Everybody Dies: an Interactive Fiction Game

Nerd Confession Time: ever since I was a teen, I've been a huge fan of text-adventure games, or interactive fiction (to use the high-brow term).  Those who were computer geeks like me in the 80's will know what I'm talking about and might even remember games like Zork, Planetfall or the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy (all made by that classic interactive fiction company, Infocom).  

Anyway, I still play those kinds of games today and when my buddy Jim Munroe asked me to draw some illustrations as part of his new text-adventure game, Everybody Dies, I was thrilled.  My schedule at the time was jam packed, but there was no way I was going to miss out on the opportunity to get my name in the credits of something like that!

Originally, I was asked to draw 3 small illustrations, but that quickly morphed into 16 full drawings, which is a pretty sizable amount.  But after I played through a rough beta version of the game, I was totally stoked and wanted to deliver the best job possible.  Jim is a professional writer of some repute, and he crafted a game that was refreshingly original and hilarious.  

After the game was completed, it was entered in the annual Interactive Fiction Competition (a cool nerdy event all on its own) and we were delighted to find out that it won 3rd place.  The credit really goes to Jim, since he had the hard task of writing and programming it, but I was very happy to contribute.

So all this is preamble to me explaining where the illustrations at the top of this post are from, since they are 2 of the 16 drawings I created for the game.  These two feature two of the characters from the game, Graham and Lisa.   You can check below to see the pencil roughs for those illos.

The best part though is that if you want to play Everybody Dies and check it out for yourself, its completely free.  You can play it online at this link (using Javascript), or  download various Mac or Windows versions to play offline.  Give it a try, if you've got the time -- Jim's writing is a real treat.

P.S. for the record, my favourite Interactive Fiction games of all time are Sorcerer, The Lurking Horror and Infidel, all by Infocom.   I even played them again just a couple of years ago.  There -- taste my nerdiness.

Toronto Back Alleys pt. 16

Another night time sketch of an back alley in my neighbourhood.  I'm still experimenting, but getting a bit closer to the look I'm aiming for.  Like the last one, this was also done small, in ink and thinned-out gouache.

Toronto Back Alleys pt. 15

This one's more of a quick test sketch, trying to capture that summer night, orange streetlamp glow. It was drawn smaller than the others, in ink and thinned gouache.

I'm Voting for...

My wife and I came up with this bumper sticker idea, combining our two ideal candidates for the upcoming US elections.  It's just a bit of fun, really, but I get a real kick out of imagining what a Conan/Swamp Thing administration would be like.  I figure national security wouldn't be a problem (who'd wanna mess with an axe wielding barbarian?) and environmental issues would definitely take center stage.  Hell, even the current financial mess in the US would probably benefit -- you could imagine President Conan meeting with Wall Street heads and scowling, "Crom!  You're all thieves!  You should all be strung up by your fat necks!".

If you like these candidates, I suggest you download the image and print it up on your own sticker paper to paste on a car nearest you. It beats supporting the Nader/Thulsa Doom ticket!

Special thanks to my wife, Claudia, for her great type treatment on this one.  

Now in all seriousness, I won't insult your intelligence by asking you not to write these fictional characters in on your ballot.  I will suggest though, that if you don't want another 4 years of divisive politics, pointless wars or hateful muslim-bating and fear mongering --  then go out and vote for Obama/Biden on November 4th.   

This is why I don't do caricatures

I admit it -- I'm lousy at drawing caricatures.  Like, epic fail lousy.  In the old days, when I'd get illustration assignments to draw someone famous, I'd immediately break into a sweat.  Especially if it was someone who wasn't that easy to draw in the first place.  Most conventionally good-looking hollywood types fit that category -- they're so bland they're impossible for someone like me to draw.    I remember a terrible likeness of Britney Spears I drew once, where she looked more like Madonna than Britney.  God forbid that someone should ever ask me to draw Charlize Theron, you know?

Anyway, these days, I usually turn down assignments where I'm asked to caricaturize someone.  I leave that for the pros.  But to give you an idea how bad I am, take a look at a couple of old illustrations I did for Canadian Business Magazine.  These two were drawn several years ago, but I still cringe when I see them.

First up is Bill Gates as a tupperware saleslady (don't ask, just buy it). Honestly, this one's so bad I had to put a frikkin nametag on him just to sell the likeness!

Next is that lovable cutie-pie, Alan Greenspan -- the big financial muckity-muck.  I think this one's a bit better, but its still pretty stiff.

Age of the Sentry Issue #2

I posted earlier about a 10 page story I drew for Marvel's Age of the Sentry comic, and now that it's on the stands, I thought I'd post a couple pages of artwork from it. So here it is in good old black and white, free of word balloons or colour! If you're stopping by your local comic shop this week (they still have comic shops, right?) go check it out on the racks for yourself. It features a ton of guest stars from the glorious silver age of Marvel Comics, including many of my all-time favourite superheroes. And if you buy it, I recommend reading it while munching on some vintage hostess cupcakes...er...actually, maybe not. Those cakes are probably like, really moldy by now.

X-men First Class!

Sorry for the long delay in posting, folks. I've just been very tied up with work and family lately and my poor blog is getting neglected (geez, I say that so often its getting to be a broken record). Anyway, one of my recent fun assignments was a 5 page story I drew for Marvel's X-men First Class comic. It's for their upcoming Halloween Special, which should come out in (duh) October. The writer of XFC, jazzy Jeff Parker, was gracious enough to let me draw something for his book and even let me draw it in my regular two-tone style, which was a real treat. Aside from being a fun sci-fi-homage-based script, the story was also special to me as it was an opportunity to draw Cyclops -- my all time favourite X-man (I'm not kidding, as you can see here).

I've drawn the original X-men before, as a poster, but you can check out page 1 of this story above and let me know what you think.

Fan Expo 2008...is over

Yep, Fan Expo 2008 is over...and now I'm both buzzed and exhausted. As I mentioned, it was my first time at this event, and it was a great time. I arrived at my table at artists alley on Friday afternoon, and was really surprised at how many people immediately hit me up for sketches. I didn't even have time to set up properly before I had a half-dozen sketch requests. By end of Friday, my list was way too long, and I had to stop taking any more requests -- or else I'd have to get some kind of cybernetic drawing arm (hmm...bet I could have found one at the con). Needless to say, I spent the rest of the weekend getting through them all, so I didn't really get a chance to walk the floor or check out the con much until late Sunday afternoon! For most of the con, all I saw was my table, the washroom, and the coffee stall. Luckily, the coffee was good and strong.

As well, it was great seeing and meeting some other artists who's work I know, but have never met, or with whom I've shared emails, but never had a chance to hang out with face to face. Like Eric Talbot, who is one supremely talented guy, and who was really great to chat with for the few minutes that we both got a chance to leave our tables. Same for Michael Choi -- who was really sweet to meet. We often get mistaken for each other at these things (or Frank Cho, or Brandon Choi), so I think it'd be great if one day all of us Korean comic artists could share a table together -- and cause some kind of matter/anti-matter explosion! And as is usual at these local cons, my tablemates like Scott Hepburn, Ramon Perez and Ray Fawkes made the experience as enjoyable as possible.

Anyway, my thanks to everyone who stopped by to buy a print, or some artwork or just to chat. Meeting and shooting the breeze with comic fans is always a highlight of any con I attend, and this one was no different. Comic fans come diverse, and there's a huge range of interests, which I enjoy hearing about. For the folks who drove in for hours from out of town -- I'm really flattered you stopped by the table for a bit. And of course, my apologies to anyone who's sketch requests I had to turn away -- honestly, I just can't draw any faster! I hope you'll look me up at a smaller event around town so I can make it up to you.

And luckily this time around, I had an opportunity to scan a few sketches before I gave them to the owners, so here's a small sampling of the 20 or so drawings did over the weekend:




I drew this Captain America one for a fellow who never picked it up. Even though those "secret invasion" covers are murder to draw on (they're glossy so they make my markers streak and take a while to dry), I kinda like the sketch, so maybe I'll keep it or sell it at another con in the future:



Same for this Wonder Woman one -- though the person who wanted this one paid me in advance. If you're the person who asked for this one, please email me and we'll work out some kind of delivery:

Fan Expo 2008

I'll be appearing this weekend (August 22 - 24th) at Fan Expo, here in sunny Toronto. It's actually my first time at this convention, so I'm really not sure what to expect. I keep hearing though that its the biggest comic-con in Canada, so in my mind I'm picturing a smaller, kinder and gentler version of the San Diego comic-con . I'll be seated with the rest of the Transmission-x gang, selling prints and doing sketches for any attendees who want to purchase one.

When I first started attending cons like this a couple of years ago, I used to be petrified of doing sketches on the spot. After all, I'm used to working in the privacy and comfort of my studio, listening to my itunes or a with a TV playing in the background. I thought sketching at cons would be a horrible experience, but I quickly found out the reverse was true. I enjoy talking and goofing around with comic fans, and I quickly realized I had an innate ability to carry on a conversation while drawing a picture of Wolverine fighting Iron Man (trust me, its a totally necessary skill). I've also found it really pleasant to see some fans over and over again, and catch up with what they're doing in their lives. All in all, my con sketching experience has been pretty positive and I'm very thankful about that.

Now, if you're wondering what kind of sketches I do at events, you can check below for a sampling of drawings I've done for people over the last year or two. Bear in mind though that there's one cardinal rule about con sketches: the very best ones never make it online, and the worst ones always get the most exposure. So the cool Joker or Creeper drawing I did that I was really proud of will probably never be seen, while the horrible Captain America I busted out for free at the end of the night will get viewed by everyone. That's just the way it rolls in sketchland!

Special thanks to everyone who's sketches are posted here. Sorry I didn't contact you first for permission -- I really really hope you won't mind.

The Sentry

Here's a few sketches from a fun comic project I'm working on that I'm pretty excited about. Its for a new mini-series featuring the Marvel Super-hero, the Sentry! I was asked to ink the cover to issue #1, which was drawn by dashing Dave Bullock, and that lead to me drawing a 10 page story for issue #2. When I got the script by the talented Paul Tobin, I almost flipped out, as it featured pretty much everything and everyone I'd ever wanted to draw in a super-hero story! I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say that I'm drawing it right now, and I'm really jazzed about working on it.

Above are a few of my warm-up sketches of the Sentry, and below is the inked cover to issue #1, penciled by Dave Bullock and inked by yours truely.

T.S. Eliot

This one's a commission request I did last weekend during the Paradise Comic Con. The owner of this piece is Steven Gettis, who has amassed an amazing collection of drawings of literary figures by illustrators. He also owns another piece by me, from my very very early years so its hilarious to see the evolution of my artwork.

His collection really is incredible, and you can see why being given the freedom to draw whatever author or character the illustrator wanted inspired the very best work from the artists. I know it was a pleasure for me to draw my piece.

Papercut: "Waiting." (part 5)

Wow...long time between posts! Sorry about the delays in updating my blog, folks. All I can say is the usual -- deadlines, deadlines, deadlines, blah blah blah. I know its summer, but dang if I ain't retardedly busy lately. Its kinda sad, really -- every summer I tell myself "this is the year I'm finally gonna try and work less in the summer and get out more", and every summer I end up parked behind my drawing table, working feverishly away and watching the beautiful weather pass by in front of my window.

Since my last post, I've been busy with a lot of illustration assignments and events. I attended the 2008 National Magazine Awards, where my short comic "Stars" won the silver medal in the "words and pictures" category. The event was held at the swanky Carlu in Toronto, and was a swell time for me and my wife. I also made an appearance at the Paradise Toronto Comiccon last weekend, where I got to meet up with a lot of great comic fans and did a bunch of sketches too.

Apart from that, I've also finished up the conclusion of my latest comic story for my webcomic, Papercut. It's a 29 pager in total, and you can read it online from the beginning here. The page at the top of this post is from the conclusion of the story.

Now I've got to get back to the drawing board, but I'll be back soon to post more stuff on here -- honest!

Doctor Fate meets Doctor Strange

Ok, I drew this for a commission that was really, really late. I was asked to draw Doctor Fate, and threw in Doctor Strange as well, 'cause I thought they'd make a cool combo. I grew up reading those Ditko Dr Strange comics (and need I say I loved them?), but I never really read anything with Doctor Fate until about a year ago when my buddy, Steve Manale, pointed out the original golden age stories featuring the bell-headed guy. Steve is rarely wrong about his comic recommendations and he was certainly on the money in this case. The original Doctor Fate stories from the 1940's by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman are pure gold.

Fox was apparently just a teen when he wrote them, and hadn't yet descended into the lower circles of demented hackery he'd hit by the time he got to the silver age DC heroes in the 1960's (I swear, that man's later work is unreadable). He filled those early stories with a kind of schoolboy-meets-lovecraft vibe that's really charming in its primitivism. And Howard Sherman's art was my kind of crazy -- bizarre and yet possessing a strange logic and accidental beauty all its own. The stuff just crackles with the raw energy found in the best golden-age comics.

Anyway, for those interested, you can check out the Doctor Fate Archives hardcover collection from DC and see for yourself. And if you want to check out my rough pencil sketch for this drawing, you can do so by pointing your eyes just a little lower.

The Last Son of Krypton

Here's another superhero themed drawing, this one of the first (and most famous) superhero: Superman!

I drew this one up as my contribution to the upcoming "Visions of an Icon" art exhibition, which will feature tons of drawings of Kal-El (that's his Kryptonian name -- I know this because I'm geeky) by canadian illustrators and comic artists. All the drawings in the show, including mine, will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the Shuster Awards -- the canadian comic creator awards named after Superman co-creator Joe Shuster.

I have to admit this one was pretty quick and fun to draw -- I drew the thumbnail sketch shown below really quickly, like in 20 minutes or so, and did only the most minor tweaks to it on the way to the final art. The biggest change was that I went with green as my tone-colour -- mainly because my wife noted that green fit the krypton/kryptonite connection.

Mind you, I do have a tendency to go with green anyway...

Incidentally, I got the inspiration for the composition of this drawing from a non-superman related source. There's a very famous Will Eisner Spirit story called, I think, "the Visitor" or something like that, with a great splash page featuring a portrait of the Spirit framed inside a planet. I remember seeing that page when I was about 14 or 15 years old and staring at it for a long time, just absorbed in the beauty and mood of that piece. I was thinking again of that splash page and the kind of atmosphere it evoked when I came up with the thumbnail.

Papercut: "Waiting." (part 3)

Part 3 of my story "waiting" is now online at my webcomic Papercut. As frequent visitors to my blog might know, Papercut is part of the Transmission-X group of webcomics, all created and owned by a talented group of Toronto based cartoonists. Well, except Karl Kershl's Abominable Charles Christopher -- Karl moved away to Montreal a few months back, and we sorely miss him.

Anyway, I hope you'll check out the site and read the story for yourselves. For those interested, and in keeping with my regular posting trend, you can examine the process from thumbnail to finished art for the page below:

The Incredible Hulk (and Rick Jones)

I drew this up for a toronto comic-con, and the assigned theme was (duh!) the Incredible Hulk.  A few of us Toronto comic artists were doing Hulk images for it, kinda like a "Hulk thru the years" thing, and I chose to draw original Jack Kirby designed Hulk.  The final artwork is meant to fit on a badge, so it'll be printed really really small, like 2" x 2" or so.  And of course, my usual green-toned drawing style was a natural fit for the subject.

Now, for something that's so small, I actually went through a bit of a process coming up with the final art.  A failed thumbnail, a couple of revisions and a helpful critique from fellow artist Ron Salas were all part of the journey to the finished piece.  But even though it might look like it was labour intensive, the whole thing took probably about 3 or 4 hours in total.  If you're interested in the process, you can check out my various sketches below:

Taddle Creek magazine cover

Taddle Creek is a local literary magazine which was kind enough to run one of my comics years ago as their very first comic feature.  Since then, I've drawn a few other comics for them, and have always enjoyed the experience.  A couple of months ago the editor, Conan Tobias, approached me with the idea of having me do a cover for them which was very flattering.  I always like the freedom Conan gives me to do whatever I want, and this case was no different.  So, of course, I had a great time working on this image.  

The concept was easy enough, and came to me in an inspired moment, and I knocked out a sketch and colour rough over the course of a couple hours.  The final itself also came together nicely, without any real problems.   I usually prefer to work on drawings with this kind of vibe really late at night, while listening to music on my headphones.  I like it when my whole downtown neighbourhood is quiet and I can just lose track of time while drawing. 

For those who are interested, you can check out some steps of my process toward the final below.  I actually did a really quick marker drawing before the thumbnail pencil, but it was so dodgy I decided to not even scan it.  The colour rough was what made the whole thing work for me.  Once I drew that one, I knew the final piece would work out fine.

Papercut: "Waiting." (part 2)

My latest installment of my webcomic Papercut is now online at Transmission-x. It's the second part of "Waiting", a 30 page story, which I'm serializing over the course of a few months. I was actually quite late with this update, as I meant to post it last month, but due to illness and deadlines, I was very delayed and it had to wait until just a few days ago. Hopefully, some of you will visit the site and check it out.

And, of course, if you're interested, you can check out the process from rough thumbnail to final art for the page below.

Also, in related news, Papercut has been nominated for a Shuster Award (the award for Canadian comics creators). It's been nominated under the "outstanding webcomic" category, along with fellow Transmission-X creators Cameron Stewart (for Sin Titulo), Karl Kershl (for the Abominable Charles Christopher), Ramon Perez (for both Kukuburi and Butternut Squash co-written by Rob Coughler) and Scott Hepburn (for The Port). The other nominees in the category are Gisele Lagace (for Penny and Aggie), Scott Ransoomer (for Vg Cats) and Ryan Shomer and Lar De Souza (for Least I Could Do).  

All of those are great comics, but I find it particularly flattering that of the 8 nominees, 5 of them are from our own Transmission-X collective!

Illustration Work: Karnhuset (part 5)

Here's another in a series of portraits I drew for the swedish agency, Karnhuset. Like the others, this one is a portrait of one of their employees, and I was again asked to try and draw the person engaged in a favourite hobby. In this case, it was (duh) golfing. I enjoyed the opportunity to try and capture some motion and life in the pose, and it was a fun assignment (much like the other ones). You can also check out my preliminary pencil and colour rough below, drawn before I had a good grasp of the likeness needed for the portrait.

If you're interested in my other illustrations drawn for Karnhuset. you can check them out here, here, here and here.