I’m starting to work on and off on the Uncanny Man-frog again. He was my first published comic book hero, way back when I was like 24. I’ve re-magined him. Showed the new design to a friend of mine. He thinks the new Man-frog is SWELL! No actually he thinks it stinks! What do you think? I mean, compared with the original.
Silver Surfer
Behold…. The Silver Surfer! One of the coolest things about being a cartoonist is having friends that are also cartoonists! Such as my pal Bruce McCorkindale. Bruce is not only the inker on one of the hottest selling comics going, Godzilla, but also the mastermind behind these classic comic cover recreations! These unique pieces of art are so cool I ended up buying two……
Everyone who knows me, knows I’m a huge Batman fan, so I had to have this one.
Now everyone that visits me will know, ’cause it’s hanging on the living room wall!
When he can find them, Bruce works off of photocopies of the penciler’s work. So for instance, on a Fantastic Four cover, it’s Kirby/McCorkindale instead of Kirby/Sinnott
Bruce even adds the printers marks, such as the registration marks and notes along the edge. I prefer to crop them out with the matt boards.
Bruce McCorkindale
If you’re interested in having Bruce recreate one or two of your favorite old comic covers , let me know. I think his rules are it has to be one from the 1970′s or older and the illustrator has to be deceased.
My good friend, Bruce McCorkindale asked me to do the layouts for a comic project he was working on called 50 Girls 50. He would then proceed to pencil and ink the final pages. He knows layouts are my favorite thing to do, comics wise. This book was loaded with spaceships, monsters and girls, so how could I resist?
I did some photo research before designing the monster. I could have just made the whole thing up, but researching nature and riffing off other peoples ideas punches up your work. Such research or ,”scrapping out” illustrations, used to require keeping “morgues”, file cabinets full of meticulously organized photos clipped from books and magazines. I also had a stack of National Geographic Magazines and made frequent trips to the library. But now it’s a snap. Google Image searches and visits to GettyImages.com make you an expert in anything!
These are done small, 7.5″ X 5 “
Laying out comics is akin to directing movies. You have to think about the setting, the time of day, direction of light, what the characters look like and who they are, camera angles, and where to crop. All this must serve the story. Each panel must take place at a critical point in time. For instance, if the story requires one character to punch another: Do you show the actual punch? Maybe it’s better to show just a fraction of a second afterwards, with the punched character reeling and his tooth sailing through the air. At any rate it’s a challenging mental excercise. Plus, while doing so you have to keep in mind anatomy, perspective, how clothes wrinkle etc !! It’s tough, but it’s FUN!
Working out the perspective on the ship. Hmmm I think Bruce drew this one. Below are some detailed pencils, I did, of some of the key figures.
