ALIEN RAVER - PART SIX

In this last (but not final) installment, our lonely protagonist reveals a darker side of himself. He lets nothing stand in his way, not even a cute little turliphant. Determined to find the woman that haunts his memory, he struggles ever forward… but what lies in wait for him across the sand dune? And where are all those turliphants coming from? Find out when Alien Raver returns in mid-April with new installments!

In the meanwhile, I'll be posting sketches randomly that will feature new and old characters (such as in this previous post) appearing in the next installment or perhaps in a much more distant chapter?!… So stay tuned and thanks for reading!

As always, read from the beginning over at www.alienraver.com

ALIEN RAVER - PART THREE

Keep up with the perplexing world of Alien Raver by reading from the beginning here. Next week, will he catch up to the mysterious maiden before she fades back into his memory? Stay tuned!

New ALIEN RAVER every Tuesday!

ALIEN RAVER - PART ONE

Behold Alien Raver! New installments every Tuesday, only on my blog.

Water in the Desert

Moebius' 40 Days Dan Le Désert (40 Days In The Desert for the non-French) has been a tremendous inspiraton to me while working on my comic Alien Raver, as well as my work in general. I became aware of Moebius (real name Jean Giraud) when my cousin got me his compilation book Fusion back in high school. Most of his comics are within the realm of fantastical and delirious science fiction, with a graphic style ranging from extreme realism to a more dream-like nature. Désert is a series of drawings that focuses on a priest/archer figure residing in the desert who witnesses magical occurrences while approached by other desert dwellers whose cities seemingly rise and fall around him (in a nutshell).

In Désert he draws all 70 pages in ink (either with a micron or dip pen, not entirely sure) and supposedly without preparatory pencil drawings. His line work is so clean (very steady hands) and the amount of detail really gives each drawing an amazing sense of depth. The characters that populate his world are distinctive and go about their daily routines even while observed; yet they live under a deep shroud of mystery.

Flying Monkeys, Everywhere I Turn

I’ve been working on a Wizard of OZ illustration series based on the original book version for the longest now. Ever since I started on this project, I can't help but notice a bunch of Wizard of OZ comics that have/are coming out. It's quite a coincidence. Not that no one has ever thought of the subject, but it's just funny that it's come to my attention since I decided to illustrate scenes from the classic book.

Today at Midtown Comics, as I finished purchasing some Marvel titles, I noticed they had a free WOZ sketchbook promoting an upcoming comic mini-series by Skottie Young and Eric Shanower. Although I try not to look at other WOZ-related comics for fear that those ideas leak into my own work, I gave it the ol' look-a-roo and found the style treatment to my liking; A fun revisioning of the characters, very loose yet expressive brushwork and a rich, earthy color palette (from what I saw in the preview pages). I look forward to following this title when it goes on sale in December. You can find more info on it here.


The cover for the 3rd issue reminds me of my Poppy Field sketch.

Alien Raver Preview

More to come in December.

Artist Spotlight: Ariel Olivetti

As usual, I've decided to spotlight in a genre of art that I understand best: Comic Books. My next artist feature is on Ariel Olivetti. Olivetti is an Argentine artist and penciller best known for his work on American comic book titles such as Daredevil, X-Man, Space Ghost and Punisher War Journal.

Olivetti studied Graphic Design in college and first had his work published in the Argentine magazine Fierro. He created El Cazador de Aventuras, a popular adult comic in 1992.

His first American work was 1995's The Last Avengers Story, which was written by Peter David and published by Marvel Comics. He went on to have a brief stint as regular penciller on Marvel's Daredevil between 1997 and 1998, where he worked with writer Joe Kelly. His next major work was in 1998 when he worked with writer Steven Grant on the Warren Ellis devised "Counter X" revamp of Marvel's X-Man title. In 2005 he again collaborated with Joe Kelly on DC Comics Space Ghost limited series which revealed the character's origins for the first time.

Other titles he has worked on include Mystique and Sabretooth (1996), Alpha Flight (1997) and What If? (1997) at Marvel and JLA: Paradise Lost (1998), Haven: The Broken City (2002), Green Lantern (2003) and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (2006) at DC.

In 2006 he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics and launched the second volume of Punisher War Journal with writer Matt Fraction.

Ariel is scheduled to illustrate a new Cable ongoing series that debuts in March 2008.

Vamped

A quick digi of Buffy's main charachter. I might do a series of them if time permits.

Riconcito.

I don't have much art work of my own which hasn't been posted elsewhere, but I do have some layouts I just pitched with a friend to this comic anthology put out by Image called "PopGun (vol.2)". Our pitch was approved so hopfully someday in the future the finished product will appear in there...which I haven't started drawing yet.

These are only 2 out of the 4 pages.I know they're impossible to read but just thought I'd share them anyway. Oh! And the story is called Riconcito and is written by Michelle Fiffe.

Speaking of Michelle Fiffe, check out his work, it's bloody excellent: PANORAMA