Cruel Hope page 04

Cruel Hope page 03

Funky!

We interrupt this programming to bring you the latest science news.

The LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is finally getting turned on today. The largest particle accelerator man ever built might help scientists find the answer to some of nature's biggest mysteries... or it might create a black hole that will swallow up the earth :-P

Anyway, check out the cool rap this nutty science guys made up for a clearer explanation.



We will resume our regular broadcast next Saturday with a new page of Cruel Hope.

Cruel Hope page 02

Cruel Hope page 01

D.I.Y.

Next week I'll be starting to serialize a very short story (four pages) which will mark my first foray into my very own computer colored comics. Most of the stuff I've shown here has been either straight black and white or colored with regular inks before scanning. Cruel Hope will inaugurate a new - for me - approach.

This story began life after reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road, an excellent book that introduced me to the writer responsible for the book behind this year's Academy Award winner No Country for Old Men directed by the Coen Brothers.

Now, before everyone starts saying I'm full of crap, let me assure you that this little comic of mine has no intention of comparing to such gentleman's excellent work, even though I did the best I could - as with everything else I do, for that matter.

This is just a short experiment playing on one of the many horrific elements that permeates Mr. McCarthy's novel. All similarities end there. The only reason I'm mentioning this stuff at all is really just to tell you to go read The Road - trust me, you won't be disapointed.

Now, back to my little comic, the whole raison d'être for this post's title was the graphic approach I brought to it. While I do actually prefer black and white comics both as a reader and as a cartoonist, the presence of colour in comics does bring along an extra storytelling resource that is unavailable in its absence.
To use a comparison, it's like having a soundtrack to your film. Also, most persons just prefer color to black and white - so color usually means a larger audience.

So why have I neglected using this tool for so long? Well, besides my personal preferences, coloring my own comics means time taken away from drawing the actual things. As a result, I've been searching for a coloring partner for as long as I've been drawing, someone who would be willing to colour my stuff under my instructions. Cruel Hope ended up as a comic precisely because of that. I drew it as a sort of try-out for a group of fellow friend artists to colour it. Unfortunately, the experiment didn't go far and the results weren't exactly what either of us wanted. I prefered to go for flat, solid colors in a more traditional sense while my friends leaned toward the modelled effects so prevalent in most of today's comics. Add to this, the simple fact that none of them ever went beyond the first page and... well, I was left with four black and white pages waiting to go somewhere. As I had done them precisely with colour in mind, they just didn't seem finished enough for me to post them here as they were. The solution? "Do It Yourself", hence the title for this post. Will the result be any good? Is D.I.Y. really the correct approach? Well, this is just the start for me, so there is a lot of trial and error involved, so I'm sure it'll take awhile for me to really develop. Still, it is from mistakes that one learns and improves. So, please, be gentle, it's my first time :-)

Before finishing, for now, I would like to take the time to thank a few people in chronological order: my friend António Alves, for giving me "The Road" on my last birthday; my dear wife for suggesting the title for this little tale; and my friends Ivo and Nelson Teixeira, João Tavares, Luís Santos, Carlos Félix, Andreas Rochas and Carina, all of whom, perhaps inadvertently, set me on the path to start colouring my own comics.

So, next week : Cruel Hope Page 1.
See you then!

White Shadow

Another review of Nitelite Theatre's The Kirby Martin Inquest #1. Many thanks to Marc Burkhardt for taking the time and care to read our comic and write this review.

last but not least...

This is from an american project: a page written by Cory de la Guardia with beautiful colours by Mickey Clausen. I'm doing the pencils and inks here.

"sem título"

Second, from a portuguese project: a page with my contribution being strictly the pencil drawings. Story/lay-outs by João Tavares, inks by Vítor Angelo and colors by Carlos Félix.

Vanguard

Okay, first, from my british project: a page from the long-time coming Vanguard . Can't tell you how much iterations this little comic has been through - I suspect we have enough material to do a "making-of" ;-P Hopefully, we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this. Story by Daniel Whiston and editing by Barry Renshaw.

Not dead yet!

Long time no see, I know. Cosmopolis has been on hold for quite some time (too long I know, but it's not dead yet!) but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing comics. Last winter I visited Angouleme for the first time and showed my portfolio to a couple of editors with no consequential results. Still, it was an informing and interesting experience. Basically, at this point I get the impression that my comics are too american for europeans and might be too european for americans. Oh, well...

Anyway, I'll be posting a few samples from the comics I've managed to draw in the meantime soon, so stay tuned!

Oh, and a few new chapters of Cosmopolis too :-)

cosmopolis #22

cosmopolis #21

cosmopolis #20

cosmopolis #19

In answer to several solicitations for new installments of Cosmopolis, let me assure you that while I'm continuing to work on new strips of my series, my current jobs and personal life have been preventing me from keeping up a regular posting schedule. Rest assured that my series has not been canceled or left on an indefinite hold - Cosmopolis WILL continue to be posted soon.

I have the whole story scripted, so it's only a matter of pencilling, inking and lettering every single panel - not a small feat for a one-man team! Since I am not inclined to sacrifice quality for the regularity of this non-paying comicstrip, but still have to pay the bills and deal with everyday stuff we all do, new Cosmopolis installments will be posted whenever they're done.

Thanks for your patience and continuing support!

Cheers!

cosmopolis #18

cosmopolis #17

cosmopolis #16

cosmopolis #15

Just letting you all know that Cosmopolis will go through a brief hiatus until next week due to personal commitments. Hope you all return and join me next Tuesday - Until then!

cosmopolis #14

cosmopolis #13

cosmopolis #12

cosmopolis #11

cosmopolis#10

cosmopolis#9

cosmopolis#8

cosmopolis#7

cosmopolis #6

cosmopolis#5

cosmopolis#4

cosmopolis#3

cosmopolis#2

cosmopolis#1

cosmopolis#0

Beggining tomorrow, I will be posting a new ongoing comic strip, Cosmopolis.

This new series was born out of a growing necessity of developing my own creative playground, free from the baggage of collaborations and others' editorial visions. Now, I have nothing against writers, editors or teaming-up with other creators -- I've done so in the past, hopefully I'll continue to do so and it should be underlined that it does have its rewards -- but the result of such ventures usually tends to be a compromise that isn't always easy and most of the time doesn't necessarilly fulfill my personal vision. Basically, I need something that allows me to follow my creative instincts and take my art through paths I wish to see it cover.

As a result of this, I've taken to the challenge of doing it all on my own: creating, writing, drawing and lettering my own characters and stories -- the blame for its outcome as a comic strip lies strictly upon me. I've decided to start by cleaning up an old project I had lying around my studio and revamp it according to my current drawing and storytelling abilities.

I hope you stick around for this experiment and have fun with it.

I surely will!

Real-Life Daredevil

Remember Daredevil, the Marvel super-hero who was blind but had developed a radar and heightened senses ? Well, take a look at this kid...



Best Video Of The Year - The funniest videos are a click away

Summertime epilogue

Summertime is over. Well, at least it is here in my blog. This was a fun experiment of posting a real sketch - warts and all - each day, of improvising, of throwing a whole lot of shit against the wall in order to see which one would stick. A special extra thanks to Mike Haseloff for helping out with the posting.

And don't despair, there'll be new regular pretty pictures coming up real soon. Keep tuned!

Summertime # 32

Summertime # 31

Summertime # 30

Summertime # 29

Summertime # 28

Summertime # 27

Summertime # 26

Summertime # 25

Summertime # 24

Summertime # 23

Summertime # 22

"Alfred... this coffee tastes like sh!t"

Summertime # 21