It’s time for random thoughts Monday, my time to rattle off whatever is on my mind.  Lucky you!

Dungeons & Dragons Version 4:  Man, I was deeply, deeply tempted to buy these today.  They looked so cool, and the rules just look like they seriously rock!  The new character classes…  New races…  Easily customizable monsters…  Oh man, I wanted it bad.  But, sometimes you have to let the past just stay in the past.  At $104 bucks, I just can’t buy it for a group that can only get together a couple times a year these days.  Getting old sucks.

The Umbrella Academy: This looks cool, but I haven’t read it yet.  Grant Morrison wrote the intro, so has to be at least somewhat cool, eh?  I’m looking forward to it.

Fire From the Sky: I had never seen this UFO movie, and it wasn’t bad.  I like Robert Patrick, and he was fine in it.  I give it a workmanlike “B-.”

Mothman Prophesies: This movie was wonderful!  So dark, dreamlike, and moody.  So damn creepy, so sad.  It’s a tale of sad, lost people in a gray, sorrowful world, and I loved it!  It was very artfully done, and Richard Gere proved once again that he is just a great actor.  I award it an “A.”

The Art of John Howe: I found this in a clearance bin for about $9 bucks.  What’s wrong with people?  Why didn’t they buy it up?  One of the great fantasy artists ever!  He’s right up there with greats like Howard Pyle, Frank Frazetta, the Hildebrandt brothers, and Alan Lee, among others.  So, why was a book about him on a clearance rack?  Sacrilege, I say!

Airbrush Magazine: I don’t use an airbrush, but this magazine had a long interview with Alex Ross, another artist I adore.  The rest of the magazine was a rare glimpse into the art and techniques of the airbrush world, which is all well and good, but the Alex Ross interview was quite enjoyable.

Well, I was going to post some new art today, but I rambled on long enough that I think I’ll save the new art for Wednesday.

Be Good, or at least Be Lucky! Scott

Artistic Influences

Over the years, numerous people have hazarded guesses at who my artistic influences are. I’ve never kept those influences a secret, but I also don’t think they really show in my art style. Now, to set the record straight, I present the definitive list.

Cheesecake: Joseph Michael Linsner, Gil Elvgrin

Digital Painter: Greg Horn

Figure Artist: Andrew Loomis, Burne Hogarth

Others: Alphonse Mucha, M.C. Escher
Painter: Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta

Pen & Ink Artist: Charles Dana Gibson

Water Colorist: Alex Ross, John Howe, Alan Lee

Penciler, Original Influence: John Buscema, Gil Kane

Modern Comic Influences: Al Rio, Bruce Timm, Frank Cho, Frank Miller, George Perez, Jack Kirby, Jim Lee, John Byrne, John Romita Jr., Mike Mignola, Neal Adams

If you are an artist, who are your influences? The same question may be asked of writers and their influences.

Happy Memorial Day!  Hope you are enjoying your day, and that the weather is beautiful wherever you are.

Do I get some sort of Iron Man award for never missing updates?  Keeping up with three color episodes a week is pretty grueling, but I’m oh so happy to do it.  In fact, I really enjoyed creating today’s and Wednesday’s episodes.  I listened to the Rolling Stones (Exile of Main Street, Sticky Fingers, etc.) and just really got into it.  I always feel there is a connection, on some level, between the song “Midnight Rambler” and the first Johnny Saturn.

Johnny Saturn issues 7 and 8 are at the printer, and I paid for them today—it’s getting close!  Issue 9 won’t be far behind.  We’ll be selling these online, as well as at shows and appearances this year.

Being an artist is a funny thing.  Sometimes your expectations for your work exceed your growth, and it actually feels like you are getting worse.  You aren’t, of course.  Yet, it seems so, because you want more out of it than you can currently deliver.  We are in the middle of the six week break from the art center, so I’ve been studying Andrew Loomis book “Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth.”  This book is out of print and in public domain, but I happen to have a good copy (dated 1943) that my Grandmother had.  Burne Hogarth is pushed on young artists as the be-all-and-end-all author on anatomy, but Andrew Loomis is the real source.  The essence of Loomis’ art and his influence is most obvious to me in the work of Alex Ross.

In other words, I’ve been revisiting my roots.  When I’m done studying Loomis, I fully intend to study “How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way” by Stan Lee and John Buscema again.  There are good reasons this book has been in print for three decades, and Big John Buscema is an artist who was very influential in my own work.  Shoot, I still see hints of the Buscema style in my work to this day!  His power-packed lines actually influenced how I perceive the world around me, and draw it!

I’m going to do some book reviews this week, so watch out, these should be good!

Scott.

I’m coming perilously close to finishing Johnny Saturn no. 9.  It amazes me how quickly these issues come about.  It must be a function of updating three times a week.

I just approved the proofs for Johnny Saturn no. 8, and I will say once again that Ka-Blam is a great POD printer!  I’ve never gotten a messed up or poorly printed order from them, and I’ve used them exclusively for several years now.  If you are a cartoonist looking to self publish, please check out Ka-Blam first.

Today, as you probably already know, Rich Johnston of Lying in the Gutters at Comic Book Resources ends his seven year run of writing this column.  Over the years he’s reported good and ill about many people I know, and I am going to seriously miss LITG.  Frankly, it’s been a long time since I’ve done much work for the print comic industry, so I’m not really sure what my relationship is to it anymore.  Still, LITG was a juicy little lifeline to that world for me.

I’ve been thinking about artistic styles lately, and my development as an artist.  All artists are works in progress, and they keep changing and being affected by the world around them.  For ages, my goal has been to make my comics as real as possible.  This means that I looked to creators such as Alex Ross, Bryan Hitch, and Brent Anderson for direction.  I still do.  Yet, I have continued to be intrigued by the purely graphic elements of comics, things like speed lines, sound effects, Kirby crackles, and all the iconic symbols used to tell a story.  I recently did an in-depth study of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Saga, volume 1, to get a handle on and perhaps categorize Kirby’s incredible symbolic language.  Maybe someday I’ll post my findings.

Consequently, I still want my characters and scenes to be as realistic as I can make them, but I also want the maximum storytelling impact of those great graphics.

Scott.