Edition Two: Of Ninja, Samurai &Sensei

TELLIN’ STORIES
The We Back Edition
Edition Two: Of Ninja, Samurai, and Sensei…



Sketchbook Page: Micron pens and sharpie markers


Deljuan has been riding me all semester. Tellin’ me he can outdraw me. Explaining to me that while I am an artist he is an artiste’. Whatever that means… Still I am not surprised so much by his bravado. No all teachers and so called masters of the arts are called out and tested. From Ogami Ito to the Iron Chefs to Billy the Kid to Bruce Lee someone is always ready to test the skills of an artist. No I was shocked by his youth. Deljuan is a seventh grade student of mine. For two quarters I have listened to him tease and try me. So at last on the second to last day of school I accepted his challenge. A drawing contest to decide once and for all who was the best artist in first period Art I7. He chose the subject: Ninja. I laughed. I been drawing Ninja twice as long as this boy has been living. I grinned. I recently returned to sketching Ninja in preparation for illustrating Blak Fox. I smirked.
Of course Deljuan did a very nice pencil drawing of a ninja with a ripped tunic and rippling stomach muscles, arm foreshortened, throwing a shuriken. Good range of value considering he was drawing on newsprint. I chose to draw using pens. Ive been thinking a lot about blacks and finding planes of dramatic shadow from fluid form. More importantly it was an opportunity for a teachable moment. I learned that I must warm up my hand as much as my thoughts. I gestured out three thumbnails using a XS Micron pen. My fourth gesture produced an arch typical Frank Miller inspired Ninja. By this sketch I had moved up to an F (fir Fine)Micron to get some fuller and varied outlines and contours. Finally I came in with the B Micron (for Brush) and blacked out deep shadow and dramatic form. The final sketch I did as the character Assassin Ninja created as a foil for Blak Fox by my brother decades ago. Just a good ninja squat pose.
Well Deljuan looked at both our works and told me I had tools in my favor. I told him no I have Process. And process is learned from observed repetition and adaption. Though he didn’t understand what I meant he understood I knew and understood something he did’t about drawing and he needs that knowledge from me. He found humility and drew silently for the next two days, stopping only to get my comment on his progress. A student is born.





Reading this joint for Book Club. First twenty pages have given a incredible narrative voice to the declining faculties brought on by dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. But I love the cover the most. A visual that typifies the scattered days as the mind looses cohesion. I watched my Grandmother succumb to dementia before she passed. We were reintroduced repeatedly until I simply was the young man looking after her that day. But I also learned that she played basketball in high school and that she was good too. Walter Mosley continues to impress me.

Oh Shit Almost Forgot!!!
Went to the Atlanta ComicCon two weeks ago. More about that next time. And John Byrne’s NextMen are back!!!

We Back Edition One... no seriously.

TELLIN’ STORIES
The We Back Edition

It takes a Crisis to find focus. Necessity is the spark of production. So let us stop bitchin’ and get to producing!
I have been inspired by the diverse and high quality of art coming out if American comics lately. I think my voice can fit in there. So how do I get there? Producing. Art is doing.
First, Of Mythic Proportions: Extinction, Book One. The pages are drawn and inked. The script is written and the coloring process has begun.



This is page 2.

Second, is Self-absorbed: In and Out of Boxes, a biographical piece covering a Magical Realistic look at seven years of my thirties. It follows after the style of WAR: In the key of JUNG. I have up on this sight. Go head look back a bit I’ll wait………




Page two of War: In the key of JUNG.

Third is Dawn of the Dragon: the Crimson Guard, a fantasy joint inspired by the games in college. Uptown Forever!!!





Thumbnails from Crimson Guard.




General Bergen.




Ael “Flick” Flicksten


And Finally the fourth tale is one of the first characters I created Blak Fox. It’s an origin piece set to music structures.





Sketches for BLAK FOX: GUNS, BLADES, GREASE, BLOOD & SWEAT
CHAPTER I: REVENANT


Big PLANS, and lots of work to do. Stay tuned.

ghettoManga: DC Announces All-Star Superman Adaptation

ghettoManga: DC Announces All-Star Superman Adaptation

Shit I dig: Comic Reviews for early July

So they got me at my comic shop. They had a big sale on back issues (50% 0ff!!) and a buy two trade paperbacks(tpb) get the third for free. So of course i avoided the back issues like the plague but that back issue deal gave me a chance to add some tpbs to my library that were must haves. No really... necessary! Just don't tell my wife until she thinks they have always been on my bookshelf...shhhh. So I picked up about two or three weeks worth of books and three trades.

Necessary evils:

First Seven Soldiers of Victory Volume One. Anyone who gets to know me us a comic book junkie knows one of my favorite writers/creatives in the comic game is Grant Morrison. I won't gush here but i let it be understood i love his work...mostly. Some things he does is weakened by weak visual storytellers while others are so deep in the the waters of the exploring auteur i have to come back to understand. Seven Soldiers of Victory is one of his absolute successes and bench mark in the comic industry. Seven heroes must work together to save the world but they never meet, while commenting on the meaning of existence on the comic book reality(a theme Morrison OFTEN returns to and I love). i have the individual issues but i wanted to read it in the order the books came out to get a the singular thread connecting the books. Beautiful read with artist who have become some of my favorites because of their work in the individual minis. Frazer Irving grabbed me with his haunting but strangely light hearted work on Klarion. Ryan Sook's fluid line and dramatic understanding of contrast executes Zatanna powerfully. Cameroon Stewart grows into the urban action while Simo Bianchi brings a completely dizzying art aesthetic to Shining Knight. JH Williams begins the series with his expected masterwork. Can't wait to pick up the other volumes.For more Frazer Irving check out the second issue of the Return of Bruce Wayne. A Puritan good time!
My next NECESSARY purchase was Justice League: Another Nail by Alan Davis & Mark Farmer. A collection of the the Elseworld mini The story followed the Nail, an elseworld story created to look at the DCU if a flat tire keeps the Kents from finding young Kal-el. Really i got this book for one reason: the work of Alan Davis. i have seen the influence of his work on some of the come up kids in the biz( Bryan Hitch, Carlos Pacheco, Ivan Reis, to name a few) always love to look at the inspirational source. A visually beautiful book and Davis still does some of the most beautiful and sinuous super women in the biz. Check the scenes with PowerGirl, Black orchid and Star Sapphire. Not to mention Black Canary!! Lots of heroes and villains, lots of big things happening all drawn perfectly. I'll be studying this book for years.
Finally i picked up Young Avengers: Sidekicks, which collects the early issues of the YA series. Again I got this for the art. I like Heinbergs writing enough but I'm most interested in the work of Jim Cheung. i;ve watched his work evolving since his days on Scion for Crossgen and love the very individual direction he has gone. Great layouts and camera angle choices are connected to a very distinctive and disarmingly simple draftsmanship. But his work moves. it has direction and impact. i got this book while picking up Avengers: Children's crusade not so much for the characters but for the art. Also the covers of Secret Warriors Cheung has done tell as story. and don't forget his work on Avengers Illuminati. I even got caught up in the story through the art.
And now that the necessary is out the way, time too look at the other stuff....

TOP TEN Books for early July.

10. Irredeemable #15
While i have enjoyed this story it reads better as a trade as opposed to the individual issues. Just seems slowed unnaturally. The art is okay but this is my last issue. I am not a huge fan of Wid but I can enjoy his stuff and do here I just felt lost in this issue and watched another character i wasn't invested in die. HooHumm. Just hated it was a crippled brother that bought it. But then at least his punishment is over now. i think I'm finding Incorruptible a more interesting read.
9. Justice Society of America # 40
Willingham finishes thi arc and everyone loses there individual voice. Obsidian, Mr Terrific and Powergirl have the same voice cadenced as they deliver the MESSAGE of this story. i was just getting to enjoy Merino's artwork but I'm thru. DC needs to decide what role JSA will pay in the DCU and stop treating it as a background title. i know Johns has moved on from his launchpad but somebody has to have an interest in finding a workable niche for the old guard.
8. Brightest Day #5
I don't know why I'm getting this book. i love i van reis's art and I love all the characters but its more nostalgia than an appreciation for there place in the DCU. I hope some series can come out of this but i quit on the weekly thing before and i gotta do it here. I'll read the trades. but I am interested just the story is rotating in an odd way and I'm loosing narrative threads from book to book.
7. Avengers: the Children's Crusade #1
Picked this up for the art as I explained before. I also have to comment on the inking of Morales. Between him and Dexter Vines, they have made great artists look phenomenal with their inks at Marvel. Now we begin to see what Magic is doing in marvel and look after the trigger of the New Marvel Order: Scarlet Witch.
6. Green Lantern #55
While this is a book I have been dedicated to since the beginning I am exhausted with everything going on. I'm afraid the cast of GL has gotten as large as some team books. Too many characters. Art is beautiful and its always a pleasure to see Lobo make a cameo. I think Johns may be spreading himself too thin.
5. Jonah Hex #57
My guilty pleasure. One day I'm gonna draw my cowboy story Innocence Massacre. Until then I'll keep enjoying the adventures of Jonah Hex. Good storytelling a brutal world. if you dig the HBO show Tombstone you'll love this book. I'm scared to see the movie but the comic delivers every month. And we get a cameo of DC's stable of Cowboy heroes.
4. Scarlet #1
Bendis is trying hard to be my favorite bald white comic writer. I'm just interested in this book. Looks beautiful and has that clever breaking of the fourth wall I've loved since being introduced to Bertolt Brecht in Joanne Klein's class at St Mary's two decades ago. I won't comment to much, so far I'll just say I'm down for the ride.
3. Deadpool: Wade Wilson's War #2
i been getting this mini for the art of Jason Pearson. I am not a fan of Deadpool and have never tried to follow any of his books, but anytime i can follow the visual mayhem that is Jason Pearson i do it. And i am enjoying this ride. i have been a fan of Pearson since his work on the LSH Five year gap years ago. Great cartoony storyteller. Swierczynski writes a great black ops story.
2. The Invincible Iron Man Annual #1
A surprise treat. I have to find the digital comic and download it now. Invincible iron Man has become one of my favorites lately and this annual is a beautiful companion piece. i must admit as i read it i thought it was bit overlong, but realizing it has a digital comic component makes the length make sense. Beautiful art and a heart wrenching story. The Mandarin is rat$#%t crazy and evil. reminds me off All-star Superman when lex Luthor is sounding completely rationale while drawing an eyebrow across his face. Good villains make sense, crazy villains... i mean truly insane master villains are a work of art. This issue made Mandarin into that.
1. Batman and Robin #13
Everything coming together in the batbooks. Morrison is pulling taut the narrative strands he has weaved thru the DCU the last couple years(like Johns is doing on his part of the DCU) and it makes for great reading. Irving's art is delicious and anyone who didn't enjoy the sequence with Robin/Damian and Joker didn't hate how they did what they did to Jason Todd back in the day. Lovely. i love it when a plan comes together.

keep reading comics.

Process: Elias infinity slays Behemoth

Been a minute but Tuesday is now Tellin' Stories Day. I have been very productive as i have dedicated myself to following a process to completion. So i have been working on a graphic novel for the last five years: Of Mythic Proportions: Extinction, and it has made connections throughout the shared universe of characters stories and ideas that have inhabited my brain since childhood. I won't explain the narrative behind this image but i will explain the process. and I'll post the final piece on Tuesday.

So my guidelines for this piece was four heroes and a great dragon. the dragon was being "erased" from existence by Elias Infinity in his earliest form(thus the khufi and no locks.). The idea came out of my current reading of The collected works of C G Jung Volume 9, Part 1: Archetypes and the Unconscious. Trying to understand the concepts of the Shadow, Anima and individuation is what this work represents.

So I had a sketch in my book as the composition. I then redrew the idea on a canvas sheet in pencil. At this stage i work out my object relationships and value relationships. The background is inspired by the strange comic energy backgrounds prevalent in the work of Jack Kirby and Walter Simonson. A representation of chaotic energy potential and the fractal nature of reality in my life and my stories.



Next I put down my background washes after redraw the work using washed out Dioxazine Purple and Hookers green Acrylic, cause i don't like using black except as an illustrative tool in painting. The sky is purple to set it back and the distant mountains are to be reminiscent of the southwest. I try to paint objects from background to foreground so that they overlap naturally.



Once I have a nice value painting i start moving in with local color. In this work i want the dragon to look like it is being erased so i use rubber cement to protect the surface of the painting from acrylic. Leaving these areas with less buildup. From there i just start painting the fun stuff.

More next week.

Shit I Dig: Comics Review for late January 2010

Greetings comic fans. another two weeks of comics. I'm only gonna focus on my top ten though i picked up thirteen books last week. Sigler is inspiring me with is desires to keep his weekly purchases to twenty bucks a week. Inspiring me but I'm not yet following so......

First a Special Mention: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (DADOES) #8 based on the novel by PK Dick.
i picked up this book because the inside states,"This series the complete text of philip K. Dick's DADOES, presented in graphics form." For the sci fi ignorant this novel is the source material for Blade Runner, the dystopic cyberpunk film from the eighties. This and other films based on his material forced me in the late nineties o search out the author. he has become one of my favorite authors. Not to mention the liberal sourcing of his Valis trilogy in Grant Morrison's Invisibles (the greatest comic series ever written.) That said i've jumped into the story right in the middle and the art is okay. It looks like early Barry Kitson back when he first drew L.E.G.I.O.N. good figure work but sparse simple background and simple panel to panel story telling. i found when i read the novel it was a totally different environment than the film. The dedication of the book to that world opens up a whole experience left out of the film. One is the android hunter Decker's obsession with getting a real animal. Another is his wife being lost in a virtual reality internet where she becomes addicted to the experiences she has there. Interesting commentary on the internet before it existed and fascinating questions of what makes a soul. It took two readings and an acceptance and remembrance of the novel setting to get me into this story. I'm hoping Boom studios collects this into trade cause while it has a nice cardstock cover the content is not worth 3.99 a pop on its own. Still and interest distraction and reminder of a great author.

Didn't make it into the top ten:
Counting DADOES i picked up thirteen books last week. These two did not live up to expectations. Astro City Dark Age Book Four was just uninteresting. Too long since the last arc, i could not rediscover the strand of the story and the brothers featured in the book are so bulked up since accepting their "mission" it was confusing who was who. I got Avengers Initiative #32 on a recommendation from Sigler. though our tastes often vary I trust his oservations. On this one... not so much. i am an old school fan of Taskmaster. i remember the first Avengers book he appeared in( I remember because my mom used it to kill a fly and promptly threw it away as I looked in wide eyed and shocked) and loved the idea of his being able to mimic and physical action he saw. I loved how he rationalized the attack on Asgard as an opportunity but conflicts with the logic simple desires of taskmaster- get money get women. And I really don't see any of these mooks being the equals to anyone but children in Asgard (maybe Taskmaster but c'mon some of these cats don't stand a chance with warriors born and bred.) So it fell just outside of my top ten.

10. Detective Comics #861
i miss JH Williams. Rucka is a very sparse writer. The detail, fascinating compositions and visual imagery added layers to Rucka's uncomplicated writing style. Jock just loses me. Too stylized for what's past and any since of subtle emotion or scene is lost in the overwrought forms and faces of people i have come to know. saving grace is the Question co-feature. While i don't feel a strong "bottom" to the overall arc of the Question i feel the fun and the energy. i hope this co-feature continues somewhere it won't die with the principle story. and i hope Jh Williams III shows up somewhere else with Ruck and batwoman in tow,

9. Justice Society of America #35
SO I was gonna drop this joint, but i had to see how Mordru was gonna be screwed this time. I have to say that the position of this book on my list in know way takes away from the enjoyment i got from this issue. mostly i was sold on the framing device of Doc Fate recovering and narrating. Everything else was indicative of the way JSA stories were told in my youth: Enemy splits up group, group finds its way back together, enemy is defeated. I'm interested in the new Doc Fate but i think this may be my last journey to the JSA brand for awhile. i feel I'm leaving it on a much better note than last month.Oh and Judo master is pointless.

8. Batman and Robin #7
Love the art but grant what the hell is happening. i hated the art in the last run but i think the plots of each issue are so streamlined I'm not getting a sense of a character arc for Dick and young Wayne. the most interesting character throughout Morrison's whole run on this Batty experiment is Alfred. Something important is happening with him. i just don't know if i have the patience to wait until it comes to the fore. I'll get the miniseries Morrison is doing this summer on the batman traveling thru realities to get home. Why would Dick use the Lazarus pit??????

7. Captain America Reborn #6
Its like getting an old Authority or Ultimates fix. i do it for the art. I really don't even care much for how they are resolving steve Rogers return i just love the art.

6. Secret Warriors #12
Finally i find out who the big bald guy is related too. That alone place this book ahead, but the art is also striking and how they make monsters in Hydra is the coolest and the sickest. I'm just down for the ride Hickman has me on.

5. Blackest Night/The Power of Shazam #48
i enjoyed the Shazam family part of 52 and i thought this special issue was a nice coda for the Black Adam family. And the mythologist in me loved that osiris rose and was heroic in the end. Kramer's art continues to improve since his stint on JSA and i love how it looks in this issue.

4. Green Lantern #50
I really never liked Doug Mahnke's artwork prior to the work he did on Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, so his run on GL has been a treat during this Blackest Night(as long as i got my reis fix on the Blackest Night proper book) I liked what Johns did with Hawkman, loved his growth during JSA, and I'm sure he's doing big thangs with Flash Rebirth, but this book is the Blueprint. i told ya'll Hal Jordan green Lantern was the shit and now years later he'stopping the heights he reached with the Sinestro Corps event from the past. Recognize. i'm saying just recognize.

3. Dark Avengers #13
I enjoy payoffs. I've felt since his first appearance The Sentry was an interesting idea that couldn't fit in the Marvel U... could it. I've read a couple different explanations of where he came from but now we get what i hope will be the definitive origin of the Sentry. i can say i'm scared and impressed at the level of madness Osbourne will play with. You can see his fear and excitement. and i love that the origins of sentry comes from the lineage of the creators of the modern superhero: Schuster and Siegel creation of the greatest immigrant ever( Superman) and Lee and his crew's creation of the feet of sand hero template of the sixties. This dark Avengers series has been a journey into how bad it can get, And with the implications of this issue things go from bad to worse.

2. Blackest Night: The Atom and Hawkman #46
I am a baby of the silver age of comics. i was reading JLA when these cats were still incredible pertinent. I was amazed by Gil Kane's work on the Sword of the Atom mini back at the end of the eighties. I picked up this book with the Shazam book and was looking for the Question book to take a nostalgia ride. This was a triumphant story and a perfect character sketch of what makes the Atom cool. Geoff Johns again!! Ryan Sook knocks it out the book visually with the help of Fred Pasarin. and i know Ray Palmer is gonna do what he says.

1. New Avengers #61
Steve rogers is back and he's kickin it with his sidekick Captain America? Hood juices up the d-list villians and they go on an Avenger's hunt. my boy Immonen is aided by the talented Acuna in scenes involving a date/stakeout with Spiders man and woman. Clever conversation not just between Spiders but also stalking villains like Living Laser, Mandrill, gryphon, and the Corruptor make everyhtin worthwhile. plus the reappearance of my favorite Cap Shield. In this issue we have a chance to see why d-list villians are d-list. bendis rocks.

Shit I Dig: Comic Reviews for Mid January 2010

Gotta write gotta comment gotta write. Gotta get it done.


Comics are my passion. I have a group of readers who have been trading observations about comics and related media for the last half a decade so I thought it would make sense to put it on my Blog.

9. Justice Society of America #9
This title lost me about a year ago. Geoff Johns I think was stretched thin and told the story he wanted here so he seemed to have been treading along until the takeover by Bill Willingham. Well I'm not interested. The cast is too large(ironic sense DC split this team into two books) and the conflicts seem repetitive. The art is serviceable and its nice to see Mr. Terrific is back on his feet. Still another spy in the midst story and another Mordru the Merciless epic is a little much after his excellent use and disposal by White Witch in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds. I'm not excited. I'm done with it.

8. SuperGod #2
My boy Marcus mentioned this book so I picked it up. i used to follow most of the mainstream stuff Warren Ellis wrote, but the finale of Planetary(which was, among many other things, incredibly satisfying) and the disappearance of the striking Desolation Jones his work hasn't grabbed me so i thought I'd give this one a chance. So far I'm titillated but wary. We are given a history lesson of the superhuman arms race of the last half of the 20th century by a almost cliched haggard scientist in the midst of a decimated London. Shades of Spider jerusalem and Elijah Snow, but nothing new yet. Lot of exposition. My attention has been held by the use of mythology and religion as the inspiration in some countries for the creation of superhumans but of course everything goes tragically wrong. i can see why Marcus likes this book. I'm not impressed... yet but I'll give it a chance. i don't pick up a lot of books from Avatar but I'll give it a chance until something starts happening. I mean it is Warren ellis.

7. Adventure Comics #507
Now this is what I'm talking about when i look for a good Geoff Johns story! Which is funny because I thought I was sick of Superboy Prime. I think this issue, and the one that follows which I read first and went back to get this one, is a good use of the meta-context poor SuperboyPrime exists for. This issue made him tragic for me for the first time since his prominence during the first great Crisis on Infinite Earths. Blackest Night comesa calling and Clark Prime is put through it. The dependable artwork of Jerry Ordway don't hurt either. I also picked up this book for the co-feature Legion of Superheroes. I love its the Adult Legion, because this is the legion I grew up on, before the aforementioned Crisis and weak sales subjected the LSH through a series of revamps that were painful in that each one a gem in repeatedly crushed. And my four favorite character were used and there endless love conflicts finally resolved. Wildfire got his girl,Dawnstar, in the LSH of 3 worlds and now Blok, my favorite minority in the 31st century, gets his tragic love Whi- er Black Witch. Loved it. The art was good and I love Blok's healed look. I hope these characters appear when Levitz starts writing the LSH again. i gotta find out why Alan Scott is trapped in stone on the Sorcerer's World.

6. Secret Warrior #11
Loving this book. Things got a little confusing with the Ares/Phobos storyline but I'm back in stride now. Nick shows or refuses to show but alludes to more layers,some character moments for Yo-yo, Tomi and Daisy. The art is back to its past standards and Leviathan shows up. Super hero intrigue. Marvel has gotten hella complicated and fascinating!

5. Blackest Night #6
I Love IT!!! This is Johns at his best. A fitting sequel to the Sinestro Corps epic from last year. Ivan Reis has entered into my list of top ten superhero artist. And i love the reserve Lanterns. Nekron doesn't do much for me as the heavy but the surrounding villains and undead are well executed. I think at the end of this summer the big three(just like at Marvel) will be back!!!

4. Siege #1
I just love Olivier Coipel's work. His collaboration on House of M with Bendis screamed for him to get a Spidey book, but his run on Thor and this mini will do. He has mastered what I thought was a tendency toward strangely structured panel progressions but this stuff is tight and clear. And the final page with Cap was almost as strong as Cap's reappearance in New Avengers last month. If shit is gonna hit the fan I look forward to the beautiful shit Coipel is gonna show. And Bedis can finish his third act. Marvel has woven a tail tthat begs for an ending unlike anything before. If they deliver I'll be a fan for life.

3. Invincible Iron Man #22
Why won't Tony get up!!!! The last two years of this book has made me care about a character I felt was hopeless. Like Bendis did with Daredevil, Fraction didn't get rid of the dickness inherent in Tony Stark he uses it to help define the character. Potts put it best a few issues back, why don't gods and heroes come to her rescue. Caause you ain't Stark!!! But he won't get up!! Fraction takes his time and elevates all the characters he chose for this run. Maria Hill has depth, Pepper Potts has become worth more than a featured character now and even crazy-ass Whitney Frost has layers. Larroca's art remains incredibly done I can't wait for the next issue. Nice appearance by Doc Strange, but WHY WON'T TONY GET UP!!!

2.New Avengers #60
Bendis and Immonen. Anyone who has read any of my reviews over the last few years is aware of my man love for this team. In the absence of good stuff by Grant, Bendis has become my favorite bald white comic writer. The Wasp(I still have problems with that) Hank Pym comes in with Doc Strange to save the day. And didn't it seem like a updated Defenders reunion in this camp. Loved it. And comeuppance, they destroy Osborn's summer home. Hoods back and its coming to a head. Visually the best team book out now.

1. Detective Comics #860
I only looked at Rucka's stuff in passing. He caught my eye as part of the "band" during 52 and his Checkmate was S.H.I.E.L.D. done right(until Secret Warriors came out)but this book has been a work of art. I'm a student of Williams III so there is nothing to add about the art, except every issue is a joy. Rucka has paced the introduction of Batwoman with style. Rucka and Williams are leaving Detective but I'm sure they and Batwoman will land on their feet... I'll be there. The Question co-feature is a treat. Special guest star Huntress reminded me of the best episodes of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. The Question and Huntress just work together. I hope they throw Batwoman in this so she and Renee can have a reunion.

I love Girls girls girls girls.....

So the most important tool in any artists arsenal is the sketchbook. A year ago I dedicated myself to study the human female form. here are the fruits of that labor.








In 2010 I promise more to come from this blog and me. Happy New Year!

Building a Mystery: The Lesson of Lord Lizard

-"...(a god outgrown becomes immediately a life destroying demon. The form has to be broken and the energy released.) -Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Trying to keep my prose simple like Papa Hemingway...
I am telling the story of Lord Lizard, the greatest hero of his age. His beginnings, his middle, and his end. Lizard as a character was inspired by one of the greatest role playing game experiences I had in college (BIG UPS TO UPTOWN SMCM 88-93) and the lizards that inhabit my parent back porch and the run-ins i had my years as a Professor with young men with issues with male authority figures.

Lizard is the son of Lord Sea Turtle and Lady Lizard. He is the most complete warrior of his time but is wounded by the absence of his father. Lord Sea Turtle died before lord Lizard got to know him, leaving a closer bond to his mother but the unenviable task of measuring up to something he knows only as hallowed legend. Lord Sea Turtle, He who rose from the Abyss and took the eye of Behemoth.



We live in an age where absent fathers have left young men searching for models of behavior in manhood. This story on the surface is about that conflict. This story is also about mythology and love.
His story is about his blood-bound brothers: LyonMane and Tapestry and the Pantheon brought together to battle Corruption, spawns of Behemoth and save the REALM.



I got Omni doing my computer coloring. Its on.




So keep your eyes open for Of Mythic Proportions:Extinction Coming to a computer screen near you... soon...

We Wear the Mask.

"He's got a big EGO."
-Beyonce'


I am ABYSS
the Potent Darkness.

With that declaration I summon Shazam-like energies from beyond, becoming the cool-ass Vampyre-Hunter, hitman, artist and explorer of the Carnal. I free Id to experience the madness, allowing the mind to turn i into to nearly coherent ART- (sorry , I forgot aspirations must be humble)-make that : nerly coherent art?


No. Let me reframe that. I am ALL of my imaginary friends. An Interesting conglomeration of personality behavior, stlye and narrative.
Becoming THEM.
Embracing US.


Abyss is Potential. Form recently coalesced from the Celestial Firmament(Read Genesis!) hungry for experience. Giddy with desire.
All things burst forth from nothing(or No-thing(read the Tao))which is the bridge to the DIVINE.


I sign my paintings Abyss because they are a product of all the disjointed chaotic emotional energy created by life experiences. My work is: biographic or critical or observational or narrative or magical reallism or figurative or structural or black... No! Wait! I meant to say and not or. AND. And my wiork comes from the drive to mimic the creative energy of existence. To make wher ther was nothing.

I AM ABYSS.

The Potent Darkness.

Out of the Abyss : Creative Manifesto

So I'm job hunting now and have been forced to reflect on my teaching philosophy and artist statement. So here is a simple manifesto of what art is to me and how I approach teaching it learning it and doing it.


1. Art is communication.
2. Art is symbolic language.
3. Art is a process.
4. Art is seeing.
5. Art is mimicking.
6. Art is discovering.
7. Art is making/creating.
8. Art is change.
9. Art is Doing.




Structured and approached in this way...

1. Communication:
Intention. Expressing "the Dream." Contains intellectual, emotional, psychological and/or spiritual meaning.
2. Symbolic Language:
Common ground between creator and viewer. A consistent structure. Translatable content.meaning.
3. Process:
A format showing an understanding of structure. An approach and command of composition. An application of technique according to desired outcome. Something repeatable?
4. Seeing:
Our common visual language is our shared visual experience. The discovery of meaning in observation. Always beginning with the big picture. Working to understand what is seen from General to Specific.
5. Mimicking:
As an academic venture it demands the study of past techniques, themes, styles, and formulas. No reason to recreate the wheel or retread over a solved problem.
6. Discovering:
It is a process of self study. The artist works to find their own capabilities and limitations to discover a way to do what the artist wants to be able to do. The artist is always learning and is dedicated to repetition and research to know what to keep and what to throw away. In this journey the artist discovers or creates a Style.
7. Making/Creating:
A finished product. A body of work. To show stages of growth.
8. Change
Mastering known techniques. Understanding and improving flaws in work. Finding new Themes. Abandoning what is unnecessary.
9. Doing!
Self-explanatory.

Ultimately the job of the artist is to create a body of work. The task of the artist educator is to guide the student artist working with the expectations of the teacher and admirers into the realm of intention. Evolving from the simple need to satisfy the desires and needs of others to commanding ones own talents and skills to satisfy the self without compromising craftsmanship.

The Cornerstone of artmaking: Seeing and Sketching

Often students deep in the role of tortured artist will not turn in assignments. When asked what the problem was they say they have a terrible case of artist block and can't come up with good ideas or effective renderings. Of course thats bullshit. Not the inability to come up with ideas but, being unable to make effective renderings. Artmaking as a process is conceptual and technical. Concept deals with your intentions, the strength of your ideas you wish to communicate and I have found the more life experiences you have had the richer your conceptual landscape. You got more shit to talk about. The Technical aspect is the thing we can always do something about. If you can't translate wht is in your mind then excersize your muscles. And drawing is a muscle. Drawing or rendering from life is a skill you can improve.



I look at my mind as a compter with all this potential knowedge space. The more things you know the more things you have experienced the more things you can access to tell stories ( interesting or boring), negotiate problems, an yes draw pictures. So whenever a student says the can't think of nuthin' to draw I say draw from life, draw what i infont of you. if you can understand and master the language of the visual world you can create a language where your conceptual world meets the natural world or communal world. I took the last three years focusig on the female figure and styles in additiond to my other visual interests.



Once you findthe common visual lagauge you can play with it and evolve it. Playing with colorfields...



Or primary colors...




or complementary color relationships.

So draw something in front of you to improve your technique and turn natural ability to a powerful skill. Cause you gotta learn to mke correct sounds before you make sense. You got to understand what you see before you began making symbol marks.

War in the Key of Jung: Page Nine

The End. No not really just another line on he Rosetta Stone of my work. I'm gonna go back and clean up the page structure and lettering and let it rest as is. So please go back reread and give me a thought. i just wanna tell stories.

LEGACE ARTWORKS: Here my dear/Seeds of Change Part One.

I ain't never finished nuthin' this big. My first mural commission, for the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture in Montgomery AL. About eight feet tall and twelve feet wide, constructed from three wood panels.

The Title
"Here my dear"/Seeds of Change

My father, in one of our many deep discussions on manhood life and destiny, completed a heavy sessions with the directive: "You must leave a legacy, you must leave a monument of your passing." At the time I was in my mid-twenties and having reached a false sense of responsibility as well as a smug sense of enlightenment towards a life without hubris, i did not subscribe to the desire to be remembered. I lived in the immediate the now and reinforced the significance of that moment and those carnal and visceral impulses. More simply said i dismissed his words as vanity. I've grown up some and understand what he told me. He told me to aspire. Marvin Gaye once created an album as a stipulation in a divorce case, the proceeds from the album would go to his ex-wife. It is an ART album. it is exploratory. It is emotional. It is honest. Oh and it lies. And it tells. and it accuses. And begs. And it changes. And it forgives and it grows. And it hopes. But it does represent an ending of relationships. This is it for me and Alabama State University for the immediate time being so this is the mark of my passing. Listen to the first track on that album and that's the title.
Seeds of change relates to the student protests of the sixties in Montgomery and the involvement of people in the community as well as students, faculty and administration of Alabama State College. I include the photographs of many young protesters and students who are active and important citizens in Montgomery presently. The seeds of change are at harvest. Oh what a bounty.


NEXT: THE PROCESS

War Page Six

The Paradigm has shifted...ANYTHING is Possible. 11.4.08

I mean really who'd ah thunk it?!? And now, who is still not willing to accept what was not supposed to be possible in our lifetime? We have a President-elect who is not, officially, only of European descent. Congratulations to Barack Hussein Obama II. Man just saying his name brings an odd tingling sensation of change. Congratulations America. I can say that the "Great Experiment" may be succeeding. Now I can see the expansion of Possibilities. The Paradigm has shifted. The "White Monolith" has deconstructed itself. Now is the time for everybody else to take Responsibility for all the things thought improbable and hammer the world with new vision.
Terrible as it seems I was very skeptical at the beginning of the Democratic Primary. Who was this cat? He didn't have a Civil Rights lineage. He wasn't connected to the many "Black" institutions and power bases. I didn't believe Barack was a viable candidate for these reasons. Even though i constantly complained about "Black Leaders" and what seemed to be reactive politics and policies. Still to quote Kanye, " Everything I'm not made me everything I am." I learned a lesson in faith. Living in this virulent Red State. Searching for meaning in the this powerfully conflicted "cradle of the confederacy" and "birthplace of the civil rights." Employed at one of the oldest black institutions of higher education. Teaching in an art department woefully detached from its cultural heritage and social imperative. I lost faith in things coming out...RIGHT. Well I joyously stand corrected and embrace my role in this new world order.
As an artist my work has been about seeing, studying, mimicking, creating and communicating. Through much of my creative experience and education I banged my head attempting to gain acceptance an excluding monolith and searching for allies in an emerging generation addled by self importance, selfishness, mediocrity and fear. See but that was just misdirection and misunderstanding and projecting. I'm done with that shit.
This is America where dream and drive creates success.
This is America where perseverance and faith can create equality.
America has a new national anthem as far as I'm concerned. And it made me cry when it first really caught my attention during the climactic scenes of Spike Lee's phenomenal X. When i first heard it smacked of a dream deferred. It echoed the lament of Ralph Ellison's nightmare of The Invisible Man. But then i listened close, cause it always contained hope. So when the votes came in far earlier than i expected(my wife had to wake me up) and the reporters and pundits and critics and citizens embrace it, the words ran through my head with true meaning"

"Been a long long time coming but I know a CHANGE is gonna COME. Oh yes it will."
I cried again and i thanked Sam Cooke for his delivery and I smiled.
That CHANGE has come. Oh yes it has.


My Momma said to me early in this year's political game, "change doesn't come when you're ready, it comes when its necessary."

America GET DOWN OR LAY DOWN.

Out of the Abyss

I think I like this version better. Couple things on my mind or at least coming out of my mind. Reflecting on the past year and all that occurred while also looking to the future to direct the infinite present. Had a nice show this weekend but i'll come back to that in a moment.
Quote of the month: "Get that weak shit off my track!!" Speed Racer
Thats my rally cry for the New Year. Sometimes i want to say that to my students but mostly I'll be directing that back at myself as i create art in 2009. Oh and Speed Racer was an elegant fucking movie. Much as I have a difficult relationship with all things Wachowski this movie hit the mark. it was mythical and at the same time i felt like the little kid in the seventies who watched the carton with my big brother. " Go Speed Racer Go!!!!
So the MAC had another show this weekend at the Jackson Community House. Much smaller and more focused than the National Center show. i hope its a sign of things to come. Our name is beginning to be known and i did a little viral advertising with the Out of the Abyss image.


I created three different images using three paintings from the show five copies of each. only three were left at the end. The branding of Abyss has begun. If Montgomery don't knw my face by the end of all this they will know my Psuedonym. i will do the same for the mural when that is put up at the National Center for the study of Civil Rights and African American heritage. See cause the MAC is all about creating a bridge from the dynamic civil rights past of Montgomery AL to its quiet but potent present. Oh and my birthday is at the end of this month.
So Out of the Abyss. From nothing something.
One love

The Red Dream of the Blue Turtle.
Abstraction. To simplify, to pare something down to its most essential elements.
So years ago i was in search of inspiring authors. Before i wanted to be an artist or a comic book artist i wanted to write. So from 1995 on I obssessed about writers. i had to read everything by an author to understand them. Out of thi period i discovered John Updike, Octavia Butler, Gabriel García Márquez, E.L. Doctorow, the monstrous Charles Bukowski, and the illuminating Kurt Vonnegut. All of these writers, in retrospect, have a mood in common. Hope in structure for survival in a brutal, honest and wonderous world. Master storytellers and craftsman of language. Vonnegut wrote a book that made me look at my intention of an artist differently. It was called Bluebeard, the Autobiography of Rabo Karabekian. it was the story of an artist who learned to draw like Norman Rockwell, a master of naturalism but he comes of age in the fifties and sixties during the emergance of the Abstract Expressionists. Pollock, Motherwell, Dekooning, that crew. And though he tries to change the precision of his works relationship to the real world he is incapable of delving into the unconsiousness to create abstract work.
The story begins at the end of his life as he reflects on his life his art collection and the secret in his barn. Read it. Its good for any artist trying to understand the desire to create in an atmosphere where your work doesn't fit. Well that was one lesson. Another lesson was the desire to get as good as i could at realistic art so that i could learn how to simplify. Well this is the second fruit of the abstract labor. The first Ode to G O'K, is in a living room in Birmingham.




The beautiful thing about abstraction is you can make it mean whatever you wnat and others can only guess and interpret the work. Cause i know exactly what the Blue Turtle is dreaming... naughty turtle.

Stop trying to explain to them and just SHOW them. I'll write a longer post this weekend.

Thinking of interesting ways to brand myself and market my art.