Look Here: One more “Toodles” strip, with art by Rod Ruth

13 September 201027 May 2019 RCLeave a comment

The following “Toodles” daily, with art by Rod Ruth, is from 2-19-58:

I recently purchased the strip to go with the daily from 2-20-58, which my wife and I already own. I posted a scan of 2-20-58 previously, but here it is again:

In part because they come one after the other in the ’58 continuity, and in part because of good fortune and careful selection on my part, the two strips read very nicely as a self-contained vignette and will look great matted together in a single frame!

To view all four of the “Toodles” strips in our art collection, and learn a little bit about Rod Ruth, click here.

Commonplace Book · Drawing

John K. on making superficial copies vs. looking for knowledge and understanding

13 September 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

“I find that it’s not enough to just draw and copy things. I have to try to understand the why of what things look like. Otherwise I am just making superficial copies of a specific pose without being able to draw other poses later.

“So when I am copying, I look for knowledge and understanding. Not just the specific shapes I am copying, but the general forms and relationships causing the specific shapes. I try to find things that make some sense and then write them down in the hopes I remember them and can put them to use later.”

— John K., “Stiff Warm Ups and Studies,” blog entry, posted 25 August 2010, accessed 13 September 2010.

Ebay Win · Francis Bacon · Samm Schwartz

Ebay Wins: Schwartz, Marek, Bacon

13 September 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

The following ebay wins are so recent, I haven’t even received the items yet:

As I intend to explain in slightly more detail in a later post, it’s not the oddly composed cover of Archie’s Pal Jughead #103 that caused me to buy it — nose meet pocket; pocket, nose — but the interior art. Can you guess why?

Fine Art · Heads Up! · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Landscape Paintings (Jones)

Heads Up: “The Great Cloud” by Jeffrey Jones

10 September 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

New from Todd Adams and Glimmer Graphics: a beautiful signed-and-numbered Giclée print of a shimmering seascape by Jeffrey Jones entitled The Great Cloud. The print is strictly limited to 75 copies and is available now!

Heads Up! · Michael Wm. Kaluta

Heads Up: STARSTRUCK DELUXE EDITION by Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta

10 September 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Here’s the classic opening page of Elaine Lee and Michael Wm. Kaluta’s comics magnum opus, recently remastered and reprinted in 13 installments by IDW and soon to be available in a single deluxe hardcover volume:

Here’s the info currently available at Amazon.ca:

Starstruck Deluxe Edition [Hardcover]

Elaine Lee (Author), Michael Wm. Kaluta (Artist)

Product Details

* Hardcover: 360 pages
* Publisher: IDW Publishing (Feb 23 2011)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1600108725
* ISBN-13: 978-1600108723

Product Description

Collecting all 13 issues of the completely remastered Starstruck series by Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta. 280 pages of Starstruck and Galactic Girl Guides adventures, covers, pin-ups, glossary, postcards, and so much more! The first truly comprehensive collection of this material and grand, over-sized edition. This beautiful book features some of the finest art ever by put to paper by Kaluta, including many pages that were never printed in the original run. Additionally, Kaluta painstakingly added approximately 20% of art to NEARLY EVERY PAGE to ensure the aspect ratio of the comic would be consistent and correct. The end result is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, a head-spinning, synapse-snapping, soul-searing ride to a world like no other… the world of Starstruck.

I’ve purchased every version of Starstruck (magazine serialization, graphic novel, comics, etc.) except the latest mini-series from IDW, and I only skipped that because I felt certain a collection would follow close on the heels of the 13th floppy. (In the old days, a collection was the exception; these days, it’s the rule.) So now it’s time for me to lay my money down: I pre-ordered today!

Also available soon: Starstruck on Compact Disc

On 15 September 2010, the AudioComics Webstore will open to take pre-orders for their debut audio production of Starstruck, written by Elaine Lee with Susan Norfleet and Dale Place, featuring characters from the comic by Lee and Kaluta.

The basis for the critically acclaimed comic book series, Starstruck was first presented off-off-Broadway in 1980, and again off-Broadway in 1983. In a far-flung and very alternative future, Captain Galatia 9 and the crew of the Harpy and on a mission for the United Federation of Female Freedom Fighters. When the Harpy runs into a living ship inhabited by a team of galactic evildoers, including Galatia’s insidious sister Verloona Ti, the outcome of the battle may well decide the fate of the free universe. The AudioComics Company is proud to present the audio adaptation of the play script as its inaugural production! Often hilarious, always surprising, Starstruck is a spine-tingling joy-ride to the far side of the spiral arm!

The MP3 of the Starstruck radio drama will be available Halloween Day!

Ephemera (Jones) · Here, Read · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones

Here, Read: Jeffrey Jones on the proudest moments of his career

10 September 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

JEFFREY JONES
71 WITTENBERG RD.
BEARSVILLE, NY 12409

Dear Mr. Weaver,

I’m sorry this took so long.

You asked about the proudest moments of my career. I don’t think I sit around and think about the past. There are artists who like to paint and those who like to have painted. I like to paint. I love to paint. The drawing, the way colors leap to life next to each other. I had a teacher once who said “There’s no such thing as an ugly color, it depends on what it’s next to.”

Good luck.

Sincerely,
Jeff Jones

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Connections · Frank Frazetta · Illustration Art · Look Here

Connections: Frank Frazetta vs. Brent Anderson

8 September 201011 August 2016 RC2 Comments

The lesson here is: don’t swipe holus-bolus from a masterwork of illustration art unless you’re certain you have the chops to transform what you’ve swiped into a new image that doesn’t make viewers shake their heads in dismay not only at your lack of originality but also at your shaky grasp of the basic skills of a professional artist:

frazetta_tarzan-and-the-castaways_ny-canaveral-press 1965 — **ABOVE:** Frank Frazetta, cover and interior illustration, *Tarzan and the Castaways* (New York: Canaveral, 1965) by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

brent-anderson_cover_ka-zar-the-savage-n13-apr1982 — **ABOVE:** Brent Anderson, cover illustration, *Ka-Zar the Savage* #13 (April 1982).

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · Look Here · Paul Lehr

Look Here: Four more SF covers with art by Paul Lehr

3 September 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

A nice variety of covers by Lehr this time around. I especially dig Lehr’s 1967 cover for Margaret St. Clair’s The Dolphins of Altair, even if the exact location of the dorsal fin on the central dolphin (who, to Lehr’s credit, really looks like he is carrying a weight on his back) is slightly mysterious. I don’t know about you, but I’m happy to chalk this one up to artistic license… the fin is entirely hidden by the woman’s body and that’s all there is to it…

paul-lehr_the-dolphins-of-altair_ny-dell-1967 — **ABOVE:** Margaret St. Clair, *The Dolphins of Altair* (New York: Dell, 1967), with cover art by Paul Lehr.

paul-lehr_the-legion-of-space_ny-pyramid-1969 — **ABOVE:** Jack Williamson, *The Legion of Space* (New York: Pyramid, 1969), with cover art by Paul Lehr.

paul-lehr_the-stars-like-dust_greenwich-conn-fawcett-1972 — **ABOVE:** Isaac Asimov, *The Stars Like Dust* (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1972), with cover art by Paul Lehr.

Click here to view all of the covers with art by Paul Lehr that I’ve posted so far.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Book/Magazine Covers (Jones) · Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here

Look Here: Four more paperbacks, all with cover art by Jeffrey Jones

26 August 201011 August 2016 RC3 Comments

Here’s some more early work by Jeffrey Jones, scanned from my personal library, and I have a strong suspicion, dear reader, that at least one of these covers will be new to you: