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I decided to do a technical exercise I haven’t done in a while, something simple in description but difficult in practice. What you do is take a piece of artwork and try to reproduce it. The only rule is that you have to reproduce the compositional essence (arrangement of figures, basic colors, etc). It’s a way of getting into another artists shoes and seeing how your respective styles and techniques solve problems.

For my subject I picked the cover of this comic, “Justice League of America” issue 42, vol.1, February 1966, © DC Comics. Story by Gardner Fox and art by Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia. I liked the layout and the inclusion of a bizarre B-side Silver Age character, in other words I thought it had a lot of personality. As an aside, Metamorpho was actually popular for a while, if you don’t believe me read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorpho

Anyway, here’s mine, click on the thumbnail to bigefy it.

It’s moving season, so this morning has been tightly packed with coffee and boxes. Not the least of the latter being comic boxes. I’m not going to sugarcoat this folks, my brother has left me with the full weight of his adolescent comic collecting fruits; eight long-boxes and two milk-crates filled with BD. The quantity is ludicrous and makes my own collection (4 long-boxes) seem piddly and restrained…chalk that up to scruples. I can’t help but feel a little injured at the responsibility of being my brother’s keeper (of comics), nevertheless I am obliged to be graceful and so I shall be, in my own way… by complaining.

A quick, late-night sketch of my favorite Green Lantern.

The film shoot for the new Hulk movie has come to Toronto, my old hometown.
This one is for all my nerdy brothers and sisters back in the Tee-Dot.
Have fun gawking at the ‘Incredible Hulk,’ watch the sky for falling ruble.

Getting, laying and outing: my evening (not in that particular order).

Laying

I spent most of my work day doing layouts for Misanthropia Chapter Two. For some reason I’ve gotten it into my head that they have to be present at my forthcoming launch. It’s a horrible tendency of mine to over-compensate. The evening will undoubtedly be a very laid back, and I doubt anyone will bother to look at, what is ostensibly, two pages of scribbles.

Getting

This a wine label I just finished for a local brand called Robin des Bois

Just like those hairy legs, I’m getting ready to par-tay…! Preparations for the launch are coming along swimmingly. I spoke to Sean Michaels the other day, and we discussed the various delicious snacks and booze that are meant to grease the hinges of the evening. It was a lot of, “Danny, do you think we should have booze? And I would reply with, “Uh… Is that what you normally do?” And he would close with, “Yes, yes it is.”

Sean’s party planning abilities are leaps and bounds ahead of mine, he gets the dynamics of mirth more than I ever could. Indeed, it’s hard for me to be the host of anything on any scale; I get nervous when there are more than three people in my apartment.

Actually now that I think about it, my planning abilities in general are pretty shoddy. Here’s a good example, tonight I had a phone conversation with Max Douglas (you may also know him as Salgood Sam), from Sequential. We started by casually yakking about my comic and the launch, etc, etc… Eventually he asked, very warmly I might add, if there was any kind of press package-type stuff for my book. Being in full nincompoop force, I replied with, “Uh…No, not really.” There was a pause and then I proceeded to summarize the plot and page count of my book. Page count. Sheesh. Like I said, he’s a very nice guy and I hope, despite my disposition over the phone, he drops by and buys a copy of the book. Please visit his site and support his work, he’s really a superb artist: Salgood Sam’s Work Diary.

Outing
Amidst layouts and machinations, I managed to attend a small screening put together by 24Karrots: Conversations. The attendance was small but the films were excellent. All the filmmakers, Adam Beck, the charismatic and talented Dan Popa, Robby Reis, Nick Martin and Daniel Beirne, are very gifted at harnessing and using the form of motion pictures.

Adam Becks film, Curlew Sandpiper, is beautifully shot, as well as astoudingly tender and emphatic. The narrative doesn’t draw any overt thematic conclusions, per say, it’s more like a poem; visual prose that encapsulates the heartache of childhood.

Dan Popa and Robby Reis’ film, Fairweather, is just, well, aesthetically magnificent. The 24Karrots team, designers and filmmakers alike, have such a robust and textured form, it really emotes a type of nostalgia you rarely feel when you’re watching a film.

Nick Martin’s film, Searching For Heartbreak, is just like Nick Martin; like drinking a beer, zipping up your fly and kicking the dust all at the same time. His characters have a pungent, very lovable, restlessness to them that makes them very entertaining to watch.

Dan Beirne’s film, Beth, is sincerity personified. No really, I mean it, it’s real joy and real disappointment and defeat and surprise. It’s hard to encapsulate, there’s so much about this piece that has to with tone, you end up by loving it and not knowing why. Which is fine by me.

I can’t lie, these five filmmakers are all close friends of mine, I’m being far from objective. Nevertheless, they have talent, heaps and gobs of it flowing out of their pores. If you ever have a chance to see any of their work, please skip merrily yon.

xo
dannyZ