Seahorse Valley

This page is from an abandoned project called Seahorse Valley. The title of this chapter was actually inspired from the title of a Transformers episode: The Key to Vector Sigma. Here's a couple more pages from the same story.

The third panel on this page is a blatant rip-off from Jaime Hernandez.

It blows my mind how young Jaime was when he drew this thing. He didn't have to steal from anyone.

Here are some character designs for the protagonists.

I'm actually using Ned's design in my latest story Emordana. The name "Charisse" comes from Cyd "legs" Charisse, the dancer from Singin' in the Rain.

The whole bit where she's kicking around Gene Kelley's hat has to be one of the sexiest scenes in cinema history. I remember having to force my old roommates to watch this movie. They were confused not to be watching Die Hard ironically for the 100th time.

At some point, in a way too convoluted to explain here, I was going to introduce an android into the story named Blanca Lagos.

Her "black helmet" is a combo of Cyd Charisse and celebrity crush Louise Brooks, who has inspired many a cartoonist.

Here's some Dixie Dugan by John Striebel, who modeled the title charater after Brooks.

At the time I was getting into fractal geometry, the primary inspiration for the story. Julia was named after the "Julia set", a complex shape formed by equations.

The title itself comes from the Mandelbrot set, a similar shape that can be zoomed into infinitely. As you enter the crevice you see endless variations of a seahorse shape.  The seahorse valley.

After I'd finished Evelyn Dalton-Hoyt I thought I could dive into doing a graphic novel despite the fact that I'd only drawn a handful of comics. I learned the hard way that I wasn't quite ready. The whole thing became too unwieldy and other more expedient projects took it's place. Once a project sits around too long it loses it's potency and you have to move on. Of course, some of these concepts could work their way into a future story- but not in the way I had envisioned them at that time.

These days there's a lot of pressure on young cartoonists to produce graphic novels and do "serious" literary work. As a result we're getting alot of bloated, boring comics. There's kids coming at comics from an academic background. They're drawing like George Herriman because they were taught in school that he's an important cartoonist instead of drawing what they're most passionate about. Cartoonists who know they want to be artists but have no clue what they want to say. It shouldn't matter whether you're doing a biography on Dostoyevsky or a story about a cyborg seeking revenge. You just have to approach the thing honestly.

EYE

This panel is from my upcoming adaptation of Kirby's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Actually, it's from a comic I'm working on called Emordana: Or the Inflection of Nothing on the Visual Cortex. Here's another page from the same comic.

And here's Kirby's 2001 comic that introduces Machine Man. I always thought that was the weirdest comic book spin-off.

Can you imagine what a Kubrick version of Machine Man would be like? Wouldn't that make a great comic? You could have all these futuristic Kubrick cars in the background.

The top car is a Probe 16, called the Durango 95 in the film. The car in the second row is a Fiat Abarth 2000 and didn't quite make the cut of A Clockwork Orange. And the bottom car was designed by Fred Ordway who designed all the ships in 2001. It also ended up on the cutting room floor for that film.

I just got back from a big snow machine trip up to a cabin off the Yetna river. Y'know, doing manly stuff like choppin' wood. (I can't chop wood for shit. How about you?) I brought some manhua to read. Going out there is a good way to clear your head. Get's you pumped for the drawing board. It's like Bukowski going to the horse races or something.

Just the other day I was reading an old Steelgrip Starkey comic that takes place in Alaska. It's weird to see a comic set in Alaska that's not completely generic with details.

That airport is actually pretty close to what the Anchorage airport looked like in the 80's. Also, I like this crazy tree house.

Steelgrip Starkey is this weird comic from the 80's about a superhero construction worker. It even includes a fictional brochure for Starkey's construction company. It was drawn by Alan Weiss, who did did a few Avengers comics in the 70s and also some Tom Strong stories for Alan Moore. He's a detail oriented artist who was not terribly prolific (kinda' like me).

Here's a random picture from the Bro Haven.

And a painting my brother did.

Los Bros Bryant forever, holmes.

The Dick of Alaska

Greetings from the distant wilderness of Chugiak. Where is Chugiak? It's located on the dick of Alaska.

Ah, Alaska. My old stomping grounds. I've been away from you for thirteen years. I moved out here to get away from the hubbub of city life (for the time being). I'm living with my brother who is also an artist. We call our "studio" the Bro' Haven. My brother paints cartoon pictures of fish, drunkards, mermaids and trees.

And below is my new partner in crime, K-san. She supervises my work, making sure my pencils, brushes and pens are behaving.

Here's a page from a comic I recently finished called Echoes Into Eternity.

There is more I would like to share but the computer has obliterated my brain. I'll be back with more as soon as I shovel up the pieces.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog about comics and robots. I hope you enjoy yourself. I hope you're proud of what you've done.