Pittsburgh City Paper art director Lisa Cunningham was willing to overlook the fact that I'd never been to Pennsylvania and hired me to illustrate a cover featuring a spoof on the immensely popular video game Grand Theft Auto.
The story was about Pittsburgh trying to encourage video game companies to set up shop in steel town and hold on to the few that were already there.
I was asked to draw
1.) the Pittsburgh TV news helicopter
2.) a big haired beer swigging bikini girl (try saying that fast five times)
3.) a kid doing a "wheelie" on a bicycle (do they call it that anymore?)
4.) a car forced to make a detour (apparently there was an excess of road work being done in Pittsburgh)
5.) a mullet haired Steelers fan
6.) the local sightseeing ferryboat
7.) an old "punk" lady
8.) a couple with matching sunglasses, and
9.) a police wheel boot. Careful where you park once you've made that detour, pal!
Each image was drawn separately (ink on paper), scanned and colored in Photoshop, then pasted into the framework I created based on other Grand Theft Auto ads. Lisa added the CP logo and additional lettering.
Not only was I allotted just four days to do this cover, I did it while I had the flu.
This cover - commissioned for a Matrix/Ghost in the Shell influenced RPG book set in Hong Kong - was sadly never published.
I will say I was very new to digital coloring when I did this and I learned a lot as I was doing it - while meanding a broken wrist that made it impossble for me to draw - so for that reason alone I'm glad of the experience.
Another pencil/graphite style experiment for a graphic novel I’m nearly finished writing. (color was added very quickly in Photoshop)
This was a piece of original art I produced for the Wonder Woman Day art auction benefiting domestic violence charities and women's shelters.
11 x 17 inches, ink on bristol board
My illustration of the fabled Japanese shapechanger from the Werewolf: The Apocalypse sourcebook PLAYERS GUIDE TO THE CHANGING BREEDS.
9x12 inches, ink on paper
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
The book TECHNOCRACY: VOID ENGINEERS was a deep space sci-fi take of the game Mage: the Ascension.
I illustrated the entire book (except the cover) in a ridiculously short period of time. This was some of my earliest professional illustration work, and I was in way over my head. But because I didn't really know what I was doing, I was able to make it far weirder than it might have otherwise been.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Larry Snelly
Has anyone else noticed that Doctor Strange and Spider-man have basically the same signature hand gestures? What's up with that, Ditko?
Hope to have this one done soon. There is so much more of it inside my head.
Full page Illustrations for Dragons of the East, a Mage: the Ascension game book.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
Location design illustrations for the atomic age paranoia game Normal Texas.
Client: Human Head Studios
Art Director: Jason L Blair
Initially I was commission to create a simple promotional image for the Sacramento News & Review, a large circulation Alt Weekly newspaper serving California's capital city. The image was for a postcard mailed to potential advertisers announcing SN&R's annual "Best of Sacramento" issue. I designed and illustrated the futuristic reporter, while the background text and graphics were created by art director Don Button.
The postcard was followed by my drawing the cover and several interior illustrations for the News & Review's 16th Annual Best of Sacramento issue. The theme of the issue, aside from Best Of, was TIMEWARP - a series of articles about Sacramento's past, present, and future written by the aforementioned fictional time traveling reporter.
I have to credit Don with most of the ideas for the illustrations and the issue’s visual design. It was his time machine, I was just along for the ride.
In 2007 I was invited to write and illustrate a comic book short story inspired by a Tori Amos song of my choosing. I am a huge Tori fan, so there were many favorite songs to choose from, but the one that I instantly had a story idea for was Little Amsterdam from her album Boys For Pele. While I didn't tell the editor at the time, I cheated and took bits and pieces from much of the Pele album as seed for my story, most obviously Father Lucifer and Blood Roses, but there was plenty more than that.
The story was published in soft and hardcover editions as part of a massive book called Comic Book Tattoo, printed in 12 x 12 inch vinyl record album size, but 500 pages thick, and was an instant best seller.
I attended the CBT release event at San Diego Comic-Con 2008, and met Tori herself, which might have been the best part of the whole experience.
Like many creatives, I'm critical of my past work, seeing mostly the flaws, but Little Amsterdam has stood the test of time so far and I'm still very satisfied with it.
Below are Tori's lyrics, some of which were incorporated as dialogue into the story:
Little Amsterdam
In a southern town
Hominy get it on the plate girl
Momma keep your head down
Momma it wasn't my bullet
Don't take me back to the range
Back to the range
I'm just comin' out of the cell in my brain
(Ooo)
Don't, don't, take me back to the range
Back to the range
'Cause girl you got to know these days
Which side you're on
Hmm
Na na na na ne ya na
Na na na na naa na
Momma got a shot, shit
She loved a brown man
Then she built a bridge in the Sheriff's bed
She'd do anything to save her man
You see her olives
They are all cold pressed
And her best friend is a Sun dress
But Momma, it wasn't my bullet
No, ooh
Don't take me back to the range
Back to the range
I'm just comin' out of the cell in my brain
Don't don't take me back to the range
Back to the range
'Cause girl you got to know these days
Na na na na na na ne ya na
Na na na na naa na na
Na na na na
All alone
Got a girl in the city
Hey, got a room and a place for two
Got a goat and a phone, I said
"Boy, you are my Fifth Avenue"
Round and around and around I go
(Say you are willing to hang around for me, my babe)
Round and around this time for keeps
Round and around and around I go
(Say you are willing to hang around for me, my babe)
Round and around this time for keeps
Father only you can save my soul
And playin' that organ must count
For something
Something
You got to know these days
Little Amsterdam, shot down today
They buried her with a butter bean bouquet
And the Sheriff now, can't ride away
Like he said into the sunset, and I won't say
That he shouldn't have paid
But Momma, it wasn't my bullet
Funny thing, I'd listened to the song dozens of times before ever reading the lyrics in print and I'd misheard the lines You see her olives/They are all cold pressed as You see her olives/They are all cobras, so I incorporated that into the story. The main character sleeps in a pantry snuggling cans on Cold Pressed Olives, and she tells her father that, "Momma says the olives is cobras, but I don't reckon it so."
Someday I'll post an online version of this that is more readable, but this is it for now. If you like what you see, buy the book, it's worth it.
Publisher: Image Comics
Editor/Art Director: Rantz Hoseley
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Editorial illustration for a news story on the dangers of Mount Rainier. Sorry Seattle.
Client: Seattle Weekly
Art Director: Karen Steichen
Full page interior illustrations for Black Gate magazine.
Editor/Art Director: John O'Neill
I'll be posting bits and pieces of this one as I go. It might take a while.
Full page illustration for the anime inspired RPG game EXALTED.
Ink on paper
Client: White Wolf Publishing
I was once asked if I'd like to draw an issue of the Dark Horse comic book series Xena: Warrior Princess. Unfortunately I had to have my drawings of Xena and Gabrielle approved by the actresses (Lucy Lawless & Renee O'Connor) who played them on the TV show.
While the Xena drawings went smoothly, at the time I was unable to produce a satisfying likeness of Gabrielle, so the project went no further.
Oh, the Gabrielle sketches? Let me check, they must be around here somewhere...
I was commissioned by the organizer of a gaming convention to produce art for a limited edition print that would be given away at the con.
The image is of a popular vampire character from the multiplayer collectible card game Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, enjoying (with the help of copious amounts of sunscreen) an afternoon in Southern California, where the convention took place.
For personal reasons my fellow illustrator Joshua Timbrook was unable to finish his work on the 20th Anniversary Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade (aka V20) so I was asked to step in and turn his line art into finished color pieces.
Coloring other people's work is something I rarely do, but it's refreshing to occasionally step out of my own head for awhile.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
Commissioned T-shirt design for a bicycling event in Bozeman Montana.
I have only a vague memory of this cover likening college recruiters to zombies, because the art director did the sketch for me and all I had to do was draw it. Brains!
In the end he also lightened up my colors a bit for print, which was probably for the best, as it was intended to be humorous, not an *actual zombie* cover.
Client: Boston's Weekly Dig
Art Direction & Cover Design: Tak Toyoshima
Character illustrations for the book Tome of Horrors.
Client: Sword & Sorcery Studios
Art Director: Mike Chaney
I grew up reading The Savage Sword of Conan magazine in the 1970s and 80s, illustrated by such comic book greats as Barry Windsor Smith and John Buscema.
So for fun, sometime around 2005, I decided to try my hand at a short "silent" black & white Conan story.
It's a little more cartoony than I'd do it now, but otherwise I'm quite happy with it.
This was a special promo-only card for the multiplayer collectible card game Vampire: the Eternal Struggle. Apparently you had to attend an official tournament in order to get one.
It was also the first time I began experimenting with a new illustration style, digitally coloring heavily rendered pencil drawings.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Mike Chaney
My good friend Alex Sheikman asked me if I'd like to illustrate and letter a short back-up story for his comic book series Robotika. I of course said yes, and was pleasantly surprised at how well Alex had packed a fun scifi romp into only six pages, especially given that it was his first script written for another person to draw.
Here is the story in it's entirety, which has been collected along with the rest of the Robotika series into two hardcover graphic novels published by Archaia Studios Press.
Privately commissioned drawings of medieval fantasy arms & armor.
Pencil on paper.
I was never particularly happy with my work on this cover, the face being distractingly cartoony. But I do like the old fashioned diner check and the slightly greasy bag. As usual art director Tak Toyoshima drew up a sketch making my job much easier.
Client: Boston's Weekly Dig
Book illustrations for the superhero RPG game Ultimate Power.
Client: Green Ronin Publishing
Art Director: Hal Mangold
Privately commissioned drawings. Pencil on paper.
Dragon illustration intended to serve as both a logo and a tea cup design.
Client: Dragon Pearl Teas
Art Director: Dave Dahl
Character design and coat of arms for children's computer game.
Client: Digi-Films
Art Director: Laurnette Sanks
Concept art for the Australian video game company Infinite Interactive.
In 2005 I was hired to work in-house for a few months on a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style animated movie commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security. The 300+ page script was intended as an elaborate training video to help fire and rescue teams coordinate their efforts in the event of a terrorist attack.
The problem was that Visual Purple was almost entirely populated by programmers and lacked visual artists and storytellers to bring the script to fruition. So first they hired Hollywood movie editor Jack Hofstra, and then Hofstra insisted they hire me.
I worked closely with the programmers designing locations that kept the number of digital polygon (or "pollies" as they called them) down and within budget.
Then I moved on to storyboarding the labyrinthine script, which sprouted two or more narrative paths each time a character made a critical decisions. While I knew how to do storyboards the usual way, I had to elaborate and clarify certain things as I went, since I was mostly working with non-movie folk.
This is a small selection of the work I did on the project.
Animatics for three PBS Kids short films:
Dishwasher, Trombone, and Pop Quiz.
Client: Curious Pictures
Art Director: Michael Hogan
My logo sketch for a proposed comic book series that, although an initial script was written, didn't go much further. The writer and I couldn't even agree on whether it should be called Number One Assassin or Assassin Number One, which wasn't a good sign. Obviously I preferred the latter.
This may or may not have been drawn on a cocktail napkin.
I usually shy away from political flavored illustration work, but when this offer to do a MAD Magazine-style "fold-in" newspaper cover came along, I couldn't resist.
Back in 2006 right-wing Senator Rick Santorum was campaigning his way through the small towns and farming communities of central Pennsylvania, while giving less attention to the East side (Philadelphia) and the West side (Pittsburgh) of the Keystone State.
This cover of the Pittsburgh City Paper hypothesized that it's because Pennsylvania is both a "red state" (in the middle) and a "blue state" (at it's urban edges). To show this, I was hired to create an illustration of Santorum and a couple of his fictional small-town supporters which, when folded as directed, will disappear leaving only a blue map of the state.
This was a follow up to the Grand Theft Auto spoof I did for the City Paper the previous Winter, which had its own unique twist. And like that cover, I only had a couple of days to get this one right. I accepted the job on a Friday and the final art was sent off the following Monday after an early morning hailstorm of revisions.
Soon after I received an "unfolded" thank you from City Paper Art Director Lisa Cunningham, regarding the difficulty of putting this together on such short notice. You're welcome!
And just in case you've never seen one of the old MAD fold-ins, I'll leave you with one by the great Al Jaffe.
Illustrations for the cold war era RPG volume Classic Spycraft: 1960s Decade Book.
I liked the historical flavor, wish I'd pushed the realism further. Khrushchev banging his shoe at the UN General Assembly was particularly fun to draw.
Client: Alderac Entertainment Group
Privately commissioned drawings. Pencil on paper.
At one time I apparently wanted to get a gig drawing the teen superhero comic book Gen13 - don't ask me why, I couldn't tell you - so I did these samples pages.
I never did draw any published Gen13 stories but the samples did, as is often the case, earn me other work.
Location illustrations for privately commissioned fantasy board game.
Privately commissioned drawings. Pencil on paper.
I was contracted to draw a couple sample pages for the graphic novel version of Anthony Horowitz's Stormbreaker. Ultimately the publisher (Penguin Books) went with what they considered at the time to be a more YA friendly Ameri-Manga style.
Art Director: Bob Harras
My illustrations for Werewolf: The Apocalypse's sourcebook HAMMER & KLAIVE, published in 2003.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My illustrations for the Werewolf: The Apocalypse RPG Tribe Book: SILENT STRIDERS, published in 2003.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My portrait illustrations for Vampire: The Masquerade's Clanbook GANGREL, published in 2000.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My pen & ink illustrations for DEAD MAGIC: SECRETS AND SURVIVORS, a Tome of Lost Cultures and Civilizations for Mage: The Ascension, published in 2002.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My illustrations for Werewolf: The Apocalypse's BOOK OF THE CITY, published in 2002.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My art for Revised Edition of Mage: The Ascension's EUTHANATOS Tradition Book, published in 2002.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My illustrations for the book DARK AGES MAGE, published in 2002.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Becky Jollensten
My art from Mage: The Ascension's BOOK OF MADNESS, published in 2001.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My character illustrations for Vampire: The Masquerade's Clanbook: TZIMISCE, published in 2000.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My Clanbook: NOSFERATU portraits for Vampire: The Masquerade, published in 2000.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My full-page illustrations from Vampire: The Masquerade's gallery of characters CHILDEN OF THE NIGHT, published in 1999.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My pen & ink illustrations for Hunter: The Reckoning's SURIVIAL GUIDE, published in 1999.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My illustrations for the Aeon/Trinity book LUNAR RISING, published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1998.
My illustrations for Vampire: The Masquerade's GUIDE TO THE SABBAT, published in 1999 by White Wolf Game Studio.
Page illustration from book Aberrant, part of the Trinity Universe role playing games.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
Between 1994 and 1998 I earned a steady stream of work in comics. By the time I did this story I felt like I actually knew what I was doing, and it still remains one of my favorite pieces of published work.
Unfortunately in order for me to maintain the consistency and quality of comic book art I demanded of myself, I needed increasingly longer deadlines.
But comics don't pay enough to spend weeks or even months on a single short story or issue, so I had to move on to full-time illustration and concept art to pay the bills. And my comic work from 1998 onward became increasingly infrequent until it ended in 2008 with my Little Amsterdam story in Comic Book Tattoo.
I'd love to do comics again someday if the timing, project, and financial aspects are in alignment. Until them I'm focusing on doing the best illustration work I can, which is fulfilling in it's own way, but still not quite the same as this wonderful graphic storytelling medium.
Demon Hunter Crossing was published as an eight page glossy introduction to the RPG book Demon Hunter X, part of the Kindred of the East branch of White Wolf's World of Darkness universe.
The entire book, including this comic was written by novelist James A. Moore, and the book cover was painted by comic wiz Duncan Fegredo.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Larry Snelly
My illustrations for the book KINDRED OF THE EAST, published in 1997.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Larry Snelly
In 1997 I drew the 16 page story "Elder Gods" published in ALIENS: SPECIAL. It was about an HP Lovecraft cult living on a distant mining planet that unearths a statue of an Alien queen. Written by Nancy A. Collins, inked by John Stokes, ans lettered by Clem Robins.
Client: Dark Horse Comics
Editor: Scott Allie
My illustrations for the Changeling: The Dreaming Kithbook: SATYRS, published in 1998.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Aileen Miles
My interior illustrations for the 2nd Edition of the MAGE: THE ASCENSION core rulebook, published in 1996.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My illustrations for the Vampire: The Masquerade Black Dog game book MONREAL BY NIGHT, published in 1996.
WARNING: Features at least one disturbing image, viewer discretion is advised!
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Larry Snelly
My full page art for the World of Darkness book MIDNIGHT CIRCUS, published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1996.
My full page art for the World of Darkness / Vampire: The Masquerade Clanbook LASOMBRA, published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1996.
My cover art for the Changeling: The Dreaming book FREEHOLD AND HIDDEN GLENS, published in 1995.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Directors: Aileen Miles & Larry Snelly
My illustration work for the World of Darkness book VAMPIRE: THE DARK AGES, published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1995.
My pop-up character art for the collectible card game Arcadia: The Wyld Hunt, published in 1995.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Larry Snelly
My full-page illustrations for the Vampire: The Masquerade city sourcebook DC BY NIGHT, published in 1995.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
My full page art for the World of Darkness / Vampire: the Masquerade book DIRTY SECRETS OF THE BLACK HAND, published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1995.
My full page art for the book ELYSIUM: THE ELDER WARS, published in 1994.
Client: White Wolf Publishing
Art Director: Richard Thomas
Back cover illustration from my 1994 vampire comic book series Blood & Kisses, one of my earliest published works.
I may at some point post the entire Blood & Kisses series here, but for now this is it.
