'm coming along fine. Even said that he's had to turn down some inking due to the pay or that he's too busy. Told me that he might suggest me for some of that if it comes his way again. I told him that'd be fine and thanked him. You'd never know to look at this guy - large bald guy with tattoos, looks like a biker - but he's one of the most helpful, supportive guys I've had the good fortune to run into over the internet. Also has a great-looking book called Frankenstein coming out from Dead Dog Entertainment. http://deaddogcomics.proboards34.com Pencils are by Jerry Beck and I'm jealous of Tony gettin' to ink 'em. Solid as they come, this fella is.

That's about it for right now...

Meandering

Well, I've been inking for a small company and have really been enjoying it. I have been paid a nominal rate per page but that was okay as it was to be published work with the promise that, if sales were good once published, I'd be getting a page rate increase. As my friend Forrest once said, "That's all I have to say about that."

This is important - I have no qualms with this small company as of now. I've been paid the agreed upon rate for every page I've invoiced for. As a matter of fact, I was pre-paid for four pages on the first check.

Slightly on topic, I received an out-of-the-blue PM from Loston Wallace (Bruce Lee) on PencilJack inquiring as to my inks. He suggested that I submit to Marvel, DC and Dark Horse and told me that he felt that I was good enough. What a great pick up that was! Even more so because it didn't follow a posting of inks or anything. Also, it was from a solid pro. Maybe I'll put some stuff together. I might even push my luck and ask Tom Nguyen for his input and opinion. Couldn't hurt, right?

On that note, I finally got things together and ordered the penciling and inking DVD's from Tom Nguyen. Wonderfully helpful and informative! Any artist that can afford them should really look into them as they are great.

Still no 'real' employment but I have had to start looking harder as bills will very soon eclipse the monies I have in the bank. I even had to close out my saving account. Maybe I'll get a part-time job at the local video store while I continue to pursue more lucrative inking assignments.

Take care all!

~Ed!

The Tick(r) and related characters are (c) and ™ 1998 Ben Edlund. The Tick(r) is a registered trademark of Ben Edlund

Edumication

Late, as usual. Some day I'll get the hang of this blog thing.

Recently - last weekend - there was a comic and horror convention here in Nash-vegas. Desperado was to be doing a portfolio review so I made plans to get mine together and check it out. Me and my buddy, Eric, went to the thing and wandered in. We found our way to the Desperado booth only to find that the head guy, Joe Pruett, wouldn't be in until late that afternoon. Not a big deal. We did get the Production Assistant, also a Joe, to check out my portfolio. Joe seemed to really dig upon it - even Phil Hester had a peek. Then they asked if I had a card. Oops! I was unprepared. I had to write my name, address, e-mail etc on a pad that Joe had. All was okay and we then went on to bug the other artists in attendance besides Phil Hester.

Just about one table away from Desperado sat Tony Moore and his girlfriend. Rude as a bastard, I admit I never officially asked her name. After returning and perusing the 'net, I believe that her name is Kara. Anywho, we talked to them at length about The Walking Dead and, specifically, his inking on said book. Here's where I was edumicated and stupefied. When I asked him what he inked the pages with (he had the originals there for sale) he held up the sketching pen he was using. Are you ready for this? It was a Pilot Precise V roller ball pen. How's that for a kick to the head? All of this time, I'd been making myself use the 'proper' tools and work that looked that tight and clean was being inked with a Pilot pen?!? The mind boggles. Needless to say, I'm not abandoning my brush any time soon but I will, more than likely, procure a couple of these pens and give 'em a try on something. I went on to get a sketch of The Crow done by Tony and then, after he arrived, Eric got Eric Powell (we all went to Mt Juliet High School - Eric, my buddy, graduated with him and I was three years ahead of them both) to do him a sketch of The Hulk. Yes, our ages did come up. Tony called Eric Powell old and said that the age thing was probably why Eric was so much better an artist than him. I was exasperated as I am older than both of them. I said as much and commented on the fact that I was still on the other side of the table.

Anyway, we talked to/hung out with these great guys for quite a while and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We talked about comics, movies, other convention experiences, high school etc for a good long while. Basically, once again, I made a nuisance of myself but I did learn a few things. All was well.

That night, I went and got some business card paper for my printer and made up cards. The next morning, I got up and went back to the convention and handed a card paper clipped to five pages of my inks to Joe Pruett. We talked for a few moments and he said that he'd probably be 'keeping me on file' as it was hard to place inkers. I told him that I understood, shook his and younger Joe's hands and wandered on out. All in all, I really enjoyed the small convention but hope that a few more artists make it to next year's event. I hope that the ones who were here this time enjoyed it enough to make a return but I'd like to, hopefully, see some more. Maybe even some primarily inkers?

Lackadaisical

Sorry, I'm still not used to basically posting random occurrences so I have quite the time between posts. Not that this should be a big deal as I've not told anyone about this blog and it's not linked to any of my screen names on any forums as of yet. I'm still trying to figure out how to post images into this thing. Maybe I'll ask around...

Latest stuff: Finished a 5 page story for Dario Carrasco Jr entitled 'the Mask of Fright' drawn by a wonderful penciler named Tom Floyd. Had a very 'pulp' feel to it with a lot of very fine feathering. Was quite a challenge (I ended up having to blue line it as the paper it was drawn on, while wonderful for the pencils, was awful for inking) and I really enjoyed inking it. I think it turned out pretty well. Dario seemed to think so too and asked me to contribute a bio for his website. I happily did so. You can see it here - http://www.pandaystudio.com/bios.php. I also see that my good buddy Scott from Australia is on there.

Also finished my eight pages on the MortalWorldEntertainment title Kord & Harley. Some bumps in this one as I believe that the penciler was none too fond of my inks towards the end. Not sure exactly what all his issues were but the popular opinion was that he just needed more money and wanted to ink himself. I do know that he wasn't overly enthused with how I was inking some of the faces. He thought I was making them too heavy 'cause I was using the brush. I agreed to use a quill or pen afterward and did so. Hopefully, this helped. Anywho, there is a colored preview on the website. You can see it here - http://mortalworldentertainment.net/kord_and_harley.htm.

I've also been asked to help out with the inks for another of the MortalWorld books entitled Hunter & Prey. It looks like I'll be inking approximately four pages or so of it. It's a different style of pencils than what I've been inking so the challenge is going to be interesting.

Between all of this, I've been helping out a writer named Philip Ortiz (Karnivorex of KarnivoreComics) in inking his short story entitled 'Fool's Gold'. Has turned out pretty good so far and he seems to be happy - which is the main thing.

I've also inked an eight page preview story by Jon Hook with pencils by Dan Schmidt called Zombie Bikini Beach. Jon took this story to the Chicago Comicon in the hopes of finding a publisher. Nothing yet but I am hopeful that this will see print somewhere someday. Here's the cover as I inked it.

Beginning...

Well, after seeing that quite a few folks have blogs (and seeing PressOblivion's), I thought I'd start one. I am a computer feeb but, hopefully, this'll work out okay. It is my hope that this will someday serve as my online portfolio. If you're reading this - I pity you. :) You've found yourself in scrub land. Enjoy!