The Pet Professional

Way back around 2004, while reading Scott Kurtz's webcomic PVP (pvponline.com), I noticed a blog post asking for artists' to submit their work for a comic that Scott's friend, was trying to get started. I decided to send them some samples even though I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get picked. To my surpise, I got an email from Scott and he told me that his friend, Jason Salsbury, really liked my work and wanted me to be the artist for the comic.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic! I was currently going to school full-time and the only art I had been doing was a bi-weekly comic for the college paper. I wanted to get my work out there and this was just the opportunity I was looking for (especially since Scott was helping to spread the word about it).

So eventually I got a call from Jason and he told me what the comic was about (up to this point I had completely forgot to ask what it was i'd be drawing). It turned out that it was a comic called Pet Professional about a hitman who only takes contracts on pets. Upon hearing that, I definitely had my reservations since I wasn't sure if a comic about killing animals was how I wanted to get my name out there.

However, after talking to Jason a bit more, it became apparent that it was going to be very light-hearted and wasn't meant to offend pet lovers (well, for the most part;). Besides, the pets who were getting knocked off always had it coming. Like the mobster's bully-of-a-bulldog who had early assaulted a young boy's poor defenseless dachshund.

See? They had it coming.

Anyway, to get to the point. My time with Pet Professional may have been brief (I was only with the comic for a little over a year when I decided to move on) but it made me realize how much potential there was in putting my work out there on the internet for everyone to see. The fans (yes there WERE fans) showed me the joy of sharing my work with more than just friends and family.

So for today's illustration, here is the Pet Professional. I've also included a few of my favorite panels from the series in terms of art quality. Thanks for the good times, Jason!

Doctor Who

After talking with my buddy Chris (thebeastisback.com), I decided to try my hand at Doctor Who.

Now I have to be honest, when it comes to Doctor Who, I know next to nothing about it. I know the basics, like the police box (Tardis?), the time traveling and the weird robots. The only other thing I knew was that I preferred the crazy-looking Doctor with the multi-colored scarf and silly hair (who after research I found out was the 4th and longest running Doctor of the series). But that's about it.

So that's who I decided to draw.

I've never really been able to get into Doctor Who (despite the urgings of my older sister) but after reading about it, especially the older series, I might have to give it another shot.

Robocop

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me!"

Right when i was ready to post this yesterday, the internet went down and only just came back on. So here is Day 7.

Omni-Man

For today's illustration I went with Omni-Man from the Invincible comic by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. It's hands down the best comic out there and I have a blast reading each issue (or trade in my case since there are no comic book shops around here). If you haven't read it, I definitely recommend you pick it up!

Back on Monday

For this month's project i'm going to be taking the weekends off, so look for a new illustration on monday!

The Amazing Spider-Man (TV series)

When I was a kid, I remember flipping through the channels and stumbling across the live-action Spider-Man series. Although it wasn't on much (it was just the occasional rerun since it was the 80's) it had a huge impact on me (along with the Hulk tv show). Seeing a real live Spider-Man in action was just amazing. So amazing in fact, that I begged my mom to make me a Spidey costume (which she did!). 

So here's my tribute to that slighty weird, not-quite-right, but-no-less-cooler, version of Spider-Man's costume.

Sergeant Murphy and the Case of the Stolen Motorcycle

Today's illustration is based on my favorite character from Richard Scarry's Busytown, Sergeant Murphy. As a kid I had this awesome little toy figure of Sgt. Murphy (which unbeknownst to me at the time came from a set called Puzzle Town). He came with a cool red motorcyle that had a sidecar attached to it where his wife could sit.

If only they still made toys as cool as they used too...