ROOT & BRANCH part 3 wrap up

Oh god, I suck. I'm the worst Blogger in the world. I'm going to go for a running dive behind Paul Caggegi's words, which basically translate as, all blogging and no work it's "all steak and no sizzle."

I have been so busy it's insane. I worked all Labor Day weekend, busting my ass. I did have a small break where I headed out to a pool party Sunday at the house of the writer/producer of "Scary Movie". What was great is while I know a bit about Hollywood and how it works, my accent means I'm able to ask all the questions about people that I want. See, if I had an American accent it's almost assumed that I should know what a "talent manager" is and how that differs from a publicist or even an agent (fyi they plan a client's long term career). I can ask all the details I want without appearing stupid. It's great. And people are so happy to chat about their jobs.



Apart from the pool parties I'm powering through part 2 of Into The Wild. I hope you enjoyed part 1 (chapter 101). It just went online HERE. I'm very happy with it. But I will chat more about it when I get to it (sometime around the next Olympics probably). I'm so busy that the only reason why I sleep and eat is because it reduces my productivity if I don't do so. My only real breaks are heading to the gym with my housemate and neighbour (my housemate has lost 3% body fat in the last month! He's really stuck to the eating plan and weights routine I gave him).

I shouldn't even be blogging! By body is wracked with the guilt of procrastination as I type this. I have to have the entirety of part 2 done by Friday and I'm only 5 pages into the 12 pages story. Oh, did I mention I also have a full time job and have to do 6 pages for that also?

Anyway, enough whining about the present, let's whine about the past.

ROOT AND BRANCH 3

PAGE 1

I loved drawing Root and Branch part 3 (R&B3). I've said it before and I'll say it again. It was so much fun. I'm so glad they asked me to draw Sabine for Into the Wild too. I think it will have a really nice visual consistency for the reader. R&B3 was drawn in about 5 days. 5 days to draw and colour 6 pages was a really tall order for me. Remember, I had been drawing the previous two parts also as well as my other obligations. My energy was waning.

But, I got to draw Bennet! I think I've drawn him more than any other cast member and I still find him really tough. Jack Coleman has a very unique face, where the balance of the features is so delicate, that if you get the smallest thing wrong you've just drawn some random with glasses. "Random" is a word I picked up in London off Nat and my mate Matt.

I envy the more cartoony artists like Ryan who just seem to smash out his likeness effortlessly. *sigh*

But as I mentioned, I knew that Bennet would feature in part 3, so I made his presence pop a little more in part 2. The Tale of Two Cities was requested for in the script. I'm not sure its significance, as I haven't read the book myself. But the SHEINDIE CLASSICS label was my shout out to the tirelessly enthusiastic and supportive Sheindie. His shout out was well overdue. I can't think of anyone else that's been so supportive and helpful and hadn't got a shout out.

It was Ryan Gibson Stewart who found me the reference for the cells. I made sure that Bennet's cell was arranged exactly how it was on the show (each alternating cell mirrors the one preceeding so it can be a bit confusing).

I loved making the cloning process gross. Most comics have such clean powers, I looked forward to diryting this up. The point where Sabine cuts the cord (I spent ages finding just the right hideous yellow/green colour for the liquid spilling out) and the ecg monitor flatlining was an idea suggested after by Zach Craley.

PAGE 2

The reason why the shirt was open on the clone on our right was to show his belly button. There was some question on the boards as to whether they had belly buttons or not. I figured they must because Sabine would freak out and notice otherwise. Unfortunately in the drawing I forgot about this intention and ended up covering up the belly button. Eeediot!

I'm extremely happy with the bloodstained glass effect, and hope that it was still readable for the reader.

The main difference with Root Julien (RJ - as he's known in the scripts, Duplicate Julien is known as DJ) is that he's supposed to have a tattoo of a tree on him somewhere. I totally forgot about it, and luckily, so did NBC.




When I did my signing at Orbital Comics comics I drew a raffle for attendees to see whose likeness would be incorporated into the comic. I was going to do two things. If they looked the part, then they would be cast as an agent, in fact an agent who gets shot by Sabine. If they didn't look like an agent (ie a kid) then I was going to put them playing on the road as the cars drive by in page 5. But Luis was awesome and posed perfectly as the shot agent. I also managed to sneak two more Bennet likenesses in (I just couldn't help myself!).

PAGE 3

Ryan again found me reference for what the company corridors look like. When I did the set tour I was lamenting to Ollie how I would have loved to have come in and shot these for reference. I don't know if anyone noticed, but there's shadows of the company agents behind those doors.

The agents in panel 4 are Donna, Thompson, Devin and some random dude. I find it interesting how Devin's look has changed from the sketches we were given. In the one I was given Devin practically has a beard he's so grizzly. I loved the design. I don't like smooth faced Devin as much.

I also really like how Sabine cupping RJ's face came out. I think it's a great moment. There's intimacy in their hands and eyes, but their bodies are far apart to show that they don't really know each other.

PAGE 4

It's when I read this bit I knew for a fact that Julien was totally unlike the clone guy who fights Adam. Ollie and Zach were really smart to take the time to totally explore RJ's cloning ability. Remember I was talking about making powers gross? Well I wanted to go overboard here. At the point of the clone's separation I overlayed multiple textures of varicose veins, raw meat and all sorts of horrid stuff. If you look at panel 1 you can see eyeballs and all sorts of stuff growing. I heard somewhere that eyes are the most complex part of the body, so I figured they should be grown first.

The last two panels have two of my favourite Juliens. I just think I drew him really well here. And yes, it was a challenge to keep covering up this naked guy. I really didn't wanna see or draw RJ's "special little clone", you know?

Notice how Donn'a not shooting at him here? I figured that if Donna was there to shoot at him then she would have hit him with her special telescopic powers. So anyway, as far as I can determine there's still a naked Julien running around John McClane-style in the Company basement (i can just see it written on some dead Company agent - "Ha Ha Ha - now I have underwear.").

Now there's a story I wanna write!

PAGE 5

I was trying to figure out what car Thompson would drive. Now I'm not a car head myself. Cars for me get me from A to B. If they can do that in a bit of style, then all the better. So I found this Audi. I remember the boards getting some activity from people saying they'd join the company if they could score this Audi. Wow. Four stylish wheels and you're ready to bag, tag and brainwash people. Are morals that thin these days? =)

I ended up adding all these trees and folliage around the bridge. I figured that if they just fell in a clear ravine then Donna would just pick them off from the bridge. Little would I know that - Oops! Almost gave away a spoiler. =)

You can see that a great deal of the movement of the cars is created in the colouring stage with blur effects.

PAGE 6

I was so tired by this stage. I'm about to tell you a secret and you mustn't tell anyone. I had one day to colour this entire story arc. Normally I would have had 7 days to draw this, but I lost one day organising my visa in Paris, and another day as I was jumping on a plane to LA Sunday morning. My taxi was coming at 8am.


So it's 11am on Saturday and I have til 8am the next morning to colour all 6 pages. To give you an idea, Annette says she can colour two pages a day. I had to do 6! I worked until 7am that morning. My poor sister had to pack all my bags for me (and she did an incredible job - I pulled shirts out of the bag two weeks later and they didn't have a single crease in them!). I started page 5 by about 2 in the morning and I was so tired by this stage. The night scenes on these pages look murky and horrible because of this. I just couldn't figure out how to make it work. I'd already been in front of the computer for 15 hours at that stage.

There was also some question on the boards as to which character the driver was and what future role he would play. Honestly, he's just my mate Brett. In the labels on my navigation bar you will find under one of the older ILLUSTRATION tags an invite that I did for Brett's 30th birthday. Brett also commissioned me to do my Havok and Wolverine. He's one of the biggest fans of my work (the fact that he knows me yet is still a huge fan of my stuff takes me aback daily) and jokingly asked why he hadn't appeared in a comic yet. Almost all our friends had. He emailed me this aside as I was supposed to draw page 6 and so it was game on. He got such a huge buzz out of it. In fact it was trying to do him justice that kept me awake while colouring this page at 6am.

And that's the end of R&B3! And they lived happily ever after. Or they did until INTO THE WILD where it all hits the fan.



Oh, as a point of trivia, HERO/ROEsian from the 9th Wonders boards sent me a PM about some stats he'd compiled. He had put up a TOPIC which was a bunch of links to different sites that HEROES fans would dig. Apparently my blog is the most clicked from there with 18,547 links from there. HERO did the math, and that if my counter down the bottom of my site is correct, then that means that about 43% of my hits have come from there. Damn, ROEsian, you have single handedly made my site look respectable Thanks man! But you can look forward to a special "thank you" in INTO THE WILD part 2.

I will talk about TRUE BLOOD next then onto INTO THE WILD.

Thanks for being so patient with me.

ROOT & BRANCH part 2 wrap up

This project is so old, but I have to wrap it up. So that's what I'm doing. Bear with me as I try to keep your dwindling attention span amused. One post for part 2 and one post for part 3, then onto some True Blood action.

<- Root and Branch line art for page 4.

It's kinda sad (or good) that I'm out drawing my posting pace. I'm averaging a page a day, seven days a week, and blogging a LOT less than that. Ironically, because of the drawing. It's pretty full on. I've been like that for almost two months now. I'm currently dreaming of a week off just to play computer games. As Lauren, my production manager and editor commented, "You have lofty goals my friend."

I still feel that this arc is the best that I've drawn myself. Hana was fun, but I was really just learning the ropes and figuring out how to colour it without Annette. Blackout was probably my most mediocre effort. I made the wrong choices and I just felt that it didn't click, but I learned the most from it. But I figured it all out by Root and Branch. The communication with Zach Craley and Ollie Grigsby made such a difference. Their imaginations and insights kept me enthused and challenged. I don't know if you ever read it by there's an interview with us HERE on Heroeswiki from the ever brilliant Ryan Gibson Stewart (who also got a shout out on the towels in the hotel on page 4. I just noticed that in the Heroes universe, Ryan's probably as rich as Linderman. He own the nightclub in New York in the Death of Hana Gitelman, and now a hotel in Paris. Not bad, Ryan. Not bad at all.)

<- Root and Branch colour art for page 4.

This installment was hurried but not rushed. I remember being able to take my time with the ever looming spectre of part 3 hanging over my head. I was in London at the time doing day trips to Paris to get my visa sorted. In fact the first time I went, I woke up at 3am that morning to catch a 5am train. Paris is an hour ahead of London and a 3 hour train journey and subsequent commuting meant I rocked up at the US embassy in Paris at 10am for my appointment. I waited an hour, handed in my paperwork, waited another 2 hours and found out that my lawyer hadn't filled out my paperwork correctly! I had wasted an entire day in Paris! Devastating for Root and Branch.

I headed home that night back to London. I scheduled another appointment for the following week - right in the middle of part 3. The paperwork was fixed and again I woke up again at 3am and schlepped my exhausted butt to Paris with my new paperwork. Again I lodged it and a lady pointed to a man who would process my application. You know those guys who just look like accountants? With little beady eyes and tediously manicured nails ready to pick at every seam and wrinkle? Well he was one of those. I was already nervous as I had been told that the interview for the E-3 visa (a unique visa between Australia and the US for college/university qualified applicants) was really tough. Looking at this guy, I waved and flashed a warm smile hoping it masked the fear and trepidation in my eyes. I knew I had to be on the ball for this interview. I had to be as sharp as Sylar's finger.

<- Root and Branch line art for page 5. I sat back down and waited. I waited for two hours. Have you ever tried keeping an adrenaline high and your concentration up for 2 hours? It's nigh on impossible and exhausting. Finally my number was called and I proceeded to a window with a lady there. I was confused. She asked me who I was working for and what my job was. I furtively looked around for Accountant Guy, but my mouth clicked into gear and I answered quickly and graciously. She then told me I would have to come back tomorrow to pick up my passport. "Tomorrow?" I asked, "But what about my visa? When do I find out if I got my visa?"

She then smiled, "Oh, didn't I tell you? You've got your visa, honey."

I almost collapsed with happiness. Apparently I look good on paper. Good enough that I don't need an interview.

Staggering I shuffled back to the hotel I stayed in a couple months before when my parents took me to Paris. They remembered me (I drew them all little HEROES sketches as they were all fans) and they looked after me again. I hooked up my laptop and got to work on part 3.

<- Root and Branch colour art for page 4.

PAGE 4: I went back to the black and white flashbacks here. In fact, the script asked for the panel to be very reminiscent of Episode 17 from season one, "Company Man", where Bennet meets Claude. I found a frame that I liked, substitued Gael for Thompson, Julien for Claude and Sabine for Bennet. Even if you don't consciously recognise it, it should hopefully subconsciously resonate the two scenes.

Look who's also in Paris here. You can find the action part of this scene in graphic novels 97 and 98. A nice bit of tying together by the writers. God forbid they either know what they're doing or improvising so damn well that we think the former.

The texture outside the window is a photo that I took on top of Notre Dame. I also consciously kept the Paris flashback monochromatic so that it's obvious it's a flashback. It's one of my pet peeves that some colourists don't make flashbacks obvious. Clarity is king!

They asked for this to be as risque as possible for Sabine, but I'm well aware of three things. It's a family show, and should be acceptable for all ages. I also want to be respectful to Sabine. She's an attractive woman, and there's no need to go exploiting that. Finally, I hate doing redraws, especially for reasons I've already figured out myself.

<- Root and Branch unfinished line art for page 6. Have a look at Julien's knees in closeup in black and white. How painful does that look? He's not walking again anytime soon.

PAGE 5: Panel one came off so nicely and for very little work on my part. It's all textures and the angle of his head. I got a lot of comments about how brutal it was, but really, you don't see a lot.

Thanks to Ryan for finding out for me what a Primatech security card looks like as well as what hand gun they use and finding screenshots and what episodes featured the cells that they kept Bennet in.

Panel 2 is a stylistic cheat. It's basically the bottom panel from page 1 with sunglasses, tears and a darker colour palette to show the later time of the day. It's a cheat timewise, but it's also exactly what I was going for. I needed to show that things were the same but different.

I love drawing the main cast. I'm such a artistic slut for their looks. They're all such fascinating looking people and it's such a challenge for me to get their likenesses. I added the inset panel of Bennet as I knew he would be narrating part 3. I needed to get his presence to be more than just a cameo in the background. I wanted the audience to be suspicious of his involvement right here.

It was Zach's idea to have him catching his little red bouncing ball. A nice continuity touch, I thought.

<- Root and Branch line art for page 6. PAGE 6: This was such a rushed page, but it turned out so well. I got heaps of comments that mirored exactly what Zach asked for in the script:

"It shouldn't be too too disgusting to look at, but enough to get a little grossed out... The disgusting part should be the inhuman treatment-- this usage of Dumont as a machine."

This is an old version of the line art as I didn't include a lot of the background. No idea why, it was a long time ago, ok? But I do like this page. I think it turned out well. The subtle tree symbolism versus the incredibly cold palette I used really help sell this page.

Ok! Part 3 next.

I'm also pitching a story for a romance anthology called Less Then Three ("<3" get it? Clever, huh?) edited by Leonard Wallace. I hope we can work something out.

Uuurgh. So much for keeping this brief. Back to work! Back to work!!! Schnell! SCHNELL!!!!

ROOT AND BRANCH PART 2 PAGE 3

Here's my birthday post. I wanna thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes on email and Facebook. A huge thank you indeed! Despite this zombie-like state I'm in, I'm definitely feeling the love. I'm shuffling around the office moaning and I can tell you now, if brains had caffeine I would have made the full transition.

<- The final artwork but with the lettering I did on the phone.

I just finished work on the TRUE BLOOD comic. It was gruelling but fun. I did the cover and the interior of the comic for the San Diego Convention exclusive. You will find more pages up on their site finishing up the story.

I will go into the process of True Blood more after it hits the public at San Diego Comic Con. I believe it will also be adapted into their online reader too.


<- The line art. I was complimented on the cinematic focal blurring on the background. My cheat was that it was the same background over and over again just blurred out with different streaks of sunlight. I'm glad it became a credit to the artwork and not a detriment.

Anyway, it's done, and I'm exhausted. Heading out for pizza and karaoke last night didn't help. I really wanted to party my ass off but I was just exhausted. As the clock ticked over and ushered in my birthday, everyone gave my sleepily delirious body huge hugs. On the way home KROQ just happened to be playing one of my favourite songs, "Change (in the house of flies)" by the Deftones (which is also my ringtone).






<- The tonal work. I especially love the bottom panel.

But let's talk Root and Branch part 2 page 3.

I really enjoyed this page of Sabine bringing it on big time. I really enjoyed the performance created by the synthesis of dialogue and images. I especially like Sabine's face here. It's very hard to draw a woman's face contorted in anger and not make her ugly or old. The simple formula is that the more lines you add to a woman's face the older and uglier you make her.






<- Basic colours.

I kept the flashbacks in black and white. I felt that the technique worked well for both the show and for the comic. It's very important to me that flashbacks are obviously flashbacks. I've seen too many artists and colourists just colour them the same. As a reader I get very confused. I figure if an experienced comic reader like me is getting confused, then other readers must be ready to grab a sawn off shot gun and go hit their local post office.





<- The effects added in. I love that the bullet wound to the knee looks really damn painful. We see gunshots all the time in media, it's so nice to find a refreshing power to them. Still a colour balance to do.


The flashback was also an opportunity to flip the camera 180 degrees and shoot stuff from the other direction. It was quite refreshing as an artist to do this. I got bored of being on one side, but there are very few times when you can flip the camera. A scene cut is a good time to do this.

ROOT AND BRANCH PART 2 PAGE 2

Unsurprisingly, everyone who knows has been hassling me about the details of my HEROES set visit.

At this point, some of you might be asking, "Wtf?!"

<- The final coloured artwork for ROOT & BRANCH.

A little background... I recently drew the three part arc for HEROES written by Ollie Grigsby and Zach Craley called "ROOT & BRANCH". What made the creative process of Root & Branch unique was that I was in communication with Ollie and Zach while I was drawing it (I think we hunted each other down on Facebook and then wandered into emails from there). They answered questions, made invaluable suggestions and together we created a synergy that fueled my drawing. While we spoke about the book we also got chatting about other things. I found out that Ollie had spent a great deal of his childhood in Melbourne, Australia going to a school a 5 minute drive up the road from me!

Our conversations culminated with Ollie inviting me to the HEROES set last Friday.

<- Line art work for Root and Branch.

As an initial caveat I will say to not expect any spoilers here. I'm not discussing a thing, for two reasons. One is that I love my job and I'm not risking it for anything. The second is my real answer; there are so few things that are truly brilliant and will have a lasting effect on us, (and HEROES is one of them) why spoil them? Also, cameras weren't allowed on the set so I wasn't able to take many photos. But I will try to paint an accurate picture of what it was like.

It was 2:45pm when I finally found Sunset Gower Studios. I was half an hour late! Why the hell would I be late to the HEROES set? Just as I was leaving I got a phone call from Lauren (my editor) asking me if I could help her out and draw a cover for a comic for the new HBO series TRUE BLOOD. Hell yeah! Emails ensued and layouts had to be done. That and traffic explained my tardiness.

Making my way through security I parked my car where I was told and wandered around aimlessly looking for the mysterious HEROES production office. I asked the bemused people working at the massive studios where I should go, and eventually found myself right where I started - outside the unmarked HEROES production office, a narrow four story building. But the lack of signage didn't last long.

<- Grey toned art work for Root and Branch.

The thing that hit me as I walked out of the elevator into the seemingly empty production office is the incredible amount of pride the staff have for the show. Magazines, articles, photo clippings, posters, prints and print outs adorn almost every vertical surface only giving way to plants, hinges and beautiful, massive canvases of Tim Sale artwork from the series. The burning railway image took my breath away.

I see the names on the door as I find my way to what looks like some sort of waiting room. A number of doors led off into various rooms. A huge plush office in warm browns catches my eye. A large leather backed arm chair for a visitor blocks most of my view into the inviting room. I notice the name on the door, and my eyebrow arches, "Tim Kring" it says. "I'm here, I'm really here!" I think.

I utter a cautious hello. I wanted to announce my presence as soon as possible, I didn't want to get kicked off the studio lot nor end up in Guantanamo Bay. A voice from a nearby office replies. A lithe man with a shock of sandy blonde hair, red tshirt and jeans comes out and introduces himself as Zach Craley. What great luck! He introduces me to DJ, the production assistant he was chatting to.

Zach takes me upstairs into a large conference room. A large square table sits in the middle of the room running almost wall to wall. But what dominates the room are dozens and dozens of hand-written speech cards stuck to two large whiteboards on two walls of the room. They are flanked by sketches and other design images. It was the writing room. Inside was Ollie the HEROES script co-ordinator, a tall, relaxed guy with glasses and straight brown hair. Ollie pointed to his own corner of the room where he spends all his time wrangling writers and scripts. Ollie introduces me to Harrison and Chris who had also written graphic novels I had drawn. I mentioned I felt like the town bike. Everyone's had a ride.

I ducked off to the bathroom and couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. A huge teetering volcano of comics mounted precariously beside the basin has exploded comics onto every horizontal surface.

When I got back Ollie started one of the greatest tours I've ever been on.

The first bit was one of two major highlights for me. Ollie took me upstairs to meet the writers.

Here is where everyone was! First up was Chuck Kim who co-ordinates the online comics. I regret not having more time to chat to Chuck as he seemed like a fun, really switched on sort of guy. He was deep in conversation with another gentleman but he took a couple minutes of his time to speak to me. He asked me to let him know when I'm free next and I said I always make myself free for HEROES.

When I stepped into the next room I think I did a double take. Sitting behind a large desk was comic book superstar, Jeph Loeb. As I stood there in the doorway agape, a nerf dart impacted into a collage of HEROES images clipped from magazines on the door behind me. Jesse Alexander apologised and shook my hand with a big grin as he collected the dart. Aron Coleite, the new writer of the Uncanny X-men shook my hand and I thanked him profusely for getting me the gig with HEROES. Aron beamed with energy and looked great having dropped a lot of weight. Joe Pokaski was seated on a couch around the corner to the right and smiled, "You know we read the boards and the 9th Wonders fans really love you."

I was stunned, "I guess all I can say is that there are better artists and worse artists than me on the team, but at the end of the day, I think I can confidently say that none of them care more about HEROES than I do. And I guess that comes through in my art and my posts."

We chatted for a bit and when Ollie mentioned we should be going, I asked the four guys if they would indulge me a fan-boy moment and if I could have a picture with them. They said only if it ends up on Facebook. So here's me with my writing heroes:


Ollie asked me if I wanted to go see what they were shooting now. I was stunned! We went on set and I met Adam Armus (Producer and writer of that episode) overseeing a scene in the Bennet house with Sandra Bennet (Ashley Crow) talking to a woman whom I will not identify. One of the things I have to explain is how thoroughly, meticulously and convincingly detailed all the sets are. It was a pleasure to walk around the Bennet house set (I was mainly sequestered to the living room and garden) and see how the production team had solved a hundreds of tiny problems.

Adam was lovely and we had such a fun chat. He explained what was happening and patiently answered all my questions despite being only halfway through his 12 hour day. The intern (another Zack) offerred me his seat so I could watch the scene on the monitor as it was played out. What a buzz!

From there Olllie guided me through a multitude of sound stages and sets. Unfortunately the Deveaux rooftop was dismantled at the time, but Isaac's loft was relatively intact with its huge nuclear mural on the floor. I marveled at the Primatech corridors and the level 5 cells. Bob's office was overwhelming in its meticulous attention to detail including files and folders on dozens and dozens of people with godsends.

Then came my second highlight. As we came across another set I noticed that this one was densely populated. I stood in a hallway looking through into a room and could swear I recognised the man standing in the next room. It was Zachary Quinto. Sylar himself. He was talking to someone who had their back to me. When she turned around I recognised the petite blonde as Hayden Panettiere (Claire). I was shocked and elated at seeing these two. Then from around the corner walked Jack Coleman (Mr Bennet) to complete the trinity! They proceeded to block out a scene with the director and crew. I asked Ollie if I could go closer and he shrugged a confirmation. I edged around and joined the rest of the crew. They proceeded to play out a very, VERY interesting scene that made me break out in a huge grin with its implications.

I was so into it I barely noticed that they had all left. Literally, one second they were there and the next they were gone. I don't know how to explain it. I saw their heads across the parking lot and I regret not stalking them for a photo, but I was restrained by the veneer of trying to act like a professional.

Buzzed, I had seen everything I could possibly want to see. I profusely thanked Ollie and Zach (who had joined us later) and set off from the set. Before I left I asked them about getting future access to sets that are included in the comics. The possibility of being able to shoot reference of the actual HEROES sets would be an incredible opportunity and take my artwork up another level. They couldn't see why not and said they would float the idea to everyone else.

EULOGY: I was also regretfully informed over the weekend that comic book superstar, Michael Turner passed away from cancer at the age of 37. Michael embodied the 21st century's new wave of dynamic, powerful art sweeping across the comic book scene. I found Michael a fascinating artist as I disagreed with every technical choice he made, yet I loved his work. It was a juxtaposition that left me captivated by his brilliance. One of our brightest stars has gone out too soon and we're left to bask in the incredible legacy he left us.

ROOT AND BRANCH: PART 2 PAGE 1

A HUGE FAVOUR: Ok, I've never really thrown this out to everyone, but I need some help. I just got shown the latest copy of Previews. Previews is the book from which all comic book stores order their comics. Now, obviously most of you are going to be very happy to hear that the second HEROES hard cover has been solicited, which means you can order it and get your little hands on it in October. Now, there's one more thing I'd like you to order. On page 172 is the solicitation or ad for my first comic: ZERO G! I'm asking all of you to please go to your local comic book store and ask them to order in a copy for you. It's only US$3. I don't see a cent, I just want it to do well. So what you need to know is:

- Zero G on page 172 of Previews
- Where your local comic book store is

Thank you! Now returning you to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Apologies I haven't been blogging. I have very little time to myself during the day. On Monday I had to pick my fellow artist and art director on Zero G, Chris Moreno from LAX and it felt like I drove him all over LA to get him home. I looked at my journey on a map after and noticed that I had indeed driven all over LA. I went from the south to the far north and then back south. I was exhausted. Three hours in the car got me a nasty case of driver's tan on my arm.

Yesterday was more fun. I was invited by Top Cow to go see their premiere for WANTED at 2pm at a private cinema at Universal Studios. I sat between a good friend of mine, inker Rick Basaldua and superstar penciller Joe Benitez (Titans).

WANTED is off the charts. I thought they took the graphic novel, toned down the gratuity and the super-heroics and created a really fun, smart movie with a new twist and a great, satisfying ending. It has an excellent structure and the performances are fantastic. I heartily recommend this as I guarantee you will see stuff that you've NEVER seen before as the special effects are off the chart.

Continuing my brush with Hollywood, I met a guy by the name of MARC SAMSON who is a fantastic matte painter and concept artist who worked on Superman Returns, I am Legend and a bunch of other big Hollywood productions. He invited me down to his studio today so I can watch him work. I was really excited, but I had to cancel to because I had to redraw a cover for HERESY (also solicited in previews - yeah, when it rains it pours.) I had already drawn a cover, but I had an epiphany and realised that it was so similar to what the other artist did. Inspired I attacked it again, and with the help of the Spacedog team I put together a cover that I think is stunning. I can't wait to show you. Anyway, I had til the end of the day to get it done, and I finished it at 630pm on the dot. Close call.

As if that wasn't enough, tomorrow I'm heading off to meet Ollie Grigsby and Zach Craley on the HEROES set! I'm so damn excited. I have no idea what they're shooting, but I can't wait to see. I wonder if I'm allowed to bring a camera. It would be a crying shame if I'm not.

My second week in LA and I've gone to a movie premiere, met an elite special effects artist and heading down to the HEROES studio. Surely I can't keep up this pace?!






Anyway, Root & Branch part 3!

<- I can't remember this guys' name, but I met him at the Alan Moore signing. He really put the pressure on with a flying Nathan on the inside book jacket! I'm quite happy with how this one turned out.

I really do love this second part. We had some scripting issues but Zach and I turned problems into challenges and cranked up the pressure and quality. I think part 2 is my favourite part. Part 1 warmed me up, and I was so rushed for part 3, but I got to really take my time and enjoy part 2.


<- This guy was a designer who did these t-shirts in England. He asked me to do the HEROES logo and sign the tshirt. I was honoured. I then whipped him up a smart little Hiro.

As you can see, page 1 is largely a digital painting. That means there's no linework. I've included the line work layer here so you can see what I just painted. There is no way I could do something like this with Annette. It's too much of an overlap of both our jobs. So flying solo it was fun to do this. Actually it was arrogant and terrifying. I was fueled with confidence from the digital painting I did of the backgrounds on part 1. Feeling like the big man, I thought I'd have a smack at the title again. Thank god it turned out well! I'm so proud of how it looks.


<- Another Peter. Poor Milo, got a great haircut and worked out and no one wants season 2 Peter.

It really came alive at the final stage where I placed shadows and blurs on the final layer to create a sense of lighting and movement (it's so hard to make a car look like it's moving when it's not racing along at a million miles an hour - but with some dust and subtle blur effects it really works).

I remember being so happy I called my sister over to have a look. She just smiled not quite sure what I was talking about. What I was talking about was the lighting in the car down the bottom - I love how convincing it looks.

Now where my sister did help me was on Sabine's makeup. She taught me how to do makeup on asian girls. Here's a closeup so you can see my sister's magic (without the lighting I love). On the upper lid she suggested a deep dark purple blending out gently towards the eyebrow. Then she said I should work a silver/grey from under the eyebrow towards the upper lid. The silver also ran around the inner part of the eye towards the nose (but I kept forgetting this bit later) A light gloss for the lips and a slight rouge to the lips and Sabine was ready to kill some clones. I normally just fudge makeup, but given my sister is Eurasian like Sabine she was the perfect person to ask. I really felt it brought Sabine to life and my sister and I were both very happy with the result. From this point onward I really felt like I got a handle on drawing Sabine. I think she looks really consistent and convincing from here until the end of part 3.

<- A flying Nathan from a different angle.

As a final thing they asked me to add the licence plate code. Luckily I just copied and pasted it as it's actually a password for some file on some site. Those whacky HEROES kids!

I will post when I can, but with all this galavanting around LA, I'm a little behind on my pages this week. Redrawing the cover (losing a day) didn't help. But as I always say, the pain is fleeting, the pages are forever.

Don't forget! Please order a copy of Zero G. If you really love me, you will grab all four issues and watch it get better and better and better. You can take that to the bank!