you've got to be kidding me

my computer crashed, so i will be digitally handicapped for the next week. (i'm typing this on my wife's dell, which is made out of drainpipes and wishful thinking.) the good news is that i have a million super-important, possibly career-altering things going on this week, and no way to do them! the bad news is that... well, that pretty much covers it.

also, in what is becoming a yearly tradition, i JUST got a propass for SDCC, which means i have no idea where i'm going to stay. looking for a hotel, but if anyone has a free corner on the floor of their room and would like a few bucks, let me know!

better go before this computer crashes. argh.



ps - no, really. floors are very underrated.

WONDER WOMAN

waiting for downloads...grr.

anyway, here is the last of the manga ww art. it's on it's merry way, probably to never be seen again. it was fun, and particularly handy when i was stuck somewhere, or waiting for my computer to do whatever it supposedly does... but all good things must come to an end!

95%

i have an idea for a batman one-shot, so i was playing around. the title is a play off of a sherlock holmes story. although mine is not a reference to cocaine. oh, holmes...

wonder woman manga test page

war is hell

stuck at the auto repair shop today. bored and working 2 experiments into 1 pic. (the white line is to suggest that it is a wraparound cover.)

long live the queen!

experimenting with digital inking. i've tried it before without much satisfaction, but this time i was trying to be much less prissy and exact. it was a lot of fun! it also gives a VERY different look from the original pencils.

this is queen hippolyta back in the day, the "writing" up top is amazonian (yes it actually says something). the composition is overwhelmingly (if indirectly) influenced by woodblock artists like kunioshi and sharaku and this guy:

i particularly wanted something that felt massive and overwhelmed the page. it's actually something, compositionally, i've been wanting to play with for two years, and i'd love to follow up when i have time. ha ha the joke, it is on me!

it adds up...

sometimes i feel like i never get enough done. of course, that's mostly because i never get enough done. but... i'm surprised at how much i actually have put out. (this doesn't include "wednesday comics" or "fantasy cartooning", and of course i've also done design work for around 9 cartoons and 7 toy lines, and 2 video games, that aren't pictured either. i think there's a kids' book or two that i'm also forgetting. oh yeah, and a bunch of JLU and kid's book covers, and a SW clone wars comic. yikes, it really DOES add up.)

*edit -- here's what everything is. 3 of the smaller books were promotional sketchbooks, i handed them out at signings etc. the other 3 were pitchbooks for proposed cartoons a while back.

and here's the hardcover of WC.

JIM HANLEY'S

no time to post lately, blah blah blah.

anyway, this wednesday (may 26) i'll be at jim hanley's universe in NYC, signing junk and talking. presumably about "wednesday comics", but who knows? maybe they want my opinion about the decline of participatory democracy or something. i think the hardcover WC will be out, i'll be bringing a copy, and also i'll be bringing lots of original art for people to crumple up. also, puppies!

ok, no puppies, everything just sounds nicer with puppies.

and now for something completely different:

what the what?

some of my junk will be in this year's SPECTRUM17, including some wednesday comics wonder woman pages and this little feller. which i drew while bored out of my skull at a neighborhood meeting. thank you, meeting room #4 of the port washington library!

3M

since our action classics' "odyssey" has just been nominated for an award (oh, i didn't mention that a million times yet? i will!), i thought i'd share some art from one of the upcoming books, 'the three musketeers". words by the indestructible (believe me, i tried) tim mucci, and art by steve walker:

ps - you can see some pages from the soon-to-be-award-losing "odyssey" here.

stylin

costume variations

sophie's choice 2

so... reaper liked the bottom pose, but i thought it looked too stiff. so after a bazillion redraws, here is the final comp, and rough colors. i know it's odd, but i'm particularly proud of the inking on the bike -- everything except the tires was inked freehand, a fun exercise.

sophie's choice

hi all!

i've been doing a poster and t-shirt for reaper-con, the reaper miniatures gaming convention. anyone who has the misfortune of knowing me, knows that i LOVES the miniatures. i have a bin full of half-painted miniatures -- i love them, i'm just terrible at doing anything with them. (citadel miniatures were actually a pretty major influence on my art in college, and i think it still shows.)

so this gig has been a lot of fun, and i even get a miniature out of it!

http://www.reapermini.com/

the last one is the one they went with. i have a picture post limit, so i'll see you in the next post.

process test

yet more testing, this was both for the "finish" and for speed.

i'm back!

the action cartooning forum is back online!

i tried to fix it, which turned out about as well as you would think. fortunately, my web host (westhost) was able to take care of it pretty handily. so now i'd better go post there!

ps - http://daredetectives.com/phpBB2/index

...

dorothy

i ended up redoing dorothy after a lot of other art was done. these are her in her kansas and emerald city clothes. (i also redid the kalidah and the witch).

dare/action forum

GRRRR...

as some of you may have noticed, something is wrong with my forum (unless it has magically fixed itself overnight). i'm trying to fix it but i am not exactly tech savvy. so sorry for the hang-up, i'll post when it's working again. in the meantime, anyone who need to reach me can mail ben(at)daredetectives(dot)com.

undercover boss

watching "undercover boss"  tonight, such a simple and brilliant presmise (undercover millionaire CEO works in the meanest jobs in his own company, to see what it's really like). i love it, but for some reason i just realized that it's actually very similar to a story i've been wanting to do. nothing unusual about that -- there are a zillion people out there like me, who have ideas that are popping up semewhere else. very few things are actually new. but it really reinforced how important it is in the end to just sit down and DO something. because someone else sure is!

ah well.

alas, no pretty pictures right now,  a lot of current stuff is under wraps for now.