Was digging around the closet and came across a page I drew almost 31 years ago for a local Comic Book store newsletter in Okieland. There were other pages but I may have trash them years ago cuz they weren't there. As I recall this was the best of bunch to me. Oh well. Zip-a-Tone a Go Go.
The others were submissions for the Fandom Directory publication in 1982, and 1983. The Sea one was rejected but the others got accepted. Fandom was opposite Ken Meyer's submission (Long before I knew him). The Space Pirate was opposite the submission by Ninja Turtle guy Peter Laird. Oh so close back then.
15 comments:
These are really cool Jim. And you did them over 30 years ago? I'd like to see you pick up where you left off and start doing comics again. You could turn out some awesome stuff!
Or if you have done comics since then, post 'em!
Fun to look at old work and see the growth while at the same tome kind of digging exactly what you had.
You probably couldn't draw exactly like this now if you wanted to.
Not good or bad, just out of reach. The brain has changed.
Thanks, I found a few more but I see a crudeness now that I didn't see then. Maybe that's what you mean Ellis (or care to elaborate more?) about the brain being changed. My influences were all over the place. This was a time I inked a lot just experimenting. If I had kept going who knows where I'd would have headed or ended up. Kohinoor pens, brush and Zip. The concepts could use a face lift for sure. My early phase hybrid of US comics with a new found inspiration from anime before it was fashionable. I miss the passion I had then. Wished I still had it like that then with what I know now. Got to work at that.
Jimmy! This stuff is great! I showed it to Blair and she loved it, too.
Ellis, I disagree--in Jim's case, these talents have lain dormant like a Steve Rodgers encased in ice since the big war. This blog is like the Sub-Mariner, hurling them into the warming currents of the World Wide Web and letting them thaw...and now the comic-lovin' public will be The Avengers, resuscitating this hero(ic talent) with their belief.
Excelsior!
I think it's great to see how recognizable the Jim Gorham style remains. Clearly these faces relate to the recent Maurice Art paintings.
(Seriously, love to see you pick right up on these.)
You could pick right up oon it. Scans allow you to color, cahnge etc. Take it into photoshop and have fun.
Marty - I like the Steve Rogers idea.
Thanks Marty, Yeah I'm a regular "Frozen" Super Solider. LOL
I've got a few others and my first Ink work from High School too. Maybe I'll post for shits and giggles
YES--Steve Rodgers Gorham!!
I kinda think some of the charm of these--and seriously, their commercial appeal right now, 2014 A.D.--is their obviously non-digital origins. Who doesn't get an extra sizzle seeing the yellowed paper, dabs of white-out and pebble-y zip-a-tone?? So beautifully handmade. It's like you are a living time capsule--go back and do a few comics EXACTLY this way and make the claim you're presenting this as a trove of ancient unpublished work. Preserve all the splertches in the published version--like those massive IDW Artist Edition volumes.
Sort of an Elf-Quest-y vibe in there, too?
Reminiscing is a bitch. Proves "Perfect is the enemy of good". Nothing like self criticism to kill momentum.
Keep posting and working on these things now.
es Marty. BIG Elfquest reader back then. Good eye. Yeah, Loved Wendy Pini's inks as well as early Marshall Rogers, Kaluta, Byrne, and Steve Leialoha
I can see all of those guys included in here, particularly the Elfquest influence. These are really cool... you have some serious inking chops and your page layouts are clear. These are really fun! I too would like to see more of this space opera play out.
"completely AWFUL" ??? Seriously?!?
I see nothing here that deserves to be called that.
What a wonderful find, Jim!
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