Comic book art update THE SLEEP

Wondering why I haven't posted much recently? well, THE SLEEP.

No, I haven't been sleeping but I've been working on a comic book project with writer Stephen Tramontana titled The SLEEP. It's been a bit top secret so I've had to keep it under wraps.

The project has been an incredible journey as I've brought Stephen's fantastic script to the comic book page. I can't really say much about the project as it is still in production and I don't want to spoil anything but I can tell you it is exciting, fun and a little creepy, too.

Stephen Tramontana has been a joy to work with and is an incredible writer with some big story visions, a great collaborator who has given me freedom to explore his story visually and just an overall nice guy. You can follow him on Twitter @Trama80.

JM Rinquet color work has blown me away and is a perfect match for the world of THE SLEEP and sets a great mood and tone. I love the texture that he adds to the pages. I am very happy to be working with him.

Here are a few pages showing the transition from pencils and inks and ink washes (by yours truly) to awesome colors by JM Rinquethttp://jmringuet.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoy and I can't wait to share more about THE SLEEP.

Monster Bowl - Sequential Pages

These are sequential pages I penciled, inked, lettered and colored (except page 1 colored by Gerald Novoa Sheppard) for the website rocketgalaxycomics.com. Check out their website to see the final lettered pages and follow along with this story.

The story is written by Andre Bedward and Geoffrey Carter and they do a great job coming up with fun, interesting concepts that tie into sports and sports culture.

cover samples

Here are 2 cover samples - the Spidey / Ms Marvel would be a cover tying into the interior pages (see previous post) and the Avengers cover is just practice of a "group" shot of heroes.

spiderman sequential pages

captain america sequential pages

Pen and ink (brush pen and technical pens)

Drawings for my son

These are the drawings from a little story book I made for Jack. It's about a squirrel playing with his toys. Inked with a combination of technical pens and a Pentel pocket brush then water colors were applied. All done traditionally which was a lot of fun.

Kid Friendly

I'm working on more of a "Kid Friendly", cleaner lines, cartoony style.
This is a drawing I did at lunch Monday with a pencil and the ever present ball point pen. I went home and colored it "old school" with colored pencils, then scanned it and did a second version to look like an old, folded photo.

Now that I'm a dad I find myself drawing characters and scenes that my son will recognize and
that we can use for "story time" to help him understand his world. This one in particular is just a practice piece to work on style but I'm sure I'll use it as a fun learning tool for some type of lesson. Maybe something like..."See the daddy holding the baby and the diaper bag? See the girl standing beside the daddy? See their shoes? They put their shoes on before they walk to see the ducks."

I'm learning that kids LOVE to hear stories and they become great moments to teach and reinforce things they need to learn. Heck, I love to hear stories. Narrative is so important and we cannot lose it.

Life is all about always learning, huh?