Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Number Of The Beast #6

The Authority is on the job in NOTB #6

The sixth issue of Number Of The Beast hits the stands today! Eagle-eyed readers may notice that I'm credited with "Layouts" this time instead of the usual "Pencils." In case anyone's worried about the quality of the art, I'd like to explain that this doesn't mean that all I produced were the same kind of rough, scribbly layouts I usually do before drawing the finished pencil art(see those older posts covering the making of the spread from NOTB #1). What it does mean is that in order to make the shipping dates for the rest of the series I had to come up with a slightly faster version of my typical drawing process. What I came up with was basically the same thing but without all the black areas indicated(that step was left to inkers Karl Story, Brian Stelfreeze, Andy Smith and Drew Geraci, all credited as finishers). With just this slight change(and some SERIOUSLY long days and nights at the drawing board) I was able to get the final three issues in and they should all ship on schedule. Above and below are examples of my work on the issue and it should be plain that these are far tighter and more polished than those blue pencil rough layouts I used to do--again, pretty much my usual pencil art but no shading or black areas, just the line art.

Since I am finished with the series, look for more frequent blogging as I can now actually leave the studio occasionally and do things other than drawing that are worth writing about...

Engine Joe sans helmet, looking worried as stuff really starts to hit the fan in NOTB #6

--C

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Number Of The Beast #5

My Land of the Giants homage from the pencil art for NOTB #5, with the mighty Mite held captive!

NOTB issue#5 hits stands today! We're past the halfway mark now!
--C
Happy Birthday, Mike!


Today is my brother's birthday, and I originally thought I would commemorate the occasion with a photo from among the vast vintage Sprouse family slide archive, one that would be funny and a little embarrassing. Instead I chose to run the photo above in honor of Mike's birthday, since it's one that he would actually like to see and not one that would make him cringe. Okay, maybe the hairstyle is a little cringeworthy, but who am I to criticize--my hair from this era was even worse, trust me! Anyway, the picture shows my brother with Pop, our grandfather on our father's side, in front of Sprouse's Furniture near Charlottesville, VA sometime in the early 80's. Happy birthday, bro!
--C

Thursday, June 05, 2008

More Ocean Movie News

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Condal has been picked to write the screenplay for Ocean. An internet search reveals that Condal is a newcomer who has written a highly-regarded but as-yet unproduced script for Galahad (as in King Arthur, etc.).
--C