Legendary artist Gene Colan is ill. His liver is failing him. Comic and movie creator Clifford Meth is putting together an auction on items that will benefit him as I guess his insurance is not covering the help he needs. No surprise there. Colan’s work has had a big impact on me in the last few years.

Much like how I hated Kirby when I was very young and then one day a light bulb just went on in my head and I finally “got it” the same could be said with Gene’s work as well. His pencils are so great but the man always had a hard time finding a great inker, but when he did the results were awesome. If you ever want to hear a great interview with a great artist listen to Comic Geek Speak’s interview they did with Gene. He is so honest and appreciative of everything it’s rather humbling. I also suggest anyone who appreciates horror at all to read the Tomb of Dracula Essentials. Those books made me realize just how great 70’s Marvel really was. I plan on donating something to the cause and I’ll post that later this week. Seems like we are doing benefit auctions for too many creators these days. More than the health insurance companies are doing.

*UPDATE* Here is the piece I did for the auction.

On a happier note the Iron Man movie cards are finally out so I can post them. Looking back I should have done more of Iron Man’s cool rogues. The information I got was to stick to mostly Iron Man though and that old retro armor is always a blast to draw. I didn’t do too many as I was in a time crunch on other work at the time.

Eventually everyone in my household will work for Target. My wife and I have both worked with them through our jobs, and our dog has done some modeling work for them. Here is her latest gig. If you go to the dog section you’ll find this lovely bed under the Boots and Barkley brand.

Brent

Like everyone else in the world this past weekend I went and saw the Iron Man movie. It was a good summer flick. I think it’s the best cast for a comic movie in a long time. I do admit that every time Jeff Bridges was on screen I was hoping he’d sneak in the line “The Dude abides”.

I contributed to the Iron Man movie cards. Haven’t seen other artists post images of their cards yet so I’m going to hold off on showing most of them. Here are two that made it on ebay already though.

Brent

A while back I posted some sketch covers I did for a comic called Willow Creek from Zenescope. The artist on that book is Josh Medors. I’ve never met Josh but I’ve seen his work on a variety of books and he’s extremely talented. Recently is was announced that Josh has been battling cancer for the past several months.

I was contacted to pitch in for the charity auction they are having to help raise funds for his medical treatment. I did some Willow Creek sketch cards that will be up for auction

The cards will posted the week of May 5 th on eBay where all funds will go straight to Josh and his family.
The ebay id: theticketin

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Here’s the last batch. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to grey tones on this set. I started inking them thinking I’d add the grey in later. I never got the chance as work kept building. I do think some of them work just fine without it though.

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I decided to go with all 1970’s characters for this set. The first series I just did characters from the 1960’s so this was the natural progression. I’m sure a few people will be scratching their heads wondering who Mindworm or Razorback are. If I get a chance to do series three I am going to do characters from the 80’s and 90’s.

Brent

Got all my Marvel Masterpieces 2008 approved from Marvel and Upperdeck. I’ll post some throughout the week.

Just a reminder that you can find me at the Minnesota Microcon Comic Book Convention this Sunday, April 27th at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds -Progress Center. It’s from 10am to 4pm and I’ll be there with Astronaut Dad, the Horrorwood trade, issues of Horrorwood, my sketchbooks, digital prints, sketch cards, and taking commissions. Sounds like a fun day at the office. This year their special guest is Norm Breyfogle, the classic Batman artist. Please stop by and check it out, it’s a great one day show.

Brent

Went to see my first baseball game yesterday. Minnesota beat Cleveland in a 2-1 ten inning game. It was fun and I look forward to the Twins getting an outdoor stadium here soon. It was too nice outside to be sitting inside the Metrodome. Going to the game reminded me that in early 2003, shortly after getting out of college, I was sent a package from a design firm that was looking for comic style art for the motion graphics on the giant screen at the stadium. It was going to be for the players introduction. The turn around time was insane on this and I had just finally gotten a job so I pumped out two illustrations. Looking back I should have called in sick and done a lot more to land the job. Out of seventy applicants I was in the top five choices from what my rejection letter said. I still regret not putting more time into it and also wish my photoshop skills were a little better. Here’s the images I made up at the time.

Brent

Here is the last of this project. I did four penciled pages that never got inked or colored. Looking back on these it really makes me want to work on a comic project that I do not need to color or ink my own work. I’d love to just be able to focus on pencils. Hopefully someday.

Brent