My Sketchbooks - 1989 Part 3

Continuing with the 1989 sketchbook illustrations. This batch has those guests I encountered at the San Diego ComicCon (now called ComicCon International). I got quite a few sketches during the week-long convention.

Sketchbook 1, Page 11: Kim DeMulder
Kim is one of those artists that you learn to appreciate while he is executing figures - his anatomy and sense of proportion are, to simply to it, excellent. I love the casual pose of this figure and also the 60's vibe I get from it (face makeup probably).


Sketchbook 1, Page 12: Jaime Hernandez
I also once again encountered Los Bros Hernandez at ComicCon - did I mention how much I liked Love and Rockets? Here's another from Xaime - a bit more tasteful that the earlier image in my other "Bimbo" book - I"m glad I got examples in both.



Sketchbook 1, Page 13: Beto Hernandez
My favorite part of this is the hammer - it's such an essential part of the figure that its omission would certainly diminish the sketch - ah to be in Los Palamos...


Sketchbook 1, Page 16: Tim Vigil
I first encountered Truman's work on Grips - a sort of odd Woverine-ish rip-off distributed by an indy company in the 80's - I really liked Tim's raw style. This is a quickie but I'm glad to have it - I hope to get him to do an Elric for me some day...


Sketchbook 1, Page 17: Moebius
Have you ever had a dream and thought you would never see or experience something -which then happens and you think - was that real? I'm such a huge fan of the are of Moebius that it's insane - following his work in Heavy Metal and then those published by Epic/Marvel I thought I would never meet him, much less have the opportunity for an art sample (since he lives in Europe I didn't think I'd ever get a chance). I was minding Bob Burden's table at San Diego talking to Bob when this guy comes up and Bob introduces him and says "Hey John don't you have a sketchbook?" - this was done in a loose, almost continuous sweep of the pen in less than a minute - wow what an artist!


Sketchbook 1, Page 18: Kent Willaims
Another painter, I started encountering Kent doing books for DC which eventually became part of their Vertigo line. I ran into Kent and George and they were taken to me - something about the southern accent from what I recall (I think I reminded them of a friend from back home) - both are great guys as well as great artists.


Sketchbook 1, Page 19: Robert Gould
One of my favorite literary figures is Michael Moorcock's Elric - I first encountered Bob's artwork when he did a short Elric piece for Star*Reach back in the 70's - when he got the job of reworking all of Moorcock's covers in the 80's I faithfully bought each as the came out - I love the style.


Sketchbook 1, Page 20: George Pratt
As mentioned above, I met George with Kent almost by accident and hung out with them as they walked the floor at San Diego - quite the painter, this image is of particular beauty to me.



-- John

My Sketchbooks - 1989 Part 2

Continuing with the 1989 sketchbook illustrations. This batch continues with those guests I encountered at Chicago ComicCon that year.

Sketchbook 2, Page 18: Frank Stack
I was quite lucky to get this sketch - I've always been a big fan of Frank's other persona, Floobert Sturgeon (look up the Jesus comics he did in undergrounds) - I happened upon a group of Blab contributers and ended up having dinner with them - Frank was in the group as well as Laurie and Monty Beauchamp (the publisher of Blab). Frank whipped out this quick sketch of Laurie standing in the hallway.



Sketchbook 2, Page 22: Kyle Baker
I'd been a fan of Kyle's since having seen his work on the Cowboy Wally graphic novel - funny as I didn't know who this guy drawing in my book was until I got the book back and saw what was rendered. We had all been drinking and sketchbooks were being passed about (I have about another dozen sketches in the book that are too racy to be included in my blog - the reason pages have been skipped - remember it was a "Bimbo" sketchbook and I guess that term has different meanings).



Sketchbook 2, Page 25: Not sure - artist for Zolestria Comic
I didn't catch this guy's name but the story goes that this guy was drawing a comic based on Dave Sim's current girlfriend - her comic persona was "Zolestria" and was some type of Barbarian type if memory serves - it was an indy book. I was a drunk so it's hard to put memory and reality together.



Sketchbook 2, Page 24: Reed Waller
I've been a big fan of Ohama the Cat Dancer since its inception and had gotten to know Reed and Kate very well through the years. I found it amazing that someone who's hands shook so bad could work a brush like Reed - they both will be missed.



Sketchbook 2, Page 26: Larry Marder
Larry is/was a friend of Bob's so I got to know him quite well back in the Beanworld days - I always enjoyed the book and its frantic details. Note this was way before Larry became the big editor for Image.



Sketchbook 2, Page 26: Beto Hernandez
Everyone during this time was a fan of Love and Rockets and I was no exception. I got to know three of the brothers (apparently there's the youngest, Johnny who is supposed to be even more talented than Jaime but I hadn't met him) as they toured the book at the various cons.



Sketchbook 2, Page 24: Mario Hernandez
Mario is the oldest of the group making comics - he hadn't yet been published (other than some work in pin-ups or something similar) so he was a bit embarassed with his abilities - I think his work was still above par.



Sketchbook 2, Page 25: Jaime Hernandez
Jaime was clearly the best technical artist of the group and could he draw the female form! He's a bit stiffer than Beto - heck they are all full of talent - they came up with some terrific stories.



Sketchbook 3, Page 2: Mark Nelson
Right around this time I started a 3rd sketchbook - as both of my books were in the hands of artists, I visited a local art supply place with Bob and picked up an over-sized book. I've been a fan of Mark's since meeting him during his gig with Dark Horse for the Aliens comic - he told me that he'd do a queen for me and this is what I got back - he was pretty much the first person I'd seen to effectively use a pen-brush. Great stuff - check out his dinosaurs as well.



Sketchbook 3, Page 3: Matt Wagner
I had gotten to know Matt a bit when he was doing Grendel for Dark Horse (post Comico days but I had been a fan of both Grendel and Mage). He wanted to do something a bit different and this is what he came up with - I've since gotten several sketches from him - what a talent.



That's it for 1989 part 2 - stay tuned for part 3.

-- John