It's kinda funny...

Yesterday Stan Lee presents: The Condor was on Toonami (and released on DVD 3/20) and I've been following along some of the message boards discussing it with amusement - okay, not really discussing it so much as slamming it.

I'm the first one to admit it's not a great film by any means and it suffers from several problems - mainly the small budget and short production schedule, but what I find really amusing is the slant some of these critics take on how some of the characters might be negative stereotyopes. What's really funny is these same critics don't recognize the fact that we also broke several stereotypes. The lead character's parents (both Latino) are wealthy owners of a bio-robotics laboratory and they are both smart and sophisticated as is his best friend Sammi (also a Latina). Yeah, I know, Sammi's another type of cliche - she's the typical girl that he should be with, but is too stupid to notice. I agree that some of the other Latinos are stereotypes, but for Southern California they aren't so much stereotypes as actual people you could meet on the street. Since we felt they were balanced out by Tony, his parents and Sammi it sure didn't feel like we were picking on the Latino community.

And actually one of the more intreresting things about this show is that any Latino that has seen it (that I've heard from) actually likes what we did. As ShadowGUN stated on one of the forums discussing Condor.

One of the other stereotypes that is often pointed out in these 'critiques' is Valeria being a sexy Asian. I never realized that this was a negative stereotype, but I doubt it'll offend too many Asians -especially since in the story she much more than eye candy and is the owner of a sports publication and turns out to be more than all that by the end of the film (I won't ruin it for anyone who still might want to buy the DVD). Her grandfather makes an appearance at the end of the film and he does seem to be more in the Fu-Manchu mode of stereotype, but since the implication is he's part of a bigger plot and organization we felt it worked for what we wanted. Frankly, he isn't anymore of a stereotype than the grandfather and many other characters in the Jackie Chan cartoon - maybe less.

The other complaint by many is the stereotypical voice acting and how there are doubts that many of them weren't even Latino. Due to the limited budget we originally went to Vanmcouver, BC to do our voice recording and to be honest there isn't a huge latino acting community up there, but wherever possible we did use Latinos to create these voices - though many of their names are not typical Latino.

I'm not trying to imply this is the Citizen Kane of animated superhero films - far from it, but I think it's no worse than many of the other current crop and better than some. And if you're interested enough in still seeing it (shameless plug) you can click on the button over to the right...

Anyway, I think I've defended this enough -- how about a couple of attitude and expression sheets from Stan Lee presents: The Condor (I created these expression and attitude sheets though the original designs for these characters came from Dan Haskett)....

...and if these aren't interesting enough for you...here's a Lara Croft I did sometime ago (I don't think I ever showed it here or anywhere before)...

Busy, busy, busy...

Yep, I've been mighty busy lately - but why should you suffer, right? So even if I don't have something new to add (mainly because most of my waking hours are actually made up of things that I can't publicly discuss) I will try to at least post a pic or two. Like this commission I finished awhile ago of the Goblin Queen....

and this one I did for a warm up for the Spiderman 3 books for Haper Collins which are available for pre-oerder at Amazon - just use the links to the right.

I also wanted to let everyone know that the Direct-to-DVD I directed last year, Stan Lee presents The Condor, will be airing March 24th on Cartoon Network and available for pre-order now (once again the link is over there on the right).

Also one of the films I saw while a member of the AMPAS Feature Animation nomination committee was Paprika and I gave it extremely high marks and though it didn't make the cut for the final three you now have a chance to see this really great film made by Madhouse in Japan. The most unique thing about this film is that my wife, who usually can't sit through anime, really enjoyed this particular film.

here'a a link to the trailer...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/paprika/trailer/

More from storage...

It's been a couple of busy weeks and I've had little time to post as I planned. I started a new job as one of the directors for Marvel's Wolverine and the X-Men working with my friend Boyd Kirkland who is the new producer of this series. Before you ask this is in no way a continuity with X-Men: Evolution and I will NOT be doing the character designs for this show. But I am doing design work for one of the next Marvel direct-to-videos that I cannot reveal the name of because it hasn't been announced yet. So needless to say I'm pretty busy these days.

I'm also still working at trying to get funding for that special project I mentioned in earlier posts (or alluded to since I really didn't give any specifics about it).

Anyway it seems appropo to continue discussing my work with Ralph Bakshi right after my rant about mo-cap and it's relative merrits. Especially since his use of rotoscope and roto-photo seemed to garner the same nasty reaction from the animation community as the recent use of motion capture seems to be getting. Especailly since I found a lot of this stuff in storage recently. I'll skip over the "Hey, Good Lookin'" and the "American Pop" years for now - especially since I hadn't saved anything of value from those films - and skip right to "Fire and Ice".

In Lord of the Rings the rule was to slavishly follow the live-action except for the animation of the faces which were obviously more broadly designed (by Dale Baer) then the live actors. Then on American Pop the rule was to follow the live-action EVEN in the faces which were mostly designed to look almost exactly like the live-actors (by Louise Zingarelli). I can only recall one design that was a little broader than the actor and this was certainly the exception. I often caught flak during AP because I would often push the acting, but that's another story.

On Fire and Ice we given the freedom to use the roto-scope in a more traditional approach (i.e.: like Dsiney) and change timing, play with poses and only use what worked from the live -action as well as having to create better acting than we were given by the live actors.

These are examples of how we had to change faces and proportions of the live action...(yes, that's Ralph standing in the background behind Darkwolf).

These are some of the construction sheets created to show the animators how to alter the actor into Larn.

A Brewing Controversy...

My next post was actually going to discuss more of my past work for Bakshi, but I guess in a way it does sort of connect to what I'm going to blog about instead.
I usually don't get into too much opinion on this blog (which surprises many that know how opinionated I can be) because I usually just use this as a place to connect with fans. But recently I've seen a lot of other bloggers and animation people arguing about the validity of the films that have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film.
Just to be clear those films are Cars, Happy Feet, and Monster House.
The cotroversy that I'm talking about (or everyone else is talking aboout) is whether Motion capture animated films should be considered animated films and be able to compete with a non-motion caoture film like Cars.
Originally there were going to be 5 noiminations, but due to the fact that there needs to be 16 qualified and submitted films and the 16th one this year was disquailfied due to not enough animation the amount of nominations dropped down to 3. This controversy may never have reared its head if there were 5 nominations because there would have been a good chance that the other two nominations would have been similiarly animated in the same manner as Cars.

I've already posted on a couple of Blogs comment sections (like the excellent Mayerson on Animation and the Animation Guild's Blog) so I'll crib from my responses on those to start.

As a voting member of the Academy I feel very determined that certain things shouldn't be accepted in many categories. Such as Andy Serkis being given a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Gollum - at least not without the animators getting honored as well - anymore than Paul Newman should be nomnated for Doc in Cars. In this case I wouldn't think of disqualifying either of these films anymore than I would a film that was completely rotoscoped and hand drawn (such as some of Bakshi's films or Bluth's last couple of films or large chunks of several Disney films). These 2 nominated films still needed animators to work on and as any animator can tell these 2 films weren't strictly motion-captured. Motion capture, when used properly (like both Monster House and Happy Feet - IMO), is just a tool more along the lines of rotoscope was for even Disney on Snow White and too many films since to list. Though if the film had absolutely no animators actually working on it (I don't know if Scanner Darkley falls into this category or not - though it did qualify for nomination according to the board) then in my opinion it probably shouldn't.
I tend to avoid the phrase "slippery slope", but this definitely qualifies as one in my opinion. If these films had been disqualified because they used motion capture as a tool (like rotoscope has been used since Snow White) than do we disqualify poorly animated films? or films animated by subcontracted overseas studios for a small budget? or films that use too much roto-scope? There might need to be a line drawn, but this isn't where it should be.

Well, that's my 2 cents. Next post I'll get more on track and show some Fire and Ice rotos and how we traced them and really didn't animate that film...

pay attention...

Don't ask questions...just mark your calenders and do what you need to do (you can also click the banner to find out more).

Something from the past...

Happy New Year everyone... a little late , but still well-intentioned.

Recently I needed to clean out some stuff from my storage unit (how many boxes of unused VHS videos does one person need to store?) and decided to also go through some of my old wprk boxes. I found some stuff that I think some of you might find interesting. At least I found it interesting.

Here's a Roto-scope frame from the first film I ever worked on - Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. If I recall right this scene was never used, but I thought it was a great shot that showed some of the main characters and the actors that mimed their parts. Just like in regular animation the voices were recorded by actors (including John Hurt as Aragorn) and then the 'roto-actors' would act/pantomime to the recorded voices that were played back for them. It sounds awkward, but worked remarkably well.

Underneath is a drawing I did myself many years ago of Aragorn, Boromir and Gandalf based on this roto. This was probably towards the end of production and I'd been animating (sort of) for awhile. It doesn't look too bad considering how little I knew at the time...

Happy Holidays...

...to those of you who have already enjoyed your holidays and to those that are about to.

Just a little update...

It's nice to hear all the positive reactions and interest in 'the project'. This time of year not much usually happens as far as decsions go so we're hoping that something will happen in January. In the meanwhile I thought I'd share another commssion. I assume everyone will recognize Power Girl.

I've never drawn her before and I knew very little about her except what I saw from Adam Hughes. My drawing is not nearly as good as any of his, but whose are. AH! is easily the best artist working in comics today. And it 's not for the obvious reasons...I love his faces

an update...

Well, a lot has happened this last week or so .... and hopefully a lot more will happen soon as you'll read down below.

For the last month I'd been testing for the position of Character Designer on the latest Marvel/Lionsgate direct-to-video. Normally I abhor testing - mainly for the reason that I've never received any actual work for taking a test. And, even though they finally decided to pay me for the final test, my record remains in tact. True to form I didn't get this particular job and, needless to say, my plan for the future is to stick to my guns and never take that type of test again - especially if it's unpaid. I could go on and on about how I feel about these types of tests, but I won't bore you with that...especially when I have something much more positive to talk about.

I mentioned earlier that I had optioned a book with the hope that I could get it financed for a feature animated film.....well, for the last 3 months my producing partner and I have been going around to various studios and pitching the project. Most of the pitches have been going very good and all the reactions have been positive, but nothing concrete had developed - yet.
Now I'm not the best pitcher in town (quite an understatement), but this project comes in with such a big name - the author's - that it virtually pitches itself. I've had my friend, Francesco Francavilla, do some beautiful presentation drawings and I've put together a description of how I want to handle the film and this is what we go in with. We also go in with a positive attitude and view the studio as a partner in our endeavor and not the enemy.
The reason why I bring this particular aspect up is because a thread on a forum I frequent was started by someone who was proud of his antagonistic attitude towards those that he was pitching to. If you're curious about reading about it a friend of mine discusses it on his BLOG - just scroll down to the topic "More Nonsense". He pretty much states my opinion and he has a link to the original forum if you're that interested. (Stay a bit and check out the rest of his blog while you're there - he's putting together a really unique film and it's an interesting read).

Anyway back to the update: last week we had a pitch with a studio that went even better than expected - it seems we have the type of film that they've been looking to produce. In the parlance of the biz "it was a slam dunk". Hopefully in a short amount of time we should hear more and I'll keep everyone up to date as much as possible - without jinxing it too much that is. We also have other studios that we're still talking to just in case...you never know.
So you can see why I'm not too broken up about losing the character design gig. That was actually just to keep me busy and my hand drawing - especially since for my project I intend on hiring others to do the design work.
I'll show you this one piece by Francesco just to whett your appetites a bit, but I doubt anyone will be able to guess what it is.


Clearly it's not your daddy's animated film....

A few more scenes...

Recently Boyd Kirkland gave me a CD full of art I did on X-Men:Evolution - it contained a lot of stuff I had some how lost before I was smart enough to back everything up. It had quite a few scenes of animation including scenes I'd animated of Kitty and Rogue dnacing from season 1 (our homage to Buffy) , some more dancing from "A Walk on the Wild Side" and a couple of walk cycles and even an FX test for Cyclops. All of which I've now added to the Animation section of my web-site.

Also a 'No-Prize' needs to be awarded to Blaze Rocket! Blaze Rocket's sharp eyes caught this image on The Ultimate Avengers DVD

and correctly identified the Alpha Team member third from the left on the top row (though my hair isn't quite that white - yet). Besides yours truly the team also includes Curt Geda (top left) and several other UA crew members.

Speaking of which, I also had a little fun with some of the photos in Bucky's house. This one was based on my parent's wedding photo - though the photo of Bucky with President Truman was based on a photo I found on-line.

Wonder Woman Day - Oct 29th

Recently I was asked to create an original piece of art for a charity auction in honor of Wonder Woman Day. It seemed like a very worthwhile cause (it supports shelters for battered women and children) so I did just that and I wanted to make sure everyone here took a moment to look at all the wonderful art created by some great artists. I'm humbled by being included in their comapany. You might want to even bid a few of them...


...And don't forget to also check out Romeo & Juliet:Sealed with a Kiss opening this weekend. Here's a list of the theaters.
If you can't make it to a theater then just go on-line and buy a ticket for Saturday ;)

Living the Dream...

I know I usually just talk about me and promote events in my life, but I thought it would be nice to stop staring in the mirror for awhile and talk about someone else for a while.
An old friend of mine, Phil Nibbelink, has done something most of us in the animation industry only dream about: making a feature film single handed! Can you imagine making a 78 minute film all on your own? I can't even fathom it.
The name of his film is Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. It's a retelling of the classic Shakespeare play using seals in an underwater setting. Not only has he completed this amazing feat, but it's being released Oct 27th! I know Bill Plymton (and probably others) have done this before, but I suspect that this might be the first time it is a more typical family film and not an 'art' film.
I met Phil way back when while I was at Disney's during the Black Cauldron (boy, is that ancient history) when he shared an office with Andreas Deja. He is mostly responsible for the great Gwythaint chase in that movie. That sequence still stands heads and shoulders above most animated action sequences in my opinion. I consider him not only a friend but to be one of the animators that have had an influence on my own growth as an animator. Unfortunately I don't have much call for animating these days, but I'm glad he's figured out how to keep doing what he loves.

He animated it all on Flash and painted the backgrounds with Painter and from what I can tell from the trailer it doesn't look like typical flash, but looks like normal 2D. He recorded the dialogue in his basement studio using himself, his children and friends for the voices. Hmmm...He never called me for a voice..oh, wait...I can't act...maybe that's why.

He drew around 112,000 drawings (mostly on ones) using a graphics tablet - except for when he used a program called Moho for some limited shots and crowd scenes.
I've known many animators over the years who have dreamed of doing this and some have even started the process, but I don't know many that have actually been able to see it through to the end and then manage to get it released to theaters.
I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to go to a theater and support this with the hope that this could happen again.
If you're so inclined also here's a list of theaters that it's going to play in.
And here's the web-site for the film for more info and a trailer.

What's new...

Well, now that the is Kurt staright or Gay controversy has died down and I've actually hit a slow spot in my freelance I thought I'd update everyone as to what I've been up to.

I'm on the downhill side of the Spider-man 3 books. My son is in the process of painting them and they're looking even better than the X-Men 3 books. I'm just starting up a set of books for Shrek 3. Besides catching up on some commissions that's about it for me art-wise.

The really BIG thing I'm working on is a project where I've optioned a book from an extremely famous artist with the intent of getting it made into an animated feature.Even though I have the option I'm a little hesitant to disclose too much info on this yet - maybe it seems like I'll jinx it (?). Anyway me and a fellow producer are shopping it around to several studios right now and hopefully I'll have some real concrete news about it soon. This will be the first animated feature based on one of this author's books - though it's certainly not his first feature adaptation. I guarantee you that this particular film will span several genres and fan bases and should please anyone who is a fan of fantasy, comics, animation and of this author. Have I teased you enough?

In the meanwhile here's another convention sketch....it's of Rogue in the Savage Lands

A little clarification....

In my last I answered a question that really threw me. It was the one concerning all the Gay fan pairings of characters. My answer seems to have caused a little stir over on the Marvel Forum so I felt I had better clarify my answer a little before it gets misuderstood futher.
I said we felt Kurt might be Gay. That doesn't mean we ever played him as Gay or implied in anyway he was Gay. To be honest I doubt everyone thought this way - but I know I did. As to his incarnation as a priest in the comics we had no interest in using that aspect of him whatsoever - as far as I knew.
The other concern was a flip comment I made about Risty and Rogue. This is where the clarification really comes into it. Mystique was Gay so that would make Risty Gay - we even had some fun with using purple as her main color and her earring, but it was all subtle enough not to be claear to anyone too young or not in the know. Did it appear a Gay character was hitting on Rogue? Yes. But was Risty/Mystique actually hitting on Rogue? No. She behaved as many mothers might behave, but when those concerns are translated into those of a same-sex peer it can appear as if there is more to it than that. Especially since we were able to keep Risty's secret for so long. My comment about a possible weird relationship between Risty and Rogue was probably a mistake. It was a joke and probably not a very good one...oh, well.


Next time I'll bee more careful with any jokes - I've got a very dry sense of humor that my wife tells me isn't always clear to others... ;)

A 'few' questions...And answers

A young lady, Blaze Rocket, sent me a few questions and instead of just e-mailing her back the answers I thought I would post them here. I hope she doesn't mind, but this way I've got fodder for a new post too....


BR: Will there ever be a "How to Draw" for any Brotherhood members? I`d love to see Wanda or Pietro, and I know plenty who would be interested in one on Toad. Freddy would be a good one, as drawing "larger than life" characters isn`t something that most people get instruction on. A drawing tutorial for Mystique that simply said "see all above" would make me giggle. Oh! And the Professor! Wheel chairs are hard! That`s my personal reasoning as to why the she`ar hover chair come into existence. Somewhere along the line, someone said "Screw wheels. I`m giving him a hover chair."

SG: The "how to" pages that were put up on my web-site weren't created specifically for this web-site, but were created for the show for the overseas studios to use. Due to the limited amount of time that I had at that time - between creating new models for every show and directing a third of the season's shows gave me very precious little free time. So I usually only made these construction sheets for characters we were very concerned about going way off model. The main good guys. I know that may not seem fair to all you fans of the brotherhood and other bad guys, but we had to make a call as to where to focus my energies. Though on the bright side I am adding a Blob walk cycle pretty soon to the animation section - hopefully that will satisfy you somewhat.

I also hate drawing wheel chairs and other props like that, but unfortunately we felt that it was better for the show for him to be in a more standard wheel chair than the hoover-type chair. I did cheat a little though and based it on the one used in the movies.

In interviews, it`s been stated that the new recruits got the short end of the stick, as it were, in that when an episode needed "tightening," their "B" stories were the first to be cut. Will any of these "B" stories ever be shared with the fans of the show?

When a script is being created often things are cut and added to make the script better for a variety of reasons. I doubt any of these B stories will ever re-surface - mainly because I doubt anyone could remember them.

In the "future vision" Professor X gets at the end of season four, were these teasers actually based on stories that the Evo team wanted to do, or perhaps had plans to do and weren`t able to... Or were they just teasers, perhaps a nod to those fans who also enjoy the comics?

To my knowledge the next season's shows had never been seriously discussed (this usually only happened after the next season was green lighted) and these visions were created as just a way to wrap up the series for the fans - and ourselves.

If, miracle of miracles, Evo was revived and renewed for another season (or four, so long as we`re dreaming), would you and the rest of the creative team return to work on it?

Anything is possible...but I seriously do not believe there is any chance of the show coming back after being cancelled so ong ago at this point. Unless DVD sales are huge (like Family Guy) I wouldn't hold my breath.

Between DVD extras, in-show statements, and statements made on former WB web-pages, there`s some confusion as to the proper ages of characters. How old, exactly, were the characters of Evo supposed to be? Minus Logan, as that would just be cruel.

We never determined specific ages other than the obvious ones. Kitty was young enough to just be learning to drive in season 2 (if I'm remembering right) and Scott and Jean were seniors. Most of the characters were discussed in more general terms. Like so-and-so was in their 30's or so-and-so is younger than Kurt, etc.

Realizing and taking into consideration that Evo was a kids show, was there ever any sort of family back story or time line developed for the Maximoffs and their daddy? Specifically...
The last name "Maximoff" seems to indicate that at some point, Django and/or Marya Maximoff were involved. Were they?

If there was any discussion then I never heard it or was involved.

A DVD extra states that Pietro is an Eastern European exchange student. Any truth to that?

That's news to me.

Storm says that Pietro and Evan have been competing since they were babies. Is that a literal statement or figurative?

That's also news to me.

Magneto looks to be about 12 when he is rescued by Captain America and Logan. How old then, would he have been when Pietro and Wanda came about?

Hmmm...let's just say that Magneto led a very active senior life. Actually we never discussed this concern.

What happend to Magda, the Maximoff mother? Was Anya ever considered? What about Polaris?

These things were also never discussed to my knowledge.

How old were Pietro and Wanda when Wanda was institutionalized?
Who`s older- Pietro or Wanda?

Pietro was probably 8 and Wanda was probably 6. But I could be wrong...

Do you have a favourite character in Evo? A favourite to draw?

As I've mentioned before my favorite characters were Rogue, BoomBoom and Wanda. Mainly because I think the new concepts we created for them were so unique and different then the comics. My favorite to draw would probably be the easiest to draw...Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Todd.

You`re obviously aware of Evo`s on-line fandom. What are your thoughts on the homosexual parings that crop up- usually Lance/Pietro, Amara/Tabby and Kurt/Todd?

No, actually I wasn't aware....and I'm not sure I want to explore those ideas too far. As far as who was Gay or not we subtlely tried to indicate that Mystique was living at one time with Destiny and raising a child (Rogue). We also tried to indicate that Risty was Gay (Mystique in disguise) and she was flirting with Rogue - which actually leads to a very weird situation on it's own merit. Some of us also kind of felt Kurt might be Gay, but that was never addressed in any way on the show.

What are your thoughts on such things as fan sights, fan fiction, fan art, and fan flicks?

I think they're all good fun and help to keep the shows alive. At first I was a little shocked at the amount of them, but it did help us understand what type of impact we were actually making on the fans. I'm sorry to see some of them disappearing - but I guess it was bound to happen since the show has been off the air for some time now.

What advice would you give to an aspiring animator?
What was your education like?

Things have changed quite a bit since I started in the business, but I would suggest that anyone interested in the industry should learn CG, as well as drawing and to learn other aspects of the business like storyboarding. And study film - not just animation.

My education was mostly on the job. Though in retrospect i wish i had gone to school once you start earning money it's very dificult to take time out to go back to school.

So...all the questions are answered --somewhat and I've added another post. Not a bad morning all in all...

Running late...

I just wanted to post something quick for those of you who have ordered sketchbooks and posters...I just wanted to let you all know that they will be coming, but I've been extremely busy with deadlines and now I'm going out of town for a few days. Just be patient and I'll guarantee you that they will show up at your homes soon. Just hang in there.

In the meanwhile, here's another sketch I was commissioned to do back in San Diego.

It's Jean Grey dressed as a queen of the sea - or something. I swear this is actually from a comic. I think it was Byrne arc. The guy had reference for me to use....

Posters available...

Sorry if it seemed to take a long time, but I finally came to the decision to make the SDCC poster of Rogue available for the same price I was selling it for at the convention - $10. BUT that will only be for the continental US. If you want it shipped elsewhere it will probably be more a little more and we can discuss it on a case by case situation.
If you want one just pay via PayPal to my e-mail address: steve@stevenegordon.com and make sure you indicate that you're paying for the poster.

A sigh of relief...

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about the Comic-Con, but the minute I got back home I was immediately swamped with deadlines for the SM3 books I'm working on. Last night I finally met the most urgent of those and now I can finally breath.
Anyway, it's about time I mentioned the Con...Whew....that was one long weekend. I had a great time meeting many fellow artists that I'd only corresponded with and greeting a lot of appreciative fans. It was very interesting being at the Con from the other-side of the table. This was the first time I participated in that fashion and it was very different. Once again I want to thank Senti for sharing his booth with Francesco and I. He's a great guy and quite an artist. You should check out some of his stuff...http://www.sentiart.com/
I also got to meet Francesco Francavilla in person for the first time. We've worked together and have corresponded for about 2 years and finally were able to look at each eyeball to eyeball - or something like that. This guy is amazing and if you haven't heard of him yet you soon will. You can check him out at http://francescofrancavilla.com/
Despite how busy I wasI did find a chance every now and then to wander around and pick-up a few sketchbooks, but not as many as I would have liked. I also drew some convention sketches and hopefully I'll be able to post them soon enough.
here's one...
I'm sure all of you have heard that this year's con was bigger than ever and it was estimated that 125,000 fans filled the convention center. It sure felt like it. I haven't decided whether I'm going to do the booth next year or not...I might just wander around and see all the sights and enjoy it that way...I'll have to think about it...

And away we go...

I'll be leaving for San Diego in just a little bit. Hopefully the traffic will let up some by the time we hit the 405. Either way I'll be driving for at least 3 hours - probably closer to 4.

For anyone interested I decided to bring along some original sketches to sell as well. If you're in the neighborhood remember to swing by and say "Hi". I'll be in booth #4609.

Next week I'll report back on how it all went...

Because so many asked...

...I thought I would let everyone know that after the convention I will try to make the poster shown below available for sale over the internet. I will have to look into how to best ship it and ways to keep that cost down, but as soon as I know I'll let you know.
Thanks for all the interest....kinda makes me feel good.

Good SDCC news...

I haven't mentioned anything concerning what might happen at the San Diego Comic Con because I didn't want to jinx it. But it's confirmed...I will be sharing a booth at SDCC this year after all. Senti of Skelanimals and http://www.sentiart.com/ has generously offered to share his booth with Francesco Francavilla and myself.
We will be at booth #4609 near the Illustrators and Fine Artists section. It might be a hair crowded, but it sure beats walking around the convention and trying to sell my sketchbooks out of a backpack.

Now I can finally breath a little easier...especially since I went ahead and had some posters made just for the Convention. I was originally toying with finishing the John Carter of Mars picture, but not only was I running out of time, but after some feedback it seemed not as many people as I would've thought even knew anything about the book. So I decided to go with a new drawing of a character that had caused a legion of fan-sites to sprout up. I hope you'll agree I made the right choice.
What I'll be doing is selling the posters (and signing them) for $10 each or if you by a sketchbook I'll include a poster for just an additional $5. They're 18x24.




I'll also try and do as many sketches as I can and I might even take some commissions - time allowing, of course.

Hopefully I'll see some of you there.

Heroes Con

I wanted to let anyone living in or visiting the Charlotte, NC area know that my good friend Francesco Francavilla (the artist of The Black Coat and other comics - as well as the master of my web-site and the designer of my sketcbook) will be at the Hero Con June 30 to July 2 - Friday to Sunday of next week selling his sketchbooks - and he'll also have a few of my sketchbooks to sell as well.
Here’s a link: http://www.heroesonline.com/con-indie.htm and here's a link to Francesco's web-site: http://www.francescofrancavilla.com/ . It's well worth a look and you might just become a fan of his.
This is a drawing I did awhile ago of The Black Coat. These are really fun comics - they're a kind of a cross between the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and Batman.

A Gathering of Gargoyles...

As promised, Saturday I sat on the panel at the Gargoyle convention, A Gathering of Gargoyles. It went pretty well - although the panel participants almost outnumbered the audience. Well, not quite - but almost. It was intimate and very casual and it was good seeing some my friends Boyd Kirkland, Frank Paur, James Peters and Gary Hartle again. They're all great guys and it was fun catching up with them.
Afterwards I participated in what is called a Mug-A-Guest...I'd never heard of this type of thing before, but it was an even more intimate way to meet with fans and answer some of the questions that wouldn't have been appropriate at the panel.
I had a good time and if asked I'd be glad to participate again.

What do I know...?

...we'll soon find out.

This Saturday, June 24th, I'll be participating in a panel discussion at the Gargoyles Convention. The panel is "Adapting Stories & Characters from Comics to Film" and starts at 12:30PM. I'll be there with Frank Paur, Boyd Kirkland and a couple of other artists. The panel will be 90 minutes with a 30 minute signing to follow. I'm not sure how much I'll have to contribute, but hopefully I'll won't just sit there like a lump staring at the audience.

It'll take place at The Hyatt Valencia (near Magic Mountain) 24500 Town Center Drive, Valencia, California 91355

I'll also bring along some sketchbooks to sell - of course.

Coincidence...?

I keep tabs on some of the comic/animation news web-sites and I happened to come across a photo of Jean Grey/Phoenix from X3 and it reminded me of when Boyd and I were doing research for the HarperCollins X3 books. We had to go downtown to Marvel's offices and make sketches from their set and publicity photographs. We weren't allowed to make copies or take photos so we had to sit around for hours sketching and making notes. I guess they were afraid we'd post something on the interent - though it wasn't long before Fox was posting the same images (and better) all over the internet themselves. But not in time for us to incoporate into our books accurately, of course.
Oh well, but that's all beside the point. What caught my attention immediately was their costume for Phoenix. I thought it was an interesting take on her and then I realized it looked kind of familiar. I pointed it out to Boyd and that was the last time I thought of it. Even while watching the movie in the theater.
Until I saw this photo on a web-site. I guess it was the torn pants that reminded me of my initial reaction. It's not a very good photo, but I think you'll get the point.

I included images of Wanda as she appeared throughout X-M:E and in the last episode as an adult...I guess I should be flattered that someone working on X3 was a fan.

Also I hope you've also noticed that I moved the link for my SketchBook to the bottom of the web-site and included a little image of the cover to help remind you of what the PayPal button is for.

Bad News...

Well, after months of calling and getting told they're working on it and they were just trying to figure it all out and missed self-imposed deadline after self-imposed deadline I finally got an answer and found out that the table I was counting on would not be available. Apparently, even though we applied before the deadline, I was told that only those that applied by mid-January would get tables - and it sounds like some that even applied over a year ago didn't get what they asked for.
Oh, well, I'll just have to try earlier next year. In theory.
This year I'll explore other options, but for now I think I can assume I won't be selling books at SDCC. So if you want one the best way to get it is to go through this web-site. Sorry. Maybe next year...?

Brisk sales...

Wow! I'm so jazzed that there's been such a big response to my little sketchbook - and very surprised. Thanks everyone!
It's a good thing that I have some free time right now so I can spend a little extra time adding a sketch to the back page.
Several people asked about shipping to Canada and I responded to them individually, but I thought it might be a good idea to post the info here as well.
Just add $2 more to the purchase price. But you won't be able to use the quick-click button I set up (I'm only so computer literate), but just go to PayPal directly and e-mail the payment to my e-mail stevegordon@adelphia.net
Here's another little tease for all of you...

...and thanks again, everyone.

On Sale now!!

I just received my shipment of sketchbooks from the printer and they turned out great! They did a great job and I think everyone should be happy with them. They're 10 x 6.5 and have 70 pages in them.
I'm adding a PayPal link to this blog for any that won't be able to make it to the SDCC - or for those that can and don't want to be bothered. Of course, I'm not even sure if I'll have a table there yet, but I'm crossing my fingers...

If you do want to order from here all you have to do is click that PayPal button on the right side of the screen (below the Amazon ads) and I'll get one out to you ASAP. I will number and sign each books and include a little sketch, so if there's someone in particular you'd like feel free to include a note.

If you live outside the US contact me and we can discuss shipping for you.

BTW I should have the posters available soon also.

Some news...

Okay, I'm finally able to slow down a little bit because my stint at IDT/FilmRoman is almost at an end. I'm definitely on the downhill side of post-production on The Condor - all that remains is working with Music, Sound FX, a few more ADR and Walla recording sessions and final mix. I just finished color correction (TeleCine) and the film looks 100% better. I've always rolled my eyes whenever anyone uses the dreaded phrase "we'll fix it in post", but in this case it was very true. When you're working on a small budget sometimes you have no choice - but what really helped is that we had the time to make it better.
So, now, I'm looking for my next job/project. I've got a couple of irons in the fire, but nothing concrete yet. Anyone know of anything interesting feel free to pass on my name...;)
Don't worry...that wasn't the news I was referring to in the title of this post. I just received the proof of my book "Expressions and Attitudes" and it looks great. I should be receiving all 500 of them sometime next week and then I'll start selling them on-line. I'll see if I can set up a 'store' on my web-site, but you'll definitely be able to order it via this blog by e-mailing me at steve@stevenegordon.com
I also have seen the HarperCollins X3 books show up and bookstores. They turned out really nice and I think fans should enjoy them.
The other big news is that I think I've decided on a poster...here's a lo-res version of it.


I decide to not go with characters from X-M:E or the Ultimates. I figure there was enough of them on my web-site and in my book, so I thought I'd try an old favorite of mine - John Carter of mars. I call this 'Thark Attack'.
What do you think?


Of course, I don't have a table yet at SDCC...the people in charge at SDCC are still trying to figure out where to put everyone and I'm crossing my fingers they'll have room for me. My intent is to share a table with my friend, Francesco Francavilla, who besides being the guy who set up my web-site and my book is also a great artist. You can check out his art and also buy some of the great books he's created.

X-23

Over at the Drawing Board they're having another character jam and this time it's for X-23. She was created specifically for X-Men:Evolution by one of the show's producers Craig Kyle. The character seems to have really taken in off in the MU.
Since I was the guy who first drew her I thought I should contribute something. Instead of drawing her as she appeared in X-M:E I decided to go for an older version - a little closer to what I did for the 'flash foward' in the season finale for X-M:E. I guess I can't get away completely from that show - can I?

They're here...

I've been so busy lately with post-production on The Condor and starting editing and calling retakes for Mosaic that I've hardly had a moment to breathe. Quite a difference from when I had plenty of free time to sit around and was able to do some of these drawings that I posted earlier. Actually I still have a few sketches I made during that down time that I think I might get around to posting sometime soon...or maybe I'll save them for next year's sketchbook.

Anyway the reason for this post is yesterday when I arrived home for work there was a big box filled with the X3 books I illustrated from HarperCollins. It's great to see these things in print - especially right before I start on the next set of books based on Spider-man 3. I can see now that what I thought was almost too bright wasn't and I need to go a lot brighter than I ever would've guessed. I should also be a lot clearer for the inker on the coloring/activity books ...or at least, check his work afterwards. HarperCollins seemed happy and so did my son, who colored them, since this was the first thing he could show his friends that he had printed.

Here's a couple of choice pages (sans text) that I thought might whett your appetites...feel free to click on the links to the right if you want to show your appreciation and purchase these fine examples of my art (and show your appreciation for this blog)...if not, I'll understand

A little Vamping...

A couple of weeks ago I actually had some time to do some misc drawings and I did this and a couple of others (I'll try to get around to scanning them and posting 'em later).
You can tell I was really bored cuz I inked it...
I guess I was inspired because of the release of The Notorious Bettie Page film. I've always assumed that she was based on Bettie - maybe I'm wrong, but I defintiely decided to base mine on miss Page.

Anyhow this is something I played with for fun. I've never tried drawing her before so I got inspired...maybe this'll be in next year's Sketchbook?

Avengers Assembled

Over at Drawingboard.org they have monthly jams in the various sections and in this month's Superheroes section it's The Avengers. So, since I had a little more time on my hands than usual - as I wait for a greenlight on models for the next set of children's books I'm slated to do - I though I'd challenge myself to do something a little more ambitious than usual. It would've been very easy to just post some of my models from The Ultimate Avengers, but I thought I'd try to play it straight for a change and draw some Avengers in their official uniforms. Or, at least, as close as I could handle. As I'm sure many will note I still made some changes...

In Livng Color...

Well, Euan Mactavish (aka em...) did get a chance to put some color down and he did an outstanding job.



Now if only i could afford for these guys to work for me full time.

The Deal is INKED...

A friend of mine (and also the web-master of my web-site), Francesco Francavilla, saw the Supey drawing I drew and liked it so much he decided to ink it up. He also added a bit of his own whimsy to it and I think it turned out great. We ought to collaborate more often!


Another friend has hinted that he'd like to put some color on it - I'll post that when it happens...

A question...

Since I'm going to be sitting around at SDCC with my sketchbook for sale a couple of friends suggested I also print up some inexpensive posters to sell as well and sign.

Now my question for all of you is (and it's a three-parter):
1.) Does this sound like something that might sell - would you buy it?
2.) What price should this sell for?
3.) Is there a particular image from the web-site I should use or should I create a new one? Any suggestions?

In the meantime here's another quick sketch I made while sitting around...

A Little 'Batty'

I've been pretty busy lately with post production on The Condor (still and probably for at least another month) and working on the designs for the new books for HarperCollins so I haven't had too much time. Or anything really new to report. I saw the pdf file for the sketchbook and I'm sure anyone who buys it will be pretty happy.
I scribbled this while on a couple of phone calls and thought it turned out kinda nice.

Coming to a convention near you...

I thought I'd give everyone a little preview of the cover for my sketchbook. It should be ready just in time for SDCC. Francesco Francavilla is putting it together for me. He's the genius that put together my web-site and now he also has his own web-site where you can check out some of his great artwork. Its address is: http://www.francescofrancavilla.com/ and is well worth a look.
Hopefully you've noticed that I'm also being a whore and advertising for the Ultimate Avengers DTV and the two HarperCollins X-Men 3 books I worked on. These links will take you to Amazon and if you're going to buy them then use these links and yours truly gets some kick back...

No need for the ransom...

...I'm home!!

Actually I've been home since the 14th and this is just the real first day I've had long enough to breath and blog something. So there's no need to put together a ransom to pay the kidnappers. I know it's an old joke, but I've always kinda like it....

What I'm referring to up above is the trip to Japan and China I took to check out the studio that is working on the animation for "Stan Lee presents: The Condor". It was a long ten days, but I think ultimately helpful. It's always good to meet eye to eye and be able to point to things on a screen when discussing things - with other artists especially.
The trip was great, but ten days away from home and all alone in a foreign country - lost in translation - is tooooo long. I'll probably go into more detail later.


And ever since I've been back things have been running at full tilt. We're quickly approaching our final deadlines for The Condor. I also had a lot of interviews to do for on-line magazines concerning the release of The Ultimate Avengers Direct-to-DVD. You can use the link to pick-up your copy from Amazon or go to Costco or anywhere else. I haven't been able to find many of the interviews anywhere, but let me know if you have.
I'm also putting together some artwork for a Sketchbook to sell at this year's San Diego ComicCon - it'll also be available later from my web-site. I'm going to feature a lot of art that not too many have seen before. Hopefully I'll get that together in time....
...And on top of all this I had Jury Duty yesterday.

One more thing before I forget...a new X-Men: Evoltuion web-site just started that any of the fans should check out. It's put together bt the great guys over at Toonzone and it's pretty damn good. if you want to see it go to X-Men:Evolution at Marvel Age

Which Cap is best?

There's kind of a fun little debate going on over at The Marvel Forum discussing which of my two Captain America designs is better. The more traditional one I created for X-Men: Evolution or the one based on Brian Hitch's design for The Ultimate Avengers direct-to-video DVD. Buy it here.
What is also kind of interesting (at least to me) is that the design I did for X-M:E, while being discussed as the traditional Captain America was originally planned to be closer in thought to Hitch's in the Ultimate's comic. Keep in mind that the Ultimates hadn't hit the comic stores at this point. My original plan was to design Cap in a somewhat more realistic fashion and less like a comic super-hero. In my original roughs I had removed the wings from his head and even the "A" from his forehead and added a Sam-Brown type of gunbelt and removed the rollover from his boots. My producer, Boyd Kirkland, thought this was too big of a departure for the audience (and for him too) and I ended up keeping the wings, the "A" and the typical Cap boots. The only real modifications that I made was to give him the belt (minus the gun, of course) and change his sleeves to be more reminiscent of Wolverine's. I did this last change to give a visual continuity to the Weapon X program. In no way am I suggesting I went as realistic as Hitch ultimately did, but I definitely was thinking in that direction. I guess that's one of the reasons the Ultimates comic really caught my attention when it came out. You can buy the comic here.

Not that anyone asked, but if they did, my personal favorite is this one - also based on Hitch's design - of a realistic Cap during WWII.