Google And Me; Best Buds.

   At some point during the day, every day, I'm Googling something. It pays to spend a little extra time referencing characters, getting those certain outfits, locations, or Hero-mobiles correct and looking right. During a job like the one I'm doing now (X-men Archives Card Set) where your drawing up to 50 different characters each in many different costumes, I could be on Google all day long. Add that to a big box of X-men comics for character situations and storylines and it's more than enough to knock out some interesting and accurate sketches.

   I'll admit, sometimes I do get sidetracked during a search and wind up reading about what Charlie Browns dad did for a living or get sucked into watching a new movie preview. (Mutant Chronicles looks pretty good, btw) Today, for instance, I ended up reading about Captain America

Movie rumors on someones blog and I'm staring at a pic of Cap that looks really familiar. "Hey I drew that".  It was from a card I did for the Marvel Overpower card game way back in 96 or 97. I found it again in a few more places usually in conjunction with those Cap Movie references.  I've only seen it on the card until now but this is directly from the color file and I would love to find the source to get a good copy. I don't know who the colorist was but they did a great job.  Makes me want to track down other colorists on those sets and see if I can get some color files. 

  Anyway, I fingered through the ol' filing cabinet and pulled the original. I've put up a scan to show the before and after. 

Google, where have you been all my life?

Later

WM

Inkwell Awards Sketch Up For Auction

   

  I just wanted to let anyone who may be interested know that this Spiderman Sketch Card is now available HERE. I was approached by Bob Almond, a good bud of mine, and he asked if I could do a quick sketch for him as a donation towards the Inkwell Awards. Ok, so it's not exactly a "quick" sketch but I don't even remember how to do one of those. 

   Anyway, this was done on official Inkwell Awards card stock and is up for auction on Ebay and all proceeds go directly to the Inkwell Awards. Seeing as how I'm really booked up with work and not taking commissions at the moment, this would be a great ( and only) opportunity to nab a current and full color sketch of mine.

  Although I'm not running the auction, I'll probably be sending this out directly from here so maybe I'll stick a little something extra in the envelope. I'll have to see what I've got kicking around the studio. 

  So stop by The Inkwell Awards Site and find out more about this card and the other auctions they have up and thanks for your time.

As always...

Later

WM

BTW,

Here is a scan of the back of the card. 

One Long ComicCon Weekend

   

   The New York ComicCon was this past weekend and I decided to go and make an adventure out of it. I figured it would be a good chance to reconnect with old friends, make some new connections, maybe finally get something interesting to post on the blog, and hopefully drum up some work. It was a 3 day show and the fam and I stayed with the in-laws in NJ for an easy commute for me into the city each day. I didn't get a table this year as I wanted to stay mobile and really try to see everything that was going on. The show was busier than last year and from what I hear actually sold out and the attendance was better than expected.  

  Early hours Friday was for Professionals and was a good time to catch up and say hi to friends and artists I haven't seen in a while. I even met a few people I've worked with in the past that I only knew through emails and phone conversations. Saturday was mega swamped with people and the isles were like one big long mosh pit. I left early as it was just too busy to really get anything accomplished or have anything other than just a "how are you doing" conversation. Publishers were just too busy to look at your stuff and artists were buried under fans and commissions. Sunday morning was wonderful though, the crowds were minimal, you could easily walk through the isles and talking with publishers was much easier and were able to spend some time with you. I had lunch with some good friends I went to the Kubert school with that I haven't seen in a while. I hooked up with Keith Champagne, Charlie (from Indie Spinner Rack) and some good friends he new through his podcast for a nice italian dinner after the show on Sunday. 

   I had taken a disposable camera I had laying around and thought it was perfect for the show as I didn't want to risk losing or damaging my digital. That was a mistake. Of all the shots I took that I was planning on posting here and actually make this interesting, only 2 dark and grainy pics came out. Bummer... that'll teach me. (I even lifted the pic above from someone else online). 

   It was a long 3 days and pretty tiring, but it was nice to get out of the house. Now, a day or to after, it feels good to get back to normal... and back to the drawing board. 

Later

WM
 

Work and Commissions Update

 I'd say it's about time for an update on all the goings on around here. (Thanks to all for the inquiries and emails, btw) I've been pretty busy and have a ton of work coming down the pike. 

 * Comics: The pages for Beau Smith's Parts Unknown are finished and I'm looking forward to seeing those in the comic and eventual GN. 

 I've been also getting other pages ready to show around as I will be at the New York Comic con coming up next weekend. (Feb 6-8) Last year was awesome, but tiring. I'll be more prepared for it this year and hope to see a bunch of friends I don't get to see often.

 *  Sketchcards: I know many of you will be happy to know I am signed on for 3 new sets coming out this year. The first is X-men Origins: Wolverine set, which I've started working on already but will be a very limited number. 

The second is the X-men Archives set and will be more like the FF and Avengers sets. I also have a little something special planned for that set and hope it works out.

 The third set I've signed on for hasn't been announced yet so you'll just have to keep wondering about that one. Over all I've been throwing some different styles around for these new sets just to keep it interesting and different. We'll see how that goes as well. I have no numbers of how many I did for these sets as I haven't even drawn them yet.

 * Commissions: Unfortunately, the best laid plans do often go astray, and this first quarter of the year is no exception. I was hoping to start commissions again by mid January, but due to the above mentioned work and the deadlines that have come with them, I have to put off any commissions indefinitely. I will post here and other sites when I eventually will start them up again and to give you guys plenty of warning. Thanks for understanding and stay tuned.

  Ebay: I've also been planning on weeding out some of these Sketches I have from various sets 

  from my personal collection. So keep your eyes open.

 

Later

WM

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Warren Martineck

If Your Name Isn't Dan, Disregard.

Dano,

 I've been trying to contact you for awhile, I've lost all your new info and all the other attempts over the last few weeks seemed to have failed. I know you check in here once in awhile so if you get this, call or email. 

WM

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming.