I've been chastised by a good friend & regular Blog visitor, for not updating in over a month?! He's right, of course.. Thanks for caring, Dave! So here's a quickie post.. Another l'il Frazetta trinket, apropos of today's Valentine festivities: a quality image of Page Eight from Frazetta's 8-page romance story, entitled: "A Love Of My Own".. I say "quality" image, because I spent many years looking for this story.. And I could never find a good version of it; and particularly, of this specific page. It's the elusive FIFTH romance story, which Russ Cochran chose not to include in his previously-mentioned 'UNTAMED LOVE' reprint, from the 1970's.. I first came across a lousy reprint of this story in Greg Theakston's 'PURE IMAGINATION' magazine.. More recently, it appeared in the only marginally-better reprint collection entitled: 'TELLING STORIES: The Comic Art of Frazetta'.. The linework in this version, is completely obliterated by loads of clumsy coloring!
The slew of at-size color photocopies I've come into, of late.. Allowed me to take Page 8 and clean it up a wee bit. Here's a detail of the middle panels, which allow you to see the fine pen work & lush brush washes of ink: I had hoped to make this a post of my own artwork.. But Life has been quite hectic, lately! I'm hoping that it won't be another month, before I can update this Blog again.. Thanks for visiting & TTY'all again, real soon!
I've been quite absent, haven't I? Humble apologies, ..again! I'll conveniently blame the Holiday Season hullaballoo, for my inactivity here. In lieu of a personal Art posting, I'm going to share some of the fine Frazetta trinkets that arrived in my morning mail.. A bunch of color photocopies of some of his Frank's gorgeous comic-book/illustration work, which were shot/scanned directly from the 'Original Art'! Presented here, are 4 of the 12 illustrations that Frazetta created for the men's magazine, entitled 'GENT'; as published in their August 1966 issue.. Ain't they purty?! The female figures were intended to represent each of the 12 months in a Zodiac Calendar..
Unfortunately, none of the plates seem to be labelled.. So I'll allow you to make your own best "guess", as to which beautiful lady pertains to whichever specific Astrological Sign? Some of these have been reprinted in a number of different venues, over the years.. But these copies are the most detailled, that I've yet seen..
And even more surprising, is.. After checking these images against the ones in my Frazetta files, I discovered that the Brunette undressing in front of the mirror does NOT match the version printed in 'GENT' magazine. A similar (but different) pose was used. And the woman appears as a Blonde, rather than a Brunette.
Hope you'll find them all as enjoyable to look at, as I do!
I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to a longtime artist friend of mine: Sandy Plunkett.. Some of you may have noticed his name in the Links section, on my Blog? Though more of you likely, probably have never heard his name before?.. I'm convinced that this is due to change! Charles "Sandy" Plunkett was born October 18, 1955. He spent his childhood growing up in New York City. And before he'd even finished high school, he had begun drawing comic-book stories professionally! Here's what the man looks like..He made his debut in the comic book world in the late 1970s, creating artwork for 'Gold Key Comics'. But eventually, also completed assignments for Marvel and DC Comics, too. Thru the 1980s and 1990s, he did a lot of cover work for Marvel. And even wrote his own stories, for their EPIC Magazine imprint.. Sometime around 1990, Sandy made a move to Athens, Ohio. A small college community, where Sandy earned a solid reputation as "the Town Artist.." Working on all manner of art-related jobs: creating CD covers, wine labels, bicycle touring maps, brochures, political cartoons, business logos, and t-shirts..
Together, we've cultivated a really enriching (weekly) e-mail conversation, that's lasted over a decade. It's not often you get to connect personally with an artist that you've grown up admiring.. So, I consider myself quite lucky! We enjoy talking about everything, of course. But particularly about Art, including our own.. Here's another example of Sandy's artistic prowess.. He gave the 'Original Art' for this t-shirt design to me, after I did him the favour of hosting a number of eBay Auctions on his behalf.. In 2005, I talked local convention organizer: Kevin Boyd, into bringing Sandy up to Toronto as a Guest Artist, for a comic-con. I helped pull together a Poster for the event, using some of Sandy's CONAN artwork. And Sandy even conducted a very successful seminar on "Inking", at the show. I think he was a bit embarrassed, by all of the fawning attention? hah I'm the guy wearing the goofy grin.. Yikes, bad photo alert! To my immediate Left, is another good artist friend of mine: Dominic Bugatto, who seems to be closely scrutinizing some of the artwork Sandy brought with him.. And I think that's Ruth Tait, behind us? The reason I feel that Sandy may be adding a few more fans, in the near future.. Is that in April of 2010, OHIO UNIVERSITY Press is planning to publish a 224-page book featuring a lot of the artwork from Sandy's own private sketchbooks.. The tentative title for the project, is: 'The World of a Wayward Comic Book Artist - The Private Sketchbooks of S. Plunkett'.. Here's a prelim of what the cover is supposed to look like:
Both a softcover & a limited-edition hardcover release, are planned. The book will feature a 'Foreword' written by one of Sandy's artistic heroes: Michael Wm. Kaluta. And the contents will include almost 400 selected artworks, from sketchbooks that Sandy has kept thru the past 20 years! The drawings are said to cover a wide range of styles and subject matter; though all are rooted in the visual vernacular of illustration, comic art, and popular art of America. Evincing influences as diverse as Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Frazetta, George Herriman, and R. Crumb. Images of creatures, both real and imagined, fabulous characters, and dreamlike worlds that are juxtaposed with studies from Plunkett's own life. The book will also feature an updated interview with COMIC BOOK ARTIST's Tim Barnes, provides fascinating insights into Sandy's artistic process..
Recently this short 6-minute has been posted to 'YouTube' to promote the project:
Keep yer eyeballs peeled for this tremendous book, come the Springtime.. I promise you it'll be worth it!
Hello again, folks.. Sorry for the long delay, since the last post!
Today, I thought I'd present a couple of drawings that were an attempt to edu-ma-cate myself.. On why exactly I find the women in Frank Frazetta's comic-book work, so durn appealing?
My first guess is,-- that it has everything to do with his take on Proportions..
I'd really like to be able to (eventually) draw women like the ones Frazetta drew in his early comic-book career. So to examine things more closely, I decided to grab a few classic poses of some of the women that appeared in Frazetta's 1952 comic-strip: "JOHNNY COMET".. Set them up, along (and build) a formal Turnaround -type model sheet.. To better see how I can construct them, myself. As well as find out what precisely, makes them tick!
Here are some of my results: It's important to remember, that I'm talking about Frazetta's comic-book work, and not his oil paintings. The women he painted in those, are probably more recognizable to fans.. And I enjoy them, too. But those Female figures, are much more fleshy & exaggerated. And for me (at least), are somewhat too caricatured, to be useful as an effective Female model for telling a story anywhere outside of a Fantasy setting.. As you can see, I kinda copped-out on the pure Profile view. But you get the general idea..
I guess my conclusions were, that despite a few unique nuances in the Legs/Hips/Waist.. The overall approach was similar in many ways to the classic versions that Andrew Loomis presents, in some of his educational drawing books.
I should add that I also referenced my very favorite Frazetta book of all time, to fill in some of the details.. The 1973 oversized Russ Cochran 'UNTAMED LOVE' book, reprinting four of Frazetta's 'Personal Love' romance stories..
It's an absolute classic collection!! And if you can still find a copy on eBay.. I'd definitely advise you to grab it!
This is an older Pinup drawing, that I finally got 'round to coloring. I used a similar method to the way that I'd approached my Burby baseball cards. Essentially, colored pencils over top of lightly-toned markers.. In my opinion, this gives an image a slightly warmer, more organic "feel"? Perhaps ironically, I'm not the biggest fan of pure digital coloring.. Even though I love tweaking my drawings (including the color elements) inside of Photoshop!
I'm pretty pleased with the results, here.. The only thing that sucks, is that occasionally some of the linework gets corrupted (or worn out), after applying repeated layers of colored pencils. You can lose some of the pure black. Eventually, I'd like to get to the point where I can save the linework as a seperate layer in Photoshop. And work out the coloring on a blueline (or something similar) of the drawing..
The woman (and pose) featured, is based on a composite of different photo reference pics. But mostly, on a nice photo I had of 50's-era actress: Barbara Nichols. She never had much of a career in film, unfortunately.. But you may recall the small role she had in the 1957 noir classic: "Sweet Smell Of Success".. Where she appeared, opposite Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster.
Not much to report.. But I felt like the Blog deserved a new posting.. Here's something that I've been sketching, over the past couple of evenings:
This is my first run at a Head turnaround, that's designed to act as a kind-of model sheet for a Blonde woman character. I'm hoping to use her in a short comic-book story, I'm working on. I did it mostly, to try and figure out the landscape of her face. And to also try and come up with one consistent version of her hair.. Unfortunately, she looks a little different here, in each of the views! Oh, well..
She's supposed to look a little aloof & snobby, though.. And I'd like to think that I was a little more successful, in that particular regard? Hope so!
Luke Seerveld is one of my best-est buddies from my High School daze. Along with our other good friends: Marty Sytsma & Ed VanBeilen, we toyed with the idea of eventually creating our own Film/Media company; as a possible future business. Even going so far as to load up with equipment & make a couple of Super-8 films together.. Marty & Ed went on to other things.. And I continue to struggle to make a living as an Animation artist.. Of the four of us, only Luke has gone on to become the multimedia bigshot, that we'd all dreamed we'd be.. After attending college in the States, he moved to the suburbs of San Francisco.. And now owns & operates his own successful production company: Seerveld Media!
In October 2004, he surprised me with an e-mail.. Asking if I might help him out on a job that he was doing for a company named: Fat Box Films. They needed a Cow character designed that would serve as a computer-animated spokesperson, for a Cheese processing plant?! Not one to turn away a job,-- I jumped at the assignment! And began sketching out a few ideas: They had already had some previous design work done on it. But Luke (and the client) felt that the "look" was all wrong. And that their Cow needed to be: "happier, kinder, gentler.. and feminine, but without being too sexy!" They specifically asked for something that has a: "Toy Story" or "Finding Nemo" quality.. As I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, I opted for a more traditional 40's-era Disney-esque style to it? After feeling things out a bit.. I came up with the Turnaround that you see below.. Isometric views that would help their CG artists better engineer an effective 3D model. I think I probably photoshop'd-out the "steaming dump" at her feet though, before sending it off. A touch that I'd only intended for my buddy Luke's personal amusement! haha The cow was to be a simple brown Jersey, named: "DAISY". She would act as a sort of 3D "hostess" for tour groups visiting the Cheese factory; narrating live-action footage on the specifics of how their Cheese is made, etc. As shown from monitors set up throughout the processing plant's 'Visitor Center'..
Luke told me that the client was somewhat startled by my "retro" take on "DAISY".. I'd spent a fair amont of time trying to figure out things like: costuming details. Or, how I could convert her Hooves into a pair of expressive hands that might help her "act", during her video performances? I think that the client appreciated my attempts to add a bit more sentimentality to her. But they still made a few slight adjustments to what I'd done, before they got to their Final Model.. Which looks (in appearance) closer to a Preston Blair -type cow: Here's what "DAISY" ended up looking like, fully-modelled & with her colors added.. Nice, eh? I was happy to see that they kept the Lipstick'd mouth and the cowbell necklace I'd played around with. But I guess I had imagined that she'd appear more as a full-standing figure; rather than a character seen only from the chest-up? Removing the Horns was a very smart move, tho.. It immediately makes "DAISY" different from "Elsie", yet retains much of the overall feel!
A fun Conceptual Design assignment that I wish I'd get more requests for.. Any takers out there? LMK!!
Cartoonist/illustrator based in Toronto, Canada. I've been working in the Animation business, for more than 20 years.
My company (Flying Dutchman Studios, Inc.) has provided creative services for various projects in Advertising, Marketing, and Comic-Books.
For freelance inquiries, please contact me at: richdannys@gmail.com
I say "quality" image, because I spent many years looking for this story.. And I could never find a good version of it; and particularly, of this specific page. It's the elusive FIFTH romance story, which Russ Cochran chose not to include in his previously-mentioned 'UNTAMED LOVE' reprint, from the 1970's..
I had hoped to make this a post of my own artwork.. But Life has been quite hectic, lately! I'm hoping that it won't be another month, before I can update this Blog again..
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