More deleted pages and panels.

OMAC: One Man Art Course

Many artists are either embarassed or ashamed of work done early in their careers. I understand but don't agree with that sentiment. If you did the best you could then why be ashamed ? You can look back at old work and see how far you've progressed but there's no need for shame. I'm not a professional artist. I'm just another amateur. But my passion for learning how to think and draw better animates me. I have the mindset of an eternal student. Even if tomorrow I became a pro( I define "pro" as this is what you do as a career) I'd still be a student. I'm constantly studying and I always will be. It's been said that every artist has at least ten thousand bad drawings he has to do before getting to the good stuff. I've exceeded that quota by a mile but I've seen some small progress along the way.

You can read every "how to" book, watch every video, tape and dvd, talk to professional artists, read every artist's blog and interview but the absolute best way to learn how to draw comic books is BY DRAWING COMIC BOOK PAGES. Filling your sketchbooks with designs and concepts is fine but until you draw pages, you're not creating a comic book. With that in mind here are some pages that ended up on the "cutting room floor". And while these pages are deeply flawed I'm not ashamed of them because when I did them that was the best I was capable of.

Back to Zero

Why I respect Rob Liefeld.

Disclaimer: I do not know Rob Liefeld. We have never met. I don't know anyone who has worked either for or with Rob Liefeld. I have no connections whatsoever with anyone in the comic book business. The following post is strictly my opinion.



If you were reading comic books in the early to mid nineties then you're probably familiar with the name of Rob Liefeld. For those of you who are not familiar with him, here's a very brief history lesson: Rob Liefeld did some work for a few small press publishers before working at DC comics. Later he began to work at Marvel comics on "The New Mutants" and later "X- Force". He was in a Levi's jeans commerical directed by Spike Lee. His Marvel comics sold very well due to his artwork and character designs. Later on Rob Liefeld and a few other of Marvel's most popular artists banded together to form their own publishing company called Image Comics. Rob Liefeld and his partners made a great deal of money and engendered even more controversy.



And there was no comic book creator more controversial than Rob Liefeld. His artwork was the subject of constant attack and ridicule. And when that wasn't enough his business decisions, management of his own line of comic books, his relationships with fellow comic creators and even his family became targets of online gossip mongers. Googling his name yielded 194,000 hits. There are entire websites devoted to savaging his artwork and in some cases the man himself.



Despite all of that Rob Liefeld remains an active comic book creator with a sincere enthusiasm for his chosen profession. He's a dedicated family man and as a professional comic book artist he fulfilled his mandate: his work sold comics and made quite a few people a lot of money. His work gave the reader their money's worth and they in turn bought his comics. There are some comic artists working in the business today that got their start working on his comic books.



I respect the hell out of Rob Liefeld and in my opinion he's got nothing to apologize for. I respect him because he didn't let the nay sayers, haters, do nothing/know everything amen corner deter him from his path. As Henry Rollins once said: "the ones who don't do anything are always the ones who try to bring you down". There will always be critics of any creative endeavor. But the only criticism that matters in the end is the one issued by the people who spend their money on what you're selling.

BIG MAN JAPAN.

Wow. The above still is of the title character from a Japanese film called "Big Man Japan" and I can't wait to see it either in a theater or on DVD. There are just certain movies you know you're going to love when you hear the premise alone. There are trailers for this great looking film available all over the internet.

I grew up in New York City in the 70's and early 80's. In the days when there were real independent stations we had WOR-TV channel 9. This station played martial arts movies, horror movies, Dr. Who, Benny Hill and Japanese Giant Monster Movies( called Dai Kaiju in Japan). To a comic book/sci-fi/horror geek like me Channel 9 was THE greatest station ever. And since I'm still a huge geek "Big Man Japan" pushes all of my buttons.

The plot of "Big Man Japan" is pure genius: Since the end of WW2, Japan has counted on a breed of men who can , with the help of a massive jolt of electricity, transform into giants to protect Japan from giant monster attacks. In the present the film, in a mock documentary style, follows the mundane life of one Masaru Dai Saito the remaining monster fighting giant. His giant alter ego is unpopular because of the enormous damage caused by fighting monsters and he's reduced to selling ad space on his huge body so as to eke out a meager living. When he's not fighting monsters, Masaru tries to maintain his waning relationship with his daughter, visit his senile grandfather( a giant monster fighter of the previous generation) and waits around to be called into action by the Japanese government.

Pure genius. I wish I'd thought of this one. The movie is, in part, a satire of the old Godzilla movies as well as the giant monster genre which includes Ultraman and The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers(which was a Japanese show dubbed into English with American actors in the "civilian" scenes).

Now, I realize that this movie isn't to everyone's taste and that's cool. Japan has produced a lot of terrific but very offbeat movies such as Tetsuo The Iron Man in which an average Japanese "salaryman" (office worker) becomes to transform in a walking pile of iron parts.

There was a Tetsuo2 and I've heard rumors that a 3rd Tetsuo movie may happen. Tetsuo: The Iron Man deserves a post of it's own but suffice it to say that I love this film. And one more before I go: The Calamari Wrestler.

The plot of the Calamari Wrestler is that Japanese pro wrestler Taguchi has just won the world title with his finishing move the inverted full nelson. While enjoying the moment of his victory he's surprised in the ring by a giant squid who has snatched his championship belt. Taguchi tries to fight the squid but is trounced by the squid's Northern Lights Suplex. Watching from ringside Taguchi's girlfriend Miyako recognizes the Northern Lights Suplex as being the same finisher used by her deceased ex boyfriend and former wrestling champion Iwata. Now he's back in a giant squid body and he's out for payback, respect and his championship. Miyako is torn between loyalty to her new boyfriend Taguchi and her unresolved feelings for Iwata. In his giant squid body Iwata begins to train hard for his next deadly opponent: The Squilla Boxer.

Yes, this is a comedy and no it's not for everyone's sense of humor either. But it works for me wonderfully. Come on, it's pro wrestling, a love story, a man returned to reclaim his life in a giant squid's body and to find his place in the world. If there has to be a point to this post perhaps it's that while Hollywood continues to make excellent movies, there are lots of great movies from other sources as well. Don't be put off by foreign actor names or subtitles. Or to put it another way: watch outside the box.

A real werewolf

Nothing too heavy here. I just think that this still from the upcoming werewolf movie starring Benecio del Toro and directed by Guillermo del Toro(no relation) looks very cool. I don't know about you but I'm sick to death of CG monsters. I understand the legendary Rick Baker is working on this film so I'm already inclined to like it.

Number 6 has left The Village.

Patrick McGoohan passed away. Number 6 has left The Village.

My first exposure to Mr. McGoohan's work was "The Prisoner", one of the most brilliant TV series of all time. I watched the series on New York City's PBS station. I was a teenager living in the ghetto and a hardcore comicbook/sci-fi/horror buff. And I was at the perfect age to encounter "The Prisoner" with it's themes of resistance to authority, the assertion of the individual's right to exist and the steely intellect of Mr. McGoohan's character "Number 6". No one in the world could've portrayed that character with the utter conviction that Mr. McGoohan bought to his performance.

It's a sad fact of life that we don't get a chance to say "thank you" to the people whose work means so much to us. I wish I could've said "thank you" to Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, George Pal, El Santo, Blue Demon and Patrick McGoohan.

Thank you Mr. McGoohan and good night to you sir.pppp