"Nighttime secrets"

A doodle from one of my sketchbooks.

Doodle on my new Wacom tablet

As an artist, I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I've only had a mouse for my computer these many years. I finally broke down and got a very cheap Wacom tablet. Nothing fancy, just a "Bamboo". I doodled something that recently occurred to me. When we consider people attractive, we take a portrait of their heads, don't we?

My blog. And a drawing.

After I finished my last Halo and Sprocket collection, I'd thought it'd be fun to try my hand at blogging for a year. I had no purpose in mind, I wanted to do it just for kicks & grins. Well, I've had my kicks & grins and now it's time to stop my regular, Monday entries and concentrate on my next comic project.

I'll still be posting, but it's about to become more random.

That being said, here's a sketch I cleaned up a bit for posting. I've always thought it would be fun to present Halo & Sprocket as if other artists had created them. I still might eventually do it. Here's a taste...

Verily, if you don't read comics, you won't understand this doodle.

Spider-Man Tablecloth Art

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite pieces of art in my possession. A Spider-Man sketch by John Byrne and Mark Bagley on a piece of textured, plastic tablecover. It was a gift from friend Anna-Maria Cool.

Anna-Maria was a guest at DragonCon back in 1997. She had recently stopped drawing Barbie comics for Marvel and was currently drawing Elvira for Claypool. At some point, Mr. Byrne scribbled a ballpoint pen drawing on the table to Mr. Bagley, who then inked it with a Sharpie.

I love the fact that it's a spontaneous drawing done only for fun!

Click on the image below to clearly see the texture of the plastic tablecover. It's one of the things that make it cool.

While I'm sharing art, I'll also post some of Anna-Maria's work. This piece, which is framed and hanging on my wall, is from the profusely illustrated novel Toto of Oz, written by Gina Wickwar. Besides the beautiful illustration, I love how quirky it is as a single piece of art, taken out of context.

Okay, I can't let just one (quirky) piece of Anna-Maria's art represent her work. I'll scan in another, from the same book.

Wow, this post is all over the place with art images. Here's another one. My version of Anna-Maria herself, from Halo and Sprocket: Welcome to Humanity.

Okay. I'm done.

The edited version

Been really busy lately . Haven't had time to think, draw, or such.

Well, okay, I did find time to do this...

Frank Miller draws my character

Well, back in 1980. I was a fan at the Chicago Comic Convention (was that the name of it?) and was hoping I could get a drawing from John Byrne. The crowd was too dense around him and I never got close enough to ask. At least I think that was the case. My memory's a little vague about it. I do remember however that Frank Miller was sitting by himself with no one around him. He had just recently become the penciler on Daredevil. I had a portfolio of drawings and asked him if he would do a drawing of a character I had created. He was charging $15 a sketch. The results are above. (Yes, as a teenager, I was a fan of Batman and Iron Fist. Why do you ask?)

At the same convention, Joe Rubenstein inked a panel on a page I had penciled featuring a What If idea I had where Spider-Man retained his four extra arms. Seen here.

By the way, the first comic job I ever had was writing and drawing a story for DC's Talent Showcase # 18 in 1985. You may recognize the character from earlier in this post..!