Big City Dare to Draw!

The Big City Dare to Draw is a periodic gathering in Manhattan where like-minded artists, from pro to novice and all points in-between, meet to network, draw and have a drink or two. There is a suggested donation that goes to help fund struggling artists, and a couple of pros will hold some short demos where they share some tips or ideas.

The next meetup is on Wednesday, September 21st, from 6-9 PM, at Jack Demsey’s Pub (36 W 33rd St, New York, NY-- right across from the Empire State Building!). The guest pros in question will be myself and my studiomate Reilly Brown-- I hope to see you there!

For your perusal, here are some sketches made by yours truly at a previous Dare to Draw, with some sweet Copic markers I borrowed from Simon Fraser:

See you in Baltimore!

If you find yourself in Maryland this weekend, I'll be at the Baltimore Comic Con signing copies of my books, drawing pretty pictures and just generally having a good time. I'll be at booth # 1707, as a guest of the immensely talented Dean Haspiel. There will be a whole posse of us Brooklynites down there at the same table-- also signing will be Michel Fiffe, Kat Roberts, Natalie Kim, and that Chris Miskiewicz fellow that all the kids are talking about. Also, my studiomate Rip-Roarin' Reilly Brown is going to be around somewhere as well, hopefully at our table. It's basically going to be the best thing since sliced bread-- you can even read a press release about it here.

Hope to see you there!

Warm up: Alpha Flight

Studiomate and fellow Drawbridger Reilly Brown had a hand last week (alongside writer Jim McCann) in resurrecting the cult-favorite Canadian Marvel superteam Alpha Flight last week, so today we're all honoring this feat by drawing, you guessed it, Alpha Flight. Each member of Alpha Flight has died, oh, about 7 million times before, but I have a feeling this time their return will stick.

I drew Puck, one of the only members of Alpha Flight not to return from the dead in Reilly's one-shot. Ah, Puck... As a Canadian superteam, almost all of the members of Alpha Flight embodied some stereotypical concept of Canada. It was lead by Guardian, a guy in a Maple leaf suit, there was an Eskimo goddess, a Native American Medicine man, a Sasquatch, and so on. And then there was Puck. A dwarf who dressed up as a hockey puck. Because Canadians love hockey.

Oh, Puck. I have a theory that Alpha Flight creator John Byrne had wanted to use Canadian superhero Wolverine in his Alpha Flight book and was denied by Marvels' editors, so he went and created a character who was even shorter, hairier, uglier and Canadianer than Wolverine to take his place. Slap a big "P" on his torso and it's done!

Do yourself a favor and check out Reilly's Alpha Flight one-shot. It's very good, and for better or worse, is 100% Puck free.

You're on a cruise ship that sinks equidistantly between two identical islands...

...the only food source on one island is human flesh, cooked gourmet style by people you never see, and on the other island you are forced to forage completely for yourself, in competition with a tribe of wild shirtless Dean Haspiels... which do you swim to?



After pushing my studiomate Joe Infurnari to the brink of sanity and beyond with an endless assortment of questions posed by yours truly, just like the one above-- QUESTIONS IN WHICH THERE CAN BE NO SAFE ANSWER, FOR PITY'S SAKE-- we, the good folks at XOXOs (Hugs & Kisses) studios have decided upon a new studio name. We've just come through a tumultuous period which saw the departure of a few comrades and the addition of Mr. Reilly Brown (Cable & Deadpool, The Incredible Hercules, Prince of Power) and as such we have all decided to mark this fresh start with our new name and logo : Hypothetical Island Studios.

Hypothetical Island Studios IS:

The Unsinkable Reilly Brown
The Quixotic Kat Roberts
The Precious Jason Little
The Alleged Becky Cloonan
The Aforementioned Joe Infurnari
and me, Gorgeous George O'Connor

So please join us in a hearty three cheers for Hypothetical Island Studios!