Christopher Yee Art Blog

ELUSIVE

2010-05-22T11:15:00.002-04:00

Elusive, oils on luaun wood, 2000

This piece was done a decade ago when I was taking a painting class at Queens College. I was a grad student in the art education department but the school only let art majors in their graduate art classes, so us art ed majors were reduced to taking undergrad classes. Regardless, it was a good class. Elusive was painted very quickly and spontaneously on a large panel. Its sister piece, Totem Shield, was painted at the same time and actually fit together. One was about movement and fleeting moments and the other about being a rock, of stability and protection. I used Totem Shield on quite a few things- the All-Terrain show promo card, as my blog logo, and as avatars and such. I have to reshoot both pieces again, but here are the two as I have them in my files.

Totem Shield (detail), oil on luaun wood, 2000

COLLABORATIVE ART FOR AUCTION

2010-05-15T21:31:00.000-04:00

Acrylic Paint on Canvas Board, 12" x 16" each

These two pieces were drawn by my AP Drawing class students. I painted them with acrylics on canvas board in about three hours. I asked my students to spontaneously draw whatever came to them, then pass it around to the next student. There were originally three boards but one is missing. After the period was over, I took them and briskly painted them. I made changes and painted over some things that didn't work, but most of what was drawn made it in to the final rendition in some form or another. We were watching the movie, Where the Wild Things Are while painting- not sure what affect it had on the drawings! Max and Carol sort of crept their way into the painting on the right.

Marlin Art Auction was to frame six student works for free for our event this Saturday. I dropped off six pieces, though only one was collaborative (painted by four students plus myself- didn't get a chance to shoot it). They were actually really nice about everything and were very informative about what they do. After dropping the work off, getting a brief tour of the place and speaking with them, they never gave any indication that they weren't going to frame all of them. I found out the next day that they refused to frame the non-collaborative work because they are trying to encourage bidding wars between the parents. Well, little do they know, these students' parents aren't coming! Potential buyers will be coming from the community but most likely not from the immediate families. Marlin will auction the pieces anyway, but will not frame them. They would do a lot better driving up the price if they were in a nice frame! Hopefully, they will still accept these two new pieces and will frame them for Saturday.

NEW EGO

2010-03-14T19:20:00.000-04:00

Gotta start the Ego project rollin' once again! Finally started a new page last night with Kid standing front and center. New Crash City will be behind him, the stage for a crazy cast of characters. Can't wait to record the music for this as well.

BARGAIN HUNTING AT LOKI'S

2010-02-28T01:30:00.002-05:00

My wife's collectibles eBay store is back from hiatus. She sells toys, dolls, clothes, antiques and much more on the cheap. Buy some stuff and help us clean out the basement! Webkinz, Barbies, action figures, books, you name it, she's got it! Finding these items second lives and keeping them out of the landfills is so important. A little pocket change is good too! She's just getting the store back up so there's just a few things up now, but there will be lots more within the week. Save as a favorite seller and keep checking back. You never know what she'll put up next... sometimes things from my own toy collection! Here's the link: http://stores.ebay.com/bargain-hunting-at-lokis.

PS- I did the logo!

Loki

2010-02-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

The grand opening of the new Art House Gallery was postponed until Saturday, March 6th, 7:00-10:00 pm, due to the snow. The Sketchbook Project Tour rolls on! The new gallery is located at 201 Richards Street #16, Brooklyn, NY, 11231.

2010-02-20T00:50:00.001-05:00

Since I haven't been working on the studio lately (yes, I like feeling the tips of my fingers when using powertools), here's a pic of my awesome 100% recycled denim insulation. All cotton, nothing harmful to breath in... you can shove this stuff up your nose and eat it if your want to! Though, I wouldn't recommend it... Work will resume when it gets a little warmer!

2010-02-19T10:40:00.000-05:00

The Sketchbook Project vol. 4 Library Tour stops at 303 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 tonight.

Dates: Feb. 19-21, 2010
Exhibition Hours: Friday, 7-11 p.m. (Q&A from 7-8). Saturday, 8-11 p.m. & Sunday, 12-3 p.m.

My book is in the "Friends of friends of friends" category.

http://www.facebook.com/arthousecoop?ref=nf

2010-02-15T15:18:00.000-05:00

Flying Penguins, originally designed for Ironic Extinction, 2009

These are two cartoon illustrations I created for local tee shirt entrepreneurs, Ironic Extinction. I don't know if they ever used them or not, but they'll see the light of day oneday for something. Maybe a cameo in Isabella or Primetime. We'll see. I drew them traditionally, pencil on bristol, inked with Micron pens, then scanned and digitally colored in Photoshop.

2010-02-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

Isabella at the Edge of the World; 11" x 14" pen, brush & ink on bristol

I believe it is a good idea to always remember your roots and to give back to where it is you came from... so here's my contribution to the annual Hicksville Faculty-Student-Alumni Exhibition, at the Hicksville Public Library, located on Jeruselum Ave. in Hicksville, NY. Hicksville was my home for sixteen years and I have always been extremely grateful for my life there, especially my artistic growth that was nurtured in the high school and later in art school (I lived at home during my college years). This show usually gets whatever work of art I give to my wife for her birthday, which is usually my latest creation. This one happens to be a little older, from the summer, but newly framed for the show. It is another illustration for my upcoming title, Isabella and the Terrapin. Up top, is the alumni wall at the time I hung my piece. This was before the opening so it may have changed since then. I missed the reception, so I will have to make a trip and maybe stop by Raimo's Pizzeria along the way. The work will be on view until March 2nd.

Inspire; acrylics, house paint, polyeurethane on plywood

While on the subject, this was the painting that was exhibited at this show, I believe, five years ago. I think the theme was "Inspire."

2010-02-06T09:36:00.001-05:00

I never told you my New Year's Resolutions...
1- Be more creative... make more stuff.
2- Write a letter to someone every week... not an e-mail.
3- Reduce, reuse, recycle more... keep things out of the landfill and finally master composting!
4- Get healthier... get to the damn gym!
5- Appreciate each moment even more!

I think that's pretty realistic... I'm hopeful!

2010-01-29T16:45:00.002-05:00

Here are a few more pages from my Art House Sketchbook, Friends of Friends of Friends. The Sketchbook Project tour starts today at The Art House Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia!

On exhibit: January 29-30, 2010

2010-01-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

Still-in-Progress, acrylics on masonite

Here is the illustration, still-in-progress, of some monsters from my Isabella Teal and the Terrapin story. I'm still using leftover paint from my classes because I hate wasting paint. Just kinda making it up as I go along! I hope you enjoy the sneak peek behind the scenes and the progress being made.

2010-01-15T15:38:00.000-05:00

Work-in-Progress, acrylics on masonite

Here's a quick underpainting of a creature and bot from the Isabella Teal story. I hate letting paint go to waste so I was using up leftover acrylics from class last week.

2010-01-09T01:04:00.001-05:00

Working on new stuff...

2010-01-06T17:01:00.000-05:00

Art House Co-Op Sketchbook Project vol. 4; "Friends of Friends of Friends"

This is my first project for the Art House Co-Op, based in Georgia but are in the process of moving to Brooklyn. They assigned me the theme, "Friends of Friends of Friends," so I used various social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to find inspiration for each "portrait." Each sketch was created from someone's profile picture. Most are pretty spontaneous and didn't really end up looking like the original muse. Each page was created in about 2-15 minutes, and the book was done in a few days (1 in August, and 3 in December-January). I used different materials such as Sharpie markers, Pigma markers, graphite, oil pastels, colored pencils, conte crayons, charcoal, ball-point pen, and White-Out. I tried to use different styles, or better yet, approaches, in each and attempted to be inventive in each entry. When an approach did work and sparked, I explored that approach and ran with it until I felt it seemed old. Then I changed directions.

The sketchbooks are to be part of the Art House's permanent library collection, and will be on tour in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Chicago.

2009-12-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

Studio progress... here's the one insulated wall. This is the eastern wall with window facing the pool. Between the sliding window and the windowed door there should be some nice natural light from sunrise to late afternoon. I'm still waiting for the shipment of insulation- 100% cotton, recycled denim jeans. It should be here by Friday. Drigo and Greg came by to help sheetrock and install the new door. As of now, half the ceiling and parts of two walls are rocked.

2009-11-24T16:30:00.001-05:00

Recharged. Spent some time upstate this weekend at conference.

Walking. Thinking. Reading.

Got some ideas... let's see where that takes me...

SKETCHBOOK PROJECT TOUR 2009-2010

2009-10-08T23:26:00.004-04:00

Here are the dates and venues for the Art House Co-Op Sketchbook Project Tour:
• January 29 - 30, 2009 : Art House Gallery, Atlanta, GA
• February 19 - 21, 2010 : 303 Grand, Brooklyn, NY
• April 8 - 11, 2010 : Art and Shelter Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• April 16 - 18, 2010 : Soulard Art Market, St. Louis, MO
• May 7 - 9, 2010 : Home Gallery, Chicago, IL

Now I just have to finish by the end of December! I'm not telling what page I'm currently on...

2009-10-02T19:33:00.002-04:00

I finally uploaded a picture (from my phone) of my new illustrated work of fiction, featuring a young girl named Isabella Teal and her new friend, a giant talking turtle. This strange story is set in a far distant future inhabited by fallen angels, flying dolphins, telekinetic dinosaurs, and the most wicked-heinous villain the world has ever known. I am still deciding on a title (with help from many of you!), and plan to start publishing as a webcomic very soon, with hopes of building a following, then shopping it around to publishers.

SLOWLY BUT SURELY... GETTIN' THERE...

2009-08-29T00:32:00.002-04:00

The wall is studded out as Brutus looks on. I'm still working on replacing or sistering rotted studs, but just about ready to do electric and insulate.

Here's the closet for my paints and art supplies.

I need to make another trip to Home Depot... ran out of materials.

STUDIO PROGRESS

2009-08-23T11:20:00.003-04:00

Here is what the studio/garage looks like as of Friday. I studded the walls yesterday and will post those soon. I spend more time emptying the garage, then putting it all back before the supposed rain comes, than actually working... that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it seems like it. The fridge will eventually find its way into the basement which will give me a lot more space. This half will remain the garage to store all of my tools, lawn mower, pool stuff, and the kids' bikes and scooters, etc. Hope it all fits!

This side will be the art/music studio. There's still stuff in here as well including the bench to Pappap's swing.

This window was framed out previously- I'm not putting a window on the north-side. This horizontal window will be on the east-side, over my desk and facing the pool.

I can actually stand at the back of the garage and see daylight! At the end of last night, the wall is framed out... I just have to complete the closet. I still have to replace and reinforce some of the rotted beams and studs, frame out the window and exhaust fan, replace the facsia boards, put in a new door, do the electrical work, etc. before I can insulate and rock.

And my vacation is almost over...

ART HOUSE LIBRARY SKETCHBOOK

2009-08-13T12:45:00.004-04:00

I began my Art House Library Sketchbook last night at like 4am. My given theme is "Friends of friends of friends." My idea is to visually interpret friends of friends of friends' thumbnails on Facebook, essentially a sketchbook full of strangers, created in an array of various materials and styles. No other boundaries exist other than the size limitations of the book itself and the media the paper can withstand. My first drawing was of "Ken's friend, Rachel's friend, Lonny." I'll post some of these, as I do them, soon.

NEW BEGINNINGS

2009-08-05T05:02:00.003-04:00

My favorite artist who just so happens to be my brother, Kenneth Yee, recently relocated and recently redesigned his website. He also began a blog, has taken up surfing and skateboarding. Here's to new beginnings... www.kennethyee.com

STAY CREATIVE!

2009-07-29T17:33:00.004-04:00

In order to get the creative juices pumping, I signed up to contribute to two Art House projects- The 10,000 People Project, where 10,000 people visually interpret one word, and The Sketchbook Project Library, where thousands of artists, from all over the world, fill up a sketchbook to be a part of a sketchbook library that will then go on tour around the country. I'm pretty stoked to be contributing to these two creative endeavors and am eagerly waiting for the materials to come in the mail.

Also, I posted a new River's Edge song in our playlist! Go listen to Driftwood now... www.myspace.com/riversedge3

Trying to stay creative in every way possible!

GARAGE/STUDIO PROJECT PT. 2

2009-07-16T22:48:00.002-04:00

Here is the inside of the garage/art studio/music studio/man-cave. Not too much progress yet, but it's a sunny day today! So there's hope...

It's a death-trap in here...

But it has potential! You should see what it looks like in my head. Awesome.

Gonna get crackin' now!

GARAGE/STUDIO PROJECT PT 1

2009-07-16T22:17:00.008-04:00

Here are the before pictures of the garage. This summer, the garage will finally undergo an amazing transformation into my much anticipated "art studio/music studio/gym/man-cave." It doesn't have a name as of yet... but it will! I've got a few ideas... As you can see this neglected structure has a long way to go before it can function as my creative sanctuary. It is a 1.5 car garage, 15.3' x 25.4' and filled with crap! Over the last 10 years, it has been home to various mice, squirrels, spiders, termites and birds and is covered on all sides by bushes and vines. I already started clearing away some of the vines that completely covered the window. There were some angry bees that day, buzzing around me because I took away their home. The gutters are mostly down and so was some of the window flashing. As I said, I have a long way to go!

Here are some of the Rose of Sharons that adorn the perimeters (below). The Little Tykes car is gone and I have to Freecycle the Little Tykes hoop. The gutters are up on this side and the light actually still works.

It's like Dagobah swamp back here... there's dense vines and growth behind and on the west side of the garage. This is also the burial ground for many a bird and mouse... and maybe an X-Wing Fighter! There's a whole bunch of stuff thrown back here, rusting and rotting. I even attempted to compost back here... wasn't too successful early on, but it's still back there. I have to check it... should be ready by now. The rotting, falling fence will be taken down soon. My neighbor already put up a new one behind it, so that's one side I don't have to do myself!

So there it is... ain't she a beaut? The plan is to build a wall splitting the garage- one side for the lawn mower, tools, etc. Not sure about the bikes... wanted to put up a shed for the kids' stuff. We'll see. I'm going to insulate, sheet rock, and soundproof the walls, have an electrician run wire and install more outlets, probably put in an outside sink, and I'm thinking about a skylight. Also having nightmares about it so probably not, but as an artist, natural light is good. Not sure what I'm doing with the floor yet. I also wish to re-side the outside as well. Let's see how far the budget stretches... by that I mean credit. You have but one life to live. Use it up!

Coming soon: The inside! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

PS- the doors are gone too (5 of 7 of them anyways- the other 2 I need)!

Watch your step!

BRUNCH 7-6-09

2009-07-06T13:36:00.002-04:00

This is how I began my day... steak, eggs, and potatoes. Now, let's get to work!

2009-04-15T15:06:00.009-04:00

Feb 2009- This painting was done in acrylics on luaun wood. My former high school art teacher asked if some of us alumni would participate in her Hicksville HS art exhibition at the Hix Public Library... it was good motivation for me to get up and paint. I took a piece I had started a few years ago- it was just the abstract background colors. I decided to begin illustrating a children's book story idea I've been working on. I painted the figure first, who was sitting on the desk watching a movie. The story's protagonist is named Isabella. Then, I painted the terrapin who represents the "old world."

Next, I painted the shark, whale, and dolphin. They are depicted in a child-like way because they represent innocence and hope. Isabella is seeking answers and that is why it's called "I Was Wondering..." I had a big empty spot left, where I was thinking a koi fish but asked my wife, what she wanted there, since it was for her. She requested a beta fish, since her mother had one and recently passed on due to cancer. The beta was a good choice.

The last element were the clouds. I was going for a fantasy/surreal atmosphere that would convincingly hold the reality of Isabella and her companions with her 2-D encounters.

I Was Wondering..., acrylics on luaun wood, 2009

Here is the completed painting. Overall, I banged it out in about 10 hours in parts of 3 days- the majority of it in a 6 hour session one evening. It's big- 48" x 54" without the frame. My artist friend, Drigo Morin, framed it. I gave it to my wife as a birthday present and it ended up hanging in my dining room. Now, I have to do more of the story... but smaller, I think.

2009-03-16T18:28:00.003-04:00

These are the Character Model Sheets for Chapter 0.9: The Atomik Playboyz.

2009-03-03T20:28:00.002-05:00

Part 8.0: Game On, Shamen! is written and ready for artwork. This chapter doesn't have any action, but does include some slapstick comedy. These 6 pages focus on the rest of the band waiting for the big show and talking about Kid and their current situation. Ace the guitar tech is up to something. (Drigo, did you want this one? There are robotic arms and scaffolding that you can make look like Ashley Wood!)

Also, I chose four original songs plus one cover for a Kid Ego & The Virtual Shamen EP. Here they are:
1 Thunder & Reign
2 Burn
3 Illusions
4 Demoned Child
5 Crossroads*

*Crossroads may be replaced by Hell Hound On My Trail, both written by Robert Johnson. Everything else was penned by me. Everything has lyrics and bass parts except Demoned Child which only has lyrics and a melody. Illusions was originally performed by my old band, Cold Az Ice (1990-1992). (John, Rob C., whenever we get together I can show you the parts and lyrics. Eventually, I will record the songs in pieces and email you them with the lyrics, so you guys can begin working on them).

Thanks. -Chris

2009-02-18T22:29:00.002-05:00

Once again, Kid Ego and the Virtual Shamen is intended to be a 128 page, full color graphic novel. It is mostly written save for 3 chapters. The art has quite a bit further to go. This is a very action-packed, in your face sci-fi/apocalyptic heavy metal book. The scenes should look very B-movie and gritty. It should look and feel like Mad Max, The Warriors, Blade Runner, Highlander (the original), A Clockwork Orange, as well as 1980's MTV pop and metal music videos like Billy Idol, KISS, Def Leppard, and Dokken! This project is my multi-faceted Operation Mindcrime (Queensryche)... Like I said to the writers, I understand the tremendous time and effort you would be giving me if you choose to undertake such a project. Since I have carried this story around with me for so many years (since SVA!) the world is very real to me, yet I welcome the collaboration and encourage the creativity and totally give you artistic freedom! You may choose to pencil, ink, or both. The story is broken down into numbered parts and you may choose whatever fits into your schedule. I realize you would be setting aside your own projects to help and I am asking each of you b/c I admire all of your talents and abilities and know that the diversity of the styles would deeply enhance the book. If you choose to participate on my project, I would give you the "Kid Ego primer," scripts, and character designs and such- everything you would need to bring my world to life. Thank you so very much for your time! -Chris

Chapters in need of artists:

pt. 0.9: The Atomik Playboyz (10 pages)
How Rikki Dyabolik and the Atomik Playboyz get lured into the "devilishly" influential Mr. Webb's clutches, by the oddity known as Mandinka.

pt. 7.0: Blues for the End of your World (12 pages)
The Atomik Playboyz begin to grow into their roles as the 4 Horsemen and under Mr. Webb's orders, go after Kid's gal pal groupie, Heidi. This is the turning point that makes the Atom'Boyz and Ego mortal enemies. They do something "horrific" to her challenging Kid to the showdown at the story's climax.

pt. 8.0: Game On, Shamen! (4 pages)
Even though Kid is once again missing, the band, The Virtual Shamen, know the biggest show of their short careers must go on. They set up the stage for tonight's concert, hoping that their star will show up.

pt. 10.0: Poltergeist Snow (16 pages)
Kid, Toshiro, and Ty are on the run again. The Police and The Atom'Boyz, are after them. The mysterious Zen Archer is watching them. Kid is coming to terms with the laser tracking system (devil's hardware) that he had installed in him. Then, he gets word about Heidi. He makes his way back to her and sees that she is damaged goods- even more so than before. And the stage is set for the big showdown.

pt. 11.0: The Zen Archer (4 pages)
Kid's spiritual mentor and guardian angel, the Zen Archer finally makes his presence known and has a heart to heart with our downward-spiraling hero.

2009-02-18T19:33:00.002-05:00

Kid Ego and the Virtual Shamen is intended to be 128 pages, color, graphic novel. It is actually the first half of a larger story, but before I get ahead of myself... the book is mostly written. It has been for years, and refined and polished over time, tumbling around the ocean void of my mind over and over like a piece of cerebral beach glass. It includes the first two issues of the Kid Ego comic, remastered and colored, as a flashback. The story is divided into parts- every part is numbered for continuity with consideration to the future (for when we break!), and titled, though not all the titles are set in stone. Even though the story is planned out from cover to cover, kind of like life, how we get from a to b is yet undetermined. I welcome collaboration and creative freedom! I undertand that whoever signs on for this is lending their precious time and awesome talents and setting aside their own work to help me out, so I tried to structure things as much as possible so as not to be too taxing or overwhelming for you... but if you need/want more freedom, that won't be a problem! If you are interested in writing a chapter for me, let me know and I will e-mail you the "Kid Ego writer's primer" and the script (in progress), and missing chapter arcs, and whatever else you will need to get started. Thanks so so much for your interest. Having diverse writing styles for certain chapters will only make Kid Ego better and more believable. Hope to have you onboard! -Chris

The following chapters need authors:
pt. 7.0: Blues for the End of your World (12 pages)
The Atomik Playboyz (basically KISS) begin to grow into their roles as the 4 Horsemen and under Mr. Webb's orders, go after Kid's gal pal groupie, Heidi. This is the turning point that makes the Atom'Boyz and Ego mortal enemies. They do something "horrific" to her challenging Kid to the showdown at the story's climax. The challenge: To give Heidi character and elevate her from the 1-dimensional cliche she is now.

pt. 10.0: Poltergeist Snow (16 pages)
Kid, Toshiro, and Ty are on the run again. The Police and The Atom'Boyz, are after them. The mysterious Zen Archer is watching them. Kid is coming to terms with the laser tracking system (devil's hardware) that he had installed in him. Then, he gets word about Heidi. He makes his way back to her and sees that she is damaged goods- even more so than before. And the stage is set for the big showdown.

pt. 12.0: Showdown at the Big Show! (15 pages)
Kid Ego and his buddies confront Rikki Dyabolik and the Atom'Boyz and it is on! Massive battle between the man who made a deal with the devil and the devil's demons. It is like mutant members of KISS in a "The Last Dragon/Big Trouble in Little China/Dragonball Z" kind of brawl. It ends up the mighty warlords, The Jackson 5000, come to the rescue and scare off the 4 Horsemen for now. Kid, beaten and bloodied, reluctantly gets pushed out on stage and the music starts. He begins to sing, turns to face the crowd, and the last shot is of Kid standing before a totally brainwashed audience (like from The Wall).

2009-02-16T03:20:00.004-05:00

2009-02-16T02:58:00.003-05:00

Here is the remastered cover and pages 1-2 from Kid Ego #1R, colored, edited, and re-lettered.

EARLY SATURDAY MORNING

2008-07-29T11:20:00.000-04:00

Early Saturday Morning (detail), crayon/pencil/markers 2007

This abstraction was created by my youngest son and I, early one Saturday morning, at around 6:00 am, before the cartoons started. It was all quiet in the house and we didn't want to wake up the older siblings or the wife. So we scribbled. Intuitively! Kolin was 4 when we drew this. I tried to let him take the lead and I tried not to mess it up!

2008-07-26T01:27:00.002-04:00

McKnight Family Reunion t-shirt logo, 2001

This simple design was embroidered on a real nice golf shirt for the 2001 John A. McKnight Family Reunion, held in Altoona, Pennsylvania, each year. They are such great people- an amazing family to be married into. The shirt came in forest green and the logo was stitched in gold on a green stitched field. This was the third t-shirt I designed for the McKnight Reunion. The first was a leprechaun and the second was a silhouetted mounted knight. I believe both of them were also printed on trucker hats as well. I have to find them and shoot them to add here.

McKnight Family Reunion proposed t-shirt logo, 2001

This design was not used. Rightly so, because it's boring and the first one is classier. I have to find the others to post here. I love going to the reunions and seeing people show up wearing the different shirts from over the years. I haven't designed any since... maybe for next year. Gotta do something to be worthy of their pulled pork sandwiches!

Christian Rogue
a2kmedia@gmail.com
A2K Media, INC.

HACKFLEISCH PANEL

2008-07-24T10:22:00.003-04:00

Hackfleisch 2008

Hackfleisch from our short-lived webcomic, Chem-Geo. He'll be back!

CLASSIC KID EGO ART

2008-07-15T03:24:00.002-04:00

Kid Ego Magenta, digital 1999

This is another classic Ego work of art, post-Millennium Publications/pre-Assassin Comics, again created on the ancient PC in MS Paint, I think. The retro-pixelated thing actually is charming to me, along with the campy hot magenta color. I was living in Bay Shore at this point, working on a computer temporarily set up in the middle of our apartment's livingroom, I think, unless my memory fails me. These early incarnations of Ego were more youthful looking and more of a self-portrait than how I draw him now (which is still somewhat of how I see myself or wish to see myself or how I remember myself). Hmmm... I didn't realize how delusional I actually am!

2008-07-12T15:11:00.003-04:00

Original Kid Ego #2 cover, 2001

Here is the original Kid Ego #2 cover, pre 9-11. Of course after the attack, we had to go with the American flag cover in a show of unity and patriotism. It was something we felt strongly about and we may have gained a few fans at one of the cons who vocally appreciated the gesture. Ultimately, I liked the original cover though as it tells more of the story introducing Toshiro, Flack and one of the police goons, along with a posse behind Kid. Scroll down or check the archive to compare the iconic patriotic silhouette cover that also features the Starter 69 teaser. Sorry again for the low res pic.

2008-07-12T01:48:00.003-04:00

Assassin Comics Promo, mixed media 2000

I was going through my old floppy disks and backed up some old Assassin Comics treasures that I had forgotten about. This was one of the first digital illustrations I had done with Photoshop on my old PC. It of course features Kid Ego, the classic mascot, and lists the original Assassin titles and the founding members. Also, written all over the piece were all of the clever little slogans Ken and I had thought up for the company. Hidden within the text were subliminal messages like "Eat your vegetables" and "Turn off the TV and go outside" or things to that effect. Too bad you can't read it because the only version I found of this piece was low res. Sorry. All in all, I'm glad I found it- I'm digging the colors.

LESTER

2008-07-08T23:07:00.002-04:00

Lester, acrylics 2008

This is Lester. On most days he dresses like a goth or medeival pirate. Those outfits must be in the wash and his mother is out of town. This was a quick painting session- probably a 10-15 minute sitting.

NEW KID EGO PROMO ART

2008-07-07T02:29:00.002-04:00

Kid Ego Promo Art, digital 2008

I just whipped this up by manipulating an existing piece, then spontaneously sketched the Police Goonbot and added the Kid Ego tag. All in preparation for the new Ego and the Virtual Shamen webcomic.

2008-06-22T20:35:00.003-04:00

Kid Ego #1R: Renegade Limited Edition Printing, 2001

Kid Ego #2, 2001

The character, Kid Ego, was first created when I was in college at School of Visual Arts, in the early 1990's, when a friend of mine, Peter Hong, introduced the role-playing game, Cyberpunk, to me and my buddy and fellow artist, Drigo Morin. Yeah, we were dorky art students who began in Jr. High with Dungeons & Dragons and graduated to the brand new Cyberpunk in college. It was based on sources like William Gibson, Phillip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Bladerunner, Liquid Sky, Mad Max, and such post apocalyptic sci-fi fare. Well, Kid was always how I saw myself, at least in my own mind. Kid was a bass player, wrestler, judoka, had the long black hair, the shades, the leather and denim look, okay I don't ride the bike and not 6'3, but again, this was a sci-fi fantasy! Kid was my first and best character in the game, from his inception as an uzi-weilding biker roaming the streets looking for gigs until his martyred incarceration about six years later. One day the full Kid Ego story will be told. The biggest initial influences on the story, besides the aforementioned, are: Tim Truman's Scout and Dragon Chiang, Judge Dredd, ABC Warriors, Lobo, Frank Miller's Batman:The Dark Knight Returns and Ronin, KISS, Pink Floyd, Billy Idol, Guns n' Roses, Sisters of Mercy, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Zakk Wylde and his Pride & Glory and Black Label Society, Sinead O'Connor, Aimee Mann's voice, The Sex Pistols, Jim Morrison, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Megadeth, Dangerous Toys, Crazy Horse, Joan of Arc, Bruce Lee, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Seven Samurai, The Warriors, A Clockwork Orange, 1984, Farenheit 451, Soylent Green, Romper Stomper, Sid and Nancy, Tank Girl, Robocop, The Terminator, 1980's heavy metal videos and of course, as is everything with me, the Mighty Van Halen! And that's just to name a few of the early influences, before Quentin Tarantino...

But the biggest visual influence has got to be Tim Truman's art. Scout was first introduced to me by my friend and writer, Ken Hydrick. Truman's work on Scout and later Dragon Chiang are by far my favorites and remains fresh and original in this genre of sequential art. Nothing else like it since.

Scout, the fierce war shaman!

The thought of a gun-toting Native American with shamanic visions and a talking chipmunk guide wandering a post-apocalyptic Earth fighting corupt robots and drugdealers is everything I could ever want in a comic book! Where's the movie?

Dragon Chiang, inked by Tim Bradstreet.

Not only does he look like me, but the combination of Truman and Bradstreet is pure genius, and the visual style I would most like to ape. Chiang is a badass truckdriving, communist deadhead. Not exactly your stereotypical Chinese action hero! If I was only this cool...

Tim "The Legend" Truman of the Dixie Pistols

Tim Truman has worked on comic book titles and graphic novels such as Grimjack, Time Beavers, Scout, Dragon Chiang, The Spider, Prowler, Airboy, Hawkman, Jonah Hex, Wilderness, Tecumseh, Straight Up To See The Sky, Grateful Dead Comix, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. He may be most proud of being the guitarist of the Dixie Pistols. Check out Tim's amazing artwork at http://www.ttruman.com/

2008-06-02T00:29:00.004-04:00

Painted Collage 90, acrylics, 1990

Here is another high school painting assignment. The first step was to create a collage with magazine images. Of course mine came mostly from Guitar For The Practicing Musician or Guitar World. I can see Joe Satriani's leather jacket and Dave Mustaine's arm grabbing the chain link fence! Anyways, the next step was to grid the collage and enlarge it onto a canvas board, then paint it in acrylics in graytones only. It was ultimately an exercise in matching value. This and Taxi! are still kicking around... most things from high school I try and destroy, if I can part with it. I don't recall seeing any of Picasso's early crap drawings. Just the ones that proved he was an artistic prodigy. Crap? Def not prodigious... just a high school assignment. Don't judge!

2008-06-01T02:05:00.004-04:00

Taxi!, acrylics, 1990

This painting was a personal breakthrough back when I was a senior in high school. It was done with a palette knife on canvas board and was my first successful abstracted piece- abstracted for me, at least! My teachers were very happy because it was loose and not a timid or tight cartoony rendering. I finally ventured out of my "safety zone." Up to this point everything I did was linear and every figure "looked like Spiderman." Even in college, James McMullen, my High Focus Drawing professor at SVA said my figures were "rising" or "flying up like a superhero" which really wasn't a compliment. In my illustration classes I guess I was backhandedly accused of looking too "comic booky" yet in my cartooning classes, I was not like everyone else. My cartooning buddies thought I was going to make it as an inker instead of a penciler. Maybe I was caught between the two styles without really grasping either at the time. I'm more disciplined now- slightly- and actually love painting abstraction. This painting was quite a departure and a turning point in my art.

7' THAI GUY!

2008-05-31T05:20:00.001-04:00

Jack, acrylics, 2006

Sorry I've been stagnant for a month. I'm back now though. I painted this two years ago for an Advanced Placement Studio Art curriculum guide. Jack modeled on a table and I sat below to get a worm's eye view. So I started at his head, deliberatley making it small, and got larger as I got to his feet to create the upshot but I never really foreshortened so he just looks like a giant. The idea is to "stack" the body to foreshorten, but I worked real fast on this- this was about a 15 minute sitting. Jack is probably about 5'5, 130 so it just looks like Jack on Andro! But if you never saw him in real life, he is just a 7' Thai guy!

THE LUCKY STIFF GOES LIVE!

2008-04-26T01:43:00.002-04:00

The Lucky Stiff Promo Chit, 2008

The Lucky Stiff went live today at WebComics Nation. TLS was a comedic-horror short created by Ed Vazkez and I way back (I actually posted it here back in February). But the little adventure of Paul Bear is up at WCN for the rest of the webcomic-reading geekdom to see! I gotta get Ed to do something else for us.

Anyways, here's a line from the story: "So tell me, is that rigormortis or are you just happy to see me?" If you think that that is actually funny then check out The Lucky Stiff at: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/c-rogue/luckystiff/series.php

But if you think dick jokes like that are just stoopid, then forget it. I'm just dumb.

2008-04-25T03:40:00.003-04:00

This was a tattoo design created for a young man probably around 1999. I don't know if he actually got it. I'm hoping not. The drawing is stiff, and the anatomy is off and not in a good way. The arms are way too thick compared to her body and her posture is just not dynamic at all. Her back should be arched and AARGH... I could go on and on! It was what he wanted and he was very gung ho about getting it. If he did get this inked, I hope his tattoo artist fixed a few things. That was the last time I saw Dean. What does that mean? Hey, at least it's an original and personal design and not another tribal band or Yosemite Sam.

RELICS & RUNES YOUTUBE VIDEO

2008-04-24T12:07:00.002-04:00

Below is a link for the YouTube video I made previewing the Relics & Runes: Doom's Eve comic. Nothing special, just stills from the book with slide transitions. It is set to the Lacuna Coil songs In Virtual Light and You Create which provide the perfect soundtrack for the inevitable movie.

I just saw the animated Beowulf last night. Maybe Relics could be done all CGI like that... can we get Angelina Jolie? Actually, Kate Beckinsale is our pick for Julia, although a young Gina Gershon was my original inspiration for that character. Ken suggested Natalie Portman as Tai, and Ray Park for Satheron. He could double as Cerrion too, another fighting character where you don't see his face and don't hear him talk. But he would be front and center as Satheron! I think Hayden Panettiere would be perfect as Fawn. Well, if you haven't read the book, I guess you have no idea who these characters are. But you can buy the book! Email me for the particulars since our website is down mailto:a2kmedia@gmail.com. Thanks.

Relics YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA_GqsI8Drc

2008-04-23T11:59:00.003-04:00

Chris, Rob, & Ken, Boston, 2001

Sorry folks. The Assassin Comics website will be down for the foreseeable future while we revamp things. We are going with a new philosophical and creative approach towards what we are doing to bring A2K Media, INC. into the year 2008 and beyond. Those old dinosaurs just won't do! Updates will be posted here for now and you can still check out the webcomics at WebComics Nation (see link below). We'll all miss the creepy voices but our ghostly assassin will be back. Don't shed no tears for him!

Thanks for your support.

The Former Assassin Comics Guys
a2kmedia@gmail.com

KENNETH'S NEW SHOW

2008-04-23T03:43:00.005-04:00

My younger brother, Kenneth Yee, is an up and coming artist working out of Long Island City. He works mostly in acrylics on various surfaces of all different sizes. Kenny is known for incorporating text in his work- lovelorn phrases and bits of inspiration, perhaps overheard in conversation, sometimes his own lines, and other times he uses sentence fragments straight out of our pop culture lexicon. Together, each piece is a layered story, or more like a daydream when sitting alone in a cafe or on a subway. Each work is an honest record of the artist's thought process and I think people choose very carefully when buying his art, because each has its own personal theme that people can really identify with and relate to. I would say he is creating the next step in Abstract Expressionism mixed with reoccuring graphic icons and text. Currently, his work is showing at the Church Street School for Music and Art in a solo exhibit. I am proud to say that my brother is getting more active in the art world, as he is carrying the artistic torch for the both of us for a while!

Check out more of Kenny's work at: http://www.kennethyee.com/

2008-04-13T02:26:00.003-04:00

Relics & Runes Promo Chit, 2008

I am finally uploading Relics to Webcomics Nation so that more readers will have a chance to experience Ken's brilliant writing and the action-packed adventures of Julia, Tai, Satheron, and Fawn. Once again, I'm recycling some of my existing art to create something new- sort of. Check it out at http://www.webcomicsnation.com/c-rogue/relics/series.php. Hope to see you around!

Oh yeah, if you wish to purchase a hard copy, e-mail to a2kmedia@gmail.com.

1 BANNER, 2 PIZZA PARTIES

2008-04-07T23:15:00.002-04:00

Sharks Soccer Banner, acrylic paint on canvas, 2006

I painted this banner for my son's interleague soccer team. Each year, there is an opening day parade and banner contest. A few years ago, during the first year I coached, I held back and made a felt banner like everyone else and I tried not to show off because I thought it wasn't fair that I was an artist up against soccer moms and contractors and plumbers. But I didn't win that year. It actually pissed me off a little. It still should have won. But it didn't. So I thought to myself, the former college athlete doesn't hold back when running a marathon and the professional engineer doesn't half-ass his kid's science fair project, so why should I feel bad that I have an advantage for once? I was going to win my kid's team a pizza party, damnit! So I did. Two years in a row... one banner, two pizza parties! This year, I painted my younger son's banner too. And his team won one as well.

Hoo rah!

HAPPY PAPPAP'S DAY!

2008-04-05T23:56:00.002-04:00

Pappap, Sharpie marker, 1996?

This card was created a few years later, I'm guessing around 1996, definitely after my oldest daughter was born. It could have been a year or two later, but I'll amend the date if I find out for sure. Also, by this time Pappap (my wife, Jodi's grandfather) had stopped calling me "George." He would always say, "Call me whatever you want... just don't call me late for supper!" He also said, "Holee buckets!" and a few more colorful phrases but that's another story. This was a Father's Day (and Grandfather's Day, hence Pappap's Day) card done in Sharpie marker. I had done one for my father-in-law too, standing in his sacred garage. Don't know where that one is, though. My Uncle Doc said I nailed down his likeness even with such broad strokes. Good thing! I definitely didn't want to upset my wife before I got my presents and ice cream!

DON'T CALL ME GEORGE!

2008-04-04T22:42:00.002-04:00

Punch McKnight's Gold, pen, brush, & ink, 1993

This illustration was drawn for my wife's beloved grandfather, Joseph "Punch" McKnight, probably for his birthday card. "Pappap," as the family called him, was a great man, an ex-firechief, former Pennsylvania Railroad worker, and US veteran. He loved trains and had a huge electric trainroom in his house. The guy always had a joke ready and was the life of every party. He called me "George" for weeks after I met him, and my oldest daughter "Sara Lee" when she was born, though as you probably figured out was not the name we gave her! This was pretty good effort for a birthday card, I think. The leprechaun, of course, was the stereotypical symbol of Punch's pride in his Irish heritage. I used pen & ink and got good reference for the train. Maybe, I was trying to impress him so he would stop calling me George!

2008-03-13T20:39:00.003-04:00

Big Head Riding Hood, 2007

I drew this rendition of the fabled little monster last year. I didn't have a chance to color it, but the enormous influence of Bill Waterson on my cartooning makes Red look like "Calvin in drag." Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile... will start picking it up again shortly. Thanks for looking!

CHEM-GEO TEASER

2008-03-04T22:53:00.002-05:00

Hackfleisch (detail), 2008

Here's a teaser for our new Chem-Geo webcomic over on Webcomics Nation. I know, it's only a title page and currently there is only one actual page, but I'm trying to upload at least a page of anything a week. It's a slow process in the beginning but I'm trying to do more. One of Ken's friends said, "That's it? It's torture!" I say just wait 'til the story gets going. It's good! I just need time... be patient.

2008-03-02T22:53:00.003-05:00

Jaq-clean, 2001

Quite a few years back, I was commissioned by a friend of my mother-in-law's to create this logo for a new invention. It was a lady's scarf that opened up and became a bib to be used at restaurants when eating. I can't imagine wearing the thing, finding an outfit to match, opening it up when eating lobster, then wrapping it back around your neck again for the rest of the evening. But that's just me. The product was named after the woman's mother, Jacqeline, for whom it was designed for and targeted middle-aged to older women, who I guess are sloppy eaters. The face is a portrait of her mother and the pose and style of dress was given to me by the inventor. She wanted a high-kicking, elegant woman with her mother's face. She was very happy with the result, which she printed on the tags of the scarves. Needless to say, I've never seen the Jaq-clean scarf in any department stores, but then again, maybe I just don't go into those kind of stores. Maybe when my wife is 90 and drooling purated carrots out of the side of her mouth I'll be looking for one! Of course if that be the case, I'll be sitting around in my Depends and will have bigger issues than some dried up sauce on my 90 year old wife's blouse.

2008-02-29T02:45:00.003-05:00

Project: Joefish T-shirt, 2006/2008

Project: Joefish is the name of our jam sessions everytime Joe comes back to town from Arizona. This was the design I made for the first of our reunions in 2006. We were going to make t-shirts and have a live show at some great venue with hundreds of people in the audience, all with one practice under our belt, since Joe was in town for like a week. Joe's brother, Rob, was organizing this shindig, inviting all the members from Joe's previous bands as far back as high school. This included Joe's first band, Monstrous, the band I was in in the college days, Cold Az Ice, and his last band, Sideshow. Former bandmates included, drummer Joe Williams, myself on bass, Rob Williams on lead vocals and guitar, guitarist extaordinaire Rob Cardone, blues guitarist Lou Zollo, bassist Steve Gansrow, six-stringer Dan Williams, axman Frank Barile, and Gregg Henglein on lead vocals and keyboards, to name a few. The first disaster (but fun none-the-less) was performed at a local bar called Someplace Else, without even one practice. The sound guy was trying to burn holes into our heads with his stink eye for involving him in such a musical travesty. The only thing that could have saved the evening would have been to find a Jack's after the show and watch the "Joe Beatings" over some Taco Grandes! This was the old band ritual. Musically we pulled off a few winners, but there was as much downtime and dead air as there was music... though the drunk cougar dancing at the pool table seemed to like the performance! For Joe's bachelor party, we wised up and just played in the studio! All in all, can't wait to do it again!

Regarding the logo, it was drawn in charcoal, scanned in and designed in Photoshop. We never used it because once I realized what a clusterf*** this actually was, I knew there would be no dinero for shirts, or even tacos. It was black and white but colored it for the blog.

KING ZOG'S RUINS

2008-02-24T23:07:00.001-05:00

Zog's Ruins, altered digital photograph, 2004/2008

Albanian president, King Zog, exiled from his home country at the time of Mussolini, purchased Knollwood Estate on Long Island so that he could build a castle for he and his subjects to live. The mansion was built on what is now known as the Muttontown Preserve where the famous Gold Coast ruins continue to crumble and get defaced with graffiti. King Zog never moved in, instead living out the rest of his days in France living the lifestyle favored by exiled monarchs. Legend has it that when visitors knocked upon the door of the mansion, they were met by a hospitable uniformed watchman or keeper, invited in for some tea or something, and quickly shown out. Apart from this mysterious housekeeper, the mansion was unoccupied and never maintained. The story states that Zog's riches included buckets of diamonds and rubies that were never recovered. Supposedly, he paid approximately $102, 800 in 1951 for the grounds. Vandals tore the place apart looking for his storied riches. But enough with the history...

Throughout my college days, these were my stomping grounds. My friends and I frequented the park often, day and night, to explore, be in nature, hike, track, and star gaze. At night, it could be called trespassing, but we've experienced some amazing things under the moon and stars, within those gates, such as fox howls and owl calls. We've seen the lunar eclipse and some meteor showers there too. During the day we must have travelled every inch of that park and knew it pretty well, yet always were able to find something new.

This picture was taken a few years ago when I brought my kids to the preserve to hike and explore the ruins. I just altered the image in Photoshop to make it more airy and dreamy. I hoped to create an illustrated look to the forest and ruins, and add a sense of romanticism to the photo. I want you to wonder what was going to emerge from behind that wall! We just saw the Spiderwick Chronicles and I was a little inspired to tap that wonderful, innocent, child-like vision when walking in nature and the forest is overcome with the magic of the imagination.

HOLY CHIT, BATMAN!

2008-02-22T02:25:00.002-05:00

Chem-Geo Webcomic Promotional Chit, 2008

I made this promo chit for the new webcomic I set up at Webcomics Nation . We finally launched Chem-Geo into the comics stratosphere! Took a day, on and off, to figure it all out, but now we're at the starting gate. Hopefully we'll keep running each week. Check it out at: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/c-rogue/chemgeo/series.php. Now we still gotta link up to the original Assassin site. Sheesh... it never ends. Well, it's late and I'm all pooped out from writing and setting up the other site so I've got nothing good left to say here. Sorry. Will make up for it next time...

2008-02-19T11:07:00.002-05:00

Carmine Infantino

I attended the School of Visual Arts between 1990-1994 as a Cartooning/Illustration major and a minor in Art Education. I was lucky to be a student of Carmine Infantino's twice in my time there, as a sophmore and a senior, and learned solid fundamentals in cartooning and designing from this legendary artist, but most of all, integrity. He has taught many many aspiring cartoonists over the years, and I was merely one of thousands, I'm sure, but Carmine's impact on my life is profound. I just figured that this was a good time to pay tribute to one of my heroes.
Carmine helped my cartooning style to change and steered me away from being one of the flashy clones of everything Image... I'm not bashing them, but they ruled the day in the mid 90's and everyone looked like their cheap knockoffs, which were already cheap knockoffs of the masters (sorry, that was sort of bashing!). At the time, I really was not disciplined enough as a draftsman and as I look back now, really was coasting. Ever the slacker! Through Carmine's guidance, I began to step it up as he showed me what to look for in a solid design and how to storytell. He even gave me his personal collection of Mary Worth newspaper strips... yes, Mary Worth! But he was right! Those compositions and the inking style was top shelf! I learned a lot from them and still have them to this day. Hopefully, I'll be able to pass them off to someone who would appreciate them. Carmine reworked many of my layouts (and many early Kid Ego layouts), showing me much more efficient and effective designs and placement of blacks. Here's a few:

These two layouts were reworkings of an assignment Carmine gave us involving a sheriff and whatnot. Of course, my version included mutants and cyborg bounty hunters. I have a few more of Carmine's fantastic sketches, unfortunately none with signatures. But I know they're his. If you're not familiar with his artwork, here are two of his beautiful cover illustrations:

Detective Comics

The Flash

And here is a brief history of Carmine, I found somewhere online, I believe to be accurate:

"In his unprecedented 60-year career, Carmine Infantino has practiced nearly every job that there is in the field of comics for a Who's Who list of publishers, but he will always be remembered as the personification of DC Comics' Silver Age.

Infantino helped to resurrect the dying comics industry in 1956, as the artist who launched the Silver Age with his co-creation The Flash, and he remains the best remembered Flash artist of all-time. In 1964, he became indispensable to the Batman legacy. He, with editor Julius Schwartz, saved the Caped Crusader's comics from impending cancellation with the New Look. Infantino also redesigned the Batmobile and, with Schwartz, created Batgirl - all of which had a significant impact on the Batman TV-show and movie of the mid-to-late 60s.

In 1971, Infantino became publisher and ultimately, president of DC Comics. Infantino's corporate moves included comic books of pulp characters, the Shadow and Tarzan, the socially relevant, Adams/O'Neil Green Lantern-Green Arrow series, Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga, the revival of Capt. Marvel, Superman: The Movie, the Superman vs. Spider-Man DC-Marvel crossover book, pay raises, royalties and the return of original art to artists."

The last time I saw Carmine was in 2002, and surprisingly he remembered me even with short hair- my hair was almost down to me ass in art school- and we took a picture with another of my former teachers, Irwin Hasen. Unfortunately, we didn't develop the film before Ken got on the plane and the film got f***'d up. Easy come, easy go.

Thanks for everything Carmine. Hope to run into you again and retake that picture!

LORD KHARGOTH SKETCH

2008-02-18T23:25:00.002-05:00

Lord Khargoth, pencil, 2005

Sorry, I didn't have time to color this sketch- been sick today and am cleaning and redesigning the basement this week. This is Khargoth. Khargoth is the big bad villain in Relics & Runes. He is Rhania's "Prince of Darkness." I've always seen him as your typical red devil such as Tim Curry's character, Darkness, in the movie, Legend, the Ozzfest mascot, or Satan from South Park (No, Saddam Hussein is not in the book! Though, he should meet the same fate as Adolf Hitler in Adam Sandler's Little Nicky... hint: it involves a big pinecone!). In any case, I decided to make our devil a pale blue-gray after looking at some Frazetta paintings. Let's say he comes from an icy, barren abyss and not a fiery Hell. Just wait 'til the end of the Doom's Eve series because Khargoth is going to kick serious ass!

ASSASSIN COMICS MERCH

2008-02-16T22:29:00.002-05:00

T-Shirt, 2002

Our t-shirts were made for the Pittsburgh Comicon and Boston Comic Expo in 2002. They sport the trademark assassin skull and the slogan, "Killer, Dude." plus the old website addy. It also had the Kid Ego grafitti logo on the front right pocket. They came in long sleeve and short sleeve and had silver print on black, dark blue, and forest green shirts. I felt like one of the members of Iron Maiden, who wear their own t-shirts onstage, wearing my own Assassin Comics tee at the con, but I had to advertise!

Bumper Sticker, 2002

Ditto for the bumper sticker about the slogan and website addy. I thought that this was a really cool designer adhesive that any respectable, moral citizen would NOT put on the back of their vehicle. And for those of you who would... Honor students beware!

UNRELEASED KE ZINE PIC

2008-02-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

KE ZINE '02, 2002/2008

Here's an unreleased Kid Ego image from the vault that was intended for one of the KE Zines. It was drawn and inked back in 2002, so once again I'm going in and adding color or value to these pieces to bring them to the present. What was cool about the zines was that it allowed me to try all of these different cartooning styles, as my interests constantly changed. My stylistic cycle is always shifting gears and it is all too evident in my work, especially if there's any period of time in between projects. Hopefully, this blog will help define what my visual style is. Range is good but I hope something original is coming out of it. I guess this is my own experiment in self-exploration.

2008-02-14T23:34:00.003-05:00

This year, the "Assassin Skull" was made into a balloon for promotional purposes for the Pittsburgh Comicon. They're cool. Too bad we never went to the con after being screwed by the printer, Transcontinental, causing us to miss it all together. Again, best saved for another tale.

This was my illustration for the Assassin Comics website before Dan created the one we are currently using. My version was more in line with our original site which was darker and less inviting looking. The site now is more professional and exciting and we are extremely happy with it. It's in desperate need of updating, but it looks great. The origin of the skull began as a photograph I shot and developed for a photography class I took at CUNY at Queens College in 2001. Then, it was painted by artist, Drigo Morin, from that photo-reference and used in the Assassin Comics ads in our early books. Later, I reinterpreted and rerendered the same skull to use a half dozen more times!

This is the Assassin ad used in our current book, Relics & Runes. The skull in this picture was shrunk down and I added a sword so that it more accurately depicted an assassin. The name Assassin Comics, could have been Ninja Assassin Comics but I figured the letter "N" would always be down in the middle of the pack and that "A" would be better being always up near the top of any list. In any case, assassin is a word that invokes fear, and fear is a memorable emotion. It's connotation is sharp and striking, skillful and evil, and thus unforgetable. You just can't forget our namesake! Then, we made an image to complement it, that burns right through you. It sounded good at the time, especially as a heavy metal art student! So, we decided to stick with the company name, because there is some history there. Unfortunately, not enough Americans appreciate history these days... everything is torn down and made new. I like things that have been around for a while.

This ad didn't make the cut. It looks like the skull is saying, "Hi there!" So, that's why I changed it to the previous ad above. It all started one late afternoon, with one skull and a camera. Then, it was used over and over again for a myriad of purposes.

That's it for now...

ASSASSIN COMICS NEGATIVE DESIGN

2008-02-14T00:52:00.002-05:00

Old Assassin Comics Stationary, 2000

This design was originally used on the Assassin Comics stationary and letterhead back when the company was established in 2000. The negative of the skulls was from the original photo shoot where the AC logo was born. Little did we know that what started off as a silly photo op would be the birth of the company's evil icon. My 4 year old was looking at this and some of the other images on the blog, and kept looking and asked, "Is he evil?" "Is that evil?" Note, the AC triumverate book titles are listed on it, plus the old website address. I always kinda liked this one- simple but mysterious, macabre, EVIL?

CHEM-GEO WEBCOMIC SNEAK PEEK!

2008-02-12T23:47:00.002-05:00

Chem-Geo Page 1, 2008

Here's a sneak peek at our new webcomic, Chem-Geo, featuring our favorite bad guy, Hackfleisch, whose image appears all over this site. It's unlettered, of course. That will be done tomorrow night, but you'll have to wait 'til our website is updated and the webcomic section is up and running to find out what he's saying! You can go back in the archives to compare the colored version with the uncolored version and even Ken's City of Heroes interpretation.

In any case, I have been working...

ASSASSIN COMICS MASCOT

2008-02-12T17:23:00.002-05:00

The Assassin, 2001/2008

Iron Maiden has Eddie. Megadeth has Rattlehead. Assassin Comics has... actually we don't have a name for our mascot yet. This guy was originally drawn for what would have been our first webcomic back in 2001. The strip was meant to fill our website each week with symphonic bloody murders while we worked on Kid Ego and Chem-Geo. Well, that never happened. But there's always tomorrow! Nothing too original- more heavy metal/horror cliches, but cool nonetheless. Besides, you don't know what he's hiding beneath that cloak! And still... no werewolf or dragon shit!

KID EGO PRIME- 1994

2008-02-10T02:04:00.002-05:00

Kid Ego Prime, pen & ink, zip-o-tone, 1994

I believe this to be the first piece of Kid Ego art that started the whole comic shebang. I had drawn Ego many times in character sketches, from my old college Cyberpunk RPG days. So, the character was originated at SVA and I think about my friends, Pete and Drigo, who were there when this character was first created and the seed for the whole Kid Ego epic was planted. I was taking master comic book illustrator, Carmine Infantino's course at the time, and was looking at a lot of Jack Kirby, Art Adams, Tim Truman, Tim Bradstreet, Brian Bolland, Matt Wagner, Simon Bisley, James O'Barr, and definitely Guy Davis for this comic. I was so influenced by Davis' Bakerstreet, Truman's Scout and Dragon Chiang, and the 2000 AD books, Judge Dredd, ABC Warriors, and Slaine. Also at that time, the movies, Bladerunner, all 3 Mad Max movies, The Terminator I and II, Total Recall, The Warriors, The Crow, A Clockwork Orange, Romper Stomper, Crossroads, The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Once Were Warriors, Blood of Heroes, Johnny Mnemonic, Nemesis, and Robocop I and II, were hugely influential. That's just off the top of my head. Anyways, this pin up was greatly inspired by all of these works, but I blatantly ripped off Kirby for this drawing and took his warring monsters on the battlefield and made them into fighting punks in the club.

Back in 1994, my cartooning mentor, Carmine, though he wouldn't remember my name nowadays; he wasn't so good remembering names back then! If he saw me- face, yes; name, no. Actually, he said my stuff looked like Kirby's and another time said "as good as that guy," referring to an Art Adams book I was showing him (Creature from the Black Lagoon). Obviously, both statements so untrue! But encouraging none the less. Hell, the great Carmine created the modern look of the Flash (back in the Silver Age of Comics) and influenced and had control of all of those DC books, as DC Comics Art Director, so any way you slice it ya' can't take what he says too lightly! So if Carmine said I was like Kirby and Adams, I'll take it. Maybe I do have their kind of abilities... about as much talent that they have in their pinky fingers, for sure, but greatness none the less!

Back to the art... I used lots of FW black india ink, zip-o-tone, and a toothbrush (as a ghetto airbrush) with some Pelican artist's white. I called it Kid Ego Prime because it was the first serious KE art. Well, our boy has come a long way since this pic. Let's just hope I can get this thing back on track and keep it rolling so I can achieve my personal goal of releasing 100 Kid Ego installments, in any medium, before I lay me down to sleep.

PORTRAIT OF AN ANGRY WOMAN

2008-02-09T21:01:00.001-05:00

Portrait of an Angry Woman, watercolors on primed paper, 1997

I was looking at a lot of celebrated artist, Burt Silverman, when I painted this picture almost 11 years ago. I love the look of the watercolor, a transparent medium, resisted against the primed paper, meant for an opaque medium like acrylics. I think I want to try this style of painting again. Silverman was a true master of his craft. I'm gonna go look him up right now.

PS- I'm not saying who this portrait is of! Let it be a mystery... my Mona Lisa!

FIRST RELICS FLYER

2008-02-08T20:53:00.002-05:00

Relics & Runes Flyer, Pittsburgh Comicon 2001

The birth of Relics & Runes... This flyer was made in the hotel room during the Pittsburgh Comicon 2001. Fortunately, my good friend and LoganEast Productions creator, Joe Williams, let us share a table with him during mine and Ken's first convention as creators. Joe, writer/artist of Kyaku, was the consumate professional and had a Kyaku sign, a LoganEast Productions banner, a laptop that showed a Flash animation of the book, CD's of his band, Sideshow, plus his 4 issues and zines. We had our book. That night, instead of hanging with Joe and his buddies, Ken and I went to Home Depot and bought PVC piping and constructed a frame and stand in the parking lot, then went back to the hotel and painted a 8'x4' Assassin Comics banner on canvas. No, we didn't get paint on the carpet! I think Joe and the boys thought Ken and I were being anti-social that night but it was something that needed to be done! Besides, Ookla the Mok wasn't playing tonight! The next day, we had a big bad banner that drew some attention and scored a little fanfare. You can't see in this picture, but we started the tradition of hanging the banner from the frame with orange jumper cables because we didn't have anything else. We forgot to buy the duct tape!

Pittsburgh 2001

OK, back to the flyer... as we were peddling Kid Ego, our table was situated across from Jim Balent's and next to Jinky Coranado's, who both used sexy costumed women to help sell their books. Well, Balent had some freakish vampire chick and that girl in the purple cat suit and Jinky dressed in character, Bonzai Girl, and had some weird guy in a ninja suit sneaking around. So we were joking saying that we would sell more books if we had a cute girl luring in the freaks and geeks. We were planning a fantasy, sword & sorcery book and decided to work on Relics as our next project. The next night we did hang with the boys, but also created this flyer to promote the upcoming title. It was also drawn up in the hotel room and was penciled and inked and hand-lettered. We put the flyers out and people seemed really interested. One guy looked over Kid Ego and then saw the Relics promo and said, "When is this book coming out?!" So, fast-forward six years, and yadda yadda yadda Relics & Runes #1 finally comes out. The drawing of Fawn the faerie is included in the back of the book in Rogue's Gallery and has the new logo on top. And then for the blog, I colored the flyer just for you. I think that's how the story went... and we're still looking for a cute girl to dress up as a faerie and sell comic books to sweaty fat guys.

VENETIAN SHORES

2008-02-05T15:48:00.001-05:00

Venetian Shores, digital photography, 2004/2008

I took this picture, three years ago, with my oldest daughter when we were testing wind velocity at different Long Island beaches and parks for her science fair project. She won an award that year. My daughter was actually in the photo, but I Photoshopped her out (don't look at me like that... I still have the original), then played with the colors and saturation, and added some grain to it to give it a sense of nostalgia. I wanted that Wonder Years feel to it.

FIERY YIN YANG TAT

2008-02-05T03:23:00.001-05:00

Allan's gun

My good friend, Allan, didn't give me much time to design this tattoo- just the burning yin yang, the dragon was created by a real tattoo artist and was added just a few years ago. The one I designed was at a tattoo party, maybe 10-12 years back, and all of a sudden, he's like, "Dude, draw me a tattoo."

I'm like, "Now?"

He says, "Yeah."

"Of what?"

"Anything... how about a yin yang symbol... on fire!"

"OK..."
That may not have been the exact diaolgue, but it was probably close. I think it was Allan's third tat at the time, and I drew it in about 5-10 minutes on a piece of computer paper. Next thing you know it was on his arm! Over the years, I also drew the Eye of Ra, the skeletal crow (from The Crow II movie), and a band of heiroglyphics for him, that now adorn his body. I don't have pictures of those. It is definitely, definitely an honor to have someone put one, not to mention 4, of your drawings on their body. I am honored every time he has asked me. As for myself, I keep designing what my tat will look like, but I can't capture exactly what I want, which keeps changing. I may never ever commit to a drawing for myself. I guess I am my own worst critic and I'm just not as ballsy and spontaneous as my buddy, Allan.

2008-02-03T23:04:00.003-05:00

Red Heart T-shirt Design, Photoshop, 2004

Sorry, not much today... busy watching the Giants become Super Bowl champions! Here's an idea for t-shirts and promo cards I made for an art show in 2004. I never used it, but thought it was cool. I also made versions in blue and black as well. I'll save them for the next time I'm stuck for artwork! Thanks for the quote, Schumann, whoever you are!

More tomorrow...

SATHERON QUEL

2008-02-03T05:06:00.002-05:00

Satheron Quel 1995/2008

Satheron Quel is one of the heroes from our fantasy series, Relics & Runes: Doom's Eve, and is one of writer Ken Hydrick's greatest characters. He's been carrying this guy around for a long time. Ken really took the "elf with bow" cliche and created a really intense, original character that is psychologically complex and emotionally deep. As the series goes on, more of his history will be revealed. One day he will need his own title. Anyways, this image was drawn and inked back in 1995 when I was schlepping the old portfolio. I remember Charles Vess being a little critical of his anatomy. Mike Mignola and Geof Darrow said they liked it. They were all sitting together. I think Mike and Geof were being nice- Charles actually spent some time looking at it and spoke honestly, giving me some good advice. That was the only time I have met any of them and I think of that encounter every time I look at this illustration. So, I decided to color it and include it here. I was definitely influenced by Robert Gould and his Elric illustrations when I drew this one. My other renditions of Satheron don't normally look like this.

UNTITLED LANDSCAPE

2008-02-01T21:14:00.001-05:00

Untitled Landscape, pencil & Photoshop, 2008

This piece originated as a landscape drawn in pencil, then colored in Photoshop. See in it what you will. I think it changes a little each time you look at it. I always remembered looking at nature, and seeing patterns and forms, and finding different organic images captured within them. Then, it would be hard for me to see it in its original state. Again, the less I reveal, the more you may see. I'll stop talking now.

THE LUCKY STIFF (pp 6-9)

2008-01-31T02:44:00.002-05:00

SCROLL DOWN AND LOOK AT PAGES 1-5 FIRST!!!

Here are pages 6-9 of The Lucky Stiff, created in 2002. The ceative staff is the same as Kid Ego, with the roles reversed- Edowyn penciling and me inking over him. Seeing this story, all these years later, it is a neat transition from when Ed started to his current artwork, which has evolved a lot. Ed first created a teaser for a story called Starter 69 that first appeared in Kid Ego #2. It was later retitled Roads End when Ed printed it as a zine under his A Perfect Empire Comix label. Ed is most famous for his scratchboard comic art.

Go to http://edowynvazkez.blogspot.com/ and http://www.edowynvazkez.com/ to view more of Ed's work.

THE LUCKY STIFF (pp 1-5)

2008-01-31T02:21:00.002-05:00

This is the first time The Lucky Stiff has been released anywhere! The short story was created for Rick Olney's horror anthology, Blood Harvest. It was to be published by Rick's label, Tightlip Entertainment way back in, I believe 2003, but as far as I know has not been printed. Let's not go there... I'm Switzerland. So here it is in all its zip-o-tone glory! Story, inks, and lettering were done by me and pencils by Edowyn Vazkez. The main character, Paul Bear, was a hapless guy who was killed by some local mobsters and awakens from the dead and extracts his revenge. As his day progresses he meets the "light of his life," or shall we say "dark of his death!" Ha, get it? Well this is the horrible type of humor that fills the story. The humor was meant to be so horribly bad and campy that it was good.

Here's pages 1-5. Enjoy.

CELL PHONES & MICROWAVES

2008-01-29T18:51:00.001-05:00

Cell Phones & Microwaves, digital, 2004

Cell Phones & Microwaves is another digital painting that was created at the same time as Dygital Foryst. Once again, all Photoshop. The image starts with a spontaneous mark-making process, then becomes deeper. I always want to have this push-pull, addition-subtraction thing going on, until the painting looks dense and layered. As many artists have done before me, I try to use my knowledge of the Principles of Art & Design, then throw them away and create with a sense of child-like sincerity. I think once that is captured, I go back and polish things up by attempting to make things look "good" again. If I'm successful, it's because I had the balls to leave it. When I do too much, or think too much, that's usually when it becomes unsuccessful. The text is comprised of selected lines from poems that I wrote- I'm not even sure which, I would have to go searching through them all to find out. The words are meant to fade in and out of the viewer's consciousness, so they should be difficult if not impossible to read... but go ahead and fill in the blanks!

KID EGO SKETCHES FROM THE BEGINNING (1995-2001)

2008-01-28T20:26:00.002-05:00

This was one of the first sketches I drew of Kid way back in 1995 or so. He began as a combination of all of the things I was into (and still am) and looked the way I saw myself (in my dreams at least). He is too innocent-looking in this sketch for the story. He didn't look like the product of his harsh surroundings. But the legendary animator Ralph Bakshi liked it.

Before I made Kid Ego the protagonist, I created a character named Hiro, a decade before the tv series, Heroes, premiered. Another good idea not acted on and carried out by someone else, who made millions! My Hiro wasn't a nerdy Japanese guy who could stop time. Mine was a dude with a big green mohawk armed with a fancy laser gun, who lived on a world populated by numerous alien species like Star Wars. But the premise of the unlikely hero and his impossible transformation into the messiah was set. Enter Kid Ego!

Well, Bakshi saw a portfolio of my comic book drawings that included the above Kid Ego sketch, the Hiro sketch, and those alien character designs on an interview I had with him back in 1995. He was looking for a background painter and I didn't really understand what that job entailed at the time. My stuff was not slick enough to do BGs in animation. But he did say, "You could work in comics tomorrow" which contradicted one of my personal heroes and SVA professor, Walt Simonson who told me, "You probably won't ever work in comics." I know it sounds harsh, but I really was a big fat slacker (actually I was thin, built like Kid Ego!) back then. I definitely deserved it and have since forgiven him. Ha! Like he needs MY forgiveness! Anyways, Bakshi hired me as an "in-between" artist who fills in the range of motion in-between the two points where the "actual animator" draws say, an arm. A month later, Bakshi's project lost its funding and I never had the opportunity to work in his studio.

Brad Samuelson, 2001

Wow, that was some tangent! This sketch of Kid was drawn by Brad Samuelson of Suns of Sam and Saddletramp back in 2001. We traded drawings back when we were both starting off. Ken and I first met the Samuelsons at the Pittsburgh Comicon that same year. I always love seeing other artists' interpretations of our characters. So feel free to send!

TOTEM SHIELD

2008-01-27T22:44:00.001-05:00

Totem Shield (detail), oils on wood, 2000

This painting was created during a painting class I took at CUNY at Queens College and was displayed in the showcase there for the summer and fall semesters. I later exhibited it at the All.Terrain show at Munchaba Lounge in Levittown, NY in 2004. It also has a sister painting entitled Elusiveness, that I also exhibited at Queens and All.Terrain. I don't want to say too much about it because in an abstract, I would rather not deprive the viewer of their personal interpretation of it. I would hope that it is universal yet individual. All thoughts or non-thoughts are valid. And each visual experience is unique.

UNRELEASED COVERS- THE MUTANT CHILDREN...

2008-01-26T16:14:00.002-05:00

Many pieces never see print. Like mutant children, hidden and forgotten about under stairways, they never get to go to the ball. I'm just kidding, I don't know any mutant children... and that's my point! Well, now you have the keys to the vault! Here are my mutant children!

Mutant Child #1- This cover illustration was created sometime around 2002-03, back when Kid Ego #3 was going to be a graphic novel entitled, Digital Death Premonitions. It is actually a digital manipulation of a painting by artist, Drigo Morin, that he painted of our Hooded Assassin mascot for an Assassin Comics ad. I was looking at a lot of Ashley Wood's work, which I find to be just amazing- dark, smoky, and depending on the content, horrific. I loved his process for creating these images by drawing, painting, scanning, printing them out, painting over them, re-scanning, etc. Awesome. Well, I was just getting into using Photoshop with my comic work and began playing around with some existing imagery and came up with the above and below images for a story where Kid dreams of his death. The top image won out over the image below. But, since we are once again moving Kid Ego in a different direction, this one probably won't ever make it past this website.

Mutant Child #2- I don't think this cover was without merit. I liked it, but it just wasn't right for Kid Ego. I had the skull facing right to left to try and make him seem more disturbing. It's a classic cinematic trick, where the villain first walks into a scene, right to left, which should seem off to those of us (in the western world) who read left to right. This illustration just wasn't sci-fi or cyberpunk enough, or at all. Unfortunately, this guy was really buried on the depth chart.

Mutant Child #3- I submitted this cover to Rick Olney at Tightlip Entertainment, who loved it. He chose it for the cover of his horror comic anthology, Blood Harvest, for which we created a story. It was called The Lucky Stiff and was a comedy about a zombie who picks up another zombie. It was full of awful undead jokes and was meant to be over-the-top bad, yet cleverly good. Anyways, Rick had, and probably still does have, every intent on printing this thing but "outlook looks unlikely." One of these days, The Lucky Stiff will be posted here or on the Assassin site.

OK, kiddies... back in the closet!

DYGITAL FORYST

2008-01-25T23:38:00.002-05:00

Dygital Foryst, digital, 2004

Three years ago, I was doing a lot more painting and was looking at a lot of abstract expressionism. Artists like Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock, Hans Hoffman, Willem deKooning, and Lee Krasner. I was forcing myself to be looser and more honest with myself and my artwork. It's hard to harbor an idea or achieve a goal through a work of art when attempting to keep an empty mind and throw out convention. Trying to be inventive and intuitive, yet demonstrative of your prowess. You gotta show off your drawing and painting chops! Right? Well, it takes balls to lay your stuff out there, elements that are blunt and non-representational of your technical skill and more about your intuition. One such paint stroke, placed in the right areas, speaks volumes more than a well-rendered empty shell.

This piece was done entirely in Photoshop and was meant to depict the overwriting that constantly takes place between man's invention and nature.

2008-01-24T19:27:00.003-05:00

Assassin Comics was established in 2000, with its flagship book, Kid Ego. In truth, Assassin Comics was conceived years earlier, way back in high school, as Chris & Ken Comics, at least in my mind. We began with "Flair marker on oaktag" comics writing and drawing such classic team-ups such as "Moon Knight/Punisher" and "Iron Fist/Creeper." These pages were spontaneous, cartooning sessions where one guy would begin with a character, pencil a page and hand it off to the other to ink.

Original Assassin Comics logo, circa 1995-2000

These comics placed an emphasis on the speed in which we could spit them out and how cool a sequence we could make, always trying to "outcool" the other! We'd bring these large panels to school (when we were in school) and the art teacher would Xerox them at 64% for us. Having no idea how real comics were made, and after seeing how by reducing the original pages tightened everything up, we thought we were "the shit!" The other kids in Math class would say how great our books were with comments like, "They look just like real comics! I can't even tell the difference!" The pinnacle of the "Oaktag ERA" gave birth to the original Relics & Runes which was essentially a ripoff of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and Guy Davis' first comic, The Realm. It starred ourselves as the displaced heroes, along with our buddy, Rob, as a wizard. And no, these atrocious comics will NEVER be posted here!

Alternate Assassin Comics logo, circa 1996

I graduated SVA's Cartooning/Illustration department in 1994 and soon began shopping Kid Ego around local cons looking for a publisher. My illustrious list of mentors included artists, Carmine Infantino, Klaus Janson, Walt Simonson, Irwin Hasen, and writer, John Ostrander. I also had Denny O'Neill for half a year, but he mainly just talked gossip (at the fanboy students' requests... ugh). Sorry for the name dropping but my experiences with those comic greats remain extremely important to me. Well, it happened rather quickly, after schlepping the portfolio around the 1995 NY Comicon, at the Jacob Javitz Center, I got a call from the editor of Millennium Publications, Paul Davis, who signed me on for three years (March 1995-97), with designs on publishing Kid Ego under their new creator-owned imprint, eX-pand. Well, that was a clusterf*** and a story for another time. Maybe I should have followed through with Barry Blair's offer (Elflord)... So Kid Ego #1 was stuck in limbo for four years (it took a year to get back) and wouldn't see print for another three after that. In the meantime, short Kid Ego stories were sporadically collected into DIY zines simply titled, KE Zines, that included top ten lists, photography, and poetry. These have all been burned and will also NEVER be seen again!

The first Assassin Comics website logo, circa 2001-2003

Kid Ego #1R (the Renegade Edition!) was published in January 2001 and consisted of the original art and story that was written right after college and pencilled for Millennium. It was crude and rebellious- and in protest of the "pinup, panel-paged, no story, Image style" that was so popular. Of course, I was going to do the exact opposite and create many small, frantic boxes with tons of dialogue! One critique said it looked like "a dictionary exploded onto the page." But I was stubborn and determined to print it as it was originally intended, four years ago (warts and all!), even though I had moved on from there. I recruited an up and coming artist, Edowyn Vazkez, as an inker and I picked up the lettering chores. In 2000, Ken and I formed Assassin Comics with a couple of buddies. At the same time I forged A2K Media, for my freelance non-comic artwork. Two issues of KE were released in 2001. The first Assassin Comics website was created by my brother, Jon, and was a lot darker and seemingly cult-like than the current site. It was entirely draped in black with our famous hooded skull behind it! It was damn scary looking and we were brutally honest on it. Kid Ego was never picked up by a distributor, but found its way into comic shops across Long Island, NYC, Florida, and California, as well as Germany, Ghana, and Japan.

The second Assassin Comics website logo, circa 2005-present

During our little hiatus between publishing our own books, we contributed to two Potlatch anthologies (Angry Dog Press), and Blood Harvest (Tightlip Entertainment), a horror anthology. After having our first domain name held hostage, we made a new website (with a damn hyphen!), created by Ken's friend, Dan. Dan put together a Hell of a site and we couldn't be happier with it. It's scary in its own right and more polished and professional looking- though I still miss the brutallity and "punkness" of the first one. We picked up newcomer, Boston Jorge Garcia, at the Boston Comic Expo and had him inking odd assignments, including the first Chem-Geo story arc, which was collected into a zine. Boston was called upon to ink Relics & Runes: Doom's Eve which was printed April 2007. Just prior to printing the book, we incorporated A2K Media, INC., making Assassin Comics its primary label.

New Assassin Comics (AC/DC font) logo, circa 2007

Moving into the "Digital Age" (a far cry from the "Oaktag Age"), we decided to create our stories as webcomics first, with the intention of collecting them into books, hopefully building a following along the way. We are currently creating Chem-Geo and Kid Ego for the web and are shopping Relics & Runes: Doom's Eve, as we speak.

I truly appreciate your support in this little island called, Escapism, and hope you are enjoying my art and stories as well! More to come...

HACKFLEICSH!

2008-01-23T23:13:00.002-05:00

Some things are just fun to draw. Hackfleisch is one of them. This little diddy is the first page from our new weekly superhero webcomic, Chem-Geo, written by Ken Hydrick with art by me. We will debut this sucker real soon. Right now, it's just the inks. It will be colored in Photoshop and lettered soon enough. This big molten maniac calls himself Hackfleisch and is one of my favorite characters, in Ken's psychotic stable, to bring to life. HF has been kicking around for a long time now and finally I get to draw him wreaking havoc on the heroes from Chem-Geo. Both Ken and I must have A.D.D., working on 3 projects at once! Can't help jumping around... but we should have a few finished products throughout 2008.

This is a screenshot of Ken's rendition of Hackfleisch from the online RPG City of Heroes. Ken is cultivating quite a loyal following by playing his characters in the City of Heroes game. Some of them look really close to the actual designs. Others look better, and I try and incorporate some of that detail into the comic illustrations. Nice to have a built-in fan base when it comes down to printing the books.

In this screenshot, Hackfleisch is thumping some poor, unfortunate shmuck. Looks like a mismatch! Unless the dude's power is to imitate a punching bag... I think his jaw just got broke! Where's "Big John McCarthy" to put an end to this beating? I guess this is how Ken gets his kicks... Look for the new superhero webcomic, CHEM-GEO, on the Assassin Comics website coming very soon!!!

Thanks for reading my blog and perusing my cartoons! I'm really trying to stay artistically active and do some kind of drawing every day. More is on the way!

MISS PIGGY... WHEN ANIMALS ATTACK!

2008-01-22T20:11:00.002-05:00

This is a sketch I made for my daughter. She had to do a project on a fictional character and his or her disorders and social issues. She chose Miss Piggy and researched her history and diagnosed her to be impulsive, overweight, and overly dramatic. Piggy was emotionally distressed and needed anger management, a good therapist, and an even better diet. All of these issues may have stemmed from trauma in her early childhood caused by her mother being run over and killed by a plow. So move over Britney, Paris, and Lindsay... here comes Piggy with a drink and a ham sammich. She's not just white trash... she's the other white meat!

CATCHING UP WITH KID EGO

2008-01-22T00:48:00.002-05:00

This image was created for the KID EGO: BLUES FOR THE END OF YOUR WORLD ad, in late 2oo6.

Kid Ego has been gone for so long, I'm taking the opportunity to catch you all up with the future of the title as well as the brief little known history. Where many indie and underground bands find fame and a following in Europe and Japan, we had small followings in Germany and Ghana! With very little promotion, people have found us from Italy, Peru, and Turkey... yet oddly enough the states have been suspiciously quiet. Soon enough, that will all change! Sure as Namath, I guarantee that there will be a Kid Ego movie, one day! Mark my words!

Here is a picture of my good buddy, Greg (middle), who spent two years in Ghana with the Peace Corps. He alone was responsible for our African following, spreading Kid Ego around the bush like Johnny Appleseed across America. Greg said that before this picture was taken, he had to turn one of the guy's book around because he was holding it upside-down.

I guess, the Ghanians liked the book, because after Greg gave away all he had, they tried to get at his copy to which Greg exclaimed, "Get your own damn book!"

KID EGO #3 ART

2008-01-21T08:52:00.002-05:00

These two pages were originally created for the long awaited Kid Ego #3. They won't be leaving the vault because we are changing things once again. But they have been sitting here for years and I kind of still like them. The first two issues actually came out in 2001, then got shelved for other projects. The title has gone on behind the scenes for years but has been reworked and redesigned numerous times and has most recently evolved into an upcoming webcomic, which is intended to be collected into a bookshelf format. Ken Hydrick will be coming on board to write the script for the ultimate, definitive story of Kid Ego and his legacy. The original KE#3 has been retitled, Ego and the Virtual Shamen.

For those not familiar with the comic, it is the future story of a young outlaw musician and his improbable transformation into either the messiah or the anti-christ for his doomed world, set to be obliterated by a comet. Regarding the story, KE was always meant to be a really cool and intelligent rendition of really cool, bad B movies and sci-fi movies. I tried to create really intense and dramatic scenes and tie them all together into a downward spiraling future. The doomed existence was a character unto itself, dragging the plot with it. Kid will go through many changes on his way to meeting his fate. We will be releasing stuff really soon! You gotta see what Ken is writing!

2008-01-20T00:59:00.003-05:00

Back in 2005, I met Ron, the guitarist from a local band called Bury The Seven, at Looney Tunes, a local music store, while waiting on line to meet legendary guitarist, Zakk Wylde, with my friend Rob and his buddy, Jimmy, from Long Island sludge metal band, Borgo Pass http://www.borgopass.com/. I had drawn an illustration for Zakk depicting him and his buddy, slain guitar legend, Dime. We waited in line for hours and that was a story in itself. But while we were waiting, people were admiring the work and I got a few job offers, one from a tall long-haired dork, Ron the Powerwasher (that was his dayjob). BT7 considered themselves "black metal" which was darker and more evil than any other kind of metal on Earth and they tried to explain that to me during one of our meetings. They were commissioning me to design and create the logo, cover, and liner notes for their upcoming CD, Immortal Epitaph.

They rented a small rehearsal space in an industrial park in Brentwood and they played some of their new material for me on a cheesy boom box so I could get a vibe for the artwork. What was I supposed to do other than nod my head and say, "Cool." Hey, I wanted the gig. The singer and drummer were alright. They were all nice guys- delusional- but nice. They each had their own ideas about what the cover should look like. Ron was the biggest poseur conjuring up images of metal plated guitars and Hellish looking shovels (Bury the Seven, get it?). He wanted werewolves and dragons to which the other bandmates immediately shot down, "No werewolf and dragon shit!" They would all shoot me looks and shake their heads every time he brought that shit back up. It was funny hangin' with those guys, basically laughing at Ron's horrible metal cliches. We met a few times and they were digging the sketches. I made the adjustments that they asked for and began rendering everything in Photoshop. I met my deadline and all of a sudden, they disappeared, didn't return any calls, and apparently broke up. The bass player was leaving anyway.

So here's the artwork, finally seeing the light of day, even though their band was draped in perpetual night. There are no days when it comes to black metal!

This version of the Bury The Seven: Immortal Epitaph CD cover featured a photograph by my wife, because it looked creepy like there was something possibly buried along this decaying fence. Simple and to the point.

This version was their fallback option. They kept changing their minds and weren't sure how the other cover images were going to turn out so they asked for the seven scratches. I actually kind of like it. K.I.S.S. Actually a good idea.

I thought this was like a throwback horror movie poster from like the 50's or 60's. Didn't think anyone was going to go for it but you need some throwaways.

This was the original idea and my favorite rendition. It was based on one of Salvador Dali's optical illusions, made demonic. At first glance you should see two wretched demons tortured and imprisoned in some sort of Purgatory or whatever. Another demon is writing an epitaph in the sand (part of one of the lyrics). Look again and you should see the heads of a male and a female demon (blue flames) about to kiss. Or a sailboat. Either one. Joe the singer, the most intelligent one of the bunch, really liked this idea. Ron the guitarist was still stuck on a demonic shovel with chains flying out of where the ass should be!These are the different color schemes for the BT7 logo. Even though they picked it, I guess it didn't kick enough ass.

Here are the liner notes minus the band members' pictures. I was going for a Jack the Ripper sort of feel.

The following are the notes I took from my discussions with the band that I printed on their invoice. Comical but I swear every word of it is true!

Notes:
"Dark, brooding, bold, black, psychological, surreal, aggressive, demonic, metal fragments, chains, leather, bodies, evil connotation… but CLASSY!"

"No werewolf or dragon shit. Smoke is good! Emphasis on sick-ass logo."

Well that narrowed it down...

They were supposedly getting their big break, yet their bass player was quitting. Ultimately, they bailed on me and I never got paid for this job. But I guess the work is worth the story! BT7 can be immortalized like the fools in the Canterbury Tales, even though they're broken up. You can't make this stuff up!

RELICS & RUNES: DOOM'S EVE ARTWORK

2008-01-19T13:47:00.002-05:00

This is a collage of various images from our new fantasy comic book series, RELICS & RUNES: DOOM'S EVE, put together for the promo card. It features our heroines, Julia McKennitt and Fawn (the faerie).

Here is the cover for RELICS & RUNES: DOOM'S EVE. Fey warriors, Satheron and Fawn, grace issue one's cover. Pencils and inks were done by the legendary Rudy Nebres! I just tried to do him justice with the colors. Rudy has been a hero of ours for a long time and it was an honor to have him contribute to our title. Relics is a classic fantasy tale with elves and faeries and such and was written by the talented Ken Hydrick, illustrated by yours truly, and inked by Boston Jorge Garcia. Relics is on sale now from the website or you can e-mail me.

2008-01-19T09:43:00.003-05:00

Above, is a logo I made for my friend's kid's travel baseball team. My main objective was to not make it look like a chicken on 'roids. I think I accomplished that.

Below, is a character I made for my wife's eBay store, Bargain Hunting at Loki's. Those floppy horn things I stole from the Marvel version of the Norse god of deceit and trickery. This is a good name for a place of commerce! My wife just likes his name! I figured by making him little and rascally, it would be cute and still be in line with his mythological namesake. But check the eBay store out- she sells lots of toys, books, and collectibles, especially Barbies! http://stores.ebay.com/Bargain-Hunting-at-Lokis

CHEM-GEO PROMO ART

2008-01-15T03:13:00.002-05:00

Here are two images for the upcoming webcomic, Chem-Geo. The first was done recently for the new webcomic and the second was the cover from the zine. Ken Hydrick is the writer for both.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG!

2008-01-12T14:00:00.002-05:00

The birthdate of my blog.