Daily Sketch WIP 2

One Thundercat down, one to go.

Not much to say today other than I discovered a podcast that I'm really liking. It's with one of my favorite YA authors, Brent Hartinger, and another writer, Erik Hanberg, who I haven't read yet, but apparently he's written some Veronica Mars which makes me an insta-fan. The podcast is called Media Carnivores and it discusses the pros and cons of the different features of pop media today, particularly in writing. I'm currently in the middle of a really fascinating one about whether or not writers should self-publish or pursue traditional publishing. Also, their newest podcast explores the topic of failure, how it can sting, but how it can be important to the growth process and sometimes even lead to other successes. Media Carnivores--check it out, especially if you're a writer!

Here's today's WIP. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it up tomorrow.

Daily Sketch WIP

Hey guys! Sorry, I'm getting closer to my deadline on the next issue of The Wolf Among Us, so I'm going to have less time for the daily sketches for the next week or so. But that doesn't mean that they'll stop completely, or that I won't at least post something every day, even if it's an old sketch that's never been published, or just a daily sketch work in progress.

Which is exactly what you're getting today! This is my rough sketch for the next daily. A couple of kitties at play. More tomorrow!

Daily Sketch: Hank and Dean Venture

The Venture Bros is definitely one of my favorite cartoons as an adult. It has such a fantastic cast of characters who really evolve over the seasons, unlike the characters in most cartoons who remain static. Hank and Dean are the innocent and naive kids at the center of this chaotic and dangerous world in which they live. We get to watch them grow up, experiencing their transition into adulthood as the series progresses. It's a great show. One of these days I'd like to draw Dr. Girlfriend and Brock Samson as well.

Daily Sketch: Supergirl

Man, there are some days when doing these daily sketches is just sheer blinding panic that I'm not going to be able to pull it off. And, to be honest, I'm not sure I always do. The perfectionist voice in my head screams at me, "You can't draw today (if you even can at all)! Nothing is working! Just give up! Post an old sketch and be done with it!" And then even when it's something acceptable, there's still the part of me that wants to hold off posting it because when I look at it again tomorrow with fresh eyes I'll see all the mistakes and hopefully be able to fix them. If I publish now, then those mistakes are living in the digital universe forever.

But then I realize that's not what this blog is about. I said it in my very first entry, that art isn't about perfection. Striving for perfection, being unwilling to expose my mistakes, and not working on my big ideas until I feel I'm "good enough" to make them perfect, waiting to be as good as all of the artists and writers I admire--those are all things that have been holding me back all this time. This blog is about overcoming those feelings. I don't know if they'll ever go away, those negative voices telling me I'm no good, but through this blog I can learn to say to them, "Fuck you, I know it's not perfect, but I'm going to publish anyway." And hopefully there's a few of you out there who will find some enjoyment and value in what I've produced.

Whew, so anyway, here's today's sketch. Supergirl! (who really didn't want to cooperate!)

Daily Sketch: Netossa

I woke up this morning thinking I would sketch She-ra since I'm on a bit of an old cartoons kick. However, after doing a rough sketch, I realized that I'd pretty much done the same pose/composition as an Adam Hughes sketch I've seen, only his is way better. So I scrapped that, and then thought maybe I'd do one of She-ra's sidekicks instead. I wanted to do Glimmer and did a rough layout that I thought was kind of working, and I may come back to it another day. But as I was researching the characters I came across this lady.

Her name is Netossa, and apparently her power is...taking off her cape and throwing it. Because it's a net. As in Netossa. She's really good at throwing nets.

Okay, maybe not the most impressive ability, especially in that world, but hey, at least she gets to wear a fabulous costume! Honestly, I have no recollection of this character from the cartoon, but I really do think she has a very cool design. It's like somebody gave Storm a She-rific makeover. And yay for diversity in the She-ra universe!

Daily Sketch: Fred and Daphne

Hey guys, thought I'd do something a little different from superheroes today.

Scooby-Doo was definitely one of my favorite cartoons when I was a little kid, and I think Fred and Daphne were my favorite characters. It was always kind of a bummer when the group would split up because it always meant that Fred and Daphne would go off-camera. I like to think that maybe they were really going off to make out somewhere. I wonder if Fred secretly hated Velma because she'd cockblock him every time she decided to come along with him and Daphne instead of Shaggy and Scooby. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, haha!

Anyway, I think my favorite episode was the one with Sandy Duncan when she dressed up as Daphne so there were multiple Daphnes running around. More of my favorite character! I also always liked when Batman and Robin would guest star. What was your favorite episode?

Daily Sketch: Numa

My good friend Zak Hennessey has been working on a creator-owned comic called Lazarus: The Many Reincarnations pretty much since the dawn of time, I think. His journey to get this to print has been Lord of the Rings epic, the tale of which I'll leave it to him to recount if you want to hear it. Anyway, he has recently remastered and republished the first two issues. I'm so proud of my friend for all of his hard work and effort over the years to bring his vision to life. And P.S. it's a great read.

On that note, for today's daily sketch, I thought it would be fun to draw one of the characters from his comic. This is Numa, one of the Survivors, who was once a refined lady, but has turned into a battle-hardened warrior in Zak's unforgiving world.

The first issue of Lazarus is available now on Comixology here: Lazarus #1. Zak himself can be found lurking around various locations on the internet devising evil plots, but the best place to start looking for him is at his website zakhennessey.com.

Daily Sketch: Tomcat

Finally finished it!

It was probably an easy guess that this is Tom Bronson aka Wildcat aka Tomcat of the JSA All-Stars. I think he's a great character, this rebellious kid with father issues (Ted Grant aka the original Wildcat is his dad) who is shown the ropes by the paragon heroes of the JSA. Not to mention he's a werecat, and anyone who knows me knows I love werewolves, so this isn't too far off from that. I never worked out many details on that JSA teen one-shot I was thinking of, but one thing I did have in mind was that Tom might be harboring a crush on Stargirl. I don't know if Tom ever really got in the spotlight long enough to really have a love interest of any kind. Maybe if he shows up someday in the New 52.

Daily Sketch WIP part 2

Still working on it, guys!

I inked the human character at least. As you can see, I toyed with the idea of putting his hand in there holding a cigarette, since this character is a big chain smoker. However, compositionally, I didn't want to draw in his whole arm, and a floating hand seemed weird, so I decided to just put a cigarette in his mouth.

I worked on the sketch of the werecat as well, trying to make it look more like a panther and less like the stuffed animal lion that it did before. I'm still trying to decide how much of that mane to keep. Panthers don't have manes, and I've seen this character drawn with just a straight-up panther head. But Freddie Williams drew him with more of a mane, and it seems like it sort of reflects the character's human hairstyle. I don't know...I'll figure it out when I ink it tomorrow.

I'm busy working on the script breakdowns for the next issue of The Wolf Among Us right now. Also, I participated in the #fourcomics tag today, so head on over to my Twitter @TravisGMoore to see which four comics I picked as being the most influential in my life!

Daily Sketch WIP

I didn't have time today, unfortunately, to finish a sketch to post because I had too much work to get done. I debated about whether or not to wait until tomorrow to post the sketch I started so you're only seeing the finished stuff, or if I should go ahead and post what I have so you can see a little bit of the process. So I decided to go ahead and show the work in progress since that seems to be in the spirit of what I'm trying to do with this blog.

Let me know what you guys think. Do you want to see works in progress, or do you just want to see the finished products? Plus, anyone want to take a guess at who I'm drawing? Should be a pretty easy one considering the theme I've been on with these!

Daily Sketch: Cyclone

Since I mentioned the JSA teens yesterday, for today's sketch I thought I'd draw Cyclone. Actually, that's not entirely true. Originally I thought I'd draw Superboy, but Superboy didn't seem to want to come out of my pen. So I tried a couple other characters, and finally Cyclone was the one who decided to come out and play. Seriously, I need warm up sketches for my warm up sketches. Anyway, here she is:

First Daily Sketch

One of the first things I noticed at the start of the new year was how many of my fellow comic artists had resolved to doing daily sketches and posting them, which I found inspiring. I can't promise that I'll do a sketch every single day, as sometimes I just have too much work to do to meet a deadline, even just as a warm-up. But I'll do my best to keep the sketches coming, especially since this is my chance to have fun and draw characters that I wouldn't normally get to draw. So, the first sketch is...Stargirl!

Sadly, I never got to draw Stargirl at all back when I was working on the JSA titles. I really wanted to pitch a one-shot issue that would be just the JSA teens: Stargirl, Cyclone, Lightning, and Wildcat (Jr.). But now with the New 52, I have no idea where all those characters are or what they're up to. Can anyone fill me in?

So here it is, sketch #1. My blog is officially under way!

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog.

    I’ve been thinking about creating a blog for, oh, about four years now, I guess. But I kept putting it off for one reason or another. I was too busy. I was afraid I wouldn’t keep up with it. I couldn’t pin down a topic. At one point,  I went as far as setting up my blog account and writing my first entry, but then I decided I couldn’t go live until I had some perfect piece of art for the header bar, which I never did. And I had to come up with the perfect blog entries, especially the introductory one. How do you start a blog? Years passed. No perfect art, no perfect writing. No blog.

    So enough is enough, no more procrastinating. I want to communicate with you guys and share with you the things I’m working on. I want to keep myself on track with the promises I’ve made to myself. I want to try my best to do a daily warm up sketch and post it here. I want to write a monthly short story and share it. I want to show works in progress.

    It’s not about being perfect. Art is not perfection, and neither is writing. It’s about putting myself out there, getting on the dance floor instead of being a wallflower, even if my moves could use some work. At least I’ll be having fun.

    So I’m going to show you guys some drawings and let you read some stories, and maybe share some thoughts on the books/movies/TV I think are cool. In the meantime I’ll work on making this blog space a lot prettier, I promise. But, for now, for better of for worse, here it is, my little work in progress.

    My blog.