Back from the San Diego Comic Con

I recently returned from the San Diego Comic Con—my first time attending. I had a great time. Highlights included a half-hour sit-down conversation with Neal Adams about my art, being introduced to a lot of creators from a variety of companies and publications, seeing a bunch of really crazy costumes, and spending some time enjoying the wonderful architecture and food in the Gas Light District of San Diego.

I also met some online acquaintances from my last project and some future projects including Elton Pruitt (a fine writer who's appeared in "Negative Burn" and "Popgun"), Caleb Monroe (writer of "Remnant"), and James Powell (my editor on a recent story I drew which is appearing in his latest anthology project). These are some great guys. We had a lot of fun.

"I Saw Mommy..."

I recently sent off the inked pages of the short story I was working on for a future Christmas anthology. The working title of "Another First" has been changed to "I Saw Mommy...." The pages should now be in the hands of either the colorist or letterer. I'll post the publishing schedule as soon as I find out when it is.

Above are some pages from the story. I'm not including any that give away the plot.

Back at it again!

After a long hiatus from drawing comics (since last spring and the advent of the arrival of my and my wife's first child and all the business and crazy schedule that it brings), I'm at it again.

I'm picking up the story I starting before the hiatus (the first page of which is posted just previous to this one). The Christmas anthology in which this story will appear was put on hold, and is now "off-hold" and the editor is out pitching the concept to publishers once again.

Here is a loosely pencilled frame from the story. The mother and daughter are in the kitchen wrapping gifts.

"Another First" page 1

This is a penciled and inked page for the afore-mentioned short story. It's called, "Another First," written by Eric Hobbs and tells the story of a Christmas Eve of a recently divorced family. I might do some re-inking of some of the page before sending it off to be colored.

Character sketches

These are character sketches for a short story to be published in a Christmas anthology (TBA).

Daredevil Submission for Marvel Comics

Page 5



Page 4



Page 3



Page 2 inked



Page 2



Page 1


Above are five pages I completed of a sample Daredevil script. I've included an inked version of page 2, so you can see both versions of that page.

The Double Debut of "Closer To The Sky"

I have good news to report. I received an email from Joe Pruett of Desperado Publishing who sincerely apologized for the mistake in the printing of "Closer To The Sky" in Negative Burn #13. He's certainly done everything possible to make it right. In fact, he will be reprinting the story in issue #16 (hopefully) in the correct sequence with a blurb about the original appearance's mistake. That was very gracious of Joe to do, and Jeremy and I really appreciate his willingness to make right a printing accident that sometimes will happen.

So, look out for Negative Burn #16 with a scheduled ship date sometime in December.

The Dubious Debut of "Closer To The Sky"

Our latest story, "Closer To The Sky," hit the stands this past Wednesday in Negative Burn #13. I was so excited as I went to the store to pick up the first issue. I hadn't receive my printer copies yet, so I was eager to see how it looked. We are featured as the lead story in this month's issue, and it looked wonderful. There was a HUGE problem, though. One of the pages was out of sequence -- almost turning the story into complete nonsense. The "pay-off" shot which is the last page of the story was printed as page 2 -- with all of the rest of the pages appearing in proper order. Disappointed is too weak a word for how I felt about that. It totally ruined the story and the joy of getting it printed. Once we knew we were going to be featured as the lead, we carefully planned out each page so that the end would appear on the left-hand side and you would have to turn the page to see the pay-off after reading the whole story. It really ruined everything. My only consolation as an artist is that the printing looks wonderful, and at least it gets my work out. I'm sure many readers or reviewers will be utterly confused.

The Black Coat Pin-up

Fresh from my meetings in Chicago, I've just completed a pin-up of The Black Coat for Ape Entertainment.

Back from Wizard World Chicago

The convention in Chicago was great fun again, though I might say, San Diego's convention being held just before has really been apparent this year and last with a lot of missing or less-than-full-steam booths of companies I was hoping would be well-represented. Hopefully, moving the Chicago convention to June next year should help alleviate some of that and bring some vibrancy back which has been lacking the last couple years.

That being said, I had a great three days. I was on Marvel's and DC's short-list of people getting portfolio reviews (one of around 25 for each company). It was my first year on DC's. I had great feedback from them and a number of the independent companies with whom I spoke. I should be getting a few chances at some gigs as a result.

It was good running into Shane White again this year. He's a really stellar artist who has produced some very fine independent work. Two years ago when I first met him in Artist's Alley, he had just release his "North Country" graphic novel. He's drawing a series now called "The Overman" which sees release in December, I believe. He always offers some great feedback and encouragement. He also gave me a good contact this year on which I'm following up.

Along with all of this, I have a new, short story by Jeremy Nichols to illustrate. It's called "West Side Man," but that's all I'm saying now.

This coming year is going to be a busy one. Stay tuned.

"Closer To The Sky" to be published

Closer To The Sky p10


Closer To The Sky p9


Closer To The Sky p8


Closer To The Sky p7


Closer To The Sky p6


Closer To The Sky p5


Closer To The Sky p4


Closer To The Sky p3


Closer To The Sky p2


Closer To The Sky p1

The pages shown on this and the previous post are from my and Jeremy's recently completed short story, "Closer To The Sky." In it, a girl and her family go mushroom hunting. The girl has bad luck at finding mushrooms but finds something much more interesting.

See it in Negative Burn #13 in stores in August. Negative Burn is a monthly anthology published by Desperado Publishing. We really appreciate Joe Pruett's support of our work and his willingness in publishing this story and our last one, "The Paradox Outlet," in Negative Burn.

Teaser page from upcoming story

Here is a teaser page from an upcoming story (written by Jeremy Nichols) I'm working on. The page is not retouched or ready for print. The art for the whole story isn't done, and I don't have a publishing date, yet. But, I'll post it as soon as I do.

Officially hitting the stands

"The Paradox Outlet" hits the stands on Wednesday, October 25th. It appears in issue #5 of the monthly anthology, NEGATIVE BURN.

Check it out.

Negative Burn #5

I just received an email from the publisher that "The Paradox Outlet" will indeed appear in Negative Burn #5 -- due out in stores toward the end of October. Jeremy and I can't wait to see it hit the stands. We're beginning a new short story soon.

Paradox Outlet goes nationwide

"The Paradox Outlet" has just been picked up for publication in NEGATIVE BURN and will probably appear in issue #5. NEGATIVE BURN is produced by Desperado Publishing and published and distributed by Image Comics.

Star Sapphire

These are some costume redesign ideas I came up with for DC's Star Sapphire character. I think she could use an update.

DC Submission: Green Lantern

These pages are pencils from a submission for DC Comics. They are actually slightly older that the stuff I've posted previous to these. I tried to show a lot of different settings -- from city to space, from normal, slow interaction and dialogue to action scenes.

StudioRego.com

Announcing...the official website of Studio Rego, a brand created to showcase the collaboration on projects between myself and Jeremy Nichols, the writer of The Paradox Outlet. Visit...

http://studiorego.com

Here you can view the finished (with words) Paradox Outlet story and download it for free. If you want an actual printed copy of the self-published book, you can also purchase it there for $1 (while supplies last). The printers did a great job on the book. It looks great.

As we publish more material, it will be posted on the site.

WizardWorld Chicago, Sun & Surf

I just got back from the Delaware coast and my in-laws' beach house. I had a great relaxing few days in the sun and sand and ate some really great seafood. It was my first real vacation of the year -- and much needed.

Last weekend, Jeremy and I attended WizardWorld Chicago promoting our short promo-comic, The Paradox Outlet. In addition to Michael Lark's very encouraging feedback on it on his forum, I showed it to (among others) Bill Rheinhold. He's one of the best inkers in the business and is very well-known for his inking of John Paul Leon on Marvel's Earth X. He really liked The Paradox Outlet, said the inking was very good and even asked if he could have a copy. From having NO confidence in my inking a little over a year ago to someone like him complementing it, I have come a long way in a short time. I've been working very hard at it.

I didn't hear back from DC this year (again), but I was on Marvel's short list of about 15 names (from a pool of probably a few hundred dropped-off portfolios) of those who they wanted to talk to personally about their work and who they felt had promise. That was awesome. While I didn't get a gig right off, they said the only thing I need to improve on so that my drawing fits what Marvel produces is making my action shots more in-your-face. So, I'll be starting on five more pages doing just that very soon.

I also got some great feedback from Shooting Star Comics and Dark Horse (with maybe a miniseries offer from the former). The executive editor at Dark Horse wants me to mail him another packet of my art, so I'll be doing that this week.

I also saw Tom Waits live his past Monday night.

A VERY good week.

The Paradox Outlet

The next series of images is from a short story written by a friend of mine. I just finished the art on this story this past weekend. My friend lettered and sent it off to the printers a couple days ago. I'm just showing the art without the dialogue balloons here. We haven't even seen the printed version yet. I got some great feedback from Michael Lark (of Gotham Central and Daredevil fame) Coming from him, it was indeed an honor.