Olympians Rule!

Signing at McNally Jackson! First Second's 5th anniversary!

2011-11-13T11:57:00.001-08:00

First Second, publisher of Journey into Mohawk Country, Ball-Peen Hammer, The First Second Nursery Rhyme Book, and the Olympians series is turning 5 years old! Join me in raising a glass to the wonderful people who, for some reason, keep seeing fit to publish me this Tuesday, November 15th at McNally Jackson Bookstore in Soho! I'll be joined by other such First Second luminaries as Dave Roman, Mike Cavallaro, MK Reed, Mark Siegel, Molly Crabapple, Danica Novgorodoff, John Leavitt, Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan, Carla Jablonski, Matt Madden, and Joe Infurnari!

The fun begins at 7 Pm, see you there!

Live Comix Reading at Book Court!

2011-11-13T11:35:00.001-08:00

Join me this Wednesday at Book Court in Brooklyn for a live Comics reading from Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory. I'll be joined by Jennifer "Underwire" Hayden and Leslie "Eye of the Majestic Creature" Stein who will also be performing their comics live. Basically, it's going to more live comics reading than you can shake a stick at, yo.

Fun begins at 7! Be there!

Appearance! Tomorrow! Brooklyn Public Library! The big one!

2011-10-19T12:11:00.001-07:00

As part of their "Teen Week" celebration, I'll be appearing tomorrow, Thursday, October 20th at the Brooklyn Central Library located at Grand Army Plaza between Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway. My program will start at 10:00 am in the Dweck Center auditorium, which I honestly don't much about , but I will remark is a cool-sounding name. I'll be giving a slideshow, talking about Olympians, and sharing some sneak peeks of Hades: Lord of the Dead and Poseidon: The Yet to Be Subtitled. Hope to see you there!

New Interview at The Comics Journal!

2011-10-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

Check out this interview with me at The Comics Journal! It's a huge honor for me to be featured in such a prestigious institution, and it's probably the most in-depth interview I've ever given. Please, everyone, give it a read!

Note for my younger readers-- there might be an instance or two of adult language in this interview, so make sure that you have a parent or guardian check it out first, okay?

Me on the TV

2011-10-04T06:08:00.001-07:00

While up in Maine over the weekend I was interviewed on the local news magazine show 207 about Olympians. You can watch the clip below, or give a click through here to see the video of my more-or-less coherent interview on their site

Signing at Casablanca Comics!

2011-09-29T07:03:00.003-07:00

The wonderful folks at Casablanca comics in Portland, Maine are hosting a signing with me this Saturday, October 1st. I'll be signing copies of Zeus, Athena and Hera, doing drawings and sharing sneak peeks of upcoming volumes of Olympians. The fun begins at 11:00 AM and goes to 2:00 PM. If you find yourself in the neighborhood you should, like totally, stop by.

Casablanca Comics is at 151 Middle Street, in Portland, ME 04101. Click here for directions, or give them a a call at (207) 780-1676. See you there!

Signing at Books of Wonder!

2011-09-24T18:42:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the short notice (been on the road with limited internet action) but I have a signing tomorrow at New York City's famous Books of Wonder children's bookstore. I'll be appearing alongside such children's comics luminaries as Carla "Resistance" Jablonski, MK "Americus" Reed, Dave "Astronaut Academy" Roman, Ryan " Zoe and Robot" Sias, Sara "Bake Sale" Varon, and Neil "Joey McFly & the Big Hairy Drama" Numberman. I'll be signing copies of Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory, and anything else you put in front of me.

The festivities begin at 1PM, at 18 West 18th Street in NYC. Hope to see you there!

Interview on Diamond Bookshelf

2011-08-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Head on over to Diamond's website (y'know, the people who supply everything you find in your local neighborhood comic shop) to check out this interview with yours truly, where I discuss the character of Hera, the upcoming Hades: Lord of the Dead, and how I hope my art can be considered "real good".

Where all the magic happens

2011-08-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm trying something a little new here: specifically, a little video action. We're working on a major renovation of the greater Olympiansrule website, with the video component scheduled to play a big part in the revised site. Consider this little treat, a short virtual tour of my drawing desk, to be a kind of teaser for some video goodness to come. I act a little silly, and show off some artwork for the upcoming Olympians Book 5, Poseidon: The Yet to be Subtitled, amongst other things.

Special thanks to my pal Natalie Kim for putting this together, She's one half of the Supertwins, a new comedic web series premiering this October.

Amazing Hera review at SLJ's Fuse#8 blog

2011-08-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

The amazing uber-Librarian Elizabeth "up in the sky, is it a" Bird posted up a really blush-worthy review of my latest, Hera: the Goddess and Her Glory at the Fuse#8 blog on the School Library Journal website. Please give it a read here. It made my morning!

Come see me in Baltimore!

2011-08-19T09:29:00.001-07:00

If you find yourself in Maryland this weekend, I'll be at the Baltimore Comic Con signing copies of my books, drawing pretty pictures and just generally having a good time. I'll be at booth # 1707, as a guest of the immensely talented Dean Haspiel. There will be a whole posse of us Brooklynites down there at the same table-- also signing will be Michel Fiffe, Kat Roberts, Natalie Kim, and that Chris Miskiewicz fellow that all the kids are talking about. Also, my studiomate Rip-Roarin' Reilly Brown is going to be around somewhere as well, hopefully at our table. It's basically going to be the best thing since sliced bread-- you can even read a press release about it here.

Hope to see you there!

New event at WORD Bookstore! Making Comics with kids!

2011-07-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

For awhile now I've been hearing these wondrous tales about this great new bookstore in Brooklyn called WORD. So when my publisher called, asking if I'd like to do a comics workshop there, I jumped at the chance. This Saturday, July 30th, at 1:30 I will be at WORD presenting a comic making workshop for kids (in case you attended last week's event at Bergen Street Comics, this will be a completely different workshop). All supplies will be provided, click HERE for more info. afterwords, I'll be signing and sketching what ever you stick in front of me.

The Party That Was, at Bergen Street Comics

2011-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

So this past Saturday, July 23rd, was the official book release party for Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory at the world's greatest comics store, Bergen Street Comics.

The festivities were divided into two portions. First, at 4pm, was the Make Your Own Olympian workshop. A lot of time has passed since the original Olympians came on the scene, and a lot of new things have popped up in the world since then. After some quick drawing exercises, the kids in attendance hunkered down to create their own new gods/goddesses/heroes/monsters. Some of my faves included a goddess of Nutella Sandwiches, a goddess of birds, and an elephant-like Republican Monster (this from a young boy with a Che Guevara shirt on).

Yes, I am wearing a golden wreath. Everyone got one. Aren't you jealous?

I'm drawin' a picture.


This and the above photographs courtesy the lovely and talented Natalie Kim. And, before you ask, yes, my eyes really were glowing like that.

Following the kid's workshop, we took a brief break and reconvened for the adult portion of the evening, or as I preferred to call it, the Bacchanalia. I left my orderly, Apollonian wreath aside for this part, and opted instead for a more appropriate, Dionysian set of goat horns.

This photograph courtesy the lovely and talented Chris Sinderson. And, before you ask, yes, my eyes really were glowing like that, too.

Notice I'm not the only set of horns in this picture.

Some of the wonderful folks who turned out for this, braving the 100 degree heat.

The end of the night. If you don't know insanely talented Foiled cartoonist Mike Cavallaro personally, you will never understand how funny this photo is. Oh, This and the above photographs courtesy the lovely and talented Arta. And, before you ask, yes, my eyes really stopped glowing like that. I was tired.

Extra-super special thanks to Tom, Amy, Tucker and the whole crew at Bergen Street Comics fro having me, and for making the best darn comics shop in all of creation.
Thanks again to everyone who showed, I was immensely touched at the crowds that came out, ESPECIALLY considering how unbelievably gross it was outside. As I admitted to my GF after the event, I wouldn't have come out for me, if that makes sense.

REMINDER! HERA: THE GODDESS AND HER GLORY RELEASE PARTY IS TOMORROW!!!

2011-07-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU READY?! Join me TOMORROW, Saturday, July 23rd at the amazing Bergen Street Comics, in the great borough of Brooklyn, for the official Release Party of the third book in Olympians, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory!! Whoo-hoo!

It's going to be an (almost) all-day affair. At 4:00, I will be hosting a comics creating workshop for kids and the young-at-heart, where we will create our own latter-day Olympians, Monsters and Heroes for an art-show that will be hung on the walls of Bergen Street Comics. Then, we'll reconvene at 8 for a Bacchanalia of Epic proportions. All ages are welcome, but Nectar and Ambrosia will only be served to those of age; togas are encouraged but not mandatory. Throughout the day I'll be signing, drawing and talkin' mythological matters with anyone who comes by. Maybe we'll have a visitor or two from Olympus itself?

For more info, click here. Hope to see you all!

New interview!

2011-07-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

There's interviews, and then there's interviews. Click here to read a great interview that goes a little bit deeper than my usual fare. Deb Nam-Krane, the woman who runs the Written by Deb blog, asked me some hardcore mythological questions. Please give 'em a read!

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!

2011-07-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Book 3 of Olympians, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is officially released today! Whoo-hoo!

Keep watching this space as I'll be unveiling lots of new cool things regrading Hera, including appearances and such. If you're going to be in Brooklyn Saturday, July 23rd, you ought to come down to the official Hera Release Party!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #77

2011-07-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every week day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Nothing too fancy today- just a rather nice gestural sketch of Athena.

Oh, and HERA IS RELEASED TOMORROW! So that's something.

New interview up at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

2011-07-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

If you're so inclined, please go check out this interview I gave at the wonderful book blog, 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Hear me ramble on about all kinds of stuff, and also get to see a bunch of artwork, including some sneak peeks of Hera and Hades.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #76

2011-07-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

I included this sketch because, well, it's not very good. Hermes looks like a bunny rabbit or something in this one. Not sure what I was thinking when I drew this.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #75

2011-07-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is an early design of the invisibility-causing Wolfcap of Hades, as well as a shot of a Cyclops holding said helmet. The scene of Hades and Poseidon receiving their weapons from the Cyclopes had to be trimmed from Zeus: King of the Gods due to pacing; I had hoped to include that scene in the upcoming Poseidon: The Yet to be Subtitled but just had to trim it as well. This little sketch might end up being all you ever see of my version of these events.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #74

2011-07-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is not exactly the best thing I've ever drawn, but it was interesting for me, coming across this sketch and others like it. I had forgotten that there was ever a time when I contemplated Zeus growing to Titan-size for the final confrontation with his father. Glad I didn't go this route.

RELEASE PARTY FOR HERA: THE GODDESS AND HER GLORY!!!

2011-07-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

It's almost here!! Join me Saturday, July 23rd at the amazing Bergen Street Comics, in the great borough of Brooklyn, for the official Release Party of the third book in Olympians, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory!! Whoo-hoo!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #73

2011-07-12T05:48:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Today's drawing is a shot of Poseidon striking the ground with his earth-shaking Trident. I've been working on Olympians Book 5, Poseidon lately and have had many occasions to draw a variation of this pose.

I've gotten pretty good at it.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #72

2011-07-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

I really like this drawing of a Cyclops I came upon. He either looks like he keeps on truckin', or maybe that he's going to ease on down, ease on down the ro-oad.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #71

2011-07-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Well, I took off a few days. IT WAS HOT! Not a good reason, I know. Truth to tell, I had an enormous amount of work that came upon me, and, well, I just couldn't bear the extra few minutes in front of the computer. I'm back now with this smoky drawing of a Titan coming out of the gloom.

An Intro to Greek Mythology in 10 Panels

2011-07-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to do a short comic for the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog: An Intro to Greek Mythology in 10 Panels. Click here to check it out!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #70

2011-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from April of 2007.

Well, I took a day off yesterday. IT WAS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY, SO SUE ME! I was actually busting my hump on a cool Greek Gods comic project that is not Olympians that you'll hopefully be seeing soon. But I digress. Here's a drawing of Hades and his dad.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #69

2011-07-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

One of the designs I was most pleased with in Zeus: King of the Gods was the Hekatonchieres, the 50 headed, 100 handed brothers to the Titans and Cyclopes. Here is an early drawing of one of them shredding a mountain that, as I recall made it pretty complete into the final book.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #68

2011-07-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Today's sketch is a sea of Zeus faces, with a early appearance by Heracles right in the middle. It was interesting to me to note that Heracles apparently emerged fully-formed out of the ether-- this is the earliest sketchbook appearance by him I could find, and he looks pretty much exactly as he will in Hera: The Goddess and her Glory.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #67

2011-07-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's sketch of Impetuous Zeus, which was, as I wrote, the first time I felt I 'got' Zeus as a character, is this shot of Zeus from the opposing page in the same sketchbook. What I see here is that at this point, while I may had finally figured out Zeus's face, his aegis was still awhile off. Looks like he's wearing a mink stole.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #66

2011-06-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Now I know I've posted this drawing before-- I've posted this drawing all over town. That's because this drawing is one of my favorite drawings ever. I like this drawing so much I actually named it-- "Impetuous Zeus". This was the first time I ever really "got" the character, my version, of Zeus. So even though I've posted this other places before, when I came across this in my sketchbooks again I just had to post it chronologically with all my other sketches. So take that.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #65

2011-06-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

I was skimming through my sketchbooks when I happened upon this drawing with some amusement. An evident early pass at a Gigante, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, it appears.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #64

2011-06-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Today's sketch is Zeus getting all lightningey and stuff.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #63

2011-06-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks every day until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

A double page spread from the sketchbooks today. showing a little bit of my creative process. I tend to draw a lot of these 'key scenes', and next to them I jot down pieces of connected text. Asa writer who also draws, this has proven to be the best method for me to work that I've discovered so far. When I've filled up about a million or so pages with this sort of thing, I pull it all together into a thumb-nailed book with a more or less completed script.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #62

2011-06-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Today's sketch is a worm's eye view of a Titan. Well, given how tall Titans are, it might be a bird's eye-view as well. Suckers used mountains for their thrones they were so big.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #61

2011-06-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Getting so close I can taste it! Today, a bunch of marker studies of Zeus as a young god.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #60

2011-06-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Today's drawing is a sharpie sketch of Kampe, the dragon whom Zeus must defeat to gain entrance to the Underworld. I was obviously looking at some lizard reference for this drawing. Also, as an added bonus, if you look carefully at the top of the drawing, you can see some pencil studies of Zeus's first wife Metis trying to turn into a bird-- this was from a scene that was cut from Zeus: King of the Gods, but was eventually inserted into Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #59

2011-06-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Yet more sharpie sketches, this time of a Titan and a Cyclops. It makes sense, looking back, that I would do so many high contrast marker sketches of these characters who spent so much of Zeus: King of the Gods cloaked in shadow.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #58

2011-06-22T06:25:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Another sharpie drawing of a Titan. I've noticed people seem to like these sharpie sketches, and the particular sketchbook I'm going through presently is chock-full of markery goodness, so please enjoy.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #57

2011-06-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Back to pencils today. A couple of studies of a Cyclops, and a shot of Zeus to boot. I really dig the bottom Cyclops-- looks like he's going "whatchu looking at?"

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #56

2011-06-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Yet another sharpie sketch, today being a shot of a Titan picking up a mountain he's planning to hurl at a pesky Olympian. I drew so many pictures of Titan's throwing mountains it's not even funny.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #55

2011-06-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

More sharpie goodness, this time a sketch of Zeus as a young god, looking out of the darkness of his cave into the light.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #54

2011-06-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

More of me playing around with sharpies and pencil sketches, this time drawing the fall of Hera to earth after her regurgitation by Kronos. The reason why she's saying "room # 1402/03" as she falls has been lost to the rigors of time. I actually will do this a lot, write down some temporarily important piece of info in a word bubble coming from a doodle's mouth (especially in this particular sketchbook, for some reason) and it often makes for a confusing/amusing read later.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #53

2011-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from February of 2007.

Today's post is the first from a new (old) sketchbook, this one from February 2007. I noticed immediately upon opening this sketchbook again that it was drawn while I was in the thick of doing layouts for Zeus-- lots of lots of thumbnail layouts for pages. I also noticed that I had broken out the sharpie markers, as I do from time to time, to whip out some fun black and white compositions. Here's a study of a worried looking Kronos, as well as the omphalos, the stone that Zeus's mom Rhea fed to his father in his stead.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #52

2011-06-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

This very early sketch of Kronos made it into Zeus: King of the Gods almost without a change. It's one of my favorite pages of that book...

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #51

2011-06-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

More early Titaney goodness--the second Titan I ever drew. I wish I nailed everything like this right out of the gate. So much less stress...

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #50

2011-06-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Some of my designs I've really had to work at; others arrived like a bolt out of the blue, fully realized and rendered. That was the case for my Titans-- all I knew was that I wanted something to evoke the beauty and grandeur of Greek Vase paintings, and this is what came out. With the exception of a one-off drawing or two of a human-looking Kronos (for my proto-Olympian project) the above piece is the first drawing I ever did of a Titan. Done!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #49

2011-06-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Today's sketch is me starting to figure out how to depict certain scenes. This is a visualization of the time that the Goddess Athena spent living inside her father Zeus's head (notice his headachey pose). I ultimately went with a very different depiction of this scene in Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess, but I did like the dynamism of her pose here.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #48

2011-06-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Whoops! Should've ran today's post last week when I was showing all the rejected portrait covers for Olympians. Here revealed is the original title for Zeus, which was dismissed by my editor with a "What does that even mean?" . I have to admit that "Zeus: King of the Gods" is a much more gripping title.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #47

2011-06-11T06:58:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

I've often told people that my design for the Cyclopes is one that exists since my childhood, and that is true, but that doesn't mean that I didn't tweak the form here and there along the way. Here is a rather hulking hunchbacked specimen of Cyclops I played with for awhile.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #46

2011-06-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Nothing much to say about today's sketch, except for that I think this shot of the God of War is pretty kick-butt.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #45

2011-06-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Today's sketch is a melange of drawings of Pallas, the goat-like Gigante adversary of Athena in Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess. I included this mainly because I think giant goat monsters are cool beans.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #44

2011-06-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Continuing from yesterday, here's a bunch more Hera cover ideas. I do love to draw me some Hera.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #43

2011-06-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Continuing my theme from the past few days of self-rejected portrait covers from Olympians, here's a batch of Hera portraits. Looking at them now, I wish I had included those few loose curls in her final design.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #42

2011-06-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Now I know you've been following my Olympians sketches every day with bated breath, right? Well, the last few days I've been showcasing the self-rejected portrait covers I initially conceived of for the series, as well you all know. Well, today's piece is what I thought of for the back cover of the Athena portrait from yesterday.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #41

2011-06-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Continuing the series from the past few days of my early proposed portrait-style covers for Olympians. Here's the cover for Athena, which, curiously, doesn't even have the goddess's name on the cover, only Grey-Eyed Goddess. This picture has made its way to the net before, and was even my facebook avatar for a while, but I felt I should include it again here to help complete this series.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #40

2011-06-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, for a while I envisioned each cover of Olympians to be a portrait of the featured god; here's a sketch for the book that would eventually become Zeus: King of the Gods. Note, like yesterdays' installment, the alternate titles and featured myths.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #39

2011-06-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Initially, while I was working on Olympians, I had the idea that each of the covers would be a close-up portrait of the god in question (don't believe me? Check out this post from March 2008 of my original cover idea for Athena). Today's piece is a rough idea for the Hades cover, as well as a proposed subtitle (since renamed Lord of the Dead) and three myths I might retell in the volume (and of these three, only one made it into the final. Who can guess which one?).

Fan Art Forum: The Adventures of Jason and the Argonauts

2011-06-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

A while back I received this awesome little comic in the mail from a fan named Matthew Jenkins. It's a wonderfully creative retelling of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. I love the marker and pen art, and how the character of Jason is so take-charge ("start the ship!") and angry looking. Matthew also has a great sense of pacing and storytelling. I expect many great things from Mr Jenkins in the future, especially as this is merely the first of more adventures promised to come. Give them a click!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #38

2011-06-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Today's drawing is another shot of the Goddess of War Athena, from that period of time before I figured out she needed to be wearing robes under her armor. Her bare legs just look funny to me now. Still, I like the pose.

Hera in her Space Suit visits the Milky Way.

2011-06-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

longtime readers of this blog will know that my studiomates and I often do warm-up drawings on a certain topic every morning and post them online. Occasionally, my drawings will feature a mythological element and I will post them here as well. Well, lately I've been participating less than I used to and so, in an obvious bid to get me posting again, the topic was "Hera in a Spacesuit"

Did you know that the ancient Greeks credited Hera with creating the Milky Way from an errant stream of breast milk? True, uh, myth. Not sure why the nigh-omnipotent Queen on the Gods would need a spacesuit; maybe, since she is also the goddess of the air she wanted to bring a little of her native atmosphere with her while she visited her old handiwork.

You can read the actual story in my new graphic novel Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory, coming out July 19th everywhere! Subtle plug!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #37

2011-06-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

Today's piece is a doodle of Dionysos, who, of all the Olympians, has gotten the least play so far in the series. Don't worry, fans of the big D, he'll have his moment to shine, it's just that, as the last Olympian to ascend, a lot of the stories I've retold take place before his time on Olympus. As a matter of fact, he makes a few good appearances in Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory. This particular portrait has him looking a lot more lucid than how I normally choose to depict him. he's a pretty wild guy, and I like to try and capture that in his appearance.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #36

2011-05-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from January of 2007.

I have dozens of these, but I'll only be posting this one page. This is one of a series of thumbnails for the aborted opening sequence to Olympians-- the Assembled Olympians sitting around discussing the absent Zeus. Clearly visible here are Hera, Demeter, Poseidon and Dionysos. My next batch of sketches is from a sketchbook from January of 2007 and marks the transformation of my proto-Olympians idea to what would eventually become Zeus. This sequence was the last hurrah for the old idea.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #35

2011-05-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from sometime in latish 2006.

Here's a design I've barely had a use for yet. When Hera comes out July 19th, take a look to see a couple of panels of Centaurs, but until then, you'll have to content yourself with this.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #34

2011-05-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is perfect for this lazy Memorial day weekend Sunday. Pan, kicking it back while a satyr dances nearby.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #33

2011-05-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is a couple of scary and nightmarish studies of the Frenzy of Fighting himslef, Ares. He hasn't had all that much to do in Olympians so farm but once he finally gets the chance to strut his bloody stuff, this is how I'll be depicting him.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #32

2011-05-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is a sketch of warrior goddess Athena, from before a period where I realized how important it is that she be wearing robes along with her armor. Even though she's the greatest warrior on Olympus (sorry, Ares fans) Athena is also the goddess of weaving. The juxtaposition of hard and soft is essential to her character.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #31

2011-05-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

31 days in a row! No matter how you slice it, that's a full month's worth of Olympians sketches. Woot!

To celebrate, I found this goofy drawing of a Cyclops. It looks kind of like this guy from earlier in the month but, y'know, goofier.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #30

2011-05-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

30 days in a row! If this were September, April, June or November, we'd have a full month of Olympiansy sketchy goodness! But, alas, it's May...

Anyhoo, today's sketch is a smokin' hot Hephaistos, wearing some rather fetching clogs. I wonder if Aphrodite picked them out for him?

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #29

2011-05-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

29 days in a row! If this was February in a leap year, this'd be a full month of Olympians sketch-tanza! Today's piece is a shot of a glowering Hera, looking across the table, presumably at her hubby Zeus. It seems this is a companion piece to this table-centric group shot I posted last week. You can even see what appears to be part of Demeter's cornucopia in the right foreground.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #28

2011-05-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from sometime in latish 2006.

Wow, look at that! 28 days in a row! If this were February, that'd be a full month of sketchy Olympians goodness! Today's piece is an early, rather haughty looking Hades. He's a bit doughier here than he looks in the finished books, but aside from that I'm amazed how on-model he looks for such an early date. Speaking of Hades, I just got first proofs for the upcoming Hades: Lord of the Dead this past Friday, and it looks swee--eeet! You folks are gonna love this one.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #27

2011-05-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, with today's piece coming from a sketchbook from sometime in latish 2006.

Today's piece is a kind of funny-looking Hermes, doing his best bunny rabbit impersonation. I should have run this one on Easter. Worth mentioning is that these sketchbook doodles are the only place you will see the God of Liars' eyes in Olympians, at least until his own book comes out, when I'll finally reveal their color. Any guesses?

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #26

2011-05-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

Another across the spread of my sketchbook piece today. Sorry 'bout the crease. When I'm working on a book, the first step for me is draw "key scenes"-- just doodles of images that I'd like to include in the story. After I draw a bunch of these key scenes, I take them and try to assemble them into a panel by panel page layout. This drawing, of Ouranos the sky above Mother Earth, ended up making it only slightly altered as part of teh spread on pages 2-3 of Zeus: King of the Gods. Go on and check your copy, I'll be right here.

Carousel!

2011-05-20T16:45:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow morning, from 11 to 12, I'll be performing a slide-show reading of comics from Zeus: King of the Gods, as well as a sneak preview scene from Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory as part of the NYPL's centennial celebration. Not only that, but if you come you'll be able to see and hear other great cartoonists like Nick Bertozzi, Bob Sikoryak, Dave Roman and Susan Kim! Info above, I hope to see my NY peeps there.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #25

2011-05-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today's sketch is a near-complete assemblage of the gods. Unfortunately, as you can tell, I drew this across the spread of my sketchbook, so we have a big ol' crease running down the middle. From left to right we have Poseidon, Dionysos, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaistos, Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and Athena. At this point in time I was toying with the idea of Hestia not having a human form at all, but just being personified by a hearth (that's her in the middle). Eventually, I compromised and made her a humanoid figure composed of flame. Conspicuously absent is Big Daddy Zeus himself-- that's because this drawing is done from a Zeus eye view. We're viewing this family get-together from his seat at the table.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #24

2011-05-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

Two drawings in one! On the left, an early design of Aphrodite, dressed as she often appears in ancient sculpture (but not how she'll ever appear in Olympians-- too skimpy); on the right, another shot of my so-far unused design for the half-snake mother of monsters, Echidna (you can see another example of her design here). Note that Echidna's curled her long snake neck around itself like a scarf-- she looks like a scaly Cruella deVille. I have to use this design somewhere.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #23

2011-05-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Today's sketch is yet another doodle of the Queen of Gods. I must really like drawing her or something. There's something about the expression on Hera's face here, coupled with the slab of beefcake in the background (Is that Zeus?) that says "yum" to me. Anyway, though it was a funny drawing, and worth sharing. Enjoy!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #22

2011-05-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

Takes dat! Pow! Today's sketch is a goofy little piece showing Goddess of War Athena totally decking God of War Ares with a very loud punch. Elsewhere on the page, a dark-haired Zeus looks taken aback by the proceedings. He must not like it when his kids fight. This drawing really popped out to me as I skimmed my old sketchbooks due to the sound effect. Shades of my first picture book Kapow!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #21

2011-05-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Today's sketch is a real oddity. It's a humongous Cyclops (just look at the trees sliding off his back) apparently waking up from some sort of subterranean slumber. What's weird is that I already had worked out the designs for Brontes, Steropes and Arges (the original 3 Cyclopes) by this time. I'd also been working in a certain direction for the eventual appearance of Poseidon's son Polyphemos and it didn't look like this guy, though both designs do owe a lot to elephant skulls (scale-wise, this guy is just way too big for Ployphemos anyway). So who was I drawing then? I guess just a random cyclops (I love me them Cyclopes), but still, I thought it was pretty neat, so I'm sharing it with all of you.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #20

2011-05-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Continuing with yesterday's theme of dark-haired Zeus, here's another shot of the King of Gods, atop a cloud and about to hurl his lightning bolt. Now that I've rediscovered this drawing, I find I quite like this pose. Don't be surprised to see this pop up in a future volume of Olympians.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #19

2011-05-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

Today's post is going up very late because, well, I was running around all day and forgot to do it in the AM due to Saturday morning laziness. Which is a shame, because I really kind of dig this doodle of early Zeus, even if it does look like he's punching a giant floating eye . The King of the Gods pictured here has now safely moved past his cartoony face period, but is still in his his hair-turns-to-dark-storm-clouds when he's angry phase. Man, looking back, I wish I had kept that idea in the final books.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #18

2011-05-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

This sketch is up a bit later in the day than is usual due to the fact that blogger was down until after I left the house. If you're one of the, like, 3 people who follow me on Twitter (despite my constant begging for you to do so) you might've seen this already as a twitpic, the only option open to me this AM. Anyway, its' Hera, and it has a bit of writing with it for an idea that went nowhere. Enjoy!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #17

2011-05-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

This was a very fun find for me. I had remembered it taking a very long time for me to find the look of my version of Hades, but I was evidently mistaken, as here was this doodle of the Lord of the Dead, looking very much like how he appears in Olympians, in one of my earliest sketchbooks of Olympians related material. Added bonus was Hades giving the heavy-metal devil sign, and an even addeder bonus was the drawing of a super-early design of Kronos the Titan (before I figured out to make him all enormous and shadowey). Fun stuff.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #16

2011-05-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

Today's sketch is of Ares, bloodthirsty god of war, and a favorite of little boys everywhere (though Athena could totally kick his butt, and in fact does in The Iliad). I've done many school, library and bookstore appearances in support of Olympians, and met many young fans who share names with an Olympian. Strangely, I've met way more Ares than any other. Go figure.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #15

2011-05-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

Today's drawing is a couple of shots of Hera herself, from a point in time when I was playing with a more cartoony style of illustration for Olympians. Looking through my sketchbooks as I've been doing, and I can see that my whole... what's the word I'm looking for here? My whole career(?) has been a bouncing back and forth between my more cartoony and more 'realistic'styles. I quite like these doodles, if I do say so myself.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #14

2011-05-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is of the Kind of the Sea himself, Poseidon. He was one of those designs that I arrived at more or less completely right away-- though he's since lost the crown. Too Triton-ey from Disney's The Little Mermaid. I've been drawing a lot of the Earth-shaker lately, as I'm in the middle of writing Olympians Book 5, all about Poseidon.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #13

2011-05-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

Why, it's another Pan. Well, the dude on the bottom is Pan, at least. I decided early on that there would be some sort of visual hierarchy between the horns of the great God Pan (a full-on set of ram's horns) and you basic garden variety Satyr (normal pointy goat horns). That being said, this is an old model for Pan-- when he appears, his face and horns will both be significantly different. So now you know.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #12

2011-05-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is a kinda groovy group shot of a bunch of the Olympians. It's kinda loose, but I think I can make out, from left to right: Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Hephaistos, and I think that's Artemis and Apollo on the end. The figures up front would seem to be maybe the Muses. Kind of a neat little drawing, if I do say so myself, somewhat reminiscent of the illustration in the header of this very blog.

PNCA's 5th Annual Graphic Novel Intensive!

2011-05-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Northwest College of Art has, for the last five years, been offering a graphic novel intensive program and this year it's scheduled to be conducted by the lovely and talented Ryan Alexander-Tanner and yours truly. As two comics creators with more than a passing interest in the power of comics in education (Ryan is co-author with William Ayers of the amazing To Teach: The Journey, in Comics ), this year's program will differ from previous years' sessions and focus not only on the making of comics, but on how to incorporate comics into the classroom. If you're a librarian or teacher or anyone with a healthy interest in the educational possibilities of comics, this is the intensive for you.

The program will run from June 20th to the 24th in lovely Portland, Oregon (one of the meccas of comics art in the United States, no lie). Click HERE to find out more, or to sign up. If you have any questions, write me at geooco@gmail.com and I will answer you past haste. Hope to see you in Portland!

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #11

2011-05-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today's piece brings us back to the many moods of the King of the Gods. I still hadn't worked out how I was going to draw Zeus, facial-wise, but there is another idea going on here that I rediscovered while perusing my old sketchbooks that I kind of wish had made it into the finished books. If you look at the really angry shot of Zeus here, his hair has gone dark-- the idea was that when he was calm, he'd have white fluffy hair, but if something made him mad, his hair would go all dark and stormy, like clouds. Too bad I didn't keep that little twist in the books. Oh well.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #10

2011-05-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is another sneak peek at a character who hasn't appeared in Olympians yet: Pan. I have some big plans for this guy, so keep an eye or two peeled for him.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #9

2011-05-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

I just received a comment on this blog yesterday asking me if I could draw a picture of every single character that appears in a Greek myth, yet who will not be appearing in Olympians, in order to complete a sort of "George O'Connor Greek myth style guide". While the scope of such an ambitious program (there are literally thousands of characters) is beyond me, I did mention there's a great many drawings from my sketchbooks of many of these characters already, and here's one. This is a drawing of Echidna, wife of Typhon, and mother of Cerberus, the Nemean Lion, The Lernaean Hydra and many others. She may make an appearance in book 10 (Hermes) but she may not as that's a long ways off. But I designed her, so here you go. Also, check out the crazy helmet on my early Athena there.

warm up sketch: Heracles vs the Lernaean Hydra

2011-05-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

I do a daily warm-up drawing with the members of my studio in Brooklyn. Occasionally, the topic turns to a matter mythological, and I'll post the result here. Today's topic was "The Lernaean Hydra"

In the swamps of Lerna, during the age of heroes, there lived a great and poisonous serpent, a monstrous offspring of the union of Typhon and Echidna. The destruction of this beast, called the Lernaen Hydra, became the second Labor of the greatest of all Greek Heroes, Heracles. Every time the Glory of Hera knocked off a head of this creature, two more grew to take its place. It was not until his nephew, Iolaus, had the idea to cauterize the stumps that the son of Zeus was able to vanquish his foe.

Believe it or not, today's topic was not chosen by me, but rather by the lovely Natalie Kim, whose drawing can be found here. For this piece, I recycled my own designs for both the Hydra and Heracles from my upcoming book Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory (coming out in July!) but the drawing is all new-- took me about a half hour, from pencils to scan. Consider it a preview.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #8

2011-05-03T06:33:00.000-07:00

Today's piece is another drawing of the Queen of the Gods herself. I'm still playing around with that peacock collar idea at this point. I quite like the expression on her face here. I may have mentioned this elsewhere, but Hera's my favorite goddess.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #7

2011-05-02T04:31:00.000-07:00

Some creepy stuff today. These pieces were studies for the shades of Hades/angels/ otherwise dead people, drawn with white ink and acrylic paint on a bed of black ink. I've mentioned here and there that in its infancy the project that would become Olympians was a very different beast than what it eventually became, and this is probably the most concrete example of that difference I'm likely to post on this blog. Someday I hope to recycle a lot of my out-there ideas, like these guys, into another related, but very different, project.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #6

2011-05-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to add here, as you've seen both of these early designs for Zeus and Hera. I just like this shot of Zeus literally sweeping his queen off of her feet.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #5

2011-04-30T04:27:00.000-07:00

As you can see, today's drawing is a very early version of Persephone. If you've been following this blog at all, you're well aware how very, very different this design is from the Persephone that will eventually make her appearance in Olympians Book 4, Hades: Lord of the Dead. I would have to say of all the principle characters in Olympians that Persephone was the last one for me to get a handle on, and obviously at this stage of the game I had not gotten that handle yet. At this stage, she's all Dread Queen, no Young Maiden.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #4

2011-04-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, and today's piece is from a sketchbook dated August 2006.

Today's piece is of the Divine Twins, Artemis and Apollo. Both of them are looking quite similar to their eventual appearances in the Olympians books, but it seems that since I drew this they've both visited the hairdresser. Artemis has two, count 'em, two moon pieces going on in her hair (the published version retains only the one in the back) whereas Apollo looks as if he actually lit his hair on fire. In keeping with the ancient Greeks' view of Apollo mainly as the god of the arts and a protector of young men, and not as the embodiment of the sun (a view that comes much later in antiquity) I've shifted that flaming 'do to Helios, the Titan who quite literally is the sun. I also dig the little bow on the front of Artemis's dress. What was I thinking with that?

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #3

2011-04-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, and today's piece is from a sketchbook dated August 2006.

Today's piece is of Hephaistos, the blacksmith god of fire. Credited as he is with creating many beautiful and wondrous objects with unearthly technological skill (like robots! The ancient Greeks wrote about him creating robots! How cool is that?) I toyed with the idea of giving him a slightly anachronistic appearance, looking more steampunk than ancient Greekish. I also eventually dropped his leg braces (I tend to just draw him stooped or sitting) and his body hair.

Fun fact-- I don't draw any of the gods in Olympians with body hair because, unlike us, I figure they didn't evolve from apes but rather take their human forms in imitation of us, and as such, they wouldn't have the traces of fur that we humans do. The one exception to this is Dionysos, the god of wine, who is the only Olympian to have a mortal parent.

A-Sketch-a-Day-Until-Hera #2

2011-04-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

Olympians Book 3, Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory is finally coming out July 19th. To commemorate this momentous occasion I will be posting a drawing from my enormous cache of sketchbooks each weekday until Hera hits the shelves. I'll be going through them chronologically, and today's piece is from a sketchbook dated August 2006.

Today's drawing is an early sketch of Hera herself, as well as her sister Demeter, goddess of the harvest (one of the stars of Hades: Lord of the Dead, coming in January!). As I've mentioned before, at this stage of the project I still hadn't even decided on the style I would be drawing Olympians in. These two are a bit more elongated and cartoony than the way they would eventually appear in print, but otherwise they're both pretty recognizable. One difference is Hera's peacock themed collar, which would have been rendered in color only, with no black lines. Ultimately, it looked too confusing as to what it was, exactly, so I dropped it. Also, that would have been a nightmare to color throughout a whole book, let alone a series.