Argentinian Western Cartoonists of Note

I recently discovered two Argentinian cartoonists referenced in an interview of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, a Spanish born artist raised in Argentina who drew many favorite U.S. superhero comics from my childhood. These artists were early influences on Lopez, and Lopez deserves a post of his own, but here is some work from Victor De La Fuente and Carlos Roume.

Here's Victor De La Fuente's Lambiek entry.

And Here are some sample of his work:

And here's an obituary for Carlos Roume in the Comics Reporter with some details from his professional life.

And some samples: 

Why Frank Miller's "Holy Terror" Doesn't Suck

I read Frank Miller's "Holy Terror" and found it to be ludicrous, disorganized, unapologetic in its racism, but at the same time, some of the best art I've ever seen him do. If you can't stand to read it, ignore the words and just look at the pictures. If you can look at it as a folio of drawings instead of a racist anti-Arab, anti-Muslim screed, the man has reached new heights.

My experience reading it was a slow progression. I looked at it first thinking that it was a mess of whiteout spatters and fingerprints, but the further you go the more visual sense it all makes, breaking up these spreads with big almost abstract silhouettes in elegant designs almost like Franz Kline, architecture rendered in these simple but intricate contour drawings. The fingerprints and spatters make more sense in context, and you see that Miller is as much an expressionist painter as a cartoonist.

Is it good comics? That depends on your definition of "good comics." If you mean pictures in sequential progression, yes. There's an undeniable flow to it. If you mean good storytelling, at least in the literal sense, not so much.

There are also some entertaining lines like, "Its towers stab into the sky like sharpened sticks aimed at the eyes of god." It's some of the most inspired bad prose I have ever read. In fact, I'm not even sure it qualifies as bad. It definitely goes well with the bold, aggressive drawings. Beside the drawings its almost a surreal kind of poetry. 

There is no denying that Miller has made some very offensive and inarticulate public statements regarding his conservative politics.I can't imagine that my appreciation of the book is for the reasons he intends, at least as far as the literal content is concerned as it's presented. It's as though he's gone in the opposite extreme direction as Dave Sims' fundamentalism, but bigotry unfortunately lies on both ends. His creative output in the last few years has deteriorated, culminating in his mess of a film, The Spirit. But now he's back to doing comics, and his work has evolved in a new direction. It's more contemporary in its approach than anything he's done before, more like something out of Kramer's Ergot than Batman. But politically, it's undeniably ugly. I wish it weren't. But if you've been a fan of Miller in the past, giving up on his work at this point is a mistake. It may not be what you're used to, it may not be good storytelling, but it's fantastic art. 

So as much as we all wanted to dismiss this thing, I really recommend checking it out. If you don't believe me, here's a few pages. I'll let them speak for themselves. If these don't sell you on the book, I don't know what will:

Figure Study on Toned Paper

Yesterday we had a full session pose and so I wanted to try something on a little nicer paper. Someone gave me a sheet of toned charcoal paper and I worked in pencil with white conte highlights. I hadn't worked that way in many years, and it's not a way that I feel too terribly comfortable working, but aside from a few nitpicks,  I don't think it came out half bad. This was a pose based on Michelangelo, a figure from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

And for comparison:

Though I think Michelangelo might be one up on me on this one.

Two Pirate Kids in a Boat

Thanks everyone for yesterday's birthday wishes, I a good birthday, had cake, and now I have to get back to work! So here's some more pirate kids from my work in progress:

A lot more to resolve yet, but I'm getting closer to inks on my mini self-promo wordless pirate kid book!

Happy Birthday to Me! More Pirate Kids!

So my desktop computer has been out of commission for nearly a week, so I haven't had access to photoshop, and so haven't had the opportunity to post. I'll try to make up for it in what little remains of the month. Here are some more pirate kids from my tiny handmade book in progress:

Happy Birthday to Me!


Today I'm entering the twilight of my 30s at the ripe age of 39! How did that happen? It would seem that I share a birthday with Amelia Earhart. Here's me and Amelia in one of our finer hours:

The Pirate Kids Do Battle!

More pirate kids for my little 32 page handmade wordless book. This one going to go out to publishers, but I'm working on a way to offer a much cheaper version to everyone else. Right now It's just in the sketch phase, but I'm just starting to figure out my compositions, so it won't be too long. I'm having a great time with this one!

Another Pirate Kid

Another pirate kid sketch. This one without much bother to erase the construction lines, so its a bit messy.

Another Pirate Girl

Another pirate girl drawing for my wordless handmade book in progress...

New Pirate Kid and Dogs!

So here's another pirate kid sketches with some random dog

poses. Enjoy!

Last Night's Figures

So these are from last night's figure session. The first is an hour pose, and then I gave it another hour of rendering at home.The second is a 5 minute pose, and the last is a 10 minute pose.

Yet More Pirate Kids

So here are some pirate kids and a pirate dog for the hand bound, wordless self-promotional book I'm in the process of making. One more figure to go, and then backgrounds! Oh, and inking and coloring and binding and pfew...

Another Pirate Kid

Another pirate kid. Many, many more to come. 

Pirate Kid sketch

A figure for  a modest self-promotional project, what will hopefully end up as a little hand bound, 32 page wordless book. I've been drawing a lot lately, just not posting, which I should probably do. I'm doing all the figures first, then the backgrounds, since figures are always the hardest part for me. So right now it's just figures, figures, figures, and about three more to go of 30+ before I ink the whole mess. Lots of sequential action in this. Having a great time! Will post more...

Water study

This water was intended for the little girl in the previous post, but the composition never quite came together. Still, I'm happy with the individual elements, such as the water here: 

Girl Reading