eric's designs

okay...

so for the past month or so, along with the fantastic pages that craig has been sending me, i've been like a kid at christmas whenever eric henson has sent over pages for the perhapanauts back-up that he's been working on~! with the entire story still being a month or so away from completion, i've been bouncing up and down trying to contain myself, frustrated that i can't share any of this with you yet! oh, we'll preview some pages when we get closer to publication, but for now i don't want to accidentally give anything away...

the other day though, eric sent me some images that were part of the story but not part of the story, if you know what i mean. if you don't, don't worry--neither do i.

what they were were insets for the already drawn pages. for example, on the first page, a few of the characters are looking up at a big monitor screen as they try to find out where the missing arisa, mg, and hammerskold could've gotten off to. eric did a phenomenal job on the page--and, wait 'til you see, the subsequent pages--but left certain things blank which he planned to go back and do full up size so that we could reduce and place them in production.
now, lemme tell ya, most artists just draw this stuff in and it usually looks okay. eric, however, wanted to make sure that, even though these various images were going to be, in some cases, tiny, they were full drawings and diagrams of what i had asked for. talk about above and beyond...!! man, this guy is good!

and so here are some of these images, just small spot illustrations that eric did up right! i just wanted you to see how much he was putting into each and every panel...!



here's the one i was talking about...
huge monitor screen featuring insets of arisa, mg, and hammerskold, as well as schematics and photos of the d-gate that they went through...





image from a checkout stand tabloid reporting the alleged chupacabra killing spree in south america...




the cover of said tabloid, the weekly weird news...



the , um, choopie mobile...(don't ask...)




cover to the rodeo frank comic book that will be seen on choopie's snack-strewn coffee table...



fantastic job, eric~!
glad we could finally share something...!

as you all know, craig and i--and many, many friends--will be at the boston comic con this weekend~!
if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi!
otherwise...
smell ya later~!
todd

come see us at the BOSTON COMIC CON~!!

okay...

i said the other day that i had lots to tell/show you this week and i do...
but i also have deadlines and appointments and yardwork and packing and a lot of stuff to do before i leave for craig's early friday morning, so i'm gonna save the cool stuff for friday and leave you all with something fun to look at over the weekend.

for today, in the spirit of short and sweet, i'm going to invite you all once again to come and see me and craig and rich and brian and haps colorist mike thomas and many more at the way-cool BOSTON COMIC CON this weekend at the hynes convention center in boston! we'll have the trades, the prints, the hats, the buttons, the shirts, and the news-for-'11 choopie butt cards! craig will be doing some commissions and i have been asked to do a sketch or two of my own...

though i've shown it before, the new perhapanauts one-sheet to commemorate this show features our old pal--and massachusetts own--dover demon~! dover is one of my all time favorite cryptids--and favorite characters in the perhapanauts world--and though it's been 34 years since he made his first (and last) appearance, i can assure you that he will be popping up in the pages of the haps in the not-too-distant future~!

here, then, is the final version of the print--which would look absolutely stunning framed and hanging in your den, don'tcha think...?




come and see us at the show--
and i'll leave you with some more cool stuff on friday!
smell ya later!
todd

new tellos

okay...

as i announced a couple of weeks ago, i've been both privileged and thrilled to be working with motionworks entertainment on what are sure to be a trio of very cool--very different!--motion comics!
though we're not completely locked-in on release dates at the moment, the first will be an all-new project called katie greaven and the engine-men, a steampunk adventure by myself and the legendary bret blevins!
second up--and scheduled for it's debut on halloween--will be an all-new, done-in-one perhapanauts yarn that craig and i are working on as we speak, utilizing the new motion works elements to make it more fun...and more scary!!
and finally, there will be an all-new tellos tale--the first of many, hopefully--which will be the first new tellos story in quite some time~! many people have been asking for more tellos and i think that this is a great opportunity to ease everybody--myself included--back into that fantastical, frenetic world!

ah, but who to draw it, who to draw it...?

back when i first started working on the marvel super hero squad book--about a year or so ago--i quickly fell in love with the wild, wacky, animated style of the artist, leonel castellani, and though i was trying to write the silliest stuff i could imagine, found that leonel always brought a little bit more to every panel, in the body language, the facial expressions, added props and clever comedy slipped into the background. his highly animated characters revealed a love of all things warner bros. looney toons and harvey kurtzman's early mad magazine strips! when we first e-mailed one another, the volley of back-and-forth's were voluminous and we went on for days 'talking' about the things we dug and how much fun we were having working together...you can see where i'm going with this, can't you?

in one of those emails, leo told me how much he had loved tellos and especially, of course, mike's designs and artwork on it. he had been moved, he told me, several years ago to do a drawing of our two main characters, koj and jarek, and send it to mike and said that he had been both nervous and amazed when mike replied, telling him how much he liked it and how much he liked leonel's work! (but wee all know that that's what mike did--always encouraging, always so generous...) leo sent me the pin-up and i always thought that he would do a nice job on the characters...




i won't say that returning to tellos has been easy for me.
i have sat down a number of times over the past almost 5 years and found that it wasn't there, i wasn't ready.
i know mike would want tellos to go on--hell, we talked about it! and matt and i have talked about it a million times since...
the problem was that i needed to ease back in slowly, nothing too heavy, nothing too emotional. something light and fun and silly. and so, for this first tellos outing, i went to hawke and rikk--my go-to guys when i need something funny--and that made it easier, they made it easier...

and, immediately, leonel was the first guy i thought of!

though dublin and alexis were holding out for a big name, a comics legend, to re-launch the world of tellos--and we talked to quite a few--i had my heart set on leonel and, once he could breath again after i asked him, he dashed off these character sketches which i quickly sent to alexis and dublin and he had the job instantly...
i think you can see why.













stay tuned and i'll keep you posted on, not only the progress of this all-new tellos project, but all of the motionworks coolness coming your way!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

oh, and i should remind you again--

craig and i will be at the BOSTON COMIC CON this coming weekend, april 30-may 1







and i will be hanging out and signing on FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, may 7th at




with cartoonist/satirist/humorist/volleyball virtuoso FRED HEMBECK~!
that will be fun!


gotta go~!
smell ya later!
todd

top 5 sequels i'm still waiting for...

okay...

some days i have very little--today, i have quite a bit...
and monday. and wednesday...

today, though, i thought i'd throw the door open on a question i love to ask at bars and bar mitzvahs...
what sequel are you dying to see...?

here are my top 5...



the incredibles~~one of my favorite movies of all-time...and so perfect for a second visit! we want more of that sharp, stylistic world, more of that magical blend of superhero and family, action and humor and stunning design work! i've asked around and no one seems to know if creator/director brad bird is working on another incredibles...but he should be!

the usual suspects~~so, aside from certain facts that the police do know, isn't the entire tale a fabrication spun on the spot out of keyser soze's head...? so...what really happened...? in the hands of a clever screenwriter, it could be an entirely different story...

the princess bride~~okay, so, sadly, andre the giant is no longer with us. and several of the more colorful characters did not survive the first movie. but surely the idea that screenwriter and storytelling legend, william goldman, couldn't come up with some way to bring wallace shawn's vizzini is incontheivable!!
but to me, the major reason to make a sequel to this spectacular film would be to see the now-grown-up fred savage arrive at the sick-bed of his peter falk grandfather to read him the further adventures of westley and princess buttercup.
"as you wish."

star wars~~okay, i know what you're saying..."but, todd, empire strikes back, return of the jedi, the three prequels, the clone wars animated, and that chewbacca christmas thing..." yeah, but, look--when star wars came out in '77, it blew everything away. it was the first real science fiction film to break the geek barrier and get everybody--EVERYBODY--out and into the theaters to see this revolutionary space fantasy. it was the definition of zeitgeist. and as much as we all love and embrace the subsequent films, really, aren't they just more of the same. a simple continuation of what was established in the first? what if lucas' vision for the next movie, rather than a somewhat safe, formulaic retread of the original, was to push the boundaries and try to conjure up that zeitgeist again? to make the sequel just as new and ground-breaking as episode III, the same way james cameron re-imagined aliens after alien...?
(okay, save your death-threats and your hate-mail--i'm just messin' with ya...)
(leanne, call 911 if rod's still not breathing...)

the sixth sense~~is it me or it this a no-brainer...? shouldn't bruce willis and haley joel osment have then gone off to solve goofy paranormal mysteries ala the scooby-doo gang...?

so that's MY top five.
what about YOU...?
what are yours...?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

last week brian forwarded me this hilarious/frightening email entitled "world's worst parents" featuring about 13 pics of (people who should not be) parents putting their respective children in rather dangerous situations. like i said, hilarious-slash-frightening...

i was gonna post a few more, but blogger is being a bit temperamental at the moment, so here's just two...sorry.






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and, just a reminder, craig and i will be at the BOSTON COMIC CON next weekend with (haps artist) rich woodall and brian and tons of other friends...!
and tons of cool perhapanauts shwag!!
and making it's debut at the boston show is the new 2011 edition of everybody's favorite--the choopie butt card!
come get one from brian, 'cause nobody hooks you up with a butt card better than him!!
(can't wait to see ya, bri~!)





have a great weekend and a wonderful easter~!
smell ya later~!
todd

my favorite afv video

okay...

busy like crazy and i really don't have anything for today,
but here, for those of you willing to take a moment out of
your busy schedule for a reality check on what is really
important in the world today, is one of my all time favorite
clips from america's funniest home videos

enjoy~!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Sfg1BHAZQ




smell ya later~!
todd

albany comic con and future appearances~!

okay...

i had a fantastic time at the always entertaining and engaging ALBANY COMIC CON yesterday and, though i never really had a chance to get up from my table and peruse the long and short boxes in the dealers section--this was, i think, the first ever convention i've gone to that i didn't come home with at least a couple of classic comics in my bag--it was SO GREAT to see so many friends and get a chance to hang out and catch up with everybody! adam and mike, anthony and bob, gid and jessica! got to spend a lot of time with my comic book soul-mate, walt, and peep some of the cool pages and artwork, my friends, jamie and luis picked up! it was a great day and though i had to send jamie out after them, i was able to grab just a couple pics of the costumed con-goers--enjoy~!




this very cute robin...



this stunning bloodrayne...



and this statuesque leia...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as con season gets underway, i guess it would be good to point out where i (and, in most cases, craig) am going to be, just in case you wanna come down and say hi!

first up on the crazy con itinerary is the boston show on april 30-may 1 in, y'know, boston.

craig has been hard at work on our latest perhapanauts one-sheet 'cause he was inspired to do one for each show that we go to showcasing one of that region's rather crypt-y co-inhabitants--! (see the other prints still available in our perhapa-store--including the recently re-visited SCREAMING TIKI print...!)

here's the not-quite-finalized PERHAPANAUTS BOSTON 2011 one-sheet featuring everyone's favorite Dover Demon!








i will also be hanging out at my old alma-mater--OCTOBER COUNTRY COMICS in new paltz ny--for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! saturday, may 7th! i'll be there with the whole gang; mike, bruce, john, jack, nick, et al--along with our pal, FRED HEMBECK!! it's gonna be a great day, so stop on by and get some free shwag!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here are the
answers to your
"five for friday!"


1. with measurements of 19-19-19, what gangly cartoon character has been dating a navy man for over 50 years?

olive oil

2. what uniquely textured fabric features vertical ridges known as "wales"?

corduroy

3. in an attempt to attract more german investors to the area, the (future capital) city of edwinton, north dakota was renamed what...?

bismark

4. for the past 30 years, cassandra peterson has been better known as what vampy late-nite movie host?

elvira

5. entomology is the study of what group of animals?

insects

happy monday~!
smell ya later!
todd

congratulations, kelly~!

okay...

right outta the gate, i got some super-happy news--BIG CONGRATULATIONS to perhapa-brother, AMBER ATOMS creator/writer/artist, and all 'round great guy, KELLY YATES and his Family on the birth of the newest yates--emilia grace! born yesterday at 9 am, she joins kelly, his beautiful wife, leanne, and big brother, ivan. (his real name is isaac, but i call him ivan to drive his dad crazy...plus, he should learn now that that's how his uncle todd rolls...)





all best wishes of love and happiness, kel~
to you and the whole family~!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

speaking of creator/writer/artists, my pal, JIM STARLIN, is giving everybody a much-anticipated glimpse at what he's been up to with BREED III, the newest adventures in his deadly world of hybrids and assassins! it's out this week and you can catch a preview of the action over at newsarama!





http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=42552




(and thanks to our, pal, russ for hooking this up...!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

throughout the course of your average day, craig, rich woodall and i will exchange several e-mails (if i'm not too busy writing...i try not to jump on the internet until the work is done, y'know, like at 4:30 or so...but then, ya need some reference or something and...well, there ya are. and these bastards just keep reelin' me in, with one email after another...$%@#ers!!!)

invariably, rich starts photoshopping (photoslapping!) together some of the funniest images you'll ever see, some not it for public consumption--if i had more room i'd show you the entire forrest gump parody he put together featuring craig and me--but here's one i love that has become my new desktop! (craig is realizing that he is farther along in the next perhapanauts story arc--5 issues, not 6...!)





and, here...penguin for penguin's sake...
(from yahoo)





and, okay--
here are
"five for friday!"


1. with measurements of 19-19-19, what gangly cartoon character has been dating a navy man for over 50 years?

2. what uniquely textured fabric features vertical ridges known as "wales"?

3. in an attempt to attract more german investors to the area, the (future capital) city of edwinton, north dakota was renamed what...?

4. for the past 30 years, cassandra peterson has been better known as what vampy late-nite movie host?

5. entomology is the study of what group of animals?



just a final reminder--
i'll be at the ALBANY COMIC CON this sunday with alla my friends--
Adam, Mike, James, Luis, Tom, Jessica, WALT!!, and many more~!
see ya there~!
and smell ya later!
todd



addendum

and, of course...

ALBANY COMIC CON--this Sunday!!!

okay...


ITEM!





i know it's tough for me to tell y'all to come to a comic show that is counties, states, even continents away, and i certainly don't mean to frustrate anyone...but if you DO happen to be in the area code this sunday, please stop by at the ALBANY COMIC CON at the holiday inn on wolfe road! our pal, john belskis, is growing this show in just the right ways offering several huge rooms of dealers tables of comics and toys, costumed con attendees, an impressive guest list, original art for sale, and matthew dow smith and i will, once again, be conducting our already-legendary free-form comics panel/discussion that always ends up in either uncontrollable laughter or spontaneous fist-fights....usually it's the laughter...

oh, and i'll have lots of cool perhapanauts shwag!

see ya there~!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ITEM!

there is a particularly snazzy article/interview over at comic book resources with our pal, nick cardy (Artist at War), written/conducted by alex dueben! alex did a fantastic job and i urge you, one and all, to take a walk over there and check that baby out~!



http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=31621




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ITEM!



the littlest perhapa-fan~!
our pal, russ burlingame, sent us this pic of his adorable son, dan, wearing the best hat that you could ever wear!
thanks, russ!



saw this over on ebaumsworld's monday morning randomness and just hadda share it...




a little sketch card that i did for my pal, mark sinnott...




that's it for this wednesday~!
see ya friday...and hopefully at the albany show!
smell ya later!
todd

mad men monday!

okay...

as word comes out of hollywood that mad men has in fact worked through all the various contract negotiations and whatnot, and that a new season will be under way soon (though the actual premiere of season 5 won't be until this time next year...aaaaahhhh!), sharon and i are doing everything we can to drag out the last few episodes of season 4 (which came out on dvd two weeks ago...)




what an awesome, awesome show!
do what you have to, amc--just get me more mad men!!!
the cast is wonderful, the direction is so clever, and the writing is just off-the-charts exquisite! such sly, wry dialogue, and dedicated attention to the vernacular of the times, as well as story points that step out of 50 year old headlines and remind you when you are!
can you tell i dig it?




can't wait for more mad men...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here are the
answers to your
"five for friday!"


1. what band of intrepid sleuths traveled around solving mysteries in the "mystery machine"?

mystery inc.--the scooby-doo gang

2. who was the first athlete to appear on a box of wheaties?

lou gehrig

3. in what film did legendary actors robert deniro and al pacino play father and son?

the godfather II

4. the building of what cut the journey from new york to san francisco by 8,000 miles...?

the panama canal

5. small roles
in theater there is an expression, "there are no small parts, only small actors." meaning that a good actor can make the most of even the tiniest role. it can also mean, 'get over yourself...'
here is a list of small parts, roles in films/tv shows with little/minimal screen time and a list of the actors who played them.
pair them up.


1. jack sparrow's father

c. keith richards

2. stoner on the couch in true romance

d. brad pitt

3. the 'wrong' private ryan in saving private ryan

a. nathan fillion

4. the organ player at the wedding in kill bill 2

e. samuel l. jackson

5. jeep driver in band of brothers

b. jimmy fallon

that's it!
smell ya later!
todd

the evolution of a perhapanauts pin-up

okay...

as i said the other day, i love to see a drawing (or sculpture or painting or ANY work of art) take shape, and since so many of you commented on the pages i posted of eric's stuff, i thought i'd show you the various stages of the perhapanauts pin-up he did for us last year...

watch as the piece goes from a layout, with some of the details already taking real shape...





as elements of the design are tried...







and changed...






the characters becoming fuller, truly fleshed out, as eric's lush pencils give them form and weight...
( 'cept for molly, of course...ghost. )




the downside of comics is that, sometimes, when an artist puts this much time and effort--not to mention talent--into an awesome piece like this, you often lose the sweet shadings and sweep of the pencil when the inks and the color are added. i really dug these pencils and wanted to be sure everybody got a look at that aspect of the pin-up.

thanks for sharing these with us, eric--
(eric is currently turning in some absolutely fantastic pages for a perhapanauts back-up which will appear in our upcoming perhapanauts miniseries, out later this year~!)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my new favorite photo.
i didn't see it at first, but when i did,
i laughed really hard.




also...



this kid is just genius. that's all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here are your
"five for friday!"


1. what band of intrepid sleuths traveled around solving mysteries in the "mystery machine"?

2. who was the first athlete to appear on a box of wheaties?

3. in what film did legendary actors robert deniro and al pacino play father and son?

4. the building of what cut the journey from new york to san francisco by 8,000 miles...?

5. small roles
in theater there is an expression, "there are no small parts, only small actors." meaning that a good actor can make the most of even the tiniest role. it can also mean, 'get over yourself...'
here is a list of small parts, roles in films/tv shows with little/minimal screen time and a list of the actors who played them.
pair them up.


1. jack sparrow's father

2. stoner on the couch in true romance

3. the 'wrong' private ryan in saving private ryan

4. the organ player at the wedding in kill bill 2

5. jeep driver in band of brothers



a. nathan fillion

b. jimmy fallon

c. keith richards

d. brad pitt

e. samuel l. jackson


that's it from me!
have a great weekend!
smell ya later~!
todd

on my desktop...

okay...

since everybody dug seeing the evolution of eric's pencils the other day, i'll be posting more of that on friday...

but, as i'm busy and really don't have that much to talk about, here are some of the images that i have currently filling up space on my desktop for some reason or another...




the AWESOME darwyn cooke poster for the upcoming boston show that matt sent to christian, craig, and me with all kindsa matt-drool all over it. god, matt--get a room!







of course, ALL calvin and hobbes is great--but just look at that hobbes in that last panel! could any other artist convey such joy and unbridled mask-wearing?!





...although there is also nothing quite like a beautiful bob montana archie comic circa 1959 with those wonderfully expressive round faces and a veronica and betty that are too gorgeous for words...!






did anybody else have one of these? i think that in my young life i had at least three of these over the years, usually as a little gift in my easter basket and then my brother and i would go outside and, even though the packaging explicitly stated to keep away from eyes and face, we'd go for the head shots.
good times.





not my actual car, but one really like my first car. given to me by my grandfather, it smelled of cigar smoke and windex. a converted cop car, it had a 440 engine that could jump to a hundred in the blink of an eye and could sleep six comfortably. i called her bessie.




again, not my actual car--and mine never got this dirty--but this was the awesome display and steering column the thing had--my dash was a dark brown leather and the steering wheel, with that cool half-ring horn, was translucent! what a beautiful car that was...

just some stuff for wednesday!
now get back to work~
smell ya later~!
todd

some warm-ups...

okay...

first off; our pal, the renowned inker bob almond, asked if i would post this item here on the blog and i told him that i would be delighted to do so!
so...

THE 2011 INKWELL AWARDS BALLOT IS NOW LIVE! IT WILL BE ACTIVE UNTIL APRIL 30 SO PLEASE VOTE! Spread the word - let everyone know the ballot is open and ready for your votes! You can click this link to vote (http://www.inkwellawards.com)


thank you, bob~!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

second;
so apparently not many of you were checking the date on the calendar the other day when i wrote of my mishap with the tractor that came through my studio wall. but, ummm...i guess that coulda been better orchestrated...i apologize to anyone who was really worried and am here to let you know that all is well...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as regular readers of this blog may remember, some time last year i received, not only an awesome perhapanauts pin-up, but a couple of self-actualized perhapanauts pages from artist eric henson. (that means a story he was dreaming up in his head...and, as it turns out, a rather extensive story that features the haps coming face-to-face with eric's re-imagining of frankenstien's monster~~!!!) looking at his stuff, craig and i were thrilled when eric offered to do a back-up story for us and have been totally knocked out as those pages have rolled in, first in eric's sweet pencils, then inked by eric's friend, michael babinski! i'm not gonna show you those now, of course--maybe i'll give you a taste when we get closer to publishing--but eric was kind enough to share his warm-up sketches and layouts for his two pages with us and, 'cause i'm always so fascinated by the development of any artwork, i thought you might dig seein' 'em too~!
enjoy!


first, here are the two finished pages...








and the layouts...










and here are a couple character sketches to get the feel of the guys...









and a conan that eric threw in 'cause, dude--it's Conan!!




have a great monday~!
smell ya later~!
todd