Warm up Wonder Woman

After a week of painful drawing, I've taken a page from the book of Tim Hamilton and started drawing a "warm-up" picture every day before I start my actual work. Today I drew this picture of DC Comics icon Wonder Woman, a design I've been tinkering with for a few days now. I was so happy with the way it turned out I thought I'd share. I'm also kind of miffed that I didn't leave room for her left foot on the page-- as it was just a warm up, I had no idea it would turn out so nice, and as a result was not very careful with its placement on the page. Oh well.

By the way, Wonder Woman is trademark and copyright her specific owners. Thank you.

Classics and Comics Final Cover Artwork

Remember last week when I wrote about the cover I'm doing for an upcoming book from Oxford University Press called Classic and Comics. The idea was that I drew several pastiches of famous superhero covers with the superheroes replaced by Olympian deities. I showed several such sketches, as well as their inspirations, but we finally went with Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. Here's the final piece below, but click on over to my Olympiansrule blog for a step by step of its creation.

I'm teaching comics at the Y!

That's right! Want to learn cartooning and comics from your truly? Starting September 7th, I will be teaching two classes at the Park Slope Armory YMCA (which has to be seen to be believed-- it's awesome sauce), cartooning ( for little kids) and Making a Graphic Novel (for tweens and teens). If you're older and want to take a class, let them know-- we'll add an adult cartooning class if there's demand. Check out here for more info, and how to sign up. Each session will run for eight weeks, and classes will be held on Tuesdays. I hope to see you there!

Classics and Comics cover tryout

A few months back I was approached by the editors of a new book coming out from Oxford University Press called Classics and Comics about doing the cover. Classics and Comics will be an exploration of the influences, both subtle and less subtle, that classical literature and myth have had on comics, something that is pretty much the whole point of a series like Olympians.

We talked about a few cover design ideas, and one of the ideas I came up with was this piece, which references the myth of Athena being born from the head of Zeus (not to mention my self-portrait from the back inside cover of each volume of Olympians)



Ultimately, we went with another idea, of paying homage to some classic comic book cover designs, but replacing the modern superheroes with their Olympian forebears. Please click here to see a gallery of super-hero cover designs on my Olympiansrule blog.

New page from Hades: Charon's Approach

For your viewing pleasure, a finished (well, black and white, not colored) page from Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. The book opens with a tour of the Grecian afterlife,and here comes ferryman Charon to take you across the Styx. Hope you have a coin for him.

Comics Carousel at the NYPL! September 1st!

Come see me and a host of other talented cartoonists (Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, Aaron Renier, Susan Kim, and Laurence Klavan) as we perform dramatic, multi-media readings of our work at the Chatham Square Library. Cartoonist Bob Sikoryak's ongoing Carousel Slideshows have been entertaining the cool kids for years, and now you get to see it for free! Come on down, the fun begins at 4pm-- you won't be disappointed.

Persephone pin up!

Isn't she lovely? A round of applause for the Dread Queen of the Underworld, everybody! This is the first piece of finished artwork I completed especially for Olympians Book 4, Hades: The Wealthy One. More to come soon.