Mailbag
August 19th, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: If, God forbid, you should lose the use of your drawing hand, do you think you could draw as well with your other hand i.e. be able to keep up to the standards expected by your current customers?¬¨‚Ć I guess this is another way of asking “How much of your talent would you say is in your hand as opposed to in your brain? A: That is an excellent question, and one I do not think any artist has not thought about at one time or another.. I’m sure there must be scientific studies on the adaptability of man after the loss of use… READ MORE
August 12th, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How far do you feel a freelancer has to wade into the murky waters of online social media? What do you view as wasting time, and what actually shows results? A: A pertinent question in this day and age. Personally I have found social media like Facebook and Twitter do little or nothing for my bottom line with respect to freelancing. By “bottom line” I mean the only thing that counts . . . putting jobs on the board. I have not gotten even one single, real job directly from my social media presence. That includes LinkedIn. I may be abnormal in that regard… READ MORE
August 5th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: I just have a couple of quick questions for you. How big do you draw your art? When you do a piece for MAD, like a two page spread for instance, how big is the original drawing? You manage to get such a lot of detail in, so I can only imagine that it would be drawn quite big. ¬¨‚Ć Lastly, do you recommend always drawing big when practicing? A: I usually do my non-MAD illustration work at 150% of whatever the print size is going to be, which is an unwritten traditional standard in illustration. So, a full page magazine illustration (given an… READ MORE
July 29th, 2012 | Posted in MAD Magazine
Q: When doing your movie and TV parodies, and occasional other stuff for MAD, how closely do you work with the writers on a given piece? A: This question was actually put to me at the MAD panel at Comic-Con, and I thought it would be a good one to answer here in the Sunday Mailbag. The answer is: I don’t directly work with the writers at all, ever. Any questions or concerns I have with the script I take to MAD art director Sam Viviano, who will go to the writer if it’s something he cannot answer and then relay the response to me.… READ MORE
July 22nd, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: As at Comic-con sometimes you have to work when you’re away from your studio. What is in you traveling tool kit? Do you keep an always loaded briefcase or tool box that you can grab and have what you need with you? Do you have an iPad or laptop with the tools you’ll need? Lots of us have day jobs that require traveling, and we have to choose what to take to serve our creative needs. A: I am notorious for bringing work with me on trips. Sad, but sometimes unavoidable. My logic is that I can either take work with me and still… READ MORE
July 15th, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What’s your furshlugginer schedule at Comic-Con today? A: What a timely, pertinent, extremely conveniently short, and totally fake question! My schedule for today: Sun, July 15th: 10:30-11am¬¨‚Ćat the¬¨‚ĆDC Entertainment¬¨‚Ćbooth (#1915)-¬¨‚ĆArt Demonstration!¬¨‚Ća 20-30 min stage presentation where I’ll be talking about my work with a host, all the while drawing on an ELMO machine that projects each sketch stroke by stroke up on a 6′ x 9′ HD screen! 12-1pm¬¨‚Ćat the¬¨‚ĆDC Entertainment¬¨‚Ćbooth (#1915)- I’ll be doing free sketches! 2-5pm:¬¨‚ĆNational Cartoonists Society¬¨‚Ćbooth¬¨‚Ć(#1307/1309)¬¨‚Ćinking in my hotel room 🙁 At the DC booth I will be talking about the process of doing movie and TV parodies for MAD… READ MORE
July 8th, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: How long does it take you to make your warm up sketches? When do you consider yourself to be ‘warm’? How important is it to do warm up sketches? A: I have a confession to make. I know this will sound like heresy to some, but I’m not a big believer in doing warm up sketches every day. I never go into the studio and consciously sit down to “warm up” prior to getting to work. I just start working. Even when I am inking, the most I will do is test out my pen nib or brush on a scrap piece of paper… READ MORE
July 1st, 2012 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’m going to be getting married soon, and moving into a two bedroom apartment. This means that for the first time in my life, I’ll have a studio that isn’t also my bedroom. So I’m thinking about the best way to organize and layout my new studio, and also how to keep it neat and tidy, so I’m wondering what thoughts you put into your studio, and how you keep it clean (I’m thinking particularly about all those tiny figurines and batman memorabilia you have on shelves). Do you have a cleaning system or schedule? Or do you simply Photoshop out all the mess… READ MORE
