Deadlines & Consequences

Second GI Joe comic pack officially announced!

2008-07-07T11:09:00.001+08:00

(Click the picture above for a larger image – about 630kB)

The second GI Joe 25th Anniversary comic pack that I worked on has been officially announced at last weekend’s JoeCon 2008. The comic, which featured Nemesis Enforcer and Lt. Falcon, was a blast to work on. Larry Hama’s story is a rollicking fun adventure and should be a great read. I know the GI Joe fan community’s not so hot on the whole Cobra-La branch of the mythos, but give this pack a chance, folks! Larry’s story is a fun rollercoaster ride and I hope I did it justice in the art department.

Colors were by the uber-talented Blond.

Here’s some photos of the toy pack (front and back). Seeing my artwork on the packaging of a GI Joe toy is surreal, to say the least. But it’s very rewarding and very, very exciting!

Front view of the comic pack
Rear view of the comic pack

I haven’t been given the green light to show any internal pages yet, but I can post the cover artwork, which I’ll do very soon, along with some memories of what it was like to work on it.

For some reason, Nemmy (hey, don’t look at me like that, that’s what Larry called him in the script) has been renamed Nemesis Immortal for this comic pack release. No idea why.

Testing Windows Live Writer

2008-07-03T17:40:00.001+08:00

Hey all, just a test blog post from within Windows Live Writer. Just taking this thing for a test drive.

So what's up with the title change?

2008-01-29T14:54:00.000+08:00

Yeah, so in case you noticed, the title of the blog has changed. What's up with the new name, you ask?

It's my answer to the question "What motivates you?"

:P

It's really happening!

2008-01-11T15:02:00.000+08:00

My buddy (and fellow cartoonist on the GI Joe project) Jeremy Dale just sent me this link -- the first of my issues has been announced! WOOT! Guess which one's mine? :)

Hopefully, this means I'll be able to start posting some pencils from the project soon. At least the cover, now that it's public. Will let y'all know.

...it's the one with the train, BTW. Duke and Red Star on the train. :D

...err, this one:

WOOOT! I'm stoked!

Blazeguy Page 7 - revised

2007-08-24T18:19:00.000+08:00

So after I posted page 7, I found there were a lot of things bugging me about the page, primarily Blaze's head in Panel 7. I've found myself struggling with faces lately for some reason. The letterer also requested that I nix the BZZT! sound effects in the first few panels. They were leading the eye prematurely into Panel 8, undermining the panel layout and storytelling flow. SO anyway, long story short, I redrew portions of the page. Here's the final version.

High rez version here.

(EDIT: Now Blaze's mom's head looks swollen and his sister's head is too small. Grr...)

Blazeguy Page 7

2007-08-23T08:22:00.000+08:00

Here's page 7.

Blaze comes to alone in Dennis' apartment, awakened (awoken?) by the sound of his cellphone. He answers it and it's his mom, sounding terrified, telling him that Dennis has them captive at Dennis Corp Tower and he needs to hurry there to save them. Of course, she's being forced to tell him this by Candace, who holds the phone and a gun to her head, threatening her and her daughter...

High rez version here.

Again, 2H on Fabriano Bristol. Experimented with pencilling in the sound effects directly, a'la Aparo or Alan Davis. I'm a lousy letterer, but I guess that just means I can only get better. :)

BlazeGuy Origin page 6

2007-08-15T23:04:00.001+08:00

Here's page 6. Dennis drugs Blaze and Blaze passes out. But not before he tells Dennis the security access codes to his house. Dennis calls Candace, who tells Fire Marshall that Blaze is in danger and is at the Dennis Corp HQ. After FM flies off to rescue Blaze, Candace pulls out a gun and heads back to the house. And of course, now she has the security access codes to get in.

I'm using a slightly different workflow for this page (and subsequent BG pages).

I sketch out each panel as a rough thumbnail drawing without worrying about how it will fit into a panel. This way, I can figure out character placement and camera angles and so on without having to think too much about how this all fits onto a page. I have a rough idea of the panel shape and size, but am not worrying about it overly much at this point.
Then I draw the panel layout on an A4-sized sheet of photocopy paper. And it's only the panel layout, meaning size, shape and placement. I also plan out the flow and make sure the panels flow clearly. I don't draw anything in the panels. It's just empty panels on this sheet. This way, I can plan out the panel contents and the panel layout independently.
Then I rule out the panels onto the actual 11" x 17" art board.
Then I blueline the panel contents based on the thumbnails from Step 1.
Then finally, I move on to final pencils.

I like working this way. It's worked out quite nicely for me. I've bluelined the rest of the story (up to Page 10) and now only have the final pencilling to finish.

Oh, and I used a 2H pencil this time. Allowed me to get more details in with a lot less smudging.

Hi-rez version here.

BlazeGuy Page 5

2007-07-25T00:11:00.000+08:00

Finally! Page 5's done. Whew.

Blaze flees his parents and runs to the apartment of his college buddy, Dennis Dennis III, evil mastermind in the making. Blaze vents, Dennis commiserates, and there's an "awesome" reference in the last couple of panels that makes Dennis get a bit violent and grab Blaze's shoulder. OWW!

Onwards!

High rez version here.

Sketchin', sketchin' sketchin'...

2007-06-15T08:44:00.000+08:00

Been a while. I did the Dracula a couple of nights ago and last night I was desperate to draw something, anything. So I did the Green Lantern at about 1:30AM... :)

I've been looking at making my figure work more dynamic and I'll be mucking around with more foreshortening, unconventional angles and trying to get more fluidity in the figures. Also, frankly, it was nice just drawing something again.

The new day job's a hoot but after 3 months at it, it's been a bit of a drain on the energy.

BlazeGuy Page 4

2007-03-29T23:43:00.000+08:00

Finally! On to page 5!

My first Newsarama interview!

2007-02-10T16:35:00.000+08:00

As part of the follow-up to the Malaysian 24-Hour Comic Day Challenge, I was interviewed by Benjamin Ong of Newsarama along with Sarah Joan Mokhtar, who won 3rd place.

WOOOT! Check out the article and interview here!

Thundercats HOOOOooooo!!!

2007-01-20T01:51:00.000+08:00

Finished this piece for the first round of the Grand Championship Drawoff at Penciljack.com, a colossal draw-off that will be running throughout the year.

January's theme was 80's cartoons. I went with what was one of my favorite cartoons from the 80's, Thundercats. I watched some episodes while I worked on this piece and the cartoon still holds up surprisingly well, despite being over 20 years old (eep!).

And yes, Snarf is still as annoying.

HB pencil on Bristol.

Elf Ranger commission -- FINISHED at last!

2007-01-02T11:47:00.000+08:00

I thought it appropriate that my first finished piece of the new year be the much delayed Elf Ranger & Horse commission done for my friend Richard, the web wizard who hosts my web site at http://www.sheldongoh.com. Richard, my apologies for the super-delays on this. I hope you like it!

Some extra info: the writing on the sleeves are actually (badly transcribed) Tengwar, the Elvish script. His right sleeve (our left) says "Sorry" because I've taken a really long time to finish this. His left sleeve (our right) says "Richard Rocks". :)

This piece is done on 11x17" Bristol board in HB pencil.

Happy New Year everyone!

The Zeppelin Of Fate

2006-12-26T20:22:00.000+08:00

The inaugural Malaysian 24 Hour Comics Day came and went about a week ago on 16 Dec 2006 and yours truly was a proud participant, one of 20 Malaysian cartoonists making up the pioneer batch of sleep-deprived cartooning zombies that day.

I was proud to have taken part. It was a real honor and quite an experience.

Now that Christmas is over and out of the way, I've been able to scan the pages and upload them. I'll talk more on the whole experience and give the DVD-type commentary on the art in a later post. For now, here's my 24 hour comic, "The Zeppelin Of Fate".

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24

(I've corrected the problem where all the links were pointing to page 1 -- thanks for pointing that out Paula!)

Three months later...

2006-10-25T10:12:00.000+08:00

The elf piece nears completion! HUZZAH! Here's a sketch of the costume design:

Man, what a month --!

2006-07-19T22:51:00.000+08:00

Sheesh. It's been a month and a half since my last blog post and what a month it's been. Son#1 caught pneumonia. A couple weeks later, Son#2 had a lung infection and the rest of the family has been pretty much constantly sick with one variation or another of a cough, cold, flu or fever.

Anyways, back on the horse I get. Here's a quick sketch I did tonight of Dennis' dad for the Awesome Storm Justice41 BlazeGuy Origin story.

ASJ41 #11 Cover Pencils - DONE!

2006-06-02T00:37:00.000+08:00

And here it is. Turns out Layout #2 was preferred by the editor, so that's what I went with.

Someday, I'll post a step-by-step. For now, I'm going to sleep.

Assjay #11 Cover Thumbs

2006-05-24T00:20:00.000+08:00

Did a couple of thumbnails for the cover of the upcoming webisode #11 of Awesome Storm Justice 41 (check out the blog too!).

Thumb 1:

Thumb 2:
Based on feedback from Loston, I'm going to rework the first thumb, but make the reaching hand more prominent and flip Dennis' head so it's on the left. I must say, I do like the ominous Dennis in Thumb #2 though.

Picture dump!

2006-05-21T22:39:00.000+08:00

So here's some other drawings I did today (yes, 3 drawings in one day!). Two are samples for a job with Marshall Cavendish Malaysia. I'm trying out as a book illustrator. Wish me luck.

The third is an itch I needed to scratch. It's a (pretty badly drawn) sketch of an elf archer - I forgot to draw the bloody elf ears -- firing an arrow from a kneeling position in a field. The more I look at it, the more things I hate about it. But one of my resolutions is to draw more and not worry about every piece being a masterpiece. Done super quick (5 minutes?) with a blue pencil, Copic brush pen and a Pentel correction pen for the white grassy bits and the bowstring.

Not particularly proud of it, but I did it, so there it is. The masterpieces will come. But I need to get all the crappy drawings and sketches out of the way first.

Oh yeah, these were scanned on my new scanner (WOOT!) -- a Canon 4200F -- which I picked up from Low Yat Plaza yesterday. The old scanner, a Canon FB310 is 9 years old and was really starting to show it's age (dodgy driver and slow as all hell). It still works, but was starting to be a real pain in the butt.

The new one looks slick as spit and the USB2.0 Hi-Speed interface is nice and quick. The heck is "USB 2.0 Hi-Speed" you ask? That, apparently, is the REAL USB 2.0 running at 480Mbps. If your USB 2.0 device doesn't say "Hi-Speed", it's apparently not really USB 2.0.

Apparently.

Bluelinin'

2006-05-21T22:35:00.000+08:00

Holyshit. I can't believe it's taken 2 weeks to be able to post this. It's been nuts the past couple of weeks and I haven't had as much time as I'd have liked to draw. Or as much energy either. Let's just say I'm all IKEA'ed out and I'll leave it at that, 'kay?

Anyways, I won't make excuses. Here's the first of the bluelines.

More to follow. Soon.

Really.

The Elf & Mr. Ed

2006-05-08T21:21:00.000+08:00

So I found a reference shot of a horse's head that was at the angle I wanted. Photoshopped a quick mockup and voila! Horse positioning problem solved. So I have my reference sketch/mockup.

On to the blue-lining!

Sketchpost #1 - Gesture/figure studies

2006-05-07T22:23:00.000+08:00

"Study" is such a high-falutin' word for this. Am trying to expand my repertoire of poses and gestures. Each one took about 10-15 seconds. The idea is to work fast and capture the pose/motion I see in my head. The paper is left on my desk and I do one whenever I feel like it.

IMHO, the hardest poses are the most ordinary ones -- people sitting at a table, standing in line, etc. But I have a thousand stereotypical superhero poses I need to work out of my head first.

Jeez, I ramble on, don't I?

Doing The Elf

2006-05-07T21:13:00.000+08:00

Right-o.

So there's this commission that's waaaaaaaaay overdue now (sorry Richard!). I've put it off again and again and it's time to get cracking on it. Fair enough, I took it on just before we moved house and had son #3 and in the ensuing chaos, thought it justifiable that I was late delivering this piece. But that was about 18 months ago now (!).

Richard's been great about waiting for so long without so much as a complaint. But a deal's a deal and it's time to uphold my end. So here we go.

It's not that I haven't done anything at all about this Sylvan Elf & His Horse commission piece, I have. Not being a huge fantasy geek, I've looked up reference material for elves, horses and forests and done sketch after sketch trying to get myself into the right headspace for this (note that I know it sounds like I made this monumental effort over this weekend, but in truth I've been researching and sketching in dribs and drabs on and off for the last 18 months - GAK!). And now, finally, after pages and pages of sketches trying to make headway with this and ending up spinning my wheels and going nowhere, I finally hit a pose I think is strong enough for this piece. The sketch is presented below (click for a larger version). I quite like it and will use it as the basis for the next stage - blue lining!

Note the seam line running across the drawing. I actually originally meant for it to be a landscape-orientation piece ending at just below the belt line and as such, I had ended up drawing it right to the end of the paper. But I liked the pose so much, I decided to try extending it to a full figure to see if it would work. So I taped another piece of paper below it and continued drawing. Hence the seam.

Sketched in 2B mechanical pencil on marker paper. Black border done with a Pilot V Signature series pen.

Phew. OK, so figured out the elf ...now to figure out how to pose the dang horse...

Walk with me

2006-05-07T10:00:00.000+08:00

Second post and I've already changed the name of the blog. Yesterday, this was a newly-created blog called "Don's Place". Which is what my previous (failed) attempt at a personal site was called. But I decided I needed some proper direction. The big idea for this year is that I'm supposed to be putting together a submission package to the American comic book publishers. I need to get my stuff out there and make myself known. Part of that effort is a new web site. And part of that is this blog.

Long story short, I'm hoping this blog serves to chronicle this effort to get myself into the business. I'm also hoping it helps provides the impetus and the little extra push I need to keep chugging along.

So I've changed the name of the blog to better reflect this effort and direction. This blog is basically me talking to myself anyway. Or sometimes me talking myself into doing things.

Some day in the future when I've gotten home after a long day at the office and the kids have been difficult and my wife is doing her best to encourage me to keep at it and all I can do is stare helplessly at a blank sheet of paper desperately searching for the inspiration to start drawing, I can re-read this post and remember what I'm doing.

Corny as it sounds, this is a journey, I guess. I put my shoes on yesterday. And today? Today, I took my first step.

Now the trick is to keep on walking.

First time for everything

2006-05-06T21:23:00.000+08:00

So I finally got my act together and started this thing. Time to take the art thing seriously and with the art comes the site and no self respecting site can do without a blog these days, right? So here I am.

Let's see where this goes.