OK, y’all

A Finit-e update…

As a result of adjusting my commissions schedule to allow for weekends free to work on the comic, I have made more progress this year, 2 months in, then all of last year combined. It’s awesome.

Finit-e chapter one is nearly finished in terms of color (1.5 pages left, for inked work ready to be rendered) and in proofs, awaiting a QA review for continuity. I did notice the need to add one more page, so I have to get that whipped up and rendered, and then this first installment will be done.

It’s incredibly difficult to work on this every weekend, for 8-12 hour blocks, and then not be able to show anyone the fruits of my labors. Well, except my wifebot(tm) who is getting excited, now that they actually look like… comic pages. But on top of that, unlike many serial-based stories, this isn’t being made up as I go… the entire first volume is written out, planned fairly carefully, all pages thumbnailed. I have a Finit-e ‘bible’ that helps me keep track of the characters, the details, the easter eggs, etc. And it’s a lot of work. And so the rub is, I can’t talk about the story, either, because it’s intended to be a bit confusing, a mystery of sorts, as you are peeking in on the internal crisis of people not in the public eye. So every night that I work on finessing story details… which I usually do before going to sleep… I can’t actually vent about the process, either. BUT, what I can say is this: I’m having such a good time doing it. It is my hope that my expected 7 readers will enjoy reading it, as well!

Now, I have some questions for you, my loyal … Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. TRDL v2.0 and the Finit-e Graphic Serial are Live!
2. Finit-e Chapter 4 is Almost Here
3. Finit-e Graphic Serial: Scene 03 Now Available!

This pic was done for the This Week Jam…

The character selected at random this time around was Cheetara, from the 80’s cartoon Thundercats!

I loved that show. I mean, it wasn’t my FAVORITE, but I did watch it regularly, and I remember digging the designs of the fur on the different characters, how everyone was based on an animal of some sort… very cool stuff. And of course Cheetara was very sexy, regardless of before or after the censors made them add the leotard! Anyway, fun to see all the interpretations of the character in the jam so far, and the week isn’t over yet! My redesign just offers more of a view of her spots along the shoulders and back, and has more of a gymnast look going on… of course, I added some tattoo action as well, so this ain’t your father’s Cheetara!

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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3. TRDL Tribute – Typhoid Mary [TRDL Redesign 2]

From everything I have read on this board, I have descerned that most if not all of the artists here use Bristol type papers. I am finding in my meager experiences that small sized papers are too confining but the space I have to work in is too small to accomidate anything larger than about 9×12. I am curious as to what you prefer to work on.

Here’s the questions:

1. Board or paper?

2. What tooth?

3. Size?

4. Weight?

5. For the digital artists, what paper do you use in your printers?

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Tribute – Jean Grey [Paper Doll]
2. Questions about commissions and the like…

This was a commission done for R3 Forum member Swordfriend. Ash is a character from some his RPG gaming, a Nephrem assassin, on a mission to rid the Earthly plane of supernatural beasties, vampires, demons and the like. His paradox being, much like Hellboy, he is what he hates. A full bio of the character can be found on the TRDL site through the link below.

Hope you like it!

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

Related posts:

1. Should I do more Dystopia Characters?
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Another This Week Jam contribution…

The character for the week was Lady Jaye from G.I. Joe.

Since I had fairly recently done an erotic piece with this character for the 2006 80’s Ladies Calendar, I decided to go a different route this time and draw her in a way I’ve never tried before: in military dress attire. Granted, any of you with actual armed forces experience will probably cock an eyebrow to this uniform, which is based on a general service dress uniform, chosen for the contrast of the white tunic. There’s no attempt here to show what branch of the military Lady Jaye is/was in before joining the Joes… no accuracy attempted… but I had a concept for the piece and ran with it.

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. Third Rail Thrills 45 – Lady Mechanika Pin-Up
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Hey gang…

Do any of you know anything about copyrights as it regards the use of caricatures? I was always under the assumption that caricatures – as long as they were original, created pieces, fell under the “parody, satire or fair use” umbrella.

I ask because I ran into some trouble with my Howard Stern c aricature and my CafePress shop. Seems I didn’t see that point about not being able to use caricatures of celebrities on merchandise.

Is this a media-type thing? Meaning… I remember reading years ago about the whole Warhol / Marilyn Monroe silk-screen. Obviosuly Warhol won the lawsuit because later, he was able to make posters and other stuff of the piece. Anyone familiar with that case?

It’s no big deal. I was just wondering…

-Chris

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. Finit-E World Question: Confrontation Groups
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Over on Artpost, a question was raised: Do you draw comics full-time, and if not, what’s your day job? This got me reflecting on how I ended up doing what I’m doing. I’m an architect who draws comics at night. That’s pretty unusual. And sometimes, when I start calculating the time it takes to do my comic pages on Finit-e, and realize I’ll be lucky to OUTLIVE the project in it’s current projected size… I have to remind myself that I love the process more than the product… because I’m effectively committing my life to it.

So anyway, for the three of you that are curious, here’s the way it went down:

I made the decision early on, maybe Junior High, that I wasn’t going to pursue comics as a profession. I loved drawing comics and characters so dearly, and yet I saw my parents, both struggling graphic designers, cycle through the feast and famine nature of freelance my whole life, and made a note to self: no freelance. Also, I was deathly afraid that the ‘job’ nature of it, the deadlines and editorial and frankly, just the real-world business of product, would suck my enjoyment of the process. As I got older, I confirmed that my personal assessment of this and how it would affect my inspiration was correct. I’ve talked with many, many professionals in both the comics and game industries, and everything I hear tells me that you can totally succeed as a professional comics/game/storyboard/fantasy illustrator, even working for hire, even on projects with conflicted focus, even under the grueling and unfair freelance systems in place… let alone if you are fortunate enough to become a signature creator, with a page rate and design influence and creator-owned publishing perks and all that which very few actually attain. … Read on for more awesome…

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3. Should I do more Dystopia Characters?