Back From The Dead!

Hey people! I'm back from the dead and ready for a new year. This year has been particularly rough for me but, I'm back on the horse and drawing again. Here's a couple new images of Air-Heart for your enjoyment. More to come soon.

D

Fall

I love fall. I'm not really sure what it is. The bold colors don't hurt, but there's something else to it. I guess maybe its an atmosphere or something, there's just a certain feel that I think is really curious about fall. In that spirit I decided to create a piece symbolizing the things that I like about fall. The piece to the left is what came out of that idea. Its the first finished thing that I've done in a while now. I've been floating a lot as I'm looking for work trying to hone in on exactly what it is that I'd like to do. Nothing has come up yet, but one can hope.

Varlos

Here's my latest piece. There's no real backstory behind this one, just wanted to put something together that I could color and work on lighting and so on. I hope that you enjoy him. I've been thinking a lot recently about what do to with my artwork and I haven't come up with many answers yet! So for right now I'm just going to be working on some lillustrations as I try and figure out what I can do. But for now, you can enjoy Varlos here!

Diaz Comics #1 on sale!

Hey folks, sorry for the late post. I wanted to finish up the issue before I posted anything new on here. So its all done and ready for you to order! To order you can visit the Diaz Comics Blog or you can go directly to LULU. Either way check it out! Meanwhile now that I've completed this first issue, its time to figure out what's next! I have some ideas that may be different than just doing an issue two...

Diaz Comics update!

Hey peeps. Sorry I didn't post sooner. I've been hard at work on Air-Heart. I'm on page four, leaving me only six more to complete until I finish the whole first issue of Diaz Comics!
I'm really excited about being so close to finishing my first full project. Its going to wind up being around 30pgs with the gack (ads, forward, etc.) Of course after I get it completed I can't release it for just a short while yet because I need to get some financial, and marketing aspects tied down first. But I can guarantee that it will be available by Sept. if not a whole lot sooner. I've included a sample page from both stories; Divemaster, and Air-Heart respectively. I hope you enjoy!
One another note, this weekend I'll be traveling to The Bronx to see The Yankees old timer's day game. It should be a real treat! It'll also mark my first game at the new stadium. That'll be weird! There should be plenty of fun pics to share when I return. Until then!

~D

Dive-Master! (for real this time)

Here he is in all of his glory, Dive-Master. I've just completed the artwork on his first ten page story. I'll begin to letter it this weekend and I expect to have it finished by Monday. My next story will be featuring some old friends, Jet-D and Spi as they go on a brand new adventure. After that one is completed they'll be put together as my first comic! Details will follow next month once the whole thing is put together. I'll be posting a link to buy the comic here on the site. But for now I'll let you all dig on Dive-Master as he chills here on the site. What's the story behind his character? You'll have to wait until the comic is released to find out. That's all for now my friends but be sure to stop by next week to see some sketches for Jet-D and Spi.

~D

Dive-Master

Ok so its been a little bit since my last post. I've been doing a lot of different things and trying to figure out my next move. I've finally settled on taking some time out to do a short story (10 pages). The character in question is one of my oldest characters, Dive-Master. I'm planning on doing a bit more experimental things all around starting with this story. I'm working on my inking again as well as looking for new ways to approach things altogether. Right now I'm planning on doing some more short stories after Dive-Master and continuing to experiment with things on each subsequent short. After I get a few done I'll probably compile them together into a book of some sort. So stay tuned and we'll see where it all winds up!

P.S. The image is NOT Dive-Master but just something I did for fun the other day.

Hard Hit poster

Well hello once again. Not sure if anyone is reading these days but here I am again anyways. Today's post features a poster that I did up for my boss Bruce. That might sound odd at first but the deal is that he runs a production company called Hard Hit Productions. We do mostly rock shows and the like, hence the rocker chick to your left. I was telling him he ought to have a piece of mine around the shop and this is what came out of it. I hope you enjoy!
In other news I've been working on a lot of different little projects here and there trying to figure out what my next move is. I'm still searching for work and its been very tough to say the least. At this point I'm planning to rethink some of my personal projects and focus in on some smaller scoped stuff for a bit. I'll clarify what that means next time I post. But that's it for now! Keep rockin.

Lenny Milks Out!

Ok so I was in desperate need for a break from Air-Heart. I still love the idea I just burned myself out a little bit on the work. I did several versions of the first page and the prologue this week so I think I just got overwhelmed with it. Anyways here's a Lenny one pager for you. No worries, I'll get back on track with Air-Heart, I just needed a respite.
So Lenny and I are chilling out in our apartment in his fictional hometown of Georgia,China and he's causing trouble as usual. I'm probably going to do one or two more of these for fun in the future. I'm planning on adding some bonus stories to my finished Air-Heart comic and Lenny will probably make the cut. Enough talk. Enjoy!

Sketching Fun and Sketchbooks...

Hey peeps I decided to put together some choice sketches just for fun. I've been working in my sketchbook a lot more. I've really been trying to hard to keep myself working in my sketchbook. I've always been really bad about sticking to one. I've always preferred working on loose paper, but then you can't ever find anything and you have a crap ton of paper everywhere. Plus the whole issue of portability.
One thing I've always thought was odd were people who take a sketchbook every single place they go. Then I woke up. I mean I don't want to be one of those people who goes into the restaurant and movie theater with the thing but in the car, at the beach, stuff like that. I really need to be better about taking it everywhere. It really pays to have a nice small one with you too. You never know when you're gunna see something cool you wish you could draw out. Of course there are cell phone cameras for that issue too but, you know. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I've finally come around to realizing that its always good to have it on hand if you think you'll have any kind of down time at all. I like to keep one in my car too so that if I have a break or something I can always pull it out. Anyways enough babble for now. Enjoy the sketch page.

Hello all! So I've been home for just over a week now. Its been pretty nice getting back into the swing of things. Its interesting to me how you leave home, and when you come back, its like nothing has changed. Everything is still the same here in Ithaca. Same old same old. But its been nice to have that nostalgia and to step into some old shoes again. I've been working on a lot of pages for various things and having a good time doing it. I hope you enjoyed the Air-Heart prologue. I'm going to begin thumb-nailing the full issue pretty soon. When I have a good amount of the pages done you can be sure I'll post some up on the site. Well that's really all there is for right now folks. I'll post more later.

Air-Heart Prologue

Ok so like I started to discuss in my last post I've reformatted the Air-Heart concept to be an episodic series. Each issue is going to feature a one page prologue to ensure absolute readability regardless if you start with issue one or one hundred. To that end, here it is. Let me know what you think! I'm pretty happy with it overall. I have my nitpicks but who wants to hear those!?
In other news there's been some really interesting conversation going on on Tom Lyle's blog about different approaches to sequential work. You should definitely check it out by following the link to the lower right of this page. Its always beneficial as an artist to read about, and consider different approaches. It always amazes me that there are people out there who seem to be too proud to have open minds. What a bummer! Nobody ever learned from thinking they already know it all. If you're trying to learn about something you really have to learn not to be defensive if you want to get ahead. But that's enough of my rant. Enjoy the prologue page. More later!

Air-Heart Update

Hello All!
So it been a while since I posted a finished drawing up for you, let alone pencils! I haven't done pencils in a while. But anyways here it is. This piece is actually a panel taken from a page I'm working on which will find its way onto the site soon I'm sure.

In this image you may notice that I've cut way back on some of the harsh angles I was using a while back. This is something that was suggested to me by an editor. I've been playing around with it and I really like the look it gives my stuff. There's an extra vitality to it that I think it was missing when I was using the harsher angles. Also you'll notice that both Joey and Amelia have been slightly redesigned for this new format of Air-Heart. I'm going to be concentrating on doing single issues that begin and end independently. I really love the idea of comics becoming episodic again. I think that's something that really hurts the industry. Continuity is a blessing and a curse. It keeps fans coming back for more and allows for deeper character development all while alienating any newcomers who don't know the backstory. Oh well! The good news is this won't be the case with Air-Heart. Each issue will feature a prologue that gets you into the idea, followed by an episodic story that begins and ends. The idea being that you can pick issue one or issue seventy and still know exactly what's going on. Well anyways I'm going to be getting down to serious work on issue one really soon. I'll post again soon!

Return to I-Town

Well I've done it! I've returned back to I- Town once more. I'll be spending the next week getting settled in and hopefully meeting up with some old friends along the way. New sketches will be coming your way just as soon as I get my workstation up and running again.

Maryland Adventures!

Well, I'm up early today and I'm going to be headed to Maryland! My Mother recently finished up her MBA (Go Mom!) and now she's going to be walking the stage for graduation. It'll be a really nice chance to hang out with her after not seeing her for quite a while.
I can't really tell you why yet but, I've been taking a little break from Air-Heart for right now. What I can tell you is that when I get back to Air-Heart things are going to be a little different than they were. I've been working on modifying my style recently as a result of a conversation with an editor. I'm really loving the new vitality its giving my stuff. I'm sure you all will enjoy it as well! Additionally, the format of the book is going to be a little different as well. I'm planning on releasing them as single issues that are very episodic, beginning and ending withing each 32pg book. I'm hoping this will really make them fun and easy to pick up in any order you choose. Well, that's enough yackiddy for right now. I'll post again when I can!

I'm 23 today!

Hey people's! Sorry about the wait for the latest entry. I had to get everything finished off for Editor's day and then of course actually go to it. It went really well. That's about all I can tell you for right now. I'm not at home at the moment so I can't post any sketches yet, but I will when I get back to Savannah! Be good! Oh it also happens to be my 23rd B-day.

Air-Heart Cover, and Angel Blue

Hello once again everyone. I have a couple of really cool ones for you today. First off I have the cover to my Air-Heart comic, or at least what the cover is for now. As I go on I may decide to take a different approach to it... But for now its my working cover. I'm on pg.16 at the moment so things are moving well with that.
The second piece is called Angel Blue, not sure what prompted me to do it but it just sort of happened. I was sketching and wanted to take another shot at coloring something. I was really happy with how the Air-Hear cover came out so I wanted to see if I could do something else that solid.
Right now I'm gearing up for editor's day really soon and I'm hoping to find some really solid leads there. I'll be sure to let you know how it all turns out!

Starfire and Air-Heart Status...

Hey everyone. This is the fastest I've posted in a little while now. I made a little starfire sketch this afternoon to share with you all. For fun I did her grey tones with just a pencil rather than digitally. As far as Air-Heart is concerned I just finished page twelve and I'm probably going to start thirteen tonight as well. I'm still moving really fast with everything so it still seems like I have a really good shot at finishing it over the summer. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. In the meantime, enjoy star and I'lll post soon.

D

From Savannah To New York

Hello everyone!
Its been quite a while since I've posted. I apologize for that. I've been working a lot on various projects as well as just plain old work. The most current thing I'm working on is my own graphic novel. The Title is Air-Heart and features a pilot named Amelia who works for and Organization called the 99's seeking out new Skylands and helping those in need. The thing is set in an alternate dimension with anamorphic people as well as floating sky islands. I've produced 8 pages in total and I'm hard at work on some more. At this point I'm guessing it'll be somewhere around 100 pages or so and probably be done by the end of the summer. I'll be posting a lot about Air-Heart in my next entries. Also to take a quick stab at the title of this entry, I'm moving back up to New York state for a while. I'll be living at home while I work on my comic. I'll post a preview of Air-heart soon but in the meantime I'll share with you a spidey piece I did recently that I think turned out kind of cool.

D

My Portfolio

ATL Convention

Okay peoples, I know you've been waiting a long time to hear how the con went. I guess I didn't get off my butt to post about it because as it turned out there were no editors there. Don't get me wrong I still had an awesome time and bought some really cool stuff but I wasn't able to network much. There were some fellow beginner artists there who I talked to. That was actually pretty cool. Its always nice to share stories about how tough it is to get your stuff going. The con was also just a ton smaller than I thought. But the bottom line is it was still really cool to go and it was a lesson. From now on I'll only be heading out to con's that are big and feature a bunch of names that I actually know. That leads me to the next con I'm headed to - Megacon in Orlando. I'm working on some more pieces to take down with me and hoping I can get the time off from work. There are going to be some really cool people there. It will be really neat to go to a bigger con. Not to make you think I didn't have a good time, I have to tell you there was a ton of cool stuff to look at there. It would have been so easy to blow like five million dollars in there. I got a bunch of cool comics for art reference. I even got myself some vintage Tom Lyle for those of you that know who I mean. Well that's pretty much the story of it. But don't worry I'll be reporting on Megacon after I go! So stay tuned and there will certainly be a lot more to hear about. It the meantime its back to working on pages and getting new stuff ready for the con. I've been working on new pages and even new business cards and everything in between. That's all for now folks. I'll be posting some new stuff soon. Keep it real! Oh by the way, I've been planning on putting together all of these small stories into a book which I'll be selling. More on that later...

~D

My ATL Portfolio

Well here they are folks the final pieces going up to the convention. There are a few more pages in my portfolio. The actual count is twelve but these are the best so I decided to show them to you. The first four pages are a story about Killer Queen. She's dynamite with a laser beam for those of you who don't know. I hope you enjoy. Next post: The inside scoop on the convention!

Coming Soon - My ATL portfolio!

Hey there folks. Its been a little bit. Sorry about that. I've come to realizatioon that its just better to post when I actually have some stuff to show for it rather than posting every day with just a tiny tidbit. So in light of that fact my next post will feature my entire ATL convention portfolio. I'll be pposting up everything that I'm taking with me. I'm really hoping that its a positive trip. I'm actually not even sure yet wheather or not there are going to be editors there but I'm hoping! Either way I'lll be able to mingle with artists and fans and hopeful get some people interested in me and my work. Of course I will be pposting a follow up post so that you can see pics of me at the cona dn I can tell you about the experience as a whole. Stay tuned! ~D

Powerella gets shelfed, and the Atlanta Comic Con

Hello once again everyone! To make it short, for various reasons, Powerella is on indefinite hold. At some point in the future she will certainly be back. At this moment I just can't quite create a finished book of the level I really want to. That said, someday I will. She won't go away! In the meantime I have moved on, back to pencils, getting ready for The Atlanta Comic Con in Feb. I'm planning on taking a portfolio of about 8 images up to the convention. The 8 will consist of two three page long shorts as well as two poster/pin up images. This superman piece is one of the covers. From left to right it features, the sketch, the tight rough, and the final pencils. I'm actually really glad I tried this out because I noticed in doing so that I actually like the line weight better on the tight rough than the final! Guess I need to beef it up. That's all for now, just wanted to let you all know the news. More soon.
~D

Powerella Begins!

Hello to all. By now some of you may know that I'm working on my very own graphic novel. I've just finished the first page. As of right now the book is going to be in grayscale because of the cost of production for the color book is way too expensive. But that might change if I can get a publisher interested in the book. In the meantime you should all be aware that the Powerella Blog is now open for business! I'll be providing updates and information specific to Powerella on that page. This page will continue to feature my other work, sketches, etc. So don't worry it won't just be all Powerella all the time, at least not on this page. So what are you doing!? Go to the Powerella page right now and check out some sketches and stuff! Be sure to leave me your comments about the project as info comes out! So how do you get to the Powerella Blog? Click on her logo in the top right hand corner of this page or click here.

~D