Dog

I’m in the final stages of completing Connective Tissue. I don’t want to ruin any of the story, so I won’t explain what the dog is eating here, but I wanted this cartoon pooch to be grotesque and somewhat monstrous (yet still somewhat “cute”). I started off drawing a more realistic dog to work out the anatomy, and then moved on to deforming him.

Normal pooch.

Monster pooch (version in book).

Rejected version. I like the face, but the body is bad, especially the forepaws. It looks like Clifford the Big Red Dog after huffing a snootful of speed.

Final version. (Thanks to my friend Mikey P. for sending me pix of his pit bull, Hiro.)

Tush

Spot illo for Connective Tissue. What can I say? I like tush. Nuff said.

Connective Tissue Update

It's official: Connective Tissue will be released (in hardcover) by Fantagraphics Books next spring.

For an Atheist...

...I think about Hell a lot. Not as a reality. I just like the concept. What can I say? I liked the Inferno portion of Dante's Divine Comedy. Lot of good art's been inspired by Hell. I still hope that someday I'll do my epic set there, be it a prose novel, or graphic one. Something. I'd really like to do it. Here's a drawing I did a while ago, just playing with demons, etc.

Really, though, what kind of "artist" would I be if I didn't think about demons?

Girls and Demons

Two great tastes that taste great together. Or something like that. I love drawing this stuff. Maybe I'm a bad person.

Connective Tissue: Coming (Relatively) Soon...

It's been a while since I've had any publishing news to announce, but unless the contract stuff goes horribly awry (an unlikelihood), Fantagraphics Books will be publishing my oddball stream of consciousness (or in this case, unconsciousness) epic, Connective Tissue, sometime early spring 2009. What's more, publisher Gary Groth became aware of and interested in the project because of the previous Connective Tissue drawings I'd posted here. So, this blog has already more than justified its existence (at least to me). Neat.

Connective Tissue is my reverse-engineering experiment in art and prose. Instead of a normal illustrated book, in which the pictures illustrate (duh) the text, this time around I'm doing the art first, then supplying the prose. To ensure it flows well, I'll likely add some art at the end of the writing stage (the titular connective tissue). Here's a recent drawing:

Papa Bear

Here's a quick sketch (about five minutes) I did today of one of my personal Top Ten Most Loathesome People in America: Bill O'Reilly. He came out oddly sweet-faced, which is troubling, considering what a toxic personage he is. More on why I drew him when the opportune moment presents itself.

Michele, My Belle...

Sorry about the gap between posts. I've been bedeviled by my computers since early December. Here's a drawing of my wife, Michele, when she was very sleepy.

Hey, though my computer's working fine, Blogger seems a bit off. I couldn't sign in using my own account. I had to do so while commenting on someone else's blog. I hope this is a Blogger thing and not a "Bob is Cursed by the God of Computers" thing. Anyone else have this problem signing into their Blogger account?

GOON LINK

Here's my Goon chapter on the Dark Horse Comics DHP MySpace. Check out the preceding chapters if you want mine to make a lick of sense. Sort of.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Happy New Year, all. Here's the last piece of art I did in 2007: new cover for the Spanish edition of my graphic novel, Beg the Question. The title will be different, though. BTQ, already idiomatic, doesn't translate well. It might revert to the original series title, Minimum Wage. We'll see. At any rate, here's the drawing and final color version.

MORE CONNECTIVE TISSUE

Here are a few more drawings from my mostly off-again project, Connective Tissue. This is one of those things that may or may not ever be finished, so in the meantime I'll post selected images.

GOON IN COLOR

Here's the color version of that Goon panel. Sorry about the gap between posts, but both my computers died within days of each other (the desktop, followed by my new-ish laptop). Yeesh.

THE GOON

Sometimes it's fun to play with someone else's characters, and this is one of those times. I'm doing a Goon two-pager for the online incarnation of DHP (Dark Horse Presents) on their MySpace. Here's a panel in progress. Not sure when it will actually run, but I'll post an update when it does.

DUCKY

Drawing of my friend, Ducky.

MONKEYBICYCLE 5

Hey, all. Here's the thumbnail sketch and final art for the cover of the upcoming "Dirty Humor Issue" of the literary magazine Monkeybicycle. I also have a story inside. Should be out in late December or early January.

LOVECRAFT LOVE

It was that or "Tentaclehead". I don't know what to call these entries sometimes and I haven't really titled this drawing. I just hit the paper with the pencil and this emerged, no game plan, no forethought. It just happened. Go figure. But I like it.

THE OMEGA DUO

See? I'm stealing Bill Wray's great title already. Omega Duo. I really like that. That might end up as the official title. Here's another.

MORE BOB & MICHELE

Here are some more sketches for that project I'm gearing up for.

QUICK CROWD SCENE

A quick sketch of city sidewalk traffic. Just for fun.

MICHELE & BOB, CARTOONIFIED

I'm beginning to put together a new project that will feature my wife, Michele, and I as the protagonists. If Crumb can do it, why not me? Here are some quick prep sketches. Not sure about the approach yet, but I'm definitely leaning toward more cartoony. Now I have to figure out what kind of proportions. I like the four-head-high distortion, but sometimes I have a rough time maintaining that kind of thing. I've never been great about model sheets or stuff like that. Shorter figures look cuter. We'll see.



Here's a more straightforward portrait of Michele.