Wings of Irene

Here are the first five pages of Wings of Irene, a comic I drew 4 months ago. I was hiding it for an anthology, but they've stopped answering my emails so I guess they don't want it and I never signed a contract for Wings so it's mine to do what I will.

So I love Last Days of American Crime. So much so that my first copy has gone missing in the house somewhere and I bought another copy. I saw another one the other day and nearly bought it again as a back up. The art by Greg Tocchini has been a huuuuge inspiration to me since I first read this book almost 4 years ago. What I didn't realize then that I know now is that he inked the book beautifully in colored inks, or watercolors. I'm not sure of the media exactly but to me this blew my mind. So of course, I wanted to try it myself. This is the result and wow is it mixed. I love the colors, I inked with FW acrylic inks, but my thought process isn't used to color, and I went too big with this one. If I was going to do this I should have chosen a fixed place comic and not one with scene changes and fast vehicles and all that. But yeah. Wings of Irene.

I'll have this book for sale at FLUKE in Athens Georgia this weekend, and probably every convention after until I think it looks so bad that I sell them for a dollar. Books on that list right now are Calla of the Sea and the Trials of Nobody. Anyhow, story wise, Irene is a girl who wants to fly more than anything, but is unfairly kept from it by a sexist regent who wants to punish her for the deeds of her mother. This story shows Irene going head to head with a hydra of jerks who all think they're better than she is. You should see how that turns out!

Inks also from my unnamed Horror comic

Inked in the span of 2 weeks, I finished 20 pages and got the approval for them last night. So now I want to share the first 6 of them. I used a Raphael #3 brush on these and while it took some getting used to the larger size (I usually use a 2) it was a lot of fun. Although these aren't my favorites of the pages I've done for it, this was still a fun experiment with inking that I'm sure I'll use again.

The story to this one is a goth girl named Connie is bullied, and she accidentally summons forth a creature not unlike the ones in the stories she's read. That's the hook, but the story itself is more than that and I can't wait to share more of it. I've been reading a lot of H. P. Lovecraft myself and I'm really taken with the worlds and lore he creates and then pretty much just drops the mic on. My favorite was the Shunned House, and the conclusion made me very sad that this was the only story, presumably, in that world with that horror. Here is my take on his type of horror, with some of my own ideas mixed in. Well, back to work.

Pencils from my unnamed Horror Comic

I've been working, a LOT. My thesis comic is nearly done, I've inked a little over half of it and colors shouldn't take me too long. Here is a sample of my pencils, which I was really happy with. This is my ideal blend of loose movement with solid form, and if I ink myself it leaves me with plenty of room to draw with my brush. I can't wait to post up the completed comic, but for now, here is a nice 6 page bite of the 20 page first chapter. This is a story I came up with after being inspired to try out some horror from reading some really good H.P. Lovecraft short stories.

My Comics are on Sale!

Remember these titles? Well I finally set up a Big Cartel store so if you like you can pick up some of these books! The books are Pixie Punk, Riot Against My Happiness, KCNO (my best graphic novel), The Looming Deadline and Calla of the Sea. Thanks for all the views and for giving my art and stories a chance! Click on the link above or on the link in my page bar above.

Rest in Peace, Philip Seymour Hoffman

In memorial of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Inked on Stillman and Birn Zeta with Deleter G pen and Maru nib. I drew this from a photo on google images, I don't know the name of the photographer so I can't really credit them for the lovely photo. I don't really have a ton to say art wise, I do want to say that I'll miss Mr. Hoffman's work and I do hope he's at peace now.

The Looming Deadline: a short story for Charlotte Mini Con

So I've been reading a lot of Horror lately. Well not a ton, but I've been super interested in horror, especially the works of H. P. Lovecraft. I really like his approach, the horror of a world or dimension beyond the scope of human thought, that once we're exposed to it, we can't help but be warped and changed by it. I love Junji Ito who draws manga with this same inspiration and it's something I wanted to try.

Here are the first four pages of a 6 page comic I made for Charlotte Mini Con which is happening this weekend, January 25th. I'll be sharing a table with my bro and roommate Max Currie, so if you can swing by please pick up a book or just come to chat.

This comic is all watercolor, I wanted to try doing something like this eventually and it was time to try something new. I painted this in my Stillman and Birn Delta sketchbook, and was amazed with how much fun it was. I'll have to do this again with something longer!

Wings of Irene, a few pages of pencils

This update is mainly so this site does not look abandoned. I have been working nonstop I swear, but I've also not been able to scan and show a ton of the work I'm doing. Like these pages, I did them at least a month ago. I'm already inking these, and I'm further along.

These pages are my experiment in doing more simple pencils to save time. I work far too long on pencils when I know I'm going to ink them, and I could save effort by leaving some things up to the inks. As I'm inking this, I'm having a ton of fun actually drawing with the brush instead of just going over my lines. Also, I'm doing another experiment with these pages:

I LOVE Greg Tocchini, especially his work on Last Days of American Crime. It's a fantastic book, and he inked that with colored inks, using the inks to add to the scene that he also colors. So of course I wanted to try it, and I'm doing it horribly for sure, but it's been a ton of fun to play around with. This isn't something I'll probably stick to, but it really has made inking a more varied and fun step.

I promise to post more as I get closer to completion, so stay tuned to the big experiment that is "Jorge trying new things, sure to fail, but sure to learn a ton."