Frank Quitely is the Best!!!!!

I recently came across this video online & I absolutely love the glimpse into my favorite artist's creative process.

Frank Quitely - Digital Drafting from Gavin Lees on Vimeo.

Joker !!

I recently watched a video online that looks into Frank Quitely's home studio & he shows his present system for digital illustration using a Wacom Cintiq tablet. I caught a glimpse of one of his joker sketches & really felt inspired to sketch the joke man.This is colored with photoshop but the B&W inked image is 11"x14" smooth bleedproof paper & is for sale.

email me if interested prettygoodcomics@gmail.com

Reviews : Thanos, Infinity Gauntlet, George Perez, Ron Lim, & stuff

Thanos Quest & Infinity Gauntlet - I find it ridiculous that I haven't read the the cosmic Thanos epic before. As a kid, I was never really into the 'cosmic' stories. Sure, I loved Green Lantern & Guy Gardner but I was always more drawn to the personal, down to Earth stories. My mind has been changed. I'm totally rethinking 'cosmic'.

Thanos Quest was a little too quick for my liking.

We get to follow Thanos' journey to collect the 6 Infinity Gems in his attempt to impress Death. I really loved the characters but I thought he obtained the gems too easy. I realize that this was a limited series when it was released but I would have liked to see Thanos have a bit more trouble securing the powerful gems and becoming omnipotent. (Spoiler alert!) Just as I was really thinking Thanos was badass he has a cry at the end because Death still won't talk to him. Grow up, Thanos, ya cry baby.Now the Infinity Gauntlet was different. I suppose Marvel realised they had a big hit on their hand so they gave them a longer series to A) tell the epic story they needed and B) make more money. This story was drawn by George Perez and then Ron Lim taking over in the end. And boy does Perez knock it out of the park. I would love to see this recolored (if there is a recolored absolute kinda version someone let me know) but Infinity Gauntlet still holds up today. Thanos, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, Dr. Strange, Eternity, the Living Tribunal, etc., these are great characters that have reshaped my outlook on the cosmic stories.

I loved watching Warlock and company scheme up plans to stop the deranged, all powerful Thanos. If you have love for Marvel characters and you haven't read these Thanos stories, do yourself a favor and check it. I am now gonna look into the Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Infinity Watch (whatever the hell that is), Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I'm might even check out this Annihilation, and Green Lantern war. If anyone has any suggestions for great cosmic stories, please email me or comment because I'm down like a clown.George Perez vs Ron Lim

After borrowing Joel's Thanos books we kinda got into a little debate. Buxton is not a George Perez fan but is huge on the Lim train.

I see it like this,

I hold Perez in the same regard as I do artists like Will Eisner, Joe Madureira, Travis Charest, Moebius, Frank Quitley, Jeff Smith, Frank Cho, John Cassaday, & Bill Watterson.

While I enjoy Lim I think of him in the same category of artists like John Byrne & Tom Grummet. What I mean by this is that Ron Lim, John Byrne, & Tom Grummet (and many others but these are the 3 most prominent examples for me) are wonderful artists. I adored them as a child but they did not evolve with the times. Their style seems dated. While I'll always love their past work that affected me in grade 5, I can't really enjoy the new work these fine artists have created.

A 'complete' artist can draw anything, any angle and make it look not only amazing but accurate. A 'complete' artist is timeless.

When Joe Mad or Frank Cho draw Spiderman swinging through NY they don't go the McFarlane route of drawing two big weird diamonds for feet. They draw feet that look functional and practical. When Frank Quitely's characters hold a sword (or a mug or a remote control or anything) it looks natural, kinda like how real people hold things. Then there's the Rob Liefeld way. You know, when you draw the head first, then some gigantic sword or gigantic gun (that doesn't look like a real gun) and then, you just kinda carelessly draw in arms that might not necessarily fit, and then just draw some hands or weird fist blocks that look super awkward and throw off the entire piece.

Perez draws special effects, or smoke, for effect not to lazily cover up things he doesn't want to draw. Perez is a 'complete' artist. These guys can draw anything and it just looks......right.

Now, I don't hate Liefeld or McFarlane, like a lot of rabid comic book fans but I do acknowledge their flaws and while I really like Ron Lim art, I do the same, and I recognize that he's not a complete artist.Now, I really don't want this to sound like I'm bashing Ron Lim. I'm not, I love me some Ron Lim. He's just no George Perez.

NEW MMA Blog!!!!!!!!

I have recently created a new blog for all my thoughts on MMA, UFC, Jiu Jitsu, & all things prize fighting.

That way I can keep Prettygoodcomics the way I started it, an outlet for my art & comic book work.

You can find my MMA blog at http://mmadouchebag.blogspot.com/

I have also set up a twitter with the handle MMAdouchebag, & I will be tweeting thoughts and scoring during live fights.

I have yet to make my first post but will start Friday Feb. 26th, with a breakdown of

UFC 126 : Penn vs Fitch

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog or my new blog or both.

Warm up Sketch : Alien Concepts

Warm up Sketch : New Super Hero Concepts

Warm up Sketch

Warm up Sketch

more Japanese pattern-themed sketches

Warm up Sketch : Wolf

I'm pretty proud of this. I use reference for almost every animal drawing I do but I just kinda doodled this one & I like it

Strikeforce - Fedor vs. Silva !!!! Heavy Weight Grand Prix Round 1

This is the big kickoff to the Strikeforce: Heavy Grand Prix, with 2 quarterfinal match ups and some reserve bouts. While I'm pretty excited to see a Pride style tournament going down with some of the top heavyweights in the world, I'm pretty sure that we are not going to see the matchups we want, Fedor vs Overeem, Fedor vs Barnett, Fedor vs Werdum, etc. My hope would be to see Fedor win the whole thing.

Strikeforce - Fedor vs. Silva

February 12, 2011, Izod Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States


Matchups:

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva - Fedor is not washed up. Fedor isn't a dried up old man.
The MMA community have quite the short term memory and everything is always judged by your last performance.

Take Anderson Silva last week, for example. At UFC 117 he finally looked mortal against Chael Sonnen and then everyone was writing him off as an old man past his prime. About 50% of fans (and journalists/media outlets) picked Vitor to beat Anderson.

And what happened? Silva kicked Vitor's lights out halfway through the first round.

I think we're looking at a very similar situation with Emelianenko. Fedor got careless against the best 99+ kg Jiu Jitsu guy in MMA and he got caught. Fedor carelessly, more than once, left his arm out for Fabricio to grab a hold of. Fedor was sloppy not outmatched against Werdum. All the time he spent in Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira's guard is proof enough of that.

Keep in mind that the reason Werdum was on his back was that Fedor dropped him with a big flurry.
Antonio Silva is improving as a fighter but I'm not convinced he will be too much of a challenge for the Russian. Silva showed good technical boxing and great head movement in his decision win over Arlovski, and then in his next fight, got dropped hard by Mike Kyle.
I don't worry that Fedor will lose to BigFoot. I'm pretty sure he's going to win.

I think what we looking at is a very real possibility that Fedor will break his hand on Silva's caveman head and will out of the heavyweight tournament.

Maybe in the long run that's for the better. If Fedor is out, there's a good chance Overeem can win the whole thing and have nobody else to fight. Strikeforce could then easily sell the fight everyone wants, Overeem vs Fedor.
I'm taking Fedor by TKO, rd. 1.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov - This is a tough fight to call. While Arlovski is the better mixed martial artist its hard to pick a guy with glass chin. If Arlovski can mix up his punches and strikes he could beat Kharitonov but there's a very real chance that Sergei lands one big shot and its lights out for 'the Pitbull'.

Arlovski has the advantage if the fight gets to the floor but he loves to stand and strike regardless of how weak his chin has been proven to be. (sigh) Reluctantly, I'm going with Arlovski, simply because I am a huge fan and I can't pick against him. Arlovski by TKO, rd. 2.

Shane del Rosario vs. Lavar Johnson - This is a close matchup, and an intriguing fight. Both guys have showed they have sturdy chins, and throw big power.
del Rosario is much better on the ground & is developing a varied submission game. On top of that he is a more technical striker. Johnson has big power and could definitely land a huge shot to make it an early night for Shane, but I'm going with the younger prospect. del Rosario by submission, rd. 3.

Valentijn Overeem vs. Ray Sefo - The other Overeem is not as good as his brother. Valentijn doesn't take well to getting hit. One big shot from Sefo and it could all be over. Sefo is an aged kickboxer and Valentijn's only real chance is to get it to the ground and aim for the sub.

I see Sefo hitting Overeem hard and finishing before it hits the mat. Sefo by KO, rd. 1.

Gian Villante vs. Chad Griggs - Admittedly, I'm not excited for this fight. This Villante guy is a former football player that is an upcoming prospect and he's picking up the MMA game quickly (I hear). Griggs is here because he did what he wasn't supposed to do and beat a gassed out Bobby Lashley. I'll go with Villante by decision but if we somehow don't get to see this one I won't lose any sleep.

Warm Up Sketch : Shimura (3)

Warm Up Sketch : Shimura (2)

Warm Up Sketch : Shimura (1)

I've just recently read Shimura, published by 2000ad, written by Robbie Morrison, art by Frank Quitely (the reason I bought it), Colin MacNeil, & a few others. Next week, I'm gonna review a few comics I've recently read so I'll save the review of the book for then. For now, I'm trying to get a feel and look of my favorite new character, Shimura. There's 2 looks he has in the book, one as an officer and one as a rogue, rebel. Both looks are great. Right now I will be posting some B&W sketches but eventually I want to do a colored illustration of Judge-Inspector Shimura and maybe his female partner Judge-Inspector Inaba.

Warm up Sketch : Matador

I want to do a painting of a matador. I'm gonna wait until I get better at painting. These are some sketches of matadors I did to get the feel.

Warm up Sketch

I've been playing around with different Japanese patterns & this is a sketch I put together. The Japanese use a lot of floral patterns.

Shadow People

I'm working on storyboards for a short film about shadow people. This is a concept sketch

UFC 126 : Silva vs Belfort!!!!!!!

UFC 126 - Silva vs. Belfort
February 5, 2011, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

I'm super pumped for UFC 126. This is a stacked card with a great main event. A lot of questions are gonna be answered tonight & I can't wait.


UFC Middleweight Championship
Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort - I'm not buying into Anderson Silva getting old and losing his touch. While I don't defend his actions, I feel against Cote, Leites & Maia he was not motivated & felt he outclassed these opponents. Against Sonnen, I don't even buy into the excuses that he had a rib injury. Anderson has always had defensive wrestling holes in his game (think Dan Henderson, Travis Lutter) & against a fighter with the relentless wrestling skills of Sonnen plus the fact that Chael was juiced up & shook off the strikes Anderson did land, he could not keep it standing. Anderson does not like Vitor & he's fired up.
Everyone talks about how good Vitor's boxing is but how many good strikers has Vitor beat? Wanderlei ( 1998), Gilbert Yvel, Rich Franklin. Vitor has never faced a quality striker like Anderson & come out the victor. When the chips are down Vitor folds. Belfort loses the big fights. Anderson wins them. If Vitor wins he will have to do it in the first round & I would be very, very shocked that he pulled it off. ANDERSON SILVA BY KO, RD. 1!!!!!

Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin - I like this fight a lot. Two similarly styled veterans trying to stay relevant in a stacked 205lb division. Forrest is the bigger guy here so he might be able to bully Franklin. I think Franklin has a the weaker chin, but is slightly better in all technical aspects of the fight. Franklin has a very good striking game that only seems to have trouble with Southpaws. He throws better technique & volume than Forrest. I see a very close decision here with maybe some post-fight debate about who the true victor was. I imagine the winner of this one will go on to fight the winner of Bader/Jones in a title eliminator. I'll take Franklin by split decision.
Ryan Bader vs. Jon Jones - This is a great battle between two rising, young Light-Heavyweights. Even though he is winning fights, Bader has not impressed me so far. His best win is a decision victory over Lil' Nog & he didn't look great doing it. Bader hits hard, has good wrestling & slows down after the 5 minute mark. While you can get away with that against the Eric Shafer's & Keith Jardine's, I don't think that's gonna cut it against a phenom like Jones. Jones always brings the fight. He's continues to outwrestle good wrestlers & improve every time out. He uses his reach very well, has a variety of strikes to set up a variety of takedowns, & we all know he can throw big time elbows. We still have a lot of questions to be answered about Jones. What is his chin like if he gets hit? What's he look like off his back? If Bader can get inside on Jones' incredible 85" reach he could land a big shot. If Bader can put him down can Jones will have to fight from the guard for the first time. Jones is too fast, too conditioned, & too big for Bader. I'll take Jones by TKO, rd. 3.
Jake Ellenberger vs. Carlos Eduardo Rocha - Although he finished off Kris McCray with a kneebar in his UFC debut Rocha did not look very impressive leading up to it. While he sports an impressive 9-0 record Rocha has not faced tough competition. At the same time, Ellenberger has looked like a beast in every one of his UFC fights and is improving his game every time out & has faced very good welterweights. Could Rocha pull off some sort of leglock? Yes, but more than likely we're looking at Ellenberger stopping the Brazilian. Ellenberger by TKO, rd. 1.
Miguel Torres vs. Antonio Banuelos - If Torres shows up looking like he did in his last fight against Charlie Valencia or the Manny Tapia fight, using his jab to keep distance he could definitely hurt Banuelos and maybe lock up a submission in a scramble. That's how I see it going down, Torres by submission, rd. 2.
Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa - While I'd like to see the Japanese fighter have success in the UFC in his second go-around I feel like Mendes is too tough a matchup for him. We're looking at Mendes getting top position and probably not doing too much with it. Mendes by decision.
Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Demetrious Johnson - I'm hoping to see an inspired 'Kid' Yamamoto in his Western debut. He may be past his prime but 'Kid' still has good enough wrestling to stop Johnson's takedowns & he still has big power. I won't be surprised if Johnson can, simply, outwork 'Kid' to a decision victory but I'm gonna go with what I want to happen, Yamamoto by TKO, rd. 2.
Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly - This is a bad style match up for Kelly. If Kelly gets his way he can look forward to getting Cerrone on his back and because of 'Cowboy's' length he won't be able to really land anything in guard and will probably get baited into a submission attempt. I think the best Kelly can hope for is if Cerrone indulges him enough to stand and bang shot for shot, which 'Cowboy' loves to do. I'm taking 'Cowboy' Cerrone by submission, maybe a triangle choke or kimura, rd. 1.
Mike Pierce vs. Kenny Robertson - I like Pierce pretty big in this fight. Pierce by TKO, rd. 1.
Paul Taylor vs. Gabe Ruediger - Gabe is really only still in the UFC because he did Dana & friends a favor by taking this fight on short notice, which will be what loses him the fight. Taylor is not 'walk-through' and Ruediger has conditioning problems as it is when he has a full training camp behind him. Taylor is a tough gatekeeper and Ruediger ain't getting in. Taylor by TKO, rd. 3.
Kyle Kingsbury vs. Ricardo Romero - Romero was very underwelming in his debut against Seth Petruzelli, while Kingsbury is a continually improving MMA fighter. I don't really know what to expect here but I'll bet on Romero learning from the Petruzelli fight and improving enough to take Kings bury to a decision. Romero by decision.

Heron/Iby Jam Pieces #4 -Guitar Hero

Another jam piece by myself & Iby of Digital Kontent.

I call this creepy dude the 'Guitar Hero'

Money Money Money Money!!!! Dolla Dolla!!!

courtesy of Joel Buxton

Warm Up Sketch

some funny lookin' dude

Have a Heart

I've been drawing a lot of hearts lately.

This piece is Black India Ink on #234 - 108 lb Paris Bleedproof Paper, 11" x 14"

Date : January 2011

for sale, email me if interested - prettygoodcomics@gmail.com