Fionna & Cake!

Hey!  It's a backup cover for Fionna & Cake!  By me!  More here.  I may be paying a little homage to one of my all-time favorite video games...

Fan Art Friday No. 17

The Falcon!!  (drawn for The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX Edition)

Vacation = over (for now)

Hi internet,

I took a vacation from you (and from working), and now I'm BACK.

Sincerely,
maris

But seriously, I took a much-needed break towards the end of the summer.  And now it's full steam ahead!  I will start by saying that Joe and I are going to be at New York Comic Con.  AND...we will be selling a print that we did together:

First, we worked on a sketch together (which included brainstorming all the animals we wanted in the piece).  Then, Joe penciled Aquaman and I penciled the animals, and we took turns inking sections.  Lastly, we finished it up in Photoshop, taking turns as well.  We'll have this 11 x 17 print (along with an animal-identification guide) at NYCC.

Fan Art Friday No. 16

I love me some Indiana Jones.  Just sayin'...

Fan Art Friday No. 15

Spidey, about to enjoy some soft serve.

Another commission from Heroes Con 2012!

Fan Art Friday No. 14

Yup, that's Supergirl walking Krypto the Superdog.  I sure hope she cleans up after him...

Commissions...

I know Heroes Con was a few weekends back, but here are some of the super-fun commissions I got to

do there:

Suki, from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Toph, also from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Supergirl, playing volleyball

Iron Fist, doing some martial arts

There were more; I will post them soooooooon.

Bravest Warriors!

This got announced yesterday!  I'm doing one of the covers for issue #1 of Bravest Warriors (along with Jim Rugg and Tyson Hesse).  Learn more about Bravest Warriors here! woot!

Spongebob!! (well, kind of)

Hey everyone, if you're heading to your local comic shop, check out Spongebob Comics #9.  Why, might you ask?  Because I wrote a one-page marine bio comic in it!  Draw by Nate Neal, it examines in the wonderful world of cephalopods!  It's all fact, so no actual Spongebob characters show up in the story (hence the "kind of" in the title of this post).  The issue is chock-full of other great art and stories, so check it out!  You can also look forward to more Maris-written marine bio comics in future Spongebob issues.

Here's a little look at what my process for writing the script looks like (I also include a rough pencil sketch for layout):

This project has been a pleasure to work on, and I can't wait to share more sneak peeks with you soon!

Fan Art Friday: No. 13

Dr. Manhattan...having a Manhattan.  Happy Friday!

Fan Art Friday No. 12: Wonder Woman!

Wonder Woman!!  Happy Friday!

Process: Sketchbooks

I've been keeping a sketchbook since senior year of high school, when my AP Portfolio teacher had us make our own (before that, I just drew all over EVERYTHING). Since then, I've kept a devoted sketchbook...with the exception of the year after I graduated college; I needed a break from drawing after 4 solid years of art school.

During college, I went a little nuts, filling sketchbooks (like the one in the top right corner) every 3 months or so. I know there's a huge jump in sketchbooks between '02 and '10; I filled 13 more little guys before I switched to those larger, floppy Moleskins. I figured you might start to worry about my sanity if I posted 13 more pictures of me holding tiny sketchbooks...

The bigger Moleskins were originally meant for work-related drawing (as opposed to recreational drawing), I loved the paper and size, so they became the standard. That is, until now. I'm going back to the smaller, thicker-paged Moleskin. It holds ink a lot better (nib inking on the bigger ones bleeds like crazy), and it's a bit easier for traveling. Here's the first page of the new dude:

Most journal comics, fan art and doodles will be coming from this sketchbook, done with the following materials:

Fan Art Friday No. 11: Pete & Pete

Dear "The Adventures of Pete & Pete", You were one of my favorite shows, ever. You are still one of my favorite shows, ever. And, you were one of the major influences on the way I tell stories. So thanks:

To commemorate my love of all things "Petes", I created this piece for the up and coming Waiting for October zine (the zine is in black and white, so I colored the above piece for fun!). I will keep the internet posted about this project! Happy Friday everyone!

Fan Art Fridays No. 10: Skyrim!

Yup. I totally heart Skyrim. Here's my character; I pretty much tried to make my cat Biggs...:

I should start by saying that I am pretty terrible at this game; I love to just run around and pick flowers and eat stuff. And sometimes kill bandits. I had never played any video games like this before (the closest I'd come is probably the Zelda games...but those are still pretty different), but I got really psyched when I saw the trailer for Skyrim. Also, I was lured by Marian Churcland's drawings. I love it; her art makes me want to eat food in the woods!

May the 4th...

...be with you. Is it just me, or is it super-sad when the Rancor dies in the beginning of Return of the Jedi?

I'm Thoooooooooooooooor!

This is just turning into fan art everyday. And I'm totally ok with it.

Aquaman, or rather, Aquamen!

I did a series of Aquaman costume redesigns for the wonderful Project: Rooftop, and they are now up! Here's a teaser:

Catch the full wardrobe (with commentary by me) HERE.

Fan Art Fridays No. 9: Lady Robin

Here's lady Robin, with some long-haired kitties:

This was done for my buddy Greg (to give to his lady) at Emerald City Con...thanks Greg! It was awesome to draw! In other news, BOSTON COMIC CON is this weekend! I will be there, along with the fabulous Liz Prince, Joe Quinones, Tim Finn, Paolo Rivera, Stéphane Roux, and lots and lots and lots of other people (check out this craaaaazy list of peeps!). If you're at the con, stop by and say "hi"! We'll be doing commissions, and selling prints and mini comics. Speaking of mini comics, Joe, Liz, Tim and I are debuting the THIRD installment of monthly journal comics, so look for this obnoxious orange cover:

The comics are for the month of October 2011, so expect some spooky goodness! Here's a bit about the first volume, titled "Four Squares".

Jedis, Tuesday Jedis...

A long time ago, in a movie theater far, far away, Joe, Ming Doyle and I drew these jedis. Some say that it might have been right before the release of Episode I: Phantom Menace 3-D. Can you guess who drew which jedi?

Winter Maris...

...is about to become extinct (well, until next winter, that is). It is awesome outside today, and will probably continue to be awesome for a few months to come.

My favorite Jedi...

I love, love, love Shaak Ti, the Torgruta Jedi (I blame the Clone Wars cartoons).

Crabby

Yup. That's right.

Fan Art Friday No.8

Emerald City Comic Con Edition: Even though I was secretly in Seattle (Joe was tabling, I was hangin' around), I got to do some commissions. Here they are:


Rat City Roller Girl (color added digitally)


Beemo + TI-83mo


Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: Ken the Eagle (for John McNally!)

Woot! Happy Weekend times!

Supah Heroes.

FIRESTORM! A commission for a friend this past winter; more about this character here. (I had never heard of Firestorm, but I loved drawing his costume! Atoms! woot!)

ink and acryla gouache

And BATWOMAN! Did this one for fun. Don't really know why she's holding a cartoon-y bomb...just felt like drawing that.


ink and sharpies

Fan Art Friday No.7 ON A MONDAY!!

Happy Monday, everyone. Do you ever feel like this on Mondays:



That's right. ANOTHER "Star Wars + Adventure Time" mash-up.

Fan Art Friday No.6

Boba Fett + Marceline the Vampire Queen =

Algebro.

Or, if you will, "TI-Eighty threemo". (after the character Beemo from Adventure Time). Did anyone else have to use a graphing calculator in high school? Do kids still have to? I definitely had a strange affection for my TI-83...

Also, Joe and I will be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend! Table J-10! Truthfully, I'm going for more of a vacation, so the only things I'll have for sale are my superhero prints:



And I'll be doing sketches: $20 B+W; $40 Color (watercolor). I am going to try and walk around the lovely city of Seattle, so apologies ahead of time for not being at the table. Joe will be there, though, selling lots of stuff!

Process: Just For Fun

Sometimes it's important to make stuff for no reason, or rather for fun reasons. I'm currently working on something sea turtle-related, but my research went astray when I started doodling juvenile sea turtles in the margins of my notes. A half hour later, I had 20 little drawings that, after some finagling in Photoshop, turned into this:



I'm no animation buff (I took a winter class back in college), but I love me some GIFs.

Oh, and the bio nerd in me would like to point out that sea turtles hatch underground, and have to dig their way out to the surface. So my animation is factually incorrect.

Fan Art Friday No.5 (ugh. On Saturday AGAIN...)

Jake Solo and Rainicornbacca.

Star Wars + Adventure Time part 2

Princess Bubbleia.

Process: Time Management

Ah. the exciting topic of...time management? Yup. This post is about how I schedule my time. (BORING) I have to admit, I love when artists/writers share their methods for getting stuff done. So I'm sharing mine. Take THAT, internet.

I've kept a daily planner/pocket calendar thingy since the days of college; I wouldn't really know how else to keep track of all the crap* I have to do. My current (and favorite) planner so far is this little number from Moleskin. I've used this type of planner for the past three years...:



It's about 3.5 x 5.5 inches, so yeah, I like to write SMALL. I love seeing the whole month! Since my days at my non-comics (Aquarium) job change week to week, I use red pen to outline shifts.

For comics, I will make deadlines for the week, and check them off as I go (or reassess my schedule if I don't meet them).

Food, travel and social stuff go on here too. I also enjoy anytime I can use stickers (see the tiny fruit ones on the top? those were to remind me to pick up the farmshare that month).

With all that said, I feel like I'm just finally starting to be more efficient with my time. Up until last fall, I was still working 3 - 4 days at the Aquarium, so my work-from-home time was only about 3 - 4 days a week. Now, it's more like 5 - 6, so really planning out each work-from-home day is important (for me at least). Here's 2 versions of a-day-in-the-life-of-Maris:

DAILY WORK SCHEDULE (average)

9 AM wake up, work out

10 AM coffee + breakfast, maybe some planning for the day

11 AM shower/clean

12 AM - 2 PM work

2 PM - 2:30 PM lunch

2:30 PM - 7 PM work

7 PM - 8 PM dinner

8 PM - 11 PM work

11 PM - 1 PM tv/movie/video game/doodling

TOTAL WORK TIME: 9.5

DAILY WORK SCHEDULE (crunch time)

9 AM wake up, work out

10 AM coffee + breakfast, maybe shower

11 AM - 2 PM work

2 PM - 2:30 PM lunch

2:30 PM - 7 PM work

7 PM - 8 PM dinner (sometimes takeout)

8 PM - 2 AM work

TOTAL WORK TIME: 13.5

Things like breaking a bigger project into little mini-deadlines, and establishing daily/weekly/monthly expectations are helpful to have on there too (and they can help to prevent going into "crunch time" mode). Basically, if I get to check something off once I've done it, I feel good. For really big accomplishments, rewards like going out to fancy dinner, or starting a video game (SKYRIM!!!!) are nice little perks (haha Skyrim pun). I'll save the Skyrim post for another day though.

All that said, I am always looking for ways to work more/faster, but without sacrificing my sanity. Cooking, taking walks, working outside (when possible) are all little ways I try to not become a total comics zombie. Also, having a part-time job that engages me in a completely different way than comics has been integral to my well-being. Plus, I am more than happy when those two worlds meet (I'll be posting soon about some Aquarium comics I'm doing!).

Ok. Hopefully that's helpful or interesting. I know it helped me to put this in writing...Oh, and speaking of which, I have been curious about digital calendars, but for now I will keep it strictly physical (call me old-fashioned).

*note: When I say "crap", I am referring to paying bills, car maintenance, appointments, meetings, etc. It's not ALL crap, I promise.

Fan Art Friday No.4

It only makes sense to combine two of my favorite things...
STAR WARS + ADVENTURE TIME =



And then he was all like



There will be more of these. Oh yes, there will be more.

Happy Friday!