From the Crypt v.2, Item 13: Daring Devil

9/27/93

Yet another DD picture.  Don't know what to say- he was one of my favorite characters at the time.  This is just him in his 'new' suit (the 90's were all about recostuming heroes- I think every major superhero went through at least one costume change back then), balancing on a building corner.  This was a fun draw- you can tell I wasn't too concerned with every last detail, which is a lot how I sketch nowadays- and I enjoyed putting him in a different pose from normal.  That's all I have to say about that.

And for you long-time readers (all two or three of you), you'll notice no 'year-in-review' this time around.  I was kicking around a couple ideas for something to post, but figured honestly, it doesn't matter.  Suffice to say that this year was better than some, worse than others, and I expect 2010 to be more of the same.  Take that how you will.  Hopefully I'll continue to post art on here throughout the year, maybe even some new stuff.  I accuse myself of living in the past too much as it is; all of this old art probably isn't helping.  I'm feeling pretty directionless with the blog right now, so I'm not terribly motivated to do one thing or another.  Anyway- if there's something you'd like to see on here- more writing, more new art, more retro art, whatever- please let me know.  Feedback is always welcome.

Next: probably more old art ;) 

Thanks as always to you two or three long-time readers for sticking around.  I don't hear from you, but I know you're out there. 

Music: "The First Noel/Mary Mary" - Sarah McLachlan (sure, x-mas is over, but this was SUCH a great song)

From the Crypt v.2, Item 12: Somebody Called About the Cable?

8/21/93.

Nothing terribly clever to say this time around. Too tired. More of the typical work of the time, though it looks as though I was moving away from the super-detailed muscles and towards less overrendering... which I guess would just be rendering. Biggest thing I notice about this pic is that I had the patience and creativity to make up all the crap on Cable's body- none of that's really original to the character, I just thought it would make for a fun picture. Might've been some kind of backstory to it, but I can't remember anything.

Later.

...oh.  Before I go, I direct you to Library Card of the Damned, my new blog.  It's hopefully going to be me reviewing books, movies, and god knows what else.  Check it out if you want to know what I think about what I read, watch, listen to, and otherwise occupy my days with when I'm not thinking about how to get out of posting anything new here ;)

Music- "Powerpuff Girls Theme" (cause it's STUCK in my head...)

Undated; probably around November 1993.

Well, it's The Crow again.  This is hardly unfamiliar territory for the blog, right?  This time (or that time, when I drew it), I decided to approach the character slightly differently from past attempts.  This time around, I decided I'd focus on what was really the heart of the story, Eric and Shelly.  As you may or may not know, Eric comes back (or is brought back) from the dead to avenge his and Shelly's murders.  The effectiveness of the comic book comes from the numerous flashbacks to their relationship interspersed throughout the book.  So, while it's an all kinds of crazy revenge story, the book does a pretty fantastic job of highlighting just what they both lost. 

Also, when you're 19 years old, this kind of story just kills.

Anyway, the picture is something I'm actually quite pleased with.  Something a little different for me back then, I think the set up and layout of it works at least reasonably well.  I'd probably approach it differently now, but I like how it works.  Who knew?

Music: "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" - Dead Can Dance

From the Crypt v.2, Item 10: The Hell(raiser) You Say

11/7/93.

Let me get this out of the way now: I didn't draw this on black paper- I drew it just like every other drawing I did back then, and I just now reversed it. If black-and-white photos look better than color, white-on-black drawings look much cooler than black-on-white. At least, drawings of Cenobites do.

I was a big fan of Hellraiser back in the day. Mostly because of the stylized look of them- if Freddy and Jason were cool icons, here was a whole Manson family of characters to choose from. It was gory, it was sexy, it was clever- all the things guaranteed to appeal to young people of a certain age. And of course, if it appeals to a girl the young person likes, then so much the better excuse to draw. Not that I ever gave her the drawing- somehow a little far afield from the gift of flowers, right? But, you had to know her to appreciate that she was as likely to enjoy the drawing as she was the flowers. Ah, the good old days. (I didn't realize until sometime later that Hellraiser was essentially a treatise on sadomasochism. But really, is that the kind of thing you want a 19-year-old to know much about?)

Nothing fancy about the drawing itself- mostly adapted from pics I most likely found in Fango (Fangoria magazine to you not in the know), with what I believe are some adapted lines from the movie.

Music: "Christian Woman" - Type O Negative

P.S. Ask Joey sometime about the true Leviathan (the 'big bad' of Hellraiser II)

From the Crypt v.2, Item 9: The Devils I Know

7/1/93 (Happy Belated Birthday, Mark!)

Well, unintentionally, I'm continuing the theme of Hell and the Devil with this retro post from '93. It takes two of my then-favorite characters, Daredevil and Grendel, and puts them in a dynamic, but dangerous, confrontation.

As you can see, still going with the super-musculature here. Lots of blacks (Grendel's outfit is meant to be black, but it's pretty hard to show detail like that). For me, a pretty decent dynamic to the figures. I remember enjoying drawing this a lot- like I said, a lot more dynamic than most of the things I drew (then and now), and they were two of my favorite characters.

Most of you probably know who Daredevil is, from the mediocre (at best) Ben Affleck movie if nothing else. But to sum up: Blind Lawyer by day, Blind Vigilante by night. Grendel, however, is a bit more complex. The character of Grendel (in comics) first appeared in the guise of Hunter Rose, a millionaire playboy who dressed up in a stylish costume and went out into the night (sounds like Batman, right?). But in this instance, Grendel was the villain of the piece. In fact, he only lasted for one story; he was killed at the end of it. The story's title, Devil by the Deed, began to make 'Grendel' and 'Devil' synonymous. The character became a cult hit, and was revisited repeatedly, even showing a meeting with Batman, and eventually, Hunter Rose/Grendel became the driving force for the entire planet. Gone was the thief/murderer Hunter Rose; in his place was Grendel, the spirit of aggression. A large number of stories were told in this future world, and how the spirit of Grendel (more metaphorical than literal) affected every single part of the world. I've not revisted the Grendel universe in many a year; perhaps it would be worth another trip. I remember quite enjoying it back in the day.

Anyway, the picture: mostly, I just thought it was a nice opportunity to take two 'devil' characters and put them together. Plus, with Daredevil being a pretty close analogue to Batman, I thought it would work well. No story beyond that.

Happy Thanksgiving to all; I'll be back sometime next week.

From the Crypt v.2, Item 8: Devil May Care

6/29/93.

Back to the past, as it were. This one was still in that super-muscled phase I went through back then, but at this point I was starting to come into my own by making it a little more stylized. Daredevil was a long-standing favorite character of mine, and it was a nice change to do something slightly more action-oriented (for me), while still giving a somewhat iconic pose. Of course, there're tons wrong with the picture (anatomy, still not a strong suit), but I was pleased enough with it. I liked using the other inks to make 'highlights' of the picture, and this was more shading (fake though it was) than I normally used. It was a bit of a different picture than I was used to, but I still like it.

Probably nothing to post next Monday. It's been quite the week thus far, and with friends coming in from out of town this weekend, I'll most likely not get a chance to prep anything Sunday. So, see you Wednesday.

Music: "Devil Inside" - INXS

From The Crypt Halloween, 5: Finis

Happy Halloween!

From The Crypt Halloween, 4: The Other Monster Squad

10/6/89. At least this one was started around Halloween time.

Not much to say about this one- my favorite monsters, in color! My sister had gotten me colored pencils for Christmas past, so I was trying to put them to use. Not much to say about this one, other than I don't know why the Mummy appears to be floating, and for whatever reason I always remember drawing Dracula like that- Bela's outfit, but completely different face. There's a reason I drew that face, but I can't remember what it is. So there you go.

I'm tired.

See you tomorrow.

Music: "Monster Mash" - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett

From The Crypt Halloween, 3: Horror's Hero

7/24/90.

Not quite a horror monster, Darkman was nonetheless a horror fan's dream. Imagine a superhero movie done by Evil Dead's Sam Raimi... oh wait, that was Spider-Man. Well, go back twelve years or so and you'll see Raimi's first superhero movie. Coming out a year after Tim Burton took the 'comic' out of 'comic books' and redefined the superhero movie, Darkman was an early successor to that grim and gritty, super-stylized movie, channeled through the mind of Sam Raimi. Starring a pre-Qui-Gon Liam Neeson, it failed to make much of an impact at the box office- but made quite the impact on little film and movie geeks everywhere. I remember loving the bombast and insanity of it all- one of the bad guys had a machine gun built into his prosthetic leg!- as well as the drama and pathos of the poor, disfigured scientist who can no longer feel anything but rage... plus he's got a face that melts every 99 minutes! I haven't seen it since the early 90's, so I have no idea how it holds up. I would hope it's another good example of Prime Sam. I found a few pictures of Darkman- I might post another one for your viewing amusement later this week.

Oh- although it didn't do well at the box office, the filmmakers knew just how to hit up the geek market: They made two follow up films that were direct-to-video, starring Arnold Vosloo (that guy from The Mummy)- probably because he was cheap and bald, which makes for less money on bald caps. I never saw them, so I can't speak for their filmic value. Might be worth watching, yes?

Music: "Theme from Darkman" - Danny Elfman

From The Crypt Halloween, 2: First Cuts

12/20/89. Cause, you know, nothing says 'Christmas' like Freddy Krueger. Nightmare Before Christmas, indeed.

Looking back at these old pictures, I've come across a number of Freddy Krueger drawings. Now, before you decide I need medical attention (or reaffirm your initial opinion), let's take a look at another thought in play here. Essentially, Freddy Krueger, star of some hard-R movies, had by this time become a superhero. Okay, supervillain, to be precise, but hardly a horror movie monster. Sure, he killed kids in their sleep and terrorized a generation of teens, but let's take a closer look. Horribly damaged as a young man? Check. Virtually impossible to kill? Check. Long metal claws? Check.

He's not a monster.

He's Wolverine.

Alright, a bit of a stretch there. But, hopefully you take my meaning. By this point, the late 80's, the horror of Freddy (not even sleep is safe) had been replaced by a joking, nearly cartoon image of the original- the later episodes were practically action movies with more blood and makeup effects. Where had all the horror icons gone?

Looking at this pic, evidently Freddy took them out. I forget where I'd first heard the mention of a team-up between Freddy and Jason (one of those fanboy dreams that never, EVER live up to the hype), but this was a little idea that I put down on paper. I never did see the movie. I'm betting whatever I was thinking here was probably better than what made it to film.

Music: "One, Two Freddy's Coming For You"

From The Crypt Halloween, 1: We Still Belong Dead

8/20/90.

At my Mom's this past weekend, I came across a huge collection of my old drawings. Instead of shuffling them to the bottom of whatever box they came out of like usual, I decided to bring them with me and look through them again, just to see if I've made any progress since then. I thought if nothing else, I could maybe find some choice ones and post them, just to show how bad I used to be way back in the day. Funnily enough, I ended up coming across a bunch of Halloween-themed (or genre-related, at least) pics and thought, since I didn't have anything new to post for Halloween, and I've been running old pics already, I could combine those two and post these REALLY old pics. Not even from the crypt so much as the old burial mound... But, there will be, with luck, a post for each night this week. Rejoice!

So this first one, I hope you can see, is Frankenstein's Monster and his Bride. This pic looks like it was influenced by an old photo or scene from the movie (the poses feel familiar) but I don't think it was a direct drawing of a photo. As you can see, I was a fan of the Universal Monsters going back quite a ways. Not much to say about this picture, though looking at the green ink, it reminds me of the time I spent drawing, then using the different color ink pens to ink the drawings instead of just plain coloring them. And, if you look at the Bride and squint really hard, she kind of looks like Madeline Kahn.

More tomorrow.

Music: "Tubular Bells" - Halloween Soundtrack

From the Crypt v.2, Item 7: Hell's Highway

June 7, 2009.

This one is pretty easy to describe. Much like my long-ago posting of 'breed', this one is directly inspired by a song. In this case, Ministry's "Hero". I was a huge fan of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails back in the day- nothing like some industrial music to get the outrage flowing. I'm not as much into it now- I guess my tastes have just changed a lot (go ahead, say it- I've gotten old :)- but my tastes have always changed. It's still fun to listen to every now and again, or better yet, catch on the radio.

But, this is just what came to my head when I would listen to the song. Also, it's inspired in large part by a story from 'Heavy Metal' called... "Friday", I think? About a clone trooper who doesn't think just like all his fellow clones. Wish I could remember the exact name.

And there you go.

Probably not going to post anything for this Friday, but you never know.

Music: "Hero" - Ministry (what, did you expect something else?)

From the Crypt v.2, Item 6: Snickity Swipe

May 1, 1993.

Well, we're back to the old stuff. Which is good, as I don't have any new stuff to post yet. Things have been quite... tiring here. Life is busy. But it'll do that.

This is Wolverine, obviously. Or I hope obviously. Couldn't get enough of the little runt back in the day. Now... eh. Don't get me wrong- I like the character well enough, but it's hard to buy into the character anymore when he's probably as ubiquitous as Spider-Man anymore. For Kirby's sake, he's on a cartoon for little kids! You know, the guy with foot-long metal claws who kills people? Little bit odd, that.

But I digress. This particular picture is known as, in the parlance of the industry, a 'swipe'. A swipe is when one artist uses another artist's work- usually a pose, but can go so far as to copy the actual style or composition. Often done without acknowledging the shoulders upon which they stand. If they do make the proper sounds (usually "-name-, after Kirby" for example), the swipe is known as an homage. Splitting hairs, but then that's what fandom does best. Let's see- using my profound geek memory, as I recall this is a swipe of Liam Sharp's Death's Head II, probably from one of the early issues. But considerably less detailed than Mr. Sharp's work. The original drawing was a character called, surprisingly, Death's Head II. I at least did the work to make it look like someone different.

'Swiping' is a big deal nowadays in the industry, what with the ready availability of photo references online. There's one artist who is almost as well-known for his swiping photo references as he is for his drawing ability. I remember his earliest work- honestly, it was better then than it is now, but I know I'm a minority opinion. He's gotten so bad, in the most recent issue of the book he shares art chores on, he swiped a different artist and 'drew' the exact same character in the exact same way- but the artist he ripped off is an amazingly different style of artist. Shame, shame! Swiping is something many artists do at one time or another, and it's difficult to say where using photo reference ends and swiping begins, and I'm probably not one to make that call. I've done it in the past- especially in terms of posing and so on- but then again, I'm not being paid for it. Oh well, as long as someone is paying for the work, artists will continue doing it.

Okay, off the soapbox.

Enjoy the day!

In other news, I think I figured out what to go as for Halloween. My only problem now is finding all of the things I need. You'd think Gothic stuff would be more in now, but you'd be wrong. Or perhaps over the age of 17 and shopping somewhere other than Hot Topic.

Also, I went to my first Haunted House in well over 20 years. I had a lot of fun, but I came to the realization that I should've been going for at least the past 10 years. I walked in and started figuring out what the gags would be, where the surprises were coming from, how they did the gags, and what music they were using. I enjoyed it, but if I were younger, or less jaded, I wouldn't be so interested in the how of it and just enjoy the spectacle. Still, I'm hoping to go to another one this weekend.

Music: "Terrible Lie" - Nine Inch Nails

ReVision and Milestone

10/4/09.

This marks my 200th post. Since Joey's been telling me to revisit my old work in order to try and jumpstart my mostly stalled creative inclinations, and since I knew this 'milestone' was coming up, I thought I'd combine those two ideas and went back to my first 'retro' post, which is also the one of the oldest pieces of 'modern' art I can find (I have older stuff, but I won't punish you like that; and I have larger art from high school, but it won't scan). In case you've forgotten, that original post was the start of a design for a banner meant to be presented at the Pittsburgh Arts Festival (or whatever it's called). My idea was to do a banner with an angel and demon, as gargoyles/statues, over the Pittsburgh skyline. Really, that was the plan. If you look back to it , it's kind of hard to see any of that. Ah well, I was young and lazy, not to mention I just didn't have the skill to draw it back then.

Cut to 15 years later. Okay, I'm still lazy, and my skills are sometimes questionable, but I've had 15 years of experience figuring out how to draw things (and finding the reference to allow me to draw things)- not to mention the fact that my imagination works differently now. The biggest difference, strangely enough, is the simplest difference: I bought a drafting table. So, I have a dedicated workspace now- no more drawing on the TV tray (well, until there's something good on). But, by buying that table, it gave me a focus and motivation to actually work on drawing again. Damned if it didn't work. I'm hoping it will continue; but if it doesn't, it won't be for lack of trying.

To those of you who've kept coming back post after post, either quickly cruising through or reading every single rambling, over-punctuated sentence, I thank you. This has been a pleasure, a burden, a pressure, and a reward, and I'm glad to have shared it with you. I plan on posting here for as long as I feel like I've got something to post... and even when I don't feel like it, I'll try to keep on going. It'll be back to the old school with the next post (next week; Chinco is this week!), but I plan on following it up with more new work.

The process is not yet finished
But it is going on;
This is not the end,
But it is the road
-Martin Luther

Cheers!

(oh, by the way, the 'hint' from last week referred to the song 'Double Agent' and the line "my angels and my demons at war"- obscure even for me, but it's my blog so there)

Music: "Doomsday" - Murray Gold

From the Crypt v.2, Item 5: SooperDooper

April 22, 1993- Earth Day, apparently. (You can tell I was a college student then, since I made note of such things)

Nothing special to say about this one, other than 'hey, it was a phase I was going through'. Actually, as I look at the re-designed costume, that's very much a relic of the 90's as well. That style of costume- no-underpants, panels running the length of the body- was pretty popular back then. Hell, that was the only style Rob Liefeld seemed to draw back then. But really, the over-muscled thing? Yeesh. And not even accurate muscles! Looking ahead a bit, I think the pictures veer away from that back into the realms of normally over-developed musclebound freaks we call superheroes.

As an FYI, if I'm doing my math right, I'll not be posting this Friday, but will have something up for Monday (fingers crossed). As a hint (if you care)- it's something old, done as something new, and look at the 'Double Agent'. Surely that's too obscure, even for me. Oh, and I blame Joe for the idea in the first place.

Music: 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown' - Jim Croce (think about it...)

From the Crypt v.2, Item 4: Mutant Mods

March 28, 1993.

The first question that came to mind when I looked at this before scanning it was, "why does a mutant whose power is healing from any injury need a suit of armor?" That's the kind of thing you only think of with age... or perhaps with common sense. I can offer no excuse, other than hell, it was the 90's and people dug that sort of thing. Everyone was getting armored up back then, in the comics. Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Spider-Man... it was only natural to do the same to everyone's favorite mutant. Though I don't think he ever showed up with armor in the comics.

As far as the picture itself, I can't make much by way of comments on it- I don't recall what made me put it together the way I did, but two things do come to mind. One, I remember struggling with what to do with those stupid boot he used to wear- they looked like full-sized versions of his mask- but on his calves. Not sure how he walked, and I don't think he was very stealthy with those things on. Two, I liked the idea of his face being completely hidden- I think it made his mask look more frightening. Don't think that would fly with Hugh Jackman in the role, though.

Alrighty- enough for now, I'm bone-tired. More Wednesday, with luck.

Music: "Mr. Roboto" - Styx

From the Crypt v.2, Item 3: Ripped (Off)

March 5, 1993. Seems like it was a pretty productive time for me, artistically. I really can't think back that far to what might've been going on, but at the very least I was drawing.

And what a drawing it was. sigh. See, this is everything that was good and bad about comics in the 90's (stop me if you've heard this one before). The 90's brought a real and lasting change in how comics were seen and perceived. This is when books stopped being about the characters and (frequently) became about the creators of the books- the comic book equivalent of the end of the studio movie system and the rise of the 'movie star', in my opinion. Sure, there were always very famous and popular artists (let's face it- people are pick up comics for the art initially) out there, but it became a whole other animal back in the 90's.

If there could be said to be a unifying style to this art, it was 'dynamic'. The artists themselves varied pretty wildly in the details of their art, but overall it had a real sense of action and vibrancy in it. Lots of useless detail lines helped. Also, over-rendering the people into something that looked more like an anatomical model of muscles rather than a 'normal' human being was a big difference. Super heroes always looked stronger than mere mortals; now you could see how each muscle was better. Hell, I remember there was actually an artistic trend in comics to draw the guys with bulging arm veins! Yep, true. One could ponder the meaning, symbolism, and effect it had on the average comic reader back then, but I'll spare you (for now).

Anyway, as you can see, I feel for this trend hook, (crosshatched) line, and sinker. The main culprit of this art style you see above was a guy named Bart Sears. I don't remember him always drawing like this, but there are some artists out there who can change their style to reflect current trends, and I guess he was one of them. Of course he pulled it off much better than I ever managed. My problems with this are like all my problems with drawing: I didn't have enough background to really understand what I was drawing. These weren't copied from anyone else's work, so I was left to figure out how the muscles were put together on my own, and figure out where the lines would go. I did okay, I guess, but really? that's just ridiculous. I never had the knack to really pull off these super-muscled people. So, when you see something I've done of late, just think: I could still be trying to draw just like this.

Back then, though, I recall being pretty proud of it- it was reasonably dynamic, and God knows I put enough lines in there. Bits and pieces I'm still pretty proud of, really. But jeez, how did these people digest food, with waists like that?

Music: "Them Bones" - Alice In Chains

From the Crypt v.2, Item 2: Please Don't Go Out On Me

March 4, 1993.

(Okay, so "Go" is actually off their second album, Vs., which came out in Late '93, but sue me- the title's good)

Speaking of overserious... Pearl Jam's frontman, Eddie Vedder. Couldn't tell you where I found the reference for it, but it was one of my better attempts at drawing a 'real' person. Hell, it's better than half the stuff I try drawing now.

Pearl Jam was THE band for me back then. They were the ones who really opened up my ears, musically, to all the different types of music out there, going beyond my limited interest in music back then (limited to B94- a top40/pop station). Through them, I found my way to all different types of music, and as so many teens do, started charting my own course in terms of musical tastes and, to an extent, helping me find my own way socially, as well.

The funny thing was, I'd gotten the Nirvana tape, not the Pearl Jam. I mean, I'd just started hearing PJ, but Nirvana was awesome. Then one day Joey came over with his Pearl Jam tape (sorry folks, this predates our owning CDs) and we listened to both tapes. By the end of the night, I'd decided Pearl Jam was more to my liking, and Joey ended up a bigger fan of Nirvana. Both were amazing, of course. I imagine every generation of kids comes of age with a particular group or type of music, one that really helps influence their formative years, or serves as a touchstone for them as they look back and remember. For me, and probably for a lot of my friends, it was bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

Wow- God help the kids who grew up in the early 2000's...

And yes, I wore the flannels, the ripped jeans with thermals underneath, and the kickers. It was the thing to do.

Music: "Release" - Pearl Jam

From the Crypt, Series 2: Lost and Dreaming

Well.

It has been a while, hasn't it?

Sorry about that, really. It's just... you know... Life. And things. Everything's going fine, or as fine as it seems to go, and then next thing... it's like... what happened? When did I stop? Sure, there've been some pretty good reasons for not being here, but really- this was one of those things I'd done, those commitments I'd made, that I thought would be easy to stick with, to see through. Until I realized that I'd started looking at this blog as one more weight on me, one more pressure. Hell, it's just a scanned picture and some rambling- don't even get me started on actually trying to draw anything...

So, to come back here, like this... well, I'm going to give it a go as I had before- I'm going to post some stuff from the past, and comment on it, and make it look like I'm doing something. Let's call it- slow-motion catharsis. I'll be posting some 'new' art soon enough, honest- I'm just not ready to yet.

If you're willing to stick around and look back 17 years or so into my past, then I hope to be somewhat illumination and not make it a waste of your time. Failing illumination, perhaps at least some amusement.

Right.

Okay then.

So, this is the first drawing of my second 'big boy' sketchbook- the ones where I started taking the drawing (too) seriously, instead of scribbles and whatnot. The subject is another recurring character, Neil Gaiman's Morpheus. In this one, he's not really patterned after Kelley Jones' take on the Dream Lord so much as a more goth/proto-emo take of my own. He does have that freakishly elongated physiognomy that I like to think I did intentionally... This drawing bears all the hallmarks of my early 90's art influences- way too much detail in the muscles, over-rendered (and incorrectly draped) clothing, and a vague 'ostentatious without being pretentious' look about it. Oh, just you wait...

As usual, I'm left with a mix of pride, abashedness, and wistfulness when I look back at these drawings. I think I did pretty well back then, for no formal training, no anatomy knowledge to speak of... and I also feel kind of silly for looking at the overseriousness with which I approached just about everything back then. But, having just spent some time at my niece's high school, watching and listening to large groups of teens interact, I'm pretty sure that overseriousness wasn't just me. And a touch of wistfulness, because I drew the hell out of things, then. Day after day. And I had the patience to keep at it- I think the longest I might've gone without putting pencil to paper back then was maybe a week... and I bet if you checked my school notebooks you would've found something in them that wasn't notes.

So there you go. That's today's post. I'll be back with something else 'fore too long. I think there's an anniversary of some sort coming up.

Music: "New Divide" - Linkin Park

From the Crypt, 16: More Heavy Metal

9/6/92.

Lo! There shall be an ending!!!

To this run of retro, at least. This was the end of this sketchbook, so it's a good time to stop and take a breather. This was a team-up of two popular 90's characters, one you already know (Deathlok) and one you've not seen before (Death's Head). Both very popular, both with pretty bad names, and a good indicator of what the 90's were like. It was a very violent time in comics, with the words 'Blood', 'Death', or some other nasty name popping up more often than rude drivers in Maryland. It was all so over-the-top, though, none of it really seemed to stick. Although it was the time of 'grim 'n' gritty' in comic books, it was still far enough removed from 'realism' that none of it seemed very serious. But, typical action poses, typical oddly-shaped guns, typical avoidance of drawing detailed hands or feet. Still, there are a few things I really liked out of these last few drawings.

Probably going to post some new stuff in the next post or so, along with some pictures I think. We'll see.

Hope all is well.

Music: "Big Guns" - AC/DC