TAG history

As part of the introduction to the TAG book, I would like to write a very brief history of TAG.  The problem is, I don't know much of the history... does anyone out there know stuff like who the Founder(s) were, first members, year it was started, and other info like that?

First Oil Painting-Kirby Copy

Lay in with one big brush. I'll try and save it tomorrow with smaller brushes and modeling. Posted the original Kirby I'm working from as well.

THQ Chapter 11

I was so busy the past week that piece of news about THQ went unnoticed. Sounds like they are very vulnerable to being snatched up for way less than their former market value. If that occurs you know they'll go through staff with a fire axe. You really don't want your future riding on Southpark, The Stick of Truth.

Comic book update:

 So, originally I was going to collect money and art to pre-print the Comic book.  Now I’m more of a mind to put it together on Lulu (or some other books-on-demand service) and let people order as many copies as they would like to have and/or to sell at ECCC or other conventions.  Soooo all I’m really looking for at the moment is art that people want to contribute to the thing.  It doesn’t need to be a full comic, it can just be some cool drawings you’ve done.  You can contribute as many or as few pages as you like.  Please send your art files to rick@rickschmitz.com … 150 dpi should be fine, B & W only.  If you use any of your own copyrighted characters please make a note of it in your file.  I think we should avoid using established characters (unless you have established them yourself!).  Also, please include a brief bio (a paragraph at the most) and any contact info that you want to have in the book in the email that you attach the art to (I would like to have a couple of pages in the back devoted to this info).  Please send me your files by Dec. 21^st so that I can use the holiday break to put together the book.  If anyone has a cool color piece for the cover, I would be happy to have a look.

Oh, and if anyone has a title for the book I’m all ears!  Thanks!

White Christmas

Merry Christmas Yall!

Later....

"The Teen Ellis" (page 2)

I crammed too much onto the page. And I'm not good at the "coloring" aspect. Want to redo the lower lefthand panel, where Mr. Mangroid looks over his shoulder. Page two of a 5 pager for the "TAG Annual Sampler"

I'm Embracing Okiedom Again

Great art, Tom, Marty. Fun to see those posts when I got settled in here at the house.

Just approved a couple of my own comments that I made yesterday. Appearing in the top thread. Took me a couple of beats to figure out that all I had to do to post as ME was sign into gmail.

All my system is still fairly scattered but coming together nicely in my room. Mom and Russell are happy to have me home. It's all good.

Planning on doing web comics for the hell of it. And original painting and drawings for auction on ebay for the little money I need.

Went through a very demanding ordeal to finally get here. I chronicled it in clips on my vado. I'll turn them into one long bit of continuity and you can take the trip with me.

Even though the solid ice road conditions from Arizona to New Mexico were rough, the paranoia I suffered when I hit Amarillo was worse. You'll see in a day or so.

Cover Possibilities (UPDATED!!)

In a burst of post-Tom Moon inspiration I drew this:

I put dialogue on it, but probably punchier without it (tho' who here has the strength to pass up a good butt joke?). The character bubbles were just what I had handy--we can distribute these amongst our contributors however we want.

UPDATED: Incorporating some of the ideas posted. Cheesy 70's font all my own doing. Haven't heard back from Scott if he (and Cork) are in. Obviously the "Tuesday Art Group" upper corner could use work--same with the fonts and finer points on the layout.

Thoughts???

A Gravestone For Shel Dorf, The Founder Of Comic Con?

Shel Dorf basically founded the San Diego Comic Con, now a massive media event event, bringing in billions of dollars.

Dying in 2009, he is buried in an unmarked grave in Home of Peace Cemetery.

During the Detroit Fanfare convention, which hosts the Shel Dorf Awards, one group began raising money for a gravestone to commemorate the life of the man.

They are looking to raise $2,200 for a stone the size of his parents’ gravestones, who he is buried next to.

It’s very possible that a reader of this website might be able to find the whole thing. Or maybe just help with a few dollars. You can contact Jill Smethers for more.

Sketch for My Comic

 

New Pacific Rim Trailer

Looks better than RoboJox

I Liked TinTin

The uncanny valley didn't bother me because the expressiveness has made it far less uncanny. Plus it had that Spielberg -lets -get-this-story-moving-and-never-stop style.
It would be a great way for an Octogenarian Harrison Ford to do new Indiana Jones zezzes.
It reminded me of the Raiders Of The Lost Ark adventure. I need to research and see if it's straight up the same as the TinTin it might be based on.

Little Tokyo Brush Pen Recommendation

Talented Storyboard artist Louie Del Carmen, who I follow on twitter, has been posting about his brush pen purchases at a Little Tokyo bookstore famous for its art supplies

DC Comics Time Warp 1979

Was digging around and discovered my first comic page I ever bought. Got it from the late Don Newton himself at a small comic book show back in OKC in 1980. Learned a lot from this page on the inks and paste-up. He was very gracious and told me about Zip. Four year later he would be gone. I love his Phantom books, what a loss.

Marty's Thumbs

Here are my thumbs, plus a script. I changed some stuff from the script I gave Ellis--some for the better, some for the worse! Let us know what you think.

I should note that my "thumbs" (for all their rough-hewn spontaneity) took me roughly ten times longer than Ellis.

Tales From Slaughter Alley

Thumbnails for a Marty Davis script.

Christmas Carol

Christmas Carol by Fluck & Law Cool cartoon sculptures of Christmas Carol. From a friend's Google Plus account

This is how I fritter away my time....

I painted a plate for my pal Carlo. He just had a baby girl, so, y'know....

This is the plate in it's pre-fired, raw state. Colors will change after cooking.

Herb A Life Sketchbook

I was telling Marty about my Herbalife sketchbook. It's some sort of notebook they give people that get involved in their sales deal. It was set out on the curb as trash. And I draw in it, tear pages out, make grocery lists. It's my favorite sketchbook of all time. And the ingredient for that love is its disposable quality.

Comic Update!

Update of something I posted earlier, now with tones and text!

Sam Jaffe

in Ben Casey and Dunwich Horror and The Asphalt Jungle as Dr Erwin Reidenschneider And of course, The Day The Earth Stood Still. Cue Theremin. Info for Marty

Worthwhile experiment. I'm re-energized

Also took Marty's advice and gave one guy a pith helmet. That makes it hanky-head-, ball cap, and pith helmet.

Second page shows how the silhouette gets less readable. Gives me ideas about edits I might make

The ending, giant tentacle comes out of the hole and sweeps the rest of the party into the hole. My version Of Uncle Creepy wraps up the story. What you saw and what it meant. I wish he'd tell me right now. Otherwise I have to make it up.

Stabbed down a little tighter. I'll try and finish the whole thing, balloons, tone and all by tomorrow.

Love Your Portrait Paintings Marty! My Photo Portraits of Granddaughters:

I think your portraits are wonderful too Marty, and I sympathize with your problem. As a general rule, I just don't do artwork for family members by request, but  I'm willing to give them drawings that I've already done if they say, "I love that". What family members DO seem to like are portrait photos.  Less subjectivity involved I suppose. Non-artists just want the picture to look like the person. 

 

The first picture above is one I just happened to snap with a little point-and-shoot while Torey was in the backyard.  By sheer coincidence the dress she was wearing matched the bougainvillea.  Then I went into Photoshop and blurred the background.  The family went crazy for it. 

 

The second shot I took last month for Lexi's homecoming dance.  She's fourteen now and went to the dance with a young man(!)  Maria DelCasino spent a lot of time helping me get set up and get the lighting right.  And again the family loved it. (Yay!)

Family Portraits Are A Bane...

At the dawn of 2012 I painted these two portraits of my nieces. It was an Xmas request from their mom. Painted 'em in tempera on board. They're big--36"x48" (which brings along its own difficulties). But the main problem is, whenever I do something at the request of a family member, the requesting party never winds up satisfied with my efforts.

I do like the gummy build-up of paint in the flesh (see detail of nose on brunette). My attempt at Lucien Freud. Fun to do in tempera...until you overdo it, and the whole passage dislodges from the board and goes sliding to the floor.

(The top painting I did freehand from a shaky iPhone photo...that took too long, so I comped together two photos for the second painting and had Kinko's print me a 36"x48" b&w print to use as a guide. But I think the result is a little too stiff... I guess I'm not very satisfied with 'em, either!)

I got in!

I got into the ECCC Monsters and Dames book!  Thanks to all the great feedback and useful suggestions I received from all you TAG folks.  I imagine that at least some of the people who buy this book make the rounds trying to get as many artist signatures as possible, so perhaps it will drive some traffic to the table.

Looks like I'll be working on the next phase......

....that I worked on earlier this year. Just got a call for follow on work for the next phase starting in Jan 2013. Having this and the other gig will surely get me squared away by summer. fingers crossed.

Pacific Rim

Guillermo Del Toro Mecha

Little Gig I Just Did

A web comic, guest artist kind of deal. I'll re-link when they are published for real. A web strip called Dingus Ranch.

Fun little characters based on Monster Rancher video game.

And there is an Anime as well.

Edits because I didn't know Monsters can't talk.

Oops.

Improved them to get rid of my dumb dialogue.

Resin Head

Sold this thing to a company called Monarch Soap in Ca. I was wondering if they plan to dip it in the soap and get a nice even coat. It might look pretty neat. Like a Planes of The Head head made out of soap.

Hey what the... My post came out on top of the comic book update deal-ee-o. Need to edit the calendar entry if you want it to rest on top.

Did a quick guesstimate on the number of Artists currently listed for Artist Alley. Probably 270. And of course that number goes up with the shadow artist effect of shared tables. Sold out.

Comic Book Update

Hey folks... not much discussion lately on the subject of the comic book... except for Marty and I.  I had an awesome visit with Marty on the 4th and we talked quite a bit about the TAG comic book.  The general take away was that I need to do some research to see just how much it will cost.  That will inform the discussion we need to have- namely, how much does each contributor pay?  Do we do it by the page?  Will we have color in this thing, or will it be all B & W?  We will want to have a few pages in the book for an introduction and bios, as well as a page or two for signing/drawing on.

Emerald City comic con has started selling tables in Artist Alley.  Here are the details:  http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/artist-alley/  They have sold out before, and there's a lot of folks already listed for next year, so if you want to come up and sell books and other stuff, I would suggest getting on this now.  There aren't any rules about sharing tables, so 2 people can share a table.

Square Pupils

This Doctor won ( only bid ) this painting of mine on Ebay. She was fairly easy to find from her name and email. Her ID page at the hospital she works with has a fairly high rez photo of her. In close this is what her pupils look like. Trick of lighting? Or is the Lizard race taking an interest in art?