Becoming a Cartoonist

Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I would vary in the exact industry I wanted to go into. First it was to become a comic book artist working one of Marvel Comics flagship titles, The Amazing Spider-Man. Then I found Calvin and Hobbes, The Farside, and a slew of other comic strips in my local newspaper, and I shifted gears to becoming a syndicated comic strip artist. Later I waxed and waned from 2D animation, to political cartooning, to gag comics in the New Yorker, to 3D animation to eventually realizing that 33 years have gone by and I’m not a cartoonist.

It’s not that I’ve wasted my time. Quite the opposite actually. I went to college, met my wife, graduated with a degree, got a job as a graphic design, started a family, worked my way up to being an art and photography director and now I work for a fast growing internet based Web publishing platform. All in all, I’ve accomplished quite a bit in my life. But the one thing that I ignored, kept pushing off to that ever so close but distant “someday” when I grow up was to be a cartoonist. 

I’m tired of never getting to that “someday.” I’m tired of doodling and sketching and working on my brilliant ideas. It’s now time to act. Time to do what I want to do. Today, is going down in history as the day I set forth and say by the power of Chuck Jones I will become a cartoonist.

All I need to do now is just find my pencil and then I can get started. Now where did I put that pencil?

Billy Banes is on Amazon and so is Kris Black

Billy Banes: Sidekick For Hire - Issue 1 , one of my projects I’m most proud to having been a part of, is on Amazon.com. How awesome is that? I’m listed as an illustrator but I just did the lettering and book design. This is really exciting!

Some of you may remember from my previous darker Web site theme that I had a large graphic featuring my lettering from Billy Banes on the homepage. I also have some sample pages in my Lettering Portfolio you can check out.

I encourage everyone to get a copy of this book. It’s a great, one-shot story by Billy Miller that wraps up very neatly in the end. If you happen to be a lucky consumer of this fine piece of art and know me personally, I’ll sign your copy when you get it. It’s not like you get to meet a letterer every day.

Morbid Myths Halloween Special 2007

Last year I lettered the 2007 Halloween Special of Morbid Myths. With 36 pages of spooky and creepy tales you are sure to be entertained from cover to cover. Now you are probably thinking I’m wanting you to rush out to your favorite comic book shop to pick this up but I’m not. Oh, no. I want you to download it for FREE! Seriously, I’m not kidding. To make this even better you can do it legally and not feel guilty about stealing it .

“How is this possible,” you ask? Wowio is Web site that is helping to bridge the gap between readers, sponsors and publishers. You can download all of the available books on their Web site for free. This is possible through the use of subtle, strategically placed advertisements.

Morbid Myths is only one of many available digital comics you can get on Wowio. They have a huge inventory of comics and graphic novels to choose from. Including the famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Head on over to Wowio, download the Morbid Myths 2007 Halloween Special and comment on what you think about the book and my lettering. You can also sample other projects and pages of my lettering on the right in the yellow Portfolio stickie.

Comicraft's Never-To-Be-Repeated Font Sale

The fine font designers and letterers at Comicraft have their Annual Never-To-Be-Repeated Sale coming up next week on January 1st, 2008. The sale starts at midnight on December 31, 2007 and ends at midnight on January 1, 2008. For 24 hours, all fonts will be on sale for $20.08

Do you get it? Next year is 2008 and the sale price of the fonts are $20.08. This sale is never going to be repeated just like last year’s sale of all fonts at $20.07 wasn’t repeated this year. Those guys are so clever.

Comic Book Creators Wish List

As the Baltimore Comic Con gets closer I ask myself what would be my comic book lettering dream job. Of all the talented creators in the comic book industry I decided on my top four creators. But before I list these talented individuals I can easily answer which character I want to letter — Spider-man. He’s without a doubt my favorite all-time character. Now, let’s get started …

I’ll start off with the writer, Brian K. Vaughn. With successful co-creations such as Ex Machina (pictured) and Y: The Last Man it’s easy to see why I would like him so much. But to be honest, I have read neither of those titles. What turned me on to BKV was a short 6 part story he wrote for Dark Horse Comics called The Escapists. Clever, brilliant and simple. Brian’s ability to capture the personality of a character in a few short panels draws you in immediately. His characters are warm, engaging and have you empathizing with them within just a few pages. This story is a must read for any comic book enthusiast. Whether you are into super heroes or non-super hero books, this is an exceptional story.

As any regular listener of the Dollar Bin podcast should know, my favorite penciler of all time is John Romita Jr. A veteran of Marvel Comics and the son of legendary comic book artist of the same name, John Romita Sr., you may think that’s the only reason why, but it’s not. John Romita Jr. has a unique style all his own. From his ability to choreograph a panel, layout a page, and to tell a story with pictures alone, John’s work is able to capture your attention and pull you into a story like no other artist. His more recent work on Wolverine: Enemy of the State (pictured), The Sentry and his long run on The Amazing Spider-man has catapulted him to the top of the best comic book artists in the industry.

Choosing an inker that compliments John Romita Jr. is easy, Klaus Janson. He’s a regular inker of John Romita Jr. and has inked two of Frank Miller’s more popular runs with the bigtwo publishers: Daredevil and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (pictured). Klaus is able to capture the energy of John’s lines. His loose and distinctive style matches the energy and flow of John’s pencils. John’s pencils are very loose and fluid and only a talented inker (not a tracer) can showcase John’s style as well as their own. This is why Klaus Janson in my opinion is one of the best inkers of all time.

Up until this past summer, I never really gave much thought to comic book colorists. Not that I didn’t think they were worth thinking about but because it just never crossed my mind. Then I saw the issue #1 cover to the relaunch of the Thor and I was totally blown away by Laura Martin. What’s even better is that I was able to meet Laura at Heroes Con 2007. Laura, hands down, is one of the best colorist in the comic book industry. Her work on Astonishing X-men is awesome but her work on the new Thor series is 10 times better. Why? Because she’s growing as a creative artist. Her ability to capture the most overlooked aspects of nature (such as the fading of color due to atmospheric distance, variations in dirt and grass) pushes and enhances the inked art. Some of her other work includes Planetary, Marvel Knights Spider-man, and Superman/Batman #14 - 18. Even if you didn’t know her name but read any of the titles above, I’m sure at one point you thought to yourself, “Wow, the coloring in this book is awesome!”

Well, there you have it. My list of comic book creators that I would love to work with the most. Maybe it’ll happen one day. With the Baltimore Comic Con coming up in a in less than a couple weeks I may get the chance to interview John Romita Jr. (and Senior) with the Dollar Bin and make a business connection.