I think everyone has wanted to be a pirate at one point in their life. Especially when you’re a child. Thrills, excitement, danger, sword fights, and all of the swashbuckling fun that goes with being a scallywag. There are very few adventures you can undertake as an adult that hold that kind of wide-eyed wonderment, and even fewer jobs you can wind up having that fill you with that enthralling sense of fascination.

I’ve been very, VERY lucky the last 3 years of my adult life to have such a job. But I’m not sailing the high seas, raising a flag with a jolly roger on it up the mast, drinking obscene amounts of rum or pretending like I know how to handle a sword (well…that’s not entirely true, I do enjoy drinking obscene amounts of rum now and again) No, I’ve been coloring comic books and doing illustration and digital painting commission work, but mostly coloring comics.

So while that can be a pretty exciting job, that allows you a lot more freedom and the occasional moment of wide-eyed wonderment, it can also at times be the thing that causes the kind of stress which drives you to want to drink obscene amounts of rum for one reason or another. Trust me on this.

Taking into account all of the positive and negative aspects that come along with being a freelance artist, it is still almost like stumbling upon buried treasure when you come across a project that gives you freedom, enjoyment and offers you the opportunity to grow as an artist. So I was more than a little wide-eyed with wonder when I was given the opportunity to work on my next comic coloring project……

Neverland.

THE Neverland, of Peter Pan fame. My absolute favorite story of all time. Everything that you ever dreamed of doing when you were a child, meeting Indians, giant pirate ships, rescuing maidens in distress, fighting pirates and fighting WITH pirates, living in a treehouse, mermaids, fairies, sword fights, danger, excitement, and lots and lots of FUN. Especially when you take into account the fact that THIS version of Neverland is going to be a darker, more twisted version of the classic tale, complete with all sorts of new interpretations on the characters we all know, and introducing some new ones as well. All of the things I love, and an opportunity to really showcase all of the strongest elements in my work.

You can read more about the series here,

Neverland Interview

and yes….Captain Hook……

….if you’re listening, I really DO want to be a pirate.

So, there’s a great new superhero comic debuting this month from author C.E. Murphy and published by Dabel Bros./Del Rey (coincidentally the same Del Rey where C.E. has multi novel deal) The are is amazing, penciled by Ardian Syaf with colors by yours truly. You can order directly online from HeavyInk.com for a discount on the book, subscribe to it as well and it will be shipped each month with your order.

So head over to HeavyInk.com and order your copy today.

That is all for today, I’ve got a busy day here getting 4 more pages of the Grimm Fairy Tales 2008 annual colored for Zenescope. I will leave you with the cover art to Take A Chance #3 which you can preorder right now as well though. I think Ardian and I did this cover in under 3 hours all things considered. Not too shabby!

forgive the spelling mistakes today. just finished an all nighter, literally, and I could care less about how many spelling errors I make right now.

just wrapped up colors for Beyond Wonderland #4 with Nei Ruffino, Garry Henderson, and Blond (who came on at the last minute to save all our butts) The issue is made of complete AWESOME in my opinion, Dan Leister did an amazing job on the art for the book.

Put on a pot of coffee for my wife who’s waking up in about 5 minutes now, thinking of cooking a huge breakfast, and then crashing till the afternoon once these high rez files finish uploading. I probably won’t take off the entire day today, I’ll squeeze in another page or so I think likely as not. Strangely, not too tired right now, so if I can’t fall asleep I may just stay up all day and dork around.

this week, have to get the rest of our xmas shopping done, for the kids. I have a couple things left to get my wife, but I think we’re planning on heading into town on Friday to do shopping. then I’ll probably take the kids either Saturday or Sunday to pick up gifts for her.

It’s pretty apparent that I’m jumping all over the place right now too. It’s been really refreshing to have so much work lately, regardless of how busy it seems I am. I’d much rather be swamped right now, than be out of a job like so many other people. I think I’m doing some good work too, at least it seems that way to me I’m pretty happy with what I’ve been cranking out, and I’ve been cranking out a LOT of stuff. The first issue of my Dabel Bros. comic, Take A Chance is out this month. Can’t wait to get a copy of that and check it out, the art is fantastic, and I love the concept of the story (and the writing)

K, I’m losing it, it’s time to wrap things up, and get something to eat here, I’m starving!!!!!!

going to drop some quick thoughts more frequently here as a way to sort of stay on track. so here goes.

Mondays usually suck in general, but I’ve been plugging away at things all day today, and have accomplished a lot of things to make this particular Monday not suck quite as much. I’m semi-happy with that.

I’ve been doing some great work the last month here, stuff that I’m actually pretty proud of. Just wrapped up a Mary, Mary short for an issue of Grimm Fairy Tales by Zenescope, and I’ve started in on the Grimm Fairy Tales 2008 Annual which is looking great so far if I do say so myself. Excited about this book, because it’s a fantasy type of story, and I’m at my best working in that type of genre I think. Raven Gregory has been a really GREAT editor to work with, and I’m glad he likes my stuff enough to keep throwing work my way Also finishing up the last half of issue 3 of my book Take A Chance from Dabel Bros./Del Rey, issue 1 is out next month and I’m super excited to see what that will look like in print. I originally colored that back in 2006, and this year I went in and sort of revamped each page just because I decided that it wasn’t anywhere near as good as the stuff I’m doing this year so it couldn’t possibly go to print looking subpar.

I’m on my second pot of coffee here, it’s about 7pm. I need to get back into the routine of getting about 6 hours of sleep, maybe 7 each night, and maximizing my work time each day. I’ve finally got a steady work load for a while here and I want to keep on top of everything and keep myself busy all winter, and that isn’t accomplished by lazing around. I’ve decided that I’m going to land a coloring gig at DC Comics in the next year here, and now I have to start cranking out the work to garner that kind of attention

Alright, have a cover for Herbert West #6 to make a TINY change to, and get that over to Raven here in the next hour. Also have to finish up the page I have going here tonight before bed, maybe do one more. BUT….Chuck is on at 8 tonight, and I love me some geek squad goodness (not to mention hot blonde spy chicks)