THE BIG KNOCK OVER

Below is The Big Knock Over a short 8 page story at the penciling stage. It is more of an exercise in drawing than writing but since it's mostly action based and visual--it doesn't require exhaustively detailed writing and plot.  Just running, jumping and explosions. The Fun part.

Free-writing has been a great way to get ideas. I write late at night before bed and somehow I can cut through the noise and convey an idea.  Much of the time the ideas are pretty silly yet there is usually some aspect of it that can be salvaged for something worth while.  No silly or weird idea gets short shrift here.

Thanks so much for looking.

Best,

-Joe

IRON CITY ISSUE #2: AVAILABLE IN PRINT!

After many years of work I have finally completed my first Iron City story, "Scarlet Fever."  Issue one and now issue two are available for purchase at my online store. Issue two is 36 full color pages of heart-pounding action.  Read the first 5 pages of book two here.

FINE COMIC RETAILERS THAT SELL 

ACTION MYSTERY ADVENTURE BOOKS:

BERGEN ST COMICS (Brooklyn, NY)

470 Bergen St 

Brooklyn, NY 11217

FORBIDDEN PLANET (New York, NY)

832 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

ZANADU COMICS (Seattle, WA)

1923 3rd Ave, Seattle

Seattle WA 98101

PHOENIX COMICS AND GAMES (Seattle, WA)

113 Broadway E

Seattle WA 98102

COMIC STOP (Seattle, WA)

1307 NE 45th St

Seattle WA 98105

Book 2 of Iron City, 7 page preview

 Here are the first seven pages of the second and last installment of the Iron City story "Scarlet Fever."

It is in the final stages of completion and should be on the online store and at a few friendly retailers on the East and the West coasts.  Take a gander if you have a moment.

It feels good to have this project on the ropes.   And thanks so much for taking the time to look.

IRON CITY BOOK 2, IN PROGRESS

Cover, Book 2

I am still chipping away at book 2 of Iron City. The book is on schedule to be printed and available for Spring 2014...mark your calendars!
I thought I would share some finished inks of book 2.  They are in random order as to not give away too much of the story. You can go back through earlier posts to see the penciled versions of these pages.  
Thanks for taking a look.  

Roughs to Pencils

The Pencils of Iron City book 2 are nearly complete!  34 pages of excitement and the explosive conclusion to first chapter in The Harlin The Hammer Trilogy. There is still much to do, but why not pause for a moment to exhibit a few pages.  

These are finished pencils below next to the rough sketches that were used as the blue print for the story.  Some have changed considerably and others stuck very close to the original rough.  hopefully they have changed for the better.  

Thanks for looking.  

-Joe

Roughing Out Comic Book Story

I started roughing out the next installment of Z West and it was so much fun putting the story on paper that I roughed out the last two books.(60 pages of excitement.) It is really gratifying to see the script and the images come together as whole
story...even in a rudimentary state.

I do the roughs as two-page spreads so I can see a larger view of the story.  I concentrate on the gesture and expression of the characters to more information into the images, with the hope of telling the story visually.
Problems in story, art, clarity and design are so distinct at this stage.In the past I  have jumped the gun and rushed to the final drawing before I had a blue print for the story. Rushing only makes it more difficult to tell the story and you find yourself going back and replacing frames adding pages, etc. With the roughs, I can always come back and try new page designs and swap out panels and sharpen the images.  It is important to take time at each stage to ensure a tight and complete final product. At least that is the theory hopefully I can see it through.


At Mocca Fest in April I recently heard Jillian Tamaki discuss how she used Manga Studio pro to rough out her upcoming book.  It sounds like it may be easier to do in MSP, but I did my roughs in photoshop.



I would curious to hear how other artists plan there stories.  There isn't much out there on this stage of cartooning.

Thanks for looking,

-Joe

Book 3 cover idea

Iron Cit, Part 2

Z West, Book 2 Preview

The Saga Continues.  The second book of Zombie West The Devil Deals A Crooked Hand is now available for purchase.   As you might imagine from the cover, everything is in the title. The Z is for Zombies and West refers to the Wild West. Z West is a multi-book series about four primary characters in the Texas territory. Due to the barbarism of an army regiment an ancient curse is visited on a small border town. If that isn't exciting enough for you check out the 5 page sample below. 

Take a gander at some of the work. If you like it you can order a copy at the link below.

Order Book One Here