Aw, crap...

I...I got nuthin'.

From the Conductor's Office: Very entitling!

Just for fun, and because I'm finally getting the hang of Photoshop, I thought I'd let you all have a look at the cover for the first story arch for the Galactic Gun.

This is actually a fairly old piece of art, hence all the visible pencil strokes, and not the now familiar use of watercolor; as well as the look of a couple of the characters. I may try to redo it, but given that there's now just under three weeks left, it may have to ride for now, and be redone for when, and if, it goes to print.

And over here, on the right, is a rough work up on the NTA logo. I was going for something that would like you'd see on a transit worker's jacket, or a pin of some kind. The fact that it looks like the forward silhouette of a streamline bullet train was, believe it or not, coincidental; but never the less very cool.

Twenty days left unitl I start this bad boy back up. Getting less barfy and more and more excited, now. In fact, I'm off to Wondercon this weekend, just to have some fun and, hopefully, stoke the fire of creativity I got going.

Nuts to you!

Ten good reasons why, no matter what, you wear your cup!

Holy red headed... uh, nevermind; it's a gay Bat-chick...

Bruce Wayne is dead...

Long live Batwoman?!

Seriously guys?!

Words fail at how dissapointed I am,

and why I hold fast

to Batman the Animated Series,

its follow up movies, and comic spin-offs.

Fly me to the moon...

Well, at least there's one good thing coming out of Washington;

we're going back to the moon!

Deeper understanding...?

Suddenly it all makes sense...

Well, except that bit about Rowlf.

Total eclipse of the heart...

Ever wonder what it looks like

when the Sun is eclipsed by the Earth?

Excitement grows!

As I post this, there's some 22 days left until

Neverland Transit Authority goes on line with its first comic,

Galactic Gun: The Adventures of Justin Bailey.

Right now we're busy building the new station house.

It's just a rough layout for now. The real artwork

and photos will be added soon.

Of course, there's still so much to do

and so little time to do it.

Gods, I think I'm gonna barf, again.

A whale of a tail!

Auckland woman, who lost her legs as a child,

gets to live life long dream of being a mermaid.

What this means for furry ambitions

frightens me.

Visualizing the credit crisis...

My little brother was once quick, and correct,

to point out that one of the big problems

with our current economic system,

and crisis, is that it's practically incomprehensible

to the common man.

Well, here's a little something to help you

get your head wrapped around it all.

From the internet to real life!

Pirate versus Ninja about to become reality!

There're made of paper?

Wow.

Steampunk Chuck!

Gothy typyes, as well as other alternative music lovers and various game geeks, are fairly familiur with the term "Steampunk." If not, go have a read about it.

Anyway, with the new swing in the scene going to the land of airship pirates and clockwork robots, there been a whole explosion of music and costuming; not to mention comics like Girl Genius, who are enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

I, myself, have been bitten by the Steampunk just recently; having bought my first Steampunk album, by Abney Park, as well as attending the new, and only, Steampunk club out here, Clockwork.

Last night, in a random feat of inspiration - and because I couldn'y find a decent karaoke joint in town - I whipped out this little number; me, pulling open my shirt to reveal my clockwork steam punkness.

Try not to be too harsh; it's a rough idea I jotted down in my sketch book. I wanted to work out the logistics of such an undertaking before I do a nice painted piece. All in all, I think it came out pretty good, for a sketch, and can't wait to do a finished one.

Like walking on egg shells... wearing big gothy boots of doom!

It looks like it got a lot tougher to be a political cartoonist, now.

Change I can believe in? No it's not.

From the Conductor's Office: Getting a handle on watercolor...

So I've been goofing around, some more with the watercolor pencils, and I have to say that, for the most part, I'm starting to get the hang of them. Hopefully that's evident by the picture to the left.

Interesting things I have discovered:

1. Layering pre-application of water is kind of pointless.

2. That's okay, though, because you can add more layers after application of water. This is great for adding shading, especially.

3. I'm gonna need a bigger brush if I want to do washed open backgrounds. Brush size has been one of the first things I've had to learn, as too small and you get stutter strokes. You can really see in the background on Justin's left.

4. Sometimes colors look different after other colors surround them. Case in point; that's still the same skin color on Justin as from the "Quiet Drink" picture, just now it's not as yellowish against these colors.

And, yes, if you're wondering; this is the new look for the characters that will take affect in the second story; "The Twisted Case of Station 77". I think we can all agree that this is a huge improvement; especially for Kali.

As of this post, there is 27 days and counting until the relaunch of Neverland Transit Authority and its first title; "Galactic Gun: The Adventures of Justin Bailey"! I'm so nervous I think I'm gonna barf...

Victory is mine!

From the web comic Count Your Sheep.

I took the Tube back out of town...

You think New York subways and San Francisco BART trains have odd riders?

Here's 71 reasons why Europian trains win, hands down!

Down the rabbit hole...

Created by Pogo, using 90% music and noise from the Disney film.

Remember when...?

Looking for a piece of the king of pop?

In April Michael Jackson's left overs from his ranch...

the stuff, I imagine, he couldn't take with him

as he fled America... is up for auction.

Curious? Have a look.

Flick your Bic?

How entertaining is it to spare a light for a cig?
Well, if you have one of these fifty babies it could be very.

I... I got nuthin'.

I just don't know where to begin with this...

but if he hurts those trains I will kick his ass!

Imbibe the rainbow...?!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Skittles vodka in just a few easy steps...

Looks like I picked the wrong time to quit drinking.

Bill Watterson, clarvoint...

Topical. And to think, it's a 15 year old stip.

IronChuck says: READ THIS!

Wow... been a while since I've posted a comic recommendation, hasn't it? Well, this one, a web comic, is worth it.

Rich is a storyboard artist working for children's programming at a company in Halifax, Nova Scotia. But, on his blog, he doodles up a couple of really good comics; including his own fan fiction work, The Ten Doctors over at his blog.

Set just after the events of "Run Away Bride", the Doctor is taking a small break when he is met by... The Doctor and Rose, shortly after the events of "Father's Day". They're trying to sort things out when along comes... the Doctor and Ace...

Well, you get the idea.

Drawn just for fun, the pictures are lose, yet very descriptive. And the story is filled with more twists and turns than even I, at times, have been able to keep up with as all the Doctors are pulled together by some unknown hand for some unknown reason. They must work together to solve the mystery before time runs out for the universe.

The comic is plotted like a pro, and is filled with humor, action, and a love for the character that serves it so well. The only draw back is that Rich has no plans to polish up the pages; due to his very busy schedule.

The Ten Doctors usually updates Monday through Friday, but occasionally he'll drop one of his other stories down, instead. In fact, the first twenty, or so, entries are from his first comic attempt, 24 fps; chronicling his adventures as a entry level animator.

Despite the under developed production, this is definitely something no Whovian should miss. IronChuck gives it 10 out of a possible 14 regenerations.

Canned

A tribute to sodas past...

From the Conductor's Office: Getting all rosey about color...

Even though it's a lot of trouble, as well as time consuming, I've always wanted Galactic Gun in color; though a lot of indies and first timers run with good old black and white.

What can I say? I like to go big. Besides, I really feel the world I'm going to take you to needs to be in color. However, I really suck and using the computer to color. So, what's a guy to do? Well, experiment, of course.

Here we have a quick pin up of Kali. Oh my, it would seem that gravity has been shut off while in orbit. I've always loved the look of illustration and paint markers. This pic I used TomBo markers from Japan. As you can see, I'm still trying to get the hang of them. I figure with a lot of practice, I can probably use these to color the book, down the line.


Oh look, Justin is in the lounge of the #7, trying to have a quiet drink. Too bad Kali feels a little playful. For this pic I switched to something I know a little more about; watercolor.

I've love water colored comics, though the medium can be, at times, unforgiving. Here I'm cheating just a little; I'm using watercolor pencils from Kimberly. They apply like color pencils, and can be layered and blended like them. But you can then take a wet brush and do a wash on them.

I really like the effect. However, as you can see I still have a bunch to learn about how to use them to get the maximum effect. Also, the set I have isn't the best quality, and has a very
limited pallet. Unless you really believe Justin is actually that yellow, naturally.



Here we have page one of the first story arch of the Galactic Gun, called "Pocket Full of Posies." I colored this using Design pencils by Spectracolor. Then, using Photoshop, I dropped black into the gutters and used a blur tool to create the focus effect in panel 2.

Okay, so I'm obviously not so good with Photoshop yet; as shown by my horrible use of the blur tool. And, as of yet, I can't add word balloons into the comic. I am, though, learning how to do this stuff. I'm also not happy with the way the Design pencils have been working out; though I've had the set since college, and they cost me a pretty penny.

In my art bag I carry a small Prsimacolor set, that I use to color stuff I do in my sketch book. I really like the way the work. And, Prsimacolor carries watercolor pencils... costly pencils, but great working quality. So, once I can afford to drop the cash for them, I'll be getting me a good set with a large pallet.

Of interesting note, some will observe that how our characters appear in page one is radically different from how they appear in my sketch book. And, in fact, over the course of the first issue, the look of the comic evolves to what you saw in my earlier sketch post. I had, at one point, thought of pulling a Lucas, and going back and reworking the first issue; but probably only when the book goes to print. And, even then, only if I can find the time. For now, the first chapter will have to remain odd out with the rest of the story.

Of course, now you can witness my ascension to comic godhood...

You know you've hit bottom when...

Acclaimed comic failure Rob Liefeld has got himself a new gig...
Illustrating the Apocalypse for nut job religious group 12 Gates.

Need to update my wardrobe...

And I think I've found a few t-shirts to do the trick.

From the Conductor's Office: Finally, as promised, some art...

Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been promising to put up some stuff for a while. Not having a working connection at home has not been helpful, I admit; but neither has the massive creative block I've been suffering from. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved soon. After all, it's only some 48 days, or so until I'm supposed to re-launch Neverland Transit Authority.

At any rate, and with a little commentary, I give you some goodies from my sketchbook...

First off is a title page. Yeah, I know it seems a little weird, but I usually add a title page to my sketch books. It gives it a complete kind of feeling; like this is a professional at work. (So, it's basically self delusional, I guess.)

But, yes, there's a theme; and this one is my role as the "Conductor" of NTA, and its first title; Galactic Gun:The Adventures of Justin Bailey. (Big surprise, most of my sketching is based around the comic, too.)

Okay, so it's not probably my best work, but this is a sketch book, so there is some give, right? Anyway, a lot of the world of the Galactic Gun (Which will, hopefully, someday encompass several titles.) is built up from, in some odd way, Metroid, the old Nintendo game.

Well, not directly, no. Think of it as more "inspired by" then really taken from. Astute readers, who know their stuff, will, on occasion, find little bits and pieces of the game through out the comic. Heck, you may have already seen the first one.

So, it's natural, I guess, that from time to time, I may drop out a Samus Aran sketch here or there. This one was done at 33,000 feet over Nevada, in case you're interested.

Speaking of flying...

Recently I had a job that had me traveling a lot. And do I mean a lot. I found the best way to calm my mind - because I do so love to fly - was to do mock pages.

There's no real rhyme or reason with these; and they don't fit into any particular place. In fact, they really don't fit anywhere. I just sort of dream them up and then rough them out. And, even though you see places for word balloons, I don't even know what the dialog is.

Sometimes I do these to get the juices flowing, or to work out a look for a character. Other times it's to try out a whole new art style.

Here's a good example of changing looks.

Last year I was plunking around with something of a more cartoony look for the group; smooth with easy lines and more apparent and easy geometric styling. I was going for something more visually stylized, yet very easy to do, based off of my, at the time, shrinking free time to work on the comic.

Ultimately, though, I just didn't like the look of it. Mostly it's in the face. I mean, their bodies are expressive enough, for sure. But, the faces and the hair leave a lot to be desired.

Truth told, I'm still struggling with the look of the comic. I'm using an base line trace style, as I call it. It's minimal, but still can give expressive results. Though, it does tend to be too simple, lending to limited results. For one, the main characters both have a hairstyle derivited of each other. Some of that style can be seen in the page layout sketch, above.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll drop some more sketches later.