April 2012

Always fun when a sketch becomes the basis for a new project.

My work area. iMac, Intuos 4, iPod, scanner, soda, and green wall.

This is a page from Deadhorse Issue #1. Next to the computer are a few comics for color references.

And for some reason, I busted out some old Five Iron Frenzy while working on this project. Nothing makes me feel older than listening to ska from almost 10 years ago… at least I’m not like all those other old guys, right? Also, this band is a band again, so that’s fun.

Someone asked what that thing was on the left side of the masthead. The painting is called Saturn Devouring His Son as painted by Goya and then crudely drawn by me.

In the Wreckyard story, there are several different paintings that appear in the background of the pirate brig Scrap and Clinton are held prisoner in. They’re all based on real paintings (I finally put my Art History Minor to use). All of them represent characters of Armstrong.

In Greek mythology, Saturn (or Cronus) was so paranoid he would lose power to his children that he devoured them immediately after they were born. It’s okay, the children were gods and therefore immortal. When Saturn’s last child (Zeus) was born, he was tricked into eating a rock. Zeus grew into manhood, returned to Saturn, and then tricked him into barfing up the other children. Zeus was re-united with his brothers and sisters and they became the twelve Olympians. (Also, in Goya’s depiction, the child has an adult body).

I imagine Captain Red having great power over the Wreckyard, but deep down she knows how fragile it is. She’s so paranoid of losing that power that she devours the other girls, but it’s ultimately what leads her to her fate.

So go back and see if you can recognize the other paintings I dropped in there! Easter eggs? Hooray!

Here’s another project on my very full plate I’m excited about – coloring the comicbook Deadhorse. It’s written by Eric Grissom and illustrated by Phil Sloan – two very talented people. Check it out here!

Phil already colored 1-3, but it’s been decided I re-color them so there’s not a sudden change in the middle of the story. So the re-release of issue 1 will be May 9th, 2012, and published by 215 Ink.

Deadhorse is the story of William Pike and the key to a fantastic box of unimaginable power.

After William receives the key in a letter from his thought to be deceased father, he is pursued by a brutal industrialist and a relentless bounty hunter as he travels to the farthest reaches of Alaska in search of the truth.