Neal Adams
It’s amazing and wonderful that, at 80 years old, Neal Adams is still producing powerful artwork that keeps us talking. Yet there’s something else we need to take into account — something that I’ve seen in my own parents and aunts and uncles and cousins as they’ve grown older. We all eventually become exaggerations of […]
Foreshortening for Kicks
One of the things I rail against with current artists is their use of poor foreshortening. Before the Image Comics styles came into prominence, when an artist drew a character (Superman, for example), flying right out at the reader, we still saw that character’s legs and feet — a complete figure, but with exaggerated foreshortening […]
Fear & Lack of Vision
Fear and lack of vision has seriously damaged our beloved comicbook industry. Decades ago, the newsstand distribution system was crumbling under the weight of fraud and vanishing mom-and-pop drugstores. Some very smart and clever folks created and built the direct sales market, which flourished in the ’90s with over 8,000 comics shops and a dozen […]
Individual Growth & Long-Ago Comments
Do you believe a person can learn and grow as an individual? Experience has shown me that we can’t change somebody else (in personal or business relationships), but that person can change as time goes on — whether for better or worse depends upon all the experiences that person has gone through. I look back […]
The “Yes and…” Strategy
Some years ago, an educational publisher came to Glass House Graphics wanting 970 pages drawn, lettered, and colored in only 13 weeks. That meant three different titles, four books for each title, 80 pages plus covers and character designs for each. Nearly 75 pages a week. I accepted the job. My manager in Manila started […]
My Mom’s My Manager!
Today a person reached out to me on Messenger, explaining that she was her son’s “Momager” and assured me her son could do any type of project I had to offer. She showed to me a couple of nicely-drawn sketches — unfinished pieces — and I asked her to send to me his professional portfolio. He […]
Online Portfolios VS. Customized PDF Porfolios
Online portfolios are GREAT if they are kept current, are organized well, and they reflect one’s professional work. However, far too many artists use them as a dumping bin for commission sketches, early work, and stuff that, frankly, has no business being there. A portfolio needs to focus on featuring images that will get you […]
Lettering Tips from Patrick Brousseau
Patrick Brousseau has been a mainstay letterer in comics for decades — originally as a hand letterer, now a provider of digital lettering with his own fonts. Pat has created a number of tips to follow, and I share them here with you, © Patrick Brousseau. Enjoy — and learn!
New York Comic Con 2019
New York Comic Con has become, in terms of attendance, every bit as big as Comic-Con International: San Diego. Crowded aisles, row after row of publishers and vendors, and somewhere around 125,000 daily attendees — plus vendors and security and Javitz support staff. Being New York City, of course, means more book publishers attend and […]
Old Friends
When I entered Warwood High School, ninth grade, most of the kids I was friends with at Corpus Christi School, like Mark Michaels and Christine Galloway and Tom Schroeder, went off to Wheeling Central High. So I felt like a fish out of water until I connected with the likes of Mike Darby and, around […]
