Above is a sneak peak for a new comic strip that I'm developing titled "The Swamp." This is just the first character design, although to me it feels like our Radical faerie Church despot Walla Marts in an ugly green frog skin.
NOMEANSYES ART PIT
Above is a design I recently created for "Let's Kick A.S.S" Portland.
Below2 is page# 9 of " Nomeansyes Members Meeting Badly " newly colored. Above is the "Faggot Blood" strip which I watercolored up for a bit of fun.
Above is the rough sketch for page # 9 of "NOMEANSYES Members Meeting Badly, heralding the introduction of Cernunnos. This will be a full page illustration, so I'm having a spot of fun with it. I usually begin a picture first with a quick, rough idea sketch where I work out the action and composition in classic comic book fashion. I've been inspired again lately by the artist Jack Kirby, who's lay-out sensibilities influenced greatly a recent strip where Walla is gleefully smashing a penis altar in her dreams. Other big personal artistic influences for how I first sketch out a drawing are P Craig Russell, and Harvey Kurtzman.
Above is an early concept portrait for Gaynesha from out of my sketchbook.
Above are two more sketchbook drawings. The top dancing fools are Dr. Cartoonist and Santa Muerte, for a possible T-shirt design. The bottom Santa Muerte sketch is for the opening panel of page # 10 of the "NOMEANSYES Members Meeting Badly" epic Radical Faerie soap opera. Walla's prayers get answered when She prays for "Hungry Ghosts."
Above is a sneak peak of a sister comix strip that I have in the works, featuring Sqweegle Wink Dinkie, pixie esquire, and his loyal fruit bat steed Myrtle..
Above is a promotional card promoting the Church of NOMEANSYES, to be handed out at the most usual and unexpected places, printed on shocking fuchsia.
Here's our first NOMEANSYES t-shirt design, featuring Walla Marts the Radical Faerie Gate-keeper and Nuttyryan elder aspirant. Watch the Radical Faerie Church Store section here for ordering details.
Here is the rough draft of the first NOMEANSYES comic strip. Usually when I work on a strip rough I just block out the action, then write the final dialogue to fit the space. Since this was the first strip, the rough is more finished than what I usually work from. I don't like the look of traced pencils, and don't draw tight pencils first to ink from. I want the artwork lines to move and not just sit on the page. This also was the first drawing of the controversial character that later was named Walla Marts.
ARTIST PRODUCTION NOTES; [5-12] Here's the artwork for a faerie gathering. My friend who is writing the call asked me to draw something about Gay assimilation, so here it is. Since I've started NOMEANSYES, I've also been getting other commissions and projects, and it has been a grand juggle to keep it all moving. I've been coming out of a long artistic dry period, and I'm enjoying fitting active artworks back into my life. The challenge has been keeping to a schedule, which I hope to do here. My goal is to post 3-4 new strips a month, which will be collected into book form. Drawing "The Most Radical Homosexual Comic Strip In The Universe" is both a return to my cartoon roots and a brave new world for me. Getting the tongue in cheek satirical humor to work is more important to me at this time than keeping to a schedule. I just can't post something that does not feel right or finished. NOMEANSYES still feels for me to be in test mode. I want to get at least a good dozen more strips in the hopper before I start doing the big push to get NOMEANSYES out to the general population of comix enthusiasts. So far I've only shared these strips with a few friends and small test-groups, to both cheers and irate pants-wettings. I do plan on working with other writers for new material. My friend and longtime Gay and human rights activist Jerry the Faerie has written one new strip to be a follow-up to the "I'm not Gay, Really!" strip I thank my friends who get the joke, and hope that you enjoy the Most Radical Homosexual Comic Strip In The Universe.
Here's the rough draft for strip # 5, in contrast to the rough draft that I posted earlier of strip # 1. This strip for me was a bear of a piece to draw, even more loopy trying to get the metre down for the rhyming to work. I'm mixing several diverse styles to create a parable, almost composing it like a ballad. In metaphore, I wanted this to have good bones.