whadiwannablogfor?

Portfolio Blog

2015-11-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

I put up a portfolio blog

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

Captain Harlock

2011-12-02T20:47:00.001-08:00

Some o' that there Japanimation that the kids are all crazy about.

Mister Satan

2011-11-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

I guess I have Batman on the brain. To avoid getting my ass sued off, I’ve switched to another Golden Age superhero, now in the Public Domain, who’s similar enough to Batman that I can draw obvious parallels, but not be confined to a direct parody. His name is—wait for it— Mister Satan! Seriously! He was created for Archie Comics back before it was Archie Comics and discarded when the company decided to become squeaky clean and wholesome. His companions are Devil Boy and Devil Girl, both my own additions.

Batman!

2011-11-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here's my idea for a bootleg Batman comic. I expect it won't be very popular with fans of the ongoing Batman comics.

Eccentric Billionaire Bruce Wayne, motivated by the tragic murder of his parents, devotes his life to fighting crime in his home town of Gotham City. Wayne has devoted his considerable fortune and intellectual resources to the study of criminology and crime prevention. His Wayne Foundation donates enormous sums of money to Gotham's Police Force, infrastructure, school system, prisoner rehabilitation programs and civic restoration. For this reason, the Mayor and Police Commissioner James Gordon indulge Wayne's mania for dressing up in a bat costume and fighting street-level crime with gadgets. Bruce Wayne believes his identity is a secret, but really everyone who's met Batman knows who he is. It's painfully obvious. As long as the money flows and the crime rate keeps dropping (it's down dramatically since Batman's campaign began) the civic authorities are willing to play along. The situation became more complicated when Bruce adopted an orphaned teenager named Dick Grayson after the boy's parents were murdered. It's become harder to turn a blind eye to child endangerment, but so far, the kid has been well taken care of and nobody wants to upset the apple cart.

Batman's fists-first approach to crime-fighting may be a little silly, but Bruce Wayne is still an excellent amateur sleuth and the police, however reluctantly, sometimes will turn to his expertise. As a fail-safe though, Commissioner Gordon has made a deal to reduce the sentence of a certain long-serving prisoner if he'll agree to dress up as a super-criminal called the Joker and distract Batman's attention when the police really need him out of the way.

My story concerns Dick Grayson growing up and coming to terms with his adopted father's psychological problems. Batman is a kind of Peter Pan figure. A boy who never grew up and Dick needs to decide whether he can keep playing dress up with Bruce or if it's time to leave fantasy behind. I think this could be a bitter-sweet and funny little story about children and adults and how age isn't always the thing that separates one from the other. I don't want it to be gloomy or depressing, Bruce Wayne's mania is kind of sad, but his colorful world of good guys and bad guys is fun and exciting. I'll also need an outside character, a reporter or a federal agent, likely a woman, who can be the reader's entry point into the weird world of Bruce Wayne.

Una the Blade Tumblr

2011-08-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Click the image!

Starwatcher

2011-08-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

My version of the Starwatcher meme started by the great Brandon Graham.

A Song Of Ice And Fire

2011-07-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Little fan art for A Song Of Ice And Fire. Can anybody figure out who this is?

Want to see my new book?

2011-07-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

You can get it at TR!CKSTER in San Diego or at my Big Cartel store!

TR!CKSTER and Book Launch

2011-07-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

If you're in San Diego this week for Comic-Con, be sure to drop by TR!CKSTER. It's free! And you can pick up all three volumes of Much the Miller's Son there as well!

And if you're in Vancouver this Saturday, you really need to get down to Pulpfiction Books for the joint launch of Much the Miller's Son volume 3 and BATTLEKITTENS the art of Rebecca Dart.

Follow up to composition

2011-04-11T19:23:00.001-07:00

The same layout template applied to Leiji Matsumoto's Captain Harlock, Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira and Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump. This relates to: The Comics Journal.

Composition and intuition

2011-04-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a fascinating article about layout composition as applied to the classic comic strip Tintin. After reading it, I was curious about how much my own work follows those aesthetic principles. So I grabbed a pic from the article and layered it over some of my favorite pages from book 3 and look what I found out:

The thing I find interesting is that none of this was intentional. I didn't know about dividing the page into squares, circles and triangles, I just juggled the elements around until they "looked right". What this tells me though, is that it's possible to quantify what "looks right". These are of course just some of my favorite pages, and I haven't checked to see if all my pages conform, I'm sure they don't. But it's nice to see that when I think it's working, I can actually prove it.

Thierry Martin

2011-03-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Extraordinary French Cartoonist Thierry Martin

Rebecca Dart

2011-03-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Rebecca is a good friend of mine. I used to work with her in the animation business. She deserves to be way more famous than she is! http://r-dart.livejournal.com/

Emily Carroll

2011-03-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard about this already, but if not, go read it now: http://emcarroll.com/comics/faceallred/01.html

Chippy and Loopus!

2011-03-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Check out my pal John Sanford's hilarious webcomic:

Today’s Episode: Step Up, lay Down

Gingerbread Girl

2011-03-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Gingerbread Girl by Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin is a really fun and intriguing new comic at Top Shelf 2.0. It has a really interesting narrative structure as well as being cute, funny and clever.

Read Tom Pajak's blog

2011-03-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

It's funny as shit and since he just put up a post about me, I'm hoping to create a feedback loop and bring down the interwebs: http://artbrute6.blogspot.com/ Tom, by the way, was my sounding board and co-writer when I was first brainstorming Much the Miller's Son. If you read my comic, you've probably laughed at his jokes already.

Me and two of the greats

2011-03-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

These guys are my rock stars. Sergio Aragones of Groo the Wanderer and Mad Magazine and Jean Giraud AKA Moebius of Blueberry and Arzach.

Jetboy sees print!

2011-03-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

Check this out! My friend Monika Brozda got my four page Jet Boy story into a Dutch reprint magazine alongside Thierry Martin and a bunch of other great Franco-Belgian cartoonists! Download the PDF to see the whole thing!

Pre-order Much book 3

2011-03-02T14:56:00.001-08:00

Hey everybody! Press time steadily approaches and even with the Xeric Grant, I'm on the hook for a big pile of cash. If you're planning on picking up a copy of Much book 3, please consider a pre-order. For $25 (shipping to the US and Canada included) you'll get the full-color, oversized, hardcover book mailed to your door with a personalized sketch inside. Paypal: stevelec (at) hotmail.com. Not only will you get a shiny new book, but you'll be helping to support my work. I appreciate it!

Steve

Opinions needed

2011-01-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Here's another concept...

Hey guys! I'm working on the cover for book 3 because the Xeric people want to post a cover image ASAP. What do you think of this?

Steve

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 42 (Xeric Grant!)

2011-01-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Big news! I won a Xeric Grant to self-publish book 3! Huzzah!

Steve

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 40-41

2010-12-19T21:53:00.000-08:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 39

2010-12-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 38

2010-10-09T09:00:00.001-07:00

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2010-09-29T09:39:00.001-07:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 36

2010-09-14T14:18:00.001-07:00

How To Be Creative

2010-09-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a good article about creativity which aligns pretty closely with my own feelings about making art. It's good stuff.

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2010-08-28T21:29:00.001-07:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 33

2010-08-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Another one!

2010-08-10T22:33:00.001-07:00

Here's some more color!

2010-08-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

What do you think?

Mr. Scarechild page 9-10

2010-08-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here's some more of that other project I'm working on!

Mr. Scarechild page 10

2010-08-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Color practice

2010-08-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a stab at the color style for Much book 3. Yes, it will be in color!

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 31

2010-08-02T10:51:00.001-07:00

Comic-Con: Schedule

2010-07-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

Here are the events and panels I'm planning to attend. If anyone wants to meet up, here's where I'll be.

Comic-Con: Schedule @ San Diego, CA

Comic-Con 2010!

2010-07-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Who's going to be at Comic-Con? I'm looking forward to meeting lots of people and having a great time in San Diego. Once again, I don't have a booth this year,(but I'm looking for somebody to split a booth with next year). I'll be roaming the floor with my Much the Miller's Son T-shirt on, so if you see me, stop me and say hello!

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 30

2010-07-07T11:07:00.001-07:00

Thomas Perkins

2010-07-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thomas Perkins is the Emmy-winning character designer for Ben 10. He's been around for a long time and done some high-profile work. My favorite thing he's done is The Screed Patrol, a series of sketchbook drawings that evoke whole worlds of alien adventure. There's a clear Jack Kirby influence along with inspiration from African masks, Neolithic stone carvings and Australian Aboriginal art. All with a cartoony appeal. Check out his blog here: thomasperkins.blogspot.com

Atlas & Axis

2010-07-03T18:25:00.001-07:00

While on the subject of breathtaking color cartoons, check out: http://www.escapula.com/

THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE DUCK ALFRED J.KWAK

2010-07-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

I wish I could color my comics like this. Check out this blog by one of the creators, a former production designer for Disney who now teaches in the Far East. There's a treasure trove of unbelievable art there!

The Abominable Charles Christopher

2010-07-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

Do yourself a favor and check out this incredible web comic! The Abominable Charles Christopher

Jon Bauer

2010-07-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

A turn of the century Swedish illustrator who was clearly an influence on Brian Froud and Jim Henson. His style is reminiscent of Kay Nielsen and Arthur Rackham. What gorgeous monsters!

Deadwood

2010-06-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

Deadwood: Great show? or the GREATEST SHOW EVER?

God, how I love this show. Everything about it is absolutely brilliant. The dialogue is a joy. I haven't heard such musical profanity in all my life. Every character is perfectly cast. I get a smile on my face every time Trixie, Jane or Al shows up. It's fascinating to watch the web of relationships among the different characters and how allegiances shift. The theme of community evolving from chaos is well represented and has a philosophical depth that surprises me.

I'm finally coming to the end of season 3. I know the series is almost over and I'm sad to see it go. I hope it has a better ending than Carnivale at least. Damn you HBO.

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 29

2010-06-28T10:28:00.001-07:00

Chuck Jones

2010-06-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's not as obvious these days, but Chuck Jones was a huge inspiration growing up. He's very much responsible for forming my sense of humor.

Leiji Matsumoto

2010-06-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Leiji Matsumoto has been called the heir to Osamu Tezuka. His work is hugely influential in Anime and Manga and his work was some of the first anime to make it to North America. Personally, I love the way he draws those lumpy characters, especially in his Space Operas. They add a very human warmth to what can be a pretty anti-septic genre.

Guest page from Tiny Kitten Teeth part2

2010-06-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of the guest strip from Becky and Frank over at Tiny Kitten Teeth!

Guest page from Tiny Kitten Teeth

2010-06-14T11:04:00.001-07:00

This week, a guest page from Becky and Frank over at Tiny Kitten Teeth!

How to draw a sarcastic duck

2010-06-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

Look how sarcastic Donald is in this Carl Barks drawing! This is a panel from Only a Poor Old Man, the first story from Uncle Scrooge's own comic book. Carl Barks is a well regarded storyteller and deserves to be. His stories have a level of sophistication rarely seen in the comics medium at all, let alone funny animal books. You can find a whole lot of amazing old Disney Comics online here: http://disneycomics.free.fr/index.php

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 28

2010-06-07T13:36:00.001-07:00

Alternate Universe Shrek

2010-06-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Check out how much better Shrek would have looked if they'd kept the designs by comic legend Mike Ploog. via:http://comicrazys.com/2010/06/06/shrek-character-design-and-pre-production-artwork-mike-ploog/

I mean, come on.

Mickey Mouse and His Horse Tanglefoot

2010-06-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

I scanned these pages from my giant Mickey Mouse book. The rest of the story is up at ComicCrazys:

http://comicrazys.com/2010/06/01/mickey-and-his-horse-tanglefoot-1933-dailies-floyd-gottfredson/

A bit of Fry and Laurie

2010-05-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

One reason I'm not a big fan of House M.D., apart from how bloody predictable it is, (or was, back when I watched it) is that I think Hugh Laurie is absolutely wasted in a dramatic role. I best remember Hugh from his performance as Bertie Wooster opposite Stephen Fry's Jeeves and his Prince George in Blackadder III. Recently I found a treasure trove of clips on YouTube from A Bit of Fry and Laurie, the BBC sketch comedy show Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry put on in the 90s. You can find all of series 1 and lots of clips from all the other series there as well. Enjoy.

You're hired!

2010-05-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

I saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus last night. I enjoyed it. I'm a long-time Terry Gilliam fan and it's nice to see him doing something fun again (I didn't see Tidelands but I hated The Brothers Grimm.) Of course, Imaginarium will be most remembered as Heath Ledger's final film. There have certainly been worse swan songs.

Another thing that struck me, since I'm in the midst of pretend-casting Much the movie, is actress Lily Cole. I think I may have found my Marion. She certainly looks the part. She's also English, which is important, and she has an air of innocence about her that would really sell Marion's naive convictions. So Lily, call me.

Now I'll just need to find out if Rowan Atkinson is free to play the Sheriff.

The Russian Hobbit!

2010-05-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

I love this so much. It is a 1970s Russian illustrated edition of The Hobbit. Not only are the illustrations lively and gorgeously cartoonish while maintaining the crisp graphic quality of woodcuts, but Bilbo has crazy hairy legs! How did I go my whole life without knowing about this? Check out the source

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 27

2010-05-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Much the Miller's Son Original Art Giveaway!

2010-05-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

As a way of celebrating three years of Much, I'm giving away free original pages from book 2!

Just for fun, I'm setting up a contest. The winner will get first choice of the available pages and runners up can choose in descending order. I'll also post the winning entry.

Here's the contest. If Much the Miller's Son was ever made into a feature film, who would you cast? Please specify if you're thinking of a live action or animated film and provide links to IMDB in case I don't recognize the names.

Your Cast:

-Robin Hood

-Maid Marion

-The Sheriff of Nottingham

-Little John

-Will Scarlett

-Friar Tuck

-Alan a-Dale

-Much the Miller's Son

All entries are due by June 1st! I'm interested to see what you guys come up with, because it will give me an insight into how you perceive the characters.

Looking forward to it!

Steve

THREE @#%$#@ YEARS!!

2010-05-06T13:31:00.001-07:00

Can you believe I've been drawing this little schmuck for 3 years! I've put him through a lot since May of 2007. For my own benefit, I put together these model sheets of my favorite expressions and poses. It's amazing how much this un-Merry Man has evolved over the years!

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 26

2010-05-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Mr. Scarechild!

2010-04-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here are a few sketches of characters from my upcoming graphic novel written by Chris Wolf. It'll be published by Blink Books, the all-ages imprint of Viper Comics. We started pitching this story over a year ago and it's finally been picked up! Look for lots more development art over the next year!

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 25

2010-04-26T16:34:00.001-07:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 24

2010-04-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Much process

2010-04-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I put together a little tutorial over at ConceptArt.org to show how I draw a page.

Check it out here.

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 23

2010-04-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 22

2010-03-28T20:58:00.001-07:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 21

2010-03-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Now this...

2010-03-18T18:21:00.001-07:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 20

2010-03-16T12:53:00.001-07:00

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2010-03-08T22:06:00.001-08:00

More Una

2010-03-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

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2010-03-01T20:12:00.001-08:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 17

2010-02-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

Groovy Monsters!

2010-02-17T22:55:00.000-08:00

2010-02-16T21:11:00.001-08:00

Here's some fooling around I did with that paper background and the new brush James sent me. I'm actually only using the pencil brush for textures, but I used some watercolor brushes for the wash effect. I'm trying to emulate 70s horror comics a bit.

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 16

2010-02-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Much the Miller's Son book3 page 15

2010-02-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

Pewfell Pinup

2010-02-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a little piece I did for my buddy Chuck Whelon's Pewfell Omnibus. Check out a preview here: http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78416

2010-02-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Exploded View launches in March!

2010-01-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

The new Cloudscape anthology is almost ready! I've seen the proofs and believe me, this is BY FAR the best book yet. Make space on your shelves everybody!

Bat Hug!

2010-01-27T21:01:00.001-08:00

This made my day. Courtesy of Geek Orthodox

And another thing...

2010-01-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Cloudscape 4 pinup

2010-01-06T09:29:00.001-08:00

So here's my pinup for Cloudscape anthology 4: Exploded View. It's too bad I didn't have time for a story this year, but I wanted to be involved regardless. What do you think?

Medieval Russian movie posters

2009-12-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Anyone have an idea what movie that first one is from? My best guess is maybe E.T., but I'm not at all sure. I think the others are pretty self-explanatory.

Apropos of my last post...

2009-12-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some random cool things from my hard drive.

I think I'm being followed...

2009-12-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

30 Followers! Thanks for reading guys. I need to start posting more often to justify this blog's existence.

2009-11-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! If you didn't see the Colbert Report last night, let me direct you to this clip where he talks to the co-founder of a Canadian organization called Free The Children, which is dedicated to ending child labor around the world.

here

This got me thinking about what I could do to help. Well here's something; From now on, if you donate $10 or more to Free The Children http://www.freethechildren.com/donate/index.php I'll send you a free copy of my book! Just fire me an e-mail at stevelec (at) hotmail.com or a Facebook message with your mailing address and I'll mail you a copy. Also, if you aren't comfortable with using your credit card to donate, you can twitter or blog about what I'm doing or about the organization or set up your own fundraising page and I'll consider it a fair trade. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do for the kids! Thanks guys! Steve

Much the Miller's Son book3 page13

2009-11-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

>I'm finally back! Sorry for the long hiatus. I'm working on multiple paying projects right now which are playing hell with my webcomicking schedule. Something's got to give! I'll update whenever I can until life gets back to normal.

Sphinx attack!

2009-10-29T00:11:00.000-07:00

Cintiquery

2009-10-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

I have finally joined the future. I am now officially a cyborg. So long paper...

Much the Miller's Son reviewed on the Interwebs!

2009-10-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.digitalstrips.com/2009/10/digital-strips-173-review-much-the-millers-son.html

Thanks guys! I appreciate the kind words!

A few of my favourite things...

2009-10-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share a few of my favourite blogs with you guys. I check these out pretty much daily! Just click the banners.

Celtic Commission

2009-10-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here's some artwork I did to promote http://www.druidsbook.com for my new friend Josh Langston. He wrote a book about the ancient Iberian Celts and their battles with Rome. I used to know quite a bit about this period and it was nice to go back and dig up old referrence stuff I haven't used in years. Hope you all like!

a few more

2009-10-04T17:20:00.001-07:00

More exploration of Una's world and experiments with inking. Also, check out this lovely painted sketch by the amazing Mike Birkhofer!

Una the Blade sketches

2009-10-04T17:14:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted sketchbook stuff here in a while. Here are some drawings for my barbarian single-mom thing, Una the Blade.

Much the Miller's Son book3 page12

2009-09-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

I like doing these little character bits every now and then. I like to think these characters have relationships and dimensions apart from just generating jokes. I guess it's up to you readers to decide whether I succeed at that. Next week, Much will be back in the picture, provided all goes according to plan.

Steve

Much the Miller's Son book3 page11

2009-09-13T23:26:00.001-07:00

Can anyone understand what these idiots are saying?

Much the Miller's Son book3 page10

2009-09-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

Here's the new one. Why does that guard speak in Shakespearean English? I don't know. Makes him more interesting though, don't it?