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:

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?

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.

Robot Quilt

Our good friends just welcomed their new baby; this was my baby shower gift:



To make this quilt, I first did some doodles:



Then I tightened up my favorite design (and did some maths!):



And then I cut out about 204 squares and sewed them all together. With my sewing machine! I'm not sure if I'll ever get past plain old square quilts (I'm very intimidated by anything other than squares), but I figure that'll pave the way for Tetris and Legend of Zelda quilts. Maybe someday I'll seek counsel from the amazing quilter-seamstress-toymaker-designer Claire Sanders, but until then...Yay 8-Bits!

Happy (belated) New Year, everyone!

Here's a commission that I did along with Joe Q and Liz P:


If you want the low-down on who-did-what, you can find that here.

I'll have a bigger update/post soon (almost done with the book I've been working on FOREVER!!)

Cephalopods...

...of the Octopus variety.

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

APOCALYPSE CALENDAR!!!!!

Now you can see in EPIC DETAIL all of the marine critters I jammed into this piece for the APOCALYPSE CALENDAR! Can you find:
2 hagfish
1 goliath grouper
6 marine snails
1 cownose ray
2 sea roaches
3 angel fish
1 giant pacific octopus
7 moon jellies
4 seastars
1 scallop
1 clam
2 horseshoe crabs
1 rock crab
7 royal grammas
6 cleaning wrasse
4 redfish
2 flounders
1 longhorn cowfish
4 porcupine fish
4 anemones
4 grass eels
4 moray eels
2 cuttlefish
3 rainbow parrotfish
1 southern stingray
1 green sea turtle
1 harbor seal
1 american lobster
1 whale shark
5 human skeletons
and a whole bunch of barnacles

You can see a bunch of other apocalyptic images, as well as support this project (previously mentioned here), at it's kickstarter site!

MODOK!

Teeny tiny MODOK, from Emerald City Comic Con.

Thanks to everyone who came out for M.I.C.E. this past Saturday; it was so nice to see all that support for a local indie con! The next con that I will be at is New York Comic Con. Joe and I will be sharing a table in Artist's Alley; I'll be posting more about those details later.

Also, I am starting a tumblr: mariswicks.tumblr.com (click to see some more superhero silliness) I am going to use this as a motivation to post more often, as well as to get less precious about my posts (less words, more DRAWINGS).

I will still post here, but there will be doodle-y goodness going on in the tumblr. Mmmmmm...doodles.

Sketches!

I did a BUNCH of sketches at Heroes Con...it was a lot of fun. I'm going to try and pace these out, though it is very tempting to post them all at once. I'll start with the more summer-y ones:


Octopuses and put-put golf are summer-y, right?

Girly McGirly-pants!

Here's a little peek at a freelance piece I did a few weeks back for RISD (my alma mater):
It's a paper doll to go with their current exhibit Cocktail Culture, which highlights cocktail apparel, accessories, textiles and furniture from 1920 to 1980. I got to illustrate 5 dresses (and 4 pairs of shoes and some accessories) from the collection. It was AWESOME (and possibly the most girly project I've ever worked on). Thanks to Evan for sending that one my way!

If you'd like a Party Paper Doll of your own, you can order one here, or if you're in the Providence area, swing the RISD Museum (they're available in risdworks, located within the museum).

Oh, and Joe and I will be guests at MECAF this weekend (the show is Sunday only). I will have super-sports prints and comics!

Boston Comic Con!

What a crazy weekend! (I know it's Thursday already...). Joe, Liz and I had a nice hometown con. I got to draw some super-fun sketches, such as:
(Gandalf as a crossing guard, helping some hobbits across the street)

and

(the Incredible Hulk riding a bicycle)

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the Boston-area comics scene!!

I should mention that Joe and I will be at MECAF (in Portland, ME) on May 22nd. We will also be guests at Heroes Con this year (June 3-5 in Charlotte, NC). I'll be posting more about those events later, and also about items I will have for sale.

Okeedokee...back to coloring!

Stumptown.

Two weekends ago, Joe, Liz and myself spent the weekend hawking our wares at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR. I absolutely LOVE this convention, plus it's a great way to hang out with comics friends that we see just a few times a year. Here are some tidbits from our trip:

O.K. so not particularly pertaining to Portland...but as soon as we flew in, I started to experience some serious gastro-intestinal trouble. Our first full day in Portland had me searching high and low for public restrooms as we walked around downtown (you didn't expect me to stay in my hotel room and poop all day, did you?).

from top left: our table at Stumptown (courtesy of Joshin Yamada ); Star Trek pinball at the Hawthorne theater (Max is watching the trainwreck that is my pinball skills); Liz, Joe and me photobombing...ourselves?; t-rex on the floor at Denver airport

When we weren't in comics-mode, we pretty much spent our time walking around, eating (mostly donuts), and playing pinball/arcade games with awesome comics people (Alec, Claire, Greg, Max, Lucy, John, Jon Chad, Colleen...thanks! I probably forgot some people too...sorry)

Liz and I did a bunch of convention sketches; here are a few of mine:



One last doodle: the plane ride home:

I inked this with a nib and ink (supplies I haven't touched since college, luckily Joe has a fancy nib that he uses for detail work that I could borrow); I was totally inspired by Max's comics. Plus my shaky inking skills perfectly matched the turbulence of the plane ride (note: I did NOT ink on the plane).

We're home now for a while. Our last comics engagement of the spring season will be at MECAF. Yay Maine! (I'll post more about that when it's sooner.)

-m

p.s. Oh yeah, and the Superpooperman drawing can be blamed on the request of this man (look for pooping Supergirl and Spiderwoman!). heh heh. poop

So much has happened over the past three months...

...but what's really awesome is that WE NOW HAVE A CAT!!!!1!!


Intertubes, meet Biggs "Bear" Darklighter. He is a formidable 16 pounds of feline. And we love him so much. Do not worry; he is on a diet.

I have drawn him a bunch (we've had him for almost a month):
Biggs already has some "fan art" that I'll be posting soon.

I have so much to catch up on, I'm going to update every day (or every other day) for the next week or so. So this is all you get (for right now). Cattitude!!

-m

Sketchy McSketchertons...

...from Sketchville.

Lots of work-related drawing lately, so here's a little recreational sketching. Most of these were done last night our local coffee shop Bloc 11, and they had a live music night (for the first time ever). All I can say is that I definitely need more accordion in my life.









And no, there were no slugs performing live. I just felt like drawing slugs (because they are AWESOME).

On the topic of farts...

This was an editorial piece I did a few months back for Discovery Girls magazine (it was in their "Embarassing Moments" section). I don't do editorial illustrations very often, so this was a fun job (plus I got to draw FARTING and use the "poot" sound effect).

The Great Outdoors

In light of the summer season, I thought I'd share my Project:Rooftop Wolverine redesign:


And I'm proud to say that I smell like squids today.