Lord of the Storm

A Treader "pin-up". This is detail from a big shot of Huff upon the galley deck of a ship at sea. I like the way it turned out.

TMNT

This piece was done about a year ago with the Mirage Comics website in mind. It didn't get used, but I still like it.

How She Rolls

A portrait done for the insidious, infamous, gorgeous Chinese Take-Out of MN Rollergirls fame.

Detective Arlo May

Here's an early unlettered preview of my Struktur story.

I have been pouring alot of myself and my time into a short story submission for a possible upcoming collection and it's been grueling working myself at a new heavy pace, on top of clocking in and out with full-time hours at my straight job. Every other part of life has quietly snuck by as all of my focus is sucked into these two pursuits. It has been a true grind and could soon finish me off.

I fought to get part-time hours, which will happen towards the end of the year, so that I could pursue writing and comics with more energy, time, and devotion, but the question of whether or not I will be able to scrape out a living with reduced hours is out to jury. Then again, the question of whether or not a nice comfy paycheck at work and safe cushy surroundings are worth doing something I can barely tolerate, and which consumes so much of my waking hours has already been answered. I can't, and that was decided the minute I began producing all the pieces which decorate this page, so I shouldn't second-guess it, I suppose. Even if nothing ever comes of it, its always better to try and to push, than it is to live with the regret and wonder of how far you could have taken it. That seems to me the weakest, most uninspired route to tread in this world.

It's hard not to think this way when what you want to do in life reveals no clear path to itself. I think anyone who wanted to be a part of this field at sometime understood this. There is no step-by-step 1-2-3 method of getting there. It's a real fractured road, and the life you strive to make for yourself is invisible to most others. The drain these others put on you seems nearly impossible to recover from, but in the end, you do. To not let the concerns of the average person become your concerns is one of the hardest fucking things in the world; and, I've come to know, one of the most vital.

Minnie

Mrs. Fether; a character from a massive story I conceived of years ago. If the day ever comes when I'm talented enough to do it justice it will see the light of day, as really, it's probably the best idea I'll ever get.

Made You Out of Clay

Just for fun, here's a clay bust I made of Huff's head (without the helmet) back in the winter. This was to get a 3-dimensional grasp of the character's appearance since it became difficult to draw something that doesn't really exist from so many angles.

An Eruption of Scales

Technically, this is what started it all. The first idea I ever got once I conceived of these anthropomorphics was the image of one of them, their hand lodged in the hollow of a tree while the rest of his mammalian body literally burst forth and erupted with reptilian scales.
Everything else that came to be somehow or another evolved down from that moment. The panel here is isolated from the story in which i finally utilized that vision (the top picture being detail).

In the end, the scene took place within a story being told to Huff within the comic by another traveller he met along the road.

Old Times

Some random scenes from my very first batch of stories. Maybe not all the best visually; but still some good ideas and concepts I think.

Citadel and Streets

Huff returns to the Sentinel base within the city of Treaders.

Initial Designs

I was looking back at some older character concept sketches recently. The three you see here now are some of the ones I still liked.

Splash

This is detail from a brutal fight depicted on the splash page of 'Lonesome Coast.'

A moment of tension breaks into violent havoc. Lots of Muppet-like animals chopping each other up. It's pretty cool

Alright, the heading up there says Treader, doesn't it? That's the name of my mini-comic, and it's not the only thing I'll be posting about, but it's a good place to start.

This all began basically as a way for me to teach myself the more concrete details of the form of sequential storytelling, and of the amount of labor involved in each level of production on a comic. By doodling throughout lectures in my notebook at class, I first came up with the look of these anthropomorphic beings. It's not the type of story I will solely be doing in the future but for now it allows much freedom for experimentation.

Let me run down the concept right quick for you. This world is divided by groups or 'Clans,' many of them mirroring a different real-life society from actual history. Our main man- that's Huff, belonged to the warrior class of his very isolated Clan (the Treaders), until he unknowingly became part of a hoax so to speak, played out by their government. In exchange for his silence, and believed to be dead by the people of his Clan, he was allowed to be the first known Treader to depart from their city and go forth into the world. The series involves these journeys of Huff, encountering different alien cultures and ways in lands he was never before allowed knowledge of.

The pages presented here are from the latest work. In this piece, entitled 'Along A Lonesome Coast,' Huff encounters Moai-like statues upon a seemingly deserted tropical island at night.

(One last thing, I know you're saying -"What the hell are they? They look like dogs or rabbits." Well they're armadillos, sir. You don't think they look anything like that, you say? Well, get off my back, would you? Today I've already had to settle up the bills, change the cat litter, look for a memory card for my camera, take the trash out, change my wiper fluid, go in to work to vote for my union reps, and clean out the fridge and now you don't think they look like fucking armadillos??? Well, that's the best fucking kind I could draw. It's been hard enough just to get to this point even. So there)